Chapter 539 – The Cursed Throne
“Okay. The first one is to be paid in advance as an advance payment. The second will come naturally as you do the mission.”
After saying that, the cat starts spraying Seongil’s body with strange powers.
“Kuk…!!”
A baptism of power that makes the whole body boil. In the midst of suffering, Seong-il feels that he has received this feeling from somewhere.
‘Where did I feel… The same… Ah…!! Yeolyangseondo… Kw!!’
It took a while for me to think about it. As the intense power begins to pierce every cell of his body, Seong-il trembles and eventually falls to his knees in place.
“Haha…”
Time passed in just a few minutes, but because of the tremendous pain, Seong-il feels like an eternity has passed.
“Excellent. It’s really difficult to endure after receiving my baptism.”
“…Is that so?”
“Really. First of all, unlike the gods, I have no connection with mortals. Unlike the gods who are accustomed to baptizing the weak, I can’t do such a thing, so the blessing is pretty… Rough.”
‘Somehow, it hurt so badly.’
Despite the divine and mysterious power, Seong-il was terrified by the cat’s power that ran rampant in every corner of his body. To check his physical condition, he lightly guides his inner energy and uses induction.
“…!!”
Surprisingly, Seong-il realizes that his reaction has gone a step further.
‘Emotion… Has evolved…?!’
The ability to respond that seems to be extremely sharp compared to before. In particular, Seong-il now realizes that he can accurately foresee the short future if he uses empathy.
‘…I still can’t predict a long time, but at least I think I can accurately predict the situation that will happen to me in the next 5 to 10 seconds. Even in a situation where the sensitivity is not activated.’
In the past, it was the same that Gamyeong gave a sharp warning to Seongil when a crisis or attack came, but his current ability feels different from that time.
‘If the past vaguely informs me of threats… Now I feel like I can accurately ‘predict’ the upcoming situation and ‘prepare’ in advance accordingly.’
In addition, even stronger physical abilities. Seong-il also feels that his internal energy has increased a notch.
‘Crazy…!! How long has it been since you broke through the realm of Heaven, Earth, Yin-Yang, and the divine art of intercourse…’
Seong-il begins to tremble when he feels that the color ball has made progress again with the blessing of the cat.
‘Crazy… From a 7-star Daesung, now it’s a whopping 9-star starter…!!’
Seong-il feels his body tremble with excitement as his training rises by 1.5 steps in an instant. Perhaps the cat liked Seong-il’s reaction, and the cat smiled and continued.
“Can you see the back of your hand?”
“Ah…?”
Seong-il naturally looks at his hand at the cat’s words. He feels a strange power on the back of his hand and gazes at it.
“This…?”
A very faint and small pattern that cannot be seen at first glance. Seong-il looks at it with a puzzled expression when he sees a cute cat’s paw-like mark on the back of his hand inside the triangular pyramid.
『My blessing.』
“…A blessing?”
“That’s right. As long as you are in our dimension, the pattern will always be active.”
“Hmm…”
『By the way, as long as the pattern is activated, you will have near-immune resistance to whispers from the abyss as well as various mental attacks.』
“Oh oh…”
What a blessing just to hear. Perhaps because it is a blessing from a cosmic being, on holy days, the blessings are felt many times more reassuring than on other occasions.
『However, there are limitations.』
“Ah… What is it?”
Seongil suggests the use of time in the cat’s words, consumes internal energy, and so on. I think about all kinds of penalties alone. In addition, in that case, how to use this ability in the future.
“It is simple. When you leave our dimension, the glyph’s power fades. You have no power in other ‘games’ or where you feel yourself to be ‘reality’.”
‘…Isn’t that obvious?’
The contents of the penalty that is too obvious. Slightly embarrassed, Seong-il asks him.
“…Are there any other restrictions besides that? Something like the consumption of mana… Such as a time limit for use…”
『No. Here permanently. Blessings continue under any circumstances.”
“Heheh?!”
Seong-il looks surprised at the continuous effect of his powerful ability beyond imagination.
“I’m glad you like it. By the way, the fact that I upgraded your powers will be of great help. However, it will take quite a bit of training to use that ability.”
“Why…?”
『Because there is no guarantee that the body will respond perfectly even if you know the future of the moment to come.』
“Ah…”
『You’ll have to train as if you implanted senses into your body. To do so, it must be accompanied by constant use and training. It would be better if it was a real battle.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
As if Seongil’s answer was satisfactory, the cat raised its front paws and groomed its face.
‘No way… Does grooming mean you feel good? Still, it’s a cosmic being… Isn’t it?’
While thinking about useless things for a while, the cat puts his back on the floor and stretches his body, continuing his words.
『For reference, there are four pieces scattered here.』
“…Didn’t you tell me to retrieve two fragments?”
When the number of pieces to be retrieved increases by two more, Seong-il says in a slightly dumbfounded tone.
『Practically, the two fit.』
“Ah…?”
『One of the two is worn by you, and the other one was in front of you not too long ago.』
“Ah…!!”
As soon as Seong-il hears the cat’s words, he thinks of the incomprehensible ring and the ‘stone statue’ of the temple.
‘The ring… Was even described as a ‘sculpture’ in the first place, so it was natural when you think about it.’
‘And… As soon as I touched the ring, a whisper came out from the stone statue… Then inside it…?!’
“That’s right. There is a piece in it. It can be retrieved so easily that the expression “Recovery” Is meaningless, so I expressed it as two.”
“Ah… I understand. Hey… Then this ring…?”
“You know how to write it. I gave the ring a little bit of my essence while giving it a blessing and neutralized it.”
“…That’s fast.
“Is there anything difficult? In the first place, Abyss and I are twins born from the same power.”
“Ah… Well…”
As if Seongil’s flustered appearance was funny, the cat smiled and continued.
『That’s the reason why I give you a large deposit in the first place. It’s because you brought me two pieces from the start.”
‘Why did they give such a big reward from the start…’
Seongil was thinking about favor. The cat lifts his front paw and scatters a strange light at Seong-il.
“So…?”
Seong-il is surprised by the sudden appearance of light digging into his head. However, I was also surprised for a while. Light subtly imparts knowledge to Seong-il.
“…The third piece is towards the eastern part of the Empire. Wait! Blood… Filinore castle?!”
A place name that makes Seong-il of the late Inmul splendid. Seong-il asks the cat with a slightly tired expression.
“If…”
『Right. As you think, the red dragon residing there has a piece.”
“…”
Seong-il’s expression turns pale when the cat tells him to defeat the notorious red dragon from the first mission.
“Um…Isn’t it too much? Even with my teammates, I’m still not good at fighting dragons. Besides, I have to hide my real skills to hide my identity…”
“Don’t worry. I have made additional arrangements so that you can achieve your goal.”
After saying that, the cat planted strange knowledge once again in the spirit of Seongil.
‘This is… The temple of the lost located in the slums of Solanium? Isn’t it the temple of Dogma, the god of knowledge that is said to be missing?”
Seong-il, a deceased person, recognizes the place the cat handed him to at once, and is very surprised by the appearance of the temple.
A god of knowledge who is said to have gone missing due to an unknown reason in the setting of the game. Because of this, most of the current temples honoring him have disappeared, and only a very small number of believers remain, forming a pitiful temple in the Solanium Slum.
Seong-il plays the cursed throne dozens or hundreds of times, and recalls the memories he accidentally discovered about this temple.
‘…The place where they sold scrolls of 『Protection from the Dead』, An opener item sold in temples on the theme of a pathetic temple, so I always stopped by to stock up on scrolls…?’
‘This is an inconspicuous temple that only sells scrolls and can’t cast a common recovery spell… Did this place have a hidden story?’
A [Protection from the Dead] Scroll that applies a buff that halves the damage of all physical and negative energy attacks used by the undead.
If you use it well, you can beat the monsters or quests that are difficult to overcome in the early stages, so Seong-il had the experience of buying scrolls like crazy, visiting all the temples in Solanium.
‘Protection from the Dead’ sold only 1 or 2 copies at each temple, so I bought all the temples called temples…’
‘Still, I was really happy when I found the ‘Temple of the Lost’ while I was playing the game because the quantity wasn’t enough. Some beggars sold 『Protection from the Dead』 Scrolls…’
Seong-il thought of the Temple of the Lost as a kind of Easter egg.
Even so, the temple built to honor the god of knowledge had few priests, and the structure inside was so insignificant that not only the castle but also most users tended to dismiss it as a place with ordinary NPCs. .
“…What’s in here?”
He wants to find him in the game he enjoyed the most in a new Easter, so Seong-il asks the cat a question full of curiosity.
“Ah. That place is the temple of a guy who did something presumptuous in the past and got scolded by me.”
“…Is it presumptuous?”
“Okay. Originally, I tried to punish him a little more… But this time, by helping you, I’ll have to indemnify his sins.”
“…”
『There must be his book, right?』
“A book…?”
Seong-il puts on a puzzled look at the cat’s sudden words. Then he comes up with a thought running through his head.
“…A magical book of wonder!”
Seong-il came up with a book that he had read through past emotions. He quickly takes out the book and examines its contents.
『Artifact, Magic Book of Wonder (Sealed State)』
– A magic book created by Dogma, the god of knowledge, for his apostles.
– You can instantly use magic of class 5 or less recorded in the magic book five times a day.
“Also…!!”
A familiar name written in the description. Seong-il seemed to realize it, and the cat smiled and continued.
“That’s right. That. Take it and leave for the temple you told me about. Then there will be something to help you with.”
“Okay. But maybe it’s sealed…”
“Shh! Aren’t those my things? Ask the person who made it directly.”
“Ah…Yes…”
He tried to ask if he could unlock the magic book of wonder, but when the cat cut his words like a knife, Seong-il put the book back into the inventory with a slightly regretful expression.
『Now…Then I guess I’ll have to finish it now. Do you have any questions?』
“Ah, there was an intermediate payment. What is it and how do you get it?”
“It is simple. There is a 『Holy Relic』 Containing my power near the sculpture. If you get a piece, you’ll naturally get that holy relic too. Have it.”
‘Holy relic…?’
When the expression ‘holy relic’ comes out of the mouth of a cosmic being, Seong-il feels his heart pounding.
‘How much of an object does it take for the name ‘holy relic’ to come out of the mouth of a being of that level?’
Seong-il realizes that the ‘middle payment’ the cat said is something out of the ordinary.
‘The advance payment wasn’t a joke…But the intermediate payment is worth looking forward to?’
The time when Seong-il was soaked with anticipation and thinking alone. The cat follows him by rubbing his face with his front paws.
“Do you have any more questions?”
“Ah…Yes…For now.”
“Good. Then let’s go back.”
After those words, the world around Seong-il begins to rapidly collapse.
“Kuk!!”
A mild headache. Seong-il closes his eyes for a while in pain. Seong-il feels someone tapping his back.
