Don't Sell Yourself Short

Mangal Mountain Range, camp at the foot of the mountain.

When Shien returned, Vivian was the only one left in the camp, sitting beside the campfire.

"Back already?"

Seeing Shien return, Vivian stood up.

"Sorry, have you been waiting for me this whole time?" Shien looked at Vivian, whose expression had relaxed upon seeing him, and felt somewhat moved. He stepped forward and asked apologetically, "Where are the others?"

"Lumya and Merika have already gone to rest. I'm the only one keeping watch right now; someone else will take over in the latter half of the night." Vivian smiled faintly. "As for Tier, she should be patrolling nearby, checking whether any monsters have come down from the mountain."

As she spoke, Vivian looked at Shien with concern. "How is it? Are you all right now?"

"Of course I am."

Shien answered immediately.

"Is that so?" Only then did Vivian relax. "It seems you've worked things out."

Shien immediately scratched his head.

Worked things out?

That made it sound as though he had been unable to work something out just now.

"Actually, you don't need to worry so much." Shien said somewhat awkwardly, "I was indeed surprised by some things, but not to the point where I couldn't make sense of them."

That was the truth.

Just as Laisha had thought, while Shien had been troubled by the Hero Summon and the fact that the Demon King had already been defeated, he was not truly lost.

The reason Shien had accepted the mission of defeating the Demon King was simply because it had been a transaction.

Nien had revived him after he had already died once, giving him a second life. In exchange, he would help her defeat the Demon King. That was all.

Under those circumstances, even if the Demon King had already been defeated, Shien would not have been troubled at all.

What truly troubled him now was his identity as a Hero.

Once that identity was exposed, it would inevitably affect this world. That was certain.

And regardless of what secrets lay behind all of this, they were not things Shien needed to concern himself with.

Of course, Shien also understood that he might already have become the center of those secrets, and there was a good chance that he had been drawn into some vortex of conspiracy.

But that still was not enough to leave Shien feeling lost.

After being bombarded with so many similar storylines in my previous life, how could I not know what I should do at a time like this?

There was only one thing Shien needed to do now.

That was to improve his strength.

"No matter what kind of conspiracy I encounter, as long as I become stronger, I'll have enough ability to deal with it and resolve it when the situation arises."

Shien unwittingly spoke his thoughts aloud.

"So, I'm going to work hard to improve myself."

That was what Shien needed to do next. There was no need for hesitation.

Shien planned to slowly gather information and learn about this world while continuously improving his own strength.

That way, the mysteries would sooner or later come to him, the person at the center of it all, and by then, he would have sufficient strength to resolve them.

"First, I'll make becoming a full-fledged adventurer my goal."

With the identity of an adventurer, as well as the Adventurer's Guild as a source of information and a channel for understanding this world, Shien could gradually unravel some of the mysteries in his heart.

Not to mention that the Adventurer's Guild had influence all over the world. He would surely come into contact with all kinds of people, which would also help improve his own strength.

Shien had two paths for improving his strength.

One was raising his level.

The other was learning skills.

As for the former, because it was easier to level up through desperate battles against opponents of similar strength, while effortlessly one-shotting enemies made it difficult to achieve that goal, it was actually not the most efficient method for Shien, who possessed the Holy Sword and various max-level skills.

Therefore, Shien intended to focus on the latter, learning skills on his own through various adventures and contact with all sorts of people, or having others teach him new skills.

With Heaven's Grace, his Unique Skill, Shien believed that he would definitely be able to learn all kinds of skills quickly and max them all out the instant he learned them.

This was absolutely a method that could greatly increase his strength. Compared with painstakingly leveling up, it was undoubtedly far more efficient.

In any case, Shien did not want to follow some classic progression where, in order to become stronger, he turned himself into an ascetic, shut himself away in a monster-filled forest, and trained himself into some godlike swordsman of Ten Mile Slope.

Not only would that be exhausting, but it would also cut him off from the outside world and leave him without any source of information. If something suddenly happened, it would likewise be difficult to respond in time.

Whenever Shien had seen such plots in his previous life, he had wondered more than once whether those protagonists, who went into seclusion for such long periods, were not afraid of becoming disconnected from the outside world, developing communication problems and social anxiety, and no longer being able to keep up with the times or society.

After all, reality was not as gentle and kind as a novel setting. Only thinking about yourself would get you beaten up by society!

Besides, he had already been given such an outrageous cheat. Even if he did not go wild with it, he could not let himself suffer, could he?

Recalling the ten days he had spent in the monster forest, Shien's face turned green.

"I'm definitely going to become an adventurer!"

With that, Shien made such a resolute declaration.

Vivian, who had no idea what had been going through Shien's mind, revealed an approving expression.

"I'm glad you can think that way." Vivian said gently, "If you run into any difficulties and need my help, don't hesitate. Just tell me."

"Thank you." Shien thanked her sincerely. "When it truly becomes necessary, I'll do that."

In truth, there were indeed many ways Vivian could help Shien.

At the very least, Shien wanted Vivian to tell him more about this world, allowing him to better understand its current state.

Since that was the case, Shien would not put on airs.

"Keep it up."

Vivian patted Shien on the shoulder in encouragement.

A while later, a petite figure quietly returned from the direction Shien had come from.

That was naturally Tier.

"Good work."

Vivian looked at Tier and smiled at her.

Tier nodded, then glanced at Shien before heading toward the tents.

Shien blinked.

He did not know whether it was just his imagination, but Shien felt that Tier's gaze at him just now had seemed somewhat complicated.

"Must have been my imagination, right?"

Shien muttered to himself.

After that, Shien kept watch together with Vivian.

During that time, Shien also asked Vivian many questions. It was not until the latter half of the night, when Lumya and Merika came out to take over, that Shien reluctantly stopped and returned to his tent to sleep.

Incidentally, there were three tents in total. Vivian and Tier shared one, Lumya and Merika shared another, while Shien had one to himself. For some reason, his tent was also a rather delicate distance away from the first two. It had to be said that this was quite hurtful.

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