I Almost Forgot

“As expected, Eye of Truth is really broken.”

It had been quite a while since he last stole a skill.

Due to issues like karma points and skill usage rates, he tried to avoid stealing skills during quest progression, but the martial arts shown by Blood Shadow Death God and Elder Muwon were tempting enough to break that principle.

A brutal ki technique that gave him chills just watching it, and a footwork technique that created clones so intricate they couldn’t be distinguished from the real body without using Eye of Truth.

Both were exactly what he needed.

“Mr. Yuseong! Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. How about you? You seemed to push yourself really hard – there aren’t any problems, right?”

“Hehe, except for the railgun being a bit broken from excessive output, there’s no problem at all.”

“……”

Yuseong shifted his gaze from the brightly smiling Alice to the black dragon lying in a miserable death.

Though they had targeted its reverse scale, Alice had ended with a single strike what even two absolute masters and hundreds of martial artists could only stall against through combined attacks.

An android powered by a dragon heart.

He knew it would be strong, but he never expected this level.

And it wasn’t even complete yet.

He couldn’t even imagine how strong it would become once completed.

“Mr. Yuseong?”

“Ah, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

Thinking he should have a serious discussion with Sophia, Yuseong apologized to Alice and climbed up to the altar.

On the altar was a stone coffin, and around it were six boxes placed at regular intervals.

Yuseong first opened the closest box.

The box was packed full of books.

Pulling out a random book, Yuseong made an interesting expression.

“Taeguk Divine Sword?”

“What’s that?”

“The Wudang Sect’s greatest sword technique.”

“Ah! I know about the Wudang Sect! I saw it in web novels!”

“You read those too?”

“Yes. I read web novels and watch movies and dramas too. They’re really interesting, aren’t they?”

“…I see you’re really enjoying modern culture.”

Letting out a hollow laugh, Yuseong checked the other books.

Independent Nine Swords, Four Principles Sword Method, Five Tigers Single Gate Blade, Lesser Demonic Art, Heaven Thunder Emperor Divine Art, Ten Thousand Heavens Flower Rain.

The books in the box were secret manuals of martial arts so famous they could be recognized by name alone.

Clicking his tongue, Yuseong put down the manual and opened the box next to it.

Unlike the first box that contained martial arts manuals, the second box contained books like spell books and formation manuals.

‘Martial arts manuals and spell books. They’re tempting, but a bit ambiguous as rewards.’

Before obtaining Crimson Blood Divine Art and Nine Phases Manifestation, he might have been interested, but now no martial arts particularly appealed to him.

While he was interested in footwork techniques that could properly utilize the plasma axe, and spells that could complement his meager magic consisting of only Thorny Vine, there were still five boxes left to check so there was no need to rush his choice.

After closing the second box, Yuseong checked the remaining boxes.

The third and fourth boxes contained jewels and precious metals.

Night pearls that emitted their own light, cat’s eye stones that resembled feline eyes, golden crowns decorated with various jewels.

Items that could likely fetch high prices both in this world and on Earth.

‘It’s not like I’m particularly short on money.’

He had plenty of money thanks to payment for the ability awakening potion.

And even if he were in urgent need of money, he had no intention of choosing simple monetizable items as rewards after clearing an A-rank quest.

The fifth box contained various weapons.

“Pass on this.”

While weapons made in the martial arts world might be durable, they lacked special options like the extreme cutting power of the plasma axe or the superhuman strength granted by Tyrant’s arms.

Naturally, there was no reason to choose them.

Opening the final sixth box, Yuseong scratched his head.

“Elixirs and spirit pills.”

Not bad, but not particularly good either.

This was because consumables like elixirs and spirit pills that permanently increased abilities had diminishing returns the higher the user’s base abilities were.

His original body on Earth had an internal energy stat of 700 points.

While consuming top-grade elixirs like Ten Thousand Year Ginseng King or Pure Azure Stone Oil would produce meaningful changes, it would be hard to call it efficient.

“Hmm, this is really ambiguous.”

Objectively speaking, the rewards weren’t bad, but nothing gave him that “this is it!” feeling.

While pondering what to choose, Yuseong’s eyes suddenly fell on the stone coffin in the center of the altar.

Unlike the nearly square boxes, it was an elongated rectangular coffin.

While the boxes contained numerous secret manuals, there were no martial arts that seemed to have been left by Heaven-Communicating Divine Demon Hae Cheongyeong.

Though it looked like it would obviously contain a corpse, he hadn’t touched it, but now only this coffin remained.

Creak.

Contrary to expectations, instead of a corpse, the coffin contained several items.

One letter.

Four books that appeared to be secret manuals.

Two small wooden boxes.

Yuseong first checked the letter.

-I, Hae Cheongyeong, 49th Sect Leader of the Divine Sect, leave this to the one who finds it. I know not whether you are the rightful successor of the Divine Sect, or someone from the righteous path or demonic path. However, such things are unimportant. Just as I was able to reach the demonic immortal realm thanks to a chance connection, I shall pass on everything of mine to you with whom fate has connected me.

A chance connection.

Yuseong could tell that connection referred to himself.

“This feels somewhat bitter.”

Though by his standards it hadn’t even been a year, in this world several hundred years had already passed.

Yuseong gave a bitter smile thinking of Hae Cheongyeong who had passionately proclaimed unifying the martial world and the rule of the demon path, then put down the letter and checked the book beside it.

Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

Anyone who had read even one martial arts novel would know this martial art.

“Ah! No!”

Yuseong was about to reflexively open the book but stopped his hand with superhuman willpower.

For a martial art of Heavenly Demon Divine Art’s level, he would surely have to pay a considerable amount of karma points as compensation for reading even a tiny bit.

And he had Infinite Origin Force.

While Heavenly Demon Divine Art was certainly an amazing martial art, he didn’t think it surpassed Infinite Origin Force, which Bruce, universally acknowledged as MartialGod, had created by consolidating countless martial arts.

‘Moreover, I’m not confident I could learn Heavenly Demon Divine Art.’

He had purchased skills from the karma shop and stolen skills using Eye of Truth, but he had never acquired a skill through direct training.

Could someone like him really learn martial arts just by reading manuals?

And not just a low-level technique like Three Talents Sword Method, but Heavenly Demon Divine Art?

Not wanting to make an uncertain gamble, Yuseong quietly put down Heavenly Demon Divine Art.

“Heavenly Demon Three Swords, Heavenly Demon Dominion Step, Sun Moon Ritual?”

Checking the manuals one by one, Yuseong tilted his head at finding a book that uniquely lacked the words “Heavenly Demon”.

<Sun Moon Ritual>

-Rank: S

-Type: Book

-An ancient text recording the ritual that gathers the essence of sun, moon and stars to create divinity when the celestial cycles align.

Though the description was less than a line, the content it contained was by no means light.

“The Sun-Moon Ritual!” ^[1]

“Eek?!”

Though Alice’s startled voice came from behind, Yuseong’s attention was completely focused on the book.

The ritual that had allowed Hae Cheongyeong to reach the demonic immortal realm.

The book recording that ritual was now in his hands.

‘I absolutely must take this!’

A ritual that could turn a mortal into a transcendent.

Though it came with the condition of requiring aligned celestial cycles, its value was beyond measure.

Was this how it felt to win the lottery jackpot with a casually purchased ticket?

He never imagined such a jackpot would happen.

This book alone made this quest worth more than its cost.

“Whew, whew.”

After taking slow deep breaths to calm his wildly beating heart, Yuseong examined the wooden boxes.

One was a plain box with no decorations, while the other was covered densely with unknown patterns and characters.

Yuseong first opened the plain box.

<Mind Stabilizing Pill>

-Rank: A

-Type: Medicine

-A pill created to aid energy absorption and protect mind and body. Achieves maximum effect when taken with other medicines.

-Upon consumption, removes all negative effects of medicines consumed afterward (limited to one use).

-Upon consumption, increases spirit stat by 1,000 for 24 hours.

Yuseong’s eyes narrowed.

A medicine useless alone that could only achieve maximum effect when taken with other medicines.

There must be a reason such a medicine was placed in the stone coffin.

After closing the first box, Yuseong opened the second box.

Inside were an ominously dark bead and a small note.

The note’s contents were simple.

Take the pill in the other box and break the bead.

After putting down the note, Yuseong appraised the bead.

<Bead Containing Thought Energy>

-Rank: A+

-Type: Consumable

-A bead containing the thought energy of a martial artist who reached the realm of transcendence. When broken, the thought energy is absorbed by the nearest being.

Though it was an item with an unhelpfully vague description that made its effects impossible to guess, the A+ rank and being paired with the A-rank Mind Stabilizing Pill bothered him.

After pondering, Yuseong closed the box and put the stone coffin and boxes into his subspace.

He could think about the rewards later.

For now, definitively clearing the quest took priority.

“Ah, I almost forgot about this.”

Approaching the black dragon’s corpse, Yuseong took out the plasma axe from his subspace.

“Dragon’s core should be edible, right?”

* * *

[You have cleared the quest ‘In Search of Treasure’.]

[Analyzing clear process, please wait a moment.]

[Fate Change Rate 211.1%, Otherworld Skill Usage 65.2%, Otherworld Artifact Usage 85.6%.]

[Final Evaluation B Rank.]

[Excellent! Though you didn’t uncover the conspiracy related to Heavenly Demon Cave, User Han Yuseong, you succeeded in finding the hidden chamber concealed for hundreds of years and overcame powerful competitors and numerous trials to find the treasures left by Heavenly Demon. Rewards will be given!]

[Clear Reward: 30,000,000 Karma, Black Dragon Divine Pill ×1, Supreme Grade Blood Poison Wine ×1, Great Restoration Pill ×5]

[Additional Condition Clear Reward: 200,000,000 Karma, Heavenly Demon Cave’s Treasures×3]

[Return to original world will begin shortly.]

B rank.

Excluding when he conducted various tests to gather information about the goggles and quests, this was his lowest clear rank.

The usual high rank clear additional reward window wasn’t visible, but Yuseong wasn’t disappointed.

He hadn’t expected to achieve a high rank clear for this quest in the first place.

Starting with the S-rank blessing, followed by Tyrant’s arms and the android equipped with a dragon heart both ranked A+, along with the Elemental Bow, plasma axe, and nano clothing he had taken out to raise his stats even slightly.

Getting even a B rank was fortunate.

When he opened his eyes after closing them against the bright light that never became familiar no matter how many times he experienced it, he saw a familiar scene.

After checking his smartphone to confirm that less than a day had passed on Earth, Yuseong leaned back in his chair with a sigh of relief.

Though he knew this world had a high time ratio, he couldn’t relax until the quest was over.

‘What I need to do first now is…’

He had gained much and realized much from this quest, so there was also much to do.

Among various options like talking with Sophia, accurately assessing the android’s performance, and raising proficiency with newly acquired skills, Yuseong decided to handle the easiest task first.