Moon's Labyrinths

The bright light of the Diamond rank Gems encased the Mayor’s office. The Mayor had taken out more than Diamond rank Gems; he also placed several Devices and Sapphire rank Gems, the second-highest ranked Jewel Gems, on the table.

However, the Diamond rank Gems were the sole focus of everyone's attention.

“This is the first time I’ve seen a Diamond rank Gem.”

“Me too. Mother never had one.”

Emily and Tim looked like the kids in a fantasy novel who had just seen a fairy. They stared at the Diamond rank Gems with eyes full of curiosity.

Of course, Sungyoon and Grace behaved similarly. Only Russell and Bruce didn’t show as much interest as the others. Both of them had a Diamond rank Gem.

“We plan on distributing all the Devices and Gems that we recently acquired. However, we believe that the highest rank Gems and Devices should go to you all as you will be fighting the hardest from the frontlines.”

“Should we thank you for trusting us so much? Or should we cry that we’re being pushed toward the frontline?”

Everyone laughed at Bruce’s lame joke.

“I don’t need it.”

Aruwen was the first to speak.

“I won’t be the one fighting the truly dangerous beings. In my opinion, the Gems should be given to the four of them, who possess the special Gems.”

“He has a point. I’m also fine with it.”

Aruwen and Plu-El represented the descendants of Planote. They were the first ones to give up on their rights to the Diamond rank Gems.

“I’m also fine. I already have one. Also, as Mr. Aruwen said, the Knight’s party will be thrown into the battlefield where the fight is the fiercest. I think it's a good idea to give them the Gems.”

“Shit! Whatever. This is really such a wasted opportunity for me, but I agree.”

Russell and Bruce also supported Aruwen's suggestion.

The eyes of Tim, Emily, and Grace started to slowly move as they looked at the three bright Diamond rank Gems. In the past, Tim and Emily wanted to enter the Great Labyrinth to fulfill their mother’s dream. They could've never anticipated that they would be able to own a Diamond rank Gem one day. It was the same for Grace. She had seen Russell’s Diamond rank Gem, but she never expected to get the opportunity to own a Diamond rank Gem.

These were the Diamond rank Gems that couldn’t be acquired using money, political power, or rank. It would be a lie if the three of them said that they didn’t covet these Gems.

They looked at each other to check if they were thinking the same thing.

“As expected, Mr. Sungyoon should—”

“I want you to divide these amongst the three of you.”

Tim had been about to speak as the representative, but Sungyoon cut him off.

“What? Mr. Sungyoon, you should take—”

“No. It's better for you all to have it.”

As he spoke those words, Sungyoon lifted his arm to show them a bracelet type Device that was uniquely designed to spiral upward on his arm. However, if one closely looked at it, one would realize that it wasn’t Sungyoon’s original Device. The slots of this Device were higher in rank. This Device had thirty universal slots for Sapphire rank Gems.

Sungyoon had picked up this Device in the fight to recapture Armstrong city. Except for this Device, everything he had picked up in the battle had been unusable.

That was why the Mayor had given it to Sungyoon, and Sungyoon hadn’t put up much of a fight in equipping it.

“Wow~!”

Bruce was baffled by what he saw, Russell let out a laugh in disbelief, and Plu-El's and Aruwen's eyes turned round.

The Mayor and Sungyoon's party members already knew about the Device, yet every time they saw it, they would be surprised.

Most of the Gems slotted into the Device were Sapphire rank Gems. A few weren’t, but they were still high Jewel rank Gems.

“What the hell is that?”

Russell asked.

“They evolved in the previous battle. Maybe I killed a lot of monsters or gathered enough EXP beforehand. Due to the last battle, all my Gems evolved.”

“I can see why that’s the case. You killed a lot of monsters. Above all else, you fought Glaia.”

“Now that I think about it, you applied the killing blow on Glaia, right?”

As they spoke those words, Bruce and Russell looked down at Sungyoon’s bracelet.

“Ah. Fuck! I won't be the strongest Connector anymore.”

Bruce scratched his head.

Diamond rank Gems were rare, so rare that there were only seven of them on Earth. Moreover, about half of them had been lost in Gagarin·Yang city's fall. They had gone missing with the Connectors killed there.

Russell and Bruce possessed only one Diamond rank Gem each, so Sapphire rank Gems were part of their main arsenal. However, they didn’t have as many Sapphire Rank Gems as Sungyoon.

“He was never the strongest. Let him spout his nonsense.”

“Nonsense? I’m stronger than you, bitch!”

Russell’s eyebrows twitched a little bit.

“When this war is done, let’s fight a one-on-one battle.”

“Do you think I’ll be scared?”

The two bared their teeth as they growled at each other.

“Please! Let’s calm down for now. You can fight to your hearts' content when the war is over.”

The Mayor stepped forward to de-escalate the situation, and Bruce and Russell looked away from each other. Their fight resembled one amongst children on a playground. However, this was a usual occurrence between the two.

Russell once again turned to Sungyoon.

“First, let me congratulate you. In terms of Gems, you're on the same level as us. You might be stronger.”

“He still doesn’t have a Diamond rank Gem.”

The last bit of Bruce’s pride made him speak those words. However, Russell ruthlessly stomped on that remaining pride.

“The Knight has the Royal Gem.”

Bruce grumbled in a low voice, but he backed off.

“It's all thanks to the Evolution Gem.”

“I know a couple of Connectors who possess Gems that evolve other Gems. However, I’ve never seen anyone evolve so many Gems to such a ridiculous degree.”

A combination of luck and fighting strong foes had allowed Sungyoon to increase the rank of his evolution Gem.

“Which one is your Evolution Gem?”

“This one.”

Sungyoon pointed at a Gem.

“What? Isn’t it a Ruby rank Gem? Isn't it that evolution Gems are unable to evolve Gems above their own ranks?”

Ruby rank Gems were the fourth-highest ranked Gems amongst the Jewel rank Gems, while Sapphire rank Gems were the second-highest. A Ruby rank Gem couldn't evolve a Gem to the Sapphire Rank.

“I received help from this guy.”

Sungyoon pointed at one of the Sapphire rank Gems.

“This Gem is capable of raising the ability of another Gem equipped on the same Device. It can raise the Gem two ranks above the slot's rank.”

“I see. You raised the ability of the Evolution Gem by two ranks, essentially making it a Sapphire rank Gem.”

“Yes. In the beginning, it was an Emerald rank Gem, but the ability of the evolution rank Gem made it into Sapphire rank.”

Bruce finally realized why Sungyoon had said he didn’t need the Diamond rank Gems.

All these Sapphire rank Gems were enough to make Sungyoon plenty powerful. On top of that, he had the Royal Gem, which allowed him to tap the source of magical energy when fighting an officer of the monsters.

However, it didn’t end there.

“You plan on raising all your Gems to Diamond rank?”

“If I have the opportunity, I'm willing to try.”

Bruce once again looked at Sungyoon’s Gems.

If all those Gems became Diamond rank...

“You’ll be a beast.”

It would be the birth of a Connector so powerful that Bruce couldn’t even fathom it.

Tim, Grace, and Emily looked at Sungyoon.

“It seems the Knight is correct. It’ll be best to give the Diamond rank Gems to you. He's capable of evolving his Gems to Diamond rank.”

The three of them continued to look at Sungyoon.

“Are you really sure about this?”

Tim asked as the representative of the group. Sungyoon chuckled as he nodded.

“I really don’t mind. Also, it's not like I’m giving it up for nothing. I already told the Mayor what I needed.”

As soon as he spoke those words, the Mayor handed something to Sungyoon.

“This isn’t as valuable as a Diamond rank Gem, but the probability of finding this item is also incredibly low. However, we were able to find one like it since we killed so many monsters.”

It was a bracelet type Device, which was similar to Sungyoon's current Device that spiraled up his arm. This Device looked like an arm guard. Unlike the single spiral form of his current Device, this one had three strands that spiraled upward.

Sungyoon lifted the Device with a satisfied smile.

This Device had a total of thirty-five slots. The number was high, but Sungyoon loved the slots' rank the most.

“All thirty-five are universal Diamond rank slots. Even if you evolve all your Gems, you’ll be able to use them with this Device.”

This Device full of Diamond rank slots was more precious to Sungyoon than the Diamond rank Gems.

‘I’ve made all my preparation with this.’

Sungyoon started to transfer his Gems into the new Device, then put the Device on.

Was it just a feeling? It felt much more comfortable than his previous Device.

“Then, we should choose our Gems.”

Grace took a step forward. Nervousness and excitement were written all over her face.

Of the three Diamond rank Gems, one was cross-shaped, one was triangle-shaped, and the last was square-shaped. The cross signified a shield, the triangle denoted attack magic, and the square indicated support magic.

“It lines up exactly with our specialization.”

It was as Grace had said. Tim was in charge of defense, Grace dealt the high damage with her attack spells, and Emily supported all of them with her support magic. The Gems were suitable for the three of them. They didn’t even have to decide anything. Grace took the triangle-shaped Gem.

“Ah. What if...”

Tim hesitatingly moved toward the Diamond rank Gem. However, he didn't immediately pick up the cross-shaped Gem.

“What if we aren't capable of activating it? What if we destroy it in the process?”

Puhk!

When Tim spoke those unlucky words, Emily kicked his shin.

***

Thankfully, Tim’s ominous words never came true. The three of them easily activated their Diamond rank Gems. As soon as he activated his Gem, Tim let out a sigh of relief.

“Congratulations. The three of you successfully activated your Gems.”

The Mayor congratulated them. It seemed the three of them really liked their new Gems as they kept looking at them.

Aside from the Diamond rank Gems, they had also received Sapphire rank Gems and Devices capable of slotting the new Gems. That was why they were on cloud nine.

“Their names are no longer known to us, but these are the items left behind by warriors who had fought Grenoid. Please don’t let their deaths be in vain. Use their items to the best of your abilities.”

Hearing Plu-El's words, Sungyoon looked down at his Device and Gems once again.

‘This is the equipment used by Planote's warriors, who were eaten by Grenoid.’

In the past, Grenoid had tried to slaughter humanity, and in the process, it had eaten massive numbers of warriors. Grenoid ate their Gems and Devices alongside them, and these items became part of the monsters born from Grenoid’s body. According to Plu-El, this was why monsters dropped Devices and Gems.

Therefore, Plu-El and the descendants of Planote felt a deep sense of respect when they used this equipment.

Sungyoon even saw Aruwen pay his respects toward those who came before him.

“Please don't worry about it. We won’t embarrass them in how we use it.”

Grace firmly answered, while Tim and Emily nodded.

Plu-El let out a bright laugh as she accepted their intentions.

‘It's our turn to go on the offensive now.’

Sungyoon thought as he looked down at his Device.

Until now, humanity had been on the defensive. They had attacked Armstrong city, but they had only moved to regain what they had lost. Moreover, the city was a crucial place for humanity's defense.

But now, they had to execute an all-out attack.

‘We have no idea what those bastards have prepared for us.’

Despite the uncertainty, they couldn’t stand back and wait for humanity's extinction. That was why they planned on attacking in a week.