The Nymphs' Training Method # 1
━Hoo, hoo…!
Calinoi flapped her wings and soared through the sky, flying beautifully. I had worried ever since I heard that she'd badly injured her wing once and might never fly properly again — but right now she was cutting through the air so gracefully that all those worries felt pointless.
"Could it be the garlic?"
It reminded me of the old story that if you feed red pepper paste to a scrawny chicken, it grows strong. It only made sense that Calinoi, stuffed to the brim with garlic every single day, would be overflowing with vigor. Just as I was thinking I should double the amount of garlic I fed her going forward, Calinoi landed beside me and began hammering the scarecrow in the yard with her wings — fwap-fwap-fwap-fwap!
━Hoo, hoo…!
The technique was exactly what its name suggested: Nymph Secret Technique — Wing Smacking Frenzy. And its effect was outstanding.
The scarecrow, built to withstand the strength of an A-rank monster, couldn't endure Calinoi's assault. It crumpled to the ground and broke apart entirely.
━Prrrrrr…!
Calinoi, clearly delighted at having felled her opponent, spread her wings wide to either side and let out a resounding cry. Then she thrust her head toward me as if demanding praise, and I stroked her feathers as I spoke.
"Well done, Calinoi! At this level, if you'd stepped in personally when we fought Ma Wangjun, I wouldn't have had to lift a finger."
Calinoi already possessed power rivaling an A-ranker all on her own.
And if a Calinoi like that went through Hyper Evolution on top of it?
"Hyper Evolution."
It was a technique that transformed animals utterly, using my mana. It could only be performed when an animal companion trusted me strongly enough to accept my mana in its entirety — and at the same time, I needed the mana capacity to overpower that animal outright.
In that sense, Calinoi was a tremendously mighty Tiger Owl — the best of the best, my Bong-Bong — and her vessel was simply too large for me to control with my mana alone.
Or, to put it precisely: my power was the one falling short.
Flap!
Calinoi spread her wings and lifted into the sky. Watching her go, Oinoi spoke up.
"It may be that not much time remains before our sister Calinoi must return to being a nymph…! Oinoi wishes she would hurry back to nymph form…! For Oinoi wishes to show off this typhoon cloud…!"
━Ing-ing-ya-ing.
In Oinoi's hands was something like a doll, looking as if it had been rolled together from blue cotton. Of course, that thing was not a doll. It was a living creature.
━Ing-ing-ya-ing.
The cotton-candy-like creature let out a cry that one could gradually learn to understand — a strange sound unlike anything I had ever heard from any animal. But according to Oinoi, it was an extremely powerful being that absolutely must not be taken lightly.
Float-float.
━Gyu-i-ing.
The typhoon cloud Ing-ing-i drifted gently up into the sky. Wingless, and yet it flew. Mouthless, throatless, and yet it cried out.
Truly, there was no end to the wonders this world contained.
Scritch.
Oinoi, meanwhile, had taken to lifting stones heavy enough to qualify as small boulders, or digging at the garden wall with a hand trowel. She looked remarkably industrious.
"What are you doing?"
"Oinoi is searching for coins…! This Whispering Coin is said to be an exceedingly precious thing…! So Oinoi will gather a great many of them and show them off to everyone…!"
The coins Oinoi had been picking up here and there turned out to be extraordinary objects, and having newly learned this, Oinoi was devoting herself to coin-hunting with even more zeal than usual.
Frankly, though, it hadn't quite sunk in for me yet.
Using coins at a rift, of all things.
Like the anomalous rift that had opened inside Paradise Island — apparently there was something like a vending machine at certain spots across the world? And you could use coins at those machines?
The story that Ma Wangjun had used such coins to acquire all manner of items and reach A-rank awakener status had already spread too far to be hidden.
As a side note, I heard the anomalous rift in Paradise Island — and the Ring Vending Machine inside it — had been placed under the jurisdiction of the Korean government.
That was a relief to hear.
It turned out these mysterious coins weren't exclusive to nymphs after all. Keongkeongi and Ang-angi had occasionally fetched coins home, and according to Oinoi, those too were Whispering Coins.
And just like that, the world was swept once more by a fresh dog-squirrel and honey ant craze.
Taecho Village boomed all over again, packed so tight there wasn't even room to park.
"If you wish to catch dog-squirrels, you must open your heart and become one with nature─."
"And today's pocket snack is…? Honey-Butter Almonds made by honey ants — the dog-squirrels' favorite!"
Director Bang Saenghyeon, who had returned to nature, and the village chief of Taecho Village were run off their feet dealing with the flood of visitors.
Our house wasn't spared either — people kept knocking on the door or hopping the garden wall, and I spent whole days shouting and shooing back the surging crowds.
"So this is what life is like for superstars without a shred of privacy."
Being famous was nice, but having your privacy evaporate entirely was worth pondering from more than a few angles.
Still, these past few days I'd managed to enjoy some rest in my own way.
━Keng-keng…!
━Keng-keng…!
Keongkeongi had gone off to visit his girlfriend, the flying squirrel Fey, and the two of them were tearing around the house in play, while the honey ant Ang-angi was spending time with his girlfriend Elizabeth, piecing together a 1,028-piece puzzle together with her.
━Zzji…!
━Ororong…!
And what about Kwangkwangi?
Kwangkwangi appeared to be tuning the pitch of his Spiderweb Guitar, crafted from Mana Hydrolite, with a gentle ding-ding-ting.
━Hio-ong…!
Beside him sat the steel spider Myeong-i, clutching a tiny pair of maracas and shaking them — cha-cha — in rhythm. But Myeong-i shook those maracas with such dedication that his light slowly dimmed… and then he zipped straight into his charger bag.
━Hio-ong….
Watching Myeong-i disappear inside, Kwangkwangi let out a faint sound of disappointment.
Because his friend Myeong-i wasn't truly a living creature but a machine, there were moments like this — every time it came time to recharge — when Kwangkwangi would droop a little, as if wistful.
"Maybe I should get Kwangkwangi a living spider friend?"
Among wolf spiders, Kwangkwangi was an exceptionally vivid rainbow-hued RGB spider, able to shift his colors however he pleased. His radiant coloring had drawn wolf spiders into Taecho Village as though bewitched, and thanks to that, many of them had settled in the village and now lived there peaceably.
They would sometimes appear before Kwangkwangi, waving their front legs side to side in a little dance.
Though Kwangkwangi didn't seem remotely interested in the wolf spiders that came flocking.
Just as Keongkeongi, the Prime Dog-Squirrel, showed interest only in Fey, and Ang-angi, the Emperor Honey Ant, only in Elizabeth, the rare Ghost Spider Kwangkwangi seemed fond of Myeong-i and no one else.
"I'd assumed alpha individuals naturally kept harems of females, but apparently that's not always so. Better than humans, honestly."
Dong-dong-dong.
Just then, the clock hanging in the living room chimed three in the afternoon.
"Already? I'm going to be late."
"Kyaaah! Legion! Look over here!"
"He's so handsome!"
Finding that man wasn't difficult at all.
Cheers from his girl fans were ringing out all over downtown.
The man so ardently courted by women sat by the cafe window in a summer shirt thrown wide open, chest bared, sunglasses on, sipping his coffee. Seated beside him were three foreign women, all as beautiful and statuesque as models straight out of a fashion magazine.
For all I knew, they actually were fashion models.
"Mr. Ildo. Over here."
Wave.
He raised a hand the moment he spotted me entering the cafe.
Achilles, S-rank, World Rank 5. A sculpted Adonis of a man, brimming with the swagger of a young lion in his prime.
When I'd first heard the internet rumor that "Achilles is dating three women at once," I'd wondered what kind of lunatic he was — but seeing him in person, he was such a staggeringly handsome gentleman that I understood instantly.
The world is so unfair!
"Mr. Ildo. It's an honor to meet you. I've followed everything closely, from your performance in the Non-Combat Tournament all the way through the Paradise Island incident. Thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to see me like this."
True to the name 'Hero,' Achilles seemed remarkably courteous and kind-hearted. A world-famous celebrity glowing at S-rank Rank 5 was apologizing for taking my time — my time, of all things.
Soon, Achilles asked:
"Did you bring your dog-squirrel?"
"No. The dog-squirrel's on a date, so I brought Ang-angi the honey ant instead."
I fished Ang-angi out of my pocket. beholding Ang-angi's magnificent 'Autumn Form' — armored in gleaming gold — Achilles let out a murmur of admiration.
"A splendid honey ant, just as the rumors say. Personally, I've been deeply interested in your methods of handling animals, Mr. Ildo — in your way of fighting. And I've also been interested in you, Mr. Ildo, as a man."
Even as he said this with a bright grin, he remained as refreshingly handsome as ever.
So the rumors about his combative streak — a man who genuinely loved battle — were true as well.
I decided to toss back a joking reply.
"Interested in a man, huh? People might get the wrong idea if they heard that. Shouldn't a celebrity be careful with his words? You'd invite a lot of misunderstanding. I'm something of a famous man myself these days, so I have to watch everything I say."
Achilles Legion didn't answer. He simply kept on smiling, ear to ear.
And at the same time, I started to feel nervous.
…Why isn't he denying it…!?
I had never once felt fear like this.
I was five times more tense than I'd been entering Ma Wangjun's rift.
What if he suddenly confessed to me or something?
That is NOT my taste!
"Well, anyhow — on your feet, Mr. Ildo. I called you here because there is something I wish to discuss. You're well aware of the coins that have everyone talking lately, aren't you? Naturally you would be — after all, you have true nymphs at your side─."
Slide.
As he rose from his seat, Achilles produced something from his pocket.
It was a coin stamped with the image of an owl, so old and worn that it looked like an antique.
"This is a Whispering Coin in the drachma style. In our Greece, they've been turning up from time to time since antiquity. With this, one can do remarkable things in Greece."
"Remarkable things?"
I had my own share of curiosity about the Whispering Coins, in many ways.
When I'd searched them online, Greece came up more than anywhere else — which was exactly why I'd readily agreed to meet Achilles.
"Explaining in words is one thing, but there is something I'd rather show you directly. Mr. Ildo — would you care to spare the time and come to Greece? Bring the nymphs and the animals too, by all means. It makes no difference to me."
Greece.
The land of nymphs and gods.
Toward that land, Achilles extended his invitation.
"If you aim for the Summit, Mr. Ildo, you really ought to see Greece at least once. I believe I can tell you about that man — about the only man who ever handed me defeat."
"……!"
Achilles was hailed as a 'Hero,' and at the same time counted among the very strongest of the S-ranks.
His ranking lingered at 5th, but a quiet rumor had long circulated through the awakener communities: that in a true fight, Achilles might well beat them all.
Yet Achilles, the fastest of all awakeners, never spoke of being the strongest himself.
Some credited his trademark humility. But another rumor had once spread through the awakener community as well:
The rumor that Achilles had once been utterly, thoroughly defeated by someone.
And now Achilles was proving it was true!
"The world is full of geniuses, but the Summit holds only one. Wouldn't you like to meet him? Merely laying eyes on him might change a great many things."
The Summit.
Was a man called by that name really waiting in Greece?