Chapter 247

Class Advancement (2)

Fortunately, I hadn’t compressed that much aura, so the disaster didn’t last very long.

However, its aftermath had not completely disappeared. No one had been injured, but the shelter had been reduced to a complete mess.

Under the stinging gazes of my companions, I slowly began cleaning up the shelter. After all, my actions had nearly caused them serious harm.

’I didn’t know that would happen either.’

It wasn’t as though I had no complaints of my own. I had merely done what Ludwig told me to do.

Who could have imagined that my aura would spray out uncontrollably like an overheated gun?

As I grumbled inwardly and cleaned the shelter, lunchtime soon arrived.

"Mister, do you know why that happened?"

"Overheating."

"Is that all?"

"For now?"

When I asked Ludwig about it over lunch, I received the answer I had expected.

According to his explanation, aura overheating itself was surprisingly common.

It occurred when someone tried to forcefully reduce their aura too much, only for the backlash to make it uncontrollable.

In my case, the phenomenon had simply been so severe that my aura erupted like a volcano.

"@#$%^&. #$%%#."

[He says it resembles pumping. Your aura was compressed, then accelerated when your control over it suddenly broke.]

"Then if I use that properly, couldn’t I temporarily accelerate the aura inside my body?"

At my words, Ludwig looked at me with mild surprise.

His expression seemed to ask whether I had really managed to think that far ahead from his explanation alone.

Just as I began grumbling inwardly about how much he underestimated me, he spoke.

"Yes. Possible."

"Then could you teach me how—"

"You’ll get hurt. Don’t."

"..."

Ludwig explained the method I had just proposed.

Apparently, martial artists—particularly those with great mastery over aura—could use such a technique.

If one could pump and accelerate the aura inside one’s body, one’s overall physical abilities would rise.

The problem was that very few bodies could endure it, and the technique consumed an extreme amount of stamina.

Moreover, since I possessed an abnormal quantity of aura, there was no telling what might happen to me.

"You might explode. Don’t."

"..."

In the worst-case scenario, my body might fail to withstand it and go boom.

If he was saying that even after I had undergone Rebirth, then my condition must have been extraordinarily abnormal.

For the time being, I had no choice but to concentrate on controlling my aura.

And on mastering the fundamentals while I was at it.

’I’m sure Mister will teach me well.’

I wasn’t the only one who would suffer.

Ludwig was going to have a hard time too.

With that thought in mind, I accessed the Gallery.

I wanted to check on the dinosaur carcass that had remained unsold past the time limit I had set.

’It was a system where bidding right before the auction ended extended the time.’

As far as I knew, each last-minute bid added a grace period of approximately ten minutes.

Perhaps that was why the dinosaur carcass, which should originally have sold for the equivalent of around ten billion won, had doubled several times in price.

I had known that heated bidding wars could delay an auction’s conclusion, but the number of extensions this time had been record-breaking.

’Whoa. How much is this? Fifty billion won?’

It had sold for fifty billion sera.

The sera was the currency of Setan, a desert nation inhabited by dark elves.

In Earth terms, it occupied a position similar to the oil-rich nations of the Middle East. Apparently, Setan had made a fortune from mana stones and gold.

I had wondered yesterday whether a wealthy Setanian had joined the bidding.

I hadn’t expected one to actually get involved.

’Let’s see. The buyer was... an anon.’

As expected, an anonymous user had purchased it.

They were probably one of Setan’s wealthy elites.

One might wonder whether PraiseTheSun would feel disappointed by this, but there was no need to worry.

I had already gifted him a piece of dinosaur hide.

One piece had gone to the dwarf, and another to PraiseTheSun.

I had originally intended to give him an entire carcass, but he said something about it being too troublesome to process and asked only for the hide.

’Come to think of it, has the dwarf still not finished processing the hide?’

The dwarf suddenly came to mind, so I sent him a message.

Exactly three days had passed since I sent him the hide.

Surely, he must have made some progress by now.

[Wild Grylls: Hey. What are you doing?]

[Passing Dwarf: Drinking. Why?]

[Wild Grylls: ;;]

He wasn’t actually going to drink himself to death from liver cancer, was he?

I had heard that although dwarves had a higher potential lifespan than humans, their average lifespan was about the same.

The reason was that many of them died young from liver-related diseases.

That thought suddenly made me curious about the dwarf’s age.

[Wild Grylls: How old are you, anyway?]

[Passing Dwarf: Why? Planning to start talking down to me?]

[Wild Grylls: I already talk down to you.]

[Passing Dwarf: Oh. Fair point. Anyway, I’m over a hundred.]

[Wild Grylls: Dwarves start drinking at ten years old?]

[Passing Dwarf: You can’t judge us by human standards. Dwarves mature quickly. I’ve been drinking since I was twelve.]

[Wild Grylls: ;;;;;]

Dwarves were a race with far more alcoholics than I had ever imagined.

Even Russians who practically inhaled vodka probably didn’t start this young.

For a moment, I wondered whether there were any dwarves who disliked alcohol, but then I returned to the main topic.

[Wild Grylls: Have you finished processing the hide I gave you?]

[Passing Dwarf: Yeah, it’s done. But you’ll probably have to wear it like a robe rather than regular clothes.]

[Wild Grylls: A robe is that outfit with a hood, right? Got it.]

[Passing Dwarf: Also, it has an invisibility ability, so it’ll probably come in handy.]

[Wild Grylls: Oh. Did you add that?]

[Passing Dwarf: ?? The ability was already embedded in the hide itself.]

The dwarf added that it was an extremely unusual ability.

Normally, something like that would be an ability possessed by the creature itself rather than its hide.

[Wild Grylls: You think someone might have modified it?]

[Passing Dwarf: I don’t know that much. It might just be because it came from the Forest of Four Seasons. Anyway, I’m sending it over.]

[Wild Grylls: Okay.]

I received the dinosaur-hide robe from the dwarf.

Perhaps because it had been crafted by a skilled dwarf, it had a neat and polished appearance aside from its scale-like surface.

’Wearing this will make me invisible?’

Taking the dwarf at his word, I put on the robe.

When I quietly channeled mana into it, my entire body astonishingly began to fade.

Eventually, I became so transparent that I couldn’t even see my own hands.

I could hardly believe it despite witnessing it with my own eyes.

"Oh..."

After a brief exclamation of wonder, I turned my head and searched for prey—or rather, a target.

Since we had just eaten lunch, Tyrano and Wonmo were fast asleep.

That left only Namu ppareumbo, who was sitting there spacing out.

Concealing my presence as much as possible, I crept up behind Namu ppareumbo.

Just as I reached out to startle him—

Thud!

"Gah?!"

Somehow sensing me, he swung his arm without even looking behind him.

The problem was that his swinging arm struck me directly in the groin.

A horrifying pain that every man would understand slowly spread through my body.

"Urgh... Ghh..."

"..."

The pain was so intense that it brought tears to my eyes, and the invisibility automatically deactivated.

As I collapsed to the ground and writhed in agony, Namu ppareumbo looked down at me with a pathetic expression.

I wondered how he had noticed me, but then I heard another voice from behind.

"What are you doing?"

[It appears he is undergoing Rebirth again.]

It was Ludwig and Cain. They both looked puzzled when they saw me lying on the ground.

Since I was clutching that particular area, they seemed to have roughly figured out what had happened.

"#%/%^."

[He says that if it suddenly hurts down there, you may have to cut it off.]

"Please don’t say something so terrifying."

Setting that horrifying suggestion aside, I explained the situation to them.

The robe made from dinosaur hide possessed an invisibility function, and I had gotten hit while trying to use it for a prank.

When Ludwig heard that I had chosen Namu ppareumbo, of all my companions, as my target, he gave me a truly pathetic look.

I felt slightly wronged because the invisibility function itself had worked exceptionally well.

[Regardless of how excellent it is, your fundamentals are abysmal. Of course you were discovered. Why do you think assassins train to conceal their presence?]

"Then is this thing useless?"

[Not at all. On the contrary, it should prove extremely useful. Although it may be a different story against an animal with a particularly keen sense of smell.]

Cain added that the invisibility robe would be useful when exploring alone.

It would make reconnaissance much easier than moving around with the entire group.

’If I use this well, I might even be able to enter the gorillas’ territory.’

I probably wouldn’t be able to get close to the gorilla leader, though.

Since he was as skilled as Namu ppareumbo, he would immediately detect my presence.

Even so, the robe had made it possible to explore the gorillas’ territory, which had previously been almost completely unknown to me.

[Before that, you should learn to control your aura. The reason this fellow detected your presence was partly because of your aura.]

"What do you mean by that?"

[Your body is overflowing with enough aura that even I can sense it right now.]

Those above a certain level of strength could determine another person’s condition merely by sensing their aura.

And at present, I possessed an excessive amount of aura compared to everyone else.

Unless I learned to conceal it completely, I shouldn’t even dream of infiltrating anywhere.

[Of course, detecting aura is difficult unless one is considerably powerful. The problem is that strong beings of that caliber are everywhere in the Forest of Four Seasons.]

"That sounds incredibly ominous."

[There is a high chance that predators will frequently appear to devour you. At present, you are essentially an exceptionally nutritious lump of meat.]

"For fuck’s sake."

Ultimately, that meant I wouldn’t be able to explore properly until I learned to control my aura.

If I wandered around outside, there was a high chance that some predator would detect me.

After grumbling inwardly for a moment, I went back outside to resume my training.

"You. Change it."

"Change what?"

"Your method."

Ludwig said that the moment we stepped outside.

At first, I didn’t understand what he meant by changing my method, but I soon realized it.

"You want me to change my fighting style?"

Nod.

Ludwig nodded at my question.

I thought he was telling me to discard the fundamentals I had painstakingly learned, but that wasn’t what he meant.

"Spear. Your sword is a spear."

"A spear?"

"Only when using aura."

He meant that I should wield it like a spear only when I activated my aura.

The sword itself was already an outstanding weapon, so there was no reason to use aura unnecessarily.

He added that if I ever needed to use aura, I would undoubtedly be facing a crisis.

’Well, thrusting is part of swordsmanship too.’

It wasn’t a bad option.

If anything, it might be more efficient.

The combination of a spear and shield had always possessed an excellent balance between offense and defense.

Following Ludwig’s advice, I began wielding my aura-coated sword like a spear.

"By the way, did you learn spearmanship too?"

"Most fundamental of fundamentals. We all learn it."

Not every knight used a sword. Everyone had a weapon that suited them best.

Furthermore, in terms of sheer functionality, the spear was supposedly the best weapon.

It was thanks to spears that humanity had managed to hunt enormous monsters back when humans were still pitifully weak.

’You can throw a spear too.’

Ludwig began by teaching me the basic stance.

Apparently, it was originally a stance used by soldiers fighting in formation.

Although I would be using it alone, mastering it should allow me to withstand most attacks without difficulty.

"Now thrust from that position."

"Like this?"

"Don’t extend your arm completely."

I listened to Ludwig’s teachings with complete dedication.

Some time passed, and just as my thighs began to tremble—

"Hold your ground."

"What?"

BOOM!

Without warning, Ludwig launched a front kick at my shield.

To make matters worse, he kicked it not with his normal foot, but with his Mithricon prosthetic leg.

I nearly lost my balance, but narrowly managed to hold my ground.

"Could you at least use your turn signal before coming at me?!"

"Turn signal?"

Startled out of my wits, I shouted at him.

I explained what a turn signal was to Ludwig, who had naturally never heard of one.

After listening to my explanation...

BOOM!

"Urgh!"

He kicked my shield again without the slightest warning.

I had briefly let my guard down, so my stance completely collapsed and I went rolling backward.

More dumbfounded than angry, I stared at Ludwig.

He spoke.

"You still need to hold your ground."

"..."

"What kind of—!"

"No traffic laws here."

I let out a hollow laugh.

But since he was technically right, I had nothing to say and resumed my stance.

One way or another, I needed to complete my class advancement if I wanted an easier time in the future.

Swish!

"Huh?"

"Your back is exposed."

Thud!

Oh, come on!