The Second Coming of Gluttony - Chapter 26

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 26. Bursting Potential (3)

“A Warrior?”
Agnes questioned, and Lee Seol-ah confirmed. As instructed, she’d informed Agnes the moment she received her Job Class.
I see, Agnes thought, suppressing an inward sigh of resignation.
By pure Job Class value alone, the Mage lineage stood as Paradise’s unrivaled pinnacle. Their overwhelming firepower and flexible adaptability to any situation made them incomparably useful.
They appeared perhaps once among every hundred recruits, if that. One required a Base Mana threshold of at least mid-low grade or higher, supported by compatible aptitude and talent.
In reality, the average Base Mana of those entering the Neutral Zone barely registered as low-low grade. After living on Earth, where science had evolved to extremes, the attenuation of Mana was inevitable.
Consequently, Mages were exceedingly rare—and to call them aristocrats who received preferential treatment anywhere they went was no exaggeration whatsoever.
Priests occupied similar ground. The requirement was Base Mana of low-mid grade or higher, with Fortune at mid-low grade or better. They earned recognition for efficient support abilities—wound treatment, poison neutralization, curse removal—and their high demand made them equally welcomed.
‘If only she’d been an Archer.’
Archers were essential members of any expedition. Their tracking prowess and ability to detect approaching enemies beforehand were indispensable.
Not that Warriors were unnecessary. The problem was simply that they existed in overwhelming surplus.
Just look at the Neutral Zone’s Job Class distribution for this March.
Of the 86 who arrived on the first day, 78 had survived the month. One Mage, four Priests, twenty-two Archers—and a staggering fifty-one Warriors.
‘Meat shields just need to block properly’—it was the kind of joke told about the Job Class, yet it reflected a harsh reality. Those who showed no real promise among contracted Warriors often ended up used exactly that way.
‘I can develop her well enough.’
Agnes composed her expression lest it betray her thoughts, then handed over a slip of paper.
“Understood. Let’s begin with Mana Application training.”

[Mana Perception (Remaining Attempts: ∞/∞)]
Feel the Mana within you!
Difficulty: Basic
Success: —
Failure: —
*Cooperative (Maximum 6 participants)

It was a quest posted on the Job Board that had appeared after the Awakening. Lee Seol-ah had accepted it out of obligation, but she couldn’t hide her puzzlement.
‘Feel the Mana? Really?’
A heavy, solid force now rooted in her body. The strangeness had faded, yet the sensation remained as vivid as before. With even a moment’s concentration, she felt it would spiral through her again as it had just now.
“I’ll give it a try.”
Despite her uncertainty, she tore the paper. She vanished.
The space she entered was saturated with Mana concentration, artificially stimulating one’s energy—a space that allowed even a Warrior to perceive Mana within a week.
Agnes had begun to turn, contemplating how to guide her training once it concluded, when she froze mid-motion. Lee Seol-ah reappeared.
“I succeeded.”
Agnes blinked at the young man, who spoke with unsettling calm.
“You succeeded…already?”
“Yes. It was easy. I felt it right when I entered—”
“What did you say?”
Surely not, Agnes’s eyebrows arched sharply.
“Didn’t I explicitly tell you not to acquire this through purchase?”
It was a reasonable misunderstanding. Agnes had been occupied with morning duties and hadn’t visited the Awakening Chamber, so it was hardly unreasonable for her to assume Lee Seol-ah’s Base Mana ranked at minimum or low-low grade.
Lee Seol-ah stared at her in bewilderment, then jumped up.
“I didn’t!”
“Didn’t what?”
“I never went to the shop.”
“That’s difficult to believe. If you’re confident, would you mind opening your Status Window? Just the Job Ability section.”
“Oh, that should work.”
Lee Seol-ah opened her Status Window, agreeing it was a good idea. Agnes, who had remained skeptical despite his firm denials, read the shared information and froze, her face draining of color.

[4. Abilities]
② Job Ability (0)

If she had learned Mana Application, the count should show 1, not 0. Yet no matter how she looked at it, the Job Ability field remained blank.
“Ah…”
“I told you I didn’t.”
Watching Agnes flounder in confusion, Lee Seol-ah felt a quiet smile of vindication bloom within. At last—a point scored.
“My apologies.”
“It’s fine. What should I do next?”
At those words, Agnes, who had been reaching for fresh paper, suddenly withdrew her hand.
“Would you like to try moving your Mana?”
“Here?”
“Yes.”
Agnes had been about to explain the principles of application when she chose silence instead. She had seen it with her own eyes, yet she still couldn’t believe it. If it was truly real, there was something she needed to verify.
Lee Seol-ah straightened her posture and closed her eyes.
A ripple.
Energy stirred. Soon it began to flow without resistance, guided by her will—through the tips of her fingers, the tips of her toes, along the pathways of her torso, up to the crown of her head.
The sensation of it gliding through her was quite pleasant. Lee Seol-ah found it remarkable too. It had been such a short time since her Awakening, yet there was no awkwardness—only familiarity. It felt like a friend she had known since childhood.
When Lee Seol-ah opened her eyes after circulating it through her entire body several times—

[Job Ability ‘Mana Application (Lowest Tier)’ has been created.]
[Innate Ability ‘Future Recollection’ resonates with the creation of the new ability!]
[Job Ability ‘Mana Application (Lowest Tier)’ evolves into ‘Mana Application (Intermediate Tier)’.]
[Please check your Status Window.]

“Oh?”
Agnes, who had been skeptical, saw Lee Seol-ah’s reaction and became certain.
“Did Mana Application just manifest?”
“Yes.”
Agnes pressed her fingers to her forehead.
No. It shouldn’t be. And yet there was only one explanation for what had just occurred.
“You rejected the Mage.”
“I didn’t exactly reject it.”
“No?”
“The gods deliberated between Mage and Warrior, but it was settled by vote—Warrior won. Though I did mention I wanted to use a spear.”
In that moment, Agnes’s expression hardened. Something in Lee Seol-ah’s words had stirred an unwanted memory.
Sung Si-hyeon. An Irregular from Area 1.
‘How can they be so alike?’
Even as she tried not to compare them, the parallels forced themselves upon her. The path walked, the path being walked—too identical.
No. There was a difference. It was a famous tale that Sung Si-hyeon had rejected the Mage and stubbornly pursued the Warrior’s path. Lee Seol-ah, by contrast, had been chosen by vote.
‘This isn’t something I should involve myself in.’
Agnes abandoned her deliberation. One thing was certain, though: her entire plan needed revision.
Training that she’d expected to take a week had finished in five minutes.
So then?
“We’ll move on to Job Class specialist training.”
But then she added a condition.
“You must not use Mana.”

[Thrust (Remaining Attempts ∞/∞)]
Master the Thrust!
Difficulty: Basic
On Success: —
On Failure: —
*Cooperative (Maximum 6 participants)

Lee Seol-ah surveyed her surroundings. On the flat ground, there were only two things to see: a scarecrow fitted with a target, and a spear lying neatly in place.
The sight of the spear filled her with an inexplicable joy. Her heart even quickened.
At roughly one and a half meters in length, it was clearly a short spear. Gazing upon the long, slender shaft and the blade-tip that caught the sunlight in a gleaming cross, Lee Seol-ah carefully lifted the weapon. Every hair on her body prickled. Her shoulders drew inward with a shudder of anticipation.
‘Master the thrust.’
Finding her stance, Lee Seol-ah gripped the shaft with both hands and drove it forward with force toward the scarecrow.
The spear point pierced through the target and sank deep.
“…….”
It had veered slightly from center. As Lee Seol-ah withdrew the spear, she tilted her head, dissatisfied.
This time she gripped it with her right hand alone and attempted the thrust again. The strike was quite vigorous, yet the result was poor—the spear penetrated less deeply than before, and the point of impact was considerably off-center.
‘That’s not it.’
She searched her memory desperately.
Dreams fade upon waking. Yet it isn’t as though nothing remains—violent shocks and scenes repeated often carve themselves into the brain. How much more so when she hadn’t merely witnessed but directly experienced them?
Her choice of Thrust as her first Job Class specialist training came from a simple reason.
Being dragged along.
In her dreams, Seol always carried a spear and relied on thrusts above all else — enemies skewered and toppled by a single Basic Spear Arts – Thrust were beyond counting. Her body would remember, surely.
‘Not just relying on my arms… it was a feeling of moving my whole body.’
Her stance shifts. The right hand gripping the shaft tightens its hold, clamping down hard. The left hand extended forward rests the spear’s base lightly across the palm — not gripped with force, but loose and open, letting it settle. The shaft trembles slightly. From that position, she aims the point at the target.
‘…Not yet.’
Discord. Her right foot is positioned slightly forward and to the side. She draws it back, then fixes her gaze on the scarecrow for a long moment.
After a considerable pause, Seol’s foot strikes the ground.
The left foot advances first. The right follows immediately, cleaving to it, while the left arm extends fully. At the same moment, the right arm pushes forward with all its force, driving the spear straight through.
Shwip!
A crisp sound cuts the air.
Just before impact, the back of the left hand — which had been facing downward — rotates a half turn to face upward. The spinning point of the spear finds the exact center of the target with perfect precision.
Thunk — a heavy, solid sensation travels through her grip. Seol, feeling the penetration deeper than ever before, finally breaks into a smile.

[Job Ability ‘Basic Spear Arts – Thrust (Lowest Rank)’ has been generated.]
[Innate Ability ‘Future Recollection’ resonates with the creation of this new ability!]
[Job Ability ‘Basic Spear Arts – Thrust (Lowest Rank)’ evolves into ‘Basic Spear Arts – Thrust (Upper-Middle Rank)’.]
[Please check your Status Window.]

The message chimes. The landscape transforms. The scarecrow vanishes, and the spear in her hand dissolves into nothing.
“…Huh?”
Seol’s shoulders slumped as she looked around. She’d wanted to feel the sensation a bit longer.
‘What did I even accomplish…’
She clenched and unclenched her fist repeatedly, reluctant, until her mind drifted elsewhere.
What if she’d used that thrust against the skeleton when it was diving at her with that overhead strike?
Back then, Seol had chosen to block. Replaying it again and again, the choice seemed careless. The skeleton had simply knocked aside her defense with the iron club, leaving her wide open.
‘If I’d countered with a thrust then…’
Seol shook her head. She’d been airborne — escape would have been impossible. But she had to account for the possibility of missing.
Even if the thrust connected, what if the axe descending to split her skull didn’t falter in its trajectory?
‘A thrust alone isn’t the answer.’
The foundation of spear arts is striking at an opponent’s opening. If no opening is visible, you must create one.
How could she create an opening in that situation?
The skeleton had already shown her the answer.
‘It’s the same. I need to knock aside the axe first, then thrust.’
With her thoughts organized, Seol scanned the Job Board. A slow search, and there it was — exactly what she’d been looking for.

[Deflection (Remaining Attempts: ∞/∞)]
Learn the Deflection technique!
Difficulty: Basic
On Success: —
On Failure: —
*Cooperative (Up to 6 participants)

Seol tore the paper from the board at once.

Her Job Class had been decided, but Seol’s daily life remained unchanged. Absorbed in the joy of new training, she threw herself into practice with single-minded intensity.
Her routine was as follows:
First, the moment her eyes opened in the morning, she drank a Competence. After eating in the cafeteria, she went for a light run around the training ground as a cooldown.
Most days she ran alone, though sometimes she’d run alongside Lee Seol-ah.
On the first day, Lee Seol-ah had lapped her easily, but what she saw now shocked her. At some point Seol had stopped falling behind, matching her stride for stride — and now, today, she was overtaking her entirely.
‘This can’t be real!’
They must have already completed a dozen laps. No matter how hard Lee Seol-ah pushed, the gap wouldn’t narrow — it only widened.
Finally, the limit of her endurance arrived.
“Brother! Brother!”
At the plaintive call, Seol turned around.
“You’re… you’re not tired?”
“I don’t know. Want to rest a moment?”
She spoke while jogging in place, her expression composed. The message was clear: she still had reserves left, and she’d only been keeping pace with him out of consideration. Lee Seol-ah bit her lower lip.
Though she managed to finish, she still arrived well behind.
Once her ragged breathing had settled, Lee Seol-ah asked in disbelief:
“H-how is this possible?”
“Huh?”
“It’s only been two months… how could you already be…?”
“Oh, that?”
Seol mentioned Competence. She’d heard it was sold even in regular shops, so Lee Seol-ah should be able to benefit from it too. Though probably not as much as from a VIP shop voucher.
Lee Seol-ah’s face went blank as she listened to the explanation. It was clear she hadn’t even known Competence existed.
When Seol urged her to buy it without worrying about wasting Survival Points, the girl’s eyes squeezed shut. Her cheeks flushed slowly, and then suddenly she thrust both her clenched fists high into the air. And she cried out.
“No doping! Absolutely not!”

(To be continued)

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