Volume 9 / Chapter 234
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
Cha Jun Sung bent over and punched the face of a bizarre looking 3-4m mutant. It's head split like a watermelon.
"Killed them all."
His immediate area is a field of corpses.
There are crushed mutants missing limbs everywhere.
He did this within minutes.
Kik!
A faint sound.
Cha Jun Sung's finger flicks out and tosses through the debris.
A scream coming from the throes of death. One of them must be alive.
"Phew. How much longer do I have to wait for them to find me? It would be easier if I could go to them."
[I cannot tell you their location.]
"I know."
Tyrant entered the mission.
That was already several weeks ago. He doesn't know what he's doing and where. He knows nothing other than that he had entered.
If he had known where Tyrant was, he would have gone and spied on him at the least.
Cha Jun Sung has nothing to do right now, so he is hunting mutants. He means to accumulate points while Tyrant makes his way here.
"It isn't easy finding useful ones."
He needs a lot of mutants if he is to take on Tyrant and the Rage guild. With his personality, he is likely to have come in with a full core.
10,000 levels B and C Lifers.
That is a powerful group even without Tyrant.
He needs to head off the number of heads. He is looking for a useful mutant species that live in groups, but they don't really catch his eye.
At the least, he wants level 5 mutants that live in groups of tens of thousands, but he has only seen useless ones until now.
There hasn't been progress for weeks.
He would want nothing more if there were things like the parasites from the Path of Blood, but it seems he had been lucky them.
"A single mutant is entirely useless if it isn't level 7."
Mutants, like humans, have individual characteristics.
There are different personalities within species as well. So what would happen if the species were different?
There will be problems if they are gathered into one area, even if they are managed well.
Level 7 is worth managing regardless of species when considering strength. There won't be many of them anyway, so it'll be a small group of elites.
It is an impossible goal because it's hard to even find one.
This is why Cha Jun Sung wants mutants that live in groups.
If he just takes out the head, the underlings will follow him naturally.
The suppression process is bothersome, it isn't impossible.
Cha Jun Sung reduced his 10m body into a fourth of the size. He only maintained his body during battle. Otherwise, he limited his consumption of energy.
He doesn't transform into human form.
He will maintain this form until this is all over. He cannot forget.
His role in Black Devil is the mutant.
Is it because he has gotten used to the battlesuit?
There's a strange sense of awareness when he is in this state. He intends to get rid of that feeling.
Cha Jun Sung is in mutant form, but he cannot lose his human habits. He only sleeps on the street and eats raw meat when he has to. Normally, he acted like an ordinary human.
He maintained his living habits. He is only externally a monster.
Less than an hour of sleep over several days is plenty, so he took care of that in derelict buildings or hotels. And Odin procured food for him.
Since Cha Jun Sung entered the mission, all he's done is eat, sleep, and play.
"This won't do."
For the past few days, he stopped hunting and locked himself in a residence to come up with a plan.
The plan isn't very special. Power enhancement is priority. He needs to find good fighters to take on the Rage guild members.
He went searching through everything in Path of Blood without complaint because he was looking for Odelia, but it isn't his duty right now.
He wandered around the area he had been initially summoned to, barely searching for them. There can only be a minimal number of mutants since the area he is working in is small.
"Get me my space compression bag."
[You've decided to use it.]
"What else can I do? I don't want to go searching around."
Good fighters. If he knows where mutants are gathered, he can just go looking for them. But he has to search through everything because he doesn't.
His stance changed. He tried to save his points before entering, but that resolve came crashing down once he entered.
Woong!
Odin connects the dimensions.
A summons gate opened in front of Cha Jun Sung and a small bag, his space compression bag, came out.
It has been filled with better items than what was in the one that he lost.
Papat!
Cha Jun Sung took his space compression bag and went to the top of the highest buildings where he was staying. Then he took out a few Universe Eyes.
"Let's use one first."
A Universe Eye became activated and shot into the sky. It ejected the hundred eyes and the search range immediately expanded to a 100km radius.
"I'll send two more out. Give me any two coordinates that overlap."
[355. 253. Southeast. 620. 962. Northeast. If they are installed according to this Universe Eye, this will have the best effect.]
Boom boom!
2 Universe Eyes fly to the locations Odin listed.
This method of installation was called the 'sandwich' in the virtual version.
The Universe Eyes will be installed if it is within the search range without having to go himself.
It is inefficient however. The search ranges overlap and cover areas that don't need to be included. It isn't a method used unless in special circumstances.
[2 hours estimated for installation at this flight speed. Will you search the area that has been installed first?]
"It's fine. I'll just do it all at once."
His normal PDA is inside the space compression bag. He can look at the hologram with that. There's no reason to look at it two or three times. He'll look at them all together.
[As you can see, there are three mutant groups that meet the search conditions. The Thirask herd, Poison herd, and Bomb Ant herd.]
They only found three mutant herds that live in groups even though he sent out 3 Universe Eyes.
The Thirask is a low level 5 lizard that is a half size larger than an elephant. Its main attacks are through its poisonous teeth and tail. There are about 3000 to 4000 of them living near the river.
The Poison herd are poisonous butterflies. Middle level 5. They took control of a city and are stuck all over the buildings. They number about half of that of the Thirask. They possess several types of poison and are a flying species, so they are weak against the strong and strong against the weak. One of them can kill hundreds.
Lastly, unlike the previously discovered two mutant groups, the Bomb Ant are low level 4 red and black ants that are as large as humans.
Like its name 'Bomb,' Bomb Ants are a suicide team that specialize in self-destruction.
Its explosive power is similar to that of a grenade. That power cannot destroy a basic type battlesuit, but their strength is volume.
If water drops keep falling, they can penetrate a rock. Nothing could be worse than having dozens of them swarm in everywhere.
They live deep in a cave, and it is impossible to figure out how many of them there are.
They live in a place that makes it hard for the Universe Eye or the hundred eyes.
"Take the Thirask out. I don't like it because it's gross."
He is joking.
The Thirask can't fight properly if there is no water. If their supply of water is cut off for a long time, they will dry up and die. There are a lot of restrictions.
The Poison herd is a no-go as well. There are too few of them. If they go into aerial battle with thousands of battlesuit Lifers, they'll be overwhelmed as soon as they strike. The efficacy of poison that only works against living things falls to the characteristics of mechanical armor. Only acid poison powder would work, but that won't do the job.
"Let's go with the Bomb Ants."
They are low level and he doesn't know how many of them there are, but ants tend to be high in numbers. In severe cases, hundreds of thousands of them live together.
Even in the virtual version, he's never heard of Bomb Ants living in numbers of hundreds or thousands. Their main attack is only suicide, but that depends on how they're used.
[We have seen level 5 and 6 mutants in original form near the Bomb Ant hill, using them as a source of food.]
"Are they allies?"
They could have created a tacit alliance in order to prevent the expansion of the Bomb Ants' power. They are managing the balance so that it does not come crashing down.
"The distance?"
[Coordinates 725.522. They are 170 km northeast.]
"It's far."
Wings form on Cha Jun Sung's back. They aren't that difficult to control, but he has gotten better at it. It is slow, but he is able to fly. It'll be better for him to fly there and get a chance to practice.
/ /
Volume 9 / Chapter 235
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
Cha Jun Sung arrived at his destination and folded his wings.
He plummeted hundreds of meters to the ground, the ground cracked and a crater formed. It was an impactful entrance.
He is on a large mountain between several small cities.
The mountain is surrounded by the small cities, so it is a location in which it is naturally easy to get surrounded.
Is this why he was being watched by the mutants?
"I'm here."
A level 8 roar that could not be the result of a living organism's vocal chords, resounding like several loud speakers combined, swept through the cities and mountain.
Mutants experienced a phenomenon of mental decay and stopped what they were doing, trembling in fear.
There are no level 7s nearby. The strongest mutant is level 6.
An unimaginable gap.
They all looked up.
The Bomb Ants detected the arrival of a top predator and dug deep into their caves, hiding without any movement.
Cha Jun Sung's body grows smaller.
He became the size of his body when he is a human. He is going to go into the ant hill.
He can't go in with his normal form because the hole is small.
Cha Jun Sung roared again. He did it inside the ant hill this time, so the effect was amplified and spread to all corners.
The terrain is complicated.
The scale of the cave is impressive. There must be hundreds or even thousands of rooms. It is fitting for the habits of ants.
When Cha Jun Sung went around the ant hill freely, the Bomb Ants began to weakly express their hostility. They seem like they might attack at any moment.
"Queen, Queen Bomb Ant."
Cha Jun Sung passes food warehouses and hatcheries where they breed disgusting larva and newborn Bomb Ants.
The places are repeated, so he is getting confused as to whether he has already been somewhere or not. He didn't care however, because it was fairly interesting.
He kept searching, and half a day passed after he entered the cave. There are still a lot of places he needs to look, but he is getting used to it.
"Huh?"
Bang!
He didn't have a chance to even react. A Bomb Ant approached him on the wall, stuck to Cha Jun Sung's back, and exploded. The gunpowder is different. It is smoky and smells bloody. The smell of ammonia is accompanied by a shockwave, and a sharply fragmented hard shell and bones fly as debris.
That was the beginning.
Bang bang bang!
One time is hard, two is easy. The Bomb Ants saw their comrade's intense self-destruction, and jumped in one after the other. It was just like bombing.
Cha Jun Sung inflated his coat thickly in the midst of the exploding ant hill. The Bomb Ants' explosive power is pounding on his entire body.
'Pretty good.'
There was no big hit. But there is a reaction from his coat when this is repeated hundreds of times.
Each Bomb Ant's ability is barely middle level 3. Their self-destruction and distinctive characteristic of swarming together makes them level 4.
"They block it desperately. Always making it so obvious."
Cha Jun Sung didn't get overwhelmed by the explosions, and went forward. If they need to fight, even lower levels will attack an upper level. The Queen must be nearby. He is sure that they are sacrificing themselves and self-destructing in order to protect their precious Queen.
"I can't… see."
Boom boom boom!
Cha Jun Sung's tail goes up like a snake. Then it became sharp like a needle and penetrated the Bomb Ants jumping at him.
They became skewered on the tail.
His tail went back down and Bomb Ants littered the floor.
Immediate death without the chance for them to explode. He killed a fair number, but that many more showed up.
The hole in the cave grows larger.
As that happens, the attacks lessen.
How much have they dug in?
A public space as large as a gym appears. At the center, there is the Queen Bomb Ant the size of a house, with dozens of level 5 Bomb Ants. They are all looking at the same thing. Cha Jun Sung.
"It feels like I'm facing a few apartment buildings."
The public space must be connected to every path in the cave, because there are hundreds of holes. Bomb Ants pour out of them.
"Follow me. You'll have to take a big sacrifice, but I'll help you revive your tribe. You could take over this entire area."
He is speaking in human language, but he didn't attempt a conversation. They will know by instinct why he has come into the ant hull.
The Queen makes a movement toward Cha Jun Sung. It translates to, 'Everyone attack.'
Thousands of Bomb Ants jump out of the holes in the wall. They overlap with each other, making it look like a wave.
"The Queen lays the eggs, right?"
He doesn't know whether she is a hermaphrodite or if she mates.
He will kill everything that comes at him.
He'll let the Queen and the few level 5s live.
Bomb Ants have a high reproduction rate and speed, so one can become a hundred within a day as long as there are no obstacles in the vicinity.
If they confirm his strength with their eyes rather than their instinct, they will know. There's no need for him to make the effort to explain.
The battle ended in less than an hour. Of course, Cha Jun Sung is the winner.
The Queen didn't declare her surrender until Bombs Ants were no longer jumping out of the walls and the only troops she had were in the public space.
Cha Jun Sung had counted the Bombs Ants while he was fighting them. Actually, Odin did it for him.
Since it was through artificial intelligence, it calculated the number of Bomb Ants that Cha Jun Sung killed with a margin of error at a little over 10,000.
This is less than they had expected, but this is understandable when considering the other mutants surrounding the mountain that keep the Bomb Ants in check.
As the Bomb Ants are living organisms, they need to eat in order to survive. They need to go out and hunt regardless of the knowledge that the environment is disadvantageous to them.
The mutants maintained balance by killing the Bomb Ants that come out to hunt. That is why the Bomb Ants kept dying and being born. The cycle of the ecosystem made it impossible for them to expand their power.
"Odin. Where's the closest city?"
[There is a small city 4km west of this place.]
He is going to flip a nearby city and provide the Bomb Ants with food. Once their numbers increase, he will direct their attention elsewhere.
They need to take over nearby areas in order to take on Tyrant and the Rage guild.
"I'm a farmer! I need to lay the seeds if I want to harvest. Alright. Shall we go scatter the seeds?"
Cha Jun Sung leaves the ant hill.
Cha Jun Sung arrives in a small city with an estimated population of 50,000 to 60,000. But that doesn't mean that many mutants are living here.
He doesn't know what the laws are.
Their law is disorder. They dislike area overlap since birth, so the land and population are inversely proportional.
There are just a couple thousand mutants living in the small city.
Of the cities near the mountain, this is considered one of the lower ranks.
Cha Jun Sung swept the outside first. He attacked the vital spots. He wrapped up dozens of the corpses with his tail and took them back to the ant hill.
He did this multiple times and delivered his simple message to the Queen. She understood because she has basic intellect as a level 6.
After that, hundreds of Bomb Ants followed Cha Jun Sung around.
Battles were left to Cha Jun Sung. The Bomb Ants watched and then moved the corpses back to the ant hill.
They are porters, not soldiers.
There was no damage and the acquirement of food went smoothly, so their numbers increased quickly. After a month, they recovered from the damage that Cha Jun Sung incurred.
The small cities that he used as hunting grounds became ghost towns where nothing was living, whether they be humans or mutants.
Nearby cities disappeared one by one.
As that happened, the Bomb Ants grew stronger.
When they swallowed the 4th city, their numbers exceeded 50,000.
"No more. We can't go beyond this."
Queen Bomb Ant speaks to Cha Jun Sung.
Cha Jun Sung rejected her, saying he wants more mutants and he wants a stronger power.
A 50,000 head count is difficult even for mutants living in groups.
Checks start to come in if the number grows too high.
Queen Bomb Ant succeeded in populating the local area without much difficulty thanks to Cha Jun Sung. That is why their ambitions aligned.
She wanted to have a larger territory than she had now.
But Cha Jun Sung knows.
There is no end to greed. It is a definite that there is no end to giving aid.
'The bigger problem is that she's resisting my dominion.'
The Queen Bomb Ant was forgetting how she gained such power and was starting to get arrogant.
If she becomes more confident, she might rebel.
So he's against helping them obtain more power.
Pressure from an upper level to a lower level, from a predator to prey for dominance isn't like brainwashing. It is making them surrender by force.
[I'm stronger than you, so obey me. If you don't, I'll kill you.]
There is only one result if the prey surpasses or challenges the predator in dissatisfaction with its own strength or influence.
'She'll probably use the power she created with my help against me.'
No chance.
Why did he raise the Bomb Ants? He didn't do it for someone else's benefit. He did it for himself. He can't leave the situation to lose control.
Cha Jun Sung ignored the Queen Bomb Ant.
He wanted to just kill her, but all of his efforts would become for nought.
Cha Jun Sung became dominant over Queen Bomb Ant with force, but Queen Bomb Ant was born a queen. She has the support of the Bomb Ants.
If their pillar dies, their social structure will be destroyed. That is why he can't just kill her because he wants to.
'Cunning bitch.'
She is watching his psychological state.
She is testing his patience and seeing how much she can go against him and how much he will forgive.
It has only been a month since they met, but the Queen Bomb Ant has developed. She is evolving little by little. The force she rules has gone from 10,000 to 50,000.
There has been mental growth in maintaining an expanding military force.
Odin said that the phenomenon seems to be that her mental capacity is growing as she gains responsibilities. It hasn't been proven scientifically.
They do not know exactly how mutants evolve. But they do know one thing. A high level mutant develops as the number of mutants they dominate increases.
'I'll have to kill her once this is over.'
He wouldn't have taken away everything they achieved if she had been decent, but she tests him too much. She's one to stab him in the back.
/ /
Volume 9 / Chapter 236
TL: LightNovelCafe
Editor: Hungry Panda
Boom boom boom!
Tens of thousands of Bomb Ants collided with mutants coming at them from the front.
There is a vibration from the strong explosions resulting from their self-destruction.
The Bomb Ants prevailed.
The Queen Bomb Ant is attacking a mid-size city with 30,000 Bomb Ants.
"Are you saying you'll try it on your own?"
Cha Jun Sung is watching the Bomb Ants' battle from a high place.
Queen Bomb Ant planned to expand her own power without Cha Jun Sung's help.
Cha Jun Sung didn't stop her. He knows that they will fail.
Mutants just pushed through in the beginning, but they later felt the Bomb Ants' abilities and formed an alliance.
The only difference is whether there are a lot or few. There isn't a difference from when they had been in the mountain. As the Bomb Ants wanted to become stronger and take over a larger territory, the mutants they need to fight became stronger as well.
Queen Bomb Ant brandished her sharp mouth and arms and legs, and showed the abilities of a top level 6. She had normally been just a high level 6.
Cutting, ripping, biting. Mutant fighting is cruel.
They become distinct from the fight with Lifers who attack with firearms, in that they are primitive.
Blood spurts.
It feels like he is looking at the Path of Blood that Odelia created. Blood and corpses are everywhere. Tens of thousands of mutants are in a melee in the middle of that.
"How fun."
Living as a mutant is a novel experience.
There's something different from living as a Lifer. It feels like he switched his character while playing a game.
The worldview inside the mission is the same, but it is interesting.
Cha Jun Sung as a human had been normal.
He knew how to express reluctance toward the bad.
Those feelings slowly disappeared as a mutant however, and he even has fun watching such cruel scenes now.
Cha Jun Sung didn't take his state too seriously. He has accepted that he is a mutant. He just thinks like a human.
He wants to go in.
He wants to go in and rip everything apart. All of them are low compared to him.
Thump thump.
"Ack! It's doing it again."
Cha Jun Sung grabs his chest.
While maintaining his state as a mutant, his heart occasionally began to beat too fast. It isn't just beating.
A subtle and inexplicable feeling comes over him whenever this happens.
It isn't bad.
Can he call it excitement?
He felt better similar to that. He was cautious about it because it is unintentional and he cannot control it.
The manifestation of his instincts had been minimal when inside his battlesuit in human form because he suppressed himself, but not now.
It is on complete display.
The impulse to go wild is on fire. But he didn't go crazy as he had done when he had been taken over by the Oriax.
He has perceptible reason.
His head still hurts when he thinks about that time.
It is an extremely unpleasant thing to lose oneself.
[Lifer Cha Jun Sung.]
"Yeah."
[An 800 to 900 person raid of Lifers has been summoned to the city outskirts. It seems a mission has been configured nearby.]
Lifers came in and out of the extensive territory that the three Universe Eyes are searching, and it seems this place has been chosen.
He ignored it before because they had been far away.
But it becomes a different story if a mid-size city where Bomb Ants and mutants are fighting has an effect on Lifers' missions.
[What do you think about having the Bomb Ants retreat?]
If the mission is to kill the Bomb Ants, they will fail. He doesn't care about the ordinary Bomb Ants, but he can't leave the Queen Bomb Ant.
"Leave it for now."
[The Lifers' power is weak, but the mutants are gathered together. It will be fatal if they use a genocidal weapon.]
"We need to teach that bitch a lesson."
Cha Jun Sung looks at the Queen Bomb Ant and laughs.
He is sure.
If she evolves to level 7, she will attack him. There is a need to show her his importance before that.
Bang bang bang!
Odin's prediction was right.
The Lifers didn't assault the place where tens of thousands of mutants were scattered, and instead rained down genocidal weapons like white phosphorous shells.
With the long lasting Life Mission, Lifers' point accumulation naturally increased. It isn't hard to throw in a few.
Mutants below level 5 disappeared without even a scream under the bombs.
Cha Jun Sung focused only on the Queen Bomb Ant.
Odin calculated the orbit of bombs in real time and predicted release areas.
"I only need to keep the Queen alive."
She's a top level 6.
As long as she isn't hit directly by the bombs falling from the sky, she won't die from an indirect explosion.
That much, she can withstand.
Even indirect hits could be dangerous if they are repeated, but Odin, who is more precise than Cha Jun Sung, is watching out for this.
"They're there too."
The Bomb Ants climb on top of the Queen's body and wrap her in layers. They have made themselves into a shield. A strong and durable shield at that.
Dozens of Bomb Ants carry the Queen and desperately run away. The surviving Bomb Ants followed behind them. The mutants also stopped fighting and scattered. It was just a union in the first place, so they don't have a feeling of camaraderie.
A red flame covers the Bomb Ants.
They do not explode. The Queen could be injured if they do. They kept enduring it even though they were burning to death.
"It's the leader!"
"Kill the group of mutants first! Surround them!"
"Left suppression shot!"
"Right suppression shot!"
Lifers aim at the Bomb Ants.
They are well aware that they need to kill the unified mutants first.
With shots fired from left and right, the range of movement for the Bomb Ants became more and more narrow.
They are gathering the Bomb Ants together so that it is easier to kill them.
On top of that, these Lifers flew. They assaulted in all different ways as though bombing from fighter planes.
Flying Bomb Ants went at the Lifers, but they were overwhelmed in numbers.
Flying Bomb Ants are born at a 1/100% rate compared to ordinary Bomb Ants.
The Bomb Ants were one-sidedly hit. The Lifers' strategic tactics were outstanding, and the Bomb Ants' power had been significantly decreased.
"Shall I get going?"
[… Are you going to kill Lifers?]
If Cha Jun Sung goes in, he would annihilate even a raid.
There could be differences based on members, but it would be the same even with level B Lifers.
"Ah. No matter how accustomed I've becomes to the idea of killing, I don't kill innocent people. I'm just going to scare them a little."
Whether it'll become just a little scare or an unforgettable trauma, is up to the abilities of the Lifers.
Even so, they are above level C, so they won't be peeing in their battlesuits.
"Go!"
The raid captain, a level B Lifer leading 9 forces, stood at the head of 900 people and chased the Bomb Ants. They intend on killing all of them without effort.
The Lifers split their roles.
3 forces spread out wide, created a mesh, and blocked it so other mutants couldn't approach.
The other 6 forces focused on just the Bomb Ants.
The Queen Bomb Ant was desperate.
There are few of the enemy, but they are able to fly. Most of the flying Bomb Ants died during the first collision.
The Bomb Ants were pathetically swept under the attacks helplessly.
They don't have an effect in the air if they self-destruct on the ground. All they can do is block the attacks with their bodies and run away.
The Queen Bomb Ant is running away to the advance base that they created not too long ago.
There isn't much military force.
Just a few thousand.
There are a few advance bases, and they were created to control the respective regions they were in as their territory expanded.
The military force is divided, so it is difficult to form a large army in a short amount of time. The goal is to hide in an ant hill.
But they are surrounded, and running away itself isn't easy.
Bullets rain down.
Lifers fly around swiftly and focus their attacks on the Queen Bomb Ant. If the Lifers hadn't been able to fly, the Queen Bomb Ant would have fought even if she had to hit the sewers.
She would have been able to do something if the battle had been on ground.
"Groups 1 and 2 will block the Queen's front. Groups 3 through 6 will take the sides and back. Groups 7, 8, 9 will maintain the net and keep the boundary."
Bang!
Lifers in groups 1 and 2 increased their battlesuits' output.
The Bomb Ants were moving among skyscrapers, so it was hard to catch them.
The location was changing from the city outskirts.
Buildings disappeared and plains began to appear. They were able to increase their speed because there were no obstacles.
Flap!
The sunlight gets blocked.
Groups 1 and 2 Lifers were trying to increase the chase speed, when they flinched. A black figure flapping a pair of wings.
Cha Jun Sung, with wings over 30m long from end to end, was blocking the Lifers' path. He is alone, but he gave the feeling of filling up the entire world.
Hundreds of tails flail out like whips.
They move as if each one is alive, and soar toward the rigid Lifers.
Though he lacked Odin's support through the battlesuit, the instinct of complete awakening played the role not unlike the battlesuit's system.
Cha Jun Sung checked how many Lifers there were, calculated the direction to move in, and attacked. He did this all within a few seconds.
He took out the cutting force, so the Lifers yelled in pain under the force that was like getting hit with a bat.
They were all flung in different places. One person went through a building's walls, rolled on the ground, and landed on the roof of a rusty car.
The Lifer wasn't hurt.
He hadn't hit to kill, so he just left the Lifer on top of the car. He only hit with an amount of power that the battlesuit's armor could handle.
Boom boom boom!
Very few Lifers withstood the impact and maintained their shaky balance.
However, they trembled in fear from what they heard over their PDAs rather than from the unidentified mutant that suddenly appeared.
[Level A special mission Black Devil activated. Difficulty level is advancement.]
/ /