"Ah."
That appearance stopped my hand. A stocky height of barely 140cm, a face the size of a quail egg. With tiny, fern-like hands, she was kneading the soul of a ghost that had just dispersed.
Tomer had killed that child. And I had to do so as well. In a single strike, at that.
"Hoo."
But it was something that had to be done. I was the one who created her, anyway, so what.
Steeling my heart, I unleashed the mana of my Stigma. A bullet couldn't kill a witch in a spiritual state in one blow. No matter how much SP I invested, that fact wouldn't change. And it would be a waste to consume SP like that.
'Light attribute. Spear.'
I imbued my will into the mana emanating from my Stigma. The attribute and form of mana I wanted was a spear of light.
The weapon I wanted was created by exhausting all my mana, but its size and blade were utterly pathetic. I didn't even have enough mana to properly create a single arrow to begin with. A spear was far too ambitious.
However, I had prepared a way to sharpen this spear in advance. I brought a wild ginseng root to the spear of mana. The spear devoured the wild ginseng, swelling its size and blade even more brilliantly.
On top of that, I devoured all the modified wild ginseng roots I had prepared.
The moment I ate them, vitality surged through my entire body.
Numerically, it was barely 4. No, since I had taken them in overlapping doses, the increase would be even less. However, the physical elation from it was on an entirely different dimension than before. A fullness as if my muscles would explode. An uncontrollable expansion of strength. The feeling of having become a radioactive monster from a human was hot yet exhilarating.
Breathing roughly, I looked down at my body. Swollen flesh and five senses heightened to the extreme.
To utilize these amplified stats most destructively, a thrown spear was indeed the best choice.
"...Hup!"
I gripped the magic spear with all my might and hurled it with everything I had. As expected, the spear flew like lightning. The speed and trajectory of the throw were supersonic, not a single inch of error. The very instant I let go, the spear was already pierced through Evandel's glabella.
—......?
But Evandel survived. With the spear stuck right in the middle of her glabella, Evandel turned only her head to look at me. I felt terror at that grotesque sight. In Evandel's two hands, glaring at me, turbid currents began to condense. Vengeful spirits were taking form.
"Hey, hey. Wait. Let's talk—"
—Huaaang......
But Evandel soon vanished, letting out a strange breath. Her essence dispersed and fell away. In the spot where she disappeared, there was a single seed.
"...What. Was that just her final flicker?"
Pushing down my pounding heart, I put Evandel's seed into my pocket.
And I trudged forward. A weapon shining blue even in the darkness, viscous like slime. That was the very Aether that had made Tomer an executive of Perversity......
Before reaching out my hand, I checked its information on my laptop.
===
[Aether] [Mystery—Formless(無形)] [Growth Type]
A weapon in a fluid state. It has no fixed form, and clings to its master and their weapon to strengthen their essence.
—Owner Designation
*Once an owner is designated, it will not cling to any other being.
—Body Reinforcement
*Assists all of the owner's variable stats by 0.6.
—Weapon Reinforcement
*Clings to the weapon the owner uses, partially strengthening that weapon's destructive power. Alternatively, Aether itself can take the form of a weapon. (Current grade of Weapon-type Aether — 'High')
—Growing Weapon
All of the above functions grow alongside the owner. Additionally, depending on Aether's awakening state, other functions may blossom.
===
I obtained a weapon.
But I hadn't even expected things to end this easily.
Thud-thud-thud-thud—
A bizarre sound of something blunt colliding with something blunt echoed all around. Those sounds sprang up from every direction around me. The blunt things were bones, and bones met bones to form the shape of a person.
White-boned soldiers. They were skeletons.
────────────────────────────────────
────────────────────────────────────
Different Dreams (1)
"Ahh......"
A short scream leaked from my mouth. My whole body ached. The surroundings were filled with the bones of skeletons, and I was lying on the ground.
It was a hard fight. I had absolutely no talent for close combat, but I didn't want to waste bullets on mere skeletons, so I made a club with Aether and fought. Now that the wild ginseng's effects had worn off, I wondered how I had done such a crazy thing. It seems the saying that a strong spirit dwells in a healthy body was indeed true.
"If they had been black-boned, I would have just died."
Every time I swung the club, three or four white skeletons were swept away and destroyed. The strength of my reinforced body was that tremendous, but even so, the fight lasted about 25 minutes. If the enemies hadn't been such shabby low-grade white skeletons...... I didn't even want to imagine it.
"Ugh."
I raised my upper body. Scratching my back with a skeleton bone shaped like a back scratcher, I thought. At any rate, Aether had become my exclusive weapon, and I had obtained Evandel's seed. It could be called my greatest achievement since falling into my own novel.
To verify that dazzling achievement with my own eyes, I turned on my laptop.
[Part of the wild ginseng's efficacy permeates your body. Strength and Endurance increase by 0.02!]
[You acquire 47 SP.]
But what I actually gained in system terms was at a miserable level. Maybe because Aether was an unknown weapon at this point in time. The SP reward was small, too.
===
▶Variable Stats
[Strength 2.455]
[Endurance 2.545]
[Agility 2.85]
[Perception 3.705]
[Constitution 2.465]
[Mana 1.925]
===
Still, the increase in variable stats was worth paying attention to. Thanks to Aether's 0.6 boost, all my stats had changed nicely. The fact that they had all exceeded 2 meant that I was now at least at the level of a cadet.
"...Time to go."
After admiring it proudly, I closed my laptop. It was about time to head back. I was so exhausted I doubted I could walk, but if I stayed too long and caught the eye of a monster, my life would be over.
Forcing my creaking body up, I began retracing my steps.
* * *
I barely made it back to the dormitory at 10 p.m. I had narrowly missed the curfew.
The moment I opened the door, I went straight to the bathroom. I washed away my body, covered in dirt. Perhaps because of the intense exercise, the warm shower provided quite a strong pleasure.
"Phew."
I turned off the shower and dried my body with a towel. The 0.6 stat increase given by Aether was noticeable from the body itself. I could see a clear six-pack without even holding my breath or tensing up...... but all the other cadets were at this level anyway, so what.
I stopped fooling around and came out of the bathroom.
After roughly putting on just my underwear, I placed the laptop and Evandel's seed on the desk.
"...Well, I brought it, but."
===
[Evandel's Seed]
—A seed containing the soul of the witch Evandel.
===
When this seed sprouted, the Witch of Despair 'Evandel' would be born. Her nickname was tremendously villain-like, but if used well, Evandel could become a reliable ally. After all, environment is important for all growing creatures. But raising her well was the problem.
First, the method to raise the seed was simple. Feed it a small amount of blood instead of water every day. Depending on whose blood it was, the witch's disposition and personality would change. Chae Nayun or Kim Suho would be ideal, but where could I easily get that?
"You're on hold."
I wrapped it in a handkerchief and put it in a drawer. Chae Nayun and Kim Suho were model citizens who donated blood regularly. Well, there might be some way to get a blood pack.
Next, in preparation for tomorrow's incident, I accessed Chae Nayun's smartwatch through my laptop.
The most recent conversation with Sven was continuing in real time.
===
Sven: [You're going to the club tomorrow as planned, right?]
[Yeah. But what time do I need to be there?]
Sven: [Come to the portal by 4 p.m.]
[Why so early?]
Sven: [We'll be taking attendance in Gangwon Province anyway. Let's bet on who can catch more before the seniors arrive.]
[Sure, sounds good.]
===
From the contents, they seemed to have already grown quite close. The club notice definitely stated 5 p.m., yet Sven had insisted on meeting an hour earlier.
4 p.m.
After committing it to memory, I opened the Violet Banquet. It was to sell the wild ginseng. The more I thought about it, the more I felt now was the best time to sell the ginseng. It was precisely because the stock of the 'Lord of the Demons' was starting to rise.
[Violet Banquet Online Auction House]
[Register Item for Sale]
[Contents — '7-Year-Old Wild Ginseng' harvested from the mountains of Gangwon Province]
[A portal will be projected for appraisal.]
A cylindrical hologram was projected above the laptop screen. If I put the item here, the ginseng would be moved to the Violet Banquet's appraisal office, and after appraisal, it would be listed in the online auction house.
This mechanism couldn't be explained by magic or science. Portals were the essence of magic engineering; projecting one remotely? It was something impossible to explain with current technology.
But the Violet Banquet made it possible.
Because the site called the Violet Banquet itself was a reward from the 'Tower of Information.'
As it was written in the textbooks, the 'Tower' bestowed outlandish rewards that no one could predict.
[Transmission complete. Appraisal results will be announced within 24 hours.]
The ginseng was sucked into the portal, and I closed my laptop.
* * *
Thursday, 3:30 p.m.
I dressed properly so as not to be late. I had taken a fatigue recovery potion, so my condition was perfect. Now I just needed to join them while pretending not to know, making sure the two of them weren't alone together. If possible, I wanted to make Sven leave altogether, but that was beyond my ability.
I left the dormitory and stood at the bus stop right in front. Before long, a bus arrived, but I let it pass. There was someone I needed to ride with. A person I could recognize even from afar.
Because, as now, light radiated from her face.
"What?"
Chae Nayun at least acknowledged me. I tilted my head innocently.
Right now, Sven was probably waiting at the portal checkpoint. However, I already knew Chae Nayun wouldn't keep the appointment time. Her personality was like that to begin with, and I had been snooping on the texts she sent Sven through her smartwatch.
"Why didn't you take the bus?"
Chae Nayun asked, looking at me. I winced for a moment. So she had been watching me wait for the bus. Well, her eyesight was incredibly good, after all.
"I was thinking. There was too much time left before the club activity. But I decided to just go now. I have nothing else to do anyway."
"Oh, really? What club are you in?"
"Hunting."
"What are you talking about? I'm in Hunting."
Just as Chae Nayun looked puzzled, the bus arrived. I got on first, and Chae Nayun followed.
"I didn't attend the orientation, so you probably didn't know."
I said, sitting in the third seat on the right.
"...Is that so?"
Chae Nayun sat in the seat across from me. Then she glanced at me with slightly disgruntled eyes and opened her mouth again.
"How many clubs did you join, exactly? Yeonha said she's in the same club as you."
"Three."
"Wow. Such a waste of time."
"You joined two yourself."
"Well, I...... so what?"
I forced a smile and slowly closed my eyes. I had no desire to continue the conversation any further. Chae Nayun didn't bother to talk to me either.
In the meantime, the bus arrived at the checkpoint. Chae Nayun and I got off side by side. I could see Sven in the distance. Sven had apparently just been waiting for the bus; the moment he saw Chae Nayun, he ran toward her, but he faltered when he spotted me next to her. However, he soon smiled and approached.
"You got here faster than expected."
"Yeah. Oh right, Sven, you know him, right? The guy who helped us back then. Kim Hajin."
"Yeah. I know. Hello."
Sven extended his hand to me. I took it. Sven tried to let go quickly. But I didn't let him. I held his hand very tightly, staring into his eyes. Jet-black, inorganic eyes. But my talent of observation pierced through those pupils. I felt the malicious energy coiled within, a shard of 'Asmodeus.'
"Hey. What are you doing?"
Chae Nayun stepped in and pulled us apart. No, she pulled me away from Sven.
"Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden?"
He pointed at me and snapped sharply. Without answering, I left the two of them behind and walked toward the portal checkpoint.
I’m not very good at distinguishing the ranks of djinn. But Sven, as he was now, had definitely reached a serious state. I didn’t even need to make any difficult assessment; I could tell from the laptop.
[In the original, he goes berserk on his own and perishes without accomplishing anything.]
[Revision—Increased his composure and mental fortitude so he can handle Asmodeus’s power to a reasonable degree.]
* * *
The group arrived at a residential area in Gangwon-do.
As Gangwon-do was a region with a high concentration of mana, it had large populations not only of monsters but also of beasts. Because of that, the hunting club “Leonidas” had repeatedly carried out hunts with the cooperation of the local government and residents. By hunting the beasts running rampant in ordinary neighborhoods, they could satisfy their hobby while also helping the citizens with their daily lives.
"Did you run into him on the way?"
At the club’s meeting place, Byeokpa Mineral Spring, Sven asked Chae Nayun.
"Yeah."
Chae Nayun narrowed her eyes and observed Kim Hajin’s movements. He had claimed a stone for himself and was sitting on it, looking at his smartwatch.
That man had been doing that the whole time. Pretending to have no interest in them, while in fact constantly hovering around her.
"Doesn’t it feel like he’s following us?"
"Yeah."
"······."
Sven stared quietly at Kim Hajin, then said,
"Be careful."
"Of what?"
"The disappearances lately."
"He’s not that kind of guy."
"Still······."
"He has an alibi."
At the time the third disappearance was believed to have occurred, there was a record of Kim Hajin using a portal. That was why Chae Nayun had recommended Kim Hajin for this djinn search mission. Yu Yeonha, cold as she was, had asserted that his eyes were better than anyone’s.
"Really?"
"Hmm······."
Chae Nayun touched her chin and thought quietly. He wasn’t a suspect in the disappearances, but he was certainly strange. He had been like that from the moment they first met. Kim Hajin had clearly let one bus pass by. And then he had deliberately boarded the next bus together with her.
‘······It’s not like he likes me.’
But when she actually thought about it, it wasn’t completely impossible.
If bringing up her older brother had been to get her attention, then it made some sense. On top of that, there was the unusually aggressive attitude he had shown toward Sven today. And going even further back, there was that museum where the djinn had appeared. Kim Hajin had clearly been paired with Yu Yeonha, so why had he been there?
Of course, for now, these were nothing but suspicions, but if by some chance that really was the case, then he was going about it completely wrong. Trying to get someone’s attention by harassing others was disgusting and petty, and secretly following someone around behind their back could easily be dismissed as stalking.
"No way."
But Chae Nayun shook her head and scattered the thoughts rising in her mind. No way. It made no sense. It wasn’t as if we’d even seen each other that often.
Of course, there had been many men who had one-sided crushes on me, and not just many, but a lot, and by a lot I mean a truckload, but still······
"Ah. The seniors are coming over there."
At that moment, Sven pointed ahead. Chae Nayun flinched and looked that way.
The second- and first-year members, including the hunting club president, were approaching.
* * *
[546,000,000]
Twelve hours since the auction began. That was the current bid for my wild ginseng. A whopping 546 million won. Even taking the 11% auction fee into account, it was close to 500 million. Considering I had removed as many as four of its roots—I had taken one more off in preparation for any unforeseen emergency—this was a jackpot. Now, if I dumped all of this into stocks······
"All right~ Let’s gather up now!"
At that moment, a cheerful voice rang out. I turned my head in that direction. The club president and the club members were approaching in a crowd.
The episode was finally beginning.
But to be honest, I didn’t really know much about today’s episode. I had only written its rough conclusion.
‘In the aftermath of the djinn’s rampage, Chae Nayun is gravely injured, and Sven burns out and dies.’
That was it. From the start, this incident was nothing more than a device to make Kim Suho pay more attention to Chae Nayun.
Because of today’s incident, Kim Suho would mistakenly believe that the djinn’s target was Chae Nayun, and while he acted all lovey-dovey under the pretext of protecting her, Yu Yeonha would end up being sacrificed—something along those lines.
However, the most important element here, “Sven,” had changed from the original. He had become far more composed and precise. Since he could now handle Asmodeus’s power even a little better, Chae Nayun might suffer even worse than she originally had.
"We’ve gathered again today. It’s been quite a long time since we last met······ Our hunting club helps citizens by hunting beasts, achieving both hobby and public service in one stroke······."
The club president, who liked to talk, continued his long-winded speech.