Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant novel Chapter 309

“That’s really the destination?”

Just as that thought passed through his mind, the feather set Su-ho down atop Ieodo.

Upon arriving, the wings shrank back and returned to their original, small feather form.

When he checked the item info, nothing had changed. It was the same as before being used.

“I thought it was a consumable, but maybe it’s not.”

Well, it didn’t really matter either way.

Even if the feather had been consumable, what truly mattered wasn’t its transportation ability—it was the location stored within.

Su-ho returned the feather to his inventory and looked around.

Shwaaa—

Waves crashed around him.

Ieodo wasn’t an island.

Technically, it was an underwater reef.

It was easiest to think of it as a rock formation below the surface.

The reason it was called an “island” was more out of convention than fact—legally, it wasn’t considered an island under international law.

Yet people thought of Ieodo as a real island.

Especially in the past, it was often treated with a mythical air—because when the sea was calm, it was submerged, and only when waves rose high did it briefly appear.

Su-ho gazed around for a while, eventually spotting the unique steel structures installed on Ieodo.

These weren’t just any steel structures—they were part of a marine science base.

The reason a marine science station was here was obvious: Ieodo belonged to South Korea.

Of course, China had long claimed the rock as theirs.

But Ieodo lay within Korea’s Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ), so ➤ NоvеⅠight ➤ (Read more on our source) Korea had built this base to exercise sovereign rights.

Looking at international law, Ieodo clearly belonged to Korea.

Even so, China, much like Japan claiming sovereignty over Dokdo, had continued to claim Ieodo for a long time—even after the Great Cataclysm.

“That was a pain in the ass.”

But eventually, something made China stop talking about Ieodo altogether.

It was the appearance of a massive Gate near Ieodo in the mid-late stages of the Cataclysm.

Su-ho looked toward the place once dubbed the “Ieodo Gate,” lost in old memories.

“Thinking back on that...”

Gates didn’t only form on land.

They formed in the sea, underground, even in the sky.

Which made the land-based Gates seem like the easy ones—at least you could walk to them.

In that sense, the Ieodo Gate had been the worst.

The only place to stand nearby was the marine science base—and with the Gate right there, the only ways to reach it were by sea or air.

And that wasn’t all.

It was a massive Gate, constantly spewing out monsters without pause.

Due to its enormous size, the magical energy it emitted stirred up never-ending waves around it.

Waves so large that any boat would flip instantly.

Still, it had been cleared in the end.

After all, the system never handed Players an impossible Gate.

“After it was cleared, the marine base was completely destroyed.”

Of course, it wasn’t exactly intact even now.

Even before the Gate appeared, the base had gone through various incidents. Now, aside from the steel frame and helipad, most of it was torn apart.

As Su-ho wandered through the base, indulging in nostalgia, something new caught his eye—a strange stone pillar he hadn’t seen before.

“A stone pillar?”

What was this?

It stood about waist-high, protruding alone from between the steel beams like a dandelion growing through asphalt.

He didn’t remember seeing it before.

Of course, he could be mistaken.

No matter how perfect his memory was, he could only recall what he had seen.

His mental library was vast, but it didn’t contain what had never entered.

Su-ho examined the pillar closely.

Its surface was rough and jet-black.

It resembled basalt.

After visually inspecting it, he activated his skills.

[Mana Perception activated.]

[Eye of the Blacksmith activated.]

There was nothing better for scanning and investigating than those two.

Only then did the details of the jet-black pillar begin to emerge.

But the usual weak points revealed by the Blacksmith’s Eye didn’t show up.

Instead, one key feature stood out.

A hole?

Yes, it was a hole.

Rank: S

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