Jeong-min sparred with Leia, using extreme force.
Today, he managed to endure slightly longer than yesterday's sparring.
Leia's healing skills and potions completely restored Jeong-min, who then entered the shower booth to wash.
Pouring bottled water over himself, Jeong-min thought,
'I fainted again after sparring... It's painful, but... it's a bit embarrassing.'
Jeong-min washed, changed his clothes, and emerged from the shower booth.
Leia was waiting for Jeong-min in front of the bonfire, surrounded by a pile of mana potions.
"Are you done washing? Shall we start training to raise your intelligence stat now?"
Jeong-min nodded and sat opposite Leia.
Leia asked Jeong-min,
"What's your current mana capacity, Jeong-min?"
"Um... 38 in total."
Leia nodded and said,
"A low-grade mana potion can replenish 50 mana, so let's increase your mana capacity a bit before we start."
Leia finished speaking and took a staff from her inventory.
It was the staff with the intelligence stat increase option that Jeong-min had found in Leia's inventory.
"Hold this while we train. Your mana capacity will increase quite a bit."
Jeong-min took the staff from Leia and held it.
"Could you tell me how much mana each of your skills consumes?"
Jeong-min listened to Leia's question and thought for a moment before answering.
"Clairvoyance and Eye of Appraisal consume 2, Spatial Movement consumes 5, and creating a base gate consumes 7."
"What's the best way to repeatedly use your skills?"
"Hmm... Open a base gate to return to the base, use Clairvoyance and Spatial Movement to move to Leia's inventory, and then exit through Leia's inventory gate, which consumes a total of 19 mana. If I repeat that twice, that's 38... I can use Eye of Appraisal to examine things here and there to consume the remaining mana, totaling 50. Should we repeat it like that?"
"That sounds good. Your skill levels will increase evenly too. You'll have to repeat dimension shifting, are you okay with the dizziness?"
Jeong-min nodded and said,
"Yes, I'm definitely getting used to it as I keep doing it. I'm even used to the point where I don't collapse after dimension shifting anymore. I'll get completely used to it if I repeat it more."
"Good. Shall we start then? I'll open my inventory gate."
As Leia finished speaking, Jeong-min created a base gate.
Passing through the base gate, Jeong-min returned to his inventory and used Clairvoyance and Spatial Movement to move to Leia's inventory.
Then, he returned to Leia's side through the open Leia's inventory gate.
Thud.
Jeong-min collapsed next to Leia.
"Ah... Doing two consecutive dimension shifts without rest... I still can't handle this."
Leia looked at Jeong-min with concern.
"I've never experienced dimension shifting, so I don't know how dizzy it is. Hang in there, Jeong-min. I guess you just have to get used to it."
Jeong-min nodded while sitting down.
"Yes... I have to get used to it... I'm okay now. I'll go again."
Jeong-min entered the base gate again and came out through Leia's inventory gate.
Having used all 38 of his mana, Jeong-min opened a low-grade mana potion and gulped it down.
"I've refilled 50 mana. I'll start repeating it in earnest now."
Jeong-min repeatedly used the base gate, Clairvoyance, Spatial Movement, and Eye of Appraisal to consume mana, and repeatedly recovered the consumed mana by drinking mana potions.
The number of empty mana potion bottles on the floor gradually increased.
When there were 10 empty mana potion bottles rolling on the floor,
"Okay, let's stop here."
Leia announced the end of the training.
Jeong-min listened to Leia's words and collapsed on the floor.
Leia said,
"You've worked hard, Jeong-min. It's not training that uses your body a lot, but it must have been difficult."
Jeong-min said while sitting on the floor,
"This... The dizziness from the dimension shift aftereffects is one thing... but I'm getting full..."
"That's right. That's the only downside to this training. It's hard to do more when you're full. But you repeated it quite a lot. Would you like to check your status window?"
Jeong-min opened the status window.
"Status window."
The status window appeared before Jeong-min's eyes.
[Choi Jeong-min
Strength: 30
Stamina: 33
Agility: 26
Intelligence: 16(+40) [MP:1/83]
Gold Held: 410 Gold
Skills Held: Gate(Lv.1), Spatial Movement(Lv.2), Clairvoyance(Lv.1), Eye of Appraisal(Lv.1), Mana Recovery(Passive)(Lv.1), Detection(Passive) (Lv.1)]
"Wow... My stats have increased a lot again today. My intelligence stat has increased by 5 at once! My skill levels haven't increased yet... but it's worth drinking so many potions until I'm full."
As Jeong-min said happily, Leia looked at him with a pleased expression and said,
"If you continue training like this, all your stats and skill levels will increase steadily. Don't forget your personal swordsmanship training either."
Jeong-min closed the status window and nodded.
"Don't worry. I'll work hard."
"Then... shall we have a meal... but it's probably not a good time for you to eat, Jeong-min? You drank so many potions..."
"Ah... It's definitely a bit... difficult for me to eat right now... But shouldn't you eat, Leia? Shall I boil some ramen?"
Leia shook her head.
"It's okay. I'm not that hungry either... I'll boil it myself later. You put plenty in my inventory, Jeong-min..."
"Ah... yes. Then shall we have a simple snack and talk?"
Leia smiled and nodded.
"Yes."
The two began to eat snacks and drink cola, with the bonfire between them.
"Ah, I wanted to tell you this... about our sparring."
As Leia brought up the story of the last sparring session, Jeong-min listened attentively.
"When you attack, Jeong-min, you seem to hesitate a lot. Is that right?"
Jeong-min seemed startled by Leia's words and said cautiously.
"Yes... It's because the world I'm from is a world where there's no need to wield a sword... So I feel a bit of resistance to wielding a sword against a person... Ah, of course, even if I wield it with all my might, Leia, you wouldn't get hurt..."
"Hmm... I've already nagged you about becoming stronger, so I won't say it again. But..."
Leia took a gulp of cola and said,
"You have to be prepared."
"Prepared...?"
Leia nodded and said,
"Yes, prepared. Since you're living in a world where the [Trial of God] has begun... there will come a time when you have to kill an enemy. As I said before, 'enemy' doesn't just mean monsters... it includes people too."
"....."
"You have to be prepared for that time."
Jeong-min stared at the bonfire for a moment and nodded.
"Yes, I've been thinking about it to some extent since the [Trial of God] began. But honestly, I'm still not confident."
Leia stared at Jeong-min for a moment and took something out of her pocket.
"Take this."
Jeong-min asked as he received what Leia handed him.
"This is... a ring...?"
"Yes, it's an item called the 'Ring of Effort'."
"Ring of Effort...?"
"I won't tell you to 'kill the enemy no matter what' right now, Jeong-min. Actually, killing is the cleanest and best way, but... it would be difficult for you right now. But you can't just let an enemy who seems like they're going to harm you go, right? That's when you need this item. It's a ring that can only be used by Awakened, and it's quite useful."
"....?"
"If you put that ring on the forehead of a subdued Awakened and press it, a 'Slave Seal' will be imprinted. The person with the Slave Seal is forcibly put into a master-slave relationship with the owner of the ring. The slave can never disobey the master, nor can they harm the master. The ring I gave you has two uses left for imprinting the Slave Seal. It has five uses in total, and I've used three."
"....."
"If you can't bring yourself to kill an enemy, at least imprint the 'Slave Seal'. It's not clean, but you can eliminate any future problems... But remember that killing the enemy is the cleanest way. Got it?"
Jeong-min blankly nodded and said,
"But... why is this ring that imprints the Slave Seal called the 'Ring of Effort'...?"
"The conditions for using that ring are a bit complicated. I said you have to use it after you subdue the opponent, right? To imprint the Slave Seal, the master's total stats must be higher than the opponent's total stats. Only then can you imprint the seal. And after the master-slave contract is completed, if the slave's stats ever surpass the master's stats... the master-slave contract will be reversed. The master becomes the slave, and the slave becomes the master."
"Gasp..."
"So both the slave and the master have to put in a lot of effort. The master has to put in effort to keep their stats from being overtaken, and the slave has to put in effort to overtake the master's stats and reverse the master-slave contract... That's why this ring is called the 'Ring of Effort'. Interesting, right?"
"Ah... th-that's... in-interesting..."
Leia said to Jeong-min as if urging him,
"Since this ring is the 'Ring of Effort' and not the 'Ring of Slavery', remember that even if you're the master, you can't give orders that restrict the slave from raising their stats. 'Don't do training to raise your stats,' or 'Don't wear items that increase your stats.' Those kinds of orders won't work. Got it?"
"Ah, yes. I understand."
"Well, not that there's anyone who can surpass your stats, Jeong-min. Anyway, please use it well."
Jeong-min put the ring in his pocket and said,
"Yes, I'll use it well. Thank you, Leia."
"You don't have to thank me. It's a ring I wouldn't have used anyway... Actually, it's not an item I particularly like. Hmm... It's a bit weird to say that after using it three times."
Seeing Leia say that with a smile, Jeong-min also smiled back with a cold sweat.
'.....What happened to the three enemies that Leia, who said killing is the cleanest way, made into slaves...?'
He was curious, but he couldn't bring himself to ask, and Jeong-min smiled at Leia.
************
It was late at night again when Jeong-min returned to his inventory.
When he was talking to Leia, he felt like time passed by so quickly that he didn't even notice.
If Leia hadn't said that he should go soon, he would have sat there talking until dawn.
Jeong-min lay down on the thin blanket spread on the hard floor and thought,
'Ah... I really hate this hard floor... I should go out and look around tomorrow after finishing morning training. I need to get some things... By the way, the snacks are running out, what should I do... Leia's favorite cola is the biggest problem. There's not much left... Sigh.'
Jeong-min suddenly had an idea and sat up, lost in thought.
'...If I go to the large shelters, there's an abundance of supplies, right?
They've been hoarding so much since long before the [Trial of God] began... Maybe I can barter with the items I have? If I negotiate well, I might be able to get most of the things I need... The value of the items I have now is probably incredibly high.'
Jeong-min lay back down and looked at the ceiling of the inventory, thinking,
'The easiest one to deal with is Daesung Shelter... but I should check on Junki's condition while I'm there... But that Gwak Jo-won guy is a problem... Judging by the fact that he even had me followed, it seems like he's up to something...'
Jeong-min pondered for a while.
'...Okay, let's go to Daesung in 5 days. That's the day my stats will be complete enough to destroy a D-rank gate alone.
That day, if Daesung... if Gwak Jo-won, is up to something... if they become my enemy...'
-You have to become stronger, Jeong-min.-
-If you judge them to be your enemy, thoroughly... retaliate.-
Jeong-min, recalling Leia's advice, glared at the ceiling of the inventory and muttered,
"I have to retaliate... thoroughly..."