‘She’s much stronger than I expected.’
The moment White was killed. Kasim gasped for breath. He was frightened because White had shown a persistent vitality, even when restrained by Greed. Kasim was worried. As Grid grew, his enemies also grew. Kasim was worried that Grid would someday suffer greatly.
‘I’m particularly worried about the solo number knights.’
The Red Knights of the Saharan Empire were by far the strongest armed forces on the continent. In particular, the solo number knights were evaluated as having the power to shatter a castle in one night. But their evaluation was wrong. Before meeting Grid, Kasim had spied on the empire in order to get revenge and discovered the truth.
Solo number knights. In particular, the power of the 1~7th knights were strong enough to overthrow a kingdom. In the first place, they were people chosen as subst.i.tutes for Piaro. Their natural talents and training environment were different from ordinary knights. They could be regarded as Piaro cla.s.s.
Even Kasim, the king of shadows, was a weak presence in front of them.
‘The empire is an insurmountable mountain.’
Grid needed to grow faster and stronger. Kasim believed it. Grid would someday surpa.s.s the mountain that was the empire. No, he would completely destroy it. This wasn’t a vague belief, but a conviction based on Grid’s potential. Until that day, Kasim’s role was to protect everything belonging to Grid. It was to help Grid grow in comfort.
‘In order to do that, I need to be stronger.’
The difficulty was really high, but it seemed time to challenge the fourth advancement cla.s.s that he’d been putting off.
“Huh? What’s that?"
While Kasim was locked in thought. Lord was looking at the necklace White dropped with interest.
Kasim laughed and explained, "Loot will occasionally drop after defeating enemies or monsters. It’s compensation for the winner.”
“Heh...”
Lord’s eyes lit up. Kasim willingly handed the necklace that White dropped to Lord.
“This artifact reduces the rate of skill deployment. It’s a rare treasure that would be seen as precious in the empire. Please keep it carefully and use it for your convenience.”
Lord refused.
“N-No! Master is the one who fought those bad sisters! Not Lord, but Master!”
"You aren’t acting as a cute kid.” Kasim felt both admiration and regret that Lord was growing up much faster than his peers. “Please receive this. It’s a reward since you always study so hard.”
"Uh! I’m so happy.”
This child was so pure. Kasim felt guilty when he saw Lord’s happy tears.
‘I’ll have to give him more gifts so he can get used to it.’
In retrospect, Lord never even received a birthday cake. It was inevitable since Grid was always absent. How big was his father’s vacancy? Kasim pledged to become a teacher that would fill this vacancy and smiled.
“I will give Father this necklace. I hope this necklace will always protect my father.”
“You...you are very special.”
If the Nero clan hadn’t been destroyed by the empire... Would he had lived a normal life and become a father of someone like Lord?
‘Now that I think about it...’
There was too much blood on his hands. He dealt despair to countless people and didn’t deserve to dream of happiness. Kasim bowed his head with a dark expression. Lord grabbed his rough hand and placed it on his cheek.
“Warm.”
“...”
***
[Saintess Ruby has obtained extraordinary rewards in exchange for annihilating the soul of the great demon!]
[The Saintess cla.s.s has grown to the unique rating. All skill levels will increase by two. Two new skills will be acquired when you reach level 300.]
[The Saintess’ private weapon, the Wooden Staff, has grown to the unique rating. The enhancement value is reset.]
[The t.i.tle ‘Denial’ has been acquired.]
[Denial]
Your divine power isn’t obtained from believing in the G.o.ds. It is a unique power that is built up because of the people’s wors.h.i.+p.
In this world created by the G.o.ds, only you can deny G.o.d.
* When fighting creatures made by G.o.ds (great demons, divine creatures, demiG.o.ds, etc), all your stats will rise and your skill power will rise. You can give them eternal rest.
* Your heals won’t overlap with the heals of priests of other religions. When targeting the same person with a heal, only your heal is applied.
This was the content of the special reward obtained after the success of Saintess Ruby in the great demon raid. It was very encouraging that her cla.s.s rating grew, but there was some ambiguity about the t.i.tle effect. Ruby had a low understanding of the game and asked her brother Grid about it.
“This t.i.tle is a good thing, right?”
“Umm... Increasing a Saintess’ stats and their rare offensive skills... But it’s better than nothing. The rise in healing ability will increase the survival rate of raids.”
Grid felt it was lacking for a special reward obtained by destroying a great demon. In particular, the penalty was bad. Ruby’s heals would no longer overlap with the heals of other priests. It was unfortunate, since Overgeared’s future plans involved a large-scale Rebecca Church presence.
"I need to abandon my plan to make Sehee head of the healer group.’
This was just a few hours ago. Grid couldn’t see the true value of the ‘Denial’ t.i.tle. However, his thoughts changed after he came up with a plan to reconstruct Lifael’s Spear.
‘Can I use Sehee’s power to suppress the divine power of G.o.ddess Rebecca?’
The problem was that G.o.ddess Rebecca’s power was too strong. It was enough to eat at the user’s health. If the strong divine power could be denied by Sehee, the power of White Transformation would be halved and it would protect the user.
‘I will try it.’
The determined Grid immediately invited Sehee.
***
“A success!”
“Good!”
It was as Grid expected.
Once Sehee purified the G.o.ddess’ hair, the powerful divine power was greatly weakened.
[G.o.ddess’ Fluffy Hair]
Fine hair belonging to Rebecca, G.o.ddess of light.
It contains a divine power that can’t be tolerated by humans, but the power has been halved by the Saintess.
Weight: 0
‘As the divine power is weakened, the strength of Lifael’s Spear will also weaken.’
This was a problem Grid needed to overcome with techniques.
“Sigh.”
Grid took a deep breath and focused his spirit. He thought of all the items he had produced since becoming Pagma’s Descendant.
‘The skills and experience that I’ve acc.u.mulated isn’t light. Now I’m able to transform Lifael’s Spear into a more powerful and ideal form.’
Flas.h.!.+
Grid raised his concentration like a sharp knife. He was confident that he could pull this off and had a desire to help Isabel. He pulled out the white phosphorus wood. He finally started the full-scale production. Isabel’s heart pounded as she watched him.
‘He’s especially cool and manly when standing in front of a furnace.’
“...”
Isabel was looking at Grid like she was a shy woman. Damian’s expression darkened as he saw it. Isabel’s sweet heart, which couldn’t forget her first love, was both lovely and bitter. When would she look at him?
‘Maybe that day will never come...’
He resigned himself to it. Damian smiled bitterly and dropped his head, only to become surprised. It was because Isabel suddenly grabbed his hand.
“I-Isabel-chan..?”
The trembling and warm Isabel’s hands made Damian’s heart beat faster. Isabel blushed and spoke to the dumbfounded Damian.
“If... If Grid manages to free me from White Transformation.”
“...?”
"At that time, I want to accept Your Holiness’ heart.”
“Isabel...chan...”
In fact, Isabel had thought of Damian as a man with no care or consideration. He didn’t care about the other person’s position and kept expressing himself recklessly. This was an old story. Isabel came to know that despite Damian easily expressing his affection, the weight of his affection wasn’t light.
She watched what Damian did for her and how straight and confident he was when thinking of her. Isabel developed a great liking for Damian in the process of this realization. It was a love that went beyond her longing for Grid. The feeling she had for Damian was real love.
Nevertheless, she turned away from Damian’s heart. Why? It was due to White Transformation. The health that was consumed by Lifael’s Spear was always holding her back. She thought she would soon be dead and couldn’t accept Damian’s heart.
But now.
“Okay, should I begin?”
Ttang!Ttang!
There was a person sweating for her. Grid. He was someone who saved her many times from the moment they first met. If it was him, could he save her again this time?
Kkuok.
Isabel tightened her grip on Damian’s hand. It was filled with a desire to not miss this opportunity.
‘Please... Please help me.’
She also wanted to feel happiness like an ordinary person. Isabel’s ardent prayer reached Grid.
[Rebecca"s Daughter Isabel is deifying you. Her faith in you is even more powerful and desperate than her faith in G.o.ddess Rebecca. This isn’t a distorted faith. It is a natural phenomenon that G.o.ddess Rebecca can understand. You have avoided G.o.ddess Rebecca’s wrath.]
[If you have experience in making myth rated items, you deserve to be deified.]
[The t.i.tle Glimpsed the Myths has been updated.]
[Glimpsed the Myths]
The minimum qualification to raise your cla.s.s rating to ‘Myth.’
[The special stat ‘Deity’ is opened!]
[Deity]
A holy dignity that can’t be tolerated.
Every time this stat gains 10 points, you can gain a new power. The power acquired will depend on your personality.
“...”
What was this? Grid was confused and stopped hammering. Then he saw Isabel and made a warm smile. Isabel and Damian’s heads were leaning against each other as they held hands tightly, looking like natural and sweet old lovers.
‘Damian’s efforts have gained fruit.’
Grid knew how much Damian loved Isabel. In addition, Grid had married Irene and had a child. He was different from those who evaluated friends.h.i.+p or love between NPCs and users as a mere outlet. He really supported Damian and Isabel’s love.
‘If you give birth to a daughter later, send her to my Lord.’
Satisfy’s roots. The roots of the bonds created by Grid were spreading widely. Chairman Lim Cheolho said, ‘I hope Satisfy will develop into another world rather than a simple game.’
[★Hidden Quest★ ‘For Isabel’s Sake’ has been acquired.]