Chapter 17
Keith hurriedly swapped out one of his rings for a Ring of Light, which lit up his surroundings within a thirty feet radius. This time, he could see Orcus’ enormous tongue whipping toward him, and he activated Void Shadowstep’s physical immunity form. It passed through Keith harmlessly.
The Ring of Light was still working in Void Shadowstep form, and Keith used its light to guide him down Orcus’ throat and into its belly.
Time was tight.
Void Shadowstep already cost a tremendous amount of mana to keep active, and it grew more expensive the longer it was up. Thankfully, Keith had over twenty million mana to work with and could use it much longer than his Aunt Serilla.
Suddenly, Keith’s surroundings shifted, and he appeared outside Orcus’ body. Stunned, he spun around and watched as Orcus rolled over in an attempt to disrupt whatever Keith was doing inside its body.
Keith immediately realized what happened. Any momentum Orcus gained never transferred to Keith, as he was akin to a ghost. That made things a little more difficult.
Gritting his teeth, Keith charged into Orcus’ body from the side before the monster realized it had knocked him out.
Keith’s plan was simple.
He would treat Orcus’ body as a beehive and travel any which way until he recognized a heart, brain, or something else important.
Once…
Twice…
Keith repeatedly flew in and out of Orcus’ body. Sometimes, Orcus’ random movement did it, and sometimes, Keith accidentally left.
When Keith had spent almost ten million mana, he passed through some muscle and heard a mighty boom. Without hesitation, he turned off Void Shadowstep. On the outside, Orcus flipped about, causing Keith to slam into a nearby artery. He quickly grabbed the tube as thick as a tree and held on tight. Looking up, he saw a gargantuan heart larger than a house.
THUMP!
THUMP!
THUMP!
Each heartbeat sent ripples through the air, and Keith could even hear blood flowing through the artery next to him. He gasped in amazement, awed at the wonders of the world, though another tumble from Orcus quickly returned Keith to his senses. It was time for some payback.
Focusing on the heart above, Keith multicast Holy Flame Lance, consuming over 100,000 mana to summon five. Using his Mana Manipulation skill, Keith brought each lance close enough to the point they were almost touching each other. Then, he let them loose.
WOOSH!
The lances scorched the air as they shot upward. In less than a second, they pierced through the defenseless heart, disappearing within and leaving behind five gaping holes. Keith felt Orcus shiver from the attack, but before he could celebrate his success, a torrential volume of blood spewed out from the wounds and poured onto Keith, drenching him from head to toe.
Disgusted, Keith hastily flew to another location and used his Cleanliness ring. Glancing back, he saw that blood continued to flow out of the heart without any sign of stopping. Orcus was losing an incredible amount of blood with every passing second.
At first, Keith wanted to keep his distance and save his energy, yet after a few minutes, he saw Orcus’ wounds start to heal, so he continued bombarding the heart from different directions.
In moments, Orcus’ heart was spewing blood everywhere, and even after ten minutes, it was still going strong. Keith was amazed. How come Orcus wasn’t dead already? It couldn’t be that it had three hearts, right? Huh. Maybe it did.
Keith glanced at his mana and saw he had spent over 14 million. He was approaching his limit, and Mana Sickness would cripple Keith if Orcus didn't die soon.
Thinking of a plan, Keith flew to a nearby artery and followed it down through Orcus’ body, occasionally poking a hole in it. Eventually, Keith arrived in Orcus’ stomach, judging by the disgusting walls of flesh pressing together.
On the verge of throwing up, Keith started making a mess. He was like a toddler causing wanton destruction. Holes appeared where they shouldn’t be, and all sorts of bile emerged. When that happened, Keith promptly threw up.
At the same time, Orcus started flipping about anxiously, feeling unbearable pain. It had eaten so many monsters it had lost count, and they had never caused any problems in its body. It must be because Keith was too small.
While Orcus felt regret, its attempts to disrupt Keith slowed as weakness took hold. Its vision grew faint, and it eventually lay still on the ground, its breathing coming to a halt.
When that happened, its massive body dissipated into motes of light, revealing Keith, who fell with a plop. Covered in green and yellow juices, Keith blankly looked around before realizing he had won. Orcus was dead.
In the next moment, a wave of notifications filled the corner of Keith’s vision.
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Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Congratulations! You have leveled up!
Congratulations! You have leveled up!
There were so many level up messages that Keith swiped them away and instead looked at his status. His mouth hung open. Shockingly, he had reached level 663 from 594 in one go, granting him hundreds of stat points to allocate. Before Keith could recover from his surprise, a golden colored notification arrived.
Congratulations! You have solo killed a divine grade Monster Lord at or above your level and acquired the title: Divine Grade Adventurer (+++)
Title: Divine Grade Adventurer (+++)
Description: Increases the effectiveness of all primary stats by 15%.
As Keith read the title’s effects, he felt a tremendous wave of vitality and strength flow into his body, dazing him. For a moment, he was confused, wondering exactly what ‘effectiveness’ meant. Thankfully, the System provided a definition when he focused on the word.
“Holy slimeballs,” Keith gasped, overwhelmed with joy. He didn’t expect the effectiveness modifier to be so powerful. If vitality normally gave 1 health point, then 15% effectiveness boosted it to 1.15.
Keith remembered that the modifiers ‘+% to all stats’ only increased his base stats. They didn’t work on stats provided by equipment. However, the effectiveness modifier worked on his total stats. That meant the Divine Grade Adventurer (+++) title had increased Keith’s overall power by 15%.
Besides the level ups and title, there was one more thing to look forward to—Orcus’ loot. Keith glanced around and found a small pile of glittering objects in the distance. Running over, he started sorting through the items.
(Divine) Titanium Ore
(Divine) Sand Whale Skin
(Divine) Sand Whale Tooth
First were the materials used to make equipment, which numbered 17. Keith estimated they were worth at least ten billion gold, considering how sparse divine grade materials were.
(Divine) Elixir of Vitality
(Divine) Elixir of Strength
(Divine) Elixir of Agility
Next were the elixirs, 7 in total. Each one gave a permanent increase of 50 to base stats.
Keith stepped back and took a deep breath. The materials and elixirs took up the greatest portion of Orcus’ loot, yet they were the least valuable. He left the two most important items for last.
Of them, one was a clear bottle containing sand that moved on its own. Keith couldn’t discern what it was, though judging by its uniqueness, it was something good.
(Divine, Mount) Dire Desert Eagle
Description: Summons a Dire Desert Eagle with the flying speed of an elite aerial monster and unlimited stamina. Doesn’t require mana to maintain.
“Slimeballs,” Keith shook upon reading the description. With the size of the Grandsky Realm, it took too long to travel and was a waste of precious time. Currently, the griffin Keith used was a mythic grade monster pet. He didn’t need to guess that the Dire Desert Eagle was leagues ahead in speed.
Satisfied, Keith turned his attention to a glowing silver gem, and his anticipation rose to the peak. So far, everything Orcus dropped was at the divine grade. Surely, the skill gem would be, too, right?
(Divine, Skill) Arsenal of the Desert
Description: Conjure weapons with stats equivalent to 70% of a divine grade weapon. Mana cost and duration depend on skill level.
Note 1: There are 12 forms to choose from.
Note 2: Weapons can be controlled remotely.
Note 3: Conjure 1 additional weapon for every 1,000 intelligence.
Note 4: Conjured weapons have extremely low durability.
For a moment, Keith forgot to breathe. Thus far, his highest grade skill was mythic, and now, he skipped over ancient and went straight to divine. Keith was so excited he faced the sky and laughed.
No, wait.
Keith froze.
Thanks to his transcendent grade mana body, didn’t that mean Arsenal of the Desert would perform as if it was a celestial grade skill? And since it summoned weapons, wouldn’t he possess celestial grade attack power?
Holy slimeballs!
Keith had spent billions of gold to commission an ancient grade armor set. How much would a celestial grade weapon cost? A trillion? And now he could summon them as he pleased? In any case, how strong was a celestial grade weapon? Keith had no clue. He hadn’t even seen a divine grade weapon.
Without delay, Keith consumed the skill gem and acquired the Arsenal of the Desert skill. Then, to test its attack power, he used Entangling Roots to create a bramble wall. The roots summoned by Entangling Roots were somewhere between mythic and ancient in terms of durability. They would serve as a good reference.
Holding up a hand, Keith used his new skill, at which point a whirlpool of sand appeared and formed a longsword covered in array markings. Keith gave it a flick and a resounding blade hum rang out. He was surprised by its hardness, considering sand made up its structure.
Keith observed the arrays on the sword, knowing they had transformed something as simple as sand into a deadly weapon. The sight once again reaffirmed his passion for arrays. Their uses were endless.
Clearing his head, Keith focused back on the test. Looking at the bramble wall, he sent the longsword flying with a thought. Before Keith could blink, it arrived next to the wall, waiting for its next command. Astonishingly, its speed was so fast his agility stat couldn’t keep up.
With a flick of Keith’s finger, the longsword cleaved through the bramble wall like a knife through hot butter. The cut was so clean the wall didn’t even shake. Surprised, Keith ran over, where he found a line so thin he almost missed it.
“Huh,” Keith gasped, unable to determine the upper limit of Arsenal of the Desert. Hmm.
Should he test it on himself? He was wearing an ancient grade armor set, after all. Keith looked at the longsword hovering next to him.
No, no.
What if it cut his arm right off? How painful would that be?
Moving away from the longsword, Keith opened his status and realized he could summon 14 weapons of this caliber. Combined with Mind Division, its lethality would rise further. From now on, Keith could use Entangling Roots to bind his opponent, then send a wave of celestial grade weapons to slice them up.
With that beautiful thought, a wave of exhaustion overcame Keith. All he wanted was to lie down and sleep, so he summoned the Dire Desert Eagle from the bottle and mounted it. Unprepared by its incredible speed, he almost got whiplash.
He watched, amazed, as the world blurred when he felt he had forgotten something.
Thinking hard, he suddenly remembered the seed that had started the fight with Orcus.
Keith facepalmed before opening the Farming Simulator minigame. He carefully inserted the Rainbow Pearl Grass seed and looked at its details.
[Divine] Rainbow Pearl Grass Seed
Growth time: 3 months, 2 days, 13 hours
Harvest quantity: 1 Rainbow Pearl Grass, 1 Rainbow Pearl Grass seeds
Mutation chance: 0%
Failure chance: 5%