Village of the Korkes (1), Village of the Korkes (2)
“From now on, if possible, don’t let them overhear our conversations.”
After everyone came to their senses, Hyun whispered in a small whisper.
It was because she had heard from Louise that the Corcassians worshiped the light.
“They are in a state of thinking that we are believers who want to visit the Temple of Light. Knowing the truth might change your attitude.”
What if you find out that this is an abyssal force?
No, if you find out that even the Great Devil of Darkness is with you, something irreversible will happen.
But on the other hand, if you don’t get caught, you can continue to receive help as you do now.
From then on, the guild members began to lower their voices while paying attention to their surroundings.
“If I had known it would be like this, I would have written Retrograde sooner… .”
Ginny muttered regretfully as she fidgeted with her wand.
It was because the level of her ultimate skill increased and her ‘retrograde’ not only restores physical strength and mana, but also restores body defects and removes debuffs.
However, the effect is to return the state of the body to 10 minutes ago.
Ginny couldn’t do anything about the incident that had happened less than an hour ago.
“You really did a good job. If I didn’t, I would have died before I could even show my body’s full potential.”
An assassin who infiltrated the Temple of Light, and eventually died while climbing.
Salon shook his head, as if his teeth trembled at the mere thought of suffering such an unfunny death.
“But no one died! That way, there won’t be any problems with raiding the temple!”
“This child is telling me to be quiet… !”
Hyeon suddenly felt annoyed.
Who just made that noise? Is it tartar?
Are you making a fuss after forgetting I told you to be quiet?!
“Sorry, sorry… . I just won’t say anything.”
Tartar shook his shoulders severely and immediately fell down.
Hyun, who saw Tartar like that, realized something and cleared his throat.
“Big, I’m sorry. Because now it seems that this older brother has an anger control disorder. If you say it once, let’s listen carefully.”
“yes… .”
“huh… ? what.”
For a moment, Hyun felt a strange feeling and looked around.
There, Ain was pulling on his collar with an enthusiastic expression.
“Hyun, come to work.”
“why… ?”
“just. Wouldn’t it be nice to come… !”
Then, Ain started dragging Hyun somewhere.
“Oh, where are you going all of a sudden… ? Eh, huh?”
I was moving about 10 seconds at a fast pace. Hyun, who glanced at her child’s expression, felt a chill in the moment.
What are those eyes… ?
I’ve only seen similar eyes once.
Yes, the first day I lived in Ain’s house, the day I ran into Ain wearing a gown after taking a shower.
Why is Ain making a similar expression to that time?
Even at this moment, the corner of the village, an empty place covered with huge tree roots, was approaching.
Sensing an unknown sense of danger, Hyun quickly opened the interface window.
[‘Hyeon’ has closed the connection!]
“Wait, Hyun!”
[‘Ain’ is switching to a resting state!]
Two people disappeared out of nowhere.
To be precise, Hyeon disappeared, and Ain remained standing tall in his place.
The guild members who watched the two from a distance tilted their heads and asked each other.
“What are you doing?”
“It seems Hyun has closed the connection.”
“Not in a state of rest, where did he go without saying anything?”
To their question, Louise answered in one word.
It was a very sharp voice.
It meant that even she, a transcendental being, could not avoid the phenomenon of amplifying emotions.
“Isn’t it obvious? It must be just the centipedes chatting with each other!”
“Goddess. Didn’t I tell you every day that it was better not to use strange words?”
“Well, it wasn’t just once or twice.”
Ginny added a word.
It was contrary to her image, which usually spits out only important matters.
About five minutes later, Salon muttered something absurd.
“Then why are you still not coming back?”
“Your brother and sister live in the same house, right?”
“What, then, in this situation… .”
Pod! It was in the middle of Salon’s words that Hyun reconnected.
Ain also returned from a resting state.
“Hey, did you wait a bit?”
The method of returning to reality for a while worked in its own way.
The status ailment called ’emotional amplification’ didn’t disappear, but Hyun was able to cool his head.
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“Let’s move the meal time forward a little. We will rest for an hour outside the capsule together, and then we will begin our plans.”
“What? Hyun, are you sure you want to spend time with Ain at this important time?”
“No, it’s not like that! And the impatience of Salon is the problem? Eat, get some fresh air… And if you close your eyes for a while, you’ll feel much better. Please rest for now.”
And for the guild members, now was the time to take a break.
***
The biggest reason Hyun suggested taking a break was for Ain’s physical condition.
It was because Ain did not change for a while after getting out of the capsule.
“How can you be patient?”
“huh… . what.”
an hour later.
Ain, who connected to Asrian, nodded his head with a voice of shame.
After arguing with Hyun for a while, he had promised not to do anything unexpected like before.
Still, I couldn’t help but keep clinging to my arm.
While on Radix Island, everyone knows that things are not normal, so Hyun and Ain decided to understand each other.
‘They said they were the Corcassians.’
During the break, Hyun looked up some information on Interloop.
As it turned out, this is where the characteristics of the Corcesans are mentioned.
<Corcasians are almost identical in appearance to humans, except that they have wings. Males have white wings and females have black wings, so humans who encounter Corcassians for the first time easily mistake them for angels or demons.>
<The emotions felt by the Corcassians are hundreds of times greater than those of humans, and the effect of prayer is also extraordinary. However, they say that they are not aware of the huge container of emotions they have.>
<… Because of this, the Corkes during the time when the population was large were also called ‘praying angels’. But at some point, the number has drastically decreased, and there are no reports of Corcass sightings for hundreds of years.>
<There may be deviations, but the Corkes tribe with fighting ability is very rare. It doesn’t have any special powers other than prayer and flight, and the population is small, so it wouldn’t be strange if it went extinct sometime.>
After looking up information from the Interloop, Hyun was convinced.
As an 8th year old Asura, the reason he didn’t know was that the Corkess were a race that existed in the very past.
Also, I was able to understand the reason why I could live on Radix Island.
The ‘vessel of emotions’ is hundreds of times larger than humans, so it does not fall into abnormal conditions like the others.
‘There is no fighting ability.’
On the one hand, I was relieved.
Hyeon couldn’t shake off his nervousness at the thought of what to do if the guys suddenly turned against him.
However, if the opponent’s fighting power is low, even if an emergency occurs, it will not be easily defeated.
Hyun, who finished grasping the situation like that, entered the roots of a tall tree.
It was the shop of an old Corcassian who had helped Louise.
“Ohhh, you’ve finally come.”
The shop owner saw Hyun’s party and stood up.
I put my arms on a table made by cutting plant roots.
“Are you here to pay for the herbs?”
“Herbal value… ?”
“What was the response, did you intend to take it for free?”
“No, I forgot… How much?”
Hyun quickly took out a bag of gold coins.
However, the shopkeeper, who carefully examined the gold coin, only narrowed his eyes.
“What is this shiny thing?”
“yes? It is a gold coin.”
“Do you think I am a crow? Gems are useless.”
He said, flapping the white wings on his shoulders.
“Whether it’s grain or fruit, shouldn’t we give something useful?”
“Oh, something to eat… ?”
Hyun went through his inventory again.
There were some food bought from the border city for Louise and Papi.
The menu, which had just been a meal for the two of them, was placed on the table.
“Then how about this one?”
“What is this?”
“Fried chicken.”
“Huh… what?”
“It’s fried chicken. There are a lot of them, so you can try them.”
It was at that moment that Ain’s whispers were heard.
“Feeding the bird a new dish… ?」
“hmm?”
“… .”
From the point of view of the new species, isn’t chicken eating its own people?
I looked at the owner again, wanting to regret it for a moment, but Ain’s worries were unfounded.
The owner’s eyes widened as he took a bite of the chicken.
It was because chicken was a very stimulating dish for him, who had lived on Radix Island all his life eating only raw ingredients.
“this… It’s the outside food that I’ve only heard about.”
When he asked Hyun again, his voice changed slightly.
“How many are there?”
“There are eight of them, why?”
“Pass everything. Of course, I will pay for the herbs, and on top of that, I will give you 20 sacks of one-month-old grain.”
“Grain? I don’t need that… .”
“Then look for what you want, I might have what you need in my store.”
“Um… .”
I didn’t even have to do the math.
Even if the price of 8 chickens is cheaper than the price of eating out with Ain.
Hyun was willing to hand over all the fried chicken, even if the only thing the store sold was garbage other than herbs.
The problem is Louise.
Although the guild funds were used, this chicken was all food she had bought, so it seemed a bit wary to sell it at will.
Hyun glanced over at Louise.
“I’m fed up with fried foods these days, so as long as the seasoned chicken is safe, it doesn’t matter.”
Immediately Louise’s permission was granted.
“… I don’t mind anything.”
I asked Poppy just in case, but he didn’t seem to have any problems either.
The barter exchange thus accomplished.
“If you leave it alone, it will get cold and taste bad. therefore… .”
Hyun even handed over the preservation magic scroll as a service.
It was because there was a high possibility that this store did not have magic tools to maintain the freshness of food, just by looking at the one-month-old grain.
“Oh, thank you.”
“Whoops, say something.”
After the transaction was over, Hyun started looking at the items on display in the store.
It didn’t take long for the pounding heart to cool with disappointment.
In addition to herbs and food, combs, feathers, tree branches, candles, cloth, and so on.
This is because the items on display were really just trash and junk.
“Are there any magic stones here?”
“hearthstone?”
“I mean something like this.”
Hyun pulled out a level 14 magic stone from his inventory and showed it.
It was obtained by killing a monster on Radix Island a while ago.
The shop owner looked closely at the 14th grade magic stone and frowned.
“Looks like a bit of an unusual stone, doesn’t it? My shop doesn’t handle useless stuff like this.”
“… … .”
By doing so, Hyeon was able to know that the civilization of this village was at a level comparable to that of primitive people.
Out of choice, I decided to buy 30 herbs.
To prepare for the case that judgment is clouded or the senses become strange later.
‘Well, I expected it to be like this from the time I saw the level of the village.’
Hyun quickly abandoned his lingering feelings.
There was little success in the transaction, but didn’t you gain intimacy with the shop owner with 8 chickens?
It was a tip I had been using ever since Asura was that the NPCs right after he had a favorable impression would answer all sorts of questions.
“There is something I want to ask you.”
“Something?”
“I want to go to the Temple of Light, how can I get there?”
“Oh, that’s right.”
As Hyun intended, the old shopkeeper flapped his wings and kindly started answering questions.
The shop owner regarded Hyun’s party as followers of light.
How can you imagine that those who worship the dark came to raid the Temple of Light!
So it was only natural to tell Hyun the most common route to the temple.
“Go back south.”
“To the south?”
“Yes, the terrain in the south is gentle, so it has less island-like energy. There are no monsters, and there are even magic circles that weaken energy. It will be much easier to reach the Temple of Light if you can even enlist the help of a sentinel along the way. Karari… Oh, if you ask the woman who brought you up, she will tell you the way back south in detail.”
However, the moment he heard the friendly explanation, Hyun had no choice but to completely give up the idea of going to the south of the island.
The fact that there are magic circles all over the place means that there is a high possibility of being detected by magic.
Besides, even the sentinels are running around!
The reason I came to the north in the first place was to avoid their eyes.
As soon as it is known that the existence of the abyss has invaded, the forces of light guarding the temple will enter the highest alert.
Absolutely no south!
Hyeonu carefully opened his mouth.
“Is there any way to just go up?”
“What do you mean?”
“I want to arrive as quickly as possible… I would like to know if there is no direct road from this village to the temple.”
At Hyun’s question, the shop owner fell silent for a moment.
“You mean the northern route?”
“Yes, that’s right, the northern route!”
“Huh… .”
After a while, he opened his mouth wide like someone who had heard nonsense.
“Didn’t I tell you earlier? The North is no place for humans. The higher you go, the more sensitive your emotions become. Even we, who have become accustomed to the energy of the island, can’t go around recklessly, let alone humans… .”
“Did you go?”
Hyun, recalling memories from earlier, objected, but those words only raised the voice of the shopkeeper.
“The top and bottom are different! In the area above the village, even we Corkess can’t fly easily!”
“If you don’t fly, do you walk?”
“okay. I usually walk or fly low.”
‘What, it was real… ?’
“Since the ground absorbs a little energy, you can barely move if you stick to the ground as much as possible.”
The store owner continued to rant for a long time afterward.
Hyun is the Temple of Light. In other words, it was found that more unusual phenomena occur as one goes to the top of the island.
In an instant, I came up with an interesting hypothesis.
According to what I heard from Lutia when I was learning prayer, the effectiveness of prayer is proportional to the size of the emotions the person who prays feels.
Isn’t that why the Temple of Light was built in a place where emotions are most amplified?
To get as much empathy as possible from the followers of light?
‘It’s quite plausible.’
Hyun looked back at his memories from his time in Asura.
Come to think of it, among the names belonging to the forces of light, there were many who were particularly mad.
Heretic Inquisitor Karmana and Magic Knight Commander Beata were so insane that they couldn’t even hold out their business cards.
If you’ve been living on top of Radix Island all day with emotions running rampant, you might be out of your mind.
“It seems you still don’t understand.”
The shop owner sighed.
It was because Hyun seemed to never give up even if he explained the dangers of the northern road.
“Isn’t it a bit like quitting without even going?”
“Whoa, yes. It’s just fine. I will show you a little how dangerous the road north is.”
“Oh, are you guiding me?”
“no.”
At Hyun’s question, the shop owner gave a meaningful smile.
“There is an event in town just in time.”
“… ?”
“You’ll see what I mean in a moment.”
***
In the afternoon, the village in the middle of the hill started to get busy.
Because today was the day when a boy’s coming-of-age ceremony was held.
In a small village of about 50 residents, that was a very large event.
“Can Herpa do well?”
“You will do well. Whose son is he?”
The man and woman who brought Hyun and Louise were flapping their wings and exchanging stories.
Hyun later found out that they were a couple and that the child’s name was Herpa.
I soon understood the meaning of the store owner’s words.
The coming-of-age ceremony of the Corkes tribe is to go to the middle of the road to the mountain peak.
In other words, it was a short round trip of part of the northern route.
“Hyun, that kid is an adult!”
“Why is that?”
“You’re fifteen! I guess I’m an adult when I’m 15 here!”
Ain made an expectant expression as he mentioned the word adult and the boy’s age.
Hyun laughed at Ain’s clear intention.
Since Ain is in a similar situation, he must have a lot of thoughts.
“Let us also follow.”
In any case, Hyun’s party was able to observe the coming-of-age ceremony as observers.
Amidst the tumultuous tension, Herpa was listening to some advice from his parents.
“Use the gray stream as a guide and fly away. Even if you cannot trust your own senses, the stream will lead you to your destination.”
The peak near the temple has a flow of divine power that inflicts lethal harm like the ‘black mist’ flowing through the border city.
In addition, the energy of the upper land is so strong that even corkes’s senses are disturbed, so old people and children never climb the island beyond the set height.
Still, sometimes accidents do happen, and Corcassians who have lost their way have returned with a mess of emotions.
Such people would return to normal only after two or three weeks of recuperation.
In that sense, Corkes’ coming-of-age ceremony was being treated as a ‘slightly dangerous event’ that everyone had to watch.
It was a tradition that contained the custom of having to go to the upper regions inevitably when it was difficult to obtain food.
“Don’t fly too high because you can fail.”
Harpe’s father once again advised.
It is the standard of a coming-of-age ceremony to fly at a height of more than 50 meters to reach the ‘Pond of Silence’, but these days no one follows strict rules.
Harpe’s mother also helped.
“Father is right, if it’s too hard, there’s no need to overdo it.”
The coming-of-age ceremony began immediately.
The adults of the village started cheering for Herpa as he flapped his wings in the sky, walking on the ground like a normal human.
Caught in their gap, Hyeon, who was heading to the top of the island, felt his emotions swell for a moment.
‘what… ?’
I didn’t do anything, but my breathing quickened.
It seems that I can even hear tinnitus in my ears.
Are you feeling weird again?
Looking to the side, it seemed that the rest of the guild members had similar symptoms.
Louise’s breathing had become very rough, and Ain was holding her hand tightly.
Hyeon tried to take herbs out of his inventory, but someone grabbed his hand.
“Quit.”
The one who stopped Hyun was the owner of the shop earlier.
He was silently shaking his head.
“The vessel of emotions is fluctuating, so if you endure a little, you will be fine. If you continue to rely only on drugs, serious side effects or tolerance may develop.”
“Yes… That’s right.”
“Even if it hurts a little, I’ll bear it.”
Even in the midst of this, Herpa did not stop.
While flapping their wings with difficulty, they had already crossed the halfway point, the ‘Candlestick Rock’.
Following him on the ground, Joong-hyeon Wa felt various hallucinations.
It’s just a little bit of walking, but something is difficult… .
The desire to lie down and rest like this rose up, and at times it seemed that I felt thirsty.
It must be the efficacy of herbs to keep your judgment from clouding even in this situation… ?
“Success!”
“Good job, Herpa!”
“Great job, he’s my son too!”
After a while, numerous shouts were heard.
It was the moment when Herpa reached its final destination, the ‘Pond of Tranquility’.
As if her young body was tired, Herpa was lying on her back next to the pond, gasping for breath.
haha… Suddenly, a laugh escaped from the corner of Hyun’s mouth.
The ‘Pond of Silence’ is just the beginning of the road to the top of the mountain.
The road to the top is at least hundreds of times longer, and I’m already so tired.
As the old man said, I thought that going to the Temple of Light by the northern route might be really absurd.
Just then.
“Hyun, that… !”
“what… ?”
Hyun tilted his head at Ain pointing at him with his finger.
“Why again? You promised to hold on for a few more days.”
“No, not that! Hyun’s clothes are shining!”
“My clothes?”
Hyun, who then looked at his sleeve, was startled.
It was because the priestly clothes of the one who prayed radiated a dazzling light.
As if wrapped in subtle divine power.
‘what… ?’
In an instant, Hyun’s eyes flashed.
‘What is the phenomenon?’
His senses became a little strange, but his judgment did not disappear.
Hyun had a feeling of foreboding that he couldn’t just pass by.
‘no way… !’
This feeling has never lapsed since the days of Asura!
As soon as he thought of ‘a certain possibility’, Hyun assimilated with Louise.
When a person disappeared in front of their eyes, some Corcassians showed panic, but Hyun continued to act incomprehensible, regardless of the reaction of the people around him.
“hyeon… ? What kind of wind blew to covet my body? Wait, Ain is looking at me with scary eyes… !”
“Stay still! No, wasn’t this… ?」
In a brief moment, Hyeon recalled his previous memories.
After reaching the 10th level of prayer, he developed the ability to empathize.
How did you activate empathy last time?
“right! That was it!”
“I’ve been muttering to myself since before… I don’t know what you mean.”
「Louise, release empathy!」
“You mean right here?!”
“okay!”
Louise’s absurdity was then passed on as a fairy tale.
Yeah, I know what you’re worried about.
The moment the great devil releases empathy, an enormous amount of demonic energy rages around, so it wouldn’t be easy to do such a thing in front of the followers of light.
“Just a moment, even 0.1 second doesn’t matter!”
However, Hyun already knew that no effect would occur for 3 seconds after using the skill.
If you cancel it as soon as you release empathy, Louise’s identity will not be discovered by the Corcass!
“i get it. If that’s enough… .”
“good!”
T-ring!
[The chaos contract with Louise has been concluded! Swap the skills of ‘Empathy Lv.1’ and ‘Breathing Lv.0’!」
And the very next moment, an enormous amount of messages from the system began pouring down in front of Hyun’s eyes.
[warning! You have skills that are not allowed to users!]
[The ability of that skill is severely limited!]
[I am accepting emotions beyond the limit! Some ability restrictions are lifted!]
[Empathy Lv.1]
<To accept the prayers of those in need, a transcendentalist must have a suitable vessel of emotion.>
– You can gain sympathy from your servants and subordinates who serve you
– While feeling emotions beyond human limits, you can get ’empathy’ from all beings in the world!
(※Caution: The size of the ego is too small to accumulate empathy! The gathering power is automatically used to boost stats!)
<Stat boost rate: 35%>
Hyun looked at his status window again.
Looking at the numbers that were different from usual, I held my breath.
All stats increase by 35%.
Increases Vitality, Magical Power, and Empathy, and the maximum of Stamina, Mana, and Spirituality.
had risen to
‘This was it… .’
Memories of a cafe not too long ago flashed through my mind.
Lutia smiled strangely, saying that it would be better to learn how to deal with empathy before going to the Temple of Light.
It was at this moment that I fully understood what she meant.
