"And what will be the punishment if I fail?” I asked. No matter how juicy the reward was just jumping to it would be stupid. When he heard my reaction, his eyes lit up with mischievous energy.
“I’ll take your life if you fail.” He grinned from ear to ear. Hmm. I wasn’t sure if he was just excited about the thought of taking a life or if he wanted revenge for his son. Maybe both.
“Hmft. Isn’t the reward and punishment ratio skewed? Unless that skill can give another life to me, me losing my life is a little bit too much.”
“Hmm.” He said as he touched his chin. I also touched and: “Hmmm.” I said, louder than him. After we stared each other down for half a minute, he opened his mouth:
“Okay, okay. I’ll just pluck out your eyes.”
“Just one.”
“Come on. That’s not even a punishment.”
I crossed my arms and looked at him.
“After I leave here, I can find other skill books. But you can’t find anyone else to entertain yourself. Are you playing or not?”
It was half bluff, half speculation. It was possible that he was only here of his own will and could leave whenever he wanted.
“Fine. I accept it. Now, make your guess.”
His grin widened for a second, twisting his face to an inhuman shape. Okay, I am going to enjoy this. I opened my mouth to answer:
“Gods.”
I said with confidence. He looked disappointed. He handed me the skill book.
“How did you know?” He leaned forward. He looked very curious about it.
“A magician never gives away his secrets.”
“I changed the punishment for you, but you won’t even satisfy my curiosity?”
I looked at him. I could easily tell him to pay me if he wanted to learn, but I still had a lot to learn from him. If I pushed him too much, he could refuse to tell me more.
“Firstly, you said “who” and not “what.” Secondly, I know that Gods can mess with my status. Lastly, currently only I, a being brought here by a God, have a Spark.”
“Is that… All?”
He looked confused. He scratched the back of his head.
“Yes. It was a gamble, really. They could have been unrelated.”
After a while, he started to laugh again.
“So you risked your eye for a hunch?”
“I prefer the term educated guess rather than a hunch, but yeah.”
He clapped his hands.
“I feel like I’ve been robbed, but I am going to allow it since I like you.”
My eyebrows were raised with doubt.
“Don’t give me that look. I am telling the truth. It is a shame you are this weak right now. I would like to fight you.”
“…”
I gave him the side-eye.
“Anyways. Aren’t you going to learn it?”
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
I looked at the book I was holding. It was heavy. Its cover was made out of unidentifiable material. I opened it slowly.
(Do you want to learn the active skill Armor Collapsing Claw?)
Of course.
(You acquired the active skill Armor Collapsing Claw.)
I stumbled back as a sharp pain struck my head. I held my head. It stopped hurting quickly, but damn, did every power-up in this world cause pain?
(Armor Collapsing Claw: By consuming up to 20 percent of your maximum mana, you can enhance your weapon or body to deal more damage. Said damage will ignore 10 percent of the defense your enemy has. How long this skill will last or how powerful it is will depend on how much mana you consumed when you activate it.)
Finally, a way to use mana! My mana wasn’t weak as it was thanks to stat boosts, and now I had a way to use it! I activated it to try it. I felt something invisible flow to my fist. It gave out a dark purple light.
(You activated Armor Collapsing Claw at its highest setting. Your blows will deal 13 percent more damage for 47 seconds.)
Just 47 seconds? The damage part was good. Excellent even. But just 47 seconds? This is like having a huge you-know-what but not being able to last a minute!
Okay, it is not that big of a problem. According to Blanche, mana recovers fast. I could also activate it 5 times before exhausting all of my mana. Unlike Monstrous Strength, it didn’t have a cooldown.
“I am guessing you liked it?”
He asked smugly.
“Eh. It is okay.”
I answered in equal smugness. Of course, my smugness died as I watched the purple energy covering my fist fade out before a minute.
Rather than my disappointment, I focused my attention on a phrase in the skill description: Ignore defense. Defense was an interesting stat. When I first saw it, I was confused. The status window already had Vitality. I wondered what it did.
Well, their difference was simple:
Vitality told me how much damage I CAN take. (Health)
Defense told me how much damage I WILL take. (Armor)
Of course, that wasn’t the only thing they did, but this was an easy way to tell the difference.
Shit, I sidetracked.
“Ignore defense.”
One of my thoughts, when I saw my resistances given to me by my Spark, was “Hey, what if I manage to max out one of these? Will I be immune to it fully?”
If there are skills that can ignore a stat everyone had, then there must be skills that also ignored other kinds of resistances too.
Damn, I should be happy that I got a new skill, but I am thinking negative things.
“Why did Gods even seal Sparks? Were they jealous?”
I said half-jokingly. He let out a small chuckle.
“Some were, I suppose. But unlike many of their decisions, this time it was for the best.”
He looked serious now.
“A soul is a strong thing. Now imagine millions of them manifesting their full power outside.”
I can’t say I can fully imagine it. My Spark was mostly defensive and utility until now.
“Did humans cause a lot of destruction?”
Considering how humanity went on when they had a lot of power back in my power, I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened here too. He chuckled once again.
“I wish it was that simple. You see, humans caused the first demons to form. No. No. They were already here. Form would be wrong. Manifest would be a better term.”
I suddenly remembered the cultists I met when I first arrived here.
“At the beginning, when they were first formed due to the emotions and feelings of the mortals, but they didn’t have physical forms or even sentience. Even though there were a lot of mortals because their souls didn’t manifest physically it wasn’t so big of a problem. When strong humans with strong souls started using their Sparks as they wanted, it caused demons to gain sentience and after that sapience.”
He stopped and looked at me.
“And?”
I said as the silence lasted more than I wanted.
“Hmmm?”
“What happened after demons appeared? There must be something missing.”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“Even Father wasn’t alive
at that time. All I know is demons are a troublesome bunch, so Gods decided on sealing the Spark humans had.”
“Wait. Did Gods give humans their Spark?”
“No. It was something humans were born with.”
“Then how did Gods seal it?”
“If I knew it, then I would be a God, wouldn’t I?”
I guess it would be too easy if I could get all the answers from him. But what he said was worrying. If Gods can just seal nearly everyone’s Sparks, then they could just seal mine too. While I bitched about its name and even its design, I definitely don’t want it gone.
“Okay, do you have any more questions? If not, you are recovered enough to finish your own part of the bargain.”
“Bargain? Wait, are you talking about the heir thing?”
“Yes. It is time to awaken a worthy heir for Father and a younger sibling for me.”
“I am sorry, what?”
“Just follow me.”
I followed him with one hand on my sword’s handle. I didn’t see any kind of door, but he just touched the wall, and cold air blasted me. I nearly lost my balance.
“Damn! It is colder than the entrance!”
I could barely hear my own voice even though I shouted. Wind’s howl drowned out every other noise. Cold cut me to my flesh and bones. Tears filled my eyes as I pushed forward against the wind. When I forced my eyes to open, I saw a blue light illuminating me from head to toe.
“Badump! Badump!”
I managed to discern a heartbeat in the wind. I shielded my eyes with my hands and looked more carefully. A giant heart giving out a blue light was beating. It was as big as a small car. Damn, Wolf King must have been huge.
I noticed that the same blue light it gave out was covering my hands now.
“Put your hands on it and focus!”
Interitus shouted from a direction I couldn’t discern.
“Okay, here we go!”