Hall of Fame (5)

I stepped into the arena in Abraham's place. A notification bloomed before my eyes, and across the sand, a monster took shape.

A pale skeleton drifted in midair, an ancient black cloth billowing over its bones. It made no sound at all.

The fourth monster of the Hall of Fame was a Skeleton Mage.

Trigonon of Silence had earned its reputation forty years ago, slaughtering more than thirty Masters and Fairies. The reason a mere Skeleton Mage had been able to rack up a body count like that came down to a single ability.

That ability was—

The notification announcing the start of combat had barely faded before Trigonon leveled its staff at me. Magic lanced from the tip.

The spell struck my body and, in the same instant, sank straight into me — a faint, seeping hiss, and then it was gone. A notification rose before my eyes.

Guess that's the mythic grade for you. I can still use Molt?

The reason a mere monster like Trigonon of Silence had become so infamous was that Silence skill.

Silence sealed the target's skills. For Masters and Fairies — people who used skills to punch well above their natural weight — a seal like that was devastating. For mages, whose physical stats like Strength and Vitality tended to be pitiful, it was as good as a death sentence.

Having locked me down with Silence, Trigonon swept its staff through the air. Space warped around it, and skeletal soldiers came walking out of the distortion.

Cheap-ass bastard. Summoning minions in a one-on-one?

Seal the opponent's skills with Silence, then summon a pack of skeleton soldiers. That was Trigonon of Silence's entire combat pattern. Once your skills were locked, you had nothing left but raw stats to put the thing down — and that was no easy job. That was how it had killed thirty Masters and Fairies.

Would've been dangerous if I'd sent Abraham out.

I'd poured a lot of Growth Stones into him, so Abraham's stats were nothing to sneeze at. Even so, I didn't like the idea of trusting stats alone against a crowd. Once a fight began, there was no calling it off. There was only one way a match ended: one side died.

Which was exactly why I'd come out here myself.

Because right now, my stats were already off the charts for a 4-star.

Unlike Abraham, I could put down Trigonon of Silence and every last skeleton it summoned on stats alone.

"Alright. Time to die again, my skeletal friends."

I walked toward the monsters.

More options than I expected.

I cocked my head at the five choices. Trigonon of Silence had been packing a lot more gear than I'd given it credit for. I'd figured it would be a staff and a cloak, and that would be the end of it.

Let's see. It's a 5-star monster — it ought to have something decent.

I rubbed my hands together and started checking the items one by one.

The Skeleton Soldier Summoning Staff was exactly what it sounded like: a Rare-grade staff that could summon ten skeleton soldiers. I'd thought the number of skeletons it had called out seemed a little high. So it had been leaning on the staff's power as well.

Skeleton soldiers aren't worth much on their own.

Armed with high-grade equipment, they could pass for a substitute Fairy. That was a pretty significant if, though. Unarmed, a skeleton soldier couldn't even serve as a proper meat shield. Nothing but bare bone, they shattered at a single sword stroke. You couldn't even use them to buy time. So the staff was a pass.

Next was the Ancient Cloak, which had a stealth effect — except it worked in reverse of ordinary stealth. It gave off a nauseating stench that kept living creatures from approaching the wearer. Stealth of a sort, I supposed. Not something I needed right now. Pass.

Now this one's not bad.

Trigonon's Ring was 5-star, Rare grade. It raised Vitality, Wisdom, and Magic by one point each, and it came with a ten percent boost to skill power besides.

This one's good too.

The Skeleton Mage's Mana Heart, taken through a special process and consumed, would raise the Magic stat by three points. Think of it as a kind of Growth Stone. The part I didn't like was that "special process" — the description never bothered to explain what it actually was. You could swallow it raw, no process required, and in that case Magic went up by as much as five points. The catch was that your other stats dropped by two.

Still. A way to raise Magic wasn't something to sneeze at.

Last was the Skeleton Model. Not an equippable item — it was Trigonon's body itself. Grind it down and fold it into a piece of gear during crafting, and that gear gained a one-point Magic boost.

This one's... whatever.

After the effects on the previous two items, a measly one-point bonus felt stingy. Cheap, even.

So it's the ring or the heart.

Both were good. The heart especially — the fact that swallowing it raw would raise Magic by five points was hard to ignore. That was the equivalent of consuming five Medium Growth Stones, and not just any Growth Stones: ones that raised Magic, which were brutally hard to come by. Converted to gold, it was worth tens of millions.

What to do...

The ring was tempting, but the heart was the one that kept pulling at me. Looking at it purely by rank, my stats were already overflowing, so losing two points elsewhere wasn't much of a loss. Raise Magic by five, though, and every skill hit harder and I could fire them off more times besides.

Yeah. Heart it is.

The moment I made my choice, a half-rotted heart dropped into my hand. Then the arena folded away, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠and I was standing with the rest of the party again.

Oralisa came bouncing toward me, then jerked to a halt.

"Master! What did you pi— ugh! What is that?!"

She scrambled backward. Aquaril made a low sound in her throat.

"Augh, the smell. Of all the things you could've picked, why that?"

Kanisia pinched her nose, her face twisting. Abraham cleared his throat and casually put another step of distance between us.

"What's with everybody? What smell are you even— wait. Ugh! What the hell is that stench?"

I grimaced right along with them. Of course I did. The thing making everyone wrinkle their noses was the heart in my hand.

I have to eat this shit? I couldn't even eat durian.

It hit me a beat too late: swallowing this thing was how you got the five-point Magic boost. The mere thought of putting it in my mouth made my stomach lurch. In my last life, friends had sworn durian tasted great once you got past the smell. I'd never managed to get it past my lips.

This was the price of picking an item for the effect alone.

I stared down at the heart with unsteady eyes, then looked at the rest of the party.

Sales mode: ON.

"This thing raises your Magic stat by five whole points, you know? Your other stats drop by two at random, sure, but five points of Magic? That's nothing to sneeze at. Which is why... Kanisia, you should eat it. The higher your Magic, the better, right?"

I held out the rotting heart. Kanisia's face crumpled on the spot.

"What? Me?"

"I'll pass. My Magic's already high enough."

"The higher it is, the better it is for you. So you take it. Come on, try it, try it!"

"You wouldn't take the necklace I gave you, so I'm refusing this. You eat it."

She shut me down without a flicker of hesitation and stepped back.

The necklace snowball just rolled all the way back to me?

"Uh... then, Oralisa. You want it? Come to think of it, your Magic isn't even at fifty yet. Perfect. You should eat it."

"O-Oralisa has to eat it?!"

The shock of it seemed to freeze her solid. If this were a comic, a thunderbolt ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠would have cracked over her head.

"Yep. Oralisa's eating it."

"O-Oralisa, if-if-if-if she eats that... hic!"

"Huh? Hey, why are you crying?"

"Waaaaaah! Master doesn't like Oralisa anymore, does he? That's why he's giving Oralisa this — he wants to kill her, doesn't he? Waaaaah!"

"Wh— no, why would I hate you? And eating this isn't going to kill you!"

"WAAAAAAAH!"

"....."

Unlike Kanisia, who'd simply refused, Oralisa had planted herself on the floor and burst into full-throated sobs, tears pouring down her face. I couldn't bring myself to force the heart on someone who wanted it that little.

"Then... Aquaril?"

The moment her turn arrived, Aquaril locked up like a herbivore that had just locked eyes with its natural predator.

"Ah, th-that, I, um..."

She stammered, groping for words, then dropped her head in defeat.

"S-since it's something Master is g-giving meee... I-I'll, I'll ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠e-e-eat i-it..."

"...Forget it. The kid's completely short-circuited."

She must have hated the idea that much. Aquaril, who was normally so composed, couldn't even get a sentence out.

"Then Abraham... wait. Where'd he go?"

I'd been about to offer it to him, but the guy had already fled. How had someone that slow vanished without a sound?

"Ugh, fine. I'll eat it. I'll eat it. It raises Magic by five whole points — why is everyone acting like I've handed them poison?"

They'd all gotten spoiled. Thanks to me feeding them Growth Stones like candy, they'd forgotten how precious stats actually were.

I shook my head and opened my mouth to swallow the heart.

"....."

My hand, clenched around the thing, refused to move. The stench was so vile I was certain I'd vomit the instant it touched my lips.

Sure, eating this would raise my Magic by five points. It would also, I was fairly sure, cost me my life.

"Hey... System? Any chance I can get a refund on this? I'd like to pick the ring instead."

I figured it couldn't hurt to ask.

"....."

Well. Figures.