Chapter 42
Chapter 42
Chapter 42 Retainer
The now-familiar waiting room of the Tower. However, there was one heterogeneous thing that was different from before.
"What is this? What is this?"
Eve, who was running around here and there like a country girl who had come up to Seoul for the first time, showing interest in new things.
As I explained each thing to her one by one, I felt like I had become a father raising a daughter.
It was even more so because she resembled me and Baal.
'All the fathers and mothers in the world, I respect you...'
This one was born with child-level thinking ability, but wouldn't a real child start in an even more difficult state than this?
My respect for those people was rising.
GRUMBLE.
At that moment, a sound indicating hunger came from Eve's stomach. As she was a living being, meals were naturally necessary.
Since her body had a form close to human, I wondered if her eating habits would be similar, so I took out one cheat key.
All-Mastery that had reached the upper level. Among them, I used the cooking skill, which had relatively high proficiency, to boil ramen, the pinnacle of instant food created by modern humanity.
Ramen that boasted a visual like sausage stew, with chopped green onions, ham, and even eggs added.
If Baek Ryeon had seen it, she would have said something, but people can't live eating only healthy food all the time. Sometimes you have to eat instant food too.
'And ramen is actually a fairly excellent food, except for being a bit lacking in protein...'
All of this is the harm of the media.
The media keeps teaching that MSG is bad, instant food is bad, so everyone thinks it's true.
Even though eating an apple on an empty stomach is worse for your body than eating ramen, there are quite a few people who eat fruit in the morning, saying fruit is good for the body.
But there's nothing more foolish than trying to change such people's perceptions, so I had to be satisfied with at least knowing properly myself.
It was the same context as why I left the option of contracting with other gods rather than unconditionally forcing them to contract with the Demon King or Earth God.
Once people start to believe blindly, they don't change easily. I wasn't confident I could make people who firmly believed Demon Kings were bad believe that Demon Kings were actually more helpful.
I also wasn't confident in convincing them that choosing Earth God, who could bestow fewer powers and benefits compared to other Highest-Grade Gods, was for the sake of all Earth people without explaining about regression.
People only believe what they can see right now.
Even if they knew it was for the sake of all Earth people, humans were the kind of species who might make different choices due to personal greed.
'Maybe monsters are actually better.'
This one's reactions are just transparent. There's no deception or pretense. Even now, looking at the completed ramen and drooling, she doesn't seem to even think of hiding her reaction.
"You can eat it. But use this to scoop it like me."
I couldn't let her eat with her hands, so I taught her how to use chopsticks. There was a very slight trial and error, but could the one who quickly followed even combat techniques not be able to do just this?
She mastered chopstick use at an unprecedented speed and began eating by transferring ramen to her bowl just as I did.
I was worried if it would suit her taste, but as if telling me not to worry about such things, her face was full of a smile mixed with joy.
It was a different smile from the bizarre grin she had when she broke my hand bone - a smile filled with genuinely happy emotions.
"It's delicious..! I've never eaten anything like this before! Yeong-min is a god!"
It's always a pleasant thing when someone eats the food I made deliciously.
If she called me a god just for making ramen, how low were her expectations for food?
'That makes sense, doesn't it?'
Honestly, what monsters eat is at most raw corpses, tree fruits, or if they're monsters that use fire, grilled meat.
There's no way creatures who have never tasted seasoning could withstand the symphony of inosinic acid, salt, various seasonings, and red pepper powder.
"Is it that delicious? Don't feel burdened and eat as much as you want."
SLURP.
When I told her to eat as much as she wanted, she really ate as much as she wanted. I had two chopstick-fulls and the ramen was already gone.
'I need to boil more.'
I originally boiled two thinking we'd share, but seeing her appetite, two wouldn't be enough.
Only after boiling eight more and eating them could we fill both our stomachs.
"Then now I'll teach you martial arts as promised."
It was time to hand fire to the primitive person who had always shivered in the cold and eaten only raw food.
A creature who knew nothing about martial arts, was just born, yet handled body enhancement and qi operation at a proficient level.
She was born with techniques at the level of a peak martial artist and possessed ten times more mana than me, but if she learned martial arts on top of this?
I couldn't guess how much stronger she could become.
"Mar... tial arts?"
"Right. Martial arts. I'm talking about the things I was using earlier. The things you were trying to imitate."
For Eve, who had excellent learning ability but still possessed child-level knowledge and mental age, complex explanations weren't necessary.
Just arousing interest in what she would learn in the future was enough.
"That thing I saw at the end... can I do it too?"
Since she became a retainer after being fascinated by my martial arts, her interest seemed already sufficient. Eve's eyes sparkled.
"If you just follow what I tell you well, it's definitely possible. Then watch carefully what I do and follow along."
The first thing I taught was the Threefold Heart Method.
If she tried to learn ascending heart methods from the beginning with that ocean-like overflowing mana, her blood vessels wouldn't be able to withstand it.
First, I taught her the breathing method of the Threefold Heart Method, then used True Qi Guidance to teach her about qi circulation paths.
Due to intelligence issues, explaining with words was difficult, but teaching with the body like this was sufficiently possible.
Originally, performing True Qi Guidance on someone with ten times more mana would be impossible, but after suppressing the rampage of qi with Domination mana, nothing was impossible.
Since her qi sense was already open, she succeeded in learning the heart method in less than half a day.
"Using what's inside my body has become much more comfortable..!"
Even if it was a basic heart method, a heart method was still a heart method. It was on a different level from handling qi haphazardly.
"That's called qi or mana. Only when you can handle it properly can you use the technique you wanted to use."
Eve nodded her head.
"I understand..! If I do what Yeong-min tells me, I'll become strong! I'll do anything!"
Her enthusiasm for strength was very good. I moved on to the next step of the heart method. What I would teach was Taijiquan.
Perhaps because she followed my movements just by watching, her balance was naturally leaning toward the strong side.
It wasn't bad, but it wasn't suitable for responding to all situations, so she needed to acquire the mystery of softness.
She quickly learned the movements with her good learning ability, and next I taught her what to put into the movements.
"What I just taught you is called Taijiquan, and you need to put the will to flow away everything inside it."
"Flow away..."
Though she was learning things other than killing intent through me, her understanding of flowing away still seemed lacking.
"Attack me. I'll show you what flowing means."
Eve threw a punch without hesitation as instructed.
And I very naturally flowed away that punch using a move from Taijiquan.
"Eve. Your body is stronger than mine. But why can I block your attack so casually?"
"Because you... flowed it well?"
As if realizing something from watching my movement just now, she was performing the Taijiquan move I had taught her on her own.
The mystery I had taught began to mix into the move that was just imitation.
And when I deliberately attacked her so she could maintain that flow, she began to flow it away little by little.
Though still awkward, the range she could flow away grew larger as my attacks continued to come.
She was instinctively understanding what the mystery of softness was.
'She's the complete opposite of Ryeon.'
If Baek Ryeon was the type to learn martial arts with overwhelming comprehension, Eve learned purely by instinct.
There was no need to judge which was more amazing. Both were impossible realms for someone dull like me.
Things built up through countless repetitive practice. That was the source of my growth. Since I had already built up many things, understanding other things had also become easier.
And by teaching this child with opposite tendencies from the basics again, I was also growing.
[The level of Upper-Grade All-Mastery increases.]
It became precious time to look back on my fundamentals.
[Time remaining until next floor opens: 0 hours 10 minutes]
After building Eve's foundation and reorganizing my own fundamentals, time passed quickly and it was already time to leave.
'I can't keep taking her around with me...'
At least while proceeding with trials, I needed to separate her so I wouldn't be disturbed. I was thinking if there was a good method when one thing came to mind.
"Ah. Right! Subspace!"
I checked the information about Retainer Transformation once more.
③ Retainer Transformation: Can make those who completely submit to the owner into retainers. Retainers become stronger by sharing some of the owner's abilities and can be placed in subspace. The size of the subspace is proportional to the number of retainers.
The effect definitely mentioned something called subspace.
And though the situation of accepting a retainer was so dramatic, at that moment, knowledge about how to open subspace had definitely entered my mind.
I opened subspace with my will. A black portal appeared before my eyes.
'Can I enter too?'
CRACKLE.
When I reached out my hand, as if it was a space only for retainers, it bounced my hand away.
Certainly, if I hid in there during combat, wouldn't the opponent have no answer? It was too overpowered.
"Eve. Would you like to try going in here?"
"Okay!"
Eve bounced energetically inside.
"Come out once."
I wondered if it could be heard inside, but as if it was naturally audible, she came outside.
"Then would you like to go in again?"
This time it was time to test something different. I closed the subspace and tried summoning Eve with will alone.
'Eve. Come out.'
Then the subspace naturally opened and she popped outside.
"Yeong-min. Did you call?"
"Yeah. Good job."
The experiment was a great success. When I patted her head like I did with my disciples, she naturally rubbed against me as if feeling good.
Now that I knew summoning was possible anytime like this, I had no burden about putting Eve in subspace.
"How's the inside? Is it livable?"
She nodded her head.
"It's bigger and better than here! There's tons of food too! It keeps coming out like here!"
Does that mean food gets infinitely refilled like the waiting room's refrigerator?
"Could you bring one thing out?"
"Okay!"
But the moment she brought food out, the food disappeared without a trace.
"Huh..? It disappeared..."
"It's okay. I thought that would happen anyway."
'I guess only retainers can eat it. Was it made so retainers wouldn't starve to death in subspace?'
Actually, just this much was the best in terms of convenience. It would be unconscionable to want more from an ability attached as a byproduct of Retainer Transformation.
"Then while I finish the trial and return, stay inside there and diligently review what I taught you. If you do well, I'll boil the ramen you liked and teach you more martial arts."
"Okay! I'll wait for Yeong-min! So call me quickly!"
"Yeah. I'll call you soon, so wait just a little."
After Eve disappeared into subspace, a red portal appeared before my eyes.
[Time remaining until next floor opens: 0 hours 0 minutes]
It was time to challenge the 4th floor trial.
I advanced inside without hesitation, and this time it was outdoors like the 3rd floor, but the location was different.
A land of death where no vegetation existed. Not a single blade of grass grew on the ground, and the black moon floating in the sky suggested this wasn't an ordinary place.
[Some Demon Kings of Pandemonium are shocked.]
As I was admiring that bizarre spectacle, information about the trial appeared before my eyes.
[Testing Floor Hell Difficulty 4th Floor Trial.]
[Survive for the given time.]
[Use of Limit-Breaking stats, divine authority, and manifestation is restricted while proceeding with the Testing Floor.]
[Trial rewards are further enhanced due to penalties.]
[Time remaining: 167 hours 59 minutes]
[Hunger and thirst become 32 times stronger during the 4th floor trial.]
"What..?"
The moment the trial began, despite having eaten ramen about 20 hours ago, insane hunger and thirst overwhelmed me.
It was the beginning of a real trial, different from everything so far.