Irmana's Hidden Quest
The hidden quest was simple: hire powerful hunters with money and crush Jo Giman. Of course, any hunter strong enough to actually fight Jo Giman wouldn't be swayed by money, but finding people capable of buying us some time shouldn't be too difficult.
"By the way, I'm curious. I wonder how effective this would be if a person drank it?"
While I was tilting my head in thought—
Gulp— Gulp—
"Phew— This water is so cool and delicious! It's sweet, so sweet!"
······Hey······ You drank that?
Yeonhee seemed to have poured the water from Wangwang's bowl into a cup and drunk it.
'Yeonhee······ There's a limit to how carefree a person can be. Drinking water a dog was drinking······.'
Since she'd already drunk it, there was nothing to be done. I could only hope there wouldn't be any negative effects.
······We stood together for about a minute, waiting for any changes.
"Why isn't there any change?"
"??"
That can't be right.
"Hmm······ Ah! Should I try consuming a ton of mana? Just a second."
Yeonhee immediately summoned a large number of her summons, including Ran and Number One.
(Uhyohyohyoh! Ran has arrived! Huh? Wangwang, every time I see you, you're just sprawled on the floor! Get up!)
Whine······
While Ran was struggling to get Wangwang on his feet, Yeonhee spoke.
"My mana is draining away fast. Ilwol, give me another cup of water."
Uh······ Well, she seems fine, so one more cup shouldn't hurt.
Trickle trickle trickle—
The moment I poured the water, Yeonhee boldly chugged it down. Her expression shifted from puzzled to bright as she smiled.
"My mana refilled?! It's different from the slow recovery! It recovered all at once!"
"Clack clack clack!!"
So it really does work as a mana potion!
"Huh?"
What? Why again?
Yeonhee's eyes darted around as if asking what on earth this was.
"Two things popped up at once? One is that the lake water's effect can only be used up to three times a day······"
'Tsk······ As expected, there was a limit. Still, being able to use a free mana potion three times a day is a huge benefit, isn't it? But how much mana does one gulp restore? And does it have the same effect as with Wangwang, boosting skill power?'
Yeonhee continued with the second message.
"It says that if someone with the trait Irmana's Blessing drinks this lake water for 100 days while earnestly wishing to meet Irmana, they will gain new possibilities depending on their hidden potential······ Does that apply to you too, Ilwol?!"
"Clack clack clack—!!"
'Whoa! What the— Was this Water Pitcher an insane item? Ah! Wait, maybe the reason this pitcher appeared when it didn't in my previous life is because I entered with Irmana's Blessing already in my possession?'
Though it came with the premise that the reward would vary depending on hidden potential, there was nothing to lose by trying. Let's start right away!
'Alright! Then starting today, I need to drink the water······.'
After pouring water into the cup, my thoughts suddenly froze.
·········
"Ah······"
In that instant, Yeonhee and I locked eyes, and her gaze slowly fixed on my body.
'Water······ I can't drink it······ What the hell—!!'
No way! A gem was clearly shimmering right in front of me, but reaching out only made it scatter like an illusion. What a damn situation!
'No wonder things were lining up so perfectly. The one thing a skeleton fundamentally can't do······'
"Maybe the Lizardmen squad can do it? I wonder if they'll understand the word 'wish.' Right?"
Nod nod······
Whether it works or not, I have to at least get them started. Setting aside my disappointment, I filled a large bucket with water and let the Lizardmen squad drink their fill.
"Now—! While drinking the water, you have to earnestly pray that you want to meet Irmana, got it?"
Chururap??
"Think of it! Imagine the great being who bestowed blessings upon your race!"
But no amount of scolding was going to make them understand. At least Number One seemed to get the gist and began giving instructions to the Lizardmen squad.
Thanks to the summoning scrolls Yeonhee obtained upon reaching level 2, the Lizardmen squad had grown to 15 members. Since our house was too small to accommodate all 15 at once, we had to rotate summons and dismissals to carry out the task.
'I really need to move to a bigger place soon.'
Our income had increased dramatically, so the inconvenience would only be temporary.
Slurp—
A freshly summoned, fluffy baby Lizardman closed his eyes tightly and began muttering something. It seemed Number One had properly relayed the message. They say the position makes the person—maybe entrusting him with the squad leader role had sharpened his mind?
For some reason, Lizardman Number One's face was filled with a strange excitement as he watched the young Lizardmen.
'That bastard is planning to give the new recruits some mental training again.'
I could already picture Number One lecturing the fresh recruits, telling them to work harder and show respect. Anyway, after supplying the otherworldly lake water until all 15 Lizardmen said they couldn't drink anymore, I refilled the bucket to the brim.
'If there's something I can try, I might as well try it.'
The bucket was filled with water deep enough for my head to fit. Carrying it, I headed to the bathroom. I still wasn't ready to give up on this.
Splash—
Without hesitation, I plunged my head into the filled bucket.
Glug— Glug—
Cold water quickly filled the empty skull.
·········
'······It feels like something's seeping in······ Or is it just my imagination?'
I figured that if my bones were submerged and absorbing the water, it might count as drinking, so I decided to test it.
·········
I kept my head submerged for about three minutes. But no message appeared. It was different from when the Lizardmen squad drank the water and immediately saw messages appear as they waved their hands in the air.
'Drinking······ I don't necessarily have to be bound by the act of drinking. As long as I make it mine······'
Contaminated Breath
Underwater, I repeatedly released a small amount of Contaminated Breath from my mouth and then drew it back in. As I took in the water slightly mixed with the contaminated breath, I could clearly feel a refreshing energy spreading through my body.
'I sincerely wish to meet the Goddess of Water, Irmana······'
Ten minutes later.
'Damn it, it's not working.'
Drip drip—
After keeping my head submerged for a long time, I was about to give up without regret when something suddenly appeared in my mind.
Irmana's Revival — Day 1
'What the— A hidden quest?!'
Well, it was about time for quests to start appearing. Soon dragons and demon kings would show up, and people would start transferring to other worlds, right? Ah, that's terrifying.
Every time I gained information I hadn't known in my previous life through regression, I felt half excitement and half anxiety. The anxiety of not being able to clearly see the future. The already twisted future would gain even more momentum and branch out in unexpected directions.
'Let's set aside things that won't have answers no matter how much I worry.'
What bothered me more was the phrase "wish for revival." Did it mean the god Irmana was already dead or in a half-dead state?
'What if completing this revives the corrupted Irmana or something?'
It was an absurd thought, but you never know.
'But waiting to see what happens to the others after 100 days······ that would be too late, wouldn't it? This is the right way to handle it.'
Between being cautious and riding the flow, my choice was to push forward for now. Since other variables might arise during the 100 days, I needed to maintain the quest while observing the situation.
Though I hadn't felt any particular sense of unease from the content Yeonhee had read, this was definitely an event I couldn't simply be happy about. The Irmana who had granted me power in the Lizardman Swamp dungeon was in a state where revival was necessary? It would be nice if she were alive and well, looking after this and that!
"Ilwol, are you done? How did it go?"
When I nodded vigorously, Yeonhee smiled brightly and clapped her hands. Is there anything happier than having someone who rejoices as if it were their own matter?
'I should give her a head massage later. Well, I already do it every day anyway.'
But then Yeonhee grabbed my hand and dragged me to the living room, excitedly saying there was something interesting we should watch together. She'd never really suggested watching something together before, so I was curious.
Since the two-room apartment we lived in wasn't fully furnished, there was no TV. So we lay side by side on our stomachs on the floor and looked at Yeonhee's phone together.
"Yeonsu unni sent me this link saying I should check it out. Apparently some YouTuber with 1.5 million subscribers uploaded a video about us? Aren't you really curious what it is?"
"Clack clack clack!!"
'What is it really?'
When I clicked the link, a familiar red platform window appeared.
World's Only Summoner's Monster Combat Power Tier!
'Ah, what? It's that person again······'
As always, once I obtained visual information, memories I'd forgotten came flooding back. The channel name was "KimCoffee." I remembered occasionally watching his content because he made gossip-style videos about hunters and edited them with good pacing.
Today's topic seemed to be ranking Yeonhee's summons.
'Monsters······ Well, that's factually correct.'
Anyway, true to KimCoffee's style, the video didn't unnecessarily drag out information about Yeonhee's personal life and got straight to the point. Of course, the content was full of his own speculations about our summons' combat power.
The ranking went up to 7th place, and that part was a bit surprising.
'So information about the spirit's existence has already spread.'
Including the spirit Ran, a total of seven types of summons had been summoned so far, and the fact that they'd already identified even the small bird-sized one showed just how intense people's interest in Yeonhee was.
Anyway, among the summon combat power rankings KimCoffee had selected, 7th place was surprisingly the Kobold.
'He ranked the Kobold as the weakest?'
The reason he placed it at 7th was because its excessively low intelligence and lack of innate willpower resulted in an extremely low attack accuracy rate. Well, no matter how strong you are, it's useless if you can't hit. In reality, even now it could only serve as a meat shield. It didn't even have any decent skills, and since it always carried luggage on its back, its speed was slow, making it not very helpful in combat, he said.
The video seemed to prioritize which monsters contributed more to battle rather than simply who fought well.
'In the end, it's just listing Kobold characteristics, but how did the view count already exceed 1 million······'
Considering KimCoffee's influence, it was still surprising that a video uploaded less than half a day ago had already reached 1 million views.