Chapter 241: Without Any Cost (4)

[Acquired skill: Essence Absorption Lv. 3.]

I had leveled up an Epic Skill purely through proficiency. I didn't anticipate it at all, as I hadn't even considered it. Well, I suppose absorbing every single thing that emitted green light throughout all the deaths and rebirths had paid off.

Absorbing those powerful individuals slain by the Ashen Knight had sharply boosted my skill proficiency. When Essence Absorption rose from Lv. 1 to Lv. 2, both the cap on absorbable stats and the overall caliber of the skill increased. I wondered what kind of rewards awaited this time.

I looked down at the stream of messages appearing before me.

[Maximum absorbable stat cap has increased to 100!]

From 50 to 75. And now, it jumped again, this time to 100. I had expected this outcome when the skill level rose, but seeing it confirmed firsthand brought a different kind of satisfaction. I kept reading carefully.

[Essence can now be absorbed from enemies who died within the past 3 months.]

[Essence Absorption from weaker opponents becomes more thorough.]

[Lower limit for absorption drastically reduced.]

More thorough absorption from the weak? Lower limit reduced?

At first, I didn't quite understand, but when I saw green light emerging from corpses that hadn't emitted anything before, it started to click. I could now absorb from enemies who were too weak to provide essence before.

Green light flooded from all three thousand dead soldiers around the battlefield. The scale was just absurd. If I absorbed all of that...

Just how powerful would I become?

I could probably reach the cap immediately. Also, the messages didn't stop there.

[Area Absorption is now available.]

Area absorption...

I didn't even need to ask what kind of skill it was. As soon as the skill reached Lv. 3, I could use it instinctively, as if I had known it from the start. Target an area and absorb essence.

Instead of one by one, I could draw from dozens simultaneously. Such an overwhelming efficiency it was!

Clack.

I raised my hand, absorbing the new green light that surrounded me.

Woooooooong...!

The system message about the Epic Skill holder count being within my range rang in my head again. There was no need to confirm it. As expected, Gith-Za-Rai was dead. Now that she was gone, only I could see this landscape in the entire world.

Woooo...!

[Agility has increased by 0.013.]

[Wisdom has increased by 0.009...]

I was absorbing their stats in decimal values. Even though the light from each corpse was faint, with hundreds, thousands of targets, it added up. All of the light within a radius of ten meters was drawn into me at once.

As I walked across the battlefield, I absorbed dozens of stat values from the cavalry and soldiers. Stats fluctuated endlessly in decimals. It wouldn't take long to hit the full 100-cap on total stats.

After one wave of area absorption, only two corpses remained glowing. The decapitated snake and the harpy that had been sliced in half. Before Essence Absorption leveled up, all they'd offered was that useless Teachings of Purson.

Ding!

[You have absorbed Incurable Bloom Lv. 1!]

[You have absorbed Hopeless Embrace Lv. 1!]

[You have absorbed Dull Tears Lv. 1!]

Strange names. Still, definitely better than some worthless teachings. I began reading their descriptions carefully.

They were all types of poison skills with Rare rarity. I felt significant improvement in the efficiency of Essence Absorption.

[Poison: Incurable Bloom

— Crystallizes the blood flowing inside into sharp shards that rupture every vein.]

This one focused on pain.

[Poison: Hopeless Embrace

— Melts the target's nerves, inducing a high-dependency withdrawal state. Addicted victims crave increasingly stronger doses. Nerve tissue exposed to this poison will never regenerate.]

A nerve-targeting toxin. Not sure where I'd use it, but it was certainly powerful.

[Poison: Dull Tears

— Paralyzes the respiratory system. The target dies from suffocation.]

Fast-acting lethality. Even at a glance, these were potent skills. I suddenly recalled the poison the snake had tried to spit at me earlier. It hadn't been one of these, had it?

Probably not. If she had used one of these on me, it would've had no effect. Most likely, it had been an acid-based poison, and since I already had a high-level Acid skill, I couldn't absorb it.

Leaving the snake's dimmed corpse behind, I turned to the harpy. Area absorption could pull in decimal-point stat values, but actual skills still had to be absorbed one at a time.

Woooooo...!

It didn't take long. Even with her body torn in half, the harpy passed her skills on with eerie, diligent precision. I checked the skills absorbed from her.

[Wind Claw Lv. 1

— When you land an attack on an airborne target, this skill helps you close the gap or pursue them further. Once you hit a winged enemy, they won't be hard to take down.]

[Leap Lv. 1

— Increases maximum jump height by 15%. Passive skill.]

They were decent skills. The combination worked well. The harpy had been a ground-type variant, which made her easier to deal with. Had she had rained arrows from above, she'd have been a serious nuisance. Until I gain overwhelming strength enough to send Sword Energy flying like bullets, these would prove useful.

The green light from the harpy's corpse finally faded.

Splosh.

I walked toward a small puddle. To test the poison, I dipped my hand into the water and activated the skill. When I triggered Incurable Bloom, a dark green light rapidly spread across the surface around my hand.

However, rather than the fresh green of spring or summer, this was a twisted, oppressive green. It wasn't the color of life, but one that licked at it with death's tongue, scorching everything in its path.

"

Oooh

. That's a beautiful color. So that's the power you earned, huh?"

I nodded and tested the others. Hopeless Embrace was purple, while Dull Tears was colorless.

"

Huh

. They all require liquid as a medium."

"Then... what other mediums could I use?"

"If you're going for lethality, gas would be better. It's easier to make someone breathe something in than drink it, right?"

"You seem to know a lot about poison."

"Not really. Never liked the stuff, to be honest."

Now, that was unexpected. I thought he'd be good with poisons.

Isaac stared at my silent expression for a moment, then said in a relaxed manner, "I prefer them going mad while still sane. Breaking people with things from the outside? Not really my style. Anyway, enough talk... Come with me for a bit."

Flap!

I followed without asking. Since leveling up Essence Absorption, new green lights were blinking across the battlefield. I had planned to go around and clean up anyway.

Absorb.

Message after message flashed before my eyes. My stats continued to increase in decimal increments.

"Here. Toss all those frozen ones into the river."

This was where I had shattered thirty of them at once, first freezing them with an ice storm, then crushing them with a sword slash. Their corpses, still stiff and fractured, lay frozen in jagged pieces.

"It's too suspicious and eye-catching."

Taking Isaac's advice, I silently swept the dead into the river.

"Next..."

Among the piles of corpses slain by each other, I spotted the ones I had killed. From every angle, front, back, side. They all had that empty look, as if accusing me of what I'd done. Or maybe they were smirking, mocking me for still struggling on while they'd long since become nothing but bones.

I shook my head, dispelling the thoughts. I had no time or space to seek reconciliation.

I inspected the wounds. Sword. Spear. Axe. Fist. Each kill bore different signs. Following Isaac's suggestion, I had made an effort from the start to vary my methods.

"You sliced this iron-clad one too cleanly. Rough it up a bit... That's better."

It took about six hours. Including the corpses of Purson's followers, I followed Isaac's advice to erase any signs that an unnatural being had intervened.

The sun began to set. Despite the grand, almost sacred beauty of the view, I felt nothing. Maybe because I'd killed too many at once, even the sky appeared like it was raining blood.

"..."

Flap!

After scanning the field, Isaac flew down from above and landed on my shoulder.

"That should do it. If someone really sets their mind to investigate, you can't hide everything anyway. But this should give us about two weeks. Lay low until then."

"Two weeks?"

"Sucks, I know. But events like this don't come around often."

I'd already wasted two years sealed inside. With Rubia still trapped, I didn't want to waste a single second more. The urgency burned through me, mingling with my hunger. As a result, a thought surfaced.

I turned toward the distant slope of a mountain range. "This is the Eastern Mountains, right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"There's someone I need to find. A goblin mage named Mudcash... I want to spend those two weeks searching for him."

Isaac's eyes gleamed. "Oh? A goblin mage?"

"They say only one exists in this era..."

It was a story told to me by the former chieftain of the goblin village, Hobgoblin Zixkisses Boomtong. He'd been bred like livestock, harvested for bloodstones from his heart and brain. I had once saved him from that fate. I remembered his wide, innocent eyes as he wept and thanked me. I hadn't been able to save him this time.

He'd likely witnessed countless horrors these past two years. There was no way to know what kind of scream his soft, young voice had been twisted into. A hallucination flickered before my eyes: goblin corpses stacked atop the battlefield, their hearts and brains split open.

I forced myself not to see it. Instead, I began to relay Boomgtong's story to Isaac exactly as I'd heard it.

"

Kekeke...

" Isaac laughed to himself as I spoke.

"You think there's something to it?"

"Oh, I'm sure it's not just gold coins in there," he said with confidence.

"Why's that?"

"Think about it. Making something that only accepts gold coins is way more trouble than distorting space itself. No one would bother."

It felt weird to hear Isaac talk about common sense, but I stayed quiet and listened.

"Besides, something like an infinite space... That's just not possible. More likely, whoever owned it had so many coins that people thought it was infinite. Try putting something bulky inside, and it'd fill up right away."

That was pretty much what I had hoped. Ever since I first heard of it, I had imagined using it like the subspace pocket that held Gith-Za-Rai's remains. A pouch to stash anything inside—perhaps even a place I could hide Rubia if things got too dangerous.

The idea thrilled me, and I asked Isaac, "Then why did people say it only accepted gold coins?"

"Goblins probably thought magic was less impressive than gold. To look impressive to their kin, they called it something grand."

"..."

"I actually tried to make something like that once. Gave up because the work needed wasn't worth the results. Still, it's worth investigating. Let's go!"

***

We reached the base of the mountain range before nightfall.

"If you get tired while searching, just say so. There are a few dungeons around here that humans haven't found yet. We can hunt."

I suddenly realized something strange about Isaac's way of speaking. Had he started to mirror the crow puppet he'd inhabited for so long? I fell silent.

Isaac noticed and asked, "What? Got a problem?"

I asked him casually, almost in passing, "What do you think you are, anyway? A human? Or...?"

Isaac flapped his wings once and replied as if it were the dumbest question he'd ever heard, "I've never thought about it."

"You've never thought about it...?"

"I mean, I'm me. Why would I need to force myself into a category?"

"..."

Isaac glanced around and changed the subject. "We're in the Eastern Mountains now. Used to be full of goblins."

We stood atop a high cliff. A dense forest stretched out in every direction below us. It seemed untouched, without any signs of armies passing through.

"Well, time to do the thing."

"

Hrm... Mmm...

"

If I say the phrase here, will Mudcash show up immediately? Will he recognize me as the rightful owner and hand over the magic pouch?

It probably wouldn't go that smoothly, but maybe he'd offer a test, or something along those lines. He could also just fire magic at me the moment I opened my mouth. Tense, alert, I looked around and called out.