Shinsoo

**Shinsoo** (신수 (神水), *shinsu*, literally "divine water") is a substance that flows through and is produced by the Tower. Each floor has areas of varying amounts of Shinsoo density, increasing with each Floor. In lower concentrations, its density makes the substance act like a gas, but in higher concentrations, it behaves like a liquid.

Shinsoo's most significant difference to air is the laws by which it operates. Unlike air, which uniformly conforms to the laws of pressure when flowing, Shinsoo has no unifying laws. It flows entirely differently in different places and Floors, at both its own whim and that of the Guardian of the floor. The flow of Shinsoo determines its qualities, allowing it to appear as water, fire, light and other phenomena and materials. Shinsoo has no singular property or feature, and is rather the very basis of all energy and things within the Tower.

Shinsoo and magic are individual concepts, and follow different rules. Of the two, the mechanics of Shinsoo are more commonly known and accessible.

## Manipulation of Shinsoo

There are two ways to control Shinsoo: control through an item or direct control. Generally speaking, when one says "manipulating Shinsoo", it usually refers to direct control.

Shinsoo manipulation abilities vary greatly among individuals, although members of the 10 Great Families have a large chance of being born with the talent of Shinsoo manipulation. Branch houses that originate from the main houses of the 10 Great Families are no exception to this probability of having the talent at birth. A few unknown members of these branch families keep the origins of their blood a secret, maintaining the passing down of the talent of manipulating Shinsoo.

Externally manipulating Shinsoo to change the environment, to attack an opponent or to carry out other actions, such as flying or levitation, is known as Shinsoo manipulation (신수 조작 (神水 操作), *Shinsu jojahk*; "*divine water manipulation*"). Depending on the group or region, it also goes by several other names such as "water mastery" (수역 (水役), s*ooyeok*; "*to make water a servant*") or "wind technique" (풍술 (風術), *poongsul*; "*wind skill*").

Shinsoo can be used to enhance physical abilities, to create barriers and as a formidable destructive energy. As mentioned above, there is even a rumour that it can be used to create life.

## Contracts

In order to manipulate Shinsoo directly (without the use of an item) within the Inner Tower or Outer Tower, a contract with the Guardian of the Floor must be made. In regards to items, only items that already have a contract made with the Guardian can be used. For example, an item that has a contract with the Guardians of the 2nd-30th Floors cannot be used at the 31st Floor.

Because one has made a contract with the Guardian does not mean one can manipulate Shinsoo anywhere on that Floor.

After a contract has been made with a Guardian, one must uphold several terms and conditions. If one violates any of these rules, the contract is considered to have been broken and one's rights are taken away, making their contract null. The strictness of these rules varies between class to class. In terms of the contract that Rankers and High Rankers make with Guardians, it can be said that they are nearly completely free of restrictions.

It is not impossible to manipulate Shinsoo without a contract. Simple manipulation of amounts below a certain standard is possible without a contract. Also, an innate resistance to Shinsoo, a body strengthening ability that utilizes Shinsoo or other similar skills are all natural abilities that one can have and thus do not require contracts.

The 10 Great Families, their numerous branch houses, and a few other families have a higher chance to be born already able to manipulate Shinsoo. In the 10 Great Families, this does not actually mean they do not have a contract, it occurs because they are considered to have a contract at birth. (Note: When they make a contract directly with Guardians, their Shinsu manipulation obviously becomes stronger).

The "God" of guardians confirmed that Irregulars have the authority to control Shinsoo without contracts nor restrictions.

## Baang, Myun, & Soo

### Baang

The **Baang** is the basic unit in which Shinsoo is measured by and made up of. The more Baangs one can control, the more skilled at manipulating Shinsoo one is judged to be. However, this does not mean one can manipulate greater Myun and higher Soo with many Baangs. As the number of Baangs increase, control becomes more difficult. Overdoing the handling of Baangs can physically and mentally exhaust the manipulator - in serious cases, this may lead to death.

### Myun

**Myun** refers to the size of a Baang. Specifically, it refers to the surface area that Shinsoo is spread out across, regardless of height. 1 Myun is equal to 1 pyeong (평, 坪), which is equal to around 3.306 square meters of Shinsoo. When discussing the size of a Baang, the height is not considered because its range of fluctuation is large and heavily depends on the situation, which makes it difficult to discern. (Height is not involved in the calculation of the size of the Baang. The height is dealt with by converting it using the numerical value of the concentration of the Baang in question.)
It can be said that the wider the Myun one can control, the wider the area in which Shinsoo can be applied. Those who can control a large Myun are closest to what the traditional Wave Controllers were, who controlled the flow of the battlefield. Since they had to be able to control Shinsoo throughout the whole battlefield, the Myun the Wave Controller had would have to be the size of the battlefield.

### Soo

**Soo** refers to the concentration or mass of Shinsoo within a Baang. Only the concentration of Shinsoo in the most concentrated area of the Baang is used to calculate Soo. There is no numerical unit used on Earth that can be related to Soo. The measurement of Soo can only be done using a Lighthouse, Observer or specialized senses. The higher the Soo, the more effective and destructive a Baang is. This is why controlling a high Soo is extremely important. Normally, the denser the Shinsoo in the environment, the faster the Soo in a Baang can be increased. However, there is a limit to the amount of Soo that can be pressed into a Baang and this limit depends on the person. The environment has no effect in overcoming this limit whatsoever.

The concentration of Soo within a Baang is not uniform, either. The value of Soo changes depending on the Myun, so there are big differences in regards to Soo between individuals who manipulate Shinsoo. If one has very good mental concentration, it is possible to manipulate a high Soo of Shinsoo within a small Myun. If one is very good at distributed data processing, it is possible to manipulate a certain amount of Soo within a large Myun.