Observer (2)
The moment the golden Mana of the toy poodle completely wrapped around the tiny body, a system message rang out.
– [Observer’s Eyes (Rank: SSS)] is attempting to access the user’s information!
– Skill Superiority Judgement: [The Successor’s Eyes (Rank: EX)] is of a higher grade. The skill effect of the opponent has been nullified!
– [The Successor’s Eyes] blocked [The Observer’s Eyes]!
‘Observer’s Eyes?!’
I had never encountered that skill before.
‘But the name is so similar with my unique skill!’
My heart was beating insanely fast and loud.
On the other hand, that wasn’t the only strange thing.
Having come into contact with the skill effect, [The Successor’s Eyes] should’ve identified more information about that skill’s identity.
However, the returning information disappointed my expectations.
The system message came up.
[Observer’s Eye (Rank: SSS)]
– A skill given directly by the system to those who have met special conditions.
I was on the verge of laughter.
‘What kind of explanation is that?’
It was worse than nothing.
In fact, it’s like giving out no information at all. I could see an intentional attempt to conceal information.
“…!”
My eyes crossed with the observer.
The opponent showed a look so vivid I couldn’t believe he was wearing a dog’s shell over it.
The embarrassment slowly spread on its face.
“How? It can’t be.”
The poodle tried again, vibrating golden Mana around its body, but the result was the same.
– [The Successor’s Eyes] blocked the [Observer’s Eyes]!
The alien stared at me in bafflement.
“Pardon me for doing this the first time that I met you, but I have to ask you a question.”
Its tone was filled with caution.
The following question surprised me even more.
“Are you really Seo Jin-Wook?”
What was that supposed to mean?
Did it notice that I possessed the original body?
But whatever the skill effect was just now, had failed. How?
Or did the fact that the skill failed gave it a hint?
I replied with a question of my own.
“What kind of ridiculous question is that?”
“It’s beyond my expectations that my observation skill doesn’t work, but that makes my guess more solid.”
Adam was visibly surprised by the conversation.
“Huh? Did you just use the ‘eye’ skill?”
Based on the situation, the reason why Adam called the observers as eyes might be because of their skill’s name.
“But it didn’t work?”
Whew.
Adam exclaimed as he whistled.
“Seo Jin-Wook, I don’t know what you are, but you have a great skill.”
Everything’s going to be revealed that way.
I asked without affirmation or denial.
“I don’t understand what’s happening. You asked me if we had an equal relationship, but why is the conversation suddenly turning in that direction?”
The poodle pointed to Adam and answered me.
“It’s strange that an Awakened being with that level of authority and ability developed a business relationship with the tutorial race. In fact, both of you are the targets I wanted to confirm with my own eyes here.”
Adam spoke, scratching his chin.
“Oh, I don’t know what you’re thinking, but put aside the useless misunderstanding.”
“It’s reasonable to doubt you. If someone like you would cooperate with him, it means that he has that much power as well, right? My common sense tells me that a resident in this type of dimension can’t do what you just did.”
I frowned.
“Don’t beat around the bush.”
“Yes, then I’ll change the question.”
From the mouth of the small dog, a question flowed out once again with clear pronunciation.
“Are you really a species that originated in this dimension called Earth?”
What the hell did he mean?
I was dumbfounded.
The alien race in the shape of a dog continued to.
“Aren’t you actually an alien species from a world whose tutorial has already ended? Aren’t you an illegal immigrant who hid from the eyes of our observers and the Union? Just as he lives under the disguise of Adam, I can’t raise my suspicion that you’re acting as a native named Seo Jin-Wook without reporting to the Union.”
I knew what he was talking about.
‘Is that what he’s tripping me over with?’
He thought I was an alien.
I was about to get a headache.
Meanwhile, as Adam heard that story…
“H, haha··· Hahahaha!”
A burst of loud laughter rang out.
Laughing, he pointed his finger at the small dog and spoke.
“Hey! You have a brilliant imagination. Well, borrowing a human identity is a method I used as well. But don’t you think I would have checked that out when I decided to work with this guy?”
Eight small tubes rose from his collarbone.
They were body tissues that replaced the skill of [Penetration].
“I scanned his whole body with this!”
The poodle distorted his expression when he saw the tubes.
“The Dakegamas Mole’s excrement tube… How could you implant something like that in your body?”
“How can you say that after excluding all the other details? It’s the fecal tube, the genitals, the mouth, and the sensory organs of that beautiful creature! Do you know how hard it was to connect this to my nervous system?”
The alien muttered as if it was ridiculous.
“Anyway, your race…”
“You know what it is. The scanning results using the electromagnetic waves emitted from here are more accurate than the SS-Class [Penetration] skill. So I can guarantee you 100%. He’s a native here. He’s a human being!”
Adam made it clear that my body was not the result of polymorphism, nor was it a disguise worn.
But the observer didn’t easily believe him.
“You two could have conspired. And his body itself could be made out of a real human being.”
He surely had a lot of doubts.
While I was mumbling internally, it suddenly occurred to me.
‘Wait, the reason why the poodle is a prick is that he suspects that I finished the tutorial, right?’
The way to resolve the suspicion was simple.
“Wait, this misunderstanding can be corrected very quickly and simply.”
Just as I was about to raise my right hand, Adam spilled telepathy into my mind.
– Hold on. Wait a minute! I’ll take care of it.
What’s with him?
With a curious look, Adam shouted to the observer.
“Right. This misunderstanding is very easy to correct.”
The poodle stared at Adam silently.
It was as if it sensed something.
He then continued.
“Are you kidding me? Why repress and threaten a species that has not finished its tutorial when there are easier ways to answer your question?”
“When did I oppress and threaten?!”
“Come on, let’s get this over with. We can just ask the system about the guy in front of you right now… Let’s make it hand over Seo Jin-Wook’s ‘species information’!”
“…!”
At that moment, feelings that could not be kept hidden came out of the poodle’s eyes.
I felt like the poodle was hesitating for some reason.
Adam attacked with his words, aiming for that window of opportunity.
“Is there another method more certain than this? Only experience points equivalent to information fees are required. If Seo Jin-Wook has finished his tutorial here, the system will throw up race information. If the tutorial is still in progress, it won’t give you any information. Isn’t that the simplest way? Of course, either the former or the latter, the system will surely consume your experience points!”
I could only half agree with him.
It’s definitely a verifiable measure, but was that the simplest way?
“… But.”
Adam laughed and talked back at the hesitant poodle.
“What, you don’t even have that many experience points? Or is it a waste? Does the Grand Union’s observer tremble against only half a million?”
‘Did simple questioning require 500,000 experience points?’
I didn’t know because I didn’t have any reason or instance to try such a thing in my previous life.
‘The alien location information that I acquired through the system… If I had acquired that through a standard procedure, I would have consumed a tremendous amount of achievement points.’
If it’s half a million, that was similar to what I received after completing the first screening quest.
Damn, I thought I saved a lot of points unexpectedly.
As I pondered silently, Adam continued as if to pressure the poodle.
“So, stop persecuting the poor weak species and check it for yourself! If an observer wants to arrest an illegal immigrant, he needs to get a confession or check for clear evidence, right? Since the truth can be uncovered if you just pay up the points, shouldn’t the hungry person feed himself? It’s not us who want to arrest and gain merits. It’s you.”
Only then did I realize what the observer was up to.
‘Those points are a burden even for someone that had completed the tutorial.’
Instead of using up its points and checking with the system, it pressured me as if it was threatening me and encouraged me to confess.
‘Isn’t he just a bully?’
I could see why Adam hated the Union so much.
“…”
The poodle kept hesitating and eventually cave in as if it couldn’t help it.
Adam was so bold that it couldn’t keep its high-handed attitude.
“… Yes, there was that way. Let me check.”
It was a clumsy pretense as if it was reminded of something it had forgotten.
‘If his opponent comes out this far, he would be able to agree that I’m a real human being.’
The poodle eventually seemed to be reaching out to the system message and delivering its intention.
And there was a pause.
A loose remark leaked out.
“… Yes, Mr. Seo Jin-Wook. The system has refused to provide information about you.”
It was an obvious result.
“That makes it clear that you’re still a being in the tutorial.”
It then sighed and murmured lowly.
“Sigh. It’s blown.”
Adam laughed.
“That’s why you did such a shallow trick? You thought that he was going to turn himself in front of you because an illegal immigrant was caught?”
The poodle spoke in a teary voice.
“This can’t be; I can’t believe you’re human! But how did he build up his ability to trade on equal grounds with someone like you at such an early stage?!”
It was 100% sure I wasn’t human, so it tried to prove it by even sacrificing its points.
“K-k-k-haha! It was hard for me to believe at first, too, so I understand. How many points did the system require?”
The poodle replied as if it had lost its country.
“… 580,000.”
“The price has gone up in that time.”
Adam clicked his tongue.
The poodle turned weakly.
Its steps also seemed to stagger a little.
“Pardon me. I’ll be on my way now.”
“Oh, wait a minute.”
I raised my hand and called the poodle.
“What is it?”
It couldn’t just go like that.
I didn’t know when that kind of opportunity would come again.
I had heard about the ‘Union’ to some extent from Adam.
But what he couldn’t answer was the part about their intention.
The dimension he lived in was not under the Union, but they were not particularly hostile. They remained neutral and had no interest in the Union’s vision.
‘But I’m interested.’
The people of Earth also had to climb the Tower of Choice later in the tutorial.
After climbing to the 100th floor, they had to choose between proceeding with the main quest or closing all dungeons and returning to conditions similar past Earth.
‘In the end, we failed because of Angelica, but we decided to give up the main quest in our previous lives because of the Earth’s devastating situation at that time.’
There was a lack of infrastructure to prevent the dungeons from collapsing, even if more connections were established.
A large number of humans had died, and the number of Hunters had dropped dramatically.
Therefore, they decided to return to the ‘normal’ world of the past, where Mana cores did not exist.
It was better than the destruction of humanity.
‘But what choice should humankind make if we want to stay this way?’
It was not a choice to make myself, but I wanted to hear from those who had already finished the tutorial.
I asked.
“I heard that the Union is a dimensional organization that aims to remain within the framework of the system.”
“Well, that’s not all there is. It’s a roughly correct explanation. What about it?”
“May I know why?”
What benefits could we get by continuing the main quest?
I heard about it through Adam, but I was curious about how the Union saw it.
Then the poodle answered as if I was asking about the obvious.
“That’s an easy question. The system is a cradle of growth that helps all the worlds…. All the species move further and higher. Through some of the trials that the system gives us, we will all end up getting what we want.”
The answer was focused extremely on the positive.
What the Earth was like in my previous life passed through my head.
“But the natives of dimensions could be exterminated in the process, right? Some races would have been alive if the gate hadn’t opened in the first place.”
“That can’t be helped. They couldn’t overcome the trials and competition. Hence, they’ve been culled.
“…”
The alien calmly defined the devastating end of the humankind that we had experienced in our previous lives as ‘culled.’
I felt sick in my stomach and felt my anger rising.
Oblivious to my emotions, the poodle continued.
“It’s one of the common misconceptions, but we’re not the seawall that keeps the tutorial species from the tides of the current. We’re the supporters that can stop more adults from getting involved in a child’s fight.”
The problem was that someone could die fighting between themselves.
Even if they didn’t fight amongst themselves, they could drown in the waves of the currents.
‘If kids are those in the tutorial dimension, and if adults are those in the main quest dimension.’
The bigger problem was that if one were to look at the situation that was going on at the moment, the adults didn’t completely let go of their hands.
Suppressing my displeasure, I came up with one more question.
“So, what is the extent to which the species that finished the tutorial can intervene on Earth?”
“It’s not that simple to explain.”
“Let me give you a specific example.”
It was the question that kept lingering in my head.
“What if some of them were behind the scenes controlling the people of Earth? Isn’t that something that the Union should intervene in?”
What the hell did those observers do?