Chapter 285
Chapter 285
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 285
Chapter Title: Short Vacation 285 ? Short Vacation #7
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After finishing dinner, two moons had risen in the sky. Both were full moons, plump like ripe eggs. In this world, such nights were commonly called double full moons.
They said that on nights like this, the eerie energy grew stronger, leading to all sorts of bad things happening.
That was why people in this world avoided wandering the streets on double full moon nights.
They'd stock up on food during the day, then hide under their blankets, munching away while waiting for the night to pass. Of course, I didn't believe in such superstitious nonsense.
But then why was I even mentioning the double full moons?
It was because the thick pillar standing tall under the two moons looked horrifically like something out of a nightmare.
"Fuck, what the hell is this?"
That was definitely my club.
My club, which had been about a meter long—perfect size, like a baseball bat—had somehow grown enormously, to the point where calling it a pillar wouldn't be out of place.
It was taller than my head now, and thicker than Luna's waist.
"What the fuck, Sibal. Where's my club?"
Even if I pulled it out like this, carrying it around as a weapon would be a problem. It was basically like wielding a damn beam.
A Samaritan walking around with a beam? Sibal, I'd definitely get laughed at everywhere. Or would it have some impact in its own way?
Scrape, scrape—as Luna was digging around the roots, she shouted.
"Hassan, look at this! The roots go all the way down to the bottom of the well! It must've drunk a ton of water to grow this big!"
Looks like my club had been really thirsty lately. It stretched its roots down to the well bottom and sucked up all the water, ballooning in size.
That made sense, but... wait, could a club that's alive even drink water in the first place? Thinking about it just made it more baffling.
What the hell do I do with this?
If it kept going like this, the well might dry up. That would be seriously fucked.
In this world, wells were precious communal resources, so dumping filth in them or ruining them was a major crime.
A Samaritan poisoned the well! Dried it up!
I could almost hear those shouts ringing in my ears, and it scared the shit out of me.
Not content with burning down the city, now destroying wells too? That made me a double barbarian of water and fire—no leniency for that.
"Hey, you club bastard. Cut it out and come out of the ground already!"
I grabbed the massive pillar around the middle and yanked, but the damn thing had gotten even heavier in the meantime and wouldn't budge.
"Sibal?"
This might sound ridiculous, but I could feel some kind of will from this club bastard. Like it just wanted to stay planted in the ground, nice and still.
Well, yeah, this spot had water and decent sunlight. Prime real estate.
But didn't it realize that if it kept sucking up water like this, the well would dry up and it'd wither away too?
"You dumbass club bastard!"
"Hassan, step aside. Let me try."
Then Luna nudged me over. She pulled the skull mask hanging like a hood from the back of her head over her face and started circling the tree in bizarre movements.
"Luna, what are you doing?"
"Praying. You can't just chop down or yank out mystical trees like this! You have to pray first!"
Luna had a point. They'd always said messing with sacred trees brought bad luck.
The stories about ghosts haunting developers who cut down shrine trees were cliché by now.
Come to think of it, that grandma had told me to water it and pray or something.
Sibal, I'd forgotten.
So I joined Luna, circling the tree and participating in this prayer ritual. And then something amazing happened.
Crack.
The pillar, which had been firmly rooted moments ago, let out a precarious groan and tilted sideways. It soon crashed fully to the ground.
Splash.
An enormous amount of water gushed out from it. Shrinking as it spewed water, it looked kind of like a sea cucumber—fucking gross.
"Got it!"
Luna picked up the extracted club. But she immediately dropped it in surprise.
"It's super heavy!"
"Yeah?"
I reached out to lift the fallen tree myself. The moment I gripped it to hoist it up, I was genuinely shocked.
What the fuck kind of weight was this? Like a lump of rebar. And at my height, it was less a club and more like an iron bar.
"Sibal, what is this? How am I supposed to carry this around? Can't it shrink? Should I cut it down?"
As I barely managed to lift the staff with those thoughts.
Whoosh.
As if understanding my will, the club's size shrank back to normal. Luna shouted in astonishment.
"Hassan! The club's shrinking! It spewed out the water, and now it's thin and short again!"
"Sibal, for real. Fucking amazing. It was huge just a second ago."
I was amazed too. It had been as big as me moments ago, now half that size. Could I grow it back?
I grabbed both ends and pulled, and it expanded like it was waiting for it.
"Shit, incredible!"
A club that could grow and shrink at will! Sounded like a lame gimmick, but the power was insane! Adjustable reach—no downsides.
Thud.
But damn, it was still heavy as hell.
Swinging a club soaked full of water from yesterday and today would tire out even me right now.
Length changing didn't affect the weight—fucking nightmare.
"This is totally a Ruyi Jingu Bang."
"Hassan, what's a Ruyi Jingu Bang?"
"You know, the one that extends and shrinks."
But like I said, it's heavy.
Even I, who'd turned water mills by hand, found it heavy—how many kilos was this thing? Like the Green Dragon Crescent Blade, hundreds of catties?
I'd never felt my strength lacking lately, but this really drove it home.
Next stat point in strength?
I wanted agility. Higher agility might let me push the footwork Kalidur taught me further. But the weapon's heavy. Tough choice.
I'd be heading to Delphi soon—a long trip next week maybe. A weapon I need everywhere being like this was a problem.
"Luna, can't you make it into a totem or something?"
"If you need totems, we can go catch bugs with Paranoy tomorrow. With that weird honey water nymph too."
*
*
*
The next day.
"Hassan-nim, my throat, my throat is so dry...! Can't we rest a bit? Paranoy is dying of thirst...!"
"No, Sibal, we've barely been out of the city ten minutes. And you drank all my water earlier, so my bottle's empty."
"But my throat is really so dry...!"
"Sibal, just hold on."
Paranoy slumped dejectedly at my words. But what could I do?
She'd drained her own water and mine too, and now she was whining for more.
"Stream water nymph Paranoy! I'll share the water I have!"
Right then, Doris the honey water nymph, who'd been quietly following us, handed her waterskin from her waist to Paranoy.
"As expected, only fellow nymph sisters...! Someday I'll share back about one ri of my share...!"
One ri? Sibal, what percentage is that? One percent? Her share's like seven percent now, so one percent of that is... fuck, math hurts.
But Doris the honey water nymph didn't seem to care at all.
"I don't know what it is, but don't drink it all! Ah-! I said don't drink it all, but you drank it all!"
Having two noisy nymphs together was ear-splitting.
But Paranoy was happy to have a nymph friend, and Doris, who'd been trapped in the rift forever, was quickly socializing with her own kind. Pros and cons.
"Hassan, they're so loud. My ears are ringing."
"Luna, bear with it. They're nymphs."
"Still, having two nymphs is great. I can alternate their shifts! Rest boosts efficiency!"
Now it's two-shift work! Luna said cheerfully.
She seemed thrilled to have another free part-timer. Nymphs were useful in so many ways.
If I caught every wild nymph I saw, would Luna be even happier? As I thought that, a dense forest came into view.
Leaving Sodomora's south gate led to this forest. Called Deer Forest, it was home to tons of deer.
Why so many deer? Legend said Goddess Diana, symbol of the hunt, chastity, and the moon, released them here for her hunting grounds.
"Oh, friend. Long time no see."
As we entered Deer Forest, a tall, handsome man guarding the entrance spoke to me.
Dressed like a bathrobe with a belt at the waist—revealing fashion. The golden necklace around his neck revealed his identity.
"Actaeon. Long time no see. Guarding Deer Forest?"
"Yeah, it's the goddess's hunting ground. Making sure no more victims like me show up."
Actaeon was the idiot who'd committed some blasphemy against Goddess Diana, turned into a deer and vanished.
He had that laid-back vibe, friendly to everyone, but his skill rivaled Hippolyte's—gold-tier adventurer. I'd glossed over how strong he was before, but...
Swish.
Now that I'd started learning aura and could sense energy a bit, I got a glimpse of his power.
Unfazed by my sensing, Actaeon looked down at the tiny nymphs.
"Nymph girls, huh. Out to catch bugs again?"
"More people today! We're catching the Bashkir queen bee! Already scouted the hive yesterday!"
"Good, but don't go too deep. Diana's deer are in rut—super aggressive right now."
"D-Deer-!"
Luna shuddered at the word deer. Spotting her face, Actaeon scratched his head awkwardly.
"Ideope, sorry about last time."
Last time meaning the deer bandits who'd stolen Luna's wallet.
That gave her major deer trauma. Getting gored by antlers, flying into branches—shocking stuff. Could've gutted her.
Knowing that, Actaeon just scratched his head silently. Then he noticed the huge wooden club on my back and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, that club from before? The Terror Smasher?"
"Yeah, that's it."
"It's grown a lot. A growing weapon—rare sight. Mind if I take a look?"
"Sure."
Originally, Actaeon gave me this club as compensation instead of gold. So I casually handed him the one from my back.
I'd switched it to my back because it was too heavy—pants and belt kept slipping. My little secret.
"Heavy as hell. Never thought it'd grow this heavy. Heaviest olive wood club I've seen."
Grip.
I could see his hand straining as he took it. Even a gold-tier adventurer needed serious effort for my rebar club.
"My strength's around 14. Even for me, it's a challenge. Swinging it? No way."
"Sibal, then what do I do?"
"Your brother'll have to train strength beyond mine. Even then, not sure."
Note: 15's the cap, he added. I blacked out thinking I'd overwatered the damn thing.
"Stats don't go past 15?"
"Nope. Beyond that's god territory. 14's the wall—can't hit 15. Even after the Argo expedition, I've only seen one human at 15."
Not sure if that guy's even human, he trailed off.
Ah—got it.
Like Pokémon with species value caps?
"How do you break past 15?"
"Impossible. Unless you're a demigod like Hippolyte or her sister Antiope."
"I see."
Demigods had insane growth potential.
Hippolyte, probably yapping about stocks somewhere, looked amazing again.
Pokémon terms: dragon-type with 600 total stats. Or legendary, with divine blood.
"Anyway, you grew this tree well. Like ancient Ceres priests. Lady and Minerva would approve."
"See you when we exit the forest."
We passed Actaeon, had various adventures. Catching the queen bee was a pain—getting stung? No one cares.
"Ahh, Hassan-nim-! Used the ultimate technique, Merciless Finger of Death on the queen bee...!"
"Captured the queen alive! Doesn't flinch at Bashkir honeybee stings! Amazing guy—if he wasn't a thief...!"
"Hassan, look! Snake snake mushrooms!"
Roughly that vibe: ears ringing, body aching, but heart at ease—a short vacation adventure.
Back in the city, I used Luna's two totems to allocate stats and noticed something odd.
『Name: Hassan Lv. 26 → 29
Strength: 12 → 15
Agility: 6
Vitality: 8
Karma: 420 → 220
Grace: Blessing of Chaos』 Shining Hand』 Armor of Night』 Dark Eyes』 Scorched Skin』』
『Strength has reached its limit.』
『Requires Authority's Nectar to break the limit.』