Chapter 17
Chapter 17
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 17
Chapter Title: The Persistent Orc Warrior
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘How could that even be possible?’
On the way back to the dormitory.
Chae Da-hee was still utterly dumbfounded.
Loren.
He was the one who had awakened House Baos’s bloodline skill.
A [National Treasure Candidate], where rank classifications were utterly meaningless. All he had to do was level up, and he’d naturally become one nation’s National Treasure.
Even active top-tier players would hesitate to face him.
Yet Jae-hyeok had stood up to him without flinching.
Did he not know how great House Baos’s bloodline skill was?
‘No way.’
Jae-hyeok was also the son of a great being.
Among the dozens of students gathered there, Jae-hyeok undoubtedly understood the value of Loren’s power better than anyone.
And yet, to protect Do-jin, he had stepped forward alone.
Even when surrounded by dozens of students in the end, he hadn’t backed down an inch, standing firm as if it was only right.
Out of ignorance of fear?
No way.
Up close, Jae-hyeok had been trembling ever so slightly.
‘Maybe you’ve already...’
Are you just like your father?
Da-hee’s clear eyes filled with resolve as she silently asked the question that wouldn’t reach him.
***
“Man, that guy really defies all imagination...”
To cut to the chase.
In one day, Jae-hyeok had visited the infirmary nine times.
It was all because of Do-jin, who kept using Flash Step without a second thought, even as his skin tore, muscles twisted, and bones broke.
There had been nine instances where Jae-hyeok thought he’d end up permanently disabled without immediate treatment, forcing him to piggyback Do-jin back and forth to the infirmary.
‘He’s fearless to the point of stupidity.’
The kind of guy who wouldn’t flinch even if his limbs got severed mid-fight—just rip apart the enemy in front of him first.
Every time he took a hit and his vision spun, he’d Flash Step right back in, like a raging colt.
‘That skill really found the perfect master.’
A skill’s true value wasn’t just in acquiring it.
You had to master its use and wield it perfectly to unlock its real potential.
Especially for irreplaceable skills like First Skills—they needed to be honed to perfection.
In that sense, a high-risk skill like Flash Step was often treated like a double-edged sword.
Normal people were too afraid of injury to build up proficiency easily.
But Do-jin was anything but normal, so he used Flash Step without hesitation.
‘He’s fated to grow strong no matter what.’
The reason Jae-hyeok had recruited Do-jin to his team was purely because he was captivated by his ‘temperament.’
An indomitable spirit that wouldn’t fade until his goal was achieved.
A tenacious cleverness that focused solely on the best course against stronger foes.
He was the type you could be absolutely sure would grow powerful.
And it turned out his First Skill was top-tier too.
Perfectly synergistic with Do-jin’s temperament, no less.
Jae-hyeok instinctively knew the team he was building would end up far stronger than expected.
And the most positive part of all...
‘Sparring with Do-jin is a huge help to me too.’
Do-jin never backed down from fear, constantly devising breakthroughs on the fly with outlandish movements.
He was the perfect sparring partner for Jae-hyeok, who lacked real combat experience.
Every bout with him felt like pure, bone-deep practical experience piling up.
‘The only thing left is who to put in that last spot...’
He’d convinced Baek Do-jin and Chae Da-hee, so one more would complete the team.
Chae Da-hee hadn’t given a clear answer yet, but... after she helped earlier, wasn’t it basically a done deal?
But he couldn’t think of anyone for that final slot.
Normally, he’d just grab anyone, but with House Silla and now House Baos blood entering the school, that wasn’t an option anymore.
‘Bloodline skills...’
The greatness of bloodline skills lay in how ‘skills used down the generations were fully inherited by descendants.’
Skills refined over time, passed through countless hands, evolving with better techniques.
They were practically alive longer than humans, breathing and growing.
House Kang’s bloodline skills were the same.
If Jae-hyeok had simply slotted and awakened his family’s bloodline skill.
He’d have started at level 1 with overwhelming power based on his father’s combat data.
‘And been rightfully called a National Treasure Candidate.’
The protesters around his house would’ve scattered in a panic.
With the whole nation hailing Kang Jae-hyeok as Korea’s new future, no one would dare pressure House Kang anymore.
He knew all that full well, yet Jae-hyeok had rejected the bloodline skill.
Because it didn’t mesh with House Kang’s bloodline skill?
No chance.
Jae-hyeok had trained his whole life picturing his father’s back.
He was confident he could wield House Kang’s bloodline skill better than anyone.
He just deemed it ‘insufficient.’
Because he believed the bloodline skill was why his father settled for mere domestic supremacy instead of becoming the world’s strongest.
‘Even if it’s faster, wider-reaching, more powerful Quick Draw—it’s still just Quick Draw.’
House Kang’s Iaido was already perfected. Plenty fast, powerful, and stealthy.
So why obsess over a bloodline skill that only boosted Quick Draw’s power?
Jae-hyeok judged it unnecessary.
‘No matter how many times I rethink it, I need a mastery-type skill.’
A passive skill that didn’t show outwardly, with no confirmed cases proving its existence.
Jae-hyeok firmly believed it existed.
He was convinced America’s [Sword Saint] house reached superhuman swordsmanship thanks to a [Swordsmanship Mastery]-type passive skill.
‘It doesn’t have to be swordsmanship mastery. Any mastery-type skill—once I get it, that’s when I awaken.’
Jae-hyeok didn’t claim to be a pure swordsman.
To him, even House Kang’s Iaido was just one means to grow stronger.
Ancestors’ wrath be damned—he had zero intention of getting bogged down in a single weapon.
“Glutton come back for more?”
He still had energy left after sparring Do-jin to unconsciousness.
Lingering regret over not fighting Loren.
That’s why Jae-hyeok, diligently swinging his blade before the Lion Statue again, welcomed a familiar guest.
Grrr...
A pack of orcs.
The same ones he’d met every night for days now.
Jae-hyeok had learned something amusing.
Day 1: alone. Day 2: two. Day 3: three...
The orc warrior showing up each day with more minions was the ‘same individual’ as the first one.
He’d figured it out on day 3 from the scars he’d left on its body.
“I keep sparing you instead of killing, so no turnover in your crew? But at this point, isn’t it fate?”
Kweeeek!!
No reasoning with monsters, of course.
The orc warrior answered Jae-hyeok’s cheerful greeting with a roar.
Whether it was some command or not, the five orcs raised stone axes and charged in unison.
“Even beasts know gratitude—why don’t you?”
Jae-hyeok clicked his tongue and swung his scabbard.
The orc whose forehead cracked open collapsed, blood gushing...
“...Huh?”
Th-this wasn’t supposed to happen?
“Hey! Snap out of it! Don’t die!”
No, did its stats go up again?
The bleeding from the cracked skull was way too much.
In a panic, Jae-hyeok tore strips from his own clothes and wrapped the orc’s head tightly.
“Don’t die! You have to live! Think of your family! You’ve gotta have a piggy wife and kids waiting!”
Kku, kkuek...
Uh-oh. Not staunching properly.
He stripped off his shirt entirely, wrapped the whole head tight, and even made breathing holes near the nostrils so it wouldn’t suffocate.
“...Crisis averted? Whew, damn it. Never thought I’d learn field medicine on an orc.”
Wiping cold sweat with a sigh of relief, Jae-hyeok locked eyes with the orc pack.
“...”
Grrr...
The orcs were still snarling, axes raised to swing at Jae-hyeok, but the orc warrior was holding out an arm to restrain them.
‘No way it’s intelligent?’
So it waited for him to treat its subordinate?
He’d heard in class that elite monsters leading packs could be unusually clever... but this was just an orc warrior?
Jae-hyeok tilted his head, then shrugged it off.
‘Even a D-rank monster’s gotta have some learning ability.’
The orc warrior had challenged Jae-hyeok night after night, only to get beaten senseless repeatedly.
It hadn’t grasped why it kept surviving—until just now, seeing Jae-hyeok treat the orc, when enlightenment dawned.
Kkuek! Kkueruk!
The orc warrior alternated glances between the mummy-wrapped orc and Jae-hyeok, then bellowed something at him.
To Jae-hyeok’s ears, it was just squealing pig, but... he could tell there was no hostility.
Kkuek-kkuek.
The orcs lowered their stone axes, gathered their wounded comrade, and vanished into the brush.
There was a reason they were known for strong camaraderie among monsters.
Kueruk...
The orc warrior, arms crossed, stared at Jae-hyeok a moment longer, flicked the tip of its curved sword, then departed.
“What kinda manners is that...”
Thanks weren’t enough to bow its head, yet it flicks its blade?
Jae-hyeok nearly hurled a rock in irritation but shook his head.
‘Getting mad at a pig just hurts me.’
He couldn’t kill it anyway—no point picking a fight.
Spang-!
Calming himself, Jae-hyeok resumed training.
Thanks to the orcs retreating peacefully, he could focus in tranquility.
[[Lion’s Castle]’s will is bewildered by your relationship with the orc.]
[You obtain a hidden reward: stat bonus points.]
The lion atop the gate was, as ever, observing Jae-hyeok with keen interest today.
And...
Flick.
Jae-hyeok turned his head toward the lion.
He stared straight into the moss-covered eyes of the statue.
No coincidence.
Jae-hyeok had sensed a definite presence—and pinpointed its source.
He couldn’t see his stat screen, but it was the power of stats that had risen nearly every day since enrolling in Lion’s Castle.
His Insight stat, which had just reached a certain threshold, had sharpened his senses.
“...What are you?”
-...