◈ Episode 160. Blessing (2)

[Falling Old Tree Garden]

[Recommended Level : Lv.400~Lv.450]

[Collapse Rate : 13.2%]

Time is like afternoon tea and…….

No, it’s like gold.

To put it bluntly, it’s a waste of time.

Level 494.

You could hunt all day in a moderate rift like this and never level up. Of course, there’s a reason you entered the rift knowing that.

[The First World Tree blesses you].

[Your health and mana regeneration will increase dramatically.]…….

A day passes, and you rub your eyes, but nothing has changed.

On the Arcana Continent, the World Tree Blessing buff that allowed me to not be intimidated in front of millions of demons was still there……!

“A blessing, you’re being too generous.”

If a blessing is lost because of a big mouth, it’s really your fault, Grandfell.

It wasn’t excessive consideration, but the effect was such that even bowing wasn’t enough.

‘The effect is ridiculous.’

The [Blessing of the First World Tree] buff was more effective than most items, let alone herbs. Moreover, it was on a different level than [Natural Enemy].

I looked around the rift.

Giant caterpillars wriggled in the rotting giant trees.

They looked terribly ugly, but they weren’t Demon-type monsters.

Naturally, there was no way [Natural Enemy] could be triggered.

However, it was not the blessing of the World Tree.

There were no conditions for its activation!

The effect was the same whether it was a demon or a caterpillar.

I raised my magic power.

It’s the kind of experience that makes you wonder if it’s true.

Back in the days when Arcana was just a game, I wondered if I’d caught a bug.

It’s not even a question.

I could understand if it was a buff that was activated by a specific quest.

But.

‘Regardless of the duration.’

I’ve died once.

A completely different world from the Arcana Continent.

I’m back in the real world.

Literally all the time.

This means that unless it is a permanent buff, the effect cannot remain until now. I summoned Hiel with the increased magical power.

Within moments, she appeared out of thin air.

“I have answered your call.”

Your greeting is still as daunting as ever, Hiel.

But what is……?

It’s a familiar face, too familiar to be surprised by its archaic appearance. And yet, that ‘light’ is deeply unfamiliar. What is that halo emanating from the background?

‘You’ve become an enlightened being, too, Hiel?’

Did you say that the thief’s feet are numb?

Why does my sword appear overlapping in that light?

Silver burning through inky blackness.

Yes, the light that seems to embody black history.

‘…… That’s it, what’s good is good.’

If you’ve grown somehow, I’m happy for you, Hiel.

I hope you grow from the inside out, unlike me, who’s more pretentious than talented. ……! Of course, I can’t say what I really feel.

I cut to the chase.

“Hiel, are they safe?”

Here they were dwarves.

Retrieving the remains of the Quernberg Machine Tower.

I had a favor to ask of them.

[Demon War].

It’s a time when the demons are restrained and reserving their strength ahead of a major event. I have seen the Arcana continent with my own eyes.

Not only that, but whenever I had access to the [Telescope of Evil Eye], I scanned the continent.

‘That neighborhood is dangerous, too dangerous.’

That’s why it’s only logical to say hello first.

Hiel responded politely.

“Of course. They have asked me to tell you that no harm has come to them, thanks to your care, day or night.”

……No, but wait, stop. Hiel.

Who the hell did I take care of?!

I’m not even taking this much of an overstatement, am I?

‘I am afraid.’

What kind of image do I have among the dwarves?

I’m seriously worried.

But there is no shame in my lofty pride.

I blurted out shamelessly.

“I see you’re safe.”

The only thing that’s not safe is your conscience, Grandell.

“We’ve also found the remains of the Quernberg machine tower you spoke of, but with demons roaming the area, it will be some time before we can retrieve it.”

Apparently, flying is good.

I can’t believe I’m already looking for the remains of the Quernberg machine tower.

The thought of finding it is horrifying.

‘First, I have no way to get to the Arcana continent.’

Not to mention I don’t even know where the machine tower is.

The skies of Arcana are filled with evil eyes.

Short-range teleportation, portals.

Eyes that can pinpoint your location in an instant.

I’m going to find the Quernberg Machine Tower, and I’m going to get the gold.

Before that happens, I will be captured by the demon, die, and be kicked out to reality.

In that sense, hooray for technology.

Hiel continued to send news.

“Finally, we have a story about the smelting of noble iron.”

Noble iron.

Ego equipment.

I’m as curious to hear about that as I am about the machine tower.

“Wallswale, the greatest blacksmith among the dwarves, has begun his smelting in earnest. He has declared that he will smelt equipment that will never, ever be given to anyone but you.”

That’s very nice of him…….

On the one hand, it scares me.

I’ve been told that performance is a priority. Even if the level cap was too high, that would be sad in its own way. But hey, it’s big mouth.

“That’s a great attitude, will you tell him I’m looking forward to it?”

“I’ll do as you say.”

“Good work, Hiel.”

A level cap is just a number to the pride of our exalted Grandfell.

I’ve had enough. Whatever the outcome, I can’t wear it right away.

I’d rather research more ways to cheat.

It’s a hole to live in…….

So much for rationalization.

As long as you stop by the rift.

Even if I couldn’t hunt all day, I had something to check out.

That’s right, the [Blessing of the First World Tree] buff.

[Rotten Sap Monster: Lv.420]

[Giant Rotten Sap Monster: Lv.450]…….

Without [Natural Enemy] triggered.

It is not a foe that can be defeated lightly, unless you pour your magic into it. Especially since, as their name implies, they had the [Poison] trait.

A poison that could rot even a giant tree.

A poison so sticky it reminded me of a swamp.

Most of all, it’s very salty.

“This is not a pleasant place.”

That’s how I feel about it, not to mention how I feel about Grandfell, who can’t live with himself.

Since insects are not evil, it is not surprising that they have no reason to go to the extent of spraying poison on clothes and shoes.

But.

Also.

I stepped boldly into the swamp of poison.

Because I trusted the effectiveness of the [Warmth] buff?

I don’t.

Although the Warmth buff has a universal effect, it does not grant immunity to poison. So is it levitation? No, it’s not.

Because I’m pretty sure I stepped in a poisonous swamp, as evidenced by the sound of my shoes.

I did.

This must be the effect of the [Blessing of the First World Tree] buff.

I checked the message that popped up.

[First World Tree Blessing rejects poison].

[Poison].

A type of debuff, like stun or bleed.

You can become ‘immune’ to poison by increasing your affinity or resistance, or you can ‘heal’ it with a skill. But ‘rejection’, that’s different, it’s still quite different, this.

“But it doesn’t matter to me.”

Rejection.

The feeling of literally pushing poison and debuffs out of my body.

I, Lee Ho-yeol, put aside my own lame expressiveness for a moment.

To borrow a phrase from Grandfell…….

“Do you understand? This is the difference in class.”

……That sounds like a difference of opinion!

Damn, I wish I could go beyond cringing and deny it wholeheartedly.

He wasn’t wrong again.

Like water and oil that don’t mix no matter how hard you whisk.

The [First World Tree Blessing] was completely rejecting the poison.

At that moment, a giant shadow loomed over them.

It was the writhing [Giant Rotten Sap Monster].

Was this an ambush to compensate for the slow pace?

Swiftly assimilation, interfering, manifesting.

I manifested magic toward the creature falling from the giant tree.

A level 450 monster doesn’t need fancy magic.

Not to mention the fancy words.

“Caterpillar, you have yet to realize the fountain.”

By the way, let’s put aside the self-pity for a moment.

We had a great harvest today.

‘Rejected. Maybe this…….’

I wonder if I can ignore all debuffs, not just poison?

Of course, I wasn’t holding my breath.

After all, I do have a conscience.

‘Actually, the buffs don’t make sense right now.’

Even in terms of health and magic regeneration buffs, the effect of the World Tree’s Blessing alone was greater than that of surrounding it with unique items. But I was shocked.

Again, to see the effect.

I gripped my sword and unleashed my sword force.

“!”

A strange sensation ran up my hand.

I didn’t have enough class quests, so I was allocating my level-up points to [Strength] and [Agility]. It was true that I had invested too many points in [Magic].

‘In a word, it’s still a bottomless poison.’

Like water leaking out of a poison.

My body was not optimized to emit sword energy.

I could only mimic the posture…….

It’s impossible for me to handle a sword as fluently as Harkon or Schreig.

Sword energy is the highest level of mastery.

Now that you’ve reached the sword force, the amount of water that escapes will be more substantial.

In short, unleashing the Sword Force would cause a great deal of fatigue to accumulate in the body. It was as if you were drawing strength for tomorrow.

And yet.

‘Light.’

It definitely feels different.

No fatigue in my hands, no fatigue in my legs, no fatigue.

It wasn’t an illusion.

Suddenly, a message flashed before my eyes.

[The blessing of the First World Tree rejects aging].

Yeah, I knew it…….

“Now, wait, what?!

You rejected aging?!

It’s getting a little scary at this point.

What kind of blessing did I get from …… or the First World Tree?

*

Time flew by quickly for the players.

Kingdom of Yusra.

Frost.

Muon, the holy land of the Goddess Church.

And finally, the Magic Tower.

No matter where they came from.

[Quest: The Unfinished Holy War].

From the Arcana Continent to the real world.

The holy war against demons is far from over.

There are no rewards and no loot at the end of this war.

All that remains is pride.

Prove yourself worthy.

Prove your worth in your region. (Ongoing)

Prove your ability to join the holy war.

Needless to say, the criteria were rigorous.

Likewise, the sound of chatter did not stop regardless of the region.

“Are you crazy, level 300 isn’t good enough?”

“It’s not about level, it’s about pride.”

“Pride? What the hell is pride?!”

What is it? Pride is pride.

“If you don’t know what pride is, you don’t have pride.”

Just homen.

Park Hwigang muttered to himself and checked the quest window.

Next to the quest objective, two newly updated words, [Success].

“Good job being a real explorer… … !”

There was pride in the temple, but there was no humility.

It was said that there was no distinction between passing and failing depending on the class.

As the success message popped up, I remembered the past.

“It’s all thanks to you.”

A relatively low level.

But high Explorer Federation contributions.

The experience of exploring all sorts of rifts without giving up at the appropriate level was worth the extra points.

Of course, it was only because I followed in Mr. Hoyeol’s footsteps.

“Homen.”

Even today, his faith was unwavering.

Park Hwigang’s eyes shone sharply.

Now that he had joined the holy war, it was time for him to show his true abilities.

Of course, he didn’t know how much help a single explorer would be, but he would do his best.

Of course, he wasn’t alone in his thoughts.

The Explorers’ Federation.

There were many explorers in the mainland of the Yusra Kingdom.

Fabian Delon, the head of the Federation, Aaron, and Lombus.

The highest-ranking explorers with the most prestige.

All of them were explorers who had participated in the Holy War.

“Hmph.”

Fabian coughed, drawing attention to himself.

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen so many explorers in such a small place. I think we should all get to know each other better, be more friendly, and say hello.”

The explorers glanced at each other at Fabian’s joke.

There was something to be said for a joke.

Sparks flew, especially between Aaron and Rombus.

“Getting cozy with the competition. Funny.”

“Don’t laugh, Aaron. It makes your ugly face look even uglier.”

“You’re shameless, Lombus. It’s bad enough that you’re stealing from the Federation’s contributions, but now you’re trying to discredit my appearance? Perhaps you should take a look in the mirror while you’re at it.”

Park Hwigang, who had been listening in silence, thought to himself.

……Why do they both look so much like bandits?

But it wasn’t the bickering that mattered.

The explorers were here for a reason.

Fabian spoke up.

“There was no shortage of war on the Arcana, but we explorers didn’t have to move. What can explorers like us do in the face of man against man?”

Nods.

All who listened nodded.

Explorers’ abilities were specialized for exploring labyrinths and dungeons.

Fabian smirked and continued.

“Of course, there’s not much we can do on the battlefield against demons. The most we can do is utilize our tools to assist our allies, but as we all know, our battlefield is a little different.”

It is.

Not like war.

At least in this holy war, explorers could play a role.

Nowadays, a anomaly space called [Rift] exists.

Fabian raised his fist.

“The Arcana and this place. The Rift, where the two worlds mingle, is an unknown space. There is no telling what dangers may lurk there. But isn’t this the quest we’ve always wanted, and isn’t there a prize at the end of it that would be worth more than anything else?”

As if tugging at something.

“Even if it means losing our lives.”

He clenched his fists.

“The Arcana continent and the world of adventurers here. To be able to spread our reputation as explorers in both worlds… yes, isn’t that what we explorers pride ourselves on?”

Exploring the unknown.

That’s what explorers are for.

Fabian adds.

“Which means it’s time to start our explorers’ fight.”

.

.

. .

In that sense, today’s regular update was important.

Not a single member of the Explorers’ Federation was absent.

The idea was to keep each other informed about updates.

Even the endless refreshes were interrupted.

“Wait!”

Park Hwigang called out, faster than anyone else.

He looked at the update history.

His face began to turn white.

” ……, do you happen to know anything about elves?!”

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note: now I understand the meaning of ‘cube’ thing, it’s big mouth : https://hinative.com/questions/12477756

btw Homen became immortal lol