“Who are you?”

A soft voice came from behind. I realized the person’s identity and sighed in relief. Aether’s automatic defense system only reacted to killing intent and hostility. That must mean an ally had appeared.

I confidently turned around after my analysis. Jain stood there disguised as a man.

“Huhu, did I surprise you?”

“Yes, a lot.”

Jain’s stealth and disguise ability truly suited her personality. She smiled mischievously.

“How’s my disguise? I tried to copy the guy you told me to be.”

“It’s perfect.”

Blonde hair, a slightly thuggish appearance, a short height, and a cute look unbefitting a demon. She looked exactly like Phiunel’s subordinate, whom I investigated beforehand.

“Don’t surprise me like that next time. Stay put until I message you even if you’re bored.”

“Okay.”

Jain disappeared like a true phantom thief.

I calmed my beating heart before proceeding to the secret room. A demon pretending to be a guard stood in front.

“Oi, who are—”

Aether shot forward before he could finish and pierced his neck. Black blood splurted along with an unsettling gargle.

“Kek, kuk…”

The demon didn’t die as I took out a dark ore arrow to finish him off. I had long grown used to such trivial murder. Click— I turned the silver candle to reveal a small, dark pathway.

I needed to prepare before heading downstairs. Two powerful demons should be waiting there.

“Huuu.”

I took out several of the highest quality potions that glowed with different colors.

[You have consumed a Dwarven Potion of Courage.] [You have consumed a Dwarven Potion of Vitality.] [You have consumed a Dwarven Potion of Wind.] [You have consumed a Dwarven Potion of Stone.]

I consumed 4 potions and immediately felt the effects. My muscles roiled as adrenaline rushed through me. I gained a total of 3 points in every stat. It would only last 15 minutes, but I wouldn’t have to worry about anything else as I took out the Desert Eagle. Several system alerts popped up after fusing aether with the Desert Eagle.

[Aether has fused with the Desert Eagle.] [Special skill, Algorithm, has activated.] [Aether’s neurotech chip has activated.] [The Desert Eagle’s output will increase proportionately to your physical stats.]

Aether had learned this extra ability after it fused with me. I learned about it after a mission as Fenrir the last time I returned to Earth. From what I could tell, the anti-material sniper rifle’s power became no less than my dark ore arrows.

[The Desert Eagle has used 50% of aether.]

I only distributed 50% to the Desert Eagle to maintain my defensive functions.

I proceeded down with the gun in hand. As expected, a door appeared after exactly 66 steps. I took out the demonic energy crystal and crushed it. Sssk— The door reacted to the demonic energy and opened.

“Oh, you’re here. Kteron’s Mantra is he— what?”

Aether shot forward like last time, but the enemy reacted faster. He released his demonic energy and blocked as his eyes turned black.

“Who are you?”

I raised my handgun at the Lv.14 demon. I would be at a disadvantage if the fight dragged out, so I quickly pulled the trigger 3 times. Each bullet struck the same spot. The first carried an anti-magic property, breaking the barrier around his body. The second carried a piercing property that tore a hole through his tough skin. The final one carried an explosive property that dug into his body.

The first battle ended in the blink of an eye. However, another demon remained.

“You!”

Demonic energy burst from his body and surrounded us. This demonic energy storm seemed to have a life-stealing ability. However, I didn’t need to defend or avoid it.

I changed the Desert Eagle into a shotgun and aimed. Aether automatically blocked his demonic energy and turned it into crystals with [Extraction and Permanent Materialization]. It rapidly drained my spirit power, but I calmly pulled the trigger.

KWANG!

The shotgun shell blasted out and obliterated the demon.

“Whew…”

The secret room grew silent as I walked forward to check the items.

[Lv.13 Crane Feather Fan] [Hwai’s Sword Technique] [Lv.14 Cintamani] [Unique Skill Acquisition Book – Lv.??? Clock Hand of Fate] [Lv.12 Serpent Dragon’s Scale]…

The [Unique Skill Acquisition Book] undoubtedly caught my eye the most. It looked like an old, wornout book, but I planned on filling my only unique skill slot with it.

[You have acquired the unique skill, Lv.??? Clock Hand of Fate!] [The roulette of fate has activated for the first time!] [The unique skill’s level will be randomly chosen… (the maximum level is 10)] [You have acquired Lv.8 Clock Hand of Fate!]

I felt more than satisfied and prepared to leave as I placed the items in a bag since treasures couldn’t be stored in the inventory.

[Crane Feather Fan], [Crystal Rose], [Fiendish Flute], [Da Vinci’s Hat], [Prometheus’ Wisdom], etc. Each item cost at least 150,000 TP. I left the secret room after packing up and shouted.

“Spartan!”

Spartan landed on the ground after breaking through the window. I handed the bag to Spartan.

“Take this back to our hideout.”

Spartan flew into the sky with the bag. Its weight didn’t affect him thanks to the weight-reducing magic I placed on it. My body loosened up after completing the operation. As I sighed in relief…

“Stop.”

Someone appeared from the foot of the staircase. The obvious presence didn’t surprise me this time as I turned around without much thought.

“…!”

Then I immediately took back my words about not being surprised.

“I found someone whose identity is unknown, over.”

She held a longsword. The blade seemed sharp enough to slice through anything. I felt all too familiar with the guard looking at me.

“First floor hallway, over. Check the location, over.”

She spoke with someone and it seemed the mansion had some sort of system to detect intruders or perhaps an elemental had sensed me.

“Right, over. The first floor, over.”

I could see her unique current of magic power undulating at the tip of her blade. However, she likely couldn’t see through my hooded robe and mask. Even her intuition shouldn’t be able to detect anything because of the equipment I made with painstaking care.

“I don’t have to say over? Got it, over. Ah, uh, okay.”

She still seemed a little dumb. Was it because she didn’t possess Homer’s Ring like in the original story? I bitterly smiled and looked at Chae Nayun.

“I’ll suppress him for now. I don’t need reinforcements.”

She swung her longsword, but my body refused to move. The world turned blurry as though time had stopped.

“—!”

With a spirited shout, a crescent sword qi flew towards me. The attack should’ve split me in half, but aether automatically defended. The fierce wind from the attack caused my robe to flutter.

“What?”

Chae Nayun’s eyes trembled. She might’ve been surprised that I stopped her attack or perhaps she saw underneath my robe.

“Wait.”

Regardless of the reason, she spoke out as her hands trembled and her sword shook. She examined me from top to bottom.

“You…”

Wind blew in from the window that Spartan broke. A gentle breeze parted Chae Nayun’s hair and I clearly saw her face. She didn’t look that different from the past.

“Who are you?”

The wind carried her voice into my ears. She spoke with a trembling voice. However, I remained silent, not because of my beating heart or the shock from our sudden reunion. This place just didn’t suit a reunion.

Sssss…

Violet light seeped in from outside as an explosion erupted.

I felt a certain urge and aether moved accordingly. Tssss— Aether shot out and pulled Chae Nayun towards me.

“Uwoah!”

She missed the timing to resist and her longsword fell out of her hands. Soon, something touched my chest. Aether formed a barrier around us as our clothes touched and I used stigma’s magic power to further strengthen it.

Kwagwagwagwa!

A storm of demonic energy shook the world. The explosion only lasted briefly and the world soon regained its color, but we remained in the same position. Debris littered the mansion hallway. In the midst of it all, I held onto Chae Nayun as she stared at my chest.

I suddenly felt her body stiffen. Soon, she slowly raised her head to look at me. I couldn’t let that happen, so I covered her eyes with my left hand.

“You…”

I sensed the certainty in her tone and felt afraid. However, I didn’t know how to stop her either. I panicked, which hindered my rational thought process. Then I condensed aether into my right hand.

“Are you…”

I had to stop her with the only available method.

— Puk! 

“Uuk!”

A short groan followed as I smacked her in the head with aether and she fainted.

“…”

My mind blanked, but the screams snapped me out of my daze. I didn’t have time to stand still and quickly messaged Jain.

[I’m done here. Start the operation.]

***

[8-3F, Crevon Mainland]

The demons attacked with gargoyles in the sky and giants on land. They used multiple [Mass Teleports] for this surprise attack.

However, Crevon’s army quickly reacted. The royal family didn’t place any soldiers at the grand mansion, but troops heavily guarded the surrounding streets. Crevon’s soldiers arrived at the frontlines right away. Furthermore, the famous Flying General Lü Bu and Lancelot of the Lake guarded the prince and princess. Not even the demons could break through them.

“Haha…”

Phiunel happily watched since the demons didn’t plan on invading Crevon. They only had to raid the mansion for him to achieve the perfect crime.

“Sir!”

Someone flung his door open and Phiunel put on a worried expression that turned into confusion when he saw who had entered.

“Yoten? What’s wrong?”

Phiunel’s short secretary with blonde hair and a slightly thuggish look came over.

“There’s trouble!”

“What?” Phiunel furrowed his brows. “What happened? Aren’t things going well?”

Yoten took several deep breaths before shouting once again.

“T-The items in the secret room all disappeared!”

“What?”

“H-Hurry downstairs and see for yourself!”

Phiunel forgot his old age and ran like the wind. He raced from his office on the 7th floor to the secret room in just 3 minutes and almost received a heart attack upon seeing the empty room.

“T-This.”

Phiunel rummaged his pockets instinctively. He should be able to look up the thief in his directory as long as he met them once. However, he didn’t have time at the moment.

“Yoten! Contact the higher-ups immedi… huh?”

Phiunel turned around before taking out his directory. Then he saw Yoten standing in front of him with a sinister smile.

“Yoten? What’s the meaning of this?”

“Ah, you see…”

Phiunel suddenly felt heat rising from his chest. He glared at Yoten, who stabbed him with a dagger. Phiunel never neglected his training, but the opponent’s magic power thoroughly overwhelmed his own.

“Yoten… why…”

Phiunel placed his hand on Yoten’s neck, feeling nothing but anger and betrayal. He wanted to strangle Yoten, but lost all his strength.

“Your use ran out, old man.”

Phiunel gritted his teeth and glared with bloodshot eyes. “Yoten, you…”

“Don’t be so mad. It would be more foolish to trust you when you lived in human society for 60 years.”

Yoten pulled the dagger out.

“Kuhuk!”

Blood splurted as Phiunel stumbled forward. Yoten grinned and pulled him up by the hair. Then he brought the dagger to Phiunel’s neck.

“Goodbye old man.”

KWANG! An explosion blew up the surrounding walls. The wind pressure sent Yoten flying and the woman who appeared quickly suppressed him.

“W-What? Who are you!”

Yoten struggled under the woman’s grasp, but the woman responded mechanically.

“I. Am. A. Guard. Protecting. Her. Employer.”

Phiunel heard the woman exchanging words with Yoten. He thought, I picked a good guard… as his consciousness faded. Whispers rang out in the quiet basement.

“Um, Boss. It’s over now. Can you let go?”

“Shh.”

“The old man’s already fainted.”

“You didn’t kill him, right?”

“Yup, I avoided any vital organs.”

Boss let go of Jain disguised as Yoten. Kim Hajin decided it would be a waste to kill Phiunel, so he came up with this plan.

“We’re going to rip him off now, right?”

Jain chattered with a bright smile. Now, Phiunel and the demons would misunderstand each other. Phiunel would cut off contact with them, thinking they had betrayed him and the demons would take this as Phiunel betraying them instead. As a result, Phiunel would inadvertently fall to the side of humans.

“Well done, Jain.”

“You came in at the perfect time. Your acting skills need some work though. Want me to kiss you?”

“Try it if you’re not afraid of dying.”

“Oh right, Hajin told me to bring an item called the directory. Let’s see…”

Jain rummaged through the unconscious Phiunel’s pockets and stole a little notebook.

***

[High Difficulty, Second Tutorial, Nameless Ocean’s Nameless Island.] [Seven days after the start of the second tutorial.]

“Oh, so we can’t eat summoned monsters.”

Yoo Yeonha murmured in disappointment as her idea got shot down. Growl— She hadn’t eaten anything in 4 days.

“Of course not. I’m more surprised you even thought that was possible.”

Ah Hae-In glared at Yoo Yeonha, who suggested eating her summoned beast. How could she think of such a cruel thing?

“Whew…”

Yoo Yeonha stood up without a choice. She had to move when she could if she didn’t want to starve to death. Yoo Yeonha had heard about the second tutorial outside the tower and made ample preparations, but their island didn’t have any materials to make a fishing rod. Swimming to another island also carried too much risks.

Yoo Yeonha could only glare at the sandy beach. Her eyes caught sight of faint movement in the sand after standing in a daze for about 10 minutes.

“Crab!”

She found a fat crab. Ah Hae-In didn’t seem all that excited as Yoo Yeonha chased the crab. Stay calm. You learned how to catch seafood with your bare hands. Timing is most important… now!

“Kyak!”

However, Yoo Yeonha couldn’t even get close. She stumbled over a rock because of her weak physical stats.

“Sigh.”

Ah Hae-In guessed the outcome from Yoo Yeonha’s scream and continued staring at the sand. She found it difficult to even summon a simple creature with her restricted stats. Even so, Ah Hae-In stared at the hole she dug in the sand. She called it the singularity point training method and prevented her magic power from wavering subconsciously by focusing her concentration on a single point.

“Come, come, come to me.”

Ah Hae-In felt like she had only focused for 5 minutes, but 60 minutes had passed. Afterwards, a small creature that looked like a baby seal squirmed out of the hole. It looked like it could easily catch some fish once it grew bigger.

“I did it!”

Yoo Yeonha’s voice suddenly rang out. Ah Hae-In turned around and found Yoo Yeonha hugging a huge fish.

“I, I caught one! Duchess Ah Hae-In! I… uwoah!”

Yoo Yeonha tripped on a rock while running over with a smile. Time stopped for a moment as she wondered. Don’t, don’t tell me. Did the fish I just caught enter the water again? Yoo Yeonha raised her head with despair.

“Whew.”

Thankfully, the fish flopped on the sand.

“Well done, Yeonha.”

Ah Hae-In complimented her and picked up the fish.

“A glossy seafish. Looks like we’ll be having a feast tonight. You can leave the fire to me.”

“Yes, thank you.”

Yoo Yeonha returned a smile. Ah Hae-In grinned and started a campfire with her magic power.

“Ssp.”

“Ssssp.”

They drooled over the campfire 30 minutes later. Ah Hae-In separated the meat and split it in half after the fish finished cooking. Yoo Yeonha took a huge bite at the glossy seafish in her hand. Nyam.

“Wow.”

She had never tasted anything so delicious. It felt like the entire universe exploded in her mind. The fish in her mouth made her realize what it meant to be alive.

“It’s… it’s so good…”

“Right? It must taste better because you caught it yourself.”

Yoo Yeonha teared up at Ah Hae-In’s words. She became enlightened about a new world today.