#66
Customization (2)
‘An elf… You’re saying I can become an elf?’
It was a chance to transform not into a race that had changed from humans, like the undead or vampires, but into a completely new race.
With his heart pounding, he immediately used “Customization,” and perhaps because the medium was disposable, the branch in his hand crumbled away and vanished.
Then, unlike before, a translucent figure appeared before his eyes.
It was the form of an elf who resembled him, with black hair, black eyes, and pointed ears.
‘He’s handsome in a different way from Heinz.’
Unlike Heinz II, who gave off a cold and sharp impression, this was a handsome man with a soft, warm air.
‘…Still, maybe I’ll touch it up just a little.’
It would be hard to associate this face with his original appearance, but there was a need to be cautious in everything.
After all, his avatars would continue to increase from now on.
Hans was a skeleton, so there was no point, and Heinz II and Harley could change their appearances on their own.
Heinrich, who had already formed countless connections, couldn’t be helped, but Hubert would likely need some plastic surgery sooner or later.
And so, for several hours, he painstakingly altered the appearance with extreme concentration.
White-jade skin, blond hair, and green eyes—the very image of an ideal elf, crafted with the heart of an artisan.
‘I can’t change the sex.’
He checked just in case, but… perhaps because the skill’s proficiency was still lacking, or because some other condition was required, it was impossible to make it into a female avatar.
“It’s not like I’m disappointed or anything… I was just curious. It would also let me hide its identity more thoroughly.”
After muttering excuses no one was around to hear, he cleared his throat and continued the avatar creation process.
It was time to readjust the initial stats.
The candidate job classes were spirit mage and archer, and as expected, it was hard to give up either one.
‘Then I’ll just do both.’
It wasn’t a real game, so there was no problem with doing both at the same time.
In fact, both were among the basic accomplishments of elves.
‘I’ll pour the stats into affinity. If I want him to get stronger quickly, the spirit mage route will be advantageous for now.’
Most of the stats were converted into affinity.
Of course, since he also intended to make him an archer, he couldn’t cut his physical abilities too much, but that part could likely be improved later through training.
‘His recovery has dropped a lot too, but “Super Recovery” remains as a common skill, so it should make up for it to some extent.’
Since it was a skill that amplified the recovery one already possessed, its effect would fall if the base value was low, but it would still be better than nothing.
After much deliberation, the elf avatar was finally created.
-Name: Harris
-Race: Elf
-Common Traits: “Mind Hub,” “Persona,” “Super Recovery,” “Clear Mirror, Still Water”
-Individual Trait: “Child of the World Tree”
-Special Notes: Han Seonghyeon’s seventh avatar. Born as an elf with a branch of the World Tree as the medium. Due to the effect of “Child of the World Tree,” the growth rate of affinity and natural force is greatly increased.
Seeing as there had been nothing related to “Instant Death Immunity” in Hans’s information window earlier or in Harris’s information window now, it seemed that abilities received as privileges were not displayed in the individual information window.
‘But now that I’m seeing him in person, he’s even more handsome.’
The beautiful elf man standing before him wore a gentle smile.
Perhaps it was his imagination, but he felt as though a fresh forest scent was coming from around him.
‘Maybe because he was born through “Customization,” his initial skill seems to have been influenced by the medium too.’
It fit the individual’s characteristics too perfectly to be a randomly assigned skill.
It was probably an additional effect of “Customization.”
This was information that could be useful the next time he made a new avatar.
However, Harris, who had been smiling softly, gradually frowned without realizing it.
The unpleasant sensation he had been feeling for a while made it difficult to control his expression.
“It’s suffocating…”
It felt as though he were inside a cloud of murky smoke.
With the eco-friendly air purifier that had been there gone, the remaining effect was slowly fading, and the acridness of the outside air was pushing in.
‘He’s more sensitive than I expected.’
His main body felt nothing, yet Harris was reacting sensitively to the surrounding environment.
In the middle of a barren city where the only trees were roadside trees and a handful of parks.
Simply existing here felt painful.
‘Did my main body’s affinity with nature drop because it got used to this environment…?’
There was no benefit to being exposed to this kind of environment for long, so he dismissed Harris’s summoning for now.
He had used today’s interdimensional transfer array to send Hans to the Great Temple, so he would only be able to send Harris to Auterica tomorrow.
‘Anyway, Heinrich has finally come to his senses.’
Several hours had passed while he focused on creating the new avatar, and more than a day had already gone by in Auterica…
Heinrich, who had been hospitalized in the treatment room, opened his eyes.
***
“Ugh…”
“Ah! Sir Heinrich, are you awake?”
When he groaned and opened his eyes, he heard a woman’s flustered voice beside him.
“Where am I?”
“This is the intensive treatment room. It’s been a full day since Sir Heinrich was brought here. I’m glad you’ve come to, even now.”
The healing priest with a puppy-like impression let out a sigh of relief and began examining Heinrich’s body again.
“Considering you were hit with a curse of that level with your bare body, your prognosis is extremely good. Your strong body blessing and natural recovery are both outstanding, so I don’t think there will be any lingering aftereffects either.”
“That’s a relief…”
In truth, that too had been a scenario produced through meticulous calculations, but Heinrich nodded with a serious expression.
“Still, it hasn’t been completely purified yet, so careful management is necessary. For about a month, we’ll need to monitor your condition and…”
“Up we go.”
The healing priest began explaining this and that.
As he kept listening while lying still, he grew frustrated and raised his upper body to sit up.
“Ah! You mustn’t move recklessly yet! The pain must be tremendous!”
Just as she said, merely moving for a moment caused the amount of information being filtered through “Mind Hub” to surge explosively.
If he had had to endure it as it was, he would probably have been rolling around with tears and snot streaming down his face.
“Ah… It does hurt a little, but this much is bearable.”
“Y-you can bear that? Ah… Ah! Still, no! Lie down, lie down!”
After being flustered for a moment, she only calmed down after forcibly making Heinrich lie back down.
“The pain isn’t the only issue. That curse also inflicted serious damage on your mind, so for the time being, you need to calmly regulate your emotions even in daily life. You’ve become vulnerable to stress, so even minor stimulation could cause a seizure.”
“Mm, is that so?”
Of course, he already knew that as well.
After all, it had been a curse carefully selected from among high-level black magic for the very reason that it would have little effect on him.
‘With “Mind Hub,” I can even block the mental contamination of the Immortal King’s Heart, so something at this level is nothing…’
More importantly, he was curious about how the situation had unfolded after he lost consciousness.
When he asked about it, the healing priest must have thought it could cause him unnecessary stress, because she merely repeated that he should rest and think of nothing else.
“It’s too stifling to just lie still. Staying like this seems more stressful to me, doesn’t it? Couldn’t you at least tell me briefly?”
But at Heinrich’s continued insistence, she eventually had no choice but to sigh and open her mouth.
“First of all, there were no deaths. It was probably thanks to the Great Temple’s barrier as well, but the fact that the Immortal King was careless and took his time played a big part. There are many injured, but they’re all receiving inpatient treatment.”
And the punitive force that had been dispatched to the Forest of Monsters had also hurriedly returned, further strengthening the Great Temple’s security.
Since they had already allowed such a grand infiltration, the level of alert likely wouldn’t be lowered for some time.
“The inquisitors are busy figuring out the circumstances of the incident.”
In addition to an on-site investigation to find out how the Immortal King had infiltrated, local inquisitors had been urgently dispatched to the Forest of Monsters to grasp the truth of what had happened there.
‘The elves’ position must have become difficult because of this incident…’
In the end, they had ended up playing a role in lowering the Great Temple’s defenses…
The church wouldn’t openly say anything to them right away, but the elves, who had only watched the commotion last night, couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.
‘Well, once the inquisitors discover Hans’s secret laboratory, the elves’ grievances will be cleared.’
They had enough ability to determine at least when and at what moment Hans had disappeared from that place.
“Ah! Sir Heinrich! You’re awake!”
Just then, the Saintess entered the treatment room and met Heinrich’s eyes.
At the sight of her approaching with a delighted greeting, the healing priest who had been telling him the story bowed and quietly withdrew.
“How are you feeling? Shouldn’t you still be resting? Wouldn’t it be better to sleep soundly instead of being awake like this? Shall I put you to sleep?”
Seeing her sit in the chair beside the bed he was lying on and fuss without pause, Heinrich hurriedly shook his head.
If he stayed still, the Saintess really might use holy arts to put him to sleep.
“Ah, I’m fine. I’m only lying still, after all. If anything, it was good that I could hear what happened after I lost consciousness. Fortunately, I heard there were no deaths?”
Perhaps because his quick change of topic had worked, she nodded and let out a sigh of relief.
“That’s all thanks to Sir Heinrich driving the Immortal King away before it was too late. It’s regrettable that we couldn’t dispose of him there, but we at least avoided the worst-case scenario of everyone present being annihilated.”
“Isn’t it thanks to everyone joining forces? I never could have done it alone.”
“Even so! The moment you received a blessing at that desperate instant and drove a sword of light into the Immortal King’s heart was like a scene straight out of a heroic tale!”
The atmosphere softened between the Saintess, who praised his merits with sparkling eyes, and Heinrich, who wore an embarrassed smile and spoke words of modesty.
But perhaps because the matter was what it was, that mood did not last very long.
“I’m on my way back from seeing Lord Lafori. Since things turned out this way, I requested that he confirm the Immortal King’s location once more…”
Since Lafori had roughly grasped the situation as well, he hurriedly began a new search at the Saintess’s request.
But sure enough, the Immortal King’s aura, which had remained in the Forest of Monsters until yesterday, had already disappeared somewhere.
“Of course, we do not suspect the Elven Kingdom. Lord Lafori has even received the Blessing of Silence, and they have no reason to do such a thing in the first place.”
The timing was coincidental, but rather than suspecting the elves, it would be more reasonable to see it as the Immortal King having exquisitely seized the moment when the Great Temple’s defenses were weakened.
Though the question of “how” still remained completely unresolved.
“Ah! I ended up complaining too much while talking! You’re a patient, and I’ve made you worry for no reason!”
“It’s all right. As I said earlier, this is far better than simply lying here. I’m grateful to have someone to talk to.”
He was also able to obtain various pieces of information this way.
Afterward, until the Saintess left again to attend to her work, the two spent time talking about this and that.
***
The interdimensional transfer array became usable again on the tenth day of Heinrich’s hospitalization.
《Transfer to the Auterica dimension has been completed.》
Harris was immediately transferred to Hubert, who was staying at Tarak’s base.
And from Hubert, he took over the high elf’s bracelet, which had shown no change despite being worn all this time.
“Mm… It definitely feels different.”
A reaction came the moment he put the bracelet on his wrist.
Perhaps because his affinity had been high from the beginning, the sensation itself felt different from when the other avatars had worn it.
He could feel the surrounding natural force more vividly, and he could clearly sense that his responsiveness to attributes had increased as well.
This was truly a piece of equipment prepared in advance for Harris.
‘And it’s practically final equipment that doesn’t need any further upgrades. After all, it was something used personally by a high elf.’
As he stroked the bracelet with a pleased smile—
An unexpected notification appeared just as he was deeply absorbed in the sensations he was feeling.
《The World Tree gazes upon its child.》
“Huh?”
The World Tree had begun to take notice of Harris.
My alter ego is becoming a big shot.