Chapter 367: The Lost World (22)

Selection?

Since I had just acquired Essence Absorption Lv. 2, I figured I would understand once I used the skill. The light pouring from Gith-Za-Rai’s body had faded after granting me Essence Absorption Lv. 2, a power that elevated an Epic Skill to an entirely new tier. However, I couldn’t simply leave her corpse here. I didn’t know who might pass through... or who might return.

Clatter.

I carefully lifted her. Half her body was gone. Only the remaining pieces, burned through, shredded, hollow, rested in my arms. She felt unbearably light. A tight ache stung my throat.

This time, I thought I could finally repay her. Instead, I had failed again to save her. The disappointment coiled up my spine like a creeping vine.

I forced myself to look away from it. I was sick of it. No amount of grief or regret solved anything. So I focused on nothing. Numb and steady, I opened my inventory.

Uuwoooong...

Gith-Za-Rai's corpse slowly drifted inside. Once I left this cavern, I planned to find a quiet, sunlit place to bury her. When I finished, I looked at the dagger necklace she had hidden near her chest.

Three daggers...

There was a smooth red dagger with no glyphs, a snow-white dagger, and the familiar obsidian dagger.

Tok.

That one.

I traced my fingers along the surface of the black blade, where small white letters shifted like living worms. It reminded me of the time I tried to save Isabelle. When I had shown this dagger to the Dullahans fighting us on the battlefield, they had immediately believed me.

The Dullahans had died, but this dagger necklace would still serve as a mark of Gith-Za-Rai to those who knew her. It had other uses as well. When Leandro chased me, the glyphs drifting around the black blade had risen up to clash against his Sword Energy, even though I had been far weaker back then. For a brief moment, they even created cracks in the marquis’ Sword Energy.

Back then, he could have killed me immediately, but instead, he tested the strength of the glyphs. Had I possessed more lumen flowing in my body then, and had the glyphs connected and responded fully to my will...

The outcome might have been different.

These letters held the power Gith-Za-Rai had called the Lindbrum. I was certain because only the red dagger lacked glyphs. The glyphs that had appeared along her arm earlier were clearly the same language carved into the white and black blades. She likely drew on that power in the earlier battle.

Then... could I?

I tried to pour power into the dagger in my hand.

Nothing.

Maybe it only activated in moments of extreme danger. I stored the necklace in my inventory and looked around. With Essence Absorption having increased a tier, the green glow from other corpses appeared brighter.

Clatter.

I walked to the fallen Dullahans. Not many corpses emitted light.

With Essence Absorption only at Lv. 3, would I be able to extract essence even from the weak?

That was when the lower absorption threshold dropped significantly.

Currently, I can only absorb...six. Four Dullahans and two demons.

I reached out to Fenrir first.

Uuwoooong!

A vivid green light seeped into me.

[Skill: Essence Absorption Lv. 2 activated.]

[Additional Function ― Selection is active.]

For the first time, a new kind of window appeared before me.

[Choose the skill you desire:

1. Dual Sword Technique

Dual blades have many advantages. You can face enemies from two directions, strike from angles they cannot predict, and maintain offense even if one blade breaks.

2. Quickstep

Your body and perception accelerate. You can aim faster and attack faster.]

Selection... huh.

I could sense the difference. It was still Essence Absorption Lv. 2, yet it was unlike anything I’d experienced before.

Distributed spirit-storage... was it?

I had only ever seen a similar system text once, right before entering the imperial archives, when Isaac was dormant inside my Inventory.

[Mental computation...]

[Converting spirit lattice...]

[Entering distributed processing...]

Did Isaac prepare something?

There was no way to know. For now, I had made my choice. The Dual Sword Technique was effective, but in terms of overall utility, Quickstep was far superior. I chose Quickstep.

[Acquiring skill...]

[Inventory operating...]

[Reading skill data...]

[Acquisition of Quickstep Lv. 1 (Rare) placed on hold.]

[Substituting with Time Acceleration Lv. 1 (Rare++).]

[In the instant you attack, defend, or close the distance to your opponent, the flow of time around you will stretch.]

[Lv. 1: Every 3 seconds, time around you stretches to 1.25× for 1 second.]

[Discarded option: Dual Sword Technique]

[Skill recognition successful.]

[Acquired Dual Sword Technique Lv. 0.]

[Currently unusable.]

[Training required.]

[Required proficiency: 0 / 10,000]

The messages ended there.

This is surprising.

The Dullahan’s skill had been swapped out and restored as Time Acceleration, the very skill I had obtained from the Empire’s greatest, the duke.

This is definitely better.

Skill grades were now displayed more clearly than before, and even discarded options remained as recognized skills that I could unlock later through training alone.

Inventory adjustment?

Something was happening. Twisting and distorting, I was wedged into a dangerous gap, and the inventory was actively exploiting that state.

I could think about the reason later. There was too much to do right now. I reached out toward Dullahan Andrei for another absorption.

[Please select the skill you desire...]

[You have selected Crush Lv. 1!]

[Inventory operating...]

[Converting selected skill to match current state into property: Rend.]

[Current Sword Energy properties:

1. Sever: Slightly increases the chance to cut down an enemy in a single blow. As the property level rises, the level and probability of enemies you can one-shot both increase.

2. Rend (New!): Greatly increases destructive power against fixed objects. As the level rises, both the area and destructive force will increase.]

[Discarded option: Dark Swordsmanship]

[Skill recognition successful.]

[Inventory operating...]

[Converting to Swordsmanship proficiency.]

[Swordsmanship Lv. 4 proficiency has increased a fair amount.]

Next was Owain.

Uuwoooong...

A deep green light burrowed into every corner of my skeleton.

[Please select the skill you desire:

1. Retribution

— For a set duration, you can store damage taken from enemy attacks and return it to them.

— Lv. 1: 17.5% of total damage received.

2. Indomitable

— Reduces the impact of incoming attacks and greatly decreases the chance of being knocked back.

— Lv. 1: 35% impact reduction.]

I stared at the window, thinking for a moment. Neither was bad, but Retribution assumed I would stand there and take hits for a certain period. If I had a companion dedicated to drawing aggro, perhaps I could, but that wasn’t my style. I had no desire to deliberately let myself be hit.

[Acquired Indomitable Lv. 1 (Rare)!]

Suddenly, more messages popped up.

[Computation activated...]

[Parsing acquired skill...]

[Hidden information obtained.]

[Achievement: Unyielding After a Hundred Blows.]

[When HP is at 7% or lower, if you receive a critical hit without dodging, Unyielding counters will stack.]

[Current: 0 / 3,000]

[Reward upon reaching 3,000 stacks: Adamant ???: Indomitable Something (Hero+) acquired.]

Can the inventory do this, too?

The more I experienced it, the stranger it became. The more I saw, the more mysterious it felt. A Hero-grade skill would rival Leandro’s secret techniques. This was something Essence Absorption alone could never have detected, no matter how many regressions I repeated. For the first time ever, there was a path to obtain a Hero-grade skill.

A pale, quiet excitement rose from the bottom of my heart.

[Discarded option: Retribution]

[Skill recognition successful.]

[Acquired Retribution Lv. 0...]

[Training required...]

The absorption wasn’t over. Next was Dullahan Hamelain. Between Bleeding and Penetration, I chose Penetration.

[Inventory operating...]

[Converting selected skill to match current state into property.]

[Current Sword Energy properties:

1. Sever – Slight chance to cut an enemy down in one blow.

2. Rend – Greatly increases destructive power against fixed objects.

3. Pierce (New!) – Allows your strike to pierce an enemy’s defense in one go. As the property level rises, the level of defense you can penetrate and the activation chance will both increase.]

My inventory neatly converted this too.

Pahat!

When I thrust my sword into the air, a sharp flash tore forward. At this point, the boost in Essence Absorption efficiency thanks to the inventory was almost unsettling.

It’s almost frightening...

The last Dullahan was Gilaut. I looked down at him. He was a companion who had walked with me all the way here. A small, stubborn hope tugged at me. After hesitating for a moment, I activated my skill.

Rise.

[Lord of Bones Lv. 3 activated.]

[Unable to locate target.]

[Unable to locate target...]

[Unable to locate target...]

He could not be found. A Dullahan who had burned away all lingering regrets no longer existed. He left behind only a green glow and disappeared from this world completely.

What had Gilaut been thinking, walking all the way here? What had he been thinking as he was extinguished?

I had no way of knowing. However, if it was for Gith-Za-Rai’s sake, for her vengeance, he would never have objected. I reached out without further hesitation.

[Acquired Shadow Blade Lv. 1 (Rare)!]

[Converting...]

[Skill level increased.]

[Sword Energy Lv. 1 → Lv. 2]

[Excellent sacrifice.]

[Draining your bond with the target...]

[Leeching the target’s Affection...]

[Additional skill acquired.]

[Acquired Shadow Armor Lv. 1 (Rare)!]

[You may cloak your existing armor in a shadow of darkness.]

[While Shadow Armor is active:

— Damage from curse-type attacks reduced by 30%.

— Damage from darkness-type attacks reduced by 25%.

— Damage from physical attacks reduced by 20%.

— Damage taken from light-type attacks increased by 75%.]

[Discarded option: Dark Swordsmanship]

[Converting to Swordsmanship proficiency...]

[Swordsmanship Lv. 4 → Lv. 5]

Unlike before, when I’d just absorbed anything and everything, wondering what I would even do with all of it, I no longer needed to overthink or guess. Through the inventory’s spirit computation, all my gains were neatly reorganized into their most efficient forms.

[Activating Shadow Armor Lv. 1.]

Shhhhhhh...

Dark smoke gushed from my bones, wrapping around me and forming a translucent shroud. Clad in Gilaut’s will, I turned toward the two fallen demons.

***

[Absorbed Weak Point Detection Lv. 1!]

[Discarded option: Marksmanship]

[Skill recognition...]

[Acquired Marksmanship Lv. 0!]

[Training required...]

[Required proficiency...]

[Absorbed 1 point of Wisdom.]

[Agility +2...]

[Agility +1...]

[Stamina +1...]

[Stamina +1...]

.

.

.

For the centaur, in addition to his skills, I could absorb over ten points of stats, unlike with the Dullahans.

The green glow wrapped around him completely faded into my body. Only one remained. I looked down at the dog-headed demon who had melted like wax, staff still clutched in hand. When I drew in the green light from him...

[Please select the skill you desire:

1. Slaughter Blade

— As long as it is used to take life, your weapon’s edge will never dull, no matter how many you kill.

2. Pull

— Pulls the enemy toward you. (Recommended)]

The description was simple, but what followed was anything but ordinary.

Recommended? Who exactly is doing the recommending here?

Thinking it over, there was only one answer. It had to be the inventory, the same presence that had been quietly meddling with skill absorption. Maybe it was some trap Isaac had buried in there. In a situation like this, of course, I chose the second option.

[Acquiring Pull Lv. 1...]

[Parsing complete...]

[Draining remaining essence...]

[Expending a minute amount of lumen...]

[Temporarily restoring traces of Suction Lv. 1.]

[Combining skills...]

[Acquired Adhesive Capture Lv. 1 (Rare++)!]

[— Pulls all enemies in front of you toward your position. The enemies dragged in will be crushed together at your feet.

— As the level rises, both the number of enemies and the range you can pull in will increase.]

With the capture skill, the last of the light was gone.

I looked around. Only cold, empty corpses remained in the dark. However, there was still something I had to do.