The Goddess of Night Takes Form
After the sparring session ended, I took Nyx outside with me.
“I’m sorry for asking this of you.”
“You didn’t have anyone else to ask, did you?”
Jiyoung, who had come along, let out a bright giggle.
The reason she had joined us on this outing was simple.
I knew next to nothing about women’s clothing.
I needed to buy the goddess suitable clothes, but that task was completely beyond my ability.
“Wearing anything at all is far too uncomfortable.”
“Since this is a request, please follow Korean laws while you are here in Korea.”
“Hmm, so you seek this one’s mercy.”
Had injecting Nyx into the spare homunculus been a mistake?
For a brief moment, the thought actually crossed my mind.
“By the way, should I call you Summon or… what do I call you?”
“Nyx. Call her Nyx.”
“She has such a completely foreign vibe!”
Nyx and Jiyoung exchanged a few words. As I had felt before, the two of them got along surprisingly well, even if both would deny it.
For the time being, I decided to leave Nyx in Jiyoung’s care.
Perhaps because I had received one shock after another today, my eyelids felt heavy.
“Master, where are we going now?”
“Wherever my feet take me. Why?”
“Wow, that’s a bit much, isn’t it?”
What had I even done?
I had simply come out to buy Nyx some clothes. Did I really deserve this much criticism?
“Please leave this matter to me.”
Jiyoung’s eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. Well, choosing clothes myself would have been difficult anyway, so this was for the best.
“Fine. Use this card.”
“Is it a corporate card?”
“Team formation doesn’t qualify as a corporation, you know?”
“Anyway, it’s Master’s card. I’ll use it well.”
The low laugh Jiyoung gave sent a chill down my spine.
“Will you not accompany us?”
“Nyx, you can go with me today.”
“This one has a contractor, yet…”
“You left her with me, didn’t you? Stop being difficult and let’s go.”
When she had been in spirit form she had constantly pushed Jiyoung around, but now that she inhabited the homunculus it was the opposite—she was the one getting swept up in Jiyoung’s pace.
It would probably be fine.
Leaving the task of buying Nyx’s clothes to Jiyoung, I returned to the team training hall. The others were still watching me with eyes full of questions.
“It’s a request, so please don’t ask anything.”
I cut them off with a single sentence.
Ha. This was the most exhausting day I’d had since digging up that Tyrannosaurus fossil in the old folktale.
While I was training Ping Lei, Karla, and Kim Youngsoo—
“Master, we’re back!”
Jiyoung flung the door open and greeted us in a cheerful voice. It wasn’t even the first time she had seen us today, yet she acted as if it were a grand reunion.
The woman who followed her in.
I doubted my eyes for a moment.
“Excuse me… is that the goddess?”
“Your jest is in poor taste. Acting as if you cannot recognize me.”
A black dress paired with a cardigan. The outfit looked both carefully chosen and casual at the same time, yet because Nyx wore it the aura was on another level.
She had become a completely modern person in the short time I hadn’t seen her.
“You didn’t even look in a mirror while putting those on?”
“Clothing is ultimately nothing but an exterior. What this one looks at is the interior.”
“So that’s why you called the lizardmen hideous?”
“How can I help it when my heart simply refuses to warm to those swamp-dwelling creatures no matter how hard I try?”
Nyx frowned. Every thought she had was written plainly on her face.
Now that the clothing problem was solved, I gathered the team members in one place and introduced her.
“This is the being I contracted with. Her name is Nyx.”
“This one has seen the contractor of this inadequate goddess receiving help. Treat me well.”
Shouldn’t it usually be the other way around?
At Nyx’s words Jiyoung let out a small laugh. The others were too busy watching my reaction to speak.
Well, Karla remained expressionless as always.
“I obtained a physical body through an opportunity from the tower. She will be working with the team from now on.”
“Um, team leader… sir.”
“Ping Lei. You have a question?”
“The Yeokcheon team was recruited on the basis of five members, wasn’t it?”
A sharp question.
When carrying out team missions, a maximum of five people could be grouped together. If Nyx joined, it would mean excluding one person.
“That won’t be a problem. Nyx is not a player.”
Not everyone who received the system’s benefits was a player. If you looked at my status window, a [Player] tag appeared next to the name, right? Since Nyx had no such mark, she would not be bound by the member limit.
“Any other questions?”
I looked around, but no further questions came.
“What about the guild officials? Is this acceptable?”
“The team leader’s wishes are what matter most.”
“The Guryong-bang guild does not concern itself with trivial matters.”
Ellen and Zhu Yixian answered in turn. To be precise, they did not seem interested in my words at all. Their gazes were fixed openly on Nyx without any attempt to hide it.
A summoned being obtaining a physical body and walking around—it was only natural to be curious. They could investigate the Unranked ranks as much as they liked. They would never even discover the conditions for clearing the Basic Training Hall – Inferno Difficulty, let alone pass it.
Basic Training Hall - Inferno Difficulty
* * *
After obtaining a physical body, Nyx wandered around the team building.
“Indeed. The sensation of walking on my own two feet is entirely different.”
Nyx wore a refreshing smile. The biggest change was that her emotional expressions had become far richer than when she had been in spirit form.
One fortunate thing was that she was still unfamiliar with modern civilization.
“Please bear with it for a while.”
“Don’t worry. Nyx doesn’t wander around much.”
“What if she rides the subway?”
“Come on, her movement patterns are exactly like a cat’s, so don’t worry.”
It seemed she would gradually expand her range of activity centered on the team building. Jiyoung clenched her fist in encouragement.
“Goddess.”
“What is it?”
Nyx lay sprawled on the sofa watching television.
…It felt like getting used to modern civilization would only be a matter of time.
“Stop lounging about and let’s go to the tower.”
“Oh, this is the first time since obtaining this body.”
“You have to earn your keep.”
That was right. Another change that came with Nyx obtaining a physical body was the need to eat.
“Mortals are truly bothersome. Having to consume food to replenish strength.”
“If you only play around, food will not fall from the sky.”
“I understand. To assist you, this one shall at least fulfill the share of one person.”
Truly touching mercy.
The floor we challenged while bringing Nyx along was the twelfth.
Since I was waiting for Jiyoung to ascend, the goal was to gain experience, CP, and train my martial arts in real combat.
This field resembled a huge medieval castle. Two- and three-story medieval houses lined the area beneath the encircling castle walls.
The moment the mission began, two players came into view.
“Leave that one to this one.”
“Good. I’m looking forward to it.”
We ran in opposite directions. The player who noticed my presence swung a crescent-shaped blade, but—
Mountain Lord Wave Claw
The black inner energy surged forward like a crashing wave and killed him in a single strike.
Now, let’s see the goddess’s skill.
By the time I finished my battle, Nyx had also faced her opponent.
“Kneel.”
“Huh?”
The player wore a dazed expression. Nyx let out a short sigh.
“You are a child who has not learned the proper posture for greeting a goddess.”
The power of Polar Night spread out widely. The dozens of strands twisted repeatedly, transforming into spiral spears that shot toward the player before her.
“What is this?”
He swung his weapon, but one hand could not block ten. He could not stop the power of Polar Night from piercing him.
Nyx opened her hand. Some of the Polar Night that had dug into the player’s body was released outward, spreading in a circle and enveloping the target once more.
And then—
Crack! The sound of flesh and bones being crushed rang out.
“Wow.”
An exclamation escaped me. The application was on a completely different level from how I handled Polar Night. While Nyx’s overall output was only slightly higher, she rotated the power of Polar Night dozens of times in an instant to increase its penetration, dug it into the opponent’s body before he could react, neutralized his defenses, and finally released part of it outward to resonate with the portion inside and crush him completely.
“As expected of the goddess. Incredible.”
“It wasn’t even a proper warm-up.”
Nyx wore a smug expression. It was annoying, but now was the time for praise, so I held my tongue.
“By the way, did your level go up?”
“Now that you mention it, a message did linger in my ears.”
Nyx looked over her status window.
“Five bonus stats have appeared.”
“As expected. Your level is rising.”
“Then this one shall invest every stat into Polar Night, this one’s foundation…”
She moved to distribute them immediately.
“Wait.”
“Do you have advice for this one?”
“I was wondering if you might be relying too heavily on Polar Night alone.”
Without Polar Night, Nyx’s physical abilities were no different from an ordinary person’s. Even mages invested minimum points into strength or vitality to wear armor.
“Even though Polar Night covers both offense and defense, there is always the possibility of ‘what if.’”
“Hoo. Your concern is admirable, yet such worries do not apply to this one.”
Polar Night
Synchronizes Polar Night with the body to manifest part of the divine body.
When Polar Night envelops the body, all stats increase.
So that was why her movements had been so agile during our spar. I had simply thought of it as the ability to control Polar Night, but an unexpected option had been attached.
“What do you think?”
“With an ability like this, investing everything into Polar Night is fine.”
“Fufufu, this is this one’s power.”
After that we swept through the city without rest. The kill count rose rapidly. Nyx’s level shot upward as well.
“I cannot believe it.”
“What?”
“That these people are of the same rank as you.”
Nyx swept her long hair back with her right hand.
“To think they are this weak.”
She lamented the players’ level. Having only traveled with me inside the tower, her standards had become far too high.
Nyx’s physical abilities, strengthened by Polar Night, were average for the Iron rank. Not overwhelmingly powerful, but enough to keep up with my movements.
“Those two over there. Did they form a squad?”
“Even if they formed a squad, the kill count would not be shared.”
“Before worrying about that, we need to cooperate first!”
The twelfth-floor mission always followed a similar pattern. At first they fought among themselves or hid, but once I raised the kill count dramatically they would band together in groups of three or five to counterattack.
“Rather, I welcome it.”
It was not as if ninety-nine out of a hundred were moving as one group. At most they were impromptu teams of five or six—nowhere near enough to be my opponents.
Moreover—
“Do those wretches know the proper etiquette for greeting this one?”
With the addition of Nyx, who had obtained a physical body—
“What are you babbling about?!”
“This one shall personally teach these lowly creatures manners.”
Nyx waved her hand lightly. The gesture served as a trigger to manifest her will. At the same time, part of the Polar Night enveloping her body unraveled and dyed the entire area in night.
I had to admit it. With Nyx obtaining a physical body, my combat strength had risen tremendously.
“Hoho, kneel before this one!”
However… it seemed I would need to ask her to restrain that etiquette enforcement just a little.