Chapter 90

While Koise and I were preparing for the trip to the Central Cities, which would take a few days since I wouldn’t just be trying to sprint there on my own, we discussed what we’d find.

“You remember Earth?” he asked me. “Well, it’s not quite at that level yet, but imagine a place where the streets are actually clean, magic-automated steam cars carry people from place to place, and the buildings—at least compared to here—tower over you.”

I’d been in the area of the Central Cities during the initial Merge, but the cities hadn’t existed then. Naturally, I hadn’t seen the true cities in all of their supposed splendor.

We were in the Association’s storage basement, rummaging for supplies.

Listening to him speak, I idly noticed dried drops of blood on the basement stairs along with a bloody handprint on the side of the stair support.

‘Was someone hurt while searching for supplies, maybe?’ I was only half-listening to Koise speak.

He rummaged through some crates and frowned at the sparse offerings—condensed meal bars and spare weapons of questionable quality. Everything would have to fit in his pouch. I couldn’t use such devices, and Eve didn’t offer to help. I’d also noticed her lack of a storage pouch during our brief time together.

“Maybe we can get some real food for once as well,” he muttered. Then, he looked over at me. “Also, you can get some better armor. What you’re wearing is little better than rags, at this point.”

He was right—my leather armor was filled with holes and barely held together through some miracle of shoddy repair work and an aggressive use of straps.

I scratched my shoulder, where a leather pauldron had once been and was lost during one of the many fights I’d been in recently.

“And what would we buy said armor with?” I asked. Given the constant, rushed nature of the past few days, I hadn’t exactly been given the luxury of looting anything.

‘Man… and I bet the giant’s dungeon had quite a few valuables as well.’

That frozen dungeon in the north I’d gone through with Lein had collapsed mid-fight and almost been the death of Koise as well.

Seeming to read my thoughts, he gave me a little half-grin in the dim light of the basement and held up his personal storage pouch.

He gave it a little shake as he said, “I still have most of the dragon materials from the corrupted one we killed stuffed in here. Nobody around here is good enough to make use of it or rich enough to buy it.”

‘Ah…’ I’d almost forgotten about the materials. It was funny to think about, since many an Awakener would kill for such a thing.

It made sense, especially since Karfana was both a half-ruined city and an outskirt city to begin with.

“I also have the items we still need to sell, unless you have something else in mind?”

I recalled the items he was talking about, the things we’d looted from the dragon’s nest.

[Chestplate of the Protector – Legendary

A heavy chest plate forged from true adamantite. A gift from races long gone that can withstand any attack. Enhances Endurance of the wearer by +5.]

[Lord’s Sword – Rare

A lord’s electrum sword. More intended as a decoration piece than an actual weapon, worn as a symbol of authority during the lord’s open courts. Enhances the Perception of the wielder by +5.]

[Crown of the Lord – Rare

A heavy crown of gold and valuable gems. Enhances the Mind of the wearer by +5.]

We still weren’t going to sell the chestplate. It was by far the most valuable and potentially dangerous item out of the three. The sword wasn’t a great weapon in itself and served more as a stat stick, so to speak.

Meanwhile, the crown really was just a simple stat boost, and a glaringly obvious one as well.

Still, the two items would probably sell for quite a bit of gold.

I thought, for a moment, about asking Eve if she could make use of the crown during our journey, but my intuition told me she’d decline. She certainly had a theme—dark and depressing colors—and the crown would even look a bit funny on her.

Then, someone else came to mind. The biggest guy I knew.

“Have you asked Bernard about the armor?” I asked.

“Haven’t exactly had the time,” he replied. “So we’ll be giving it to him, you think? How well do you know him, anyway?”

“Well enough. I don’t think he’d do anything bad with it.”

“You don’t think?” Koise asked, the tone of his voice trying to drive doubt into me.

I shook my head. He was right, I didn’t truly know Bernard all that well, but it wasn’t the time to be doubting my companions, especially after they’d done so much to me.

“Just ask him if he can use it when you get the chance.” I certainly wasn’t about to lug the armor around with me when Koise could conveniently keep it in his pouch.

He shrugged. “If you insist.”

Clearly, he didn’t have the same faith in our companions.

While he continued rummaging through the crates and barrels for supplies so we wouldn’t have to use our precious gold, I decided it was finally a good time to finalize my System choices.

Way back after I’d defeated the dragon, I’d unlocked options for both Systems, after all.

[《Scaled Skin》

The scaled skin of a dragon. Renders immunity to attacks for 1 second. 30 second cooldown.

《Eye of the Dragon》

The all-seeing eye of a dragon. Perceive the imperceivable and reveal hidden paths.

《Fiery Constitution》

The fiery vengeance of a dragon. Light parts of your body aflame with a fire that grows as you do.]

I’d previously written «Fiery Constitution» off as being more useless than the others since I could already manipulate heat, but Eve’s display of wiping out the demon horde had convinced me of its use.

I needed something that could take out groups of enemies. Otherwise, I was limited since most of my abilities only focused on doing damage to a single target.

With «Heat Manipulation», I needed there to be an already-existing source of fire. If I added «Fiery Constitution» to it, though, I could shoot fire whenever I needed to.

Even though I had Eve’s fire in mind, I doubted I’d have such an efficient effect with my own fire. Her entire class was probably based around fire use, after all. One ability wouldn’t allow me to catch up to her in that regard.

[You’ve selected ‘Fiery Constitution’.]

A moment later, I saw the skill added to my System window.

‘Okay…’ I thought to myself, next is the Second System.

⟬Ability Class Options:

《Stone Knight》

– Further embrace the durability of stone. Additional Endurance enhancement, increased area and hardness of summoned earth. Opens up new tree options.

《Shaper》

– Further enhance the malleability of the earth, shaping it like clay in your hands. Additional Magic enhancement, increased ability to shape external earth. Opens up new tree options.

《Seismic Warrior》

– Embrace the contained fury of the earth. Additional Strength enhancement. Increased ability to use the earth for attacks and explosive power.

《 $%@«S$#%w&$》

– Detected additional Awakener synergies.⟭.

I’d already thought about this and been torn between Seismic Warrior and the glitch class. Did I really have a problem with my Strength, though? I’d literally disintegrated a hulking demon with the Second System’s power.

Granted, the Second System had been in a strangely heightened state at the time, but I still didn’t struggle much in that regard.

Sometimes, you just had to gamble in life. Either way, I was sure I’d get some use out of it.

⟬You’ve selected ‘$%@«S$#%w&$’.⟭

⟬$%@«S$#%w&$⟭

⟬Analyzing Ability Usage: 1%⟭

‘That’s it?’ I wondered.

Hopefully, it would give me something good after it finished. The issue was that I had no way of knowing how long it would take.

At least I had one more option left to me—the enhanced ability efficiency I’d earned after we cleared the mini-dungeon on the road to the Central Cities.

⟬Upgrade a skill of your choice to be twice as efficient.⟭

‘Which skill should I use it on? Does it work on passive skills?’

Also, what did it even mean to increase the efficiency of a skill? Would it just cost less?

I looked over the skills in both Systems.

[Skills

Walk it Off

Strike

Second Wind

Fiery Constitution

Redirection

Echo Sight]

⟬Skills

Enhanced Stamina

Eruption

Piercing Eruption

Earth Control

Heat sense

Body Control

Heat Manipulation⟭

The clear option was Enhanced Stamina. With that, I could stay awake for longer and use my Second System abilities more without tiring.

When I selected it, though, a new window popped up.

⟬You can only enhance active skills.⟭

‘Okay, not quite as useful as I was hoping it’d be, but it’s still not bad.’

My two most used abilities were «Piercing Eruption» and «Strike». Since «Piercing Eruption» was governed by the Second System and was sort of a ‘finishing’ skill, I reasoned that «Strike» would make more sense.

⟬You’ve selected ‘Strike’ for enhancement.⟭

[Strike

Spend mana to empower a blow, increasing the strength and speed of the blow twofold.

Cost: 25 Mana]

The window changed, showing the altered effect of the skill.

[Strike

Spend mana to empower a blow, increasing the strength and speed of the blow threefold.

Cost: 20 Mana]

The effect both increased the power of the skill and decreased the cost. Five mana might not have seemed like much, but it could make all the difference having one or two extra uses in a prolonged fight.

By then, Koise was almost ready, and I hoped some monsters would dare to ambush us on our trip.

Unfortunately, I didn’t think it’d be put to the test so quickly.

***

In the Central City of Londo, in an opulent room lit by bright mana crystals and the sun shining through a one-way translucent ceiling, highlighting the almost sickening waste of luxury resources used to make the room’s sleek black marble floor and golden wall trimming…

An emaciated woman held out a shifting purple crystal to the man in front of her, who looked like he could’ve crushed her with the flick of a finger.

Despite the stark contrast between them, the man took the crystal in a quick and almost fearful motion.

It wasn’t the first time Gregor had dealt with the occult, but power always had its costs.