Avatar (3)
I had obtained another new skill.
This time, it seemed to be a lower-tier skill related to my unique skill.
And when I checked the information, I realized that the ability I had finally wanted had appeared.
An avatar was no different from another body of mine.
If I had two bodies, there were naturally many good points, but it wasn’t without its negatives either.
The fact that food expenses would double was nothing more than a trivial issue.
‘The fatal part is that I have no choice but to receive the avatar’s senses and the emotions that come with them without any filtering.’
Using the avatar’s dormant state to ignore sensations was only possible in situations with little external stimulation; it was not an absolute ability.
‘For example… death.’
Or when it suffered a fatal wound, there was no way I could ignore those intense emotions and sensations.
Of course, since the avatar could be reverse-summoned when it was in danger, it might be all right.
I had been planning to send the avatar to another world in my place precisely because I trusted that.
‘But you never know when or how a crisis will come. You could die in a brief moment of carelessness, or suffer a fatal injury in a completely unexpected situation.’
Or even if I didn’t suffer it directly, if someone before my eyes suddenly died, with my mind being weaker than that of an ordinary modern person, I would inevitably suffer a tremendous mental shock.
In that regard, the skill I had obtained this time was extremely useful.
Through the Hub, the relay device, it became possible to filter and selectively accept every stimulus and emotion that came through the avatar.
In other words, not only had I overcome dimensional motion sickness, but I had also become immune to all mental contamination, including death.
It meant I could control the avatar like I was playing a game, go anywhere, and do anything.
“And from the corner of a warm, comfortable room, no less!”
《The avatar’s potential increases. Growth is accelerated further.》
As if that wasn’t the end of it, another line of text appeared.
It meant that an additional correction would be applied to the avatar’s growth.
‘Wait, the avatar should have had the same conditions as the original me, but if this happens…’
Didn’t that mean it would become more outstanding and talented than me, the main body?
‘Mm, the avatar will be doing all the dangerous work anyway, so it’s good if it gets stronger. It is good, but…’
I made a sour face at the subtle emotions that came rushing in.
The main body being worse than its own clone.
‘No! I’m the brain, so it’s fine. A commander doesn’t need to be stronger than his subordinates. That’s enough of that. Now, let’s see how much karma I have left.’
『Enhance Unique Skill (500,000)』
『Karma Possessed - 900,213』
The enormous amount of karma I had was reduced by more than half.
Judging from the increasing cost in karma, this enhancement would be the last.
I knew it was greed, but I smacked my lips at the disappointment I couldn’t help feeling.
After a moment of deliberation, I selected 『Enhance Unique Skill』 one last time.
It was definitely more efficient than raising other stats, so I didn’t hesitate.
『Enhance Unique Skill (600,000)』
『Karma Possessed - 400,213』
《Your unique skill grows and blossoms into possibility. All avatars acquire one random skill.》
The final enhancement did not betray my expectations either.
The avatars’ skill awakening.
I had effectively been in a situation with no combat ability, so this was truly like rain in a drought.
‘Of course, it won’t be as good as the unique skill granted at the first awakening, but right now, even one small skill is precious.’
And that wasn’t the only change.
There were three of me now!
We looked at one another in turn.
Through several enhancements, my multitasking ability as well as my mental strength had steadily grown stronger, and with 「Mind Hub」 helping on top of that, I felt no confusion whatsoever.
‘But avatars will keep increasing in the future, so I might get confused later. I’ll need some way to distinguish them separately…’
Simply put, it was naming them.
“I can’t keep calling them Avatar 1 and Avatar 2 forever.”
“I’m really not confident when it comes to naming.”
“Names… names, huh…”
After huddling with my clones and groaning over it for a long while, I soon sighed and shook my head.
Even with three heads, our sense was all the same, so it didn’t help much with naming.
“Han… Hans. Let’s go with ‘Hans.’ It’s easy to say, and it doesn’t sound bad either. Yeah.”
I pointed at the avatar I had summoned first and gave it the name that came to mind.
What I hadn’t expected happened immediately afterward.
Bzzzz—
“Huh? What all of a sudden…”
A faint vibration brushed through my mind.
There was no pain and no sense of foreignness, but I instinctively felt that something had changed.
-Individual Name: Hans
-Common Traits: 「Mind Hub」, 「Super Recovery」
-Individual Trait: 「Mana Affinity」
-Special Notes: Han Seonghyeon’s first avatar.
“…I didn’t see this coming.”
As the 「Avatar」 skill grew, information about “Hans” was engraved in my mind.
If using karma had evolved it by 1, then this growth was barely 0.1.
Compared to when I used the karma shop, it was an extremely minor change.
‘Actually, this is probably the normal way to grow an ability.’
An ability’s growth takes place in the direction the user desires.
This time, it seemed that naming the avatar had become the condition.
‘But the avatar got a status window that even I don’t have.’
Normally, unless one had a unique skill that allowed them to view information, no separate status window appeared.
The information window that had appeared this time was likely the result of 「Avatar」 growing so that I could more easily manage the entities belonging to me.
‘Seeing it displayed like that makes me wish I’d given him a cooler name. I’ll have to think harder about the next one’s name. Anyway, 「Mana Affinity」, huh.’
A skill that assisted in sensing mana easily and handling it better.
It would help with growth, but I couldn’t expect immediate combat power from it.
Even the second avatar’s skill was 「Sturdiness」, which increased the durability of the body.
“It feels like I drew a dud… Well, it can’t be helped. Then, finally…”
There was something I absolutely had to do.
I had to check it for myself.
***
“Hoo… hoo…”
I was standing in front of the entrance door, holding a garbage bag in one hand and taking deep breaths.
Until now, even throwing away a single garbage bag had been an ordeal.
I had to go out at dawn, when there was no one watching, keep my eyes fixed on the ground, and hurry there and back.
After barely managing to go out and come back with my trembling body and staggering steps, I would have to suffer for a while, lying down in a cold sweat.
Now it was time to test 「Mind Hub」.
The ability I had checked again and again told me there would be no problem, but when it came time to go out in broad daylight, I couldn’t help feeling nervous.
‘All right, let’s really go!’
Soon, I took a deep breath, grabbed the handle, and flung the door wide open.
The moment I stepped outside, my body, which had been trembling reflexively, slowly settled down.
Breathing in the outside air, I passed through the hallway and went down the stairs.
The urge to run away that had tormented me every time I went out was nowhere to be felt now.
I walked calmly under the sunlight to the garbage collection area and sorted the recyclables.
After I finished sorting the trash, I looked around.
Cigarette butts on the floor of the collection area, the ladies chatting across the way, and the sound of children laughing from the playground in the distance.
When I closed my eyes and inhaled, the smell of garbage stabbed into my nose.
“Student, what’re you doing here? Don’t block the way, move aside so I can throw out my trash.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
I awkwardly bowed my head and slowly walked back home, looking around again.
At the scenery around my home, which I hadn’t seen in such a very long time, my heart swelled.
And I watched all of it from inside the house, as though watching a movie.
The one outside was undoubtedly myself.
Moving the body, thinking, and speaking were all things I was doing directly.
And yet, there was none of the usual fear. My body did not tremble, and no cold sweat broke out.
I could even converse normally.
All sorts of emotions, including fear and confusion.
All the stimuli felt through the avatar seemed to pass through a filter and had no influence on me whatsoever.
Beep beep beep— Clack.
Along with the sound of the entrance door opening, Hans came in, calmly washed his hands in the bathroom, and approached.
The verification was complete.
「Mind Hub」 had fully met my expectations, and now I would be able to do anything.
‘Now I’ll be able to go to another world too.’
And if I got used to the outside like this, someday I would be able to go outside with my real body as well.
***
For the next few days, I took time to prepare before going to the other world.
It was dangerous, but there was just as much to gain, and now that the safety of my own body was guaranteed, there was no longer any reason not to go.
Leaving aside my personal desire to escape my room and travel through another world, it was also possible to grow faster there.
There were the benefits from the time difference, and separate from that, there was the additional growth correction given to awakened ones in the other world.
Considering the growth acceleration privilege my avatars had, I should be able to become stronger at a much faster pace.
‘In a society as chaotic as this one, strength is everything.’
I forced down the memory of “that day” rising in my mind and clenched my trembling hands.
…I never wanted to feel that powerless despair from having no strength ever again.
As I trained in preparation for the other world, I was able to fully experience the true value of 「Super Recovery」.
Even if I overdid it, I would recover perfectly after resting for a short while, so its effect was maximized, and I pushed my body without rest.
It was a bit disappointing that the effects of the avatar’s training applied only to that individual and did not affect the main body.
But since they were no different from separate bodies from the moment they were created, it couldn’t be helped.
‘Well, only the avatar is going to the other world, so maybe it doesn’t matter. Growth acceleration applies too. Besides, the stat enhancement effects from the karma shop seem to be shared when I resummon the avatars.’
Unlike me, who was limited to home training, the avatars could go outside, so I was able to make them exercise more efficiently.
To avoid unnecessary attention due to their transcendent recovery, I used the apartment complex gym when there were no people around and abused their bodies. When I thought I had been there too long and it started to feel conspicuous, I went outside and ran far to build stamina.
Since the pain from extreme training could be filtered through 「Mind Hub」, even grueling exercise was nothing more than tedious repetitive work.
Of course, since the main body was at home browsing the internet and snickering, it wasn’t actually boring.
I felt uneasy about sending out two avatars with the same face at the same time, so I focused on training Hans, who was scheduled to be sent to the other world, while doing home training and leisure activities with the other avatar.
“Oh! We’ve already cleared the stage boss!”
“Nice, let’s keep goooing!”
While we were playing a two-player game in perfect sync, the entrance opened and Hans, drenched in sweat, came in and headed toward the bathroom.
Seeing him return after extreme ascetic training made me feel a little strange, as though I were doing something bad.
‘It does feel a bit uncomfortable, but it’s not like you’d feel sorry to your arm for only training one arm while the rest of your body rests.’
Before Hans, who was washing up, came out, I set the table.
It could be called a trivial problem if one wanted, but food expenses were being absolutely destroyed.
Three grown men were exercising more than ordinary people, and one of them was abusing his body almost ascetically, so the calories being consumed were beyond imagination.
Thinking of the shattered food expenses brought tears to my eyes, but I decided to think of it as an investment.
If I could just bring back useful items from the other world through the avatar, they would be worth plenty of money.
‘As for selling them secretly, I’ll figure that out somehow later. The current avatar is an ability optimized for crime, after all.’
Of course, I had not the slightest intention of making money by harming innocent people.
Hadn’t I also been on the receiving end of harm from people like that?
I would act while keeping a proper line in everything, so as not to be ashamed before my family.
‘That’s all the more reason I need to go to the other world.’
Compared to other returnees, I wasn’t strong, so there wasn’t really any suitable way for me to make money on Earth.
The only thing that came to mind right now was physical labor.
“More importantly, nothing comes up about the ‘Auterica Dimension.’”
“Is that the place I went to first? Or maybe no one who went there has returned yet. Either way, that’s a shame.”
At some point, organizing my thoughts as though conversing with my avatar had become a habit.
I’d been short on people to talk to until now, after all...
From now on, as I interacted with others, it would gradually get better.
And not long after.
I did a final inspection of the heavily armed avatar, just as I had at first.
It wasn’t the equipment I’d used back then, but items I’d recently acquired.
After all, I was going to another world where I had no idea what might happen, and I couldn’t bring myself to send off the things my parents had prepared.
They had been readied for emergencies, but perhaps they would never end up being used.
“Whew... I think it’s really all set now.”
In truth, since I could come and go whenever I wanted, there was no need to check this thoroughly, but I went over everything several times to ease my nerves.
I knew it was safe, but the thought of going to another world made me tense despite myself.
“Then, shall I really go? 「Summon Otherworld Transfer Formation」.”
And the transfer formation I had seen not long ago appeared before my eyes once more.
***
《Transfer to the Auterica Dimension has been completed.》
The process was simple.
Summon the Otherworld Transfer Formation, step onto it with the avatar, then activate it.
It was so easy that the tension I’d felt right up until the moment before seemed almost absurd.
When the transfer was complete and I opened my eyes, the forest scenery I had seen not long ago lay before me.
No, strictly speaking, perhaps I should say it was different from then.
The towering trees were familiar, but I could hardly make out the surrounding scenery.
“It’s night...”
I was left all alone in the middle of the forest at night.
Since the flow of time differed by roughly ten times, it was an unavoidable issue, but I couldn’t help feeling disappointed.
I had deliberately timed my arrival to match the hour of my first transfer, but some discrepancy must have arisen as time passed.
To think I’d have to start off by surviving in a forest at night. I wasn’t even confident in a bright forest.
After thinking for a moment, I decided to move for now.
‘Normally, carelessly moving through a forest at night wouldn’t be a good choice, but...’
My hesitation lasted only a moment, and I stepped forward without reservation.
Part of it was that I trusted the physical abilities enhanced by my awakening and 「Super Regeneration」, but the biggest reason was probably my lack of a sense of danger.
The dimensional sickness I had worried about was no issue thanks to 「Mind Hub」, and the thought that I was perfectly safe made even a dangerous night hike feel like an exciting adventure.
And so, with a light heart, immersed in the romance of an otherworldly adventure, I raised my head to look up at the night sky.
The first thing I saw was not the stars, but the yellow-glowing eyes of a beast of prey.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────