Chapter 76: 76 Taels a Hero

"Two… two heroes!"

Exclamations kept coming from all around.

It clearly wasn't a language he knew, yet somehow he could understand every word of it without any barrier the moment he heard it—truly miraculous.

Tian Zhong swept a calm gaze around the area.

A spacious underground chamber lit by oil lamps.

On the floor, several faintly glowing concentric circles had been painted with some unknown pigment, layer upon layer.

All around, a ring of fellows wrapped in robes, kneeling on the ground, their mouths rising and falling with chants.

He wasn't some old fossil out of touch with society.

He still knew about the trope of being summoned to another world.

But summoning someone mid-bathroom break, toilet and all, and not even providing toilet paper—is that reasonable?

Or maybe he should be grateful they'd summoned the toilet along with him; otherwise, he'd be standing in a horse stance right now…

Beside him stood a tall, blonde woman.

Looking at her shorts and stockings, she was probably summoned here just like him.

But what was the meaning of the bloodstained short blade in her hand?

No… now wasn't the time to think about someone else; what he should be thinking about now was how to pull up his pants naturally.

He'd crossed worlds—surely they were supposed to give him some kind of superpower, right?

Like invisibility or something…

The moment he thought this, a status panel belonging to him appeared in his field of vision.

【Name: Tian Zhong Xiuqi】

【Race: Human】

【Level: LV1】

【HP: 90/90】

【Strength: 4】

【Agility: 3】

【Constitution: 4】

【Intelligence: 7】

【Spirit: 4】

【Racial Talent: Experience Gain +20%】

【Skills: Poison Resistance LV3, Mental Resistance LV4】

【Title: Hero (Not restricted by racial level cap; may randomly draw one special title or skill, usable)】

Hero, huh…

Tian Zhong's will focused on that "usable."

【Hero Title effect used】

【Skill acquired: …】

Three minutes after crossing into another world, looking at his newly acquired skill, a spark finally returned to Tian Zhong's eyes.

……

The priest slammed his forehead heavily against the stone floor; his silver-trimmed hood slipped askew, and his voice choked with emotion: "Ixion. Ixion, bless us!"

Two heroes appearing in the same era—such a thing was once in a thousand years!

This was proof that the Lord of Light deeply loved humanity, and he had been fortunate enough to take part in it!

Though the surrounding priests didn't know as much as the high priest, they too understood that one more hero meant one more fraction of hope for humanity's victory.

Some prayed devoutly in low voices, others whispered among themselves, sharing their excitement.

For the moment, the two heroes were left standing there unattended.

The blonde beauty's expression shifted several times, and finally she stepped forward and opened her mouth…

"Everyone, could you all look at me?"

Someone had spoken first—it was the exhibitionist beside her who still hadn't pulled up his pants.

Tian Zhong spoke the other world's common human tongue as naturally as if he'd known it from birth.

He raised one finger high, looked around, and saw that everyone's attention had been drawn to his words.

Perfect!

Flash—

In an instant of light, everyone froze in place.

Seeing this, Tian Zhong calmly pulled up his pants and closed the toilet lid.

He walked past the kneeling priests and left the underground chamber.

He also took a stack of grass paper of some unknown material on the way.

Not long after he left, everyone suddenly snapped out of it at the same moment.

The priest gazed at the figure successfully summoned within the array, tears of emotion streaming down his face.

"Su… success! The hero has been successfully summoned! Your Eminence, I have not failed your trust…"

He then softly praised the Lord of Light for sending down a hero, the embodiment of hope, in humanity's hour of peril.

Meanwhile, the blonde woman in the summoning array frowned as she surveyed her surroundings.

When her gaze swept past the white porcelain toilet beside her, she couldn't help but glance at it oddly once more.

——

Amethyst Dungeon, fifth floor.

Ooooh!

This power!

Great gouts of magical power surged up from within the Knight, so much that it couldn't contain it all, and the excess leaked out from every part of its body.

If one were to look at the Knight through the lens of magical perception right now, it would look just like a Saiyan powering up!

Not good, not good!

It feels like it's about to explode!

He hurriedly pressed the Knight against the fungal carpet, letting the excess magical power disperse outward through the mycelial network.

Only then did the Knight "cool down."

Lin Jun was now feeling a mix of excitement and lingering fear.

He'd still been a bit careless — he hadn't expected the effect to be this good. Next time he experimented, he shouldn't stay in the same space as his main body.

Dying from an experimental self-detonation as the fifth-floor overlord of a dungeon would be far too embarrassing.

All the magical power now pouring out of the Knight came from the light emitted by the 【Sun Stone (Fragment)】 being converted into magical power through 【Photosynthesis】.

Lin Jun even felt that the amount of magical power was probably more than what he'd get from sunbathing directly on the surface.

After all, none of the plants on the surface could produce this much magical power.

Worthy of a divine artifact!

Even though it's still incomplete.

This Sun Stone had been gathering dust in his hands for so long — at last he'd found its proper place.

But a new problem arose to trouble Lin Jun.

【Photosynthesis】 was a passive skill.

And the amount of magical power the Sun Stone provided was, suspiciously, a little too generous.

The Knight either had to stay connected to the mycelial network like now, channeling the excess magical power outward,

or it had to keep using various skills to burn through the magical power — otherwise it could just wait to explode like an overloaded magic crystal.

The blast would probably be even stronger than the 【Self-Destruct】 skill!

Other people's mecha run out of battery after some amount of time outside.

The Knight, meanwhile, after going out for any length of time, faces the risk of being burst apart by its own magical power…

It really gave the feeling of having gear far too good for oneself — that one didn't deserve the equipment.

Fortunately, Lin Jun currently had no situation that required the Knight to go all-out.

Just letting it serve as a magical-power generator for now was pretty good too.

……

Meanwhile, on the surface.

"Boss, is this normal?"

Before the Scout, Dilan canceled 【Mimicry】, revealing green skin that was a mix of mycelia and flesh.

Although he'd long known he wasn't really human anymore.

White mycelia had still been barely acceptable to look at.

But now, after Boss had given him this 【Photosynthesis】, he looked more and more like a giant goblin no matter how you looked at him.

Dilan couldn't accept it for the moment.

The Scout walked over and patted the listless Dilan with a tentacle.

"Dilan, this is the price of power!

If you're this hung up on gains and losses, how will you ever break through hardship and stand at the peak?"

"B-Boss, I wasn't thinking about anything about standing at the…"

"Foolish!"

Lin Jun cut Dilan off directly.

"If you don't get stronger, how will you protect your daughter?

It's just turning a little green!

If it's for your daughter, even if I added three more arms and four more legs to you, would you object?"

Dilan lay flat on the ground.

That's right!

It's all for his daughter!

It's just a change of color — after Mimicry it all looks the same anyway.

"Boss, I've thought it through, you're right! If it's for my daughter!"

Looking at Specimen No. 1 finally being persuaded, Lin Jun controlled the Scout and nodded its mushroom cap in satisfaction.

……

……

……

"Boss… uh… adding arms and legs was just a figure of speech, right?"

(End of chapter)