[28th Round] 2nd Lesson
“Leave the empire to me and focus on your adventure, Hero. I’ll take care of everything here.”
The Holy Empire had been reorganized.
The crowned prince, the first in the line to the throne, was sent to the border of the Holy Empire and the Elf Kingdom by the unanimous consent of the nobility.
In blunter terms, he was expelled.
And with unconditional support, the imperial princess became the successor of the crown.
It happened in just one week.
“Well, let’s see what comes of it.”
“And I have prepared a small present for you. If you need more, please contact me anytime.”
Clink!
A knight, whom the princess pointed at with her gaze, handed me a heavy bag. Within it came magnificent sounds of gold coins clinking, which delighted my ears.
“It looks like the empire is in good hands.”
“Hoho! It is an honor for me to hear such words from you.”
This was how trusting relationships were built.
She was definitely different from the aristocrats and royals who tried to use the Hero by telling him what to do.
Of course, I needed to be able to build relationships properly. This playthrough would turn out like my first round otherwise. Instead of a bag of gold, she would’ve presented her fake whining, saying, “Please help me! Sob!”
And if one didn’t understand that principle…
⤷ Piko: My princess can’t be so devious!
⤷ Zeus: What? Is she some other character with the same face? The princess I knew was innocent and whiny…
⤷ Amon: Fools. Although I didn’t say it, I knew. Her real personality has always been hidden behind her pretty face.
⤷ Luna: This is shocking. And disappointing.
Then they would wonder, “Is that really the princess I know?” like these losers.
The princess, who had been involved in politics since she was a child, wouldn’t show her true colors so easily.
She was very careful, but I shared this secret so that Heroes with an actual functioning brain in their skulls could use this information to their advantage.
“I hope our cooperation will be fruitful next year as well.”
“Hohoho! May Mollan always protect you on your adventures.”
“Mollan.”
“Mollan.”
We parted ways, exchanging warm words like actors used to working with each other.
As the Righteous Hero, I learned the intricacies of politics while dealing with numerous villains.
Stimulating the princess’s ambitions was enough for her to start cooperating with me.
But I wasn’t going to waste time and wait that long. Hence, I could make any promises to her.
“This is fraud.”
Disco intervened immediately.
I, the Righteous Hero, who knew about the live broadcast and specifically explained every step, frowned and turned my gaze to my colleague.
“It might seem that way if misinterpreted. If I weren’t planning to climb to the 100th floor in a year, I would have taken a softer approach and personally would have swallowed up the entire empire first.”
“In a year?”
“What? Is a year too long?”
“No! Quite the contrary! Is it even possible to conquer the Demon Lord’s Tower that fast?”
⤷ Odin: Did I hear that correctly? Did he say a year?
⤷ Zeus: Didn’t it take Satan almost 20 years? And this teacher started at level 1 with no skills.
⤷ Allah: Haha! Why are you guys so stupid? Do you really believe that cheater?
⤷ Isis: That “cheater” is clearly better than the senior who still cannot graduate from the tertiary education course.
⤷ Leon: But if he doesn’t do it in a year, it’ll be awkward.
In the aftermath of Disco’s outrage, a clamor arose in the mollanphone community.
I understood their sentiments. After all, many politicians made unrealistic promises like, “If you choose me, you will be happy!”
But that wasn’t my style.
“I’ll start by teaching you how to clear dungeons.”
It was important to become Mollan’s Teachings religious leader, but I needed to level up a little to defeat my clone on the 90th floor.
Of course, if I wanted to, I could challenge the Demon Lord’s Tower right now.
I had Green Cake, after all.
If he followed my instructions, we could easily conquer the entire tower.
But if the students found out about this, he would no longer be able to participate in their adventures.
The same applied to the others…
Supreme Dragon of Oblivion Noebius.
Connoiseur Shakespeare.
Giant King Phoenix.
And even my alter ego, Kang Han Soo, who roamed all over Fantasy as the Righteous Ancient Hero.
If a Hero were to persuade at least one of the four above, they’d be able to go up to the 90th floor with their eyes closed.
Therefore, I was forbidden to recruit them as companions.
The adventure was so simple that such restrictions and rules had to be set.
“My arrow bounced off his body!”
“Even magic doesn’t affect him!”
“What the hell? My dagger can’t hit him either!”
“Aaaaahhh! A real monster!”
Upon hearing the word dungeon, one immediately thought of a cave filled with monsters, but bandits’ hideouts also fell into that category.
If I wanted to, I could easily clear any dungeon with a clean technique.
But I didn’t, considering it would cause the mollanphone community to once again rally up, saying, “This is clearly a hoax! Everything’s rigged!”
To avoid that, I decided to use skills that anyone could check and, in doing so, showed them the power of Monk, an A-rank religious profession.
▷ Type: Skill
▷ Name: Divinity
▷ Rank: SS
▷ SSS: Receive worship.
▷ SS: Use Divine Deflection attacks.
▷ S: Ignore normal attacks.
▷ A: Receive praise.
▷ B: Purify Dark Energy.
▷ C: Use divine protection.
▷ D: Bestow a blessing.
▷ E: Resist Dark Energy.
▷ F: Use divine attacks.
My current job increased my Divinity’s rank in accordance with my Faith.
Thanks to this, Monks could fight with their bare hands against monsters, mercenaries, bandits, and other enemies.
One shouldn’t forget the effects of Divinity itself either.
Offense, defense, reflection, buffs, incitement… It was a universal skill.
Moreover, its S-rank and SS-rank perks couldn’t be countered at all if the target had no corresponding countermeasures.
That was why angels, born with Divinity, fought without any tactics.
“… You look more like an outlaw than the outlaws themselves.”
“How so?”
“Look at what you’re doing, and you’ll easily find your answer.”
“A level 150 Hero single-handedly attacking a den of level 300 thieves. I see nothing wrong with it.”
“Well, if you put it that way…”
Smart students might be wondering right now why I ignored the monsters’ habitats and attacked the outlaws’ hideout instead.
The answer was simple.
“My Mace of Justice will punish all heretics!”
▷ Type: Skill
▷ Name: Faith
▷ Rank: SS
▷ SSS: Seal heretics.
▷ SS: Punish heretics.
▷ S: Brainwash heretics.
▷ A: Find heretics.
▷ B: Recognize heretics.
…
Divinity couldn’t really be criticized when it came to defense, but its offensive ability was relatively weak.
My Faith covered that gap.
Moreover, I never forgot that I was in a tertiary education course. I knew better than to lower my guard around these outlaws.
▷ Race: Human
▷ Level: 287
▷ Job: Mountain Bandit (Terrain → Surprise Attack ↑)
▷ Skills: Strength B, Surprise Attack C, Stealth C, Mountain Climbing C, Resistance D…
▷ Status: Confusion, Panic
In the secondary education course, no matter how strong they were, their level never exceeded 150.
However, here in the tertiary education course, they reached level 300 and had honed their actions, techniques, and craft like martial arts masters.
And there were many of them.
However, even they proved no match against me, a Hero filled with faith.
“Have mercy! From today on, I sincerely believe in Mollan’s Teachings!”
“Brother! My parents are followers of your religion!”
“I never insulted the great being and his teachings!”
The robbers begged for their lives.
But I didn’t let any of them go.
Instead, I turned them all into my experience points with relative ease.
Divinity’s F-rank effect, divine attack, only offered modest strength, but Faith’s ability to punish heretics made up for this deficiency.
However, it required a strict condition before it could be used.
“There is no salvation for you who do not see the difference between mollan and mullan!”
My targets had to be heretics.
The very concept of religion didn’t work against monsters.
This was why I set my sights on the bandits’ lair instead.
Their boss, a powerful woman with a bare navel, was no exception.
“Hohoho! You’re really powerful! It’s not too late yet. Swear allegiance to me, and I will make you my deputy. Oh! Naturally, you’ll be free to engage in religious activities.”
“Thank you for thinking so highly of me, but we’ll be together forever from now on.”
She thought the outcome of our battle would be different because she was level 500, but like her members, she was also a heretic.
With her dagger emitting a blue aura, she swung at me, intending to chop off my hand, but I simply reached out to her apathetically.
And grabbed her spine.
“You can’t use the Spirit Sword technique at Alex’s level.”
As absurd as it sounded, breaking through my SS-rank Divinity required a ZZZ-rank sword.
The remaining outlaws’ morale broke as they watched their leader’s head fly to the side.
“Even the boss…”
“We already surrendered!”
“Why are you so ruthless?!”
“Psychopath!”
Ignoring their senseless chatter, I exterminated every single one of them.
When one attacked the weak, they had to be prepared for the day they, too, would fall victim to the strong.
It was the same with me.
Growing powerful, I became too proud until Master Mollan taught me a lesson.
Annihilation F → Annihilation E
I got the skills I needed.
It would’ve been ideal to receive Slaughter as an additional bonus, but it seemed there weren’t enough bandits.
Hmm. I grew curious as to what the community was up to now.
⤷ Amon: What did I just see?
⤷ Zeus: Where did Odin disappear to? Is he speechless?
⤷ Allah: Don’t fall for this deception, juniors. Divinity is not omnipotent! I know this well since I’ve used it myself.
⤷ Moon: Allah, don’t compare yourself to my teacher ^^
⤷ Isis: “My teacher”? I don’t know why, but I don’t like reading that.
Not bad at all.
I hoped the Heroes watching me had finally realized Master Mollan’s greatness.
“Well…”
As I went further ahead, I left the trifling matters to Green Cake, including the boys being held captive in the outlaws’ hideout.
“Where are you going?”
“Dungeon.”
“Are you going to do this over and over again?”
“Of course. We need to take this opportunity before rumors spread. The bandits will flee or start believing otherwise.”
“Still…”
“Stop wasting time, Green Cake. Finish your mission as fast as possible and follow me.”
“Yes, father… uh, Righteous Hero!”
I went from the Holy Empire to the middle of the Central Continent, destroying bandit camps throughout the huge mountain range along the way.
Why did I head there?
In front of me was a mountain range, which was actually Noebius, who had been sleeping for 2000 years. Mermaid Aqua and Paladin Tomato lived in the lake next to me, and Saintess A resided in the Holy Kingdom, which ruled this area.
“You said you didn’t need companions.”
“Did I say I was going to recruit them? I just described my surroundings.”
Disco shouldn’t mislead our stupid viewers who hadn’t yet recovered from my previous performance.
I recalled those names for a reason, but I wasn’t interested in recruiting them as companions.
I turned to the skies above.
“Watch carefully. I will teach you things so simple it’s not even worth taking money for.”
There might be so many graduates by the end of this broadcast that the Fantasy Institution would become empty.
My cowardly wife would definitely be surprised. Haha!
