“Um…” Chi-Woo groaned. “Urggh…!”

Chi-Woo had been staring into space since he returned home, or more precisely, he had been staring at his newly updated fostering system projected in the air and wondering which ability he should upgrade. Chi-Woo recalled what Nangnang had said about weighing the gravity of their situation. The same principle applied. He needed to weigh his fostering options to see which would help him overcome his shortcomings or maximize his advantages.

Thus, in this same line of thought, what advantage did Chi-Woo have that separated him from the other heroes? The answer was that he had ten inherent special abilities, while others had difficulty getting even one; this meant that Chi-Woo had to place these abilities at the center of his growth. Thanks to La Bella, he had a way to do this, and now, he had to decide how to go about upgrading each ability.

‘Should I try upgrading each one once first?’ If he excluded Golden Ratio and increased all other abilities by one rank, he would still have about 15,000 merits left.

‘Come to think of it, I benefited quite a lot from Divine Blood.’ Chi-Woo had collapsed several times in battle but was able to get up eventually thanks to that ability’s healing effects. Since he valued his life, Chi-Woo upgraded Divine Blood without hesitation.

[Using 2,352 merits (24,608 -> 22,256)]

[Inherent ability Divine Blood increases in rank (F -> E)]

Chi-Woo immediately called upon his user information.

7. [Divine Blood E]- The awakening of one’s blood due to Core of Balance. Protects the mind and body. Resists all low-level exterior interferences of the mind and reduces the effects of subliminal messaging. Surface-level injuries will be instantly healed with saliva.

“Oh.”

The description of the ability changed. Chi-Woo wasn’t sure how much better the ability had become, but the description was more concrete than before. And there was no doubt that it was better than when the description blatantly said, ‘Not yet fully developed, its effect is still very weak.’

‘Should I upgrade it one more time?’  He called upon his fostering page again, but when he saw the detail of the ability, he cursed, “What? Shit.”

<Fostering List>

2. Inherent Ability- [Divine Blood E] (11,789 Up ↑!)

Chi-Woo squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again. He tried closing and reopening the page or even looking elsewhere. Unfortunately, the number remained five times higher than before. 

“Isn’t this too much? Sh…” To make sure, Chi-Woo upgraded his second choice of purchase, Core of Balance, to E.

[Using 5,277 merits (22,256 -> 16,979)]

[Inherent ability Core of Balance increases in rank. (F -> E).]

‘Okay,’ Chi-Woo thought. When he accessed the page again, the jump in merit requirement was even more ridiculous. 

<Fostering List>

1. Inherent ability – [Core of Balance E] (53,295 ↑!)

It increased more than ten times!

“This is crazy, seriously.” Chi-Woo couldn’t help but curse.

“Why!? When I raise it to D rank, is it gonna cost me 50,000 merits to reach the next rank then!?” Chi-Woo shouted at the empty air before him fruitlessly, glaring at nothing in particular like he was taunting La Bella to hit him again.

—What is wrong with him? Did he go crazy?

[User Choi Chi-Woo. Calm yourself.]

Philip sounded surprised, while Mimi was as composed as ever. 

“But Mimi-chan. Isn’t this too much? How could it cost so much to raise the skill from F to E?”

[My name isn’t Mimi-chan. Also, you’re right. This isn’t usually the case. It usually costs between 10 to 100 merits to upgrade an ability to rank E.]

“Then why? How much is the goddess planning to haggle for herself?”

[Mind your manners. You’re speaking about goddess Uphiter’s daughter.]

“Besides my manners—” Thump. Chi-Woo was interrupted by a heavy thump of his heart. He was going to continue after swallowing his breath when Mimi spoke again.

[The fact that the system is requesting more merits means the ability is incomparable to the ones that are commonly known to this world.]

“But even if that’s the case—huh—?” Chi-Woo trailed off, and his body tilted. He clutched his heart, and his face distorted as an incessant burning pain rose in his heart. 

“Ah—ah—” Chi-Woo rolled around on the veranda in great pain, and both Mimi and Philip looked on helplessly, not knowing what to do.

[I told you to be careful in the way you speak! This is divine punishment—!]

—Why did you suddenly collapse? Hey, are you okay? Hey!

Chi-Woo wondered. ‘Divine punishment? Just for uttering a couple of words?’ Then he couldn’t think anymore because the mana that had lay dormant at the center of his heart began to split into thousands of branches. 

“Kurgh—!”

Chi-Woo’s eyes widened. He felt as if his heart was going to shatter, and the mana inside him was running amok.

‘Huh? Wait, no.’ The mana was actually swirling in one direction. He had simply felt like it was moving irregularly because of how fast it was. And in the midst of the indescribable, body-crushing pain that he felt, Chi-Woo instinctively closed his eyes. As he had learned from Ru Amuh, he lied down and focused on the flow of his mana. Instead of guiding the mana with his own will, he tried hard to naturally chase after the flow.

“…”

“…Huh?” When he opened his eyes again, the sun was shining on his face. He was sure it had been early morning before; he seemed to have lost time. Chi-Woo blinked. His body felt cool, as if mint had been applied all over its exterior and interior.

[A new ability is derived from the inherent ability, ‘Core of Balance’.]

[Inherent ability ‘Divine Inspiration’ is created.]

[Physical ability ‘Exorcism’ increases in rank. (E -> D)]

Chi-Woo looked at the message in front of him in a daze. The exorcism mana, which he had been unable to level up no matter what he did, moved up a rank, and a new ability was created. To check it out, Chi-Woo called his user information forth.

[Divine Inspiration F] – The awakening of one’s energy due to Core of Balance. Because the user’s conceptualization ability is still weak, the user can’t control this ability however he wishes.

[Exorcism D] –… exercises absolute dominance over forces of the evil and chaos type.

<Fostering List>

5. Inherent— [Divine Inspiration F] (2,036 Up↑!)

A new ability had been added to his fostering list, and one of his basic abilities had been strengthened on top of that. 

[Do you now understand why you needed that many merits to upgrade your abilities?]

Mimi sounded exasperated. Truthfully, Chi-Woo still didn’t grasp it completely, but he had thought, ‘Why is the goddess haggling so much!’, while he now thought, ‘Hm…! She does show me something!’

La Bella tightened her fists after reading Chi-Woo’s thoughts, but she suppressed her anger. Since Chi-Woo had no basic knowledge about all things heroes, he didn’t realize how amazing the abilities he’d acquired were. Nevertheless, Chi-Woo could tell that his exorcism mana had noticeably increased. The energy that flowed out of his heart felt stronger than ever before.

“Thank you, Goddess La Bella. I will devote myself to your purpose.” Chi-Woo quickly changed his attitude and bowed.

—Wow, I knew he was a crazy bastard, but wow…

Philip muttered. Then the door opened slightly, and a small lump crept in through the gap.

“!?” As soon as the bun met Chi-Woo’s eyes, it froze.

“Hey!” Chi-Woo growled seeing the bun. “It has been ages since I last saw you.”

The bun didn’t move.

“Okay, it’s fine for you to wander around since I brought you here so that you can live your own life, but you shouldn’t make other people worried. Do you even know what has happened while you weren’t here?” Chi-Woo continued with a stern expression on his face.

The bun manifested a hand and scratched its clean top section. It seemed to be laughing awkwardly, ‘hehehe….”

[It reminds me of someone else in this room.]

Mimi said mockingly.

* * *

Eval Sevaru came to meet Chi-Woo the next afternoon. After returning from his training, Chi-Woo saw a whole bunch of bundles piled up in front of his house.

“Here you are!” Eval Sevaru bowed while laying down another bundle. “I’m late since I was emptying the place as per your request. And it was too much to do by myself, so I asked others for help. That’s fine, right sir?” 

As Eval spoke, Chi-Woo saw Nangnang, Snowy Mountain, and Shadia coming toward them, each carrying a large bundle on their backs.

“But it’s quite disappointing,” Eval said while licking his lips and going through the door. “It looked all fancy outside, but there wasn’t much in actuality.” 

The team did bring a lot of stuff, but that was because they had taken everything they saw.

“The weapons are just okay, not much different from the ones we obtained before.” 

Most weapons weren’t too different from each other.

“But even then, it wasn’t as if everything was mediocre. I’ve packed the higher-quality items separately.” Eval Sevaru unwrapped a bundle as he said so, revealing a long sword and a rapier.

“This is a sword I got from the corpse of a knight on the roof. Most of the weapons were actually corroded beyond use, but these two were especially of good quality. Shadia said that they are enchanted with simple magic.”

Chi-Woo glanced at Philip.

–He’s right.

Philip snorted.

–They’re all trash, but at least those two are a bit better. But it’s still not that great.

Chi-Woo smiled wryly. Now that he thought about it, it was unreasonable to expect an academy that lasted only 3 years to produce anything amazing. It was already fortunate that he at least got two swords, and he could now help out Ru Amuh. Even though Chi-Woo had decided to focus on getting things for himself and taking care of himself, Ru Amuh was an exception as Chi-Woo’s first star and ‘eldest son’.

Other than the two swords, the only object of value was a compilation of records that appeared to be magical research materials found in places like the dean’s office. Even though the equipment that he had been looking forward to was disappointing, there were a lot of precious metals. Eval Sevaru packed bundles full of gold and silver and had collected every expensive valuable and ornament he could find.

“Thank you. All of you did a great job.” Chi-Woo first took the two swords Eval Sevaru had separated from the rest of the items. “If any of you want something, you can take it in moderation.”

Nangnang and Shadia’s eyes widened at his words.

“Can I really do that?”

“Really? For real?”

Chi-Woo replied, “Yes. Even you, Mr. Eval Sevaru.”

Eval Sevaru’s anxious expression immediately brightened. At the same time, he seemed to have anticipated it. Nangnang immediately jumped towards the equipment and fiddled with some daggers.

“Boss, can’t you let me borrow some of that? I’ll read it and return it in the same state.” Shadia asked for the magical research documents with a desperate expression.

“Yes, do as you want.”

“Kyah! Thanks!” Shadia jumped up in joy and wrapped her arms around his neck. Startled, Chi-Woo flinched.

—Fuck!

Philip got angry for reasons he didn’t understand.

“Bro, would you perhaps want to leave those pieces of equipment to me?” Eval Sevaru cleared his throat and continued, “I’m planning to do a little bit of business, but I don’t have enough money. If you would entrust me with those, I promise to do a good job. We’ll go fifty-fifty. So what do you think, Boss?”

Chi-Woo already felt too lazy to deal with the rest of the equipment, so he easily agreed. Eval Sevary hummed with satisfaction and took back the equipment he brought. Then he said, “Hah. I’m jealous by the way. How does it feel to be the richest man in the capital?” Eval Sevaru was so happy that he even spoke words of flattery.

Chi-Woo laughed dryly. “I already decided where to use it.”

“Hmm? Where? Perhaps…”

“No. I’ve already decided.”

Eval Sevaru did not ask anymore. Chi-Woo’s stern tone told him that the man must have decided where to use the money a long time ago. Even though he was curious, Eval decided that he shouldn’t push it too much and immediately backed off. While everyone was joyously talking amongst themselves, one hero had been quiet. Snowy Mountain had been standing wordlessly by the side with his arms folded.

Chi-Woo asked, “Aren’t you going to pick some?”

“It’s all right,” Snowy Mountain answered with a gentle voice. “I raised my rank from iron to bronze, and thanks to you, I was able to recover some of my power. That’s enough.”

“Oh, really?” Chi-Woo’s eyes widened. The fact that he raised a rank meant that Snowy Mountain had passed the promotion test. Stopping Andras’ plan and defeating him must have helped him get a favorable evaluation.

“Hmm? You didn’t know? I’m not the only one. Both Nangnang and Shadia have ranked up as well.” When Snowy Mountain asked why Chi-Woo didn’t go to the temple, Chi-Woo made a bitter smile. That prompted Snowy Mountain to ask, “Shouldn’t you be able to reach gold with merits alone?”

Chi-Woo couldn’t reveal that he used most of his merits on upgrading his abilities. Chi-Woo changed the subject and suggested Snowy Mountain pick something. Snowy Mountain’s gaze settled on a pair of gloves that looked to belong to a knight.

Chi-Woo said, “You can take it.”

“I’m very grateful, but…” Snowy Mountain let out a deep sigh and said with a dressed voice, “It wouldn’t fit around my hands.”

* * *

After Eval Sevaru and the other expedition members left, Chi-Woo ordered the bun to swallow all the precious metals and ornaments. Then he went outside and asked around the natives. Chi-Woo thought it would take longer to find a native that could help him out, but a man who he knew before immediately brought him to the person he had been looking for.

Shortly after, Chi-Woo found himself standing in front of a native woman. He spoke first, “Hello. I’m one of the heroes from the seventh rec…” But he didn’t finish because the woman looked uneasy; she was even shaking slightly. He didn’t know how he should introduce himself so that the other person wouldn’t feel so scared.

Chi-Woo pondered for a long time and said, “I’ve met your parents before.”

The woman’s eyes widened. Chi-Woo closed his mouth when he saw her expression darken. After joining the seventh recruits and the other natives, she must have looked for her parents and heard news about what happened to them.

Chi-Woo coughed and managed to say, “…I have no words to offer in that regard. I actually have a request for you.”

“…What?” The woman looked at Chi-Woo with round eyes.

Chi-Woo stopped talking for a bit and glanced at the bun on top of his shoulder.

“…Blarf.” Bun opened its mouth and vomited out bundles. They were the precious metals and ornaments that Eval Sevaru brought from the academy.

The woman’s mouth widened as Chi-Woo opened the bundles one by one. Then she looked at him with confusion like she didn’t know why he was showing her this.

“They were both heroes,” Chi-Woo slowly continued. “I wasn’t able to tell you because I was in a hurry at the time, but…” His heart raced as he recalled the memories; he could still clearly remember what had happened then as if it was just yesterday. He remembered the middle-aged couple who offered themselves up after Giant Fist and Mua Janya. Even while crying, they gave away their knives and food that they had saved and sacrificed themselves.

“Thank you.” Chi-Woo bowed. “And I’m sorry.” He bent down further. “We were able to stay alive until now because of your parents’ sacrifice.” Chi-Woo could clearly recall the middle-aged couple’s parting words even though quite a bit of time had passed. “I know this won’t make up for it, but…” Chi-Woo straightened up and let out a long breath.

It was then that the woman seemed to realize why she was shown this much wealth, but she still looked stunned by the fortune in front of her.

“It’s…too much…” Her voice was quiet like a mosquito.

Chi-Woo made a small smile. “Your parents weren’t the only ones who came forward.”

Only then did the woman’s eyes shine. Even though Chi-Hyun had established the main headquarters and made basic living possible, they were definitely not living in surplus. Escaping starvation was a far cry from eating and drinking as much as one wanted. No matter how much money had fallen in value, this amount of precious metals would be of significant help for the time being.

“Even though I’m still lacking, I’ll help out as much as I can.” Chi-Woo bowed once again at the woman who was too flustered to speak. “…Then.” Chi-Woo turned away, leaving the bundles behind him.

“Thank…you.” He heard the woman’s trembling voice from behind. “Thank you…thank you…” She repeated herself until Chi-Woo completely disappeared.

–…

Philip watched as Chi-Woo plodded back home with a solemn face and became solemn himself. He remembered a friend called the iron-blood judge of heretics, who was extremely ruthless and cruel to his enemies, but firmer and more steadfast than anyone else to his friends.

–Hmm…

Philip let out a small sigh as he recalled a line he’d read from Chi-Woo’s memories. What did it say—was it his heavenly title?

—Three lines…