Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: Mastering the Aura
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Lucia witnessed a faint aura leaking ever so slightly from Kang Jin-hyuk's hand.
It was so dim that it was almost embarrassing to call it an aura, but the potential it showed was more than enough.
‘He’s talented, but he picked it up even faster than I expected.’
It was true that clerics found it easier to learn aura than ordinary humans.
Since they borrowed the power of faith rather than their own mana, it was akin to skipping three or four steps compared to regular people.
However, just because the conditions were lenient didn’t mean anyone could master aura unconditionally.
If every cleric could learn it, Lucia’s world would be overflowing with holy knights.
‘If his faith had been strong enough, he might have awakened it on his own.’
Of course, Lucia was absolutely certain that would never have happened.
There wasn’t a trace of the piety or devout behavior unique to priests in Kang Jin-hyuk.
If he hadn’t used Holy Shield, she might never have realized he was a cleric.
“Sigh, looks like I won’t have time to investigate this anymore.”
Since his progress was ahead of schedule, she needed to revise her plan to research the magic circle in the meantime.
But she felt no regret whatsoever.
Even if she fully deciphered the magic circle, she couldn’t return to her original dimension with her own magic power alone.
The only reason she’d kept investigating was pure curiosity.
She just wanted to know why she’d been sent here of all places.
Lucia thought it was more proper to help Kang Jin-hyuk advance to the next stage rather than satisfy her curiosity.
She knew full well how important the growth phase was.
And sure enough...
Having acquired a new skill, Kang Jin-hyuk brimmed with enthusiasm.
“There are ways to gain skills besides job changes...!”
Kang Jin-hyuk checked the details of his new passive skill.
[Holy Power Application – Level 1]
You can now use holy power at will, beyond specific skills.
Current skill level: F
[Skill Effect]
Holy power usage imbues holy attribute.
Attack power and defense increase proportional to MP consumed.
Reading the skill description, Kang Jin-hyuk had a question.
“You can use holy power beyond specific skills?”
It could be interpreted as being able to use holy power on non-cleric skills, but Kang Jin-hyuk had no way to test it.
“I don’t have anything besides cleric skills...”
It was a shame he couldn’t experiment with the new skill.
Still, the gains outweighed that, so he wasn’t disappointed at all.
By the time Lucia approached Kang Jin-hyuk’s side, she noticed his lips curving into a pleased smile.
“What’re you grinning about?”
“I got a new passive skill.”
“Passive... what?”
Seeing her reaction as if she’d never heard the term, Kang Jin-hyuk found it odd.
“You don’t know passive skills? The ones that activate without saying the skill name.”
“Nope, no idea. What even is a skill in the first place?”
Kang Jin-hyuk was at a loss, never expecting her to ask what a skill was.
“You know what I just used? Holy Shield. That’s a skill.”
Upon hearing that, Lucia nodded as if she understood.
“So you call holy magic ‘skills’ here.”
At that moment, Kang Jin-hyuk felt a strong sense of dissonance.
It felt off to dismiss it as just a language difference.
To confirm for himself, Kang Jin-hyuk asked her directly.
“Do you know what stats are?”
“What’s that? Sounds like magic if it’s similar to skills.”
“You know... that window that pops up in front of your eyes like info when you think about it in your head. The stats that show up there.”
Lucia tilted her head as if he was speaking nonsense.
“Where’s there anything like that?”
She clearly knew nothing about stats, abilities, or even the ‘window that appears before your eyes.’
After continued back-and-forth, Kang Jin-hyuk realized her world had no such systems.
In Lucia’s world, people grew stronger through physical training or awakening mana.
They didn’t level up like in a game.
Magic was cast by channeling mana through incantations and formulas, not by simply uttering a skill name for automatic activation.
“Our way is simpler, but it has the drawback of being hard to adapt.”
Fortunately, adaptation wasn’t entirely impossible.
Hadn’t he just acquired a new passive skill after repeating the process a few times?
With proof right there, Kang Jin-hyuk believed the training methods from her world would work here too.
If he followed her training exactly, he could surely gain even more skills.
That thought made him unable to sit still.
“Teach me the next step right now. How do I use this aura leaking from my hand?”
“I was just about to.”
Lucia was just as intrigued.
Casting something just by naming a skill without the process was the realm of silent casting in her world.
She was dying to know what results combining Kang Jin-hyuk’s abilities with her knowledge would yield.
‘This’ll be way more fun than puzzling over undecipherable formulas.’
For the first time in a while, her adventurer’s spirit of exploration surged, and Lucia decided to seriously mentor him.
* * *
The suddenly more zealous and earnest training was nothing short of brutal.
They practiced aura until his MP was depleted, then trained his body until it automatically recovered.
When he questioned why physical movement was needed for aura, Lucia replied that it was all for his benefit.
“If you do well, you might even pick up a warrior skill.”
“Damn it...! ‘Might’—it’s not even guaranteed!”
“What’s with all the complaints? Even if you don’t get a skill, a healthy body houses a healthy mind. It’ll help.”
“That saying exists in our world too.”
It seemed humans shared the same thoughts regardless of where they lived.
It made sense in its own way, but hearing it when he was mentally and physically exhausted just sounded like nagging from an old-timer.
“Come on, enough whining. Get back to it. How long are you gonna sit there?”
Seeing Lucia beckon with her finger, Kang Jin-hyuk reluctantly stood up.
Without even taking a stance, he swung his baseball bat straight at her.
It was excessive against a slender woman, but Kang Jin-hyuk felt no hesitation.
He’d expected from the start that she’d dodge it like it was nothing.
“Whoa, that startled me.”
From a half-step back, Lucia said it with a straight face.
“You scared me. Who swings out of nowhere like that?”
“Say that after at least grazing me.”
“Hahaha, no can do. A platinum-grade adventurer’s pride is on the line. I can’t lose to a newbie like you.”
“Sorry for being such a newbie.”
Lucia called it sparring to build real combat experience, but to Kang Jin-hyuk, it was pure agony, combat or not.
For it to be proper sparring, their weapons had to clash at least sometimes, but every swing just cut through empty air. What kind of sparring was this?
No matter how he looked at it, this was just a veteran bullying a noob.
“My shoulder’s gonna give out at this rate.”
Repeated full-power air swings left his arm feeling like it might fall off.
“Wouldn’t it be better to practice on monsters instead?”
Lucia paused to think at his words.
Of course, she didn’t forget to dodge his attacks in the meantime.
“Right, you said killing monsters raises your abilities.”
“Precisely, you have to level up for them to rise.”
“Levels... It’s so strange that you can get stronger that way.”
To Lucia, leveling up by killing monsters was like saying you grew stronger by slaughtering cows and pigs.
Absurd as it was, if that was the common sense here, she had to accept it.
“Then let’s hunt monsters using aura as much as possible. You might pick up that skill thing.”
“My practice isn’t there yet. How?”
He’d gained a passive skill, but his aura lasted a measly 0.1 seconds at best.
And even that was so faint it was questionable, with no guaranteed effect.
Lucia knew this full well, yet unlike Kang Jin-hyuk, she didn’t see it as a big issue.
“Just time it right for the moment of impact.”
The instant the bat struck its target was shorter than 0.1 seconds anyway—never longer.
Theoretically, it was entirely feasible, so Lucia believed it.
“Aren’t you judging by your own standards?”
Kang Jin-hyuk had no confidence in such precise control yet.
It was like demanding a toddler just learning to walk start sprinting.
“Who said anything about succeeding on the first try? Just keep at it till you do.”
Monsters overflowed in this dungeon anyway.
With ample targets and space for practice, all that was left was to act.
Kang Jin-hyuk sensed hellish times ahead.
“Till I get it? You serious?”
“What, backing out now? You’re the one who asked me to teach you aura.”
“No... I mean, we’ve done a lot today, so maybe call it and continue next time.”
He tried bolstering his argument that training a fatigued body would backfire.
But Lucia had no intention of accepting it.
She approached slowly and slapped her arm heavily on his shoulder.
“Once you start making progress, you gotta push hard. Stopping halfway gets you nowhere.”
Lucia was the type who had to see things through once she set a goal.
Now that she’d committed to seriously teaching him, she planned to whip him until he was on the verge of collapse.
Seeing Kang Jin-hyuk’s face drain of color, Lucia grinned instead.
“Don’t look so scared. If it feels like you’re dying, I’ll help.”
“That means you’ll only stop right before I keel over?”
“...Well, shall we get started then?”
“Hey, answer me first.”
Kang Jin-hyuk wondered if his impulsive request had poked a hornet’s nest.
Sighing at the clearly arduous path ahead, he felt Lucia smack his back with a loud *thwack*.
“Cheer up~ You should feel honored that a platinum-grade adventurer is raising you.”
Kang Jin-hyuk couldn’t fathom why this woman was suddenly so excited.
He’d thought she was just teaching him to kill time while deciphering the magic circle.
What wind had blown to turn her into such an enthusiastic teacher?
“...Alright, let’s do it.”
Unable to avoid it, Kang Jin-hyuk steeled himself to seize what he wanted.
If he could mimic even half the power she’d shown against the boss monster, he’d have abilities surpassing an A-rank Hunter.