Chapter 52

Royal Roader on My Own – Chapter 52: The Secret of Jewel Alchemy (3)

‘Is this perhaps the voice of a fairy?’

A fairy might be trying to communicate with me.

It is not something that I can determine with just speculation, I need to clash against it myself to figure it out.

I started to focus more on the feeling.

The more I did that, the more the feeling of warmth started to get stronger. At first, I only felt it from the jewel, but as time went by, it felt like it was covering my entire palm.

But that feeling from before that felt like a woman’s voice, as well as the sound of the wind did not come back.

A few minutes later.

The warmness slowly started to disappear. In the end, the only thing left was the feeling of the cold jewel.

I open my palm to take a look at the jewel.

One of the two jewels was still the same yellow color, but the other one became as transparent as a glass egg. It meant that I succeeded in gathering the power into one jewel.

But I was not satisfied with the results.

[Jewel of Creation: Creation Index 21]

Although I had combined jewels with creation indexes of 27 and 31,  it actually went down to 21. This was a regression.

‘I failed.’

No wonder the yellow color looked a little lighter.

It is nothing to be disappointed about.  I succeeded until the point of feeling the fairy’s power during the combination.

Plus, didn’t the fairy try to communicate with me as well?  Although I have no proof that that voice was actually the voice of a fairy.

Either way, even though it had a terrible result, I still succeeded In communicating with the jewel. Next time I will do much better, and even better the time after that.

‘Let’s try again.’

I combined jewels over and over.  I had a whole bunch of jewels of creation anyways.

The more I repeated the combination process, the warmth inside my hand started to get stronger. The resulting jewels also started to get better little by little. Sadly, the end result still had a lower creation index than the originals.

But I could not hear the fairy’s voice again. It was so quiet that it made me question whether I was hallucinating the first time I heard it.

‘Did I really hear wrong?’

But I continued to try. This was all I could do right now.

Was it after about 10 times?

As I tried to focus again to combine the jewels one more time, I felt an uncomfortable sensation. It felt like a nail. It was not very strong, but still make me feel off.

‘What is this?’

I did not know where the feeling was coming from.

But one thing was for sure.

‘It is not the power of the fairy.’

I could not understand it.  There’s another power other than the fairy power inside the jewel?

I had never heard about that.

I focus my attention even more. I tried to look past that feeling of a nail and tried to focus only on the warm vitality and pushed to communicate with the fairy’s power.

But that nail-like feeling continued to show its presence. The more I tried to run away, the more it felt like it was increasing it’s effort.

In the end, I finished this terrible attempt at communication.

[Jewel of Creation: Creation Index 16]

As expected, it was the worst result.

My focus was a mess. It was because of that nail-like feeling bothering me.

So of course the combination would not go properly.

I centered myself with some deep breaths before attempting another combination.

But it was the same. This time, the nail like feeling showed itself much earlier on in the process to bother my concentration.

Failed again. The creation index fell drastically.

I could also feel mental fatigue.

Now that I think about it, there was a similar result in the game. I did decently until about the tenth time, and then my success rate drastically fell after that.

If I took a decent amount of rest and tried again, the success rate went back up.

At that time, I just thought that ‘the settings must be like that.’ But now, I can tell that it was because of that-nail like feeling.

‘Just what is this?’

I suddenly remembered what Akto had said to me.

[The Peria tribe could not develop a single Jewel Alchemy master. Do you know the reason for it?]

‘Was it perhaps because of this?’

I was sure it was a different power than the fairy power. It was the troublemaker getting in the way of my communicating with the fairy power.

The Peria must have been weak against this other power. The fact that their purity was strong meant that they were weak against foreign powers.

That should mean that the secret of Jewel Alchemy Akto mentioned might be related to this power as well.

Once I tied that back to the information related to Jewel Alchemy, I seem to have come to a conclusion.

[In order to communicate with the fairy, you must overcome the obstacle of this foreign power]

Is this perhaps the key to become a Jewel Alchemist master?

It is the most likely conclusion.

But a speculation is, in the end, just a speculation. The accurate information might be further away than I think.

I should try to get more information about this as quickly as possible.

Either way, I could not just stubbornly continue to combine the jewels. Right now I needed to get some rest.

I got in a comfortable position and checked the change to my Jewel Alchemy skill.

[Jewel Alchemy: Beginner 21%]

It went up by a tiny bit. If I try it about 40 more times, I should reach the intermediate level. Once I get there, I should be able to get a resulting index that is higher than the originals.

Once I looked outside, it had become bright. It was now completely morning.

The hard-working miners were already up and getting ready for their day.

It made sense, since they had to fill up their eight hours. In order to do that and still end their work early enough to get a decent rest, they needed to start early.

I headed out as well.

Jonnan saw me and embraced me with a smile.

“Did you get some rest?”

Jonnan’s looked a bit different than yesterday. He seems to have some more fat on his bones.

Looking past that, I can feel strength coming from his entire body. Should I call it vitality?

“Yes. I am feeling refreshed. But how are you, senior?”

“I am doing very well too. This is the first time my body has felt this light in tens of years. My appetite has returned, so I finished a whole bowl of rice this morning. I think it is because Akto’s curse has been released.”

He really looked that way. If a little more time passes by, he’ll recover his old Herculean appearance completely.

“Congratulations.”

“It is all thanks to you. Thank you very much.”

While I was sharing different stories with Jonnan, the other miners gathered around as well.

Including my slaves Jul Goo, Eruni, and Chief.

Now it was about time to take care of things at the Northern Mines. Although I will return shortly.

“Seniors. I must ask for your continued help with the jewels.”

“No need to mention it. Do not worry about it.”

“But where do you plan on using so many jewels? Plus, if it goes through our hands, the luck index or creation index will all be cut in half.”

I didn’t even mention Jewel Alchemy. It would become troublesome if too many people know about it.

“That is okay. I will give you a good price for them.”

“What price? No need to pay when we are so close. But are you leaving today?”

“Yes. But I will return soon.”

Now it was time to address my slaves.

All of their loyalty levels went up quite a bit due to yesterday’s events. Eruni’s was already high, but Jul Goo and Chief were recording in the late 80s as well.

At that level, they shouldn’t betray me even if I am gone for a while.

But just in case, I need to raise it up as much as I can right now.

“Jul Goo, you can use this from now on.”

Jul Goo’s eyes became the size of lamp posts. What I was handing to him was Miru’s Pickaxe.

“It means I am taking you as my successor. So work your butt off. Prove your abilities with your own hands.”

“Yes master. Thank you.”

Jul Goo’s loyalty finally hit 91.

Chief was also looking at me with eyes full of anticipation.

It was easy to win Chief over. There are just two things that Chief likes.

“This is for you Chief!”

“Caw. Gold!”

It was 10,000,000 won worth of gold. Of course it was a very small portion compared to what Chief will continue to give me.

“When I finish my work and return, I will also buy you a lot of lamb meat.”

“Caw. Chief likes lamb meat! Keke.”

Chief’s loyalty only went up by 4. But it should be safe since it is at 88.

I didn’t need to worry about Eruni. From the moment I made her my slave until now, it had never fallen under 80.

Plus, she’s so tidy that she takes care of all of the chores, including cooking and laundry, for the entire Northern Mines all on her own.

Because of that, whenever anybody sees Eruni, they all say this first.

[You’re going to get sick like that. Take a break as you work.]

I wanted to say something to her before I left the Northern Mines for a bit, but that’s the only thing that came to mind.

“Eruni, make sure you take some breaks so you don’t get sick.”

“Yes, master.”

Anyways, she is such a mysterious girl.

It is covered by her clothes right now, but the tattoo on her shoulder is still vivid in my mind. The three layered circle with embroidered points in the shape of the usn.

I sat in front of my computer and did some research every time I went back to the real world, but I still haven’t found an answer. I feel like that post had been deleted.

That was why I decided to approach it in a completely different way.

Soon, I will be able to get accurate information about Eruni’s identity as well as the tattoo on her shoulder.

“Seniors. Please take care of these children for me while I am gone.”

I heard that goodbyes are best kept short.

I waved as I left the Northern Mines.

Avanguarde’s Volcanus Temple.

“Oh my! How is this possible! Did you really learn Jewel Alchemy?”

“I was lucky. But bishop-nim, I have a request.”

“What is it? Speak.”

“Please keep the fact that I learned Jewel Alchemy a secret from the priests associated with the temple, as well as the dwarf blacksmiths.”

I had asked to speak to the bishop alone for this request.

“But why? That skill alone can make you rich!”

I am already making a ton of money without it.

“I have a situation that I cannot share. Please.”

“Of course. If it is what you want, of course I have to do so.”

Since it was a bishop making a promise in a temple, I should be able to trust him.

“Then the fourth quest. Raise one of the skills you have to intermediate level 3 or higher.”

A very simple quest. I just need to combine jewels until death.

I should be able to reach that point by the time I finish the Chaos Battle.

‘Then shall I go raise my level a bit?’

For a low level like me, the best place to raise my level is Paksen Park. It is a place where Level 100+ Demon Caves frequently appear.

I left the Volcanus Temple.

But I suddenly started to feel dizzy. It was a dizziness I was already used to.

“Has it already been 10 days?”

This dizziness will stop in less than a second. But in that second, I will have spent a whole day in the real world.

Now that I think about it, today is that day. The day the money from Virtual Accounting finishes being washed and hits my bank account.

They said it’ll hit around 4pm.

How will I feel after seeing the money in my account?

I think it won’t feel real.

But once I go down to Daejeon and buy that house with a yard, it will start to feel realistic.

Oh, tomorrow is mom’s birthday. I might be able to give her a birthday present she will never forget.

Shouldn’t the information about my female slave Eruni come today too?

I didn’t have much faith since I had already failed twice. That was why I haven’t been able to go down to Daejeon.

But I need to go down tomorrow. I need to at least do something for my mom’s birthday. I also need to sign the contract for the house with a yard.

Quite a lot of things should happen between today and tomorrow. My heart was beating quickly with anticipation.

While I thought about that, I quickly lost consciousness.

***

I slowly opened my eyes.

The simple LED light on the white ceiling let me know that I was in my room.

“Craaaack. Ah, I slept well.”

It’s really amazing. No matter how hard I move in Royal Roader, and no matter how tired I get, I don’t feel a thing in the real world. I just feel refreshed like I got a good night’s sleep.

I first opened my cell phone.

It is what I do first everyday. I logged in to the Royal Roader homepage and checked my information.

But lately, that order has changed. I first checked my text messages and Katalk [1]. I’ve been waiting for a message for the last few days.

I had a few messages from my friends. It was about setting up a time to meet later today.

But the message I was waiting for was not there.

“Is today another bust? Sigh. Why does it take so long?”

I let out a light sigh as I checked my information.

[Kang Hwi Ram]

Dexterity: Advanced Level 2, 34%

Strength: 133 (+11)

Agility: 117 (+21)

Stamina: 145 (+9)

Intuition: 107 (+8)

Mana:  – (+32)

HP: 120 (+49)

[Jewel Box]

[Skill]

I am still working out frequently. Swimming pool, health club, golf range, kendo, boxing, etc.

In my opinion, I am working very hard at them.

But compared to Royal Roader, the stats are not rising very quickly. When I first started working out, I thought they were going up quite quickly, but lately, there has not been any changes.

I guess it is because the skills in the real world are in their final form. There is no level up system, and haven’t I already raised them quite a bit?

Most importantly, after making the focus skill,I have enjoyed studying quite a bit. Compared to before, I have had to cut down my work out time a lot.

Based on that, just being able to maintain my current stats alone is a success.

The fact that 10% of my Royal Roader stats get added is extra.

‘Deposit at 4pm right? Shall I get a couple things done before then?’

I left my room.

But I got a long-awaited message on my phone after taking just a few steps. It was the one I had been waiting for this whole time.

[I gathered the information as well as the developer’s contact info. Please check your e-mail and contact me. Blue Sky Enterprise.]

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[1] Katalk is short for kakaotalk, a messaging app frequently used by Koreans.

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Last chapter for the week.

Translator : Miraclerifle

Proofreader : Borderline Masochist