Chapter 130
Chapter 130
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 130
Chapter Title: Warrior Explores New Power
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Balak took massive mental damage from watching the exploits of that trash party deep in the dungeon.
"Arrrgh!! My eyes!! My eyeeeees!!!"
"Ugh... I never thought I'd live to see a party like that with my own eyes."
A party where they trip each other up!
And these guys are pretty strong by newbie standards.
But their synergy is the absolute worst, so their teamwork is a total mess.
You can see with your own eyes how each one's strengths become liabilities.
"At this rate, we don't even need to worry about that hero named Luel."
"It's that bad?!"
"She's the hero who inherited the Holy Sword from the Hero of Light. If she's really at that level... we're lucky."
"No way the dungeon merchants were actually keeping tabs on the Hero of Light."
"The Great War ended because of her in the first place, and she sealed that massive dimensional rift."
"Ooooh."
So just how strong was that hero?
From what Karian said, she might still be alive even now.
"The Hero of Iron was from that era too, so yeah."
"It's surprising the Sword Saint still looks so young."
"Hmm... Mind if I ask something?"
"Of course."
"What exactly did you guys do during the Great War?"
"Us?"
At this gathering, it was confirmed that the dungeon merchants had built up an enormous force.
But what were they doing while the world was falling apart?
My question was cut short by Karian's pointing finger.
"Look at me."
"Why you...?"
"If you, Lord Balak, had first met me outside instead of here, what do you think would happen?"
"Uh...?"
Karian is a skeleton mage.
If I were an outsider, I'd draw my weapon the moment we crossed paths....
Ah, I get it!
Everyone I'd met in the city was a monster race.
And this is the medieval era!
In other words, extreme hostility.
Outsiders would ignore any talk of monsters helping and attack first!
And if they did accept monster help?
They'd be branded as the root of all evil.
From the dungeon merchants' perspective, with such hostile forces fighting each other, all they could do was munch on popcorn.
Later, I heard some fun stories from Karian about the Great War.
Watching the new hero with the Holy Sword struggle made me think it'd take her forever to grow.
"All functions are now confirmed operational."
"You're that worried about the sky island your friends trashed."
"Hahaha... They really smashed it to bits."
Man, what the hell happened there...?
Well, Karian had been late to the first day of the gathering because he was dealing with that.
No issues in the mini-dungeon means he really worked hard.
As we chatted about other things, I remembered the request I'd made before.
"Skeleton merchant, how's that status window coming along?"
"Ah, that? Honestly, it's not great."
"Still no definition for Stat 1, huh."
"That's right. We've got about half... or so? We've got it on track somewhat, but we can't make more progress."
Even competent dungeon merchants are struggling this much? The status window is that complex?!
"We do have a beta version ready, though."
"Really?!"
"Don't get your hopes up. It glitches out a ton."
I soon equipped the bracelet-like magic tool Karian handed me.
Pouring mana into it, a window popped up just like I'd wanted.
Now, what are my stats—!
[ Entity Name: Balak ]
[ Race: Demon ]
[ Class: @%#$#@ ]
[ Strength: -54 ]
[ Endurance: -22 ]
[ Agility: -21 ]
[ Magic Power: -37 ]
What the hell? Why are they all negative?
And ridiculously low.
Class is glitched out.
I glanced at Karian, who scratched the back of his head.
"Overflow on you too, Lord Balak."
"Ah, so this is the overflow?"
"You know about overflow...? Ahem! Anyway, this is one reason our research is stuck. The current magic formula can't handle overly powerful targets—the calculations overflow and mess up the results."
"Why the low stats?"
"Simple explanation: Say you add 1 to 9999 and it overflows to 0. Add another 1, and it becomes -1."
"And?"
"-9999 becomes +1 again."
"Infinite loop, huh."
It shoots up then crashes down, so my stats show low.
Who knows how many loops each stat went through!
And now the bracelet's making weird noises?
Boom!
"Whoa, it exploded."
"You're the only one who'd react like that to a big blast on your wrist, Lord Balak."
"I-I don't need to report this or anything, right?"
"It's just one failed prototype. We have tons of those."
"Skeleton merchant, don't you need more samples for this status window research?"
"It'd speed things up, yeah."
"Then how about placing this beta prototype at my dungeon entrance?"
My dungeon has massive foot traffic right now.
Who wouldn't love seeing their power quantified objectively!
Plus, warn about possible glitches, add some fun notes?
Heh~ That'd be a nice little extra for challengers!
Karian heard my proposal and, when the dungeon closes later, promised to set up the beta status window like the Ascension System before leaving.
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Now my friend headed off to work too.
The beastkin were trolling so hard in the early zones that no one reached the rest area.
I could focus on training peacefully for the next week or so until order settles.
Perfect timing too—the boss room remodel means I can train here without issues beyond the training room.
From the last battle, I'd found clues to my new power, the next realm, and what I'm lacking.
So, what's first?
Fill in my biggest weakness.
Who'd have thought I'd end up in aerial combat?!
If only I'd had Air Step back then!
Ugh... Ground-bound warriors have it rough.
Anyway, two ways to run on air like the ground.
First: Use tools, like in the last fight.
Sword-riding to hop weapons wasn't bad.
But movements got too linear, so those manager strong guys dodged somehow.
What if I mix in wire action?!
Super three-dimensional mobility.
I can picture myself slicing a giant's nape with massive dual greatswords.
Second: Just Air Step myself.
I can kinda do it now by kicking the air hard repeatedly.
Boom boom boom boom!!!
Is... is this Air Step?
Feels more like floating on action-reaction...
Super inefficient motions too.
No power in the legs for combat.
Gotta make invisible platforms with mana, then.
After days of practice, I got the hang of Air Step.
My family started trying it too, 'cause it looked fun.
"Boss! This is Air Step, right?!"
"Kairel, isn't that just making transparent platforms with magic?"
"Urk! Mages can Air Step with a snap, huh!!"
Damphir flies too easily with magic and racial skills. Depressing.
The ground warrior's fate is so tragic....
Anyway, I ordered wires for aerial combat, so now just practice.
Aerial prep done—next up.
Just called the assistant, time to explore new power.
"Lord Balak!"
"Belesa?"
I'd called Karian, but the succubus showed up instead.
"What brings you here?"
"Ahahaha... Karian's swamped lately, so I'm filling in."
"Ah... Makes sense."
With his regular duties, reinforcement stones, and now status window, he's busy.
Among dungeon merchants, the succubus I hung with the whole gathering makes sense.
"But exploring new power?"
"Found something good in the last battle."
"What is it?"
"Rotation."
I explained rotational power to the succubus and demonstrated.
Whirrrrr!
Boom!
"How's that?"
"Indeed, amplifying force through rotation."
"Exactly!"
"But does it have to be that shape?"
"The drill is a man's soul."
"I-I see. But you can make various forms—sticking to that crude one is inefficient."
Whoa, you hit the core.
Pure force and vibration work in martial arts.
But overlay on weapons for diverse shapes.
No reason to limit rotational power to drills, right?
Scribble scribble....
"Then check this out."
"...Huh?"
"How's that?"
Inside a large square, tiny squares spiraled endlessly inward.
Curves from outside followed arcs in perfect golden ratio, meshing with the squares.
Born from it: a vortex spiral sucking everything inward.
Eternal rotation, infinite form.
The succubus glimpsed a clan's secret delving rotation and infinity.
Soon, deep in thought with great interest—
"C-Can you calculate this in battle?"
"Uh."
"For combat where every second counts, it'd need to be ingrained from childhood...."
Damn! Romance shot down by facts?!
Is rotation only viable as drills?!!
But who are we?
Tool users.
"Hmm... Too hard to calculate yourself? Integrate into magic tools for killer weapons."
"Ooooh!!"
"If we do this here and that there...."
The succubus deployed magic instantly—a iron orb popped into the air.
She made a rock wall with magic, hurled the orb!
Kagagagagah!
Boom!
The orb shredded the rock with insane spin.
"Whoa... So this is why Karian stuck by you, Lord Balak? Ideas are... C-Can we use this?"
"Of course!!"
Feels like we're closer to near-infinite rotation!
Someday, I'll nail that golden rotation without tools!