White Whale's Footsteps

I spent one day marching through White Whale's Footsteps and another working in the Terraforming world. Aside from the occasional secret rendezvous with Anzelli back on Earth, I could proudly say I'd been living diligently.

As time passed, the karma I'd accumulated started piling up. Enough to buy the Subspace skill and still have plenty left over.

No matter how carefully I weighed my options, spending any more time like this would mean missing out on too much skill proficiency. The main episodes of the White Whale's Footsteps world were about to kick off in earnest.

It was time to spend that stockpiled karma. But before buying skills or functions, preparing for emergencies had to come first.

I opened the consumables section of the shop window.

"Chris. Take these."

"Huh? Oh, uh?"

- Clink.Thud, clink.

I handed Chris five low-grade potions one by one. She deftly balanced them in her hands without dropping a single one.

Chris stared at the potions, tilting her head. She clearly had no idea what the red liquid was.

"Potions."

"Potions?"

"Drink one if you're wounded, or apply it directly to the injury—it heals you. Won't work on serious wounds, just the lighter ones."

Now that I'd revealed my secrets to her, it was fine to give her these.

Chris looked down at the potions for a moment, then her eyes widened slightly in realization.

"Ah! Is this what you used to heal my leg?"

"Yeah. One on your leg, and one while you were asleep. Using two seemed to fix a cracked thigh bone just fine."

"Talk about a spare life..."

"Put them in your Subspace. I've got some too, but what if you need one in a pinch? Oh, and let me know if you use any. I'll restock whenever."

"This... it's a secret we have to keep? Can't use it on anyone else, right?"

"Pretty much, but it's not absolute. I'll trust your judgment."

"...Yeah. Got it."

If she still had her original Compassion trait, she'd hesitate zero seconds to ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠use a potion on a stranger in danger. The name said it all—she gave trust easily and wore her heart on her sleeve.

But Chris was different now. Her experiences on Earth had made her wary of her own tendency to trust too readily.

Her mental walls were thicker than most people's. Though once you got past them—like I had—she offered blind loyalty.

"This stuff's valuable, huh? I'll use it sparingly."

"Not wasteful at all for you or me, just a bit for others. Don't hold back on yourself. I can get more."

- Nod.

"I get what you're saying."

Even in those few words, Chris fully grasped my intent. She understood how special these potions were but wouldn't hesitate when it mattered.

The five potions vanished from her hand, tucked away in her Subspace.

That took care of the bare-minimum emergency prep. No more delaying on spending karma.

In those two days back in Terraforming, I'd taken one more outing to a new sector I hadn't seen before. That's where I finally found a skill worth having.

It was the decisive factor that made me burn karma on the spot.

Pair it with Deceiving, and it'd create killer synergy. Both excelled at stealth.

Plus, unlike Shout, its passive seemed seriously useful.

Saneonkgak, the counter to Cheon-gwon-ilgak, read the opponent's movements to slip into their blind spot. My motion would become utterly unpredictable to them.

In the heat of battle, chaining Saneonkgak with Silent Footsteps... It'd maximize the effect, making me vanish like a ghost right in front of their eyes.

Two skills with great synergy potential? No reason not to buy.

'Time to grab the Subspace skill and this one.'

I had 60,000 karma saved up, plus 30,000 from deleting the Yeokcheon Orb compensation—total 90,000. Buying both would leave 10,000 spare.

Two skills acquired. I felt a faint dip in my presence, but... at Lv 0, the passive wasn't noticeable yet.

Even Chris, watching me intently, showed no sign of sensing anything off.

From now on, I'd practice these skills constantly during marches, as mana allowed. Especially Subspace.

Unlike Silent Footsteps, whose upgrades were a mystery, I'd seen Subspace's potential firsthand. Practice like Chris did seven years ago in Terraforming: pebbles in, pebbles out, repeat.

No one would notice a pebble ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠vanishing and reappearing in my palm.

* Four days after leaving the village with the mercenary band.

The dense forest path gave way to a vast plain filled with wheat. The crops grew uniformly—clear signs of human cultivation.

We'd reached the outskirts of our destination village.

Not yet autumn, the wheat stood green and not fully ripened.

With my enhanced vision, I scanned the open plain. Far off, a few farmers tilled fields, too distant to spot us.

"We're almost there! Loosen up those faces! We'll enter early today and rest!"

- Yes, ma'am!!

Janet bellowed to the mercenaries. They brushed dirt from their clothes accumulated from camping, primping to look presentable—for swift passage through the village gate inspection.

Normally, no one checked IDs for fifty-odd mercenaries. One document proving we were the famed White Whale band, and we were in.

Armed group or not, we weren't bandits who'd turn rogue on a dime.

But soon, this village would enter wartime footing. Expect stricter checks.

'Original story skipped individual ID checks, but...'

Knowing the original didn't guarantee tiny details played out the same. One slip from Janet, and we'd be lining up for IDs.

So I prayed we'd breeze in on the papers alone. Chris had no ID right now.

- Whisper whisper...

"Chanyoung? If it goes south... should I sneak out, circle the mercs, and hop the wall with my ability?"

"Not yet. Let's watch first."

Chris, unaware how unlikely ID checks were, fidgeted anxiously. Viable backup, but fooling fifty pairs of eyes? Tough. And could she even clear the wall?

- Thud thud.

We walked the path flanked by wheat fields. Not yet the main village proper, but this area screamed peace—hard to believe a domain war loomed.

A few more minutes, past morning haze into noon. My superior eyesight spotted the village first. Janet did too, shortly after.

"Village in sight!"

Rest soon? Steps lightened across the band. Now everyone could see the entrance.

"Ah... this is bad..."

Chris sighed softly, like the others upon spotting it. No crude wooden barricade like the last village—this was proper brick walls.

Armed guards patrolled the top at intervals. Naturally, thick enough for walking—over 5m wide. Chris's skill couldn't leap that in one go.

'Knew it might be ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠like this... Makes sense for a central village with a lord's castle, even in medieval conditions.'

"It's fine. Papers might get us right in. Worst case, ask Janet for help."

"..."

Guards spotted our approach, bustling. Not simple merchants—our mercs were hulking.

"Halt! Stop right there!"

- Thud thud.Halt!

The lead guard called out tensely. We obeyed meekly. Show of compliance?

His tension eased.

"State your purpose."

"We're a mercenary band. Heard you're hiring for the coming domain war."

Surprisingly, Janet used polite speech. I eyed her awkwardly—it didn't suit her at all.

"Hm... Band name?"

"White Whale Mercenaries. I'm the leader, Janet. Here's our proof."

- Rustle rustle.

"Whoa! W-White Whale?!"

Janet pulled stamped parchment from her bosom. Key doc, so she carried it personally.

- Swish!

The guard took it reverently with both hands, then pulled a strange tool to check the seal. No clue what it was from looks alone.

I used Item Information Check on it.

'Ah, artifact to check seal authenticity. Handy in a magic world.'

No time wasted.

"Authentic. Enter freely—no inspection."

"Thanks for the courtesy."

"Haha, no trouble. Lord's orders: treat name-brand mercs with respect. Never dreamed White Whale would show."

"Appreciate the goodwill..."

"Oh, domain war details at the merc guild. We have a branch."

"Thanks. Let's go, folks!"

- Thud thud.

Chris's face betrayed no suspicion. But I caught her quiet relief.

Just like the original—no inspection. At the guild, official enlistment in White Whale would net her a merc tag in place of an ID.

No more fretting like today.