Sand Mage of the Burnt Desert-Chapter 568

Chapter 568

Jin Geumho stood by the window, looking out over Neo Seoul.

As the sun set, deep shadows fell across the entirety of Neo Seoul.

In any other place, it would have been quietly swallowed by darkness, but Neo Seoul, as if rejecting the order of nature, lit its lights and shone even brighter than when the sun was up.

If Neo Seoul in the daytime felt magnificent, Neo Seoul at night ran to the extreme of splendor.

Those who entered Neo Seoul for the first time were overwhelmed by its dazzling lights.

Jin Geumho was a man who had achieved accomplishments anyone would acknowledge.

Without him, this advanced city would never have stood tall upon the desert.

An ordinary person would have been satisfied with such achievements and stopped. But Jin Geumho was not ordinary, and he was certainly not one to be satisfied with this much.

“There need to be at least ten more cities of this scale. Only then can humanity prosper stably.”

He was one of the few who remembered Earth as it once was.

Perhaps he was the only one.

It was nearly impossible for a human to live over a hundred years.

Seoul, New York, Tokyo, Beijing, London…

Before the Great Cataclysm, there had been countless cities where more than ten million people gathered to live.

Back then, that had been considered normal.

An era where each nation naturally possessed a great capital or metropolis.

Jin Geumho had personally experienced and seen such an era.

That was why he could not be satisfied with Neo Seoul.

He pondered how he could make Neo Seoul stronger.

After establishing Neo Seoul, he had never stopped this contemplation for even a single day.

“Hoo!”

As too many thoughts followed one another, his head began to throb.

Just as he could no longer endure it and was about to sit in his chair—

“Mayor!”

Seo Taeran hurried inside.

“What is it? There should be no more official schedules today.”

“You must go to the underground city.”

“Why there?”

“Levin says he has something urgent to tell you. He insists it must be delivered directly to you…”

“Levin?”

Jin Geumho furrowed his brow.

He knew that what Levin had to convey was essentially Zeon’s words.

If Zeon, who had gone out into the desert, sent Levin to deliver a message, it could not be a trivial matter.

“I hope it is not something serious. Let us go.”

“Yes!”

Seo Taeran guided Jin Geumho to the elevator.

It was not the old elevator.

The newly constructed elevator was directly connected to the underground city.

Shuuu!

The moment they boarded, it descended at terrifying speed.

In an instant, the elevator reached deep underground and immediately began moving horizontally.

Without a single stop, it arrived at the underground city.

When the doors opened, the now-familiar scenery came into view.

A small city nestled within a vast underground cavern.

In the sky floated a massive sphere of light reminiscent of the sun.

It was Jin Geumho’s gift.

Artificial lighting generated by the magical power generators recently developed in Neo Seoul.

Its performance far surpassed that of previous generators. The artificial light, made using byproducts of magical beasts, emitted a gentle glow for twelve hours a day.

An environment similar to the surface had been artificially created.

After this artificial sun was raised, the incidence of illness in the underground city had noticeably decreased.

Ironically, as the environment improved, the frequency of Awakenings increased.

Particularly among children.

What was astonishing was their Awakening classes.

Most of the awakened children were Healers or of buff-type classes.

This was an extremely rare phenomenon.

The most common Awakened were from magic or martial classes.

Of course, there were various rare types, including mechanized Awakened. But for support-type classes to pour out only from the underground city, as if by promise, was clearly something special.

Healers and buff-type Awakened were very rare.

There were Awakened of similar ability in Neo Seoul, but their level was not particularly high.

One could see it from the fact that when Jin Geumho had been sniped, they had only barely prevented his wounds from worsening and could not heal him.

It was Lemura, who had saved Jin Geumho in an instant, who had been extraordinary. That level was not common.

But the children awakened in the underground city were different.

While the largest proportion of Awakened on the surface were F-rank and E-rank, many of the children awakened as D-rank or even C-rank.

There was clearly some special force at work in the underground city.

That was why Jin Geumho spared no support for it.

Most of the underground city residents were those who had hidden below because they had nowhere to live on the surface.

At first, there had naturally been considerable resentment toward Jin Geumho, but as he did not hold back support and improved the environment, their perspective had changed greatly.

Jin Geumho had no doubt that when the children of the underground city grew up, they would become a great strength to Neo Seoul.

Unlike their parents, who had completely adapted to the underground world, the awakened children were able to go to the surface.

For the future of Neo Seoul, they had to be nurtured with care.

After gazing at the underground city with a pleased expression for a moment, Jin Geumho spoke.

“Where is Levin?”

“At Lemura’s residence.”

“Let us go quickly.”

“Yes!”

Their steps quickened.

At Lemura’s house, not only Levin but also Zetoya was present.

Their expressions were extremely serious.

“Levin! You were looking for me?”

“Mayor!”

Levin stood up to greet Jin Geumho.

“Speak only the essentials. What has happened?”

“That is…”

Levin calmly recounted what had happened at the Steel Fortress.

As they listened, all expression disappeared from the faces of Jin Geumho and Seo Taeran.

It meant they were listening with utmost focus.

Even after Levin finished speaking, their expressions did not easily return.

It was only after quite some time that Jin Geumho opened his mouth.

“What is the internal area and population of the Steel Fortress?”

“Rather than that, Behemoth—”

“No. For me, it is more important to know the internal circumstances of the Steel Fortress.”

Jin Geumho already knew of the Steel Fortress’s existence. However, he did not know the details. So he intended to learn them now.

“But…”

“If you want my cooperation, it would be better for you to be honest as well.”

Pressed by Jin Geumho, Levin had no choice but to speak what he knew.

“So there is a vast underground lake? And many people live upon it.”

“Yes!”

“And its capacity?”

“Brother Zeon said that if pushed, it could accommodate hundreds of thousands.”

“Hundreds of thousands…”

“But it is too far from here to have much meaning—”

“The fact that hundreds of thousands can survive is itself of great meaning. If expanded, it could accommodate even more.”

Jin Geumho’s eyes flashed golden.

His skill, Heavenly Eye, had activated.

Heavenly Eye was not omnipotent.

It did not show the flow of the world when one knew absolutely nothing. But sometimes, merely knowing of an existence was enough for it to reveal the world’s currents.

Jin Geumho saw possibility.

A future where branches extended from the great tree called Neo Seoul, and those branches split again into twigs.

The Steel Fortress was a branch that would extend from Neo Seoul.

“Good!”

Now that the large picture had appeared, the detailed picture could be prepared from this point onward.

That was how Jin Geumho operated Neo Seoul.

Levin looked at Jin Geumho, who had fallen into his own thoughts, with an awkward expression.

He had come to warn about Behemoth’s invasion, yet unexpectedly Jin Geumho showed interest in the Steel Fortress, and he did not know what to do.

The one who responded in place of Jin Geumho was Seo Taeran.

“So a beast called Behemoth has passed the Steel Fortress and is heading toward Neo Seoul?”

“Yes!”

“It is large?”

“As large as a decent sand mountain.”

“And its purpose is to destroy Neo Seoul?”

“Yes!”

“Understood.”

“Pardon?”

At Seo Taeran’s overly calm reply, Levin blinked.

He could not understand her reaction when a massive magical beast called the Beast of Destruction was advancing.

As if sensing Levin’s thoughts, Seo Taeran smirked and said,

“What do you think Neo Seoul is?”

“Pardon?”

“Do you think there has never been a single crisis while this great city was built in the desert?”

“That is…”

“Anti-magic resistance is merely a minimum requirement. That alone cannot completely protect Neo Seoul from magical beast attacks. Neo Seoul is far stronger than you know, so do not worry.”

At Seo Taeran’s firm words, Levin became speechless.

He was completely overwhelmed by her momentum.

Neither Jin Geumho nor Seo Taeran feared Behemoth.

The only thing they feared was the disappearance of humanity’s strongholds.

Compared to that, Behemoth was merely a minor issue.

Of course, that was from their perspective. In reality, it was not a small matter.

At that moment, Jin Geumho called Seo Taeran.

“Taeran!”

“Yes, Mayor!”

“Issue a mobilization order to each district immediately.”

“What level?”

“Of course, the highest level.”

“Understood.”

Seo Taeran replied with a cold smile.

People did not know.

They did not know how powerful City Hall truly was.

It was not because City Hall lacked power that it granted autonomy to each district.

If Jin Geumho and City Hall had not permitted it, they would never have been able to operate their districts autonomously.

When Jin Geumho granted them autonomy, he set only one condition.

That when Neo Seoul faced crisis, he could mobilize their Awakened.

No district could ever refuse a mobilization order. If they did not comply, their autonomous rights would be completely revoked.

Until now, a mobilization order had been issued only three times.

Ordinary citizens did not even know it had happened. That was because the battles had taken place far from Neo Seoul.

Jin Geumho said,

“No enemy can inflict even a single hair’s worth of harm upon Neo Seoul.”

It was not empty confidence.

It was a statement based on a century of accumulated experience and technology.

“Well, this is something.”

Levin scratched his head.

He was not accustomed to such an atmosphere.

He felt foolish for having worn such a solemn expression.

Seo Taeran said to Jin Geumho,

“I will take my leave first.”

“Very well. You must step forward so that they recognize the gravity of the situation.”

“Yes. It seems I will be busy.”

With a cold smile, Seo Taeran exited.

Levin asked Jin Geumho,

“Aren’t you going, Mayor?”

“There is no need for me to go personally.”

“But to move each district, it would be better if you stepped forward—”

“Taeran alone is sufficient for that. If they truly refuse to listen, we can mobilize the Numbers, so do not worry.”

“I am not worried—”

“You have done well. Thanks to you, we can prepare in advance.”

“It was nothing.”

“Now then, since the urgent matter has been handled, let us continue the discussion from earlier.”

“Pardon?”

“The Steel Fortress.”

“No, that—”

“Do not omit even a trivial detail. Tell me everything.”

Levin felt a chilling cold.

For some reason, he felt that he would not be able to sleep tonight, and that feeling became reality.

In the end, Levin had to reveal everything he knew to Jin Geumho throughout the night.

After completely stripping Levin of all he knew, Jin Geumho said,

“The Steel Fortress will not be all. I look forward to what other secrets Zeon may have.”

Jin Geumho already wore a look of certainty.