Chapter 39: Magical Shield Jump Wall-Clipping Teleportation

"Foreigner, can I ask you about something?"

"Sure, what do you want to know?"

"Are there any good places around Balkan City for leveling up?"

Flying Brick, who was still studying the copper coin, froze. It wasn’t his first time being asked a question by an NPC, but an NPC asking how to quickly gain Experience Value was definitely a first.

"I have an important mission, but my current strength isn’t enough, so I need to raise my level as quickly as possible," Blaze explained. He couldn’t mention Herbie and Audrey. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Flying Brick, but rather that Herbie and Audrey had placed their trust in him.

"I see... Those programmers are absolute slave drivers. Unlocking the next stage of the storyline actually requires the NPC to level up by themselves? Couldn’t they just tweak a few numbers?"

Flying Brick pinched his chin and muttered to himself for a moment before having a flash of inspiration.

"Could this be a stalling tactic? The next part of the storyline won’t unlock until the Black Beast Knight reaches a certain level. Damn it, and they even restricted it to the area around Balkan City! How despicable!"

Blaze looked completely bewildered, having no idea what Flying Brick was talking about. Fortunately, Flying Brick noticed his confusion.

"Ahem. There’s a place near Balkan City that’s particularly suitable, and that’s the Broken Steel Mountain Range."

Blaze wondered if it was just a coincidence. He paused and pressed further, "Are there any special monsters there?"

"Rare variants of the Steel Goat—the Golden Sheep and the Silver Goat. Defeating these two types of monsters yields a massive amount of Experience Value. However, fighting them is a hassle. You need ranged Skills or traps. After all, goats are *that* kind of creature."

Being "that kind of creature" meant that as long as a surface wasn’t completely vertical, they could sprint up any incline as if walking on flat ground. Sometimes, even when a person needed to climb on all fours, a goat could still stand leisurely on a steep slope.

"Ranged professions and traps... That’s not a problem, but climbing to the top of the mountain would take too much time."

A Hunter could acquire ranged Skills upon reaching Level 2, and traps could be prepared at the Adventurer’s Guild. But the cliffs that required a profession like [Climber] to scale were no joke.

Watching Blaze deep in thought, an idea suddenly popped into Flying Brick’s mind.

"You know about the mines beneath the Broken Steel Mountain Range, right?"

"I do. What about them?"

"In the mines of the Broken Steel Mountain Range, there’s a bug—er, Space Magic—that allows you to instantly reach the mountaintop." Flying Brick pulled out a map. It was a cross-sectional diagram of the Broken Steel Mountain Range’s interior, with several spots marked with red dots. "As long as you perform a magical dance at these specific locations, you’ll be teleported directly to the summit. I used to use this method to instantly get up the mountain and chop down goats to level up."

"What! There’s actually such a miraculous thing?"

For some reason, a hint of malice appeared on Flying Brick’s face, though it wasn’t directed at Blaze.

"Here’s how it works. Watch closely!"

Blaze quickly focused his attention. The ritual wasn’t very complicated. It only required a shield with a Spatial Attribute and a technique called Shield Jump, which involved using the shield like a skateboard. The process involved using Shield Jump toward a target, then stowing the shield into the inventory the exact moment you jumped and stepped on it.

Although it was called a ritual, it showed absolutely no reverence.

But the Effect was astonishing! The moment Flying Brick used Shield Jump against a tree, he was launched into the sky like a cannonball.

"AHHHHH—"

"YAAAAAA—"

Blaze and the chicken screamed at the same time. Blaze was startled, while the chicken shrieked because Flying Brick was flying several times faster than she could without using any Skills.

BOOM—

"Lucky! It actually worked on the first try."

Flying Brick had stomped a massive crater into the ground. Although he took fall damage, visibly, he just had a little more dust on him.

"I-I lost..." The chicken propped herself up with her wings, falling into absolute despair.

"That’s incredible, Foreigner! How on earth did you do that?"

"The principle behind this technique is... *sigh*..." Flying Brick rolled his eyes upward in thought, then said in a serious tone, "The Space Gemstone itself has a [Twist] Effect that allows for short-distance spatial jumps. Removing the shield during a Shield Jump allows the [Twist] to briefly envelop your entire body, enabling a microscopic spatial jump. This allows a person to clip into objects.

"When the Twist fades at that exact moment, the object will squeeze the person out. However, whether it results in phasing through the wall or an Ejection Effect is something you’ll have to test yourself.

"Using this technique at the locations I’ve marked will instantly launch you to the summit. I’ll give you this shield to use."

[Round Shield Decorated with a Space Gemstone]

[Modified from a soldier’s round shield, the embedded Space Gemstone can briefly create a Twist Defense Effect.]

"Thank you so much, Foreigner." To express his gratitude, Blaze gave Flying Brick his final Copper Coin of the day.

Regardless of the method, Flying Brick had been a huge help.

"Oh right, I actually wanted to tell you that I won’t be able to help you with that mission for a while. Our guild has a raid event for a troublesome Monster. It shouldn’t be a problem if I have others help collect the Star Fragments, right?"

Flying Brick was absolutely convinced that collecting Star Fragments was the quest Blaze had given him.

"Sure, you can have your companions, uh..." Blaze looked around and found the chicken still moping on the ground, so he gave her a gentle nudge with his foot. "I keep a Peregrine Falcon. You can contact me through the Peregrine Falcon to confirm the time and place to Exchange items."

"Oh, this design is too considerate for a long-term quest." Flying Brick discovered that the Black Beast Knight’s avatar had actually appeared in his contact list. "One Star Fragment in Exchange for one Copper Coin. The drop rate for the fragments is quite low, so yeah, it’s a fair trade."

Flying Brick’s business seemed genuinely urgent. After just a few words of idle chatter with Blaze, he was called away by a red Peregrine Falcon.

He had mentioned that the troublesome Monster would always retreat into a place inaccessible to the living at the very end. Because of this, Flying Brick and his guild had been racking their brains to trap the Monster, but they had consistently failed despite countless attempts.

"I hope things go smoothly for them."

Blaze took out the massive Star Fragment. The chicken still looked completely dazed, so he couldn’t count on her to explain anything to him.

CRACK—

Blaze crushed the stone, and a massive surge of starlight poured out, surging directly into his body.

[Level up conditions met]

[Level 32 (9) — Level 33 (11)]

[Night Watcher Level 1 — Level 2]

[Learnable Skills: Dark Assault F / Guardian of the Dead F / Soul Sanctuary F / Black Shadow Stealth F / Night Pupil F / Shared Vision F]

[True Name Determination]

[Constellation Power F — Leo F]

[Reduces damage taken from Slash and Pierce by 50%]

DONG—

A massive bell tolled, its sound echoing through the mysterious Golden Tree Sea, as tiny voices carried through the leaves.

[It has appeared]

[Is the first one the Lion?]

[The stars have been found]

[Who is it?]

[The Lion is about to awaken]

[Send the message out]

[Find him]

[Weave the Bow from vines]

[Bring the Bow to him]

[Bring the wick to him]

[The Night Watcher needs a lantern]

[Give him the guidance to the place where the stars fell]