I Met Another Race
Yeong-ung and Pepper returned to the temple with the Mysterious Wanderer.
Was it because they had reached a safe place?
[You have cleared the sudden quest, ‘Mysterious Wanderer.’]
[You have gained Experience.]
[Your level has increased.]
[The skill, ‘Soil Fertility Recovery LV. 1,’ has been created.]
The quest was cleared.
‘Soil Fertility Recovery?’
Yeong-ung checked the Class Skill he had received as the quest reward.
[Soil Fertility Recovery LV. 1]
Grade: C
Classification: Active.
Experience: 0.00%
Description: Borrows the power of spirits to restore depleted soil fertility over time.
Spirit Power Cost: 3,000
Effect Range: 100 tiles.
Cooldown: 300 seconds.
Effects: Soil Fertility Recovery Rate + 30%
Soil Fertility Enhancement + 30%
Growth Acceleration + 10%
Germination Rate + 5%
Yeong-ung’s face brightened when he read the skill description.
“Oh! I needed this anyway!”
Soil fertility was closely tied to farming.
Without it, the land lost its strength, dried out, and became barren.
Even the god of farming himself could never grow crops on land like that.
The reason fertilizer and compost were spread over fields was to replenish depleted soil fertility.
‘The problem is, there’s no way to restore soil fertility in the Spirit Realm.’
“Should I try it?”
Yeong-ung used the skill on the sweet potato and tomato garden plots.
“Soil Fertility Recovery!”
[You have used the Soil Fertility Recovery skill.]
[Soil Fertility Recovery Rate + 30%]
[Soil Fertility Enhancement + 30%]
[Growth Acceleration + 10%]
[Germination Rate + 5%]
[Soil Fertility Recovery skill experience has increased slightly.]
[You have gained Class Experience.]
HUMMMMM.
A faint glow spread through the area.
Yeong-ung waited out the cooldown and repeatedly used the skill across the entire garden plot, restoring its soil fertility.
‘This should be enough.’
“And Status Window!”
[Status Window]
Name: Yeong-ung.
Level: 25 Experience: 9.53%
Class: Spirit Farmer.
Title: Discoverer of the Spirit Realm.
Health: 3,500/3,500 Spirit Power: 11,000/11,000
Satiety: 45%
<Stats>
Strength: 25 + 20 Stamina: 15 + 20 Agility: 10 + 20 Wisdom: 5 + 20 Luck: 10 + 20
<Special Stats>
Spirit Power: 15 + 95
Remaining Stat Points: 70
His level had shot up by fourteen all at once.
The experience he had gained from killing the Giant Troll and clearing the quest had been enormous.
Yeong-ung smacked his lips in disappointment.
“What a shame. If it weren’t for the experience cap, I would’ve leveled up even more.”
Overlord had a system called the ‘experience cap.’
It existed to prevent extreme power-leveling by placing an upper limit on how much experience a player could gain at once.
It was meant to stop low-level users from being carried and instantly gaining a huge number of levels.
There was another reason as well.
‘I think they said it was introduced because some player once set a mountain on fire to level up?’
It had happened not long after the game first launched.
One player spent every last coin they had in town buying oil and spread it across a mountain.
Then they set it on fire, started a forest fire, and gained thirty levels in one go.
‘There are plenty of people in the world, and even more lunatics.’
Who would ever think of starting a forest fire?
Of course, afterward, that player was arrested as an arsonist and sentenced to five years in prison in game time.
In other words,
‘They were basically telling him to quit.’
He had committed a crime, so they had clearly locked him up with the attitude that if he did not like it, he could quit.
Anyway, for reasons like that, even if you killed a high-level monster, there was a fixed limit to the amount of experience you could gain.
‘Nothing I can do about it.’
“For my stats…….”
Yeong-ung distributed his stat points carefully.
“Twenty into Strength, twenty into Agility, twenty into Stamina, and ten into Spirit Power.”
It was better to prioritize Strength, Agility, and Stamina over Spirit Power.
Those stats helped with farming too.
After finishing the allocation, Yeong-ung closed the Status Window.
“But what exactly is this lighter……?”
Yeong-ung took out the lighter.
The Grade A Ancient Magic Lighter.
He had known its firepower was strong, but he had never imagined it could kill a Giant Troll in one hit.
Yeong-ung tried using the lighter.
DING!
[You have used the Ancient Magic Lighter at maximum output.]
[When the Ancient Magic Lighter is used at maximum output, it cannot be used for one day while it recharges.]
“Oh, it has a cooldown?”
He had not expected there to be a cooldown like that.
‘Still, that’s not bad. It’ll be perfect to use in an emergency.’
“Guh……!”
“Squee! Master!”
“He doesn’t look good.”
Yeong-ung put the lighter away and looked at the Mysterious Wanderer.
First, he removed the robe.
“This is…….”
“Squee! He’s from another race, squee!”
The wanderer was not human.
He was a bearded man with a muscular build, short legs, and short arms.
“He’s a dwarf, squee!”
“A dwarf?”
“Squee!”
Yeong-ung knew what dwarves were too.
They were one of the races specialized in blacksmithing, famed for possessing craftsmanship said to rival the hands of a god.
Yeong-ung stared at the dwarf in fascination.
He knew there were many different races in Overlord, but this was the first time he had ever seen one in person.
“Nngh…….”
“He doesn’t look well. What’s wrong with him?”
“Squee…… This smell…… I think it’s poison, squee!”
“Poison?”
“Squee! I can smell it, squee!”
“Then…….”
At the word poison, Yeong-ung took a tomato out of his bag.
‘This should work, right?’
The tomato had the Low-Rank Detoxification option.
Could this detoxify him?
‘I have to try.’
He could not just stand by and let the man die.
Yeong-ung tore the tomato into small pieces and placed them in the dwarf’s mouth so he could eat them.
Perhaps the dwarf instinctively sensed that eating the tomato would save him, because he chewed and swallowed it diligently.
“Phew…….”
Had the Water Tomato’s detoxification effect worked?
The dwarf’s strained breathing gradually stabilized.
“Looks like it worked, right?”
“I think so, squee.”
“For now…….”
The dwarf fell sound asleep.
He looked comfortable.
Only then did Yeong-ung finally relax, his face exhausted.
A lot had happened today.
He had only gone out to explore the area, yet he had suddenly run into a Giant Troll.
And then he had even met a dwarf.
Maybe that was why.
“I’m kind of tired…… Should we sleep for a bit?”
“Squeeeee…….”
Pepper stretched out its body and let out a long yawn, looking sleepy as well.
Yeong-ung lay down beside it.
The moment he did, Pepper slowly climbed onto his stomach as though it had been waiting for the chance, then curled itself up.
“……Am I some kind of personal bed?”
“Squeeeee…….”
“Whatever.”
Yeong-ung stroked Pepper and closed his eyes.
Five seconds later,
“Snore…….”
“Zzz…….”
Only the faint sound of snoring could be heard across the farm.
***
The dwarf woke up the next morning.
“Thank you so much for saving me! I don’t know how I can ever repay this debt!”
The moment he got up, the dwarf bowed deeply to Yeong-ung.
“It was nothing. So…….”
“My name is Hote.”
DING!
[Hote’s Favorability has greatly increased.]
[Hote considers you his lifesaver and will hold you in high regard.]
[If Favorability rises, you may receive a special gift.]
“I’m Yeong-ung, and this is…….”
“Pepper, squee!”
“Pepper-squee?”
“Pepper, squee!”
“So your name is Pepper-squee?”
“Squee!! No, squee!! I’m Pepper, squee!”
“Wahahaha! I see. So you’re Pepper. Forgive me, little Water Spirit.”
“Squee!”
Hote laughed heartily as he patted Pepper on the head.
“But this really is strange. I never expected to meet a Revelator in the Spirit Realm.”
Hote looked at Yeong-ung with curiosity.
This was the Spirit Realm, not the Middle Realm.
He had never imagined that he would encounter a Revelator in a world cut off from the outside.
A Revelator.
A being chosen by a god, given a special revelation, and descended upon this land.
He had heard they were mysterious beings who looked human but possessed immortal bodies unlike those of ordinary humans.
‘The elder told me about them, but I never thought I’d actually meet one like this.’
“And this place…… Is this the Temple of the Forgotten God?”
“You know this place?”
“I don’t know all that much. As far as I know, it was a temple dedicated to a god who protected the Spirit Realm a very long time ago…….”
Wrinkles formed across Hote’s forehead.
He seemed to be searching his memory.
“According to the story, when an evil being tried to stain the Spirit Realm with darkness, the god who protected this realm risked everything and drove the darkness away.”
“Darkness?”
“Yes. This temple was built to worship that god.”
“Then how did that god end up forgotten? If he protected the Spirit Realm, wouldn’t that make him incredibly great?”
It was a god who had protected the Spirit Realm.
Naturally, a god like that should have been revered even more.
“Well, I don’t know the details either. But according to an old tale passed down from long ago, the god who protected the Spirit Realm used all of his power. As a consequence, he lost his name.”
“Their name?”
“For a god, a name is the source of their power. Without a name, a god cannot establish their own existence.”
“Hmm…….”
“That is why he was forgotten.”
“Huh…….”
It was a truly sad story.
A god who had risked everything to protect the Spirit Realm.
And because of that, everyone forgot him.
He protected the world, but……
“So he couldn’t protect himself?”
“You could put it that way.”
Yeong-ung looked at the temple.
Before he arrived, there had been no sign that anyone had visited the place at all.
How long had it been abandoned?
“Squee…… That’s such a sad story, squee…….”
“Hahaha! Little Water Spirit, I think so too.”
“But how did you end up here?”
“Hm? Ah, I came here because there’s a medicinal herb I need to find.”
“An herb? What is it?”
“That’s…….”
Just as Hote was about to answer,
GRRRRUMBLE—
A sound like thunder erupted from Hote’s stomach.
“…….”
“…….”
“…….”
At the sudden noise, Hote lowered his head in embarrassment.
Yeong-ung smiled and said,
“I have some sweet potatoes. Want some?”
***
MUNCH, MUNCH!
“These are truly delicious! Absolutely delicious! Never in all my dwarf life have I tasted sweet potatoes this good!!”
[Hote’s Favorability has greatly increased.]
Hote was devouring the Roasted Earth Sweet Potatoes Yeong-ung had given him.
They were truly delicious.
The more he chewed, the richer their savory sweetness became.
‘They’re melting! They’re melting!’
They were practically melting in his mouth.
Compared to this, it would not have been strange to call everything he had eaten until now garbage.
And the taste was not the only thing.
‘Eating these sweet potatoes makes me feel invigorated. I’m overflowing with strength too.’
It was not merely his imagination.
He could feel his body recovering, and every wound he had suffered while fighting monsters in this place had disappeared.
It was all thanks to the power of the crop.
He could not help but marvel.
“Truly…… they’re incredibly delicious.”
“Hehe, right?”
“I never thought the day would come when I’d get to eat sweet potatoes this delicious in the Spirit Realm.”
After eating the Roasted Earth Sweet Potatoes, Hote nodded with a broad, satisfied smile.
Watching him, Yeong-ung thought,
‘Could it be that dwarves don’t have the hands of a god, but the stomachs of one?’
Hote had eaten no fewer than ten sweet potatoes in one sitting.
Was this the power of a dwarf?
It was astonishing.
“Thank you, truly.”
[Hote’s Favorability has greatly increased.]
[You can receive a special gift from Hote.]
“Hmm…… Even I think I ate far too much. I’d like to repay you. Is there anything you want? If you wish, I can make you anything.”
DING!
[You can commission Hote to craft an item.]
[Hote is a highly skilled blacksmith.]
[He should be able to make anything you want.]
A gleam appeared in Yeong-ung’s eyes.
There was something he needed anyway, so the timing was perfect.
“But I don’t have any materials.”
“Hahaha! I could never ask my lifesaver to provide them. I have materials with me, so tell me anything you want.”
“Anything I want…… Then, by any chance.”
“Go on.”
“How many can you make?”