9 – 2 – It Seems Only I Can See It – 4

Not long after, the tutorial fairy really brought all the supplies Gi-jun had requested and piled them up in a corner of the empty lot.

It was an amount that could easily last ten years if consumed by only the two of them.

“Wow, Contractor! This is the brown sugar I like…! You ordered it for me, right? Thank you!”

No, there were three.

Gi-jun wore a warm smile as he watched Lucy, who had hugged a block of unrefined brown sugar with both arms and started gnawing on it.

“Of course. But eating too much of it isn’t good for your body, so eat in moderation.”

“Okay! Nom, nom…”

The cute Lucy was deceived by Gi-jun.

Naturally, he had requested the brown sugar to use for cooking and baking.

Of course, if Lucy liked it, he was more than willing to give her this much.

However, after cutting off a small piece of the brown sugar to taste it and check its quality, Gi-jun realized an obvious fact.

“It’s extremely delicious, but… it’s quite different from the brown sugar I used to eat on Earth.”

“Of course it is! It was produced on Kata Island, a famous sugarcane-producing region in Reta, under the strict management of slaves!”

Slaves…?

Gi-jun frowned at the words that came out of the fairy’s mouth, which were hard to just brush off.

Seeing right through his displeasure, the fairy smirked and continued.

“Since it was produced by grinding away the magic power of slaves, its quality is basically Uncommon or higher, so it’s a taste a clueless fool like you has never had in their entire life. And did you know? Among the slaves working on Kata Island, there are also Heroes like you guys!”

“Moth, the payment will be deducted from my points, so leave now.”

The Demon King spoke in a cold voice to the fairy, who was spewing venomous words.

At that, the fairy looked back at her with a truly puzzled expression and asked.

“Hero, you couldn’t possibly have grown attached to that bug, right? I thought it was strange when you ordered so much food, even consuming your own blood-like points, but this is really…”

“Moth.”

“I only said that out of concern for you, Hero…”

Feeling deeply wronged, the fairy glanced at Lucy, who was nibbling on the brown sugar, and shrugged her shoulders.

“If he really is capable enough to calm down a rampaging spirit and contract with it again on his own, well, putting him in your debt like this might not be so bad… Anyway, I understand.”

Even after hearing everything that had happened between Lucy and Gi-jun, the moth still seemed to doubt the authenticity of the situation.

She simply did not like the fact that someone she looked down on as trivial was showing talent.

But her doubt did not mean she could take away the spirit Gi-jun had contracted with, so she merely clicked her tongue and turned away from him.

“Also, I have something else to tell you. The Hero Management System has acknowledged that the system is partially responsible for this transaction with you, Hero, so only 50% of your points will be deducted for this transaction.”

“Right, thank you for that. Please look after me in the future as well.”

“Honestly… this is an obvious loss, a waste of resources. The Earth Heroes need to clear the tutorial quickly.”

The fairy disappeared, grumbling until the very end.

Gi-jun, who was silently storing the ingredients in his inventory, turned his head toward the Demon King and asked as soon as he confirmed the fairy was gone.

“Demon King, about ‘Reta’ that the moth mentioned earlier, by any chance…”

“Yes. The ‘main stage,’ which is to say, the world you all will head to once the tutorial is over. A world where you will compete with other civilizations for survival.”

“…Then you too?”

“My war is already over.”

Having said that in a slightly cold voice, the Demon King looked flustered the next moment as if realizing her slip, and waved her hands in the air.

“It’s nothing serious. You know, right? Even that fairy bows down to me without fail. I’m actually a pretty big deal, you see. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Well, if that’s the case, then that’s fine.”

“Ha, a green junior worrying about their senior. Mind your own business.”

Reading Gi-jun’s mind, the Demon King snorted and changed the subject.

She probably did not want to discuss this topic any further.

Gi-jun had no choice but to swallow his curiosity about the word ‘slave’ that the fairy had mentioned earlier.

“Once you put all of that into your inventory, we will go straight into training. We need to hurry since we don’t know when the Heroes will finish the tutorial.”

“Yeah, we should. …I wonder how long it will take.”

A week had now passed since the Heroes were wiped out, the second round began, and Gi-jun, left all alone, started training with the Demon King.

It was hard to believe even for himself because today had been particularly dense with events—meeting Lucy during the process of raising the rank of Dexterity and the moth visiting—but it was only a week.

Not a bad time.

Although the training itself was extremely difficult and painful, at the very least, he no longer suffered from the anxiety of not knowing when he might die.

It was even enjoyable to see himself growing so rapidly.

“Since it’s the second round, won’t it be much faster than the first round? Five years… no, that’s overestimating them too much. Since they will also need time to train, let’s say ten years.”

“……Ten years.”

There were times when he thought it would be nice to live like this forever.

Yet, there were also times when he felt anxious, remembering his separated companions or the Earth he had left behind.

Therefore, wouldn’t ten years be appropriate?

For Gi-jun to strive without growing weary.

For him to hold out without forgetting the people he missed.

Estimating the years he had left, he let out a long sigh, *whew*, and raised his head to face the Demon King.

Looking at the Demon King, who gave a small smile as if she understood his heart completely, Gi-jun suddenly felt anxious and asked.

“But ten years makes me too anxious. There’s no way some kind of error occurs and traps us here for a thousand years, right?”

“What kind of nonsense is that? Trapping me with you alone for a thousand years—how could you say something so horrific?”

“We aren’t alone! I’m here too, and I will keep my eyes wide open and watch!”

Watching Lucy, who suddenly shrieked while nibbling on the brown sugar, the Demon King had never resented her lack of spiritual power more than at this moment.

If she had possessed spiritual power, she would have given Lucy a good flick on the forehead.

“Just spar. I’ll just roll you around instead of the spirit.”

“Lucy is better at provoking than I am.”

And that night.

—A flower loved by many looks even more beautiful just by that fact. Charm has increased by 2, becoming 62.

—A flower loved by many looks even more beautiful just by that fact. Charm has increased by 2, becoming 62.

It was truly a mystery, but the growth of his Charm was accelerating.

* * *

As a new roommate named Lucy was added to the space where only the Demon King and Gi-jun had been, the place felt much livelier.

Of course, Gi-jun’s daily routine did not change much, but simply adding a cute spirit who exerted all her strength to protect Gi-jun during his brutal sparring matches with the Demon King somehow made the atmosphere feel much softer.

Her proactive attitude also had a positive effect on the growth of Gi-jun’s newly blossomed Spiritual Power and Light Spirit Arts skill.

Perhaps partly because his stats and skill levels were still low, the levels rose by one every two or, at most, three days, even though he was not focusing solely on spirit arts.

Considering that both were Rare rank, it was truly an amazing feat.

[Gi-jun]

[Title — The Last Hero (Legendary)]

[Human Lv.96]

[Strength — 96]

[Dexterity (Uc) — 29]

[Endurance (Uc) — 38]

[Magic Power — 87]

[Charm — 88]

[Spiritual Power (R) — 31]

[Gi-jun]

[Title — The Last Hero (Legendary)]

[Human Lv.96]

[Strength — 96]

[Dexterity (Uc) — 29]

[Endurance (Uc) — 38]

[Magic Power — 87]

[Charm — 88]

[Spiritual Power (R) — 31]

[Skills/Spells]

[Common]

[Cooking Lv.99, Butchery Lv.85]

[Uncommon]

[Shield Mastery Lv.42, Dual Blunt Weapon Mastery Lv.90, Strong Provocation Lv.99, Returning Throw Lv.87]

[Rare]

[Metalization Lv.99, Enjoying Without Tiring Lv.91, Light Spirit Arts Lv.35]

[Unique]

[Rapid Regeneration Lv.8]

[Legendary]

[Unbreakable Biological Clock Lv.——]

[Skills/Spells]

[Common]

[Cooking Lv.99, Butchery Lv.85]

[Uncommon]

[Shield Mastery Lv.42, Dual Blunt Weapon Mastery Lv.90, Strong Provocation Lv.99, Returning Throw Lv.87]

[Rare]

[Metalization Lv.99, Enjoying Without Tiring Lv.91, Light Spirit Arts Lv.35]

[Unique]

[Rapid Regeneration Lv.8]

[Legendary]

[Unbreakable Biological Clock Lv.——]

By the time a month had passed since Lucy joined, Gi-jun had also become quite skilled at handling her power.

Although it was only to the extent of imparting light to his weapons or body to increase defensive power, or blocking attacks with a shield made of light, this alone could be said to have increased his tanking ability by at least fifty percent.

“Once skills and stats pass 50, then 75, and then 90, their growth rates slow down each time. Even taking that into account, if it’s at this level…”

After finishing today’s morning spar.

Looking over Gi-jun’s status, the Demon King gave a favorable assessment of his spirit arts.

“Reaching Unique rank for both won’t be a problem at all. Legendary isn’t just a matter of effort, though, so it will be difficult to reach it while playing house without any real combat experience.”

“Where in the world is there a game of playing house where your stomach gets pierced and your heart feels like it’s bursting…?”

“Ugh, what should I do about our contractor being in so much pain…!”

Even though his abdomen was ruptured and his arms were broken on a daily basis, Lucy shed tears while worrying about him every single day.

Although he felt sorry for Lucy, it served as a significant comfort during his painful training.

“If I regain just a bit more of my strength, I’ll be able to perform a treatment that blows away the pain in an instant and leaves no aftereffects. Just bear with it until then, Contractor…!”

“Oh, Light Healing Magic? You were quite an impressive spirit, weren’t you? Once you get that, we can push ourselves a bit harder, can’t we? Maybe we really can see Legendary rank.”

“You devil!”

Thanks to the synergistic effect between the spirit who protected him and the Demon King who beat him, he was growing steadily nonetheless.

It would have been nice if Lucy had started to accept that the Demon King was not hitting him because she genuinely hated him, but perhaps because the first impression had been so terrible, the relationship between the two remained like cats and dogs.

Seeing how the Demon King provoked Lucy every time despite not needing to deal with her, it seemed she was enjoying it in her own way.

“But right now, it’s Metalization rather than spirit arts.”

“I was wondering when you would say that, Senior.”

Currently, Gi-jun had three skills stuck at level 99.

One was Cooking of the Common rank, one was Strong Provocation of the Uncommon rank, and the last was Metalization of the Rare rank.

Cooking had risen steadily to level 99 and then stopped, and even the Demon King did not know how to evolve it to Uncommon rank.

Strong Provocation was a skill that literally provoked enemies to make them attack him… but it was difficult to even perceive the Demon King as an enemy, and even if he did provoke her, there was no way the Demon King would fall for an Uncommon rank skill, so its growth was blocked in the same manner.

And finally, Metalization.

“I know the method for this one. There are many similar abilities, after all.”

“Even so, it probably involves using the skill and getting brainlessly beaten again.”

“Hero, you’re quite simple-minded, aren’t you?”

The betrayed Hero stared blankly at the Demon King.

Where had the Demon King, who had resorted to hitting him no matter what skill he was training, gone?

Avoiding his gaze, which clearly conveyed that meaning, the Demon King discussed the method for growing Metalization.

“Simple training is one thing, but to raise the rank, we need to approach it more professionally.”

“Please tell me, Senior.”

“Metalization is a type of skill that transforms the body to gain attack power or defensive power. Beastification, Dragonization, Petrification, Elementalization, Lightningization, and so on… there are too many to count.”

“Oh.”

Hearing this, Gi-jun listened closely as it sounded more plausible than he had expected.

Indeed, since the Demon King was someone who had survived in the other world for far longer than him, she must have seen many skills.

Furthermore, hearing the names of the skills she listed off, it somehow felt like every single one of them would be incomparably stronger than Metalization.

Except for Petrification. Wasn’t that just a debuff?

“Actually, I think your Metalization ranks among the very best. It seems to have great potential for growth too. …And there is little danger.”

“Danger?”

“Now, let me tell you what kind of special training you need to do to rank up transformation skills.”

As if cutting off Gi-jun’s question, the Demon King extended her left arm into the air.

For an extremely brief moment, only her left hand turned into something black and muddy, then returned to a human hand.

Never imagining that the Demon King would also possess a transformation-type skill, Gi-jun stared at her with a dumbfounded expression.

Wait, could the danger she mentioned be…?

Such thoughts were completely blown away upon hearing the words she spoke next.

“The training method for transformation skills is none other than partial transformation. You guide the flow of mana that occurs when the skill is activated to cause a dramatic change only in a specific part. If you make one part stronger, wouldn’t it be easier for the skill itself to surpass its limits?”

“Ah.”

His head nodded instinctively at the mention of partial transformation.

This was because Gi-jun had also thought of doing something similar.

To be precise, when he had just acquired Metalization, his magic power was so insufficient that he had contemplated whether he could metalize only the necessary parts at the necessary moments.

However, there was no way an answer would come from him agonizing over it alone.

Even when he sought advice from the party’s mage, Ji-hye, who was the most outstanding member at manipulating magic power, he only received the most irritating answer in the world: ‘Skill control? You just move your mana like this and do it like this, so why can’t you do it, Oppa? You just have to do it like this.’

In the end, he had given up on partial metalization and had used it only to metalize his shield, and once his mana had increased slightly, he had learned the trick of activating Metalization on his body only at the moment of impact…

“Bummer.”

When he told that story to the Demon King, she shook her head with a look of blatant disappointment.

His chest ran cold thinking about what kind of humiliation he would have suffered again if he had not told her about his experience.

“How could such a bad person exist! Contractor, don’t worry about it. Even if you’re slightly lacking in handling magic power, you possess outstanding Spiritual Power and a warm heart!”

“Right, Lucy. Thank you… Do you want some brown sugar?”

“Yes! Nom, nom…”

Smirking at the sight of Gi-jun stumbling from the unexpected blow, the Demon King made a suggestion.

“It worked out for the best. I needed to address your magic power manipulation at least once anyway. Whether you act as a tank or handle spirits, if you cannot properly manage the magic power stat, you won’t survive long on the main stage… Reta.”

“Then are we training magic power manipulation from now on?”

“Of course, we must continue to spar. Sparring, magic power manipulation, spirit arts. Let’s divide the day into three parts like this.”

However, there was a trap in the Demon King’s words: since both the training of magic power manipulation and spirit arts were ultimately integrated with sparring, the time he spent getting beaten did not decrease by much in the end.

Unlike when he had raised the rank of his persistent regeneration skill, it took a fair amount of time to rank up Metalization, which was only possible once he became accustomed to manipulating magic power.

“No! Moving magic power isn’t like trying to get a stranger’s contact information! Think of it as a relationship where you’re already living in the same house! Have confidence and push forward aggressively!”

“I’ve never asked for someone’s contact information, nor have I ever lived with anyone else…!”

—You have gained a basic understanding of magic power manipulation. Magic Power has increased by 1, becoming 91!

“No, wait, this actually rose?”

In return, perhaps due to his continuous reflection and effort regarding magic power following the advice of his great senior, the Demon King, his Magic Power—which was the lowest among Gi-jun’s stats—began to grow rapidly.

Eventually, by the time he succeeded in the partial control of Metalization and evolved the skill into the Unique-ranked ‘Steelization’, his magic power had also evolved to the Uncommon rank.

It was two months after he had started the training in magic power manipulation.