Chapter 163: The Required Conditions

Vespera continued:

"The skills directly related to the Seven Deadly Sins don’t function like ordinary skills."

She thought for a moment.

"According to the texts we know, each one can only be possessed by one person at a time."

Adam froze.

"Only one person in the world?"

"Yes."

Astraea nodded.

"As long as the true possessor still exists, no one else can obtain that complete skill."

Adam looked again at the three skills he had just mentioned.

"But I can still obtain their derivative skills."

"Apparently," Elaria replied.

"Fragments. Skills belonging to a branch. Aspects of the main concept." "

Vespera added:

"But not necessarily the core skill itself, as long as its slot isn’t free."

Adam understood slowly.

"So even if I were to gather all the skills necessary to form one of the Seven Deadly Sins..."

Astraea finished:

"There could be a limit as long as that skill already belongs to someone."

Adam remained thoughtful.

Then an obvious question occurred to him.

"And does one of the Seven Deadly Sins currently have a known holder?"

Another silence.

This time...

He immediately noticed that something had changed.

The expressions had become more serious.

Adam frowned.

"Who?"

Isadora sighed softly.

"Nocthar."

Adam froze.

"Nocthar possesses one of the Seven Deadly Sins?" "

Selene replied:

"At least one."

Adam turned to face her.

"At least one?"

Lyriana crossed her arms.

"We know for certain that he has one because we know of several things he has accomplished thanks to it."

Adam straightened up.

"Which ones?"

No one answered immediately.

Then Isadora spoke.

"His luck."

Adam froze.

Luck.

That word immediately brought back a flood of memories.

The previous discussions.

The old information concerning Nocthar.

And above all...

That abnormally high luck that had already caught their attention.

"Wait."

Adam looked at the women.

"You mean he didn’t naturally possess all that luck?"

"No," Astraea replied.

Vespera continued:

"According to the archives and the most reliable testimonies we could find, Nocthar used his ability to steal the luck of people close to him."

Adam frowned.

"His family?"

Isadora nodded.

"His family."

Lyriana added:

"And probably other people in his circle."

Adam remained silent.

That explained a lot.

An exceptionally high level of luck was already unusual.

But if he had literally accumulated the luck of several individuals...

"And you’re certain it’s linked to one of the Sins?"

Vespera nodded.

"Yes."

Adam asked the next question.

"Which one?"

This time...

The women looked at each other again.

Then Astraea answered.

"Avarice. »

Adam remained still.

"Avarice..."

The word immediately made sense.

To take.

To hoard.

To appropriate what belonged to others.

Shiora, despite herself, seemed to be considering the concept from an almost theoretical perspective.

"Avarice isn’t simply about money."

Adam turned to her.

"I imagine so."

"The concept is much broader."

She raised a hand.

"To possess."

One finger.

"To hoard."

Second.

"To take what belongs to others."

Third.

"To refuse to lose what one considers one’s own."

Vespera nodded.

"That’s why this skill is so dangerous."

Adam thought for a moment.

"So he could have considered Luck as something that could be possessed..."

"Then transferred," Elaria finished.

"Exactly."

Adam sighed.

"Charming."

Lyriana then added:

"We also suspect he might possess something from a second branch."

Adam immediately turned his head.

"Another one?"

"Perhaps."

"Which one?"

Lyriana replied:

"Envy."

Adam remained silent.

"Why only ’perhaps’?"

"Because we don’t have direct proof."

She continued:

"Some events could be explained by Greed alone."

"Others seem to fit Envy more closely."

Vespera added:

"But no reliable document confirms that he actually possesses the full skill."

Adam nodded.

So:

Greed, definitely.

Envy, suspected.

"And his ritual?"

This time, no one asked which ritual he was referring to.

Adam continued:

"The one that brought about the current state of humanity in this world."

Isadora nodded slowly.

"We believe Greed also played a significant role in this."

Vespera clarified:

"Perhaps with other skills, artifacts, or ritual structures."

"We don’t yet know all the details."

Astraea continued:

"But Nocthar probably couldn’t have accomplished something of this magnitude with an ordinary skill."

Adam remained silent.

A power capable of affecting so many people...

Even with preparation...

Even with a ritual...

He was beginning to understand why Nocthar was still considered such a significant threat after all this time.

Then a detail struck him.

"Wait."

He looked at the women.

"If you know all this... why didn’t you ever kill him?"

The ensuing silence was much heavier.

Selene finally answered:

"Because we couldn’t."

Adam frowned.

"You were strong enough to seal him away."

"Yes."

"But not strong enough to kill him?"

Astraea shook her head slowly.

"It’s not just a matter of brute force."

Vespera continued:

"Those who possess Mythic Red abilities have an existence that already transcends certain ordinary rules."

Adam immediately recalled their earlier explanations regarding very high-ranking abilities.

Mythic Red.

A rank capable of exceeding the normal limits of the body, mind, or magical circuits.

But apparently...

The consequences went even further.

Isadora explained:

"There are several known or suspected ways to permanently eliminate someone protected by a power of this level."

Adam raised a slight eyebrow.

"And you had none?"

"Not at the time."

This time, Isadora’s gaze fell directly on him.

Adam understood before she could continue.

"That’s why you were so pleased to discover that my skills could evolve into Lust."

Vespera nodded.

"Yes."

Elaria added:

"A Mythic Red skill is itself one of the known ways to bypass certain protections of the same level."

Adam remained silent.

"So if Lust truly evolves into Mythic Red..."

Selene finished:

"We might finally have a way to kill Nocthar instead of just sealing him away."

Adam exhaled slowly.

This suddenly lent much more weight to their previous reaction.

Until now...

He had primarily considered Lust an extremely rare evolution.

An impressive skill.

Perhaps very powerful.

But for them...

It also represented a strategic possibility.

A solution to a very old problem.

Adam leaned slightly forward.

"What are the other options?"

Astraea replied:

"An artifact or weapon of comparable level."

"Mythic Red?"

"Yes."

Vespera added:

"Or higher."

Adam understood.

"Divine Black."

A brief silence followed this term.

Even among them...

The Divine rank remained something extremely distant.

Isadora continued:

"There is also another possibility."

"Which is?"

"Being powerful enough oneself to overcome the protection with one’s own level."

Adam raised an eyebrow.

"What level?"

No one answered.

Adam waited.

Then he looked around.

"You don’t know."

Vespera shook her head.

"No."

"The records are too incomplete."

Elaria added:

"And above all, no one of a high enough level has been recorded to make a reliable comparison."

Adam paused on this sentence.

"What exactly does ’high enough level’ mean?"

This time, Selene answered.

"You’ve already noticed that the level doesn’t just represent a steady increase in power."

Adam nodded.

The further someone progressed...

The greater the differences became.

Selene continued:

"There are general thresholds used to classify the natural power attained by the level."

Adam sat up slightly.

That was new.

Vespera immediately clarified:

"Be careful."

"This ranking doesn’t replace the rank of skills, items, or blessings."

Adam nodded.

"It’s just a way to estimate a person’s overall tier based on their level."

"Exactly."

Selene began.

"From level 1 to 10..."

"Poor Gray."

Adam nodded.

"11 to 50?"

"Common White."

He immediately realized something.

"So, with my level 46..."

Selene smiled.

"You’re still technically in the White tier."

Adam remained silent.

Then he looked at his stats.

His skills.

His blessings.

His equipment.

"This ranking really doesn’t tell the whole story."

"Obviously," Selene replied.

"Someone at level forty with several exceptional skills can be far more dangerous than a poorly trained level sixty."

Adam nodded.

So the ranking was just a starting point.

Not an absolute truth.

Vespera continued:

"Levels 51 to 120."

"Green: Uncommon."

"121 to 200."

"Blue: Rare."

"201 to 500."

"Purple: Epic."

Adam began to understand why individuals exceeding a few hundred levels were already considered extraordinary.

Elaria continued:

"From 501 to approximately 1,000..."

"Orange: Unique."

Adam paused.

"Approximately?"

"The boundaries become less clear from there." "

Astraea explained:

"The classifications were established based on individuals actually observed throughout history."

"The higher the level..."

"The fewer examples we have."

Vespera continued:

"Around 1,000, we enter the Legendary Gold tier."

Adam blinked.

"And how high does it go?"

Silence.

Selene shrugged slightly.

"We don’t know exactly."

Adam gave a short, unamused laugh.

"Again."

"Again," she confirmed.

Vespera explained:

"Some theories place its limit somewhere around level 5,000."

Adam sat bolt upright.

"Five thousand?"

"Theoretically."

"Theoretically?"

Astraea nodded.

"No confirmed individual has ever reached that level in the reliable records."

Adam remained silent.

He was currently at level 46.

And they were talking about 5,000 as a theoretical value.

"And Mythic Red?"

Vespera shook her head.

"Unknown."

"Divine Black?"

"Even more unknown."

Adam slumped back in his chair.

"So no one really knows at what level an individual naturally reaches those thresholds."

"No."

Isadora added:

"And it’s possible that level alone isn’t even enough." "

Adam looked at her.

"How so?"

"At these levels, the quality of skills, blessings, the body, mana, and even the evolution of the person themselves can probably become as important as the displayed number."

Adam thought about it.

It made sense.

Someone with ten thousand levels but no ability capable of touching an existence protected by a higher law might still be unable to defeat it.

Conversely...

A Mythic Red skill could bypass this problem much sooner.

"What is the highest level actually recorded?"

This time...

Astraea answered immediately.

"Around two thousand five hundred."

Adam remained silent.

"Who?"

"The ancient Hero."

Several expressions changed slightly.

Adam had heard of this historical figure before.

But he had never truly grasped his level.

"Two thousand five hundred..."

He thought for a moment.

Then another question came to him.

"And Nocthar?"

Selene replied:

"We don’t know his exact level."

Lyriana added:

"But the most reliable estimates place him in that range as well."

"Close to the Hero level?"

"Yes."

Adam sighed.

He had suddenly realized just how vast the gap was.

Level forty-six.

Facing a being potentially approaching two thousand five hundred.

Even with his abnormally rapid progression...

There was still a chasm.

And yet...

His skills told a different story.

Lust.

Sloth.

Gluttony.

Three branches of the Seven Deadly Sins.

A possibility of one day obtaining something capable of bypassing protections that even extremely powerful beings hadn’t been able to circumvent.

Adam remained silent for a long moment.

Then he sighed.

"Okay."

He ran a hand over his face.

"So Nocthar possesses Avarice."

He raised a finger.

"Perhaps also something related to Envy."

Second.

"He’s probably among the highest levels ever recorded."

Third.

"And even if we were to defeat him physically, we would still need a means capable of bypassing the protections of a Mythic Red power to eliminate him permanently."

Vespera nodded.

"That’s a good summary."

Adam looked at his own invisible state.

Then at the women.

Finally, he shook his head.

"Very well." "

His expression changed.

"We’ll stop here for now."

Selene raised an eyebrow.

"Don’t you want to know more?"

"Yes."

Adam sighed.

"But my brain has already absorbed enough revelations for one morning."

A few smiles appeared.

Then Adam straightened up.

"And most importantly..."

He opened his inventory.

"I have one last reward."