Chapter 21

The chieftain’s eyes narrowed.

Shining with a savage cruelty.

“Where did you hear about spirit engraving? How could a young warrior know about them?”

Naturally, I’d first learned about them in the game.

How could an old player like me, who was solidly in the ranks of rotten water, be unaware of such basic information?

But I answered honestly.

“I read it in a book.”

There was nothing to fear, because I’d already confirmed that the information could be easily found in the library.

“The book said that the spirit engravings were a great help in fighting the fairies during the War of the Holy Relics –”

“Hahahahahahahaha!!”

The chieftain suddenly broke into manic laughter, cutting me off.

To be honest, it was really scary, but I didn’t let that stop me, since that laughter seemed to contain a hint of joy.

“Did you read that in a book? Hilarious! And there’s Ainar too, to think we got a pair of such quirky bastards this time!”

Fortunately, the chieftain seemed to be fond of young barbarians who liked learning.

“… If the book’s contents are true, I too want to get this secret magic.”

“Certainly, we have no reason to refuse a spirit engraving if a warrior demands it! But, young warriors! There is just one problem!”

“Problem?”

“It costs a lot of money.”

What, don’t scare me like that.

Was that worth being so serious about?

Spirit engraving required a lot of expensive materials.

For higher-grade engravings, not just money, you’d also have to collect a lot of reagents.

“Hahaha! It’s amazing that you’ve come this far after reading a book, but you don’t seem to have understood everything!”

“If you need money, then you need money. How much?”

The chieftain looked at me as if he was looking at something cute.

“The cost of the undying imprint is, well, about 800,000 stones!”

I frowned.

Ugh, it was 150,000 stones more expensive than it’d been in the game.

I could still afford it, though.

“I can pay.”

“What?”

“Is that really true?”

The chieftain and Ainar exclaimed at the same time.

Before they could make too much of a fuss, I took out a pouch of 500,000 stones and three of 100,000 stones from my pocket.

At this, doubt appeared in the chieftain’s eyes.

“Bjorn, son of Yandel, where did you get so much money?”

It would’ve been a shame if he hadn’t asked.

I’d taken some trouble to prepare the screenplay in advance, after all.

I told them what’d happened with Erwen, with some adaptations.

Roughly speaking, the fairy I met on the first floor had to work for me like a slave, an essence dropped by chance, and her sister paid the price with money…

“Hahahahahaha!! That’s great, it’s what those fools deserve!”

“To rob those wretched midgets, you’re the first! Bjorn son of Yandel!”

The barbarians were fonder of this story than expected.

Not only Ainar and the chieftain, even the elders who’d been standing far away came by to laugh.

Wasn’t this a bit much?

“Hah ha ha ha! I don’t know how long it’s been since I last laughed like this!”

Soon, the chieftain took 600,000 stones from my hand.

Huh? I was sure he’d said 800,000 stones…

As I tilted my head, the chieftain clapped me on the shoulder.

“My gift for a young warrior who has shown such great qualities!”

My shoulder did feel dislocated, but the reward was sweet enough.

Fuck, with one sentence, 200,000 stones!

Our chieftain was gallant like only a barbarian could be.

My heart was full of sincere emotion.

“Whenever I see those idiot tribals again, I’ll make sure to fuck them and become a greater warrior!!”

“I look forward to it! Young warrior, Bjorn son of Yandel!”

Was this what people meant by familiarity breeding fondness?

I was gradually beginning to like this barbarian race.

Spirit engraving is a kind of strengthening technique.

The principle is to obtain special powers by infusing the ‘spirit’ of the magical material into the body.

It’s also the reason why barbarians are always covered in tattoos.

They probably get tattooed as infants while the soul is relatively pure, so that the soul circuit can be seen even when they reach adulthood.

It’s definitely a setting like that.

“I will give you one more chance to think about it. If you choose this path, you cannot receive the spirit engravings of other paths. Are you still sure?”

“Of course.”

I know all the paths.

So I won’t be changing my decision.

The high-grade imprints of the ‘undying path’ are the core of my nurturing method, and even disregarding that, all the abilities of the undying path are pretty high-tier.

“It seems that the elder has also arrived, so I should go.”

“Alright.”

After Ainar leaves, the chieftain leads me to the shaman’s tent.

And the operation begins in earnest.

“Hmm, the circuit is pretty clean. Keep your heart pure, and this spirit will give you great power in the future.”

The masked shaman utters some incomprehensible words and starts poking the tattoos on my torso with a needle.

And…

“Uggghhhhh…”

“Young warrior, don’t hold back, you can scream. It’s the same for everyone.”

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!”

A searing pain, ten times worse than the potion had been, assaults my senses.

Damn, I thought this would just be like getting a tattoo.

Do I have to feel this pain every time I go up higher on the path?

“Okay, it’s over. I’m tired, so leave.”

By the time the shaman utters the words I’d been waiting for, the sky has already become dark.

The chieftain who brought me here is nowhere to be seen.

“Thank you.”

“Kuku, this is the first time ever that a warrior has thanked a shaman.”

Yes? Did I do something wrong?

I don’t know, but let’s get out of here before anybody catches on.

「You have activated Undying Imprint Stage 1. Natural regeneration is greatly increased. 」

「Body +20」

Mentally, I feel extremely tired, but my body feels strangely full of energy.

Is this the power of the spirit imprint?

It feels very strange. Like some unknown power is residing within my body.

I should check the details later.

“Open the door!”

After leaving the sanctuary and returning to the inn, I test my newly acquired abilities a few times, then collapse on the bed and fall asleep.

Another day passed, and morning came.

I went back to the business district I’d visited along with Erwen the other day.

It was time is to invest all my remaining capital, less than 900,000 stones after the chieftain’s passionate discount, in myself.

“You’re the one who came by last time. Are you here to sell again?”

“No, this time I came to buy.”

I needed a new weapon.

The hammer I’d gotten from uncle was sold together with the rest of the weapons last time.

It wasn’t bad, but the handle was too long to use it one-handed, so it was a bit uncomfortable.

“I want to see some one-handed blunts.”

“One-handed blunts…”

As a result of my battles with Ainar, I’d decided that they suited me better than blades.

Bladed weapons required more proficiency.

Well, there’s nothing you can’t do if you practice, but…

In the first place, the weapon itself would only be for the early levels, so it wouldn’t be efficient to train it. Once I got the ‘essence’ I was aiming for, I’d just focus on the shield.

“Hmm.”

The shopkeeper looked me up and down, and brought me a few ‘one-handed blunts’ that didn’t look like they could be called that.

The lightest one seemed to be three times heavier than the two-handed hammer I’d used.

Hey, do you call this a one-handed blunt weapon?

“These are all the one-handed blunts favoured by barbarians.”

Okay, it might’ve been fine for them, but I was dying here.

Although my shield, too, was a brutish slab of pure steel.

But even so…

“I want something a little more normal.”

“All right.”

There was no need to buy some crazy shit.

Although it was true that such a weapon would allow my destructive power to multiply by several times…

But almost all the monsters on the first floor were already at the level of one-hit, one-kill.

I wasn’t even going to fight any huge monsters, so carrying such a large weapon around would just be cumbersome.

“How about these?”

Soon the merchant took out some new weapons.

Of course, these too were out of the norm, but they fit a barbarian’s body size just right.

I chose a mace of moderately brutish size.

“How much is this?”

“250,000 stones.”

250,000?

I sold you six weapons last time only for 350,000 though?

Frowning, the shopkeeper added:

“The crafting level isn’t that high, but the steel content is, so it can’t be helped.”

Oh, that made sense.

I understood.

Although I wasn’t going to just let that pass unchallenged.

“Bring it down to 220,000 stones, and you’ve got yourself a buyer.”

When I tried to bargain, the merchant looked at me with curious eyes.

… Just how profligate a life did these barbarian bastards lead?

“Nobody will buy these anyway.”

“The barbarians often look for these, actually.”

Well, maybe that was true for the first ones he’d showed me.

But the barbarians I knew wouldn’t pick something this esoteric.

Above all, most barbarians preferred sharp bladed weapons like an axe rather than blunts.

When I mentioned my reasoning, the trader agreed to the bargain distressingly easily.

“Good. Then you can have it for 220,000 stones.”

… Should I have aimed for 200,000?

「Total item level rises by +85.」

Anyway, after that, I looked around and purchased two additional pieces of equipment.

First of all, a half-armour.

「Total item level rises by +57.」

It was shaped similar to a bulletproof vest, made of sheet steel. The price was 360,000 stones, and it was a bargain because I managed to find one just the right size.

I would’ve had to pay twice as much for a custom order.

Like the second piece I bought, a helmet.

“It’ll take three days. I’ll jot down your address and have someone deliver it to you.”

Helmets had to be custom-made because they had to fit snugly on the head.

By giving up on the design altogether, I was able to haggle the price down to relatively cheap, 170,000 stones.

「Total item level rises by +47.」

As a result, about 50,000 stones remained.

… There wouldn’t be any meat dishes in my future, it seemed.

My daily routine has been set.

Wake up at 7am.

Have breakfast with Erwen.

“Wow, the stew even has potatoes today!”

“Tell me something, why do you come here for breakfast every day?”

“It’s delicious and cheap, isn’t it?”

Afterwards, I head straight to the library.

If I take it slow, I can make it right at the opening time, 8 o’clock.

“Parstyev.”

Receive the spell from the chronically tired lady librarian.

“Do your best.”

“…”

Of course, we haven’t even had a proper conversation yet.

Creak–!

After reading till 4pm, if possible, visit the restaurant you’d went to the first time, for a simple meal.

Although the place is expensive and the food is bland.

But there’re a lot of adventurers, so it’s easy to eavesdrop on conversations.

“Is Ainar still out?”

“Yes! I’ll deal with you till she’s back!”

After a rough meal, go to the barbarian dormitory around 5 o’clock.

From the seventh day of training, I’ve started competing with the other barbarians.

Like them, I also take off my upper garments, swing my fists and strangle their necks, and in a word, fight fiercely.

Although it’s far from the systematic fighting training I’d expected…

Fighting with the barbarians, with their finely honed instincts and razor-sharp intuition, is indubitably a great help to me.

I am also a barbarian.

「Reflexes improve slightly with repeated training.」

「Flexibility improves slightly with repeated training.」

「Dynamic vision improves with repeated training…」

「Body +1」

Now, I have a better sense of how to utilize this body of mine.

“Bjorn son of Yandel has won!!”

“The greatest warrior ever!!”

Even without the help of new equipment, I can occasionally win against Ainar.

She is certainly skilled, but the downside is that she has some fixed patterns.

I gave her some advice, but it seems like they’ve already become a habit, and she can’t fix it easily.

“Tired! I am going to sleep!”

“Me too!”

“A wise warrior knows when to rest!”

At 9 pm, all the mock battles that seem no different than actual battles are over.

Then, I drag my body covered in sweat and dirt back to the inn.

By the time I wash up, Erwen comes again.

“Uncle! Wash up right away! The food will get cold!”

“I get it.”

Not every day, but five times a week, we meet once more in the evening to eat and chat.

Most of the talk consists of nonsensical everyday stories about what Erwen did and how she felt today.

“Isn’t it annoying to have to walk an hour every time?”

“No? The rice here is really cheap and delicious!”

It’s true, it’s pretty cheap and delicious.

But what does that have to do with you, with your tycoon elder sister?

“I really enjoyed the meal!”

By the time we finish eating, it’s around 11pm.

Time for Erwen to also return to her dormitory.

“Then, good night. Oh, and I can’t come tomorrow either.”

“You couldn’t have met me if you did. We should both be busy tomorrow.”

It’s time to end my daily routine that has been repeated up to this point.

After checking the time, I quickly go up to my room and flop straight down on the bed.

A month has already passed.

And…

[23:41].

About 24 hours remain before the labyrinth opens again.

「Bjorn Yandel」

Level: 1

Body: 46 (New +21) / Mind: 36 / Ability: 1

Item Level: 202 (New +185)

Combat Index: 133.5 (New +67.25)

Editor’s Notes:

None for this chapter.