Chapter 102: Battery recharge (1)

Shoutout to Poppy Locks, our new Protagonist tier Patron. Thank you so much~

Aracelli stared at the place where Yoo Seodam had disappeared into.

She had put a mark on his body, and it would never disappear.

Although now… Yoo Seodam has gone too far for her to detect the signal, but she would surely notice the moment Yoo Seodam moved to another dimension again.

‘… Until then, I have to recover my Mana.’

With that determination, Aracelli stood up from her seat, and Ryu Hye-ian, the royal princess, walked towards her and spoke.

“Didn’t you say, you are a wizard from another world?”

“Well, maybe?”

“You look considerably older than before.”

Unlike her 14 year old appearance from before, she had now grown up quite a bit, making her appear mysterious. It was hard to determine her age. But, overall, Aracelli had a much more mature vibe compared to before.

‘Did the professor temporarily ease the side effect of travelling through the fragments of time…? How did he do it?’ 

Her young appearance was only a temporary effect, but thankfully, in the Pleidin continent, her age didn’t become a big problem.

“Are you….. leaving right away?”

After a while, Aracelli shook her head.

“No. I can’t determine Professor’s whereabouts yet. And I still need time to recover my Mana.”

“That’s good. So, do you have any plans to work at our empire for the time being? I heard that you have a considerable level of magical knowledge. From now on, in order to overcome the player monopoly system, we, the people of the continent need a ‘strength’. And you have the knowledge to do so.”

Aracelli stared at Ryu Hye-ian’s eyes. Since she became a sage, she was able to distinguish people’s intention with a simple eye contact. Of course, it wasn’t like she completely knew it, it was only a rough estimate at best.

She could at least tell that the woman in front of her wasn’t lying about her sincere desires to help her own people.

“I would love to. However, there are two conditions.”

The first.

“When the Pleidin continent is freed from the player monopoly system to some extent…. please properly disclose the reality behind how Yoo Seodam almost became in history as the worst villain to the world. I want his achievements to be known by everyone.”

“……Is that so?”

Ryu Hye-ian was also aware that the evil deeds committed by the man named Yoo Seodam were in fact good deeds.

However, considering the fact that the empire decided to suppress the players because of ‘Evil Yoo Seodam’, it would be very contradictory and arduous to revert his image back to a ‘Hero’.

But, Hye-ian felt too sorry to refuse the request of the mysterious woman in front of her. And in the end, she agreed to Aracelli’s demand.

“It’s not a difficult request. People of the continent need a new hope, a new hero to look up to after the fake hero disappeared.” 

“Good.”

“Then what’s the second condition?”

Aracelli replied to Hye-ian’s question with a smile.

“Please give me food. The menu is tomato bacon sandwich, cheese hotteok, and rice cake soup without dumplings.”

It was the exact same menu that Professor Yoo Seodam gave her when she was starving back in Vivienda Academy.

* * *

[Successfully returned to the original world.]

[The time difference has been normalized.]

With a floating feeling akin to entering a zero-gravity chamber, Yoo Seodam found himself back in his room.

Slam!!

He threw his tired body on the bed

“uh…..”

Cold sweat was still dripping all over his body.

“Ah… is it?”

“Sorry. I won’t do that again next time.”

Yoo Seodam whipped the sweat that trickled down on his forehead while recalling the girl he had just seen.

Apparently, that child was Aracelli Rinekal, the girl he had met at Vivienda Academy. She was a magician who was destined to become an archmage and save the world in the future.

“…How on earth did she cross the dimension?”

In fact, the protagonists who received the probability of the world could travel dimensions as easily as if they were eating meals. Yoo Seodam himself was also using Dimensional traveling using the probability he received from hunting to return to Earth.

“Then, did she really cross dimensions just to find me? But, wasn’t the time difference between Vivienda and Earth like two to three times? Only three years have passed, right?”  

“Is that so…”

Yoo Seodam was very surprised. He never thought that he would even meet the genius girl who once lost her confidence again.

He gently touched his lips. He could still feel the sensation of her pink lips and saliva that entered his mouth.

It was even more embarrassing because he got it from a child that was always so unenergetic. Yet, for this once she was quite bold.

“Don’t tell me, will she come to Earth?”

“…Is that so? She’s still amazing regardless.”

He thought for a moment.

He was quite taken aback when he met Aracelli, but when he thought about it some more, it wasn’t that bad. To be honest, there were one or two things he found out of place in the last mission, but what if it was the result of Aracelli’s assistance?

‘The groups of Chaos players who flocked at me and the imperial army who joined the fray….’

Perhaps Aracelli had noticed his existence and she moved the forces in her own way to help him.

In the end, thanks to her help, the hunt for the protagonist, which originally only had 50% success rate, ended successfully.

“Is there a chance to meet her again next time…?”

“I….is that so? That’s…. scary.”

After calming his mind, Yoo Seodam finally checked his quest reward.

[1750 days of lifespan has been paid.]

[Your current Lifespan: 6800 Days, 7 Hours 18 Minutes]

[Your level has been raised by 5.]

[You absorbed ‘Vitality (SS+)’ talent.]

[Level: 145]

*Stats

[Strength: 142] [Stamina: 155] [Agility: 143]

[Energy: 1] [Mana: 200]

*Talent

[Swordsmanship S] [Hunting D+] [Shooting C]

[Cooking D-] [Intuition A] [Quick-wit A]

[Insight B] [Vital SS+] [Others…]

*Skill

[Protagonist Hunter Lv. 4]

[White swordsmanship (S)]

[Sixth sense (C)]

[Ara-Sunyoung Mana Circling technique (SS+)]

[Library of the White Witch (E)]

[Inventory(S)]

[Dharma Heavenly wind god technique (SS+)]

[Concentration (S+)]

Yoo Seodam was slightly disappointed because his level did not reach 150. But it was okay, because he gained a considerable amount of lifespan even after losing 360 days of lifespan for tearing the dimensional door for a few seconds.

However, his stats were a little strange.

“My physical strength… exceeded the level? Mana has also skyrocketed.”

“Vitality?”

“Hoh…..”

S rank was equal to level 150. Currently, Yoo Seodam was only level 145, which was a little short from S rank. However, due to the effect of the ‘Vitality’, his physical strength was close to an S rank, and his Mana was at the level of SS rank.

It means that he had reached the level of 7th circle even though he only used grade 1 magic!!

Somehow, he could feel that his body was more energized than before. It wasn’t as fraudulent as the skill he got the other day, but it was okay to improve the specs of the body itself.

“Then…..”

Now that he had checked his stats, it was finally time to check his spoils of war.

On top of the unique-grade, epic-grade and the hero-grade boots that he obtained while working with Perutius, Yoo Seodam was able to bring 3 more hero-grade items.

He got an armor , ​​a weapon, , ​​and an inner armor .

━

Grade: Hero

*limit

Level 150↑

Strength 165↑

*Effect

Defense +500BP

Light Resistance +125

Dark Resistance -25

Light Efficiency +85

*Prefix option

Brilliant: Increases defense of light element barrier skills by 1500BP.

*Suffix option

Vow: Doubles the duration of Light Property Barrier Skills.

*Special skills

Bright Barrier: Creates a 5m diameter barrier for 10 seconds. Defense +3000BP

*Armor made of light. It’s fairly light, but very strong! Creatures with the light attribute would feel slight affinity with the wearer.

━

Yoo Seodam tried it on, he expected it would be very thick and stuffy because it was an armor, but in reality, it was just like putting a sweater on a coat.

The base color of this armor was white, and there was a gold pattern engraved on top of it. It was a pretty cool armor.

In addition, the skill ‘Bright Barrier’ seemed to be a skill that could instantly protect you and everyone around you. It would come pretty handy to use it when you don’t have enough Mana or when you can’t use magic.

━

Class: Hero

*Limit

Level 150↑

Strength 150↑

Agility 125↑

*Effect

Attack +480 AP

Evil Property Efficiency +300

Defense Penetration +27%

*Prefix option

Dusk: Reduces the recovery of the enemy.

*Suffix option

Dawn: Ignore the attacking enemy’s DEF by an additional 5%.

*Special skills

Lifesteal: Whenever you cut an enemy, you absorb some of their energy.

*Sword known to have been cursed. Whenever it cuts an enemy, it absorbs their strength and decreases their defense. It has an evil tendency, and rumor said the wielder of this sword will go crazy.

━

A sword with a strong property of ‘evil’. It was hard to believe that it was a sword held by the Braveheart. The attack power (AP) of this weapon exceeded the attack power of the swords created by the ether dispenser craftsman. At this point, this sword could easily enter the top 10 of most excellent swords on Earth. Of course, Yoo Seodam wasn’t sure because he had never seen such great swords himself.

There was one fatal flaw in this weapon. It was the fact that the user could go crazy. But…..

[Concentration(S+) resists the effect of the item.]

Yoo Seodam had the correct skill to counter it. There was no problem for him to wield it.

━

Class: Hero

*Limit

None

*Effect

Defense +50AP

*Prefix option

None

*Suffix option

None

*Special skills

Rejection of Death: When the wearer is in crisis, a ‘darkness’ with 1000 BP will cover the wearer’s skin for 5 minutes. This skill will heal the user’s wounds using the BP throughout the duration, but when the effect is canceled, it causes extreme fatigue to the user and sharp reduction to their lifespan.

━

Lastly, it was ‘inner armor’. Inner armor was basically a supportive gear worn inside the armor. However, this inner armor had a ridiculously low defense power even though it was a Hero-grade item. But it was important to notice that its skill would activate once the wearer falls into crisis.

Even a legendary-grade 1000BP’s defense wasn’t good enough to last for 5 minutes. But this inner armor would even heal wounds on top of 1000BP! Unfortunately, if you use this skill, your lifespan will be drastically reduced, so the Braveheart Perutius did not use it.

However, Yoo Seodam was different. If he could keep his life in exchange for some lifespan, he would happily wear it. It was because he could recover his lifespan whenever he wanted.

Besides, this inner armor had no restriction, so it was possible for him to wear it immediately.

“Hmm…”

Death of Dawn was a mysterious object that resembles ether coating. However, unlike ether coating, Death of Dawn was an item that stuck to the body of its wearer. The problem is, it was quite embarrassing. It was fortunate that if it was ‘deactivated’, the black mass would only concentrate around his chest and wasn’t normally visible.

Anyway, as a result, it was a very satisfying item farming. If Yoo Seodam converted all of these items into money, he would instantly get several millions of dollars.

“Some of the Epic accessories can be handed out as a gift….”

Yoo Seodam spent half a year at Pleidin, but less than ten days had passed on Earth. Because he’s a guild master now, a gap of more than a week could have been quite fatal, so he had to check the guild condition out as soon as possible.

He put ‘end of dispatch’ at his messenger profile and checked at the messages people had sent towards him.

By the way.

“Hmm?”

For some reason, there were quite a lot of text messages from the ‘masters’ of the Kendo Association. Not only that, there were also considerable contacts from mathematicians and scientists from all over the world, mostly about ‘Mugong’ or ‘Magic’.

“This……”

Yoo Seodam hurriedly changed his clothes into a suit and left his house. He was going to the Guild hideout.

* * *

It didn’t take long for Seodam to reach the guild hideout. He walked through the garden and went to the high white building. As soon as he arrived, Yekaterina greeted him from the gap between the piled up documents.

“Uh? Seodam-nim, you are here?”

“…What is all this?”

“Eung? Didn’t Seodam-nim ask me to have a good talk with Masters from the Kendo Association if they called? When I did this and that, it became like this…..”

“Huh?”

Yoo Seodam remembered it. He indeed ordered Yekaterina to do so before he went out to another world. Because, for the past few months, he was in constant contact with the sword masters of Kendo association, and he was willing to pass the modernized ‘Monster hunting Mugong’.

However, he didn’t expect things to be this big.

Yekaterina once again said, 

“I brought in some experts who wanted to visit. Ha Sun-young was the one who taught them. Oh, and some scholars who want to learn magic also came. First of all, in order not to be pushed by the Morian guild, I thought we need to be more active with Magic, so I plan to announce our Magic sooner or later.”

“Wow.. Re…really?”

While Seodam was away to another world, a huge gymnasium was built in the middle of the garden. It wouldn’t have been difficult to make, they just need to order some spirit to build it.

Inside the gymnasium, Yoo Seodam could see Ha Sun-young was teaching martial arts to the sword masters, together with Ye Sa-hye.

“The help of the girl named Ye Sa-hye is great. Man… she was very smart.”

“What kind of help?”

“Ha Sun-young was indeed using Mugong very well……. But, her teaching skills are a bit…. right?”

“…..”

Yoo Seodam knew it very well. He clearly remembered that he was an inch away from tearing his own hair when he learned about Mugong from Ha Sun-young.

“Ye Sa-hye had interpreted Ha Sun-young’s knowledge to fit the modern people’s common sense and it made it easier for everyone to learn. I’ve never held a sword before, but I can roughly understand the principle after hearing her explanation.”

“It was indeed amazing.”

Yoo seodam nodded.

Interpreting Ha Sun-young’s words so that anyone could understand it?

Translating those alien-way of teaching? Ye Sa-hye skill had indeed exceeded the level of ‘Genius’.

“Looks like I need to increase her salary….”

In conclusion.

‘I didn’t do anything, but the guild is running smoothly..?’

It was hard to figure out just how good Yekaterina ran the guild in the ten days of his absence. In addition, she was also studying Korean law that she did not know, and on her desk, there was a laptop with numerous laws written on it.

“You….. You are really the best in many ways.”

“Woohoo, is that so? Well, I could run the guild according to my taste, so it’s pretty fun. Oh, may I have a magic engineering facility up there? I only need a little budget, a little bit…. No, I need a lot… I want to conduct a magic experiment personally.”

“Tell me anything you need, I’ll even sell my organs to build anything you need.”

“Oh, no. That’s okay.”

Yekaterina smiled gently and got up from her seat and approached Seodam. 

Somehow, she looked quite tired, the dark circles under her eyes were darker than before. Yekaterina slightly hesitated before opening her mouth.

“Well, I have to ‘recharge the battery’ slowly…….”

“Battery? What are you talking about?”

“That…. Um. Because my soul was inside Yoo Seodam-nim’s world, I can’t recover any energy for my soul alone. I need to get it through Seodam-nim… My energy has reached the bottom since a long time ago.”

“Is that really so? So, what do you need to do?”

At his words, Yekaterina sighed a little.

“I need to charge my energy just like a smartphone. And I could only do that through Yoo Seodam-nim, because my soul belongs to Yoo Seodam-nim.”

As she did, Yekaterina came up toward Yoo Seodam and stretched out her hands with a tense look.

‘I’ve been through it last time, so I can stand it this time.’

She remembers the dizzying pleasure she had the other day. She was embarrassed because it was her first time feeling something like that, but this time, it would be different.

She closed her mouth, took a deep breath, and slowly placed her hand on his chest…

“Oh, huh?!”

….She stumbled down to the floor.

‘What, what is it? what happened···?’

A dizzying sensation, as if she had been electrocuted by a high-voltage electric current, flowed through her body.

“What happened to you again?”

“Yo…You.. What have you been doing?” 

She was certain.

The sensation she felt just now wasn’t because she was unable to adapt. It was simply because Yoo Seodam’s soul had become too powerful, the amount of energy that flowed into her had also increased by miles!

Now she was afraid to even touch him. However, if she didn’t touch him, her spirit could be completely exhausted.

‘No, still, this is wrong, this is…. This is really…….’

However, there’s no way Yoo Seodam would leave Yekaterina who stumbled to the floor alone.

‘Ah…..’

As Yoo Seodam reached out to hold her, she looked at his arms with a pale expression and closed her eyes tightly.

‘…I’m done for now.’