Episode 30
Lucia cast her spell as soon as she emerged from the attic via the return stone.
“It was something like this?”
Lucia covered her mouth with wind-controlling magic, recalling the feeling of the mask she had worn before.
As intended, the wind barrier prevented unpleasant dust and bad air from entering the airways.
“It was a good thing I learned some magic, even if it was just a rough outline.”
Although she could only handle simple things because she didn’t have a proper teacher, Lucia was satisfied with her current level.
Unless you are very talented, you cannot excel in everything.
Lucia thought that if she had been focused on magic, she probably would not have been able to acquire archery like she does now.
As she almost fell into useless sentimentality, Lucia lightly tapped her cheeks with both hands and looked for Kang Jinhyuk.
Lucia turned her head and looked at Kang Jin-hyeok, who was standing a step away.
I noticed a look of shock on his face, as if he had seen something he shouldn’t have seen.
“Why are you doing that?”
Kang Jin-hyeok finally came to his senses and straightened up his hunched body after hearing Lucia’s voice.
“Is there a problem?”
“ah…….”
Kang Jin-hyeok hesitated to answer the question for a moment.
Then Lucia came over, feeling frustrated and irritated.
“What are you doing now? Do you regret coming all the way here?”
“No, that’s not it. I just got a message saying my karma level has gone up.”
“Message? Are you talking about those letters that sometimes appear before your eyes?”
“That’s right. It appeared as soon as I used the return stone.”
There was only one guess that Kang Jin-hyeok could make at that moment.
“Did you trick the dwarf man and get higher scores?”
“It’s a bit much to say that you lied. Strictly speaking, it was just postponed for a while.”
“But now, I don’t know why the numbers went up other than that.”
“How much did it go up?”
After hearing Lucia’s words, Kang Jin-hyeok headed to the mirror in his house.
The number 65 was overlapping on his reflection in the mirror.
“It went up by 1.”
“Only 1?”
“Isn’t the fact that the numbers have increased, no matter how much, important?”
“Hmm… … That makes sense.”
Even if the karma level increased by just 1, it could not be ignored unless the exact reason for the increase was known.
Kang Jin-hyeok was lost in thought for a moment, and then an idea occurred to him that he wanted to try.
“Do you want to hit me once?”
“good.”
Lucia accepted Kang Jin-hyeok’s request without a second of hesitation.
Lucia’s fist, extended without giving her time to blink, struck Kang Jin-hyeok’s abdomen with precision.
“Ugh!”
Kang Jin-hyeok was thrown backwards, shocked without even having time to react.
Lucia tilted her head as she stared at Kang Jin-hyeok rolling on the living room floor.
“But why did you tell me to hit it?”
“Ugh… … . If you’re going to do it, why don’t you ask before you hit me… … .”
Kang Jin-hyeok knew that Lucia would ask at least once why she had to do that.
I never thought he’d swing his fist without hesitation.
Thanks to that, I was able to face the pain that turned my stomach inside out without being mentally prepared.
Only after the shock from the part where he had been hit had subsided did Kang Jin-hyeok slowly get up while placing his hands on the wall.
“I wanted to experiment with the idea that if my karma level went up by tricking the dwarf uncle, wouldn’t it also go up if I used violence?”
“What’s the connection between those two?”
“They all have one thing in common: they harm others.”
“So? What were the results?”
Kang Jin-hyeok saw that Lucia’s karma level had not changed at all.
It’s absolutely not true that the numbers didn’t change even if you hit them gently.
As someone who has experienced it firsthand, I am absolutely certain of that.
“It hasn’t changed at all. It’s the same.”
“Then it’s a dud.”
Lucia turned her back, as if she was out of breath.
Kang Jin-hyeok’s mind became confused when something he had thought was definitely related turned out to be different from what he had expected.
There was no immediate answer as to what the difference was between deceptive behavior and violence.
‘Wasn’t it because you tricked the dwarf uncle that your numbers went up in the first place?’
Then, Kang Jin-hyeok, who was wondering why his karma level had risen, suddenly saw a star flash before his eyes.
It wasn’t something that happened because I had an epiphany.
It was because Lucia’s fist flew at an unexpected time and struck his face.
“Kwaaak!”
With a scream that was like an extra or something, Kang Jin-hyeok fell to the floor once again.
As I began to realize what was happening, anger came over me more than pain.
Kang Jin-hyeok sat up abruptly and glared at Lucia with reddened eyes.
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“What are you doing all of a sudden!”
“Before you get angry, check my karma level first.”
“Shame on you! Freeze to death!”
“I told you to calm down and check first.”
Kang Jin-hyeok really didn’t like Lucia’s calm attitude even after she committed unprovoked violence.
When Jinhyuk Kang checked Lucia’s karma level, as if he was being fooled, his anger subsided immediately.
“The numbers went up? Why?”
Lucia’s karma number that remained in my memory was clearly ’82’.
But the number we see now is 83, which is 1 higher than that.
It has risen without a doubt, without any doubt.
“What’s the difference between this and before…?”
“Isn’t it almost the same as having an agreement and not having an agreement?”
Lucia’s guess was enough to answer Kang Jin-hyeok’s questions.
As she said, the first incident was something that happened by agreement and that Kang Jin-hyeok had brought upon himself.
The second, on the other hand, was violence that occurred without warning, let alone agreement.
If that difference had affected the numerical fluctuations, it would have been understandable.
“Then this karma value doesn’t change just based on actions… … .”
“I guess you also take the situation into consideration.”
“Then it’s a pretty flexible figure.”
Perhaps it has this characteristic because it is a hidden skill acquired through an act of self-defense.
Kang Jin-hyeok felt like he had just taken his first step.
Now that we’ve figured out one of the conditions for numerical fluctuations, we’re starting to get a rough idea of how to go about it.
“Okay, then let’s move on to the next experiment.”
Lucia also seemed to have the same feeling and showed a look of enthusiasm.
The problem was that the motivation was not in the direction Kang Jin-hyeok wanted.
“If it was an experiment, why did you suddenly take out a dagger?”
“We should also look into whether the increase in stats is different between beating someone up and stabbing them.”
“… … Are you saying this in your right mind?”
“You have the potion. Then just avoid the vital points and you’ll be fine.”
“crazy.”
Kang Jin-hyeok sensed that Lucia’s words were half sincere and quickly turned around and ran.
* * *
Kang Jin-hyeok let out a ragged breath after desperately trying to avoid being stabbed.
His pale face was proof that he had run away with all his might.
Lucia was the complete opposite of Kang Jin-hyeok, who was panting as if he was about to collapse at any moment.
She regretfully put the dagger back into its leather pouch without breaking a sweat.
“I tried to end it in one go without causing any pain, but he really hated it.”
“Would you accept it and say, ‘Oh, my gosh?’”
“It’s about finding out your own skills. You have to take that level of risk.”
“How easy it is to say it’s someone else’s business.”
Kang Jin-hyeok wanted to sit down right away, but he was outside, not at home.
Even though it was a road with few people, it was problematic from a common sense perspective to just sit down in the middle of the road.
“for a moment…….”
Kang Jin-hyeok, who realized that he was outside, turned his gaze towards Lucia.
As expected, her ears were clearly different from those of ordinary people.
“What if you come out without covering your ears? Didn’t you want people to find out you’re an elf?”
“It’s okay, because it’s covered with magic.”
“It looks fine to my eyes?”
“That’s because you are not an object of magic.”
Applying camouflage magic to someone you already know is just a waste of mana, Lucia explained.
Kang Jin-hyeok felt embarrassed for some reason, as if he had been making a fuss for nothing.
“Magic is so convenient.”
“In my opinion, the skill you use seems more convenient. It’s said that you can cast it automatically by just shouting the skill name.”
“Isn’t magic like that too?”
Lucia shook her head, letting out a hollow laugh.
“Magic isn’t that simple. You have to accurately calculate the amount of mana to use for the magic, and you have to complete the spell in your head… … .”
Because it requires detailed mental calculations, people who are not smart can never use magic.
They say that swordsmanship requires talent, but Lucia felt that magic was the realm of true talent.
“Well, anyway, it’s not like you can write as much as you want.”
Lucia thought there would be no point in going on and on about magic here.
In the world we live in, telling other people stories that only you know is of no use.
If he was a talented person, then maybe that would be different. Kang Jin-hyeok didn’t seem like someone with any talent for magic.
‘A human who can’t even sense the flow of mana can’t possibly use magic.’
While Lucia was making up her mind, Kang Jin-hyeok made plans to study his skills.
I quickly racked my brain, thinking that if the conversation stopped like this, she would come chasing me again with a dagger.
“I guess I’ll need to look at several cases to really understand my skills.”
“… … You’re talking like you’ve made some great discovery.”
“Be quiet and listen for a moment.”
Kang Jin-hyeok argued that it is more efficient to observe the actions of people with low and high karma levels rather than trying to learn things through one’s own body.
If we analyze the differences between the two cases, we will be able to learn about the skills.
“Huh… … .”
Lucia showed a puzzled reaction after hearing Kang Jin-hyeok’s explanation.
The method itself seemed pretty good, but in her opinion, it was still lacking in some aspects.
“What is the standard for determining the high and low of the numbers?”
It was difficult to set objective criteria without knowing clearly about hidden skills.
But fortunately, there was a hint in another skill that Kang Jin-hyeok had acquired.
“Anything over 200 seems like a high number.”
“why?”
“It was written in another skill description that there is no penalty for killing someone who exceeds that number.”
“Penalty? What does that mean?”
When Lucia didn’t understand what he was saying, Kang Jin-hyeok took a moment to explain the Hunter’s penalty for killing.
After Kang Jin-hyeok finished his brief explanation, Lucia made a dumbfounded expression.
“It was a brutal town, branding someone with a murder charge.”
“It’s not a dangerous neighborhood, it’s a safe neighborhood. If it weren’t for that penalty, people would be dying in broad daylight.”
Most hunters are people who will do anything for their own benefit.
If those people didn’t have these chains, there would have been great confusion.
“Anyway, so the standard is 200 or more, right?”
Lucia grabbed the subject by the collar and dragged it back, trying to sidetrack it.
What she wanted was to learn about Kang Jin-hyeok’s hidden skills, not to dig into the Hunter’s circumstances.
“You and I. And considering that even that short-skinned old man isn’t even over 100, it would be hard to find someone over 200.”
“So, since it’s when people are getting off work, I’m thinking of going to a crowded place like the station.”
“Station? Where is that?”
Kang Jin-hyeok thought it would be better to take her there himself rather than explaining about the station, so he grabbed Lucia’s arm.
“Just follow me for now.”
Lucia was surprised when her arm was suddenly grabbed, but she obediently followed Kang Jin-hyeok.
‘Cheeky.’
Lucia was really annoyed by Kang Jin-hyeok’s attitude of taking the lead despite being much weaker than her.
It’s not that I hate it, but for some reason I feel uncomfortable.
