21
Chapter 21
Humans exist in this world.
However, there are no humans on this continent.
I obtained this information by listening to Vampire murmuring to herself.
"■□■■□ □□■■□□■."
"■■□■□■■□ □■■□■."
So, those humans aren't natives of this continent.
In other words, it means they are humans who crossed over from another continent.
Did she call it a veil surrounding the continent?
She said something like the barrier that blocked human access had vanished.
She also mentioned that humans would soon set foot on this land.
Humans certainly have excellent execution skills.
To think they've already arrived on this continent.
I can roughly guess the humans' objective.
Ecological surveys, resource acquisition, continent exploration, and so on.
There must be various other purposes as well.
This forest must be near the sea, then.
No matter how fast humans are, there's no way they could have already penetrated inland.
Anyway.
I felt glad for no particular reason.
From what I remember, I was also a human in my past life.
Hey there! Hello, human friends!
I wanted to jump out right away and wave hello.
But I barely managed to hold myself back.
It's dangerous to carelessly reveal myself.
Even if I was human in my past life, I'm unmistakably a teddy bear monster now.
"■■□■□ □■□□□□■."
"■■ ■□□■■□ □■■."
The humans moved while having a conversation.
I followed them stealthily from behind.
I also used my camouflage skill so my mana couldn't be detected.
It's not like I have business with them.
You could say I'm tailing them out of simple curiosity.
I want to take this opportunity to figure out the tendencies of humans in this world.
If I keep following these humans, I'll reach a place where more humans are gathered, so I can observe all sorts of people.
While following the humans, I pulled up their information once again.
[Human lv.12]
┗Pw.24 (+10)
┗Rnk.Uncommon
[Human lv.10]
┗Pw.20 (+14)
┗Rnk.Uncommon
[Human lv.15]
┗Pw.30 (+6)
┗Rnk.Uncommon
As I thought, I didn't see it wrong earlier.
All the humans have additional power.
The source of that additional power is......
It's you, the weapons the humans are carrying!
Normally, information about objects doesn't appear.
However, strangely enough, Helper was bringing up the information on the weapons those humans carried.
[Soul Weapon]
┗Pw.10 (+24)
┗Rnk.Uncommon
[Soul Weapon]
┗Pw.14 (+20)
┗Rnk.Uncommon
[Soul Weapon]
┗Pw.6 (+30)
┗Rnk.Normal
The power of the weapons.
The power of the humans.
These two perfectly matched.
Only the base power and additional power were swapped.
The humans gained additional power equal to the Soul Weapon's base power, and the Soul Weapons gained additional power equal to the human's base power.
The weapon increases the user's power.
The user increases the weapon's power.
The above expressions are not wrong, either.
However, it felt more accurate to say that the weapon and the user had become one body.
Simply put, you could say they had fused together.
A strange tool made with human technology.
Those weapons must be what Vampire had mentioned.
Seeing as the information was brought up by the level 1 Helper, the weapons called Soul Weapons seemed to be treated as single living organisms.
For reference.
Information on the armor they wore did not appear.
It didn't seem to increase the user's power, either.
I could feel Mana from it, but unlike the Soul Weapons, it appeared to be a normal item independent of the user.
Ah, maybe not entirely normal?
Since it was an item that contained Mana, anyway.
After observing and trailing the humans like this.
I soon arrived at a camp where many humans had gathered.
The camp was located on a coastline connected to the forest.
As expected, the sea was nearby.
The humans I had been following exited the forest.
And they naturally joined the camp.
I did not exit the forest.
If I went out to the wide-open coast without any cover, I would be spotted.
So I took up a position in a tree.
I should take my time observing the humans from here.
***
The human race.
They were all of the Uncommon rank.
There were no Normal ranks, and no Superior ranks or above either.
Nor was there anyone capable of a Limit Breakthrough.
At least, not among the humans currently in my line of sight.
There was a diverse mix of ethnicities.
White, Asian, Black Human, Azure Human...
......
...Wait a minute, Azure Human?
Out of nowhere, a human with blue skin caught my eye.
What are you?
Why is your skin color blue?
Are you perhaps not a human?
Flustered, I quickly checked the information of the blue human.
[Human lv.30]
┗Pw.60 (+40)
┗Rnk.Uncommon
[Soul Weapon]
┗Pw.40 (+60)
┗Rnk.Superior
He was indeed a human.
Only his skin color was different.
It seems there are also Azure Humans in this world.
Are they Na'vi or what?
More importantly, that Azure Human is incredibly strong.
Is that Azure Human the strongest human in this camp?
His level is a whopping 30.
Even just his innate, pure power is higher than mine.
At that level, he could probably hold his own against the monsters I met earlier.
Of course, I can't guarantee that human would beat those monsters.
Because power isn't everything when it comes to strength.
The skills one possesses are also important, after all.
I slowly observed the other humans one by one.
There wasn't a single human without a Soul Weapon.
Although no human had two or more, it seemed every single one of them carried their own unique Soul Weapon without exception.
Even the humans who looked like non-combatants were no exception.
Does every human have a Soul Weapon?
Or were only the Elites capable of wielding a Soul Weapon selected to come explore this continent?
Well, I'll find out later.
By the way, while it's fun to watch the humans, it's also quite fun to observe these things called Soul Weapons.
I wonder what materials are used to make Soul Weapons.
For some reason, it seems highly likely to be monster corpses or Mana Stones.
Making guesses in my head alone, I took in the appearance of the Soul Weapons the humans carried.
The forms of the Soul Weapons varied.
Occasionally, I also saw Soul Weapons that weren't in the form of conventional weapons.
A Cross, a Ring, a Necklace, a Chastity Belt, and so on.
Huh?
...Damn it.
I ended up seeing something weird again.
What is up with that pervert over there?
Why is he completely naked, wearing only a Chastity Belt?
And on top of that, why is that Chastity Belt a Soul Weapon?
[Human lv.15]
┗Pw.30 (+35)
┗Rnk.Uncommon
[Soul Weapon]
┗Pw.35 (+30)
┗Rnk.Superior
Wait, why are you so strong?
I don't know about the other humans, but you shouldn't be strong, you punk!
It was absurd.
I don't understand why that kind of Soul Weapon is so good.
How dirty.
Swish! I turned my head away.
If I kept looking at that hideous thing, I felt like the buttons on my face would rot and fall off.
I had promised myself not to belittle others' appearances.
But it's hard to call this belittling their appearance.
It was totally acceptable to mock such a vulgar display to my heart's content.
Who told you to stand around looking like that anyway? Jeez!
Phew. Anyway, I finished observing the humans in this camp.
The races in this camp weren't diverse.
I thought there might be a few other races mixed in, but there were only humans.
Would the other camps be different?
There were other human camps besides this one.
I could faintly see another camp off in the distance right now.
There must be countless other camps besides the ones on this coast.
I carefully climbed down from the tree.
And moving stealthily through the forest, I headed toward the other camp I saw in the distance.
***
The movement took quite a bit of time.
It was because I moved without using my Rolling skill.
I couldn't risk rolling around and catching the humans' eyes.
Anyway, I finally arrived at a spot where I could see the other camp.
The place I settled into was once again up in a tree.
I hid my body tightly within the lush leaves growing on the branches, so I definitely wouldn't be caught.
Doing this made me feel like some kind of shady Teddy Bear.
I immediately observed the humans in the new camp.
A human sitting silently with his eyes closed, meditating.
The X-shaped scar carved into his face was impressive.
A human wordlessly rubbing a whetstone against a Greatsword resting on his lap.
The large teeth marks on his forearms, which were as thick as logs, were striking.
A shirtless human lying on the ground, staring blankly at the sky.
His entire body was covered in burn marks.
A human quietly smoking a cigarette while leaning against a tree trunk.
He was missing an eye and an ear.
Was this place some kind of silent retreat camp?
No one was saying a single word to each other.
The atmosphere was quite fierce and intense.
The first camp I saw wasn't exactly bright either, but this was on another level.
It had a terrifying atmosphere, as if the Demons of hell had gathered together.
The fact that most of the humans here had fierce-looking faces played a part too.
Fitting their intimidating impressions, there were also very many strong humans visible.
I slowly took in the sight of those humans, one by one.
Then, amidst that.
A baby resting in a woman's arms caught my eye.
[Dirty Doll lv.3]
┗Pw.3
┗Rnk.Normal
Huh?