Ch.17Chapter 17: Karma.

As Valt watched the thugs rushing at him in an instant, he quietly cast an enhancement spell and wrapped his body in mana.

“Indu Fumnis.”

The scarred thug watched his subordinates charge at Valt and thought to himself.

‘Look at this idiot! He can’t even react! Some nobody without an aura floor…’

At that moment, one of the subordinate’s swords fell toward Valt’s shoulder.

‘Hmm… I could make good money selling him too. What a body…’

The slave market had demand for men like him.

Many wealthy ladies preferred muscular men.

Just as the scarred thug was thinking about selling Valt as a slave too—

A sound that shouldn’t occur when a sword strikes human flesh rang out.

Clang!

The weapon of the thug who had swung at Valt shattered.

Everyone except Lisa and Valt widened their eyes at the unbelievable situation.

“W-what?! How is this possible? He has no aura sword!”

Valt grabbed the head of the man who had just attacked him and who was now denying reality with a stupid expression, lifting him up.

“Ugh?! W-what are you doing?”

To the man who now resembled a doll in a claw machine with his head held up, Valt expressionlessly said:

“Hmm… Gerungtu doesn’t let those who attack him go unpunished. So this is your fault.”

Then he threw the man.

Whoosh!

Crash!

The thug flew at terrifying speed into a wall, becoming embedded in what appeared to be a several-meter-thick wall.

“Oh, he’s quite sturdy. He’s not dead yet.”

The scarred thug shouted at Valt, who was making terrifying statements with a calm face.

“W-what?! H-how?!”

‘I can’t sense any aura floor, so how? Just strength? That’s just raw strength?’

At that moment, one fact dawned on the scarred thug.

There was only one type of human who could exert such strength without an aura.

“B-barbarian!! How is a barbarian in the Imperial City?!”

Despite the thug’s shocked exclamation, Valt was lost in his own thoughts.

‘This is more than I expected. I just threw him lightly and this happened? It’s hard to grasp how mana infusion works…’

Lisa and Arias had now switched to cheerleader mode behind him.

“Well done, Valt! Beat them all up!”

Valt was exasperated that she was cheering after causing this trouble herself.

‘You’re going to get a lecture from me later.’

Still, this was a good opportunity to test his abilities.

Plus, thanks to Lisa, he even got a quest, so there was some benefit.

Could Lisa be a quest generator?

That thought made him feel a bit better.

As the thugs hesitated with shocked expressions, Valt shouted:

“Not coming? Then I’ll come to you!”

Thud!

As Valt kicked off the ground and charged, one of the scarred thug’s subordinates desperately cried out:

“Y-you said only those who attacked you! I didn’t attack!”

Whoosh!

Valt’s hand, which had been extending at incredible speed, stopped right in front of the thug’s chest.

“That’s true.”

Just as the man thought he was safe and felt relieved—

The air pressure created by Valt’s swinging arm, infused with mana, formed a powerful concentrated mass of wind in front of the thug.

It struck the thug’s chest like a fist made of wind.

Boom!!

“Argghhh!”

The thug’s chest caved in from the direct hit, and he was thrown backward.

Bang! Thud-thud-thud-thud!

Crash!!

But to others, it looked as if Valt had pushed the man away with a monstrous palm strike.

A groan escaped from the thug who realized he’d picked a fight with the wrong person.

“D-damn… just one palm strike?”

Even Lisa was seeing Valt directly hit someone for the first time.

“V-Valt?!”

He’s dead. That man must be dead.

Valt’s strike could shatter even a massive tree in one blow.

But the most surprised was Valt himself.

‘H-huh?’

What was this?

He had merely stopped right before grabbing and throwing the man with all his strength, but the interaction of mana and physical force had created something like magic.

This was almost like…

‘Wind Fist?’

But it was different from a regular Wind Fist.

No calculation, no incantation.

It was a miracle created solely by a tremendous swing.

Valt, who had been limited to throwing attacks because direct hits were impossible, had suddenly gained a close-combat technique.

And its power was enormous.

It felt stronger than a 3rd Circle Wind Fist.

Valt grinned and said:

“I like this!”

The thugs in front of him were terrified.

To smile like that after turning two people into bloody pancakes!

This confirmed that barbarians truly had no blood or tears.

Valt’s massive frame descended upon the thugs like terror incarnate.

The thugs drastically changed their attitude to survive.

Money was good, but not worth exchanging for their lives.

“S-surrender!! We surrender!! P-please spare us!!”

Barbarians supposedly don’t harm those who surrender…

But Valt instantly sent two more subordinates flying.

Whoosh-

Boom!

“You were planning to sell my friends as slaves, and now you talk about surrender?”

The rumor about barbarians not harming those who surrender seemed to be just that—a rumor.

The scarred thug, now alone, shouted:

If surrender wouldn’t work!

“W-we’re Devrick Venom! Even if you’re a barbarian, you must have heard this name!! If you touch me, Devrick Venom’s wrath will—!!!”

“I don’t know anything about that.”

Boom!!

“Gwaaaargh!”

His body similarly flew into the wall, and the several-meter-thick wall, now with five people embedded in it, collapsed.

Rumble-

The situation was started, but the cleanup was concerning.

He hadn’t meant to kill them, but he failed to control his strength and seemed to have killed them all.

Valt was already accustomed to killing, so honestly, he felt nothing.

Especially since he considered them bad people.

Looking around, there was no sign of the guard patrol, not even an ant.

At times like this, Valt had a magic word he always called out:

“Lisa!”

Lisa quickly jumped forward at Valt’s call.

“Yes! Yes, Master Valt!!”

Lisa was using honorifics again, similar to when they were traveling.

“Clean this up.”

“Yes, understood!!”

Then she started running somewhere.

Probably to call the city guards.

Valt also said something to Arias:

“Are you alright?”

Water spirits were circling around Arias’s body, healing her slight wounds.

Perhaps because they had planned to sell her, she seemed mostly unharmed.

“I-I’m fine… th-thank you… Sorry for calling you a barbarian earlier…”

The spirit, seemingly grateful that Valt had protected its master, jumped onto Valt’s massive shoulder and danced happily.

‘Cute. Maybe she’ll tell me now?’

This was also part of Valt’s plan.

He thought it would be more dramatic if he helped her when she was in danger.

“If you’re grateful, you could teach me how to summon spirits.”

After a moment of consideration, an affirmative response came from Arias’s lips.

“…Alright. But don’t blame me if no spirits appear to you.”

“That won’t happen.”

Though Lisa’s meddling had been tiresome, he had obtained a good reward.

Ding!

【Quest Complete!】

You chose to save the mother and daughter! Compassion! I’ll give you a reward reflecting your sympathy for the weak!

<Reward>

Bonus Points 5, Good Karma Points 10.

‘Karma Points? Huh? Wasn’t that something that was supposed to be applied in the next update?’

It was the system Valt had seen in the update notes before being transported into the game.

Therefore, Valt had no idea how it worked.

Hoping for an explanation, he touched it, and a description appeared.

【Karma Points: Good or Evil! Your choices will accumulate to determine your future!

When you collect enough Karma Points, you can use the Karma Shop!】

‘Karma Shop?’

He tried clicking on that too, but received a notice that he couldn’t access it due to insufficient points.

This seemed like something to consider after accumulating more points.

After checking his status window, he saw Lisa running back breathlessly with three guards.

“V-Valt! I’m back!!”

Lisa had returned to informal speech.

“Are these the ones?”

One of the guards asked Lisa.

“Yes! They tried to capture us… though I’m not sure if they’re still alive!”

“Troublesome fellows… they’ve lost their minds to target nobles now… I understand. We’ll handle it from here.”

The guards began checking the fallen men.

“All dead except one! And the remaining one is in critical condition!”

The force used was excessive.

Even for criminals, killing people so recklessly in the Imperial City…

The guard captain glanced at the unusually large man with a troubled expression.

“Did you do this, sir? Even for criminals, murder is a serious offense. You’ll need to come with me…”

At that moment, Lisa shouted:

“Guard Captain, just a moment!!”

Then she began whispering something to the guard captain.

After finishing his conversation with Lisa, the guard captain approached Valt again and said:

“Sigh… I’ll let it go this time, but please be more careful in the future. Even if you are a prince… you shouldn’t kill criminals so recklessly…”

The influence of Lisa’s Valentin family. The influence of Valt being Kwan’s son.

The guard captain, recognizing this was beyond his authority, decided to conclude it was an internal conflict within criminal organizations.

“I apologize. I’ll be more careful. But the poor security here also played a part.”

The guard captain looked troubled.

“About that… I have no excuse. I wish you a peaceful stay in the Imperial City.”

It was a predictable response.

Earth was the same.

Korea was a country with good security, so such situations were rare, but in nearby China, Southeast Asia, and as far as South America.

Areas abandoned by public authority were more common than one might think.

Places like slums.

It wasn’t that they had completely abandoned security, but rather they didn’t want to get involved.

They probably judged it better to contain such elements in one area and prevent them from spreading.

If the guards patrolling this area had encountered Floor 3 experts like just now who wanted to kill them all, it would be the guards who would needlessly lose their lives.

The Imperial City guards had their own hardships.

Valt, recalling something, asked the guard captain:

“Do you know an organization called Devrick Venom?”

The guard startled at those words.

“What?! Those men were from Venom?!”

“That’s what they said. Why?”

The guard captain sighed and began to explain to Valt, who had nodded.