Ch.106101 – Carrots and Churu

“So? Which one are we hitting first, the materials warehouse or the admissions office?”

The cat’s ears perked up as we reunited after a long time.

“Here, take this.”

I pinched around my forehead, revealing an invisible laurel crown.

“W-what? The Laurel? But you were supposed to keep this! I don’t even know how to use it properly!”

Adella jumped when she realized what I had tossed to her, which she had caught reflexively.

“It’s more suitable for you than me.”

[Warning: Circle magic usage disabled.]

[Warning: Action Assist feature disabled.]

[Warning: Scroll usage disabled.]

[Notice: All growth stats temporarily reset.]

[Notice: All penalties temporarily deactivated.]

Numerous warnings and notifications that even the settings menu couldn’t block flooded my vision.

-????

-How are you planning to win by giving away the Laurel?

-Adella doesn’t know how to use magic

-Adella is an idiot

-Adella’s head is just for decoration because she’s thick-skulled

-ㄴThat’s too harsh lol

-ㄴTechnically, Adella’s corpse is classified as an “object”

-ㄴdamn that’s dark

I felt the shackles that suppressed my power release, while new restrictions were engraved in my core.

As expected, there was no sign of mana or even aura manifesting.

“Adella, hit me as hard as you can.”

“What…? Did that hit to your head earlier make you lose your mind?”

Adella frowned in shock, but my head was still firmly attached to my neck.

“If you prefer, just slap me. I’m feeling sleepy.”

“…You’re not joking, are you?”

“I’m always serious.”

“No revenge later? You really want me to hit you?”

I offered my cheek, making it easier for her to slap.

“Are you chickening out?”

I smirked deliberately, which finally got a good reaction from her.

She cracked her knuckles and swung her arm around in circles.

Her unnecessarily elaborate preparation wasn’t particularly welcome, but soon enough, her palm struck my cheek hard.

BOOM-!

With an explosion-like sound, I felt my body floating upward.

“NoName! Are you okay?”

Adella rushed over to help me up after my fragile body rolled across the ground several times before crashing into a bush.

Being in a game world, it didn’t hurt that much. It was just extremely unpleasant.

Instead, I could only guess how much internal damage I’d taken by looking at the chunk of HP that had been depleted.

“I did hit hard… but I didn’t expect you to fly that far…!”

“Don’t worry about it. I was just checking the Laurel’s effect.”

All the growth stats accumulated from experience since Leppy handed over the Laurel were stored in the Laurel of Reincarnation.

The source of this information was, of course, TreeWiki.

Normally, it remained invisible and protected, so I didn’t need to worry much about it, but the Laurel was the one thing I needed to guard most carefully in case we encountered a boss that could steal items.

Losing it would mean losing all growth bonus stats including health, attack power, defense, and mana, leaving me dependent solely on level and equipment.

So it was only natural that Adella, who had received all the Laurel’s abilities, could send me flying with a full-power hit.

‘But it’s not enough.’

It was far from enough to face Jin Chronicle possessed by a demon.

Even if we concentrated all experience stacks on Adella alone, I couldn’t guarantee we’d win.

“We won’t know until we try.”

“Huh?”

“Give me your hand for a second.”

“We don’t have time for this! The enemies could be after us any minute!”

“Quickly.”

“Ugh, seriously…!”

Surprisingly, her hand was rough and calloused with blisters.

Unlike the cat furry girl I had hired as a manager before, there was no jelly-like padding on her palms.

[Casting: Circuit Reconfiguration]

[Synchronization: NoName-Adella]

“Do you have any foods you like or dislike?”

“Foods I like…? I’m not sure? I don’t really like carrots though.”

“Got it.”

With that, all preparations were complete.

“Now let’s go face Valum Venaons.”

* * *

Adella felt sick to her stomach.

Not emotionally, but physically—her stomach was trembling as if she had an upset stomach.

“Did I drink too much… why now of all times…!”

Unable to abandon the mission for such a ridiculous reason, Adella moved to the materials warehouse with NoName.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah! Of course I’m fine! Who do you think I am? I’ll finish this stupid mission quickly and go home to rest.”

They ran along the dark stone wall, staying close to it.

After some time had passed, Adella kept fidgeting with the invisible laurel crown and asked NoName:

“I keep feeling uneasy. Are you sure it’s okay for me to use this? Don’t we have any actual plan?”

“Plan? Since when have you ever followed a plan?”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Just relax. Do as I told you.”

“You didn’t tell me anything!”

“Then I’ll teach you from the beginning.”

Before entering the materials warehouse, NoName stood facing Adella.

“The Laurel and you are connected now. Close your eyes and try to focus.”

“L-like this? I can’t see or feel anything.”

“What if I do this—”

In an instant, NoName extended her arm and swung her fist toward Adella’s cheek.

It happened in a split second.

Before she could even open her eyelids, with no time to prepare, Adella’s body reflexively jumped sideways, barely avoiding the forest keeper’s attack.

“Eek…! That was dangerous! What are you doing?!”

Adella got up from the ground and strongly protested the attack that came without warning.

“What a shame… I mean, what taste do you have in your mouth right now?”

“Taste? What are you… huh? Tuna?”

Adella’s eyes widened.

The salty taste of tuna was tingling on the tip of her tongue.

Adella couldn’t focus as pleasure washed over her each time she smacked her lips.

“If you had blocked instead of dodging, you would have tasted carrots in your mouth.”

“What are you talking about?!”

The Laurel’s action assist was, simply put, a system that gave players options.

Attack 1, Attack 2, Attack 3, Defense 1, Defense 2, Evasion.

The Laurel always enabled users to perform various possible actions with perfect execution.

However, the perfection of execution didn’t guarantee the best choice.

Just like how characters in fighting games all perform perfect moves, yet some keep attacking while others just keep getting hit, the ‘choice’ of action was entirely up to the individual.

“This is the fifth time I’m telling you this, Adella. So don’t get excited at the end and trust your instincts.”

“Instincts…”

Adella swung her dagger through the air.

Whoosh-

With the Laurel’s assist, the blade cut through the air skillfully and quickly.

The perfect trajectory she had dreamed of her entire life—if academy test officials had been there, she could have sliced them in half with ease.

“So easily…”

What had she been practicing so hard for all this time? She could now understand why everyone coveted the Laurel.

But Adella had questions about the forest keeper who carried nothing.

She realized after hitting her body.

‘She’s incredibly weak…’

The skillful fighting at the observatory earlier would have been impossible without the Laurel’s help, given her physique.

But before meeting the observatory caretaker, she had handed the Laurel to Adella without hesitation, and with a strange sensation, Adella was able to defeat him without much effort.

It was certainly an amazing item, but Adella thought it might be more appropriate for the forest keeper, a healer class, to have it rather than herself who couldn’t cast magic.

NoName stroked Adella’s messy hair.

“You can do it.”

When her warm voice hit Adella’s ears, she couldn’t shake the tingling feeling in her chest.

It happened again.

Was she still drunk?

Or was it a side effect of wearing the Laurel?

When she used the Laurel’s power to defeat the observatory caretaker, and when she hit NoName’s cheek with all her might, emotions welled up from deep within her chest.

[Remember.]

Clutching her unsettled heart, she moved forward and soon reached the materials warehouse.

“There’s less security than I expected… no, I have a feeling there’s a lot inside.”

“Yes. Because of the alarm system, there’s no way to sneak in. We have to break through directly.”

“But what’s the criteria for tasting cat treats or carrots in my mouth?”

[Intruders! Catch them!]

Even though the Laurel was versatile, it didn’t have eyes—how could it know whether a decision was right or wrong in each situation?

NoName pulled out a plastic stick from her pocket and bit into it. It was a product purchased from the item shop that had no effect in-game. The price was 0.00003 Bitcoin per stick.

“My choice.”

[‘Isirin’ donated 1,000 won!]

-Teacher, you’re more petty than you look!

If Adella managed to defeat Valum Venaons in this run, NoName thought it would be time to finish the basic training and move on to advanced education.