Somewhere in Seoul, inside a small coffee shop, both Yeonha and Hajin were currently talking about Yi Jin-Ah’s offer.
“So… Do you want me to accept that scholarship?” Kim Hajin asked Yoo Yeonha.
“Yes.” Yoo Yeonha nodded.
“Are you sure it will be a good idea?”
“What? Are you worried that they’re going to fine Essence of the Strait for trying to recruit some cadet for an internship?” Yoo Yeonha asked.
“No. Not that.” Hajin rolled his eyes. “It’s just that, from yesterday’s small problem, I noticed that you weren’t exactly in a good relationship with Yi Jin-Ah.”
“…” Yoo Yeonha flinched. “What do you mean?” She averted her eyes.
“Well, it’s quite obvious, right? She actually gave you these glaring eyes all the time, while also throwing some verbal punches at your choice of picking me up for the Guild Experience Program.” Hajin said with a small smile.
“That’s not it.” Yeonha shook her head. “Whatever. Just take the scholarship. It’s good for you, right?”
“Well, I guess so.” Hajin shrugged.
“Okay, whatever they ask you to do or help them with, you immediately inform me. Okay?”
“Sure.”
“Well, then. Let’s go.” She said with a smile before standing up.
With that, they both stood up and went out towards Essence of the Strait’s building.
***
At the same time, in Argentina, both Cristopher and Evandel are walking through the streets of Buenos Aires at 8:30 PM, since there’s a 12 hours difference between both cities.
“Wow! Let’s go there!” Evandel said while shouting towards some bar that looked really flashy with all the lights that were on the front of the building.
“Mm?” Tilting his head, Cristopher looked at the place. “No. You’re too young for that kind of place. Let’s go somewhere else.”
“Ow… I wanted to go there…” Evandel pouted but still followed him.
“Sorry, but we can’t go in there. After all, they wouldn’t let you, or Shina, go in. Remember we have to pick food to take-out.” Cristopher said while walking somewhere else, to a more normal-looking restaurant. “Okay, Shina. Wait out here, and stay put. Don’t move.”
He said, before hanging a sign over her neck.
[Don’t feed me. Don’t touch me. Don’t try to do anything to me. I’m waiting for my human that’s inside buying stuff.]
“Well, let’s go in, Evandel.” They both went inside the store after Evandel patted Shina saying she must behave, to which Shina purred.
“What are we going to eat, daddy?” Evandel asked while looking around the restaurant.
“Mm? I don’t know. Let’s see what they have.” Cristopher said while walking towards the cash register. It was at that moment, that he slightly flinched.
“Huh? Cristopher-ssi?” As someone called for him. Someone he didn’t expect to see here. “It’s you, right!?” The same person stood up and came running towards him, before stopping suddenly when she saw Evandel, who hid behind Cristopher’s leg.
“Oh… Hey, Hazuki...” He answered Hazuki. “How are you?”
“I’m well, what about you? I never knew I’ll see you all the way over here.” Hazuki said after a moment of silence with an awkward smile.
“Haha, me neither. Such a coincidence, right…?” He answered. “And I’m good, just going to order some food to take-out.”
“Huh? Why don’t you eat here with us?” She asked while tilting her head, before remembering the little girl. “Oh… You can bring your… Sister...?” She titled her head.
“Us…?” Cristopher asked, a little surprised while tilting his head, and that’s when he turned to look at where she was sitting before. There he saw a few other people that looked to be around his age and Hazuki’s age.
“Yes, they’re my friends, we planned this trip before our break.” Hazuki smiled. “We’ve been wanting to visit this place for a while before since one of my friends is from here.” She said while pointing to one of the cadets, another girl with auburn hair and brown eyes.
All of Hazuki’s friends were girls, and they were all looking at both him and Evandel with curious glances, one of them even had stars shining inside her eyes.
{Hajin’s going to kill me.} That thought quickly entered his mind with a small chuckle.
“Um…” At that moment, Evandel appeared from behind his leg and looked at Hazuki. “He’s my father, not my brother.” She said sternly.
“…”
“…”
Both Hazuki and Cristopher flinched at her words. While Evandel only hid her face in Cristopher’s leg.
“Well… Hazuki, I’m glad to have met you here. But, well, we have to order food, we’re both hungry, you see?” He smiled after a few moments of silence.
“Um… Yes, me too. It was a pleasure to meet you here too, Cristopher-ssi… And n-nice t-to m-meet y-you too…” She said while looking down at Evandel.
“Un.” Evandel nodded shyly.
“Well, come on Evandel.” Cristopher said while walking, trying not to look at the table with the other cadets, who had this startled face.
{Oh well, I fucked up.} Cristopher thought for a moment.
“Um? Daddy? Did I do something wrong?” Evandel suddenly clutched Cristopher’s hand.
“Um?” Looking into her worried eyes, something tugged at Cristopher’s heart.
“…” She looked at him, more worried now. “I… I just… It just felt right-”
“Relax. You didn’t do anything wrong Evandel.” He smiled at her. “You’re my daughter. There’s no way I can’t deny that. *chuckles* No one can. Okay? If you feel like you have to speak your mind. Do it. I’ll be beside you to cover your back.”
They both went towards the checkbox to order some take-out food.
At the same time, back at Hazuki’s table, they were suddenly in silence, looking at the duo that just left towards the checkout.
“Hey… Isn’t that guy the one that beat Shin Jonghak’s ass during the mid-terms?” One of the girls, an Asian-looking woman with raven hair asked.
“Yes! He is! I think his name was Cristopher! Isn’t it Hazuki?” Another girl said she was the one that invited them to Argentine, her home country. The one with auburn hair and brown eyes.
“Yes. That’s him.” Hazuki answered with an awkward smile.
“Do you know him?” Another girl, a blond one, asked her. She was the one with stars shining in her eyes.
“Mm? Yes, he’s a friend of one of my old teammates, Kim Hajin. He introduced him to me the weekend before the mid-terms.”
“Ho! You should have insisted him to come to sit here with us!” The blond girl said.
“Are you crazy? He wasn’t alone…” The auburn-colored hair girl said.
“Yes…” The Asian-looking woman nodded. “He has a daughter… At 17… Isn’t that weird?”
“Yeah… And she looked to be about three or four years old…” The other girl said.
“And!? She was cute! I wanted to pinch her cheeks!” The blond one energetically said.
“Come on… We shouldn’t be talking about this. I’m sure he won’t like people to know. He may have some circumstances.” Hazuki intervened, trying to stop the chat.
“Well… I guess that’s true.” Both the Asian girl and the Argentinian girl nodded.
“Oh well… I guess that’s true.” The blond finally said before shrugging. “I guess we have to keep the secret.” She looked around.
“I guess so…”
“Yeah, that should be the best.”
“Please. Don’t go telling anyone else.” Hazuki said.
They all silently nodded. But Hazuki didn’t notice the small glances the other three were giving each other.
***
“I’m glad, Hajin cadet-nim, that you’ve decided to accept the scholarship.”
Back in Seoul, Hajin was currently talking with Yi Jin-Ah, while Yoo Yeonha sat beside him.
“I already talked with the Guild’s Vice Leader and he said that it would be a good idea and that he would talk to the Guild Master about it.” Yi Jin-Ah smiled.
“That won’t be necessary, I’ll talk to my father, so don’t worry about getting his permission.” Yoo Yeonha intervened while smiling. “I do know how good Kim Hajin can do to our guild.”
“…” Yi Jin-Ah silently nodded before turning to Hajin. “Well, Kim Hajin-ssi. Here’s the thing. You won’t need to come here every day, but we’ll contact you whenever there’s something we think you can do, and send everything you need to do it through a protected channel. What do you say? Of course, you’ll have to sign a confidentiality magic contract to keep everything a secret among you and the guild.”
“Sure, no problem. What about the money?”
“Well, we thought about giving you a 150 million won salary for starters, with possible bonuses. This is, of course, a monthly salary.” Yi Jin-Ah said with a smile.
“Huh? Are you sure this is an internship?” Hajin couldn’t believe it. It was a really astronomical sum for someone that wasn’t going to constantly work with them.
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“Mm…” Yoo Yeonha thought about it for a little while. “I’m sure it is quite good for an initial contract.” She nodded.
“Um… Well, if you both say so.” Hajin only shrugged, after all, it was free money, a lot of free money. In a sense, Cristopher was right, why would he even think about rejecting it?
“Well, I guess that would be all for today.” Yoo Yeonha said before standing up. “Shall we go then, Kim Hajin-ssi? Park Sangho-ssi and Chae Nayun-ssi should be waiting for us downstairs.”
“Wait, Kim Hajin-ssi.” Yi Jin-Ah said while standing up. “Why don’t you do your Guild Experience Program with us here? That way I could help you acclimatize with our work, and you will have an idea of what you’ll do later. What do you think?”
“Um…” Kim Hajin didn’t know what to do, so he slightly turned to Yoo Yeonha, who slightly nodded. “Okay, I guess?”
“Great!” Yi Jin-Ah smiled before turning towards Yoo Yeonha. “Then, Yoo Yeonha-ssi, I guess I’ll see you later.”
“See you later then, Yi Jin-Ah-ssi.” She smiled at her too. “Kim Hajin-ssi, see you later.” With that, Yoo Yeonha left the office.
“Well then, Kim Hajin cadet-nim. Wait for me here, I’ll look for a chair for you to sit down.” Yi Jin-Ah said while moving somewhere.
{Well, I guess this is going to be an awkward experience.} Kim Hajin thought with an awkward smile.
***
*knock, knock*
“Come in.”
Inside her room in the English Royal Court, Rachel was waking up, when someone knocked on her door.
“Good morning, Princess.” A middle-aged man dressed as a butler entered the room, greeting Rachel who was sitting on her bed.
“Good morning, Randy, how have you been?”
“Pretty good, Princess. I take it you’ve been good too?” The butler, Randy smiled at Rachel.
Since she was little, he was the one that always took care of her, to the point that she was even more comfortable around him than her own father. Right now, the signs of old-age already started appearing on the man’s hair, which started turning grey.
“Yes.” Rachel smiled. “I’m feeling quite refreshed since coming back home.”
“I’m glad. I came to inform you that we’ve already talked to Cube. We’ll be able to send an agent to protect you from the shadows.”
“Un…” Rachel nodded, a little saddened. “Thanks, Randy.”
“It’s not a problem, Princess.”
“Ah!” As if remembering something, Rachel turned to look at him. “Did you talk to father about what I asked?”
“If it’s about the Guild Experience Program, I’m sorry Princess… But it seems we couldn’t make an agreement with Cube about that.” Randy shook his head.
“Oh…” Rachel just nodded, before sighing. “It’s okay, thanks, Randy.”
“But the Royal Court will contact the two cadets you’ve asked.”
“Really!?” Rachel turned her head up excitedly.
“Mm?” Randy was slightly surprised by her reaction, and Rachel noted it.
“*kuhum*” She got a little bit embarrassed. “Really? Father agreed to it?”
“Yes. He did.” Randy nodded, before looking at her for a moment. “I’m sorry if it seems I’m being a busybody, but may I ask you why are you so interested in having those two inside our guild?”
“Um… As I told you… They both were a great help for me during the Final Exam, and I think they have a great ability, even if their ranks don’t show so…” Rachel gave the same explanation once before when she asked him to contact both of them, a privilege given to the Royal Court Guild, being able to contact cadets each year even when they’re still inside Cube.
“Mm… Is that it?” Randy nodded, looking at Rachel. “I just thought there could be more to it.”
“W-What!? N-No… There’s n-nothing more about it… I just thought it would be great for our guild to contact two cadets with great ability.”
“Oh, is that it?” Randy smiled a little at her reaction.
“Y-Yes!” Rachel nodded, before looking down for a little bit. “Also… One of them really helped me during my time in Cube, he helped me grow a lot.”
“Mm? Is it about your new abilities? Wasn’t that an enlightenment you got, Princess?” Randy tilted his head.
“No.” Rachel shook hers. “It was thanks to Cristopher-ssi that I learned to control elementals. He was the one to discover my affinity, and also led me through the process.”
“Ho… That’s quite amazing, indeed.” Randy nodded with a surprised face. “Is he maybe another elementalist?”
“No. He isn’t. I asked him and he told me he was different from me, but that still could feel the affinity for elementals.”
“Well, you don’t have to worry. The guild will contact him, and also Kim Hajin cadet-nim.” Randy said. “I’ll take my leave then, Princess.” After bowing, he left the room.
After Randy left, Rachel stayed on her bed, thinking about the conversation she just had with the old butler of the English Royal Court.
Se didn’t know if it was a good idea to reveal that Cristopher was the one to actually train her, but if it would make the Royal Court Guild sent an even better proposal for her master, then it was worth it.
She then stood up and walked towards her full-body mirror, where she saw herself. Lifting her pajama’s shirt, she saw her belly, it was a well-defined belly with abs, the result of all her hard training.
Right now, it might not seem possible, but she was sure, that someday, it would grow with life inside her stomach.
“*chuckles*” Without noticing, she let out a small chuckle, before turning red. “I should stop having these thoughts…” She muttered for herself.
*knock, knock*
“Princess is me. Janet.”
“Come in!” A red-faced Rachel shouted at the door, a little flustered.
“Um? Is there a problem?” Janet, a maid that just entered, asked.
“No! Not at all!” Rachel said.
“Okay, I just brought your change of clothes, I’ll leave them on the bed.” Janet smiled before leaving a new change of clothes over Rachel’s bed, before leaving.
“*sigh…*” Rachel let out a deep sigh, taking the clothes, and changing herself before going out to the garden, preparing herself to train. This time, she would start training her Magic Power and physical control as Cristopher said, that way, she would be able to use that new ability he was teaching her before.
“I guess I shouldn’t rest that much…” She pouted slightly, right before smiling. “I want to surprise him when the second semester starts.”
***
“Daddy over there!” Evandel shouted while pointing to a tiger-like monster.
“Well done Evandel!” I patted her head, as she found quite a good monster. It was a Mountain Tyrant, a monster I knew because of the original novel, and one of the monsters Hajin created himself.
It was an enormous tiger, the size of an elephant, with big sabretooth-like fangs and enormous claws.
“I don’t know what the hell is one of these doing here, but I’ll surely get a lot of money from you.” I smiled while looking at the enormous tiger, as these things were really valuable when hunted right.
Rushing towards it, I held the Guardian of the Lake’s Fang, evading a claw while sliding under it and sweeping his right hindleg’s heel, where a blue mark rested, cutting through it easily.
“ROAR!” Roaring from pain, the Mountain Tyrant swiftly turned while trying to bite me, but without its hindleg, it would be hard for it to actually catch me.
“Mm? You don’t seem that strong. Maybe you’re on the lower side?” I said while jumping back.
While I could probably kill it quickly, the idea was to keep its hide as safe as possible. Meaning that using either lightning or fire would make things hard when selling its body.
{Mm… Maybe using a spear isn’t precisely a good idea.} With that thought, I shot the spear towards it, which it evaded to the side with some difficulty thanks to its right hind leg being hurt.
Taking the chance, I focused as much Magic Power and Natural Energy on my arms and quick-stepped towards it, giving a few hits towards its head to try and break its skull without damaging the fur.
I alternated between hitting and evading its claws and fangs until I finally made it fall with a broken skull and his back spine also broken.
{*sigh…* I guess this should be enough, I didn’t damage it that much. Should fetch a good price once I give it to Park Soohyuk.} I thought while putting the Mountain Tyrant inside the backpack.
“Daddy! Are you okay!?” Evandel came running alongside Shina.
“Yeah, were you worried?” I smiled at her while crouching down and patting her head.
“Yes! That tiger was really big… I didn’t know tigers could be that big…”
“Oh, well, it was a Mountain Tyrant. Not exactly an animal, but a monster.” I said while standing down and extending my hand towards the spear slash glaive, which came flying towards me. “Well, shall we keep going? That river I found on the map shouldn’t be far away from here, once we’re there, we can swim a little. You are wearing your swimsuit, right?”
“Yay! I’m wearing it! I really want to swim! Let’s go!” Evandel started running, making me smile, before stopping. “Um… Daddy?”
“Yeah?” I tilted my head at her sudden seriousness.
“I don’t know how to swim…” She suddenly said with her eyes and mouth wide open.
“Pfft hahahahahaha!” I just started laughing, while Shina shook her head.
“Don’t laugh! It’s serious! How am I going to swim if I don’t know how!?” She said while closing her hands into fists.
“Hahahaha… Relax…” I said while sweeping the tears from my eyes. “I’ll teach you how. It’s not that hard, really.” I smiled while walking towards her.
“Really!?” She asked with stars in her eyes.
“Yes, I will teach you. Let’s go. We have to get there fast.” I rushed her.
“Okay!”
{She’s just too cute.} I smiled to myself.
***
The rest of the day was quite normal, for everyone, from training to having a fun trip or having some inside information on how guilds usually operate.
This time, different than yesterday, Kim Hajin actually got earlier to his home, as he has been all the day inside the Analysis Room, learning a few things from the work he might have to during the incoming days.
The work wasn’t that hard, and with Yoo Yeonha being the one to actually ‘wage the war’, he only needed to worry about getting a monthly salary of 150 million won with extra payments whenever he made an important contribution. Something he could do just by copying some info from his laptop.
“Well, I guess I should start working on my new gift.” I said while turning on the laptop.
This time I came earlier than yesterday, so I think I won’t see either Cristopher or Evandel anytime soon.
“Mm…”
[Strength 4.75] [Stamina 6.075] [Speed 6.135] [Perception 6.35] [Vitality 4.984] [Magic Power 2.55]
“I’ve really increased my stats a lot…” I muttered while looking at my stats.
Since coming here, one thing that I’ve ever worried about is the fact that I’m far too weak. Even when comparing myself with other cadets, right now I’m barely able to contend with some low-ranked cadets.
“But now…”
Thanks to Cristopher, the training he’s been making me do since we met and his constant help with the Natural Energy, alongside my luck-stat that is constantly giving me bonuses whenever I train or I receive Natural Energy, I’ve been able to quickly reach this point.
“If I didn’t listen to him, I’m sure I wouldn’t be that much stronger right now.” I smiled awkwardly. “Still… For my Magic Power to be still this low…”
Among all my stats, the only one that barely increases is the Magic Power, and I honestly can understand why. After all, I don’t use my own magic power at all, probably the only reason it increases is that Cristopher keeps injecting Natural Power to help me recover, something that must have helped my Magic Power to increase passively.
“Oh, well, whatever.” I shrug. As Cristopher said, if I get stuck with Magic Power, trying to increase it or learn how to control it, I would lose any kind of advancement I made so far.
With that out of the way, I immediately started writing my next Gift. Something I’ve been thinking about recently.
It would be a way for me to empower my current advantage even further. After all, if I’m still not strong enough, I just have to make sure my weapon can compensate for that.
Right now, I had over 2000 SP, something that really had me really surprised, as I never thought it would increase this fast.
[Random Consolidation System]
[Low rank. Spirit attribute.]
[- Scanning: Scans the designated equipment.
- Random Consolidation: Consolidates the ‘concept’ of the scanned equipment by 1 ~ 100%. The consolidation lasts for 24 hours, after which the consolidation percentage will be randomized once again.
- Growth: You can use SP to strengthen the Gift ‘Random Consolidation System’.]
“*sigh…* I guess this should be enough.” I muttered while looking at the Gift that I just created. Honestly, this made me really nervous, as I didn’t know if my current amount of SP would be enough for it.
Even if I wanted to control the amount necessary to create the Gift. I still didn’t know what parameters are considered while creating a Gift, and how much each one of these costs.
The ‘Random Consolidation System’ is precisely a Gift that takes my equipment and increases his power through luck. Consolidating the concept of my equipment would mean improve whatever “makes” this equipment by a certain percentage that could go from 1 to 100%.
For example, in the case of my gun, it would mean improving the firepower, recoil, shooting speed, accuracy, and stability. In the case of a vehicle, it would improve its defense, speed, control, and much more.
While it depended heavily on luck, it wasn’t a bad idea for me, after all, I practically had godly luck, so things like RNG aren’t exactly bad for me, and it would help reduce considerably the cost of the Gift as, in theory, it heavily depends on luck.
“*sigh…* May Lady Luck shine on me.” With that whisper, I hit on the save button.
[You do not have enough SP. The Gift will be modified accordingly.]
[An incredible luck applies! A portion of the Gift has been restored.]
[Random Consolidation System]
[Low rank. Spirit attribute.]
[- Scanning: Scans up to six designated equipment at once.
- Random Consolidation: Consolidates the ‘concept’ of the scanned equipment by 1 ~ 50%. The consolidation lasts 24 hours, after which the percentage will be randomized once again. Scanned equipment can be canceled, after which it will return to normal after 1 hour.
- Growth: You can use SP to strengthen the Gift ‘Random Consolidation System’.]
{Ho… I guess I wrote something absurdly strong if this is what I got even after my luck restored some of its abilities.} I thought to myself while looking at my resulting Gift.
“At this point… It seems like 2000 SP isn’t that much.” I muttered before shrugging. “Also, I may have to prepare for what’s coming…”
I turned to look at my smartwatch, exactly at one message that I received yesterday, which I basically forgot to check since I was inside the Guild Experience Program.
[Traveling Club next Friday. Destination: England.]
“I guess that event is coming soon. Oh well, I better prepare myself as much as I can.” I said while standing up, ready to change my clothes. “Um… They shouldn’t be coming before 9:00 PM, so I guess I still have time to do some training.”
It was currently 6:35 PM, which means that I still have a couple of hours before Cristopher and Evandel come back from their trip to Argentine.
{Should I have had gone with them?} I thought for a moment, before changing my clothes to go train.