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Chapter 105 – Spreading the Word (Part 1)

My performance up to the 6th exam was the following.

First, the main skill spirit summons was intermediate level 1.

Not only HAD I raised Sylph and Kasa into intermediate spirits but I was able to take the power of nature into my own body.

What strengthens my body, the physical strength buff, was intermediate level 5, and for an examinee that hasn"t learned aura control, that was the highest IT could be raised to. This level is considered to be pretty strong as well, being the limit of an elf"s physique.

The teleport skill is intermediate level 1 and there was no cool time and could be used consecutively up to 10 times a day.

Regarding the special skill known as the skill synthesis, I had made many skills but there were four in particular that were of special significance.

Divine Protection of the Wind; intermediate level 1.

Reflex; superior level 1.

Flame of life; intermediate level 4.

And the skill I was able to raise from the fight earlier, the ammo compensation; intermediate level 4.

Other than that, the entry level 4 s.p.a.ce bag was also a very useful skill.

"Are these really the skills of a 6th turn examinee?"

Having sifted through the list of all my skills, Cha Ji-hye was shocked.

"Yes, I was very lucky, and I did try pretty hard."

"Even if you did try very hard, these skills in a 6th turn examinee…… this level is about that of a veteran past the 20th turn exam."

It"s because I consecutively got the highest scores and it was also due to the face that I invested $100,000,000 USD to get 5,000 karma.

On top of that, with the many years I spent with the elves I was able to improve my spirit summons and reflexes.

All those things combined gave me my current capabilities.

"And your skill, the skill synthesis, is very impressive. When you told me about it before, you said divine protection of spirits, did you lie?"

"Yes, I"m sorry about that. Telling you the truth and divulging too much about myself seemed a bit dangerous, so."

"That was a smart move."

Cha Ji-hye didn"t seem hurt by that at all and gladly agreed saying I made the right call.

As she looked down the list of skills I wrote on the piece of paper for her, she suddenly asked.

"Is the skill that healed Chairman Cark Jin-seong the flame of life?"

"Yes it is."

I told her about how I spent the 4th, 5th, and 6th exam with the elves.

Consequentially, both in the Arena and in real life, the flame of life played a major role.

"You were on the Brown Mountain. Do you by any chance have the file I gave you before?"

"Of course."

"Then let"s look at the map and discuss."

Amongst the files that Cha Ji-hye had given me on my way out of the research agency, I loaded the Arena map.

We were both in the southernmost area of the continent but I was on the Brown Mountain in the east of it and she was in the tropical swamps in its west.

"When I became an examinee, my goal was to become a teammate with you in Arena."

"A team with me?"

"I thought it would be a big help to both of us if we became a team since you also don"t have any teammates."

"If you were to become my comrade, that of course would be of help to me. But is that possible? The members that are your teammates are a.s.signed to you in the 2nd exam. It"s possible to add members later down the line?"

"There is no absolute rule about it. Ordinarily, one is a.s.signed teams in the 2nd turn but in my case, I have become a 6th turn examinee without any comrades and finished the exams all by myself."

Then again, the gunsmith Neilson was alone from the start as well.

"An exam is given to the examinee with a task based on the level of the place he or she is placed in. An examinee isn"t placed in a location where the conditions are impossible to complete."

"I was under the same impression."

"If you and I are in real life and in the Arena in the same place, what would happen? Then don"t you think it is likely that we would get the same exam?"

"I guess that could happen."

What Cha Ji-hye was saying made sense.

Since Cha Ji-hye and I were in the same boat now, the G.o.ds may look on that and just lump our missions together.

Because the important thing was the ultimate goal of the exams.

If something aids in the completion of that ultimate exam, won"t the G.o.ds allow this convenience to that end?

"Up till now I have done plenty well alone. Because I had the elves. But I don"t know what is ahead so I do need a comrade."

As she was originally from the Korean Arena Research Agency, she has a comprehensive knowledge of the Arena, she is smart, and Cha Ji-hye would be a good comrade to have.

Thanks to Cha Ji-hye, I was able to take down the short Chinese man.

The swordsmanship she showed then was really impressive.

"Okay."

I nodded my head.

"No matter what happens, let"s try to meet up in the Arena. If I became a teammate with you that would be good for me too."

We started talking about the upcoming 7th exam.

For me, in the next exam, there was a high probability that I"ll leave the Brown Mountain.

The elves were gathered and thriving around their three Trees of Life.

They even thwarted the attack from the dark magician.

Now going forward, there was not much of a role left for me to do together with the elves.

Of course, I would like it if the next exam was with the elves.

Because then I can easily clear the missions going forward with a strong elf warrior like Derrick.

But I don"t think such I"ll get such an easy mission like that.

"I am in a similar situation. I have learned to fight from my master for the past 15 years. There is nothing left for me to learn and he told me to leave now, so in the next exam I am planning to leave the tropical swamp."

"It is a problem that we don"t know where we will be heading."

"I think meeting up in the Arena will have to happen after we do the 7th exam"s mission."

"Then for now let"s have clearing our own 7th exams be our goal."

"I think that would be for the best."

Now the only problem left was the threat of the Chinese examinees.

Honestly, this worried me more than the exams.

"I think the first action we need to take is alerting your existence to the world and quickly as possible. I think it would be best to proceed with that through the Nordic examinee group"s Odin."

"Odin?"

"Yes, in the Arena community, Odin is a very powerful examinee with a reputation. If he publicly announces that he is your ally, even the Chinese will have to think twice before coming for you."

As she suggested, I made a call to Odin.

-Mr. Kim Hyun-ho, how have you been?

"Some major events have been happening."

-What"s going on?

"I was attacked by Chinese examinees."

-What? Already?

Odin was completely surprised.

I gave him the specifics of what happened.

-They ultimately did go for you. Anyway, I am glad you are okay. Getting karma before that happened was of help it seems.

"Yes it was. If it wasn"t for you, I would have been in big trouble."

-Don"t mention it. But since you did eliminate two rogue examinees, did you get their karma?

"Yes, I have to invest in my skills and get stronger as quickly as I can."

-It was lucky that you got two rogue examinees. The fact that you will be stronger because of that will have crossed the Chinese"s minds so they"ll think twice about doing it again.

"That is what worries me even more. They have so much interest in me that an examinee called Lee Chang-wee personally came to Korea, do you know him?"

-Lee chang-wee? He"s in Korea?

"I don"t know if he has returned to China now. But not long ago, he was definitely in Korea.

-Hmm, that man is very dangerous.

"Have you met him before?"

-I did cross paths with him once in the Arena. We didn"t fight each other but he looked very strong. I am sure he is an aura expert and, to be honest, I wasn"t confident that if we fought that I would have won.

Odin admitted his inferiority without hesitation.

Lee chang-wee really must be an incredibly strong guy.

-But Lee Chang-wee is drunk with power. He likes to have his minions do all the work. For most things, he won"t involve himself personally.

"But he did send his minions and it failed. Don"t you think he"ll come out himself now? If he sends more rogue examinees and I beat them, then I"ll become stronger because of that and it"ll turn into a bigger problem for him."

-There is that. He might want to verify and check all this out himself. Then what are you planning to do?

"I was pondering the same thing."

-What do you say about coming over here?

"To Denmark?"

-Denmark or whoever, come to the Nordic exam group. China has the most examinees but they take us lightly.

-China tends to take Korea very lightly. In reality, Korea admittedly makes a big effort on its own to comply with China so while you stay in Korea, you will continue to feel threatened.

He was right and it made me quite depressed.

It was the man that is the chief of the Korean Research Agency that sold my information to the Chinese.

"Thank you for the suggestion. That is one solution but I honestly do worry about the safety of my family and so I don"t feel right leaving."

-Tsk, there is that. Well, is there anything else you can think of?

"Well, about that, I called with a request in mind."

-Go ahead.

"Now that things are the way they are, I would like to let myself be known everywhere."

-Your plan is to use your powers as bait to make strong allies.

"Yes."

-The more interest you gather, the more work it all becomes. A talented examinee like you, China isn"t the only greedy nation that wants to kidnap you.

"I am aware and prepared for that. But I am sure that the allies will be worth it."

-If you are sure, okay. I will use my connections and spread the word about you. There was already lots of interest in who it was that healed Chairman Park Jin-seong.

"Thank you."

Like that, I finished the call with Odin.

I have tossed the dice.

I was deep in thought about how to invest my 4,152 karma into my skills.

"Should I raise my spirit summons, or my ammo compensation?"

If I raise the spirit summons, it would be like the following.

Spirit summons intermediate level 2 (-1,700)

Spirit summons intermediate level 3 (-1,900)

Spirit summons intermediate level 4 (-2,100)

So, with 3,600 karma, I can only increase it by two levels to intermediate level 3. I am sure that that will increase the power of the spirit summons a lot but still.

On the other hand if I invest it into ammo compensation, it would look like this.

-Now showing the result of investing all karma into the ammo revision (synthesis skill) skill.

-Ammo compensation (synthesis skill): when using any gun, the power of the bullets is strengthened

*Intermediate level 5: bullet has power to pierce a boulder (-800)

*Master: bullets have power to pierce through steel (-1,500)

-Remaining karma: 4,152

After intermediate level 5 wasn"t superior but instead it went straight to the master level.

If I use 2,300 karma, it pa.s.ses the boulder and gets the power to pierce steel.

On top of that, with the power of the spirit summons wouldn"t the gun be able to pierce an armored car?

After much deliberation, I decided to first master the ammo compensation and then use the remaining karma to raise the spirit summons by 1 level.

Then all I would have left was just be a mere 152 karma.

"I have 150 karma left, is there an item you need?"

I asked Cha Ji-hye.

Honestly, in eliminating the Chinese man who had skin like steel, Cha Ji-hye was a huge help.

Thanks to her I was able to get 4,000 karma, it was only right that I tried to give her something.

"I need clothes."

"Clothes?"

"Yes, I have spent the past 15 years in these clothes I"m wearing now, and a person needs clothes that blend into the environment to move about Arena without suspicion, I need clothes like that."

"One set of clothes for 15 years?"

"When you go through the exam door, damaged materials/clothes return to their original form. Up till now I haven"t needed anything different so I did not spend any karma on it."

But still, a girl living 15 years in the same clothes……

I had to applaud her for her thoroughness.

Anyway, with the remaining karma, I got her tops and bottoms, shoes, gloves, hat, a full set. On top of that I bought her a water bottle too and my karma went down to 0.