Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Ch. 52 .｡.:✧ Elvenguard (5) ✧:.｡.
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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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The ability of regression boasted considerable effects.
What other cheat ability could compare to going back to the past with all your experience and knowledge intact, repeating the same time over and over?
The fact that even someone like me, who had no talent, could now act like Lu Bu was enough to say it all.
However, regression wasn’t entirely almighty.
While experience, knowledge, and a certain level of skill could be brought back to the past, my body always returned to its initial state.
My hard-earned muscle mass and trained joints were reset.
Of course, in this world overflowing with various cheats and coincidences, it was a foolish act to build muscle and train.
The output was absurdly small compared to the time invested.
So I focused on obtaining high-end mana stones and strengthening stat-boosting traits first.
But even that nonsense eventually reached its limit.
Now was exactly that situation.
If I had reached the maximum I could become stronger through cheats, there was no other way.
I had no choice but to honestly train and become stronger.
Bang!
Kwang!
Every time I drove my fist into the huge dead tree trunk rising in the center of the training ground, wooden splinters flew and roars exploded.
“Phew…”
I caught my breath for a moment and examined my fist.
The skin on my knuckles was already ripped off, blood flowing, and my fingers trembled.
The bark that had lost its vitality and become dry and twisted was more solid than a steel plate.
This was the natural result of recklessly punching it with my bare fist.
“Damn. How long will it take to train this again?”
The finger strength that kept me from losing my sword in any situation.
And the sturdy finger joints that prevented my fist from shattering and becoming unable to fight.
The importance of these couldn’t be emphasized enough.
But holding my throbbing fist, sighs kept escaping me.
There was one thing I never got used to even after repeating the 12th round. And that was pain.
Perhaps because it wasn’t a death related regression.
I still hated pain.
Naturally, I really hated training that involved pain to the point of dying.
“Sigh… But I have to do it.”
I didn’t like it, but I had no choice.
It was a matter of life and death.
I had to face the Heavenly King Kali today or tomorrow.
In the near future, I had to defeat the final boss Draken.
I couldn’t afford to exaggerate.
Moreover, Elvenguard was a place specialized for training, where mana accumulated just by breathing.
It was a waste to rest.
“Huh?!”
Just as I clenched my fist tightly again and was about to strike the tree, something suddenly flew from behind with a whoosh.
In an instant, my face was tackled, and I fell backward.
“…Hungry.”
“Hey.”
Slurp slurp.
Undecided, who had opened her mouth and tried to impulsively bite my neck, discovered the blood on my fist and licked it wildly.
Her breathing was rough, her body trembling with excitement.
Judging by her eyes glowing bright red, she was indeed in a frenzy.
It was a phenomenon that occurred instead of mana exhaustion when Undecided used too much mana.
“Did you use up all your mana?” I asked.
“…Yeah.”
“What about your stamina?”
“…Exhausted.”
To measure Undecided’s stamina and mana limit, I had her run around the training ground at full speed.
Checking the time, 20 minutes had passed.
Undecided’s stamina and mana limit seemed to be around 20 minutes.
“…Mana. Not. Charging.”
“Really? It’s not charging even if you stay still?”
“…Yeah.”
Undecided kept licking my fist, her eyes shining like a beast’s.
Elvenguard’s air was filled with mana, so the charging speed should be faster than the consumption speed unless it was extreme.
Perhaps because Undecided had a monster’s body, she couldn’t charge mana through the air.
Then there was no other way.
I had to charge it manually.
“…Woo. Mana. Charging.”
I quickly stroked Undecided’s head, scratched her chin, and touched her cheeks.
I seemed to have gotten the knack for charging mana like this now.
The key was to use both hands without rest, stroking evenly.
Then it could be fully charged within 10 minutes.
For some reason, if I only stroked one spot, the charging speed dropped sharply.
“I’m here… Eek.”
Creak.
The door of the training ground opened, and Alicia peeked her face in.
“Sorry…”
“No, why. Come in.”
“Didn’t I interrupt you?”
“No, you didn’t, so come in.”
It seemed I was misunderstood again.
Rather, it was better.
The weirder I appeared to Alicia, the stronger her determination would be to prevent me from meeting Yerina.
“What were you doing?”
“Charging this kid’s mana. Her heart has stopped, so I have to manually inject mana like this.”
“Aha… But do you have to stroke a blood ghoul like that to charge it?”
“It seems to be like that.”
I didn’t know the exact principle either.
In the first place, I had never heard of capturing a monster, raising it as a companion, and charging its mana during the 12 rounds.
I just stroked it and it charged mana.
If I only stroked the same spot half-heartedly, the charging efficiency decreased.
I only knew this much from experience.
“Then… Can I try it once too?”
“Go ahead.”
“Hehe.”
With a creepy smile, Alicia slowly approached Undecided.
Undecided, perhaps getting a bit scared, tried to hide behind me.
But Alicia, who had quickly caught up, grabbed Undecided.
“Wow. It’s cold. And soft.”
“…Eek.”
Undecided’s cheeks stretched out.
As if she had quickly fallen for it, Alicia was completely entranced, touching Undecided’s head and chin.
I understood.
Once you fell for that sensation, it was hard to escape.
I knew that well.
“Hehe. I-is mana. Charging?”
“…No.”
“What? Not at all?”
“…Not at all.”
Huh.
Even though she was touched so much, she said mana wasn’t charging.
Something was strange.
I separated Alicia for a moment and tried stroking Undecided’s head myself.
“Now?”
“…Charging.”
“What?! Why only me?”
Now it was charging properly again.
What was it?
Wasn’t physical contact the condition for charging?
It seemed there were other conditions.
“Should I touch like this? Yoo-jin! How did you shape your hand earlier? Show me again!”
“Forget it. Let’s move on.”
“No way! I want to give some mana to Undecided too…!”
“Hey, Alicia. Hurry up and teach me magic.”
It wasn’t particularly important.
More importantly, Alicia’s magic crash course was too urgent.
As soon as Elvenguard decided to entrust us with the request, we had to be ready to enter the dungeon immediately.
I had to learn magic or whatever during that gap and become as strong as possible.
“Hmph. Fine. Do you have a magic tool? Experts can use magic barehanded without a magic tool, but when you first learn, it’s good to have a magic tool that fits your body well,” Alicia explained.
“Of course I prepared it. Undecided. You brought your ring too, right?”
“…Yeah.”
“What? She’s learning magic too?”
“Might as well. We can try it once. If it doesn’t work, it can’t be helped.”
The more people who could use magic, the better.
Undecided’s body couldn’t even use mana without a mana stone.
So of course, it seemed like she wouldn’t be able to use magic… But you never know.
Let’s learn together once.
“Great. You both seem to know how to control mana to some extent. Can I check it again?”
“How do you check?”
“Please use mana control as usual. I’ll directly touch and feel the flow of mana inside your body.”
Alicia, who had somehow gotten behind us, placed her hands on my and Undecided’s backs.
As usual?
I closed my eyes for a moment and controlled the flow of my mana using the power of the mana stone.
Then Alicia flinched in surprise and stepped back.
“Whoa. What’s with you two? You both specialize in close combat, so is that why? Your mana control is on par with my sister’s level…”
“Is that good? I thought this much was basic for a swordsman.”
“It’s really good. Usually, when a beginner learns magic, more than half the time is spent mastering mana control. You’ve saved a lot of time.”
They say the beginning is half of everything.
Indeed, we had progressed more than half from the start.
Suddenly, my motivation surged.
“Have you learned about magic before?”
“I’ve mastered a few spells.”
“Oh! What are they? Can you show me?”
While Undecided shook her head, I brought out and demonstrated the magic I had learned before.
Ignition magic, unlocking magic, clairvoyance (up to 1cm) magic, etc.
They were magic optimized for avoiding traps and surviving in dungeons.
“And this is the last one. Stealth magic.”
“Huh? That’s stealth?”
“The sound you make is a bit quieter, isn’t it?”
“Aha. That’s true…”
After I demonstrated all the magic I knew, Alicia’s expression became subtle.
Hesitating, she kept puckering her lips for a while before speaking.
“Can I be honest?”
“Go ahead. I hate beating around the bush.”
“It’s truly a collection of useless magic. But seeing how proficient you are, it’s evident you put in a lot of effort… The problem is, they’re all magic that’s completely useless for learning advanced magic.”
“…”
A sharp judgment was made.
I knew it, that scammer old man.
He just taught me useless magic.
“In magic, there are concepts of attributes and hierarchy. Of course, there are powerful magic that doesn’t belong to any attribute, but they’re extremely rare. Most magic is derived from the 1st tier magic that corresponds to the basics of each attribute. The highest level is the 10th tier. At that point the spells are capable of transforming heaven and earth,”
Alicia began a serious lecture.
According to Alicia, there were a total of 5 attributes of magic.
Fire, water, ice, lightning, and wind.
Each attribute had a 1st tier magic, and from there, various magic branched out like climbing a tech tree.
But the magic I had demonstrated all lacked both hierarchy and attributes.
In other words, I had climbed a tree with no future or foundation.
“Typically, a person can only master one attribute and one branch in their lifetime. Up to the 2nd or 3rd tier, it’s possible to learn across multiple branches, but beyond that, it’s questionable if you can master it even if you focus on one branch. Of course, occasionally, geniuses emerge who master 8th tier magic of a completely different attribute.”
It was like how anyone could get a bachelor’s degree if they invested enough time, but a master’s or doctoral degree was like delving into one branch for a lifetime.
The fact that occasionally, crazy people appeared who obtained two doctoral degrees in completely different fields was also similar.
“For now, let’s try casting the basic magic of each attribute. This way, we can determine which attribute is suitable for you.”
Next was to choose the magic attribute I would handle.
If possible, I preferred lightning or fire.
Water and wind seemed somewhat lacking in style.
I disliked ice because it reminded me of Yerina.
“Hmm. Why is this happening? You shouldn’t be blocked at the 1st tier. This is the first time I’ve seen someone like this.”
“Huh?”
At that moment, I realized I had been overthinking.
I shouldn’t be blocked at the 1st tier, right?
“…Oh.”
“Wow! Undecided seems to have an aptitude for fire and lightning attributes?”
By the time flames and lightning sparked from each of Undecided’s hands, a foreboding thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Could it be that I had absolutely no talent for magic…?
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