Chapter 42
Chapter 42
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 42
Chapter Title: Chapter 10 Trace (2)
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No matter what you do, you get better at it with practice. Tracking was no different.
After crawling around on the ground for days, searching for bloodstains, by the second day I could even distinguish the marks where the grass had been pressed down.
From then on, the tracking picked up speed.
‘It’s not four, but six.’
Traces of a campfire, patches of weeds deeply flattened as if people had lain there, and spots where the ground had been dug up to bury excrement.
Every time I found signs of those who had passed ahead, I could confirm I was on the right path.
Sometimes their tracks crossed areas swarming with monsters.
In those cases, I cloaked myself in invisibility and ran like mad.
I was focusing on tracking, so I avoided collisions as much as possible.
Even so, there were chasers, and I had to wrestle a bit.
But there were no truly dangerous moments.
After five days like that, I left the plains and entered the mountainous region.
On the slopes, their weight shifted forward, leaving clear footprints.
Thanks to that, tracking became even easier.
Then, when I reached a deep forest, I abruptly stopped.
Something that looked like a human leg was sticking out from the bushes.
Gulp.
I swallowed and cautiously moved forward.
During the endless tracking with no end in sight, I had imagined many scenarios.
What if I was lucky enough to catch up to the ones who left these traces? What then?
If they reacted hostilely toward me.
If they showed goodwill instead.
If communication was impossible.
If they weren’t human.
Even if I didn’t meet them, what if I reached a human settlement.
I mulled over countless possibilities, chewing on my thoughts.
In a place with no one to talk to, only receiving messages from Ethan and Kim Yul occasionally, I had plenty of time to think.
Yet, when those assumptions might actually happen right in front of me, tension gripped me.
But that tension didn’t last long—it fizzled out with a rustle.
Because the leg visible through the bushes didn’t move even once as I closed the distance.
Realizing that, my steps quickened.
“Haa.”
And finally, arriving at the spot, I let out a sigh at the sight of the shriveled, twisted corpse.
Counting the bodies left in a place marked by traces of violent struggle—six in total.
It matched the number of the group I’d been following.
Looking closer, blankets and backpacks were scattered, crumpled or torn.
Their trail ended here.
‘A wasted trip, huh.’
Along with relief and emptiness came a complex emotion I couldn’t quite put into words.
I wiped my face and crouched down beside the corpse.
Compared to the swamp where only a single hand remained, there was much to examine here.
Eyes, nose, mouth, hands, feet, ears, hair—all similar to mine.
‘Physically similar to humans.’
I pulled my hand away from the corpse and swallowed a sigh.
‘What the hell is this mummy-like state?’
What ordeal could turn someone into this?
‘It’s not just dried out from time.’
Without some special process, a corpse should rot.
But instead of decaying, it had mummified, with tiny holes densely puncturing the skin.
Like it had been stabbed all over with toothpicks or needles.
After thoroughly inspecting the corpse’s exterior, I rummaged through their possessions.
Four canteens reeking of staleness.
Three long swords with chipped edges, and five daggers.
Among them, two daggers were longer than mine and had curved blades.
‘These look good.’
The two daggers from one person were identical in shape.
I gathered the weapons and infused them with mana.
‘It works.’
All eight weapons could manifest mana properly.
Weapons from Earth just dispersed mana without holding it.
That’s why I’d kept using the ones from the tutorial.
Fortunately, weapons from mission zones could be infused and manifested.
I strapped the two curved daggers to my waist.
‘Leather belt too—nice.’
The rest I’d have to list in the auction house.
I stuffed the remaining spoils into my inventory.
Even after taking the weapons, I kept checking their belongings.
‘Paper…’
Lifting the shirt, I found several sheets thicker and rougher than A4 paper tucked inside.
‘…Can’t read the writing.’
Something was written, but I couldn’t decipher it.
‘Take it anyway.’
I emptied every pocket, sweeping up anything that might hold information.
The leather pouches on the corpses didn’t escape my hands either.
Opening one, it contained miscellaneous items.
Hard dough balls made from flour and several strips of jerky.
And two rainbow-colored stones.
I knew what these were.
[Attribute Stone (Lowest Grade)]
A stone containing a small amount of attribute mana.
Too insignificant to grant an attribute.
‘Why is this here?’
They were smaller than the ones I knew.
High-grade ones were fist-sized, but these were pebble-sized, about the length of one or two fingers.
But they matched the attribute stones I’d received as a promotion exam reward.
‘Lowest grade…’
Holding the attribute stone, a thought flashed through my mind.
‘I already have an attribute.’
What happens if I use an attribute stone in that case?
After a brief hesitation, I infused attribute mana into it.
「You use Attribute Stone (Lowest Grade).」
「Determining suitable attribute for the user.」
「User already possesses a suitable attribute.」
「34.8 Attribute Mana is absorbed.」
A message made me clench my fists.
‘If someone with an attribute uses an attribute stone, it converts to mana.’
I used the remaining one too.
「You use Attribute Stone (Lowest Grade).」
「Determining suitable attribute for the user.」
「User already possesses a suitable attribute.」
「37.2 Attribute Mana is absorbed.」
Now I had a way to acquire attribute mana outside of mission rewards.
But attribute stones in the shop—lowest grade ones cost a whopping 30,000 mana? No, lower grades were 30,000.
‘If the attribute mana gained is low, it’s a loss.’
Assume spending 30,000 mana yields 100 attribute mana.
Is that efficient?
‘For that price, better to buy skills or gear.’
Attribute mana boosts combat power significantly, but I can’t neglect other things.
‘Can’t waste mana carelessly.’
Must spend it most efficiently.
Of course, this wasn’t a decision I needed to make right now.
I didn’t have enough mana to buy one anyway.
The issue of securing attribute mana still lacked a fundamental solution.
No one to ask for advice—frustrating as hell.
“Whew.”
I let out a heavy sigh, and almost simultaneously, the sky flashed.
What was that?
I quickly climbed a nearby tree.
Scanning the sky, I spotted a dot falling rapidly far off in the distance.
‘Not a bird.’
A bird would glide through the air, but this just plummeted straight down.
‘One, two, three…’
At five, the sky flashed again.
Much higher up, dots of varying sizes appeared.
“Huh?”
They materialized out of empty sky.
‘What, teleportation?’
Before the question fully formed, I widened my eyes.
From where the new dot appeared, a mass of flame erupted and fell downward.
“That crazy…”
In a cloudless clear sky, crimson flames flickered and streaked—unreal.
Normally, I’d be mesmerized by the sight.
But the flame mass collided with the lower dots, triggering a massive explosion.
A hot gust hit, and I reflexively raised my arm to shield my face.
“Guh!”
The explosion’s shockwave exceeded imagination.
Standing on a branch, I was flung like a leaf.
Desperately drawing up mana, red panels slid into existence in the empty air.
I stepped and grabbed them, steadying my body hurtling at terrifying speed.
The result of obsessively analyzing barrier mana structures over the past five days.
A way to compensate for the flaw that using a barrier made me unable to attack.
Generate barriers only where needed, in the exact size required.
Of course, such fragmented barriers had reduced hardness.
But they held enough to keep my body from flying away.
Soon, the explosion’s aftermath subsided.
“Whoa.”
Catching my breath and calming my shock, I heard booming sounds—bang, kwabang—from the explosion’s direction.
The sounds grew louder. No, closer.
Not yet in detection range, but an unidentified presence crept nearer.
Inferring the situation was easy.
The dots from the sky were living, intelligent beings.
And they were clashing with power beyond my imagination.
I crouched low, cloaked in invisibility, and slipped between branches and bushes.
Another explosion rang out, shaking the earth and flipping my vision.
“Cough, cough!”
The air was already thick with acrid smoke.
I didn’t know what caused the roars and flames, but collisions raged nearby nonstop.
To avoid inhaling carbon monoxide, I clamped my mouth with cloth when—
My body stiffened like a rigid branch.
Mana clumps poured into my detection range.
Two stood out prominently.
Not just big—immense mana incomparable to anything I’d seen.
If visible directly, it would be so brilliant and scorching it might burn my eyes.
My body began trembling involuntarily. Instinctual fear.
Before that colossal mana, I was mere vermin.
Even a candle in the wind would seem sturdier than me.
‘If I get caught in that, I die.’
Way beyond what I could tangle with.
Snapped from fear by a horrific crunch—kwajajak, ujjik.
Boom—the ground quivered slightly. Trembling, I turned toward the sound.
Unlike explosion shock, it felt like something heavy had fallen.
Nearby, dust clouds billowed.
There, a shaky mana flickered alone.
The booms receded, dust rose close by, mana shrank.
I moved cautiously but swiftly.
Arriving, words failed me momentarily.
Trees sliced cleanly as if by a sharp blade, gouges like massive rocks dragged through, small embers scattered everywhere.
I hesitated before stepping further.
It didn’t look like human work.
‘You see as much as you know.’
At least, I lacked the power to create this scene. That was crystal clear.
Facing a situation leaps beyond my limits, my forward-marching legs froze.
For the first time since starting the game, I considered retreating—not forward, but back.
“Guhk…”
But before I could step, a faint sound pierced my ears.
My body and mind, rejecting the alien sight, reacted to the familiar noise.
How many steps past broken trees?
“Cough, hack…”
A human silhouette appeared from behind. Yes, human.
Orange hair, draped in black cloth, three meter-long sticks stabbed into back, shoulders, thigh—limply slumped. Definitely human.
The moment I spotted them and halted, the silent system for days stirred.
「Capitalism trait activates.」
「System switches to support mode. Support target: Player Kang Hyun-woo.」
Accompanied by the damn notification chime, the mission window blocked my view.
Goddamn system