“Ahem! Even though it looks like this, this artifact is actually quite something.”
It was a “Unique”, “Level 2”, “Accessory” artifact.
Among artifacts, the [Tear of Teia] that Jun had acquired could even be considered an endgame-level artifact, depending on the situation.
“Um, senior. Would it be alright if I give it a try?”
“……”
“I’ll give it a shot!”
Taking Jun’s silence as permission, Aiden drew his sword and swung it toward the golem.
Though his attack was fairly serious, the golem reacted by raising its arm.
However, the golem’s thin stick-like arm was easily sliced off by Aiden’s sword…
“……”
“……”
“……”
A brief silence fell before Aiden spoke up first.
“I’ve never ignored your orders before, but… can’t you retract the part about not needing cover?”
Aiden’s expression was sad.
It seemed he was determined to train even harder to grow stronger instead.
Jun felt that Aiden might be more hurt by his explanation, but it was time to clarify things properly.
“It’s not that… it’s just that I only filled it with enough magical power for one day. Besides, this thing is a growth-type artifact.”
“A growth-type artifact? This is the first I’ve heard of artifacts that can grow.”
“There are a few like that. That’s why this artifact is Level 2.”
The [Tear of Teia] was one of the rare summoning-type artifacts, and it was a growth-type which was even more rare.
In other words, as time passed, the golem the artifact summoned would grow stronger too.
With some effort, it could probably reach the level of the giant war golem we saw in the Witch’s Forest.
That level would be effective even at level 7. If used purely as a tank, it could be useful up to level 8.
Perhaps it might even go beyond that.
“How does its growth work?”
“It’s simple. I just infuse my magical power into it. At first, there’s a limit to how much it can absorb, but with steady practice, that amount gradually increases. This one has already grown quite a bit.”
When Jun had first summoned the golem, it had been smaller than a goblin.
“It’ll probably take a few months before it’s ready for real battle.”
“Not necessarily. One reason is that the artifact hasn’t fully adapted to my magical power yet.”
If Jun’s magical power became completely synchronized with the artifact, the growth speed would increase significantly.
“There are other uses too. Once that thing is complete, it’d be more efficient for you guys to focus on direct combat rather than guarding me.”
“I see… understood.”
Since Jun had put it that way, it must have been important.
Aiden turned his gaze to Maya.
“Then how should we coordinate our teamwork?”
When Aiden had previously worked with Jun, they had been fighting monsters.
But back then, they were both at level 1 with little real-world experience.
Though it had been good practice, now Aiden had reached level 3, so it was hard to get proper training in this place.
And for Maya, who was nearing the end of level 4, it was even more difficult.
“Getting teamwork right from the start is tough. So, let’s do sparring.”
“Spar… you mean?”
“Mhmm.”
Aiden’s expression grew sullen as if he had just recalled an unpleasant memory, while Maya appeared indifferent.
“Obviously, I’m going to win, right?”
Maya’s casual demeanor made Jun grin.
“It won’t be as easy as before.”
The variables that skills brought were that significant.
In fact, wasn’t Maya’s sword broken by Aiden’s first use of [Charge] back then?
“And the purpose of this sparring isn’t to beat each other. It’s to understand each other’s mindset.”
“Mindset?”
“Let me give you an example. Maya, let’s say another group ambushed us in a dungeon. How would you respond?”
“I’d kill them.”
“Aiden, what about you?”
“…I think I’d go for a method that subdued them as much as possible.”
As such, when their values and objectives were different, it was inevitable that their teamwork would falter.
Until now, that issue had been overshadowed by Colton and his mercenaries.
Colton led the fights, and all Aiden and Maya had to do was cover areas they couldn’t handle.
“But from now on, it’ll often be just the three of us. We won’t be able to fight like we did before.”
In life-or-death battles, a lack of teamwork could become a serious problem.
Hearing Jun’s explanation, Aiden and Maya nodded their heads in agreement.
Aiden clearly remembered how remarkable Colton’s teamwork had been, and Maya also remembered the unity of her tribe well.
“Let’s start by not using any magic. Aiden, no skills for you either.”
“Ugh.”
Aiden was briefly flustered at being cut off from his biggest method of creating variables, but he quickly accepted it.
Like Jun had said, this sparring was meant to help them understand each other’s thoughts.
“Then… let’s begin!”
***
“Haah.”
Maya let out a low sigh after she finished the day’s schedule and returned to her quarters.
Today marked the third day since she had started sparring with Aiden.
At first, she wasn’t too keen on Jun’s suggestion.
It made sense. Maya’s main goal was to find the whereabouts of the Eroders who had massacred her tribe.
To her, Jun and Aiden were not long-term companions but merely part of the process of achieving her revenge. So even if their teamwork improved, it didn’t give her much to look forward to.
Which only made her more anxious.
– Always remember, impatience brings death in this place.
Her father’s words barely managed to suppress her growing frustration.
The targets of her revenge were strong. Strong enough to slaughter all of Maya’s tribesmen, who had settled in a level 5 field.
Even her father who had once operated at level 6 field had fallen to them.
I have to get stronger.
If the spirits of her ancestors she harbored hadn’t told her to follow Jun, she might have wandered the level 5 field alone by now.
And perhaps, in that process, she would have lost her life.
However, as if they had glimpsed the future, the ancestors had said that Jun’s presence was essential for her to achieve her goal.
Because of that, she didn’t know exactly how her purpose would be fulfilled.
“…I think I might know.”
Aiden.
Unlike the first day, he was now keeping up with her pace to the point where she almost doubted if he was even the same person.
Though he still couldn’t read her mimicry, he was starting to recognize and block Maya’s attack routes more frequently.
It seemed that, just as Jun had intended, Aiden was learning Maya’s patterns of behavior.
On the other hand, Maya found it difficult to understand Aiden’s actions.
To her, the Aiden she observed was too kind and gentle.
She could try to read the psychology behind his actions, but she unconsciously felt resistance when it came to understanding and accepting them.
The survival methods she had been taught were far too distant from such kindness.
“It’s hard.”
Still, it wasn’t entirely meaningless.
Today, Maya had caught a glimpse of Aiden’s sincerity, even if only a little.
“This is strange.”
Today, Aiden had swung his sword with genuine killing intent toward Maya.
Whether it was conscious or unconscious didn’t matter.
And the trigger for that was some attempt Maya had made.
“I can’t understand.”
She had spent two days thinking about how to draw out Aiden’s true feelings.
The most certain method was to provoke his reverse scale.
For Maya, the act of battle itself was her reverse scale.
Every single one of her combat techniques had been taught by her father.
Because of that, whenever she fought, thoughts of her father always came to mind, and her killing intent toward the Eroders would surge. She was always fighting with full sincerity.
So then, what was Aiden’s reverse scale?
After some thought, Maya deliberately directed her killing intent toward Jun.
From what she could tell, Aiden seemed to hold Jun in high regard.
The effect was remarkable.
Aiden immediately blocked her path as if to shield Jun from the killing intent, and for the first time, something resembling killing intent appeared in his sword.
Only then did Maya get a small clue about understanding who Aiden really was.
She still didn’t know why Aiden acted the way he did.
Looking back at their conversation during the welcome party, the two of them seemed like complete strangers.
“……”
Still, it was a feeling she knew she would have to understand one day. And not just for the sake of teamwork.
Her very existence and the spirits of her ancestors engraved in her body were telling her so.
***
“Today, we’re going to get some equipment.”
“Equipment!”
Aiden’s eyes lit up at those words.
His gaze was like that of a dog hearing the word “treat”.
The first piece of equipment Jun was going to get for Aiden was shoes.
From before, Aiden had felt that the leather boots he was wearing weren’t sturdy enough to support the recoil of his [Charge].
The moment he kicked off the ground, the soles of his boots would get torn up, and during battle, they were on the verge of getting holes.
Nothing would be more embarrassing than that.
Seriously, an imperial member fighting with shoes full of holes?
That was something Jun could never allow.
“Maya, I’m going to get you some throwing weapons.”
“Throw… what?”
“I mean things you can throw them, like daggers.”
“Why would you give me something like that?”
From Maya’s perspective, it sounded random.
Her main weapons were twin blades. She had never needed to use hidden weapons.
“Judging by the way your wrist moves, I thought you could handle them well. Especially when combined with your mimicry abilities, they could be great for ambushes.”
“…Understood.”
Despite feeling a little uneasy about it, Maya accepted Jun’s reasoning.
That’s how she had been trained by Bradden.
Besides, from what Maya had seen, Jun didn’t give unnecessary orders.
Alright, I’ll just train her the way she grows in the game.
Of course, Jun hadn’t really recommended throwing weapons because of Maya’s wrist movement.
It was simply because, in the game, she had been a pretty skilled NPC with them.
Her skills haven’t fully matured yet, anyway.
Anyway, the NPC Maya in the game had shown considerable talent with throwing weapons, so it was worth investing in her.
Since both Aiden and Maya were close-range fighters, it made sense for at least one of them to have a mid-range countermeasure to support each other.
However, getting the right equipment for them was quite tricky.
It wasn’t as simple as browsing the internet for a few outfits like in reality.
Jun had to spend quite a bit of time visiting various workshops and searching for the right gear that suited both Aiden and Maya.
There’s no need to pick something in just one day.
Even after spending an entire day searching, he didn’t find any decent enchanted equipment.
I haven’t heard any clues from Chloe about solving the problem yet, and their teamwork isn’t fully developed.
For now, there was no rush, so taking time to look around seemed wise.
By the third day of searching for equipment, Aiden and Maya appeared to have gained some insight during their sparring sessions, so Jun quietly left the training grounds and headed into the streets on his own.
He had heard from Chloe that there might be an assassination threat against him, but he doubted anyone would be bold enough to target him in broad daylight at the Black Forest Fortress.
They’ll probably strike at a more critical moment.
With that thought in mind, he wandered through the streets where various merchants and craftsmen had set up shop.
Normally, it was hard to find famous craftsmen in such a low-level [Checkpoint] as the Black Forest, but recently, quite a few merchants had come through with their wares.
They were preparing for the upcoming Forest Guardian Raid next year. They were targeting the high-level users who had started to arrive.
Even among the merchants, there was a ranking system. Without a high ranking, it wasn’t common for them to have the opportunity to sell their goods to high-level users.
“Hmm…”
Even so, there still wasn’t any equipment that particularly stood out to him.
Some were good but far too expensive, others were just overpriced for what they offered, and the rest were mediocre at best.
If he was going to invest, wouldn’t it be better to get something of high quality?
It was while he was wandering around for quite some time that it happened.
“Heeuck!”
“You damn swindler!”
“Don’t ever come back here! Ptui!”
“Be glad you got out with your life!”
A man was thrown out of an alley and rolled several times across the ground.
Judging by his appearance, this didn’t seem like something he had experienced just once or twice.
“Y-You wretched…!”
The man appeared to be an old man in his fifties or sixties. He pounded the ground in frustration, but the group that had thrown him out merely sneered and disappeared back into the alley.
“……”
A mage?
For a moment, Jun thought that, but when he looked closely, he couldn’t sense any magical power.
He tilted his head in confusion.
Why did I just assume that man was a mage?
The rags the man was wearing were so tattered that it was hard to make out their original form.
Could it be because the old man resembled the mage character he had played back when he was Lee Jeong-jun?
But there’s nothing similar except the rags.
If wearing tattered clothes was the only reason, Jun would have had the same thought every time he saw a beggar.
But that had never happened before.
This stirred a brief moment of curiosity in Jun.
So, without realizing it, he focused his gaze on the old man.
He began to look at him with the eyes of a mage, the eyes of someone observing and analyzing.
In an instant, countless pieces of information flashed through his mind.
At the very least, the old man didn’t seem to be an NPC from the game he knew.
However, there was one thing.
“…….!”
He noticed something that sparked a sense of familiarity.
It was the leather bracelet wrapped around the old man’s arm.
A simple leather bracelet, without any grand design or significant markings.
Yet just seeing it was enough to bring back disgusting memories for Jun.
– I didn’t know it would turn out this way. I really thought it would help you grow your talent.
– But that was my arrogance. To think I could express your level with mere words like “talent”.
– For me to speak this way, your talent must be so vast, so arrogant, insolent, and boundless.
A middle-aged man who casually spouted out words full of hypocrisy.
Why was that man’s image flashing through his mind at this moment?
It was likely because of one thing.
The Odyssey of the Lazy Pilgrim…
The bracelet that old man was wearing. Jun could feel his master’s power emanating from it.
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