Chapter 7
Chapter 7
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: No Problem
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During the Great War, gods, demons, and dragons killed each other with murderous intent.
Blood and flesh soaked in killing intent and madness blanketed the entire world like rain.
So, how ferocious would the beings born from that cursed blood and flesh be?
And how terrifying?
〈History and Everything of Laniakea〉
From the Monster Section
New World.
When you find a new hobby.
When you find something you never get tired of, no matter how much you indulge in it.
Do you know that thrill?
For Kang Geohan, demonic essence arrived just like that.
“Haaap! Kraaaah!”
After sensing the demonic essence, Kang Geohan’s days became simple.
Use up every last drop of mana. That was the sole goal of his day.
‘Is this really how it’s supposed to work?’
[Mana: 0.2/2.1]
Kang Geohan held the demonic essence stone right in front of his face and slowly squatted down, then stood up. He focused all his nerves on the demonic essence, careful to use mana instead of physical strength.
Crunch!
At first, the demonic essence was like a spiderweb-thin thread. Now it was thicker, but still just several strands twisted together. Even so, it unleashed astonishing power.
Kang Geohan shot up again with the power of mana. His fifteenth squat already.
[Mana: 0.1/2.1]
“Phew... Hup!”
His mana hit rock bottom. But his willpower still had plenty in reserve.
[Willpower: 13/31]
He exhaled again, squatted deeply, and stood up.
[Mana: 0/2.1]
[Willpower: 12/31]
[Ding! You’ve used mana to its limit. Willpower +1!]
[Ding! You’ve used mana to its limit. Demonic essence grows faster.]
The long-awaited notification finally rang in his ears.
Thud!
Kang Geohan immediately tossed the demonic essence stone aside and thought.
‘Whoa, is this for real?’
Using mana consumed willpower.
At first, it only took a little, but as his total mana grew, by the time it was depleted, it demanded more and more willpower.
The more he progressed, the harder it became to use it all. But Kang Geohan had awakened to mana usage when it was just 0.1 points, so exhausting it completely wasn’t difficult. And every time, his willpower shot up.
Higher willpower made it easier to deplete mana fully, and fully depleting mana raised his willpower further—an endless virtuous cycle!
‘This is way too good.’
What Kang Geohan didn’t know was that ordinary knights typically awakened to mana usage around 10 points.
Starting from 10 points versus 0.1 points meant a world of difference.
Unbeknownst to himself, Kang Geohan was building willpower far more solid and immense than anyone else’s.
‘No need to eat Puria Grass anymore.’
Thanks to his rapidly increasing willpower, even depression vanished in an instant. Every day brimmed with energy and joy.
That was why he couldn’t help but dive headfirst into demonic essence.
“Hoo... Hoo.”
After using up his mana, he rested until both mana and willpower recovered.
‘Should eat some supplements right now.’
He’d asked Kalts if there were special foods to boost demonic essence growth, but Kalts hadn’t answered. The guy was playing it way too cool.
‘Is there really nothing, or is it just useless at my level? No clue.’
As Kang Geohan felt regret,
Jolt!
The carriage suddenly lurched. His heavy body felt light, and the semi-automated carriage, which had been crawling along, now shot forward like it had caught a tailwind.
They’d exited the high-gravity zone.
“Phew... Finally, I can breathe.”
Davis, who’d been suffering the whole way through the high-gravity zone, fanned his collar and sighed.
Kang Geohan, on the other hand, wore a subtle expression.
“Hmm... It was the perfect environment for training, though.”
Davis jumped at his words.
“What...? You liked that? Man, you’re turning into a real monster by the day. In just a few days, you’ve even bulked up a bit...”
“Nah, monster? Come on.”
“No, seriously. Even your complexion’s different...”
Davis was stunned enough to stick out his tongue—Kang Geohan had achieved astonishing growth in just three days.
His demonic essence had gone from 21 pindem to 21 pindem—no, wait, 21 to... wait, from context 21 pindem to more, but mana 2.1. Anyway, over twenty times stronger by simple math.
‘And that’s not all...’
[Strength: 7/8]
In that time, he’d lost about 400 grams of muscle, yet his strength had increased by 1 point. His physique had gone from a skinny anchovy with a bit of muscle to one with quite a lot—pretty decent now.
No doubt thanks to the demonic essence.
‘Demonic essence lets you surpass physical limits.’
His heart pounded.
The perfect body humanity had dreamed of since ancient Greece. And perhaps even a divine body transcending all conditions? With demonic essence...!
‘Still, I hate keep losing muscle. Seems like every time demonic essence builds, it destroys existing cells like fat or muscle... To compensate, I need to eat more and train harder.’
Kang Geohan’s eyes gleamed as he looked at Davis. Sensing the unspoken demand, Davis grumbled.
“See? Total monster. You ate so much earlier too...”
Davis opened his bag and handed over jerky from the barony.
Kang Geohan chewed the jerky vigorously while resting.
At some point, he drifted into a light sleep.
Jolt!
Rumble... Roooaaar!
The carriage shook, and a massive roar echoed faintly from afar. Kang Geohan woke with a start. Outside the window, the sun was setting.
“What? Another mine?”
Uncle Davis said nonchalantly.
Kalts Black cracked his eyes open and glanced out the window. Then he frowned, annoyed.
“...Goblins.”
“Oh, just goblins... Huh? Goblins?!”
Davis leaped up. Kang Geohan’s sleepiness vanished too.
The monsters of Laniakea were monsters in the truest sense.
Kang Geohan and Davis, raised on tales of a single goblin tearing through three or four people like wet clay, couldn’t take the name lightly.
Creak!
Kang Geohan hurriedly opened the window and looked out.
Hiss! Hiss! Chiki. Hiss!
The sunset bathed the fields. The semi-automated carriage spewed steam as it raced on, orange-tinted grass flattening in its wake.
And there, beyond, three green monsters burst from the forest.
‘Those are goblins...!’
Kang Geohan swallowed hard.
In 21st-century Earth novels, goblins were small, frail beginner mobs. But Laniakea’s reality was entirely different.
Roooaaar!
They charged like savage gorillas. Veins bulged not like veins but like mechanical pipes.
Their lion-like faces had metallic bones protruding like helmets, black noses and bodies steaming like they’d just emerged from a blast furnace.
‘Not three or four people—even ten wouldn’t stand a chance...?’
[Goblin]
Height: 157 cm
Weight: 86 kg
Willpower: 20/79
Strength: 100/107
Mana: 70/70
Fat Mass: 8 kg
Muscle Mass (Skeletal): 25 kg
Demonic Essence: 700 pindem
‘Willpower’s weirdly low?’
But aside from that, it was a monster through and through.
Considering an average adult male’s strength was 9~12, this was over ten times that. Plus 70 points of mana!
Roooaaar!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Spotting the semi-automated carriage, the goblins roared ferociously and accelerated.
Bang-!
The driver fired the large-caliber gun mounted on the carriage. One goblin tumbled, spraying blood, but quickly regained its footing and charged. A monster bullets couldn’t pierce.
Boom! Boom!
With every stride, the green bodies grew rapidly closer.
“Th-th-those...”
Davis, seeing a monster for the first time in his life, froze speechless.
But.
“Ah... What a pain.”
Kalts scratched his head casually and drew three daggers.
He grabbed the ladder by the window and hopped onto the carriage roof.
Kalts’s voice came from atop the carriage.
“Don’t worry. Unless an ogre shows up, there’s no problem.”
Fwoooosh-!
A single piercing whistle of wind sliced through.
Splatter! Splatter! Thud!
The heads of all three charging goblins exploded simultaneously.
The three daggers had been thrown so fast, the sound rang out only once.
“Ah...”
Kang Geohan, tense until then, finally recalled Kalts Black’s InBody screen.
[Kalts Black]
Height: 183 cm
Weight: 78 kg
Willpower: 977/987
Strength: 170/172
Mana: 608/608
Fat Mass: 2.47 kg
Muscle Mass (Skeletal): 23.12 kg
Demonic Essence: 5,873 pindem
Thinking back now, could those even be human stats?
‘The real monster was someone else.’
And the moment Kang Geohan thought that,
Groooaaargh!
As if in response, a thunderous bellow shook the fields. A massive roar like a typhoon rattling the entire semi-automated carriage.
‘Huh?’
Grrrrowl!
Roooaaar!
Amid panicked cries, goblins fled desperately from the forest,
Thoom-!
With an earth-shaking footfall, a colossal giant burst through the trees, launching itself into the air.
It felt like it was literally soaring through the sky.
The InBody screen popped up reflexively.
[Ogre]
Height: 409 cm
Weight: 1,843 kg
Willpower: 2,987/3,000
Strength: 9,380/9,500
Mana: 1,500/1,520
Fat Mass: 470 kg
Muscle Mass (Skeletal): 950 kg
Demonic Essence: 15,000 pindem
Kang Geohan blanked out for a moment.
‘What... Are my eyes messed up?’
The numbers before him were too unreal.
From the roof, the driver murmured in a terrified voice.
“Ogre...”
Kalts’s voice came too, tense as ever.
“This... is a problem.”