Sword Unity
Sword Unity.
Sword Unity. The name alone was enough to leave him dizzy with delight.
But why is this a skill?
Now that he had learned it, it did not feel like an ability meant to drive overwhelming force into a target. It was closer to the trait Swordsmanship — something that simply let Yujun fight more efficiently the moment a sword was in his hand. It did not even require mana.
Why it was a skill rather than a trait, he could not say, but what did it matter? So long as the effect was good, that was enough. The description alone gave him no sense of what would actually change. He would have to test it in real combat before he could confirm what Sword Unity truly did.
I don't care who. I just want a fight, and soon.
Two of them still remained, though. Paranet and Manuela. They had skills to choose as well.
"Master. What skills were there?"
"See for yourself."
Yujun heaped a vast quantity of items onto the altar. The grade of skills available to choose shot upward at once, climbing in a flash all the way to the maximum.
"Ooooh...!"
Paranet stared at the hologram, his face soaked in awe. Skills so exquisite that merely looking at them was intoxicating lay spread out right before his eyes, and he flailed his hands at them.
"Hey. Waving won't pick one."
"Master... am I permitted to choose what I desire?"
"No."
Paranet's magnificent shoulders sagged. He had not been allowed to take the skill he wanted last time either, and he had clearly been nursing a great deal of hope.
Yujun smiled, wicked about it.
"You want to choose?"
"Yes!"
Light flooded back into eyes that had gone as dull as a dead fish's.
"Fine. I'll allow it just this once."
The moment permission left his mouth, Paranet moved at a frantic speed, unable to hide his panic that his master might take the words back. He swept his gaze down the list of skills and nodded.
"I have decided."
"Which one?"
"The Heavenly Demon Divine Art! From this day forth, this shall be the skill of my life!"
For a moment Yujun had nothing to say.
"You're really going with that? There are higher-grade skills."
"Yes! This one pleases me! It seems a technique befitting my ferocity."
"Then I'll have to pull a few offerings back out."
He had gone to the trouble of matching the altar to EX++ grade, and the fool had picked the Heavenly Demon Divine Art. Yujun returned several of the Mythic-grade items he had offered to his inventory, and Paranet, grinning, selected it.
Next was Manuela.
"W-wait, I can really choose? I didn't even do anything."
"You cast a Grace on me."
"...Thank you."
A Grace and a handful of buffs made for an excessive reward, but this was a kind of investment. In the Skill Archive, one could choose exactly one skill. If he could give a trustworthy companion a skill and sharply raise the party's strength, there was nothing to regret.
"I'll match the grade for you first."
Once well over twenty Mythic items had gone up onto the altar, the maximum was reached.
"I-I really can, right?"
Manuela asked again. Yujun smiled and nodded, and only then did she seem to relax, stepping up to the Skill Archive.
The better the skill you get, the easier my life gets.
Of course, she was a good companion. He was not spending dozens of Mythic items for the sole purpose of using her. He had received no small amount from her, and part of him wanted to repay it.
"What are you going to pick?"
"Hmm... I've decided."
"What? Already?"
"Yeah!"
"Which?"
"Goddess's Grace!"
At her words, Yujun's eyes went wide.
"There have to be better ones. Goddess's Grace is exactly what the name says — a buff, nothing more and nothing less."
"I know."
"There are so many skills in there made for mages."
"I'm specialized in buffs and curses more than magic. Magic's nice, but... I like support better."
"I don't get it..."
Judging by the name alone, Goddess's Grace was clearly meant to be tremendous. But a Grace could not be used on oneself. A Grace applied only to others.
"You're really going with that?"
"Obviously."
Manuela's will was firm. Yujun was too much of an individualist to understand it, but he had no particular complaint. If she mastered an EX++ Grace, it would unquestionably help him.
And so the party, each of them having obtained a single skill, left the Skill Archive. All that remained was the dungeon's clear reward.
Honestly, I almost feel bad taking one.
He had brought the boss down far more easily than expected. Not because the thing was weak, but because he himself had grown too strong. Either way, that was no reason to forfeit the reward.
There was no dungeon exit. The odds were high, then, that they would only be recognized as having cleared it if they went back the way they had come. Along the path, they came upon the boss monster lying where it had fallen.
It isn't still alive, is it?
Paranet seemed to be thinking something similar.
"Shall I dispose of it?"
"With what?"
"I am in possession of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art at the twelfth stage."
"You're full of it. What twelfth stage."
"I-it is true!"
Yujun's silence was thick with doubt, and Paranet hurried to add more.
"The possibility has arisen, that is!"
"So not yet, then."
"W-well, yes?"
"Then why the bluster."
"I apologize."
"What stage are you on now? How many stages are there in the first place? Is twelve the maximum?"
"Yes. On the day the Heavenly Demon Divine Art reaches the twelfth stage, I... may perhaps grow stronger than even you, Master."
"...This isn't more bluster, is it? Or a lie?"
"No! I am certain!"
Yujun did not dismiss the words out of hand. Paranet did not say things like that without reason — not without a fair amount of confidence.
"What's your basis for thinking that?"
"There is Horidan's Ring, is there not..."
"Yeah."
"Whenever my pure mana stat increases, all of my stats increase by one."
"Get to the point."
"The Heavenly Demon Divine Art... well. It raised my pure mana stat by fifty, if you can believe it."
"Just from acquiring it?"
"Yes!"
"You made all that fuss over a mere fifty?"
"Master. As I said, the Heavenly Demon Divine Art goes up to twelve stages."
"What stage are you on right now?"
"The first."
"...Don't tell me your mana rises every time you go up a stage."
"Yes. I do not know the exact figures, but so I am told."
"Even at fifty a stage, that's six hundred, isn't it?"
"As one's attainment in the Heavenly Demon Divine Art deepens, the rate of increase grows as well. That is what makes it all the more fearsome."
"Fair enough... you had reason to be confident. The question is whether you can actually reach the twelfth stage. Think you can?"
Paranet hesitated a moment, then answered.
"Of course!"
"You don't think you can, do you."
"...I may not be able to do it on my own, but together with you, Master, it is possible!"
"You need my help?"
Paranet said nothing.
"Enlightenment isn't something that just flashes into your head because you want it to."
"Exactly! That is precisely it!"
"Well, if an item comes along later that might help you, I'll give it to you."
"Truly?"
"Sure."
Yujun smiled kindly. It was a side of him rarely seen, and Paranet grinned wide and foolish in return.
If Paranet grew stronger, who stood to gain? Yujun himself.
Raising his pure mana stat... that's a jackpot.
A summon could not freely distribute stats even when their level rose. That was why it had been impossible to make full use of Horidan's Ring.
And yet...
Even at the first stage of the Heavenly Demon Divine Art, his mana stat had risen by fifty. If, through Paranet's future growth, the mana granted by the art reached a thousand, the total stats he would gain would come to four thousand.
What the increase will be at the twelfth stage is anyone's guess...
Paranet's claim that he might grow stronger than Yujun himself was by no means empty talk. Of course, that assumed Yujun had stagnated by then. The odds were high that he would grow even further than Paranet did.
"How long do you think it'll take to reach the second stage?"
"I do not know. Perhaps a year or so?"
"...A year?"
"And that is the minimum. This Heavenly Demon Divine Art has crammed my head full of words I can scarcely make sense of..."
Hearing a year left him hollow. Not even half a year had passed since he was summoned to the Tower of Infinity. Even if he doubled the time he had spent in the other world, it still would not fill a year. And raising the Heavenly Demon Divine Art by a single stage took a year?
"Tsk. Useless."
Yujun looked at Paranet with a cold gaze. Sensing that his standing had dropped, Paranet sucked in a sharp, useless breath.
"M-Master! That is not it! It may not take nearly so long as one might think! Yes! I must have been mistaken!"
"Forget it. If you don't show me results, I won't believe you anymore."
"...I am sorry. But the Heavenly Demon Divine Art is not merely an increase in mana! Its true terror reveals itself in the martial art — that is, in combat..."
"Enough. You're noisy."
Yujun deliberately did not even look at him.
"Manuela, what about you? Did you check the Grace's effect?"
"I think I have to use it to know."
"Try it on me."
"Okay."
Manuela stepped in front of him.
"Why are you getting so close?"
"It says I can only use this skill through contact."
"Really? Why? That doesn't seem right..."
"Just take my word for it!"
No matter how he thought about it, it was strange. For an EX++ skill, weren't the activation conditions rather fussy? He was still turning that over when Manuela's hand touched his arm, and a hologram message window rose.
You have received Goddess's Grace!
All stats increase by 40%!
Attack power and defense increase by 30%!
All harmful effects on the body are removed.
All wounds are healed.
Luck increases.
Yujun's mouth fell open. One Grace granted this many effects? A Grace was not an ability one could throw around carelessly on just anyone, but wasn't this too much?
It isn't even like the Ardent Warrior's Grace, which comes with negative effects...
It seemed EX++ grade for a reason.
"How is it?"
Manuela asked cautiously.
"It's insane. Absolutely broken."
"I'm glad."
"You picked well. Thanks."
"What are you saying. I'm the one who should be thanking you."
She had only been able to obtain an EX++ skill because of his items. Because of that, Yujun could receive Goddess's Grace every time. They had helped each other.
"How long does this last?"
"Probably about three hours."
"...That's no joke. It earns its grade."
"Yujun. Where's the next destination?"
"Next? There isn't one."
"Huh?"
"I was thinking of resting. Feels like we've been running too hard."
"That doesn't sound like you. Didn't you used to say that if you weren't in combat, you might as well already be resting?"
"That's true, but no matter how good the body performs, I think rest is still necessary. Wouldn't that be better for my head, too?"
"Good thinking."
Manuela smiled brightly. In truth, she had been worried. She had seen many people lose what was precious to them because they were obsessed with nothing but growing stronger. Yujun was cut from a different cloth, but he had grown so fast that it had only made her more uneasy. Seeing him make a sound judgment on his own put her a little at ease.
"Let's go to the Black Market."
"Now?"
"Yeah."
"...We are resting, right?"
"I'm just going to see if any good items have come in."
"What if it's a wasted trip?"
"Don't worry about that. I've heard something."
Not long ago, Do Jiyun had sent him a message. Decent consumable items, she said, were prepared for this Black Market. If Do Jiyun — who knew just how many fine items already filled his inventory — was going so far as to tell him that...
Worth looking forward to.