From Today, I'm a Player

Chapter 98: Romance of the Three Kingdoms Pt. 8

"There is something I would like you to help with."

Thjazi had kept the promise Thrymr had made and recognized the independence of the humans as Liu Bei had wanted. Thus, he helped protect them and had decided to form an alliance with them.

Knowing the circumstances of desolate giants, Lee Jun-Kyeong could see how big the decision Thjazi had made was. Moving beyond the circumstances, Lee Jun-Kyeong asked, “And what is the request you wanted?”

Having set aside his feelings, Lee Jun-Kyeong spoke confidently.

Liu Bei laughed for a moment at the difference in demeanor and then continued with his request, “It still seems as though it will be difficult to rebuild China.”

“...”

“I will spare no effort for the cause, but in this barren land, it’s clear that the ordinary people, who don’t have the vitality of the giants, will soon get sick and die.”

A look of concern appeared on Liu Bei's face.

"Therefore."

However, that concern quickly turned into something else: hope and passion.

“We’re considering crossing the wall.”

“The wall?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

Liu Bei clarified, "The very wall you came through. It's the best way to get food and resources."

It meant that Liu Bei planned on rebuilding China by going to Korea—no, going to anyone who was willing to help them, regardless of who it was.

“Is there any way you could help with that…?” Liu Bei asked cautiously.

There was nothing he could give to Lee Jun-Kyeong as compensation right now. The only option he had was to speak of righteousness and promises of future rewards.

Anyone worth their weight wouldn’t dirty their hands without some sort of reward.

“You’re right. It is the best way.”

However, contrary to what he had been worried about, Lee Jun-Kyeong readily accepted. However, his expression wasn’t good. It wasn’t because he was worried about the burden.

“But, it most likely wouldn’t be a good choice.”

Liu Bei, and even Won-Hwa, who was off to the side silently listening to the story, looked at the Hunter.

“There will be many changes from this point on.”

"What…"

“You guys don’t have to cross through the wall, and to be honest, it might even be a bad decision to try to break through it,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said.

He looked beyond the fortress with a worried expression.

“It would be better just to stay here if that’s your plan. Completely better.”

“..."

“Stay in this Utgard—no, build fortresses even greater than this one and survive through what’s coming. It may honestly be safer here. For the time being…”

However, he knew things wouldn’t be as easy as he made them sound.

First, there was the biggest problem.

Food.

"Use this for food."

Lee Jun-Kyeong took something out of his inventory and handed it to Liu Bei.

"This…?"

Liu Bei's expression seemed to betray his confusion.

The object he saw in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s hands was something he had never seen before. It looked like some kind of fruit, but at the same time, a stone.

Lee Jun-Kyeong explained, "It’s a type of monster called a purimo."

It was a monster that had a certain probability of appearing in gates that contained goblin-type monsters.

“It’s also a plant.”

“...”

Liu Bei seemed to have grasped what it was to some degree as Lee Jun-Kyeong continued to explain.

“It won’t taste good. However, they are edible and can grow in any environment.”

The single purimo in Lee Jun-Kyeong’s hands wasn’t the only one in his inventory either. There were at least dozens in his possession.

“They will grow quickly as long as you feed them the bones of monsters as nutrients. At least you won’t ever grow hungry,” Lee Jun-Kyeong continued.

“How…”

Liu Bei stood with a shocked expression.

However, the real reason that Lee Jun-Kyeong had brought them wasn’t because of the Chinese. Instead, as he had inferred that the giants would have most likely been experiencing a food shortage, he had brought them on the off chance that there was any possibility for negotiations with them.

“Mr. Jeong has some more as well.”

“Thank you. Thank you so much,” Liu Bei said with sincerity as he bowed his head and expressed his gratitude. However, there was another issue that Lee Jun-Kyeong had wanted to address.

“That shouldn’t be the only issue, though. You should have been able to get by even without this in terms of food, but what were you planning for the cold?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked.

It was said that there was a spell formation of some kind that could be used to avoid the cold to some extent, but for the humans who wanted to leave the walls of the fortress, the ordinary people among them would collapse in no time.

But whether it was the materials to build the walls, the firewood to create warmth or even Hunters who would be able to create protective spell formations–there seemed to be an insufficient number of them.

“For now, the giants have promised to lend their power…” Liu Bei said.

“But you won't be able to borrow their power forever,” Lee Jun-Kyeong interjected.

“I know, but there is still a way. There are a few Hunters who can use magic, so we’ll focus on their growth,” Liu Bei answered.

Although Lee Jun-Kyeong was sure that the Hunter would eventually figure out some sort of plan, he decided to make him an offer.

“Tell me when you’ve settled down. I’ll see what I can do.”

Liu Bei looked like he was about to cry.

“It’s not going to be for free,” Lee Jun-Kyeong quickly said, wanting to avoid feeling like he was in a new-wave drama.

Furthermore, even though he was being serious about wanting to be paid, Liu Bei grabbed Lee Jun-Kyeong’s hands quickly and shook them as if his demands were natural.

“Of course! I will definitely repay this favor!”

With a smile so wide it looked as if it would tear through his face, Liu Bei continued with some indecipherable nonsense, “I will for sure! Even if I have to go around selling straw mats, I’ll definitely repay this favor!”

***

Lee Jun-Kyeong also had something he needed to speak to Won-Hwa about, but the other man was quite busy. The physician was not only aiding in preparations for the humans, but also treating the giants and the Hunters who had been wounded. Thus, their conversation had been postponed until later.

Instead, Lee Jun-Kyeong went to go meet a different person that he had needed to speak with before he left the residential area.

“...”

Unlike the lively atmosphere of Utgard, or the busy clamor of the Chinese human residential area that was prepared to migrate, the place he was in was nothing but dark and gloomy.

The giants in this area quietly stared at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“...”

Lee Jun-Kyeong only received an acknowledging gaze from them as he slightly nodded in greeting. He passed by the entrance and went in a little further.

It was a shabby place barely held together by the hides of the monsters, the white fang.

That being was in this place.

“Thrymr.”

Thrymr had told Thjazi to kill him, and the giant had swung his ax toward him in return. However, Thrymr hadn’t died, and he was the alive giant that was sitting in front of Lee Jun-Kyeong right now.

Thjazi hadn’t struck the final blow.

Thrymr.

‘He survived.’

Although he had been turned into a mess in the battle against Utgard-Loki, he was recovering quickly, as expected from the mightiest warrior among the remaining giants.

"Have you come? Mr. Interesting Person."

Thrymr raised his head and looked at Lee Jun-Kyeong as he struggled to move.

There were holes all over his body, and the flesh rent from his bones had been enough to form a small mountain, so it had been a fluke just for him to be alive.

‘Thjazi…’

The giant had allowed Thrymr to live.

Even though he had a reason, Thrymr still was a giant that had killed his own kin and caused a rebellion.

Now, he sat here, asking Lee Jun-Kyeong a question.

"How is the new chieftain of the giants?"

Thjazi had become the chieftain, so Thrymr asked about how the giant was faring.

Lee Jun-Kyeong responded, "If you're curious, why don't you meet him in person?"

Thrymr laughed.

Utgard-Loki had been the one to quash the rebellion and use his own kin as test subjects, while also being the slaughterer who scapegoated the humans as the cause of the epidemic that had been created during the process of using his own kin as test subjects.

In Utgard, where he had died, Alvaldi’s son, the Blue Frost Giant’s Warguard Leader Thjazi, had ascended to replace him as chieftain.

As for Thrymr…

“What being would like it when his enemy comes searching for him?”

The surviving Thrymr decided to lead the Nars again.

Originally, Thjazi had told him to become the next chieftain–that he would forget any mistakes, so the giant should be the one to lead Utgard and the giants as Thrymr. After all, he had once been a candidate for chieftain and would be an indispensable part of the revival of the giants as the strongest warrior among them.

‘I cannot.’

However, Thrymr had refused adamantly.

‘Regardless of what the reason was for, as someone with the blood of my own kin staining my hands, I can never be the one to lead the giants. If that’s your intention…’

He had stood up and declared his refusal.

‘I will become the eternal enemy of Utgard. Thjazi, you will rise to the chieftain's seat and take control of the giants. Assemble them all to face the enemy named the Nar. In that way, you can stabilize them against a common foe, and you can…revive the frost giant clan.’

Thrymr said his piece and made his return, coming back to the place where Lee Jun-Kyeong now found himself alongside the Nar.

Lee Jun-Kyeong cryptically said, "Yes, the enemy, but also, not the enemy."

Thrymr smiled.

"Thjazi is recovering. Although he isn’t recovering as quickly as you are, he’s still recovering pretty fast,” Lee Jun-Kyeong informed the giant.

“What a relief,” the giant answered.

“How are you by the way?” Lee Jun-Kyeong then asked.

Groan.

Thrymr raised his huge body from a chair made out of monster leather.

He rose to his enormous height.

He, who was also the largest giant, looked down at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“It’s recovered enough to grant your request,” Thrymr answered.

Lee Jun-Kyeong hadn’t come to this place to talk about something trivial.

He had come to the strongest of the giants, the most mature giant, for a reason.

‘Galdr.’

He had come to learn their power.

***

Galdr had been used by a few of the giants in the midst of the great battle. It had been deeply imprinted in Lee Jun-Kyeong's mind as it was a different type of power from the internal qigong.

However, it contained one of the principles of mana stream.

The explosive power that emitted from using Galdr was definitely formed using one of the principles of the mana stream, and it was a principle that the Demon King had called limit breaker.

Limit breaker was a principle that could be used for a short time by exploding forth by circulating stored mana to its very limit.

Galdr was like that principle but strengthened by an incredible amount.

It was completely different from internal qigong, which was one of the other principles of mana stream.

If internal qigong was a technique that created a proper balance of stability and circulation, then Galdr was essentially completely exploding with everything one had.

Its power was enough to fascinate Lee Jun-Kyeong.

"Thank you."

He had asked Thrymr, the strongest giant warrior and master of Galdr, to learn the skill.

“No, thanks to you, I have been able to see that everything has worked out well. You, you are regarded as a benefactor of the Nar—no, of the giants.”

Lee Jun-Kyeong had become a benefactor to the frost giants and to the Nar. As the one who killed Utgard-Loki, the giants called him by nicknames such as the King Killer.

As for Thrymr, he called him something even stranger.

“Loptr-Loki.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Lee Jun-Kyeong asked. Even though he had been sponsored the ability, Jotnar, the ability wasn’t able to interpret the name’s exact meaning.

Thrymr smiled.

“It means the one who slayed Loki in the ancient language of the giants,” he answered.

[<The Sky of the Apocalypse> curls its lips.]

<The Sky of the Apocalypse> seemed to respond whenever even the mention of the name Loki was heard. Lee Jun-Kyeong ignored the notification and moved on.

“Let’s get started.”

He wanted to learn Galdr.

With Won-Hwa’s aid and the advent of unexpected variables, Lee Jun-Kyeong had been granted incredible power. The river of mana that had been channeled by the mana stream had now become a sea, vast and deep with no end in sight.

‘If I can make use of this even a little…’

He thought it would be effective in manipulating this newfound power to learn Galdr.

The mana stream also had the principle of the limit breaker, so as long as he raised the level by training mana stream, it was a vast power that he would have been able to use someday anyway.

But, if he did it that way, it’d be too late.

After all, it wouldn’t be easy for him to train the mana stream to that level.

Therefore, Lee Jun-Kyeong wanted to learn Galdr, which brought only the limit breaker to the extremes.

"Galdr is the secret skill of giants, and it is strictly forbidden to pass it on to other races,” Thrymr said, lowering his voice as he spoke to Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“However, Loptr-Loki is the benefactor of both the surviving giants and me, so I will still pass it on to you. However…”

Thrymr's voice shifted with a tinge of worry.

“The reason why Galdr is only passed down among the giants is that it is also something that can’t be learned unless one is a giant in the first place,” he continued.

"…"

“Galdr is a power that forcibly elevates the strength of one’s mana and draws out the potential hidden within the body. However, because of that, the requirement of mana, one of the necessary conditions for using the skill, is absurdly high. Unless one is a giant who was born with a store of mana as huge as one’s size…”

Thrymr lowered his gaze as he looked down at Lee Jun-Kyeong.

“It’s a skill that can also be called a skill that cannot be learned.”

Galdr was a secret passed down only to the giants and was a power that could only be used when one had a vast store of hidden mana.

“I have enough,” Lee Jun-Kyeong said as he looked up at Thrymr and smiled.

Suddenly, he did something.

Rumble. Tremble.

The mana that Lee Jun-Kyeong was emitting began to cause the space to tremble.

“I probably have more mana than you do.”

Thrymr smiled. “How good.”

With that, the transmission of Galdr began.

1. New-wave is a reclaimed term used to talk about the shift in K-dramas to become more emotional and grounded in a person-to-person connection. This can be anything from “bromance” to “opposite sex-friendships,” and is even now used to classify more inclusive dramas. In this case, it’s a subtle allusion to a trope in K-media for characters who “know” that they are being put into a bromance situation and work to avoid it.

2. Liu Bei, the historical figure, is said to have sold straw mats and woven shoes to help provide for his family. He was often mocked by his enemies as a big-eared brat who used to weave mats.

3. Loptr is another name for Loki. Funnily enough, while Loki is sometimes attested to have come from the word for fire in old Norse, Loptr is thought to have come from the word air.