I Start with 13 Hidden Traits Chapter-22

**Pure-White Knight, Serengeti**

Ch-22. **Pure-White Knight, Serengeti**

—

If we don’t give them an egg, a battle with the forest will begin.

But giving one is also a problem.

“Hmm. What are you doing?”

I held out the Celestial Egg, but as expected, it seemed the High Dryad couldn’t see it.

Of course—only I can see the egg that contains a Celestial Spirit.

Let alone revive a forest, it wasn’t even a spirit of the natural world.

Maybe I really should run.

It pains me to lose reputation for failing a quest, but… if I put up a barrier with Star Claw and Isabella and Hudson hold out for just thirty seconds, I could probably use the Teleport Book.

“Take this, resident of the forest.”

While I was seriously considering running, Isabella stepped forward.

Moments later, she handed the High Dryad a spirit egg.

The High Dryad’s eyes widened like lanterns.

“Th-the Spirit of Wind!”

An egg of the Wind Spirit.

A natural spirit capable of restoring a dead forest!

Judging from its size and the aura it radiated, the forest would gain even more vitality and grow larger than before.

Wind Spirits were much more suitable than Rock Spirits for nurturing a forest.

Joy surged into the High Dryad’s eyes.

“Thank you—thank you so much! You are the benefactors and friends of our forest!”

“O forest!”

“Hooray!”

The dryads who had been silently watching also erupted into excited cheers.

And simultaneously—

<<You have gifted the Wind Spirit to ‘Rustling Forest’.>>

<<‘Sub-Quest: Return a Spirit to the Forest’ has been completed.>>

<<Reward: Achievement ‘Friend of the Dryads’, Forest’s Gratitude>>

<<A waypoint for ‘Rustling Forest’ has been added to the Teleport Book.>>

<<There are now 3 registered waypoints (Desert Sanctuary, Arcana Sewers, Rustling Forest).>>

<>

A line declaring quest completion appeared.

But the message barely registered in my mind.

…To be honest, I was a bit surprised. I never imagined Isabella would give up the spirit egg she obtained after clearing the trial in the Spirit Tower without hesitation.

There’s no way she didn’t understand its value.

In fact, she knew its value *too* well.

“…”

When I stared at her, Isabella simply shrugged.

As if it were nothing.

Only then did I realize—this, too, was part of the “service” I had commanded from her.

In exchange for escaping the desert, Isabella had sworn to serve me for a year.

She was showing her resolve to serve me wholeheartedly, even offering what was hers.

“Today, we must hold a festival!”

The High Dryad beamed as she began dancing joyfully.

*

<<The Hall of Fame has been updated.>>

<<The rankings for ‘Main Quest 3 – Climbing the Tower’ have changed.>>

<1st, 240 points. Randolph>

<2nd, 219 points. Gracia>

<3rd, 191 points. MintChocolateIsTasty>

<4th, 188 points. Black Obsidian>

<5th, 180 points. Master>

<6th, 175 points. Massacre>

……

<<‘Massacre’ has dropped one rank in ‘Climbing the Tower’.>>

<<The entitlement ‘Guardian Wall’ from Main Quest 3 has decreased from Lv. 6 → Lv. 5.>>

Massacre, who had been waiting in front of the Tower of the War God, contorted his face.

‘What kind of bulls**t is this?’

He had been leisurely waiting for the person presumed to be Randolph, and suddenly his ranking dropped.

And with the ranking drop, the level of his Guardian Wall fell as well.

‘I poured my soul into climbing the Storm Tower…!’

In Main Quest 3, anyone in the top 100 receives an entitlement called ‘Guardian Wall.’

Ranks 10 through 100 all receive a Lv. 1 Guardian Wall, but ranks 1 through 9 receive different levels depending on their placement.

Gracia had climbed the towers for months solely to earn a higher-level Guardian Wall.

His effort paid off—he obtained 10 points and a Lv. 10 Guardian Wall with 219 points.

Massacre was the same.

He had conquered the Storm Tower with painstaking effort, ranking 5th and earning a Lv. 6 Guardian Wall.

Guardian Wall protects one’s real-world body while logged out.

No matter how high one’s level is in Pangaenia, if the physical body dies, it’s over.

But few protections existed that guarded the real-world body autonomously without requiring the use of a “Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale,” like Guardian Wall did.

They couldn’t just keep a Guardian Amulet activated forever.

So everyone climbed the towers desperately.

Crack!

‘Phantom. No—Randolph…!’

He felt like he might die of rage.

A Main Quest cleared once could never be attempted again.

If he was this angry, what must Gracia feel like, having his first place stolen three times already?

Gracia had raised his Guardian Wall to level 10 after months of leveling under the worst possible conditions.

He raised his level to 7 without even progressing the Main Quest.

And he risked death to climb the Immortal’s Tower.

Yet even with that, he only had 219 points.

What kind of tower did that bastard Randolph climb to reach 240 points?!

‘What kind of trick did he pull?’

It meant he had climbed a tower higher than the Immortal’s Tower.

There was no way he cleared it normally.

Phantom possessed every bit of knowledge about Pangaenia—he must have used some bug. Otherwise, it made no sense.

Huff! Huff!

Massacre steadied his breaths.

“Damn it! This goddamn—!!”

But no matter how he tried to calm himself, his anger didn’t subside.

*

<‘Randolph’ has taken 1st place.>

Messages appeared the moment I entered the Hall of Fame.

First place was still first place, but something was clearly different.

‘An upgrade to the entitlement rank.’

By securing first place in Main Quest 3, Climbing the Tower, the entitlement Guardian Wall was generated.

I immediately read its description.

【Guardian Wall (Lv. 11)】

★ Protects and alerts your logged-out body from danger.

★ The level of the Guardian Wall determines the strength it can withstand.

★ A level 11 Guardian Wall nullifies attacks up to 1-Star transcendent for 30 seconds.

My eyes snapped wide open.

‘That’s a relief.’

This entitlement was one of the things I needed most desperately.

It meant that when I logged into Pangaenia, it protected Hyunmyung Park’s real body—
and when I returned to reality, it protected Randolph’s body in Pangaenia.

A perfect shield that nullified even transcendent 1-Star attacks for 30 seconds!

‘So instead of the usual Lv. 10, passing the limit score upgraded it to Lv. 11.’

So entitlement ranks could be upgraded depending on the score.

And 30 seconds was more than enough time to recover and reposition.

‘The Fragment of the Broken Golden Scale is now at 72 hours remaining.’

That wasn’t the only reward for first place.

Another 24 hours had been added, bringing my total remaining time to 72 hours. Considering the future, the more time I had, the better.

“Star-bearer, thank you. I never imagined I would obtain a spirit.”

While the dryads danced and held a festival, Hudson approached me.

He had obtained a Water Spirit Egg.

He had ‘water’ in his talents, so it was natural.

“To make an official contract, you’ll need to hatch it first.”

“Yes. Once we return, I’ll purchase a Spirit Incubator.”

The most common way to hatch a spirit egg was through a Spirit Incubator.

It was offered by the Spirit Association, located only in a few major cities, for a very steep fee.

“What kind of egg did you get, Holy One?”

“I don’t know either.”

“…Sorry?”

Hudson blinked at my reply.

But what could I do? It was the truth.

Even though it’s a celestial spirit, I had no idea what it was.

I didn’t know if “celestial” meant the demon realm, the divine realm, or some unknown world entirely.

“Kihihihi!”

“Bwahahaha!”

“Let’s play! Let’s dance!”

The dryads danced joyfully in a circle.

“…”

And in the middle of them stood Isabella.

The one who gifted the Wind Spirit—she was the greatest guest of honor among us.

But she simply stood there awkwardly, unsure what to do.

‘Good thing she got two eggs.’

Isabella had obtained two eggs during her climb of the Spirit Tower.

No wonder she gave one up so easily—she had another.

Even so, it was undoubtedly a difficult decision. Spirit eggs were incredibly valuable.

Especially spirits obtained from the Spirit Tower—they were far stronger than ordinary spirits.

‘To think she’d offer a thousand-year-old mandragora as a gift.’

In Isabella’s hands was a human-shaped plant—an ancient mandragora.

It was a supreme elixir that had lived a thousand years by absorbing the forest’s vitality.

Eating such an elixir would awaken a new talent.

Of course, for me—already without room for more talents—it wouldn’t do anything.

“I want to hatch it as soon as possible. A spirit should be enough to resolve my shortcomings.”

Hudson’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

Was he envisioning a future where he hunted alongside a spirit?

The path from 9 to 10—impossible alone—might be possible with a spirit.

“Before that, there’s somewhere we must go together.”

“There’s still one more place to visit?”

“Yes.”

“I will follow you no matter what.”

When I nodded, Hudson clenched his fist, eyes burning with determination.

He seemed ready to follow me to the ends of the world.

I let out a small laugh.

Follow me no matter what?

“I expect you to keep that promise.”

*

“…”

Hudson regretted every bit of his earlier declaration to follow me no matter what.

After stepping through the warp, he could only stare blankly at the territory before him.

Gulp.

“Wh…why this place…?”

“Do you recognize it?”

“This is… the Marquisate of Weiser, in the Kingdom of Valan… isn’t it…?”

Of course he recognized it.

Serengeti.

The place where the woman he once promised a future with lived—
the woman with whom he had held a secret engagement—
the woman who returned from the Grand Expedition with both legs severed.

Hudson’s body trembled.

He wasn’t ready to face her.

He hadn’t become a city councillor, nor even reached level 10.

But he couldn’t understand why the Star-bearer had brought him here.
Was the Star-bearer actually trying to set up a reunion between him and Serengeti?

“Th-the place you said we must visit together is…?”

Hudson swallowed again before speaking.

I nodded firmly.

“This is the place.”

The Kingdom of Valan—made up of thirteen great cities.

Among them, this was the place known as the “Garden of Knights.”

But I hadn’t come here because of Hudson.

‘The end of the Grand Expedition—the day I fought the Demon King.’

Serengeti, the Pure-White Knight.

She had joined the Grand Expedition as one of the 500 knights, and in trying to save me, had fallen into a trap and lost her lower body.

She had been my closest aide during the expedition.

And she was also the only witness who saw me fight the Demon King.