Jeong-min looked at Leia and used 'Eye of Appraisal.'
[Leia
Strength: -
Stamina: -
Agility: -
Intelligence: - [MP: -/-]
Gold Held: Skills Held: -]
"..... Hmm?"
Leia said to Jeong-min, who was tilting his head.
"You probably won't see anything properly. I have the 'Concealment' skill. If Jeong-min's Intelligence stat were higher than mine, you could have broken through my 'Concealment' skill and seen my status window. But in Jeongmin's world, where the [Trial of God] has just begun, I don't think that 'Eye of Appraisal' skill will be blocked very often. Please use it wisely."
Jeong-min bowed to Leia and said,
"Thank you... so much."
"You don't have to be so formal. I'm just... giving back as much as I've received."
"Still..."
Leia smiled at Jeong-min and said,
"It's really okay. Shall we set a time for our appointment? I'll open the inventory gate around sunset. Come over then. I might not be able to open it if I'm in the middle of a battle... so let's just say I'm taking a break that day. Is that alright?"
"Yes, that's fine with me. I'll try to be there on time."
"Okay, if you don't come before the gate maintenance time is up and it closes... I'll assume you're busy. Don't forget to stop by my inventory and pick up the items when you leave. With those items, escaping from around a D-rank gate shouldn't be too difficult. Oh, and take some potions with you, just in case. There are various grades of health recovery and mana recovery potions, so take plenty."
Jeong-min was on the verge of tears at Leia's kindness.
Leia, having finished speaking, looked at Jeong-min and said,
"I think I've conveyed most of what I needed to. Now... are you going to leave?"
Jeong-min read a hint of regret in Leia's eyes, which seemed to be speaking calmly.
"Ah... I am going to leave... but it's night now. Spatial Movement is also restricted when visibility is limited... so I think it would be better to leave the monster gate after daybreak. I'll have to sleep in the inventory anyway... would it be alright if I stayed and talked a little longer?"
Jeong-min could feel Leia's expression brighten at his words.
"O-Of course!"
Jeong-min looked at Leia with pity.
'She said she's been fighting alone for three years... how lonely must she have been...'
Jeong-min didn't show his pity, and opened his inventory to take out snacks and drinks.
"These are snacks that we enjoy eating in my world. Let's talk while we eat."
Leia's eyes sparkled when she saw the snacks Jeong-min took out.
The two sat around the campfire, eating snacks and chatting.
It was dawn when Jeong-min returned to his inventory.
Time flew by as they shared stories of their lives in their respective worlds.
Leia sent Jeong-min off with regretful eyes, repeatedly urging him to come back.
Jeong-min lay down on the floor of his inventory, recalling Leia's regretful gaze.
Thinking about the various stories he had shared with Leia, Jeong-min quickly fell asleep.
*****
"Ugh... my back... I should have spread out a blanket..."
Jeong-min twisted his body and got up from the floor. "How long did I sleep... I should bring a clock or something..."
Jeong-min stretched his body and opened the inventory gate.
The scenery outside came into view through the gate created in the inventory wall.
The D-rank gate and the numerous goblins walking around it came into view.
"It's bright... it's morning... or almost noon... I need to get ready quickly. If I want to meet Leia again in the evening..."
Jeong-min quickly filled his stomach with snacks and used Clairvoyance and Spatial Movement to move to Leia's inventory.
Jeong-min's heart fluttered as he looked at the countless items still piled up.
"Okay... let's find a good item with 'Eye of Appraisal'... First... I need to find an item that increases my Intelligence stat... I have too little mana, so my skill usage is limited..."
Jeong-min currently had 18 mana. After using Clairvoyance and Spatial Movement, he had 11 mana left.
Since each use of 'Eye of Appraisal' consumed 2 mana, he would have to wait for his mana to recover after using it 5 times.
Therefore, Jeong-min planned to prioritize finding an item that increased his Intelligence stat.
"Hmm... a staff or similar weapon is most likely to have an Intelligence stat increase, right?"
Jeong-min searched the inventory for staves.
Compared to other weapons, there seemed to be very few staves.
Whenever Jeong-min found a staff, he held it in his hand and opened the status window to check if it increased his Intelligence stat.
'This is... just a normal staff... This is... no, why does this staff have a Strength stat increase option? Ugh... and... this one... Oh! I found it!'
Jeong-min finally found a staff with an Intelligence stat increase option.
Checking the status window, he could see that his Intelligence stat had changed to 10(+30) and his mana had changed to [12/72].
"Oh, wow... my total mana capacity has increased to 72! That's amazing!"
However, Jeong-min was soon disappointed.
"It's good that my mana pool has increased... but I still have to wait for it to fill up... Hmm... I need to find an item that increases my mana recovery rate too... Hmm... Ah, there were mana recovery potions!"
Jeong-min went to the place where the potions were piled up and looked around.
"... Logically, these blue potions are probably mana recovery potions, right? But just in case..."
Jeong-min used Eye of Appraisal on the smallest of the blue potions.
[Low-Grade Mana Potion]
Instantly recovers 50 mana.
'Great!'
Jeong-min picked up a low-grade mana potion.
"The grades are probably different depending on the size... Well, the lowest grade is enough."
Jeong-min opened the potion and drank it in one gulp.
He was a little worried that it would taste strange, but it tasted like slightly sweet water.
After emptying the potion, Jeong-min opened the status window to check his mana.
[60/72]
"Great. The effect is really certain. Now I can use Appraisal 30 times. Let's use this to find an item that increases my mana recovery rate."
Jeong-min began searching the inventory again.
3 hours later.
Jeong-min opened the inventory gate and put the potions inside.
Then, he opened the gate for the base and returned to his inventory.
The potions he had just moved were in the inventory.
Jeong-min looked at the potions with satisfaction and opened the status window.
"Status window."
The status window appeared before Jeong-min's eyes.
[Choi Jeong-min
Strength: 14(+30)
Stamina: 15(+20)
Agility: 15(+30)
Intelligence: 10(+10) [MP: 14/36]
Skills Held: Gate(Lv. 1), Spatial Movement(Lv. 2), Clairvoyance(Lv. 1), Eye of Appraisal(Lv. 1), Strike(Lv. 1), Mana Recovery(Passive)(Lv. 1)] Jeong-min looked at the status window with a satisfied expression.
There were a total of four items that he had taken from Leia's inventory.
Two bracelets, one ring, and a sword.
The ring had the option of doubling the mana recovery rate.
The bracelet worn on his right arm was an accessory that increased his Intelligence stat by 10.
The staff increased his Intelligence stat a lot, but he couldn't fight with a staff.
That's when he found this accessory.
And the bracelet worn on his left arm was actually [Armor].
This bracelet, which even had the name 'Garam Knights Standard Armor,' was a magic armor that responded to the command 'Summon Armor' and was immediately equipped on the wearer's body.
There were no options to increase stats separately, but Jeong-min was very pleased with the portability of being able to wear it as a bracelet.
Finally, the sword named 'Ruunan's Sword' increased Strength, Stamina, and Agility stats and even had the skill Strike as an option.
Jeong-min looked at the items he was wearing and thought.
'Even these are really great items... but the real treasures were separate...'
One thing Jeong-min learned while exploring Leia's inventory.
The really great items were the accessories.
Magic items like the 'Garam Knights Standard Armor' that Jeong-min was wearing, where the accessory itself transformed into a weapon or armor.
The options for stats and skills were also incredibly powerful, incomparable to the items Jeong-min was currently wearing, but Jeong-min couldn't take them.
Because there were stat restrictions.
Seeing that the minimum stat requirement for the wearer was at least 3 digits, Jeong-min decided to give up for now.
'It's difficult now... but I'll be able to use them later... With the items I have now... I should be able to easily break through the D-rank gate outside... Now... I'm ready to go...'
Jeong-min waited for his mana to fully recover.
Thanks to the ring that increased his mana recovery rate, he was able to fill his mana quickly.
When his mana was fully recovered, Jeong-min opened the inventory gate.
As expected, the area around the gate was full of goblins.
"Hoo... Summon Armor."
As Jeong-min muttered, light emanated from the bracelet on his left arm and soon enveloped his entire body.
After the light disappeared, Jeong-min's entire body was covered in silver armor.
'Hmm... it's quite heavy... If my Strength stat hadn't increased with 'Ruunan's Sword,' I wouldn't have even dared to wear it...' Jeong-min lowered the visor of his helmet.
It was stuffy, but it couldn't be helped for safety.
'When I can wear better armor later... these inconveniences will disappear a
lot.'
Wearing armor and holding a sword, Jeong-min stared beyond the inventory gate.
'... Let's go!'
After taking a short deep breath, Jeong-min looked beyond the gate and cast the Spatial Movement skill.
Jeong-min appeared among the goblins and immediately knelt down on one knee.
'Ugh... this damn dimensional movement aftereffect...'
The goblins around him were surprised by Jeong-min's sudden appearance and were momentarily flustered, but soon screamed and rushed at Jeong-min.
Jeong-min, who was dizzy and couldn't focus, simply endured the goblins' attacks, trusting in his armor.
Clang! Clang!
The goblins stabbed and slashed at Jeong-min with small knives and axes.
But they only made slight scratches on Jeong-min's armor.
Some of the goblins even dropped their knives because their hands were numb.
Almost all attacks were ineffective, but Jeong-min couldn't help but be injured by attacks that came through the joints of the armor.
"Kugh!"
Jeong-min was jolted awake by a small knife that came through the joint of his left arm.
The slight dizziness that remained disappeared in an instant, and pain rushed through his arm instead.
Jeong-min regained his senses and swung the sword he was holding horizontally.
Swoosh
The sword swung with a sharp tearing sound.
The waists of three goblins caught in its path were cut in half at once.
The goblins attacking Jeong-min hesitated when three goblins died in one attack.
Taking advantage of the gap, Jeong-min began to run through the goblins.
The goblins blocking Jeong-min's path rolled on the floor with one or more of their limbs severed each time Jeong-min swung his sword.
The goblins, seeing so many of their kin dying, could not easily rush at the running Jeong-min.
Then.
One goblin blocked Jeong-min's path.
A goblin with a similar build to Jeong-min, wearing knuckles.
'Was that the guy from before...? The goblin champion, or whatever it was called...?'
Recalling what he had heard from Leia, Jeong-min accelerated and charged at the goblin champion.
The goblin champion dodged the sword that Jeong-min swung as he took a big step forward.
Then, it rushed at Jeong-min, whose posture was broken, and swung its fist.
'You won't get me twice!'
Jeong-min, anticipating the goblin champion's attack, twisted his body and took the attack on his shoulder.
ThwackA loud noise erupted from the shoulder of the armor, and Jeong-min felt the goblin champion flinch.
Jeong-min immediately swung his sword towards the goblin champion's head.
The goblin champion instinctively raised both arms, but Jeong-min's sword sliced through both arms and the neck in one fell swoop.
Two arms and a head fell to the ground. Jeong-min stepped past the goblin champion's body as it collapsed and began running again.
The goblins were now hesitant to rush in, and soon Jeong-min was able to escape their encirclement.
Jeong-min immediately used Spatial Movement.
Because it was an open road, Jeong-min's Spatial Movement, with its clear view of the distance, allowed him to travel quite far.
Appearing in the middle of the deserted road, Jeong-min looked at the mountain beside the road.
'That's the direction of the spring, right?'
Jeong-min, having set his course for the spring where he used to train, was able to reach his target after using Spatial Movement four more times.