Chapter 80

Chapter 80: Earnest Wish (3)

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ invites you to the administrator territory. 」 

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ invites you to the admini… 」 

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ invites you to… 」 

It was only a brief moment that I was bewildered by the countless invitation messages pouring in.

Soon, I realized why the White Crane Sword Saint sent out so many invitation messages.

‘Is this because I didn’t accept her invitation when she invited me at the same time as the Iron-Blooded Monarch?’

It was just a speculation, but perhaps the White Crane Sword Saint thought I had no intention of accepting an invitation.

So I wondered if that was why she was restlessly sending the invitation message out of impatience.

In any case, even with the system expansion this time, they said that the [additional contract] can only be made once, so it couldn’t be helped for him but to be anxious as an administrator.

After assuming up to that point, I immediately opened my mouth.

The administrator’s observation territory had now been expanded, and they said that the administrators could watch the challengers not only on the trial stage but also in the waiting room.

Which means?

‘It would mean the White Crane Sword Saint is also looking at me.’

It was also an opportunity to tell the White Crane Sword Saint that I had a will to sign an additional contract as well.

White Crane Sword Saint.

The power this administrator has isn’t something to be taken lightly.

Even the power of Sword Ki mastery was already overpowered, what else could there be if it’s the other ones?

Although there may not be that many powers that are at the level of Sword Ki Mastery, there would be quite a few.

Therefore, I concluded that there was nothing wrong with signing an additional contract with the White Crane Sword Saint.

“…It’s not that I’m not planning to accept the invitation.”

There was no need for me to tell the White Crane Sword Saint all this and that.

Such as why I prioritized the invitation sent by the Iron-Blooded Monarch or didn’t accept her invitation immediately.

The White Crane Sword Saint wasn’t that foolish for me to explain all of that one by one.

“I just need a little time to prepare, so please wait, and I’ll accept the invitation soon.”

Perhaps the White Crane Sword Saint became aware that I was willing to sign an additional contract?

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ puffs out her cheeks and replies that she understood it. 」

Such a message came up, and finally, the invitation messages pouring down like rain became silent.

I didn’t feel so comfortable looking at the message of an administrator who seemed to be quite elderly, inflating her cheeks, though.

Seeing that administrator messages aren’t popping up, I guess she understood the meaning of what I said.

‘Actually, I could’ve just responded to the White Crane, but….’

I didn’t immediately accept the invitation of the White Crane Sword Saint on purpose.

This was for me to take the front foot in dealing with the administrator.

Those who didn’t know their own worth must’ve responded to this invitation and signed a contract immediately, but…

After meeting Kim Seunghoon and Oh Choonsuk this time, I clearly realized how absurd I was as a challenger.

‘Except for Kim Seunghoon, there’s no one that can be compared to me on the Korean server right now.’

At least among Korea’s challengers, probably no one had achieved growth as well as I did.

Therefore, I’d be a pretty attractive contract partner for an administrator who trains challengers and gets rewarded by the Tower.

The first contract was arranged by the Tower, but additional contracts could be made under the agreement between the challenger and the administrator.

For that reason, the White Crane Sword Saint, who had been watching me since the 9th floor, felt impatient and sent me an invitation as soon as the [Interfere Territory] was expanded.

‘It would mean that the White Crane Sword Saint is quite interested in me.’

Then I had to make use of it.

By establishing that I was the one who was taking the lead in terms of additional contracts and moving to the administrator territory. 

And at the same time, make the White Crane Sword Saint think I was already caught in her fishnet so she couldn’t take me lightly.

In this way, I’d be able to maintain my value for a longer period of time.

It was simple psychological warfare.

By nature, human beings tend to be more obsessed with jewels that are about to be reached than the jewels held in their hands.

Of course, such a reason was the basis for not accepting the invitation right away, but…

That didn’t mean I turned down the invitation when I had nothing to do.

I had to properly check the Wind’s Blessing, which I couldn’t previously because I was talking to the Iron-Blooded Monarch.

And I was also going to convert the soul that the [Darkness Devouring Snake] left in the trial of the 10th floor into stats.

As I knew clearly what to do, I opened the skill window of Wind’s Blessing without wasting any more time.

And…

「 Skill – Wind’s Blessing (A-) 」 

「 Proficiency – 0% 」 

「 Effect – Upon declaring the skill name, increase all speeds by 10%. This effect can be stacked up to seven times. Upon reaching max stacks, 1% of total mana will be consumed every minute.. 」 

Upon seeing the skill window of Wind’s Blessing, I couldn’t help but be astonished.

“Oh…”

The cooldown given as a penalty for the final stack had disappeared.

To be accurate, the penalty of the final stack didn’t disappear but was changed to a penalty of consuming 1% of total mana power every minute, though…

At least I felt satisfied that I wouldn’t experience as many troubling situations because of not being able to use the Wind’s Blessing.

‘Well, for mana, I’ll just have to make an alternate method to replenish it anyway…’

Obviously, in this case, 1% of the total mana would be consumed every minute, so the regeneration amount would be more important than the amount of mana pool.

While thinking about that, I absorbed the soul of the Darkness Devouring snake.

This was to prevent it from being consumed by Necromancy’s passive shield by any chance.

「 Permanently increasing your stats by absorbing the soul of Darkness devouring snake. 」 

「 Strength increased by 4. 」

「 Agility increased by 3. 」

「 Stamina increased by 3. 」

「 Mana increased by 6. 」

「 Tenacity increased by 4. 」

As a bunch of stats went up, the pleasure of growth rose up all over my body.

Considering the difficulty of hunting the Darkness Devouring Snake, which was surprisingly easy, it was a pretty good reward, but…

「 Acquiring one of the Darkness Devouring Snake’s skills. 」 

Maybe I was lucky this time. The rewards didn’t stop there this time around.

「 You have received the skill ‘Mana Operation (A-)’. 」

One of the Darkness Devouring Snake’s skills was acquired through skill absorption, which is activated with a certain probability.

It was a whopping A- rank, not just a random mediocre ranked skill.

「 Skill – Mana Operation (A-) 」 

「 Proficiency – 0% 」 

「 Effect – With regards to mana operation, you have stepped into the realm of natural talent, and most of the restrictions related to mana management will be lifted. However, skill proficiency increases only through independent realization, and the frequency of usage doesn’t affect Proficiency.」 

“…I was really lucky.”

No way… to think that I was able to acquire this kind of skill by absorbing the soul.

A- rank skills were rarely dropped, even as a reward for trial, but acquiring it through Necromancy?

Currently, I could say that it was like I won a lottery.

‘Every time this happens, it sinks in that Necromancy is an overpowered innate ability.’

When it comes to growth, other innate abilities wouldn’t be able to keep up with it.

While feeling satisfied, I slowly read the description of the Mana operation skill.

And as soon as I finished reading the explanation, I raised the corners of my mouth.

-With regards to mana operation, you have stepped into the realm of natural talent, and most of the restrictions related to mana management will be lifted.

What this sentence meant was simple—

I can wield and perform mana operations like a person with great aptitude.

Moreover, most of the restrictions related to mana operation are lifted, which means I can use mana the way I want to.

Of course, there had to be a penalty that the Proficiency wouldn’t rise at all if there was no independent realization, but that couldn’t be helped.

‘Even if I don’t get that independent realization, there’ll be a way to increase my proficiency as I climb the tower.’

Just like the ‘Skill Proficiency Potion’ acquired as a common reward for the trial of the 10th floor.

It was more important to establish a foothold for growth based on the rewards of trials rather than talent.

The higher the growth power, the more opportunities I’d be getting to raise my skill level.

And it’s the Tower of Trials that makes it possible.

***

[Translator – Ramen ]

[Proofreader – DVN-L ]

***

“…”

Soon, I got up from my seat and began raising the mana in my body.

As stated in the mana operation skill, I had now been freed from most of the restrictions related to mana operation.

Which means?

‘It would mean that in terms of mana abilities, my skill would be in a different league.’

It didn’t take that long to confirm that fact.

The moment after concentrating the mana into my right foot and stomping it.

Slaaaaaam……..!!

The wind pressure created at the point of impact was so intense that it left a graze on my cheek.

It was completely different from the simple strengthening of the body through the mana circuit before.

‘It’d be safe to assume that my physical ability has increased several times.’

It was then—

「 Skill ‘Mana Operation (A-)’ activated, and the mana circuit inside the body is greatly affected. 」 

「 Skill ‘Mana Circuit (D)’ is forcibly upgraded by the skill ‘Mana Operation (A-)’. 」

The skill rank of the mana circuit changed as its Proficiency rose significantly due to Mana Operation.

Due to the growth of the skill level, the mana circuit inside the body also started to grow rapidly.

“…!?”

Crunch—!

As the branch of the mana circuit multiplied and became bigger, it felt like the path through which the mana flows was getting wider.

And after a while, the pain subsided, and a message appeared in front of my eyes.

「 The rank of skill ‘Mana Circuit (D)’ has been forcibly adjusted to C+. 」

I felt dazed looking at the skill level that had risen several ranks at once.

“…This is different from what I expected.”

Killing two birds with one stone.

In fact, I didn’t even think about the increase in the performance of the mana circuit, but the skill rank was forcibly increased through the mana operation.

‘Then maybe?’

As a result, I immediately started to activate other skills through mana operation one by one.

Most of the skills can’t be used unless the caster’s capability matches the condition.

Therefore there’s this thing called skill aptitude which exists, and the method of acquiring the skill is defined.

‘Of course, thanks to the Tower of Trials, you could learn skills even by ignoring the skill aptitude, though.’

If you don’t directly use an ability that’s comparable to the effect of the skill once, you’ll never be able to acquire the skill.

On the other hand, what if you didn’t know how to use the ability of that certain skill, but still acquired the skill?

It was simple.

Just like how the mana circuit within the body grew as the rank of the mana circuit increased.

I’d be able to use the skills I had in stronger abilities that match my current self.

Therefore, it was a little difficult, but I was able to activate the skills once by using mana operations one after another.

「 Skill ‘Triple Laceration (A-)’s proficiency is increased by 8% by the skill ‘Mana Operation (A-)’. 」

I made the skill effect to work to activate the mana explosively every time I swung the sword.

「 Skill ‘Instant acceleration(C-)’ is forcibly upgraded by the skill ‘Mana Operation (A-)’. 」

「 The rank of skill ‘Instant acceleration (C-)’ has been forcibly adjusted to B. 」

I upgraded Instant Acceleration, which made my whole body light as a temporary body strengthening.

「 Skill ‘Counter Shield (B-)’s proficiency is increased by 7% by the skill ‘Mana Operation (A-)’. 」

Based on the skill composition, I condensed the mana on the outside and reproduced it by myself.

Through that process, I raised my skill proficiencies and even their ranks.

“My speed of growth is really insane.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at my skills which should’ve taken months to rank up.

However, I was quite surprised that I could easily bring out the effects of skills by myself.

‘I thought it’d be quite difficult to bring out its effect without using a skill.’

Since I had acquired the skills without any aptitude at all, it was an attempt with a thought in my mind that I could manifest them only in theory, and I may not be able to pull it off at all.

But I couldn’t help but be surprised looking at the skills growing smoothly.

Although I soon figured out where the cause of this smooth activation laid.

‘It’s probably because of that A- rank skill, Mana Operation.’

To think that there was this kind of ability that said most of the restrictions related to mana operations are lifted.

As I was laughing in vain because of this, two administrators who were paying attention to me sent me a message.

「 Administrator ‘Iron-Blooded Monarch’ once again marvels at the growth potential of the contractor. 」 

「 Administrator ‘White Crane Sword Saint’ praises your marvelous idea. 」 

Both of them were surprised as though they were looking at me, activating the skills, but…

In fact, even if I knew how the skill worked, my original self wouldn’t have been able to bring out the skills.

‘I was just able to somehow cause the skills to change thanks to the Mana Operation skill.’

Knowing that, I felt my guilty conscience prick a little, but I tried my best to ignore that feeling and continued the confirmation.

However…

The skill didn’t activate as easily as before.

Because the ability I was trying to activate right now was ‘Sword Ki’.

It was to raise the skill proficiency of the Lightning Sword Ki, but it wasn’t easy to bring out the effects of power.

“…”

For some reason, even if I tried to follow the skill diagram like when I was activating Triple Laceration, I couldn’t.

The Triple Laceration skill simply needed the mana placed on the sword to be activated when it was striking the enemy. 

So, I thought it would work if I placed weaker mana into the blade of the sword compared to Triple Laceration and covered it up with a coating.

But that wasn’t it.

“It’s lacking.”

The Lightning Sword Ki didn’t activate, perhaps because there was no sense that the sword felt like my own body.

‘How come?’

I thought I had placed enough mana on the sword, and the coating was perfect.

But ultimately, I couldn’t bring out a Sword Ki with high lethality power like the Sword Master’s Ki power.

At that, I constantly asked questions and closed my eyes while holding my sword firmly.

“…”

Let’s assume that the Sword Ki is activated under the premise that the Sword Ki can only be used when I recognize the sword as my body.

Then, why did I have to recognize the sword as a body and apply mana to it to bring out Sword Ki?

To make a magical blade, just applying mana would be enough.

But…

‘That’s not a Sword Ki.’

Moreover, it doesn’t maintain a strong power like Sword Ki at all times.

Even though it uses lower mana than Triple Laceration, it produces a strength on par with it.

Mana coating could never keep up with the ability of Sword Ki.

As I was contemplating with my eyes closed on the reason why, at some point, a thought came to my mind.

When I used the mana operation earlier, my physical ability improved several times when I condensed mana on my right foot.

‘Perhaps it’s a similar principle to that?’

If it stops at the level of coating, even if I condense mana on my right foot like a while ago, that kind of power won’t come out.

Only the external solidity would become stronger and stop at the point where the body won’t take much damage.

So I thought that no matter how much mana I put on, it wouldn’t become like a Sword Ki.

Then what makes a sword like a body and allows us to use it like a body?

It’s mana.

‘Then how can I use that mana to make the sword feel like my body?’

It was simple.

Connect the sword and myself with the feeling of connection rather than an infusion of mana that was no different from the body.

Instead of inserting mana and disconnecting the connection, keep the line after inserting the mana.

Just like putting your left-hand fingers and right-hand fingers together…

In this way, I could seize the sword with my mana and strengthen the sword’s ability from the inside.

And then…

「 Instead of using the Sword Ki through skills and powers, you used Sword Ki through independent realization. 」

「 The Tower of Trials compliments Han SungYeun, the first challenger on earth dimension to use Sword Ki by themselves. 」

The moment I opened my eyes, there was a sword emitting a splendid beam of light that was completely different from before.

「‘Body and Sword as One’ achievement unlocked. 」

「 Because the user already owns the power ‘Sword Ki Master’, an alternate reward will be given instead of the power. 」

「 The power ‘Sword Ki Master’ is now wholly owned by the challenger, Han Sungyeun.」

「 The mana cost penalty of ‘Sword Ki Master’ will now disappear. 」 

It was indeed a perfect Sword Ki.

——