I Became the 101st Hero – Chapter 15

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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Wjin
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[First of all, congratulations. You’ve passed the Trial.]

A voice suddenly echoed in my head.

It was a youthful voice, difficult to discern as male or female.

But I had a hunch who it was.

That ‘caller ID withheld’ fellow.

“How about you start by telling me who you are?”

Not that I didn’t have a guess.

[How rude. I’m a god, you know.]

“A god who peeks into people’s pasts as he pleases.”

[Ah, about that, I apologize. But you did agree to it, didn’t you?]

“What?”

[Anyway, congratulations on passing the Trial.]

“Wait a minute, what was that about earlier!”

[Hmm? What did I say?]

It seemed he had no intention of telling me.

In that case, I had no choice but to ask something else.

“I passed the Trial? But I didn’t even reach the end of the desert.”

I hadn’t even crossed the hill.

I just got swept away by the rain and ended up here.

[Reaching the end of the desert was never the Trial. What, did you think this was a test of endurance or something?]

That’s exactly what I thought.

[Seriously? That’s ridiculous. Sure, your stats, like stamina, were trash, but your mental state was even worse.]

“Aren’t you being a little harsh?”

[You think someone who tried to kill themselves the day they returned to their original world isn’t trash?]

He had me there.

I really was trash back then.

But there was one thing that bothered me.

“Wait, original world? You know about Earth?”

[Earth? Ah, is that what you call the planet you lived on in that other world? By the way, I know nothing about that world. I simply read your memories.]

“Read my memories?”

[I’m the God of Regret. It’s only natural].

The God of Regret?

It wasn’t unfamiliar.

It existed as one of the Blessings, after all.

[God of Regret’s Blessing]

Increases the experience gained from failures during this playthrough.

It was certainly better than nothing, but for most characters, it wasn’t a very efficient Blessing.

Because those prodigies rarely ever failed.

But Allen was different. He failed countless times.

For someone like him, this Blessing was perfect.

That’s why I had chosen to use this Blessing for this playthrough as well.

“God of Regret’s Blessing. Is this yours?”

[Of course. Who else would it be? The reason I helped you is because of this Blessing.]

“Helped me?”

[Yes, originally my Trial is for you to reflect on your regrets and discover your own weaknesses. But since you have my Blessing, I decided to give you a little push.]

To think he would recreate someone’s darkest moments like that.

Quite a malicious god.

Still, I couldn’t say for sure that I would’ve passed the Trial without him.

Then, the God of Regret brought up something else.

[Well then, now that you’ve passed the Trial, you deserve a reward. Judging by your memories, it seems you already knew that.]

Reward.

Finally, what I’d been waiting for.

In fact, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the reward was the whole reason I came to the Trial.

Especially since this Trial had a tendency to reward characters with something they lacked.

I wonder what you’ll get…

“Aren’t you the one giving the reward?”

I have the authority to grant the reward. But it’s not my place to choose it.

It was at that moment.

A shadow suddenly fell over me.

A shrinking shadow. I quickly moved out of the way.

Something brown thudded onto the spot where I had been standing.

A fruit.

‘That was close!’

I couldn’t tell how far it had fallen, considering the size of the tree.

But judging by the dent it made on the ground, it must have been from quite a height.

That aside, I was a little concerned about the color oozing out from the crack in the fruit.

Huh? Purple?

It seemed even the self-proclaimed god was puzzled.

It was understandable, as purple rewards were quite rare in the Trials, even as far as I knew.

Even I, who had raised hundreds of characters, could count the number of times I had received a purple reward on one hand.

Gulp.

I wonder what’s inside.

I carefully picked up the purplish fruit. It was lighter than I expected.

‘What could it be? It’s not air, is it?’

With that thought, I inserted my finger into the crack of the fruit.

Crack.

The fruit split open effortlessly.

Finally, I could see what was inside.

And I couldn’t help but be taken aback.

‘Why is it actually empty?’

Because all I could see inside was air.

I stared intently at the giant tree.

[Hmm? What are you looking at?]

Don’t tell me he’s going to play dumb?

“There’s nothing inside.”

A million thoughts raced through my mind.

What if I really got a dud?

Could I possibly choose again?

As if to dispel my worries, the God of Regret spoke.

[What are you talking about, that’s the Wind’s Authority!]

‘The Wind’s Authority?’

I immediately focused my emotions on the empty space within the fruit.

Then, in that seemingly empty space, an information window popped up.

The Wind’s Authority?

A skill I’d never encountered before, not even in the community, let alone while playing the game myself.

Just from the description, it was hard to grasp its effects.

‘It’s best to learn it first, right?’

An invisible authority.

Holding it like this made me anxious, as if I might lose it at any moment.

‘Skill Acquisition… like this?’

As I willed it, the skill information window vanished.

I quickly opened my status window to check my skills.

The Wind’s Authority had indeed been added to my skills.

However, I had no clue how to use it.

It felt different from when I acquired [Swordsmanship (B)].

It was then, as I was checking my status…

[To think he’d give away a part of his divine authority. As expected of one chosen by the God of Chains.]

‘Hmm?’

I thought I heard a familiar name.

The God of Chains?

My eyes moved down from my skills to the bottom of my status window.

Traits

[Absolute Obedience]

The reason I obtained this [Absolute Obedience] was definitely…

[God of Chains’ Blessing]

The character will absolutely obey the player’s commands during this playthrough.

There was definitely a connection between the God of Chains and how I ended up as Allen.

I was convinced of it.

“Hey! Do you know anything about the God of Chains?”

[Hmm? Well, he’s…]

It was at that moment.

A voice interrupted.

[Still choosing to do things you’ll regret, God of Regret.]

The voice came from above, atop the giant tree.

I looked up.

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“That’s too bad.”

It felt like I was close to finding out something.

It was clear that the God of Regret knew something about the God of Chains.

But the moment he was about to speak, I was forcibly expelled from the place with the giant tree.

‘Now that I think about it…’

Back at the lakeside.

I realized the person who should have been here was nowhere to be seen.

‘Is Gwen’s Trial not over yet?’

Of course, I was still weak, so my Trial ended with just defeating wolves in the desert. But with Gwen’s strength, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of Trial she would face.

‘What were Gwen’s stats again?’

I tried to recall Gwen’s stats from the last time I saw them.

‘Stamina B-, Strength B, Agility A+, Mana E- was it?’

Mana didn’t matter, as she wasn’t the type of hero who used mana anyway. Her other stats were generally well-balanced.

It was difficult to guess the content of the Trial based solely on her stats. Considering my Trial tested my mentality, it was possible that aspects other than stats could also be part of the Trials.

“She couldn’t have gone ahead, right?”

From her perspective, she probably came here thinking she might receive a relic as a reward from the Trial. But her relic was something she could never obtain without going to a specific location.

In that case, even if her Trial ended first, she wouldn’t be able to leave without hearing about the relic’s location from me.

‘When will she be back?’

As I was pondering whether to continue waiting here or go out and hunt down some easy Chaos Beasts, my vision suddenly blurred.

‘What? The Trial again?’

But the Trial was definitely over.

It was then I realized.

Although my injuries and physical fatigue from the Trial had completely healed, my mental fatigue remained.

As the tension drained away, it began to wash over me like a tidal wave.

‘Just… let me rest for a bit.’

I didn’t think I could do anything right now.

I leaned against a rock by the lake and slumped down.

And my eyes closed.

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“…Look.”

A voice startled me awake.

“Hey.”

Someone was calling me.

I opened my eyes.

There was no one in front of me.

“To your side.”

I turned my head, and finally saw her sitting there.

Gwen was leaning against a rock, utterly exhausted.

“Do you have any idea how much I rushed?” she said, gasping for breath.

I thought about how long I had been asleep.

Judging by the lingering fatigue, it couldn’t have been that long.

That meant Gwen had returned earlier than I thought.

“You’re back earlier than I expected.”

“Of course I am. I was worried sick that you’d skip out on our deal. But I come back to find you sound asleep?”

“Well, it’s your fault for not prioritizing our important transaction.”

“That’s…”

A brief silence fell.

Then, Gwen spoke.

“Thank you.”

“What’s with the sudden gratitude?”

“For waiting.”

It was true that I was going to wait.

Though it had become semi-forced when I collapsed from exhaustion.

Even so, there was no reason for me to be thanked.

“Thank you, too.”

“Hmm?”

“Thanks to you, I was able to overcome the Trial.”

Gwen looked puzzled at my words.

It was only natural since she knew nothing about the contents of my Trial.

But I couldn’t deny that our deal had helped me overcome a significant hurdle.

‘I might’ve actually jumped into the Han River if it weren’t for you.’

I asked her,

“So, did you get a relic from the Trial?”

Gwen shook her head.

“No, I survived for a whole week against a horde of Chaos Beasts… but all I got were two Mana Potions.”

That was to be expected.

Even in my eyes, there was little that Gwen lacked.

Still, two Mana Potions weren’t a bad reward.

“Then, shall we move on? Tell me where the relic is.”

Gwen seemed to ponder for a moment.

Then, finally, she spoke.

“The terms of our deal were for me to ask one question, correct?”

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