I Stepped on Their Shadows and Skills Started Copying Like Crazy - Chapter 58

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

58
I sent Roga off like that and returned to the Rooftop Room alone.
As always: the narrow room, the low ceiling, the yellowed linoleum worn with age.
And those waiting to greet me.
“Master! You’ve had a long day today!”
“Meow!”
“Oh, Sang Sik, you’re back.”
Nothing had changed from when I’d left.
The change was in me, coming back.
“Eh…? Master? Where did Roga go? You came back alone?”
Snig noticed it first.
“Well, it’s a long story, but to put it short: the temporary protection period has ended.”
“What? You mean you left that gentle Roga behind in that savage forest…?”
He didn’t say anything else, but his eyes carried that look—*So you really are cold-blooded after all.*
That stung a bit.
“Hey, I didn’t abandon him. He chose to stay. You weren’t even there, so don’t act like you know.”
Sang Sik, who’d been preparing lunch, paused mid-flip and suddenly interjected into the conversation.
“Then… Roga won’t be coming back anymore?”
“Well… yeah. I suppose not. That’s his home, after all.”
“I see… so it is.”
When this man first brought Roga into Bigo, he’d worried—*Is this creature actually safe?*—but now he looked wistful about it.
His roommate, it seemed, had grown quite fond of him.
‘Roga did warm up to Sang Sik, didn’t he.’
Only Bami, still not quite understanding the situation, circled around me and kept glancing behind.
“What’s wrong? You think something’s going to pop out of the shadows like you do?”
Bami didn’t answer, just tapped my foot sharply in protest.
“I’m telling you—nothing’s there.”
“Mew.”
“Let’s just eat anyway. I’m starving.”
I changed the subject on purpose.
Well, not really—I actually was hungry.
Spending the whole day on the tower doing Sword Work, you work up an appetite.
“Oh, yes. It’s almost ready.”
Sang Sik turned back to the gas range and soon brought over the Frying Pan itself.
“Here we are—today’s menu is kimchi fried rice! What do you think? Looks delicious, doesn’t it?”
‘This is supposed to be kimchi fried rice…?’
If he hadn’t explained, I wouldn’t have known.
Too pale to be red, too faintly reddish to be white—a strange, ambiguous color.
“…Wait. Did you wash the kimchi because the kids can’t eat spicy food?”
“Well, yes… but doesn’t it smell rather good?”
“The smell’s… not bad. Though I’ve never seen this color before in my life.”
“The taste is quite decent.”
“…How are you so confident?”
“I tasted it just now.”
Ah. I should’ve been the one to taste it.
Nothing for it. I’ll just add more salt if I need to—or drink water if it’s too salty.
After a moment, the bowls came up on the small table.
One, two, three… and four.
As Sang Sik set down the bowls, he stopped short and quietly moved one back to its original place.
Roga’s bowl—the one he always used.
“Habit is terrifying.”
Sang Sik smiled awkwardly as he sat down at the table.
“Well, yes… I suppose it is. Shall we eat, then?”
The meal that began this way held only the clinking of spoons.
They say you remember the place you left by its emptiness, and I understand that now—the table looked strangely wide.
The washed kimchi fried rice, prepared for two who couldn’t handle spice.
It bothered me slightly that he wouldn’t get to taste it—he who ate everything with such relish.
I might’ve seen him complain about the side dish for the first time.
* * *
The day after that.
After a long while, I climbed the tower alone.
It was raining in the tower again today. Pitter-patter.
What had been a light drizzle on Floor 15 became a downpour on Floor 16, and by now it qualified as a torrential storm.
I’d smashed the rain-cloud altar and even diverted the meteorological supercomputer, yet somehow the rainfall only grew heavier.
‘Ugh, so damp.’
And so I began climbing Floor 17 in that relentless rain.
The basic mission was the same as always—nothing special, just exterminating monsters in the Great Dense Forest—and it posed no difficulty.
The only difference was one thing.
Since entering the Great Dense Forest Tier, I’d spotted goblins for the first time during a basic mission.
“Ke…?!”
“Oh, hello. Nice to see you here. Hey.”
Naturally, I let them go unharmed.
They seemed startled to see me but didn’t attack first.
‘Right, I’m going through all this trouble because of you lot—least you can do is not pick a fight.’
The trial that followed was somewhat different.
[Mission Objective: Destroy the critical floodgate of the Lizardmen’s waterway network.]
“…Destroy a floodgate? There’s a floodgate?”
I suppose if they can build altars, they can manage anything.
The cascading rainwater was flowing along the waterways toward some central point.
Water that should have seeped into the forest floor everywhere instead.
‘It’s raining this hard—do they really need more water? Can’t they just use the rainfall directly?’
I walked along the waterways through that deluge for quite some time, until at last a massive reservoir appeared.
A dam constructed from mud, logs, stone, and the bones of some unidentifiable beast.
‘Ugh, but the smell….’
A foul stench radiated from the stagnant water of the reservoir.
‘Rain’s great, I hope it rains forever! I’ll make storm clouds!’ Those idiots were causing the entire forest to rot.
“Honestly, you sly serpents… what schemes are you cooking up now? You’re snakes, not beavers?”
Even if I didn’t know their exact motives, my task was crystal clear.
I would break through what was blocked.
More precisely: destroy the beaver dam.
“A structure this size? They must have struggled building it—might as well get some experience.”
I burst in and made short work of the few guards protecting the reservoir.
“You fools. If you were going to build a reservoir, you should’ve considered the surrounding environment, managed water quality—something.”
This kind of illegal construction deserves immediate…!
“Boom.”
Demolition on the spot.
My sword struck the dam point-blank.
Crack—!
Water rushed from the embankment, torn apart like tissue paper.
Whoooosh!
That was it.
“Ah, that’s satisfying.”
Easy. If all trials were this simple, how wonderful that would be.
[You have completed the Special Mission, ‘Trial of Observation.’]
[Conquest Rating: EX]
[Special Mission completion rewards have been granted.]
Up to this point, everything was fine.
The problem came next.
[You have not met the conditions to unlock the Higher Stage Trial.]
[Required Goblin Faction Restoration Rate: 50%]
[Current Goblin Faction Restoration Rate: 31.7%]
“…What? So even if I climb to the next floor, I can’t attempt the trial? This is something you should’ve told me upfront.”
Of course, the system didn’t respond.
It usually pops up with unsolicited messages now and then, but when you actually need an answer….
[To increase the Restoration Rate, repeatedly complete this Tier.]
Oh, it does reply?
But repeatedly complete the Tier?
“Ugh, I hate repetition. This means I won’t be able to extend the Golden Age either.”
Because of how the trial activation works, climbing to Floor 18 and telling myself ‘I’ll just beat the trial next time’ won’t cut it.
In the end, I was trapped with no way out.
To proceed with the next floor’s trial normally, I’ll have to park on Floor 17 for a bit.
“Heh, looks like I’m fated to clear the same stages over and over.”
Just as I was grumbling and about to leave the tower, a new message flashed before me.
[The changes caused by Observation Target Kim Si Hyeon’s intervention continue to exert persistent influence throughout the Great Dense Forest.]
[Liberated Goblins have taken up the cause of tribal liberation under the name of Kisharak, the master of Green Breath.]
[Lizardmen control is experiencing partial weakening.]
[The name of Ashukatal from ancient legend echoes throughout the Great Dense Forest.]
[Goblin Faction Restoration Rate increases. (Current Restoration Rate: 33.1%)]
Huh? It went up. The restoration rate.
“Oho, so things keep moving on their own even without me doing anything? If that’s the case, you should’ve told me upfront.”
This might take fewer days than I thought.
* * *
Around that time, Roga was walking along the Forest Path.
He’d managed to survive the first night somehow.
But he hadn’t gotten proper rest.
The previous night, Roga had hidden himself and the child beneath a hollow, dead tree, and though he’d managed to doze off, he’d been jolted awake several times by rain and animal cries.
Morning came again, whether Roga had slept soundly or not.
The two goblins set out on the road once more.
“Wake up. We need to get moving.”
“Ugh, okay…!”
Wet fallen leaves, mud that swallowed footsteps whole, twisted tree roots, and grass and reeds that had grown waist-high.
Treacherous terrain where it was hard to tell where solid ground ended and swamp began.
The rain had grown heavier overnight.
In weather like this, on a path like this, Roga walked alone with the child on his back.
Though the child must have been struggling too, he pressed on without a word of complaint.
‘Is it the rain? Or… the wound?’
Something was wrong. The child’s fever was burning hot, and his injured knee was badly swollen.
“Try to get some more sleep.”
There was no answer, and when he glanced back, the child had already fallen asleep, breathing softly and steadily.
Fearing the child might wake from discomfort now that he’d finally managed to drift off, Roga carefully adjusted how he carried him.
That small body felt so heavy that Garok’s words suddenly came to mind.
— The weak die the moment they carry a burden.
Roga gritted his teeth.
‘You’re not a burden…!’
If carrying this much counted as a burden, what would he have been to Si Hyeon?
‘If Si Hyeon were here… he’d make short work of this.’
Vines and swamps would be no obstacle to Si Hyeon at all.
Instead of skulking and hiding like Roga was doing now, he’d slash down any Lizardmen that appeared and cut to pieces any beast that lunged at him.
‘But I can’t rely on his help forever. Si Hyeon has his own home, his own family. He can’t keep helping me—helping us—indefinitely.’
From Garok’s words, there was one thing Roga couldn’t deny.
Which was why, no matter how hard it got, Roga had to push through on his own, by goblin strength alone. Whatever hardship lay ahead.
One step. Then another.
Slow but steady, Roga kept moving forward without pause.
Time passed, and dusk began to fall over the forest once more.
“……Roga.”
“Hm?”
The child’s sleepy voice, barely awake.
It was the first time the child had called him by name.
Then, with his forehead still resting against Roga’s shoulder, the child murmured softly.
“Thank you.”
Roga didn’t know how to respond, so he took a long moment choosing his words.
‘What did Si Hyeon say at times like this? Hmm….’
And so the answer he gave was…
“Yeah.”
Recalling Si Hyeon’s response didn’t help much.
“Naru.”
“…?”
“My name. I have a name too.”
“Naru… I see.”
Roga spoke that name slowly.
The child nodded very softly.
“Yeah.”
Then Naru reached up with her small hand and toyed with the pendant around Roga’s neck.
“It’s warm.”
“It is. That’s because it’s a Sun Bird Feather.”
Naru’s eyes went wide at those words.
“A Sun Bird…?! That bird actually exists?”
“Of course. I’ve seen it myself. This feather—I got it directly from the Sun Bird, not found it lying around.”
At that moment, Roga’s shoulders rose slightly with pride. Without him quite meaning to.
“Really…? The Sun Bird actually gave it to you?”
“Yeah. Directly.”
He’d done more than just receive it—he’d even ridden on the Sun Bird’s back—but Roga didn’t mention that part.
He had a feeling Naru wouldn’t believe it anyway.
“Wow…! You’re amazing, Roga!”
“…I’m not the amazing one. I was just with someone amazing. That’s all.”
The shoulders that had puffed up moments before settled back down.
Si Hyeon was truly remarkable.
He’d cut down the Lizardmen, defeated Rolu, saved the Sun Bird.
All things Roga could never have dreamed of doing.
But Naru saw it differently.
“No.”
“Huh?”
“You’re amazing too.”
An answer he hadn’t expected. Roga paused for a moment.
“…Me?”
“Yeah.”
“That can’t be right. I’m not strong like Si Hyeon, not clever like Garok. I can barely manage carrying you like this.”
“But you came.”
Naru’s voice was small, but clear.
“You came to get me.”
……
Not because he was strong like Si Hyeon, not because he was smart like Garok.
But he had gone anyway.
He could have run. He could have looked away.
“…So? Then maybe I’m a little strong after all?”
“Yeah, you’re carrying me right now.”
A cute answer, different from the one that had set Roga thinking just moments before.
Exactly the kind of thing a small child would say, and it made Roga chuckle.
“Yeah, maybe I am.”
The small breath and warmth against his back.
The rain showed no sign of stopping, and the path remained thick with mud. Still, Roga did not halt.
He had come to get her. He had to see her home.
I Only Copied Skills by Stepping on Shadows
Author | Killingpart

Publisher |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd.
Editorial Director |
Editorial Department
Published by |
Samyang C&C Co., Ltd. – Dream Books
Address |
7th Floor, Gwangseong Building, 28 Bongeunsa-ro 114-gil, Gangnam-gu, Seoul
UCI |
G720:N+A063-20260703072
Blog |
blog.naver.com/dreambookss
Twitter (X) |
@dreambookss
Submissions |
[email protected]
(주) Samyang C&C – Without the written permission of Dream Books, the contents of this book may not be used in any form or by any means.

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