Chapter 124
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‘How is the rune’s name….’
[The Greatest Racehorse Under Heaven]?
There’s no way a rune like this would be possessed by a common Holder like me….
More shocking than the appearance of a new superior rune is the name of this rune.
I was a bit stunned at first, but soon gathered my thoughts and organized the situation.
‘The third superior rune.’
The third superior rune has already appeared.
Based on my experiences so far.
The superior runes created so far seemed to follow a certain formula.
One was that they combined various runes within a certain category.
[The Master of Martial Arts] was a superior rune combining various physical runes related to weapons, and [The Descendant of the Barbarian King] was a superior rune combining auxiliary runes related to beasts and physical enhancement.
The categories were the same, but the contents of the subsidiary runes were all different.
‘This one’s all the same.’
However, this rune has the same category, and the properties of the subsidiary runes are all the same as well.
All runes related to charging and dashing.
Thanks to that, the runes that could be combined into a superior rune…
Seemed optimized for charging just from the name alone.
‘And there’s only four subsidiary runes.’
The second formula for superior runes was that they had a considerably large number of subsidiary runes.
There were 8 when [The Master of Martial Arts] was combined.
[The Descendant of the Barbarian King] also had 8.
So I thought the standard number was at least 8, or that combinations were only possible starting from at least 7.
But this [The Greatest Racehorse Under Heaven] became a superior rune with only 4.
The formulas for superior runes that I had organized in my own way.
They were all shattered at that moment.
It seemed that ‘superior runes’ didn’t have any special combination formulas, and could freely appear if the situation and conditions were right.
‘First, High-speed Fight….’
I briefly checked the information on the newly acquired [High-speed Fight] rune.
Rare rune, Level 4.
No derived skills.
Special effects include displaying greater power when possessing wind-attribute magic power runes, and being more adept at charging in a dive rather than a straight line.
Considering the various special effects, it was quite a decent charging rune.
‘But I can’t fly in the sky.’
[High-speed Fight] had a fatal flaw.
A charging rune that could allow you to run in the sky was certainly attractive, but without abilities or runes that could levitate, the rune itself would be unusable.
I would have to be able to fly first in order to charge in the air, but the prerequisite wasn’t fulfilled.
It seemed I would have to hunt other aerial monsters and acquire related runes to make this possible.
‘Then….’
After checking all the information, I summoned the information window again.
Combining into a superior rune was now not a choice but a necessity.
I had never failed after combining so far, so it was practically already decided.
[You have combined the superior rune ‘The Greatest Racehorse Under Heaven’. The charging runes High-speed Fight, Underwater Sprint, Rage Rush, and Sprint for a total of 4 runes have been selected as subsidiary runes. The appraisal level of the superior rune combining the subsidiary runes is Level 5.]
[You have acquired a new rune.]
[The nature of the rune grants +4 Agility.]
“Whoa….”
Unintentionally, I let out an exclamation.
Increasing agility by 4?
While the number itself was similar to when I got [The Master of Martial Arts], considering my current ability scores were much higher than then, it was an astounding increase.
Since it was a rune extremely focused on agility, the increase in ability scores was also focused in one area, it seemed.
‘Finally went over 50.’
Thanks to it, my agility became 51, becoming the first of my ability scores to pass 50.
Next, I immediately checked the <Rune Information>.
<Rune Information>
◎ Name: The Greatest Racehorse Under Heaven
◎ Rank: Epic / Superior
◎ Subsidiary Runes: –
◎ [Sprint]
◎ [Underwater Sprint]
◎ [Rage Rush]
◎ [High-speed Fight]
◎ Level: 5
◎ Engraved Location: Legs
◎ Special Effects: –
: Through the special power of the superior rune, proficiency corrections can be given to the subsidiary runes. Each subsidiary rune can raise its proficiency as an individual rune, and proficiency can also be raised through the superior rune’s corrections.
: The user can recklessly charge and attack wherever their feet touch. This effect amplifies proportionately to the user’s Agility stat. (However, certain areas like the sky/sea require abilities to freely move within those areas.)
: The ‘Rapid Riding’ effect is constantly applied. The fastest runner in any situation, riding any mount, becomes the greatest racehorse under heaven. When charging mounted, 70% of the original charging speed can be achieved.
*Sub Effect Details:
(Omitted)
◎ Derived Skills: –
◎ [Accel Piercing]
◎ [Quadrupedal Charge]
◎ Detailed Informations: –
: With superhuman lower body strength and overwhelming acceleration! As you recklessly traverse all areas, you will lack nothing needed to be called the greatest racehorse under heaven. Faster, stronger! Let us stay one step ahead of all living creatures that run with us.
<Skill Information>
◎ Name: Accel Piercing
◎ Derived from Rune: The Greatest Racehorse Under Heaven
◎ Cooldown Time: 3 hours
◎ Conditions for Use: Possess spear-related runes.
◎ Effects: –
: Concentrate magic power in the spear thrusted in a straight line, and pierce using that acceleration when the charge finishes. Inflicts powerful magical and physical strikes in combination, and applies a ‘Bleeding’ effect on the attacked target.
*When using this skill, certain effects of [Ruthless Charge] (striking with 2x Strength at the end of the charge) are temporarily not applied.
“Whoa….”
Once more.
I exclaimed once again.
It wasn’t a legendary-class rune like [The Descendant of the Barbarian King], but an epic-class rune with plenty of spectacular and tremendous effects was created.
First, the basic effects.
As expected of a superior rune combining all charging runes on land, sea, and air, the effects were also comprehensive.
Being able to receive the rune’s support and charge in any place meant the scope of my abilities could branch out considerably.
But like I mentioned earlier, I would need related runes to be able to charge in certain areas like the ‘sky’ or ‘sea’.
Fortunately, I had the [Underwater Breathing] rune, so charging underwater was possible, and I just needed to acquire aerial-related runes.
‘Rapid Riding also seems pretty useful.’
It was probably an effect that applied when riding something like a horse….
From the description ‘mount’, I wondered if it also applied to things like bicycles and cars?
The combination of modern inventions and rune utilization seemed worth looking into more.
‘And skills.’
[The Greatest Racehorse Under Heaven] rune had as many as two derived skills.
Two skills.
Were there ever runes that had two skills from the beginning?
Nothing came to mind immediately, so this was probably the first time.
On top of that, the skills themselves were also extremely good.
[Accel Piercing] was too attractive in terms of power and versatility.
The ‘Bleeding’ effect that limited the recovery of the target was good as well, and it was also one of the few direct attack skills among my derived skills.
I had a premonition it would become one of my main skills.
‘Quadrupedal Charge is….’
I sighed and shook my head.
Frankly, I didn’t even want to check the information for [Quadrupedal Charge].
It was obvious what it would be.
Running faster with four legs….
Well, it would probably have decent efficiency when alone, but it was a skill I would never want to use even if it killed me during party hunts.
‘Another success.’
As expected, superior runes never disappoint me.
The results of combining them seemed to at least be decent hits.
“Do Jae-hyun!”
Just as I was organizing the information on the newly acquired runes, Moon Ga-eun, who had gone to harvest harpy’s by-products, called me from afar.
Ah, right.
I was so absorbed in the new information that I wasn’t paying attention to the sounds around me.
Hearing her slightly annoyed tone, I hurriedly ran over.
“You called?”
“Geez… why aren’t you responding. I think I called you like four times.”
“Sorry, sorry. I was checking my equipment and Holder info for a bit.”
Moon Ga-eun, with her hands on her hips and a sullen face, looked at me and then softened her expression, pointing at harpy.
“Check this out for a sec.”
“Why? Did something happen?”
“Yeah. There’s something weird, so.”
Specifically, it was the magic stone embedded in harpy’s nape.
An area concealed by the countless feathers and difficult to see.
Following her instructions, I examined the harpy’s corpse with my gloves on.
The red magic stone embedded deep in the nape.
Its color was shining quite brightly.
“…Huh?”
Only after seeing that did I understand why Moon Ga-eun called me.
“This is…”
“Isn’t it in too good of a condition?”
“Yeah. What is this?”
Harpy’s magic stone.
The condition of the magic stone that should have been an average B-grade was too good.
The purity of the contained magic power was quite high, and the cohesion was also excessively high.
Was it an A-grade magic stone?
It had a quality that would make an unaware person think that.
“The magic stone doesn’t match the harpy’s condition. So I got curious and used Magic Tracking on it.”
At those words, I exclaimed in surprise.
“You used Magic Tracking?”
“Huh? Oh, yeah. It’s a derived skill that connects when detection-type runes and Magic Control reach a certain level….”
I know.
Of course I know.
[Magic Tracking], a skill derived when considerably raising the Detection-type runes commonly used by the Archer class and the universal skill [Magic Control] to high levels.
An advanced skill that could identify the source of magic power or skill-related phenomena.
‘To already have…’
The fact that Moon Ga-eun had already mastered such an advanced skill was impressive itself, but the fact she thought to use it in an ordinary situation like this was also surprising.
It was a phenomenon that could just be passed off with ‘Ah, the magic stone condition is good’ in normal circumstances.
As expected of a key member of the <Royal> clan.
From how she handled magic power to how she approached hunting, her very sense was different from ordinary Holders.
“So when I tracked it….”
This time, Moon Ga-eun pointed at a tree far away.
One of the ordinary trees we passed by while climbing up Sobaeksan Mountain….
“Can you see it?”
“See what?”
“That tree over there, it has a nest on top of it.”
A nest?
At those words, I frowned and stared at the tree.
Of course, I couldn’t see anything.
Unlike Moon Ga-eun who received aid for vision as an Archer, I didn’t have any related runes.
Seeing my reaction, she smiled slightly and continued slowly.
“And in that nest… magic power similar to what’s contained in this harpy’s magic stone is concentrated.”
“Ah…!”
Only after hearing that did I raise my head.
“I think it’s probably… a topographical feature or structure where magic power has condensed through some phenomenon, or an undiscovered dungeon. Yeah. It’s likely an undiscovered dungeon.”
The nest Moon Ga-eun guessed was on the tree far away.
That was probably the reason I came to this Sobaeksan Mountain Field.
To find and get to the undiscovered dungeon I had set out to find no matter what.
It was definitely ‘The Nest Covered by Clouds’.
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