Chapter 55 Merchant (1)

[Starting Modification]

crack

"Argh!!"

Raith let out an unexpected and sudden scream as a deep, intense pain radiated throughout his bones. The sharp and burning pain shot through his bones.

The sensation felt like it was emanating from the very core of his body and spreading outwards.

As the modification continued, the pain intensified and became more unbearable, causing him to writhe and scream in agony. His muscles began to undergo spasms, adding to the discomfort.

Raith began to feel dizzy or lightheaded due to the overwhelming pain. He started to sweat profusely as he curled on the ceramic tile.

As the pain continued it became so intense that Raith's eyeballs rolled up and sank into his lead, his heartbeat began to get slower, and he began to gasp having a hard time breathing, he continued in that state for ten more minutes before saliva began to stream down his opened mouth.

[You have died from intense and unbearable pain]

[Modification has been completed]

[All impurities have been purged by excess cosmotic energy]

[Your blood vessels and muscles have been reinforced]

[Due to the suffering and the pain you experienced your endurance stat has risen by +25 points]

[Your body has been modified, you have gained +15 stats increase in all your stats]

[Due to your new body...]

[Passive skill 'Heat resistance' has reached level Max]

[You have gained a new passive skill 'Cold Resistance(S)lv.max']

[Due to title effect 'One who devours death' You will be revived]

[You have gained +5 stats points]

[The darkness within you has increased by a tremendous amount]

[There is an unlikely synergy between the cosmotic energy and shadow energy within your body but one will eventually devour the other, which will contribute greatly to the path you will thread]

"Aaahhhppp"

Raith gasped back to reality, panting and holding his chest tightly as his breath slowly returned to the normal rate.

Luckily he was not wearing any shirt but the pants he had was damp in the liquids that were excreted from his skin— the choking and disgusting odor of this smell invaded his olfactory organ the moment he stood up. Even he had to tighten his nose to resist the toxic odor as he cleaned the whole ground and made his way to the bathroom.

***

***

***

"So you are saying to me... that the crystal was damaged."

"Yes sir"

Jong-Su sheepishly stood in front of the association president after reporting all that happened a few days ago.

"This man, were you able to get him on our side?"

"I intend to get on his good side sir."

"Are you sure of your judgment Agent Jong-Su? What if he turns out to be just another low rank."

"I trust my gut feeling president. Something about him is different."

By looks alone, the man didn't seem far from age from Jong-Su but no one would dare to be deceived, since everyone that has been in the association long enough knows that this is just a kickback of his abilities. He looked down at the report on his table with his eyes emitting a subtle blue glow.

"If you say so... I trust your judgment, then would you like to make him a merchant."

"Sir? A merchant. Can I do that?"

"Sure. With that, he will have the exclusive right to clear gates alone."

Jong-Su bowed deeply in front of the association. President.

"Thank you, sir!!"

He shouted before heading out.

The first thing he did was fix an appointment with Raith.

Raith stood in the backyard of Min-ho's house while wandering around shirtless he happen to discover a training ground and on one side was a rack of wooden swords.

Just what he was seeking. A sword so that he would be able to test the sword skill he had.

He held the sword to his front.

[You have activated skill 'Way Of The Sword(Incomplete)]

With fluid movements and lightning-fast strikes, Raith began to perform a series of intricate sword techniques he had never seen nor heard of, moving back and forth across the clearing with precision and grace, striking imaginary opponents from different angles, blocking incoming attacks, and executing quick footwork to evade potential strikes.

He paused for a moment shocked at the way he moved the sword without even knowing where to move the sword too.

"Wow, this is the way sword skills work?"

In essence, no, this was not the way sword skills worked. Of all skills sword skills were the hardest to obtain, one had to master the basics and know them well, compared to magic skills which

can be learned from tomes or rune crystals. Of course, a melee fighter can learn some skills from a tome of rune crystal but only skills like quick movement, or stealth– not skills that involved delicate mastering such as the sword.

Raith continued to swing the sword from different angles, performing horizontal and vertical strikes, as well as thrusts and cuts while focusing on executing each movement with accuracy and power, striking imaginary opponents in front of him.

A wide smile formed on Raith's lips as the hot sun kissed his skin and pearls of sweat began to form on his body, he got intense and began to execute more advanced techniques, performing complex combinations of strikes and footwork with lightning-fast speed.

He weaved in and out of different stances, pivoting on his feet and shifting his weight to maintain balance and control, all the things he could never have gotten a hang of so easily, thanks to the passive skill 'Devourer' Raith was a different breed from whether the heroes or hunter.

Despite the intensity of his training, Raith remained calm and focused, his mind sharp and alert, his breathing steady— inhaling deeply through his nose and exhaling slowly through his mouth, keeping his mind focused on the movements of his sword.

He was consumed in every moment of strike such that the sun began to go down and he had no idea how much time had passed. As the sun began to set in the sky, casting long shadows across the backyard, Raith finally put down his wooden sword.

He looked at his palm which had small calloused from holding th hilt of the wooden sword for long hours. Raith had been training since the early afternoon and now the sky above him was dark...

"With this skill, everything will be different."

Raith smiled.

The skill was impressive– to think that something as amazing as this was incomplete.

Raith began a memory journey back to when he took the paper on the floor when he was imprisoned. It was in front of a skeleton that seemed to have died while sitting and Raith remembered very well that he devoured that skeleton.

A lot of things were confusing and it seems the abyss is just as confused as Raith was when it came to this passive skill devourer. That gave Raith a hint– maybe the habit didn't give him that skill.

However, that speculation also left a lot of questions.

Raith scratched his head.

'I don't want to stress myself by thinking too much, I'm sure the answer will fall in place as time goes on'

He knew for sure that the skill would serve him well in the future battles he will face.

As Raith turned to leave the backyard, he flustered back in the shock of seeing Min-ho who stood there looking at him, dazed.

"Wow..."

"What? How long have you been here?"

Raith asked as he regained his composure.

"Towards the ending part."

Min-ho replied to him with a bright smile.

"Hyungnim! Please teach me how to do that."

Min-ho's eyes sparkled towards him. His demeanor had changed all of a sudden.

It is reasonable, no one would see Raith exhibit such a jaw-dropping sword technique and not respect him.

"Ha ha... this will take a while."

Raith tapped Min-ho's shoulders and walked inside.

"Right! Hyungnim, you have a message from the association. And I think you will need your own phone.

Raith paused and looked back at Min-ho with a blank and squinted glare, a glare that made goosebumps run through his skin.

'...did they find out what I did?'

"What message?"

He inquired.

Min-ho could tell, something about this man changed in just a few hours of leaving him alone.

"Uhm– err, well..."

He was void of speech for the first few seconds as he stared at Raith's slitted eyes which were different from the ones he was used to seeing in the past week.

"They said they would like to give you a merchant contract?"

"Merchant? Like they want me to be selling stuff?"

"Hhahahha No."

Min-ho giggled and began to give a better explanation.

"You see about fifty years ago, there was an outbreak of gates. A lot of gates but in return humans also awakened new powers that gave them the ability to fight these gate monsters–

"Wait, do you guys hear the voice of the world too?"

Min-ho was puzzled by his question.

"We don't hear any voice, we just awaken the power within us, whatever power you awaken is the power you get to have all your life, except someone goes through reawakening. The main point of what I want to say is that these gates appeared all around the world till today they still appear at an alarming rate. Merchant is a concept created by the universal association for hunters that do not want to be affiliated with guilds or with the association. So, they clear gates for the association and receive 90% of the reward while also receiving a commission fee from the association.

Raith rubbed his chin.

"Impressive, so I can clear gates and not get affiliated with anyone."

"Yes, but you must be very powerful to be made a merchant. At first, I didn't understand why the agent decided to make you one but seeing you now... Hyungnim, please make me your personal assistant."

He shouted bowing 90 degrees toward Raith.