I definitely took the essence of Manticore with the idea of erasing it one day. When I purchased the essence this time, I contemplated whether to erase this or Golem's Corpse.
«Um, Amelia... If I remove this, my mana resistance drops and makes me vulnerable to things like magic...»
At first, I was reluctant to let my only movement ability, Jump, go away, but that wasn't the real problem. It was an absence of resistance to mana. Until I provided the essence of Bellarios, my tank capacity would be greatly affected.
But I can't erase the Water Storm.
Waterstorm was a huge rank 3 essence. I would have to delete it someday, but that time would come at least after the Burrow Island event. It would be possible to overcome that with this essence. My second central essence after Gigantization appeared there.
Ugh, so what do I do?
My worries deepened. Instead of giving up an essence, giving up a costume seemed like an option to me. It was clear that there were some suspicious factors about the palace's movements, but it might not prove to be a big deal to clear up the accusation on my behalf.
I'm sure they won't kill me to keep me quiet.
«Ah, I didn't say this because I'm sure you know it, but if you are proven not to be an evil spirit, the palace won't like this», Amelia said.
«Mmm?»
«Why do you seem confused? That would be like leaving a stain on the integrity of the palace since they recognized the rumor».
Ugh... now I have to think.
I asked Erwen and Amelia for their opinion because it was difficult to make a decision. «What do you think I should do?»
First, Erwen suggested that he take the essence. «I... think it would be best to stay hidden as much as possible».
«Your reason?»
«...Just a feeling.»
So, an intuition. When I turned to Amelia, she also told me her thoughts.
«I agree with Tersia».
«Your reason?»
«Not that there's much to gain by clearing your name right now».
Of course. I don't have to erase my essence.
Just as she was about to say this, Amelia continued: «It's been two years. You're not thinking that your former clanmates will be back right away, are you?»
Erwen agreed with this. «I don't know about Miss Ainar, but it will definitely be difficult for Arua Raven to return even if she finds out about your return. After all, she belongs to the royal army».
As expected, Mr. Bear would be in a similar situation. Since joining a clan, it would be difficult to leave. He didn't even have any information about Missha other than the fact that she was now Baekho's teammate.
They are not wrong in that sense.
There I stopped the conversation and repeatedly measured the pros and cons of both options. It didn't take as long as I thought.
According to information from the Round Table, the palace would soon impose a conscription order on the nobles.
Most would send mercenaries they had been hiding, but coming from an explorer environment, they would have no choice. I would have to join the war immediately and follow the instructions of my superiors.
I soon made a decision. «I...will erase my essence.»
My jump key...
Now that my future course of action had been decided, it was time to move on to the next matter. What essence should I take? Something I realized when talking about this was that these two had one thing in common.
«I think the essence of the imp would be good. It's small, but it also comes with mana resistance».
«But that's a rank 7 essence, so it's actually harder to find on the exchange. The Dwarf Eater essence is better. It increases bone density like Miss Ainar's, so it will look good on you too».
«And do you have money to buy a rank 4 essence? I think Rank 5 Altsmoror is better».
«Ah, Altsmoror? That doesn't work. It has a fatal side effect», Erwen said.
«Side effect?» Erwen looked at me before whispering to Amelia. I couldn't hear what he said, but Amelia looked at me afterwards and ended that option with: «That might be possible».
Why are they so interested in my essential situation?
I chuckled and stopped their conversation. «Stop. I have already decided something.» Among the essences that could reduce my body size, I chose three candidates based on which ones had better stats and abilities. «Erwen, find out how much money you can borrow from the bank with the house as collateral tomorrow. Amelia, go to the exchange and see if the essence I mentioned is there».
«Well.»
«So let's eat. I'm starving».
Ending the conversation there, the three of us shared the dinner Erwen brought.
«... Will you stay here from today?»
«There seem to be many empty rooms. Is that a problem?»
«I would prefer you to distinguish between personal life and business».
«Ugh, guys, enough. I'm tired, let's go to sleep. Amelia, you can use any of the free rooms there».
There was a small incident when Amelia returned home with all her things instead of staying at her lodging, but it didn't become a major problem. Thus ended that strangely difficult day.
«Lord! See you later!»
Starting the next day, Erwen and Amelia each left to do their part, and I spent my days living an isolated life in this dark house. Simply put, it meant he was still sleeping. Fortunately, the fair amount of collateral loan came out in three days and I was able to use that money to recover the Demon Crusher that the bank had as collateral.
«...Heh, do you like it that much?»
Of course. This is my number one treasure as of now.
[You have used Kraul Demon Crusher No. 87. Your overall item level has increased by +4,800.]
Anyway, the good news didn't end there. Just in time, the essence he was looking for was for sale on the exchange. Well, it was my second choice, not my first, but the ranking was not a significant difference. Anyway, it wasn't an essence he would use for a long time.
The price is also correct.
I used almost all the money I had left over after recovering the Demon Crusher by purchasing the essence. Erwen already placed the custom-made shield order that she would use in the maze, and the rest of the equipment would be made cheap with level 1 materials, so I judged that there wouldn't be much expense in the future...
...Ah, I guess there's one thing left. Please don't let anyone recognize me.
Once the essence was purchased, I visited the temple the next day. It was the Church of Tovera, one of the three religions. I was nervous about going to Reatlas since I had been so many times.
«If we go in together, we will stand out more».
«Go ahead, sir...»
«Don't attract attention», Amelia said.
This was a small temple where 90% of the visitors were ordinary people, unlike the large temple which had good accessibility. Still, I was quite worried about revealing my face to erase the essence.
Fortunately, the old priest in charge of the expulsion did not recognize me. «Haha, you were born with an excellent build for a human being. You would have achieved great things if you had been a gentleman».
[The Manticore Essence that seeped into your soul was eliminated. Some skills gained through the passive Inheritance skill are permanently acquired.]
The essence removal that worried me so much ended successfully. I paid exactly double what I paid before and rushed home. Then I opened the cap on the test tube I had purchased in advance.
[The Essence of Gachabone has filtered into your soul.]
The default stats that came with the essence of the rank 6 monster, Gachabone, were simple.
[The Sixth Sense has increased +40. Physical endurance has increased +15. Darkness resistance increased +30. Accuracy has increased +45.]
They were ambiguous statistics for a specific class.
[Bone density has increased +110.]
The bone density statistic would give me a human physique. Finally, a penalty was added here.
[Luck has decreased -50. Control has decreased -30.]
Luck increased the likelihood of random factors such as critical hits. Control compensated for the prevention of state anomalies such as the psychological magic of Fear. However, now that it had gone down, it would have the opposite effect.
«Oh.»
«Wow...»
When the essence finished absorbing, the two people gave strange reactions. To be honest, I was the one who felt the strangest. Our eye levels weren't that different now. Amelia was about five feet six, I think? So I shrank to about six feet? As I wondered this, Erwen looked away.
«... Do I look so strange?»
«N-no. That is not all...»
«So what?»
«I think... it will be faster for you to see it yourself...» Then Erwen pointed to the mirror and I moved towards him, holding my baggy pants in my hand.
There was no longer any strong barbarian warrior there, just a beautifully tall human man. «... This is me?»
Then I could see why Ainar was so depressed. He seemed so weak, like something was going to break if I was hit with a hammer.
This essence... Should I erase it?
That's how scary my reflection was in the mirror. No wonder Erwen looked away when she saw me.
«Um... Sir, what's wrong? His shoulders suddenly fell...»
Since I was feeling depressed, Erwen asked why and I answered honestly. How could it turn out like this? Not even Erwen could look at me properly.
«E-eh? I-you're wrong! That's not why I was looking away!»
«Hey? Are you saying it's not because you were holding back laughter at my pathetic appearance?»
«No! Why would I do that?!»
«So why did you do that?»
When I asked him, Erwen answered quietly, in an embarrassed voice: «W-because you're handsome...»
«What?»
Geez, his taste is so typical.
So the reason he became obsessed with me while I was a barbarian was not because he saw me as a man, but because he thought of me as his protector? To get a sample, I asked Amelia. «Do you think so too?»
«Well...» Amelia stared at my face before smiling and turning her head. «Well, it's good that my neck doesn't hurt when I look at you anymore».
Surprisingly, no one thought negatively about my current appearance. Had he been too influenced by a barbaric mentality?
On second thought, I think I'm considered handsome by modern beauty standards.
Of course, regardless of that, he had no desire to maintain this appearance. Gigantization was relative to your basic physique. A small body like this would not be efficient.
«Anyway, I'm going to check my special ability. Can you help me?»
I couldn't stay discouraged by my shrunken body forever, so I decided to do what I had to do. Among them, the first thing was to practice my skills.
Since I can't go out into the garden in broad daylight, I should do it in the living room.
«Yes, I will help you, sir. What should I do?»
«Oh, just hit me. Using a spirit or your special ability».
«... Sorry?»
Uh... Doesn't this child know the passive of this essence?
That seemed to be the case, so I briefly explained the Probabilistic Retaliation passive ability to him. When taking damage using resources, the damage was ignored and reflected with a certain probability. Whether magic, divine power, or spirits, this passive ability applied to anything that used a resource. To be honest, the reason I chose this essence was largely because of this ability. Of course, it would be difficult to compensate for the reduction in mana resistance with this alone, but this essence was the only one that had this kind of performance at this price. My first choice was also this essence in a different color.
Anyway, the probability was around 10%...
For reference, this was a figure based on my reduced Luck statistic. The Luck statistic I had by default would cause some margin of error, but it wouldn't be huge.
«Um... then I'll go.» Once I finished explaining, Erwen summoned her spirits and started attacking me.
[You have received cold damage.]
[You have received cold damage.]
[You have received cold damage.]
«Erwen, change the attribute.»
«Good!»
[You have taken fire damage.]
[You have taken fire damage.]
[You have taken fire damage.]
That?
«W-wait! Amelia, try it».
«If you want. Now, your height is correct».
[You have been hit with Asura's kick.]
[You have been hit with Asura's kick.]
[You have been hit with Asura's kick.]
What is this? No, what is it really?
«Aghh! P-stop!»
Why doesn't this work?