The Author's POV

Sitting on a wooden chair, I attentively scanned the room.

My task was to protect Jomnuk from any potential threats coming from Inferno.

The Monolith equivalent for the dwarves.

They were an organization made up of Duergars, which were also known as under dwarves. They held great infamy for being sneaky and cunning.

Since Jomnuk focused all of his time on engineering, he was quite weak. It was exactly because of this that he needed to be protected.

The only noteworthy thing about him was his mana capacity, but that was just about the same as mine.

Unlike us humans, dwarves were quite weak in combat, their short statures being perfect evidence of it. They mainly relied on their artifacts; therefore, their ranks and other stats didn't really matter to them.

At the Lock, when they used to teach about dwarves, the professors would say,

'A dwarf without an artifact is as easy to kill as a ranked human.'

The statement wasn't wrong. I'd personally witnessed just how helpless they were without their artifacts during the war above.

But that wasn't the only thing I saw.

I'd also seen them with their artifacts, and what I saw truly shocked me. They were incredibly strong.

Although humans could also use artifacts, dwarves were able to utilize them to the very extreme, drawing out latent potential. Because of their highly developed brains, unlike other races, they could use a lot of artifacts at the same time.

Typically, it took a lot of concentration to use just one artifact. Controlling an artifact required the user to manipulate their mana in complex patterns to activate the artifact. The sheer sophistication of some dwarven artifacts could fry a human's brain. This was how it typically went. These limitations didn't apply to dwarves who could use multiple artifacts at the same time. They were literally big-brain people.

Still, according to convention, that didn't change the fact Jomnuk was weak.

Given how important of an individual he was, it was only natural that he had so many people guarding him.

"Here, Douglas told me to give you this."

Disrupting me out of my thoughts, Waylan flashed a mysterious grin before handing me an odd-looking red box. It looked quite out of place.

"What's this?"

I curiously asked, taking the box.

The box felt light to the touch, and although it didn't look special, it had fine golden patterns sewn by the side of it.

"Open it up and find out."

"...Okay."

Waylan's mysterious attitude had piqued my interest.

Just what was in the box that was making him grin like that?

Ci- Clink—!

Finally opening the box, a subtle clicking sound rang out.

"This..."

Upon opening the box, I let out a strange voice. Turning my head to face Waylan, he flashed me a slightly envious look.

"Although I don't know what you did to make Douglas favor you so much, all I can say is that even I would've had difficulty getting that in my younger days."

Leaning back on the chair, Waylan brushed his hair to the side.

"Go on. Take it before we no longer have time. You shouldn't worry too much for now."

"...Ah, yes."

Staring at the contents of the red box, I had no words to say.

That was because inside it was a small, circular black pill.

The pill's intoxicating fragrance invaded my nostrils and the mana within my body jumped up wildly. I couldn't hold back a smile. I was in euphoria.

Wiping off my smug grin, I glanced at the pill once more to make sure I wasn't seeing things.

[Probulin]

Upon mixing the three ingredients together, a potent pill is created.

not find any

would it help me breakthrough to rank, but

doubt, this

at the back you can

my shoulder and pointed towards

counting on you.

"I understand."

I gratefully looked

waved it off and sat back down, and lowered his

no need to thank me. In fact, I should probably thank

it would be impolite of me to just take it without

my

slightly, I didn't say

just how doting he was to his daughter, any comment that wasn't going to praise

to not waste any more time

go take

"Ah, sure, sure."

onto the box as though it was my most prized treasure, I followed Waylan's instructions and walked towards the back

"You need something?"

was one of the guards designated for the mission. He was an orc, and his large stature made him look

the difference in our size. Moreover, from the pressure that he was emitting, he was at least a rank above

to use

replied

wasn't scared. Well, if I had to be honest, ever since a while ago, I realized

to

rank didn't faze me,

—BOOOM!

just as I was about to enter, the whole place started to shake as a terrifying

up, my brows

like the third wave has begun. I hope the

me on this mission, I did not know how they were faring. Although they were all capable, I really hoped nothing bad

all, the third wave was going to be even more troublesome than the

where the

on, the real heavy hitters would finally make their move unlike before. This was why

it was their choice

Click! Clank—!

behind me, I looked around

place was not quite big, it was sufficiently

than a grey mat in the middle of the room, there were no other decorations. A meditating room true to its name. I was lucky to have found a good place to break through. I sure as hell wouldn't be comfortable breaking through to Rank with orcs staring down at

crossed-legged on the mat, I carefully placed

"Huuu..."

I ingested

took something like this, I shouldn't suffer

get this over

eyes instantly locked onto the small pill

the pill, giving it a faint, mysterious appearance. Other than that, a

run through my body the moment my fingertips brushed its surface. Locking my brows tightly, I stuffed the

—Gulp!

instant I swallowed the pill, it transformed into a somewhat gentle and calm energy that swiftly entered

suffered no pain this time as

I could vividly feel my strength

my eyes, I continued to process

bright light shot out of my body, and I felt an unfamiliar, refreshing strength fill every single

missed this

VOOOM—!

a pulsating heart, the glow

became