Side Story Chapter 161 - Primordial Knowledge (3)

Swirl—!!

The roulette spun vigorously. Oh Kang-Woo gulped and clenched his fists.

“Please.”

He would be in a predicament if nothing good came out.

‘I don’t need a massive winning streak, so please!!!’

Kang-Woo at least wanted to start with getting a good Trait.

𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

‘Its rank doesn’t need to be high.’

The [Usurpation of Flame] Trait he had acquired last time wasn’t high in rank but it allowed him to condense the Flames of Voracity, an extraordinary feat. The Trait’s connection to one’s powers was far more important than its rank.

‘And I guess you could say Astral Projection was rather useful.’

Kang-Woo was simply praying for something useful.

‘Please, nothing like Tentacle Expansion.’

“Come out~ Come out~~ COME OOOOUUUUUTTTT~!!!”

Kang-Woo danced and sang eccentrically in front of the

gosa

table with Satan’s head on it.

‘There has to be some kind of issue if nothing good comes out after all this.’

Swirl...

The spinning roulette gradually slowed down.

Riiing!

[You have acquired【Tentacle Proliferation (Rank: C)】!]

“MOTHERFUCKER!!!”

Bash!!!

Kang-Woo kicked Satan’s head off the

gosa

table. The head flew like a football and tumbled across the floor; thankfully, it did not fall from the roof.

“STOP WITH THESE GODDAMN TENTACLES SERIES!!!”

Kang-Woo stuffed his fist into his mouth and bawled his eyes out. He couldn’t handle the fact that he could never escape the tentacles.

“Fuuu,” he exhaled deeply to calm down.

‘It’s only the first pull.’

He had sixteen more chances. Admiral Yi Sun-Sin defeated an enemy fleet numbering the hundreds with only thirteen ships[1]. Since Kang-Woo had sixteen chances, it was too early to be disappointed.

“Right, again.”

Kang-Woo picked up Satan’s head again and placed it on the

gosa

table. The head was half caved in so Kang-Woo infused demonic energy from the Abyss to restore it.

“Let’s go with a ten-pull this time!”

Riiing!

[That’s the spirit, Sir Guardian Deity!!]

[(๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧!]

Kang-Woo had nothing to fear since even Eve was cheering him on.

“LESGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!”

Riiing! Riiing! Riiing!

Bell chimes rang one after another in his head.

[You have acquired【Quick Hands (Rank: D)】!]

[You have acquired【Crawl (Rank: F)】!]

[You have acquired【Healer of Splendor (Rank: A)】!]

[You have acquired【Mucus Fountain (Rank: C)】!]

...

...

“The fuck?”

‘What are these trash Traits?’

Kang-Woo frowned as he read through the multiple message windows before him. He had pulled ten Traits at once, but none caught his eyes.

‘Quick Hands and Crawl? Where the hell am I supposed to use these?’

“Healer of Splendor... At least this one’s A-rank.”

It was the highest rank among the ten Traits he had pulled. He grabbed one of Satan’s severed arms and used [Healer of Splendor Rank: (A)] on the stump. Faint light flowed out of Kang-Woo and began treating the wound. Considering its proficiency was still low, it was fairly decent. However—

“Tsk,” Kang-Woo clicked his tongue and shook his head.

‘It’s just an inferior version of the Authority of Regeneration.’

This was why the Trait Gacha could be inefficient in some ways. Healer of Splendor was an amazing Trait by the standards of regular Players but it was useless to Kang-Woo since he already had something better.

“As for the others...”

Mucus Fountain, Breath of Wind, Vibration Detection, and others... not only were their ranks low but they did not seem useful in any situation.

“Dammit.”

Kang-Woo bit his lip. He expected his chances of getting useful Traits to be low but this was too much.

‘Not a single useful one after eleven pulls.’

He had six chances left.

“Let’s do... a six-pull this time.”

[A-Are you sure?]

“The chances are the same whether I pull them in bulk or one at a time, aren’t they?”

[That’s true, but...]

Eve also seemed anxious since not a single useful Trait had been pulled.

“This time for sure.”

Kang-Woo sighed and placed Satan’s severed head on the neck stump of his torso. He used the [Healer of Splendor] Trait to treat Satan’s wound since thought he might as well use it.

Slice!

[Kurgh... urgh!]

Kang-Woo thought starting from the beginning might help so he beheaded Satan again and placed the head on the

gosa

table. He even bowed in prostration, something he did not usually do.

“Please...!”

Swirl—!

The roulette spun again.

Whoooom—!!!

Just then, a sound that had never come from the roulette sounded for the twelfth pull.

“Huh? What’s going on?”

[E-Eh?]

“What’s this? What’s happening?” asked Kang-Woo in anticipation and anxiety.

[I-I’m not sure either.]

[Σ(￣□￣;)]

Eve sent a confused emoticon since she had never seen such a phenomenon either.

Whoooom!

The roulette continued to make a weird sound amidst the confusion. Translucent light burst forth from the roulette.

‘Translucent...?’

Kang-Woo was familiar with it since he had seen it many times in the Tower of Creation— no, he had seen it even before that.

‘Nostrian...’

Yes— such light had shone when Nostrian’s powers were being used.

Riiing!

[You have acquired【Primordial Knowledge (Rank: ???)】!]

“The hell is this...?”

Kang-Woo was left wide-mouthed as he stared at the message window. He had only seen question marks for a Trait’s rank with his Authority of Predation.

“I-Is this a good pull? I hit it big, right?”

[I-I can’t be sure. Something is off.] Eve continued, [This Trait... doesn’t exist in the Law of Titans.]

“But it came out.”

[That’s why I’m saying something is off.]

Kang-Woo thought about what could have happened as he narrowed his eyes.

‘Could Nostrian have done something before his death?’

It wasn’t beyond the realm of possibility. The currency known as Nebula which Kang-Woo was using was acquired from the Tower of Creation and Nostrian was the original Master of the Tower. Considering Nostrian had tried to help Kang-Woo in the past, he could more than likely have pulled something before his death.

“For now... let’s pull the remaining five as well.”

Kang-Woo decided to use the rest of his Nebula to pull five more times before checking the contents of the ]Primordial Knowledge] Trait. As a result, he had pulled Traits far worse than his ten-pull results.

“How fucking unlucky am I...?”

Most of them were ranked D to F and their descriptions didn’t help their case for being trash either.

[It looks like the Trait known as Primordial Knowledge is the only worthwhile thing you managed to get.]

“What’s important is what it is.”

Kang-Woo checked the description of [Primordial Knowledge].

【Primordial Knowledge (Rank: ???)】

[The user may peep into the Primordial Records. The user’s question will be automatically answered by the Primordial Records.]

[However, questions that do not exist in the records cannot be answered.]

[The Trait will disappear once three questions have been answered.]

“This is...”

It was a rather interesting Trait. It was more like an ancient relic than a Trait.

‘Primordial Records, huh?’

It was probably similar to the Akashic Records.

‘In any case, it’ll answer any three questions, huh?’

Kang-Woo thought for a moment but his first question was already decided.

He asked without hesitation, “How can a damaged Law of Titans be repaired?”

Whoooom!!!

Translucent light surged from Kang-Woo. A translucent message window appeared soon after.

[The answer cannot be found in the Primordial Records.]

“The fuck?”

‘This shit is useless. What’s the point if it can’t even answer a question like this?’

The Primordial Records could not answer the most important question Kang-Woo had.

‘Perhaps...’

Kang-Woo narrowed his eyes and asked, “How can I endure the Black Sky?”

[The answer cannot be found in the Primordial Records.]

“Tsk. I guess this won’t work either. Haaa,” Kang-Woo sighed deeply.

If not even the Primordial Knowledge had an answer, it only meant one thing.

‘There... really is no way.’

There was no way to repair the damaged Law of Titans or to stop the otherworldly invasions, at least at this time.

‘Makes sense. That son of a bitch Akart wouldn’t be so hell-bent on doing the shit he did if the answer could be found so easily.’

Kang-Woo needed to think of a different question.

‘Three questions...’

He wondered what answers he needed to bring the situation in his favor.

“...”

Kang-Woo continued to think.

Creak.

“We’re here, hyung-nim.”

“Hehehe! It has been a week, my king!”

Just then, Kim Si-Hun and Balrog reached the rooftop and opened the door. Kang-Woo saw Layla, Lilith, Han Seol-Ah, and Cha Yeon-Joo behind them.

“Hm! Kang-Woo! I’m here too!”

Echidna, who had been completely covered by Balrog, raised her hand.

“I heard the story from Lilith as we were on the move, hyung-nim.”

“How dare this son of a bitch Akart try to invade the king’s world?!” Balrog stomped his foot in anger. “This Balrog will tear his limbs apart and offer them to you!”

“Enough, man.”

Kang-Woo smirked and looked at Balrog fuming heatedly. He felt his mind being cleared as he stared at how battle-ready Balrog was.

“I suppose we should think of a countermeasure as soon as possible,” remarked Layla somberly.

Kang-Woo scanned at his comrades on the rooftop and remarked, “About that, I got something.”

“Pardon?”

“The thing is...”

Kang-Woo explained the Primordial Knowledge Trait to them.

“Hmm.”

“Three questions...”

Balrog stepped forward and asked, “How about his weaknesses?”

Seol-Ah clapped her hands together and nodded. “Oh, that sounds good. Even a Titan must have a weakness or two.”

“No.” Kang-Woo shook his head. “I already know his weakness.”

Akart’s weakness was none other than Kang-Woo— the Demonic Sea. The Primordial Darkness was Akat’s greatest weakness that could deal critical damage to his light.

‘The problem is he’s also my weakness.’

Whatever the case, finding his weakness was pointless.

“What about a way to restore the damaged Law of—”

“I already asked that. It couldn’t find an answer.”

“Then how about a way to at least prevent the otherworldly inv—”

“That too.”

“...”

Everyone had the same idea. They brought their heads together to think but couldn’t think of anything decent.

“Dammit, I at least wanna know how we can give a good beating to that Akart motherfucker or whatever his name is,” remarked Yeon-Joo as she crossed her arms and sighed.

Everyone chuckled, having the same thought.

“Huh...?”

More specifically, everyone but Kang-Woo.

“Yeah. That’s an option, huh?”

Kang-Woo couldn’t believe he had not thought of it sooner.

“Huh? What?” Yeon-Joo turned to Kang-Woo in confusion.

Kang-Woo smiled. “I just have to ask how we can give Akart a good beating.”

“What...?”

Yeon-Joo frowned dumbfoundedly.

1. This is referring to the

Battle of Myeongnyang

, one of the most tactically brilliant victories in the history of warfare. ☜