Chapter 271

The Soul World is quite a challenging place, difficulty-wise.

Even established players often find themselves stuck in their growth, so they put in a lot of effort to push through.

And the most commonly used ability to break through that stagnation is none other than the eye. A special ability unique to the protagonist.

At first, it can only give a basic explanation, but as time passes, it gets significantly stronger.

Currently, Luna can start by seeing others’ abilities and figure out various “potentials” and whatnot.

Especially in terms of potential, it’s crucial since it helps when considering joining new companions.

You can understand how far someone’s limits can extend. It’s like being an editor of sorts.

Moreover, if it keeps developing, you might even glimpse into a person’s personality or skills. It has a lot of applications.

For me, I memorized things, so I can identify useful people in advance. But that’s not the case with Luna right now.

“Tweet! Chirp!”

“Loyalty? This exists too. What’s up with that? Seems good but low on loyalty, which is a bit iffy.”

“… …”

Luna’s eyes sparkled as she checked one breed after another. I could somewhat guess what she was looking at.

Chances are, she’s examining the so-called ‘hidden’ stats. They’re special abilities that don’t even show up on the status screen.

Hidden isn’t about raw stats like strength or agility; it’s more on a personality level. Like the loyalty she just mentioned.

Also, things like diligence, temperament, patience, and so on. The higher these stats are, the higher the growth potential.

‘It’s a kind of privilege.’

A privilege only the protagonist of this world can have. Even I, with my status screen, find it hard to grasp.

As I mentioned earlier, since I know the future, I can roughly deduce a person’s character. So I hadn’t paid much attention to it.

But her progress is way too fast. Normally, being able to check potential and hidden stuff would only happen at least after the academy collapses.

Luna’s eyes develop after every episode, so it raises a lot of questions.

“Alright. I want this one. This one seems the best.”

“…Luna.”

“Huh?”

“Since when could you do that?”

I asked Luna, who had chosen a bird. When did she start seeing those things?

Luna blinked slowly and tilted her head, asking back.

“What do you mean?”

“Loyalty. You can see that?”

“Yeah. I could see it. Why?”

“Hmm…”

Her speed of growth is just too much. I couldn’t help but sigh.

While it’s great that Luna is growing fast, it seems like she’s developing all the wrong abilities.

Right now, it’d be better for her to hone her basic skills than those abilities.

‘Still, it’s not completely useless.’

I looked at Luna. She cradled a little chick in her small arms.

I’m not sure how far her growth will continue, but for now, it doesn’t seem like a big issue.

She seems busy selecting breeds as it is. Should I say she’s using her time well or that it’s pointless is a bit unclear.

‘If she raises it well, maybe she’ll get a mount.’

In the Soul World, you can also get mounts, and there are quite a variety.

Starting from basic horses to the flying mounts Luna wants, and even cars exist.

Of course, most people tend to choose horses for convenience. Birds are tricky to place and difficult to raise.

In that sense, would I help Luna? Nah. She chose it, so why should I assist?

“Kyeng.”

“… …”

Instead, there’s one animal I’m keeping an eye on. A raccoon that’s rummaging around on the ground.

I wonder how much potential this raccoon has. One thing’s for sure; it’s sharp.

‘But what exactly is it picking up?’

I peeked my head out to watch the raccoon’s paws. It looked like it was rummaging for something important.

“Nom nom nom.”

Looks like it was pretty hungry. The raccoon was munching on bugs crawling between the nests.

Since the nest is quite sizable, there seem to be plenty of bugs around.

Earlier, it didn’t eat the heart and liver of that saber-toothed beast, so it must be a herbivore after all.

“Luna.”

“Huh? What?”

“Tweet! Chirp!”

Just then, as I called Luna to check the raccoon’s potential.

I couldn’t help but feel flustered as I alternated my gaze between her and the chick.

We just interacted not long ago, and now it’s entirely different.

The chick was trying to devour Luna’s head with a beak larger than expected.

Is it possible that it sees Luna as prey? If that’s the case, it’s definitely not coming with us.

“Could you step aside for a sec? I’ll play with you later.”

“Tweet! Chirp! Chirp!”

Fortunately, it seemed my concern was unfounded. The chick moved away upon Luna’s request.

Other chicks were crying over their mother who had already turned cold, but this one was weird.

It didn’t care about its mother and was too busy accommodating its new owner. A common scene in the wilderness.

“So, why did you call me?”

“This one.”

“Kyeng?”

I lifted the rummaging raccoon. It seemed gentle enough as it didn’t resist at all when I picked it up.

It actually looks cute enough that raising it would be fine. A pet in the true sense.

You know, in games, you often pick up items that fall into areas you didn’t check out.

This raccoon could learn to do just that. Pets exist in the Soul World too, so there shouldn’t be any problems.

“Check this one too.”

“What? With my eyes?”

“Yeah. I can’t see.”

“Alright. Hmm…”

Luna stared intently at the raccoon I was holding.

The raccoon seemed somewhat pressured by that gaze and turned its head away. You could hardly tell it was an animal.

“Looks good? High on diligence and loyalty too. Has a strong will.”

“Anything else?”

“Other than that, it’s average. You planning to take it?”

I nodded. I’ll have plenty of struggles ahead, and having at least one pet is a must.

Luna looked back and forth between me and the raccoon with a strange expression before asking.

“Have you thought of a name?”

“What about you?”

“I named it right away. Pijon-tu. Doesn’t it sound good?”

“Uh…”

As soon as I heard the name, I looked at the chick. It was already standing neatly next to Luna, seeming to obey.

Just hearing the name makes it sound like she’ll just raise it for a bit and then abandon it. Knowing Luna, she’d probably just say she ‘forgot.’

More than that, I wonder why she named it Pijon-tu. Does it have a meaning or something?

“Does it mean anything?”

“Yeah. It’s named after a bird my mentor raised. That bird was named Pijon.”

So, it means Pijon mk.2. That feels a bit lazy.

But at the same time, I could understand. To Luna, her mentor is like family.

There’s still time until she reunites with her mentor. Even so, Luna hasn’t forgotten about them.

“What about you? Have you decided yet?”

“Yeah.”

“What is it?”

I faced the raccoon I was holding. It looked a bit puzzled.

“Neoburi.”

“Kyeng?”

“Neoburi?”

“Yeah.”

Porori is a squirrel, so it’s Porori, and Neoburi is a raccoon, so it’s Neoburi.

The naming sense is desperate, but nothing fits better than this.

‘If there’s also a Bonobono later…’

If that happens, I’ll have to name it Bonobono.

“Isn’t that a bit haphazard? Isn’t it just the same as saying raccoon?”

“… …”

Or maybe I should just call Luna Bonobono from now on. I’ve already been thinking of her as LunaLuna in my head.

I set down the raccoon—or rather, Neoburi. With that, I had chosen my pets, leaving just the task of getting out of the nest.

This height should be fine for landing. I need to enhance my physical abilities just in case, though.

“But, Luna.”

“Yeah?”

“How are you planning to take that one?”

The problem is the chick, or Pijon-tu.

Even though it’s a chick, it’s about the size of a person, making it pretty heavy to carry.

If we’re not careful, we might not just drop it outside the nest, but it could fall down instead. That would mean instant death.

Luna seemed to be thinking about this too, as she showed signs of contemplation. She then turned her gaze to Pijon-tu.

As soon as Pijon-tu faced Luna, it tilted its head as if to say something.

“Pijon-tu.”

“Chirp?”

“Can you fly right now?”

“Talking to a bird?”

I was taken aback. No matter how smart it is, it can’t understand human language.

In fact, as soon as Pijon-tu heard Luna’s question, it cocked its head.

Luna wore an awkward smile at that.

“Guess it can’t, huh? Should I just drop it? Even lions drop their cubs off cliffs, you know?”

“…That’s not your cub.”

At this point, it was getting a bit scary. I mean, Luna always had that mischievous streak.

Surely, she meant it as a joke. At her core, Luna is a good person.

But her unique way of speaking often led to some shocking remarks.

The one silver lining is that she hasn’t actually done anything like that. If she did, we might’ve become distant.

“Then…”

Luna carefully looked over Pijon-tu and the other chicks.

It was still crying with its beak wide open over the dead mother, seemingly not quite grasping the situation.

She then started to inspect each bird closely, letting out a gasp of realization.

“I’ve got a good idea.”

“What is it?”

Luna’s plan was:

“We can drop one bird at a time and pick the one that survives.”

“… …”

“Or we could just toss the whole nest down? Sivar, you could do that, right?”

Is that wild, or is it just pure evil?

I was left agape at such a statement that was unimaginable even in the wild.

In her own mind, she probably thinks it’s efficient. But that level of malice is beyond words.

“…You’re kidding, right?”

“Is that not okay? They’re all gonna die anyway.”

“… ..”

Oh my gosh.

That’s pure evil. Is that why Chaos is so wary?

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