Chapter 470: Evolution (4)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 470: Evolution (4)
Shin Yu-jeong’s trait was called ‘Super Regeneration’.
A B-rank trait with a simple effect.
Her body’s regenerative abilities would increase in proportion to the fatigue, injuries, and pain she accumulated during battle.
It was a simple, yet efficient, ability.
A higher regeneration ability meant she could hold out longer.
And the time bought by a tanker translated directly into opportunities for the dealers.
She was the kind of presence that created the most welcome virtuous cycle for a party.
But at the same time, it was also the very thing holding her back.
It was a good trait, but its limits were just as clear.
The word ‘simple’ is a double-edged sword.
While it had the advantage of being straightforward and convenient, it also meant that no matter how much you thought about it, it was difficult to create any variation.
On top of that, there was a limit to how much her regeneration could increase in proportion to the damage taken.
Shallow wounds healed in an instant, but deep ones would only just stop bleeding, requiring a significant amount of time to fully recover.
This was the reason.
The reason I’d thought Shin Yu-jeong’s potential was a step below that of her party members.
I had expected that for her to become the S-rank Hunter she so desperately wanted to be, she would have to break through far more walls than the others.
“I… my trait evolved…?”
That wall had been broken.
And it was the thickest wall of all.
“Evolved? How?”
“Uh… first, the trait’s rank went up to A-rank.”
She answered, a dazed look on her face.
This was encouraging.
A rise in rank meant a rise in overall efficiency.
The limits of her regeneration, which had previously only been able to mend shallow wounds, must have been raised significantly.
And that wasn't all.
“It got new functions, too… They’re called Store and Release.”
“Store, Release…?”
“Yeah. Store lets me save a portion of the impact my body takes. And Release is…”
“To let out the stored power, I assume.”
“Y-Yeah, that’s right.”
Store and Release.
I had a rough idea of what the ability did, but it seemed a little experimentation was in order.
What was the maximum amount of impact she could store?
And what was the damage like when she released it?
“Grab your shield.”
“Okay.”
She boldly picked up the shield hanging in the corner of the training hall.
Then, she started tapping the shield with the sword I’d bought her, shouting cockily.
“Bring it on!”
“…Didn’t I tell you not to hit the shield with my sword, you brat?”
“Hehe! If you don’t like it… you know what to do, right?”
Look at her.
I sent a light spell toward the girl, who had gotten cocky after her trait evolved.
「Fireball.」
Ten orbs of fire materialized around me and shot toward her in unison.
“Hmph…!”
She lowered her stance, blocking the incoming fireballs one by one with her shield.
Fwoom!
Bang!
Fwoom! Fwoom! Fwoom!
Smoke billowed out.
I asked the girl standing firm within it.
“How does it feel?”
“Uh… it’s a little weird. It feels like every time I block an attack, some of the impact is stored around my core.”
“Do you have a sense of how much more you can store?”
“Roughly. If I keep blocking with the shield like this, I think I can take another 40 or 50 fireballs, no problem.”
“Is that so.”
That was a bigger number than I expected.
Was the amount of impact being stored minuscule, or was the storage capacity itself massive?
Based on her estimate, the amount of impact currently stored was about one-fifth of the total.
“Let’s try using Release this time.”
“On what?”
“On me, of course.”
As I spoke, I wove thin threads of mana into a translucent sphere.
「Shield.」
This was no ordinary shield, of course.
It was a wall created by drawing out mana imbued with hardness and elasticity into threads and weaving them together, one by one.
This effort made it several times stronger than a normal shield.
Of course, the casting time was proportionally longer, making it impossible for an ordinary mage to handle properly.
“Try it on this.”
“Hmm…”
With a thoughtful expression, Shin Yu-jeong walked toward the shield and raised her sword.
“Hoo…”
She let out a deep breath.
At the same time, she swung the sword down with all her might.
“Release!”
She roared.
Swish!
The sword tore violently through the air as it came down.
Tsk, tsk.
That’s not how you use a sword.
Just as I was thinking I’d have to start her over with basic training…
Crack!
The sword that had been cleaving through the air shattered helplessly.
Did the sword break because the shield was too hard?
No.
It happened in an instant, but my eyes saw it clearly.
The sword broke on its own, just before it reached the shield.
Then why?
“Huh?”
“Uh, umm.”
I was still baffled by the absurd situation.
Suddenly, a blue aura erupted from the shortened sword, now broken in half.
Fwoosh!
“Whoa!”
The violently expelled aura sent its own master flying and rushed toward the translucent barrier.
An instant later, a deafening roar exploded.
KRA-KOOM!
After the commotion swept past, I checked the shield’s condition.
A small crack had formed where the blue aura had struck.
“……”
Did I mention this before?
That this thing was sturdy enough to block high-level magic.
And she had managed to crack it.
With only about 20% of her total storage.
Of course, filling it to capacity wouldn't necessarily result in five times the power… but one thing was certain.
The power of Release was far more useful than I had thought.
The core of ‘Super Regeneration,’ which I had assumed was all about healing, was actually ‘impact.’
It was to the point where I wondered if the enhanced regeneration was just a secondary effect to help her body withstand it.
“…I see why the sword broke.”
The sword had broken because of Release.
The force of the impact was so strong that the sword couldn't handle it and simply shattered.
The moment I figured out the reason, I also gave up on my plan to reteach her basic swordsmanship.
“First, we need to get you a new weapon. Yep.”
Something other than a sword seemed more fitting for her.
* * *
On the way home after finishing training.
Leaving Shin Yu-jeong, who wanted to train a little longer, at the training hall, Kim Do-jin drove alone down the dark road and summed up the day.
“That elixir was put to very good use.”
He didn’t regret using a single one.
Shin Yu-jeong’s trait had evolved.
No, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say the entire team had evolved.
While the other team members’ traits hadn’t increased in rank, they had still achieved meaningful growth.
In Im Na-eun’s case, her maximum number of bubbles, which had been twelve, increased to twenty.
The durability of the bubbles was even enhanced to the point where they could store high-level magic. With enough time, she could now wield an offensive power that, for a moment, surpassed even my own.
Elena’s area of effect and its power were further enhanced.
She could now cover the entire training hall, which was over 1,700 square feet [approx. 50 pyeong], with her zone.
Unfortunately, Son Seo-yeon remained the same.
It was to be expected.
She hadn’t taken an elixir in the first place.
Elixirs were potions that were most effective at promoting physical growth and correcting imbalances.
But Son Seo-yeon’s body already possessed perfect balance and potential.
In other words, it would have been useless for her to drink it.
Son Seo-yeon understood this as well.
But she must have been a little disappointed, as she pouted her lips, and I had to soothe her by promising to get her a different kind of potion next time.
“The number of strategies I can use will increase significantly.”
Explosive offensive power.
A wide-ranging debuff.
And on top of that, stable tanking and a powerful counter-attack ability.
With the three of them having grown sufficiently, it seemed about time to consider a new challenge.
An S-rank dungeon, which required a party to have at least one S-rank Hunter just to attempt a clear.
“To do that, they first need to get used to their abilities… hmm?”
I was mentally organizing the training they would need to do as I turned into the narrow alley I had to pass through to get home.
“……”
An ominous sensation clung to me.
Simultaneously, my surroundings became unnaturally dark and quiet.
The new streetlights, installed after a call to the local community center, had all gone out.
The cat’s cry, which sometimes sounded like a baby’s wail, was gone.
Even the sound of my car’s running engine had vanished.
“…What is this?”
The only sound I could hear was my own breathing.
Noticing something was wrong, I immediately got out of the car and looked around.
A thick silence had descended.
The color of the mana flowing leisurely through it was distinctly different from usual.
A dark blue, almost black.
That mana was the culprit.
The light from the streetlamps, the cat’s cry, and the car’s engine noise.
They had all been devoured by the suddenly appearing dark blue mana.
And that wasn't all.
“…This entire space has been devoured.”
The light and sound were only part of it.
The dark blue mana was swallowing everything around where I stood.
In other words, this place had already become the private domain of the one who wielded that dark blue mana.
There was only one reason to stage something like this in a remote neighborhood with nothing worth stealing.
“If you’ve come to see someone, I’d appreciate it if you showed your face and said hello.”
No sooner had I spoken to the opponent who had laid this trap for me than the ground around me began to tremble.
The earth was stained with dark blue mana.
From it, a viscous mana, almost liquid in consistency, bubbled up and surged forth.
FWOOSH!
What appeared from the scattering mana was none other than a shadow figure.
Literally, a shadow that should have been attached to a person’s heels and stretched out on the ground was standing on its own.
The dark, bluish shadow opened its mouth with a crackle.
“Kim. Do. Jin.”
The speech was stilted.
The next words came not from the shadow in front of me, but from another one that had formed to my side.
“You.”
The next, from behind me.
“Will.”
The shadows, which had begun to appear one by one, were now multiplying too quickly to count.
“Die.”
“In.”
“This.”
Soon, the shadows that had completely surrounded Kim Do-jin declared in unison.
“Place.”
“……”
A cold sweat trickled down Kim Do-jin’s back.