From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 101: The Return Home

Utgard-Loki.

Lee Jun-Kyeong had thought of the dead king of the giants during the entire journey to Beijing.

Although their meeting had been short, his presence had been impressive due to his horrific actions.

It had left an impression on him. Of course, there was another reason as well.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> is laughing.]

He had also left an impression due to the response of <The Sky of the Apocalypse>.

Either way.

‘As a person who used humans as experiments to build an army…’

The giant had been Lee Jun-Kyeong’s least favorite kind of genius. He had tried to merge the giant’s Gladr with the internal qigong of the Chinese Hunters. In the process, he had lost giants to a plague and abandoned them to die.

Then, as an explanation for the plague, he had turned the Humans into scapegoats and slaughtered them…

He had been an extraordinary type of garbage.

However, a question still remained.

‘How did he get control?’

Thjazi had taken control of Utgard and investigated all of the giants that could use magic among those that had survived in the royal palace.

No, he had actually investigated everyone in the place. In fact, the entire Utgardian tribe had been investigated.

However, nothing came of it.

‘We really don’t know…’

It turned out that the figures in the royal palace had nothing to do with the insane giants that had been created by the king.

They weren’t lying either.

The interrogation of the giants wasn’t something that anyone could endure and not say anything.

Those being interrogated couldn’t lie, and it had turned out that the king had created the insane giants by himself without anyone’s aid.

‘He had somehow gained control of them on his own as well.’

The insane giants.

Just as their names hinted, the king had somehow found a way to manipulate the giants that were as close to insanity as a being could be.

‘The king’s Galdr.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong had inferred that the special Galdr that the king had exuded in his battle with Thrymr must have been the secret to his control. However, not a single giant had a clue about that particular power of the king.

The king had studied internal qigong on his own, created the insane giants, and had even created a special type of Galdr in order to take control of them.

It didn’t make any sense.

‘Although the king had been an incredible warrior, he definitely wasn’t someone who had that sort of ability or genius.’

Lee Jun-Kyeong had even confirmed it through Thjazi and Thrymr’s testimonies.

But, if that was the case, then it meant that there was a third party.

There was someone or something that had to have intervened in the nightmare of Utgard.

However, no matter how hard Lee Jun-Kyeong tried, he wasn’t able to figure out who had been the one to intervene or how that person may have done it.

That was why Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that everything pointed to that being.

‘The Black Shroud.’

It was a black shroud that would leave an uncomfortable feeling in its wake.

Furthermore, there was also the Demon King.

The Demon King had popped up in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s mind.

Although he had known that the Demon King had begun training in the mana stream after visiting China, it wasn’t until he had gotten here that he had learned that the mana stream had been influenced by the internal qigong of the Chinese Hunters and the Galdr of the giants.

And, if that really was the case…

‘If I follow along the Demon King’s steps…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong knew that he would eventually come across all the various principles of the mana stream, and that meant that he would be able to use them to strengthen his mana stream.

He had found a new path for his growth.

His leveling rate had slowed down. While this path may not solve all of his issues, it was still a way for him to quickly become even stronger.

‘If it’s the Demon King…’

This was a way for him to catch up to him.

However, it wasn’t all good news.

Why didn’t the Demon King write down what had happened within the city of the giants? Also, there was also Gigantomachia.

If it was the Thjazi and Thrymr of now, or even Liu Bei and his party, or the Chinese Hunters that had begun reconstruction within Beijing, Lee Jun-Kyeong didn’t think that they would choose to march toward the veil and cause destruction on their own.

Gigantomachia.

There had to have been something behind it.

Lee Jun-Kyeong thought that the reason could have been the same as before. He believed that the Black Shroud might have also been the cause.

However, there was also the chance that the Demon King could have been the one to have made the wrong choice as well.

The Demon King had been a powerful man and a man of purpose.

He would have been more active within the city of the giants than Lee Jun-Kyeong had been, and it was clear that his activities would either have directly or indirectly affected the giants and the Chinese Hunters.

If the Demon King had made the wrong choice…

‘If he had been the one to start Gigantomachia…’

The Demon King hadn’t appeared during Gigantomachia, and the war could have been a disgrace that had been caused by his choices.

Lee Jun-Kyeong could also see a world where the Demon King had just not informed anyone about this.

However, all this line of thinking amounted to was a hypothesis.

In truth, this was something he knew nothing about.

Lee Jun-Kyeong laughed.

Regardless of the past, he would change the present.

Although the Demon King hadn’t been able to do it, he had succeeded.

Wasn’t that the most important thing at this moment?

“Mr. Lee!"

Jeong In-Chang, whom he hadn’t been able to speak with these days, waved at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“Again! There’s another festival!”

Now that he took a moment to pay attention, he could see that there were people who were roughly getting ready and beginning to cook over a large file.

It was a festival. The end seemed to always end with a festival.

"I'm on my way."

Lee Jun-Kyeong got up from his seat and headed over to the group.

***

"Wow!"

The people were excited about having their own festival for the first time. Laughter constantly rang about, and the food was abundant due to the monsters they had hunted here and there. This was in addition to the corpses of the monsters they had hunted when they had crossed the river.

“Of course! This is what it means to be alive!”

“Although it’s been hard… isn’t life always hard anyway?”

“Let’s be thankful for surviving through it!”

The thrum of people rang out, and the giants also enjoyed the festival, eating prey from afar.

“Mr. Lee.” Jeong In-Chang called out, "Isn't it beautiful that every end is a festival?"

This festival was also due to the great results that had happened because of their actions.

Jeong In-Chang looked over at the flames, his pupils trembling as if he was extremely moved.

“If that’s the case…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong got up. After all, he was someone who could be called the main character of the festival.

As he stood up, the people around him cheered and shouted.

"Are you dancing or something?"

"Sing! Sing!"

Lee Jun-Kyeong smiled at them.

With a slight thump, he stepped forth on the snow-covered ground toward the biggest bonfire in the center of the area.

“It looks like he’s going to show us something!” someone said as the people cheered even more.

“…”

The Hunters among the crowd shut up.

Anyone who had mana could feel it. Lee Jun-Kyeong was emitting an incredible amount of mana.

"Let's put on a finale for the festival," Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he circulated his strength even further.

His enhanced mana stream, increased level, the expanded sea of mana, all of the mana he had absorbed in the formation and the explosive mana that was compressed using Galdr was all beginning to circulate within Lee Jun-Kyeong’s body.

[Your mana is reaching a boiling point.]

He heard a warning notification, a notification that he heard every time he used Galdr.

Lee Jun-Kyeong raised his hand with a smile. All of the mana in his whole body was pumping its way to one point, flocking to his fingertips.

As if that wasn’t enough, Lee Jun-Kyeong also held Muspel’s Spear in one hand, his mana resonating with the Dragon’s Bloodstone.

As such, the people stood, their mouths hanging open.

“...”

Shing!

A sun rose again in the sky.

Shine!

The earth, which was covered in ice, began to melt away little by little.

Smirk.

As Lee Jun-Kyeong stood basking in the light of the sun he had created, he smiled.

[Your mana has condensed to create a core!]

An unexpected notification rang in his ears.

[Due to the influence of the dragon’s blood…]

[A weak dragon heat has been created.]

It was an unbelievable side effect and an achievement just as incredulous as the notification had sounded.

***

Liu Bei asked, "Are you leaving now?”

Lee Jun-Kyeong responded, “Yes. I’ll finish a few things today, and then we will set out.”

Liu Bei's face darkened.

Lee Jun-Kyeong consoled the Hunter with an honest expression, "We will meet another day."

Lee Jun-Kyeong said his farewells to Liu Bei after a while and walked through the village.

He thought about Beijing, and the Chinese residents that had settled within its borders.

The residents were working briskly and busily, and to his surprise, while the area wasn’t warm, it had still been transformed into a human-inhabitable climate.

“How nice.”

Because the land had melted a little, it had turned into an environment where crops could be grown.

“Hey! He-who-raises-the-sun! Have you arrived?”

All of this had been thanks to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“What sort of jokes are you playing?" Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

“It’s not a joke, haha. It’s true! You’re the one who went, “tada!” and raised the sun!” Jeong In-Chang said playfully.

Lee Jun-Kyeong shook his head.

As the Hunter had said, Lee Jun-Kyeong had forcefully raised the sun again.

Unlike the power that he had lucked out in being able to use in the battle with the king, it had been created this time by even including Galdr.

“It’s even melting the earth…”

Lee Jun-Kyeong interrupted, “What are you doing?”

Furthermore, the sun that he had raised had even melted the earth, giving it life.

“Later on, I’ll write about it in my autobiography, or… Well, you never know, right? As there are many people who are curious about you, Mr. Lee, if I ever have the chance to do an interview, I’ll definitely have to talk about this.”

“...”

“I’m preparing ahead of time.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong massaged the bridge of his nose as he shook his head.

“We have some stuff we have to handle soon, so get ready,” he informed Jeong In-Chang.

“Are we really leaving today?”

Jeong In-Chang, having heard Lee Jun-Kyeong’s instructions, looked a little stiff.

“Don’t worry. We are going to look for some things so that we can make sure they can maintain their warmth even after we leave.”

‘Jeong In-Chang really does have a lot of affection in him.’ Lee Jun-Kyeong thought to himself. ‘Is that what the Jeong in his name…’

Lee Jun-Kyeong swallowed down his lame joke and walked out. As he had said, they would be leaving this place today.

However, that meant that the warmth that had been maintained using his power would disappear. In order to avoid that, Lee Jun-Kyeong had been busy touring the settlement for a few days.

“Hmm..."

Lee Jun-Kyeong stopped outside the settlement and looked around.

“That seems appropriate.”

He was looking at some rebar and concrete that was sticking out of the rubble of a building. Lee Jun-Kyeong easily lifted it up and inserted it in a place outside of the settlement.

Shhhhh.

Then, he injected mana into the rebar.

‘I should thank Park Jae-Hyun.’

He was using the mana infusion that he had mastered by watching over the blacksmith’s shoulder while they were in the workshop. It had been incredibly helpful in China.

Gradually, the inserted rebar was infused with heat, and this heat would spread throughout the earth and heat the settlement.

‘This is the last.’

He had even considered how the settlement would expand in the future and had built dozens of rebar in this method.

Now that he had finished providing them with heat, Lee Jun-Kyeong held up Merlin’s necklace and spoke aloud.

"Protection."

Now, even though he had removed his hand, the heat didn’t dissipate, having been installed with a protective spell left to contain it.

As long as someone didn’t destroy the rebar on purpose, then the current heat would remain within the structure.

“Looks like I’m done,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he looked around.

Now, all of the work that had to be done in China had been completed. It had only been a short time, but there had been an incredible amount of things that had occurred while they were in China.

Above all.

Clench.

Lee Jun-Kyeong grabbed the air in front of him.

There had been many things he had gained.

Especially when it came to growth, while he couldn’t say that his leveling had been significant, he had grown a lot beyond that.

The first thing was the growth of his mana stream, which had become stronger through the addition of internal qigong and Galdr.

‘Whew… I still can't believe it.’

The second had been the dragon heart, created by the power he had gained in the repeated crises.

Whether it was a Hunter or even those who weren’t Hunters, it was something that was coveted by everyone and admired. It had an enormous amount of mana and was used to produce top-level mana equipment due to its incredible efficiency even when making use of that enormous mana. That was what had been created inside Lee Jun-Kyeong’s body.

Even though he was a human, Lee Jun-Kyeong had obtained a dragon heart.

‘I didn’t even try to use the Dragon’s Bloodstone, but to think that it would produce a dragon heart…’

It wasn’t that there hadn’t ever been a human who had obtained a dragon heart before.

While it was difficult to tell right now, Jeong In-Chang, Siegfried, who had been a powerful Hero in the past, had, according to recorded facts, used a Dragon’s Bloodstone in order to obtain a dragon heart. The Demon King had also done the same to gain one as well.

Its powerful force would further accelerate the growth of a Hero and, through its strength, would create a body that could never die.

‘However, it’s not perfect.’

His dragon heart wasn’t complete yet.

What Lee Jun-Kyeong had now was a pebble chipped off of a great mountain.

Although it would eventually become a mountain if it grew and grew, he didn’t think it would be of much help at this moment.

"Well... It's better than nothing."

Lee Jun-Kyeong left the area while laughing.

Everything had turned out well.

1. Jeong In-Chang’s family name, Jeong, is a homonym with the word for affection or attachment, Jeong.