Cipher was fighting low-level monsters as the Heavenly Demon fought her battle.
Earlier, he had thought of farming low-level monsters for Cheat Points, but he had noticed that his calculation was flawed. Even if he could kill more F-rank monsters than E-rank without leveling up, the amount of Cheat Points he gained would be the sa per level up.
As an E-rank, he needed two F-ranks to level up, and each gave ten Cheat Points. And for E-rank, they gave twenty. This ant that he’d always have just twenty points per level up.
Of course, he could increase the rank of the monsters he fought, but that would lead to more EXP too and might cause him to skip so levels.
Well, this should be solved slightly when his True Rank goes to D-rank. He just needed one more level up for this.
After his True Rank beca D-rank, he would need two E-ranks per level up or a D-rank, aning he would have forty Cheat Points per level. This was much better than the previous twenty where he had to level up five tis to afford a card. But with forty, he just needed three levels, and if he upgraded his True Rank once again to C, then he’d just need two levels.
It seed his cheat was more late-ga focused.
He activated his Aura and swung at the monster, decapitating its head.
[You have slain E-rank Demon (Level 16)]
[ 10,000 EXP]
[ 20 Cheat Points]
[You have leveled up!]
Suddenly, the monsters around him exploded into nothingness. The Heavenly Demon appeared before him.
She held his hand that held the aura-covered dagger. "What an interesting aura," she said. "You’re not even a third-rate warrior, yet you can use aura so proficiently."
"Do you know about the system?" Cipher asked.
"That voice that appears in your head? It told us about the heroes coming to save our world," she said.
"Yeah, that one. It allows us to use abilities like these through skills," he said before proceeding to explain the concept of skills to her.
"Hmph, in the end, it’s just borrowed power," she said with disinterest.
Cipher just smiled. He had figured this would be her reaction, considering how prideful of her strength she was. Well, with her stats, she did indeed deserve to be prideful.
"Your power... why don’t you teach ?" he spoke.
"What?" she asked in surprise.
"Your power, it’s so strong. Can you teach it to ?" he asked.
...
"Does this an you want to join the Heavenly Demonic Cult?" she asked.
Cipher shook his head. "No, I can’t do that."
"Then I can’t teach you," she said simply, turning to leave.
"Wait." Cipher stepped forward. "You look down on borrowed power, don’t you? Why don’t you train to prove that one’s own power is king?"
She stopped, glancing back at him. "Are you trying to manipulate with that kind of logic?"
Cipher bowed deeply. "I just want you to open my eyes to sothing different. I am soone blinded by this borrowed power - can’t you show the true path of exploring one’s own power? As soone who has reached the peak with that?"
The Heavenly Demon studied him for a long mont, then smiled. "You’re very eloquent."
She crossed her arms. "Fine. I’ll humor you a bit." Her smile turned sharp. "I hope you don’t regret it."
Cipher straightened and bowed again. "Thank you for your guidance."
...
Two days later, Cipher pushed through another set of movents, his body trembling with exhaustion. Sweat poured down his face, his muscles screaming in protest.
His vision blurred at the edges, and he swayed slightly, catching himself at the last mont.
He gritted his teeth and continued, forcing his body through one more repetition. Then another. His legs threatened to give out beneath him.
"Stop," the Heavenly Demon said.
He stopped imdiately, looking up at her, breathing heavily. "Is sothing wrong? I can still go on," he said.
The Heavenly Demon was impressed by his persistence. She had thought that soone like him who looked as if he’d never experienced hardship in his life wouldn’t be able to endure this type of training.
But he had surprised her.
Even when he was about to pass out, he didn’t stop and continued pushing. Such determination was definitely worthy of a disciple of the Heavenly Demonic Cult. Even worthy of the Seven Heavenly Swords position.
She sighed. It was a pity it was all pointless.
"No, you don’t have to train anymore," she said.
"What do you an?" he asked.
"You can’t improve," she said flatly.
"What?" he asked, his expression shocked.
"I’ve been watching your body over these two days," she explained. "You aren’t improving. Even your muscle progression seems to reset. Every ti you rest, your body returns to the exact sa state as when we started."
"How is this possible?" he asked.
"This is either a consequence of a unique constitution," she said, "or perhaps the price for power."
"Price for power?" he asked.
She just looked at him.
His eyes widened. "I get it now," he thought.
This was the price for borrowed power. He couldn’t improve his stats through personal developnt. It all must co from the system.
She gazed at him. "Have you realized the problem?"
He nodded.
"Then let’s go. There’s no need to waste ti on this," she said, turning around.
"Wait," he called out to her.
"What is it? Although I admire your endurance and determination, there is nothing we can do about this," she said.
"No, there is. Teach the technique," he said.
He thought that although improvent like this was impossible, skills could still be acquired this way. If you kept hurting yourself and recovering, there was a possibility of gaining a recovery-type skill. This ant that skills weren’t limited by this restriction.
"With your body, you can’t learn the technique," she explained. "Your body is too weak. That’s why I told you to strengthen your body first."
"You can still teach though," he said. "I’ll learn the technique... as for my physical strength, can’t I increase it through the way I know?" he asked.
She nodded in acknowledgnt. "That’s possible too," she thought.
Although he couldn’t increase his strength by practicing, he could still increase it through the borrowed power.
"Alright then, I’ll teach you," she said.
"It seems I won’t be increasing the Cheat Points limit per level up this ti," he thought.
He was planning to add all his points into Intelligence to reach D-rank requirent, but now...
He allocated two to Strength, two to Stamina, and two to Agility.
Reviews
All reviews (0)