My Alter Ego’s Path to Greatness - Chapter 69

#69

Engraving (2)

“There’s a furry one. “Is this really a human being?”

The old woman, whose eyes were constantly blinking, pointed at Harley and asked the hairy boy.

“Have you gone senile, grandma? Doing this to people! And Harley has gone through many twists and turns so far, so she’s a decent human being!”

Even though the words were not addressed to him, the hairy boy protested excitedly, as if foaming at the mouth.

In Act 4, Scene 3 of the eventful ‘Harley’s Big Adventure’, there was a story about a woman being captured by the evil warlock ‘Hans’ and undergoing experimentation on her body before escaping.

Perhaps they took care of him with that in mind.

‘Contrary to what he appears to be, he is a very attentive friend.’

Harley, who inwardly flinched at the word monster, crossed her arms full of massive muscles and nodded happily.

“Hmm… Anyway, you’re really human, right?”

She looked at him carefully again, as if it didn’t matter whether the hairy boy was angry or not.

“Well, I’ve seen a lot of warriors, but this is the first time I’ve seen something like this.”

“Old man! Please explain what the problem is. “This is frustrating!”

Then, seeing the old woman express her admiration again, Harley, who had no intention of just staying still, joined in.

“It’s not really a problem. On the contrary, it can be seen as very good. Heheul….”

“Ohh?”

“Ugh… the wind outside is colder than that. Come inside and we’ll talk. “As I get older, my sags get sore.”

Patting their backs, she got up from the chair and led them into the house.

“Now that I think about it, I haven’t even said thank you yet. Thank you for helping me out when I was in trouble. “I’ll bring some tea, so sit still.”

After entering the interior, which was filled with various miscellaneous items, and sitting down to wait, an old woman brought out tea brewed with an unknown herb.

“Enjoy your meal. Is it good for your body? When you get older, you have to eat good things. “You helped me today, so I’m giving it to you as a thank you.”

Harley immediately picked up the teacup and poured it into her mouth.

The steaming hot tea did not do any damage to his strong body.

“Hahaha! It tastes like being healthy! Now then, let’s finish what we were talking about earlier!”

“Ah… that’s because the young guy has such a short temper.”

The old woman leisurely took a sip of tea and slowly spoke.

“You probably know that if an unqualified person gets engraved, the side effects will be severe, right?”

“That’s the basics!”

“Imprinting basically consumes a lot of the body’s energy. Mana… So, the proportion of aurors used by warriors is large, but vitality is more important than that.”

And she had the ability to see the life force flowing through the subject’s body.

“I was confused because this was my first time seeing this level of vitality. “I’ve seen Daejeonsa a few times, but nothing compares to them.”

“Was Harley that bad? Of course, it was at a great level even without using aurors…”

“At that level, it’s closer to a monster than a human. So that’s what I asked earlier. “Are you really human?”

The overwhelming vitality emanating from the body of a monster with physical capabilities far superior to those of humans.

It was natural since it was contained in Harley’s body.

“Since engraving is used by forcibly drawing out the vitality flowing through the body, the more abundant it is, the more powerful things can be engraved.”

From the moment the engraving was engraved, life force was continuously consumed, so the fiery energy emanating from the warrior’s trained body was essential.

“But at this level, it would be enough to engrave the engraving of a great warrior rather than the engraving of a warrior.”

“oh! But is there any step above that?”

“Heul… It’s called ‘Tuwang’s engraving,’ but no one has been able to engrave it for hundreds of years.”

“Hoo Tuwang….”

Harley’s eyes sparkled at the name she really liked.

“Of course, I don’t know how to do that either. In the first place, it is a task that requires the assistance of several shamans under the leadership of the great shaman.”

“It’s really unfortunate, but there’s nothing we can do. Then, please at least engrave the history of Daejeon. I should have that sort of thing! Hahahaha—!”

“This is also a bit difficult.”

“why not!”

Despite Harley’s protests, the old woman lazily sipped her tea and burned her sorrow.

“First of all, we don’t have the first ingredient. As you know, it’s been a long time since a warrior from the south came here, so we’re not prepared at all.”

Since I had been healing minor illnesses for a long time, the materials I had at hand were the ones I used for that purpose.

“That’s about it. I’ll just…”

“And in order to engrave the imprint of the second great warrior, you need that much worthy karma. “It’s not something that can simply be engraved with a lot of vitality or mana.”

It seems that the higher the level of engraving, the more stringent the conditions were.

If you violate this, the side effects you heard about before will eat away at you.

Muscle loss, hair loss, aging, loss of stamina….

‘No!’

Harley gave up on all the fatal side effects.

“So what is that necessary karma? Should I at least catch a dragon?”

Still, I couldn’t help but feel regret, so I asked her in a harsh tone.

“Hehehehe… there’s no need to go that far. Let’s see… Okay, the northern mountains beyond the Iron Citadel. “All I have to do is hunt down the ogre, the predator there, all by myself.”

‘huh?’

“What an ogre! “Grandma, do you know what kind of monster that is?”

The furry boy who was listening next to me shouted in shock.

The ogre was an apex predator, standing nearly 5 meters tall, with incredibly dense muscles and keen senses.

He was also a glutton who had to hunt and eat all day long, except when he was sleeping, to maintain his body.

Even if several high-rank mercenaries attack at once and take a lot of damage, I wonder if I can catch it, but I can’t believe I can catch it all by myself.

“If I’m going to challenge Daejeonsa, I should be able to do that. In fact, this is also the minimum standard.”

“Hmm… Well, if you’re a great warrior, you might be able to do that, but…”

“And if the hunt is successful, that attachment could be used to carve an engraving. “Because high-ranking monsters are excellent materials for using magic.”

After speaking leisurely, the old woman sipped her tea again.

And Harley silently rummaged through the subspace magic tools in her arms.

“So, once you receive another imprint and grow up, try taking on the challenge slowly… Pooh wow—!”

“Ugh! What are you doing, grandma? “Suddenly on someone else’s face… ugh?”

He took out the monster attachments.

All sorts of things, including large bones, tendons, eyes, and bottles of blood.

“Uh… this can’t be right…”

The furry boy looked at them and Harley alternately with an idiotic look on his face.

“Ogre! It’s an ogre’s appendage! “They are fresh and have only been hunted for a few days!”

And the old woman, who immediately recognized it, cried out in astonishment.

As she said, this was very refreshing.

I had just returned yesterday from hunting beyond the Iron Fortress.

‘I forgot to dispose of it because I was listening to the story about the shaman as soon as I arrived, but it turned out well.’

It saved me the trouble of going out to get ingredients again.

“I’m asking just in case… Did you hunt this alone?”

Did he feel something when he saw the ingredients being taken out at this time?

As she was closely examining the items Harley had taken out, she looked at him with an uneasy expression and blinked.

“Huh… Hahahaha! You are stating the obvious, old man! To this body, an ogre is nothing! Pahaha!”

He burst out laughing confidently.

“Then there is no problem with engraving the Daejeon Temple’s engraving with this?”

“Right… right. “I’m asking again just in case, but you’re really sure you caught it on your own, right?”

“of course! “I know for sure what the side effects will be, so there’s no way I would lie about something like this!”

At his words, the old woman nodded slowly and poured tea into her empty cup and sipped it again.

“But grandma. “They say you’re a pretty skilled shaman if you can carve the Great Master’s engraving, so why are you living in a place like this?”

At that time, the furry boy who had roughly wiped the tea off his face asked in an annoyed tone.

She paused for a moment as she brought the teacup to her lips, but then took a sip without any hesitation and responded as if it was no big deal.

“What’s wrong with this place? “I’m earning a decent amount of food, and people who don’t have enough can live by helping each other?”

“Are you talking about the people who didn’t even lift their noses when Grandma was in trouble?”

“…Isn’t it true that everyone has their own circumstances?”

It was a word with multiple meanings.

Harley seemed to not want to say any more, so she opened her mouth to finish her business quickly.

“So when can I get the engraving? And if possible,

I’d like to get other engravings as well…” “Ahh… That guy’s always so impatient.”

The old woman, who was clicking her tongue, thought about something and answered.

“First of all, since we don’t have any preparations right now, it will take a day to get other ingredients and prepare them in advance. “Please come back the day after tomorrow.”

“Tell me the ingredients and I will gather them right away…”

“Uh-huh! “Sorcery cannot be done in such a hurry!”

Preparing carefully and preparing one’s mind on time was also a part of the magic process.

“And half the cost is a down payment. As you can see, I don’t have anything, so I can’t get the ingredients.”

We were very wealthy thanks to the expensive monster accessories and Hubert doing a good business, so the cost didn’t really matter.

“Can I get another engraving at the same time? “If I could, I would!”

“After you carve one, your body needs time to adjust for about a week. And during that time, I also need to replenish my stamina. “Do you think engraving is easy?”

After finishing all the business, Harley and I got up from our shedding positions and left the house, planning to meet the old woman again the day after tomorrow.

Walking back down the alley.

“Ugh~! Now then, shall we go finish what we couldn’t finish earlier?”

The hairy boy looked puzzled at his words as he stretched out coolly.

“ok? “Harley, did you do anything before you came here?”

“Hahaha! What are you talking about, friend? “We’ve done something together, right?”

It seems that this friend was a bit forgetful.

Harley quietly explained to him what they had to do.

“We need to sort out those guys earlier, right?”

“ok?”

The furry boy has a fierce expression on his face again.

I felt like I needed to explain it in more detail.

“From my experience, if you leave those guys alone, they are sure to cause an accident later! “You have to organize it in advance!”

Of course, the source of that experience was Earth’s popular culture, which is full of clichés.

“Is that so? “From my experience, if you scare them this much, they start to hide and don’t even come near you.”

“Huh, I’ve lived a better life than I thought, right, friend?”

From the perspective of modern people who are immersed in all kinds of provocative content, what the furry said was a very easy response.

Of course, at first he thought that was enough.

The opponents were only a group of Parakhos, and they were large, muscular, famous mercenaries and even used “wildness” to imprint fear into their minds.

In most cases, it will grow on its own, as the hairy man said.

However, unexpectedly, the old witch doctor was more capable.

The first engraving took place two days later, and subsequent engravings had to be done at weekly intervals, so I don’t know how long it will take…

‘That’s enough time for the fear to dilute.’

So I needed to be more certain.

“Oh… you really are an indomitable warrior who survived all kinds of hardships. Harley, you learned a lesson. So how are you going to find them?”

They had already run away and I couldn’t even see their noses, and I didn’t even know where they were based.

“Hehehe—they’re probably people who live around here anyway, so if we kill each of them one by one, wouldn’t they come out?”

“Right! What if they actually become vengeful and seek revenge?”

“Then you didn’t step on it! I’m trying to organize this in advance so that it doesn’t end up like that! “We need to follow this more meticulously and thoroughly!”

“Indeed… great! I’ve never seen a warrior as fierce as you, Harley. “You have not only military power but also intellect!”

“Well, this is all a product of experience. Turaba, you too can become like this. Wahahaha!”

The two people disappear into the alley while chatting amicably.

But the contents were nothing short of hideous.

After several rounds of singing echoed through the streets until it got dark…

they finished their work neatly and were able to return home with a refreshed mind.