[Individual Name: Azure Breeze]
[Buff Type: Mana]
[Compatible with your body.]
“!?”
Thud.
The piece in my hand slipped from my fingers.
‘Compatible……?’
Why?
Hadn’t it been useless to me?
“Urgh……!”
A sudden pain struck me.
A cold ache spread outward from my heart throughout my entire body.
My condition began resembling my sister’s from yesterday.
Blue veins bulged across various parts of my body.
[Mana amplification within the body.]
[Body tissue activation.]
“A-Activation……?”
Thump, thump!
I could feel my heart pounding like a pump.
The pain gradually subsided.
I put my weight against the chair beside me and tried to stand.
CRACK!
“Whoa!?”
CRASH!
My body came crashing down just as I tried to get up.
Rubbing my lower back, I looked at the chair.
“……Huh.”
It had been completely shattered.
‘Did I get stronger?’
Was that what activation meant?
But that was not the end of it.
[EX-Rank Skill ― Retainer of the World Tree has been activated.]
[Locked functionality has been unlocked.]
“Locked functionality?”
Aside from being EX-Rank, I had never known exactly what the ability did.
Retainer of the World Tree.
“S-Status Window.”
[Name: Jeong Sohyeok]
[Affiliation: Republic of Korea]
[Level: 1LV]
[Ability: Blessing of the World Tree]
[Exclusive Skills: Blessing of the World Tree, Retainer of the World Tree]
[General Skills: None]
With a trembling hand, I selected my second Exclusive Skill.
Retainer of the World Tree.
[EX-Rank Skill ― Retainer of the World Tree]
―Turns a being that has received a blessing into a Retainer of the World Tree.
―The one who bestows the blessing may freely use the abilities of their Retainers.
―Current Targets: 3
‘There’s another line……!’
The ability had originally done nothing more than turn blessed beings into Retainers.
Now it had been upgraded another step.
“This…… is an upgrade, right?”
To be honest—
I did not fully understand it from the description alone.
“Freely use the abilities of my Retainers…….”
There should currently have been two people registered under Retainer of the World Tree.
My sister, Jeong Sohyeon.
And Baek Yulheon, the Guild Master of White Lotus.
“……Huh?”
At least, there should have been.
“Why are there three?”
The number of Retainers registered under Retainer of the World Tree—
was listed as three, not two.
“C-Check.”
I cautiously opened the list.
[Target ― Jeong Sohyeon (Heaven-Splitting Greatsword 破天大劍)]
[Target ― Baek Yulheon (Wind-Thunder Fist Art 風雷拳法)]
[Target ― Jeong Cheongun (Enhanced Senses)]
“Jeong…… Cheongun?”
I had heard that name before.
“He was definitely the Director of the Seoul Awakened Management Bureau that the Guild Master mentioned…….”
‘How did Jeong Cheongun end up eating one of my plants?’
I took out my phone and checked my messages with Baek Yulheon.
The most likely explanation was that Baek Yulheon had used one of my plants during the Major Guild Evaluation.
“He did ask me to pack a few cherry tomatoes…….”
I doubted Baek Yulheon had revealed my identity.
He had probably used them as supplementary evidence regarding my sister’s 50th Floor clear.
He must have concealed their source somehow.
“Did this work out in my favor, then?”
There was no reason having more Retainers would be a bad thing.
“Enhanced Senses…….”
Thinking there might be some additional explanation, I tapped the ability several times.
Then—
[Would you like to borrow the skill of your Retainer, Jeong Cheongun ― Enhanced Senses?]
“Oh.”
‘Borrow?’
That was an intriguing message.
“Don’t tell me…… I can copy someone else’s ability?”
Surely not.
How could feeding someone a single piece of fruit allow me to copy their ability?
“…….”
And yet—
for some reason, increasingly ridiculous possibilities kept running through my mind.
EX-Rank.
If this ability surpassed even the S-Rank ability possessed by the world’s number-one-ranked Awakened—
perhaps it really was possible.
‘……Whatever.’
“I’ll borrow it.”
I squeezed my eyes shut and waited for something to happen.
One second.
Two seconds.
Three……
“…….”
I felt absolutely no change.
“……Right. Of course that wouldn’t work, haha.”
What had I even been expecting?
Thinking that, I opened the eyes I had squeezed tightly shut.
“Huh.”
[Synchronization Rate with Retainer: 10%]
[Ability degradation detected.]
[Estimated Rank: B ―> D]
[Would you like to borrow it?]
“A final…… confirmation?”
This sort of thing had happened to me plenty of times before.
I would start a download and leave the house.
Then I would come home only to discover that the download had never even begun because I had failed to click the final confirmation.
“Haha…….”
A hollow laugh escaped me.
“Yes. I would like to borrow it.”
[User approval confirmed.]
[Beginning ability replication.]
[Replication Target: Enhanced Senses, Jeong Cheongun]
“Urgh……?”
Bzzzz―.
A sudden ringing filled my ears.
The tips of my hands and feet grew cold.
The scent of the Azure Breeze on the table became overwhelmingly intense.
The light from the ceiling lamp was so bright that my eyes instinctively squeezed shut.
“W-What is this……!”
My senses sharpened to the point that it was almost painful.
Even standing properly became difficult.
‘Jeong Cheongun has been living with this ever since he Awakened……?’
And the Enhanced Senses I had copied was only D-Rank.
The original owner, Jeong Cheongun, possessed it at B-Rank.
His experience must have been incomparable to this mere D-Rank version.
“C-Cancel! Cancel the ability! Stop borrowing it!”
In the end, I could not endure it and deactivated the ability.
Fortunately, I was free to cancel it whenever I wanted.
“Huff…… huff…….”
Thud.
Cold sweat poured from my body like rain.
My body felt as heavy as a soaked rag.
“What the hell is this…….”
I lay down on the floor, drenched in sweat.
Then I covered my eyes so I could not see the ceiling light.
My eyes were still stinging.
“Heh…….”
Even though my body felt like it was dying—
for some reason, I started laughing.
I was still completely exhausted.
Maybe the whole thing was simply too absurd.
I laughed like that for quite some time before unknowingly falling asleep.
“Let’s grow a new plant.”
“……Huh?”
Amid the noisy surroundings—
my sister tapped me on the shoulder and spoke.
“What did you say?”
I frowned and asked again.
The noise around us had drowned out most of what she said.
There was not even any music playing.
‘How can people talking alone be this loud……?’
This place was……
essentially a banquet hall.
We were inside White Lotus’s building.
At a party hosted by the Guild Master.
‘……Wasn’t Sis at some kind of party the last time I called her too?’
Baek Yulheon.
I had assumed he was a man who lived solely for work, but apparently he was more of a party fanatic than I expected.
I was an outsider whom Baek Yulheon had practically dragged here by force.
I had repeatedly told him that I did not want to come.
‘Come on! If you don’t come, Sohyeok, what’s even the point of having a party!’
‘……Why don’t you just celebrate with the White Lotus guild members?’
‘Think of it as a party for you! What’s the point of a party if the guest of honor doesn’t show up?’
……That was how it had gone.
And so I had been dragged here against my will.
‘……I don’t even like alcohol.’
Sip.
I barely wet my lips with the bitter liquor.
“Hey! Can’t you hear me?”
“Huh?”
My sister had apparently been muttering beside me the entire time I was sipping my drink.
Realizing there was no point trying to talk over the noise—
she dragged me toward the back of the banquet hall.
“Ugh…… It’s so loud. I said I didn’t want to come, so why did he have to force me……?”
My sister dug at her ear with her little finger while cursing Baek Yulheon.
For once, I could not help agreeing with her.
“So what is it?”
“‘So what is it?’ Is that any way to speak to your older sister? You think you’re all grown up now, so you can rebel against me?”
“Urgh…… W-What is it…… ma’am?”
My sister snorted.
“I said we should grow another plant.”
“Huh?”
Another plant?
“Don’t tell me you have another Tower Plant seed…….”
“No, not yet. Do you think something that expensive just pops up everywhere?”
‘……You gave something that expensive to an unemployed guy without even knowing whether he could grow it?’
I felt bad saying this, but—
my sister could be remarkably simple-minded.
“You don’t have to grow only Tower Plants. You can grow ordinary vegetables too, like the cherry tomatoes, right?”
“Ordinary vegetables…….”
The overwhelming rush of dopamine from the Tower Plant had made me forget all about that.
“If we increase the number of plants you can mass-produce like the cherry tomatoes, then the number of different buffs you can provide will increase too.”
“Hmm…….”
“What do you think? Hm? If you want, I’ll give you as much support as you need.”
My sister’s eyes sparkled.
Seeing that—
I cautiously asked,
“……Why are you suddenly so interested in this?”
“H-Huh?”
I appreciated her taking an interest in me.
But normally, my sister’s attitude toward what I did was—
‘Do it if you want. Don’t if you don’t.’
Even when I shut myself away in my room, that attitude had not changed.
So I was simply curious why she had suddenly become so proactive.
My sister’s eyes darted around.
“Um…… The truth is, I secretly challenged the 51st Floor yesterday without telling the guild members.”
“……What?”
‘Secretly……?’
As my expression hardened—
my sister hurriedly began making excuses.
“No……! Guilds have something called an Awakened Rest Period. There’s a mandatory rest period between Tower climbs!”
“……And?”
“I couldn’t forget the thrill of fighting that Lycanthrope on the 50th Floor…….”
“So you just went in?”
“Yeah…….”
Wow……
“……And the result?”
“Of course I cleared it! Usually, the floor immediately after a Boss Room at every ten-floor interval is about as difficult as the Boss Room itself, or even easier.”
“Isn’t the guild not supposed to know about this?”
“Um…….”
A sigh escaped me.
“So? You challenged the 51st Floor. What happened next?”
“Huh? Next?”
“You must need something. That’s why you’re trying to convince me to do more work, isn’t it?”
“Ah, well…… The monsters on the 51st Floor just happened to be Spirit-Type…….”
Spirit-Type?
“What’s that?”
“Ah, they’re like small creatures made of Mana. They’re incredibly agile, and their attack power isn’t exactly weak either.”
Hmm.
I could picture it now.
My sister swinging a greatsword larger than her own body at spirits darting through the air.
“So you’re saying brute strength alone won’t be enough from now on?”
“Exactly! That’s exactly it!”
From what I had heard, the boss my sister defeated on the 50th Floor—
the Lycanthrope—
was an extremely aggressive creature.
When it saw a human, it charged first and thought later.
That meant it could be dealt with through sheer brute force.
But against something nimble like a spirit—
no matter how much she swung that enormous greatsword around, she would never hit it.
‘She’s probably already thinking about clearing the 60th Floor.’
She did not want the guild’s current excitement to sink again.
‘She still hates making people worry about her. That hasn’t changed at all.’
“Fine. I’ll try growing a few things.”
“Whatever you need, just tell me. Your sister will provide all of it.”
“Anything I need?”
“Yeah.”
What did I need?
My ability was so absurdly effective that growing the plants themselves required almost no effort.
If there was one difficult part—
it was probably my lack of Mana.
“Can you get Potions too?”
Mana Potions.
They were emergency medicines used when someone ran low on Mana.
Their effect was to temporarily increase the natural recovery rate of Mana.
‘I saw something about them online. Apparently, if you drink one before sleeping, you wake up without any fatigue.’
“Potions? Hmm…… I’ll see if the guild has any extras.”
“Okay. Deal.”
I should stop by a supermarket on the way home.
“Hehehe…… Oh∼! Sohyeon! Sohyeok! There you are∼!”
“Ugh, the smell of alcohol…….”
The dimly lit area suddenly brightened.
Then a group of drunkards came charging in.
“Tonight’s stars∼! Sohyeon and∼ Sohyeok!”
CLAP, CLAP, CLAP!!
Thunderous applause erupted.
‘I want to go home…….’
The party looked as though it might continue all night.
In the end, however—
it ended early when my sister finally lost her temper and caused a scene.