Chapter 41

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Translator: penny

Chapter: 41

Chapter Title: Reward

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First, he opened the [Random Mid-Grade Skill].

'Please be something good!'

As Choi Si-woo focused intently, a parchment materialized before his eyes.

The same parchment that appeared when buying skills from the shop unrolled smoothly, and letters began to glow on it.

The light surged upward and seeped into Si-woo.

Si-woo stared at it with an ambiguous expression. He couldn't gauge how good it was until he tried it.

True to form, the description was simple, but the idea of burning his own flesh made the skill feel deeply unsettling.

A sense of what the skill did flooded his mind. It wasn't one that left lingering aftereffects if used lightly.

He decided to test it gently, just a little.

'Flesh Fire.'

Fwoosh!

It felt like every drop of blood in his body turned to fire in an instant.

His blood was boiling throughout his entire frame. He wasn't sure if it was literally boiling, but the heat was unmistakable.

Damn, it was hot. The sensation of his whole body burning made him shudder.

'Fuck, it's hot!'

Circulating his Mixed Origin Qi Art with fire properties did nothing. It wasn't physical fire—it was conceptual.

There was compensation for the pain, though.

The world slowed down, and his senses sharpened—to the point where he could feel an ant crawling far away.

The vividly clarified world felt entirely different from before. His senses shifted in an instant, just like when he'd first awakened.

Even more, a leaf falling from a tree drifted down incredibly slowly. Time itself seemed to have slowed.

He regretted using up Gal Sang-in's acceleration, but purely in terms of effect, this was a superior version. He stared blankly at the sluggishly flowing world until something surged up bitterly.

"Ptooey...!"

Blood spewed from his mouth as the awakening ended.

Si-woo wiped the blood from his lips with his sleeve and spat out what was rising.

A black clump of something sat there.

"Ugh... That hurt like hell."

The cost of a brief test was severe.

'The effect is great... but the penalty is too harsh?'

He clutched his dizzying head and sat down.

If the penalty was this bad, he needed an ability to counter it.

The problem was damage to the body.

'Then...'

Something came to mind.

Thinking about recovery brought up a vivid image: that tiresome monster that regenerated even after losing limbs.

Si-woo pulled the shattered mana stone from his inventory. It held the creature's energy.

It was bizarre that a non-rift monster had a mana stone. And unlike the usual blue ones, this was oddly black.

Moreover, he felt some kind of energy from it. Trying it out, he pieced the fragments together, and they fused. As expected, it seemed to contain regenerative power.

'Will this work?'

He tried analyzing it with his Mixed Origin Qi Art, gripping the black mana stone in his palm and absorbing its energy.

He closed his eyes and focused, but it was tricky. He couldn't get a sense of what regeneration truly was.

As he fiddled with the mana stone in thought, Si-woo looked up.

[Mid-Grade Essence Extraction Scroll]

- Extracts phenomena at mid-grade or below into essence.

'Mid-grade... How far does that go?'

He stroked his chin, then had a hunch. He tried it on the sun in the sky, but no dice.

'Of course... Then how about this?'

He held the ticket up to the black gem from the monster's corpse.

After a moment's hesitation, Si-woo nodded.

'Troll...? No matter how I look at it, that wasn't a troll.'

Trolls were just C-rank, two-meter monsters. But that thing looked at least B-rank.

'And why is there a monster in this...?'

It left a bad taste wondering what the Blood Cult bastards had been up to.

He'd planned to live comfortably once he got strong enough, but that wasn't happening now. He felt the need to grow even stronger.

'Well... it's fun, too.'

Truth be told, getting stronger was fun in itself. He wanted power even without reason—the allure of strength was magnetic.

After pondering, Si-woo turned to the message. Torn between adaptation and regeneration, he made his choice.

'Regeneration.'

Adaptation seemed useful too, but right now, he needed regeneration.

The extraction scroll crumbled to powder and seeped into the mana stone.

Bzzz...

The black mana stone trembled violently. Something burst from it and coalesced in the air.

A bizarre sight: something forming from nothing.

In the end, only the now murkier black mana stone and a transparent gem pulsing with energy remained.

The black stone looked even more repulsive, so he stowed it in his inventory.

As he picked up the transparent gem, it throbbed in his hand. It was slightly squishy, fun to poke.

'Feels like a woman's breast.'

The knowledge in his mind told him how to use it.

[Essence of Regeneration]

- Absorb the essence?

'Yes.'

The gem turned to light and burrowed into Si-woo. The essence began absorbing into him. A warm energy circulated his body, heading toward his dantian.

Si-woo forcibly blocked it from reaching his dantian. Otherwise, it'd only apply to this body.

'Not there.'

He dragged it toward his mana core instead.

The effect was immediate. His body, influenced by the mana core, began to heal.

'That's it.'

After five minutes of closed-eye meditation, his body—previously vomiting blood—was fully restored. The more proficient he got, the stronger the regeneration would likely become.

He hadn't expected that monster-level regeneration, but this was more than satisfactory.

The minor wounds from his battles on Blue Bee Mountain were visibly healing. Skin injuries mended before his eyes, but it was especially effective on internal damage.

His ragged meridians were now perfectly fine.

"Whew..."

Feeling it improve in real time was invigorating.

'Jackpot.'

And there was still one more reward left.

[Combat-Specialized Random Reincarnation (Lv.3) Awakening Scroll]

"Hmm..."

After a moment's thought, Si-woo stored it in his inventory. It felt wasteful to use it now, with no immediate danger.

Becoming a Sword Master for a day only to have nothing to do would be too regrettable.

'It'd be good to use now, though.'

Training while experiencing Sword Master realm would be a blessing in itself.

Of course, there was no guarantee of Sword Master memories, but he'd chugged plenty of kimchi soup.

"Whew... Save it."

This time, the enemy had been stronger than expected. It was an awakening scroll perfect as a last hope against foes beyond his current level.

'I was going to stop hoarding, but... using it now would be a loss.'

Stowing it away, Si-woo forced himself to ignore it and checked ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠his karma.

'Whoa... Up by about 600? That's a lot.'

Checking the acquisition log, he'd gained over 300 just from making a name among the Murim Alliance elders.

Pulling aggro with the drone had definitely netted more than usual. Si-woo pondered.

'Drawing aggro in moderation is profitable... but something to think about.'

As he mulled it over, his eyes met the female priest's by chance.

Living at the Blue Bee Honey Temple, he felt like he ran into her more often lately. And every time, she flashed that alluring smile.

She was especially kind to him.

Her baseless favor was intriguing. Come to think of it, she'd been friendly from their first meeting.

'Does she like my face?'

If a beauty like her threw herself at him, there'd be no reason to refuse. Si-woo smiled back at her.

A few days passed.

Si-woo wrapped his sword aura in flame aura and assumed a stance toward Dang Hwa-rin.

They slowly swung their swords at each other.

Clang!

The sword auras collided, producing a shattering sound.

To onlookers, it looked like playful, slow clashes, but it was harder than swinging fast.

Slow swings demanded perfect form, or the aura would break.

Less than ten minutes in, his head throbbed.

"This is tougher than I thought. My head's splitting."

She was pressing her temples too, head hurting. Still, she seemed to enjoy it.

"The results are good, though, right?"

Definitely. The effort paid off handsomely.

His sword aura sustainment had improved markedly. It was a training method she'd learned from her clan.

*

Finishing sparring with Dang Hwa-rin, Si-woo stood before a massive boulder. Smoothly severed rock chunks littered the area.

He glared at the boulder and stamped into a advance stance.

A flash of dash followed by a swift slash. The boulder Si-woo passed split in half.

Steam rose ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hot from the cut. The heat was powerful, but that made it a failure.

Success came when no heat was felt. Even minimized, the boulder was still hot.

'Almost...'

He steadied his breath and maximized the cutting image. He recalled first using Incandescent Flame on the monster.

The heightened focus, the spine-chilling threat. The moment he severed its head.

The surroundings quieted, only his heartbeat audible.

Blue haze rose instead of red, but Si-woo's gaze stayed locked on the boulder.

Concentrating his mind, he stamped into the advance stance once more.

'Cut!'

He poured all senses into the boulder. Sword aura barely registered. His mind filled only with severing the rock.

Shlick!

Pure sword aura, un reliant on flame.

The bisected boulder wasn't hot anymore.

"Ah..."

Confirming it, Si-woo's face lit up.

'Finally, first-class!'

Once past the wall, handling sword aura grew intuitive. Normal aura succeeded first, then flame-wrapped red aura became even deadlier.

Swinging a qi-infused sword felt supreme.

Until dusk, Si-woo swung his sword, then washed up and headed to his room. A fulfilling day of pleasant refreshment and pride.

Then, as he walked, a sound reached him.

"Haah...!"

A woman's moan, thick with pleasure. The familiar voice sparked natural curiosity.