Episode 785

Upgrade 3

There is no stat increase at Stage 8 of the Immortal Imprint.

Instead, a different effect is added.

「The soul dwelling within the physical body is strengthened.」

「When the character casts [Wild Burst], it deals damage to all undead types.」

[The unique effect [Unity] gains an additional effect, Bonded Weapon.]

From now on, [Wild Burst] would deal additional damage specifically to the undead, and [Unity] gains an additional option.

‘Bonded Weapon’ strengthens the weapon in proportion to how long it has been equipped. To build up stacks, I had to defeat at least one monster each day with that weapon.

Unquipping the weapon didn’t reset the stacks, but switching to a different weapon meant starting the stacking process from zero again.

Reaching full stacks with the weapon takes a thousand days.

Although it would take around three years to max out, my odds were solid. In Dungeon and Stone, shields counted as weapons, and since I already had Kraul’s Demon Grinder and the Wall of Aegis, I wouldn’t need to re-stack them later.

Simply put, as long as I started building stacks steadily from now on, I would eventually hit full stacks—

‘The problem is that the Labyrinth is currently closed…’

Since the condition is killing one monster per day, there is currently no way to build stacks.

Well, even if the labyrinth opens, it won’t be easy.

‘Even if I explore for 100 days at a time, that’s only ten times…’

It’s definitely not an easy condition.

I’d only ever completed one hundred-day expedition, and it was on the first underground floor.

‘But what if I kill monsters outside the city walls? Would that count?’

I had that thought, but there was no way to confirm it right now, so I chose to leave it for later.

“Whew…”

I turned my head to see the shaman exhaling a long breath. He had worked so hard that beads of sweat were rolling down his cheeks.

“It is finished, Chief. How is it? Do you like the newly acquired power?”

“Yeah.”

The Stage 8 imprint process took longer than any of the previous stages, stretching over three full days.

The shaman said it was only natural for a high-level imprint like this to take time, but from my perspective…

‘It didn’t take this long in the game, though.’
If you ask me, it seems like a skill issue.
Even so, the imprint itself appeared to have been upgraded without any issues.

“By the way… Chief, there’s something you need to know.”

Just as I was growing weary of sitting idle and was about to step out of the stuffy tent, the shaman called out to me.

Trying to ignore an inexplicable sense of unease, I looked at him.

And then…

“I can’t perform Stage 9 imprints with my power…”

As expected, he dropped a shocking statement.

“You can’t do it with your power? You are a shaman, aren’t you?”

“That is… I haven’t fully learned up to the 9th stage from my master yet.”

“You haven’t learned it?”

“It’s not that I haven’t le-learned it… I just lack confidence. From the 9th stage, the engraving is carved deep into the soul, so it is much, much more difficult!”

It was a sudden piece of bad news, and the situation was more serious than it seemed.

“I roughly know how to do it, so if I had to, I could try… but if it fails, you would have to risk your life as well, Chief…”

If Stage 9 is already like this, then Stage 10 is essentially impossible.

On a small scale, it might just end with me not receiving the engraving, but on a larger scale, this was a crisis for the Barbarian race.

The abilities tied to spirit imprints—so vital to our people—could vanish from history forever. And as the chief of our tribe, it was not something I could overlook.

“Is there no way?”

“Well… it’s not that there isn’t one……………….”

“What? There is?”

An unexpectedly positive answer came right away.

Lately, I’d only encountered problems with no solutions, so this felt unfamiliar.

“Then tell me.”

“Get to the point.”

“…We need to restore my master’s health.”

“My master, the previous shaman, can perform even the highest-tier engravings without difficulty. In fact, it was my master who performed the engravings for the previous Chief.”

“If I can learn just a bit more from him, I will be able to perform the subsequent highest-tier engravings on my own!”

Hmm… I understood what he was trying to say. It would also benefit me if one of the tribe’s two shamans recovered. But was that even realistically possible?

“How do you plan to restore his health? I thought the priest said last time that he couldn’t be cured.”

“That is true, but I recently found a way.”

“Then tell me that way quickly. Don’t beat around the bush like a human.”

“It’s… because it might be a difficult task for you, Chief.”

“Ah, just say it already!”

I snapped, letting a trace of irritation seep into my voice to drive the point home.

The young shaman hesitated, then carefully spoke.

“…We need a dragon’s heart.”

…I’d have been better off not hearing it.

***

In a way, this was a type of quest.

If I had to categorize it, it would be a ‘Race’ quest, and the content would probably look something like this:

[Racial Quest]
Objective: Heal the former shaman
Condition: Dragon’s Heart
Reward: Unlock Stage 9+ Spirit Imprints
Failure Penalty: The former shaman dies, and the Barbarian tribe permanently loses the ability to perform high-level spirit imprints

The quest was simple. Bring a dragon’s heart to get the reward; fail to do so and suffer the penalty. However, the problem was…

‘A dragon’s heart…’

The difficulty of the quest was just too high.

While there were plenty of cases where people sold the hearts of dragon-like creatures, such as drakes, and passed them off as dragon hearts, this quest specifically required the heart of a true dragon.

First of all, true dragons began appearing on the ninth floor, and even if I gathered my entire clan, we still wouldn’t have the strength to take one down.

Maybe after a long time…

‘…And we’d need to apply distortion magic too.’

Given the success rate of distortion magic, this was a task that could only be completed if we were strong enough to defeat not just one, but several dragons safely and consistently.

But there’s one real issue:

‘Will the former shaman even last that long?’

Most likely, he won’t.

‘I found myself wondering why the answer had come so easily, but it turns out this is more hopeless than anything else.’

The only possible way to complete the quest was to receive a dragon’s heart from someone else…

‘…The royal family might have one.’

But there’s no way they’d hand over something that valuable for free.

“Sigh…”

It almost felt better for my mental health to just give up on the tribe’s future altogether.

‘Let’s think about this later. He might not last long, but he won’t die immediately either.’

For now, I decided to hold onto the quest and focus on more immediate matters.

As I always say, everything has its priorities.

And the most urgent matter right now was—

“Jandel, a letter has arrived from the royal family.”

“…Hmm.”

“What does it say?”

“The date for the ennoblement ceremony has been set.”

Strictly speaking, it wasn’t just an ennoblement ceremony. It included my promotion, the inauguration of Duke Kealunus as the new Chancellor, and a collective succession ceremony for those who had inherited their houses. It was like a mass graduation, with everyone gathered in one place.

It felt almost like a school function. Why were they cramming so many events together at once?

I didn’t know the details, but it felt like Astarota, the king’s representative, had played a significant role in organizing this.

That guy hated hassle.

“Ohhh! So Bjorn’s going to be a count now? Count Yandel… that actually sounds pretty cool!”

“…Not count. Viscount.”

“…Huh? What’s that?”

“…Sigh.”

I didn’t bother explaining the noble hierarchy to Aynar. There was no way she’d remember it anyway.

“Huh? Bjorn? Where are you going?”

“To sleep. Because I’m hungry.”

The ceremony was a week from today.

Since there was plenty of time left, I chose to take it easy and focus on administrative work instead.

I met with Sabin Emure, who was in charge of the Barbarian tribe’s administration, and checked her mental state while discussing official matters.

On the surface, she seemed to have recovered quite a bit.

She looked concerned and wanted to see Ragna, the one person she could call a friend, but I chose not to tell her about Ragna’s situation.

Telling her that Ragna was royalty and was currently detained in the royal palace would only cause her more stress.

“These are sweets from a bakery in Karnon. Eat them while you work.”

“Ah… thank you.”

With that, I wrapped up our conversation by giving her a few thoughtful gifts I had picked out for her.

After that, I sat down with Amelia to go over our team compositions.

After all, the war had left gaps in our power, and new members had joined to fill those gaps.

“Surprising. To think Alluva Raven would leave the military and join us…”

“Hmm? Shouldn’t Erwin’s uncle be more surprising than Raven?”

“Not particularly. He is just an ordinary middle-aged man.”

“……Huh?”

Amelia seemed more focused on Raven’s return than on Beleg. Well, given the prophecy about betrayal, that made sense.

“Even so, our numbers haven’t changed, so we can continue operating in two teams.”

“Right. We’ll also need to fill the deputy commander position.”

“Vice Captain…”

“You don’t want it? If you lead the second team, it would be reassuring.”

“No.”

Tsk, why does she hate the Vice-Captain’s position so much?

‘In terms of personality and experience, Raven is perfect… but it also feels off to suddenly give that position to someone who just rejoined…!’

I fell into thought.

How should I divide the teams, and how should I assign the members?

It might not seem like an urgent matter, but I had to resolve it ahead of time while I had the chance.

Given the current state of affairs, it wouldn’t be long before the Labyrinth opened.

Then—

“Chief! A human has arrived at the gate asking to meet you!”

At that moment, one of the tribal warriors posted at the gate rushed over, calling out as he approached.

“Someone came to meet me? Who is it?”

I asked about the visitor’s identity first.

That’s just how the world works, isn’t it?

If you’ve built up a certain level of reputation, even showing up unannounced gives you a chance to be granted an audience.

In this situation, if it had been some nameless explorer, they would’ve been treated like a suspicious person and kicked out the moment they reached the gate.

In other words, the person who came looking for me must have at least some standing—

“Ilya Adnus! The Master of the Explorers’ Guild!”

…An interesting guest had arrived.

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