Chapter 19. Rachel and the stars, Isaac’s Shinsoo control

After introducing herself, Rachel approached unconscious Bam that was on the bed and examined his condition.

Observing this, Isaac could see clear and honest concern on her face. Rachel seemed to worry about Bam or feel guilty about what happened to him.

'It doesn't look like acting. Did she actually… care about Bam at the very beginning?' Isaac thought to himself.

After Rachel sat down next to the two of them, Khun asked her, "Did you know Bam well?"

"Yeah… I have known him since before I came into the Tower."

"It's amazing how you two ended up taking the same test," Khun commented.

Isaac had his own thoughts about that, but he decided to not speak up.

Rachel ignored Khun's comment and said, "Bam… was a lonely boy. He was always alone… and lonely. For most of his life, the only friend he had was me. When he heard that I was going up the Tower… He cried and told me not to go…"

"But I felt him… and entered the Tower. I thought… I would never meet him again… But he… appeared in front of me." Rachel looked at the two and continued, "I couldn't take Bam's crown, so I decided to help him. Well, I wasn't a big help. My teammates were the ones who helped."

"By the way, can I have that?" Rachel suddenly pointed at the basket with bananas at the side with a soft smile.

At this, Isaac wanted to roll his eyes. 'Did she come here to eat bananas? Can't she be a bit serious…'

"Oh, help yourself," Khun replied.

Rachel smiled in slight embarrassment, then picked up a banana from the stand and slowly peeled it off.

Seeing this happen, it seemed to Isaac as if it was the first time she opened a banana in her life, even though she clearly knew what it was.

'Did they not have bananas in the cave?... Well, it wouldn't be strange if they didn't. At least, perhaps it was a luxury for her, since she looks like just an ordinary maid from a medieval world,' Isaac thought. 

After taking a bite of the banana with a curious expression, Rachel continued her story: "But I just made things worse. He got hurt because of me…"

"Bam can't go up the Tower because of my existence. Because his wish is not to go up the Tower, but to be with me… If I stay with him, he won't go any further. And I know he wouldn't let me go."

"So, Mr. Isaac and Mr. Khun. Please don't tell Bam about me."

Isaac was silent, having already expected this.

But Khun didn't hide his confusion and asked, "What do you mean don't tell him? You don't want us to tell Bam about who you are?"

"Yes."

After glancing at Isaac's expressionless face, Khun slightly wrinkled his eyebrows at Rachel and said, "But… He wants to be with you so much. Why can't you both stay here… together?"

Rachel's expression became dark when she heard this, before a bright smile appeared on her face. "Have you two heard about the legend of the top of the Tower?"

Khun asked, "The top of the tower? You mean the legend that says you can see the real sky and stars when you get to the top of the Tower?"

Looking at the two with a soft smile, Rachel said, "Yes. Even since I first heard about it when I was young… I always dreamed of myself watching the stars at the top of the Tower. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw the infinite sky with numerous stars."

"It was so beautiful even in my imagination that I wondered if I might go blind if I saw this in person. Just the thought of it made my heart pound. My goal in life is to reach the top of the Tower someday."

"I really want to be with Bam… That's why I didn't take the crown and chose to stay here… But even now I can see the stars when I close my eyes. Such beautiful light fills my heart… And I can't sleep at night."

Isaac looked at that Rachel as he entered a deep thought after hearing all that she had to say.

Before this, he didn't look too deeply into these details of the manhwa and certainly didn't care about Rachel's motivations, since he had much more important things to do like polishing his Magecraft. Reading fantasy was just his side hobby.

At this moment, he was deeply confused because Rachel's actions in the manhwa made little sense to him. If she wanted to reach the top of the Tower, shouldn't she be making use of Bam instead of pushing him away? She was certainly capable of doing that and knew about Bam's potential.

However, he didn't speak up and simply thought about it. There was no need to mix things up, and doing so would only make him lose out.

At least, he noticed that at times Rachel seemed to be lying while speaking.

For example, saying that she wanted to be with Bam, that was a lie.

She was worried about his safety, he saw that, but she didn't want to be with him.

While Isaac was pondering over these things, Khun agreed to her request.

Following that, Isaac agreed as well.

After Rachel left, Khun looked at Isaac and said, "So what do you think? She wants to reach the top of the Tower to see the stars… Quite a silly dream."

There was never anyone who had ever reached the true top of the Tower, so how could an ordinary girl like her hope to achieve it? It was simply a delusion.

"Well, to each their own." Isaac shrugged his shoulders.

…

After that, Isaac went to visit the training facilities that were available to the Regulars.

What he was interested in first was simply a spacious empty room where he could go all out.

After asking a guide robot for the most reinforced training room they have, he was led to a training room aimed for E-rank Regulars.

The Regulars on the Floor of Tests are all only ranked F. The room reinforced to this level, for Regulars of floors 21-30, seemed to be aimed at geniuses.

Luckily, it was a private reinforced room that he could use for himself. 

'Private or not, I'm sure I'm still being watched.'

Isaac put these thoughts aside and began testing what he could do with his Shinsoo on a black-gray striking wall.

He didn't care about being watched. It should be no secret for Yu Han Sung that he's an Irregular, given that they have Hwa Ryun on their side. Whether he appears a little bit stronger or weaker should make little difference.

Still in his casual clothes, Isaac presented his empty palm and gathered crimson electric Shinsoo on top of it.

A moment later, he pushed out his palm and a singular lightning current shot out from his hand, directly striking the gray wall ten meters away with a loud bang.

According to the plaque, it was a highly reinforced wall aimed for Regulars to strike, serving the role of a striking dummy.

As a result of the strike, a small hole formed in the wall, causing bits and pieces to fall off.

Isaac didn't care about the damage, but focused on what he was able to do with Shinsoo.

'That was easy.'

The control of lightning came to him easily as if it was also Mordred's natural ability!

Issac experimented for a bit and quickly grasped the best way to use this kind of attack.

Using Shinsoo Burst skill as a base to control Lightning, he could send out a powerful lightning strike. It was a single electric current that would travel in a somewhat zig-zag fashion and strike the target, causing an electric discharge and explosion on impact.

Isaac called this move simply: [Lightning Strike].

For Lightning Shinsoo control, it will probably be his most basic move.

This attack was slightly stronger than his normal sword strike in case he didn't use Shinsoo Burst. It was very quick too; quick to cast and quick to hit the target.

Another basic move that he could use was a spherical Shinsoo Bang of electric Shinsoo.

He called it [Thunderbolt].

Thunderbolt was even quicker and more destructive than Lightning Strike, but took a little bit longer to prepare unlike the semi-instant Lightning Strike.

Because it was connected to his control of lightning, Isaac activated the Shinsoo Burst skill and began to experiment with it while zipping around the room.

He quickly learned more about it.

Firstly, his Shinsoo Burst skill has two components to it.

The first is that it can be used to reinforce the body from the inside using electric Shinsoo, boosting his strength, speed and defense. The effect of this boost for him seemed to be around two times.

Secondly, it can also be used by him to cause sudden explosions of electricity to propel himself in one direction, to suddenly accelerate or to suddenly change direction, to overload his sword with Lightning Shinsoo and also to control lightning.

Perhaps because this skill has these two different functions that have to be controlled simultaneously to fight optimally, Isaac already discovered that he is able to create and manipulate two different Shinsoo attacks at the same time!

At this moment, he held a round thunderball in his left hand while crimson electric currents danced on top of his right.

'It basically means that I can control two 'Baangs' right from the start, huh? That's very convenient!'

He already read up enough on Shinsoo Control to recall that the basic unit of Shinsoo is called a 'Baang'.

He can already control two Baangs!

Isaac continued experimenting.

Controlling two Baangs, he sent out two crimson Lightning Strikes at the same time.

With a loud bang, the two currents struck the striking dummy together. 

Isaac could feel the power behind that attack. The resulting damage was around twice as much as before as the two lightning strikes overlapped.

Even so, the damage on the striking wall was not as severe as Isaac hoped for.

[Damn, it's only a wall for some E-rank Regulars, but it isn't easy to damage at all,] Mordred commented from a Clarent that laid at the side.

'Yeah. Random attacks can't cause much damage. It seems they made it especially durable. But I'm still disappointed with the strength of my Shinsoo attacks.'

Following that, Isaac continued experimenting.

He noticed that the strength of his Shinsoo attacks was considerably lagging behind what he could do when relying on his body and using his sword.

Even when it came to the [Shinsoo Burst] skill, he knew that he wasn't using it to the full extent of proficiency. Even though it was a strong skill ranked at A, he simply lacked the ability to use it at full power.

'My Shinsoo Burst skill gives me a double up in strength. This by itself is amazing. It nearly puts me at the level of a legitimate Servant. But what Khun did with his Shinsoo Boost in the arena was way more than doubling his speed, but more like multiplying it by ten times!'

The base of his body was way stronger than Khun's, so perhaps that played a role. But it still appeared that there was a clear room for improvement in his ability to use Shinsoo.

According to Mordred, [Mana Burst A] only gave her up to 25% boost in terms of maximum consistent speed or strength, so Isaac's version already received a huge improvement of four times when converted to one that uses Shinsoo.

Even so, it seemed to be way below what a Shinsoo Reinforcement skill should be able to provide to someone inside the Tower.

In other words, his current skill at using Shinsoo was somewhat weak. As a result, his Shinsoo techniques were weak.

'If instead of boosting my strength by two times using Shinsoo Burst, I could boost it by ten times or more, just what would it be like?'

Isaac felt a bit dazed. If he could use his Shinsoo Burst at this level, his resulting strength would be ridiculous!

He would be at a completely different level.

Unfortunately, his current ability to use Shinsoo was what limited him to only receiving a two times boost. Perhaps it was the result of him being a Saber class.

'It feels stingy. I will need to train how to use Shinsoo inside the Tower to bring out the most out of the Shinsoo Burst skill. But I'll take it, whatever. My talent for Shinsoo is high, and as long as the Shinsoo Burst is a reinforcement skill with top-grade potential, it's all good.'

Since he had only just entered the Tower and had his first contact with Shinso, he accepted it.

If he complained that he was too underpowered in his situation, he would feel way too ashamed.

His starting point was still very good thanks to the Grail. What was most important was that he had the potential for growth.

At this time, Isaac clearly knew how he could improve - improve his Shinsoo control and his proficiency of using the Shinsoo Burst skill to be able to receive a way stronger boost. If he could improve his Shinsoo boost from two times to at least three or four times, it would already be a huge improvement.

That day Isaac experimented with other ways to manipulate Shinsoo.

Isaac could see that when it came to pure Shinsoo attacks that involved Shinsoo without a quality, his ability to control Shinsoo with Lightning quality seemed to spill over and also made him skilled at those to a decent degree.

Just like Laure, he could already send out long-range Shinsoo attacks, and he could probably beat him at it. If he ended up in the Wave Controller class for some reason, he would still do very well.

That time in the training room, Isaac also tested for the first time Clarent's Amplification skill that can double his strength.

When he did that, power began to flow into him from Clarent through his connection with Mordred, and his strength, speed, defense and even Shinsoo strength all doubled!

Because all of these were raised by two together, at a glance it increased his striking power and effective combat strength by a lot more than just two times!

Apart from the physical strengthening, the Shinsoo he could control became stronger, so his Lightning Strikes also became stronger. His Shinsoo Burst ability also followed suit.

The only thing that didn't change was the number of Banngs he could control. It was still two. It seemed to be unrelated to the strength of Shinsoo he can use, but something mental.

Isaac asked Mordred, 'Saber, do you think the strength of the Amplification skill will keep being useful when I also grow stronger?' 

[Yeah, I think so. At least, when I boost you now, it seems like I'm only pouring a little bit of my strength into you. I could pour in way more, but if I did… I feel your body would probably explode.]

'Ah, I see. That's a relief.'

[Yeah. By the way, in this state you're probably already twice as strong as I was during the war. It's crazy!]

Although his base stats were only 50% of the original, the strength of Mana Burst was enhanced. Once he used Shinsoo Burst to double up his stats, and then his strength was increased by two times on top of that thanks to Clarent, it was a huge power-up that made his raw strength around twice that of a Servant!

With this level of strength, in his strongest state with Clarent, Isaac could easily massacre the E-rank reinforced striking wall as if it was a piece of cardboard.

But that was with Clarent's Enhancement.

Without Clarent's boost, he could still cause huge gushes in the wall with light effort, but when completely without Clarent, it wasn't as easy for him to cause significant damage. 

He discovered that a significant portion of his strength is Clarent being his weapon.

It has the effect of concentrating Shinsoo when he strikes, making his blows stronger. That's what he seemed to have relied on to slash the eel's armored head in half with just his own strength.

It seemed that without his sword and with half a Servant's strength, he'd only rank somewhere around D-rank as a Regular at most.

'I need to improve my Shinsoo control. If I do, things will be very different,' Isaac thought.

After Isaac finally finished experimenting, he returned to his room to resume reading the books he had and continued practicing with Shinsoo maniupation to try and grasp Displacement Magecraft and to improve his Shinsoo Burst skill.

***

Third day of the break.

Shibisu joined Isaac and Khun again for breakfast in the cafeteria.

Isaac could feel various Regulars sometimes observing him like usual, which also included the two Jahad Princesses at times, but no one dared to approach him.

If he bumped into someone in the corridor, they would get out of his way.

Most of the time, Isaac read books on Shinsoo manipulation and practiced with Shinsoo by himself.

In this kind of manner, the entire third day of the break passed by as Isaac was staying in his room.

Bam still didn't wake up.

***

A day after the break.

The next morning all Regulars were called to a meeting room by Lero Ro through a voice announcement to learn the details of the next test.

"Long time no see, Regulars!" Lero Ro greeted the gathered. "Did you have enough rest? I know it wasn't long, but I hope you spent that time well."

"..."

Looking at the expressionless faces of most Regulars, Lero Ro smiled excitedly and added, "You all look very driven! Thanks to the break, I guess."

The Regulars were silent.

At a glance, everyone wanted to know what the next test was soon. There was no way they would be relaxed in this situation.

The only relaxed person was Isaac. That's because he already knew about the test not only from manhwa, but also from Khun who knew some vague information thanks to being from a Great Family.

While glancing around, Isaac noted that two out of three Regulars that were on Khun's allied team were not here. The giant black crow and the spooky black-haired little girl were missing. It seemed that Hwa Ryun got them good.

From among those three, only the swordsman with a mohawk was there.

"Very well. I hope you guys all do your best on the test that begins today! Well, I will explain to you the test that will begin now. The test you're taking this time is…" Lero Reo made a dramatic pause, before saying: "The Positioning Test!"