Starting With What I Can Do (2)

Hyeonseong replied while folding her fingers one by one.

“That’s a lot. But since nothing else is happening today, it’s fine. As for rank testing, up to what level?”

“Obviously up to the highest rank. If this thing can take skills at all, I think it should handle S-rank without much trouble.”

“…Right, it is Over S-rank. In that case, the underground training hall would be a problem.”

Hyeonyeong muttered.

“But will you be okay? If we use the outdoor training ground, there’s a good chance someone will see your skill.”

She continued with another question.

“So about that—could you use that from the start?”

“That? Ah, World of Ten Thousand Swords?”

“Yeah, that one.”

The BYD-rank domain-declaration skill World of Ten Thousand Swords that Hyeonyeong possessed was a skill that created an environment absolutely favorable to the caster.

“When you use that, from outside it just looks like a dome you can’t see through, right? No one can enter carelessly either.”

“That’s true.”

Hyeonyeong answered Hyeonseong, thought for a moment, then nodded.

“Then that works. No need to go all the way to the outdoor training ground. Then… what about them?”

Hyeonyeong’s eyes flicked up toward the ceiling and back down.

“…That part can’t be helped. Items that block that kind of thing don’t show up often.”

Items that could block a Constellation’s eyes and ears were not easy to obtain.

Even on the interstellar network market, listings were rare, and when they did appear, they demanded a massive amount of Ghost Coins. Even Hyeonyeong could not buy one easily.

Just in case, Hyeonseong checked the interstellar network market. There were no listings at all today.

“Then that’s something we’ll have to think about later.”

“Yeah. It’s not like we can postpone this until such an item shows up.”

Hyeonseong replied lightly to Hyeonyeong.

“Then should I prepare some mana potions for later?”

Hyeonju asked once their discussion ended.

“And how much are you planning to squeeze out of us this time?”

Hyeonseong looked at her with an unenthusiastic expression.

“Do you see me as some kind of money-hungry ghost who’s always extorting people?”

“Want me to show you all the receipts I’ve kept? I could stack them from there to there.”

At Hyeonju’s exasperated remark, Hyeonseong traced a line from the floor up to the ceiling with her fingertip.

“…Anyway, this time I really am just giving them to you. Take them after we eat.”

“Seriously? What’s gotten into you?”

Hyeonseong could not believe her ears. Hearing that from Hyeonju, who charged even family members full price for potions, was unbelievable.

“For the record, they’re not for you, they’re for Hyeonyeong. Checking your skill is going to burn a lot of mana.”

“Tch.”

Hyeonseong clicked her tongue at her follow-up. She had expected that. To be honest, if she were to take extra care of anyone, it would be the youngest, not her older sister.

“Anyway, once we’re done eating, Hyeonyeong, come to my room.”

Whether Hyeonseong complained or not, Hyeonju was done talking. There was nothing more to say. Hyeonseong refocused on her meal.

As soon as the meal ended, Hyeonju and Hyeonyeong headed to Hyeonju’s room, while Hyeonseong prepared to go out.

There was not much to prepare. Most necessary items were stored in Infinite Corridor, so there was nothing else to pack.

What Hyeonseong did instead was create a few more empty compartments inside Infinite Corridor. To run skill experiments, she needed at least two compartments.

“Oh, I should move this too.”

Lastly, Hyeonseong took out a bag of walnuts she had bought yesterday from the miscellaneous-storage compartment and tossed it into one of the newly created empty compartments. She had bought them specifically for skill testing.

Once the compartment setup and item transfer were finished, Hyeonju and Hyeonyeong came back out to the living room. Hyeonju immediately left for her alchemy workshop.

Hyeonseong headed with Hyeonyeong to the headquarters building of the guild Hyeonyeong ran—the Ten Thousand Swords Guild.

When they arrived at the guild building, guild members who recognized Hyeonyeong all greeted her.

“Guild Master, you’re here?”

“Wasn’t today your day off?”

“Hyeonseong-ssi, long time no see.”

Since she was with her, Hyeonseong received greetings as well. Many of the faces were familiar.

Quite a few of the dungeons Hyeonseong had worked as a porter in were ones Hyeonyeong had arranged. Because of that, she knew many of her guild members reasonably well.

After exchanging casual greetings, they headed to one of the underground training halls.

Perhaps because Hyeonyeong had contacted them in advance, the training hall they arrived at was completely empty and neatly prepared.

“By the way. I asked you for this, but are you really sure?”

Hyeonseong asked Hyeonyeong as she locked the training hall door.

She had requested World of Ten Thousand Swords so she could practice skills discreetly, but that skill consumed a tremendous amount of mana just to deploy.

It was an expensive skill to use just to help research someone else’s ability.

“It’s fine. Hyeonju gave me potions. And for weaker skills, we don’t even need World of Ten Thousand Swords—this training hall can handle them.”

Hyeonyeong replied casually while looking at her tablet.

“Right, they said this place can withstand up to B-rank?”

“If the range is small, even A-rank is fine.”

She answered while operating the tablet.

“Should I turn off the cameras and recording devices?”

Hyeonyeong asked. She appeared to be checking the facility status. Hyeonseong told her to do so.

‘It’s better to avoid leaving records as much as possible.’

Even if a loose-lipped Constellation talked, having hard evidence or not made a big difference.

More people than expected did not fully trust words alone without physical proof—it was a natural human tendency.

After hearing Hyeonseong’s answer, Hyeonyeong tapped the tablet a few more times. Electronic tones sounded in the training hall as video and other recording functions shut down.

“All recording devices are off. Nothing else to prepare, right?”

Hyeonyeong asked, slipping the tablet into her bag.

“I finished everything at home.”

All the basic preparation had already been done. If she needed more space inside Infinite Corridor later, she could simply adjust the skill settings on the fly.

After hearing her reply, Hyeonyeong drew her sword and took her position. Hyeonseong moved to face her.

“Then let’s start. What should I use first?”

Hyeonyeong asked once they stood at a suitable distance.

“Let’s start with something light.”

She needed to figure out what kinds of skill forms she could handle. To do that, it was best to start with lower-level skills by type.

“Alright, I’ll try basic slashes and thrusts first.”

Hyeonyeong gripped her sword firmly. Hyeonseong nodded and opened an empty compartment of Infinite Corridor.

Hyeonyeong swung her sword toward the open space. The attack had far less force than usual—around D to C-rank by feel.

The light slash and thrust bounced off. No skill card was generated.

“How was it? It felt like it just blocked them.”

Hyeonyeong asked, sheathing her sword.

“You’re right. Physical attacks without mana just get repelled.”

“Yeah, that makes sense.”

“But if it can repel attacks like this, that alone is pretty useful.”

“True. You could use it like a shield when an attack is hard to dodge.”

Hyeonyeong nodded in agreement.

Infinite Corridor required no mana cost to open. As long as it was within range, Hyeonseong could open it in whatever form she wanted.

That meant she could comfortably use it to block close-range attacks in emergencies.

“Then the question is what kind of effect physical impacts have on the inside of the space…”

“Doesn’t that not matter as long as you use empty compartments?”

Hyeonyeong asked.

“That’s true, but it’s still better to confirm.”

Hyeonseong replied as she opened the information on Infinite Corridor. One prepared compartment caught her eye—the one containing a bag of walnuts.

“Alright, then. Can you do the same attack again?”

Hyeonseong asked as she opened that compartment.

Hyeonyeong raised her sword again and struck toward the opening.

The attack was slightly stronger than before—clearly around C-rank. She must have judged that increasing the power slightly would still be safe.

Even so, the attack bounced off just like before.

This time, a different message appeared.

“How about now?”

“Looks like items inside really do get damaged, just like we thought.”

Hyeonseong answered and took out a walnut kernel, its shell cleanly removed, and tossed it to Hyeonyeong.

“That’s the result.”

“…You put that in there for testing?”

Hyeonyeong stared at the walnut kernel in her hand with a dubious look.

“It’d be a waste to break a perfectly good item. Wow, the shell really split cleanly.”

Hyeonseong marveled as she took out another walnut kernel.

The item description mentioned the shell being cleanly split, but seeing only the intact kernel left behind was still impressive.

“At around C-rank, something like a walnut should be completely pulverized… Did the force get reduced when it was repelled?”

She thought while chewing the walnut.

“There’s no one else who would use you as a nutcracker.”

“Obviously. Anyone else would be chasing me with a sword for my head. And this is a skill experiment.”

Hyeonseong replied calmly, popping another walnut into her mouth.

“Want one?”

“No, I’m good.”

Hyeonyeong refused immediately.

“Anyway, we’ve confirmed that items inside can be damaged.”

“Seems so. Do you think the degree of damage changes with power?”

Hyeonseong steered the conversation back to skills.

“Probably. When you swallowed that breath yesterday, it warned you that everything inside could be destroyed if you weren’t careful.”

The juvenile Flightless Wyvern’s breath had been an A-rank skill—and she had swallowed two at once.

If there had been items inside at the time, they would have been completely destroyed.

“That means they’d need upper-tier A-rank durability, and I don’t have anything like that.”

“Yeah, not many items can withstand A-rank attacks.”

Hyeonyeong nodded.

“Then shall we move on to mana-infused attacks?”

Hyeonyeong asked. Hyeonseong nodded and opened an empty compartment.

This time, a blade coated in aura struck the entrance of Infinite Corridor. The result was the same as before—it was repelled, and no skill card was created.

“It swallowed the barrier, but not this.”

Considering it had swallowed the juvenile Flightless Wyvern’s barrier, it seemed like aura on a weapon might be removable in a similar way—but Hyeonyeong’s blade was still coated in aura.

“Is it a difference in how it’s structured… like something that surrounds versus something applied?”

She wanted to test further, but she only had one person helping. Without more skill samples, that was the limit of speculation for now.

They moved on to the next attack type. This time, it was a projectile sword-energy attack.

As Hyeonyeong swung her sword, white sword energy formed and flew toward the entrance of Infinite Corridor.

The moment the sword energy collided, the space swallowed it whole. The absorbed energy was stored as a skill card.

Hyeonseong checked the stored item’s information first. Since the attack had been deliberately weakened, the skill rank was set at C.

She took out the skill card from her inventory and showed it to Hyeonyeong. Hyeonyeong examined the information.

“So this is how it gets stored. Can we try using it?”

Hyeonyeong’s curiosity was obvious. Since this was also Hyeonseong’s first time obtaining a sword technique as a one-time card, Hyeonseong decided to test it immediately.