The Deceiver's Recommendation
After sorting through the rewards, I bought clothes that looked decent in both performance and design. The Shadow-Dyed Human Skin Black Coat for 300 points. The Ashen Shirt Woven from Volcanic Butterfly Fiber for 120 points. The Leather Pants Crafted from Hide of Desire for 210 points. The Leather Boots Infused with Goblin Essence for 320 points. The Socks Sewn from Demonic Threadworm Silk for 70 points. And the Markian Silk Underwear for 10 points. After blowing a total of 1,030 points, the overall impression was that of a veteran apocalypse survivor. Put less kindly, I looked like a homeless man who had just raided a clothing donation bin. Of course, since fashion is completed by the face, this body made even these rags look good. I felt like an idiot for wasting time agonizing between performance and appearance.
“Sigh…”
Whatever. If it suits me, that’s good enough. Including the 1,500 points spent on Character Making, I had 7,491 points left. With my specs more or less ready, it was time to dive into the ‘Main Mission’—
Remaining Points: 7491
“Not bad. You didn’t cram any useless junk in there.”
“It looks like your preparations are finished, so I came to check.”
Malphas revealed himself again, cutting off my thoughts.
“You’re back already? Must be nice having nothing better to do.”
“Hardly. I have plenty of work. For example, opening gates to the world you came from and scattering my power?”
“It only looks that way because you’re so pathetic you can barely maintain a single consciousness. Even now, my other selves are working hard in various places.”
The left head answered with its usual polite condescension while the right head replied in its arrogant, prickly tone, the two of them alternating in response to my sarcasm.
“So why are you here?”
“I brought you a gift.”
The left head pecked at the empty air, tearing a white rift like paper. Three books tumbled out from beyond the torn space.
Secret Manual
An external art created by Mak Gaepyeong, the 12th Head of the 5th Green Forest Bandit Stronghold in the giant world AX-021.
Despite its grandiose name implying axe strikes with the weight of Mount Tai, it is a simple, brute-force martial art that simply swings an axe with raw power.
Because it absorbs all kinds of random qi without going through the dantian, it is easy to learn but also easy to fall into qi deviation.
It possesses the ability to greatly increase physical strength.
‘Real fighting has always been simple.’
‘If your head gets split open, all that supreme master nonsense dies with you.’
‘Four ounces deflecting a thousand pounds, an aura like an emperor—it's all bullshit.’
—Excerpt from a conversation between Mak Gaepyeong and his younger brother Mak Gonom during his days as a stronghold leader.
Textbook
A basic magic tome from the black magic school Dezar of the small world Dinaino.
Because the founder Dezar was an outstanding martial mage, all who inherit his teachings master exceptional physical reinforcement and hand-to-hand combat.
Its reinforcement through magic and its destructive chaos spells for controlling the battlefield are excellent, but because it uses the foreign power known as demonic energy, it is difficult to learn.
Basic spells included:Magic Technique: Leather Reinforcement, Magic Technique: Strength Amplification, Magic Technique: Blood Emperor
Basic martial arts included:Dezar-style Hand-to-Hand Fundamentals
Textbook
The basic swordsmanship practiced by the knights of Demonia, the army Malphas used to conquer the small world Hallonia.
Since Malphas is not a demon who symbolizes raw power, this is an excellent sword art but does not go beyond that level.
It focuses on reinforcement and erosion using demonic energy, so it is not very effective against other beings of demonic nature.
Magic learned at the basic stage:Crow's Cry, Enchant: Demonic Energy
Martial arts learned at the basic stage:Demonia Knight Sword Fundamentals, Inferno Homeland Sword Technique
After reading the descriptions of all three books, only one thought came to mind.
“The bandit bastards’ secret manual doesn’t fall that far behind?”
The chaos magic basics looked faithful to its identity as a textbook just from the explanation. Although it fell a little short of an actual school textbook since it was only the fundamentals, it was the thickest of the three. The knight swordsmanship was the same. It was about the thickness of a magazine, but it contained two spells and two sword techniques. A solid composition. Truly worthy of a standard military manual.
But this Taishan Giant Strength Axe—as expected of mountain bandit trash—was barely ten pages thick. Unlike the other two, its explanation was ridiculously simple: just swing hard. Anyone would think choosing this one was a loss.
“Ahaha, that’s right. It is the worst of the three.”
“What kind of profound learning could mountain bandits possibly have?”
“But it’s not entirely bad.”
“Indeed. For an ignorant brute like you, it’s actually the best.”
My suspicious expression must have been amusing. Both of Malphas’s heads chuckled.
“You have never felt mana, internal energy, or dharma power of any kind.”
“No matter how basic they are, an ignorant fool could never learn them on his own.”
“Then why not just buy the skill outright from the shop…”
“What a thought, coming from someone who lived in the age of livestock.”
“You really never deviate from expectations.”
The ones who had been mocking me a moment ago now sighed as if they had seen the most pathetic creature alive.
“Techniques are better learned directly. If you simply download someone else’s experience, it’s easy to lose yourself.”
“Do you know why the heroes and saints in stories always end with ‘and they lived happily ever after’?”
“Because if they wield power that isn’t their own, they eventually become emotionless shells or obsessive maniacs, and their endings are never good. We can’t show that.”
“Besides, you have now become an immortal being. If someone like that just slaps random techniques onto himself, it’s not power—it’s a monstrosity. And there have been plenty of those.”
“Is it just one? There were many. The Crowned Dragon, Ginnungagap, Mimir, Shoggoth…”
As I listened blankly to the names Malphas muttered, a question mark briefly floated up in my head.
“Ginnungagap and Mimir… from Norse mythology?”
“Correct. The void and the giant.”
“Then Shoggoth is…”
“One of the names we scattered.”
I realized that beings called Transcendents and Immortals were far more intertwined with our daily lives than I had thought. Well, Malphas’s name had been fairly familiar too. Anyway, that was beside the point. The story itself was convincing. I hadn’t known that buying from the shop didn’t let you learn things as easily as I thought; it simply grafted someone else’s experience directly onto your body. I had almost made a huge mistake—
“Considering my light wallet, I should just read the books and learn them the normal way.”
“For someone who can’t even manage his own world, your stomach is certainly full of arrogance.”
Before I could even feel relieved, the sharp jab made me stagger.
“The conversation has gone off track, but for that reason our recommendation is the Taishan Giant Strength Axe.”
“Why?”
“It is a martial art from the Green Forest that even rock-headed idiots can learn. It’s easy enough that even an ignorant fool like you can pick it up immediately.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to spend a little more time and learn something else?”
My reasonable question received two different reactions. The right head snorted with open ridicule. The left head shook its head from side to side as if it had seen something hopeless.
“Just from reading the book?”
“It’s not impossible. But how long do you think it would take?”
At that question, my mouth clamped shut. It really did seem like it would take a long time. Just the difference in thickness made that obvious. Since I was learning it for free anyway, wouldn’t it be better to learn the more expensive one? I glanced around the shop.
The Taishan Giant Strength Axe skill itself cost 4,000 points, while the manual was only 600. Dezar Chaos Magic was 12,000 for the skill and 1,500 for the textbook. Demonia Standard Knight Swordsmanship (Basic) was 14,000 for the skill and 2,000 for the manual. Even by pure value, they were two to three times more expensive. Even if it took some time—
“If you’re going to start a new life and then waste several years studying again, that’s your choice.”
“You’re the one picking what’s good for you. Spending years in a place like this with nothing in it would drive anyone insane from boredom.”
Malphas cut in again, interrupting my thoughts, and today he was especially irritating. He was clearly doing this on purpose. What pissed me off most was that what he said wasn’t actually nonsense.
“Think about it. Once you go out on the mission, there will probably be people giving you ‘Sub Missions.’ Wouldn’t it be better to get it over with early?”
“Since they often offer technical books or items as rewards for missions, you might be able to get something even better.”
I hated how I couldn’t ignore the swindler’s words once he started talking. The way he was being so persistent made me suspect he had some ulterior motive.
“What do you want?”
I asked directly.
“This is why I like you.”
“So, if you know, are you still going to do it?”
At my question the left head smirked lazily while the right head drew an arc with its eyes as it asked back, so I shook my head.
“No, I’ll do it.”
“Even if it drives you into a corner?”
I fell into brief thought at the left head’s question. Because it seemed entirely possible that Malphas would casually screw me over.
“Yeah, I think so.”
“Why?”
“What changes if I refuse?”
I compared the Malphas I had seen at the moment of our contract with my own main body sitting there unconscious. If I was an ant, Malphas was an elephant. No matter how much I struggled, if he wanted something, I had no way to resist. Nothing would change. Whether I refused or accepted, if Malphas decided to destroy me, I would be destroyed. In that case, my thinking was that it was more rational to just go along with his intentions and take as much as I could get.
“Yes, correct. That is the right answer.”
“So choose the Taishan Giant Strength Axe. There is something I want to make you do.”
“If that’s the case, why give me three choices in the first place?”
Why bother giving me options and then telling me the correct answer now? Malphas seemed to understand my doubt and nodded as he answered.
“It is not coercion. It does not matter what you choose.”
“However, you have an obligation to give us entertainment.”
“What does that obligation have to do with me choosing the Taishan Giant Strength Axe?”
The two heads met each other’s eyes. Then they chuckled.