Chapter 2034 – 2034. Savior Of The Academy
I found something decent in the Yakuza’s warehouse.
『Plentiful New Year’s Rice Cake
Rank: B
Slightly increases stats upon consumption.』
It was the type of elixir item I was looking for.
There was no reason to save it, so I immediately put it in my mouth and chewed. The rice cake was quite palatable.
My body felt invigorated. I felt like my strength had slightly increased.
『Name: Sung Yu-jin
Strength: A Stamina: B+ Agility: B+ Endurance: B Mana: A+
Traits: Spirit Eye (S) Demon Hunter (S) God of Storms (A)
Skills: Spirit Contract (A) Spirit Possession (A) Barrier (C+) Swordsmanship (B+)
Karma: Good 22』
I checked my status window. Unfortunately, my stats remained the same.
It wasn’t that the ‘Plentiful New Year’s Rice Cake’ had no effect. I actually felt like my physical abilities had improved slightly.
‘It’s not powerful enough to raise my stats. My stats are all B rank or higher, so it’s not easy to change them with just any elixir.’
In numerical terms, it would be like the decimal points of my stats had slightly increased.
‘I’ve found the Plentiful New Year’s Rice Cake… I need to find other elixirs.’
In the Savior of the Academy game, elixirs generally only apply their effects upon the first consumption. It means that eating the same elixir again is useless.
I rummaged through the warehouse.
No other useful items came out.
A C-rank katana and an A-rank swordsmanship skill book appeared, but I didn’t need any of them.
[Are you going back now?]
‘No way. I came all this way, it’d be a shame to just do this.’
[Are you going to go kill that Madoujung’s crony or whatever?]
‘That’s on hold for now. I’m not confident I can kill him for sure.’
A Madoujung executive is a force to be reckoned with, even in Japan. They might not be an S-class hero, but they’d be at the top of the A-class. I couldn’t be sure if I could kill him with my current strength. I needed to build up more power.
‘Unless I can use the Hwaryeon Flying Blades completely. I can’t use them because I’m still recharging my power after using the domain before.’
The Hwaryeon Flying Blades had become more powerful, but they were still just weapons. It wasn’t good to rely solely on them. I had to become stronger.
‘There’s another reason why I came to Okinawa. Do you know about the Mermaid’s Treasure?’
[How would I know that?]
Makina’s voice sounded sulky. She probably just wanted to go home and rest. It wasn’t good to nag or scold Makina in times like this. I summoned a spirit orb from my inventory and tossed it into the air.
Makina, who had possessed Stormbreaker, popped out and snatched the spirit orb. She immediately put it in her mouth and munched on it. Her puffy cheeks bulged alternately as she rolled the spirit orb around with her tongue. Then she grinned.
“Is the spirit orb that delicious?”
Just like how cats go crazy for cat treats, spirits go crazy for spirit orbs. I had put a spirit orb in my mouth out of curiosity once, but it didn’t taste like anything.
[Yeah! Spirit orbs are the best! I’d do anything for a spirit orb!]
‘It’s worth the 20 points. Even though it came from a random draw.’
Anyway, it was easy to appease Makina.
Makina possessed the suit again. I used the jet engine to fly to the sea off the coast of Okinawa.
The Mermaid’s Treasure.
It wasn’t an item that directly appeared in the original game. But it was definitely something that existed. I knew about it from the news in my first playthrough.
There was a hidden cave off the coast of Okinawa, and the Mermaid’s Treasure was inside that cave. It was originally discovered by an A-class hero in Japan, but now I was going to take it.
‘Makina, how long can you operate underwater?’
[I’ll implement a life support system, so it depends on your mana.]
Makina’s ability to implement technology that didn’t fit the times, over-technology, sometimes felt ridiculously overpowered.
‘I might be able to use something other than my mana as a power source.’
I took out a mana cube from my inventory. A cube with a faint blue glow.
『Mana Cube
Rank: SS
Deploys a mana space.』
[Are you going to use that? You said it was precious and you’d only use it in critical moments.]
‘It’s perfect for training. What if I use it recklessly in battle and it breaks? That’d be a disaster.’
My mind had changed now. I was going to use everything that was useful.
And I was going to take the mana cubes in this world too.
Makina embedded the mana cube in the center of the suit. It was on my lower abdomen, where my belt was. She was so used to using mana cubes that she didn’t hesitate.
[It’s a mana cube after all. The permanent power source I’ve been dreaming of!]
It was a permanent power source since it constantly generated mana. The problem was that the output was low, so it wasn’t that versatile.
Splash!
I entered the sea off the coast of Okinawa and used my Spirit Eye. The Spirit Eye pierced through the darkness.
Thunder Heaven Style Electromagnetic Wave.
I spread out electromagnetic waves. But because it was underwater, the effect was much less than I expected. The search range, which should have been over 50m, was only about 10m.
‘Makina, radar.’
[Okay. I can use radar to identify terrain features within a 300m radius.]
Radar waves spread out from the suit, and a small window appeared on the user interface showing the terrain. It even showed things like fish swimming around.
‘There’s nothing nearby. I don’t want to move… can you move?’
[Stop ordering me around so much!]
‘One spirit orb.’
[I’ll do everything!]
My body started moving on its own. To be precise, Makina was moving the suit.
Makina used her abilities to turn the jet engine into something like an underwater scooter. Or rather, a small propeller for humans.
My body shot forward. It was quite comfortable, so I was dozing off when Makina’s voice rang out.
[Wake up!]
‘……Did you find it?’
[I woke you up because I found it. This is the only underwater cave around here.]
I shook off my drowsiness and focused my eyes. There was a cave a little ways away. It was pitch black, as no moonlight reached it. But it couldn’t hide from my eyes.
[I can’t tell what’s inside. The radar doesn’t work.]
‘It must be connected to a dungeon.’
I entered the cave. After going in a little, I could see that the space was distorted. As expected, it was connected to a dungeon.
I entered the dungeon. No notification window popped up.
[The inside of the dungeon is underwater too. It doesn’t seem like anything has changed… Ah! A mermaid!]
A mermaid wielding a trident appeared. A mermaid with a human upper body and a fish lower body. She was moving her mouth, but I couldn’t understand her because she wasn’t speaking human language. Her appearance was more striking than that of an average human. Some of the female mermaids caught my eye.
‘But her lower body is a fish.’
My mood dropped when I saw her lower body.
I threw a punch at the approaching mermaid.
The water moved and blocked my punch. Or rather, the flow of the punch itself changed strangely, negating its power.
[Kyaaak! The currents are weird!]
Makina was making a fuss. The currents were moving strangely, grabbing me and moving me around.
‘It’s not that big of a deal. Lightning.’
Zzzzzzzzzzz!
Discharged red lightning electrocuted the mermaids. Perhaps due to their nature, the mermaids didn’t put up any proper resistance to the lightning.
The dead mermaids floated in the water. I went deeper into the cave. Whenever I saw mermaids, I would start by blasting them with lightning.
At the very back, I found a giant mermaid, presumably the boss monster.
Thunder Heaven Style Myriad Lightning.
The giant mermaid was still a mermaid. She was electrocuted and killed by a single blast of Myriad Lightning. I picked up the orb behind her.
It was a gem that looked like aquamarine.
『Mermaid’s Treasure
Rank: S
Can manipulate ocean currents.
Increases stamina upon consumption.
Water spirits like it.』
[I can feel the power of spirits. The water spirits will probably like it. Are you going to make a contract with a water spirit with this?]
Makina asked as soon as I came out of the dungeon.
Water spirits, drawn by the Mermaid’s Treasure, were already gathering around me. Most of them were low-level, with some mid-level ones mixed in.
A jellyfish-like mid-level spirit approached me. The jellyfish spirit’s thoughts reached me.
-Treasure. Contract. Possible.
‘Get lost.’
I unleashed a Red Lightning, and it scurried away in terror.
‘With an item like this, I should be able to make a contract with at least a high-level water spirit, but how dare a mid-level spirit like you.’
[Are you going to make a contract with a high-level water spirit?]
‘No. I’m going to eat it.’
I had spirit orbs that spirits were crazy about. If I used the spirit orbs well, I could probably lure a high-level spirit.
I ignored the spirits that were following me and summoned a space-time teleportation scroll from my inventory and tore it.
I appeared at my house in Seoul, Korea, instead of Arashi Academy in Japan. I deactivated Stormbreaker and consumed the Mermaid’s Treasure.
The gem slid down my throat and disappeared, like drinking very refreshing water.
『Your stamina has increased from B+ to A-.』
『Name: Sung Yu-jin
Strength: A Stamina: A- Agility: B+ Endurance: B Mana: A+
Traits: Spirit Eye (S) Demon Hunter (S) God of Storms (A)
Skills: Spirit Contract (A) Spirit Possession (A) Barrier (C+) Swordsmanship (B+)
Karma: Good 22』
My stamina had increased by one level. It was an achievement I had accomplished in less than 6 hours.
‘I should have done this sooner.’
I thought about other elixirs. The ones I could get now, the ones I couldn’t get now, the ones that required other conditions to obtain, and so on.
‘It’s harder to get as much as I thought. I need to contact Lamia and order her to get elixirs with money.’
Lamia was a woman who managed my assets. She was quite capable, perhaps because she had been trained by Yuria once. If I gave her the items I had obtained this time, she would dispose of them on her own.
‘I’ve saved up money, it’s time to use it.’
I checked on Makina. She had already gone into her room and was sleeping. She acted so human that I sometimes doubted if Makina was really a spirit.
Looking outside, the sun was starting to rise.
‘I should go back to Arashi Academy in a bit. Should I have some Korean food for the first time in a while?’
Although, it seemed like the only restaurants open at this hour would be gukbap places.
I went outside and walked. The cool weather felt quite nice. As I passed by the apartment playground, I saw a familiar boy and girl.
“Yu-jin hyung!”
“Yu-jin oppa!”
The children sitting on the bench ran to me as soon as they saw me. They looked like they were in their early to mid-teens.
“Oh. Choi Min-woo, Choi Min-ha. It’s been a while.”
It had been a while since I had seen my son and daughter.
