Clank, clank.
Jin Siwon sat on the edge of a bed in the dark sleeper car, his eyes slowly opening and closing over and over again.
Clank, clank—between the sound of the moving train, the moans of the wounded could occasionally be heard.
They had cramd the injured into this car lined with beds, and Siwon was among them.
“Phew...”
Letting out a deep breath, he massaged his throbbing temples.
His mana was depleted to the point of near madness, but he had remained conscious the entire ti.
Fragnts of mory surfaced as he tried to recall how he’d been helped and brought this far.
The polluted swamp.
Gnosis.
Bloodseed.
The acorn...
The acorn Serhi brought had been fake.
At the ti, he suspected Serhi had swapped it, but judging by the successful dungeon clear, it must have been part of Guru’s plan.
Only Guru could distinguish the special purifying acorn.
Suddenly, butterflies fluttered past in his blurry vision.
A four-year-old child had cleared an [RP-Rank Dungeon].
He already knew she was a smart kid, but to think she’d pulled this off...
It was enough to leave him speechless in admiration.
Siwon smiled, thinking of the baby flying squirrel.
More than anything else, what made him happiest was that Guru was alive and safe.
If she hadn’t been, he would never have been able to forgive himself.
So it was true that Guru ran away...
As Serhi ca to mind, a familiar wave of pain surged through him, and Siwon tightly shut his eyes.
Before he could sink into more aningless sentint, he forced his heavy head to keep recalling.
What had happened before Guru arrived.
“Hmph, this is no fun.”
Irina had tossed the fake acorn aside and began driving the Hunters toward the Bloodseed, manipulating them.
The closer they got to the Bloodseed, the louder the screams and groans beca.
At this rate, low-rank Hunters’ skin would start lting before they could even touch the Bloodseed.
“Barret!”
Siwon had no choice but to summon Barret.
There was no other way to block the leaking pollution except to envelop the Bloodseed with Barret.
As Barret absorbed all the contamination, Siwon’s mana drained rapidly...
The last thing he rembered was Irina’s voice.
“See you again, Zhenya. I hope you’re even more broken next ti.”
Siwon rubbed at the ache in his chest.
Irina...
He let out a faint scoff.
I’m already a wreck.
His country was gone. His family was gone. Nothing remained.
The sister he loved so much—how far did she want him to fall?
“...Hoo.”
Having recalled everything, Siwon pulled out a dagger from his inventory and sliced open his arm in a long motion.
Clang!
He threw the dagger to the floor, then without hesitation dug into the wound.
His blood-soaked hand pulled out a lump about the size of a peach pit.
The pulsing seed was engraved with the triquetra symbol of Gnosis.
He’d seen that seed countless tis while chasing down Gnosis.
It would hide in the body, take root, and create a path for Irina’s consciousness to invade.
To control a Hunter of his caliber, re skills weren’t enough—they had to use tricks like this.
Expressionless, Siwon crushed the seed underfoot.
Then, gripping his arm tightly, he pushed with force.
With gurgling blood, the remaining seeds spilled out.
Plop. Drip. Plop.
One, two, three, four... six in total.
“Stuffed full, didn’t they.”
Just as he was wrapping his mangled arm with no emotion—
“Ugh...!”
A wounded Hunter from the Brom Guild locked eyes with Siwon. The look in his eyes was filled with fear and horror.
In the dim sleeper car,
amid groans from all directions, a strange foreigner with ashen-blond hair had slit open his own arm and was squeezing out blood.
It looked like a scene straight out of a horror movie.
Flustered by the man’s gaze, Siwon awkwardly wiped his blood-soaked arm on his clothes.
It only made him look more terrifying.
“Ah... uh... s-sorry. I got so blood on you, didn’t I?”
He approached the wounded Hunter, bowed slightly in apology, and wiped the man’s face with his bloodied sleeve.
“Ggh!”
The man shrank back against the wall to avoid him.
But Siwon leaned in closer and kept apologizing over and over.
****
Chapter Intermission
Wiggle wiggle.
Guru poked her face out from under the blanket. When she looked up, she saw the bottom of Jurim’s chin.
It’s da Guildmastuh...
She always thought this, but Jurim really slept like the dead.
Half-asleep, Guru blinked her drowsy eyes and sat up.
After they ca out of the [RP-Rank Dungeon], Jurim had fed Brom Guild, Gidan, and Nayeon to the reporters and then strolled leisurely ho with her.
Aaaand den...
Guru had gotten ready for bed and begged Jurim to read to her until she fell ◆ Nоvеlіgһt ◆ (Only on Nоvеlіgһt) asleep.
“Co into da wowld heawthy and stwong.”
That warm voice reading aloud was her last mory. It seed they’d both fallen asleep like that.
Reading the title of the picture book I’ll Love You Forever and Ever, Guru smiled brightly.
Unchangey fowevew ti!
She wriggled closer and snuggled into Jurim’s chest.
Her tummy squird like it was full of worms, and her heart thumped and shivered.
Now Gwuu can caww him Dada, wight?
He’d told her she could call him that whenever she wanted...
She felt shy. Her lips tingled.
When Oppaw woke up later, she’d definitely try saying it.
Just as she made up her mind, phisto fluttered up with a flap!
“phie!”
Guru gave phi a chirpy little kiss.
[♥]
phi rubbed his tiny body against her cheek affectionately.
Guru giggled—his fluffy down tickled her.
Co to think of it, she’d earned 100,000 [Filial Piety Points] from the [Caregiver Quest] with phisto!
There was sothing she really wanted to do with 100,000 points.
Full of mana!
Guru opened her status window.
Na: Hanguru
Level: LV. 10
Title: ■■■ ■■■ ■■ ■■■ (Unavailable for viewing)
Strength: 1
Stamina: 1 ( 14)
Agility: 1
Defense: 1 ( 88)
Mana: 12
The boosts in [Stamina] and [Defense] were from the protective gear she’d received during her first dungeon.
[Mana] had been raised using the stat points she gained from leveling up.
Normally, one stat went up per level, so her mana should’ve been 11...
But if Gwuu has [Filial Piety Points], stats can go up too!
Being able to raise base stats independent of level was a huge perk.
As your level increased, it took way more EXP to level up, so stat growth would eventually hit a wall.
That’s why the higher your base stats at Awakening, the higher you’d be rated.
Jurim and Gidan had sky-high base stats from the start—they were born S-rank. But Guru, in comparison...
Gwuu’s stats awe aww 1...!
But there was no need to be disappointed.
With [Filial Piety Points], she could surpass level limits!
That ant she could beco a mana zillionaire using [Filial Piety Points]!
[More mana = better skill effect!]
In Guru’s mind, a fluffy baby sheep popped up and made two hundred snow ducks and a hundred perfect syrup bottles in one go.
Ta-daaa!
As the sheep waved exaggeratedly, a black wolf clapped with dramatic flair.
Uhehe!
Guru was grinning proudly when—
Hmm?
A new ssage appeared at the bottom of her status window.
[Would you like to unlock the filial skill ‘Clink-Clank Filial Factory!’ using 100,000 points?]
Guru’s little hand clenched with tension.
Clink-Cwank... Fiwial Factowy?
As a four-year-old S-rank crafting type, she could never ignore such a na.
“F-Factowy...!”
Gulp. She swallowed hard.
But she needed to boost her mana with the 100,000 points...!
Gwuu not intewested in dat kind of ding...
So just... just a tiny peek won’t hurt.
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