A Veteran of Infinite Buffs - Chapter 74

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 74

I had been sleeping, surrendering myself to the container’s vibrations, when I noticed they had stopped.
Opening my eyes, I found the child already awake, gazing at me quietly.
“Hello?”
Since we couldn’t communicate verbally, I waved my hand alongside theirs in a light greeting.
Then I supplemented the greeting using my phone’s translation app.
“I’m Kael. This is the first time you’re seeing me in person, isn’t it?”
“….”
After staring at my hand for a while, the child brought their hands together at their belly and bowed respectfully.
It was a gesture of gratitude the child had learned.
That was answer enough.
“Hmm.”
Despite their composed response, the child’s condition was far from good.
In fact, it was quite poor.
Especially for a child their age—such an emaciated frame would be difficult to find even in South Korea.
“Is there any food you’d like to eat?”
The child shook their head.
Rumble.
Yet the child was clearly hungry.
Rather than lacking desire for food, I suspected the child simply didn’t know what foods existed to desire.
“I can buy you anything, so let’s figure it out together. How about we start with this?”
I had abalone porridge I’d purchased from a convenience store.
It was thanks to Eden’s advice that I had something to feed them.
Still, the child merely stared silently at the porridge container.
“Ah.”
Convenience store porridge could be unfamiliar to the child as well.
They must have lived in an environment completely isolated from the outside world.
I decided to open the porridge for them.
“Here.”
This time, the child alternated their gaze between the porridge and me.
The child’s pupils began to dilate.
Then, cautiously, they took the spoon and began eating the porridge.
“For now, eat just this, and next time we’ll try something even more delicious, okay?”
My words didn’t reach the child.
They were too focused on eating the porridge frantically.
For now, I was satisfied with simply satiating the child’s hunger.
Screeeech!
The Container moved once more.
Perhaps it was finally time to leave.
By then, the interior had been completely emptied.
I gestured toward the outside while looking at the Child.
“Shall we head out? We’ll need to stop by the Hospital if we’re going to stay in South Korea. Is that alright?”
The Child nodded and carefully positioned himself behind me.
Now came the moment to show him the world beyond.

* * *

This was the Hospital that Cha Eun-kyung had arranged.
Yet there was no particular dissatisfaction etched across Baek Seo-hyun’s face.
It seemed she had successfully concluded some negotiation and made a concession this time.
And I found myself seeing a VIP hospital room for the first time in my life.
The Child underwent several examinations and fell asleep.
“We anticipate the Child’s condition will improve rapidly. Additionally, since we have a medical access device prepared for the patient, he’ll be able to enjoy gaming as soon as the server maintenance concludes.”
I had never seen a medical access device before either.
The access device, bearing the peculiar name “Dimension Gate III Medical,” gleamed with pristine white light, proudly displaying its form.
And the VIP treatment didn’t end there.
The hospital director himself came with Oh Seung-tae to explain the Child’s condition to me, his guardian.
“When would discharge be possible?”
“We recommend a recovery period of about one month.”
“What about regular meals?”
“From one week onward, meals will be provided using carefully selected ingredients.”
“Understood. Then I’ll entrust his care to you for the month.”
With my response, the hospital director, Oh Seung-tae, and the associates of Cha Eun-kyung and Baek Seo-hyun all withdrew.
Did they have something to tell me?
Baek Seo-hyun was the first to speak.
“Lee Seo-jun, have you decided on a name for the Child?”
“Hmm.”
Cha Eun-kyung also seemed curious, silently observing my reaction.
“Not yet. Since he’s only been called Number One so far, I want to give him a meaningful name.”
“Would it be alright if I helped you choose one?”
“No. I’ll do it with them.”
Their intentions became clear.
For reasons unknown, they seemed to approach naming the Child with a sense of mission—a solemn determination.
“Well, I haven’t solidified anything yet, but there’s a character I’d like to include.”
“Oh? What is it?”
“I’d like the name to contain the character for ‘color’ or ‘radiance’—it carries meanings of painting with colors or shining brightly.”
The surname would naturally follow mine—Lee.
Here, I’ve already settled on a middle name that suits a young girl well: Chae.
“That’s lovely! Chae works beautifully whether it’s in the middle or at the end.”
“Chae. I like it.”
Chae was confirmed.
Now only one character remained to decide.
“So what will the last character be?”
“I apologize, but could you yield on this one point?”
“Huh?”
“What?”
I’d received considerable help from both of them.
But still, I wanted to be stubborn about this final character.
“I’d like the child to choose the last character herself. Surely she has a character she favors?”
“Ah.”
….
Fortunately, my persuasion worked.
I could sense their earnest desire to help the child and participate in naming her, so it seemed right to repay them for today’s efforts.
Though I wasn’t sure what gift would be appropriate.
“In exchange, you can’t skip the party hunt, right?”
“If you forget, I’ll take revenge.”
The gift had apparently already been decided.
I had no choice but to commit fully.
It also seemed good to show them how much I’d grown.
“Of course. I’ll do my best in the hunt.”
“Then I’ll take care of the remaining adoption procedures related to the child.”
“Me too.”
“Oh, both of you?”
“We split it in half.”
…I see. Thank you for your help.”
The two of them left the hospital room.
Once again, I hadn’t really done anything.
To the end, these people remained invaluable benefactors to me.
“The server maintenance makes me reflect like this.”
I decided to gather information until the child woke up.
The traces of adventurers were still scattered, and I could continue growing regardless.
I’d rested enough.
Was this Cha Eun-kyung’s arrangement?
Sure enough, beside the medical access device was a guardian access device as well.
And inside the latest access device, Dimension Gate III, various functions to assist users were installed.
“Impressive.”
Ching—
I opened the device’s door and stepped inside.

-Welcome to Dimension Gate III. Greetings, Kael.

A different greeting from the Dimension Gate II I used at home.
Instead of addressing me as “Hero,” it recognized my exact nickname and spoke in a different voice.
Setting aside the device at home, which used the staff member’s voice, I could confirm that minor improvements had been made to other functions.

-Welcome, Kael. Currently, the game cannot be accessed due to server maintenance. Would you like to use other functions?

“Huh? I was only planning to use the internet. There are other functions?”

-Yes. In addition to internet access, you can select and view broadcasts, videos, or scenes of your choice. However, as this is a public device, functions that could expose personal information are restricted. Additionally, a virtual training facility is provided.

I immediately reconsidered my initial thought.
Dimension Gate III’s functions were far more diverse.
Especially for someone like me, who had spent time browsing internet communities on my phone, it was like stepping into a whole new world.
“Oh, then what about highlight videos related to the Lumiere Guild’s hidden quest clear?”

-A total of 32,741 videos related to the Lumiere Guild’s hidden quest clear have been viewed. Among these, 1,170 reliable videos of approximately 10 minutes or less have been identified.

“That’s way too many. What about shorts under one minute?”

-3,975 videos.

“Exclude all duplicate videos and show me just the top ten by view count.”

-Playing the requested videos.

* * *

The surrounding scenery transformed.
The image quality was so pristine, with no pixelation whatsoever, that it felt as though I had been pulled directly into the video itself.
Whoooosh!
This was the Unnamed Mountain.
Liam appeared as a small speck in the distance.
The footage was unfolding from the perspective of someone from the Lumiere Guild.
‘Ah. That wrist guard…’
It was the Golden Fox fur wrist guard I had gifted to Bella.
Thanks to it, I realized the perspective belonged to Bella.
Bella was holding an extraordinarily ancient staff.
Based on the inscribed patterns, it appeared to be no ordinary relic.
Soon after Bella infused mana into the relic, the orb affixed to the staff’s end began to glow faintly.
Rummmmmble!
The surroundings began to be consumed by darkness.
Night had descended in an instant.
The light shot from the orb soared toward the heavens, piercing through the clouds themselves, and scattered in all directions while radiating a brilliant aurora.
Soon after, a terrifying blizzard swept through, and Bella’s perspective ended.
‘Wow.’
It was truly a magnificent spectacle.
As someone who wasn’t there, I could only feel regret.
The user in Liam had witnessed this sight firsthand.
Soon after, the perspective shifted.
This time, a thick wrist covered in scars came into view.
He too was holding a relic inscribed with similar patterns.
This was the Unnamed Mountain overlooking the Eastern Forest.
It seemed to be the same place I had glimpsed from a distance when entering the Eastern Forest.
“We are Lumiere. A gathering of those who seek to explore miracles.”
‘Ah.’
This man possessed a sensitivity that belied his scarred appearance.
“At last, we have come this far. And I, Dost, have arrived here.”
The name of the man from the Lumiere Guild was Dost.
He appeared to possess a close-combat oriented class.
Since mana was not the exclusive domain of mages, the current scene didn’t seem particularly strange.
Rummmmmble!
Again, the surroundings were consumed by darkness, and light shot toward the heavens.
And what poured down from the sky was lightning.
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”
Naturally, I already knew the outcome.
Dost was also wearing the Golden Fox fur wrist guard.
He would take damage limited solely to the elemental damage of the lightning itself, without suffering heat damage.
Boom! Bang!
Lightning bolts rained down from all directions.
Yet the flames didn’t ignite the ground—they simply dissipated.
Some of the strikes poured down on Dost, and true to his high-level status, he endured through sheer willpower and grit.
“This secures our victory!”
Having witnessed that pillar of light before, I scanned the surroundings and found several other locations where light surged skyward in identical fashion.
It appeared to be a Quest where guild members simultaneously channeled their mana.
The footage ended.
I wasn’t certain what this footage was meant to imply, but since I already knew the outcome, I decided to examine the natural disaster in the footage more carefully.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————