The Monster of the Northernmost Territory?Wealth and Military Strength of A Country that Begins in Debt Trap? - Chapter 9

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

Once Emilia was handed a sword, she handled it as if it were a limb. Rodney regarded Emilia as a natural prodigy.

When Emilia first handled a wooden sword when she was six years old, she instantly knocked Rodney to the ground. Even then, Rodney was considered to lack talent with a sword, but even so, the difference of two years old at that time should have been quite a significant advantage, and yet he was no match for her at all.

Activating and maintaining the root power was challenging. Emilia, a genius, on the other hand, effortlessly maintained her “Solid Strength.” Rodney reasoned, “This is what a genius looks like.”

Now, thanks to his “Herculean Strength,” Rodney’s instantaneous power was terrific. The activation, however, required some time, and the amount of time it could be sustained was limited. He had to exert efforts since the only way to handle this was via training. For Rodney, hard work was his forte. Although it did not pay off in swordsmanship, he was looking forward to it because the more he used his root power, his proficiency would improve.

After returning from the labyrinth, Rodney had 20 life-glow stones before him.

“Thanks to big brother, there weren’t that many today, were there?”

“Well, I was as surprised as you were.”

There were no combat methods used; it was a power struggle. The Godlis was annihilated and reduced to dust when Rodney swung his spear. The hunt came to an end once the spear shattered as it was unable to withstand the force.

Intermediate root power was such power. Rodney was overjoyed to have gained it.

“By the way, big brother, how do I get ‘Herculean Strength’?” 

“Well, hold on. I’ll teach you now.”

While he had no intention to teach Emilia, he recognized that by exerting such force solely, anybody could have obtained root power. Furthermore, Emilia easily figured out that it was not a lower-grade root power, but an intermediate-grade root power, “Herculean Strength.”

Since she was so insistent about how he obtained “Herculean Strength,” he decided that he would tell her when they returned home.

He told Emilia that when he snapped the life-glow stone in his mouth, he got “Herculean Strength” instead of “Solid Strength.”

As a matter of fact, he also mentioned to her the pain he had experienced. Even though he emphasized that the pain was so intense that it almost knocked him unconscious, Emilia paid no attention to it.

“What’s that? Did you eat the life-glow stone?”

“Technically, I just bit into a life-glow stone.”

“Wow, that’s a turn-off!”

When Emilia said it was a turn-off, Rodney agreed.

Even he had no inclination to carry out such a disgusting action.

“Are you sure your body is fine?”

“I’m fine now. But I was in a lot of pain at the time. It may be a way to strain the body. Maybe I will die next time.”

“I won’t let you obtain root power that way, Master Rodney!”

“No, I will.”

“But!”

“Well, listen to me, Yulin.”

After calming Yulin down, Rodney reminded Emily as well. Rodney would be following in his father Beck’s footsteps if things kept going the way they were. In war, the powerless would be slain mercilessly. Therefore, he told them, even if there was some danger, he will gain the root power.

“I understand your story, but still…”

Yulin bit her lip. Rodney and Emilia took it that she was seriously concerned.

“So you two better not do it. Unlike me, both of you have natural talents and are strong without having to exert yourselves.”

“What are you saying? I can’t let Master Rodney be the only one to do something dangerous. I will eat the life-glow stone first.”

“No, that’s not…”

“This is my will. Even Master Rodney cannot stop me!”

Yulin said and took one of the life-glow stones and threw it into her mouth. She did it with such speed that there was no time for Rodney to stop her.

[[Ah!]]

Yulin’s action was too swift for Rodney to have an opportunity to halt her.

“Argh…”

“Hey, Yulin. Are you okay!?”

“Yulin!”

In front of Rodney and Emilia’s concern, Yulin held her chest and struggled in agony. The fact that she did not writhe was commendable.

“Emilia, water. Bring me some water.”

“Yes!”

Emilia rushed out of the room. Rodney held Yulin’s hand and continued to support her. Perhaps it was because of this that Yurin’s expression softened. Her suffering was shorter than Rodney’s. 

“I’m alright now.”

“Are you sure? Do you feel any pain?”

“The pain is gone. Besides, when fighting with Selvanui, it is possible to get injured. Compared to that, this is nothing.”

“Yulin has been strong. I suffered worse.”

“We train differently every day.”

“I guess so.”

They exchanged laughter. Emilia then entered the room with a glass of water. At the scene where Rodney and Yulin were holding hands and laughing, she awkwardly said, “Oh, sorry,” and exited the room. At that point, they realized they were holding hands and hurriedly released their hands. It was very awkward.

After a while, Emilia came into the room.

“Are you both done?”

“What are you misunderstanding?”

“I mean, the atmosphere between you two was so optimistic.”

Rodney looked at Yulin while thinking, “Seriously, what’s going on with my sister’s brain?”

“So, did you attain any root power?”

“No, I’m afraid it was just a painful experience, but I didn’t gain any root power.”

Rodney wondered if the probability of acquiring the root power was low even if the life-glow stone was crushed in the mouth.

“Well then, it’s my turn!”

“Emilia, are you sure you want to do this? You saw how Yulin suffered.”

“What are you talking about, big brother? Even if there is pain, if I can get intermediate root power, I’m going to do it.”

After seeing that power of Rodney’s, there was no way she would just sit back and ignore it. That was how superior the intermediate-level root power was. Since even that Rodney could kill Godlis in an instant.

Without thinking twice, Emilia inserted the life-glow stone into her mouth. She immediately began to suffer, just like Rodney and Yulin, causing them to worry. When the suffering subsided, she was quite disappointed that she had not gained the root power.

“Well then, I’m next.”

“Are you sure about this? The pain is rather intense.”

Yulin was apprehensive, but he replied that he was the first one to experience that suffering. The blood-boiling anguish surged through his entire body once he put the life-glow stone in his mouth and chewed on it.

Whether Rodney had a sensitivity to pain or some other factor was unclear, but he was in greater anguish than Yulin and Emilia. The two could do nothing except watch in bewilderment as Rodney struggled and breathed heavily.

When the pain subsided, Rodney experienced the sensation of having gained root power. This time, the root power was “Robustness”. This “Robustness” was also an intermediate-level root power, not the kind of root power one would normally obtain from Godlis’ life-glow stone. And at the moment he obtained the second root power from Godlis’ life-glow stone, Emilia said to his brother.

“Why is it happening to you all the time, brother! I want intermediate root power too!”

“Well, even if you say so…”

Emilia was quite displeased, but this was something Rodney had no control over. Nevertheless, Emilia was still spoiled, and she bit into the life-glow stone again.

“Hey! What are you doing!?”

Having failed to react to Emilia’s action, Rodney could only rub Emilia’s suffering back. But Emilia was not able to gain the root power this time either.

“Seriously, you are being reckless.”

“I’m so frustrated that you’re the only one.”

“But that doesn’t mean you can be reckless. Okay?”

“Yes.”

But this time, it was somewhat apparent to Rodney that he was likely the only one who could crush the life-glow stone in his mouth and obtain intermediate root power.

He had an idea as to why. Before remembering his past life, he found a book in a locked drawer. When he opened that book, he was enveloped in light and blacked out. The book was gone before he knew it, but that was the only thing he could think of.

“It is possible that I could have obtained intermediate root power twice in a row by coincidence, but I also believe that obtaining root power is not something that can be obtained by a series of coincidences.”

“What are you talking about?”

“In other words, there is a strong possibility that I am the only one who can obtain the intermediate root power from Godlis’ life-glow stone, Emilia.”

“What makes you think that?”

“I have a basis. There is reason to think so, Yulin.”

Rodney informed them about the book after warning them not to discuss it with anyone else. Unexpectedly, they accepted the story without question. When Rodney asked them if they did not consider it to be a lie, they said that there was no need for Rodney to fabricate a falsehood and that they had no reason to believe the story was fake because the unexplained event of attaining intermediate root strength had truly occurred.

Subsequently, after taking some time to calm down, Rodney again threw the life-glow stone into his mouth. At the end of his suffering, Rodney obtained the root power of “Acuteness”. Needless to say, this was the upper and intermediate root power of “Sensitivity.”

“Now I have the higher root power of the three possible root powers from Godlis’ life-glow stone. This is just my hunch, but I don’t think I can get any more intermediate root power from Godlis’ life-glow stone.”

“Yes, that’s right. I also think that you got those three because they are the higher root power of the root power that can be obtained from Godlis’ life-glow stone.”

Yulin concurred, and Emilia was of the same opinion. However, Rodney wanted to check one more piece to be sure and use it as a basis. Yulin disapproved, but he persuaded her that without an experiment, no conclusion could be drawn, and he ate another. Even though the suffering subsided, he did not gain lower-grade root power, let alone intermediate-grade root power.

“Now we know that it is only possible to gain the higher grade of root power that was originally unobtainable.”

He had the expectation of being able to acquire lower-grade root power, so he entertained the possibility. However, it did not come true. Apparently, things did not work out so conveniently.

When a person has both a lower-grade and an intermediate-grade root power from the same lineage, he or she can activate the two at the same time and expect to gain an additional effect. Since he wanted to do that, he snapped all the life-glow stones after that, yet he did not get the lower-grade root power. Of course, this time was snapped by hand.

“But this is reckless. It would have been better to at least allow a little more time for the experiment. Master Rodney, you are quite worn out.”

“It’s true. Mother would be shocked to see you like that, big brother.”

“Do I look that bad?”

“Yes.”

“Yeah.”

Despite the illusion that he was being told his complexion was somewhat poor, he decided to be a little more restrained from now on.

With oral intake, the acquisition rate of the upper root power was 100 percent, so there was no need to overdo it, and he could acquire the root power considerably faster than others.