[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 25: Temporary Return (1)
At the center of a vast lake, a stream of water shot up into the sky.
It wasn't just a fountain—it soared with such imnse power and force.
The seemingly endless stream eventually spread out in the sky, falling like rain over the forest below.
The elves, drenched in the rain, erupted into joyous cheers.
“Ahhh!”
“It’s back! It’s back!”
“The power of water has returned.”
“Undine, thank goodness.”
Reblo approached
with tears in his eyes.
“Apostle, I... I truly thank you. Thanks to you, the power of water has returned!”
“That’s great to hear. But it’s not over yet. According to the sacred texts, the High Elf Diana is in danger, and the unit led by Commander Lannister, who went to the Sanctuary of Wind, has already been annihilated. Can you all reactivate the Sanctuary of Wind?”
“Ah, Commander Lannister! The Sanctuary of Wind... requires special materials. They’re likely in Trein Fortress.”
Hmm.
These guys alone won’t be able to make it there.
I could send them to the fortress to retrieve the materials and defend it, but judging by how they struggled against the dragonborn earlier, I’m not too confident.
“Then head to Trein Fortress first and assist with its defense. I’ll rescue Diana, reactivate the Sanctuary of Fire, and then co to the Sanctuary of Wind.”
“Understood. Apostle of the God of War, the last warrior.”
“We accept your orders, Apostle of the God of War, the last warrior.”
What’s with all this “Apostle of the God of War, the last warrior” nonsense?
Just pick one title already—it’s too much.
“Alfid! I’ll need your guidance again.”
“...Yes, sir!”
This guy took a mont to respond.
Looking at Alfid, he seed exhausted, with dark circles under his eyes.
Guess I don’t have a choice.
I’ll have to restore his stamina.
“Thanks to Alfid running tirelessly, we were able to save everyone. Now that water spirit magic is possible again, can’t we restore his stamina?”
“Ah, Alfid, we owe you our lives! We will bless you all together.”
“Serve the Apostle faithfully and ensure Lady Diana’s rescue.”
“We’re counting on you, Alfid!”
What are they, senior rangers or sothing?
Despite their casual tone, they patted Alfid’s shoulders while casting blessings on him.
After receiving the blessings of 73 elves, Alfid’s face looked almost fully restored.
“Let’s go, Alfid. You rember the way I showed you, right?”
“Yes, I’ll lead you there! This way, please!”
Reinvigorated, Alfid dashed toward the forest.
Wait.
Shouldn’t I carry him?
After waving to the rangers, I followed Alfid deeper into the woods, only to see him standing still and fidgeting.
What now?
If you need to pee, just do it.
“What are you doing?”
“I... couldn’t bring myself to ask the Apostle to carry
in front of the seniors. My apologies...”
“...Sigh. Get on.”
‘Apostle of the God of War, the last warrior,’ my foot...
The Sanctuary of Fire was quite far away.
Even though Alfid’s stamina was restored, after running for two more days, he couldn’t keep going without rest, so we stopped for a day.
From then on, we decided on a pattern of running for two days and resting for half a day.
After going like this for a while, a ssage suddenly popped up in my system window.
[You can now return to your original world.]
It’s been ten days?
[Awakener Kim Jiho is the sole awakener on the planet Kevrian. If you return, no awakeners will remain, and ti on the current planet will stop.]
[Would you like to return?]
Oh?
Really?
So, since I’m the only one challenging this planet, ti will freeze if I leave?
That’s fascinating.
Does that an for other, lower-difficulty planets, ti keeps flowing unless all awakeners return?
Honestly, I’d avoided returning to Earth because I was worried one day there might equate to ten days here.
I wanted to keep working hard until things stabilized.
But with this... I could return for a bit.
I could gather intel from the Kevrian natives, too.
Fighting like a madman, running like crazy without much rest—it’s ntally exhausting.
I need to turn off Infinite Stamina and get a proper sleep at ho.
You can’t survive without rest.
“I’ll return.”
[Awakener Kim Jiho is returning from Kevrian to Earth.]
[The blessings of the gods will be lifted.]
As soon as I accepted, the world froze.
Light descended from the sky, and my body began to ascend, as if being drawn upward.
The ascent was fast, like a missile launching into the sky.
I tried to get a better look at the surroundings, but I pierced through the clouds in the blink of an eye.
Monts later, my vision darkened briefly, and I felt solid ground beneath my feet.
“Uh...”
“It’s the Soul diator.”
“He’s back in a day! From Kevrian!”
“To think you survived for ten days there!”
At the top floor of the association, where the broken model of the D-rank dungeon lay, a dwarf stood guard.
He stared at
in shock before running off sowhere.
“No way, Hunter Kim Jiho. You spent ten days on Kevrian?”
The elf Alena approached with a surprised look.
“And... you’ve gotten so much stronger. It’s only been a day here, but we wouldn’t stand a chance against you.”
Can you tell just by looking?
I feel incredibly weak, probably because Athena’s blessing is gone.
Even Peep, who had been burning brightly, has completely dimd.
2.5 tis... That was amazing...
“Well, I’ve fought more than enough. Could I ask you about Kevrian later?”
When I asked about gathering information, Alena responded with a dark expression.
“Yes, we’ll tell you everything we know... But we barely survived the destroyed planet Kevrian, saved at the brink of death. In exchange for being chosen by the gods, we lost our original nas and mories of our ho planet.”
Lost their mories?
I’d hoped to gather tips as a perk of them being locals, but...
“So, Alena isn’t your real na?”
“No. It’s a na bestowed upon
by the gods. This information is supposed to remain confidential, but the gods have permitted it to be shared with the Soul diator. Just don’t reveal it outside.”
They’ve forgotten their original nas and mories...
This mission was already tough, but now there are so many restrictions.
No wonder they warned against choosing this planet.
Damn guidebook...
I need to collect information on other planets and seriously consider whether to continue with Kevrian.
Honestly, the missions felt manageable, but that’s probably because I’m abnormally strong...
With two status panels, maxed stats using SP, A-grade skills, and gods showering
with buffs, it’s doable.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Without Infinite Stamina, I’d have collapsed, failed the fortress defense mission, and gone down a bad route.
Ugh, whatever.
For now, I’ll rest. I’m not tired, but staying sharp for so long feels weird.
“I’ll head ho for today. Can I co back tomorrow or the day after to ask about the planets?”
“Yes, feel free to visit whenever it’s convenient. I’ll arrange for a car to be ready for you.”
Alena made a call on her phone.
It’s funny watching an elf use a phone.
Her ears fold back as she holds it.
After taking a car from the first floor to my apartnt, I turned off the Infinite Stamina skill as soon as I got ho.
I thought I’d imdiately collapse from exhaustion, but... surprisingly, I felt fine.
Weird.
I expected to be extrely sleepy, but I was wide awake.
My body didn’t feel tired.
Hmm.
But co to think of it, when I first moved into this new place and lived with infinite stamina and calm mind buffs activated, I still slept back then.
What did I do during that ti?
Ah, maybe I got sleepy because I drank?
“Tweet, tweet…”
Peep clung limply to my head, completely drained after I turned off the divine buff and infinite stamina.
Right, I rember now.
This thing grows when infinite stamina is activated.
Maybe I should just leave it on and lie down.
I sprawled out on the king-size bed, lazing around for a bit, and soon I felt drowsy.
That’s right… Turning on the skill doesn’t an I can’t sleep.
It just ans I don’t have to if I don’t want to.
Well, let’s sleep for a change.
“Yaaawn…”
When I woke up, an entire day had passed.
The clock showed that I had slept for 24 hours.
My body already felt fine before, but sleeping made
feel even more refreshed.
Peep was flying around happily, more energetic than usual.
Co to think of it, this little guy worked hard alongside
without resting.
Maybe I should go and ask Alena now.
Ah, but before that, I should check my inventory.
Back in Kevrian, there was no ti for this, but Earth is so much better.
I pulled out a black rod and a bead from my inventory.
First, I decided to examine the rod.
What the heck is this thing for?
I flipped through the guidebook, but there was no ntion of the rod or the bead.
I checked the notes, hoping for a clue, but there was nothing of substance there either.
I poked around, pressing here and there, but there was no response.
Even Peep just tilted its head, looking confused when I showed it.
“Let’s just skip this for now.”
I shoved it back into the inventory.
Still, it’s sothing from the future, so it might co in handy later.
Next was the bead.
A black bead about the size of my fist.
I fiddled with it this way and that, but I couldn’t figure out what it was for.
At tis like this, it’d be nice if an item description window popped up.
[Skill detected: Trait Absorption.]
[Skill detected: Perfect Form Preservation.]
[Do you want to activate the ‘Recycle Window’?]
Oh.
Recycle?
There wasn’t much information, but I clicked “accept” on the system window.
[‘Recycle Window’ has been activated.]
[It’s a space where impurities filtered during the trait absorption process are gathered. The perfect form preservation skill enhances impurity collection efficiency.]
The explanation stopped there without saying what would co of it.
Then the bead began to disassemble and soon vanished completely.
What’s this?
It just created a new system window and disappeared.
Stuff like this makes
think that otherworldly Kim Jiho guy might actually be useful sotis…
“Recycle Window.”
When I opened the recycle window, I saw the black bead, now enlarged and translucent.
Nothing seed to be inside yet, but that’s probably because nothing’s been collected.
I figured I’d leave it be for now.
I’m curious to see what’ll co out of it.
Feeling satisfied, I organized my inventory and looked around the house.
It had been a day since I’d returned to Earth from the Broken World, but sohow, all my stuff from my studio apartnt had already been moved here.
I was about to head out when my eyes landed on my computer.
“The world’s as uneventful as ever…”
After 10 days of nothing but fighting and running, I didn’t feel like going out just yet, so I turned on my computer.
Turns out, not much ti had passed in this world, and there wasn’t much news.
I aimlessly clicked through articles until a celebrity news headline caught my eye.
[Kang Shia promoted to D-rank Hunter! Expresses intent to focus on Hunter activities… Is she retiring from the entertainnt industry?]
Ah.
Now that I think about it, she did ask
to contact her, didn’t she?
When she asked
to buy her a al, it seed like she had so kind of business in mind.
Does it have sothing to do with this Hunter stuff?
I decided to call her.
-Hello?
“Ms. Kang Shia, this is Jiho Kim.”
-Oh my, Mr. Jiho! You finally called . I’ve been waiting.
Kang Shia answered brightly.
We started chatting.
“I was so busy dealing with a D-rank dungeon that I couldn’t call earlier. Ah, should I not have said that?”
They say talking about the Broken World triggers mory manipulation.
-Oh, that much is fine. And they say that the secrecy magic doesn’t activate among D-rank Hunters who already know about it. I tested it with a friend.
“Your friend is also D-rank?”
-Yes, the warrior I ntioned last ti.
“Ah, I see. Still, I’m not sure how safe it is over the phone. What kind of dungeon did you choose?”
-Hmm… The difficulty of the dungeon? Of course, I went for the easiest one.
When I asked indirectly which planet she’d gone to, she imdiately understood and replied.
Oh, an experienced visitor to the planet Eshtar.
I could get so good stories out of her.
-Mr. Jiho, you didn’t forget your promise to buy
a al, did you? What are you doing today?
Before I could even bring it up, Kang Shia jumped in enthusiastically.
Huh.
I never thought I’d experience sothing like this.
“Of course, I rember. I think I’ll be gathering information at the association today, but I’m free in the evening.”
-So you’ll be in Gangnam. Hmm… I’ll book a private place then. Or is there sowhere you’d prefer?
“No, but it’s not going to be expensive, right?”
-Oh my, you rembered what I said back then? Haha. Don’t worry, it’s not expensive. After all, it’s Gangnam.
“After all, it’s Gangnam,” she says…
That sounds expensive…
Anyway, we set up plans for today thanks to Kang Shia’s proactive push.
Hmm.
She seems to have sothing in mind.
I wonder what kind of story she’ll bring up.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
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