Chapter 167
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: Lia's Status
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Remembering what Yejin had told me, I headed downstairs to find Lia all ready to go and waiting for me.
Lia was peering curiously at Ha Dongseok and his men bustling around outside.
"Hey, come here."
"Y-yes!"
Lia, who had been watching the scene outside, startled at my words for a moment before rushing over to me.
"Show me your status window. There's something I want to check."
"My status window?"
Lia looked puzzled about why I was suddenly asking for it, but she shared it with me anyway.
Setting aside mental power, it was a truly unremarkable status window.
Her charm stat at 6 made sense given her looks, but that alone wouldn't keep her alive, so she'd chosen Combat Specialist—yet her strength was too low, and her Body Enhancement skill level was pitifully inadequate.
She'd been lucky to survive this long.
But one thing stood out: her mental power stat.
This was the first time I'd seen anyone besides myself with a two-digit mental power.
Considering Seo Yun's was 7, this girl's was impressively higher.
Why was her mental power so high?
Let's start by checking the most obvious possibility.
I pulled out a bit of demonic energy in front of Lia and shaped it simply.
I'd assumed that Seo Yun and I had higher mental power than average people because we could detect the demonic energy that qualified us as Black Magicians.
With my mental power at 19, and even Seo Yun at 7 reacting immediately to my black magic, what would Lia with 10 do?
I moved the demonic energy around in front of her eyes, half-expecting something...
"Um, why are you staring at me so intensely...?"
"Huh? No, that's not it... You can't see it?"
"See what?"
Contrary to my expectations, Lia reacted as if she couldn't see the demonic energy at all.
Was she pretending not to see it?
"Can you see this in my hand?"
This time, I placed the demonic energy right in my palm and held it out to her.
As Lia peered intently at my hand, I suddenly shot the demonic energy toward her face.
If she could see it but was pretending otherwise, she'd flinch at it rushing toward her face.
Even if she sensed something odd about this unfamiliar energy and was feigning ignorance, this test would confirm it.
But Lia showed no reaction whatsoever, just shaking her head with a confused look.
Even though the demonic energy had surged right up as if to poke her eye.
"I don't see anything... Was there something?"
"No, forget it if you don't know."
I withdrew my hand with the demonic energy still on it.
No reaction even here meant she couldn't detect it at all.
If she'd deliberately held back in that situation, she'd be far more dangerous than I'd imagined.
Controlling human reflex responses like that would be incredible.
But it seemed she simply couldn't sense the demonic energy.
She hadn't shown even a gram of unease in a situation where her eye could have been jabbed, so that was the conclusion.
Interesting, then.
What did it mean that her mental power was sky-high without any connection to black magic?
It might just mean she had an enormous amount of mana related to the system.
Mental power was the stat tied to mana capacity, after all.
The higher it was, the greater the mana pool and recovery rate—I remembered that much.
In other words, Lia had way more mana than a normal person.
I wondered just how big the gap was to push it into the double digits.
Mana or demonic energy I could gauge just by standing nearby, but mana power was system-related, something even I couldn't perceive.
Honestly, if she could sense demonic energy, I'd have considered taking her as Disciple Number Two, but that was a shame.
Yejin must have mentioned her thinking the same, but unfortunately, Lia didn't seem all that useful to me.
Once I caught Mir, I'd just tell her to fend for herself.
"Um, can I ask a question?"
Suddenly, Lia timidly raised her hand.
"A question? What about?"
"I thought the power and water were cut off... Why is it still working here?"
She must not have noticed amid the chaos last night.
But after finishing our talk this morning and looking around, she'd spotted the anomaly.
"That? It's all because of me that we can use them."
"Y-you? Wait, then your trait is Technician?"
She must have assumed Combat Specialist from my movements last night.
"Technician, yeah. This base runs entirely because of me. Everyone living here wouldn't be so comfortable without me."
Steady electricity, water, and a safe zone.
All possible because of me.
"Wow... Th-that's amazing. How do you manage all this alone...?"
Her reaction confirmed it.
Mir's place must be about on par with mine, at best.
Otherwise, no reason to be so shocked by my comfortable base.
"How's it at Mir's? Power and water cut off there too, making life tough?"
"Didn't they start selling generators and purifiers at the shop recently? I heard Mir swept up every one in the area."
"How many people are there to need that?"
From what she'd said this morning, it sounded like quite a few.
"I don't know the exact number, but probably around 70 or 80."
Compared to Yeouido, that wasn't a huge crowd.
"Shall we head out, then? Got someone else to bring along."
Lia and I stepped outside, heading toward the busy group of people.
I spotted Sohee helping out among them and called her over.
"Hey, Sohee! Come here!"
Startled by the sudden call, Sohee spotted me and ran over.
"What is it? What's going on, calling me like that...?"
Rushing up to me, she noticed Lia standing right beside me and scowled warily.
"Who's this? I don't recognize her... You didn't drag her in from outside, did you?!"
"Hey, do I look like the type? I don't just grab any random girl."
"Hmm... Fair enough. So why'd you call me? Looks like it's got something to do with her."
She was quick to read the vibe between Lia and me.
"Bingo. Starting now, she and I have to head somewhere. You're coming too."
"Me? Where to?"
"Where? I'll explain on the way. Honestly, I don't know the details myself, so I need her to guide us."
I pointed at Lia, who was fidgeting anxiously as she listened to our conversation.
"Guide us? Where the heck are we going that needs a guide?"
"You coming or not?"
Sohee let out a deep sigh at my words.
"Of course... I have to follow you. Will it take long?"
"Dunno? How long from here?"
When I asked about Mir's location, Lia answered in a flustered voice.
"Um, well... I don't really know where we are, so it's hard to say..."
Oh, right.
From Lia's perspective, she'd been at my factory one moment, then instantly teleported to my unknown base.
She wouldn't know the location.
"You don't know where this is? Okay, remember my factory from last night? How far is it from there?"
"From there? That'd be... about two days' walk. That's where I ended up after fleeing and wandering around."
Two days wasn't too far.
I'd been worried it might be really distant.
Listening to us, Sohee frowned and asked.
"Fled? What does that mean?"
"I'll explain roughly on the way."
"Hmm... Fine, got it."
As she replied, Sohee glanced toward the house.
Probably worried about Miyoung being alone while we were gone.
"Don't worry about your mom. You know how safe this place is."
"I do. Better than anyone. But worrying's just how it is."
I knew how much Sohee cherished Miyoung, so her concern felt endearing. I gently placed a hand on her head.
"As long as she's in my base, she'll be safe. If anything happens, I'll protect her no matter what, so don't worry."
Hearing that, Sohee blushed and bowed her head, mumbling softly.
"Ugh... Annoying. Why does a guy like you have to be... so good."
With the full team decided, we finished preparations. Sohee and Lia grabbed onto me, and we teleported to the factory.
Alright, time to go catch Mir.