Chapter 128 – 128. Delicious Skills

The choice that came to mind before me and my sister Saeyeon.

I looked at Saeyeon once. Then Saeyeon waved her hand and asked what she would do if she received such a blessing. She said she would not receive it.

I already thought it would be better for me to receive this, so thank you for telling me first.

“Hey, Asmorphia.”

[Yes?]

“I think this needs a more detailed explanation.”

[Ask any questions you have. Anyway, right now there is no need to worry about balance, just one person needs to push. I will answer everything I know.]

Fortunately, Asmorphia was very friendly towards me, so she told me to ask her anything. Even though she it is clearly a being higher than me, it feels like there are strangely no walls.

It may mean that the situation is so extreme, or it may just be that they are like this.

[To be exact, both.]

“Oh, did you read it again?”

[I can’t help it. I am God’s representative, and this is God’s sanctuary. Because it is a place that listens to the complaints of believers, their true feelings are revealed.]

“Well, I have never become a believer yet..”

Saeyeon, wondering if it was some kind of strange religion, crawled towards the stone statue and asked in a voice. Judging by the fact that he was a little intimidated earlier, Asmorphia seems a little scary.

[It’s very strange that Inho isn’t afraid of me at all.]

“Ah. You’re reading again… “

Hehe. Sorry. For your information, to answer Saeyeon’s question, you become a follower of Raythena from the moment you receive and use the skill.]

“Yes..?”

[It can be said to be a reward for skill. Without faith, we cannot be of any help. Still, I don’t think I have a maternal faith or any other religion.. Is that okay?]

“Ah yes. That’s why.”

I also knew this for the first time.

As expected, skills weren’t just free.

Asmorphia is a divine being who came down to Earth, but is not an absolute, omnipotent god in the true sense of the word. So, some kind of price is needed to save humanity.

It was said to be something equivalent to the survivors’ faith or earnest will or desire.

[A strong will to live. The intense emotions of a dying person. The blood, sweat, tears, and even the soul of the head of the household to protect the family all become the driving force.]

“… Spiritual and physical transactions…”

[Hehe… That also becomes food for saving humanity.]

Indeed, in some sense, I may have been performing human sacrifice up to this point.

“For now, let’s put the complicated story aside for a moment… Let’s talk about these blessings.”

[You want to make the best choice, right? So that you don’t regret it?]

“Yes.”

I had no idea what to choose between reinforcement, modification, and combination. So, when I asked which of these three would be best, Asmorphia presented me with several possibilities.

[It’s true that you have to choose carefully. This blessing is truly a blessing given to you out of my selfish intentions to help you. Chances like this will probably not come very often in the future,]

“Aha.”

They said it was an unprecedented blessing, but it seemed like they had to go overboard to give a blessing of this magnitude.

[Anyway, among the skills that Inho currently has, there are S-level ones, right?]

“Yes.”

[Among those skills, there will be inherent S-level skills that are difficult to obtain again.]

“Skill theft, spiritual and physical transactions, things like that.”

[Yes. Basically, strengthening those S-class skills is the best option.]

As Asmorphia said, I was also thinking that it would be better to strengthen skill theft or other S-class skills that were born.

Skills such as Body Strengthening and Crushing Blow can be obtained relatively often, so there is no reason to use this opportunity for those skills.

[But… I think if you choose the blessing of strengthening, the first thing Inho should strengthen is… The Golden Seal.]

“Ah.”

The golden seal is an A-level skill. You can choose 3 skills to erase handicaps or penalties.

[Inho will continue to steal skills from now on. Whenever that happens, the penalty and handicap will weigh on Inho.]

“There are still times when it’s a bit difficult..”

[It will be so. The reason hair was designated as a penalty in the first place is because it is dangerous to have more than 20 skills on your body.]

“Yes?”

[It’s not a joke in a situation where survival is a prerequisite, and there’s no reason to choose hair loss as a penalty.]

Asmorphia explains why the penalty for skill theft was hair.

[Hair is the part of the body that suffers the least damage if it is stolen, and it is also the part with a generous amount. The penalty of a handful of hair was just right to get the skills from more than 15, which is close to the limit for a normal human, to less than 20.]

“If Bald had been chosen to steal skills from the beginning…”

[He probably died in the pasture. Well, the skill theft would never have gone to the bald man in the first place.]

What on earth does it mean that there was no need to go? It doesn’t seem like each skill is designated one by one…

[Anyway, Inho strengthened his skill theft too quickly at the beginning of the play. Moreover, now we have learned how to eliminate the penalty.]

“…”

[If you have too many skills, overload will gradually become worse. There are clear limits to the soul’s capacity. So, I think we should now move towards eliminating handicaps and penalties to reduce the burden as much as possible.]

The direction suggested by Asmorphia was to eliminate handicaps and penalties as much as possible, leave only about 30 really frequently used skills, and then distribute the rest.

If you have a lot anyway, not only will you never be able to use it all, but your soul will gradually become heavier.

[Inho’s body already has 46 skills. If the maximum skill level acceptable to an ordinary person is 20. They carry almost twice as much skill. Actually, it should be normal at this point, but looking at you walking around fine, you might be a person who specializes in the power of skill theft.]

“Are you saying that skill theft came to visit me?”

[As I said before, skills are a part of authority. There is a high probability that you will stick to the person who will use you best.]

“…”

Suddenly, I was judged to have a high soul capacity. I can’t believe I’m fine even though I carry more than twice the amount of skills of an ordinary person.

[Why am I showing a friendly attitude towards you? Now you understand, right?]

“Because it’s outstanding. Is that so?”

[Because I like excellent varieties.]

Saeyeon stabbed me in the side for no reason at Asmorphia’s words. Do you feel jealous? Hehe…

“First of all, aside from strengthening… The other two…”

[Actually, strengthening is the worst.]

“Yes?”

[Modification and combination have more possibilities.]

“No, they just explained a lot of reinforcements… “

[The original conversation follows the flow of consciousness, so don’t listen too much.]

“Ah.. Yes.”

[Hmm. Anyway, let me explain from the beginning with modifications… This is a blessing that allows you to literally change all of the skill settings.]

“No, so what do you mean by changing that setting..?”

[For example, something like this.]

Asmorphia gave one example.

[For example, if we take the golden seal as an example…]

[Golden Seal (A)]

[Effect: Up to 3 skill handicaps or penalties can be sealed.]

[Handicap: This skill’s handicap and penalty cannot be sealed.]

[Penalty: If you return a skill that used a Golden Seal to its original state, there is a 50% chance that the skill will be deleted.]

This is the original of the golden seal. By modifying this, a total of two results could be derived, and the method was to choose the one you liked best.

[Golden Seal (A)]

[Effect: Through 1 hour of meditation, you can seal 1 skill handicap or penalty.]

[Handicap: This skill’s handicap and penalty cannot be sealed. If it passes midnight, it will be reset.]

[Penalty: Calorie consumption increases 10 times while meditating for the golden seal. You may die during meditation.]

[Golden Seal (A)]

[Effect: You can permanently seal the skill’s handicap or penalty by offering 10 intelligent souls.]

[Handicap: This skill’s handicap and penalty cannot be sealed. Cancellation is not possible.]

[Penalty: The intelligent beings used in the golden rule seal can be resurrected as evil spirits with hatred in them.]

The setting itself has completely changed. Originally, you could only seal up to 3 golden rules, and if you interfered with the golden rules of another skill, there was a 50% chance that the sealed skill would be erased..

[It’s like this. The detailed settings themselves are completely changed.]

“I know how it is.. Hmmm..”

Rather, my worries became deeper. The second modified version of the golden rule seal says that you can seal one golden rule by sacrificing about 10 souls of an intelligent being, but it’s a bit scary to hear that evil spirits will come.

‘I think I can kill him with the Demon Sword of Destruction..’

First of all, I was more attracted to modification rather than reinforcement.

[Now I can explain the remaining one.]

“Combined..”

The final blessing is skill combination.

[This is a blessing that combines two skills that may have a synergistic effect into one.]

“The synergy effect…”

[For example, let’s combine Inho’s sanity recovery and increased healing.]

Asmorphia had two similar summoning skills spread out in front of her and began using the Blessing of Combination.

[Restoration of Sanity (A)]

[Effect: Quickly recovers lost mental strength. My spirit does not break down easily.]

[Penalty: When your sanity level is 100, you will become overly optimistic.]

[Increased recovery (A)]

[Effect: Increases resilience and recovery speed from wounds or diseases.]

[Handicap: When you heal others, your sanity level decreases quickly.]

This is the original source of both skills. If you combine this…

[Mental and physical recovery (A)]

[Effect: Increases the recovery speed of mental strength and vitality. Mental strength and immunity increase.]

[Handicap: If you increase the recovery of others, your sanity level decreases quickly.]

[Penalty: When your sanity level is 100, your personality will change to optimistic. If your rationality level falls below 50, your personality will change to a pessimistic one.]

The effects have been combined into one and the penalty has become a bit worse.

Still, the important thing here is that the restoration of sanity, which used to only apply to me, can now be used by others as well.

Not bad.

[There may be skills that cannot be combined, but if you look carefully, you will be able to get a good combination.]

“My head has become more complicated..”

[Choose carefully. Hehe…]

For some reason, it seems like he’s enjoying watching me worry… Maybe I’m mistaken, right?

‘For now… ‘

The modifications looked good, and it seemed like if they were combined well, great results could be achieved.

‘Hmm.. What happens if you combine the summoning of dark spirits and the summoning of the dead?’

I asked Asmorphia right away, and she said that the summoning of ghosts is compatible with the higher level, so the summoning of ghosts works.

Even if they were combined, it was of no use. In addition, even when several skills were combined, there were many cases where no benefit was obtained or it became worse.

‘Modification is not always good… Combination has more restrictions than I thought… But not only is it too dull to choose as reinforcement, but I already know the existence of something called a skill enhancement ticket… I want to choose between modification and combination…’

Afterwards, I sat down and shared a snack with Saeyeon and continued to ask questions to Asmorphia.

I think I thought about it like that for almost 4 hours.

After thinking about it for a while, the moment to choose finally arrived.

“We will combine spiritual and physical transactions and skill theft.”

It deviated a lot from the original plan to deal with the golden seal, but it couldn’t be helped.

It’s an opportunity to combine the good with the damn good.

So this was the best. I want to believe that…

[Spiritual and physical transactions (S)]

[Effect: Receive appropriate compensation by offering the spirit and body of the intelligence you directly killed.]

[Handicap: Does not include targets killed with ranged weapons.]

[Penalty: If you do not trade more than three times a month, your skill will be deleted.]

[Skill Stealing (SS)]

[Effect: You can kill an awakened person and take away one of the awakened person’s skills. You can transfer stolen skills. If you transfer the skill, you can absorb a small amount of the opponent’s hair.]

[Handicap: Skills can only be transferred to awakened people.]

[Penalty: Each time a skill is taken away, 30 strands of hair fall out. If there are no more hairs to fall out, you can no longer use Skill Steal.]

First of all, this is the original form of the two skills, Spiritual Transaction and Skill Stealing. It can be seen as the state before the handicap of skill theft is erased with the golden seal.

When I asked, I was told that if I combined them, the golden seal would be automatically released without penalty, so I was able to combine them with peace of mind.

Anyway, if you combine these two skills, it changes like this.

[Spiritual and Physical Robbery (S)]

[Effect: You can receive appropriate compensation by sacrificing the body of an intelligent being you killed, and if you kill someone with special abilities, you can obtain additional awakening stones containing skills. You can transfer your skills.]

[Handicap: Skills can only be transferred to awakened people. Targets killed with ranged weapons are not included.]

[Penalty: If you use an awakening stone to gain a skill, 30 strands of hair will fall out. If there are no more hairs to fall out, you can no longer use Awakening Stones. If you do not trade more than three times a month, your skill will be deleted.]

SS-level skill theft was combined with S-level spiritual and physical trading, and the level went down by one, but it didn’t really matter.

First of all, if we look at the skill effect in detail, for spiritual and physical robbery, if you kill an intelligent being, you can use the existing spiritual and physical transaction as is, and even if it is not a monster in the labyrinth , if you kill a person with this ability, that is, an awakened person or a highly intelligent ghoul, you can definitely get an awakening stone.

The handicap was just a combination of the two skills, and the penalty was similar to before.

Anyway, the most important thing now is the existence of the awakening stone.

‘According to Asmorphia, the awakening stone can be used like a soul stone or magic stone.’

This means that not only the beings in the labyrinth but also those encountered outside can be summoned through dark spirit summoning. Moreover, there is no longer a need for me to receive the skills and carry them around. All you have to do is receive it as an awakening stone.

Additionally, it seems like you can apply awakening stones to weapons or accessories to make them into items.

That’s right, now you don’t just get one skill, you can make it into an awakening stone and use it as a summon, and you can also apply it to equipment like a bloodstone or a spirit stone.

Moreover, there is no need to erase the handicap that the skill can only be transferred to the awakened person, as you can simply hand over the awakening stone. The only handicap that doesn’t apply to targets killed with a ranged weapon is if you don’t kill it with a ranged weapon.

Even the phenomenon of random evolution by eating the same skill could be arbitrarily controlled. One of the reasons why I had to obtain the golden seal, that I was carrying too many skills, was now able to be resolved to some extent.

I think this is probably the best option. This is the option that is most likely to benefit.

Actually, there were about 15 other options besides this, but I felt like my brain would explode if I thought about it any longer, so I decided to just combine the two best skills into one.

It’s the happy ending everyone was hoping for. Let’s not worry any more. If you’ve been thinking about it for over 4 hours, it’s over. My head hurts and I feel like I’m going to die..

“I will choose this.”

[Hehe… I’m really sincere. I never thought I would worry about it for 4 hours…]

“It’s a matter of survival, of course.”

Soon the skills were combined.

“Whoa…”

“Ugh..!”

Saeyeon and I stretched at the same time.

Now I just have to ask one last question before I leave.

[It must be about pagan symbols.]

“Yes. Where can I go to destroy it?”

[The pagan symbol is in the fixed labyrinth. For now, I’ll give you one that I have right now.]

If it was a fixed labyrinth, it was also written in the quest obtained by taking a random potion. Was it a human breeding farm?

In any case, the fixed labyrinth was not a randomly generated simple labyrinth, but a labyrinth in which the shape or concept of the labyrinth was clearly determined.

[Now, here.]

Soon Asmorphia handed me a fixed labyrinth.

[Labyrinth Type: Fixed Labyrinth]

[Difficulty: Not measurable]

[Labyrinth name: Abyss – Crimson Zone]

[Access conditions: (none)]

[Assigned goal: Destroy pagan symbols – kill the Seeker of the Abyss]

[Goal achievement reward: Resurrection Stone Fragment, Golden Reward Box, Distorted Chaos Armor]

[Capacity: Unlimited]

“Difficulty… Unmeasurable…”

This… Feels a bit cheap.