CH 112

Chapter 112: Interim Closing (3)

「You've absorbed challenger Han Sungyeun's soul, and your stats have increased.」

「Your Strength has increased by 10.」

「Your Agility has increased by 10.」

「Your Stamina has increased by 10.」

「Your Mana has increased by 10.」

「Your Tenacity has increased by 10.」

My stats had increased by double digits, which was something I hadn't experienced for a while.

「You've absorbed one of the skills challenger 'Han Sungyeun' had.」

「You've absorbed the skill 'Lightning Sword Ki (B).'」

「You already have the skill 'Lightning Sword Ki (B),' so both proficiencies are being fused.」

「The proficiency of the skill 'Lightning Sword Ki (B)' has reached 100%.」

「The rank of the skill 'Lightning Sword Ki (B)' has increased.」

I was shocked that the rank of Lightning Sword Ki had increased, but...

I left those small improvements aside and focused on the messages that were underneath.

「Challenger Han Sungyeun's soul matches the challenger Han Sungyeun's soul.」

「You've satisfied the conditions for the Power 'Divinity,' so it has activated.」

「Trying to absorb Divinity.」

The Divinity Power, which had never been activated before, was activated.

I never expected for something like this to happen.

「The Divinity extraction has been successful.」

「The rank of 'Divinity (C+)' has become 'Divinity (B-).'」

「Through 'Divinity (B-),' you can transform Divinity and myth accumulation.」

"..."

It was full of words I couldn't understand, but...

I could feel the change in the Divinity inside me.

'Don't tell me, can I use Divinity...?'

In reality, I was planning to ask either the Iron-blooded Monarch or the White Crane Sword Saint about how I could use this Divinity that was inside my heart.

But there was no need to do that anymore.

"Status Window."

As I mentioned the simple command, I could see the status window, which had undergone changes.

「Han Sungyeun」

「Radiance - Ruler」

「Strength - 100」 「Stamina - 97」

「Agility - 98」 「Mana - 93」

「Tenacity - 96」

「Unique Ability - Necromancy (B)」

「Unique Power - Skill Combination」

「Power - Calm (C-), Sword Silhouette Border (A-), Steel Wing (C+), Iron-blooded Sword (A-), Divinity (B-), Blood Demon Hole (C+), Hero's Protection (C+), Quick Mana Charge (C+)」

「Skill - Detailed List」

My strength stat had reached triple digits, but what got my attention was the increase in the number of Powers.

Divinity (B-), Blood Demon Hole (C+), Hero's Protection (C+), Quick Mana Charge (C+).

While looking at the newly added four Powers, I fell into thought while frowning.

'Among these, the only one that could give a change to Divinity is Hero's Protection...'

It was the first time a Power had grown after using Necromancy's soul absorption, so I was surprised.

I was trying to wonder about what had triggered the extraction of Divinity. But...

I realized that there was no conclusion I could currently reach.

It was understandable.

'It's the first time this has happened, so there's no way I'd be able to find out something.'

According to the description, Hero's Protection just helped you control the Divinity.

There were no traces of Hero's Protection being active while the Divinity was being extracted. 

So it probably wasn't something that had happened because I had obtained more Powers.

"If I keep thinking about it, I'll just probably end up reaching useless conclusions."

I wasn't sure what condition I had fulfilled so that I was able to extract the Divinity inside a soul.

But that was something I could always figure out later on.

And—

'I'm going to leave the Divinity aside and check the Powers I've bought in more detail.'

Instead, I began checking out the Powers I had just learned.

***

Reaper Scans

[Translator – Daniel Shin ]

[Proofreader – DVN-L ]

***

The Powers I had to check were Blood Demon Hole (C+), and Hero's Protection (C+).

The effect of Quick Mana Charge (C+) was obvious just by reading the description, so it was pointless to revisit it.

After reaching that conclusion, I started to look at Blood Demon Hole (C+) in more detail.

「Activating Power 'Blood Demon Hole.'」

BZZT...!!

As I replaced Mana with Ki, just by leaking out mana, red thunder poured out.

Not only that, but the level of body fortification couldn't be compared to before.

"Woah..."

That wasn't all.

The mana always heard its owner's orders.

That meant that the level of transmitting the will through Sword Ki or Sword Flames had reached a new high.

Sword Ki was a basic command that allowed me to cut anything. Sword Flame was a more complex command of that.

That's what I realized after learning Sword Ki and Sword Flames.

But as mana turned into ki, the speed of transmission of the commands improved.

'There was a reason why the challengers from Murim were stronger.'

The only negative thing was the effect that happened while activating Blood Demon Hole. 

BZZT—!

"Ugh..."

My sight became red, and from my body, red steam started to come out.

I felt that I couldn't control the blood that was boiling.

Of course, it wasn't that I couldn't control it, but I couldn't help but get a bit angry.

I couldn't do anything about an excited voice leaking out.

It wasn't that my mind was starting to feel unstable, but I couldn't help but feel a bit uneasy… 

"This could be called a downside."

While restricting the blood from boiling, I deactivated the Blood Demon Hole.

As expected of an expensive power; although it was just a C+ rank Power, it had a strong effect.

Besides its side effects, there wasn't any problem.

Although it might look unstable at first glance, it wasn't bad enough to call it a side effect.

「Activating the Power 'Hero's Protection.'」

The effect of Hero's Protection wasn't that impressive.

I just gained the ability to control the Divinity inside my heart, which allowed me to move it.

The other effect, luck increase, was hard to test. So I decided to stop researching it.

Instead, I began thinking about how to control the Divinity and use its strength.

And… 

"What's this...?"

I couldn't help but frown after making the Divinity move through my body.

Paf—!

A bright light started to come out of the body.

I had made the Divinity go around my body for body-fortifying purposes, but something unexpected happened.

I could restrict it according to my will, but there was nothing special to it.

The only effect was that my body started to shine… 

I couldn't do anything like healing or fortifying, just like the priests I saw on the 11th floor could do.

I stopped trying to investigate it and fell into thought.

'Seeing that I could control it, but it doesn't have any effect, it seems like there's a special way to use it.'

If I couldn't use Divinity, it was because I didn't know how to use it.

Judging from the system messages, that seemed to be the case.

After all, the system had never lied to me up to that moment.

If the Tower said I could do it, I could probably do it.

But—

'I guess I have no other choice...'

Since I couldn't reach any conclusion, no matter how much I thought about it, I decided to stop thinking about it.

But it wasn't like I had given up on Divinity.

"..."

Divinity wasn't my area of expertise, but I had ways to learn about it.

'I could probably learn it from either the Iron-blooded Monarch or the White Crane Sword Saint.'

Administrators were Pseudo-divine beings. So they had Divinity inside them.

I currently have a contract with two strong Administrators.

To become a master, you have to learn from a master.

Maybe I should learn how to use Divinity from the Iron-blooded Monarch or the White Crane Sword Saint.

「The Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' says she will teach you how to use Divinity!」

「The Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' says she can teach it to you better than the Iron-blooded Monarch.」

「The Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' has invited you to the Administrators territory!」

After seeing that I couldn't use the Divinity properly, the White Crane Sword Saint sent me a message.

I thought for a bit about what I should do, but I ended up refusing.

"I don't want to."

「The Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' seems shocked by your refusal.」

「The Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' asks why are you refusing. She says if you come, she will teach you how to use it.」

There were two reasons why I had decided to refuse help regarding learning using Divinity.

The first one was that I thought that over-relying on Administrators could end up creating a bad habit.

The second one was that I didn't know how much time it would take to learn to use Divinity.

I'd already tried once to use it, so I thought I kind of knew what Divinity was.

'It isn't something I can learn at once.'

Of course, there's a chance I'm wrong...

「Activating skill 'Sixth Sense.'」

I activated a skill that sharpened my senses.

"Wouldn't learning to use Divinity take a lot of time?"

「The Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' says she can help you learn it fast.」

"It isn't that I need to learn it right now, so I'm going to learn it later on when I have time."

「The Administrator 'White Crane Sword Saint' says while shrugging, if that's what the contractor wishes, that's okay.」

After reading the White Crane Sword Saint's messages, I realized that my intuition was right.

Right now, I could do the techniques that required Divinity.

I could replace the mana restriction or healing capabilities with skills or powers.

After facing the Replica on the 12th floor, my capabilities had improved.

'I don't have time to waste on things I don't need that much.'

Because… 

'I can't stop until I become strong enough to kill NamGung Hyuk.'

Sword Dragon of the Blue Sky, NamGung Hyuk, still hadn't appeared.

When we parted ways in Tokyo, he said let's meet again in the future.

To me, that sounded like he was planning to visit me soon. So I couldn't ignore it.

So...

"I should move on to the next floor."

For now, I planned on leaving the waiting room and moving on to the next Trial.

* * *

Srrr…

"..."

I grabbed the red long-sword on my waist and concentrated.

Blood Demon Sword.

It was to check the capabilities of this sword that had been able to block NamGung Hyuk's Sword Flame.

Its true capabilities will unlock when the user that has reached the Sword Flame plane can optimize the blood to a maximum.

Its blood effects were similar to Sword Flame.

It could resist a Sword Flame that had the shredding and cutting capabilities of the Sword Ki. 

Of course, I hadn't been able to show the true capabilities of the Blood Demon Sword because I hadn't optimized the other things properly.

'But I can't stand still and ignore its capabilities.'

This time, I wanted to check out the real capabilities of the Blood Demon Sword.

To activate its unique effect, 'Blood Ki,' I had to infuse a bit of mana.

That meant that to use its capabilities fully, I had to use quite a lot of mana.

'Then it's easy.'

I slowly flowed mana into the Blood Demon Sword.

Red energy started to pour into it, and it began shining with intense light.

I didn't stop there and began pouring more mana into it.

And—

「It's been checked that the effect 'Blood Ki' has been fortified by a user that has reached the Sword Flame plane.」

Letters started appearing in the Blood Demon Sword and began to shine.

「You've fulfilled the condition. The real capability of the Blood Demon Sword has been unlocked.」

It was as if everything, until now, had just been a bare minimum of what it could do.

「The name of the item has changed to True Blood Demon Sword.」

「The rank of the True Blood Demon Sword has become A-.」

「The 'Blood Ki' effect of the True Blood Demon Sword has been improved.」

「The effect 'Blood Eat' of the True Blood Demon Sword has been generated.」

「An exclusive slot for Blood Eat has been created.」

It was quite a good change.

——