“Check Status Window.”
[ An Su-ho ]
Seeing the updated Status Window, Su-ho grinned.
Because after converting the stat fragments Pi Seong-yeol had gathered by grinding things down with Mega Crusher into True Demon Horse stats, he had secured a full fifty of them.
'Next, the items.'
More specifically, the runes.
Before carrying out the Hero’s Destiny, the only thing left that could really be called a final maintenance check was making use of the items he had in his possession.
One by one, Su-ho took out the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia, the Rune of Life Evolution, and the Lizard Dragon’s Rune, and brought up all their item information in front of him.
[ Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia ]
# A rune containing the power of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia, one of the deep-sea species that live in the deep sea.
# If the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia is used, you will be able to use part of the power of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia.
# Not much is known about Deep-Sea Species Paracondia. Other than the fact that Deep-Sea Species Paracondia is an ancient species that has lived in the deep sea for a very long time.
[ Rune of Life Evolution ]
# There are many mysterious runes in the world. The Rune of Life Evolution is one of them.
# A rune that can evolve a living being into a higher-order existence.
# It can only be used on living beings.
# It cannot be used on living beings with too high an order.
[ Lizard Dragon’s Rune ]
# The rune of the Lizard Dragon, called the guardian deity of the Lizard World.
# The Lizard Dragon’s Rune is the will, mind, spirit, and soul of the Lizard Dragon.
# The possessor of the Lizard Dragon’s Rune can communicate with all Lizardmen and possesses absolute dignity.
Three things among Su-ho’s forces that he still had not used.
Of these, some he had put off for later, some had refused to be used, and some he had been unable to use because he lacked the qualifications.
Among them, Su-ho used the Lizard Dragon’s Rune first.
[ Qualifications are insufficient. ]
[ You cannot use it yet. ]
Damn.
So it still wasn’t enough after all.
Honestly, by this point, he had thought he might finally be able to use it.
But to still be lacking the qualifications.
'The rank itself isn’t S++, it’s only S+. Even so, if I still don’t qualify, then I really must need to be at least High Player rank.'
Then again, this wasn’t just anything. It was a Rune of the Greedy Thrones, after all. Middle rank obviously wouldn’t be nearly enough.
In Umbra’s case, he had placed a bet, and Su-ho had come to know the story, so he had been allowed to use it specially.
After tucking the Lizard Dragon’s Rune away, Su-ho picked up the Rune of Life Evolution from between it and the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia.
“Jack.”
- Yeah.
The moment he called him, Jack, who had been dissolved into Su-ho’s shadow, appeared beside him in a swirling burst of black effect.
Shaking the Rune of Life Evolution, Su-ho said,
“Do you know what this is?”
- Of course I do. You’re carrying something fairly rare.
“I tried to use this on Guiyeong before, you know? But your master Umbra refused to let me.”
He remembered it clearly.
He had tried to use it several times, and each time it had been refused.
- So?
“But now Umbra is my Betting, which means there’s no one left who can stop me. So I was about to use it now, but then I suddenly thought of something. Why did Umbra stop me from using this on Guiyeong? And once I started thinking that way.......”
Su-ho shifted both his gaze and his index finger and pointed at Jack.
“Suddenly, I see you.”
- Don’t tell me you’re trying to say Umbra had you save that to use on me?
“That’s what I think. Because the Rune of Life Evolution says it can only be used on living beings, but when I tried to use it on Guiyeong, it wasn’t unusable. But you’re a divine beast too, aren’t you?”
- More precisely, I’m the king of divine beasts.
“King of divine beasts or whatever, you’re still a divine beast. So sorry to Guiyeong, but for someone like me who’s aiming for power, it feels more efficient to use it on you instead of Guiyeong.”
- .......
Jack fell silent.
Then after a moment, he let out a faint laugh and shrugged.
- Well now. I did volunteer of my own accord to become a divine beast, but whenever something like this happens, it really drives home again that I’m a summon.
“So you admit it?”
- Yeah, I admit it. And probably just as you expected, Umbra likely blocked you from using it on Guiyeong because he was aiming for exactly this.
“Good. Then let’s use it on you.”
At last, the owner of the Rune of Life Evolution had been decided.
All of this must have been Umbra’s wish.
Su-ho immediately used the Rune of Life Evolution.
[ Using the Rune of Life Evolution. ]
[ Is the selected target correct? ]
The system asked.
Of course it was yes.
[ Using the Rune of Life Evolution. ]
[ The target is ‘Shadow Divine Beast King Hollow Jack.’ ]
Fwaaaaash!
Light burst forth.
The moment he used the Rune of Life Evolution, the rune shone bright white just like that one had, and soon glowing particles began to form and seep into Jack.
But at that moment—
Pat!
The light went out.
At the same time, the Rune of Life Evolution in Su-ho’s hand returned to its original form.
It was baffling.
Because he had experienced this phenomenon before.
At that moment, a notification appeared in front of Su-ho.
[ Failed to use the Rune of Life Evolution. ]
[ The target’s order is too high. ]
“What?”
The moment he saw the system notification, Su-ho blurted it out loud without even realizing it, so dumbfounded was he.
It failed because the target’s order was too high?
What the hell was that supposed to mean?
Startled, he checked the item information again.
[ Rune of Life Evolution ]
# There are many mysterious runes in the world. The Rune of Life Evolution is one of them.
# A rune that can evolve a living being into a higher-order existence.
# It can only be used on living beings.
# It cannot be used on living beings with too high an order.
Good lord.
It was true.
The reason the rune had failed, absurdly enough, was that Jack’s order was too high.
As Su-ho stood there with a vacant expression, Jack, who had been waiting beside him with his arms crossed, furrowed his brow and asked,
- What is it? Why’d you stop halfway?
“.......”
- Why? What is it?
“It says it won’t work.......”
- What?
“It says your order is too high, so it can’t be used.”
- What? Puhahahahahaha!!
The moment he heard the reason for the failure, Jack’s brows twitched for an instant, and then he promptly burst out laughing so hard the whole place seemed to shake.
- Hahahahahahaha!!
And not just a little. He laughed hard. Violently hard.
Su-ho lowered his head and covered both eyes with his right hand.
“Ha, I seriously never saw this coming.......”
Now of all things, it couldn’t be used because the target’s order was too high?
What kind of bullshit case was that?
Apparently, exactly this kind.
As Su-ho stared at the Rune of Life Evolution with a sigh, Jack—who had been clutching his stomach and laughing hard enough to cry—placed a hand on Su-ho’s shoulder and said,
- Upset?
“How could I not be?”
- Don’t worry too much. There’s a way.
“There’s a way?”
At the words there’s a way, his ears perked right up.
“What is it? What’s the way?”
- Raise your order.
“My order?”
- You’re using it on a summon anyway, right? Then if your order becomes higher than your summon’s, the problem solves itself. Because if your order is higher, then no matter what your summon’s order is, it’ll be recognized as more or less a bestowed gift.
“Does that even make sense?”
- Why? Do I look like I’m lying just to mess with you?
“No, not that, but...... put differently, that means my order is lower than yours right now.”
- Krahahahahahahaha!
Jack doubled over laughing again.
Then, wiping his tears, he said,
- Well of course my order is higher than yours. You still don’t even have an SS-rank skill, you’re not a High Player, and you’re not a guardian deity, a constellation, or even quasi-seat-class, are you? But I’m the ‘summon’ of someone who became a constellation after passing through guardian deity rank and even participated in the independent game three whole times. Look at it this way or that way, my experience total is higher than yours, so naturally my order has to be higher too.
“Wow...... that’s seriously irritating to hear, but I can’t even argue with it.”
- Can’t be helped. I only spoke the truth. And if you don’t like the truth, there’s nothing for it but to grow stronger.
“Fine, then. Out of sheer spite, I’ll definitely go through High Player and plant myself in a guardian deity seat and a constellation seat too. No, but speaking bluntly, didn’t both you and Umbra lose to me?”
- Heh heh, do you really think we lost? If we’d drawn out all the power we had at our peak, you never would’ve beaten us.
“What a joke. If you said you were testing me with everything on the line, then you should’ve been ready for that much.”
- Nyaaah, can’t hear you. Run your mouth all you want, but one way or another, the fact right now is that your order is lower than mine.
“Ha.......”
How irritating.
With that, the Rune of Life Evolution had failed too.
Furrowing his brow, Su-ho tucked away the Rune of Life Evolution after the Lizard Dragon’s Rune.
Now the only one left was the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia.
Just as he was about to use it, Jack said,
- What, it wouldn’t fail this time too, would it?
“Shut up.”
- It’s even a boss monster you killed yourself.
“I said shut up.”
- Oops, yes sir.
That bastard really was annoyingly smug.
Without replying further, Su-ho used the rune.
[ Using the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia. ]
[ The Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia is being absorbed. ]
At that moment—
Shuaaaaa!
Along with the system notification, an enormous amount of energy began surging into Su-ho’s body.
Fortunately, the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia could be used.
Seeing that, Jack pursed his lips and gave a whistle, then quietly disappeared back into Su-ho’s shadow and gave him space.
At that moment, the power surging into his body burst outward, then began exerting pressure as immense as the Pressurized Water Paracondia had lived in.
But it wasn’t Pressurized Water.
Su-ho had used Bloody Hand on Paracondia and copied Pressurized Body, the constitution that allowed it to move freely even within Pressurized Water.
'With Girad, it expanded from the inside. This one’s crushing me from the outside.'
Whatever it was, none of it ever came easy.
'Umbra went down smooth enough, but this one’s being troublesome.'
Then I’d better start preparing now.
Su-ho immediately activated his skills.
[ Blessing is activated. ]
[ Endurance is activated. ]
[ Breath-and-Energy Circulation is activated. ]
He sat down cross-legged.
And focused his mind.
When it came to enduring pain, there was no better combination than this.
Su-ho began concentrating with his legs folded, and soon, as Breath-and-Energy Circulation fully activated as well, the pain gradually began to subside.
And after spending a long time focusing solely on fusion with the rune—
[ You have successfully completely absorbed the Rune of Deep-Sea Species Paracondia. ]
At last, he was able to encounter the notification he wanted.
