Chapter 117
I haven't said anything, but this damn staff has been a nuisance more times than I can count.
Even if I can pull it straight out of my Inventory and equip it, I can't exactly carry it around all the time in my daily life.
That might've been fine back when I was still a nobody.
But in a world crawling with all kinds of threats and lunatics, if I'm thrown into the fray without Sacrificial Offering, this frail wizard's body would just get torn apart.
Ah, of course, there's Athena, too...
But the terrorist attack in Saudi Arabia already proved it.
Athena's perception isn't faster than mine anymore.
Back when I was low-level, Athena's defense could detect threats and respond faster than I could, but now my reflexes are better than hers.
In the end, she isn't much help.
As for defense, Blood Gold is certainly an excellent material, but it was only meant as a supplementary defensive measure in the first place.
If defense were its primary purpose, I'd have made it into armor... Athena is basically a golem.
All-purpose. Versatile.
Those terms sound great, but in the end, once you reach the pinnacle, you might wind up mediocre at everything.
Fortunately, ever since I got ‘Pope Alois’s Circlet,’ the risk of being killed instantly has gone way down.
The problem was that it only activated when I was hit by something strong enough to kill me instantly.
Even if you're in enough pain to die, you can still die...
Still, I had various ways to compensate, like Gremory's healing authority.
I had an absurdly overpowered skill like Sacrificial Offering, so there was no reason to let an attack hit me hard enough to nearly kill me.
It was great in every way, except that I had to hold that damn staff to use it.
But now I could wear it in one of my many empty ring slots.
At this rate, I should buy Frost not just one meal, but several.
Thanks to him, I had plenty of slots free.
I immediately changed it into a ring and put it on.
Well, it didn't change my combat power.
The biggest thing was that it got rid of the inconvenience.
“...It didn't change your combat power?”
No.
How could it not?
“Now my hands are free.”
That meant...
On a hunch, I rummaged through my Inventory and pulled out a weapon.
[Fugus the Destroyer King's Favorite Random Game]
A hammer with a bizarre name.
I hadn't taken it out to use it...
I put it on to see if I could equip it at the same time as the scepter, now that it had become a ring.
And...
“It works.”
I could equip a weapon while wearing the ring.
This is insane.
I... hadn't mentioned it because it was so overpowered, but...
In terms of the performance of the ‘weapon’ slot itself, the Constellation Avicenna's Scepter was a little lacking.
A weapon's utility and defense mattered, too, but most importantly, it needed to boost your main offensive skills.
“In that case... I need to get a weapon first.”
Blood Gold, and now a weapon.
...Suddenly, I had a lot of things to spend money on.
Fortunately...
People from all over the world were bringing in bundles of cash in U.S. dollars.
**
After asking Gyuseon to make me some Blood Gold, I entered the Demon Realm.
‘Gate Owner’ had several advantages...
This was one of them.
[Would you like to open a Gate you own remotely?]
[The farther you are from the Gate's original location, the more mana it consumes.]
Unless I were on the opposite side of the planet, opening one from Seoul barely used any mana.
I opened the Gate remotely without a second thought and entered the Demon Realm.
I also appeared somewhere different from the other commoners(?).
Hey now, I'm a Gate Owner. A Gate Owner.
“Oh, you're here?”
Gremory's royal castle... No, now that she's risen to Demon God, should I call it a divine palace?
Anyway, I appeared right in the middle of it.
Gremory greeted me as soon as I appeared.
“How are things in the Demon Realm?”
“They're going well, thanks for asking.”
“How are the new humans who've arrived? Are they behaving? Just say the word if they cause trouble.”
I'll eject them immediately.
Want a refund because they got ejected? No such thing.
This is North Korea, North Korea.
It's not like there's a Consumer Protection Act here.
At times like this, I guess a dictatorship where you don't have to worry about public opinion isn't so bad...
...What am I even saying?
“Well, a lot of things have been happening... but it's fine. The smaller missions are getting completed quickly, so that's a good thing.”
“That's a relief.”
Honestly, ten thousand dollars for 24 hours.
And Hunters Level 60 and above would need quite a while to earn back the ten-million-dollar entry fee.
Of course, the Demon Realm's value was boundless...
But only after it had been explored to some extent would that boundless value...
Let people start reaping the benefits.
But the missions and quests were what would speed up that process.
They could gather information about the Demon Realm while completing quests, and use the rewards to cover the entry fee.
It benefited the Demon Realm, too.
Compared to the Demon Realm's vast territory, there were very few demons.
...Well, I can't really say anything, since there were even fewer because of me.
The Demon Realm had desperately needed outside workers to fill the gaps through outsourcing(?), and this was a perfect fit.
“Oh my.”
But Gremory, who'd been greeting me, had fixed her gaze on my hand and couldn't seem to look away.
“Is that ring...”
Ah, this girl recognized a luxury item.
Is this why people wear luxury goods?
“Its rank is incredible.”
“Haha, this thing...”
When I reversed its transformation and turned it back into a staff, Gremory's eyes widened all over again.
“So it was that staff. I had no idea it was hiding such a high rank.”
It wasn't hiding it... Its rank must have gone up recently.
“Then you have an open staff slot now?”
“You could say that.”
“Would you like one?”
“...Really?”
“Of course. Everything in the Demon Realm belongs to its savior, too.”
Well, if you put it that way...
I'll let her talk me into it.
Ahem.
“Well, I don't need everything... One staff should be enough.”
“Come with me, then.”
Following her inside...
What in the world is all this?
Items and various materials piled up almost like a mountain.
My jaw dropped.
“It's rather modest, isn't it?”
...What did you say?
Gremory, I never knew you were like this.
You seem like a stranger.
“Baal, who was originally the First Demon King, must have had this much treasure all by himself. I had to ascend to the rank of Demon God in a hurry, so I couldn't gather much of it. A lot was lost, too.”
“...What a waste.”
“It would've gone to the beings of the Demon Realm anyway. The entire Demon Realm belongs to you and me, so it doesn't matter.”
What a cool Demon God.
“The finest staff among the treasures here is...”
As Gremory reached out...
Among the piled-up items, the one that had been at the very top flew over into her hand.
“This one. Take it.”
It was a much more ornate and longer staff than Avicenna's Scepter.
It seemed like it'd be even more of a pain to take it out of and put it back into my Inventory, but I wouldn't need to carry it around all the time like Avicenna's Scepter, so whatever.
First, I should take it and check its stats.
[Baal's Authority]
[Quality]: Transcendent-grade weapon
[Description]: The staff that Baal, once the strongest being in the Demon Realm, carried and cherished from his days as a human. Having absorbed his power and will over countless years, it exerts power far beyond that of a mere relic.
[Details]:
─The efficiency of all skills you possess increases by 50%. (Excludes item skills)
─You can access Great Wisdom.
─You can use the skill ‘Invisibility.’
─The offerings required for all skills related to ‘sacrifice’ are reduced by half.
All skills' efficiency increased by 50%.
What percentage was that relic-grade staff I'd seen recently?
20%, maybe?
And even that, to be precise, wasn't actually ‘for sale.’
It had been on the market a long time ago...
I heard it had been sold to some mage for over 3 trillion won.
I had only checked the past transaction record and its stats.
Getting a percentage increase instead of a fixed value was that rare.
But 50%?
“This is insane.”
Next...
What was Great Wisdom?
[Great Wisdom (Always-Active Item Skill)]
Description: All the knowledge and experience Baal has accumulated to this day. When necessary, it displays advice suited to the situation in a message.
...Is this like Baal Wiki(?)?
I'll skip this for now, since it's a little ambiguous.
[Invisibility]
Description: One of Baal's powers, which makes the user or a target invisible. Depending on how much mana the user invests, it can simply make the body invisible or further conceal their presence.
Uh, well...
Nobody's thinking anything weird, right?
Lastly...
If the offerings for all sacrifice-related skills were halved...
That meant Sacrificial Offering was twice as efficient.
“Do you like it?”
Gremory asked with a beaming smile as I stared blankly at the description.
“This is...”
“It's a staff left behind by the late Baal.”
“Is it really all right for you to give me something like this?”
“As I said, half the Demon Realm already belongs to you, Savior.”
“...I guess I'm shameless enough not to refuse.”
I couldn't pass this up.
I slipped it straight into my Inventory.
I'd put it to proper use later.
“I'll put it to good use.”
“You don't have to thank me.”
I'd come to the Demon Realm and gotten an unexpected prize.
Then I should give her a gift, too.
“Here.”
“What is this?”
“Nectar... No, the power of the Demon God.”
“Oh, my...”
Don't blush so ecstatically.
No, don't come closer... Don't come closer...
Before I had a chance to stop her, Gremory buried my face in something enormous.
I can't breathe...
“I-I really am grateful.”
Though she'd ascended to the rank of Demon God, Gremory was still far from deserving to be called a ‘Demon God.’
She was only a little stronger than the old Baal.
So there had been some opposition in various corners.
If she were the number-one Demon King, that would be one thing.
But Demon God meant she was above the Demon Kings.
So...
If I wanted things to go smoothly here, I had to give her plenty of support.
Gremory was one of the most generous... and fair Demon Kings, after all.
“I won't get too drunk this time.”
It was original Nectar extracted through Gyuseon.
But was I imagining that disappointed look?
What a drunken Demon King... Demon God, I mean.
“Thank you. And...”
And what else?
“Would you like to visit the old Demon God's temple?”
“The old Demon God?”
“Your mentor...? Should I call him that?”
Ah, that Constellation fellow.
That guy was a Demon God...
“I understand that he gained faith here and used it to ascend to a higher dimension.”
“...Does that mean if you remain a Demon God for long enough, you could do the same?”
“N-no, that's impossible for me.”
“Why?”
“Faith is at its greatest when directed toward something beyond one's reach. Paradoxically, the reason he was able to gain faith may have been that he wasn't in the Demon Realm.”
Uh, well... I could understand that.
If some guy who was obviously alive right in front of me started acting like a god, I'd feel more rebellious than faithful.
“Besides, he left behind a ‘miracle’ that everyone could acknowledge.”
“A miracle? Ah...”
That must be Eternity.
“Yes. Only by doing something like that can one gather the faith needed to grow into a divine being. I... am only a Demon God in name.”
“Come on, it's not that bad.”
“Hehe, it's not as though I'm disappointed. How could I stand on equal footing with him? I'm content with the title alone. Besides, now that the Demon Realm has lost Eternity, I may be the one who can endure the longest here.”
So Demon God had gone from meaning an actual god to being a kind of title.
Well, that wasn't so bad either.
“Now, shall we go to the temple?”
“Let's go.”
The Constellation's temple.
I wondered what might be left there.
Following Gremory, who opened a warp gate using her authority as Demon God, we arrived at the temple in an instant.
“This is...”
“Yes, the Demon God's temple. I hear that ‘Eternity’ used to emerge here.”
When I entered this space, I felt ‘Sloth’ stirring in my mind.
Maybe it felt familiar.
It was right then.
─O... ra...
At the faintly heard voice, I whipped around and asked,
“...What did you say?”
“No, I didn't say anything?”
...Then what was that?
Was I imagining things?
─Sac... ri...
At the voice I heard again, I was startled and instinctively pulled Baal's staff from my Inventory and gripped it.
─You... are... not... wor... thy...
When the voice continued,
[Great Wisdom activates.]
And then, a tiny old man popped into view in front of me.
He looked exactly like the Baal I'd seen before, except he was a miniature Baal, barely 10 cm tall.
“Greetings.”
“...Baal?”
“Something like his residual thought. Perhaps you could call it the remnants of his consciousness after his death?”
“His size really is remnant-sized.”
“Heh heh. The new owner is a rude one. Anyway, that is a kind of entrance test for the ‘higher dimension.’”
“...A higher dimension?!”
“Yes, the one even my true self wanted to enter for ages, but failed.”
...If even Baal, that ridiculously powerful brute, couldn't enter...
Then...
“Your true self has to exceed a certain threshold of rank, but that was practically impossible. There is something called the ‘species limit’ of being born human. Even repeated transcendence wasn't enough. My true self turned to the power of his dependents to overcome it, but that wasn't enough. In the end, only the ‘rank of your true self’ qualifies you to enter.”
What exactly was the rank of the true self?
“...Level?”
“You could call it that.”
So it's like a new Gate you can enter after reaching a certain level.
Though I had no idea how high I had to get.
Maybe I should just focus on leveling up first.
The reins had come off, after all.
For real this time.