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Chapter 33

Chapter 33: Apprentice (3)

“…..I was complacent.”

Elise sighed.

Kim Minwoo, the human, was right.

Life was precious to everyone.

It was no wonder he was grumbling about the paltry price he was being offered for such a valuable life.

And the things he was asking for in exchange for his help were reasonable.

The Divine fruit of the Mother Tree? That was a treasure to the elves.

But everything is relative.

Was it more important to let the Mother Tree collapse or to give the Divine fruit and protect it?

The answer was obvious.

The same was true of the potion.

If they were protected, their consumption would decrease dramatically.

It was just a matter of giving it to the resistance.

Elise looked at Kim Minwoo.

He was diligently assembling something in front of the skeleton.

“…..What are you doing?”

“I’m strengthening my summons.”

“Strengthening?”

“Yes. See the bones here?”

“I think those are the leg bones of a cockatrice?”

“That’s right. If I replace this one with this one on his leg….”

[Using Bone exchange (B)!]

[Replacing Cedric’s leg bone with the leg bone of a cockatrice!]

[The level of the material is far higher than your level.]

[Success rate: 12%]

[Will you attempt it?]

Nod.

[Great Success!]

[The bones are transformed to fit Cedric’s body type and race!]

[Cedric’s strength, agility, and vitality increase by 10 each!]

[Great Success Special Effect: Movement Speed +10%]

[Remaining Capacity (20/75)]

Cedric’s leg bone became thicker and sturdier.

“That’s how it’s done more or less.”

“That’s amazing. Does it always succeed when you try it?”

“Of course not. I think I’ve replaced about two hundred leg bones.”

“……So it’s that low of a chance?”

“No, it’s not that low. It’s just that the effect is a bit boring when it succeeds. There’s a separate Great Success effect.”

He found out when he first tried it with a few regular skeletons.

Success and Great Success.

There was a bit of a difference between the two.

A regular success just takes up a lot of capacity.

And there were no special effects either.

On the other hand, Great Success?

It takes up less capacity.

‘Success was 25, right?’

Great Success is 20.

The capacity is reduced by 5.

But the effect is much better.

“Cedric, how do you feel?”

―Master, I think I’ve acquired a very good skill.

Cedric, who was moving his leg, said while wagging his tail.

[TL/N: It’s a metaphor(At least i think so)]

The effect was undeniable.

After all, all of his stats except for mana had increased by 10.

On top of that, he received a 10% movement speed increase as a Great Success special effect.

‘This is a truly remarkable skill.’ The effect was phenomenal, especially when using the bones of high-level monsters.

The cockatrice was a monster that far surpassed level 200.

Naturally, its bones would be overwhelmingly stronger than the basic skeleton’s body.

And he had used the legs, the most representative part of this monster.

If only he could consistently achieve Great Success, it would be a jackpot.

‘Of course, there are drawbacks too…’

The higher the level of the monster’s bones, the lower the success rate became.

The Great Success rate seemed to be around 1%.

It practically took all the bones from the pack of cockatrices he hunted last time to replace Cedric’s leg bone.

To properly utilize this skill…

‘It’s going to cost a damn fortune.’

When monsters die, they leave behind a corpse and byproducts.

These byproducts varied in type, including important parts of the monster, items, magic stones, and skill books.

Usually, adventurers only came back with the byproducts.

This was because they were heavy and there was a limit to the amount of luggage they could carry.

On top of that, they only took the parts that were worth money.

This was the case for most monsters, except for some high-value monsters.

The problem was that bones were usually not a high-value item.

Except for the bones of some monsters, they weren’t something adventurers needed to go out of their way to collect.

Even if they scoured the auction house, there wouldn’t be much of it.

So in Conclusion…

He needed to give the Awakened an incentive to bring him bones.

‘I guess I’ll have to put a bounty on bones?’

He thought they would probably come in units of ten or so…

‘But I still have to do it.’

He didn’t know about anything else, but one thing was for sure.

For now, he had to give Cedric at least the best bones and shower him with Great Successes all over his body.

‘As for the rest…’

It was questionable whether it would be possible to do the same for all of the over a thousand skeletons, even if tens of trillions were broken up.

He decided to think about that later.

Kim Minwoo’s gaze turned to the side.

He saw Elise, who was still staring at him intently.

“What can I do for you?”

“……I’m here to apologize for my rudeness last time. I was definitely reckless.”

“I’ve already forgotten about it.”

He said, bowing his head.

There was no need to react harshly to someone who was apologizing, let alone an elf.

Elise sighed and said,

“……Can you see those elves over there?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve managed to suppress their dissatisfaction, but honestly, it’s just a temporary measure. Once they get to the village, the elders will probably raise a fuss.”

“So you’re not going to keep your promise?”

“No!”

She shook her head hastily.

“I’m going to the Mother Tree’s grove. I have the power to keep my promise. But I would appreciate it if you didn’t pay too much attention to the reactions of the other elves.”

“You seem to be a bit different from the other elves, Elise. You seem to be more realistic.”

“……I’m no different. I guess I was complacent too……”

“It’s good that you’ve reflected on it. Just knowing that you’re not supposed to do that makes you a great elf.”

No wonder there’s a word called ‘stubborn.’ It was because the elves were so damn stubborn.

Elise’s ears turned slightly red from the continuous flattery. It seemed like she had given her enough carrots.

“Elise.”

“Yes.”

“I can tolerate everything else, but I think there are three things I can’t tolerate.”

“What are those three things?”

“First, belittling the sacrifices of the orcs. Second, not educating the Dream Trees diligently. Third, not keeping promises. If I see any of these three things….”

“……If you see them?”

“I’ll use my sword a little. Sometimes, just swinging it is the shortest way.”

“…….”

An elf elder, huh?

Just listening to them made you think of rotten water.

In a situation where the goal was clear, there was no time to be held back by such people.

He looked at her with a grin.

“I believe you understand.”

“……I’ll be careful.”

“We’ll leave for the elf village tomorrow. Get some rest.”

* * *

“Today, we’re going to save the elves!”

―Yay! Let’s save the pointy-eared ones!

―Yay! Let’s drink potions and charge in!

He had already preached to the orcs about the need to join forces with the elves.

Drink potions and charge in.

Split a witch’s skull.

Stuff like that.

Thankfully, there was no opposition.

“Let’s go!”

Over two thousand orcs moved out. They had already heard about the troops that were attacking the elf village. With this much force, they should be able to smash them to pieces.

‘But it will be hard to stop the news from spreading.’

Their numbers were quite substantial. It seemed like it would be difficult to stop all of them from fleeing like they did at Elum.

‘It can’t be helped.’

They couldn’t stay in stealth mode forever. If the entire elf subjugation army were to be wiped out, it would be normal for the Apostle to notice something, unless he was an idiot.

And so, the proud orc army set off on their journey, and after six hours of marching, they arrived at their destination.

A vast area where a huge forest had been created.

It was the Mother Tree’s territory.

Elise and the elf group had moved ahead to enter there first.

This was to convey the plan they had made yesterday to the elves and to move organically.

And one more thing to add.

It was probably also to preach the content he had personally warned them about yesterday.

‘It’s doubtful they’ll listen, though.’

If the elves were going to change their ways just because of that, they wouldn’t have the nickname ‘stubborn’ in the first place.

Of course, not all elves were hopeless.

But it was a fact that there were many hopeless ones among them.

In the distance, he could see troops recklessly cutting down the trees of the forest.

‘They’ve started carving it back.’

The Mother Tree’s territory was a very difficult area to attack.

The trees came to life and moved around, blocking their path, while the plants devoured their enemies.

On top of that, there were elves hidden in the forest shooting arrows at them.

Of course, an enemy commander with any sense would not just blindly charge in.

Usually, they would set fire to the forest or smash the trees from the outside and advance.

The commander chose the latter.

‘It won’t be easy to set it on fire.’

Usually, the Mother Tree would block it by spraying water from its side.

Only then would the fire catch on.

‘And they’ll have to deal with the corpses too…’

Burnt corpses are unusable waste. So, they would probably carve them back.

They had already discussed the plan beforehand. The orcs would attack from the rear, and the elves would join forces from the front.

―Ogres! Ogres!

The sound of heavy footsteps on the ground made the Apostle’s troops look back.

Soon, there was chaos.

It was no wonder they were surprised to see a horde of orcs suddenly appear.

No need for words.

“Kill them all! Charge!”

The orcs charged.

* * *

The battle ended swiftly.

The enemy commander barely managed to dodge the pincer attack and fled, while his troops scattered in all directions.

They killed about 400 of the enemy troops, which was nearly 500. Of course, they lost about 400 orcs in return, but considering the average level difference, it was a miraculous exchange rate.

‘Thanks to that, I leveled up a lot.’

From 75 to 85.

He racked up experience points by landing the finishing blows.

Considering that the required experience points increased exponentially as the level increased, it was a level-up speed close to the speed of light.

‘Well, it’s natural considering I’m killing high-level guys, but…’

The Apostle’s troops were generally level 250 or higher. So, the rapid level-up wasn’t that surprising.

Soon, a group of elves appeared between the trees.

There were about 400 in total.

Elise was at the front, followed by the old elves.

They were probably the elders.

“Thank you for your help.”

Elise bowed her head.

Enough with the hahahoho. Life was originally give and take.

“Of course I’ll help if I can. So, it’s time for me to get my reward…”

“Yes. I’ve already told them.”

Along with Elise’s answer, the group of alchemists came forward.

The elves watched the skeletons with their ears perked up.

“……So, you want us to teach these skeletons?”

“Yes. I think it would be good if you each take care of twenty of the 500. The dwarves are also very satisfied with the equipment. It will be worthwhile to teach them.”

The remaining 500 were hammering away at the dwarven forge.

This was because they hadn’t learned the crafting skill yet.

The alchemists nodded their heads hesitantly, one by one.

‘Well, this is a decent reaction.’

How dare these evil undead learn alchemy?

At least it wasn’t like that. It seemed like Elise, who had gone ahead to explain the situation, had put in a lot of effort.

As the skeletons learned alchemy, potions would be produced faster, so the first promise was kept.

“Then I guess it’s time for me to receive the Mother Tree’s Divine fruit…”

Just then.

One of the elders, who had been wearing a sullen expression since the beginning, stepped forward.

“Human. Wait a minute.”

“Do you have something to say?”

“I’ve put up with a lot! I was surprised that you were teaching alchemy to evil undead in the first place, but I understood that much. But the Divine fruit is different! It’s a great treasure for us elves. It’s something that only the chosen ones among our kind can eat!”

“Yes. That’s why I’m asking for it as payment. Would I have asked for it if it wasn’t precious?”

“Don’t you think you’re asking too much?”

This is not a matter of intelligence.

It’s just a matter of belief.

That’s why he was able to stand up so confidently in front of the orc horde behind him.

He looked at Elise.

She sighed.

It seemed that she hadn’t been able to convince even the stubborn elder.

“Is there any way to stop you if you object?”

“The Divine fruit can only be taken out if all the elders agree.”

“I see. I respect your beliefs.”

For such stubbornness, he deserves a round of applause.

He nodded.

Swish!

The elf elder’s neck fell off.

Still, he must have said everything he wanted to say, so it’s all good.

He wiped the blood off his blade and looked at the elders.

“Anyone else object?”

“…….”

“If not, I’ll take it.”

With the representative of the opposition gone, it was unanimous approval.

It was time to take the Divine fruit.

[TL/N: Bro was Cold af here ]