Predator.
A cursed item that greedily devoured everything the wearer had.
If it wasn’t fed, it would start draining the wearer’s HP, ultimately leading them to death.
Jun had first learned about Predator from a post uploaded by a newbie on the community forum.
He only found out later, but that newbie eventually became something of a legend among veteran players.
That’s how famous the incident was.
I laughed a lot when I saw that too.
One of the common habits of newbies in RPGs was hoarding every single junk item they came across.
They would stash things away just in case they needed them later.
Veteran players would often scream when they saw such inventories or storage tabs.
Even if their real-life rooms were messy, their in-game inventories had to be spotless. Such was the mindset of veterans.
It was back when some newbie uploaded a post.
That newbie, too, was a junk item collector.
Having progressed a fair bit into the game, he eventually realized that most of the items cluttering his inventory were useless, and so he asked the veterans for help.
He requested that they sort through the items in his inventory and storage, and tell him which ones were actually useful.
Naturally, many veterans jumped in to help, and the newbie managed to clear out all the unnecessary junk.
However, this particular newbie was someone who had played up to the mid-game by carefully studying veteran guideposts.
And as luck would have it, he had “Predator” in his possession.
He said it was too much trouble to sell everything to the shop one by one, so he just used Predator like a trash can.
He had a low-level NPC equip Predator, and then he fed it all his useless junk items.
Predator was delighted by the offering and devoured every last piece.
In the end, Predator acknowledged the low-level NPC who had filled its belly as its master.
And that low-level NPC later went on to become an outstanding tank character, even performing well in the mid-to-late stages of the game.
It was a hilarious incident.
What the newbie had stumbled upon was an incredibly useful hidden piece.
Thanks to that, the post was talked about for a long time.
Jun too had seen that newbie’s post and tried out Predator in the game himself.
And that’s when I discovered yet another hidden piece.
It happened then.
Predator, which had been endlessly devouring mana like water being poured into a dried-up well, began to slowly decrease the amount it absorbed.
It was starting to get full.
This happened after about half a day had passed.
Oh no, you don’t.
But Jun had no intention of stopping there.
On the contrary, he stirred up more mana and continued to fill the thing’s belly.
Even though it resisted, it had no say in the matter to begin with.
Chomp, chomp… slurp…
Whether it was full or not.
Jun kept “injecting” mana into the creature.
Even when it accepts a master, this thing stays wild.
Just as its name implied, Predator was not a docile artifact.
Even the slightest hunger would make it bare its fangs at its master again, and once it was full, it wouldn’t listen to commands properly either.
The key was maintaining it at just the right level of fullness or hunger.
But how could anyone use something that dangerous?
It was an incredibly inconvenient item to use.
According to the aforementioned low-level NPC, his end had come because Predator grew hungry again.
There was no rule saying such a fate couldn’t befall Jun as well.
So, Lee Jung-jun had once poured himself into experimenting with all sorts of methods in the past.
And as a result—
“In the end, a beast must be tamed.”
What if it couldn’t be tamed?
Then it had to be subjugated. It needed to be given pain so deep it would never fade, down to its very bones.
Jun had planned to teach it just that.
He intended to place a restriction on the act of “eating” itself.
Juu, juwaa…
Mana had been injected up to its very limit. Any more and something was bound to go wrong.
Jun timed it with precision.
It was something he had done countless times before. After failing dozens, even hundreds of times in the game and constantly reloading save files to try again.
And now, the limit of that limit.
With just one more pinch of mana—
It would be destroyed.
Just as there was no such thing as infinity in the world, the creature’s stomach had no infinite capacity either.
It was at a state of perfect saturation, not a single gap left.
Maintain this state.
And repeat this process over and over again.
But he couldn’t just keep scaring it.
If he did, the creature might grow fearful of eating altogether.
And then, the glove would lose its usefulness.
This creature’s true value only revealed itself when it devoured something.
What mattered was—
The imprint that punishment followed wrongdoing.
Like when it had drained Jun’s blood on its own whim.
Starve it to the extreme, then feed it to the extreme.
Jun was prepared to repeat this as many times as it took….until the creature learned the act of permission.
“Let’s see who wins this, you or me.”
Of course, once he’d mastered the process, Lee Jung-jun had never lost a tug-of-war with the creature again.
A hidden piece, born from the help of a newbie and the research of Lee Jung-jun.
If completed, the equipment that had hovered around level 3 or 4 due to its vague performance would rise all the way to level 1.
***
A month had passed.
During that time, Aiden and Maya had fought battles that brought them to the brink of death several times a day.
Most of those battles had been against Bern.
Unlike when he had lost his mind under the power of corruption, Bern, now in possession of his reason, was strong.
Whoooom――!!
The massive battle hammer sliced through the air as if it were just a stick being swung around.
But the power it contained was anything but light.
Just moments ago, Maya had broken through Bern’s shield and found an opening. But she couldn’t react in time to this strike.
“Hup!”
On the other side, Aiden aimed for Bern’s back.
It was a lightning-fast blow. One that would have been nearly impossible for an ordinary knight to respond to.
But Bern was a level 7 fighter.
He was able to respond to both attacks.
Baaan,g――!!
Acanthus’s Fangs blocked Bern’s battle hammer, but they couldn’t absorb the full force of the blow.
Before Maya could even wince at the searing pain of both arms breaking, Bern twisted his body and slammed his shield into Aiden, who had just reached his back.
“Graaah―!”
It was just a shove powered by sheer, momentary strength and not even a direct attack. Yet Aiden screamed as he was flung away.
In that instant, Aiden’s body began to glow.
Ssssshh―!
A crimson energy, like blood, flickered like flames before seeping into his body.
To be exact, it was absorbed by his artifact.
His buff coat clattered loudly, and a destructive force, almost beast-like in its raw power, surged into Aiden’s muscles.
The Destroyer’s Leather had awakened its power.
It had been made from the hide of the once-infamous monster, the Minotaur, a creature that had once shaken the entire continent.
Specifically, it was crafted from the hide of a Minotaur bearing an epithet, combined with the work of a master craftsman whose name was lost to time.
Aiden kicked off the ground from where he stood.
His entire body felt like it might shatter. But the power coursing through him was overwhelming.
[Charge]
As the skill activated, Aiden shot forward like a cannonball.
Behind him, the ground tore open like crashing waves.
“Mm!”
The Meteorite Sword clashed once again against Bern’s shield.
Bern let out a short grunt and took two steps back.
Withstanding such an attack without using divine power was a struggle, even for him.
Just as he swung his battle hammer to push Aiden back, he sensed a refined killing intent right behind him.
It was Maya.
[Spirit Dash]
She dashed forward, merging with the surrounding scenery.
Bern, who had twisted his body to counterattack again, saw her and decisively threw his shield aside.
There were two weaknesses to that strange ability that let her pass through objects.
One, it couldn’t pass through energy like mana or divine power.
Two, she had to release that state if she wanted to land a hit.
Thunk!
Bern blocked a lightning-fast kick flying toward his face.
As if she had anticipated that, Maya tried to strike Bern’s chin with her other foot. But Bern moved his arm faster than Maya had predicted.
Strength was hard to apply while in midair.
Maya’s second kick missed, and Bern, as if handling nothing more than a wooden stick, swung her around and hurled her at Aiden.
Thud—!
Aiden barely managed to catch the flying Maya, but even he lost his balance.
Right after, Bern’s battle hammer came crashing down over the heads of the two stacked together.
Fortunately, both turned their heads toward Bern, avoiding an embarrassing scene.
Instead, what followed was the searing pain of death.
***
“Phew.”
Jun whistled as he watched the scene unfold.
“Are you all right?”
“Bwahaha! I’m fine. Just fine!”
Though he said that, Bern looked down at his own trembling arms.
He hadn’t used divine power during the training, but for a moment, he had nearly been overwhelmed.
There was a savageness in Aiden’s sword like he was facing a wild beast.
And Maya’s kick had been so powerful that the shock had not only pierced into his hands but sent a jolt all the way up to his shoulders.
“Where in the world did you pick up talents like these?”
“I didn’t pick them up; they came on their own.”
“Hahaha! The gods must be watching over you!”
Well, if they really were, they wouldn’t have sent him all the way out here.
Thinking that to himself, he let the words in one ear and out the other.
Then Bern asked another question.
“By the way, don’t you do any training yourself?”
“Hmm. It might look like I’m just goofing off, but I live each day fiercely.”
Why wouldn’t he?
Over the past month, Jun had barely had enough time even if there were two of him.
The only difference was that his training didn’t require anyone else’s help.
This was merely a brief moment of rest.
As soon as he turned his body and moved somewhere more secluded, he would have to endure pain so intense it felt like every bone in his body was melting.
This damn [Mana Body] just won’t move the way I want it to.
Just like he had felt in the Forest of Life and Death.
Jun once again realized how lacking he still was in mastery over the [Mana Body].
He’d been filled with regret back then, and now he was trying to make up for it.
Still, his efforts over the past month were finally showing results.
I can control the mana to some extent now.
Although it was still impossible for him to cast magic that poured in all of his mental imagery like he had back then, it was effective when it came to operating mana in a more subtle way.
It’s not like I haven’t had to watch my back because of that more times than I can count.
Jun’s [Mana Body] had a nature that inevitably drew attention, much like Aiden’s mana.
He might have been able to fool non-mages in one way or another, but such excuses didn’t work on fellow mages.
They would instantly realize that there was something unusual about Jun.
There was no guarantee they wouldn’t go straight for his heart, just like his master had.
“Mmm. Still, there’s nothing quite as efficient as physical training! What do you say? Would you consider moving together with your comrades?”
“Hmm… Would it be alright if I postponed that for a bit?”
At that, Bern’s eyes sparkled.
“I’ll wait. Being around young people again makes me feel young myself!”
Hahahaha!
Jun responded to Bern’s laughter with a smile of his own, then turned to look at his glove.
Twitch.
For some reason, he felt like the glove had twitched.
It probably wasn’t just his imagination.
Over the past month,
Jun had come to feel that he had nearly tamed the Predator.
“I think I’ll be ready to set a date within the next couple of weeks.”
As he said this, Jun pulled a letter from his inner pocket.
“By the way, Sir Paladin Bern, could you send this letter to the Black Forest?”
“What is it?”
“It’s a letter to an old friend, who should have settled in by now.”
“I thought—hah! I thought you were sending it to a woman!”
Jun tilted his head as he looked at Bern, who wore a somewhat sly expression.
Since it was a woman, Bern wasn’t exactly wrong.
Chloe. She must be doing well by now.
It had already been two months since the attack on the Gillen Merchant Guild.
By now, it was probably around the time they had put the Merchant Guild’s signboard back up over the rebuilt building.
Training too much isn’t good. It’s time to get some real-world experience.
Once again, the time had come to return to the field.
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