Chapter 27

The Mountain of Mush

9th sponsored chapter by Thanh Kim .

Busy, busy . . .

He did graduate 2 years earlier, but there was an issue .

His age was 15 . He became a mercenary at 17 in the city close to Genavis called Behengeru .

He did survive for 3 years in Genavis . There weren't any great prizes to be had in Genavis . It was time to leave .

But was there a reason to go straight to Behengeru?

‘No . ’

He didn’t know what happened in Behengeru for the next two years . Everything that he wanted or missed was 2 years in the future . The things that he never got or wanted were things that occurred when he was a mercenary .

Therefore, he didn’t have any memory of the things happening for the next 2 years .

Pak!

Sungmin’s spear broke an orc’s head . He swiftly stabbed three more times and broke three more heads .

‘First rate…’

The limit that he had never gotten in his past life . He was about there because of the power of Wijihoyun and the potion plus the grace techniques .

But it wasn’t enough .

A half a year ago when he dueled against Wijihoyun, he was in the middle of second rate and first rate .

But he didn’t manage to even hit the clothes of Wijihoyun . She wasn’t old at 13, but she already had the power of a master . The apex rate and the first rate . The difference was like heaven and earth .

‘Because of the fast growth rate of No Classes and martial skeleton, the martial techniques can get stronger quickly . The problem…’

It was Sungmin himself . His [Amethyst Cloud] level was 2 while the High Heavens was level 3 . It was because of the martial skeleton and the fast growth rate of No Classes that he managed to get it this high . He would still be at level 1 struggling if it weren’t for them . ’

He could increase the power of the technique . But it was Sungmin who was using them . The person who was making the decision, the person moving his body, the person deciding on his action, that person was Lee Sungmin .

‘I need time . ’

There was no reason to go straight to Behengeru . Even if he did become a mercenary, the only things that he would be doing is getting requests from guilds and training and earning money .

Instead of that, he needed time to train .

He stopped his footsteps . If he crossed the forest, he would be at Behengeru . He turned his head .

He saw a mountain .

*

“It’s been awhile since such a young person had come here . ’

Mush was a God in Eria that symbolized training and penance . This place, Mountain of Mush, was a place where the servants of Mush lived . It was near Geanvis and Behengeru .

“Is age an issue?”

Sungmin asked . It took him 4 days even he went the closest way . His body which hasn’t been washed in 4 days was dirty and smelly .

“No, age doesn’t matter . Suffering hardships and penance is for everyone . ”

The priest who answered had dead eyes and his cheeks sunken . He smiled at Sungmin .

“Do you know about this mountain?”

“A bit . ”

The trainees were protected by Mush . The trainees can not inflict harm on each other . If they were to, they would be stopped by Mush . That is because the hardships and penance that Mush stands for is only for oneself .

“Would you like to get a penalty?”

The priest asked . Sungmin stared at the priest . In the 4 days on the way here, he thought about what penalties he would take .

“Taste . ”

Sungmin pointed to his mouth .

“Also, I would like to take a penalty on the weight i feel . ”

“I see . ”

The priest nodded . He didn’t use magic or pray . He only moved back a few steps and opened the way to Sungmin .

“We won’t give you anything . You will eat, drink, sleep . . . living is on your own . Young trainee . ”

Sungmin didn’t answer and moved past him .

He had heard about this place before, but never actually been here . There was no reason to .

The Mountain of Mush . Everything was up to the person . He could be wasting time or could even be losing things . Usually, it was the person’s life . Mush didn’t allow others to harm others, and didn’t care about the trainees dying alone .

But there was a reward after suffering . Seeing what penalties the trainee took, the hardships and sufferings would be more intense, and if the person passed it, Mush would give an reward .

Sungmin wanted that . It would be hard to reach the limit with the same method as other who had more talent than him . Therefore, he came here .

As he passed the temple .

[I welcome you . ]

A voice passed through Sungmin’s ear . Sungmin let out a sound without even knowing .

His body was heavy .

It was hard for him to even move a step . Sungmin bit his lips . He had gotten a penalty on his weight . Not only his body, but everything would be heavier to Sungmin .

‘My taste…’

He had no taste in his lips . Sungmin pulled out his pocket . It was heavy . The bread that he pulled… felt like rocks . Sungmin stared at it and opened his mouth .

Bak .

It felt like he was eating stone . No, this was . . . Sungmin wrinkled his face . He didn’t lose his taste . Just everything that he tasted, the taste changed . It felt like he was chewing dirt, and the bread wriggled like a corpse of a bug . The taste became worse and worse as he chewed .

“Ugkkk!”

Sungmin couldn’t swallow the bread . He thought that he had been pretty masterful at eating terrible food, but this wasn’t something that he could eat in his normal mind . Sungmin spit out his bread and retched a few times .

“HCk . . . Huhh…!”

After a while, Sungmin pulled out the water bottle from his pocket quickly . As he tried to pour the water inside his mouth to clean the taste away .

“Ckdf!”

It wasn’t just the food . The water… changed . It felt like dirty water . Sungmin bit his teeth . Taste and Weight . He didn’t think it wouldn’t be that hard . If he had to choose which one would be harder, he would have chosen the weight .

No .

The strongest penalty that he had gotten was the lack of taste .

He wanted to give up .

Was there a reason to continue . If he could have gone to Behengeru, he would have been a D rank mercenary . If he did a few request, he would be a C rank, and his growth would continue . Therefore, he would be expected to become a first rate soon .

If he became a first rate, then he could become a B rank . That would be better than his previous life . The opportunity that he missed before? What was that . He had already surpassed his previous self, and gotten the first step to a better life .

Not too much greed… just live . With the flow . Goal? Living happily . Isn’t that good enough? He could get money by mercenary work . He wouldn’t have to do the hard work if it seemed to dangerous . Then he would get a nice girl and marry, have kids, then live long .

Isn’t that a great life . That’s normal, but having a normal life as a No Class in this world was hard . Yes… he could live like that and be happy .

He didn’t need to have any greed .

He could just leave .

Go to Behengeru . There was no reason to suffer . The food that he would eat would be hell . His body would be heavy and he wouldn’t be able to use his martial arts . Even if he lived like that, he didn’t know what Mush would give him . He could waste his time here . He could kill himself being depressed about his lack of talent .

Let’s give up .

When he thought about that .

Sungmin thought about Wijihoyun .

His first teacher, and only friend . The promise that he made to meet in 10 years .

Sungmin pulled out the bread from his pocket . He wrinkled his eyes and pushed the bread inside his mouth . HId body had already remembered the bread’s disgusting taste . His body had already rejected the bread as it came in . His stomach was dying . He chewed the bread . He forced himself, repeatedly, to chew up the wriggling worms that were inside his mouth . HIs taste completely changed . The worms blew up with secretions and the secretions scratched his mouth .

His cheek blew up strongly . He shivered slightly as he poured the water inside his mouth . The water… was hot . As it went inside his mouth, the water turned boiling hot . Sungmin forced himself to drink it up .

“HG! Hg!”

He thought he had suffered a burn . His mouth was bitter and burning . But when he checked, there was no burn marks . It was only in Sungmin’s mind .

“Idiot . . . Mush…”

Even if Sungmin had wanted this penalty, he didn’t know it would be this bad . Sungmin cursed repeatedly at Mush .

[Rude Human . ]

Mush whispered in Sungmin’s ear .

Apparently, this god had really good ears .