The Second Salvation Myth of a Retired Regressed Hero

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Growth rate adjustment and potential limit adjustment. Under this systemized numeric progression, these two buffs held immense value.

“Not only that, such buff types are so rare that merely acquiring them is considered priceless.”
Their rarity was practically on par with S-Tier skills.
Even then, they were mostly self-applicable only, had excessively stringent conditions to affect others, or had low values.
But Doyun’s trait differed.
First, the conditions were extremely lenient. Even if loopholes didn’t work, the requirements were still far easier compared to other growth buffs.
The 10% value was also tremendously high.
“Lenient conditions and a high value. For this type of buff, satisfying even one aspect causes their worth to skyrocket. But Doyun meets both criteria, making his utterly dominant among this class!”
An excited Millaine enthusiastically explained to Doyun.
“In fact, even if Doyun had no combat prowess or other abilities, just this buff alone would be worth over 200 gold coins in monthly salary!”

Doyun merely smiled wordlessly. From the start, assessing his worth within this guild had become meaningless.
Moreover, Millaine still didn’t know about his 40,000 gold coin assets.
The 40,000 gold coins tucked away again within Doyun’s Nebula, awaiting a convincing pretext the financial department and Millaine would accept.
How would Millaine react when she eventually learned that Doyun had already given the guild far more than the contract fee they had offered him?
Doyun suppressed the burgeoning mischievous urge within.

“In any case, let’s experiment first!”
They began by confirming the specific scope of ‘those under your command.’
First, Millaine officially formed Doyun’s team on paper, assigning Sophie to it.
Immediately, Sophie could see a system message appear before her.
“Oh…! It really applied? Just like that?”
“Yes. But… um… there’s not just growth rate and potential adjustments, there’s one more…”
“Pardon? What is it?”
Millaine and Eloah alternated wide-eyed looks between Doyun and Sophie.
“‘You will exhibit peak performance when fighting alongside your Master on the battlefield’…”
A buff that allowed maintaining optimal condition without being affected by fatigue, mental states or other variables in combat.
Millaine and Eloah were aghast at this morale-boosting ability on top of everything else – an exceedingly potent high-level buff as well.
“Just, just what kind of trait is this…?”
Millaine muttered in bewilderment, while Eloah looked at Doyun with eyes full of curiosity.
Doyun secretly sent Eloah a telepathic message revealing just the trait name [First Guild Master] and a general overview of its abilities.
Eloah nodded in inward admiration – a truly befitting, paramount trait for the Hero.

In any case, the experiments continued.
“It’s not working…”
“Hmm…”
The result was failure – Millaine joining Doyun’s team didn’t trigger the buff effects.
This confirmed that mere paperwork loopholes wouldn’t suffice.
The exact trigger condition remained unclear – whether one had to genuinely commit to following Doyun, or if the system itself could discern exploitative intent and block it.
They would have to observe more diverse cases and results to unravel it.

“What a pity. I can’t apply it to everyone then.”
“Oh come now, no need for such disappointment. I wasn’t even expecting it to work through loopholes – that would have been too much like a thief’s trickery.”
As Millaine said, the situation remained positive.
They had at least confirmed Sophie easily fell within the buff’s scope, without any grandiose procedures like joining Doyun’s guild or pledging knightly oaths.
In other words, the conditions were likely quite lenient. While unconfirmable for now, it was still an encouraging sign.

“You have any more surprises for me, Lucky Star?”
Millaine grinned slyly, playfully nudging Doyun with her elbow. But Doyun averted her gaze.

And so the discussion about Doyun’s buffs concluded for the time being. Sophie and Doyun needed to prepare for the upcoming expedition.
Eloah briefly explained the details to them.

“The destination was originally just an unmapped wilderness area without any particular distinctions. However, around 70 years ago shortly after the current Demon Lord’s ascension, an unprecedented mana signature began manifesting there.”
Despite not being a mana domain, the area’s sudden mana detection warranted scrutiny as an anomaly. Thus, the Alliance had conducted extensive investigations there.
However, repeated surveys yielded no findings in the vicinity.

“Since then, the Alliance has periodically dispatched scouting parties to consistently monitor the site. But 70 years later, the sense of vigilance has long faded, reduced to a mere routine formality.”
Doyun and Sophie nodded – a suitably simple task befitting trainees embarking on their first expedition.

“Let’s see, where was the location…”
Eloah’s finger traced along the map spread on the desk.
And as it did, Doyun’s expression gradually shifted into a peculiar one.

“Here. This mountain range.”
As Eloah’s finger stopped, Doyun narrowed his eyes.
‘This place…?’

The location Eloah had pointed to was quite familiar to Doyun.
It was the prime mana cultivation spot he had used in his past life, and the place where Enoch Războlnic’s legacy of alchemical medicines had been stored.