Pick Me Up! Chapter 63

#63

63. Value and worthlessness (1)

I returned to the space-time gap.

A familiar round room. I put the scabbard on my belt and raised my shield. The wounds and poison were completely blown away. However, a strong sense of discomfort lingered in the aftermath of the recovery.

“Ah! I thought I was going to die!”

Jenna got up with a pat on the shoulder. She looked at me and she inflated the fire.

“Your brother made you wear strange clothes, right?”

“Doesn’t feel right? It looks very expensive.”

“Clothes depend on clothes. It’s difficult to move. It was stuck in a trash can. Did you know that the soldiers frantically rushed to kill me?”

Jenna grumbled and put the bow on her back.

I smiled and opened the door to the plaza. The cool air unique to the waiting room enveloped her whole body. I looked at the party members behind me.

Edith was storing the throwing dagger sheathed on the floor, and Iolka was catching her breath with a haggard expression. Jenna was counting the number of arrows in her quiver.

And Aaron had his head down.

‘There aren’t many good guys.’

Although she was acting casually, even Zena’s hand counting arrows trembled slightly.

Edith was the only calm guy.

It was expected.

If the clear was delayed even by a minute, there would have been deaths. It was only fortunate that no one died.

[Recording complete!]

[Image saving has been completed. The video is saved in the gallery. You can also watch it with other users on the Internet.]

I looked up.

The sky was shining white. It took about 6 hours to enter and clear. If it hadn’t ended by now, Amkena would have been watching us for a long time. If I logged on late in the evening, I might have stayed up all night.

[Master, do you want to close the connection?]

[Yes / No]

[Then goodbye!]

As soon as the message announcing the completion of the recording popped up, Amkena disconnected.

The sky darkened. Beyond the door leading to the plaza, I could see the figures of auxiliary workers going to work at the equipment factory.

‘Is it morning already?’

I said.

“Everyone did a good job. You cleared the boss stage without anyone dying. Especially Edith. It would have been very difficult without you.”

“I was just doing what I was supposed to do.”

Edith grinned.

In fact, the MVP of this mission was Edith.

Quickly acquired the geography of the city and provided accurate information to the party. If it wasn’t for Edith, it would have been impossible to evade the soldiers and to divide the party into two to entice them.

“Are you going back to the second party now?”

“I’m going to do that. I didn’t intend to stay for long. Master will recruit someone to replace me.”

“Right.”

‘I’m sorry.’

Competent thieves are not easy to find.

Battles were also battles, but in other missions, the thief class played an essential role in the party. Although he says Jenna is similar, he is also an archer type, and he hasn’t gone through a job change yet. He was weaker than Edith in many ways.

“I’ll go first.”

Edith gathered the dagger in her belt and went out into the square.

Usher and d!cka were waiting for her in the plaza. Edith, accompanied by her two companions, returned to her quarters.

“You bleed every time.”

Iolka sighed.

“I want to go back and rest too. I think I missed the night. I think my skin is damaged.”

“Do as you like. You suffered a lot too.”

“You too.”

Iolka glanced at Aaron, who bowed her head, and passed through the space-time gap.

This left me, Jenna, and Aaron in the space-time gap. After getting ready, Jenna approached Aaron.

“Aaron, don’t be sad. It’s just bad luck. It didn’t cause any trouble.”

Aaron didn’t answer.

“Then I’ll go too. See you tomorrow.”

I nodded.

Even Jenna disappeared in the gap of time and space. I have no reason to stay here either. After I slept and recovered my strength, I had to think about the next thing.

I was about to go out to the plaza when I heard Aaron’s voice.

“older brother.”

“What.”

“I’m sorry. Because of me.”

“I know.”

I smiled.

To be honest, in this mission, I lost a lot because of Aaron. If he wasn’t injured, he wouldn’t have to risk it. But it was entirely my choice. Even if it was annihilated, it was because of my lack of judgment, I had no intention of blaming Aaron.

“Don’t do that next time. Don’t save me a second time.”

“Well, is there any guarantee that I won’t do that from next time?”

“What bullshit are you talking about again?”

“Do you intend to drag me to the end?”

Aaron’s voice trembled.

I looked back. Aaron’s expression was not visible as he lowered his head deeply.

“No matter how hard I try, I don’t feel like I can catch up. The gap seems to be growing with each passing day. With Miss Iolka, with Miss Jenna, and with my older brother.”

“so?”

“……I’m sorry. I think I was talking nonsense.”

Aaron shook his head and trudged past me. And he passed through the gap of time and space.

When I came out to the square, I saw Aaron’s back as he entered the training center.

‘indeed.’

I knew very well what you were worried about.

Aaron’s current level is 14. It’s the same as Jenna, and it’s similar to me.

However, if you look closely, there are quite large differences. First of all, Aaron’s growth level was 4, the lowest level since he was 1 star. Jenna and I got into 5 midway through, I sometimes go up to 6, but Aaron didn’t change even when he was promoted.

It’s even worse when it comes to skill.

Aaron’s skills are low-level spearmanship, pain resistance, and fire resistance. Of course, having a lot of skills is not a good thing. But Aaron’s proficiency was not high. The lowest level of spearmanship, the highest level skill, was only 4. Although the basics of weapon technology are solid. The ability to apply it was very poor.

For the time being, I might be able to get along somehow.

However, over time, the gap will widen significantly. Eventually, Aaron will be left out of the party or die from her lack of ability.

talent was lacking.

I have nothing to say.

It is true that I have developed a slight attachment to Aaron. Otherwise, he would have thrown it away without hesitation when he was poisoned. But he wasn’t crazy enough to insert a useless member into the party.

‘It’s not long with that guy.’

If you can’t follow it, throw it away.

It was still a valid fact.

Rather than throwing it away, it would mean finding another role.

Coincidentally, the instructor’s seat at the training center was vacant. Aaron would do well.

I went back to my inn

the next morning.

I instructed the members gathered at the training center to do self-training.

Since I had been following the anti-compulsory training schedule so far, it was a de facto vacation declaration. duration of three days. Amkena will also refrain from sending us into battle for a while.

“Really? Just because they don’t run doesn’t mean they only feed potatoes, right?”

“It’s because it’s not. Have you been deceived?”

Iolka screamed with joy and immediately ran out of the training center.

I know where to go right in your room. There were various valuables received in exchange for research.

“What are you guys going to do?”

“It’s okay to take a break at all. It’s become a habit. I’m only going to rest until dinner.”

Jenna strapped sandbags to her ankles and began stretching.

Getting ready to run the track. Aaron was also grooming himself next to him.

“I want this. Even if I tell you not to.”

“Your brother is the same.”

In fact, I also had sandbags on my ankles.

Weighs about 10 kg. More like a lump of iron than a bag of sand.

In fact, it became impossible to consume stamina if this was not done. You can do hundreds of push-ups in an upright position and finish 100m in 8 seconds. You can also break a block of wood with your bare hands. My body was already in contact with human limitations.

interference force.

It was also the source that gave the hero the ability to transcend humans.

Issel explained it that way. It was a phenomenon that could not be understood unless it was clearly an interference force. In less than half a year, I had become a monster that had escaped half of a human being.

Running along the track, I looked around the training grounds.

The heroes in training are Roderick, Usher, and d!cka. They are members of the 2nd party. Then I saw Belquist and Nerissa. He was a born 2 star and was a promising member of the 3rd party that was recently rapidly rising. There was a good chance that one of them would join our party.

Like this, 1 party 3 people, 2 party 3 people, 3 party 2 people.

8 people in total. The number of personnel at the training center ended with this.

I saw the plaza through the open door.

There were many people resting near the fountain.

dozens of people. They chatted while sitting on a bench or taking a walk. There was no shade on his face.

These are the low-level heroes summoned after I gave the strategy book to Amkena.

It was fast when it went through the first weeding, but it started to loosen up over time. There was little time at the training ground, and few wanted to learn auxiliary skills.

The reason is simple.

This is because Amkena does not synthesize.

They didn’t have to compete with each other and spent most of their days relaxing.

“Two!”

Belquist spat.

One of the scarred eyes was twisted with displeasure.

This guy was also a 2nd generation, but it was a variant. Although he did not undergo synthesis, he voluntarily jumped into training. His training intensity was also strong enough to be compared to Aaron’s. He was also very talented.

Although I had a bit of a personality problem.

After three laps of the track, high-pitched laughter was heard in the plaza.

One of them must have cracked a funny joke.

“……flaw.”

Belquist laughed.

And muttered in a low voice.

“When I came to the waiting room, I heard a funny story.”

I stopped jumping.

The other members, including me, also stopped moving for a while.

While receiving everyone’s attention, Belquist continued.

“It doesn’t matter who you were before you came here. Aristocrat or scum. Prove that you are useful if you want to live. Show your worth.”

Belquist looked at me with a distorted smile.

Are you talking about when you purged the maned wolves?

I did say something similar. But that was long before this guy came.

“When someone told me that, I got excited. It’s a place where anything is possible as long as I prove my worth. I enjoyed fighting for my life.”

“…”

“I can hear the laughter of the pigs and dogs outside.”

“Dog-pig.”

d!cka frowned.

“Dog-pig, right? All they do is eat and do nothing. Isn’t that right, seniors?”

Belquist drew his sword halfway from its scabbard.

“I heard the hardships the seniors went through. It must have been very thrilling. It’s a pity that I came late. But isn’t this a different story?”

sereung.

Belquist pulled the sword completely out of the scabbard.

Then he licked the blade with his tongue. Life flashed in his eyes.

“If the seniors allow it, I’d like to do some education, is that okay?”

Belquist is talented and eager, but he has this problem.

I frowned.

“Don’t go out of your way.”

“Isn’t it okay if I don’t kill you?”

I drew my sword without a word.

Belquist laughed and put the sword in the scabbard.

“I’m afraid I won’t be able to go. I’m sorry for telling you. But you have to answer. Was that what you said?”

“You mean to prove your worth?”

“From my point of view, it doesn’t seem to matter whether it proves its worth or not. From what I’ve heard, there’s a very good system for disposing of garbage called Synthesis, but strangely, the Master doesn’t seem to be using it.”

‘I don’t carelessly use synthesis.’

It was the basic principle that operated Niflheim.

When I posted the walkthrough, many masters followed this principle.

But they all failed.

Fear was one of the strongest motivators of the hero’s actions.

Without the fear of synthesis, heroes do not listen to their masters. They were lazy, and often acted unwillingly and disobeyed orders. The current situation, where the number of active people is extremely small compared to the number of heroes, had a similar cause.

“Do what you have to do. You’ll soon understand what I mean.”

“Really?”

“okay.”

“We’ll see. Looking forward to it.”

Belquist went back to the corner of the training center.

And I started training again.

I put my sword in and looked outside.

People in the square were still laughing and talking.

‘If you’ve seen that document.’

My play record I gave to Amkena.

There was a record of concerns about this phenomenon.