< Chapter 54: Accelerated Growth (2) >
That night.
I was sitting at my desk, with a notebook open in front of me, racking my brain.
[The effects of complete assimilation by race.]
I decided to call the phenomenon of the racial traits being fully integrated or adapted to the body, and the color returning to the previous one while undergoing changes that seemed to blend with the race, ‘complete assimilation’.
[The characteristics of the beastmen are strong physical abilities and agility.]
[Therefore, the effect of complete assimilation of the beastmen is estimated to be an increase in physical ability.]
There was no problem up to here.
[Then what about the complete assimilation of the elves?]
[Unknown. No noticeable changes in the body.]
[The characteristics of the elves themselves are too diverse to make any definitive statements.]
This was why I was having a headache.
“Ugh! I don’t know!”
I scratched my head and groaned.
This morning, I confirmed that the complete assimilation had progressed as the color of the elven tattoo changed from black to red.
The problem was that I didn’t know what had changed in my body.
Surely, since I had completed assimilation, there must have been some changes.
But I had no clue.
My physical abilities were the same.
My magic was the same.
There was nothing different from head to toe.
It was so identical that it gave me goosebumps.
…Could it be that complete assimilation of elves has no effect?
“Nah. No way.”
That couldn’t be it.
I sighed.
Every time this happened, I envied the status window.
Whatever I got, it would show up on the status window.
I scribbled on the notebook.
[Complete assimilation of elves! You have acquired something!]
A system message like this would pop up too.
How convenient would that be?
The others wouldn’t have to do the hard work of adjusting their numbers minutely to see if their strength increased like me.
They wouldn’t have to sit at their desks for 10 hours and wrestle with their notebooks to figure out their traits either.
“…I’m suddenly feeling depressed.”
Of course, I didn’t hate my ability right now.
It was a bug-like ability that was based on a system error, but it was still a cheat-like ability anyway.
But still, you know what they say.
The grass is always greener on the other side.
I sometimes envied the convenience of the status window.
“Sigh. What’s the point of envying something I don’t have?”
I closed the notebook and got up from my chair.
It must have been very late.
I decided to go to sleep for now.
“I just need to find out before the practical exam week.”
There was still plenty of time.
It wasn’t a problem that could be solved by thinking hard and hard.
This kind of thing would only make me bleed if I rushed it.
I lay down on the bed.
* * *
The next morning.
I was on my way to the private training room where Pi Jin Ho was waiting for me for the morning training.
“Hey! Seo-yul!”
I ran into Ha Si-yeon by chance.
She seemed to be doing some light warm-up jogging.
She widened her eyes in surprise when she saw me and came over to me.
What did she see that made her so surprised?
“Hi! Are you going to see Instructor Pi Jin Ho?”
Ha Si-yeon greeted me with a bright smile as she approached me.
Was it because of her mood? She looked somewhat weaker than usual.
“Are you warming up?”
“Yeah. That too. And the training room is crowded today. The weather is nice, so I’m running outside.”
“The training room is crowded?”
“It’s totally packed.”
How could the spacious training room be full of people? I couldn’t imagine it.
“Is it because of the exam preparation?”
“I think so.”
Ha Si-yeon smiled bitterly.
She looked like she had all the worries and troubles of the world on her shoulders.
It wasn’t just her mood after all.
“Do you have any problems?”
I asked out of concern.
“…Ah. No, it’s nothing.”
Ha Si-yeon waved her hand lightly.
But anyone could see that she wasn’t fine.
“Your face says ‘I have a lot of worries!’ right now. Tell me while I’m being nice.”
“…Is, is that so?”
Ha Si-yeon hesitated and looked away.
“It’s really nothing.”
“If it’s nothing, then just tell me. Come on.”
“…That’s hard.”
Ha Si-yeon fiddled with her hair nervously.
About 10 seconds passed like that.
“Well, actually.”
Ha Si-yeon said with a determined look in her eyes.
“It’s the day to do upper body today, but I’m worried about what to do if there’s no space.”
“…What?”
What?
“Uh. Maybe there will be a spot if I wait? It’s hard to do upper body exercise on my own.”
She bit her nails anxiously.
“….”
I had forgotten for a moment that she was an exercise addict.
My mind was blank.
“…You are really.”
I was speechless.
“Huh? Why?”
“Never mind. Forget it.”
I had a lot to say, but I didn’t say anything.
I said as if I was sighing.
“If there’s no space in the training room, you can just go to the nearby vacant lot.”
“But it’s hard with just my body.”
Ha Si-yeon made a sullen face and slumped her shoulders.
“Do you want to leave the Frozen Sanctuary and eat shit?”
“Huh?”
Ha Si-yeon tilted her head.
She looked like she didn’t understand what I wanted to say.
“If you don’t have the equipment, just make it yourself.”
“Oh, oh!”
You can adjust the shape, strength, and density as long as you have enough time. What’s the problem?
“That’s a good idea!”
This was actually a method that Ha Si-yeon used in the original work when she was isolated with the protagonist in a ruin.
“…Wow. Seo-yul, you’re really smart.”
She looked at me with eyes full of admiration.
Did Columbus look like that when he first discovered the New World?
“I knew it. You look radiant today. It was because of your Radiant Seo-yul mode.”
“What?”
What’s with that horrible name?
“Don’t talk nonsense. Just go and exercise. What do you mean by radiant?”
“It’s true. I was so surprised because of you.”
Now that I think about it, she did look surprised when we first met eyes.
“Anyway, thank you. I’ll go and do some upper body before I cool down!”
“Huh? Oh. See you in class later.”
“Yeah, see you later~”
With that, Ha Si-yeon disappeared like an arrow.
“Do you like exercise that much?”
By the way, something about Ha Si-yeon’s words bothered me.
She said that I looked radiant today, which means that I looked more handsome than usual.
“I look more handsome?”
And if Ha Si-yeon noticed such a drastic change in my appearance…
My eyes widened slowly.
“…Could it be.”
Could it be that the effect of complete assimilation of elves is an increase in charm?
…That would be awesome.
* * *
To put it simply.
I was right.
Maybe because elves are a race of beauty, the effect of the complete assimilation of elves was [charm increase].
Charm increase.
It seems like a meaningless effect at first glance,
but in fact, the charm has a very cheat-like effect hidden in it.
“Your body balance is unbelievably good. Your flexibility too. Your muscles are close to the ideal shape.”
Instructor Pi Jin Ho examined my body and said.
“…Did you awaken the Flawless trait or something?”
That cheat-like effect is body correction.
“Well, something like that.”
“I see.”
Generally, charm is considered the most useless non-combat ability for superhumans.
It’s a trait that has no use other than shaping your face well. That’s the perception of the world.
But if you meet a certain condition, charm becomes a very attractive ability as its name suggests.
That certain condition is none other than ‘being handsome’.
And not just handsome, but so handsome and beautiful that you can’t touch it, like Jia.
If you achieve this condition, charm starts to affect your whole body, not just your face.
Because your face is so handsome and attractive that there’s nothing to touch, the effect of charm spreads to your whole body.
As a result, your body becomes very attractive and ideal.
Aesthetically or practically, very ideal.
“Your potential and growth rate have increased dramatically. I need to revise your training plan drastically.”
“Plan revision?”
“Yes. I think you need to increase the intensity by at least 1.5 times.”
“…1.5 times?”
As a result, your innate potential increases.
And your physical ability growth rate also increases significantly.
“It might be okay to increase it by 2 times.”
“Huh.”
“Why are you making that face? As the intensity goes up, your growth rate also speeds up. Isn’t that something to be happy about?”
“…Wow. I’m so excited.”
The change of your innate potential.
This is the true effect of charm.
Of course, excluding special cases like mine, the efficiency is the worst compared to the investment.
Honestly, it’s a waste of ‘free points’.
Body balance or whatever, it’s much better to invest in physical abilities that you can use right away.
“I was worried because your growth rate was too slow. But now I’m relieved.”
“…Was it that serious?”
Was my body that trashy?
“Yes. It was a rotten body. I didn’t say it, but I saw your growth limit as C rank.”
“…C rank.”
Pi Jin Ho’s eyes are accurate.
If nothing else had happened, I would have stopped growing at exactly C rank. And that’s for life.
“You’re better now, right?”
“Don’t make me repeat myself.”
But what if I had completely assimilated the traits of beastmen and elves into my body?
Pi Jin Ho smiled.
“Your growth limit is now A rank. Congratulations on having a decent body.”
I smiled too.
“Yes. Thank you.”
Long live charm,
Long live complete assimilation of elves.
* * *
That night.
Near Yu Hwa’s house.
“Goldie, I’ll miss you.”
“Meow.”
Yu Hwa hugged Goldie and acted like a drama queen.
Anyone would think that they would never see each other again.
I decided to watch them until they were done.
And that scene lasted for a whole 10 minutes.
“Okay. Please take good care of Goldie.”
Yu Hwa handed Goldie to me with a sad expression.
“Thank you for everything.”
Today, I officially registered Goldie as my guardian beast, and the school also completed the registration.
From today on, Goldie can live with me in the dormitory.
“Thank you. I enjoyed it too.”
“I’m glad to hear that. Then, Goldie, you should also say thank you to your sister.”
Goldie nodded his head cutely at my words.
“How will I sleep at night without you?”
Yu Hwa’s expression became even more gloomy. She must have felt depressed thinking about sleeping alone from now on.
“Oh. Right.”
Then, she soon became serious.
“You might already know this, but I’ll tell you just in case.”
“What is it?”
She suddenly made me nervous.
“Do you know that a research team was formed to investigate the angel and devil reincarnation case?”
“Yes. I know.”
It was on the news and in newspapers everywhere. How could I not know?
“Then do you also know that the team was wiped out in one day?”
“Wiped out?”
“Yes.”
It was supposed to be an elite team formed under the government’s initiative, with an S-rank superhuman included.
“Huh? I’ve never heard of that.”
“Really? That’s strange.”
Yu Hwa tilted her head with a strange expression.
She must have been surprised that I, who knew everything about Doppelganger and Pyo Il Chan, didn’t know this information.
“So what happened?”
“Ah.”
She snapped out of her thoughts and coughed before explaining again.
“There was an attack on the research team’s headquarters. The battle lasted for about 10 minutes. The attack killed all 13 members.”
“10 minutes?”
They wiped out a 13-member elite team with an S-rank superhuman in 10 minutes?
“How many attackers were there?”
“One person.”
“One person?”
A villain who could wipe out 13 people including an S-rank superhuman in 10 minutes.
Could it be?
“Who was the attacker?”
“That’s still unknown. He covered his whole body with black cloth, so he couldn’t be identified by CCTV.”
Fortunately, there was CCTV footage left.
“Can I see the footage?”
“Huh? Yes. I can show you.”
Yu Hwa took out her smartphone and showed me a video.
“A giant male over 190cm tall. His weapon is a spear. As you can see, his features are incredible speed and combat power.”
Every time the man swung his spear in the video, one superhuman lost his life.
Fast movement and spear.
There was only one person who came to my mind.
“Can you slow this down a bit?”
“That’s already 0.1 times speed.”
“A bit slower. I think I know something.”
“Hmm. Okay then.”
Yu Hwa took back her phone and fiddled with it.
“Here. 0.01 times speed.”
“Thank you.”
I focused on the video again.
The video flowed at a speed 10 times slower than before.
“It’s amazing no matter how many times I see it. Where did such a villain come from?”
The man swinging his spear.
His movements of slashing, stabbing, and hitting reminded me of a ferocious beast.
“Huh?”
Something caught my eye then.
I quickly rewound the video and paused it.
“This spear.”
The man’s spear, which was hidden by black cloth, revealed itself for a brief moment.
“Ah. That? It’s weird, right? A rusty spear.”
An old spear blade that looked like it had corroded from rust. In contrast, a lavishly decorated spear handle.
I was sure of it.
“This is Vagabond’s spear.”
There was no one else who could use such a spear with that level of combat power except Vagabond.
“Vagabond? Is that his villain name?”
Yu Hwa looked at me with wide eyes of surprise.
“Yes. A spearman who is crazy about fighting. Vagabond.”
My head hurt.
Why did he show up at this time?
Why did he attack the newly formed research team?
“He’s one of the seven executives of the Saviors of Truth.”
“The Saviors of… Truth?”
Yu Hwa’s eyes trembled as she stared into mine.
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