NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4
Avatar (3)
I gained another new skill.
This time, it seemed to be a sub-skill related to the unique skill.
And when I checked the information, I realized that finally the ability I wanted had appeared.
The avatar was almost like another version of my body.
Having two bodies had its perks, but it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows.
The fact that my living expenses would double was just a small problem.
‘It’s deadly to have to accept the senses and emotions of the avatar without any filtration.’
Ignoring the sensations of the avatar while it was in a dormant state was only possible in situations with minimal external stimuli; it wasn’t an absolute ability.
‘For instance… death.’
Or if I received a fatal injury, there was no way to ignore the violent emotions and sensations.
Of course, since the avatar could return in times of danger, maybe it would be okay.
I was trusting that alone when I was about to send the avatar to another world.
‘But crises can appear unexpectedly at any time. One moment of negligence could lead to death, and I might receive a life-threatening injury in a situation I never anticipated.’
Even if I wasn’t directly harmed, witnessing someone in front of me suddenly dying would place a heavy psychological burden on my fragile psyche compared to an ordinary modern person.
In that aspect, the skill I had gained this time was quite useful.
Using the hub, I could filter and choose all stimuli and emotions from the avatar.
In other words, it meant overcoming dimensional motion sickness, as well as immunity to all mental pollution, including death.
I could control the avatar like a game, going anywhere and doing anything.
“And all from the comfort of my warm, cozy corner!”
《The potential of the avatar has increased. Growth accelerates further.》
As if it wasn’t done there, another line appeared.
It meant that an additional bonus correction was given to the growth of the avatar.
‘Wait, the avatar was supposed to have the same conditions as the original me, so if it turns out like this…’
Doesn’t it mean it will be better and more talented than the original me?
‘Well, since the avatar will be doing all the dangerous stuff anyway, it’s good if it gets stronger. It’s good, but…’
I made a sour face at the nagging feelings creeping in.
Saying my true self had become less than my clone?
‘No! I’m the brain, so it’s fine. A commander doesn’t need to be stronger than subordinates. That’s resolved for now, let’s check how much karma remains.’
『Unique Skill Enhancement (500,000)』
『Current Karma – 900,213』
That much karma had dropped to less than half.
Given the increasing trend of consumed karma, this enhancement would likely be the last.
I knew it was greedy, but I couldn’t help but feel a tinge of regret as I smacked my lips.
After a moment’s thought, I finally chose 『Unique Skill Enhancement』.
Definitely more efficient than increasing other stats, so I didn’t hesitate.
『Unique Skill Enhancement (600,000)』
『Current Karma – 400,213』
《The unique skill has grown and blossoms potential. Every avatar acquires one random skill.》
The final enhancement didn’t let me down either.
Skill awakening for the avatar.
Although it was basically a situation devoid of combat capabilities, it was like rain in a drought.
‘Of course, it won’t be as good as the unique skill given at the first awakening, but right now, any small skill is quite precious.’
And that wasn’t all.
I had become three!
We looked at each other alternately.
After several enhancements, not only had my multitasking improved, but my mental capacity had grown steadily, and with the help of the “Mind Hub,” I felt no confusion whatsoever.
‘But since the number of avatars will keep increasing, I might get confused later on. I need a way to distinguish them…’
In simple terms, it was about naming them.
“I can’t just keep calling them Avatar 1, Avatar 2 forever.”
“I’m not very good at naming.”
“Names… names, huh…”
After a while of struggling with my clones, I finally sighed and shook my head.
Even though I had three brains, the sense was the same, so it didn’t help much with naming.
“Hmm… let’s go with ‘Hans.’ Simple to call and not a bad sound. Right?”
I pointed at the first summoning of the avatar and named it with what popped into my head.
The unexpected thing happened right after.
Zing—
“Hmm? What’s suddenly…”
A faint resonance brushed through my mind.
No pain or discomfort, but I instinctively felt something had changed.
< Entity Information >
-Entity Name: Hans
-Common Traits: 「Mind Hub」, 「Super Recovery」
-Entity Trait: 「Mana Affinity」
-Special Notes: Seong-hyun Han’s first avatar.
“…I didn’t see this coming.”
As the 「Avatar」 skill grew, ‘Hans’ information was imprinted in my mind.
If it evolved by 1 when I used karma, this growth might just barely be a 0.1.
Compared to using the karma shop, it was a very negligible amount.
‘This would generally be the way to grow abilities, right?’
The growth of abilities happens in the direction the user desires.
It seemed that giving a name to the avatar had triggered this condition.
‘But the avatar has obtained a status window that I don’t have.’
Without the unique skill to see information, there’s no separate status window displayed.
This info window must have emerged as a result of the avatar’s growth to manage a creature belonging to me more easily.
‘Seeing it represented like that makes me feel like I should have come up with something cooler. I need to think a lot harder about the next one’s name. But “Mana Affinity,” huh…’
A skill that helps feel and handle mana better.
Useful for growth, but it means I couldn’t expect immediate combat power.
Even the second avatar’s skill was “Sturdiness,” which increased physical durability.
“Feels a bit like drawing a dud… Oh well, now I have one last thing to do…”
There was a must-do task.
I had to check it for sure.
*
Hoo… Hoo…*
Holding a garbage bag in one hand, I was taking deep breaths at the front door.
Going out to throw away just one garbage bag had been a struggle.
I had to scurry around looking at the ground during the early hours of the morning when no one was watching.
Then, with my trembling body and nearly collapsing steps, I’d barely make it out, and after I got back, I’d be suffering with cold sweats for a while.
It was now time to test the 「Mind Hub」.
The ability, which I had checked many times, told me there shouldn’t be any problems, but going outside in broad daylight made me nervous.
‘Alright, let’s really go!’
I inhaled deeply and gripped the handle, flinging the door wide open.
The moment I stepped outside, my body, which had been trembling instinctively, slowly settled down.
Breathing in the outdoor air, I passed through the hallway and down the stairs.
The overwhelming urge to flee that tormented me every time had vanished.
Walking calmly under the sun, I headed towards the garbage collection point to do some recycling.
After finishing with the recycling, I scanned the surroundings.
Cigarette butts on the ground and the chatter of ladies across the street, the sounds of children playing in the distant playground.
Closing my eyes and taking a deep breath, the smell of garbage pricked my nostrils.
“Hey, student, what are you doing here? Don’t block the road, move aside to let me throw away the trash.”
“Ah, I’m sorry.”
I awkwardly nodded my head, slowly walking back home while glancing around again.
I felt overwhelmed with emotion at the scenery around my house, which I hadn’t seen for a long time.
And I watched it as if I were enjoying a movie inside the house.
The outside was undoubtedly myself.
Moving my body, thinking, and speaking were all things I did myself.
But there was none of the usual fear, and my body wasn’t trembling, nor was I sweating profusely.
Casual conversation was also possible.
All the emotions of fear and confusion were filtered through the avatar, so no stimulus had any effect on me.
Beep beep— clank
With the sound of the front door opening, Hans came in, casually washed his hands in the bathroom, and approached me.
The test was complete.
The 「Mind Hub」 had fully met my expectations, and now I felt I could do anything.
‘Now I should also be able to go to the other world.’
And as I grew accustomed to being outside like this, one day, I would be able to step out into the world, in my own body.
*
I spent several days preparing before heading to the other world.
As dangerous as it was, the rewards were plenty, and with my body’s safety guaranteed, there was no reason not to go.
Setting aside my personal desire to travel to another world, I could grow much faster as well.
Not only were there benefits from time differences, but also the additional growth corrections given to the awakened ones in that other world.
Thinking about the acceleration bonus from having the avatars I had, I could become much stronger at a faster rate.
‘In this chaotic society we live in, strength is everything.’
I forcibly suppressed the memories of ‘that day’ and clenched my trembling hands.
…I never wanted to feel the despair of powerlessness again.
So, while preparing for the other world, I could truly appreciate the value of 「Super Recovery」.
Even when I overdid it, a short break allowed for perfect recovery, maximizing that effect, so I kept pushing myself without resting.
It was a bit frustrating that the effects of the training applied only to that individual and did not influence the main body.
But since they were almost separate bodies from the moment they were created, it was an unavoidable issue.
‘Well, as long as it’s just the avatar going to the other world, I suppose it doesn’t matter. The growth acceleration applies, and it seems like the status boost effect from the karma shop is shared when the avatares are re-summoned.’
Since I couldn’t go out myself, the avatars could, so I managed to exercise even more effectively.
To avoid unnecessary attention due to my extraordinary recovery, I used the gym in a deserted complex, pushing my body hard and when I started feeling noticed, I’d dash out and run far to build up my stamina.
The pain from intense training could be filtered through the 「Mind Hub」, making even strenuous exercise feel like merely tedious repetition.
Of course, the main body was at home playing around on the internet, so it wasn’t really boring.
There was some anxiety about sending out two avatars with the same face at once, so I focused my intense training on the one scheduled to go to the other world, Hans, while doing home training and leisure with the other avatars.
“Wow-! Cleared the stage boss already!”
“Good job, let’s keep going!”
Just like that, while we were enjoying a fantastic tag-team performance, the front door opened and a sweaty Hans came in and headed for the bathroom.
Seeing the one who had returned from extreme training made me feel a bit weird, as though they were doing something wrong.
‘It feels a bit off, but it’s not right to feel sorry for the arm I’m training by leaving my body behind.’
Before Hans came out of the shower, I set the table for dinner.
It might seem trivial, but the expenses were getting out of hand.
Three grown men were working out more than average people, and one was pushing his body nearly to the extreme, so the calories consumed were beyond imagination.
Thinking about the breaking expenses almost brought tears to my eyes, but I decided to think of it as an investment.
Once the avatar brings useful items from that world, it would definitely pay off.
‘If I secretly sell them, I can figure it out later. The current avatars are optimized for crime anyway.’
Of course, I had no intention of harming the innocent to make money.
After all, I was someone who had suffered from such people myself.
I would act in a way that wouldn’t be ashamed before my family, while keeping a moral line.
‘That’s why I need to go to the other world even more.’
Compared to other returnees, I wasn’t that strong, so ways to earn money on Earth were scarce.
The only thing that came to mind was manual labor.
“By the way, there’s nothing coming up about the ‘Auterica Dimension.’”
“Is that the place I first traveled to? Or maybe no one has come back yet. Anyway, that’s a shame.”
Without noticing, I had gotten into the habit of organizing my thoughts as if conversing with the avatars.
During that time, I had lacked conversational partners…
I would improve gradually as I started interacting with others from now on.
And a while later.
I conducted a final check of the heavily armed avatar, just like I did when I first went there.
It wasn’t equipment I had used before, but recent acquisitions.
Since I couldn’t send the gear my parents prepared for me into a world where I didn’t know what might happen.
They had been prepared for unforeseen emergencies but probably wouldn’t be used in the future.
Hoo… it feels like I’m nearly done.
In reality, I could go back and forth anytime, so there was no need to check so thoroughly, but I did several checks to ease my tension.
Though I knew it was safe, I couldn’t help but feel tense at the thought of going to another world.
“Alright then, shall we really go? Summon the 「Dimensional Teleportation Circle」.”
And before my eyes, the teleportation circle I had seen a while ago reappeared.
*
《Transmission to the Auterica Dimension is complete.》
The process was simple.
Summon the dimensional teleportation circle, stand on it with the avatar, and activate.
It was so simple that the previous tension felt utterly absurd.
Once the transmission was complete, I opened my eyes to see the scenery of the forest I had seen before.
Well, strictly speaking, it was different from then.
The tall trees were familiar, but the surroundings were not clear.
“It’s night…”
I found myself alone in the middle of a nighttime forest.
Having around ten times the time’s flow difference was an unavoidable issue, but it was difficult to not feel regret.
I had deliberately come back to match the time I was originally transmitted, but during that time, there must have been some discrepancies.
Surviving in a night forest right from the start wasn’t great, especially when I didn’t feel confident even in a bright forest.
I hesitated for a moment but decided to move forward.
‘Generally speaking, carelessly moving around in a nighttime forest isn’t a good choice, but…’
The hesitation lingered briefly before I stepped forward without worry.
Maybe it was the confidence in my enhanced physical abilities and the 「Super Recovery」, but the biggest factor was probably my lack of crisis awareness.
The dimensional motion sickness I had worried about seemed fine thanks to the 「Mind Hub」, and I found myself treating this risky nighttime hike as an exciting adventure.
With a light heart, while getting lost in the romance of my other world adventure, I looked up at the night sky.
What caught my eyes first weren’t the stars but the glowing yellow eyes of a fierce beast.