Chapter 203 Destructive Monarch (4)

Understanding the skill would help in making a better choice. Yoon-seok ignored the selection page and swiped the tablet to check the details first.

b Heart of the Destructive Monarch}

Rank S – Selecting.

Rank A – When general skills reach Rank S, one additional ability can be selected.

Rank B – Performance of all powers increases by 2 times.

Rank C – When 1 million WP is used up, a chance will be given to purchasing the power of a random admin.

Rank D – When destroying what someone else holds as precious, an equivalent WP can be obtained.

Rank E – All attack actions are given the destruction judgment. Once something is destroyed, it cannot regenerate.

Rank F – If both feet are on the ground for more than 10 seconds, magic consumption decreases by 75%, and sorrow cannot be felt.

WP acquisition and purchasing the power of other admins. From the increase in the power’s performance to the privilege of choosing four abilities instead of three when general skills evolved. It could be seen as a Unique Skill focusing on power.

‘This is good.’

Yoon-seok smiled. Aside from doubling the power effects, there was no visible power boost right away for now, but.. nevertheless, the future scale was excellent. However, it was still no match for b Predation}.

‘Also, I can’t feel sorrow?’

Yoon-seok, reading the explanation several times, frowned. He couldn’t feel sorrow if he stood in place for 10 seconds. His head tilted. He didn’t know why this effect was applied, but he didn’t feel anything different.

‘There was no notification saying that Heart of Liberty was activated.. is it because there’s nothing to be sad about right now?’

Although he had some questions left, Yoon-seok didn’t pay them much mind. So, it was time to decide on the long-awaited Rank S effect.

‘What would be suitable..?’

Yoon-seok turned back to the options list. Since he’d seen Destruction earlier, he started with the second.

*Descendant – Acquire one of Destructive Monarch’s Unique Power randomly.

Whoever this Destructive Monarch was, it seemed certain that he was a real person. Perhaps he was once a challenger like Yoon-seok, and there was a possibility that he was living as an admin somewhere in the Tower now. Well, it wasn’t important.

‘Anyway, it’s a little iffy.’

b Heart of the Destructive Monarch} was a power-based ability. Therefore, it would be right to choose power, but it bothered him that he could only receive one at random.

*Subordinate – Contract with a challenger. In return for offering 10% of all obtained points, the person contracted acquires the owner’s power of a corresponding value.

Remaining usages 3/3

First of all, considering that it was stated as acquisition, it didn’t seem like his power was handed over or something. If he thought so, it wasn’t bad. He could support people and gain points.

‘Does it mean I become some sort of admin?’

The sudden thought made him laugh. As expected, there were so many extraordinary abilities in this unpredictable Tower. Like the ability right after that.

*Defiance – When killing an admin, one of the admin’s powers can be acquired.

What was this? The ability itself was straightforward and similar to b Predation}. But how does he kill an admin, and where would he meet them? No, aside from that, this ability felt like it was targeting the Tower as an enemy.

Because of this, he didn’t understand. After all, Skill Synthesis also belonged to the system. But why was the Tower falling into its trap? Were admins just sacrifices to kill the Queen like challengers were? That could be the case..

‘No, it’s like b Divine Ultimatum} and the Queen appearing in the mission.’

Yoon-seok’s eyes turned cold. It was just a simple assumption without evidence, but he suddenly thought, maybe this Tower didn’t have complete control over the system.

‘I’m not sure about this yet.. if so, maybe there’s a way.’

Yoon-seok checked the remaining options.

*Pledge – All causality, including achievements, destiny, and relationships achieved at the time of death, is handed over to the next life.

A mysterious ability. It appeared to be related to reincarnation, but he couldn’t tell what was good about this skill. Even if there were advantages, what’s the point of dying?

‘Has one of the options finally been eliminated?’

Yoon-seok rubbed his chin and finished organizing the abilities. There were a total of four options: the last instant killing card used by his opponent in that match, a random power from the Destructive Monarch, and thirdly the utility tool that invested in his colleagues. For the last one, while there was no way of using it right now, the power version of Predation would help if he killed an admin someday.

‘..This is hard.’

He always felt this way, but making choices was difficult.

‘As expected, I think other than instant-kill skills, powers are the best...’

Yoon-seok narrowed it down to two, Destruction and Descendant. Considering the duel trials, it felt best to choose Destruction and link it with his weapon, but the name Destructive Monarch was on his mind. It felt quite unusual to keep seeing it, and it didn’t sound like an ordinary person. Furthermore, wouldn’t the power effect double due to {Heart of the Destructive Monarch}?

‘Why did it have to be random?’

Yoon-seok made his decision to choose Destruction as his instant kill card. The decision-making process was long, but it only took a moment to put it into action. Yoon-seok stretched his hand out to press his choice.

But then-

“Grr, grr!”

Someone grabbed Yoon-seok’s wrist. It was Asura, having returned when the Declaration of Divine Retribution was lifted. Instead of shaking off his hand, Yoon-seok quietly asked.

“What are you doing?”

“..Grr!”

Asura let go of his hand and stepped back. Yoon-seok delayed making his selection and watched Asura. He wasn’t pissed about the sudden interference; he was just curious. Why did Asura, who had never acted this way before, do this? When Asura grew scared-

“Explain.”

“Grr, grrrrrrr. Grr, grr!”

“I can’t choose that? Why not?”

“Grr! Grrrr!”

“There’s something better than that?”

Facial expressions, resonant voice, and desperate gestures using his six arms. Even though it wasn’t a simple conversation, as usual, Yoon-seok understood what Asura was trying to say without difficulty.

“So what’s that?”

“Grr!”

When Yoon-seok asked, Asura pointed to Defiance. Yoon-seok asked as if he was dumbfounded. historical

“Why is this better?”

Asura agonized for a moment before pointing to his head and heart.

“..Are you just saying it was your hunch?”

“Grr!”

At Yoon-seok’s confirmation, Asura nodded brightly. He didn’t expect much, but he couldn’t believe it was just a hunch. It was ridiculous, but he considered it. In addition, to miniaturize obtained during the Queen’s assassination mission, Asura’s had one other special ability appear.

‘One of them was Intuition Enhancement...’

Yoon-seok lost himself in thought.

“Defiance..”

Preying on admins was an incredible characteristic. However, he had no way to use it right now, and he didn’t know what would happen in the future, so he eliminated it as an option.

‘According to Asura’s intuition, will I have many opportunities to use this?’

Elle was the only admin Yoon-seok could meet. Although he found many people who he believed to be admins in the duel audience, he didn’t know if it was possible to kill them, and he didn’t know what would happen if an admin were killed.

‘No, wait a minute..’

Yoon-seok flinched at the sudden thought. Then, he swiped the tablet and read the explanation of b Heart of the Destructive Monarch} again.

Rank C – When 1 million WP is used up, a chance will be given to purchasing the power of a random admin.

Come to think of it, when he purchased powers from Elle, they always met in person and held something similar to a ritual. Then..

‘If I pay a million WP, I can meet other admins one on one, right?’

Even so, he wondered if this would work, but it wasn’t impossible. Kill someone who couldn’t be killed, didn’t b Divine Ultimatum} have this effect?

‘Even if it doesn’t work, it might be okay with insurance.’

Admins were like employees of the Tower. If he became an enemy to the Tower someday, he would surely have to fight them. But it was regrettable to give up what was immediately in front of him to prepare for the unforeseeable future. That was why he chose something else earlier, but now that Asura’s intuition was added, he felt a little relieved.

Whether it was an instant kill card or a power, it wasn’t like he would be in trouble just because he didn’t have one.

“Hey.”

“Grr?”

“Can you take responsibility?”

“..Grr.”

Asura nodded. Yoon-seok smiled. From the start, he didn’t intend to blame anyone else for his choice.

「A new ability will be given to {Heart of the Destructive Monarch}.」

Defiance, rebel against the sky..

Yoon-seok smiled and turned to Asura. If it went well, he would buy him a new sword or something.

About 6.9 million MP and 14 million AP remained, an amount insufficient on either side to upgrade {Predation} to Rank S as planned. It was an inevitable result of destroying the Declaration of Divine Retribution of {Wings of Destruction}. However, Yoon-seok wasn’t disappointed.

‘Well, I have a lot of time so that I can run through a few missions.’

There were more ways to earn points than anticipated. There were missions and explorations, plus if he recycled Thunder God’s Necklace with b Metallurgy}, he would have enough.

‘Then, should I eat that up?’

Yoon-seok took the Dragonian Heart out of his bag. Still laced with mighty magic, it was pounding as if it were still alive. He saved this for emergency use because of the effect that recovered his magic, but Yoon-seok’s magic stat had reached Rank SS following the last duel. Of course, his stats wouldn’t rise for no reason, but if he climbed one notch from here, he would no longer be able to use it.

「You ate the Dragonian Heart.」

「Rank of Magic (SS) has increased.」

「Dragon’s scent mixed with magic becomes stronger.」

Was it because his actual magic stat was already so high? He used to feel stronger every time it increased, but now he didn’t feel anything special.

「Until the next duel: 1,439:20:19.」

Yoon-seok checked the timer. He thought he had spent a lot of time deciding, but it had only been forty minutes since the duel ended. Well, he was sure Lee Su-yeon also checked if he survived through the ranking board, so he wasn’t worried, but it was time to clean up and go to Earth.

As soon as he thought that-

「Cheonma-zl Zone invites you to the waiting room.」

「Would you like to accept it?」

Cheon-ma’s invitation arrived.

“You’re here.”

“Yes.”

It was already his third time visiting Cheon-ma’s waiting room. Yoon-seok sat opposite her at the dining table. Looking at her expression, there didn’t appear to be a special agenda; she only called to check in on him when the duel ended.

“I didn’t look for you, but I just went in and saw it.”

“..?”

“Your ranking went up.”

“Ah, yes..”

The order of her words was different, but it seemed like she immediately checked the ranking board because she was worried about whether he was dead.

“But don’t be tied up. Everything here is real yet fake.”

“Yes. Even so, I felt that I should pay attention to swordsmanship now.”

Did she like Yoon-seok’s answer? Cheon-ma smiled. While drinking tea and chatting back and forth, Yoon-seok looked at the unhatched egg.

“I guess it’s isn’t time yet.”

“Hey, what are you talking about? Don’t say that. You’re making me anxious.”

Cheon-ma clicked her tongue while looking at the dragon egg. She wanted to see it hatch as soon as possible, but she appeared frustrated that it hadn’t yet.

“Since you’re here, will you hug it?”

Yoon-seok carefully hugged the egg on the cushion. For some reason, however, it felt heavier than before. He could feel a heart-pounding inside like it was about to break out of the shell.

Whoosh!

Yoon-seok let his magic fill it. It was very natural as something he’d done a lot during the mission at Cheon-ma’s request.

“Somehow, it seems happier to see you than me.”

“..Of course not.”

At her jealous tone, she took the egg from Yoon-seok’s arms and put it back on her cushion.

And it was then-

Crack. Crackkkk.

It was a very small sound, but there was no way Yoon-seok and Cheon-ma couldn’t hear it.

“..!”

Meeting each other’s eyes, they glanced back to the egg. A fine crack spiderwebbed across the surface.

“Looks like it’s coming out.”

“Yes, I think so.”

“You can do it, Primordial Red Dragon!”

“..”

Cheon-ma clenched her hands tightly and waited. The minutes dragged on until, finally, a baby dragon the size of Cheon-ma broke out of the shell and came out to the world.

“..Mama!”

Surprisingly, the dragon spoke as soon as it came out, and relatively accurately at that. He thought Cheon-ma would be happy, but..

Cheon-ma’s reaction was different from what he expected.

“..How am I your mama, t-that’s outrageous! D-don’t you have manners?”

Was she flustered by the word Mama? She shouted. At the same time, she held the baby dragon to her chest and carefully wiped off the watery mucus coating it with a towel.

‘She really can’t be honest...’

Yoon-seok laughed as he swallowed his inner thoughts. But, perhaps the dragon felt it was unfair it was being scolded as soon as it was born. The Primordial Red Dragon escaped from Cheon-ma’s arms and approached Yoon-seok to rub its head against his legs.

“..Papa!”

Both Cheon-ma and Yoon-seok froze.