I Gave Up Being Stronger

“You can’t just use a tainted artifact. It must be purified first. Otherwise, it will taint the wearer,” Katrina said.

“What happens if you get tainted?” Cha Jin-Hyeok wondered if he could salvage any usable footage from this artifact.

“The effects can vary. Your body might start to rot, or you might go insane. An innocent person could become a murderer, and a decent child might commit atrocities against their parents. One thing is for certain, though—you will change for the worse.” Katrina muttered with a serious expression, “If something were to happen and scar that face…. Just the thought of it is horrible.”

Jin-Hyeok was too busy wondering whether his views would skyrocket if he got tainted to hear Katrina’s mutterings.

“How do we purify this, Katrina? Can you do it?” Jin-Hyeok asked

“If it were only slightly tainted, I could have done something… but this is beyond my level. With so much contamination, we need to find an expert in purification.”

“Do you know any?”

“I know plenty of experts. The problem is finding one who can purify an artifact like this without damaging it…” Only few Players could do that. “I think someone like the head of the Feyler Family, Garcia, can do it.”

***

The next day, Jin-Hyeok headed straight to the Arvis Server. As an honorary citizen of Arvis, he could freely move about within the Server. He went directly to the Feyler Family’s residence.

Katrina had warned him that the Feyler Family’s estate was incredibly difficult to ascend.

The Feyler Family was located at the northern edge of Helen Empire, atop the Snowstorm Mountain Range. The only way up was a steep staircase, and a fierce blizzard blew on the staircase, making it hard to see clearly.

As Jin-Hyeok pushed through the snowstorm and stood in front of the stairs, he saw a worn-out wooden sign.

[Suffering shall purify the mind.]

“If you have an invitation, you can go up those stairs. At least then, you have to endure only the blizzard as you climb. But without an invitation, you can’t even use the stairs. That means you have to either fly or climb the mountain, which is really difficult because of the numerous overlapping barriers,” Katrina had said.

The numerous overlapping barriers had left only one path, on which they Feyler Family had installed the stairs. Ascending by any other means was said to be nearly impossible.

“There are some artificial barriers, but most of them are formed naturally… The barriers there are almost like natural disasters.”

Using Broadcaster’s Insight, Jin-Hyeok saw that the entire mountain range was under the influence of an enormous barrier. The staircase definitely seemed like the path to take if he wanted to survive, but the stairs were incredibly steep. They would be difficult to climb unless he was a professional mountain climber.

Even Lessefim was dumbfounded. “Should I try requesting an invitation from the Feyler Family?”

“...”

Seeing Jin-Hyeok’s lack of response, Lessefim felt slightly relieved. He finally seemed like an ordinary person.

‘Even Chul-Soo shows a human side in the face of nature’s might,’ Lessefim thought.

“If I ask for an invitation, they will probably send one. It will just take some time,” she said.

“I guess it can’t be helped.”

“Huh? What can’t be helped.”

“I checked to see if suffering content is a hot topic on Eltube.”

Contrary to Lessefim’s expectation, Jin-Hyeok had not succumbed to the forces of nature. He had merely been pondering whether the content of him struggling up the stairs through the blizzard would get good viewership.

“It doesn’t seem to be particularly popular,” Jin-Hyeok said. In that case, there was no need to waste time and effort. “It will be better to fly there on the Thunder Dragon.”

“What?” Lessefim could not believe her ears. ‘He wants to fly through those whirling magical forces and blizzards on the Thunder Dragon?’

Lessefim thought that even with the Thunder Dragon’s power, it was too much to try to fly through those barriers. As his Navigator, she tried to dissuade him. “I will request an invitation. A week should be more than enough. Let’s get the invitation and go up the stairs.”

“No.”

That meant he would have to take a week-long break from the main content. To an Eltuber, that was tantamount to a death sentence. The virtues of an Eltuber were regular uploads and diligence.

“I will try to reduce the time as much as I can. Give me three days!” Lessefim said.

At this moment, Mole Woman, who had been working tirelessly to make Lessefim her new rival, came running from a distance. Lessefim found this incredibly annoying.

‘How did she even get here when she’s not an Arvis citizen?!’ Lessefim thought.

“I will guide you, moly!” Mole Woman shouted.

Lessefim grabbed Jin-Hyeok’s wrist and pulled him. “What are you doing? Hurry up and summon the Thunder Dragon.”

***

Garcia, the head of the Feyler Family, opened his eyes wide. White flames rose in the center of the conference room, and the form of a Thunder Dragon appeared amidst them. Although the mountain range was so full of nature’s energy that it would not be strange for any creature to appear here, a Thunder Dragon was quite unexpected.

‘That’s not a natural Thunder Dragon!’ Garcia thought.

Atop the Thunder Dragon’s head sat Kim Chul-Soo and Lessefim. Garcia shook his head in disbelief.

“Lessefim? How could she attempt something so reckless.” If she had just asked for an invitation, he would have sent one.

Garcia’s closest aide, the leopard Beastkin Gerdok, scowled.

“Shall I send an invitation now?” In his view, this was too reckless an attempt. “I think they are going to turn back soon anyway.”

No matter how powerful a Thunder Dragon was, it couldn’t traverse the mountain range and reach this place.

“Gerdok, do you think they can pass through the mountain range?” Garcia asked.

“I believe it’s impossible.”

“Why?”

“If Chul-Soo were a great Mage skilled in manipulating blizzards and cold magic, maybe. But isn’t Chul-Soo a Swordsman?”

When Garcia silently stared at Gerdok, Gerdok realized his mistake.

“Ahem. I mean, an Eltuber? This is still an impossible feat,” Gerdok said. Then, his eyes widened. ‘Wait, the barriers are breaking!’

He could understand if one barrier broke. However, the barriers kept breaking one by one. Chul-Soo was approaching them at a terrifying speed, like a runaway train with broken breaks.

***

Jin-Hyeok could not help but marvel at this sight. ‘So, this is the power of items.’

Until now, he had relied more on his abilities, but now he was greatly benefiting from items. He was reaping the full effects of the Unleashing Liquid that Song Ha-Young had obtained for him.

The Unleashing Liquid contained the power to twist or damage the flow of mana, whether it was naturally or artificially formed. The liquid was very expensive and could be produced only by renowned Alchemists. Incidentally, Ha-Young had become a VVIP at famous workshops in Arvis.

“I guess this is why item power is so important,” Jin-Hyeok told the viewers.

Moreover, this Unleashing Liquid had excellent synergy with Jin-Hyeok.

-Yes, so good. So delicious!

Born from the Rule Breaker, Miri was fundamentally a weapon of destruction. So, absorbing the Unleashing Liquid to break barriers was an extremely easy task for Miri. Jin-Hyeok could also utilize the Unleashing Technique.

Lessefim’s guidance was quite excellent as well.

“Twelve degrees to port!”

Boom!

Jin-Hyeok swung Miri. For parts that Miri could not handle, he threw entire vials of Unleashing Liquid to weaken the barriers before adding the Unleashing Technique.

‘That was close!’ Jin-Hyeok thought.

He barely destroyed one barrier. However, he could not break through all the barriers. The barriers of this Snowstorm Mountain Range were not so easy.

Boom!

Sometimes, they just had to ram through the barrier. The Thunder Dragon gritted its teeth.

[“No matter how great you are, I can’t keep doing this!”]

“But I blocked it well with my Absolute Barrier.”

[“That does not mean I can’t feel the pain.”]

“Same here.” Jin-Hyeok was also sweating profusely. There was a reason why no one could fly through the mountain range. “But…”

Whoosh!

A tremendous blizzard swept through. It was a fierce storm that made it impossible to see even an inch ahead or hear the person right next to him. The Thunder Dragon was instantly blown back dozens of meters.

“This is great! I did not know it would be this intense!”

Amidst it all, the Thunder Dragon could hear Jin-Hyeok’s faint, but very excited voice. The Thunder Dragon felt the urge to spew lightning and destroy everything around it. This biting blizzard and the numerous currents of magic were shaking the Thunder Dragon’s body and mind.

Anger toward its master surged inside the dragon, but for now, it decided to focus on flying. This was a place where even a Thunder Dragon could be instantly caught in the currents and suffer a terrible fate.

***

After much difficulty, Jin-Hyeok finally arrived at the main gate of the Feyler Family. Befitting a family of the Helen Empire, the Feyler residence took the form of a temple. While a tremendous snowstorm raged outside, a warm sun shone down here instead. On either side of the massive temple stood statues of women holding jars, with sparkling water flowing from the jars.

Jin-Hyeok dismounted and caught his breath. “Pant… pant…”

It was the greatest crisis he had faced in recent times. But this also meant he had succeeded in creating suspense for his livestream. The number of real-time viewers surpassed 2.2 billion, a remarkable feat. Breaking through the barriers was indeed the right choice.

“I didn’t think that brutish method would work, Chul-Soo.” Someone approached Jin-Hyeok and placed a hand on his head. For a moment, a white light seemed to flash, and Jin-Hyeok’s breathing quickly returned to normal.

“Garcia?” Jin-Hyeok said.

“Yes. I’m Garcia Feyler, the head of the Feyler Family. Nice to meet you, Kim Chul-Soo.”

Jin-Hyeok was delighted. He had not expected the head of the Feyler Family to personally welcome him.

“I know well why you have come here,” Garcia said.

“Then this should be eas—”

“But I cannot accept your request.”

“Why not?”

“Strictly speaking, you are an intruder to our family. You recklessly entered someone else’s territory and destroyed barriers without an invitation. It’s only because your identity is clear and you are a citizen of Arvis that we have not taken forceful action, but your visit was excessively rude.”

Garcia felt something was a bit odd. He had dealt with countless people and was the leader of the massive Feyler Family. He prided himself on his discerning eye.

‘Why does he look pleased?’ Garcia thought.

Jin-Hyeok was quite excited. ‘A narrative is forming!’

If Garcia had suddenly appeared and said, ‘O great saint, I shall purify the Ancient Rock Giant’s Priestly Robe for you!’ it would have given Jin-Hyeok a headache instead. If he obtained what he wanted too easily after all the trouble he went to get here, it would have been anticlimactic. Reactions like this were necessary to create an interesting video.

‘Garcia must know a thing or two about livestreaming,’ Jin-Hyeok thought. He had not expected this level of cooperation.

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