Volume 9 Chapter 5

"YEPPY KAY YEY" - we have a new translation, thanks to BlackHorus.

In the Cave

While inside the small, rusty cave, Weed’s body was getting hotter with fever.

His already serious cold became worse.

-You are fatigued.

Physical ability is lowered by 62%

You cannot use battle skills.

Due to life and stamina decrease, you cannot move.

You may experience dizziness.

If not treated properly, you may die.

The Northern Province was much colder than the Central Continent. Four out of seven days in a week it snowed, and a strong, cold wind blew. The Valley of Death was even colder, so his stamina dropped to very low as he pushed himself too much by travelling and battling.

The Valley of Death Quest required the participant to not only fight strong monsters, but against difficult weather too. It was hard to endure even in a normal, healthy condition, but since he had this cold, his situation became much worse.

The cold had worsened as he progressed, and now he couldn’t even move anymore.

His forehead and back was already wet with sweat. He couldn’t even control his shivering body properly.

‘I’m going to die like this again.’

Weed wanted to cry out.

It’s not like he was fighting deadly monsters, but yet he was about to die from a mere cold!

Normally, he would at least have been able to recover life with Avelon’s holy magic. If he recovered life, there would be a greater chance of getting rid of the cold.

But even that was impossible now.

“Cough. Cough.”

Avelon was huddling in a corner, coughing.

Just like Weed, he got the terrible cold and was on the verge of death.

Even when you’re a candidate for pope, a cold didn’t look over you.

‘I’m really going to die now.’

Due to lowered vitality and life, he couldn’t even raise a finger.

Surrounding them was just ice and snow.

They somehow found a cave near the Valley of Death and came in, but it didn’t help much to shield from the iciness.

If they got terribly cold in such a place, they had no other way out but to die.

Since his ill body would remain and freeze away, even if he logged out it would make no difference. It seemed like he could not avoid death. 

‘I was careless.’

Although he was filled with regret, it was not something he could undo. 

He used up all the herbs that may have been useful against illness when cooking soup in Morata town.

‘Now I can really do nothing.’

Weed closed his eyes silently.

The rocky ground felt as cold as a sheet of ice, and cold air came in from everywhere. In these circumstances, a cold could only get worse.

Hi hands and feet were already getting numb. Death was approaching.

‘Just why did I have to get sick.... so pathetic.’

With his eyes closed, he looked back to his past.

Ever since he was little he took any job for the sake of money. To help his grandmother who was working in the street market, even at such an old age, he would work anywhere as long as they took under aged employers, when he should have been playing with friends of his age.

Since it was illegal, the working conditions was the worst possible, and he never got paid on time.

Still, because he worked over vacation without sleeping, he could gain a bit of money.

But now he had a type of work that he have never done before, and by pushing himself too much, his body couldn’t endure.

“You weakling! Are you acting because you don’t want to work?

“If you’re going to work like this, then give up right now!”

The boss, who hadn’t paid him his three weeks’ worth of payment, yelled at him.

Even when he was sweating all over from fever, and dark rings forming around his eyes, the boss never admitted that Hyun was sick.

Back then he couldn’t eat much, so his stamina wasn’t very good, and because of that he was always scolded on.

Other employees, too, scolded him whenever he did something wrong, whether big or small.

“Useless one.”

“Why should we use someone as brainless as him?”

“It’s better to not have you here at all. You only cause problems.”

“You trash! Because of you we have even more work now.

Just go steal or something instead of working here.”

He endured those countless snarling comments.

On that day, he wanted to get up and work if possible, but his body just couldn’t move.

But no one worried about him nor did they tell him to go to a hospital. When he was young, he curled up and cried in a corner where no one was. It was very painful.

After that day, he hated getting sick the most.

To someone like him who had to support his sister, getting sick was an unthinkable luxury. But, he couldn’t help but feel sad and pathetic when pain came.

“Damn.”

Weed felt his eyes getting watery.

‘I’m as weak as the amount of tears I let out. I’ll never cry.’ 

He gritted his teeth and endured. This time his pain wouldn’t stay much longer.

His body was weak all over and his life status was still decreasing.

He’s alive so far thanks to his monstrous amount of endurance, but soon, he’ll die.

He just had to wait a bit for the nausea to die, and then he too will die completely.

Only, death is not the end.

Right away, a special skill activates as a blood necromancer.

-Revival as Undead.

According to his level and skill mastery, he’s going to revive as an undead. As an undead soldier who rules over black magic and the power of death.

When he dies, at the least his cold will disappear.

‘I’ll just have to level up and get masteries back up like a mad person for a while.’

With his eyes closed, he waited for death.

Without hunting or using his sculpting skill, this was first time he just lied down and rested completely like this. When fighting or resting for life and stamina to recover, he always was making a sculpture. The reason for Weed’s fast growth was because of such focus and effort.

But even as time passed, he didn’t die.

‘What’s happening?’

Weed opened his eyes partially.

His body ached all over and opening his eyes caused dizziness, but he wanted to check the situation.

And now he could see the reason!

Seoyoon!

She disappeared to somewhere and brought mountainous amount of firewood.

‘It wouldn’t have been easy......’

Around here, there isn’t much wood that can be used for a fire.

To get firewood, she would have had to go through blizzards and walked far.

Seoyoon stacked up the wood and lit the fire.

As the surrounding air became warmer, Weed could feel a bit of warmth seeping into his flesh.

Seoyoon took out small iron can.

It had become black from using it so often for cooking over an open fire.

It is sold for 4 coppers in a general store, but it was dropped when hunting a fox near a castle. It was something not even beginners used.

Seoyoon glanced at Weed as if she was embarrassed for taking out beginner's iron can.

Weed closed his eyes again.

It was because his dizziness became worse as his body temperature rose.

‘Thirsty.’

Weed had a serious thirst and lots of pain. The thirst was due to the sudden burning heat of the flames.

But soon, something touched his lip.

‘What is this?’

An unknown scent came from it.

Weed opened his mouth.

Then, something dripped into his mouth little by little.

It was porridge.

Using the cooking skill she had, Seoyoon had made porridge and was feeding Weed. The problem was that the porridge was extremely salty and spicy! ‘Stop feeding me that stuff!’ Weed screamed inside his head.

She was feeding him the worst porridge possible, and it didn’t even taste right! Plus, the porridge smelled fishy.

Weed could guess what she used to make it.

‘She put smelt in it.’

Seoyoon put rice she had for emergencies into water along with smelt to make porridge.

The porridge was made as if she tried to fry the smelt, but because she didn’t clean the smelt properly, the fishy smell remained strongly.

The rice wasn’t fully cooked either, and tasted terrible. 

Seoyoon was forcibly feeding Weed bad porridge such as this! 

“Urgh!’’ 

Even when Weed closed his mouth, Seoyoon opened his mouth with force and poured the porridge in.

If he had strength to speak, he would’ve stopped her.

But Weed’s dimming strength was literally halted right before he died, so he couldn’t speak even a word.

After eating bit by bit, his hunger disappeared.

It was a torture to eat, but his hunger and thirst was still satisfied.

But Seoyoon didn’t stop at just feeding it to him.

Weed realized then.

‘You murderer!’

All along, listening to him obediently and acting nice must have been an act.

‘She was looking for an opportunity! She was planning to torture me like this while I didn’t have the strength to resist,’ Weed thought.

He could do nothing but to regret the situation.

In his defenceless situation, he had to endure Seoyoon’s tyranny.

The porridge she kept feeding him, spoonful after spoonful!

A great danger approached Weed.

‘Let’s just die. I just have to die. Then everything will be over.’

Weed wished he could die now. He hated suffering from fever and dizziness. If he revived as undead, his level or skill mastery would fall, but at least he’ll be more comfortable.

But even if he wanted to die, he couldn’t.

‘Someone please kill me.’

Weed’s cheeks were filled with food. 

Seoyoon fed him 150 spoonful of porridge. It equalled four bowls full!

She fed him not only to be satisfied, but to the point right before he would explode from being overfed.

After eating enough, anyone wouldn’t want to eat anymore, but she was feeding him more forcibly. No one would understand what a nightmare it was.

Step. Step. Step. 

He heard Seoyoon walking towards Avelon.

Because of the heat, he felt dizzy, but he could hear the sounds very clearly.

Since it was the sound of the devil that was torturing him, he just couldn’t help but hear it.

Weed prayed. ‘Aman. Avelon, you suffer a bit too.’ [Was ‘Aman’ supposed to be Amen?]

Even in such a situation, another’s misfortune was Weed’s happiness.

Opening his eyes a bit, he watched Seoyoon feeding Avelon her porridge.

She carefully fed Avelon.

Weed shivered.

‘Really cruel. She’s a devil in human disguise.’

From the effort to not spill a drop and feed everything, Weed saw pure evil.

The way how Seoyoon moved her hand reminded Weed of the careful way of handling poison.

But, it didn’t take that long to feed Avelon.

She cooled the porridge by blowing on it when she fed Weed, but she just fed Avelon.

And there wasn’t much left either. Weed was force fed almost two-thirds of the can, so Avelon didn’t have to eat as much.

Weed thought, ‘So I was her main target. She wanted to torture me more.’

Although he ate some porridge, he still had no strength left. His fever and dizziness became worse.

It was worse than flu. It took away the ability to move.

If he had fallen in a place that was full of monsters, he would’ve died soon afterwards, but because he fell after moving into the cave, he didn’t die as quickly.

He recovered some life because he ate some food, but as if to prove that the cursed cold wanted to be stubborn, it only became worse.

Due to his worsening condition, Weed closed his eyes, unable to endure anymore.

‘Yeah, there’s nothing more depressing than getting sick.’

When he closed his eyes and rested, sleep overcame him.

The thought that he’d die made him feel comfortable.

Since he couldn’t do anything anyway, he relaxed and fell asleep.

If he wanted to, he could sleep in Royal Road.

There were many people who slept at a place with great scenery, listening to birds chirping.

Virtual reality had many uses, but it was first time Weed fell asleep.

Since he always had something to do, he thought sleep was a waste. But that is why he dreamt a dream so sweet; a dream that no one would want to wake up out of. 

Someone nursed the sick Weed.

She melted snow to make water, and put a soaked cloth onto his forehead.

When Weed woke up from time to time from his fever, he could feel someone’s care.

Although he almost reached the end of his life, he didn’t die. Someone nursed Weed like a mother would her child.

This someone was the most beautiful but also the most evil woman. Seoyoon was looking after Weed.

----------------------------

When Yurin heard of Balon’s request, she felt happy.

‘So this is the real quest!’

After building up the relationship, she got a quest.

Although the reward wasn’t much, Yurin became excited at the thought of her first real quest. 

“I will return this book for you.” -You have accepted the quest.

Yurin waited until night, doing other quests.

“Since the moon came up, that man should be there. I should head there now.”

Holding the book, Yurin cheerfully walked to Hesny River.

----------------------------

“O goddess Freya, please cleanse away the pain and distress of these who follow you and depend on you. Cure Disease.”

Avelon first used a disease cure magic on Weed.

-Due to holy power, the physical resistance ability toward sickness increases.

Most sickness can be healed.

The cold is healed.

Physical ability returns normal.

Resistance against colds permanently rises by 2%

Resistance against ice magic permanently rises by 0.2%.

Along with being healed from the cold, Weed gained a bit of permanent resistance against it.

Avelon used the same disease cure magic on Seoyoon and himself.

Since they had the cold more severely than Weed, it didn’t cure them completely.

But after eating food that was good for health and resting for a day, they could move around again.

“It was the worst cold ever.”

Weed moved the boulder that was blocking the cave entrance.

Now, it was time to make the monsters of the Valley of Death taste bitterness.

----------------------

Jephyr yawed.

“Huaam! So boring.”

“Still, you’re hunting a lot,” Hwaryung said as she braided her hair in two plaits.

“Not like we used to. It was real fun when hunting with Weed-nim.”

“True, it was just an endless repetition of charging and charging.”

“When I think back to it, I feel as if my body is still covered with bandages.”

The death hunt they did for eight days when they were with Weed and Geomchis! The terrifying memory of intense labour was becoming beautified as time went by.

After that, most hunting didn’t feel tiring.

Looking at a mob of Skeleton Knights running toward them, Romune snorted

“Something like this is a piece of cake.”

“I don’t feel the excitement like I used to,” Surka said, as she punched Skeleton Knight’s face with her cutesy fists.

The tension that makes one’s spine and neck chill!

Such tension had disappeared.

Now, they chat while hunting monsters and even when monsters pop out from somewhere while they’re resting, they don’t get surprised.

Romune, the magician, moves between monsters, binds them and casts magic.

Pale’s arrows never miss, and he can shoot three arrows at the same time and make them hit different targets.

In Hwaryung’s case, she can now fix her make-up when fighting a monster.

Zephyr said, “Irene-nim. It’s boring. Bless the monsters. I think I’m going to fall asleep from boredom.”

“Yes, I will. I was going to for skill mastery. The strength that burns one’s fighting will, will bring out the strength that exceeds one’s limit. The whole party will strengthen.”

Irene raised the monsters’ strength.

She raised their ability by 20%.

Even though a priestess raises a monster’s strength, no additional experience points are given, nor do any special items drop.

Just for fun.

To have more fun fighting, Irene and her party raised the monsters’ ability.

Seechwi’s face turned blue.

‘You monsters!’

She never thought she was weaker than anyone else.

But, Skeleton Knights are monsters over level 320. They’re not easy to hunt even when in a party.

They were hunting such monsters in a very dangerous way.

Seechwi became very alert.

“Unni, now.”

“Yes, alright! ChiChik!”

On Surka’s signal, Seechi dived into the group of Skeleton Knights.

To someone with a low level like her, she could only pick up items.

Picking up items while moving between Skeleton Knights!

Because of the huge number of monsters, it wasn’t very easy. And since they didn’t succeed in every hunt, they had to get all the items when they were available.

Although she had Orc Commander as her job, her Charisma or Leadership stat didn’t give much to benefit the party because of their large level difference.

Only to the point of raising physical damage by 3% and recovery rate by 2%!

 Her ability would’ve had a bigger effect if she was leading orcs, but she was the only orc in the group. Therefore, who would have thought that a sister-like girl painter would want to beat cute rabbits mercilessly? “Die, die!”

When rabbits resisted, Yurin used her feet to beat them up.

They worked for money during the day, and hunted at night.

Hunting at night was to gather more experience points.

But to Yurin who was a painter, her life and attack wasn’t very strong. It was hard for her to hunt just a rabbit.

“Hunting is harder than I thought.”

After hunting a rabbit, she rested.

Before she levelled up, hunting was hard for her even when she had good equipment.

At that time, she got a whisper from Pale.

-Hello. I’m Pale.

-Yes. Hello.

Yurin politely greeted him. She always acted politely towards people she didn’t know.

-You’re Weed-nim’s sister, right? I’m a friend of Weed-nim who hunted with him ever since we were beginners.

-Ah, the one who is skilled at shooting arrows! -Hahaha! Seems like Weed-nim already told you about me. Skilled at shooting arrows, that’s an overstatement. Did he say anything else?

-Yes, he told me never to tease you. That you’re very timid.

-Ah, is that so. I’m a bit timid. Other than that...?

-I heard you sometimes play alone digging in the ground.

-Kuuk!

Yurin had fun talking with Weed’s friends. The polite, gentle way he talked gave her the feeling that he was a nice person.

‘Still, to hunt with Oppa, even I didn’t get to do that yet.’

Out of jealousy, she played a prank that had no ill intention.

But she was smiling, enjoying it. -Anyway where are you?

-Rhodium

-You’re at the city of artists. We’re at Yuroki Mountains.

It’ll take about a week to get there.

-You’re coming here?

-Of course. If there’s anything we can help with, we will.

- -You don’t have to. I’ll go over there.

-Sorry?

-Could you explain the surrounding?

Yurin took out charcoal and paper and readied herself to draw.

Pale became speechless at Yurin’s absurd idea.

Just how long did it take to come from Rhodium to Yuroki Mountains?

Plus, because monsters came in groups, it wasn’t somewhere a beginner could go.

Still, Pale answered Yurin’s questions.

-Behind us, there are two tall trees. There’s a boulder in front of us. It’s a normal boulder, light grey in colour.

-What’s the ground around you like?

-There are a lot of weeds around. There are also plenty of wildflowers, there’s more on the right side. A mountain we can see far away that isn’t very steep, and it has lots of trees. There’s the Dark Elves’ Castle after going over about two mountains.

-Weather?

-Clear. There are some clouds though.

Pale was confused even when he was explaining the surrounding.

“Pale, what’re you doing?” Romune asked

“I don’t know. Yurin-nim is asking me to describe the surrounding, so I’m describing it for her.”

“Is she that curious of this place?”

Romune tilted her head, unable to comprehend.

Judging solely by the scenery, the place was quite extraordinary. When the sun came up in the morning and went down at night, there was nothing more beautiful.

The mood when it fogs over or rains was great. Looking at the rain forest, one can fall into one’s own thought.

To those who are sensible, it was best place to spend their time. 

Zephyr approached Pale.

“But what is her voice like?”

“Huh?” “Is her voice gentle?”

Zephyr, who didn’t have a girlfriend yet, was naturally curious about Yurin.

‘If she’s Weed-nim’s younger sister, she would have strong ability to maintain livelihood. She wouldn’t starve me in any situation.’

So far, he had met various women.

Beautiful, confident women!

Still, they were busy giving their numbers when they learned of Zephyr’s background. Zephyr didn’t want to meet women like that again. A woman he can meet heart to heart without a care for money or status.

Like naive heart of a man who just started dating, he wanted to make a girlfriend.

Pale looked at Zephyr as if he pitied him.

There were things that cannot be done even with a handsome face, sharp eyes, and elaborated speech. “I’m sorry. Zephyr-nim”

“Hm?”

“To prepare for such a situation, Geomsamchi-nim told me.”

Zephyr’s heart became heavy.

He remembered Geomsamchi’s angular face and muscles.

He was a man scarier in real life than in Royal Road. If there was an orc in real life, the one who would be able to catch it with ease, would be Geomsamchi.

“What did he say?”

“I will relay the message as it is. If anyone dares to touch Yurin, he’ll kill him.”

"........"

“Geomshachi said more than that. He said that if a man makes Yurin cry, he’ll break his spine.”

"........"

“Geomwuchi and Geomwubakchi also said something along those lines...”

Zephyr wanted to block his ears.

“I-I can’t dare hear them.”

Pale looked at him as if he pitied him.

“It’s hard for me to say them as well. I don’t want to remember them either. So when I heard something I just added them up in numbers.”

“Numbers?”

“Death 309 times, vegetable state 68 times, at least a month stay in hospital 93 times, lower-body paralysis 30 times, deaths that I cannot describe twice. Something that’s not alive neither dead… If you still want to, I can tell you what Yurin-yang’s voice was like though.”

“Kuhuk!”

Zephyr would give up on Yurin completely.

His confidence to approach Yurin, who is like a sister to Geomchis, vaporized.

Additionally, if he thought carefully, Yurin was Weed’s sister by blood.

If he considered the continual revenge coming from Weed unlike simple, short revenges from Geomchis, she was someone he absolutely could not approach.

Based on Pale’s description, Yurin painted. Her drawing skill wasn’t very good. Rather than art or music, she was someone who only focused on studying academics. Although she didn’t have exceptional talent or sense; she tried to be as descriptive as possible.

She considered overall positions as well as the details of them.

A feminine sensibility and soft curve were drawn with warm colours.

And, she finished drawing just like how Pale described.

Yurin stretched out her arms over her painting.

“Picture teleportation!”

The special skill of an Aqualight Painter.

The scenery on paper started to wave.

-Skill: You have used Picture Teleportation.

Maximum manna is halved for four days.

A fantastic skill that allows one to teleport to anywhere on the continent as long as one can know exact geography.

On the painting, Yurin drew herself.

When she drew herself, her physical body was mystically disappearing from the plain of Rhodium. Legs, body, and finally head.

If Yurin closed her eyes for a bit and opened them again, she would meet Pale, Irene, Romune, and Hwaryung.

They were surprised to see Yurin, who appeared suddenly.

To Zephyr or Seechwi, she seemed to pop out from the earth.

It was special skill that only  Aqualight Painters could use.

Weed decided to thoroughly understand the surrounding of the Valley of Death first.

“I can’t solve the quest directly.”

He had high hopes because he had Seoyoon and Avelon with him. But unfortunately, there were problems to solving the quest speedily.

Strong Ice Trolls were part of the reason, but the climate and geography were bad as well.

“At the least, I should grasp the geography.”

Enduring the cold, Weed flew to above the Valley of Death riding on Bingryong.

He could see the whole Valley of Death after flying high up into the sky.

Snow and ice covered it until it met the horizon.

Mountain, river, frozen cities and towns.

They were part of special scenery that can be only seen in the sky of the Northern Province.

There were lots of undiscovered places in the Northern Province.

The quests that can be gained by going to such towns and castles were like heaven to adventurers.

“If they can endure this cold air.”

Weed wrapped his body in his cape as much as he could.

Although he ordered Bingryong to fly slowly, the wind was far too fierce.

If he didn’t want to catch a cold again, he had to end his surveying of the area as soon as possible 

Weed focused on the Valley of Death. In the middle of the mountains, the place that looked like a pair of long snakes stretched on the ground was the Valley of Death.

On the mountain tops, there were countless of monsters like Ice Trolls stationed like soldiers defending a castle.

Only when he beats them, can he complete the quest.

“The dead end of the valley is where snakes’ heads meet.”

Although he was estimating with his eyes, the length was only about a kilometre.

The valley itself wasn’t very big. And when they would pass about one-third of the valley, he could see frozen soldiers and knights waiting there.

“They’re Nippleheim soldiers.”

Around the soldiers’ feet, there were lots of rusted weapons.

Whiiing!

Anymore surveying would be dangerous.

His condition was about to get worse, as small ice particles started to blow with the icy wind.  “Anyway I can understand the situation.”

Weed stopped surveying.

He found a larger cave around a nearby hill where Wayverns could stay.

Until they conquered the Valley of Death, the place would be their base.

The chill would even freeze their skin!

They didn’t know when snow would come and the hardened earth limited their movement.

On top of all that, monsters become stronger at night. Wayverns and Bingryong are classified as monsters, so they become stronger at night as well.

But, while the cold doesn’t concern Bingryong whose body is made of ice, Wayverns cannot fight.

Weed shook his head.

“It’s not an easy quest.”

He somewhat understood how to deal with an Ice Troll or Lamia.

Using Bingryong and Wayverns, they were hunting Ice Trolls little by little.

But since they had to stop at night, they were giving Ice Trolls time to recover in the end. They are monsters that gather again like ants after a day. They had idiotically strong life stats, and their reproduction rate was exceptional as well.

So, at night only Bingryong and Weed fight, while Seoyoon, Avelon, and Wayverns rest in the cave.

Seoyoon always logged out from Royal Road at night to get some rest.

When that happened, neither Avelon, Weed, nor Wayverns had anything in the cave.

“Avelon.”

“Yes?”

“Look after the fire.”

“Understood.”

Avelon put in sufficient amount of firewood to keep fire from going off.

Wayverns cuddled up near the fire with their wings folded.

“Too cold”

“I thought I was going to freeze to death when I fought during the day.”

Wayverns talked about their sympathetic situation and warmed their body near the fire.

“Kurararara!”

From time to time, they heard Bingryong’s roar from outside the cave.

‘Since he’s strong against cold and has strong life, he should be fine.’

Weed didn’t worry about Bingryong at all.

In truth, Bingryong was very timid, and cowardly.

Although he had a big body with dignity, in reality, he runs away when only a bit of life drops or when he feels a bit of danger.

Therefore, he almost never got into dangerous situations.

 When his life dropped to only 20% of his maximum life, Bingryong drew nearer Avelon and goofed off.

Weed analysed the situation critically. ‘If we continue like this, it’s impossible to beat the quest.’

Even if they reduced the number of Ice Trolls during the day, their number just increased again at night.

There were numerous monsters in the valley. If they struggled against only Ice Trolls, it was impossible to complete the quest.

It was great place to hunt and raise his servants, but he couldn’t stay there forever.

 ‘Anyway we have to do something about this cold! If we do, then I might be closer to answer than I think.’

Ice Trolls, Lamia, and other monsters couldn’t show their full ability due to the cold.

Weed used all the wolf leather he had to make patched up cloth and ate properly.

Fish stir-fried in sweet wine… But the cold was too severe to use food as a distraction to forget the discomfort. 

Sewing and cooking had limits.

Weed held up his sculpting knife.