Chapter 102
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 102
Chapter Title: Dream (2)
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The week flew by in a flash.
There was no practical training at all, only theory classes.
Oh. Nice house.
Today was Sunday.
The day I moved into the house Ms. Meiden had gifted me.
Youre the one who bought it, Ms. Meiden. Why do you sound so surprised?
Its my first time seeing it too. I just looked at the price, the pictures, the construction date, had a subordinate check it out, and then bought it.
...Ah.
Considering Meidens busy schedule, that made sense.
Can I ask how much you paid for this place?
A house on the academy grounds. The location alone must make it expensive, and it was a detached house, no less. I heard it was over 1,400 square feet.
From the outside, it looked newly built, too.
Cheaper than Cheonbyeon. Dont ask for details.
...Yes, maam.
Her comparison was Cheonbyeon, of all things.
I was too scared to ask.
I guess Ill just have to accept it.
Anyway, why is that brat taking so long?
Ah. I heard Baekho was throwing a fit, so theyre running a little late.
That insolent white thing?
Meiden clicked her tongue.
After a visit to Yuhwas house not long ago, where she was thoroughly ignored by Baekho, her nickname for the creature had changed from the white thing to that insolent white thing.
But I got a message saying she left a while ago, so I think she should be here soon.
It was then that Yuhwas red sports car appeared in the distance. It glided smoothly into a parking spot.
Are you royalty or something? Youre so damn late.
Sorry. It took a while to get ready.
Yuhwa got out of the car with a bitter smile. When she opened the back door, Geumho and Baekho leaped out.
Sniff, sniff.
Looking around, Geumho spotted me and shot toward me like a lightning bolt.
Poof-
Nyaaang!
I perfectly caught Geumho as he jumped into my chest and began stroking his head.
Did you sleep well, Geumho?
Nyang!
As I was petting Geumho, I felt a strange sensation on my right foot.
Baek-nyang?
Baekho was right by my feet. She stood with her back to me, maintaining a razor-thin distance.
Aha.
So, you're happy to see me, but too shy to show it?
Whats gotten into her?
I crouched down and reached a hand toward Baekhos fur.
Oh.
This was the first time Id ever petted Baekho.
Her fur felt subtly different from Geumhos.
While Geumhos fur was fluffy and cloud-like, Baekhos was short, giving it a simple, clean softness.
In any case, it felt nice.
I petted her for about ten seconds before she shivered and slipped out from under my hand.
Then, she put some distance between us and looked up at me.
Is this your way of saying, I will permit no more than this?
With a stern face, Baekho gave a tiny nod.
Arent you a little too haughty, Baek-nyang?
Baekho whipped her head away.
Well, this was something, at least.
It meant Baekho was starting to open up to me.
This was huge progress.
I set Geumho down on the ground and stood up.
...
?
Feeling a strange gaze on me, I looked over to see Yuhwa staring at me with the eyes of a hero who had failed to save the world.
What is it?
...Ive never even gotten to touch her once.
Pardon?
She chewed on her lower lip, her expression screaming with envy.
Dont be so dramatic, you brat.
Ouch.
Meiden smacked the back of Yuhwas head.
Its just a cat no, a tiger. Why are you making such a fuss because you couldnt pet it? Anyone would think the world was ending tomorrow.
At Meidens words, Yuhwa pouted.
Wipe that pout off your face. Before I cut it off for you.
Yuhwa quickly retracted her lips.
Watching her, Meiden let out a sigh.
She really doesnt change, no matter how old she gets. To think people call this brat a cool-headed and competent guild master.
She wore an expression of utter disbelief.
...
Yuhwa subtly turned her head away.
It seemed she had nothing to say in her defense.
Or rather, it felt like she had a retort but was deliberately holding it back.
Come to think of it, Ms. Meiden seems more irritable than usual today.
Is that why Ms. Yuhwa is holding her tongue?
Well, Im leaving now.
Youre not staying for the housewarming party?
Shes leaving already?
Yeah. Ill make time to come by later. Today
Meiden ground her teeth.
I have some business to attend to.
She looked ready to chew up and spit out nails. It was a terrifying sight.
See you next time, then.
Yes. Take care.
After Meiden left.
Did something happen with her?
Ah, um.
Yuhwa scratched her cheek.
Well, it seems my brother was a bit forceful with his request.
Instructor Pi Jinho?
Yes. She said shes going to repair a training facility on campus.
Was she talking about the training facility Id destroyed?
Oh. Right.
Yuhwa suddenly ran toward her parked car.
She opened the trunk and pulled out two suitcases.
Here you go. These arrived this morning.
She handed the suitcases to me with a now-familiar, unimpressed expression.
I guess shes used to it by now.
Inside the suitcases were the Ancient Relics sent by Ale Chris, the Collector.
* * *
That night.
I was lying in bed in my roughly organized bedroom.
I had stored the newly acquired Ancient Relics in the Artisans Portable Forge.
Both were Ancient Relics that could be useful in combat, so I planned to keep them in reserve.
In the first place, now that I had the Artisans Portable Forge trait, the advantage of acquiring traits in advance was completely gone.
From now on, it was better to collect as many relics as possible.
Stockpiling relics is the answer.
If the number of relics I possessed increased, the one-minute time limit would no longer be a drawback.
In fact, it could even become an advantage.
Few opponents would be able to adapt to a fighting style that changed every minute.
Magic.
But I still couldn't find a way to use magic.
Id asked Ms. Meiden to put me in touch with several superhumans who specialized in magic, but it had all been for naught.
If anything, I was only more convinced that it was a hopeless endeavor.
The modern magic system and the ancient magic system were just too different.
What am I supposed to do?
Pearls before swine.
What good was a talent for magic if I had no way to use it?
I let out a deep sigh.
Ah, whatever.
For now, I should just get some sleep.
I closed my eyes.
My consciousness gradually faded away.
I had a dream.
Seoyul. Getting rid of just the main character's status window. The more I think about it, the more I like it.
A nostalgic dream.
My last memory before being transmigrated into this novel world.
It was a dream about the conversation at the bar that had led to me losing my system.
Alright. I've got a feeling about this. A remake. What the hell, let's do it.
A strange annoyance welled up at the sound of Kim Shin Hyeongs bright voice.
While Im over here struggling like this!
Ah. But it would be fun. Ignoring equipment restrictions is a kind of bug, after all. So the system steps in to put on the brakes. Not bad.
We excitedly threw out ideas, laughing as we fine-tuned them.
I remembered it as a rather enjoyable drinking session.
Oh! So the system misidentifies him as that race? And while it's fixing the bug, one of that race's traits randomly flows back into the main character? Wow. Hyeong, you're a genius.
I remembered the last time I had this dream.
It was when I had realized the restrictions on wearing multiple items and the time limit, and I was in despair.
After that, I used Path of the Wind to fight Choi Jihoon. And I lost.
Then I had this dream.
I had been so happy then.
The dream continued to unfold.
It was exactly as I remembered.
Seeing it again, it was still absurd.
To think that this conversation resulted in me being transmigrated into the novel.
Hyeong! This has a really good feel to it! If you need any help, just say the word.
And so, the last conversation I remembered came to an end.
But the dream didn't end.
Haha.
Hyeong suddenly gave a bitter smile.
Why couldn't I have thought of this method?
I heard Kim Shin Hyeongs voice.
It was trembling.
Seoyul.
His eyes, filled with sorrow and regret, pierced through me.
There's something I want to ask you.
Hah! Hah!
I woke up, gasping for breath. My forehead was slick with cold sweat.
My breathing was ragged, as if Id had a nightmare.
What was that dream?
The image of Kim Shin Hyeongs eyes at the end was crystal clear.
Something felt different.
It was a serious expression, completely unlike the playful Kim Shin Hyeong I knew.
A favor. He definitely said he wanted to ask me a favor.
Thats what he had said at the end.
That he had a favor to ask of me.
No way.
My thoughts accelerated.
Focusing on the end of the dream, my thoughts tangled, one hypothesis giving birth to another.
The transmigration wasnt something Kim Shin Hyeong forced on me
And then I reached a conclusion.
It was the result of me accepting his favor is that it?
My eyes trembled like aspen leaves.
* * *
The week passed quickly.
Early morning training with Instructor Pi Jinho.
Then, go to the academy for classes.
In the afternoon, practical training with Shin Jia and Ha Siyeon.
In between, I exchanged business-like messages with Meiden and Yuhwa.
And after playing with the Geum-Baek duo in bed, it would somehow be midnight.
Monday through Friday was a repeat of this.
And today was Saturday.
I had booked a private training ground in the morning and finished a quick preliminary measurement of my physical stats.
Nice, nice.
The results showed that my physical stats were D-rank, but extremely close to C-rank.
Something like D-rank (95/99).
My physical potential had clearly risen after the complete assimilation of the Elf race, and my stats were growing at a rapid pace.
It was a very satisfying speed.
Of course, the rate of increase would slow as I reached higher ranks, so I couldn't be complacent, but it was a fact that my growth was faster than expected.
I could afford to be happy for now.
I took off my training clothes and headed to the shower.
Standing in front of the shower, the countless tattoos engraved all over my body came into view.
Im a real tattoo parlor.
Still, it was a relief that many of them had disappeared with the complete assimilation.
I was especially relieved that the dragon tattoo on my back was gone.
Hmm.
As I looked at the tattoos, a thought occurred to me.
The assimilation of the Celestial and Spirit race traits is really slow, huh?
It was understandable that Heavens Wings and Divine Punishment were slow since I rarely had a chance to use them.
But the slow progress of the Spirit races traits was a bit surprising.
Considering how often I used Spirit Flame.
Does that mean theyre high-rank traits?
Or was it because I wasnt using Spirit Flame properly?
In the original novel, the Spirit race used Spirit Flame like magic.
The pinnacle of this was the ten-person joint magic, Sanctuary of the Spirits.
In any case, there were no instances of them just infusing it into their aura and using it in bits and pieces like I did.
Perhaps that was why the assimilation was so slow.
I tried using Spirit Flame.
Hmm.
As expected, all I could do was radiate it. The most I could manage was controlling its range.
Other than that, I could only infuse it into my aura to add the function of burning away magic power.
I really have been using it crudely.
Thinking about it calmly, it made sense that the assimilation wasn't progressing.
But what could I do?
Even if I wanted to use Spirit Flame properly, I had no way of doing so.
Without a way to use magic, it was unavoidable.
Ah. This is so frustrating.
It had already been two weeks, and I still hadnt found a single clue.
Am I going to end up learning it from Dragon Lord later on?
It had reached the point where I was even having thoughts like this.
No matter how I looked at it, there was no answer.
Sigh.
I let out a small sigh.
* * *
That afternoon.
I traveled to Gangneung with Geumho and Baekho.
Thank you.
Not at all.
Ms. Yuhwas secretary had personally driven me here.
I will see you tomorrow afternoon, then.
Yes. Please have a safe trip back.
Moreover, she said she would come pick me up again tomorrow if I called.
I was so grateful.
After the limousine left.
We immediately set off.
Our destination was Chilseongsan Mountain.
To be more precise, it was the ruin somewhere on the mountainside, The Treasury Where Nature Ascends.
Think we can find it today?
It was the same ruin that Siyeon, Jia, and I had searched for before but couldn't find.
We hadn't found the ruin, but we had discovered Kim Shin Hyeongs gift (the Encyclopedia of Racial Traits).
I didnt call Jia and Siyeon today.
I had grown quite a bit stronger since then, and with a stronger Geumho and Baekho by my side, I judged that we wouldn't need them.
You two. If you sense anything magically strange in the area, let me know.
At my words, Geumho nodded.
...
Baekho, however, acted as if she hadn't heard me, staring intently in one direction.
Baek-nyang?
Something was strange.
She didn't look like she was just turning her head to ignore me.
Baekhos eyes were fixed on a single spot.
Is there something over there?
Baekho ignored me again. Instead, she began to walk, step by step.
Straight in the direction she had been looking.
?
I was tilting my head, wondering what she was doing.
Tap-
Baekho placed her front paw on the empty air.
It was at that moment.
Piiing-!
Whoa!
A wave of magic power spread out from Baekhos paw. It was so intense it made my head spin.
Huk!
I shut my eyes and clutched my head.
A moment later.
I shook my head a couple of times and opened my eyes.
Baekho was looking at me, smiling triumphantly.
Wow
Behind Baekho, a giant tree was visible. A tall tree that seemed to pierce the heavens, just like the World Tree.
So our Baek-nyang knows how to get things done, huh?
It was the entrance to The Treasury Where Nature Ascends.
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