< Chapter 47: Letter (2) >
After a light cold water bath,
I headed to the private training room where Instructor Pi Jin Ho was waiting for me as usual.
My mind was complicated as I moved my steps.
…What the hell?
Why did the tattoo that was red turn green?
At first, I thought one of the two traits had disappeared.
But both [Boiling Pureblood] and [Predator’s Flesh] were fine.
Then why did the tattoo turn green?
…Is this tattoo just a cooldown or something?
The color changes every time I acquire a trait, and when the cooldown comes back over time, the color returns to its original state or something like that.
“No.”
That’s not it.
If there was a cooldown, the werewolf tattoo wouldn’t have changed first.
The elf tattoo that I acquired first should have changed first.
Therefore, this hypothesis is not correct.
Then next is….
How long had I been lost in thought while moving my steps?
Before I knew it, I arrived at the building of the private training room.
“Good morning.”
I heard Instructor Pi Jin Ho’s voice from behind.
“Good morning.”
I bowed my head lightly.
“Good. You look like you slept well yesterday….”
The instructor’s eyes widened as he stared at me.
Why is he like that?
Is there something wrong with my body?
“What’s wrong?”
I asked casually.
“Haha!”
Then the instructor suddenly burst into laughter. It was the second time I saw his bright smile.
“Your expression tells me that you haven’t checked your status window from last night until now.”
“…Yes?”
There is no status window to look at.
“Congratulations.”
Instructor Pi Jin Ho slapped my shoulder with a hearty laugh.
“Your physical abilities have increased by 1 rank overall.”
“…Yes?”
My thoughts stopped for a moment.
Did he say 1 rank increase?
I’m sure until yesterday, I was growing in the range of F rank 5~60, but did I break through 99 and go up to E rank in one day?
“Sometimes this happens. The experience you’ve accumulated so far explodes through a night’s rest, like a phenomenon.”
Pi Jin Ho smiled contentedly and ruffled my hair hard.
“Ugh.”
It was a cheerful touch full of joy.
“Hmm. By the way, your veins are surprisingly hard. Did you open up some kind of trait or something?”
“…Veins?”
Veins… trait?
“Yeah. Your blood flow is also much faster than usual. It’s a different circulation speed from normal people. And yet it’s stable. Your skeleton and muscles also feel like they’ve evolved according to your blood flow.”
Evolved according to blood flow…?
That sounded like [Boiling Pureblood].
“Interesting. This is the first time I’ve seen such flexible muscles. I wonder if the nimble muscles of the werewolves that existed ten thousand years ago felt like this.”
“Ah!”
At that moment, lightning struck in my head.
Flexible muscles reminiscent of werewolves.
Blood circulation.
Changes in skeleton.
The increase in physical abilities accordingly.
And finally, the color change of the tattoo.
There was only one conclusion that could be drawn from all these elements.
[Boiling Pureblood] had caused changes in my body.
* * *
I succeeded in setting up a credible hypothesis about the law of color change of the tattoo.
First, the color change of the tattoo.
Until now, I only knew that it was green when I got one.
Red when I got two.
Black when I got three.
But it wasn’t.
The color change was not the number, but the [load] that was applied to the body.
And this load, depending on the flow of time, when a certain trait settled in my body completely, it would return to its previous color.
The reason why [Boiling Pureblood] was the first to get used to it was because it was a trait that was constantly activated.
Thanks to that, it must have been the first to get used to my body.
And with this getting used to the body, I could come up with another hypothesis.
[When a trait is fully adapted to the body, the affinity with that race increases.]
Instructor Pi Jin Ho said.
My muscles reminded him of the nimble muscles of the werewolves he had seen in books.
This is not an effect of [Boiling Pureblood].
The blood doesn’t change the skeleton and muscles just because it changes.
Therefore, I could judge that additional changes occur when a certain trait of a specific race is fully settled in the body.
“Hehe.”
I laughed without knowing. I never thought there would be such a hidden effect on the tattoo.
Of course, there was a restriction that I couldn’t get any more traits of that race until the trait was adapted to my body, but this was a restriction that I could take into account.
I adapted one trait of the werewolf race and my physical abilities increased from F rank (50/99) to E rank (30/99).
If I keep adapting these traits one by one, it’s not a dream to surpass the protagonist of the original work.
“Ku~”
Is there any other godly ability like this?
I was trash for saying it was such a trashy ability yesterday.
That’s when I was giggling to myself.
“Seo-yul. Sorry for making you wait! I’m ready. Let’s go eat.”
Ha Si-yeon came up to me with a sorry face.
“Sorry, my ass. Let’s go.”
“Yeah.”
Normally, Jia would have been with us, but unfortunately not today.
“Jia must be having a hard time. Already with work and home stuff….”
She didn’t even come to school today.
She said she had something going on at work.
“It’s not someone else’s business for you either.”
Ha Si-yeon’s family also runs a fairly large company, though not as big as Shinwa Group or Suseong Group.
“Me? I’m the youngest, so my brother and sister take care of everything. What do I have to worry about?”
“Yeah. You can’t run a company. You’ll ruin it in a year.”
I joked with a smile.
“No way? I can run a company amazingly if I just learn? I’m smart, you know!”
Ha Si-yeon puffed up her cheeks as if she was offended. He has such a good reaction.
“What good is being smart? You’re so nice that you’ll lose everything. If someone cries and begs you, you’ll give them everything, right?”
“…Ugh.”
“Plus, if you get into running a company seriously, you won’t be able to exercise as much. Can you handle that? Severe exercise addict Ha Si-yeon?”
“Uh….”
Ha Si-yeon shivered as if it was too horrible.
“I guess I’ll have to leave the company to my brother.”
She nodded her head with her mouth closed. It was a very determined look.
“But just in case. Learn some.”
“Hmph. I don’t know!”
She’s really pissed off.
Did I tease her too much?
Well, I’m not too worried.
I have a magic word.
“Oh. Right. I have something new to teach you tonight.”
At that moment, Ha Si-yeon’s face bloomed with flowers.
“Really? What is it? What kind of skill is it?”
“Secret.”
Her sullen expression disappeared in an instant and she looked at me with a pitiful look.
It was a dramatic change.
“Seo-yul~ Huh? Just give me a hint. It bothers me for no reason~”
“The skill I’m going to teach you today is….”
“Yeah yeah!”
Light poured out of Ha Si-yeon’s eyes.
It looked like something I had to tease her about.
“I’ll tell you later.”
She sulked in an instant.
“Ah, what~ That’s mean! What’s wrong with giving me a hint!”
“It’s no fun if I tell you beforehand.”
“…You’re mean.”
I now fully sympathize with why Kim Chul-jin laughs while teasing Ha Si-yeon.
“Uh… I can’t concentrate on the afternoon class because I’m nervous.”
Her shoulders drooped.
She’s so honest with her expressions and reactions that it’s so fun to tease her.
* * *
That night.
I was humming a tune and moving my pen.
[Revised version of trait acquisition route]
I was revising the plan.
Since I couldn’t acquire multiple traits of the same race at the same time, the revision of the plan was inevitable.
“Good. Perfect.”
The revision didn’t take long.
In fact, when I tried to revise it, there wasn’t much to do.
“Then next is….”
I took out a new notebook.
And then I wrote this on the front page.
[Record of physical changes by race]
If my hypothesis is correct, every time a racial trait adapts to my body, a special change will occur.
Like this time, when the werewolf trait adapted and my body changed and my abilities increased.
[Werewolf trait adaptation change. Estimated increase in physical abilities.]
[F(50/99) -> E(30/99)]
As I was recording what I learned today, I suddenly thought of this.
“…Are the changes different for each trait?”
Or are they the same for each race?
If so, I need to quickly acquire and adapt the werewolf traits.
It’s the best way to overcome my weakness of low physical abilities.
“No.”
Increasing physical abilities is important, but getting information is more important.
I have to figure out the changes by race or by trait first.
Therefore, the most important thing right now is not to get more of something.
The most important thing is to fully accept the [racial traits] that I have in my body.
“…I need to increase the proportion of practical training more.”
If [Boiling Pureblood] was the first to adapt to my body because it was constantly activated, then I can fully adapt other traits to my body by using them frequently.
Even if that’s not the case.
Anyway, there’s no way other than using it a lot.
I clicked my pen and sank into thought.
“…Then I’ll go all-in on the bow for now.”
It just so happens that I have two bow-related traits.
It would be most efficient to adapt these first.
“Good.”
I decided to focus on adapting the elf traits until the elf tattoo turned red at least.
“…Come to think of it.”
Speaking of elves, it reminded me.
Jia said she had a document at her house that recorded the traits of the elves.
“I should ask her to show me that.”
It would be a great help in adapting the traits to my body.
By the way, I wonder if Jia handled her work well today.
It doesn’t seem like an ordinary thing for her to take a leave of absence because of her personality.
* * *
The next morning on the way to school.
Shin Jia was dozing off in the limousine.
“Miss. We’ll be there soon.”
She opened her eyes with a start at the secretary’s words.
“Yes.”
She still had fatigue on her face. She had a sudden work at the company yesterday and skipped school and spent all day working without sleeping.
It’s natural to be tired if you don’t sleep.
“You could have rested today too.”
She saw the secretary, Kim Tae-jin’s worried face through the rearview mirror.
“No. I have to study. The exam is not far away.”
Shin Jia’s eyes sparkled.
“I can’t lose the first place.”
Ha Si-yeon’s momentum is extraordinary.
I really might fall to second place if I’m careless.
I was surprised to see her changed appearance in the group mock battle.
‘I thought it would be no problem if I just did well on the written test.’
I almost thought she was a different person.
Her growth rate is steep.
First of all, that ice magic is too cheat. No, it’s not even magic if it has a name. What kind of activation time is so short?
I don’t know how shocked I was when I saw her blocking the rain of arrows with ice chunks.
‘To break through that, I have to increase the power and penetration of each shot…’
Then there are gaps again.
It’s a dilemma.
“Don’t overdo it. Your health is more important than being first.”
“Yes. I know.”
Kim Tae-jin smiled bitterly.
Her words and expression are opposite.
She only feels a strong will to not lose the first place, regardless of health or anything else.
“Ah! By the way, sir. There was a book missing from the main house library. Did you not see it? It’s called [The Chronicles of the Forest].”
“The Chronicles of the Forest… Was it a book that recorded the stories of the elven heroes? It was a book that the chairman liked. Maybe it’s in the chairman’s library.”
“Hmm.”
“Do you need that book?”
“Well, not that I need the book, but I’m confused about the content.”
“What do you mean by content?”
“Well, I’m not even sure if it was in The Chronicles of the Forest…”
Shin Jia hesitated.
“That, um, didn’t an elf who handled transparent flames appear in The Chronicles of the Forest?”
Kang Seo-yul had dealt with transparent flames when he dealt with the Sun Lion.
I didn’t care at the time because there was no evidence, but when I thought about it later, it seemed like I had seen an elf who handled such flames in a book.
“Transparent flames. That kid… Ahem. Kang Seo-yul cadet’s flame was like that. Is that related?”
Shin Jia flinched.
“No. It’s just that something came to mind when I saw it. I don’t know how to say it. It keeps bothering me.”
“Is it like when you only remember the lyrics of a song and the title keeps spinning in your head?”
“Ah, yes! That’s right.”
Shin Jia nodded quickly.
Kim Tae-jin stroked his chin.
“Unfortunately, I don’t remember seeing any records like that in The Chronicles of the Forest.”
“Oh. Is that so?”
Shin Jia’s expression turned gloomy.
Kim Tae-jin smiled playfully and said.
“But I have a guess about the transparent flame.”
“Really?”
“Yes. Maybe it was The War of Heaven and Forest… Was it?”
The record book that recorded the war between the angels and elves.
“There is a record that a half-elf used a semi-transparent flame imbued with divinity.”
“…Half, elf?”
“Yes. A hybrid of an angel and an elf.”
Shin Jia’s pupils widened in horror.
Motivate me please~
