BXBX NOVEL Chapter 7: Divine Control
Chapter 7: Divine Control
For the ‘Area of Lizardmen,’ ‘Trance’ was given at level 1. Different skills were made available at the same level because the general small areas and the areas of species were different.
Trance was a simple skill.
‘...!’
Sung-Woon looked down at ‘his body.’ Black scales, sharp claws longer than a joint of his foot, and a long snout came into his view.
‘Is this Lakrak’s body?’
Lakrak was over 2 meters tall, so the ground seemed far away, and the feeling of having a tail was also very foreign to him. He clenched and unclenched his fists.
‘It might take some time to fully adapt to this.’
But there was no need to adapt. Even while Sung-Woon was freely controlling Lakrak’s body, the drake Manun running towards him was so slow that it was boring.
‘Still, I shouldn’t be complacent.’
[Faith is decreasing as Trance is being used.]
[Faith]
[482/500 → 477/500]
Faith declined rapidly as Sung-Woon controlled Lakrak through Trance. Fortunately, the number of points he lost was tolerable.
‘Let’s see what you can do.’
[Beauer (Warrior Lv.1/Tribal Chief Lv. 4)
Strength 24
Intelligence 15
Sociability 16
Skill: Husbandry
Tribal Chief of the Lizardman tribe Blue Skin]
Beauer had the ability to lead 300 Lizardmen. It wasn’t that impressive, but it also wasn’t too bad.
‘I didn’t have to use Trance if it was just Beauer.’
Sung-Woon looked at Manun’s eyes.
[Manun (Drake Lv.1)
Strength 87
Intelligence 6
Sociability 9]
Manun’s Intelligence and Sociability were on par with the average Lizardmen, but that wasn’t the case for his strength. He was a literal monster, and him being a level 1 drake meant he was still young.
Sung-Woon then looked at Lakrak’s stats.
[Lakrak (Warrior Lv.2/Tribal Chief Lv.2/High Priest Lv.1)
Strength 30 (+D3)
Intelligence 24 (+D3)
Sociability 26 (+D3)
Willpower 14(+D3)
Tribal Chief of Lakrak’s Clan
Status Abnormality: Controlled (Divinity Lv.3)]
The strength of the water buffaloes was approximately 22. If his strength was 30, then that would be more than enough to break the neck of a water buffalo with his bare hands. Beauer would likely be destroyed without much trouble in a head-to-head battle due to the modifier.
‘But Beauer needs to show his abilities too without a big battle.’
This was because Beauer’s tribe had to be won over without any harm done to them so that they could share the Intelligence the Blue Skin Tribe possessed. Luckily, there seemed to be no problems with the plan in Sung-Woon’s opinion. Lakrak=Sung-Woon pierced the head of his spear into the ground.
The D that was shown in Lakrak’s stats meant Divinity, and the number that D represented was 200, which was the maximum value that could naturally exist in a creature.
‘Simply put, Lakrak’s current Strength is 630.’
If the opponent did not have the same amount of Divinity, then a fight against God would never be viable or even possible.
Lakrak=Sung-Woon grabbed Manun’s upper jaw as he charged at him with his maw wide open, and Manun was instantly flipped backward.
“Gaahhhh!”
As soon as the 5-meter long giant flew into the air, someone screamed. Beauer, who had already lost his balance, was rolling around on the ground.
Thump!
The impact seemed to be shaking the planet’s very core, and some of the Blue Skin Lizardmen fell to the ground. With more strength, Sung-Woon could’ve rendered Manun into a flood of blood, but he thought that would be too much. The Lizardmen would be afraid rather than be in awe.
‘The drake is also valuable.’
Lakrak=Sung-Woon approached Beauer, leaving Manun unconscious after being flipped. Beauer was crawling backward, and got up in a hurry once he saw the Blue Skin Lizardmen murmuring amongst themselves.
“Th..that’s ridiculous! You..you punk!”
It seemed as if Beauer didn’t fully understand the situation, and Sung-Woon found that rather comfortable. Beauer then grabbed his well-forged bronze sword and charged toward Lakrak=Sung-Woon, but Sung-Woon quickly jabbed with his spear.
Crack!
Beauer’s neck bent back, and his knees buckled soon after. Silence spread through the Blue Skin Lizardmen. Absolute strength. There definitely were some Lizardmen who believed they couldn’t escape now.
Lakrak=Sung-Woon asked, “Who’s next?”
The Blue Skin Lizardmen all bowed down and expressed obedience.
***
The hill was now too crowded to be used as a base for Lakrak’s Clan, which had increased to 350 members. Fortunately, even though the numbers of the two groups weren’t the same, they knew each other well as both groups used to be one tribe. In addition to that, as the Blue Skin Lizardmen began to hear myths about Lakrak’s god, the Nameless Beetle God, they got worked up out of their envy and expectations towards Lakrak.
Zaol approached Lakrak, who was sitting in front of the altar.
“Are you all right?”
“About what?”
“Wouldn’t you say the power you showed today was not all yours? Didn’t God dwell in you?”
Lakrak nodded and said, “It’s okay. I don’t remember it well, but a few scenes dimly come to mind. I had a lot of power. God performed his Miracle himself through my body, and thanks to that, they began to follow us.”
“But now the hill will be ruined.”
“So we must prepare to leave.”
“Does that mean we’re going out into the wilderness again?”
“That’s the only choice we have.”
“Just believing that God will guide us?”
Zaol had thought Lakrak would nod, but this time, he shook his head.
“God has already helped us. He doesn’t help us every time we are hungry.”
“But if we wander in the wilderness without any answer, a lot of us will die of starvation.”
“I don’t believe there isn’t an answer.”
“Then?”
Lakrak tilted his head. It seemed he couldn’t give a clear answer, but he had an idea.
“It seems that the Nameless Beetle God wanted us to be brought together once again with our old tribe, so there lies our answer. We were isolated for a long time, and they have more numbers. There might be someone amongst them that will come up with a wise idea.”
“Like how to make metal pieces?”
“Exactly. No one among us knew how to heat a metal piece so hot, but now I know there are a few from the old tribe who know exactly how to do that.”
“One of them actually just notified me that they want to dedicate an object to the tribal chief.”
Lakrak nodded.
“But I would then wish that all our warriors be armed with it as well.”
“I will let them know.”
“And…”
Zaol waved her hand as if she didn’t need to hear more and said, “I’ll see if I can find a guide. We don’t have any vagrants among us, but they might. I’ll also try to find out if there is anyone with wisdom who can help us cross the wilderness.”
“Thank you. I’ll leave that to you.”
After sending Zaol away, Lakrak laid himself down on the bones of the altar to cool off his still hot body, and a bone rolled, making a clattering sound.
***
Lakrak was introduced by Zaol to three Lizardmen. One of them was the blade craftsman that Zaol had mentioned earlier. The craftsman told Lakrak that with Lakrak’s approval, he could burn down some trees to create a harder blade before they left. Looking down at them, Sung-Woon realized the craftsman was talking about ‘ironware.’
‘Copper and tin is used to make bronze, and iron is more common than zinc. They’ve had the technology to increase heat, so why haven’t they been using it?’
Lakrak found it a bit strange and asked. Just as he expected, it was revealed that Beauer had stopped them from burning down trees. Beauer believed that preserving the environment was better for the tribe than having harder metal, and since they had been forced to leave in a hurry, there hadn’t been enough time to test it out.
‘I do understand, but Lakrak is different. It would be worthwhile to test it out on the premise that they would be leaving the hill.’
Sung-Woon could have granted them Divinity, but it had its pros and cons in his opinion.
‘If they don’t reduce the number of trees on the hill, they could benefit from them if they are to return to this land. I’ll leave this matter to Lakrak.’
Lakrak said he would think about it till the next day and sent the blade craftsman away.
The next he met was a one-armed Lizardman.
“You’re…a vagrant.”
“That is right.”
As an old Lizardman, he had different colored scales than the Blue Skin Tribe, and of course, was also different from Lakrak’s Clan, whose skin was black. The man wasn’t a totally different species, so patches of his green skin still had a base of blue, but there was no mistaking that he was a part of a different group.
“I heard you’re looking for a guide. I am old and only have one arm. I had to rely on a group and therefore had to be on a constant look out for a group that would accept me. That’s why I know my way around. If the group can’t completely settle somewhere, I have places in mind that wouldn’t cause them to starve. But, of course, I can’t guarantee that.”
Lakrak could live with that.
“There will be other vagrants and tribes.”
“That is correct.”
“As long as you can lead us to those grounds, we can always make them ours.”
“I thought you’d say that.”
“Then can I trust you?”
“Trust me?”
“I lead a large group, so I need to trust that you aren’t just saying nonsense to attain a spot in our clan.”
The one-armed Lizardman paused to think and read the sky.
“I am a star catcher.”
“Star catcher?”
“I was close to my sister when I was young, and she knew the locations of the stars very well.”
“Don’t stars move?”
“You don’t know, do you? Stars always look for their place.”
“Is that so?”
“If you know when and where the stars move, you can go everywhere without getting lost. I’ll tell you where my stars are today and where they will be tomorrow. Then you can keep that in mind and see if I am right or wrong.”
Lakrak nodded.
Sung-Woon was impressed by the early astronomer.
‘Iron aside, I didn’t know there would be an astronomer.’
Astronomers could later help with the techniques of architecture or mathematics. Sung-Woon hoped Lakrak would use the star catcher well.
Lakrak’s last guest of the day was a Lizardman very familiar to him.
“Yur?”
“The evening breeze is nice, chief.”
“What’s the matter?”
Yur was a younger Lizardman than Lakrak, but he was now similar in size and equally shrewd, making him the best fighter after Lakrak and Zaol. Yur hung out with Lizardmen who were also competent, and they all worked together well, which allowed Lakrak to entrust them.
“Zaol says we need a way to get across the wilderness without starving.”
“Yes, of course I should have asked you as well.”
“No, chief. I am a fool.”
“I don’t think so. A warrior is not all about strength.”
Yur shyly scratched his head.
“Anyways, this thought only occurred to me today after looking at that gluttonous drake.”
“What is it?”
“Beauer ‘tamed’ the drake, so wouldn’t he be able to tame other things like he has already done?”
“For example?”
Yur pointed to the ox bone altar and said, “Like a water buffalo?”
[‘Lakrak’s Clan’ has noticed the skill: Livestock Farming.]
1. We decided to keep the formatting as the author had written. It is an indication that Lakrak and Sung-Woon are acting as one being for now as Sung-Woon is using the Trance skill.