He swung his sword without thinking.
I blocked the incoming attacks, dodged them, and responded to them according to the situation.
Because of that, I didn’t even have time to remember how I fought.
[I attacked the gate.]
After fighting like that for dear life, when I came to my senses, that message came to my mind.
My evasion instinct also stopped working at that point.
“Huk, huk… .”
At that moment, I was running wild as if the reins were loose, and I couldn’t overcome the recoil and fell flat on the floor.
My body didn’t have any strength left.
I kept gasping for breath while looking up at the blue ceiling.
At that moment, another message appeared.
[My body has broken through its limits.]
[Stamina increased by 1.]
[Strength increased by 1.]
[Agility increased by 1.]
If I was going to climb, I should have done it during the battle. Why am I only climbing now… I sighed.
Game 『Brave Hearts』.
This game does not have levels, so unlike other games, you are not given points to invest in physical abilities when you level up.
Instead, you can increase your physical abilities through experiences such as training, battles, and academy classes.
So it was not easy to increase your physical abilities.
That was also fun.
On the other hand, 『Brave Hearts』 is oriented towards replay, so you can transfer your existing data to the next replay.
As a result, the abilities of the main character and fellow characters continued to increase as you played.
The difficulty of conquering the story also dropped significantly…
So in this world where you cannot replay—which is not a game—you had to focus more on increasing your strength.
You have to become as strong as possible.
I put away the message that came to my mind.
At that moment, particles of light gathered in the air as I looked up.
Whoosh!
The gate key fell on my stomach.
I confirmed it with my eyes and laid down on the floor again.
I didn’t want to get up.
That’s when my father came over.
“Hey, son. Are you alive?”
“You don’t seem to be alive. I don’t have much strength in my body right now.”
“You moved like that, so it makes sense.”
My father smiled bitterly.
I laughed for no reason.
Soon, I blinked blankly at the words my father had said.
“That’s right, when you set off the lightning bolt, I was really surprised. I think you’re probably the youngest person to have set off a lightning bolt now?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Set off a lightning bolt.”
“… Me?”
“Yeah, honey. You didn’t know? You were moving around like that, emitting lightning.”
“…”
I set off a lightning bolt.
I immediately recalled the battle we had just fought.
That seems to be the case…
It was just a short scene, but it seemed like blue lightning was emitting around me.
I thought it was just mana fluttering because I was focused on the goblins, but I didn’t know it was a wall lightning.
“… I don’t know if I can do it again. I don’t remember it well.”
“Don’t worry. You’ve already experienced it once, so your body will remember it. If you train hard, you’ll be able to do it again. You did well, really.”
My father patted my head.
I nodded my head slightly, feeling dazed because my memory wasn’t clear.
If I do as you say, it’ll work out.
Is it because my avoidance instinct was triggered?
I don’t know.
I decided to practice holding the sword as soon as I recovered my stamina.
Then suddenly, a thought occurred to me.
“But Dad, what about Mr. Hong-cheol?”
“Hong-cheol? He’s working over there.”
“Work?”
“We’ve entered the artificial gate, so we need to take what we can take out.”
“Ah.”
My father gestured with his chin.
I turned my head in that direction and soon found Bae Hong-cheol crouching with his back turned.
Bae Hong-cheol was searching through the goblin corpses, looking for something.
Soon, he pulled out a blue gem from the goblin’s heart.
“Let’s rest a little and go help. If we make him do the porter work alone, he’ll get really upset.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
Unlike the game, in this world, monsters don’t automatically drop magic stones or other items when you defeat them.
You had to collect them by hand.
So even if you conquered the gate, it wasn’t completely over yet.
My father and I rested for a while and then decided to get up.
“Can’t we take that crystal?”
“If you touch it and a message comes up, you can take it out. But I guess that message rarely comes up. I haven’t heard of anyone getting that crystal from this gate.”
“Then I guess I just have to search through the corpses.”
“Some goblins wear pouches. They’re noisy. Let me know if you find them.”
Unfortunately, I couldn’t find the goblin wearing the pouch.
When I took the magic stone out of the goblin, the goblin turned to ash and disappeared.
The goblin’s blood on my hand also turned to ash and fell to the floor.
The magic stone was the basis for the goblin’s existence.
Meanwhile.
Huh?
I caught a flash of light near the pile of ash. There was something more than the magic stone.
So I dug through the ash and found something I could hold. When I brushed away the ash on the surface, the stone began to glow.
“Dad! Here’s the magic stone!”
Unlike the blue magic stone, this one was yellow and slightly smaller than the magic stone I had just acquired. It was a magic stone.
In the game, it would drop with a certain probability when you killed a monster.
In the game, magic stones could be exchanged for money or used as materials to make artefacts.
Magic stones contained providence, and a character that responded to them could absorb their power and convert it into abilities. Alternatively, they could be used as crafting materials, just like regular magic stones.
It seemed the same rules applied in this world.
I lifted the magic stone in my hand and showed it to my father and Bae Hong-cheol.
“You found it well. Compared to magic stones, these don’t appear very often,” my father said.
“What kind of magic stone comes from a goblin archer? Hmm….” Bae Hong-cheol added as they both approached to examine the stone closely.
They explained which types of magic stones were usually dropped by goblin archers.
“Well, even if I don’t receive an appraisal, I can’t know anything.”
“We’ll have to check that out once we’re out of here.”
However, until an appraisal was done, there was no way to know the providence the stone contained. We could only guess.
In the game, players could freely check item information.
Of course, I could confirm the stone’s identity even without an appraisal. When I focused my eyes on the magic stone, a message appeared in my field of vision.
[The Lowest-Level Agility Stone]
◆ Consumable Category
—Stone
◆ Detailed Description
—Immunity that contributes to the target’s agility is contained.
◆ Detailed Effect
—For targets with an agility value of less than 60, agility increases by 1 when absorbed.
It was a stone that enhanced physical abilities. While it would have been better if it were a skill stone, this wasn’t bad either.
I stood still, lost in thought while holding the stone in my hand.
Is there no way I can keep this for myself?
Considering it was the spoils of my fight with the goblins, I felt justified in claiming it. While the magic stones were typically given to the Regulus Clan, I wanted to keep this one for myself.
Before I could bring it up, Bae Hong-cheol interjected.
“If the stone responds to him, why don’t we just give it to Gyeon-woo? Since he caught all the goblins himself, he deserves a souvenir.”
My father glanced at him, then sighed. “Hong-cheol, you sly devil… Always so perceptive.”
“Does that mean I’m getting a promotion?” Bae Hong-cheol teased.
“No, but I’ll treat you to a meal later.”
“It better be expensive,” Bae Hong-cheol quipped with a grin.
Thanks to his suggestion, I secured the stone without having to argue for it.
“Thank you!” I said eagerly.
“Oh, don’t thank me yet. We need to see if the stone responds to you. Try channelling your mana into it.”
I quickly followed his instructions, even though I already knew the result.
It’ll respond to me, right?
Unlike skill stones, which had specific compatibility requirements, stones that boosted physical abilities responded to anyone.
Feigning ignorance, I quietly awaited the outcome.
And then…
“Oh, it’s responding. This stone is now yours, Gyeon-woo. Absorb it well.”
The stone sparkled brightly as it reacted to my mana. My father patted my shoulder approvingly as I held the stone tightly, a sense of accomplishment washing over me.
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