Settlers (3)
“…Come to think of it, I’ve never said that before, have I? hehehe, I thought it was a joke at the time.”
Che Hai, who stiffened for a moment, shook his head with a big smile.
He quickly regained his composure as if he had been embarrassed when, and even had a faint smile reminiscent of the past on his face.
“I’m sorry, I told you about your story carelessly. But I swear, I never did it lightheartedly. Because this is so important. Perhaps it will be of great help in dealing with the Immortal King.”
“Hmm? Immortal King…”
“All I said was the people here. Please, Chehai. Please answer honestly.”
Hearing Geos’ words full of sincerity, Chehai’s gaze turned back to the people in the drawing room.
It is said that he now lives a quiet life taking care of his children, but at one time he also built up his own reputation on the bloody battlefield.
Of course, it wasn’t too difficult to read the momentum of the strong that flowed from them implicitly.
‘I said it was a death squad formed to face the Immortal King…’
Starting with the saint of the main church with a high reputation these days, a savage savage who doesn’t look too good for children’s emotions, a young girl who looks the same age as the thick-haired kids in the nursery school, and…
His gaze lingered on Hesperon for a moment.
He wondered if he was mistaken about something.
‘…Third-class wizard? No, it can’t be. So, is it an assassin who deceived the energy? Indeed, that would be more persuasive. It’s a great skill.’
But while he was trying to convince himself like that.
Sensing that gaze, Hesperon smiled and stepped forward again.
“You seem to have a hard time answering, so let’s start by introducing myself again, shall we? My name is Ha Seung-hun, an Awakener from Korea on Earth!”
Then, casually, he started introducing himself again.
“I plan to use the name Hesperon in Autelica, but. Or you can just call me Heron! It’s been a little over two months since I’ve been here.hahahaha!”
Embarrassed by the sudden action, Chehai blinked his eyes and looked around at the people seated in the drawing room again.
The warriors still looked at him with serious expressions.
“Ha-.”
It seemed that it was no longer a situation for me.
He sighed lightly and opened his mouth slowly.
“Korea? It’s Korea… Yeah, I think I’ve heard of it. Did you say that Korean cars are very good?”
In fact, it was an acknowledgment of one’s origin.
At that, Geos nodded heavily with his eyes shining and leaned slightly towards him.
“As expected, Chehai, you are also from the same dimension as Heron.”
“Okay. I don’t know if that friend knows, but I’m from Ethiopia.”
“Ah! I know. Is it a country in Africa? Next to Somalia.”
“Oh? Your insight is wide. It’s nice to hear the names of those rotten things after a long time… It’s such a delicate feeling.”
Ethiopia is located in the eastern part of the African continent.
It was a country far from Korea, but it was not a completely unfamiliar country as it had its own diplomatic relations.
It’s famous as the origin of coffee, so it’s quite known to people.
“…Why did you come here? Well, I can’t remember exactly.”
And he stopped talking for a while, thought about something, stroked his beard, then nodded his head and spoke again.
“First of all, it seems like 30 years have passed. It probably won’t be until 40 years.”
“…Is that so, it’s quite long.”
Geos just nodded his head in admiration.
Except for him, for the rest of the other world people in this seat, it was not an issue to be passed lightly.
‘Oh, more than 30 years?’
In fact, it goes without saying that as long as you can adapt to the transmitted world to some extent, the longer you stay there, the better.
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Even if you stay for 30 years, as in Chehai’s case, only about 3 years will pass on Earth, and if you decide to live at all, wouldn’t your lifespan increase tenfold due to aging according to the Earth’s time?
In addition, if you add the growth correction that is only given in another world, it would be possible to return as a monster after ten years of training.
If something dangerous happened along the way, I could have run away before that.
‘But there is no one who has stayed on Earth for more than 20 years.’
It’s not to the extent that it’s unknown, there really hasn’t been a single person so far.
And the reason is probably…
“Hey, Mr. Chehai? First of all, there is something I want to ask you.”
Hesperon spoke cautiously to the black man, whose white beard and wrinkles were beginning to fold—a man apparently in old age.
“Are you able to use the system now?”
“Hey, I guess you knew. . . . It has been out of use for quite some time.”
This was the reason why those who stayed in the other world for a longer period of time were called ‘settlers’.
Because I couldn’t use the system, I couldn’t open the Karma Shop, and naturally, I couldn’t return to Earth anymore, so I had to live in another world for the rest of my life.
“Well, it looks like it was real. First of all, there are things that are well known on Earth. Of course, since everything was transmitted only indirectly, it is difficult to determine the authenticity, so the reliability is not high.”
So now, when I met the person in person, it was a good opportunity to acquire proper information.
If the external reason for visiting him was that he might find a useful means to deal with the Immortal King.
The original intention was to obtain more diverse information about the system and the Awoken through the Settlers.
“No matter what you do, information is your best weapon. In order to use the things I have efficiently, the more information I have, the better.’
Not to mention, isn’t he himself a being who can be called an irregular in many ways even in the system?
In that situation, of course, I needed to be more careful than others.
“Excuse me, Mr. Chehai, but can I ask for a more detailed explanation? Maybe even a trivial story can give you an important clue. If you do that, it will be of great help to us as well as Heron.”
In order to collect information smoothly, Heinrich, the most authoritative saint in this place, asked him for a favor.
The result of Geos and others joining in and urging him over and over…
“Heh heh, well, it’s all in the past now, so it doesn’t matter. How helpful will this be?”
In the end, Chehai had no choice but to raise his hands and tell the story.
He pondered for a moment on where to begin with his words, and then began to briefly explain his past, starting with a light clearing of his cough.
“Keuheum, I don’t know if you know that Heron. My hometown was not a very good place to live.”
In the past, even Korea, which boasted one of the world’s best security systems, was in a state of disrepair.
I don’t need to say more about Ethiopia’s situation in Africa.
The government was in a hurry just to protect the capital, Addis Ababa, and naturally, control over the province was inevitably lost.
After that, naturally, all kinds of criminal organizations began to rise and grow in power…
Che Hai also lost his family in the process and became an orphan.
Of course, there was nothing special there, just ordinary misfortune that could be seen everywhere.
“But in such a mess, the means by which a child could survive were limited.”
The method he chose was to become an errand boy for a crime syndicate that was no different from his enemies and beg for their mercy.
That’s how he became a member of the organization, looking only at survival for over ten years.
However, a sudden change came to his daily life…
It started when he was selected by the system and awakened when he was a little over 20 years old.
“Huh-huh, but somehow the newly acquired ability made me unable to stay still.”
Chehai, who continued talking, burst out laughing quietly.
The unique skill he awakened to is [Phase Refraction].
It was a useful ability to twist and manipulate the space of a local area.
And he, who had no backs, used the 24 hours given to him very frugally.
He cleanly blows up the executives of the criminal organization he was involved in.
The organization, which was close to a local warlord, had a lot of guns and bombs stored, and Chehai’s ability was optimal for stealing them and using them for terrorism.
To put it simply, it was an act that the world calls “Awakening terrorism before transmission.”
“Well, at that time, my skill level was low and I didn’t have enough time, so I was limited to getting rid of some of the guys above me. After that, I moved to a quiet place in the midst of chaos, and soon I was able to escape to Auterica.”
In fact, he had already given up on going back to Earth from that point on.
Now, even if he went back, he would only be retaliated against by the remaining members of the organization.
After becoming a mercenary in this world, he lived a turbulent life in his own way.
As much as he had no intention of going back in the first place, Karma invested in strengthening himself, so he was able to survive well beyond ten years.
“Then I accidentally stopped by this village and met my current wife. We had enough money saved up anyway, so there was no problem getting married.”
“What? Chehai, are you married?”
“Then would I have lived alone until this age?”
To Hesperon, who seemed surprised, he replied curtly.
And Geos, who had been watching him, faintly wriggled the corners of his mouth and muttered lowly.
“…Me and I met in this town. I thought they were my age back then.”
“Heh heh, for the next few years, Geos, you seemed older than me, right? Hmmm, come to think of it, I guess I should talk about that.”
Chehai, who had been stroking his beard with a low laugh, turned his gaze back to Hesperon and continued speaking in a more serious voice than before.
“It must have been about 20 years since I came to Auterica. One day, I could feel it viscerally. If I don’t return to Earth right away, I’ll never be able to go back.”
However, he forcibly ignored that instinct as he had no karma, let alone the thought of going back in the first place.
And.
“Not long after that… The system became unusable.”
Also, the change did not end there.
Right after the system disappeared, aging came to him rapidly.
As if the years that had been put on hold came all at once.
Although he was over 40, he still maintained the appearance of a man in his twenties. After about a year, he became a middle-aged man who looked older than he actually was.
“Of course, even in that situation, fortunately, my other abilities and status were still there. As if possessed, I began digging into my unique skill. I wasn’t even aware of it, but the sense of loss that the system forcibly disappeared was greater than I thought.”
But.
Again like that for 10 years.
When more than 30 years have passed since he was transferred to another world—.
He lost all his abilities as an Awakener.
Not only the unique skill [Phase Refraction], but also the other skills that I have collected in small amounts and the status that I have strengthened by investing karma.
“…”
“…”
Having said that, Chehai gently closed his eyes.
When he shut his mouth, only the sound of light breathing echoed in the drawing room in the momentary silence.
‘Not only the system and shops, but also the limitations of aging have been removed, and even skills and status later?’
At this point, he hadn’t said anything about it, and it had to be seen that he had lost even the ‘growth correction’ in another world.
The benefits of being an Awakener have all disappeared, and they have literally settled in this world… A situation where they have become the natives themselves.
‘Could it be that Karma was retrieved by force?’
In general, the ‘return’ of the karma shop will return the system and the shop as they return to Earth.
However, I’ve never heard of a story that even skills and statuses were reset…
‘Is this really the difference between a returnee and a settler? I got some good information.’
This was information unheard of on Earth.
When Hesperon nodded slowly, satisfied with such a good income.
“Still, I haven’t gained anything at all.”
Chehai, who opened his closed eyes, looked at me and smiled.
Then he slowly raised a hand.
He swung it straight into the air.
Jjaak-
“Ehh?”
At the same time, Hesperon grabbed his back and jumped in place.
A technique that I had already seen many times through Geos.
It must have been the unique skill he mentioned, [Phase Refraction].
“… Just, you said your ability disappeared…?”
“Of course, the unique skill disappeared. This is my vision that I researched and intertwined with the Aura operating method.”
Of course, it was incomparably inferior to when it had [Phase Refraction], but its effectiveness was a profound technique that Geos had already proven many times.
Isn’t it enough to make a pure aura user who has not reached transcendence attack beyond space?
‘Could it be that he created it by analyzing his unique skill…’
“Hey, didn’t you say you only recently acquired your unique skill?”
“Yes yes···.”
“Something I’ve felt after using my abilities for over thirty years and digging like crazy for more than ten years after the system disappeared.”
Perhaps it was right after I encountered his greatness, I felt more weight in every word than before.
Hesperon respectfully put his hands together and listened to him.
The same goes for Lee Se-ah, who was sitting on a chair in the parlor.
Pretending she wasn’t, she was intently pricking her ears and concentrating hard not to miss a word.
“A unique skill is not just a randomly given ability. In some way, you have a deep relationship with that person. The problem is that no one knows exactly what it is… Not even you.”
After he had said that, he raised the corners of his mouth and showed a wonderful smile.
“I don’t know how helpful it will be since I have different abilities. First of all, let me tell you the basic know-how step by step. Probably not too bad Heh heh heh.”
Chehai bursts out with a confident laugh.
For some reason, it seemed that a halo of a level never seen even in Heinrich shone from behind his back.
***
And it’s only been one day since I’ve been taught by him.
《Inherent skills grow and bloom into possibilities. The number of avatars that can be held increases.》
It was a time when unique skills grew without going through the Karma Shop.
