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Chapter 1.5: part 5 : (5/5): There’s an old man inside me – 5

-Growl…

Thunder rumbled inside his stomach. And not just that, his mouth was as dry as a raisin, and a splitting headache was running rampant inside his skull. It felt like the skin on his body was shriveling up. It terrible sense of hunger that he had never felt while growing up in the orphanage.

“This is… Why is this doing this? Manager, a little explanation… please… “

Kang Shin-Hyuk threw himself in an empty cubicle, then huddled on top of the toilet, muttering like a madman. Fortunately, the manager answered right away.

-This is due to the exhaustion of both stamina and spirit power in a short period of time. There is a need to consume nutritious food full of rich spirit power to recover your stamina and spirit power.

“I-I see… “

-Hero Universe’s trading board sells a large quantity of energy-rich emergency food. The 20,000 HP other world sign-in bonus can be used without worry, so I recommend that you use it to make a purchase.

Again, the Hero Universe. Kang Shin-hyuk, who wanted to avoid the unfamiliar world for the time being, instinctively made a frown.

“I can just eat Earth food, can’t I?”

-Earth’s food of course contains some spirit power, but they only contain a small amount, and they’re also not very pure. You will reach your physical limits before absorbing enough spiritual power. Also, if you eat foods with ample spirit power, your spiritual power will grow faster.

The manager was probably talking about the permanent growth of spirit power. However, there was no time to discuss calmly about the efficiency of such method. He was going crazy with hunger, so it didn’t take long to make his decision.

Kang Shin-hyuk couldn’t die from hunger just to save his HP, which he didn’t even know how to use. So he hurriedly connected to the Hero Universe. No one would’ve expected his decisions yesterday would lead to this situation.

-A recommended item is Item #141,787, Eiren Jelly on the trading board. It has the highest spirit power to nutrient ratio and its pure spirit enables quicker spirit power regeneration, as well as its growth. However, the seller is notified of the buyer’s ID.

“Okay, please just buy it …”

Sooner or later, the Hero Universe had to be challenged again. And if he were to operate there, then he wouldn’t be able to ignore those who had been his friends in his past life.

This wasn’t the time to nitpick over the temperature of the water. After all, this is was the first time in his life where death by starvation was a serious possibility.

-VIP benefits! Commission fees are exempt! 10% discount due to bulk purchase. Would you like to buy 200 Eiren Jellies for 18,000HP?

“Just do it!”

Kang Shin-hyuk could not use the HP originally possessed by Anvil’s ID, but he was able to purchase the goods with the another world bonus obtained from accessing the Hero Universe on Earth. Of course, most of the HP he had gotten had just been blown away!

-Completed the purchase of 200 Eiren Jellies. You will receive one Eiren Jelly directly. The remaining 199 Eiren Jelly were sent to the shop inventory. Shop Inventory is an spatial inventory that allows you to keep items purchased from the Hero Universe’s trading board, and you can take goods out from it whenever you want.

The messages appeared one after another in succession, however, his blurred vision from severe hunger meant that he couldn’t spare the attention to read them. However, the sudden appearance of a small stick-shaped object in his hands made him wake up from surprise.

“Heuk.”

Even unwrapping the packaging was painful. He hastily ripped up the packaging, then took a huge bite of out of the purple jelly that revealed itself.

But as soon as the purple jelly entered his mouth, the fresh aroma of grapes spilled into his mouth, and the pain mysteriously evaporated away. Kang Shin-hyuk widened his eyes to the limit as he returned to the land of the living. He could see a faint plume of smoke rising from the cross-section of the mysterious jelly.

“This, what…”

-Eiren Jelly is a great emergency food that contains an abundance of compressed spirit and nutrients. Not only does it contain all the calories you need per day, but also completely refills your spirit power and stores the excess amount in your body for later use. In addition, the taste is excellent.

“Whoa, crazy. Thanks for the recommendation!”

-10HP bonus for a wonderful member who never forgets to express his gratitude even in a hurry!

Kang Shin-hyuk originally didn’t like jelly very much. But this was an exception. He felt as if he was biting into a freshly-picked plum.

He then devoured the remaining amount in a flash and savoured the aftertaste. He was still not as full as his well-trained body required more energy than the average person, but at least his hunger was completely sated.

The crisis of his life was over. He sincerely thought so.

“The Hero Universe really is amazing…”

-Of course. If you also actively push your synchronisation, you can acquire top-tier items incomparable to this jelly. A more direct approach can be taken once you unlock your My Room function as well.

It was only one jelly, but it contained an absurd miracle within its small form. A single portion could replenish an enormous amount of calories, restore spirit power, and also be very filling. If there had been a mana version of this, the entire world would’ve been turned upside down.

“By the way······.”

Kang Shin-hyuk, finally relaxing after the crisis, looked through the logs and realised that he had purchased 200 Eiren Jellies instead of one. Thanks to that, 10% discount was applied, but …

“Why did you recommend mass purchases?”

-Of course. Your current spirit power is very small. In the future, you’ll be in a similar situation whenever you use your spiritual power, so it’s essential to have lots of Eiren Jelly at hand.

“Kng.”

He couldn’t refute that reasoning. This didn’t mean that he wouldn’t use this power in the future, but rather, if he were to train intensely with spirit power, then Eiren Jelly was “essential” in the words of the manager.

-Furthermore, as I mentioned earlier, the more you consume quality food, the faster your spirit power can grow. By the time you’ve consumed all 200 jellies, you’ll be able to gain a D rank’s power without any difficulty

“D rank…!”

He didn’t know exactly how powerful D rank spirit power was. This was because in the 1st Grade Knights Department, there weren’t many who had reached D rank in mana. It was a rank which even a top institute like Shinyoung couldn’t dismiss easily.

And just as he experienced before, Kang Shin-hyuk had instantly overpowered Do-Woo-jin, who possessed a C+ rank mana, with his pitiful F+ rank spirit power. He couldn’t even begin to imagine how powerful he would become if his spirit power was raised to D rank.

-Only.

But the moment Kang Shin-hyuk was about to burst into excited fanfare, the manager emphasised another point with an overly bright message.

-Continuous exhaustion of spirit power will have a negative effect on your growth. Your current weak body will be in danger after more than 10 spirit power exhaustions per day. And there should also be an ample gap between them.

‘Then you’re telling me to eat these jellies over the course of 20 days.’

-You will reach a point where just one jelly won’t be enough to fully replenish your spirit. I estimate that it’ll take around a fortnight for you to consume all the jellies.

The excited Kang Shin-hyuk calmed down at the manager’s words after realising that the growth rate of spirit power would slow down the higher its rank was. But after thinking about it calmly, the fact that he could grow his spirit power to D rank in 2 weeks was still plenty amazing.

‘It’s an opportunity. No rushing, let’s take it nice and slow. ‘

It took some time to completely calm down. However, when he imagined sharpening the blade of the Godslayer Sword, his mind wondrously started to calm down little by little. His budding blacksmithing skills were supporting his adolescent mind little by little.

-Excellent. You’ve completely calmed down.

“Thank you.”

-Now are you ready to talk to your friends in the Hero Universe?

“······. “

That’s right. He had fully consolidated his abilities, planned his growth, and made up his mind to explore the Hero Universe more.

Then the next step would be, of course, a response to his past friends who were beautifully ignored yesterday. However, Anvil’s friendslist that the manager had so kindly brought over was so large that his will deflated at the sight of it. Frankly, he was afraid.

-First of all, it would be better to send a reply to the friends who contacted you yesterday.

“Yes, that would be better, right…?”

Halo, Eun Ah, Janus, Tsukuyo, Mirang, Super Ultra Galactic Fist, and so on. It looked like a spy was possibly mixed among them, but it was definite that that they were his past friends.

“Especially, this person named Eun Ah ······ Um, I think she had a deep relationship with my past life.”

-Probably.

The manager casually affirmed. Also, in the 100+ messages he recceived yeasterday in that short time, more than half were from Eun Ah. Moreover, she had also appeared in Anvil’s memories.

“Once they find out that I’m not Anvil …they would be very disappointed.”

-You are right. It was just a reincarnation.

“But… it’s still different…”

-Yes.

The manager answered honestly.

-If we judged based on the feelings communicated with Eun Ah-nim, it wouldn’t be exactly the same.

“Exactly.”

-Nevertheless, you are Anvil. Surely Eunah-nim will be very happy. Moreover······.

“Moreover?”

-…I think it’s better to realise this for yourself.

It was only a day since he met him, but the manager who always coolly answered his questions evaded the answer. Kang Shin-hyuk was worried about the manager’s words, but he believed he would find out soon as he was about to talk to Eunah anyway.

“Please release… the message function…”

-Unblocking messages.

Was it because he had blocked all message for the day, an overflow of notifications like yesterday didn’t happen this time.

But if he would just repeat yesterday’s incidents if he dilly dallied here. Kang Shin-hyuk firmly prepared himself and wrote a messager to send to the person named Eun Ah.

-Anvil: This is Anvil. It may sound very outlandish, but I was reborn in another world. The memories of my past life aren’t complete, so I only have hazy memories of you. I’m really sorry.

Even for him, it looked like such a cheap message, but he couldn’t think of a good message in a short amount of time. He could imagine the manager’s pitiful gaze towards him, but he still tightly shut his eyes and sent the message anyway.

The reply came quickly.

-Eun Ah: Grandpa!

-Anvil: So I’m not grandpa. The person you know is my past life. I’m now a 17-year-old man, and I only acquired my past life’s memories after connecting to the Hero Universe.

-Eun Ah: Then you’ll completely remember one day!?

-Anvil: That’s······.

Instead of writing a reply, he checked with the manager, who affirmed without hesitation. Kang Shin-hyuk replied again.

-Anvil: Yes, but I don’t know how long it will take. What’s more, even if I recover all my memories, I’m still a different person from my past life..

-Eunah: The soul is the same, right? You’re getting your memories back, right? Then you’re grandpa!

-Anvil: Excuse-no, that’s not what I mean-

-Eunah: Grandpa! Grandpa! Grandpa! Grandpa!Grandpa! I missed you! I missed you so much!

Kang Shin-Hyuk fearfully raised his head.

“Hey, I think this person is a bit…”

-I agree. 10HP bonus will be given to you who are in the same mind as your manager.

The manager, who he thought would defend Eunah, surprising agreed with him and gave him 10 HP.

Kang Shin-hyuk wanted to block the messages from Eun Ah at that point, but at the same time, he couldn’t ignore someone who regarded his past self as someone so important in their life.

And more than anything, if this crazy girl was also a member of the Hero Universe, it meant that she wielded an ability comparable to his spirit power. He couldn’t treat her lightly. He replied carefully.f

-Anvil: I’m very sorry anyway. My memory is still very messy and unclear, so I don’t know how to talk with Eun Ah-nim. Can you understand what I mean?

-Eun Ah: I understand! Then when will you call me Eun Ah again?

I don’t think she understands what I mean… Kang Shin-hyuk pondered for a long time on how to answer her, but eventually decided to reply.

-Anvil: Can we start as friends first?

On that day, Kang Shin-hyuk missed the entire afternoon classes greeting his past friends of Hero Universe while squatting on a toilet.

It was the moment when the inexperienced veteran returned to the Hero Universe.

Author’s Notes:

The Shop Inventory cannot store anything that wasn’t bought from the Shop. I’m telling you in advance in case someone is curious.

This is the end of the first chapter! From the , we’ll explore more about his friends in the Hero Universe, the properties of spirit power, alchemy etc. So the ’s themes will be meeting and growth.

From tomorrow onwards, I’ll see you at 9:20pm!