Chapter 18 - Chapter 3: Rescue
[Name: Shutra Ignus]
[Age: 14]
[Species: Gandharva]
[Occupation: Protagonist]
[Secondary Occupation: Conquest Knight Lv1]
[Uniqueness: Prince/ Conquest Knight]
[Level: 9]
Strength: 21
Intelligence: 21
Agility: 21
Talent: 21
Persistence: 21
Durability: 21
Mental Power: 21
Magic Power: 21
Charm: 17
Extra Points: 14
“Hrmm.”
In-gong nodded slowly as he observed the status window floating in the air. There was only one stat that stood out just based on the difference in numbers.
‘Charm.’
In Knight Saga, Charm had been different from appearance. Appearance meant the extent in which a person was called handsome or pretty, while Charm meant how much a person liked the character.
It could refer to someone who gave off a good feeling for no reason, a person who looked strangely handsome despite being ordinary or a person who was beautiful but poisonous.
In contrast, there were the handsome or pretty people who repulsed anyone who came near them.
Shutra’s appearance was seven out of ten points, so he was really handsome. Moreover, now that his Charm was higher than Villager A, there was no damage to his good looks.
The thing In-gong focused on was that his Charm was lower than the other stats.
‘The extent to which my stats have risen has changed.’
At first, every level up caused his stats to rise by two. However, now Charm only rose by one.
'Of course, the reason is obvious.’
Characters in Knight Saga grew individually. At first, a character wouldn’t rise well in the early stages. However, they would start showing peculiar abilities once their levels got higher. Genius characters such as Locke and Zephyr showed good growth from beginning to end.
Even so, all of his stats rose by two except for Charm, so his overall growth rate was better than Locke and Zephyr. There were also his additional points.
'As expected of a protagonist.’
In-gong mumbled and grinned as he checked the skills window.
He hadn’t distributed the skill points gained from reaching level nine, so there weren’t many changes.
'Kuhuhuh, this is the result of my hard work.’
He returned to his tent after forming an alliance with Caitlin and Chris but he didn’t go to sleep straight away. He spent three hours gaining experience.
He wrote dwarf characters on a blank piece of paper while practicing Telekinesis with his other hand.
Additionally, he memorized vocabulary. He didn’t just memorize the dwarf characters but fit the dwarf characters to his favourite song lyrics.
His skill level improved considerably due to the translations and repetitive writing. However, the level was still low. If he repeated it for six more hours, it could reach level two.
Telekinesis training was simpler. He practiced moving small things he placed on his desk. Telekinesis shook the object instead of moving it because it was still too weak but at least it worked.
'Yes, I should make Telekinesis reach level two through hard work. A lot of hard work is required to become an all-rounder. It won’t always be good.’
However, he still wanted to learn magic. Recovery magic was indispensable, so he couldn’t forget about it.
‘It is better than nothing, even if I only learn it to Lv1.’
After having these thoughts, In-gong looked at the skills that had no change.
Conquest, Below the King’s Flag and Protagonist Correction.
They were still Lv1, so the proficiency hadn’t changed but In-gong didn’t mind. He hadn’t experimented with them yet.
‘I am anticipating level 10.’
Apart from skill points distribution and hard work with general skills, there was one other way for skill levels to increase.
In most cases, the skill level rose automatically when the character level reached a certain number.
Level 10 - wasn’t it always a meaningful level?
It had been the same for Knight Saga. When Zephyr and Locke reached level 10, their unique skills ‘Descendant of Darkness’ and ‘Chosen’ rose by one level.
“Either Conquest or Protagonist Correction will rise in level. I’ll bet on it. I will. Isn’t that right?”
In-gong muttered and closed the status window. He wanted to go hunting to level up straight away but he had a lot of work to do today and tomorrow.
"Prince, I am coming in.”
He heard Carack’s voice from where he was waiting outside the tent.
"Come in."
It was early in the morning but Carack was fully armed. He held a round shield that he didn’t usually have and asked In-gong,
“What are you doing?”
"Just training my body. Are we leaving now?”
"Prince understands, so you need to move quickly. This time, Prince Chris will accompany us.
The operation was to quickly secure and confirm information. They had to check if the dwarf portal really worked and to secure the rear of the Red Lightning tribe as quickly as possible.
If all the work was done today, they could attack tomorrow or the day after.
“Okay, let's go."
Despite it being early in the morning, In-gong responded with delight and left the tent.
&
Caitlin’s base was quite busy. Chris and Caitlin greeted In-gong at the entrance to the base, with Caitlin’s lycanthrope warriors lined up behind them.
“Shutra.”
Caitlin welcomed In-gong with pleasure. The two people felt strangely more intimate due to the creation of the alliance last night.
It would be nice if I could see their favorability toward me.’
Unfortunately, there was no direct way to see that. In Knight Saga, a character’s favorability could only be checked using special items or special NPCs.
There were cases when a ‘loyal’ character would suddenly commit an act of betrayal.
Chris placed an arm around In-gong’s shoulder and said familiarly,
"Lunch is packed, so let’s eat at the cave. Hurry.”
His expression was like a child going on a picnic. Caitlin sighed then explained to In-gong,
"While we check the portal, my soldiers plan to clean up all the monsters in the cave. Seira will take command.”
Caitlin pointed toward Seira while In-gong remained silent.
'Well, it is unreasonable to level up using the monsters in the cave.’
He felt regretful but it couldn’t be helped. Securing the dwarf portal and the passage needed to be done at the same time.
Chris squeezed his arm.
"The discovery of the cave and portal is all yours, so you can expect a huge reward. If this is finished well, won’t your life in the Demon King’s Palace become completely different? The eyes of the other Demon King’s children will also change.”
His ‘Hyung’ expressed a subtle sense of hostility when he said the words ‘Demon King’s children.’
‘Rewards are nice but I don’t want to stand out.’
It was the same as attracting Zephyr’s attention. Even so, there was nothing he could do if Shutra kept remaining weak. He had to take some risks.
‘Well, I was already at the very bottom, so maybe this might be a good thing?’
It was highly likely he would be talked about.
Furthermore, he shouldn’t be afraid to be noticed from the start. He didn’t form an alliance with Chris and Caitlin for the sake of hiding.
While In-gong’s thoughts became a little dark, Chris tapped on In-gong’s back. He seemed to be misunderstanding In-gong’s thoughts.
“Hey, don’t worry. You will soon be taught Divine Beast Authority. Your aura isn’t developed enough so special medication is needed. It will take some time to prepare the ingredients.”
"I will be sure to teach you Aura properly. There will be some time after this operation.”
Caitlin also jumped in.
There were so many things he decided to learn that there didn’t seem to be enough time.
In-gong stared at Caitlin and inwardly laughed.
‘Divine Beast Authority and Aura is good, but I want to get some magic...wait.’
In-gong made a confused sound. Something flashed through his head.
‘Do I really need to be hit by magic?’
So far, he had learnt two skills through two method.
One method to acquire the skill was to do the related actions.
Basic Swordsmanship, Map Reading, Dwarf Characters and so on belonged here.
The other method was being hit by the skill.
It was impossible to learn Aura and Telekinesis through doing the related actions. Moreover, both skills required awakening.
Magic.
It was necessary to awaken magic power. However, the process of learning magic was closer to the former learning type than the latter.
'Should I ask for some magic books? A basic spellbook or a collection of circle one magic.’
Caitlin and Chris were powerful warriors and magicians. Although they leaned more towards being warriors, they ought to have a few spellbooks.
At that moment, another thought popped up.
Magician, Prince and Princess = their occupation and status in the Demon World meant they would know many things.
"Chris hyung, I have a question."
“Huh? What is it?”
Chris, who was walking alongside In-gong, glanced over with a friendly expression. Caitlin’s beautiful eyes also blinked at him.
In-gong asked both of them in a slightly lowered voice,
“Have you ever heard of something called Conquest Knight?”
TL Note: I've made a small change from Divine Beast Right/Beast Right = Divine Beast Authority/Beast Authority