Chapter 15
Chapter 15
3. The System's Anchor -4
A variant.
A Monster Tree that had gained a 『Skill』 and transformed into something even more powerful⋯⋯ was that it? I had never seen anything like that on Earth. The world had truly gone to hell. Plant bastards with Skills.
I had killed countless plant bastards up to now. And I had used 『Download -2』 diligently all the while, but what I absorbed through it wasn’t a 『Skill』—it was nothing more than physical force.
If every monster could possess skills, then that bastard that nearly destroyed Korea—no, Earth... that huge thing that gifted me 10 billion in debt. Did that mean it could show up with skills too, if I was unlucky?
Just imagining it made my head spin.
But.
I didn't actually feel that much threat from this glass weed standing right in front of me. It felt about two steps stronger than the usual 'elite monsters,' but that was about it.
It felt like the kind of opponent I could beat if I fought with my life on the line.
In that case, for Sergios it would be manageable—maybe even easy.
Sergios swept his fluttering bangs back from his eyes, spun his spear about three times as he gripped it, and stepped forward.
"Stay there and watch."
"I could take a hit or two for you."
"I said watch. When a hero builds his legend, citizens do not recklessly interfere. The citizen's role is to admire and praise."
"Then let's go with me interfering and skipping the admiration and praise."
The spear guy ignored me.
He seemed to be insisting that he wouldn't entertain my nonsense. From where I stood, it looked more like he just shut his mouth whenever he had nothing to say.
And I wasn't actually planning to step in either. It was closer to a joke I tossed out. I didn't want to fight to the point of half-dying. Pain was annoying and irritating.
Shrrrrrk—
The giant glass-plant moved.
That thing, which the System labeled 『Monstera deliciosa』, seemed to be a monstera of some kind. The kind of large-leaved ornamental plant you'd commonly spot in places like department stores.
Though it had transformed so grotesquely that I never would have guessed its original form if the System hadn't given me the scientific name.
The glass monstera leisurely tilted its glass leaves. As it did, the leaves caught the sunlight streaming down from the sky and began to glitter and shine.
Glass, sunlight, charge. No matter how you looked at it, that was a beam.
Before the countless leaves could unleash a bombardment of light—like a magnifying glass focusing sunlight to sear an ant to death—Sergios gripped his spear for maximum reach and stepped forward.
He had explained a path different from the growth method the System presented—the method of 'climbing the tower.'
"『Tower Ascension (昇塔)』 is a grand concept. It refers to all the efforts of those who seek to reach the next realm through their own cultivation alone. Whether one chooses the sword, the spear, or something bizarre like sorcery, in the end they all build toward the same point... What's with that face."
"I was just thinking you sure can talk in this urgent situation."
I jutted my chin toward the boss and looked at the spear guy askance.
That boss monster, labeled with a complicated scientific name by the System, was oozing murderous light. I couldn't help but wonder if the spear guy was being a little too relaxed just because he was strong.
For now, to summarize what he'd said: no matter what martial art you learned, you could reach the peak, the transcendent peak. Something like that.
"That is why the first thing those who climb the tower must do, before ascending the ladder each has chosen, is to properly see what floor (層) they are climbing. This is called Observation (觀見). From there—"
"Hey, hey! Behind you!"
Ziiiiing—!!
A beam of light fired from the monstera, as if leaking out of it, grazed past the spear guy's ear. A few strands of hair were severed and fluttered down.
As I stood there dumbfounded, the spear guy calmly continued.
"—only when one has completed the stages up to Ladder-Climbing (登梯), Ladder-Bestowal (授梯), and Sealing (封函) is it proper form."
"Are you insane?"
"There is still time. By my senses, it will take longer to charge, so don't make a fuss. Continuing. So, minor cultivation is—"
"No, this is..."
Was he crazy?
He seemed perfectly sane, but then he'd show this side and it felt like he was missing a screw. Giving a lecture while the monstera behind him was gathering light and making its leaves glitter for an attack.
This was boldness, sure, but Sergios seemed to hold genuine reverence and respect for that 'knowledge.' Still, it made me uneasy. I decided to skip the explanation and move things along quickly. I cut him off and asked.
"So that floor (層), the realm I need to step onto—what is it?"
"...The name of the first floor (一層) is 『Embodiment』."
"How do I do it? If I learn a martial art and achieve the Twelve Stars, can I reach it?"
"Don't speak in words only you know. Fine, if you want to skip the deep meaning of cultivation and lick only the outer shell like a heretic, there is one explanation you'll grasp instantly."
"Can't I go deep later? Why do you have to do this with a plant bastard right in front of us...?"
Sergios cut to the chase and wrapped wind around his spear.
Hwoooooo—!
[-> Download Slot 2 : 『Whirlwind Thrust (旋風扎)』 (Downloading... 1.1%)]
And at the same time, my 『Download -2』 reacted.
Come to think of it, setting aside whether they could grow or not, 『Skills』 and 『martial arts』 seemed similar. Didn't both use magic power to manifest some phenomenon? The only difference was whether you were born with it or acquired it.
It seemed that thought had struck close to the heart of the matter.
"Ordinarily, even judging whether one has climbed to a floor is part of cultivation, but you and I are exceptions. Train. Train and sharpen your techniques. Then—the System will speak. It will say you have acquired a new 『Skill』."
"...Excuse me?"
"A refined technique deceives even the System. Even though it did not originate from them, the System acknowledges it and designates it as a 『Skill』."
So.
If I repeatedly mastered something through the cultivation method the spear guy had been rambling about, I could create a 『Skill』 without being born with it or receiving it from someone else!
Hwoooooo—
Swaaaaaaa—
At that moment, two more kinds of wind began to blow. One was low and deep like a sigh, the other sharp and high. All of that wind coiled around Sergios's spear and flowed, playing the rhythm of nature.
[-> Skill recognized : 『Moran (冒攔)』 (Download Slot exceeded)]
[-> Skill recognized : 『Afterwave Grasp (後波拿)』 (Download Slot exceeded)]
It was as if three serpents had coiled around the spear and opened their jaws. Its power was so destructive that even the preparation stage made me swallow dryly.
And then, Sergios thrust forward the arm he had pulled all the way back.
────!!
Crack, snap, crash—!!
The wind that burst out in an instant became a storm and ground up everything in a conical range ahead. The monstera's glass body burst apart, glittering glass shards scattering with it.
When the storm passed, what remained was a monstera with not a single leaf left—only its roots.
My mouth was hanging open at the destructive power beyond imagination.
The battle ended in that single exchange. Sergios gathered his spear and turned to look at me. I glanced sideways at the boss monster's remains and said.
"Is that the... realm of 『Embodiment』?"
"No. It is merely having met the conditions to achieve 『Embodiment』. Nothing more than having climbed the ladder to its end. I have not achieved what comes after, either."
"...You haven't achieved it?"
I looked at the spear guy like someone who'd just learned that the lecturer he'd been attentively listening to was actually an elementary school graduate. He silently frowned and raised his spear, and I lowered my gaze to the ground.
No, I knew Sergios was far stronger than me. I knew that. But the way he talked, he'd acted like he'd climbed to at least the third floor (三層).
He continued his explanation.
“The minimum number of required 『Skills』 is three. Once you reach that point, a warrior can achieve Unification (合一) with the 『Skills』 he has cultivated and transform his body into a new form. That is 『Embodiment』.”
"So it's a complete transformation, then."
"To change one's bones and seize one's origin—a fitting metaphor. You may use that word when organizing your own enlightenment."
"Long road ahead. Train to gather skills, then use them for a complete transformation..."
Hm.
I felt a strange sense of déjà vu. The idea that gathering three 『Skills』 would let you achieve 『Embodiment』—I felt like I'd heard a similar sentence somewhere before.
Right, I remembered. From R-11, my mentor in the tutorial stage.
'You need at least three pieces of equipment like this to have a shot at passing. Or techniques equivalent to equipment... possessing that many D-rank skills.'
It was the same structure as the C-rank hunter promotion requirement.
Was it just a coincidence...? But Sergios right in front of me was the counterexample. I had just watched that Greek-style spear guy use three skills simultaneously.
And each of those skills looked more powerful than my current D-rank Azure Wind Wanderer. There was a big difference in utility, but even so, something that one-shot a boss variant didn't seem like it could be below D-rank.
So, this guy had met the C-rank hunter promotion requirements but hadn't promoted.
There's always a reason for irrational judgment.
Should I ask? Given how openly he'd answered everything so far, it seemed like he'd tell me everything if I asked this too. But I was starting to feel guilty about taking in all this information for free, so I needed to think about how to repay him...
Sararak— sarararak—
"........!!"
Snap.
Sergios and I shifted into combat stances at the same time. I raised my shield and looked over it at the boss monster’s corpse. Astonishingly, it was regenerating.
No, it wasn't simple regeneration.
Seureureureu—
Pitch-black shadow was covering the monster and reassembling it at high speed. In a form half glass and half shadow, even larger and more powerful than before.
"Wh-what's going on?!"
"...No way. No, that can't be."
"Skip the hesitation and explain. If you're thinking 'no way,' then that 'no way' is exactly right."
"The System has one terminal in each world, aside from its chosen hunters. It interferes with the world through that terminal. My mission was also the terminal's structure... But right now, that world predator seems to be absorbing the terminal. I've never seen a case like this."
A terminal?
So there was something like a wireless router that received the System's signal?
"Wait, so if that thing gets eaten, we can't return either?"
"That's not it. Even if the terminal dies, the signal persists for a week. It gradually weakens and then cuts off. So you needn't worry about drifting, but for now we should focus on the enemy in front of us."
"...Is this terminal thing a living creature? Your wording has been..."
Beeeeeep-!
An emergency alarm rang out. It was from the System.
[D-rank boss monster var■ant : 『Mo■stera deli■■osa++■』 has appear■d—]
[!!Warning!! : 『Mo■stera deli■■osa++■』 is absorbing the dimensional bar■ier—]
The warning window appeared again. But it was slightly different from the warning at its first appearance.
Blink, blink, blink.
As if something was changing in real time—the number of + signs after the scientific name was flickering madly between ++ and +++. At the same time.
[Sta■■ mission and re■ard changed : C-rank promotion / Skill-based body enhancement ■■ (Searching user dictionary for similar terms : Complete Transformation granted, Embodiment granted)]
[Sta■e mission and reward changed : 500 Credits / Random Box x 3]
The stage reward was also flickering back and forth between two options.
That boss monster, the monstera, was recovering at a rapid pace every second—drawing immense power from something buried in the ground. It was growing.
Inferring from this situation, if we killed it after it finished growing completely, we'd get the former reward, and if we killed it before that, the latter reward. Wasn't that it?
Wait...
Then... if I chose the former, it meant I could become a C-rank hunter right here, right now! And then the reward. Skill-based body enhancement. No matter how I thought about it, that was exactly what I'd just heard explained.
The System seemed to bestow a blessing of “instant complete transformation” upon hunters entering the next stage. If so, did that mean the moment I took that reward, I’d jump to Sergios’s level or even higher?
Again? Again, this dizzying luck had come to me?
My heart was pounding like crazy. I focused every sense I had to gauge the monstera's strength. And I made my judgment. Even if it fully grew, if I persuaded Sergios and we fought together, we could win.
And... even if the spear guy refused. I had a way. I had a means to burn up whatever that thing was.
Skill List
└ Unidentified Skill 1 (F) : B07#@R2e8
-> Download Slot 1 :
-> Download Slot 2 :
Storage List : 『A01#@47Eb』, 『Flame Goat Gauntlet : Flame Emission』
(Re-evaluation required due to an error of unknown cause)
『A01#@47Eb』.
The unknown skill stored in my 『Download -2』 along with the error.
This, this was. When a hole was punched through the world's ceiling, the woman who had instantly annihilated the EX-grade Monster that was destroying Seoul—the System S-rank hunter's 『White Lightning (白雷)』 fragment!
I didn't know how I'd obtained it either. It was the skill of an existence with an astronomical gap from me, so downloading it normally should have required hundreds of millions of years.
By the time she returned and the pure-white lightning subsided, my Skill had somehow taken hold of that single fragment.
Now that I knew about the System and the universe this existence ruled, I understood its true value. If a System A-rank hunter was practically a god ruling over a planet, then an S-rank... what would that be?
If it was the authority of something that existed above gods, then it was practically an instant-kill item.
I had intended to hoard it even if it killed me.
Literally—I'd rather die than use it, saving it for a decisive opportunity. Because an EX-grade disaster might strike Seoul once again.
But wasn't this exactly that opportunity...?
At that moment. The monstera grew, its body enlarging, and the roots that had been buried in the ground also swelled and expanded—and the 'terminal' that had been entangled with the roots underground naturally came up with them.
It was a large gemstone—amber.
And inside that crimson gemstone body... there was a silhouette that appeared to be a woman.
"........"
The System's terminal was a person.
I ask myself. I am in a desperate situation right now. Seoul's survival rests on my shoulders. Acknowledge that situation, and don't blind my eyes with deception or excuses. Please, answer honestly.
Should I let a person die just to secure an overwhelming gain?
No.
I drew my dagger.
"Ugh, fuck. If it gets fully absorbed, she'll die, right? Let's go save her before it sucks everything out."
Then Sergios asked, as if testing me.
"You seemed to hesitate at the reward. You're not going to ask me to wait?"
Way to pour oil on a burning fire. Seriously.
"Forget it. If I take something like that, it'll haunt my dreams... And if you've got three skills but still haven't promoted, doesn't that mean you don't want that reward either? Our interests align, so let's hurry up and finish this."
"...Hah, stand back. This is not an enemy you can face with your strength. A predator that has absorbed two fragments—『Glass』 and 『Shadow』—I must take it seriously as well. Go hide."
"Small strength isn't nothing. The weak can help too if used in the right place at the right time. I won't get in the way, and I'll support you properly, so don't worry about me."
"Heh, your mouth is alive, at least."
Tap! We launched forward at the same time.
Sergios went right, I went left. My role in this battle was sub-tank. A position where I drew aggro as much as my capacity allowed and freed up the spear guy's attack options.
The victory condition was... that thing reaching +++, meaning—cutting off that flower's head before it could pick up one more skill. And rescuing the 'terminal,' the missing person.
Good. The time attack had begun.