Chapter 233: Progress
Translator: imperfectluck Editor: Pranav
[Roland Mist. Strength 32 (+10), Dexterity 22, Constitution 22, Intelligence 29, Will 20, Charisma 19. Racial talents: War Angel, Original Sin Demon Form, Sword of Order, Titan’s Body, Feet of Ethereal Shadow, Divine Child, Chaos Barrier. Basic job classes: Level 60 Order Knight / Level 60 Chaos Lich King / Level 10 Four Elemental Swordcaster. High-level job classes: Level 3 Lord of Frigidwinter. General Level: 91, Actual Combat Strength Level: 100.]
[System Evaluation: An excellent meat shield that can take an ancient dragon head-on; a Gold-ranked newcomer that can face any Legend warrior… if you really want to go find a Time Dragon to fight and prove me wrong, that’s fine as well.]
Compared to before, there wasn’t all that much change in my stats. As a strength-based class, the growth in my Strength stat was satisfying, and the SemiGod Equipment I received from Emordilorcan even improved my Strength by 10 points, which could be said to have changed my entire attack pattern.
The only sad part was that even though this equipment had helped my Strength break past new boundaries, I still didn’t have any foundational changes, nor did I activate any new racial talents. But as a melee class, Strength was always the foundation, and improving it would always help in many areas.
Mega-heavy dragon knight armor, anti-giant extended knight spears, dragonbreath cannons, and handheld ballistae—even without taking into consideration the improvement in my actual combat strength, I could now attempt to use these types of super-heavy equipment that no normal person would be able to use.
My new Dexterity-based ability Feet of Ethereal Shadow was a specialized ability. I could temporarily jump into the Shadow Plane for a very short period of time before coming back out into the mortal plane again… but no matter how much I thought about it, apart from escaping for my life against some ultimate abilities, this skill didn’t seem useful at all. Not to mention that I never had any chances to use it in actual combat before.
Since I had already chosen a doublehanded sword-wielding magical swordsman approach, Dexterity was mostly a supporting stat for my Strength. Or, perhaps due to the burden of wearing heavy equipment, I was unable to notice much difference in my Dexterity stat. However, a low Dexterity would be a critical weakness.
Intelligence was doubtlessly the most important stat for any mage, and theoretically speaking, I had been improving my magic significantly via cultivation. I should have made some progress. But just as how the gap from 19 to 20 represented the gap between an ordinary mortal and a Legend, the gap between 29 and 30 represented the difference between Legend and the next ranks of Saint and Myth. Without some sort of foundational change, it would be difficult to make any more progress.
But, the harder it was to get over the gap, the larger the benefits one would gain. The Divine Sin’s icy flames, Frigidwinter Earth, my now fixed Ice Treader Soul Imprint, my fundamental magic, Hibernation Chill, and the Four Elemental Sword Seal—in this long period of time, I had accumulated far more magical knowledge than improving my warrior status. Basic stats would directly impact the effect of my spells and abilities while obtaining magical knowledge and combat experience would directly influence my basic stats. My hard effort would definitely be rewarded in the end, and I was really looking forward to the benefits I will reap after breaking through this bottleneck.
Will was the main stat of any Priest-related job class. Will was related to the ability to communicate with the Gods, as well as how well one understood the concept of faith and a True God’s teachings. Of course, Will was also related to the power of Divine Arts, as well as the resistance against curses or mind magic. This was originally the most useless stat of all for me, but the Chaos Barrier ability that had awakened before, when I was under pressure from Felix’s Divine Domain, had an incredibly useful defensive ability.
[Chaos Barrier: Protect your mind from being suppressed by Divine Domains or Soul Worlds. Reduce the effects of anything that attempts to reduce your willpower or vision.]
Will was always the most difficult stat to increase, and there were no shortcuts whatsoever. Only those favored by a God would find it slightly quicker, and there were far too many Priests that were stuck at the Gold rank. There was even a saying about this: “Gods needed to use their own divine power to assist Priests in breaking through to Legend rank.” (Author’s Note: Actually, Roland’s understanding of Will is incomplete. Will is the ability to control oneself, and it’s the only stat that will forever accompany the soul. Dying and reincarnating is actually the shortcut to improving Will.)
Thinking about how all those old Priests with white hair and gigantic beards had been stuck at 19 Will and the Gold rank for forever, if word of my job class that which completely ignored Will to actually surpass this barrier spread, those old and forever single Priests would probably be angered to death.
Apart from the Chaos Barrier racial talent, after that God’s Descent I had performed on myself, I also received a racial talent called Divine Child. I didn’t know whether to describe it as useless or useful. It was a passive buff to my body that would lessen the strain on my body when performing God’s Descent. It would also greatly increase the success rate of God’s Descent.
The final stat, Charisma, was a general stat. Not only did it represent one’s physical appearance, aura, and personal charm, but it even included one’s status, identity, and fame from past deeds. It would typically have a silent effect on any type of communication. It was just like how when someone beautiful was doing the exact same job, that beautiful person would receive more of a reward, and even though some newcomers to the job that entered the company at the same time would quickly find friends with their coworkers, others would never find any friends at all… fine then, perhaps my analogy wasn’t an appropriate one, but that was basically what it meant.
Although Charisma may be very useful to some, it didn’t have much meaning to me, so I’ll just skip over it… Hmph! It definitely wasn’t because I was jealous of Harloys’ 33 in Charisma or anything like that.
In just a short period of two years, I was very pleased to have reached such an extent even if I experienced many dangers and almost died several times.
And this time, obtaining the Frigidwinter Earth was the explosive accumulated result of my rewards. After reaching the Gold rank, I had also finished organizing my personal path of development in the future. What remained was only to persist until the end.
Right now, the small trouble before me was perfect for my first test opponent.
“By the way, just how did she create such a demonic forest in the Earth Elemental Plane? Isn’t this an area which greatly lacks the air and water elements?”
Plants never required as much to survive as people thought they did, but for seeds to sprout and mature, air, water, soil, and fertilizer were all still basic requirements. Obviously, apart from the earthen soil, there wasn’t anything else here at all. I really didn’t know how she pulled it off.
“Her Soul World? Or something even more troublesome…”
This was the only explanation I could come up with. Invading her Soul World for no apparent reason was no different from declaring battle against Amelia’s SemiGod-rank power, and Soul Worlds themselves typically always had self-defense mechanisms.
To be honest, I didn’t want to enter Amelia’s forest domain at all.
As a former Truth Overseer and a member of the Mage Country’s highest-ranked council, Amelia was at the pinnacle of mortal mages, the SemiGod rank, and she was a veteran who had reached that rank two hundred years ago. Nobody knew the true extent of her power.
If I died to my own teammate rather than Emordilorcan, that would seem foolish no matter how you look at it. Unfortunately, not only did this possibility exist, it was even rather high.
At the very least, if any of her three current Virtues came out, I might be finished here as I was currently unable to make use of my Frigidwinter Earth.
“Oh my, this is really such a bother. Amelia, remember to be grateful to me.”
I put my silver Sacred Sword behind my back. For these crazed plants that were filled with the powers of nature, Holy Light and Law were obviously not the best counters to them. I clutched my intertwined sword of ice. This power of ice that I was getting more and more used to was the representation of nature’s cruelest power, and it would definitely be effective against plants as well.
The moment I stepped forth, it was as if I passed an invisible boundary. All the plants around here suddenly became active, and the magic forest sent a “get out” message to the uninvited guest.
“Damn it! I shouldn’t have given you the task of plants vs. zombies. Also, Amelia, when did you join the cult of ‘as many cannons as possible?’”
Nobody would enjoy being pointed at by numerous amounts of plant artillery. These definitely weren’t the cute versions from that game in my previous life; those magical peashooters were twice the height of an average human and had mouths that would fit several basketballs at once; they were even the special type that possessed multiple mouths that could all shoot at once.
*Boom!* *Boom!*
Plant bullets covered the skies and left me with nowhere to dodge, but this wasn’t even the most dangerous part.
Before I even got close, numerous large Mandrake Plants had reached out and unearthed themselves. They were rushing towards me and Harloys while shouting out curses that sounded like what a person what shout as he was dying.
“Peppers? Capsaicin [1] 1 will enter a person’s body and spice them to death? Don’t joke around.”
Amelia had unhesitatingly refused the concept of pepper bombs from the original game, and went instead with the Mandrake Plants that already possessed death curses as the best “self-destructing mines” of all.
“Does this count as me shooting myself in the foot again?’
But, before they could get close, they were all transformed into ice cubes by a sudden chilly wind. They then shattered into pieces.
“Frigid North Wind.”
My sword of ice’s sword energy had transformed into a frigid chilly wind, which was able to take care of the trouble rushing towards me at a long range.
I casually swung my sword, which emanated chilly air. It created floating ice stakes in midair in order to prepare for the upcoming battle.
For the Four Elemental Swordcasters, adding Sword Seals to their magical swords was already the basics of the basics. As for my opponent, the most dangerous would no longer be the sharpness of my sword’s blade.
“Frigid Beifeng? I didn’t expect that you cared so much about him…”
Upon hearing this, my foot slipped and I almost tripped over and fell down. But, the next moment, I finally believed that Beifeng must have been jealous of my excellent naming sense, so I decided to change the name of this new attack of mine. [2] 2
“How about… Frigid South Wind? Or Cold Wind? Spring Wind? Wind of Peace?”
“…Just because it was born from the Frigidwinter Earth, you’re calling it Frigid-something Wind? What’s with those random-sounding names you keep coming up with? It’s fine as long as you like it. I’m not going to bother commenting.”
“Then stop looking at me with a sympathetic expression! And don’t say anything out loud either! Ahh, your pity is killing me! At this rate, even I’m going to believe that I’m really pathetic.”
While we were relaxedly “chatting” on the battlefield, some others were unable to bear it anymore.
“Ah!!!!”
Identical Mandrake Plants actually popped up from right beneath us, without us noticing at all.
*Cling!* *Clang!*
That was the sound of ice cubes crashing together. These underground assassins didn’t seem to notice that I had long since solidly frozen everything around me.
“Everywhere I tread shall become the frigid Northlands.”
With just a light step, a whiteness spread out from underneath my foot and speedily transformed this area into my territory by enveloping everything in snow.
Ever since I obtained my Frigidwinter Earth—no—ever since I obtained the Ice Treader Soul Imprint, my combat style had already been decided.
Slowing down my footsteps in order to accumulate snow was just my trap, roaring winds containing blizzards would be my weapon, ice stakes suddenly descending from my sky would be my assassins, and even that ice river, which froze everything, was the extension of my will.
The Borealis that I constructed was my castle and fortress, and the moment that any enemy of mine entered my territory, they would become the very enemy of nature itself.
I strode forward slowly as I ignored the peashooters’ projectiles that filled the skies. These projectiles were all frozen solid in midair as their very heat and time were frozen. Those Piranha Plants became exquisite flowers of ice before they could even get close, adding a sense of decoration to this world.
“Although it has a nicely sized area of effect, in actuality, the larger the AOE, the more mana it will cost to maintain. How much longer can you maintain this? Five or ten more minutes?”
“I estimate roughly fifteen minutes. But if ‘my world’ gets completed, then I can just directly take ice and cold air from there, which will basically be cost nothing.”
“Hmph! What a rich and extravagant mage you are.”
Without me realizing it, Harloys had put on a thick fox-skin jacket. Her furry tiger-skin cap even had two lively-seeming gem eyes. The ridiculous part was that she was actually complaining while hugging a warm cup. Judging from the hot steam’s aroma and the color of the contents, it was top-quality hot cocoa.
I didn’t think that I was cold originally, but after seeing the way she was, I somehow recalled the frostbite all over my body. This caused me to begin shivering with my teeth clattering, and so…
“Confiscated!”
I instantly stole her hot cocoa, sniffed that sweet aroma, then poured it down my throat in a single gulp.
“Hey—hey—that’s mine… forget it, it’ll never end if I get into an argument with you.”
Harloys sighed helplessly as she was unable to steal it back from me even when she stood up on tiptoe. However, she instantly produced another hot cup of cocoa from somewhere.
The coldness helped the hot cocoa to easily slide down my throat. The taste was wonderful, but right away, I felt like something was wrong. A strange flavor was cavorting about inside my stomach, and immediately following after, I heard the sound of my System enjoying my suffering.
[+1 to your Food God achievement progress. System Reminder: I told you long ago to stop stealing candy from lolis, and now you’re suffering as you deserve.]
“Cough! Cough! What flavor is this supposed to be! It’s too sweet, and there’s such a strange aftertaste!? It’s so choking!”
“Harloys’ special-made hot cocoa, with savory catnip and kiwifruit. Would you like another cup?”
Harloys actually had a face filled with “concern” as she handed her new cup to me while watching me dry-heave. Due to smelling that overly stimulating aroma, my stomach felt even more uncomfortable.
My cheeks couldn’t help but twitch as I watched Harloys slowly lick that frightening special-made drink of hers while recalling that frightening taste.
It was probably because she had stayed in cat form for far too long, not to mention that she had finally reobtained the sensation of taste after far too long without. Her sense of taste had obviously become distorted. Plus, with her mysterious ability to produce strange items out of seemingly nowhere, Harloys was becoming more and more similar to a certain blue earless cat ever since regaining life. [3] 3
[Magical pet: Harloys (Greed), species: ? (How am I supposed to classify her when she’s part gold elf, slime, Divine Sin, Frigid Nightmare, and banshee? I suppose she’s living). Strength: 6 (There are three benefits to lolis: small, soft, and easy to push down), Dexterity: 7 (With Dexterity low to such an extent, she can perform tripping over nothing for you; clumsy girls are quite cute you know), Constitution: — (As your soulbound equipment, she cannot die unless you die… so relax and use the loli as your meat shield, but you’re going to have to worry about the loli’s baby teeth afterwards).]
[Intelligence: 40 (Yes, she’s actually much smarter than you; you’re nothing more than an idiot to her, so don’t even think of playing cards or betting against her. Yep, I’m definitely not teasing you about the ridiculous fact that you played cards yesterday with your magical pet and lost even your underpants); Will: 29 (She loathes the Gods, and refuses to accept any blessing from any God); Charisma: 33 (This is beauty that’s sufficient to allure any mortal); Job class: Level 60 Mage / Level 20 Generalist Archmage / Level 10 Magic Great Saint / Level 10 Divine Sin (abnormal); Overall Rating: 120+ (Epic rank), Racial Talent: Transformation (Epic rank) [4] 4 , Splitting Off Bodies of Greed (Legend rank), shadow teleportation, Ice Calamity, living magic bloodline.]
[Racial talent, Transformation (Epic rank): Transforming into a harmless cat is the weakest of her abilities, and a cute loli is just her preferred disguise for acting cute and harmless. She has several dozen powerful transformations that can instantly kill any Gold rank, and as your soulbound equipment, she can also choose to transform into a weapon. Currently, there’s a mage staff (Death Breath), and a sword (Ice Calamity).]
[Racial talent, Splitting Off Bodies of Greed (Legend rank): She can split off small bodies of Greed, which will have part of Harloys’ abilities and characteristics. As long as the separated body remains within a certain distance, it will be completely under Harloys’ control and can act as her eyes and ears. When people are unlucky, they always think that black cats, which bring misfortune, are everywhere. As for Harloys, being everywhere is so easy. She’s always capable of transforming into a crow / black cat / sharp-tongued loli in order to laugh at your misfortune. System Evaluation: Although this ability hasn’t evolved at all, due to Harloys’ overall increase in power, each of her Greed bodies’ power has also significantly increased. If you don’t want to be killed off by this loli, then don’t anger her.]
[Racial talents, shadow teleportation and Ice Calamity: These are racial talents from the Divine Sin, so please try not to use them in the mortal plane. Otherwise… System Reminder: Both your Chill abilities can’t be used without Harloys, so you should probably carry around some extra catnip with you.]
[Special Bloodline Ability: living magic bloodline. As a member of the species that created magic, gold elves have talent in magic far surpassing all other species. She is able to analyze any magic in the world after seeing it only twice, learn it, and easily make it stronger than the original version.]
[System Evaluation: This is your magical pet, but unless you count your cheat-like little world, she’s much stronger than you are. She was never able to reach the peak in the past due to her undead constitution, but now her tens of thousands of years of magical knowledge can finally come in useful. She’s basically a living, walking version of a magical treasure trove. And now… she has reached her peak.]
My System listed her main statistics and racial talents, and the strongest part about Harloys was still her ridiculously high amount of magical knowledge. And now that she was among the living again, all the magic spells that she wasn’t able to cast before due to being undead had been unlocked. After seeing this evaluation, the pathetic event of me being weaker than my magical pet reoccurred once again.
And from what I could tell, as I continued improving my power rank, her growth potential would become higher and higher as well. It seemed likely that the difference between us would grow even further.
Seeing a massive, faint black shadow approach us, I had an excellent idea.
“I choose you! Harloys! Come out, cat!” [5] 5
“Meow!” The silly loli pounced and bit me instead.
“Ah!”
Don’t misunderstand; Harloys wasn’t playing dead. I was the one who needed to worry about the extra “hat” on my head.
Note:
1. According to Wikipedia, capsaicin is an active component of chili peppers, which are plants belonging to the genus Capsicum. It is an irritant for mammals, including humans, and produces a sensation of burning in any tissue with which it comes into contact.
2. Untranslatable joke here. “North Wind” is pronounced “Beifeng” in Chinese, the same as Beifeng’s name. It’s a homonym.
3. Doraemon reference.
4. This part is inconsistent. I am 100% sure the raws say that it’s God rank here. In the next paragraph, however, it is written that Harloys’ racial talent, Transformation, is Epic-ranked. Perhaps the author made a consistency error? I wouldn’t be surprised if it happened once, given the complexity of this series :p We are going with Epic rank for the time-being, as I doubt Harloys is at God rank power.
5. Yes, this is a Pokémon reference!