To understand the level of another person, they say you must reach that level yourself.
But if the power is overwhelmingly strong, especially if the person in question wants to acknowledge it.
““···.””
The boundary between ordinary people and the uninhabited is shattered. Everyone realizes with their eyes and skin.
That’s it. That creature right before me.
‘I can’t win.’
Sovereign prided himself on being a top-tier adventurer. A splendid martial artist in his own right.
The master of the adventurer guild and branch manager. The crises he faced to reach this position were not few.
And today, in the safest place possible where his life wasn’t under threat, he faced the greatest threat.
Kwaaaaaaa-!!
From the lightly swung sword, a catastrophic fire struck like a calamity.
Pakwaang-!!
“Ugh···!”
Sovereign groaned as he countered the strike with his fist.
For sure, he had just overcome that blow successfully. The magic had dissipated, and the lack of HP loss was proof of this.
However, Sovereign’s right hand trembled. The mental damage was gnawing away and taking control of his body.
It became clear— the established relationship between challenger and challenged had completely flipped prior to the match.
Now it was time for the audience, who were still grappling with the situation, to grasp the truth.
“Huh? Look over there!!”
“What is that?”
“Is that even possible···?”
“Is there an error or something?”
And just like that, the plan was executed. The audience began to stir.
Instinct guided him, and Sovereign turned his head in the direction a man was pointing.
(100%)
A scoreboard that recognizes the duelists’ biometric information and shows the child’s remaining HP. This scoreboard indicated that the kid had 1 HP left.
For a moment, Sovereign rubbed his eyes, wondering if he had misread his name. The fact that it showed 100%, which means maximum health, didn’t even register in his mind.
(100%)
(100%)
(100%)
(100%)
Then, as if to respond, the numbers shot up dramatically, almost teasingly.
Feeling like examining further was pointless, the dozens of eyes glued to the scoreboard shifted one by one toward the swordsman on the battlefield.
“I can adjust my stats as I like.”
“Adjust your stats as you wish···?”
“Yes. To put it simply, you can distribute them evenly or leave just one point in one area and go all-in.”
“Her···”
An unbelievable declaration. A real-time stat conversion show that silenced doubts at their root.
Sovereign felt a chill of fear from the unknown. He had never heard of such an ability, in adventurer life or even along the Demon World front.
‘What on earth is this···’
His bewildered gaze wandered, lost from his target, until finally, it locked onto a certain red-haired woman bouncing around excitedly.
Sally. She was there, delivering long praises for the kid and confidently asserting that this mere receptionist could bet on defeating the branch manager.
Honestly, he had dismissed it as typical, childish behavior of a young person. But when confronted with the reality, it was much more than he had expected.
‘I can’t just sit here and take it.’
By now, nobody would look down on him for losing.
Even if perceptions were reversed, there was an implied belief that the other side would at least show something. It was something he had to do too.
Above all, this was a matter of male pride.
With newfound determination, Sovereign dashed forward. After all, the opponent’s main weapon was magic. He had plenty of chances to win.
So long as he didn’t get hit directly by that sword, he would be alright. Moving stats freely means that focusing on one area would leave others vulnerable.
‘Can’t reach it…’
Reality is ruthless. The fighting spirit he had painstakingly built up crumbled too easily.
Attacks missed, and the magic he had prepared was nowhere to be found.
Not even an attempt to humiliate seemed to be the intention, yet he found himself bowing his head involuntarily. The expression plastered on his face was likely a grimace.
The crowd gasped again. Sovereign automatically turned his head.
“This is···”
Sovereign’s HP had dropped to nearly half.
Yet the scoreboard stubbornly labeled it at 100%, proving he had taken no damage.
Additionally, since the child’s HP matched Sovereign’s exactly, anyone who knew what was happening was clued in right away.
‘HP… has been adjusted.’
The ancient skill known as One Mind, One Body, which was said to have been lost to time.
It became evident they must have found some way to share HP, regardless if it was this very skill.
And if they had figured that much out, undoubtedly one phrase danced through the minds of most:
-“I can adjust my stats as I like.”
“···!”
The child’s HP fell back to 1 again.
No one remained who couldn’t predict what would happen next.
‘We must stop this…!’
As he closed the distance, Sovereign thought, could this be why he had blurted out his powers?
To predict the aftermath and build anticipation from the audience. To use this stage as a spectacular performance.
Sovereign’s bitter smile deepened. He had no grounds to critique it; after all, he had acted similarly himself.
‘How much is left…?’
Already less than 10% of its original total. The stats had been modified, and that skill seemed to carry almost no cooldown.
Even more astonishing was how his body moved flawlessly despite the HP declining in real-time.
If it had been any other circumstance, would he have remained unaware until the end? With each passing moment, he became more certain that would not have been the case.
“Don’t worry. This is just temporary. It’ll revert back to normal later.”
Sovereign halted. It was the moment when his HP finally hit 1.
Was it too harsh for the nobleman who led the adventurers?
After all, when you considered it, he was surely his senior— this was merely a fitting retribution for earlier insolence.
“Are you already giving up?”
He teased lightly, “Didn’t you state you would give it your all?”
“I think I’ve done more than enough.”
With that, Sovereign jerked his chin towards the scoreboard.
At this point, in a semblance of self-mockery, he was almost challenging what more could be accomplished given the circumstances.
Strangely feeling a tug of pity, he fought to swallow back the words reminding her that he wasn’t quite out of energy yet.
Jeobuk-
He walked away quietly. Time to stop his pestering.
Any twists in this situation would lean more towards controversy than applause.
“Phew.”
Standing directly in front of Sovereign, he expelled air through tight lips with a bit of force.
(0%)
And with that, victory or defeat was sealed.
Thud – the Sovereign, who had been in perfect condition just moments ago, slumped to the ground.
*
The excitement generated by the last match led to yet another unusual scenario.
Typically, the results of the ranking test would be announced about three days later after thorough deliberation.
Yet it was as if they didn’t want to kill this energy prematurely— Maria, Astrea, and I were promoted on the spot.
“Should we each take one and check out the market?”
Naturally, as those promoted, we were in high spirits.
The three of us, hand in hand, bounced joyfully back to Yopheral.
“Okay. Maria will handle the drinks.”
“Maria, please get us some snacks. If you bring back any alcohol, I’ll smash it all over Astrea’s head.”
“Why would you break it on me and not your own head?”
“That’s how we make sure Maria doesn’t bribe you.”
“Huh.”
“Oh, you! Don’t give that look. I know how to break my own head with a bottle!”
So we divided the basic food responsibilities: I took the food, Astrea managed the drinks while Maria was in charge of snacks.
Sure, it would have been nice to roam around together and buy one thing each, but the crowd was so dense that it became impossible.
Despite that, the journey took us through less populated areas.
‘I had no idea things would go this smoothly.’
I carefully chose food considering everyone’s taste and proudly recalled the smooth days I’d had.
Even though they had trusted me, I felt utterly disheartened seeing myself as a simple scarecrow. Yet in the end, everything worked out perfectly.
When you think about it, it’s all thanks to Maria.
Thanks to Maria, I was able to step out of Shijakumaur and enter the city with my head held high. She set me up with a place to stay and a status. It was also her that kept me safe while protecting the princess and enabled me to acquire the tutorial zone.
‘I should gather some more sweet things.’
Moving forward, I wouldn’t just be the one receiving help. I’d gradually evolve into a role where I’d be nurturing her as well.
I finally had a position where I didn’t need to depend solely on others, which meant new doors to improve my own qualifications were opening.
‘Maria will probably appreciate that, right?’
With a fluttering heart and lots of food in tow, I made my way home.
Astrea stood at the front door, seemingly having forgotten how to work her keys again.
“You’re back quickly?”
“Yeah. I just swept everything in sight.”
Astrea proudly presented both hands full of bags.
The source of her worries stemmed from either power shortages or money. Quite a behavior unbefitting even the heavens.
“You didn’t bring back any alcohol?”
“Of course not.”
“Then what’s that?”
“Hmm. Guess something must’ve snuck in without my knowing. Like I said, I got everything I saw···”
“Those weren’t on the shelf; you’d have to ask the clerk to procure them.”
“···I bought them to drink! Oh my! Can’t you just put the bottle down? How rude!”
Well, if she was going to drink them herself, then…
I let Astrea slide on this one. There was far too much suspicion surrounding her furtive conversation with Maria before they separated, especially since it seemed like she was hiding something from me.
“Let’s go in first and start cooking. Maria is supposed to handle snacks anyway, and she’ll return soon.”
“Sure thing.”
“The key will appear if you pour a bit of mana into that gap over there.”
“This, I know as well…!”
“Not that one, over there.”
Squabbling with Astrea, we entered the mansion and began preparing various dishes.
Following a course meal concept, we’d start with the main, followed by soup and salad. The excitement of the process had me whipping up even more food.
“Where is Maria? She’s late…”
The table has been set. It would be perfect if just Maria came.
Leaning my chin into my hand, I kept darting my gaze between the wall clock and outside the window. Food doesn’t taste good when it gets cold.
Maria didn’t return even as night fell.
Next episode will be updated on September 2nd at 9 PM.
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