Chapter 342
Chapter 342
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 342
Chapter Title: Chapter 8-1. The Land of the Beastkin, Reillysa.
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My belly was full, my back warm, my body comfortable, relaxed, and cozy... For some people, this would be a perfect situation with nothing more to wish for. If only for that one thing—this raging lust.
Someone once said the three great human desires are hunger, sleep, and sex. How ironic.
'No matter what, I never imagined that reminiscing about my beautiful past would lead straight to arousal.'
A wry smile crept onto my lips. If I’d never tasted it, that might be one thing, but having indulged a few times already, this was only natural. Even though there had been plenty of opportunities lately, I’d held back whenever the thought crossed my mind, simply because my companions were around.
'Still, jerking off feels wrong.'
I let out a small sigh. A stray thought popped into my head for a moment, but it didn’t seem like a good idea. The best way to quell lust without masturbating was to get moving, but with my stomach so full, heading outside to do anything felt like too much hassle. Plus, not all the beastkin knew about our group yet, so it could be risky.
That left distracting myself with other thoughts. But forcing it only made it harder. Lying there staring at the ceiling just brought back that night with Tia even more vividly. And it didn’t stop there—the night with Isabel, the chieftain of the Black Tree Tribe we’d met in Lizen, and Arhil replayed in my mind like a video.
My face flushed. If anyone saw me like this, they’d definitely think I was weird. The room felt so spacious that I couldn’t shake the feeling someone was there, so I glanced around. In the end, I sat up.
“...Hoo.”
Letting out another small sigh, Judah suddenly recalled the Requiem he’d shown Esther Seo earlier. He opened his <Bag> to take it out but closed it again. No point; at best, he wouldn’t burn the room down. But he wasn’t incapable of controlling it, and fearing something like this meant how would he handle future fragments? So he opened the <Bag> and pulled out Requiem.
Prepared from the start for the possibility of it igniting on its own, he handled it carefully—and it behaved. Its sunset-hued blade stretched long, flaunting its beauty amid flickering flames. It was a sword so ornate and sharp that it could adorn a wall without shame.
The boiling lust faded from awareness just by gazing at Requiem. It was ridiculous how relieved he felt over something so trivial. Judah checked the item info he’d looked at before.
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[Name: Sixth Fragment - Requiem]
[Grade: Legend_Myth]
[Equipment: Longsword]
[Attack Power: 140]
[Effects]
Strength +2, Agility +5, Magic Power +2, Magic Resistance +6, Charm +8
Magic Power Recovery Speed +100%,
Attack Speed +15%, Movement Speed +10%, Reaction Speed +5%
[Description]
The sixth sword forged from Perlnirn’s heart fragments. Its sunset-colored, elongated blade and ornate hilt are breathtakingly beautiful, drawing admiration from all who see it. Perlnirn created this fragment in preparation for battle with the seventh lord, Artemisia, but as always, they only bickered with words. It was never truly used in combat except during the assault on the heavenly realm. The authority imbued in this heart fragment is “Fire.”
-Descent - World of the End (Active): Consumes a massive amount of magic power to rain meteors over a vast area.
└Unavailable: Requires minimum 95 Magic Power
-Descent - Hellfire (Active): Summons a portion of the Flame Hell, one of the demon world’s hells.
└Unavailable: Requires minimum 90 Magic Power
-Black Spot - Crimson Flame (Active): The area in your line of sight turns black, erupting in an explosion of sticky, lava-like flames.
-Flames of Purification (Passive): The blade is always aflame, devouring all in its path.
└Spirit Slaying: Deals damage to spiritual beings with bonus attack power.
└Burn: Inflicts the Burn status ailment, which cannot be extinguished by ordinary means.
└Attack Power Boost: Weapon attack power +10 while flames persist.
└Regeneration Debuff: Reduces target’s HP regeneration by 15%.
└Defense Debuff: Flames reduce target’s defense by 4% (stacks up to 5 times).
-Temptation (Passive): Requiem yearns for a stronger, more charming owner if it does not recognize its current wielder as master.
-Authority - Lord of Fire (Passive): The wielder of Requiem commands fire.
└Minor Authority: Owner can manipulate simple fire even without holding the fragment.
└Immunity: Owner is unaffected by Requiem’s flames.
└Attribute Resistance: Fire resistance +75%.
└Attribute Enhancement: Fire attribute attack power +100%.
└Magic Power Conversion: Absorbs fire to convert to magic power (limited quantity).
-Essence of Fire (Passive): The blade was reforged using flames harvested from the sacred birthplace of the lords, with the remnants distilled into essence.
└Liberation (Active): Unleashes the primordial power within the fire essence. Some skills change or are added, with additional magic power cost.
└Specific Conditions (Passive): Automatically liberates upon meeting certain conditions.
-Sixth of Perlnirn’s Twenty-Four Hearts (Passive): The power of the sixth heart among the twenty-four is “Fire.”
-Inheritance (Passive): Collect all 24 artifacts forged from Perlnirn’s heart to inherit the power of Demon King Perlnirn.
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Requiem differed slightly from the other fragments. First, two of its three usable skills had minimum magic power requirements. Dropping meteors or summoning a piece of demon hell to the current location naturally demanded such levels.
Second, it lacked passive skills that boosted the user’s abilities, unlike the others. Using <Liberation>—which shared its name with the tenth fragment, AlteMia—did add such skills, but the massive magic power cost made it unnecessary with his current reserves.
Better to use other fragments or trigger <Rampage>. Judah stared at the sword for a while before stowing it in his <Bag>. He then snapped his fingers. Flames bloomed in midair without a drop of magic power, blazing fiercely before fading.
Even with Requiem stored, he could wield fire like magic now. But with Lime around, he’d handled any fire needs, so he rarely used it himself.
'It’s not like I smoke.'
Nor was this fire particularly powerful. Whether due to low magic power or Requiem not fully acknowledging him as master, it was just for show. Better to throw a dagger, summon the golden chain, or call Rudmilane than waste mental effort on these flames. In many ways, Requiem was a chicken rib for Judah right now. But hoarding fragments without using them felt wasteful.
'Since Celine will be with us from now on, should I pass Requiem to her?'
She carried painful memories tied to it, but no one else was as suited to wield it. Though uncontrollable, Requiem had been in her hands for a century. The familiarity remained, and once it accepted her as master, she’d wield it better than anyone.
'But it’s dangerous.'
Judah, with his <Player> trait, couldn’t be possessed or lose reason to rampage. Celine could. Even granting fragments to subjugated allies didn’t mean unconditional use.
Just look at Yakal—it kept trying to seize his body whenever drawn. Requiem would likely jump at the chance to take hers. No matter how he thought about it, not a good choice.
'Better to give her Yakal or Gaia instead.'
Judah opened his <Bag> again and pulled out Yakal and Gaia. But he immediately stowed Yakal back; considering Celine’s skills and traits, she didn’t need a sword.
[Genius of Martial Arts] and [Master of Close Combat] activated with any weapon-like object, and her skills like [Combat Continuation] and [Sixth Sense - Instinct] posed no issues. Swords suited her best, and no weapon beat a fragment.
Judah resolved to give her the twelfth fragment, Gaia, before or when leaving Reillysa. He stowed the fragments in his <Bag>.
….
….
….Better than before.
Admiring the fragments and checking their options had passed some time, dulling his lust considerably. Feeling a bittersweet pang, he lay back down.
Sleep still wouldn’t come.
'Is it the lights?'
The magic lamps illuminating the spacious room were distracting. As he rose again to turn them off, he sensed someone at the door. Moments later came the knock: *knock knock*.
“...?”
It wasn’t that late, but bedtime for most. Judah halted and headed to the door.