NOVEL NEXT
Chapter 34
[Translator – Pr?ks]
[Proofreader – Pr?ks]
Chapter 34: Divine Fruit (1)
The Divine Fruit of the Mother Tree.
An item that is difficult to obtain through force. To do so, one would have to break through the forest and slaughter the elves, but even then…
‘The elves would destroy it first.’
They would rather destroy it than give it to the likes of you! This is roughly the sentiment with which they would destroy the Divine Fruit.
This was the reason why he had made a promise to Elise beforehand.
Thanks to that, he was able to enter the heart of the Mother Tree without any problems, even after dealing with one of the elders.
“……Take it.”
She pointed to a place.
Inside a wooden box was a single Divine Fruit.
“Thank you.”
He picked up the Divine Fruit.
[Divine Fruit of the Mother Tree]
[Rank: A+]
[A fruit that occasionally forms on the Mother Tree. Eating it will make you feel healthy.]
[Effect: All stats increase by 20.]
“Oh.”
Kim Minwoo exclaimed in admiration when he saw the Divine Fruit. He then looked at Elise.
“The effect of the Divine Fruit is beyond my imagination. This Mother Tree is quite old, isn’t it?”
“……It is a descendant of the World Tree. It is also the only remaining Mother Tree on the continent.”
He nodded.
The World Tree, one of the common rules of fantasy worlds.
It is the tree that elves love the most.
However, it was not always the case that elves only lived on World Trees.
The seeds of the World Tree.
They would take them and migrate to other areas.
The trees that grew from those seeds were called Mother Trees.
‘It’s like moving from Seoul to Gyeonggi-do.’
Anyway.
The Divine Fruits he had seen so far were B to A rank at best.
However, this Divine Fruit was A+, a level higher in effectiveness.
“Did the World Tree survive?”
“……No. It burned and fell.”
Somehow.
Kim Minwoo nodded.
If the World Tree is destroyed, the Mother Tree with the highest age will take over its role.
Perhaps this Mother Tree, as the only remaining one of its kind, is in the process of evolving into the World Tree.
That’s why the Divine Fruit is so powerful.
‘Oh, that’s great.’
He grinned.
The Divine Fruit is not only great for the increase in stats, but it also has other effects that are even more amazing.
‘It doesn’t get caught in the stat limit.’
The phrase ‘XX or more is not applicable’ is often seen in elixirs.
Here, the stats increased by the Divine Fruit are not subject to this stat limit. It wasn’t for nothing that he put in the effort to get it.
‘This is the only time to get it.’
Normal gates have almost no story to them. It’s just a matter of going in and breaking everything.
Even if there are elves, they are mostly hostile and it is difficult to build up favorability with them.
Hidden gates, on the other hand, were different.
A vast stage.
The resolution of conflicts between countless races. Thanks to the nature of the stage, it was the stubborn elves who approached him first, and he was able to seize the opportunity.
In the end, to obtain the Divine Fruit, one must meet an elf in a hidden gate, build up a very high favorability rating, or bestow a favor on the race to the extent of saving it.
“It’s difficult.”
“Yes?”
“No. I appreciate you giving me the Divine Fruit so readily, even though there was an unfortunate incident.”
As he bowed slightly, Elise bowed her head and said.
“……No. I learned a lot from it too. In a situation like this…… Maybe your way is the right answer.”
He wonder what she realized.
She was quite a remarkable elf.
“Are you going to eat the Divine Fruit now?”
“I plan to.”
It’s better not to save it for the Shadow Knights.
It’s limited by stats.
However, the Divine Fruit is different.
Even if he ate it now, it wouldn’t be a big problem for the next elixir injection.
‘Before the Apostle moves.’
He needed to teach the skeletons the crafting and alchemy skills as soon as possible.
For that, it would be better to summon as many as possible.
‘If my magic power is 20, then with the 10% effect of the Unwavering Soul, it will be 22.’
This means he could summon 88 more skeletons. And on top of that, there was the benefit of the stats he would gain from the battle with the Apostle.
There was no reason not to eat it.
Crunch!
He took a bite of the Divine Fruit.
A sweet aroma spread throughout his body along with a refreshing sensation.
[All stats increase by 20!]
A pleasant message popped up in front of his eyes.
[The crafting experience of the Skeleton Brigade has greatly increased!]
[The concentrated crafting experience has created a new skill!]
[Skeletons can now use Dwarven Crafting (F)!]
[They are learning another crafting line skill! Their proficiency is increasing faster!]
[Skeleton 507 is acquiring alchemy faster…]
[Skeleton 801 is…]
[The power of collective intelligence!]
[The horde of skeletons understands the mysteries of alchemy!]
[Skeletons can now use Elven Alchemy (F)!]
“Did it work?!”
— What’s the matter, big brother! What’s going on!
Urukan, who was camping, looked around in surprise.
“Oh, sorry. Go back to sleep.”
—…Chwiik! Pfft! What a bother!
Urukan immediately fell back into a deep sleep.
Cold winter.
The orcs were sleeping toughly, wrapped in a few pieces of leather.
Thanks to wiping out all the nearby monsters, they had to come far and wide to hunt.
That’s why they were camping.
—Hey, big brother! Are you going out?
“Yeah. Eat this, and keep a good lookout around here while you’re at it.”
He tossed some jerky to the orcs who were standing guard around the campsite.
The orc nodded his head, his face immediately breaking into a wide grin.
After stepping outside, he canceled the summons for about ten skeletons and then summoned them again.
Clack!
The ten skeletons rose to their feet.
‘I guess I have to test it.’
He couldn’t help but try it out.
He pulled out a pile of materials from his subspace ring. They were all byproducts of high-level monsters.
It was true that he would need a forge or an alchemy facility to properly use the skills.
However, not having the basic facilities didn’t mean he couldn’t use the skills at all.
It just meant that the success rate would be much lower.
“Use these to make armor, potions, or anything. Just keep trying until you succeed.”
Nod!
The skeletons stretched out their hands.
[Skeleton 1 is using Dwarven Crafting (F)!]
[Skeleton 501 is using Elven Alchemy (F)!]
.
.
[Critical Failure!]
[The materials being handled by the caster are too high-level! Proficiency is increasing!]
[Critical Failure!]
[The materials being handled by the caster…]
[Critical Failure!]
.
.
[Crude Success!]
[A very crude Minotaur Bone Sword is crafted!]
[Proficiency in Dwarven Crafting (F) has greatly increased!]
[Success!]
[A Strange Stealth Potion is crafted!]
[Proficiency in Elven Alchemy (F) has greatly increased!]
Amidst the flurry of exploding materials, the results began to emerge one by one.
He examined the items.
[Very Crude Minotaur Bone Sword]
[Rank: Common+]
[Level Requirement: 230 or higher]
[A sword made from the bones of a minotaur. It is a work of craftsmanship filled with the
clumsiness of a beginner.]
[Effect 1. Strength +10, Agility +10]
[Effect 2. Weight +20%]
.
.
[Strange Stealth Potion]
[Rank: Common+]
[A potion that seems to make one transparent when consumed. However, it also seems to have side effects.]
[Effect 1. Becomes transparent for 5 minutes upon consumption.]
[Effect 2. Experiences a random side effect upon consumption.]
“Heh.”
He couldn’t help but chuckle.
Critical failures?
He had just learned the skills and was using high-level materials.
It was only natural.
But what mattered far more was this:
‘The possibilities have opened up.’
All the items had ‘+’ attached to them.
This would have been a difficult sight to show if he had learned ordinary crafting or alchemy. Dwarves and elves were specialists in their respective fields.
This was a sight he could only show because he had received the techniques directly from these two races.
Using skills would increase proficiency and raise the rank.
Of course, this didn’t apply to Kim Minwoo.
His horrific body rejected any growth from any skill.
But the skeletons were different.
These guys could accumulate proficiency and grow their skills.
The same applied to crafting skills.
The higher the level of the materials used, the faster the proficiency in crafting skills would accumulate.
‘I have plenty of materials.’
Whether it was the auction house or the gates.
He could get them anywhere.
[Skeleton Horde: A Production Powerhouse]
And on top of that, he had an overwhelming amount of skeletons at his disposal.
While other crafters would only make one or two items to gain proficiency, his skeletons could gain proficiency by attempting to craft thousands of items.
The efficiency was insane.
‘And even if they’re just crappy items…’
There would be demand for them.
After all, they were + items.
They would all sell if he priced them low. This meant that he could not only invest but also recoup his investment.
He had created a virtuous cycle where he could make a ton of money.
This was something that no other necromancer could even attempt.
Skeletons had no intelligence.
And even if he could use intelligent undead for crafting, he didn’t have the numbers. Summoning them would cost a lot of mana.
Even a Dullahan-class necromancer would be hard-pressed to summon more than ten.
[TL/N: I’m not sure dullahan class necromancer means here exactly like someone who can summon dullahan or something?? Idk!!]
‘And they wouldn’t have Dwarven or Elven crafting techniques either.’
This was a feat that only Kim Minwoo could achieve.
“Death Lord is the god, and I am invincible.”
He declared solemnly.
Fast leveling.
Two crafting skills.
And the soulbound skillbook with the Divine Fruit adding to it.
This gate run was already a complete success, even with just these rewards.
‘And there’s still more.’
Apostle Velitas.
As the presumed boss of this B-rank gate, he was sure to drop something worthwhile.
The Awakened weren’t running around like moths to a flame looking for hidden gates for nothing.
Hidden gates offered rewards that were unimaginable in normal gates. That’s why they were so difficult to clear.
He checked his status window.
[Current Resistance Army Status]
[Leader: Kim Minwoo]
[Members: Humans 1, Orcs 6,363, Dwarves 532, Elves 421]
[Level: Well-armed Regular Army]
[Average Level: 161]
[Food Situation: Very Poor]
[Morale: Burning with Determination]
[Enemy Alert Level: 31 (They are aware that there is a big problem.)]
It had been 10 days since he had eaten the Divine Fruit.
In that time, the orcs had gathered in large numbers, surpassing 6,000, and their armaments had also improved.
Their average level had also risen significantly.
The weak orcs were being weeded out from hunting. It was a system where the high-level, strong orcs were increasingly surviving.
As a result, the average level could only continue to rise.
Everything was going smoothly.
‘Except for one thing…’
The enemy’s alert level.
It had risen dramatically from 5 to 31. At that level, even if the witch didn’t notice, the apostle would be highly alert.
Yet, the bastard hadn’t attacked first.
‘He must be wary of the orcs.’
In the meantime, he had heard a lot from the dwarves and elves.
One of these was that the witch was very wary of the orcs.
He had heard that back when the war was in full swing, armies would swarm in and slaughter them at the slightest sign of orc activity. Considering that, it would be normal for the army to have already arrived.
They must already know about the orc activity.
So why haven’t they come?
It meant that he knew the crux of this battle.
‘Time.’
The orcs ate a lot.
The food problem was slowly starting to strangle them.
The fruit that the elves provided was nowhere near enough.
That was why he had been hunting even in the campsite.
‘He must not think there’s any hurry. The nation would have done the same.’
A lot was different between the past and now.
Many creatures had died due to the intense cold.
Even if the orcs were to mobilize, they wouldn’t be able to form a group of more than a certain size. They would all starve to death in a few days.
‘So he’s just going to wait inside the fortress.’
Are you going to wait until you starve to death if he doesn’t come?
That was probably the idea.
Apostle Velitas was far more cautious than he had anticipated.
“But what does he know? We have our trump card.”
The apostle was overlooking one crucial fact: the existence of the Intermediate Zone, a fantastic stronghold within the gate.
Upon entering the gate, Awakened could exit to the Intermediate Zone and re-enter the gate.
Of course, this wasn’t limitless.
‘It’s a one-time use only.’
If they exited and returned within three days, they would be transported back to the Intermediate Zone. After that, they would need to clear the gate to return.
The ability to exit and return to the gate once.
Under normal circumstances, this wouldn’t be a game-changer.
Leaving and returning wouldn’t solve the orcs’ food problem.
However, for Kim Minwoo, it was different.
He had an abundance of cash.
What if he filled his interspatial rings with food, emptied them out, and then returned?
The interspaces were in a vacuum state, preventing food from spoiling.
Kim Minwoo grinned.
Over the past week, he had diligently scoured the Intermediate Zone with the orcs.
And they had found it.
But he hadn’t immediately exited.
He had been hesitant to leave for food in case Velitas decided to attack while he was away.
So, he had carefully gauged the apostle’s intentions.
And now he was certain.
The apostle hadn’t emerged even though they were hunting and camping so far out?
A born stay-at-home.
The apostle had no intention of leaving.
Thanks to that, he had been able to level up to 101, the next consumption threshold, and wholeheartedly teach his skills to the skeletons.
Food was becoming scarce.
Now was the time to use the one-time golden ticket.
“I’ll show you that there’s always someone better than the best.”
Velitas was in for a lot of surprises.
The orcs would be so plump, they’d roll around like balls.
[Translator – Pr?ks]
[Proofreader – Pr?ks]
(f)reew𝒆(b)novel.𝗰𝗼𝐦