Subscriber of the Gods

When you earned an achievement

Accuracy was the foundation of Heo’s Acupuncture. The slightest misplacement could cause more harm than good.

‘Control is important.’

Ethan concentrated his mind, and then he tried to cast Heo’s Acupuncture. As the skill activated, a needle formed in his empty hand.

A needle made of mana.

‘I have to put the needles all over my body.’

Ethan kept replaying Heo Jun's video, checking the location of the acupuncture points. He kept going over in his head where to place the needles to be effective.

He didn't have a bad memory, but it didn't take him long to remember.

‘Both thighs, shoulders, solar plexus, forehead.’

And there were many other veins. These veins were the pathways of mana.

‘My mana road is too narrow for the skill to be effective.’

But that didn't stop him.

Ethan practiced acupuncture over and over again for the rest of the day.

-Understanding Hoe’s Acupuncture, proficiency increases by 0.3%.

“Oh, I'm getting better at this than I thought.”

0.3%.

It wasn't a small figure, and at this rate, he could quickly master the skill on his own.

“And…”

Originally, Ethan had planned to eat a medicinal rice cake ball tonight, made from a mixture of herbs. It was a different recipe than a potion, but then he remembered something else.

‘I'm pretty sure there was a video of Heo Jun making decoctions.’

Earlier, he'd been in a hurry and had only learned how to use Heo’s Acupuncture, but he could definitely learn how to make decoctions.

It was time to start mixing the herbs in his stash.

Late that night.

Ethan made his way to the magic laboratory.

It was originally meant for Nathan Whickers. But now that he was at the Academy, it was empty.

It didn't have a lot of materials or tools, but it did have the tools needed to mix some herbs.

‘The Count of Whickers isn't that great of a family.’

The most prominent families in the vicinity were the Count of Eurahan, whose wealth was immense despite being of the same title, and the Marquis of Dren, whose family was a member of the Twelve Stars, the twelve great powers of the continent.

‘Although there are three powerful houses above the Twelve Stars.’

Above the Twelve Stars, there were three absolute powerhouses. The Holy Emperor of the Divine Empire, the Emperor of the Magic Empire, the Demon Emperor, and the Sword Tower Master, the owner of the Sword Tower stood between the two empires.

‘Anyway, there are 12 powers in the vicinity, so the insignificant Count of Whickers is no match compared to them.’

If it weren't for Nathan Whickers, this laboratory would never have been built in the first place.

Arriving at the laboratory, Ethan laid out the herbs he had brought by type.

Then he opened [New World].

-Would you like to watch Heo Jun's video on making decoctions?

The acupuncture and making decoctions video were free and open to the public. Ethan immediately started it.

Just like when he watched the acupuncture video, the images began to come alive before his eyes.

-There's one thing you need to do to make a decoction. It's about controlling the fire. If you don't control the fire properly, it won't be a medicine, it'll just be something bitter.

Heo Jun said with a serious face.

-Poison can be medicine, and vice versa, medicine can be poison, so don't draw a line between poison and medicine.

Ethan focused on the video and tried to remember Heo Jun's words as best he could.

After a while, the video ended.

-You have learned Heo’s Decoction (A)! (TLN: Decoction Making? Creating? Crafting? I’m still not sure what to call this skill. If any of you have a better name for it, please help me T_T.)

“Done.”

Ethan quickly gathered up the herbs he had laid out.

‘Half of it is to be made into medicinal rice cake balls and eaten. The rest is made into a decoction.’

No matter how good the acupuncture was, it wouldn't get rid of all the rotting mana.

‘If I eat this, I can get rid of the rotting mana that's accumulating.’

Then he wouldn't die from a single cough. It wouldn't cure the disease, but it might alleviate some of the symptoms.

Ethan took out a good-sized pot, poured the herbs into it, and set it on fire.

Hiss–

It wasn't long before the decoction began to boil.

“Stir constantly. And never stop.”

Making the decoction itself was easy. He just stirred it while casting the skill.

‘Fire control. And stir without stopping!’

The ingredients weren't plentiful, so they couldn't be wasted.

So Ethan worked hard to make the decoction.

-You've made a beginner's decoction!

-Rating in progress......

-Beginner's Decoction [Grade D]

“Hmm.”

The decoction he made was ranked D. Not bad for a first-time brew.

‘The smell of the medicine is making me nauseous.’

The better the medicine, the stinkier the smell. Ethan didn't hesitate and took the decoction along with the medicinal rice cake ball.

Gulp, gulp.

Ethan gulped it down without hesitation.

“Ah.”

As soon as he finished eating, his body gave him a signal. A hot sensation settled in his lower stomach, and it moved fiercely to his fingertips.

Tuk. Tuk.

In a flash, the energy reached his fingertips, and then it was gone, replaced by something black from Ethan's fingertips.

“Crazy.”

Ethan marveled at Heo Jun's technique in making a decoction.

He hadn't expected such a dramatic effect.

His own potion-making skills could only provide moderate relief.

‘You'd have to be an A-grade alchemist to make a potion with such an immediate effect.’

After a moment of surprise, something appeared in front of Ethan's eyes.

-You've earned an achievement!

-You earned likes based on the difficulty of the achievement!

-You've earned '1' likes!

“Huh?”

Ethan looked at the notification and was taken aback.

He didn't think there would be achievements, after all, that was part of the original MePan, but this place wasn't a game at all.

And what was surprising was, he earned one like.

‘I got likes?’

Ethan's eyes widened.

He'd earned a like for completing an achievement.

“So I get likes every time I accomplish something like clearing an achievement?”

Ethan smiled to himself.

‘So that's how it works?’

If so, that would change things.

In Ethan's mind right now, there were tons of achievements he knew about.

This achievement system, was an element of the game that allowed players to enjoy various content as they played, making them more immersed in the game.

So there were a lot of players who aimed to get all the achievements, and Ethan had done it before.

“Achievement window.”

At that time, he checked that there was no Inventory Window, so he didn't think to call up the other windows. Since they weren't needed right now.

-Achievement System!

Achievements currently accomplished: 1 / 999

“Something's different.”

Ethan glanced at the assignment window and touched his chin.

The numbers weren't what he knew.

‘It was definitely 382.’

But the achievement increased to 999.

And given the nature of these numbers, there was a good chance it would grow.

Also, none of the 382 achievements he knew of were the ones he had just done.

As an all-clear achievement player, he was sure of this.

‘Basically, there were many achievements related to the basics, dungeons, and main scenarios.’

There were also a lot of achievements that were fun in different ways. Some were location-specific, some were class-specific, and some were completely unattainable.

‘There were some that you could only get if you made a name for yourself as an Archmage or Swordmaster.’

Apparently, different levels of difficulty earned different numbers of likes.

It appears that the number of likes earned varies based on the level of difficulty in achieving a certain accomplishment.

“Then.”

If he started with the achievements he could accomplish right now, he could increase the number of likes he had.

‘I'll be able to utilize [New World] better.’

* * *

“Huuh. Huuh.”

The training room at the Count's estate.

Originally, this room was used by Ethan when he was healthy.

After Ethan became so weak, no one else used it, and it became a place that the count's servants rarely traveled to.

‘It's so hard just to do basic physical training.’

He couldn't train properly with normal methods. Since he had no basic physical strength, he had to train for at least two or three months before he could do anything.

“Haah. Haah.”

Ethan spent a week working on his basic physical strength. Obviously, there were achievements that could be earned by increasing one's basic physical strength.

-You have earned an achievement!

-You have earned likes for the achievement [Physical strength is national strength. Beyond the level of a newborn baby!]

-You have earned '1' amount of likes!

This brought the total number of likes he had to two.

“Good!”

‘I'm not sure, but I don't think everything has changed. It's more likely that new things have been added to the information I already knew.’

Now that he had proven that the achievements that he knew were still there, so now all he had to do was just prove them one by one.

“Let's clear the easy ones first.”

* * *

-You have earned an achievement!

-You have earned an achievement!

Ethan continued to work his way through the basic achievements.

Originally, these achievements were quests designed to level up or get items early in the game.

Because of this, there were a number of low-difficulty ones and many that were easy to accomplish.

“With this, I've accomplished all I can accomplish in the beginning.”

By the time he was done with the basic physical strength training and Heo’s Acupuncture, he had a total of five likes and his body was in pretty good shape.

“It’s still not enough……”

He wasn't in good enough shape to properly unleash the power of the Whiskers' swordsmanship yet.

So Ethan decided to subscribe to the new god with the likes he had accumulated so far.

He decided he needed more help than watching more of Heo Jun's videos.

‘Let's take a look.’

They had already helped him survive once. If so, there must be an appropriate god who could help him improve his basic physical strength.

If he subscribed to that god, he would surely be able to increase his basic strength quickly.

Ethan opened the New World, a platform where he could subscribe to gods once again.

-Gods you are currently subscribed to: 1

-Checking your current status. Algorithmizing gods to match you......

-You are currently subscribed to 1 god: Heo Jun. Checking your interests around Heo Jun.......

“Is it because the gods made it themselves? The algorithm is so thorough.”

Shrrrkkk.

The list of gods rearranged itself and at the top. And a video appeared with a thumbnail of a crudely made lion skin.

The uploader of the video was a demigod of Greek mythology.

-Hercules' Basic Physical Strength Course [Difficulty Level: Medium]

“I should subscribe right away.”

Hercules was a powerful demigod known for his physical prowess, and his video workouts could be a great way to build a strong foundation.

“Wait. What is this?”

Ethan was about to hit subscribe when he noticed something new.