Chapter 113
Achievement: High-tier Achievement [Mana the Gathering] Accomplished!
Even with the congratulatory chime ringing loudly in his ears, Ho-yeong remained unimpressed.
Huh... So this makes the fifth high-tier achievement.
The reason he had come all the way here in the middle of all this business, only to cure Garza, had been to complete this high-tier achievement, Mana the Gathering, and thereby unlock the +3 enhancement to Influence Edification and Influence Pioneer.
But Ho-yeong had already cleared a fourth high-tier achievement back at the palace.
When he was walking alone after leaving Daisy's chamber.
Achievement: High-tier Achievement [The Princess Who Doesn't Laugh] Accomplished! Joren Tamer, who made Daisy laugh heartily for the first time in ten years, is truly remarkable!
[Reward]
- The passive skill Influence's skill tree, Influence Edification and Influence Pioneer, receives its third enhancement.
- EP 100 and RP 100 have been acquired.
Ho-yeong was startled by the congratulatory message that rang out of nowhere.
Why now all of a sudden? Did something good happen? No, wait. If she laughed because of me, then it shouldn't be related to the achievement, right?
He had guessed that the condition for The Princess Who Doesn't Laugh was making Daisy laugh brightly. But during the bold event, he had done nothing but push her into explosions of laughter, which had been dangerous enough.
Influence has also decreased! Daisy's Influence Level has dropped significantly.
On top of that, Daisy's Influence Level had fallen all the way down to the lower bound of C rank.
“So Your Majesty suddenly burst out laughing at my 'subject-hahaha' bit and that somehow counted as clearing the high-tier achievement, right? But why did the Influence Level go down?”
Daisy's laughter was witnessed by the maids. Daisy was embarrassed and furious, utterly at a loss, and said, "It's all because that Joren Tamer fellow made some ridiculous joke."
Ho-yeong felt wronged.
No, she laughed because it was funny, so why is it my fault? Besides, you were the one who told me to make you laugh first.
In any case, reaching +3 enhancement was a relief.
That means I don't need to go out of my way to edify that Garza-or-whatever guy. There was no mention of +4 enhancement or anything like that.
Still, he had no intention of pretending it was none of his business. He had made a promise to the marquis, and to Peach as well.
A promise is a promise. I need to lift Peach's limit, and with the marquis, I need to do him a favor and make him owe me one.
That was the full story behind Ho-yeong's indifferent attitude.
“Peach, why don't you go bring the marquis here soon? He'll be in the garden. And don't close the door.”
“Yes, my lord.”
He applied healing ointment to Garza's face.
He is still his son. Seeing his face all smashed up would distress him.
He did not forget to warn Garza to keep his mouth shut, either.
“You know what to do, right? Don't go blabbing about what happened during your edification just now. It'd be troublesome if you started saying Peach beat you senseless. By the way, how old are you?”
“Yes, y-yes. Of course. I turned exactly nineteen this year.”
“Same age as Peach, then. Come to think of it, I don't really need to warn you to keep quiet. Getting beaten like a goblin after picking a fight with a girl your own age isn't exactly something to brag about, is it?”
“...Yes. It is pathetic.”
Garza hung his head deeply.
“Don't call it pathetic that you got hit. Call pathetic the things you've done. It's only natural for a mage to despair after losing his mana. Even so, you were given a new life because your family fought tooth and nail for you. These days, there are plenty of people who can't even recover corpses properly, so they can't hold funerals, let alone perform resurrection.”
Ho-yeong drove the point home.
“For the sake of the family worrying about you, you should have pulled yourself together. Listen, I lost my mana too because of resurrection aftereffects. Unlike you, mine doesn't recover.”
“What? Is that really true?”
“Yeah, you fool. That's why I can understand your feelings at least a little. Wait. You just thought, 'What would it matter if some guy who isn't even a mage loses his mana?' didn't you?”
“....”
Garza looked away without answering.
“It's damn inconvenient, all right?”
In the Kain Kingdom, there were many useful magical items, but most of them drew power from the user's mana.
Every human, from a great archmage to a newborn infant, possessed mana. The problem was people like priests, whose mana had been eliminated by acquired factors.
“Do you know how inconvenient it is to be unable to use scrolls or magical items directly? You think, 'Can't you just have someone else do it?' What am I supposed to do when I'm alone? And what about in the middle of a desperate battle?”
To Ho-yeong, it was no different from being utterly unable to press the button for an elevator or flip a light switch on his own.
“And that's not even all of it. It's a huge pain not being able to land target magic on myself properly. If Sicoop had been able to cast teleportation on me when we were dealing with the hobgoblins, I wouldn't have gone through that hellish grind.”
“Hobgoblins? What's that supposed to-”
“Just roll with it. Anyway, I'll cut to the point.”
Ho-yeong put a hand on Garza's shoulder while the young man was still kneeling.
“Even if people go through the same thing, how hard it feels can be completely different for each of them. And just because you know someone else is suffering doesn't mean your own suffering gets any lighter. For me, losing mana is merely an inconvenience, but for you it must have been a calamity. I can tell just by looking at you and the sorry state of your room. For you, losing mana was probably the same as losing the world itself, wasn't it?”
“G-g-guhhh... Yes. Exactly that. I even wanted to die, but when I thought about the family left behind, I couldn't bring myself to...”
Garza let out a bizarre, hiccuping sob.
Just then, Marquis Iolid and Rosta entered through the open doorway.
“Garza...”
Ho-yeong gave them a gesture to wait as he looked at them.
Activation of the Anxious Evil Eye! Ashk Iolid is worried about whether his youngest son has truly recovered his mana.
The marquis even had a monocle on. It was a mana gauge that could measure mana output.
“But you have regained that 'world' now, haven't you? You need to keep your spirits up.”
“Thanks to Your Excellency the Border Count, my mana veins are beating again, but at this level I am little different from an ordinary man. Of course, if I spend time training from here on, I may recover about half of what I once had, but that would require many years...”
“You should be grateful simply for regaining hope, you fool. Haven't you ever heard the saying, One Dandanium Axe, One Karoum Axe?”
“I have, sniffle. You're right. Simply having my mana restored is an enormous stroke of luck.”
Because he was facing away from the door, Garza could not see his family's expressions, and so he stopped whimpering.
“Since my resurrection, I had been no different from the dead. Your Excellency the Border Count gave me hope, so now this is as though I have been reborn a second time. I will live my third life to give hope to others.”
Influence has increased significantly! Garza Iolid's Influence Level has risen to A+. Not only does he truly repent for his mistakes, he has also resolved to become a new man from this day forward.
Ho-yeong grinned.
“Approved.”
Garza blinked in disbelief and asked back, dumbfounded.
“What? Approved...? What do you mean...”
“Be happy. The truth is, when I first saw you, I had my doubts.”
He had wondered whether he really needed to help such a wastrel. In the end, he had no choice but to do it because the remaining family members looked so pitiful.
“But now, your sincerity has drawn out my sincerity. Close your eyes and focus. Open your mouth, mana is coming in!”
Garza didn't understand a thing, but he followed the order.
“Here I go, Influence power at maximum! And Blooming too!”
Mana surged violently through his body.
Marquis Iolid nearly jumped out of his skin as he watched the numbers appearing in his monocle.
“Th-this is an absurd mana reading. 150... 500... 1,000... 3,000... 5,000. Gaaah!”
The mana gauge even exploded with a loud bang.
“F-father. What was Garza's final mana reading?”
“I-it went past eight thousand, no, nine thousand!”
Even taking into account that this was a momentary surge that could not be sustained for long, the reading had far surpassed that of most dragons.
Character stats have risen dramatically! Garza Iolid's mana grade has increased to SS.
“Aaaah! Such tremendous mana is surging up! Your Excellency the Border Count, just what in the world is this...?”
Garza was shocked senseless as mana, several times greater than during his prime, overflowed from him. Ho-yeong merely smiled faintly.
I don't know... what is that thing...? Scary....
Because Garza Iolid has a naturally high mana capacity and is in a state of true edification, the effects of Blooming were fully maximized. In addition, because the Guardian did not merely act from practical interest but sincerely wished for his success and encouraged him from the heart, the effects of Influence activated beyond their limit.
Haria's Tear has been greatly charged. Current charge: 85%.
“Thank you... truly, thank you!”
“Give your thanks to your father and sister.”
Ho-yeong turned Garza around as the young man tried to cling to him.
“Father! Sister! I was a fool. I am truly sorry.”
Garza ran to his father and sister and knelt before them.
“Garza, this is wonderful!”
“I'm so glad, truly so glad...”
Seeing that the solution had ended on a warm note, Ho-yeong quietly slipped away and went down into the garden. Peach, who had been waiting there, approached and wrapped herself around him.
“You worked hard, my lord. And thank you, more than I can say. I'm a happy person. To be able to serve a lord like you...”
“You've been the one working hard all this time. From now on, if anything is difficult, tell me right away.”
Ho-yeong stroked Peach's damp eyes and hair.
Lord Demis approached and asked, “Has the second son of the marquis's household been dealt with properly?”
Important Quest Alert! You must proceed with Meeting the Cult Leader of the Cliad Sect. Remaining time: 5 hours 10 minutes.
“Yes. If things go well, I think that precious little one, or rather the marquis's youngest son, may end up coming along too.”
“I doubt the marquis would drag a freshly recovered son into a dangerous battlefield.”
“I have no intention of making Garza fight, either. But I think I may be able to assign him a different role.”
Ho-yeong, who had noticed the help text saying that if Garza Iolid was edified, a 'strategy' would be added to the quest, paid close attention. He still couldn't know exactly what it meant, but it was clear Garza's magic was the key.
“By the way, I have a question for you, Captain. Why didn't the marquis resurrect his wife?”
“It isn't that he didn't resurrect her. It is that he could not.”
“What? What do you mean? The tomb is right here, and not much time has passed, either.”
“The condition of the body is not the problem. It is the soul.”
Still not understanding, Ho-yeong listened as Lord Demis explained calmly.
“In other words, no matter how powerful the priest's divine power may be, he cannot resurrect someone who no longer has the will to return?”
“That is correct. Lady Iolid had her will to live broken completely. It is a tragic thing.”
Ho-yeong glanced sideways at Peach.
“Yes, I know. She was a mistress who tormented me terribly... but still, it would have been better if she could have lived a little longer.”
She said it calmly, as though the matter was already behind her.
That leaves a somewhat bitter aftertaste.
As Ho-yeong strolled through the garden, he opened the shop in the status window.
“Enhancement.”
The marquis would need a little more time before coming down, so Ho-yeong decided to use the time to look into the new content, Enhancement, that he had not yet been able to check.
Enhancement consumes RP and requires the exclusive resource Enhancement Stones. Complete quests to collect Enhancement Stone fragments. The higher the completion grade, the more fragments you can obtain.
When 10 fragments are collected, 1 Enhancement Stone can be obtained. Current Enhancement Stone count: 1
The resource Enhancement Stones had also been necessary for upgrading in the game.
So you only get fragments by clearing quests. Same as in the game.
For that reason, players never neglected quests. In particular, story-important quests in the game granted many fragments, which naturally drew in a great many players. To clear quests at a high grade, you had to find hints buried in the setting and dialogue, which also deepened the story's sense of immersion.
Because it slowed down content consumption, that was very good news for the game company.
In short, they're telling me not to just camp in my territory, but to run around the map properly and keep the story moving. At first glance it feels like a loss to leave the territory and go wandering around, but if I strengthen it enough, it'll help territory defense a lot in the end.
Quests were opportunities to obtain or enhance new items and talent. In other words, the more one explored the open world, the more it naturally benefited the territory.
Anyway, I've got one Enhancement Stone. I should use it. What should I do first?
As Ho-yeong examined the enhancement effects on his equipment, his gaze stopped on Haria's Tear.
Choose one path from the enhancement tree?
(A) Communicate with spirits
(B) Dead plants can also be resurrected