novelraw Chapter 20 : Chapter 20
Chapter 20 : Chapter 20
Chapter 20: Hidden Piece (3)
Odok.
Odok.
The woman who was chewing the herb answered.
“……It’s bitter.”
“Yes.”
Perhaps she had something wrong with her mind?
So, I had suddenly thrown a question without a subject, but the woman's answer was just calm.
She didn't even show any particular signs of anxiety.
‘I’m lucky.’
Because usually, even after regaining consciousness, they would fail to adapt and have a seizure.
Just taking care of that mind was no ordinary task, but fortunately, this woman was calm.
‘Resilience and even mental strength.’
This much was an exceptionally superior side, both physically and mentally.
Indeed, she had recovered from the 'Star Ash', a poison that feeds on dreams.
It would be a difficult feat without strong mental power.
To the extent that I'd call her special, even compared to the several colleagues who had been with me through my numerous past lives.
‘Of course, there is a separate talent that must be assessed.’
For now, I am satisfied with just this.
‘To think such an excellent talent was right under my nose.’
I had even saved team members from a nearby park countless times.
‘I don't know if I was unlucky until now, or if this life is, at last, a sign that things will go well.’
Odok.
Odok.
I asked the woman, who was chewing the herb as instructed.
“Your name?”
“Name……. My name is……. My name……”
However, perhaps because there was confusion in her memory, she couldn't even answer with her name.
“Right, I’ll hear that later. I’m Han Chulwoon.”
“Yees……”
“From now on, I will tell you what you have to do.”
I would leave meat and herbs, so she was to take care of the child.
From time to time, she was to wet the child's mouth with water.
When he started to react to the water and move, she was to feed him the juice from chewing the detoxification herb.
She herself was also to consume the remaining detoxification herb and have a simple meal.
In particular, she was to drink a lot of water so she would urinate a lot.
While those instructions were being given, the woman nodded her head without a word.
It was a small movement, making it hard to know if she had understood properly, or if she was just nodding in reaction to the voice.
“Take this.”
Finally, I handed the unidentified meat to the woman.
It was Goblin meat.
It was slightly contaminated, but it was right to replenish stamina even like this for now.
Because if one accumulated energy in the body in any form, minor side effects could be managed with just the [Stamina] stat.
Tiiing-
Lastly, I handed her one coin.
I had flicked it with my fingers.
Tuuk.
She flinched, but quickly caught the coin.
‘Her reflexes aren't bad either.’
“……Um, what is this?”
“It’s called a coin. Put it on your hand and think, ‘It’s mine.’”
At that, the coin went huuk- and disappeared.
“Ah?”
“You should have been given something called a Status Window User Manual. Check it.”
“Yes.”
“Raise Stamina by 5. Raise Focus by 1.”
I gave her 90 coin.
With this, she could secure 6 stat points, and 5 Stamina stats would dramatically recover her body.
1 Focus point would clear her mind.
“It’s fascinating.”
She blankly stared at the palm where the coin had disappeared.
Shyuuk-
She created the coin again.
She had ‘materialized’ the coin I had handed her, for trading.
It was something anyone could do, but not something one could do while not even knowing the basic usage of the Status Window.
Furthermore.
Papat!
Hududuk.
She even split one coin into multiple, and combined them.
‘Her curiosity and application skills are good, too.’
To think she could do this much just by knowing she could make the coin disappear.
Perhaps, her insight also seemed outstanding.
I let her move freely and went behind the tree shade to sit.
‘I have to suppress the Qi Deviation one more time.’
I first chewed one bite of the Capenlis Root, which had an awakening effect.
Kkuuk.
Kkuuk.
As if pressing, I crushed it with my molars and squeezed out the bitter juice.
‘This, too, has a pretty good flavor when mixed with black tea…….’
I brushed off the minor regret.
I raised my Focus and Stamina with the coin I had.
[Focus has been raised by 2.]
[206 coin has been consumed.]
[Stamina has been raised by 2.]
[266 coin has been consumed.]
Thanks to that, I felt my head clearing a little.
[Strength : 15]
[Stamina : 17]
[Focus : 10]
[Willpower : Error(Unknown)]
‘The Magic Power Rampage has weakened a little, too.’
With the effect of 2 Stamina, the herb's recovery effect created synergy with it and aided recovery.
And Focus reaching 10.
This was also a big help.
‘With this, I’ve laid the foundation.’
A stat of 10 is the ability that becomes the foundation for all skills.
A stat level that can't be called extraordinary, but is not lacking.
The standard for barely escaping talentlessness is precisely this 10.
The reason Qi Deviation occurred even though I used magic skillfully was also because of the problem that my Focus was 10 or less.
With this, that one thing was resolved.
For a moment, I waited for the herb's energy to circulate.
Since the metabolism, temporarily activated by the Stamina stat, was spreading the herb's energy quickly, it would not take long.
…….
…….
…….
A little later.
“Heueup.”
I controlled my insides with the continuing breathing technique.
“Puhu.”
With a long breath, I slow down the activated body again.
“Heueup- Puhu-”
If the mind succumbs to pain, the Magic Power Rampage accelerates, so I am suppressing the pain by collecting my mind.
In the end, magic is the act of building a building of knowledge on the foundation of the mind.
If you don't control your mind, this bastard called Magic Power would attack even its master as it pleased.
That is why Magic Power Rampage (Qi Deviation) is more frightening.
Because the pain spreads from within the body, but its solution begins from peace of mind.
Because with an ordinary mental strength, one cannot suppress that pain.
Thus, overcoming the pain and steadying my mind and body, I took another long breath-
“Huu.”
And exhaled.
While exhaling three long breaths, I passed the immediate crisis.
The chaotically tangled energy had stopped for a moment.
Recovery requires time, so there was no need to be impatient here.
‘To suppress the Qi Deviation. I need a little time until the calmed energy settles in my body.’
After doing this much.
I looked at the nearby well.
The well inside the Dimensional Fault.
‘Yes. This is it.’
I grinned.
‘This time, can I…… get a skill?’
However, I don't know if this will be good luck or bad luck.
Because the skill I would aim for now was one that consumed coin.
The problem was that I didn't know how much money it would cost.
I might not get it even if I empty out all the money I have now.
Furthermore, I don't even know if the skill obtained like that will be helpful or not.
‘That’s the true charm of this skill.’
In other words.
It was an unpredictable skill.
This attribute called ‘unpredictable’ was also an element that brought joy to me, who had experienced a determined future countless times, making everything feel obvious.
‘Then.’
I opened the Status Window and withdrew coin.
[1714 coin remains.]
I changed this money into 17 100-coin pieces.
I could have split it smaller, but it was because the number I personally liked was 100.
Other than that, there was no reason.
‘Let’s begin.’
I threw it into the well.
Pongdang.
After that, I waited about 3 seconds and threw again.
Pongdang.
A little later.
Pongdang.
I threw, and threw, and threw.
Pongdang.
Pongdang.
Pongdang.
It was a wasteful act that anyone would call crazy.
Pongdang.
Pongdang.
Pongdang.
However, even after tossing 10 coins, what I wanted did not come out.
‘As expected. Was I short on money. Maybe I was a bit hasty.’
But I didn't stop and continued.
Pongdang.
Pongdang.
Pongdang.
When I threw the 13th coin.
Jjarang-!
“Oh!”
The cheerful sound of a coin echoed in my ears.
‘I thought I might not be able to get the skill.’
“I'm lucky.”
And then, a faint stream of water shot up from the well.
Like a fountain.
Pushiiik-
In a way, something that could be called a Hidden Piece within a Hidden Piece.
[Fountain of Good Luck]
[Do you know the custom of throwing a coin into a fountain to wish for good luck? A fountain that has held a coin changes into a Fountain of Good Luck.]
It was a Hidden Piece I found out about once while abandoning a corpse in a small pond.
That bastard must have had a coin or something in his pocket.
If you keep throwing coins into a place with a certain amount of stagnant water, that place becomes a Fountain of Good Luck.
To get this effect, sometimes 100 coin is enough, and sometimes 10000 coin is not enough.
A matter where everything is literally decided by sheer luck.
‘1300 coin, I got it cheap.’
Following that, I obtained a skill.
[You have acquired the Good Luck Skill.]
‘Good Luck…….’
[Good Luck]
[It's an evening where something good just might happen.(Effect Unknown)]
[Good Luck F]
This was a skill that I wouldn't know when or where it would be helpful, and even if it was helpful, it was unknown if it was even the skill's effect.
Even its rank was the lowest, F-rank.
However, skills or items that raised good luck itself were extremely rare.
‘Since it’s not something that can be measured in the first place.’
Don't we call a good ‘coincidence’ good luck?
The moment good luck becomes measurable, it becomes the domain of inevitability, not coincidence.
Measurable good luck, in effect, ceases to be good luck.
So it was bound to be rare.
Because it's impossible to even measure.
Even this F-rank Good Luck was a pretty rare effect.
‘Sometimes, a single piece of good luck yields a greater fruit than a lifetime of effort.’
So, how could I not welcome it?
‘Yes. It seems this life will go a bit well, at least.’
Even without measuring its efficiency, it was a skill that somehow made me feel better just by having it.
This feeling alone was worth spending the coin.
The remaining coin was 414.
***
‘It's peaceful.’
This place was truly peaceful, to the point I wanted to spend time and rest.
But the efficiency was poor.
Because the flow of time was different in a Dimensional Fault.
Meaning 1 hour here could be 2-3 hours in reality.
It wasn't that there were no Dimensional Faults where time flowed slowly, but they were rare.
From its scale, it was a small place, and its composition was also lacking.
It was incomplete from the beginning, and it had finished the story it wanted to tell.
This space itself would probably disappear before long.
‘Probably half a day.’
The Dimensional Fault would be maintained for now.
‘I should go.’
Since there would be movement outside soon, I had to leave the woman and child here to recover and go.
“I’ll come to pick you up later.”
“……Yes.”
Furthermore, since it was a space created only for the story of Elves and Orcs, other dangers would not exist.
It was when I was about to exit through the horizontally long-torn halo of light.
In other words, the dimensional gap.
“I remember.”
“Hmm?”
“It's Lee Seri. My name.”
“Right. I’ll be back soon.”
***
And so, reality.
‘Let’s see. Was the number of hardships I performed sufficient?’
I recalled what I had done.
If I included intentionally triggering Qi Deviation once in the hardships.
‘It’s enough.’
[The Constellation ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’ is curious about what Han Chulwoon did.]
[The Constellation ‘Six-Eyed Prophet’ looks at Han Chulwoon with its first and second eyes.]
[The Constellation ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’ has heard of Han Chulwoon’s actions from the ‘Six-Eyed Prophet’.]
[The Constellation ‘Ruin of the Gigantes’ sends extreme praise for Han Chulwoon’s actions.]
I had performed 10 hardships, so now it was time to receive the reward.