Chapter 90

Chapter 90: I Obtained a Unique Skill

I introduced Maxim to Ria and told her everything that had happened.

After hearing it all, Ria's expression darkened.

"I see. It was more dangerous than I thought."

"It was. If I had met Maxim any later and kept wandering the southern section of the mine dungeon, I might have collapsed from exhaustion."

"That was dangerous. And on top of that, if you had not passed the phantom of Eos's test......"

"Yeah, probably......"

Eos had said it was a power that must not be obtained by one who lacks the qualifications.

I would most likely have been killed by the phantom of Eos.

Maxim, who seemed to have been aware of that danger, fidgeted anxiously.

"I apologize for not warning you in advance, despite knowing the danger......"

What fault was it of his?

He had done his utmost to fulfill the mission entrusted to him.

"It is all right. It was a test I would have had to face eventually."

Ashley, who had been observing from a distance, approached and said,

"I was thinking about kidnapping a dwarf for you, but you went and brought one back yourself."

"It just happened that way."

Maxim flinched upon seeing Ashley.

"Could it be...... a great being?"

"Correct."

"......"

He trembled with fear.

"Ashley, just how badly have dragons tormented the dwarven race for him to react like this?"

"Ahem! Tormented, you say. Dragons and dwarves merely have a cooperative relationship. And I have never tormented dwarves. I have never pressured them to build dragon lairs, nor have I extorted gems under the guise of protection fees. Every gem I possess was inherited from my mother."

"Is that so? Well, dragons do not lie, so I will take your word for it."

"Do."

Hearing those words, Maxim studied Ashley and spoke.

"If I may ask...... what is the name of the previous dragon?"

"Silvares Elumir."

Upon hearing the name Ashley gave, Maxim's eyes widened.

"Ah, so you are the heir of Lady Elumir, ruler of the Salton region."

"You know of my mother?"

"I never met her in person, but I have heard of her renown. She was said to have been very benevolent toward the dwarves of the Salton region."

"She was. My mother was a most unusual dragon, even among dragonkind."

Maxim, who had been tense upon seeing a dragon in Ashley, visibly relaxed and began conversing with her at length.

I also expressed my gratitude to Fenrir.

"I heard you spent days running around with Ashley searching for me. Thank you."

"Thank me for what? I just did not want to lose my provider of fresh meat, that is all."

"Right. Well, I am grateful regardless, so I will give you plenty of free meat."

Then I thanked the Sword Saint and the knight quartet as well before heading inside the house with Ria and Rin.

Ria embraced me.

"I was really worried."

"Was worried."

Rin echoed Ria.

I held them both.

"I am sorry for worrying you two."

"It is fine. You are back safe."

"It's fine."

I then told Ria that I had achieved Acresia S-Rank and undergone the Third Awakening.

"Really? That must be why your Mana presence feels so much stronger than before."

"Does it? My overall stats did increase significantly."

My previous stats had been:

[STATUS: Strength 75.6 / Agility 94.8 / Dexterity 121 / Mana 160.54 / Stamina 98]

Those numbers had been built through consistent consumption of stat dishes and stacking overlapping stats.

After the Third Awakening:

[STATUS: Strength 98.6 / Agility 117.8 / Dexterity 146 / Mana 200.54 / Stamina 112]

Truly formidable stats.

The achievement reward from reaching Acresia S-Rank had raised my Mana stat by 40.

The Third Awakening itself had increased all stats except Mana by a minimum of 23 to a maximum of 25.

I felt as though power was overflowing from my body.

At this level, these stats would rank among the upper echelon even among S-Rank Third Awakened individuals.

"It was dangerous, but in the end, you grew once again."

"Right. It seems growth always comes with trials."

I had endured and grown.

"At this rate, even I might have trouble beating you."

"I doubt that."

"I am serious. If you use all of Acresia's abilities, I would not be confident of winning."

"Really?"

Hearing Ria say that, I must have truly become enormously strong.

I had been unable to hold a candle to Ria, and now I had caught up to within arm's reach.

"I want to become even stronger so I can protect you and Rin with my own power."

"Haha! Please do. When my belly grows and I become pregnant, my ability to move freely will be restricted."

"True."

Until now, Ria had been the deterrent for the Hunters on the Fourth Floor of the Rift.

Word had spread that Ria possessed power overwhelming even S-Rank Hunters, which had kept disputes among the assembled Hunters to a minimum.

It was also the reason the restaurant had virtually no troublesome customers.

Eventually, I might take over that deterrent role.

"What skills did you acquire?"

At Ria's question, I examined my newly learned skills.

[Dungeon Creation Lv. 1: Dungeons with specific conditions can be created according to level.]

[Lv. 1: A stage where dungeon terrain can be generated by consuming Mana.]

This was the new Acresia skill.

A Dungeon Creation skill.

Uniquely, it had a level attached to it.

Meaning it was a growable skill.

'I can create whatever terrain I want.'

If I leveled it up, I would eventually be able to create mine dungeons like the one Eos had made, or vast plains like the one where her castle had stood.

'Rin has been wanting to expand the Applecherry orchard lately.'

Rin's abilities had grown to the point where the small orchard was no longer enough.

Creating a spacious orchard dungeon later on seemed like a good idea.

And the other skill I had obtained:

[Gate Portal Installation: You can install Gate portals to specific locations within a Rift or leading outside the Rift.]

A permanently maintained Gate portal installation skill.

When a dungeon was created, this skill would allow entry and exit through the installed Gate portal.

Additionally —

[TIP: Having achieved Acresia Ancient S-Rank, your abilities have grown. Gate portals leading outside the Rift can now be opened at any desired location, not just a fixed return point.]

In other words, I could now open a portal to wherever I wanted outside the Rift, not just the countryside house.

Previously, changing the return point from the countryside house to another location required consuming one highest-grade magic stone.

But now I could simply open a portal to any desired location.

When I told Ria, she was delighted.

"Really? Then we could get from the countryside house to Seoul in the blink of an eye."

"Exactly."

No more driving for long hours to get around.

Of course, I would need to open the Gate portal somewhere out of sight.

For instance, the aging room in Director Jang's wine shop.

Setting that aside —

My existing skills had also been significantly enhanced.

The characteristic skills of monsters Devoured through the Absorption Skill had previously functioned at only 30 to 40 percent of the original monster's ability.

Skills that had not been very useful in combat.

Now, however:

[Ability Absorption: Abilities and characteristics of absorbed monsters can be used as skills. These can be used at 70% of the original monster's ability level.]

A full 70 percent.

'At 70 percent, these will be extremely useful.'

The skill had become genuinely overpowered.

Ria covered her mouth in surprise.

"Then the Dragon Fear you obtained from absorbing and Devouring the Bone Dragon can now be used at 70% power?"

"That would be right."

"That is incredible."

Using Dragon Fear at even 70% power would inflict a severe fear debuff on any opponent at my level or below.

The power of the Absorption and Release Skills had also been dramatically enhanced.

And the skill I had acquired from the Third Awakening was:

[(Unique Skill) Sovereign's Bond: You can designate an Awakened individual and form a binding contract. The bonded individual's total stats increase by 20% of the Sovereign's stats. The bonded individual can never inflict harm upon the Sovereign and must obey commands. If a command is refused, the bond is immediately severed. Up to ten individuals can be bonded.]

The skill I had obtained from the Third Awakening was none other than a Unique Skill.

And a very unusual one at that.

'This is a skill made for a guild master.'

A 20 percent ratio increase based on my stats.

That was an extraordinarily high figure.

By my current stats, it was a skill capable of elevating an A-Rank Hunter to S-Rank level.

It could only be used on Awakened individuals.

'What a fascinating skill.'

Should I ask Eriksson and Santos for their consent and try it out when they returned?

The Sword Saint was here as well, but given the nature of the skill, using it on him would feel far too disrespectful.

***

As a test, I decided to spar with Neville, the spearman.

Neville stood at a distance, parallel to me.

Neville scratched his head and said,

"Not long ago, you were a novice learning spear technique from me, and now the pressure is considerable."

As Neville said, I had received spear instruction from him.

In terms of spear technique alone, Neville's mastery surpassed even Ria's.

"Thank you in advance. Let us begin."

"All right. Let us see how much stronger you have become."

We clashed.

Our strength was similar, but I was slightly faster.

However, Neville's spear technique and vast real combat experience bridged the gap.

Every member of the knightly order was individually stronger than S-Rank Hunters.

Their physicals were comparable, but their overwhelming real combat experience made them far more seasoned.

The spar ended in a draw.

Next came the skill test.

Ria helped with this one.

It was too dangerous for Neville.

WHOOSH!

A steel ball wrapped in blue Mana flew through the air via the Release Skill.

CLANG!

It was pulverized by Ria's Aura-clad sword.

But when I fired them in rapid succession —

CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!

Ria's feet slid backward as she blocked the steel balls.

'The steel ball barrage is working against Ria......'

Before, it had not stood a chance.

In the brief pause between barrages, Ria closed the distance at high speed.

I then used the enhanced Absorption Skill on Ria.

Ria halted her movement, plunged her sword into the ground, and braced.

Despite the considerable distance, the enhanced Absorption Skill's pulling force was tremendous.

'Before, I would have been suffering from Mana depletion and heart palpitations by now.'

This time, I had plenty of room to spare.

After the Third Awakening formed a dual Mana Hall in my heart, the Mana consumption for the same skills was significantly reduced.

My Mana efficiency had improved by nearly double.

On top of that, with my Mana stat exceeding 200, my total Mana reserves were also substantial.

But Ria was no pushover either.

She wrapped Mana tightly around her entire body and began stepping backward, trying to escape the absorption radius.

'In that case—!'

With Acresia at S-Rank, I could now open a small Subspace portal in midair while using the Absorption Skill, simultaneously activating the Release Skill.

A single steel ball was Released at Ria as she tried to pull away.

Ria had no choice but to deflect it.

CLANG!

Her body wavered, and her backward steps returned to their original position.

'I am reaching my limit.'

I ended the skill test and closed Acresia.

Ria, who had assisted with the test, approached me.

"The pulling force of the Absorption Skill has become insanely strong. At this level, you could easily subdue a highest-grade monster using just the Absorption Skill alone."

"That powerful?"

"Yes. And look at this. Because I was resisting the Absorption Skill and had to deal with the Release Skill simultaneously, I could not properly reinforce my Aura when deflecting the steel ball. My blade got chipped."

Ria's sword had a slight nick in it.

Even if it was just a practice sparring sword, chipping Ria's blade was remarkable.

An impressive development.

Ria continued,

"At this level, you could win against most Transcendent-Grade monsters."

At those words, Ashley and Fenrir, who had been approaching, both flinched.

Ashley and Fenrir were still at mid-tier Transcendent-Grade level.

Fenrir spoke up.

"I will never become enemies with the male human. Being Devoured by that Subspace called Acresia is the last thing I want."

Ashley nodded in agreement.

"I share the sentiment. That is the one fate I absolutely refuse."

I said to them teasingly,

"Then be careful not to get swallowed."

The two of them backed away warily.

***

The next day.

I headed to the restaurant to prepare for the meal and began setting up for the lunch service.

The moment I appeared outside the restaurant, the Hunters who spotted me came running.

"Chef An, are you all right?"

"You are safe!"

I nodded to them.

"Yes, I am fine now. I apologize for having to close the restaurant for five days due to unavoidable circumstances."

When the restaurant closed, the Hunters found themselves in a difficult position.

With limited food supplies, being unable to eat at the restaurant threw their schedules into disarray.

"No worries, Chef. As long as you are safe, that is all that matters."

"Exactly. We were all terrified that the restaurant might close for good."

For the Hunters coming to the Fourth Floor of the Rift, the restaurant had become an indispensable, irreplaceable space.

"I will be running this business for a long time to come, so do not worry."