Chapter 39

What kind of logic was that?

What did he mean, "Legends don’t lie."If anything, legends were usually the things that lied the most.

But...

He was the outsider here.Better to believe first—then question later.

The group stood there like that for a moment, heads tilted upward, staring blankly at the sky.

"Ah!"

"Oh, right!"

"We should hurry back!"

"What’s wrong? Is there danger?" Kanzaki Rei felt a flicker of alertness in his mind when Joel suddenly made the suggestion.

Night had already begun to fall.And everyone knew the basic rule: night was more dangerous than daytime.

Joel’s proposal came so abruptly that Rei couldn’t help feeling something unpleasant might happen.

"No... it’s not exactly dangerous."

"It’s just that today is the Moon-Cycle Shift—the best day to offer prayers to Yakaticto. If we head back now... we can still make it in time to worship."

Rei’s eyelid twitched.

What the hell... go back and worship?

For a second he thought something serious had happened.

You’re just some random mortal in the middle of nowhere—do you really think a god is going to listen to your prayers?

Even someone who had only just transmigrated like Rei understood that gods didn’t casually respond to ordinary mortals.

Otherwise, if everyone prayed all the time, wouldn’t the gods be worked to death?

Still... the reasoning made some sense.

Night was more dangerous than day. Even with the illumination from the Everlasting Lamp, Rei had no desire to expose himself carelessly to unknown threats.

Today’s commission had already been completed.While his mind was still fairly energetic, his body was genuinely exhausted.

As expected... a mage’s physical stamina was a universally acknowledged weakness.

Yeah.It was time to head back.

"Alright. Let’s go."

During that entire battle, the other two had essentially occupied front-row spectator seats.

But Rei didn’t mind the small payment of 2 gold split between them.

It was like a safety rope.

Something that could remain unused forever—and ideally should remain unused.

But it absolutely couldn’t be missing.

Still...

Rei glanced at Gaton and Edith.

The old man was quite useful as a collector, but the healer and the defender being only Level 2 was honestly too low.

It would be safer to switch to Level 3 companions.

Especially a Level 3 Defender. Rei wanted someone capable of reacting to sudden danger when his own response lagged.

As long as he had even a moment to react, Barrier and Heavy Wall could quickly block incoming damage.

But based on that guy’s current performance, Rei was seriously worried about whether he could react in time at all.

Of course...A Level 3 adventurer probably wouldn’t come at this price.

...

They returned to Rain Town.

The rewards from the commission totaled 4 gold.

The three Second-Tier Lords together were worth 2 gold 20 silver.

The Third-Tier Lord’s bounty was 1 gold 80 silver.

Altogether—exactly 4 gold.

Rei handed them 2 gold to divide among themselves.

As for his own profit today, the net income totaled 31 gold.

The majority of that profit had come from the materials harvested from the corpses.

Today’s total payment to everyone combined was 2 gold 60 silver.

For them, it was essentially earning nearly 1 gold in a single day with zero risk.

After receiving the money, they expressed their gratitude to Rei.

They also praised him endlessly—calling him a young genius, saying that he would definitely shine across the world someday, and other similar compliments.

After the payment settlement...

Each of them walked over to a blank divine statue placed inside the Adventurers’ Guild.

Then they carefully placed one precious silver coin into the offering plate before the statue.

With solemn expressions, they clasped their hands and began praying.

Oh?

They were actually that willing to give it up?

If that was the case, the Adventurers’ Guild must be making a fortune...

Collecting silver coins from the altar every day and all that.

Rei couldn’t help thinking that.

However—

In the very next second, he immediately took that thought back.

The silver coins thrown onto the pedestal beneath the statue began to evaporate—as if water had been boiled dry—bubbling and dissolving into nothing.

Rei’s mouth twitched as he looked up at the sky.

"Huh?"

"Hey—"

His gaze lingered on the heavens.

You gods are a bit outrageous, aren’t you?

You’re actually taking people’s money?

You’d better actually do something if you’re taking it.

You’d really better.

...

After spending the entire day outside on commissions, his body felt utterly exhausted.

Rei returned to the inn and prepared to bathe.

He removed all his clothes and stood in front of the mirror.

His height... seemed to have increased slightly.

Come to think of it, earlier today when he stood on tiptoe, he had already been a full head taller than the counter.

So he really had grown taller, right?

Did kids in this world develop that quickly?

Rei examined his body again.

His muscles weren’t exactly sharply defined, but there was definitely noticeable muscle mass now.

He flexed his biceps and squeezed them.

Firm.

His abdominal muscles and chest muscles were also starting to show.

His body had indeed grown stronger.

After all, this world wasn’t like a game where exact numerical stats were visible. Rei could only gauge his improvement through these visible physical changes.

"Powerful magic... but the body is still ridiculously weak."

Even though his physique had improved somewhat, compared to the progress of his mage abilities, it was far behind.

"If possible, I’d honestly like to change class into a warrior."

But Kumironi wasn’t here right now.

The pollution that came with advancement after promotion was extremely dangerous for him.

He also couldn’t rely on Kumironi forever.He couldn’t depend on someone else every time he wanted to advance.

He needed to find his own way to remove pollution.

Sigh...

Why did he have to transmigrate into a child’s body?

If he were sixteen, things would be much easier.

While bathing, Rei sighed inwardly.

His body had already been exhausted during the day, so he performed the stretching techniques that Akasei had taught him to relieve muscle fatigue.

That way, he wouldn’t wake up tomorrow with soreness that might affect combat.

The people Rei interacted with the most were Kumironi and Iz.

After them came Akasei.

As for Stone, Rei had only met him a few times.

Most of the time, Stone was nowhere to be seen from morning until night. Rei didn’t even know if he actually lived in the inn.

But whenever they happened to run into each other, Stone would still greet him.

Occasionally, he even liked to tell Rei a terrible dad joke.

Hmm...

Aside from that, Rei didn’t really know much about Obades.

According to Akasei, when Izparut and the others weren’t around, it was Obades who partnered with him in battle.

Thinking about it...

Akasei, honestly—if even Obades refused to fight with you, you’d really end up solo-grinding everything by yourself.

The relaxation technique Akasei taught him was quite useful.

Apparently, combat techniques in this world were divided into many different schools.

To learn combat techniques, one usually specialized in a fully formed "style", then supplemented it with additional combat techniques.

By combining them, one would create a personal combat system.

Of course, it wasn’t that someone could only learn one style.

But just like magic, combat styles required years of dedicated practice.

Learning too many at once often resulted in biting off more than one could chew.

The relaxation technique Rei was using right now belonged to the Living Form of the style Fearless had created himself:

The "Invincible Style."

Invincible Style...

Honestly, the guy had some nerve naming it that.

But come to think of it, whether it was Iz or Akasei, both of them seemed to enjoy creating their own skills and styles.

Iz apparently created "Mana Void" when he was still Level 1.

And Akasei created the "Invincible Style."

Maybe Rei should also start researching how to create his own skills.

Iz’s teachings suddenly flashed through his mind again.

"The Advancement Ritual is proof that you have practiced the principles of your profession..."

"While learning, you must also develop your own understanding."

Practice the principles...

It was probably like the college entrance exam back on Earth.

For ordinary people taking the test, scoring anywhere from 0 to 750 was just part of the evaluation.

But for some absurd geniuses...

If someone could publish top-tier academic papers in high school or even win a Nobel Prize, then the exam score itself would no longer matter.

In other words—

During the Advancement Ritual, whether you achieved a perfect score on the test content wasn’t the important part.

What truly mattered was...

An outstanding demonstration of the profession’s principles.

But then again—

Did Surpassing Magic count as something he had created himself?

Even though it was a result of his talent, he was still the first person in the world to possess magic that surpassed magic itself.

That should count... right?