The capital was bustling. The new residents from the central region were busy building their new homes, and as Chi-Woo wandered around the city to watch, he nodded in approval.
‘It finally looks like a place to live in,’ he thought. The importance of population that Zelit had been emphasizing seemed clearer to him now, as he witnessed a ghost city become a livable place in just a few days. There were more things going on than he had expected. He saw multiple apprentices building forges and others putting up fences for the livestock they had brought. Since coming to Liber, it was his first time—no, he had seen a bird at the Evalaya mountain—it was his second time seeing an animal on this planet. And Chi-Woo couldn’t take his eyes off this particular animal with a sheep’s head and pig’s body.
‘Will we be able to…eat meat?’ Chi-Woo gulped. It had been too long since he tasted meat dripping in oil and meat juices, and seeing this animal filled his head with thoughts of grilled pork belly. He yearned desperately for it. Chi-Woo asked the middle-aged woman building the fences about the animal, and she told him it was a Yapra. According to her, the meat was very soft and made a perfect meal. Additionally, Yapras grew fast and birthed many offspring at once, exciting Chi-Woo further.
“I can’t do much since we just moved here, but as soon as the agriculture here is restored, I’m going to increase their numbers.” Then the lady continued, saying that she was going to open a restaurant when the time arose and would prepare a lot of good food for the heroes, so he should visit this place again. Chi-Woo answered that he certainly would before turning to leave. As he walked, he spotted a familiar face: Allen Leonard. Allen was murmuring incantations while surrounded by hundreds of people.
Not long afterward, the color of the soil around Allen changed, and sprouts and buds emerged all over the ground. Lush bushes, vines, and other greeneries shot up and grew. Allen looked around and lifted his hand high into the air.
‘Oh, oh—’ They all cheered and requested to shake his hand. Chi-Woo smiled brightly as he saw this scene. Allen was dutifully keeping the promise he had made to Chi-Woo. And it seemed Allen had also raised his skills with the merits he had accumulated in the newly introduced growth system.
‘He was worth the investment.’ Chi-Woo walked away and whistled from his nose. It felt like things were becoming better like how they were supposed to be.
The natives weren’t idiots. They knew they weren’t in a world where things would be handed to them. In order for them to survive, they needed to work for their own livelihood, whether it was by opening inns or restaurants, farming, doing businesses, or something else. That was how they would achieve everything they had dreamed of in the fortress. Of course, they wouldn’t be able to build something comparable to the capital city in its prime, but it would be better than doing nothing at all.
Chi-Woo walked for a while and saw another familiar face, Ru Amuh. Like the diligent man he was, Ru Amuh was training today as usual. Chi-Woo was about to greet him, but stopped himself. As he looked closer, Chi-Woo saw white light wrapping around Ru Amuh, and a user information popped out.
<User Information>
1. Name & Rank: Ru Amuh (★☆☆☆)
2. Sex & Age: Male & 22
3. Height & Weight: 178.8cm & 72.4kg
4. Denomination: ‘Queen of Conquest’ who rages like a storm, Shahnaz
5. Tier: Silver IV
6. Class: Crusader -> Crusader Commander -> Paladin
7. Heavenly Title: The Promised One
8. Disposition: Lawful and Good
<Physical Attributes>
[Strength C]
[Durability C]
[Agility B]
[Stamina B]
[Mental Fortitude A++]
[Divinity D]
<Basic Skills (2)>
1. [Basic Swordsmanship A+]
2. [Basic Hand-to-hand Combat A+]
<Class Skills (2)>
1. [Holy Aura D+] – an ability to solidify and radiate divinity outside. Allows users to use divinity to form sword aura or force shields. The ability used to be at a higher rank, but was downgraded due to the user’s lower physical attributes.
2. [Eudaimonism A++] – a form of protection where thoughts or ideas materialize into reality. The more the user acts out their convictions, the more they will mature and flourish. This ability falls under the growth acceleration abilities category.
<Special Skills(2)>
1. [Synesthesia S]
2. [New Sword Union A+]
Chi-Woo’s mouth slightly dropped. Ru Amuh’s class had jumped to the third stage, his attributes—agility, stamina, and divinity—had all increased by one rank, all his basic skills rose by a level, and he gained two new class skills.
“Teacher?” It seemed Ru Amuh had noticed Chi-Woo’s gaze. Ru Amuh wiped his sweat with a towel and turned to Chi-Woo.
“…Ah. I was just walking around.” Chi-Woo responded after a pause. He was surprised by Ru Amuh’s user information, especially the stars next to Ru Amuh’s name. Even though Ru Amuh had made substantial progress and gotten stronger, he was still only at one star. The next star wasn’t even half-filled. In other words, within Ru Amuh lay great untapped potential that hadn’t been awakened yet.
“You have become stronger,” Chi-Woo noted.
“I can’t compare to you though,” Ru Amuh said politely and tilted his head curiously; for some reason, Chi-Woo appeared anxious.
“I heard that you rose in your Iron rank.”
“Yes, I’m Iron IV now.”
“Did you use your rewards from passing the promotion test already?”
“Yes, I used everything to raise my agility and stamina by one rank each and opened up two new class skills.” Ru Amuh easily revealed everything that he should’ve kept a secret because the person he was talking to was Chi-Woo.
“So, you increased your agility and stamina… But how did you increase your divinity?”
“I thought there was no need for me to use my rewards on divinity. I have already reached my limits for strength, durability, agility, and stamina, so to increase their rank, I needed to use my rewards. But for divinity, it’s not necessary for me to do so.”
Ru Amuh’s race was human. There was a clear limit to a human’s physical attribute. Even if they trained for decades, they wouldn’t be able to grab a mountain and hurl it with raw strength alone. But it was different for mental fortitude or divinity. Humans didn’t have limits in these areas and could continue to hone them by training.
“After training consistently, I was able to increase my divinity to a higher rank. I still have a long way to go though. Haha.” Ru Amuh looked a bit regretful as he continued, “Honestly, I wanted to save my rewards a bit, but I thought I had to become stronger on Liber first. I am planning to grow my abilities as fast as possible, at least in the beginning.”
While listening to him, Chi-Woo inwardly groaned that Ru Amuh’s second class skill was for growth acceleration. He envied Ru Amuh for making remarkable progress every time he saw Ru Amuh.
[Wow…] Mimi read Chi-Woo’s mind and appeared to also be in disbelief.
[Eudaimonism. It’s an amazing skill that materializes thoughts. It’s not a skill one could gain simply through regular conviction or determination.]
[But is that something you should be grumbling about?] Mimi asked.
She was asking if Chi-Woo should even in good conscience envy anyone after acquiring the best physical body one could possibly possess, which was the Golden Ratio.
[Have you forgotten? Golden Ratio also accelerates growth.]
‘No, but the speed is different. The speed. We both train every day to the death, but only one of us seems to see constant changes to their user information.’
[Ru Amuh is like a Fields Medal-winning mathematician who is studying sequences again. In comparison, you are someone who basically just learned addition and subtraction. Of course, there will be a difference between you and his learning speed.]
‘I also know that. I’m just envious.’ While Chi-Woo complained inside his mind, Ru Amuh carefully looked at Chi-Woo after he suddenly fell silent.
“Teacher? Is there a serious problem…?”
“No, it’s nothing.” Chi-Woo quickly tried to find something to say. He decided to use this opportunity to ask about something he had been wondering about. “Actually, I’m wondering about an ability.”
Ru Amuh’s expression immediately turned serious. Chi-Woo cleared his throat and tried his best to reiterate the feeling he felt while fighting the wolf god.
“So you’re saying that while facing the god, you felt a sensation in which you surpassed your original physical abilities…” At Chi-Woo’s words, Ru Amuh organized his thoughts and continued, “Teacher, I think that the god you serve has temporally shared her powers with you.”
“I also think the same. I think it’ll be useful if I learn how to do it again, but I can’t think of any method to find out how to do so.”
“Hmm…. Well, there is a way to awaken special abilities by yourself through a unique method, but this would be extremely difficult.”
Chi-Woo was about to say, ‘Ah, but Mr. Ru Amuh, you already have two special abilities that are extremely difficult to get?’ However, he stopped himself from voicing the thoughts, since he was 100% sure that Mimi would say something along the lines, ‘Ah, but Mr. Chi-Woo, you already have ten of those special abilities that are extremely difficult to get?’ Mimi had been quiet for a while, but her critiques had been getting a lot worse these days.
“But if I may suggest a word of advice, I’m against it,” Ru Amuh continued in a firm tone. “I understand what you’re thinking, but I—we still need you, Teacher.”
“What?”
“I wish that Teacher would take care of your body more.” Ru Amuh continued with a stiff expression, “From your description, it seems like a type of awakening ability.” It was an ability that allowed users to gain an explosive amount of power forcibly by increasing their mana or physical abilities for a short time.
“I agree that at times, it’s very useful. However, I heard from those who use such an ability that the side-effects are significant.” In short, everyone had their limits. Rather than expanding their limits slowly, someone who repeatedly used powers that surpassed their limits was bound to crack sooner or later. “If the god that you serve temporarily gave their power and took it back, I’m sure there was a reason why she did this.” Ru Amuh worked hard to persuade Chi-Woo.
[Everything he says is right. Do you think that if you forcibly awaken or go berserk, you’ll get stronger? You can’t be more wrong. It’s basically the same thing as giving a heavy metal bat to a kid. Of course, I get that you’re thinking about using this in consideration of your recent battle, but do you seriously have to—]
Chi-Woo turned off Mimi the chatterbox as she began talking non-stop.
Ru Amuh continued, “I sincerely ask you, Teacher. I’ll try harder. If you wait just a little longer, I’ll be able to share a bit of your burden. So please…” It seemed that Ru Amuh had completely misunderstood him. Moreover, unbeknownst to Chi-Woo’s knowledge, Ru Amuh had also been concerned about Chi-Woo’s physical condition ever since Ru Hiana exaggerated his symptoms.
However, Chi-Woo didn’t feel bad; it was a great thing in life to have at least one person sincerely care about you, and in the end, he gave up. “I understand.” In the first place, Chi-Woo hadn’t really cared about obtaining an awakening ability or depending on an ability like that; he simply thought it would be a nice ability to have. “If you say so, I’ll push that thought away for now.”
Ru Amuh’s complexion brightened. “Thank you. I’ll work extremely hard to meet your expectations.” It seemed Ru Amuh thought that his sincerity had gotten through Chi-Woo, and Chi-Woo believed in him.
‘I really chose well,’ Chi-Woo thought. Ru Amuh was hardworking, moral, and extremely talented; plus, he was also handsome. ‘He’s really a filial son.’ Even though Chi-Woo was tasked to guide Ru Amuh so that he’d grow up well, he didn’t really need to do anything; Ru Amuh did very well for himself. He was the type of kid that didn’t need a lot of care. No parent could ask for a child easier to raise than Ru Amuh. Still, Chi-Woo wanted to do something for his first son.
“Ah, Mr. Ru Amuh. Perhaps…” Chi-Woo asked Ru Amuh if he wanted another bottle of holy water, but he was instantly rejected. Ru Amuh said he already received a lot from Chi-Woo and felt uncomfortable receiving more; he also firmly rejected Chi-Woo’s offer by saying that Chi-Woo should use the remaining holy water for himself.
‘Hmm….Since he’s already doing good with his user information, there’s nothing I can really help him out with…’ Honestly, Chi-Woo still was at a stage where he needed to learn from others rather than teaching others in terms of physical training, and this was especially true in the case of him and Ru Amuh. Chi-Woo pondered what he could do to help Ru Amuh and suddenly noticed an object hanging on Ru Amuh’s waist. It was a normal short sword that could be found anywhere.
“Now that I think about it… Mr. Ru Amuh, you weren’t able to bring weapons that you usually used, right?”
“Yes. Since it surpassed the limit I could bring, they told me to leave it all behind.”
“If you had a good sword, you’ll be able to get stronger.”
“About that, well…yes, that’s true.” Ru Amuh responded honestly rather than lie. Chi-Woo looked at Ru Amuh as he laughed awkwardly, eyes gleaming. He had thought of a way to help out Ru Amuh.
* * *
While returning to his room, Chi-Woo fell into thought. Even though a hero’s growth was based on their training and the system’s functions, these two factors were not the only ways for them to get stronger. Good equipment also made a significant impact on a hero’s strength. If a hero was going into battle with a single rusty sword, while another was equipped with a masterfully crafted sword, tough armor, and equipment with special functions, it was all too obvious who would have a higher chance of surviving. The question was how Chi-Woo would obtain these objects.
‘Adventure.’ This was the first thought that popped into his head. He wouldn’t have even dared to think of such an option in the past. However, things had changed. Chi-Woo believed it was now possible for him to travel around to a certain extent. Even though they didn’t have a surplus of goods, they weren’t lacking in necessities, and he was no longer afraid of mutants or evolved mutants. The more he thought about it, the more he believed it was time for him to go on an adventure.
Then, he suddenly thought of Chi-Hyun. He was told that Chi-Hyun had said they needed to secure necessities before they could get anything else done. Chi-Woo wasn’t sure it was actually something his brother had said, but he vehemently agreed. If his brother hadn’t made all these preparations beforehand, Chi-Woo wouldn’t have been able to entertain the possibility.
‘I wonder what he’s doing right now…’ Chi-Woo knew his brother was busy, but he thought Chi-Hyun shouldn’t strain himself too much. Chi-Woo hoped for his brother to come back safely. In his deep contemplation, he had returned home without realizing it. He looked up and stopped, his eyes slightly widened. An unexpected guest was waiting for him in front of the house.