honey night.
honey night.
am i not a person?
My head was confused for a moment, but when I thought about it, it was not a big deal.
Rather, even if the head is blown off, it comes back to life, but that would be nonsense if it were a human being. What really surprised me was that my body wasn’t human from the ground up.
Ather quietly observed my expression and rummaged through my pockets.
“I assumed, of course, that you knew at least the origins of your body. In the first place, it would have taken unimaginable resources to create a body as elaborate as yours, but I thought it didn’t make sense to make such an investment and leave your body alone. Now, would you like to try this?”
He took out an ampoule containing an unknown liquid and handed it to me.
“What is this again?”
“A drug that can bring out the ‘essence’ of your body. The core of my research field is stimulating and extracting the essence of living things, right? It’s actually not just science, it’s also a bit related to ancient witchcraft…”
Ancient witchcraft? It was a word I had never heard before.
“What else is that?”
I feel like I keep asking questions.
Maybe this was the first time I had a proper conversation with a scholar of this world, so Ather kept bringing out the secrets of the world I didn’t know about and listing them one after another.
“What is the ancient sorcery? Oh, I don’t even know. There are very few good shaman left in this era. Whether or not you can use magic is determined by your ‘birth’, right? Ancient sorcery is a skill that started with the desire to use the magic that is spread throughout this world without having to be born as a wizard. It has been called by various names, but it has long since been abandoned because it is an extremely inefficient and weak technology compared to magic anyway. I’m just using it as a side leg.”
‘When you meet a real shaman, ask him. I don’t know,’ he said briefly, pointing to the small ampoule in my hand.
“Anyway, try that one. Then your essence will be revealed for a moment, very briefly? Judging from your body’s recovery speed, the effect will last less than 10 seconds.”
It is the essence of my body. There’s nothing wrong with knowing
As soon as I woke up and ate yesterday’s revenge, I glanced at the three women who were playing cards diligently. The winner of the card game with me last night was Pearly.
“It might be a little dangerous, so let’s go outside for a while.”
“What good.”
After leaving the three of us behind, Ather and I left the laboratory and headed to the nearby ruins.
“Then do you eat?”
At my cry, Ather hid behind a rock far away and drew a large circle.
Without hesitation, I opened a small ampoule and poured the drug into my mouth.
My mind went dark with a burning sensation running down my esophagus.
***
Fuck!
With the shock of being kicked in the stomach, my body rolled over and landed on the floor. In a familiar shock, I immediately understood where I was being taken.
“Ha, really, can’t you wake me up a little gently?”
When I opened my eyes, I saw a pair of dark green natural flowers blazing through the slit of the helmet. Impetro, who was sitting on a rock on top of a hill, spoke in a very nervous tone.
– If you don’t eat what they give you, do you have a disease that you can’t stand? They know what the quack made the medicine and eat it like crazy.
It was not wrong. However, I also had my own thoughts, so my tone naturally became sharper.
“I need to somehow get stronger quickly. whatever the method.”
If I had been really strong in the first place, my mother and Jamel would never have drowned and been swept away by the river. The power as a priest of corruption was strong enough, but the weakness of not being able to openly use the ability was felt too keenly these days.
Especially in the battle with Cardisho, I felt it more severely. With the swordsmanship he had learned for 3 years, he could not win against a well-trained strongman. Because the continent is wide and there are many strong people.
So I just believed in my strong body and quickly ate Ather’s medicine, whose efficacy was unclear.
He needed power that would be okay to use in front of other priests.
I did not avoid the dark green naturalization and glared at it.
“Aren’t I too weak right now?”
Impetro quietly observed my eyes without saying a word. He stared at my face for a while, then turned his head and looked down at the plain below the hill. The plain, which had been a fierce battlefield when they first came here, had become a wasteland with not a single blade of grass left.
A humming voice came through the metal. Unlike the annoyed voice from earlier, that voice contained an unfamiliar heaviness.
– To be strong is to build up. Step by step, he piled up bricks made with blood and sweat. The power you gain overnight will only eat you up.
At those slick words, a retort sprang out without my knowledge.
“Who doesn’t know that? If time had allowed me, I would have built up my strength step by step, as you said, and then started my journey. Do you think that just because I am, I want to use any means and methods to take power in such a hurry?”
Why am I being so honest in front of him? like a child
To be honest, I thought I was going to get hit as always, but unlike usual, he responded with words, not fists, to my annoyed words.
– Well, time is always short. for ‘us’. But then why are you obscuring the true meaning of ‘means and methods’? You already know how to become stronger than anyone else.
At his light gesture, wild grasses and trees rose above the lifeless wilderness. Between the rising buildings, people of various races grew up and walked around chatting brightly with each other.
Impetro stood up and picked up a stone that was rolling next to him and squeezed it tightly. A familiar deity of corruption churned in his hand. As he opened his hand, ‘something’ glowing dark green showed off his presence.
– Look.
Impetro threw the object in his hand with a very light gesture. Into a city full of all kinds of vibrant life.
The moment it flew through the air and landed on the ground.
Everything started to rot. Alive.
The cries and screams of the living. A crying mother and a child dying before her mother. After a moment of commotion, not even a single life could breathe on the city.
I immediately realized what authority he was using.
Curse of Corruption.
Of course, if I used it, it would appear in a much weaker and more stealthy form than that, but what he showed me was somewhere in the future that I might be able to reach someday if I continued to strengthen the curse of corruption.
He slowly turned his head to face me.
– This means that it does not cover the means and methods. This soft-bodied guy burst out.
“I…”
He cut me off with a single knife.
– know. know. It’s obvious what your guy is going to say. It must be tied to things like recognition, duty, and justice that don’t work. Is it ‘Sangtus’? Because I ran into that insignificant guy by chance, I only learned very bad things.
Although he used the expression “unlike”, unlike the expression, what was contained in Impetro’s voice was something positive.
“Did you see my past?”
– I need to sit here alone and have something to do. Don’t you know how bored I am? Put yourself in my position too. Are you going to go crazy and jump up and down?
No matter how bored he was, he had to say something.
“It is appropriate to peep into my private life…”
Puff!
burning pain. Impetro, who punished me with honey chestnuts without delay, glared at me.
“Why are you hitting me! Where am I wrong? Please look at it moderately as it is my past, can’t you even say this!”
– Yes, you son of a bitch! All of your words were right, so I hated you so I hit you! why? Are you upset? Do you want to jump? huh?
“The gentleman’s revenge was said to be 10 years too early. Let it go. The day I become stronger than you. Get beaten very well…”
Boom!
My eyes were spinning tight. It hurts so much.
– Now that I look at this kid, the buds are very yellow! what do you beat me You child! It’s ten thousand years too early for you to surpass me!
As he punched me again, I quickly stepped back and distanced myself from him. To slow down the time of having a good night, even by a second. Fortunately, no misfortune occurred as the third honey night hit me in the head.
Impetro sat down again on the rock and stared at me.
– You have too many things. Especially with things that are in excess compared to your body’s abilities.
Apparently, he seemed to be referring to a Ceylon artifact I had. Immortalium weapons and armor are definitely great. There were also many secondary functions.
– Actually, I’ve seen them all. That you smack that red-haired woman so horribly. I was so pathetic that I couldn’t help but laugh.
“If I had learned a few more years, I would never have lost.”
– So she’s been playing all this time?
“It’s a way for people who haven’t learned much in the first place to grow up. On the contrary, once you reach a certain level, the speed increases slowly.”
– This kid is real. If you soak it in water, only its very light mouth will float.
“That swimmer is good…”
Impetro covered my mouth with a slightly raised fist.
– How much divinity did you collect?
At his words, I closed my eyes for a moment and settled inside.
[Divinity: 18799]
Thanks to the harvest of the emperor’s spiders and Dilgent not too long ago, there was an amount of divinity that far exceeded one power.
“Mann…”
– Mann?
I was about to say a number, but I changed my mind when he remembered that divinity had never been seen as a number.
“I collected a little more than one chi and a little less than two chi.”
– Hmm… not enough. You have to collect at least five powers of divinity to barely balance it.
Five of them were the divinity of arrogance. Enough to get five powers or strengthen them five times.
“What do you mean?”
He snapped his finger and spoke indifferently.
– If I could tell you in advance, wouldn’t I have already told you about my personality? I just hate procrastination.
“I guess so.”
It made sense. While I nodded, he touched the chin of the helmet and pondered for a while.
– I have no choice but to go back a little bit… Who resembles my son and has such an impatient personality…
“I am not impatient.”
– I’m talking to myself. men and horses.
He jumped up from his seat, pointed at me, and spoke loudly.
– I wrote Ha In-sim. Since you’re in such a hurry, I’ll overdo it a little.
“What do you mean?”
– Twice a week from now on. I will call you here and train you. Be prepared to get very far behind.
“Are you saying you want to teach me the sword?”
– Is it just a sword? First of all, I’ll teach you how to punch and kick. Other weapons when the time comes.
The master’s teachings? It was a really tempting offer.
I smiled broadly and shook my head.
“it’s okay. I already have a master.”
However, there is no guarantee that you will be good at teaching yourself to be strong. Besides, I was a little afraid of Master Pridiya, who might get angry if my swordsmanship took a strange turn.
It’s been a while since I broke up with Master, so I didn’t know if we would see each other soon.
In addition, I wanted to see Impetro’s embarrassed face a little. Didn’t expect me to say no..
Wow!
It was a real burning pain.
“It hurts!!! It really hurts!!!”
– shut up! You bastard! Now that I see this, it’s so genius! A genius who earns hawks! You’re actually a bastard who’s eager to get hit by me, right? huh?
“The one who swings the fist is wrong! And other than learning, isn’t it my heart!”
– shut up! Now you have no choice! baby boy!!! I can’t be too cocky! this! I’ll carve it into your body twice a week and carve what it means to be very respectful!!!
“under! Do you know how to bend when I am right? I never succumb to violence…”
Pak!!!
My mind was clouded with the burning pain. I heard Impetro’s last words in my ears.
– You’ll know that when you do it!!! I’ve said it several times, but I’m the one who grew up with kids like you! You cheeky little boy! Also, don’t just gorge yourself on whatever people you don’t know give you!!!
***
When I came to my senses, I was standing in the same spot where I had taken the drug. As if not even a second had passed.
I looked around as I touched the back of my head, which still felt a bit tingly.
“Have you seen Arter? What is my nature?”
There was no answer. When I went to the place where Ather was hiding, he was lying on the floor with foam on his face. I quickly checked his body condition. Fortunately, Ather was breathing fine.
“Ather. Please come to your senses.”
“Ugh…”
I shook him awake, and he opened his eyes and looked around at my face.
“what? What happened to me?”
“I want to ask you that, but… have you seen it? What is my essence.”
“I saw it. I saw…”
He frowned for a moment before continuing.
“But why can’t I remember?”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know, I don’t remember. I must have seen something.”
“So what?”
“I knew that, and there are artifacts I brought with me. I’ve prepared something that I can take a picture of you to show you. An artifact that stores images.”
Ater pulled out a small, barrel-shaped artifact from his bosom and operated the button.
The video on the small screen started when I passed the drug down my throat. And precisely the moment all the drugs go down my throat and something is about to start.
Pak.
The screen went black with a small sound. Ather shook the relic, which was completely out of order.
“Why is this like this? Hmm… I’ll make another one, so would you like one more drink?”
Suddenly, Impetro’s honey chestnut passed by my head as if out of nowhere. Along with his warning not to gobble up whatever they give you.
If you drink again and lose your mind, you’ll be hit again…
“Enough. Come to think of it, knowing my true nature doesn’t seem to make me particularly strong. I don’t think I’ll be able to do it next time.”
“Really? Well, if you don’t like it, there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Arter meekly withdrew.
“Then let’s go back soon.”
***
In the afternoon, Cardisho came to his senses.
“Where is this?”
