Chapter 231 230: Crack
"I'm so fucked."
Corey could not help but curse in a low voice after observing the results of his actions.
In a few words, Corey was just a step away from meeting King Yama.
Without a doubt, Corey should be dead. But luckily for him, there were several reasons why he survived.
First of all, Corey's attempt to store the finger of a being much more powerful than him was beyond stupid, and any knowledgeable being like Divine heard of Corey's actions. They would either mock him for his stupidity or tell King Yama to at least give Corey a 'cool' place in hell.
Although Corey did not know that his actions would damage his body to such a degree, he would still have done it again, even if he knew of the consequences.
The main reason for Corey's reckless actions was his strength. In the words of the Universal System, Corey had reached the peak of tier 1 and had already maxed out his stats.
But, due to him being a Paragon, his limit was much higher than what the Universal System said.
To increase his strength past the violet star phase, he needed to perform alchemy and create a peak tier 1 origin essence elixir.
However, the issue Corey faced was that performing alchemy was banned in their universe.
Anybody who performed alchemy would face a tribulation that has the intention of the practitioner's life and the alchemical product.
To survive the tribulation, one would need a powerful artifact to protect oneself, or one could use one's strength to defend themselves.
After Corey heard about the tribulations, he asked Nina what his chances of survival were, and to his dismay, she said: 1%
Corey did not have a powerful artifact that could protect him from the tribulation, nor did he have the capability to survive a tribulation with his ability. He was just a tier 1 Demi-Paragon with a versatile set of skills.
Due to his abysmal chance of survival, Corey always thought of giving up his goal of genuinely maximizing his stats.
His number one goal was saving his sister. And his number two goal was getting his revenge on the Pope of the Temple of Flames.
He would not be able to achieve any of these if he died, and Corey knew he would never forgive himself if he left his sister in the hands of the Pope.
Deep in Corey's mind, he had already decided on getting promoted to tier 2 with his current 'maximized' stats.
Although Corey felt uncomfortable taking such a decision, his desire to save his sister and have his revenge was much stronger than his desire to maximize his stats.
But 'luckily for him, he encountered a treasure with so much energy that it could increase his stats to his actual limit.
'But was it worth it?'
Corey had a slight frown on his face as he observed his internal injuries.
Aside from his ruptured organs and cracked bones, Corey had two main injuries his 'Regeneration' skill could not heal.
The secondary injury was related to his mana veins. His mana veins were twisted, dried up, and broken in numerous places.
The main and most concerning injury was his mana core, which was his poison infinity crystal. His poison infinity crystal had countless cracks on it. The poison infinity crystal resembled fragile glass that could shatter with just a touch.
These two injuries made Corey wonder if his actions were truly worth it.
Until his mana veins and poison infinity crystal returned to normal, Corey could not use mana any longer. If he decided to use mana, he would be putting a massive strain on his already damaged mana veins and poison infinity crystal.
'I guess I'll have to ask Nina about these injuries.'
"Hey kid. What happened to you back there? What did that to you?"
A voice belonging to Divine disrupted his thoughts. He looked at Divine, who had deeply furrowed brows as he observed his injuries.
Corey remained silent for a while, a contemplative glint in his eyes a few times, and Divine caught sight of that.
"I know you don't fully trust us. But I believe we've shown that we mean you no harm."
Corey looked into the eyes of Divine. Then he gazed at Rosa, who had a slightly worried expression. His eyes moved to Fatty Black Bonez, who had his eyes closed and was trying to recover his mana and heal his internal injuries.
He closed his eyes, and a few seconds later, he opened them.
"I tried to take the golden ring on the finger of the skeleton. But the instant I touched it, I touched it, I felt my insides twist, and the next thing I knew, I was on the floor, vomiting blood."
Corey's decision to lie was not based on his greed but on caution.
Ever since they encountered the army of Hastur, Divine's actions and expressions made it seem like he was familiar with that strange army and the humungous serpent at the castle.
Corey had an intuition that if he told the truth and Divine asked to see the finger, Divine would recognize the finger, and conflict might arise between the two of them.
He did not have the capability to escape or fight Divine, who was a tier 3, which meant he would have to accept whatever Divine said and probably lose his hard-earned finger.
Although all of this was just a possibility in Corey's mind, he would rather lie than lose his hard-earned finger to somebody else.
Meanwhile, Divine, not suspecting Corey of telling a lie, rubbed his chin and nodded:
lightsnοvεl.cοm "You might not have known, but there was a formation around the skeleton that would attack whoever touches the skeleton and the throne."
"Honestly… I'm surprised you're still alive. You must be a very lucky individual."
Divine said, though his expression held a deep frown as he looked at Corey.
"Why are you looking at me like that?"
Seeing Divine staring at him intently, Corey could not help but question him.
"Your injuries are not light. Your aura is fluctuating and the energy you emit is extremely weak. You'll need a long time to heal."
A wry smile appeared on Corey's lips when he heard Divine's words.
"A lesson I've learned due to my greed.'
Divine nodded but didn't say anything.
The group kept on moving, and a strange, tranquil silence engulfed the group. The only sound that could be heard was the movement of the chilly wind. It felt surreal to the group, but they had not encountered a single danger ever since they entered the fourth zone.
It almost seemed like a walk in the park.
Until,
BANG!
CRACK!
CRACK!
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