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Sung Jinwoo is a character who can level up in a world where your limits are predetermined. Nobody can surpass their limits to achieve greater strength. This is also evident from the title of the show. However, that means that Jinwoo was weak and had to go through various emotional and physical trials at some point. Sometimes even risking his life. Due to his weakness, there were several limitations placed on all of his abilities.
One such ability Jinwoo has allowed him to raise souls and add them to his army. The limitation of this ability is the reason why he could not add Baruka to his army despite defeating him. Let us find out the limitations of the ability
But before that let’s find out why despite defeating Baruka, Jinwoo considered him to be stronger than himself.
How Strong Is Baruka In Solo Leveling?
Baruka, was the dungeon master in the Red Gate incident i.e. he was the strongest being in the dungeon. He was not only smart but also significantly stronger than the other beings in the dungeon such as the Ice Bear leader and Kim Chul the A-rank hunter. This puts Baruka somewhere around as a Low S-rank level.
He along with his ice-elves killed all the B to D rank hunters and toyed with Kim Chul. This is more than enough evidence to judge his power levels.
Jinwoo on the other hand, was slightly above the A-rank but not exactly as strong as an average S-rank. That’s why he could beat all the Bears and Kim Chul. But when he fought Baruka, he had to rely on his shadows of Kim, Igris and Tank (Ice Bear Leader). This shows the power gap between him and Baruka.
Jinwoo ganged up on Baruka to take him down which is why after Baruka was killed Jinwoo only got the ice-dagger. This shows that Baruka during the Red Gate incident was stronger than Jinwoo minus his shadows.
This leads us to the limitations of Shadow extraction ability. Let’s find them out.
Why couldn’t Jinwoo extract Baruka as a Shadow Soldier? What are the limitations of Shadow Extraction?
When Jinwoo unlocked Shadow extraction in his fight against the Igris, the system listed several limitations of the ability and we also find out more limitations ahead in series.
- Shadow Extraction doesn’t work on opponents stronger than the extractor.
- Shadow Extraction doesn’t work on opponents who have passed away a long time ago.
- Shadow Extraction doesn’t work on Monarch-level beings.
- Shadow Extractions doesn’t work on Rulers above the Monarch-level
- Shadow Extractions can be reversed on people who can be affected by time manipulation.
In the case of Jinwoo vs Baruka, Jinwoo ambushed Baruka who was much stronger than him. After Baruka was defeated Jinwoo tried extracting him as a shadow but due to the power gap, he could not and was only rewarded a dagger.
This angered Jinwoo and also left us fans in a sour mood fans as we were stripped of another talking Shadow of a monster in Jinwoo’s roster.
