Chapter 118: I Want All of Them

Then, two skill names immediately caught his attention. He opened their descriptions.

[Skill: Abyssal Forge]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Description: Permanently sacrifice multiple undead to force an evolutionary breakthrough in a single summon, upgrading its stats and granting new traits.]

[Skill: Soul Stitching]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Description: Forcefully merge up to three undead into a temporary chimera that transcends their original rank. The chimera turns to ash when the effect ends.]

Malrik’s eyes gleamed as he read the golden text.

"These two... they might actually be the most useful skills here," he muttered, his mind instantly flashing back to the brutal slaughter in the Blackthorn Forest.

If it hadn’t been for his innate talent, Ultimate Evolution, which allowed him to stimulate the seeds and force his level 50 souls to break through to the next rank, he wouldn’t have been able to face a single one of the Fallen.

"In that battle, every single one of my Awakened-rank souls was completely useless," Malrik said, his voice laced with grim realization. "Their numbers meant absolutely nothing against higher-ranked opponents. They were literally just ants being trampled."

But these two skills completely solved that flaw. They made pure numbers useful. By forcefully merging or sacrificing the weaker, useless souls, he could forge a significantly stronger entity, even if only for a short period. It was a terrifying trump card.

He leaned back, dragging a hand down his face.

"Ah... so far, I’ve only looked at the skills, and every single one of them is a trump card capable of changing the entire tide of a battle. What about the rest?" He let out a frustrated groan. "Damn it. The truth is, I want all of them."

He stared at the golden treasury interface, a dark chuckle escaping his lips.

"Damn it... do I have to achieve similar insane feats just to get more of these beautiful things? They really want to turn me into a killing machine, don’t they?"

Shaking his head to clear the greed clouding his mind, he forced himself to move on. "Let’s see the rest of the options before making a final decision."

He closed the skill tab and opened [Weapons].

[Opening Weapon Vault...]

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[Scythe of the Hollow King (Legendary)]

[Grimoire of the Damned (Legendary)]

[Crown of the Abyssal Sovereign (Legendary)]

[Gauntlets of the Soul Reaver (Legendary)]

[Staff of the Withered Tree (Legendary)]

[Armor of the Death Knight (Legendary)]

[Scepter of the Last Grave (Legendary)]

[Fang of the Soul Devourer (Legendary)]

[Soulglass Orb (Legendary)]

...

"Even the weapons..." Malrik muttered, rubbing his temples. The sheer wealth displayed before him was starting to give him a headache.

Normally, people would kill each other over even the most ordinary high-tier weapons. And here, he was being offered an entire treasury of world-class artifacts.

Malrik couldn’t help but think of the Soul Weapon he already possessed.

He was already afraid of revealing his rare Soul Weapon to the public.

If word got out that a young man at the Awakened rank possessed a Legendary-ranked weapon. What would the truly powerful do to get their hands on it?

I don’t even want to imagine it.

He began browsing through the descriptions of several weapons, but there were two that caught his attention more than the rest.

[Weapon: Scythe of the Hollow King]

[Rank: Legendary]

[Description: A blade forged from the spine of a fallen Abyss Dragon. It ignores physical defense to directly strike the target’s soul. Passively absorbs the life force from slain enemies to heal the wielder.]

[Upon Equipping: Strength +1500, Agility +1500]

[Artifact: Grimoire of the Damned]

[Rank: Legendary Spellbook]

[Description: A tome bound in ancient skin. It passively reduces the mana cost of all necrotic Skills by 50% and can store up to three prepared Skills, allowing them to be cast instantly.]

[Upon Equipping: Constitution +300, Agility +300, Intelligence +2000 ]

Malrik read through the descriptions of both weapons, carefully weighing their abilities.

The Scythe of the Hollow King immediately stood out for its ability to bypass physical defenses and strike the soul directly. Combined with its life-force absorption, it was an exceptional weapon for direct combat.

The Grimoire of the Damned, however, was far more specialized. Halving the mana cost of necrotic Skills and allowing three Skills to be cast instantly without preparation made it an extremely powerful tool for a Necromancer.

Moreover, the stat increase was absolutely ridiculous. Equipping the Grimoire of the Damned alone could more than triple his Intelligence, not to mention that Malrik’s Intelligence was already exceptionally high for someone at the Awakened rank.

If I use it with Skills that have a cooldown, I could cast two of them at the same time.

Malrik paused for a moment.

Well... I don’t think I currently have enough powerful Skills to make good use of this book.

Then he remembered the Summon - Abyssal Bone Wyrm Skill.

If I had that Skill and stored it in the Grimoire... wouldn’t I be able to summon six Abyssal Bone Wyrms at the same time?

A faint grin appeared on his face. "Heh. That might be a little excessive."

"They are truly magnificent," Malrik admitted, acknowledging the terrifying stats and abilities attached to each weapon. "But honestly... I don’t need them right now."

I already have the potential to obtain a Legendary weapon on my own. All I need is to gather enough Evolution Points and evolve my Black Scythe to the Legendary rank.

It’s already an excellent weapon despite still being at the Rare rank. Without it, I wouldn’t have been able to endure the force of Vorgath’s final explosion with my undead souls.

I’m certain that once it reaches the Legendary rank, it’ll at least be on the same level as these Legendary weapons.

I can’t even imagine what it will be capable of then.

Without a second thought, he closed the weapon section. "Now... let’s see this," he murmured, tapping on [Runic Inscriptions].

However, the moment the screen rippled and the list appeared, the casual interest in Malrik’s eyes vanished, replaced by sheer, unadulterated shock.

[Opening Runic Vault...]

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[Origin Rune of the Rift] - [Origin Percentage: 10%]

[Origin Rune of the Aegis] - [Origin Percentage: 10%]

[Origin Rune of Chronos] - [Origin Percentage: 10%]

[Origin Rune of Causality] - [Origin Percentage: 10%]

[Origin Rune of Ascension] - [Origin Percentage: 10%]

[Origin Rune of Liberation] - [Origin Percentage: 10%]

[Origin Rune of Oblivion] - [Origin Percentage: 10%]

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"Origin Runes?" Malrik whispered, the blood completely draining from his face.