Ding Dong.
[Skill Level Up!]
[The Asrahan Core Technique: Double Circle Lv. 2]
[Mana amplified to: 220%]
[Skill Options: 1. Energizer / 2. Latent Power Surge / 3. Power Saving Mode]
[Required RP to level up: 120]
The message rang clear in his ears. He exclaimed under his breath as he heard it.
It's working. The ice is freezing. And I just leveled up. This was what Lloyd had hoped would happen. His novel attempt to freeze the water by using the Asrahan Core Technique and absorbing the warm mana looked like a great training exercise.
He became hopeful, and he was spot on. This is way better than I had expected. He could feel the warm mana flowing into his fingertips as he dipped his hands in the water. The task was challenging at first because he wasn't used to it. But once he got the hang of it, it became easy. It felt like he had just succeeded in riding a bike for the first time. Okay, time to ramp up the force.
Cackle…
The two mana circles around his heart gradually rotated at a faster speed.
The absorption power in his fingertips started to get more forceful. More heat flowed into his hand. The freezing speed increased as well. I need to make sure that my hands won't get stuck in the ice. The water was freezing up like a slushie. Lloyd slowly pulled his hands out until only his fingertips kissed the surface.
The heat absorption continued. The heat was then processed in the mana circles and belched through his mouth. His breathing was hot as it puffed from his mouth. It was because of the heat he was absorbing. Hmm. I look a bit like a chimney, but whatever.
What he looked like wasn't important and as such, Lloyd continued to employ the technique. Finally, he succeeded in creating a huge block of ice.
"Whew."
He pulled his hands out and he opened his eyes. The water that lapped in the mold some hours ago was now frozen solid.
Good. I succeeded. Lloyd lifted his head and looked at the ceiling.
He could feel the heat flowing in the air as he used the Asrahan Core Technique. The heat is traveling out of here. Lloyd could sense that the heat from the hot water was traveling out through the arch ceiling and chimney. The hot air in the seokbinggo was leaving this place.
This was proof that the facility was a success.
Based on the light I can see through the chimney, it looks like it's evening now. Lloyd had entered here alone slightly after lunchtime. But it was dinner time after making one block of ice. I'm so slow. At this rate, it's going to be my sixtieth birthday when I walk out of here after I finish making all the ice. Thinking that he should speed things up, Lloyd sat in front of the next ice mold.
He breathed in and out and put his hands in the water. There was slightly more boldness in his movement and he employed the new technique. Crackle…! Oh, it's working. Just a few minutes in, he sensed the water growing slightly cooler. A bit faster. He revved up the rotation speed of his mana circles. The absorbing power, which Lloyd concentrated at his fingertips, got enhanced by another notch. The water was cooling up quickly, and in seconds, a sheet of thin ice formed on the surface. Its texture was similar to a slushie, and it later hardened into a thick block of ice.
Good. Let's keep going! The second ice took about an hour. He was getting the hang of it and he was getting confident. He jumped right onto the next ice mold. This ice block was made more quickly than the previous one.
About forty minutes had passed. The ice-making went on and the production time gradually decreased. The next large block of ice took about thirty minutes. The next one was done in twenty-five minutes and another finished in twenty.
Eventually, a block of ice was created within fifteen minutes. Huff, huff. I need to go on!
Lloyd absorbed the heat with his hands and exhaled the warm air through his mouth.
He felt like he had become a human air conditioner. The ice-making task continued through the night. Lloyd toiled until he was finished freezing the last ice mold, and it was already dawn.
"Whew! Ha…"
The prolonged usage of the technique must have taken a toll on him. The world spun around him when he rose. Even so, he felt it was worth it. My skill leveled up again for the technique. It happened when he was finishing up the last block of ice. The Asrahan Core Technique skill increased to double circle level three. The amplification rate increased to a whopping 240 percent. Anyway, I'm finally done with the construction. Lloyd looked around the seokbinggo with a satisfied expression. The warmth Arosh had complained about the previous day was completely gone. The blocks of ice were giving off cold air, so the whole space was very chilly. It was so cold that Lloyd could see his breath in the air like it was the middle of winter.
Okay, time to wrap things up. He was a bit tired but couldn't rest yet. Once again, he used the Asrahan Core Technique. This time, just normal strength. Here I go! Tug! Lloyd grabbed the strands of straws protruding out of the ice molds. When he slowly pulled them up, the block of ice got dragged out of the mold with a cracking noise.
Lloyd then placed it on the thick straw mat he had made in advance. Once it was done, he generously plastered sawdust and rice husks on all sides, finishing off by sticking dry stalks on the top and sides of the structure. He was adding a separate layer of insulation on the ice itself to make sure that it would not melt. The process was repeated until every single ice block was pulled out of the mold and tightly wrapped in straw. Afterward, he stacked one after another to protect the chill chair. Good. The ice will last until the winter. Lloyd's face, which was marred with exhaustion, beamed in satisfaction. He was finally done with the seokbinggo. The time has come for him to be rewarded with plenty of treasures.
"Oink! It's really cool, oink!"
"Oink! It's chilly, oink!"
"Oink! Even the ice is delicious, oink!"
"There's a traitor here…Oink!"
It was pure chaos in the seokbinggo. The orcs' eyes widened in utter shock the moment they set foot in the seokbinggo to store the large monster they'd hunted recently. It was very cold inside. Chief Akush was surprised as well.
"I never imagined it would be this cool, oink."
Akush's widened eyes were filled with adoration as he looked around the seokbinggo.
Lloyd shrugged. "Does that mean you doubted my ability?"
"To be honest, yes. I expected this place to be comparable to a cool basement. But this is… Oink."
"This is nothing to be impressed with. Just make sure that you keep the doors locked and protected. Make sure it's tightly shut during the summer, but leave it open in the winter to let the cold breeze in."
Apart from this, Lloyd taught the orcs how to preserve the ice and how to acquire it during the winter and put it in there. He imparted the orcs with useful knowledge about how to run the seokbinggo. Perhaps that was why the next thing happened.
"Truly, oink."
Akush placed his pot-sized palm on Lloyd's shoulder. His eyes contained trust that transcended the differences between them.
"Under this low temperature, we can certainly store meat until the winter. Human Lloyd, I truly thank you. You not only saved my son but solved my tribe's unsolvable problem. You are a true friend and warrior, oink."
"Does this mean that you will accept me as your warrior?"
"Of course, oink."
"Even when I can't do the leg workout using statues that only fat wild pigs…I mean, only you can carry?"
"That is correct, oink." Chief Akush nodded his large head.
"We are friends from now on. You can be scrawny, bony, frail, soft, and incapable of doing the leg workout. You can also look like a delicate twig that's about to snap. Even then, we will understand and accept you, oink."
"Hey…Come on…"
"I am joking, hahaha, oink!"
Llyod and Akush roared in laughter. The former because he was dumbfounded, the latter because he was satisfied. Just then…
Ding Dong.
To his surprise, a new message popped in front of Lloyd.
[The orc race has opened up to you.]
[Orc tribal chief Akush has accepted you as his true friend.]
[The orcs now consider you as a friend on equal footing.]
[You can now increase your likeability through orcs and acquire RP.]
[One hundred RP has been rewarded for forming a new connection with another race.]
[Current RP: six hundred and eleven]
Huh? Lloyd opened his eyes wide. I can now earn RP through orcs, too? In truth, Lloyd wanted this to happen ever since he had saved Arosh. He wondered if he could be liked by the orcs and gain RP. But that didn't happen. He couldn't acquire RP from him for some reason. Not a single message about likeability popped up. That was the case even when Arosh considered him to be his savior. So I just decided that it was impossible to earn RP from the orcs. He had lowered his expectations with those thoughts in mind.
But now I know why. There was a reason why I couldn't obtain RP from him. It was because of the barrier between the two races. The two races had never formed a friendship before. That was why Lloyd couldn't acquire any RP from the orcs. Now, the limitation was gone. What an unexpected gain. Lloyd resolved to continue the friendship with the orcs even in the future. Of course, he didn't forget to collect the compensation he was offered now.
"I suppose it's time to fulfill the other agreements written in our contract," Lloyd said.
"Yes, since you built the seokbinggo for us, we will give our fitness tools to you, oink!!"
"And as stated in the contract, I will make new stone tools for you in return."
Lloyd didn't need to do any extra work because he had been making fitness tools during the construction whenever he had the chance. Bangul pooped hunks of metal, and he linked them together to manufacture metal poles. Then for the weights, he used granite.
Just like that, massively heavy dumbbells, weights, and other tools were manufactured to be gifted to the orcs. In return, Lloyd received a large amount of gold, silver, and other expensive trinkets the orcs had been using to work out. There were more rewards.
"I, Arosh, made a promise to my savior, Lloyd! I agreed to send 120 orc men to the fiefdom once Lloyd is acknowledged as a warrior! I am a manly warrior, so I will uphold our promise today, oink!" Arosh's shout rang aloud.
120 buff, muscular orc warriors stood in a line. They were those who volunteered to be deployed to the Frontera barony.
"Humans are weak, oink!"
"I want to teach them how to work out, oink!"
"We must go, oink!"
Just like that, 120 muscle evangelists, no, a deployment team was formed in one snap.
Lloyd smiled in satisfaction as he looked at them. I had no idea that I'd gain this much.
His friendship with the orcs paved the way for him to earn RP. The massive piles of gold and silver in the village became his possession.
Lloyd was now able to use 120 orc warriors as laborers. On top of everything, Lloyd had acquired valuable magic ingredients from the dark sorcerer. The more he thought about what he gained, the more content he became.
Good. Very good. The grand plan Lloyd had envisioned when he first met Arosh in the ant cave turned out to be modest. Something greater and more profitable than that had taken place.
"Let us get going right away."
Everyone set off and left the village, receiving a fervent, enthusiastic farewell from the other orcs. The procession, which was supposedly composed of Lloyd, Javier, and forty civil engineering soldiers, was added with one hundred twenty orc warriors. The ground shook as the huge procession made its way over the range.
Despite the noise, everyone was safe from the threat of the monsters. That was because once the monsters grouped together, they sneaked out and took another path.
Sometimes, however, there were brave monsters that tried to attack Lloyd and his procession. But Javier and the orc warriors fought back and sliced them into tiny, minute-sized pieces. They instantly became a great source of protein for the orcs.
So everyone managed to cross the range without much difficulty. Even the large, heavy treasures posed no problem for anyone. It was because, in the first place, they were nothing but fitness tools for the orcs.
"Walking with these is really working me out, oink!"
"I am getting it! It's stimulating my shoulders, oink!"
"My fat is burning, oink!"
The orcs were different. They loved them.
They rejoiced that these treasures stimulated their muscles during their walk. They looked like buff, middle-aged gym addicts who shouted that there was nothing better in life than weightlifting. Sometimes, the orcs bickered and scrambled for heavier treasures among themselves. They continued walking, chatting, and crossing over the range for ten days until, at last, a familiar landscape spanned in front of Lloyd.
It was the Frontera barony. He was home. However, when Lloyd entered his estate, he was met with a slightly unexpected turn of events.
"Master Lloyd, the baron is currently in the reception room."
The housekeeper, who came to welcome Lloyd on behalf of the baron and baroness, bowed to Lloyd. Lloyd asked, "In the reception room? Are they with a guest?"
"Yes, Young Master," the housekeeper replied.
"Who?"
"It's…"
"It's what?"
"Mister Shiloh and Meatloaf."
"Who are they?"
"Uhm…They are the ones who lent the money to the baron…"
"Aha. The loan sharks?"
Lloyd remembered. The scrawny and fatty that visited the baron the last time.
He recalled how he had kicked them out of the estate by mixing up some lies and threats. Of course, with a dash of politeness. Calling to mind the past event, he smiled.
"Nice timing."
He meant it. He had been meaning to meet with the loan sharks soon and go over the debt problem. I think we click well together. I mean, they came to visit my house just when I needed them! I'm touched.
Lloyd headed toward the reception room. He couldn't help but hum as he thought about the deal he'd strike with those loan sharks.
Translator: https://bettertranslation9.wordpress.com