Chapter 138
Chapter 138
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 138
Chapter Title: Settlement (3) and Return
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〚Hidden Quest: The Greatest Hero's 12 Labors Epic - First Labor〛
Rank: Myth
Grade: SSS-
Description: The great hero Heracles, who achieved countless feats with the body of a demigod and ascended to one of the strongest divine seats, wants to tear apart the demon who killed his incarnation right now, but he cannot move directly due to circumstances he cannot speak of. Instead, he has decided to bet everything on you, whom his incarnation chose with his dying words. As a bonus, he has taken note of your potential and granted you an opportunity he can bestow only once. Overcome the first labor.
Objective: Defeat the Blood Clan's Puppeteer and the Descending Demon King
Success: Second Labor unlocked, Skill: Flesh of the Giant God [Legend-SS], ???
Failure: Annihilation of body and soul
Apart from the basic rewards, the final reward I could obtain additionally—the quest granted to me by Cardinal Bartroy and the great hero Heracles of infinite divine power.
The first of the total 12 labors comprising that quest had been cleared. Perfectly.
New gazes could be felt from the sky where the sticky, repulsive stares of the demon kings had vanished. At the same time, the rewards were disbursed.
The first reward was a new skill in the Giant God series. As if welcoming it, the system output new messages.
Set effect triggered! Effects:
-2 Set: Skill ranks rise to SSS. Levels increase by 1.
-3 Set: Skill ranks rise to EX. Hidden effects of skills unlocked.
-4 Set: ???
-5 Set: ???
[Heart - Acquired]
[Power - Acquired]
[Flesh - Acquired]
[Might - Not Acquired]
[Wisdom - Not Acquired]
Crack. Craaaack.
My body was changing. A drastic transformation was occurring, just like during a complete marrow cleansing and bone reconstruction.
"Krgh!"
My stats were rising. If I had to pinpoint it, the Giant God set skills had contributed the most to my stat growth. They were at a level where treating them as authorities wouldn't be strange at all.
With the Heart, my Infinite and Pride stats were always equalized, and spare point consumption was reduced to an extreme degree.
With Power, I could boost my destructive power several times over temporarily.
And now, acquiring the Flesh of the Giant God had elevated my body's rank by one step.
From E-rank to E+. Though it was a bare minimum rise at (1/100) after stripping away the decimals, it felt like blocked meridians had burst open, ushering me into a new realm.
At the same time, a massive, ecstatic mana of Pride filled my body to the brim. As my two most important stats transcended their ranks, a satisfied breath escaped me.
Once all changes concluded, the system notified me. One of the quests I was progressing had been cleared by more than half.
Follower of the Giant God's Footsteps
Rank: Myth
Grade: C+
Description: A quest granted to those who have obtained fragments of the power held by the primordial Giant Gods, whose very existence has now faded from most memories. To those who follow their history and power, their abilities shall be granted.
Objective: Collect all Giant God set skills (3/5)
Time Limit: 1,000 years
Success: Race change to Primordial Giant God. Legacies of the Primordial Giant Gods.
Failure: This quest permanently vanishes.
Only two Giant God-related skills remained. Giant God's Might and Giant God's Wisdom. Satisfied, I closed the window and checked the newly acquired skill.
⚡ Rank:Legend - Growth Type💨 Grade:EX✨ LV:2 (0%)
Description: A skill containing the power of the flesh, one of the sources of the Giant Gods—beings where each individual could lift the world and possessed sage-like wisdom. For some reason, most of its power is currently sealed.
Abilities:
It was satisfying. Especially since reaching E+ rank meant I needed 6 spare points to raise a stat by 1, and this reduced it to 5—a huge relief.
In total, that saved 99 spare points. No way it wouldn't please me.
Plus, the hidden ability unlocked by collecting the 3-set was great too. Not just for Flesh, but the other two skills as well.
Skill: Heart of the Giant God
- Hidden: Designate one stat excluding one energy stat and one flesh stat to include in the effect.
Skill: Power of the Giant God
- Hidden: Next attack's damage temporarily increases by 10,000%. (Cooldown: 30 days)
"Designate Fortune as the stat."
It was a Fortune stat that had risen all the way to C-rank. If I linked this! The other two stats in one shot!
But that trick was blocked at the source. Clicking my tongue, I cleanly gave up on the freebie.
"Tch, put it on hold for now."
I'd need to acquire a new stat to link it with. It felt wasteful to use it on Unyielding, which rose steadily just by overcoming Misfortune.
My eyes shifted to the message below. The second reward buried under the first.
⚡ Rank:Myth💨 Grade:F
Description: Proof of completing the first out of 12 labors. Its proper abilities are not yet unlocked. Gather more proofs.
Abilities:
A small medal appeared above my hand. At the same time, the system reacted.
I was a bit taken aback. Of all things, this ability got selected. Reaching Origin rank was thrilling and exciting, but since I couldn't even use it properly yet, it was perplexing that it had grown stronger.
'I wish it had been Infinite Heavenly Veins' rank.'
Greed, perhaps. Well, the result wasn't bad. No, it was the best outcome. I'd newly acquired an Origin-rank ability, after all.
I savored the knowledge imprinting in my mind. Magic wielding the mutually antagonistic forces of light and darkness had evolved into even higher-dimensional power.
"Nice."
As expected of an Origin-grade skill. Though its grade was F, there was no issue. Some martial arts or spells grew in grade this way.
LV 1~10 was the usual proficiency concept we knew. But these special ones used grade as a form of proficiency on a grander scale.
F - 1 Circle. 1 Star
E - 2 Circles. 2 Stars
D - 3 Circles. 3 Stars
C - 4 Circles. 4 Stars
B - 5 Circles. 5 Stars
A - 6 Circles. 6 Stars
S - 7 Circles. 7 Stars
SS - 8 Circles. 8 Stars
SSS - 9 Circles. 9 Stars
EX - 10 Circles. 10 Stars
In the end, it meant raising 100 LVs total, but it had superior efficacy even compared to my Sun God Art, which had fixed rank and grade.
Right now, it might lag behind Sun God Art, but at the same S-grade, the difference would be several times over.
Of course, reaching that point would take considerable effort and time.
"Should I study magic too?"
Magic hadn't been on my post-regression plans. I knew well it was a discipline for talent prodigies only.
No matter how much the untalented bled and sweated, gnawing and polishing themselves, they couldn't catch up to prodigies.
Well, things changed if you abandoned your identity and humanity to walk the demon path. But the trap was that demons learned black magic, not standard magic.
Anyway, knowing I had no such talent, I hadn't even considered magic. That held true now. Why else would I have a Myth-grade skill and not use it properly?
"Tch. Tricky."
Compared to my flesh talent, which had skyrocketed exponentially via Infinite Heavenly Veins and Infinite stat, my other talents were utterly abysmal.
"Need to mull this over more."
I wondered if getting something like Giant God's Wisdom would grant magical talent.
"Anyway, I planned to research skills more after returning..."
When I summoned the me from the brink via self-resonance descent, the Tower of Gold had definitely left a hint: to advance to the next floor—Layer 3—I needed to study skills.
It said the reason I was stuck at 29.9999…% was that. Circumstantially, Layer 3 held skill-related content.
"For now, rest and think."
I cleared my stuffy mind and checked the final rising system message.
Rank: Myth
Grade: SSS-
Description: ...Same. Overcome the second labor.
Objective: Unlocks upon condition fulfillment
Success: Third Labor unlocked, Skill: Wisdom of the Giant God [Legend-SS], ???
Failure: Annihilation of body and soul
The second labor hadn't unlocked yet—as if the time wasn't right, or as if no trial worthy of being called a labor had arisen.
I hadn't expected much. I'd anticipated the second wouldn't trigger immediately after the first ended.
Labors wouldn't proceed so easily or quickly. Having claimed all rewards, I closed the system.
Regrettably, due to Longinus's limited special authority, Gamigin's soul—which should have been annihilated after forcibly binding and subordinating it—had its kill reward granted then canceled.
Probably some system warning. Like a yellow card.
"Disappointing, but not bad."
I opened the window, unfurled my Wings of Pride, and flew toward the site where the underground prison had stood.
As I took flight, those below turned toward me, then knelt, offering worship and awe.
"Gamigin."
"Command me, heir of the great Demon God."
Among the 1,024 subordinates, the strongest and most massive—Gamigin—bowed his head. As the only one manifesting his exact pre-death form, he seemed to be the true main body.
"We're heading back. Enter the territory."
Gamigin bowed his head, and I opened my inventory. The connected territory wasn't the Tower of Gold. At the invitation to the Demon God Realm, Gamigin thrilled, herded all the puppets inside, then vanished into the Demon God Realm himself.
"Time to return."
To Earth.