Chương 143: Chapter 143
"Mr. Sung!! You were cool today, too!!" Yuri exclaimed as soon as he logged out.
JiHan tilted his head. Was what he'd done worthy of being called 'cool'? If anything, it was more revolting than anything he'd shown so far.
As if to confirm his doubts, everyone else, including Sae-ah and YeonJu, was giving him a sour look. Yuri was the only one who seemed to be in such high spirits.
"It must have been unpleasant to watch today's stream," he said. "Are you okay?"
"I loved how you cut the elf down in a single stroke!"
"..."
'What? She liked seeing that?'
"I never imagined you'd cut down such a beautiful elf without a moment of hesitation… Such decisiveness! It reminded me of your welcoming party!"
"The party I didn't attend?"
"Yes! Honestly, I was relieved when you didn't show up!"
"Why is that…?" he asked.
'This person is weird.'
"I was hoping my idol wasn't the type of person to meet his fans at a drinking party before such an important match. I was really glad when you never showed up and streamed a game instead."
"Hmm, I see."
Why had she even gone if she didn't want him to show up? He looked at her in disbelief. She was certainly unique…
"Yuri!" YeonJu exclaimed. "Are you sure you're fully recovered?!"
"What are you talking about, Sis? I've always been like this! Isn't that right, Manager?"
"Yes… She became a hardcore fan of his after the fight against Shizuru and especially liked his decisiveness against a woman beautiful enough to seduce even her.
Did she like people who weren't easily swayed by beauty?
'There are all sorts of people in the world.'
He almost hid the leaf from the World Tree from her for a moment, worried that she was also under the effect of an abnormal status effect.
"Are you really okay?" he asked.
"Huh…? Yes! I'm perfectly fine!"
"Alright… I'll trust you," he said before taking the leaf from his inventory.
[Leaf from the World Tree]
Rank: S
- A leaf from the World Tree.
The item had a meager, one-line description, but the rank hinted at it being much more than it seemed. If her Gift worked correctly, she would be able to reveal more details.
"Could you please appraise this?"
"Of course!"
"Hey… You're still recovering—"
"Identify!" She immediately used her Gift before her sister could try to dissuade her.
Soon after…
"Oh…! This item is amazing!"
She handed the leaf back to him.
[Leaf from the World Tree]
Rank: S
- A leaf from the World Tree.
- Removes abnormal status effects and restores life energy.
- Shows the greatest effect when consumed as-is, and more than half of the leaf must be consumed to exhibit effects.
- Your Vitality will increase by 3 points if the entire leaf is consumed.
- This effect doesn't stack.
'The leaf increases your Vitality… and you only need to use half of it to remove abnormal effects?' It was such a good effect that he was wondering why the leaf wasn't ranked higher. Items that permanently increased stats were rare, after all.
'This might be better than any elixir in the world.'
He gestured to his niece and said, "Sae-ah…"
"Yes?" she asked.
"Eat this."
"What is it?" As soon as she read the description, her eyes widened in shock. "Uncle… Isn't this something we could use on my dad? Why would I eat it?"
"I have another one," he explained as he showed her the other leaf and put it back into his inventory. "You weren't able to completely resist Shizuru's Enchantment."
"Huh…? But Lightning Seal resisted it for me."
"No. You have to do these kinds of things properly. Just look at the effect. It also increases your Vitality by three, right? Just eat it."
"Ah… I don't need it. Uncle, you should eat it and increase your stats!"
"I also don't need it."
When she heard her uncle's refusal, Sae-ah glanced at Akari, who was still unconscious in the corner of the room, and cautiously said, "Then… I'll cut it in half and share it with Akari."
"With her?" JiHan asked. "Why?"
"Since you're saying I'm still affected, wouldn't she be the same way?"
"You're going to give up on three free Vitality points?"
"Yes. Well, I can try to get a leaf on my own later. Hehe."
Though Akari was on their side, sharing such a precious item was unfortunate.
'It's certainly possible that Shizuru's power is still lingering inside of her somewhere.'
Maybe it would be better if they could ensure Akari wouldn't betray them later. He nodded and dismissed the technique that was keeping her paralyzed.
"M-mom?" Akari mumbled in Japanese while tears dripped from her eyes. "N-no… I didn't do it! I didn't!"
JiHan gave the woman a confused look and turned to Ariel for help. "What is she saying?"
Ariel sighed and said, [She had a nightmare again. She's hardly slept at all in the past few days and sees the faces of her parents she was forced to kill every time she shuts her eyes.]
"..."
[It seemed like she'd kill herself at any time.]
"You should have told me that."
[She hasn't tried it yet, right?]
When he saw her mental state, he realized that sharing the leaf with her sounded like a good idea. He'd need her to deal with Shizuru later on, after all.
"Sae-ah, give her half of the leaf."
"Okay," she said as she walked toward Akari. "Excuse me..."
"Aah! Ah... It… it was a dream?"
"Please, eat this." Sae-ah handed her half of the leaf and quickly ate the other half. "Ugh... It tastes terrible."
Flash—!
A green light shone from her body, and then black smoke rose from her head.
"Uh... Uncle, you were right."
"What makes you say that? Did you get a system message?"
"Yes. It said the charm effect was lifted... Wow, so it looks like I was still under her Enchantment. No wonder I kept seeing Shizuru's face as I was falling asleep."
"You should have mentioned that earlier..."
"I figured it was just because of how pretty she was... Hehe."
JiHan sighed. 'The effect was annoyingly deep-rooted.'
Akari began to tremble after she read the item's description. "Ah… Are you really giving me something so valuable?"
"Yeah. You can thank Sae-ah. She even gave up on three stat points."
"Come on…" Sae-ah complained. "Akari, this was all thanks to JiHan."
"I… I don't feel that I'm worthy enough to eat this…"
"It's okay. Please eat it. You have to take revenge on Shizuru, right? You'll need to be completely free of her to do so."
Akari's eyes darkened when she heard Ariel translate the word 'revenge'.
"You're right... I'm in your debt."
Crunch. Crunch—
Unlike Sae-ah, who swallowed it whole, Akari chewed it one bite at a time, as if enduring the terrible taste would strengthen her resolve.
Crunch-
After a bit more chewing…
Flash—!
Just like with Sae-ah, a greenish light emerged from her body, and smoke rose from her head. The only difference was the sheer amount of smoke.
'It looks like Shizuru's influence was still pretty strong.'
Akari's expression regained its liveliness. "My head… feels clear." She mumbled in a shaky voice.
She kneeled before JiHan and Sae-ah to show her thanks and said, "It's incredible that you'd hand over such an item and expect nothing in return… I'm truly grateful. I will repay you with my life."
"No, it's okay..."
"Perfect," JiHan firmly said. "That leaf was extremely valuable."
It'd taken a sacrifice of three potential Vitality points, so it shouldn't end with a simple 'thanks'.
"Other than when you're cooperating with the government, stay by Sae-ah's side at all times."
"Understood! I will protect the young Miss with my life!"
"Also, please learn Korean. Translation is uncomfortable."
"Yes!" Akari vigorously shouted.
Sae-ah's expression turned sour when she saw that the woman was 200% serious.
"Wow! Sae-ah! Congratulations! You got yourself a Diamond-rank bodyguard!" Yuri and Sae-ah had gotten closer during JiHan's game, and she was the first one to congratulate her.
YeonJu nodded in agreement. "After what happened last time, it's best to be as careful as possible, and Assassins are perfect escorts."
"Okay…" Sae-ah said, "Akari, I'm counting on you." When she reached out for a handshake, Akari respectfully clasped her hand before moving behind her and going straight into escort mode.
'Hmm, she's more eager than I thought she'd be.' JiHan regretted having given away half a leaf at first, but it didn't seem so bad. A Diamond bodyguard for half a leaf was a good deal.
JiHan looked at Yuri and smiled. "Could you give me your number?"
"Yess!! Here! I've already written it down!"
"Ah..."
YeonJu placed a palm on her forehead when she saw her little sister so eager to hand the note over.
'I didn't expect her to be this obsessed... I shouldn't have brought JiHan here.'
* * *
- Just call me if you need me to identify something, and I'll run over right away! Ah, should I just join your guild? It'll have to be after I finish this TV drama and 10 scheduled advertisements.
- Are you crazy? Absolutely not! Mr. Sung, I beg you... The guild's too much, right? It took her a lot of effort to reach her current position in the entertainment industry!
- It's okay! I fulfilled my goal of reaching the top! I can retire!
- Shut up!
Yuri's guild membership was put on hold due to her sister's intervention. Although JiHan wanted Yuri's ability, he didn't feel the need to make her a guild member. She already had such a positive opinion of him that he didn't feel there was a need to make her join.
"I'll go and teach Korean to Akari!"
"Take Ariel as well. You need translation, after all."
"Okay! Let's go!"
[Sure.]
Sae-ah led the two girls into her room as soon as they returned to the penthouse.
'Today was a busy day…'
With the game against Russia and the closure of the survival game, he'd harvested a whopping 370k achievement points and raised his level nine times.
'Am I level 89 now? I'll be able to reach Platinum this month.'
Though he'd ascended to Gold, he was growing even faster than before. Unlike other players, he was able to level up during the national matches. On top of that, he'd obtained 19 stat points thanks to the Seed of Life.
'Good. I'll pour them all into Martial Soul.'
There were other rare stats like Shadow Sword and Lightning Seal, but he invested them in Martial Soul without a second of hesitation.
[Martial Soul has reached 110.]
[Martial Soul's growth limit has increased to 130.]
[Adapt the Nameless Divine Arts Techniques to yourself and nurture your Martial Soul.]
[You are unable to invest more points until the stat reaches 130.]
'So there's a limit to how many points I can invest. I have no choice but to modify my techniques now.'
He couldn't think of anything in the Three Talents Techniques that needed to be changed, and Heavenly Lightning was already much stronger when he enhanced it with the Phoenix's flames.
'As for the Shadow Secret Technique, I still don't have any idea about how to modify it, and among the God-Killing Techniques, Iron Blood Cross is my current limit. Even if I just want to extract and use the power of instant death, I can't do that yet.'
All he could do for the moment was further modify the Heavenly Lightning Technique.
'I should start trying immediately.'
He hadn't even been home for 10 minutes before he went straight to the training room.
* * *
Within China's Battle Net Operations Room…
"We'll be facing a major problem in our next match against Korea."
Everyone solemnly watched the screen, where a video of JiHan smashing the Russian team was being shown.
"Although he's a Gold Leaguer... He fought solo against Vladimir's Berserk Gift. Not even we have anyone capable of defeating him one-on-one."
'Not even Holy Monk Li Long?'
Holy Monk Li Long was China's top Warrior. He was a fist user who used the Shaolin Martial Arts through his 'Shaolin Abbot' Gift, and he was ranked 4th in the world amongst the warriors.
Though his rank was higher than Vladimir's…
"Right. Even he struggles against Vladimir's Berserk Gift."
"Ehem...!"
"How can such a tiny country produce so many outstanding Warriors?"
"I don't want to believe it... but it seems that he has an 'instant death' skill."
"Haa! How troublesome."
"That's why... I suggest we use the secret technique we created in preparation for the Sword King, the '108th Form.'"
"Wh-what?"
"Use the 108th Form on a mere Gold?"
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