“I’m your uncle.”
“!”
Cheon Yu-ha’s eyes went round. For an instant, she doubted her own eyes and ears.
“Uncle?”
“Yes. I’m your uncle.”
And then 1 second.
2 seconds.
3 seconds.
“……?!”
At his sister’s expression, Cheon Seong-jae realized he might have messed up.
Now that he thought about it, he hadn’t properly explained things to his sister.
And just as he suspected, Yu-ha’s expression was a sight to behold.
Her face was one of disbelief, as if asking how this was even possible. Perhaps because of that, she stared blankly at her brother.
Finally, Seong-jae, having read the meaning behind that gaze, shouted.
“Oh, for real! He seriously is our uncle! And Dad personally brought him here, too!”
At those words, Yu-ha looked at Lee Geon, shocked.
*Could Dad have been fooled too?*
But she soon shook her head. Although their father was a bit unreliable(?), even so, there was no way he could mistake Lee Geon for someone else.
*Then this person really is…!*
Yu-ha seemed bewildered.
She had never imagined he would look around their age.
And that was understandable, since wasn’t it her father himself who had said otherwise?
It was probably right after the Leo Sacred Region had skydived into the Red Zone.
Yu-ha had asked about the man who was in the Ophiuchus Sacred Region.
[Yu-ha] Dad. Is Lee Geon really my uncle?
[Hugo] …Who says that?
[Yu-ha] Seong-jae
[Hugo] Tch
[Yu-ha] Does Uncle look exactly the same as he did twenty years ago?
[Hugo] …….
[Yu-ha] Dad?
[Hugo] Are you going to meet Geon?
[Yu-ha] Why?
[Hugo] Are you going to meet Geon?
[Yu-ha] You want me to meet him, right? Even if I can’t right now because of a mission.
[Yu-ha] Anyway, has he changed a lot since twenty years ago?
[Hugo] He looks the same lol
[Yu-ha] So he’s still handsome?
[Hugo] Lol? Of course your dad is more handsome.
[Yu-ha] Oh, Uncle is handsome then.
[Hugo] Are you listening to me?
[Hugo] Your dad is way better-looking, you know?
[Hugo] And I’m taller.
[Hugo] I’m better at shooting a bow than Geon, too 1
[Hugo] I’m better at English than Geon, too 1
[Hugo] I burn food less than Geon duz, too 1
[Hugo] I’m bettir at gams than Geon, too 1
[Hugo] I’m bettir at dringking than Geon, too 1
[Hugo] Yu-ha ya 1
[Hugo] Yu-ha ya????? 1
[Hugo] Yu-ha ya!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1
(Yu-ha has left the chat room)
And as Yu-ha recalled that conversation, she looked at Lee Geon in astonishment.
*No, Dad said something completely different.*
What did he mean by Dad being more handsome?
*It looks like Uncle is far superior in both height and looks.*
Not to mention, his appearance was entirely different.
His skin was smooth and his face was handsome, as expected, and his physique was the same.
At a glance, you might not even be able to associate him with an Awakened.
At last, the flustered Yu-ha was about to say something.
*!*
Lee Geon’s eyes suddenly turned cold.
And with a blank expression, he threw something upward.
Crash!
“!”
What Lee Geon threw was a chocolate bar that had been on the counter.
And at that very moment, the sprinkler on the ceiling burst.
It had happened at a speed invisible to the eye.
He had shattered the sprinkler’s glass bulb mechanism.
Normally, water would spray out only when heat was applied, but physically breaking it yielded the same result.
Biii-biii-biii-
Finally, water burst forth along with a siren, and people panicked.
But before they could even scream, something happened.
Rrrrrumble!
A magical entity traveling along the earth’s veins.
Cheon Seong-jae, the first to sense the magic, flinched.
“……!”
Boom!
In an instant, flames shot up from the floor.
“Kyaaak!”
The time between these events was a mere five seconds.
But perhaps thanks to the sprinkler that had burst beforehand, the erupting flames couldn’t fully swell.
Because of this, the sentient fire seemed greatly flustered.
And simultaneously, it vanished somewhere, as if its plan had failed.
Had it not been for Lee Geon, there would surely have been serious casualties.
But then, at that moment.
Beep beep beep beep beep beep-
*!*
Only then did warning alarms blare from the cafe’s system and people’s phones.
It was a Calamity Alert.
[A calamitous aura has been detected]
[Please exercise caution]
[We inform you once again]
[The movements of a calamity have been detected. A calamity is about to rush in…]
Cheon Seong-jae frowned as he looked at his phone.
That was the Calamity Alert system managed by the Twelve Sacred Regions.
But the alerts from the Twelve Sacred Regions were slow, far too slow.
And how could they not be, when the alert only sounded after a monster had already appeared?
*No, it’s that Uncle is overwhelmingly fast.*
Of course, Seong-jae himself was fairly quick at detecting monster locations. But Lee Geon was on an entirely different level.
Was that speed not already beyond human limits?
*And the monster hadn’t even appeared yet.*
This meant he had assessed its type based solely on its aura.
That must be why he activated the sprinkler.
Thanks to that, Cheon Seong-jae silently wept inside once more.
*Why didn’t I bring my camera.*
This must be what it felt like to face a legend.
*Holy Order Masters are nothing!*
And then it happened.
“!”
Boom!
Something black burst through the ground. It was an enormous hand made of rock.
It was so large it nearly touched the ceiling.
It was also a rock hand holding lava.
It was surely targeting Lee Geon. Cheon Seong-jae was startled.
“Uncle!”
But Lee Geon was gone.
As he wondered where he had disappeared to, his voice came from behind Seong-jae.
“Those things always crawl out when you’re dying of heatstroke in midsummer.”
“……?!”
No sooner had he heard it than Seong-jae screamed.
“Ack!”
A huge object shot past his face like a missile.
Thunk!
The flying object was none other than a commercial refrigerator.
A fridge of a size one would doubt a person could lift had mercilessly pulverized the rock hand.
Crash!
The crushed hand twitched and tried to lunge at people, but Lee Geon stepped on it instead.
Crunch!
[Your Sacred Region experience has increased]
[You have obtained data (Sturdy Body trait)]
The data was rewarding, but there was a problem.
[Warning. You have sustained fire damage]
“Tch.”
Lee Geon looked at his foot. Perhaps from stepping on the rock at the end, his sneakers were melting.
*Tch. And I swiped them as fairly high-grade holy artifacts.*
Was it when the Holy Artifact Exchange was attacked? He’d slipped them out of a shoe store while taking advantage of the chaos.
*For something made by an A-rank craftsman, this is pathetic.*
Even for an A-rank, it was truly shabby. Although, that also meant the enemy’s firepower was that much stronger.
Perhaps because of that.
*Guess I have no choice.*
Lee Geon tossed his sneakers aside and suddenly headed for the kitchen.
And what he brought back was none other than a pair of rubber gloves.
He threw the gloves.
*!*
They landed on the smoldering debris of the rock hand, still burning with lava.
At the same time, Lee Geon spread his hands.
In an instant, the blue-green magic of Ophiuchus spread across the floor.
Crackle!
[Creation Workshop]
[is activating its domain]
[The trait is activating as well]
[The attribute changes depending on the day of the week]
[Today is Metal (金) attribute day. This is randomly determined]
[Upon enhancement, a high grade may be achieved, or it may plummet]
That was the skill he had used to enhance Cheon Seong-jae’s sword.
And Seong-jae, seeing Lee Geon’s skill for the first time, dropped his jaw.
It was completely different from when Adepts borrowed the power of a Sacred God.
Faced with a sacred yet inexplicably awe-inspiring feeling, Seong-jae couldn’t tear his gaze away.
That was the moment.
Boom!
A magic circle spread on the floor, and something astonishing happened.
The embers remaining in the debris shot up into the sky.
[Commencing Attribute Enhancement]
Along with that voice, a hammer of light appeared in Lee Geon’s hand. It was a skill.
And Lee Geon brought the hammer of light down on the rubber gloves engulfed in flames.
Clang!
A clear sound rang out, like striking marble with iron.
With that explosive ring, a light burst forth.
Flash!
The pink rubber gloves turned black, like well-roasted elvan stone.
[Temporarily enhanced into ]
[Upon exposure to flame, the object has been enhanced with the Fire attribute]
Cheon Seong-jae couldn’t close his mouth in amazement.
In truth, using the power of unknown civilizations, even ordinary items could be enhanced into simple weapons or armor.
Of course, even when Sacred Gods enhanced items, it was at best making them a bit sturdier.
But Lee Geon was different.
Perhaps due to his outstanding dexterity trait, he was free with attribute enhancements. No, it felt like the items were being reborn entirely anew.
*Well, ordinary items become disposable even if enhanced.*
That was why Lee Geon had created holy artifacts by enhancing materials in this manner.
He’d had his hair singed off and nearly died of poison, but those were stories from when he’d first awakened.
And then it happened.
[ Trait Activated]
[All abilities are randomly assigned]
[Rubber Gloves(F) ▶ Fireproof Gloves(B)]
- Durability: Medium (may break after a few uses)
- Fire Resistance granted
“Tch, it’s a dud.”
At those words, Cheon Seong-jae was puzzled.
For something he called a dud, the item looked pretty good.
“The firepower’s too weak.”
The enhanced abilities were feeble. He needed the firepower of creatures classified as at least Red Zone level.
“Well, it’ll do for one or two uses.”
Lee Geon put on the gloves and surveyed his surroundings. He changed his shoes to a pair of three-line slippers from the staff break room.
He didn’t forget to put them in the fire to convert them to flame resistance.
But it was just then.
As he was about to move, Lee Geon suddenly stopped.
And then.
“Seong-jae.”
“Yes?”
“Where’s your sister?”
“!”
* * *
Lee Geon looked around.
He hadn’t sensed her vanish, but Cheon Yu-ha was gone.
*Like a ghost.*
Before the sprinkler burst, he had definitely felt her presence right beside him.
Lee Geon was inwardly surprised that he hadn’t noticed such a magical presence disappearing.
Of course, monsters reacted sharply to human auras, just as mosquitoes are drawn to human carbon dioxide.
So the most essential thing when dealing with monsters was to conceal one’s own aura.
Thus, the moment Yu-ha perceived the monster, she would have hidden her aura and moved.
But even so.
*This is master-level stealth.*
So he was honestly quite astonished.
Granted, he was currently under a penalty, making his senses a bit dull, but not to the point of not sensing her at all.
*She’s already surpassed her father in stealth.*
It was to the point where you might joke you wouldn’t notice even if she secretly followed you.
But Yu-ha’s alias was . Stealth wasn’t her primary skill.
*Her main skill is clearly Light Speed.*
She was the War God Demon of the battlefield, ranked among the top three in combat.
As expected, the screams of monsters could be heard from not far away.
Boom!
The sound came from outside.
By the time Lee Geon got out of the cafe, the outside was already a field of corpses.
And it was obvious where Yu-ha had gone, as the monsters were felled in a consistent direction.
They had been struck down in a single blow to their vitals.
Cheon Seong-jae clicked his tongue as if this were a familiar sight.
“She got excited about meeting you, so her switch flipped already.”
Me?
Lee Geon shot a look that seemed to ask what he had to do with it, but Seong-jae huffed and headed toward where his sister was.
About 200 meters away, Yu-ha could be seen swinging something.
The thing she swung was definitely a spear. But all that was visible was a red trajectory.
On top of that, flashes of red lightning.
Crackle!
The lightning leaped in the blink of an eye, sweeping away enemies.
*So this is that Tenth Star or whatever they call her.*
Her skill was so formidable it made even him flinch. It didn’t seem an empty claim that a single scout could halve a Sacred Order’s power.
But one thing bothered him.
*That.*
Sensing something strange, Lee Geon activated his ability.
[Thirteenth Sense]
In an instant, Lee Geon’s eyes transformed into snake eyes.
And the place he fixed his gaze was none other than Yu-ha’s arms.
While Yu-ha herself gave off an ordinary blue aura, her arms were different.
*Only her arms are red?*
From experience, red was a color associated with unknown civilizations.
Just as he was pondering what that could be.
*!*
Lee Geon, sensing something, turned his head.
[Warning. A ferocious calamity has appeared]
[The Ophiuchus Sacred Region is being activated]
(Continued in the next episode)