Chapter 168

Se-Hoon was uneasy.

Many people had said that sitting in a silent prayer room with not a single person in sight brought them peace, so why didn’t it for him? Instead, he felt like he was sitting in a place where he didn't belong.

On top of that, the room made him feel guilty even though he had done nothing wrong. It was thoroughly unpleasant in many ways.

“...”

He couldn't concentrate, his body kept flinching for no reason, and his eyes kept squinting over time.

In the end, he was unable to take anymore. Feeling irritated by the annoyance slowly boiling inside him, he began to get up. And that was when a soft voice came from behind him.

“Please sit down.”

He then heard the sound of fabric brushing, and soon an elderly man in a pure white priestly robe sat across from him.

He had light brown skin and golden-hued eyes. He was a person who somehow, with his gentle face and unassuming build, exuded a heavy atmosphere.

Reflexively frowning, Se-Hoon looked at the elderly man—the bishop of the Pilgrimage Church, Kamal Sharma.

“Do you know how long I've been sitting here, sir?

Hm

?” The irritation in Se-Hoon’s voice was apparent.

“For four hours.”

“Then isn’t it time for us to leave? How long are you going to make me sit here doing nothing?”

Subjected to Se-Hoon’s annoyance, Kamal Sharma remained calm. Never once losing his gentle look, he gave his answer with no hesitance.

“Until you feel the presence of God.”

“...”

Even more frustrated by the matter-of-fact response, Se-Hoon angrily watched Kamal Sharma take a thermos from his pocket and place it beside himself.

“It was you, Lee Se-Hoon, who said you wanted to awaken your divine mana. So, I'm just helping as requested.”

“But didn't I also ask for a way to awaken it as quickly as possible because I don't have time?”

“Yes. This is the fastest way.”

The response forced Se-Hoon to swallow his urge to burst out.

“

Haaa

... fine. Then let’s just end it here.”

“Are you going to give up after a month of effort?”

“Does effort matter now? It's the result that counts. Don't you know how much the human alliance would suffer if I continue wasting time here doing nothing?”

In a month, Se-Hoon could have forged dozens of usable pieces of Hero-tier equipment and even a few Legendary ones with the right materials. Yet he was wasting that precious time holed up in this small room.

When starting, he thought it would be a worthwhile investment, but it was starting to feel more and more like a loss.

“

Hmm...

You

do

have a point.”

“So, let's stop now...”

“But what do you think would happen if you do succeed in awakening your divine mana by spending a little more time praying?”

“...”

Se-Hoon frowned; it wasn’t the first time Kamal Sharma had used this argument.

Still as calm as ever, Kamal Sharma opened the thermos lid and slowly poured tea into it.

“If you awaken your divine mana and start forging Holy Artifacts, humanity would be able to defeat the unholy beings born in the Abyss of Demons more easily. Isn't that right?”

“...If I manage to awaken it, yes.”

“While I don’t know much about making strategies, I do know a good one is actively using something that directly counters the enemy.”

Handing Se-Hoon the cup of tea, Kamal Sharma became serious.

“For humanity's sake, please try to put in a little more effort. I will ensure that you awaken your divine mana.”

Seeing his determined face which was far different from his usual leisurely one, Se-Hoon suppressed a sigh and downed the cup placed in front of him in one gulp.

Whoosh-

Tasting the fragrance spreading softly through him, his sharpened nerves slightly dulled. A second later, he placed the empty cup on the table and faced Kamal Sharma.

“Three months. Then I don’t want any more of this.”

“Don't worry. God will surely give you a chance.”

Feeling a comradery due to their shared goal—the extermination of the Demon Force and the victory of humanity—Se-Hoon prayed diligently with Kamal Sharma to feel the wretched presence of God again.

But unfortunately...

“...It seems God is very dissatisfied with you, Lee Se-Hoon.”

“You son of a—”

And just like that, Se-Hoon wasted three months holed up in a small room doing nothing.

***

Ah, there was a time like that...

Remembering the three grueling months he spent trying to acquire divine mana, Se-Hoon looked at his right hand again.

Woong-

On his palm was a faint white aura. Looking closer, a faint golden light shimmered within, giving it a mysterious and otherworldly feel that was distinctly different from ordinary mana.

It was obviously a flawless concertation of divine mana no matter how one looked at it.

“...”

Watching the divine mana ooze out a familiar yet utterly strange sensation, he felt it moving naturally inside his body. Feeling a mix of complicated emotions, Se-Hoon opened up the information message.

[Divine Mana] 『F』

[Holy power derived from a god.

Its specialty is healing and purifying demonic aura.]

If you were going to give me some, you should have done it earlier, you damn bastard...

He knew it had likely only gained the talent for divine mana after regressing, but he still couldn't help but feel like he was done dirty. Annoyed, Se-Hoon silently cursed God in his mind.

“Lee Se-Hoon.”

Looking up, Se-Hoon could see a serious expression on Jung-Wan’s face.

“Were you a believer of the Pilgrimage Church?”

“What? No, I don't follow any religion.”

“Huh?”

Jung-Wan couldn't help but be surprised by Se-Hoon's response.

To those who didn’t know much about divine mana, it was something one had to be a part of the Pilgrimage Church to awaken. However, that wasn’t the case. There were often people who awakened it just by having information about or indirectly experiencing divine mana.

Everyone who awakened it like that has risen to the rank of archbishop in the Pilgrimage Church...

Realizing Se-Hoon also had such potential, Jung-Wan fell deep into thought for a moment.

“Lee Se-Hoon.”

“Yes?”

“Listen carefully.”

Jung-Wan then thoroughly explained how remarkable it was to have awakened divine mana and what kind of treatment he could receive from the Pilgrimage Church. He warned Se-Hoon to be cautious and to be careful of suffering losses in the future.

Yet the more Se-Hoon listened, the more vague his expression became.

No matter how I think about it, this feels a bit different...

From what he had heard, divine mana was fundamentally different from ordinary mana. Unlike ordinary mana, which was the result of one’s mana circuits processing pure mana distributed in the atmosphere, divine mana was supplied by an external entity, who people commonly referred to as God. Simply put, ordinary mana was like homemade food, while divine mana was like a delivered meal.

And while it fit those qualities, Se-Hoon felt there was something different about the divine mana in his body.

I heard that when one awakens divine mana, they feel connected to God, but no matter how I look at it, I don't feel that sort of connection right now.

Instead of establishing such a connection, his divine mana had calmly settled into his mana circuit, much like the types of elemental mana he had previously acquired. But what really concerned him was that nothing else had happened.

If it reflects the properties of elemental mana, its quantity should increase once it settles in, but there’s no sign of that.... In fact, the quantity decreased since I just used it.

Observing the divine mana within his body, Se-Hoon was reminded of something by it. Wanting to test it, he looked at Jung-Wan, who was still busy with his explanation.

“Professor.”

“

Hm

? What's the matter?”

“That elixir that was purely made of divine mana. Do you have any more?”

“I do have plenty prepared for class...”

“Can I have one more? I need to check something.”

“

Hmm...

Alright. Wait a moment.”

Standing up, Jung-Wan fetched the divine mana elixir from his storage and handed it to Se-Hoon, who downed it in one gulp.

Sss-

Confirming that the divine mana accumulated inside him, Se-Hoon recalled his pre-regression memories and cast Divine Magic.

Woong!

Activating, the divine mana rising from his right hand converged into a single stream and rapidly formed a golden sword.

He had cast Weapon Projection, which created weapons out of divine mana.

It wasn’t a good skill, as the weapon was less powerful than the sword aura and was notoriously difficult to create, but he had used it often since it could be used with consumables containing stored divine mana.

Let's see...

As he tried to transform the projected sword into a large greatsword, the stored divine mana inside him began depleting rapidly. And it ran out just before the greatsword could be completed.

Shatter!

[‘Divine Mana (F)’ has been extinguished.]

Along with the greatsword that shattered to pieces, the divine power disappeared.

It’s not a full awakening divine mana, huh...

But while he couldn’t receive divine mana directly from God like others did, he could still store and use it freely if received in another form. It was a bit half-baked, but Se-Hoon didn’t think it was too bad. In fact, he thought constantly being able to procure divine mana could become a hassle.

Moreover, when he needed divine power, it was easy since he could just get an elixir. Besides being a bit cumbersome, it wasn’t too bad, so Se-Hoon was satisfied.

Meanwhile, Jung-Wan was rapidly blinking in disbelief at the events that had unfolded before his eyes.

Did he just use Divine Magic...

Could someone who awakened divine mana for the first time today, without learning from anyone, perform Divine Magic like that? Jung-Wan was completely flabbergasted.

Just then, Se-Hoon, who had finished his experiment, looked at him.

“Professor.”

“Huh? Oh, speak.”

“About everything that happened just now, could you keep it a secret?”

“A secret?”

“Yes. If word of this gets out, I might become too famous, and it’ll be troublesome in many ways.”

Since divine mana directly opposed demonic aura, both humanity and the Demon Force would react extremely sensitively if they found out that a capable blacksmith had awakened it. And since he was even the creator of mass-produced sword aura equipment, it was easy to guess what would happen next.

The Apostate might also be a real problem.

The Apostate—the once-promising S-rank hero, Max Sinclair—had massacred thousands of believers and fled to become one of the Ten Evils before he regressed.

He was someone heroes would rarely encounter unless they were involved with the Pilgrimage Church.

He always tried to convert people and would just kill them outright if they refused.

Though he hadn’t met him himself, since Max Sinclair had perished along with the Pilgrim back then, there was nothing good about getting involved with such a madman.

“

Hmm

. You have a point. Alright, everything that had happened here didn’t... no, wait.”

Thinking of something, Jung-Wan got up, went to the storage, and brought out a document.

“This should do. Take a look.”

It was a contract that specified that if someone tried to leak the secret, the curse of silence would activate. And if the information still got out, the curse of memory erasure would wipe all related memories from the person.

Reading through it, Se-Hoon raised an eyebrow at the stringent conditions.

“You’re very thorough.”

The silence curse was somewhat expected, but he was astonished to see the memory erasure curse due to its potential side effects. So the fact that Jung-Wan added it without hesitation intrigued Se-Hoon.

“Better to be thorough than lax. Is this enough for you?” Jung-Wan nonchalantly responded.

“Yes, it’s sufficient.”

“Then let’s finalize it.”

Infusing his mana into his signature, Jung-Wan completed the contract and handed it to Se-Hoon.

“Keep it safe. Its effects will vanish if it’s

too

damaged.”

“Understood.”

Taking the contract, Se-Hoon looked at Jung-Wan again.

I thought he was just a kind man... but he seems to have an inflexible side, too.

As he pondered what kind of event had given this man such an inflexible side, Jung-Wan eventually finished tidying up.

“So what about the class? If your divine mana leaks while taking an elixir, the student might find out right away. Should we cancel?”

“Oh, it’s fine. I’m sure I can control it.”

“...”

Despite just awakening his divine mana, Se-Hoon was so confidently claiming he could hide it. If it were anyone else, Jung-Wan would have criticized them for being overconfident, but with Se-Hoon, he couldn’t say anything.

“

Hmm...

Well, alright, if you say so...”

With the discussion about the upcoming class settled, Se-Hoon checked the time before looking at Jung-Wan again.

“Professor, I have one more question not related to the class.”

Prompted by Jung-Wan’s curious look, Se-Hoon got straight to the point.

“Do you know of any rehabilitation centers that specialize in prosthetics?”

According to Makif, the import of prosthetics for heroes had suddenly increased in the Pleasure District. Their exact use was still unclear, but considering the purpose of the expansion project, it was clear they were targeting heroes with prosthetics.

“Prosthetics... ah! Are you talking about Antonio Rehabilitation Hospital?”

“Antonio Rehabilitation Hospital?”

Jung-Wan nodded at Se-Hoon’s question.

“It’s quite the old place. And it was just recently that I heard they signed a partnership with a company, which seems to be why their usage of prosthetics has grown quite a bit. The company’s name should be... hold on.”

“No worries, Professor. Thank you; I’ll look up the rest myself.”

Receiving permission from Jung-Wan, Se-Hoon took out his phone and searched for “Antonio Rehabilitation Hospital.” When the results loaded, he checked the news section and quickly found related information.

“The Marionette Factory signs a partnership with Antonio Rehabilitation Hospital.”

“New prosthetics to be provided free of charge to retired heroes who dedicated their lives to humanity.”

“

...Hmm

.”

His eyes gleamed.

Just the article titles alone were fishy.