For the remaining day of the weekend, Sinhyeok ran away from Baek Arin.
“Hah, thanks to you, Mister, I couldn’t make even one day’s plan.”
“Good. It’s just a little training—what do you need a plan for? I’m the plan.”
At his shameless answer, she glared at him.
“Just you wait. You’d better not make even one mistake.”
Just before the day’s schedule began, a large-scale announcement came over the broadcast.
“Attention. Today’s scheduled training has been canceled. Please stand by for the time being.”
At the word “canceled,” Baek Arin looked ready to cry, while Sinhyeok smiled brightly.
“What a shame. It got canceled~”
A senior instructor hurried over to the beaming Sinhyeok and said,
“Trainee Bu Sinhyeok, you’re being dispatched, so get ready right now.”
Sinhyeok’s expression stiffened.
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I’ll explain on the way, so hurry out.”
He had a bad feeling about this. And so, Sinhyeok was dragged away.
He got into the car driven by the senior instructor and they set off at once.
“Instructor, where are we going?”
“Gunsan City.”
At the word Gunsan, he remembered the news he had seen not long ago.
“Don’t tell me it blew up?”
The instructor let out one heavy sigh after another.
“Turns out there were three of them. Two are being dealt with, but it seems one of them was secretly hidden by some guild, and now a problem’s broken out……”
Sinhyeok wore an expression that said, Of course.
“Everyone in the area has been gathered in a hurry and is responding, but the damage seems pretty bad. Go there as support and just make potions. That should be enough.”
Sinhyeok was moved by the relatively gentlemanly treatment.
“Thank you for being so considerate, at least. I won’t die a dog’s death.”
The instructor chuckled and added,
“Pfft, if you died a dog’s death, that would be funny in its own way…… A Hongik alumnus dying pointlessly, pfft.”
Sinhyeok narrowed his eyes at the fact that the man knew about his past and asked,
“Why does everyone know?”
“Because you caused so much trouble that information was sent down so the instructors would know too.”
Sinhyeok sighed and leaned back against the seat.
“Honestly.”
‘Will there be civilian casualties?’
He worried about the scene and wondered when they would arrive.
A little while later.
The vehicle arrived at a gymnasium near Gunsan City.
When the vehicle stopped, a soldier at the checkpoint approached and asked,
“Loyalty!”
“Staff Sergeant Lee Junho of the 99th Regiment. We’re here as support, so open the gate.”
At that, the soldier immediately opened the barricade.
“You may go inside.”
They entered, parked in the lot, and headed into the gymnasium.
When they went inside, two people with hollow eyes were mixing red mana herbs into water.
“Please, please steep, pleeease!”
“Fucking alchemy!”
Sinhyeok had been abandoned at a scene filled with madness.
“Well then, fighting!”
The senior instructor abandoned Sinhyeok and ran off.
Between piles of red mana herbs stacked like mountains, two civilian Awakeners glanced at Sinhyeok.
“Wow, one more added.”
“Hi~ Join us too.”
“Ha, ha.”
Sinhyeok naturally sat beside them and picked up a red mana herb.
“Is it not working well?”
“Hohoho, is this your first time with alchemy?”
A man wearing glasses said, showing him his alchemy tools.
He showed him a jar engraved with various magic circles.
“Potions are hell. Look. I’ve been stirring for thirty minutes, but the red mana herb is standing firm. Why, why! Why won’t it mix!”
Soon after, a soldier with an urgent expression came in and checked the situation.
“Everyone, I know this is difficult, but for the sake of the people, please put in a little more effort.”
Glare.
The two Awakeners glared and shoved their alchemy tools at him.
“You try it. See if this works. Damn it! Of all things, it had to be the hardest potion!”
‘That’s hard?’
“I-I’m sorry. But it’s really urgent right now.”
From one side, a woman in a white coat who was boiling red mana herbs over a magically kindled fire on the floor said,
“We know, but mana herb potions are the hardest to make. There’s a reason everyone avoids making these.”
Sinhyeok was puzzled by that.
‘It’s easy, though. Why?’
She pointed to the few potions stacked beside her and said,
“Take these for now, at least.”
“Yes, yes!”
Sinhyeok asked the soldier taking the potions how many they needed.
“Mister over there, how many bottles of the red stuff do you need?”
“Pardon? Uh, well…… t-ten thousand bottles.”
At the words ten thousand, the two of them looked fierce.
“We’re dead.”
“Just kill us instead.”
Sinhyeok calmly offered an extra service.
“What about the blue stuff?”
“Ah, if we had some, that would be ni……”
The soldier, in the middle of speaking, glanced at the other two alchemists.
“If you have blue mana herbs too, bring them over.”
“Pardon?”
Sinhyeok summoned a canteen, stuffed red mana herbs into it, and said,
“I’ll make it for you in no time.”
[Potion crafting has begun.]
Shake shake shake shake.
When he shook the canteen with a mad swing, everyone was flustered.
“Why, why is he doing that?”
“Hey, soldier, is he crazy?”
Ignoring them, Sinhyeok opened the cap of the canteen and looked around for something to pour it into.
“The container’s too small.”
Sinhyeok got up, brought over a basin, and poured it in.
“Come on, come on, let’s hurry.”
Splash, splash.
The two were bewildered when they saw the bright-red potion poured into the basin.
“Why?”
“What the hell!?”
With an expression asking why this was supposed to be hard, Sinhyeok shook the canteen.
Papapapat.
“Aren’t you working?”
“Huh?”
“Uh, um……”
The two glanced at each other, then began stirring diligently.
Swaaa.
He poured out the canteen and put red mana herbs in again.
Papapat.
‘Hmm, how many times do I have to do this?’
As he shook it, he thought it was far too inefficient.
Sinhyeok looked at the magic circle engraved on the canteen and pondered.
‘What’s this for?’
He asked the two, who were working hard.
“Do either of you know what this magic circle engraved by the World Tree is?”
At Sinhyeok’s question, the woman in the white coat answered.
“That’s just a synthesis array. I heard it’s a formula that breaks down mana and condenses it.”
‘Breaks it down and condenses it?’
Somehow, the explanation was exactly like Sinhyeok’s constitution.
Swaaak.
He continued pouring the finished potion into the basin.
At his insane work speed, the two alchemists stirred their hands even faster.
‘Then, don’t I not need this thing?’
He set the canteen down and dumped red mana herbs straight into a large basin.
“Uh, uh!?”
“What are you doing?!”
He poured in a 20-liter water jug and, thinking of hygiene, found rubber gloves somewhere and put them on.
He mixed it swiftly, as if making kimchi seasoning.
“Huh?”
Then, in an instant, the red mana herbs broke down and mixed with the water.
“I don’t really need the canteen.”
Before long, the water took on a red light.
[Under the influence of your trait, the potion transcends.]
[You have crafted 900L of highest-grade healing potion.]
[Due to the overwhelming volume, your proficiency in potion crafting has increased slightly.]
Perhaps moved by the overwhelming quantity, the system even graciously bestowed proficiency on him.
Just then, a soldier brought in an armful of blue mana herbs on a cart.
“I brought the blue mana herbs here……”
He froze when he saw Sinhyeok making kimchi with red mana herbs in a bright-red kimchi-making basin.
“Uh, uh, take this, and then go scrape up every basin like this you can find. And that’s way too little. Bring more.”
The gymnasium was filled with bright-red rubber basins.
Dozens of soldiers were carrying them around, sweating profusely.
“Huegh.”
“Haaah.”
The two alchemists also tried making potions, but after seeing Sinhyeok’s work speed, they simply helped the soldiers instead.
“All right, the red stuff is roughly done?”
“Yes! This is enough now!”
At the words “enough,” he brought over another basin and dumped in the blue stuff.
As he poured it in by the sack, he hummed.
“Making this in bulk like kimjang gives it a nice feel.”
He was excitedly stirring when he saw a strangely familiar blue liquid at the entrance over there.
Flattened against the floor, it slid along.
‘That looks weirdly familiar.’
His arms were stirring blue mana herbs in the basin, but his gaze remained fixed on that spot.
‘Why does it make me think of a puppy?’
That unidentified flat liquid approached the basin, then popped into the shape of a dog.
“Hey, hey! When did you get here?!”
Flustered, he stared at the bluish creature crawling around.
“This is driving me crazy.”
“Huh?”
“Hmm?”
The two Awakeners, who had been bottling the potion from the basins, wore puzzled expressions.
“Ah, sorry. It’s my pet.”
“Ah, is that so?”
Blue calmly wagged his tail and whined as he stuck his head into the basin Sinhyeok was stirring.
“Hey, hey, no.”
But he was resolute. With a sigh, Sinhyeok secretly scooped up a handful and gave it to him.
Blue quietly plopped his rump down and ate the dripping mana potion.
“Huh? Your pet drinks potions?”
“He’s a little unusual.”
Everyone seemed to accept that and focused hard on their work.
Soon after, once ten thousand mana potions had been made as well, the two Awakeners flopped backward.
“Aaah! Done, done!”
“I can’t do any more either.”
A soldier came in and said with a bright expression,
“Thank you for your hard work. The higher-ups say you may all return home now.”
At those words, the two sprang up and fled.
“Next time, only contact me for enchants!”
“Me too!”
Sinhyeok tucked Blue into his arms and asked the soldier,
“Is the situation all right?”
With a sigh, he voiced how exhausted he was.
“Ahh, it’s chaos. The thing that broke out at Gunsan Airport has now spread into Gunsan City, and the roads and skies are such a mess that even the potions you worked so hard to make can’t get in.”
At the situation having grown so urgent, Sinhyeok sighed along with him.
“What the hell is going on?”
He went outside and looked at the potions piled up like a mountain.
“What a mess. We worked hard to make them, too. Tsk.”
It was frustrating to hear that, despite having gone to the trouble of making them, they couldn’t be brought in because the roads were blocked.
‘Then do I just go back?’
He sat and waited for someone to come pick him up again, but several people at the base camp were packing field gear.
They were stuffing their bags full of potions.
‘No way, are they planning to walk?’
“Pack as many potions as you can! We distribute to the isolated zones first!”
As many personnel as possible had been selected and were packing potions into their gear.
A first lieutenant sighed as he looked at the people packing potions.
“Haa, those damn insect bastards.”
Seeing him sigh, Sinhyeok couldn’t just pass by.
‘Right, this is my lot in life.’
Sinhyeok approached him and said,
“Lieutenant, I’ll go with you.”
The lieutenant saw Sinhyeok suddenly approach and waved his hands.
“Huh? Ah, there’s no need for that. If someone like you, who awakened alchemy, steps in and ends up dying……”
Sinhyeok first gave orders to the armed personnel, since it was urgent.
“I’m from Hongik. I’m sure I’ll be of help. First, everyone remove your magazines and hand them over. As an emergency measure, I’ll enhance those first.”
“Huh?”
Before they knew it, everyone was carrying out Sinhyeok’s words.
“No, this makes things difficult.”
Yet even as the lieutenant said it was difficult, he was hurriedly taking out his magazines.
The soldiers also took out all their magazines with bewildered faces and held them out.
Sinhyeok dumped them straight into a basin filled with blue potions.
“Uh, uh?”
But when Sinhyeok stirred them around with his hand, all the mana potion seeped into the magazines.
[Crafting a large quantity of magic bullets.]
[Proficiency has increased slightly.]
“Take them all. They’ll work better than ordinary live rounds.”
“Huh?”
First Lieutenant Lee Hyeongchan asked with a bewildered face,
“What is this?”
“Give me one rifle too.”
Sinhyeok held out his hand to the lieutenant.
“Huh?”
“Just hurry and give me one, then tell me the most urgent place first.”