WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS

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◈ Leveling with the Gods

[Translator – Jreaming]

[Proofreader – Eternal]

Chapter 159

* * *

Boom, boom, boom—

The footsteps were heavy, and the ground shook with each step taken.

It was natural.

Just the logs Hercules was carrying weight multiple tons.

It was truly a mystery how he was able to even carry those things without breaking a sweat. It was unbelievable even if he was seeing it.

“Where are you going to use all this wood? Do you have a fire?”

Rankers, no, players who reached above a certain floor didn’t feel cold from the weather.

There was no instance of them burning wood to warm their rooms, and although some of them used it to make fire for cooking, it wasn’t a method that was used nowadays.

“Probably.”

“Probably?”

“Although people like you or me won’t need it, someone still needs this wood. It’s only players who don’t feel the cold.”

So in the end, it wasn’t something that he would use.

‘Looks like he sends it somewhere.’

Which meant that this wasn’t mindless labor, but a form of service.

He chopped the trees and sent them somewhere to make someone warm. That was the job Hercules was doing while stuck in this mountain.

“It’s a good job.”

“It’s nothing.”

Seemingly embarrassed, Hercules walked for a while in silence. After following him for a bit, a lone makeshift house was found.

A crude house made from cut logs.

However, the size was quite big. It looked too big to house a single person, and there were probably a few rooms in there.

‘So this is the same.’

The same cabin even in the far distant future. Looking at it again moved him anew.

“The door is open so go inside. I’ll take care of this and at least make you food.”

“It’s fine. I’m borrowing your house so I should at least prepare the food.”

“Didn’t you say you were tired?”

“I’m doing it to earn my stay.”

“......”

At his daring tone, Hercules lost his words for a second.

YuWon went to light a fire as if he owned the place, and then grabbed a bowl that had been piled on the one side and grabbed water.

Looking at YuWon skillfully grab the dried meat and vegetables and prepare the meal, Hercules started to chop the logs.

Punch—!

Drop, drop—

The logs were broken and chopped by hand.

The speed of the operation was fast. The logs that were cut by Hercules were thrown to a side and started to pile.

As that happened, the day came to an end.

Crackle, crackle—

A campfire was made in front of the cabin.

After finishing what he had to do, Hercules sat in front of the fire. YuWon put the food on a bowl made from carved wood and served it to Hercules.

“What’s your name?”

“Thought you’d never ask.”

YuWon took a spoonful of the soup made from miscellaneous ingredients and answered.

“Kim YuWon.”

“Kim YuWon…… First time hearing it. Looks like you’re not a ranker?”

“I’m still a player. But I’m still quite famous outside.”

“It’s been too long since I’ve stayed here by myself.”

Hercules didn’t really have much contact with the outside rankers.

He didn’t use his player kit that much, and he didn’t have a particularly close ranker within Olympus either. Maybe that was why, but Hercules was in a position where he didn’t know the events of the last few years.

“Still, you should go out into the world once in a while. Being cut off from the world is not that good.”

“Looks like you’re not that close with the world either even though you say that.”

“Does it look like that?”

“It does look like that.”

“You have good eyes.”

Having this short conversation, the two men’s expressions became the same. Laughing with a smirk for the first time in a while, Hercules felt a little peculiar.

“It’s strange.”

“What is?”

“I’ve definitely only met you today, but it’s strangely familiar.”

A conversation as smooth as flowing water. It felt as if he had met a friend he had known for a long time.

“Although you don’t seem to be the social type.”

“Are you talking about yourself?”

“That’s also true.”

“Seems similar people get along well.”

The meal went on for a little while.

During that time, Yuwon and Hercules shared stories of themselves.

“I am Hercules.”

“Ah, Hercules.”

“Have you heard of me?”

“There’s no way I haven’t heard of someone with a rank like yours.”

“......You weren’t surprised.”

“Woah.”

Seeing YuWon make an exaggerated shocked face, Hercules gave a dry chuckle.

Although he wasn’t one to brag about himself, he wasn’t so foolish as to not know his own position.

Hercules.

The high-ranker of Olympus, the one with the highest influence after the Three Main Gods.

His ranking was the highest after Zeus.

Against a regular mid-size, or some big guilds, he was strong enough to just go in and destroy it by himself.

But YuWon didn’t seem to care too much about that.

“Well,”

Crackle—

Hercules broke off a branch and put it into the burning fire and glanced at YuWon.

“It’s a matter of time. You’ll also climb there at some point.”

He thought YuWon was a peculiar fellow.

From what he heard, YuWon was not a ranker but a player who hadn’t finished climbing the entire tower.

But from the composed and gentle energy and image he gave off wasn’t something a normal player could have.

It felt as if he was facing a completely matured ranker.

This was the first time he had felt something like this.

“I enjoyed the talk. I’ve done all the things I need to do today, so I’ll be going to sleep.”

After clearing the bowls, Hercules stepped on the fire to put it out and then went into his home.

Following in behind him, YuWon was led to the one remaining room.

One huge bed made from wood was in it.

Lying down inside a cabin inside the peaceful forest, Yuwon felt relaxed.

But that was only for a moment.

Clack—

As soon as he held the necklace that he had put in his inventory, a lot of complicated thoughts started to surface.

‘I met you again anyhow.’

Hercules.

One of the high-rankers who had been considered to go back into the past between YuWon and Son OhGong.

And also, the hero YuWon respected the most. He was living alone here fighting a useless battle by himself.

“......Let’s think about it later.”

YuWon put the necklace back into his inventory.

And then, he finally closed his eyes.

Although it wasn’t as big and sturdy as a castle, this was safer than any other place in this enormous tower.

On that day, YuWon slept deep for the first time in a long while.

* * *

Three days had passed.

During that time, YuWon followed Hercules and also chopped trees.

“You’re hard working.”

“This is heavier than I thought.”

“You’re still carrying it all. The trees on this world are heavier and sturdier than steel. It’s that good of a material as well.”

After lugging the bundle of trees on his shoulder, YuWon felt its considerable weight.

He was also amazed at Hercules for carrying so many logs every day without using a single tool.

‘Just considering strength, he was the strongest in the tower.’

What was more impressive was that Hercules wasn’t using Gigantification right now.

On top of that, his Gigantification had been in use for a long time unlike YuWon’s so his proficiency with it would be incomparable.

“But why are you still here? You said you would rest and go.”

“I don’t dislike the life you live here.”

“Looks like there’s still a bit of time until the test starts?”

“More than enough.”

The conversation flowed comfortably.

During the last three days, Yuwon and Hercules conversed quite a lot.

Talking about what kind of life they lived, met what kind of people and experienced what kind of things.

Since they were close once before, it wasn’t that difficult to get close again.

However,

“But still, leave today.”

Boom—

He still hadn’t been able to talk about the thing that he needed to yet.

“Before night falls.”

Hercules put down the bundle of logs on his shoulder and looked at YuWon. His gentle eyes now held strength, and stress was put into his pupils.

Although it may look like he was angry, YuWon knew well what Hercules’s current expression meant.

‘It’s the face he makes before he fights.’

The start was here.

He was wondering how long he would have to stay chopping wood, but there didn’t seem to be a need anymore.

“Why today?”

“It’ll become dangerous here soon.”

“I’m confident in my ability to at least take care of myself.”

“But still leave.”

Hercules had a pained expression.

“......please.”

This was the base he lived in but he was still asking him politely to leave. He truly was just a stupidly good natured guy.

There were two reasons Hercules was asking YuWon to leave.

First was that he really was worried about YuWon’s safety,

And the second,

‘He doesn’t want to show himself fighting to me.’

Hercules’s fighting form didn’t look that good.

The form of grabbing an Outer with his bare hands and spiking it down into the ground was still burnt into YuWon’s eyes.

But from what he heard, Hercules during his Giant Slayer period was a little different.

“Back when I fought like that, I would lose control of myself.”

‘A mad Hercules……’

It was hard to imagine.

Although he felt that Hercules was scary a few times while fighting, he didn’t seem to go crazy in any of them.

Even though he had fought with him many times as Hercules had survived with the fight against the Outer Gods.

Boom—

After arriving at the cabin, YuWon put down the logs on the ground.

“Thanks for your work. But you must really go.”

Looking at the setting sun, Hercules rushed him.

However, having no intentions of doing that, YuWon ignored him and spoke.

“Before that, can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“Your personality is really different from what I heard.”

Giant Slayer.

He was called the Hero of Olympus in the world, but from the position of the Giants, Hercules was just a demon that had killed most of their kin.

However, Hercules didn’t fight because of Olympus.

He entered the war as he was the son of Zeus, but at the start, Hercules was on the side opposing the fight against the giants.

But,

“What’s the reason you hate the giants so much?”

After a certain day, Hercules’s eyes would flip and go mad whenever he saw a giant and would slaughter them.

And that was the same even now.

“......Don’t ask useless questions.”

“Weren’t you close with them before? With Surtr, Gigantes, and……”

“You—”

Hwaaaak—!

A dense force of mana pressed down on him from above.

YuWon thought his body would explode. It was so bad that a skill was activated automatically.

[‘Ocean’s Blessing’ envelops your body.]

‘Getting cut by a sword might be better than this.’

At that moment, half a screw had been loosened from Hercules.

Thankfully, he was able to dodge the oppressive mana with the help of ‘Ocean’s Blessing’. Even so, this was merely the instinctual wave of power that Hercules had emitted.

“What do you know to babble about this?”

“......I don’t.”

YuWon let out a long stuffy breath and spoke again.

“That’s why I’m asking—about what happened.”

He knew all about it, but he still wanted to hear it.

Hercules.

The story that his idol and his friend had told before. He wanted to hear the same story again.

However,

“Nothing happened.”

He couldn’t hear the answer.

Maybe it was obvious.

Bond and camaraderie YuWon felt was only felt by him at the end of the day.

From Hercules’s point of view, YuWon was just a ‘guest’ that he had talked with for the last few days.

‘But it’s a relief.’

Rumble, rumble—

The ground started to shake.

Before he knew it, as warned by Hercules, he could see the sun setting.

‘That the time finally arrived.’

This place was originally a world where both humans and giants lived together.

After the Gigantomachy, the relationship between humans and giants tore and the giants chose to hide themselves under the ground. However, they still lived in this world.

The 38th floor.

The land of humans and giants.

This was the world where the Gigantomachy took place.

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