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Chapter 141: Star, The Stigma (6)

[Acquired a new hint to complete the Hidden Quest (Ou Yezi’s Secret)!]

[The ‘Yuchang Sword’ momentarily detected the energy of its brother, the ‘Zhan Lu Sword,’ nearby.]

[Locate and acquire the ‘Zhan Lu Sword’ to unlock a new secret of the ‘Yuchang Sword.’]

Chang-Sun narrowed his eyes. He didn’t expect to find a clue here to the Hidden Quest that he had been wondering if he’d ever be able to complete.

‘Besides, the [Zhan Lu Sword] is…’?

Among Ou Yezi’s Nine Fine Swords, [Zhan Lu Sword] and [Shu Lou Sword] were considered the best. Moreover, only a true king could have the legendary [Zhan Lu Sword]. Yet for some reason, it was in this place.

“We have an armory here in ‘Owl Nest.’ Everyone who has settled here stores their belongings there for sharing. The people of the nest can borrow those items when they need to,” Minerva described the culture of ‘Owl Nest’ to Chang-Sun, who wasn’t aware of it. “The rewards that the nest people received from the Dungeons they cleared, the war trophies, the byproducts from Dungeons… Everything belongs to everyone in the nest. However, Batu was the one who contributed the most in finding [Zhan Lu Sword].”

As Minerva talked highly of Batu, he pompously raised his chin. At the same time, Chang-Sun nodded, finally understanding what was going on. It wasn’t really odd for Minerva to have a Fine Sword like the [Zhan Lu Sword]. Considering her fame and divine rank, it would have been more strange for her to not have one.

“Batu had to go through a lot of trouble to acquire the [Zhan Lu Sword], yet you found the long-lost [Yuchang Sword] with your sharp eyes alone. That had to have made him feel a sense of rivalry toward you.” Minerva smiled.

“Boss! What do you mean rivalry?! Why would I consider this greenhorn—!” Batu shouted, wanting to say more, only to be cut off.

Minerva quietly said, “I think you should stop there because no matter what you say, it would only mean your observation skill is worse than a greenhorn.”

“Arrrggh!” Batu shook hard, unable to say anything.

Chang-Sun felt mixed emotions. He was going to snap back when Batu called him a greenhorn, but Minerva did just that on his behalf.

Holding back his discontentment, Batu asked, “Anyhow… How did you recognize the [Yuchang Sword]? Do you have any secret methods? Skill? Trait? Bonus reward? Talent?”

Batu likely thought Chang-Sun used one of his abilities to recognize the [Yuchang Sword], so Chang-Sun momentarily wondered how he should answer. Since he couldn’t say it was because he had acquired the [King of Weapons] trait before, he could only give one answer. “I just saw it.”

“… What?” Batu asked again in disbelief.

“I could just see it was the [Yuchang Sword],” Chang-Sun nonchalantly replied.

“…!” Batu’s jaw dropped.

‘He’s so full of himself.’

‘He’s really cocky…’

‘He’s one gifted son of a bitch!’

‘But Batu won’t be able to say anything if he replies like that.’

‘Hehehe! Batu must be really furious right now.’

Although Minerva’s subordinates looked at Chang-Sun with displeased faces as they listened to the conversation between Batu and Chang-Sun, they were actually holding back their laughter because they were having so much fun watching Batu’s face contort. Only Minerva smiled enigmatically.

“Are you kidding me—!” Batu tried to continue as if to interrogate Chang-Sun, but Minerva interrupted him again.

“Let’s stop here. It looks like we won’t get any further even if we continue questioning him. ”

Batu was once again rendered speechless.

“There’s something I would like to ask you myself,” Minerva said, and Chang-Sun nodded, urging her to go on. Minerva pointed back and forth between Batu and the woman wearing a cone hat as she asked, “Do you remember the dispute between the two? ”

“Do you mean how to increase the efficiency of Crushing-Blow-type skills?”

“Yes.” Minerva nodded. “So you were listening to that as well.”

Chang-Sun listened to the conversation for a bit because it intrigued him. He used to be a fighting deity, so he didn’t really remember the details of the dispute between Batu and the woman wearing a cone hat. The only thing Chang-Sun remembered was the general topic of the conversation, which was, ‘How should a close-range fighter deal with far-off enemies?’

‘Crushing Blow’ techniques, which unleash and fire compressed mana, were created to deal with enemies in the distance. [Tiger Chaos] and [Black Mountain King’s Claws], skills Chang-Sun often used, could be considered Crushing Blow techniques.

Batu claimed it was better to scatter one’s mana around them to create a barrier and focus on defense until the enemy had shown a gap or weakness one could exploit. Once they did, one could instantly draw up mana and executea ‘Crushing Blow.’

On the other hand, the woman wearing a cone hat refuted the idea because it would overuse their mana, causing them to quickly become exhausted. She claimed it would be better to form a ‘Crushing Blow’ as narrow as possible to increase its cutting force. Although doing so might decrease its accuracy, twisting the mana into a spiral when delivering the blow could improve it.

“Can I ask your opinion on it?” Minerva inquired.

Batu frowned, and the face of Serena, the woman wearing a cone hat, crumpled up. It was as if her pride had been hurt.

“Boss, what are you talking about?” she asked. “Why would you ask for an opinion from a mortal—!”

The moment Minerva raised her hand to signal Serena to stop, Serena fell silent. Minerva’s eyes were still fixed on Chang-Sun.

‘She’s testing me,’?Chang-Sun assumed.

He noticed Minerva wanted to stir her subordinate’s desire to win and test his ability at the same time, and he decided to play along as payment for the delicious meal. Chang-Sun wanted to keep her arrogant subordinates’ egos in check anyway.

Hence, although the question angered Batu and Serena, Chang-Sun couldn’t care less. Rather, he calmly answered, “You’re both wrong. The basic form of Crushing Blow is based on Aura in the end, which means you don’t have to care about how you release Aura or make it spiral. You just have to modify your Aura’s shape so it would naturally hit your enemy in the distance.”

“That’s easier said than done. Can you show me how you’d do it?” Minerva inquired.

Chang-Sun nodded and opened his hand upward, his red mana rising above it. Floating in the air were small particles made of the Aura that had materialized after compressing his mana to the maximum. Minerva and her subordinates dumbfoundedly laughed at the sight.

“What’s that…?”

“He materialized his Aura in a sphere shape?”

“Didn’t he become a Player just several months ago?”

“After learning how to use Aura, I wasted over three years just so I could do that, yet everyone still called me a genius. Damn it.”

“He’s more than a genius and really extraordinary. No wonder Minerva pays attention to him.”

While the subordinates talked among themselves, the Aura particles faintly trembled, seemingly resonating. Using the gravitational force, the particles pulled each other and soon distanced themselves. They spun afterward, creating a chain reaction of other particles reacting with one particle, and another particle doing the same to those particles…

In a flash, the dozens of particles floating on top of Chang-Sun’s palm started chaotically turning in circles as if stars, planets, satellites, and asteroids became complicatedly tangled up and turned in different trajectories according to the law of gravity. Their spin soon sped up as they began to look like big spheres. Numerous Aura particles were inside them.

“Huh!”

The sight made everyone’s eyes widen. When Chang-Sun clenched his fist, the spheres shone brilliantly in his palm and disappeared. Shortly after, Chang-Sun raised his index and middle finger up and drew a long diagonal line in the air, which then emitted white light. The subordinates sitting under the line flinched in shock and moved away as Chang-Sun delivered a very powerful blow to the ceiling, which he had pointed to with two fingers, without damaging the place where the subordinates had been sitting.

Rumble―!

Chang-Sun\'s very neat attack left a long line on the ceiling, spanning from the door’s top edge to the base of the chandelier.

“Huh…!”

“How can his Crushing Blow look like that?”

“Wh-what happened? Nothing touched us, right?”

“Did he separate the space and only hit the intended target? Teleportation? Wormhole? Quantum teleportation…? How did he do it? I have never seen anyone using mana like this…”

“It doesn’t look like he used a skill.”

With shocked faces and sparkling eyes, the subordinates guessed the mechanism behind Chang-Sun’s attacks. Freely exchanging opinions about topics they became interested in was a unique tradition of ‘Owl Nest.’ They encouraged open discussion to figure out more accurate truths, but Chang-Sun never answered even if the subordinates directly asked him about the mechanism. No matter how hard they put their brilliant heads together, he was sure they wouldn’t be able to uncover the secret.

‘Of course, they won’t be able to find out. I only theorized this technique and have never used it in public,’?Chang-Sun thought.

What he just displayed was technically an incomplete technique. It was versatile and destructive since it was based on Crushing-Blow-type skills, but he couldn’t use it in actual combat due to one flaw. Compressing more than a certain amount of mana to create Aura would make him lose control of his attack, posing a high chance of Aura particles exploding and hurting Chang-Sun before he could actually use them. Using divine power instead of mana to create Aura made it even more dangerous. Hence, Chang-Sun was disappointed. After all, he thought he could have made a couple of Zodiacs plummet if he had completed the technique.

‘I need ‘that class’ to finish creating the technique.’ Chang-Sun silently looked at the fussing subordinates, wondering if he could get good ideas from them.

Although Batu and Serena didn’t say it out loud, Chang-Sun could see they were already half-sold into his idea. Moreover, they no longer looked down on him. Rather, they treated him as their equal, recognizing his ability.

[You have become closer with the ‘Owl Nest’ members.]

[The Celestial ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ likes you more now.]

[The Celestial ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ wants you more now.]

Just as Chang-Sun had wanted, he also successfully attracted Minerva’s attention. Maybe because Minerva felt good, she quietly laughed and clapped as she said, “If he did this much, I think him recognizing [Yuchang Sword] makes sense. Batu, do you still want to ask more questions?”

“…No, I don’t. ” Batu shook his head.

“Okay, then. Let’s continue eating.” Minerva instructed, and many servants began to serve more dishes. However, Chang-Sun wasn’t able to enjoy the dishes due to the ‘Owl Nest’ members that bombarded him with their questions, but Batu continued to silently fix his eyes on Chang-Sun in the meantime.

* * *

Minerva told Chang-Sun that she didn’t want to let him go yet since all she had done so far was treat him to dinner. Hence, she guided him to the armory. “This is the spider web that I acquired after I made a bet with a child named Arachne, and that is the shield named Aegis. I used it when I hunted a Medusa.”

‘She looks delighted for some reason,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Minerva, who always seemed dignified, suddenly began to look excited upon entering the armory. She kept smiling as she told him about the weapons. It could just be because she was proud of herself, but she looked as pure as a child.

‘Anyhow.’ Chang-Sun clicked his tongue as he quickly took a look around the armory. ‘This is really amazing. There are so many relics here.’

‘Aegis’ protected the owner from all kinds of threats, and the divine spear ‘Pallas’ could pierce anything. ‘Palladion,’ a sculpture holding Minerva’s divine power, and the ‘Trident,’ which she got as a trophy after defeating her uncle Neptune, were also here…

The items inside the armory were treasures that would make outsiders go nuts if they ever saw these. The Illuminati, the order that worshiped her, would be especially tempted to take at least one of these treasures.

―Don’t you want to have me?

―It’s been so long since a fine human has entered this place.

―Hold me! Come on!

―No, grab me, and I will guide you to a new path…!

Perhaps it was because of the ‘understanding’ he had acquired by obtaining [Sword Mastery] and [Lance Mastery], but Chang-Sun could understand what the relics were saying. However, he ignored all of them.

―I’m here.

A dignified voice suddenly caught Chang-Sun’s ears.

―Where are you going? I am right here!

Chang-Sun came to a halt for the first time. When he turned his head, he saw a faint navy blue sword emitting light of the same color. It was hung on the wall, far away from all the other weapons. At that moment, the [Yuchang Sword]’s seal on Chang-Sun’s right arm shone brilliantly.

[Found the ‘Zhan Lu Sword’!]

[The ‘Yuchang Sword’ wants to approach its brother, the ‘Zhan Lu Sword.’]

One of Ou Yezi’s Fine Swords, which Chang-Sun had been desperately looking for, was on the wall. The closer he got to the [Zhan Lu Sword], the brighter the [Yuchang Sword]’s seal shone. At the same time, the [Zhan Lu Sword] began to tremble profusely.

Zinnng!

―Yes! I am here! What are you doing?! Grab me!

According to a legend, the [Zhan Lu Sword] made its owner a king. Living up to that, it shouted at Chang-Sun with a very dignified voice, but he didn’t miss how the sword also sounded nervous. He had heard that the Nine Fine Swords attracted each other, which seemed to be the reason why it was anxious.

“I can lend you the sword if you want.” Minerva offered as she quietly chuckled, noticing Chang-Sun’s inability to take his eyes off the [Zhan Lu Sword]. Chang-Sun instinctively turned his head toward her.

“I can’t give it to you since my subordinates will oppose it, but I can lend you the sword while you are in the Saha World. It isn’t the only weapon you can borrow, either. Aegis, Phallas, Trident… Ask for anything, and I will lend it to you,” Minerva continued.

Minerva looked at Chang-Sun with kind eyes, seemingly telling him that no human would be able to win against him if he were to wield at least one of those weapons. However, Chang-Sun shook his head no without hesitation. “It’s okay. I won’t take it.”

Chang-Sun turned down a deity’s kind offer to a mere mortal, yet it seemed as if Minerva had expected him to do so.

“How so? That sword alone would help you greatly.” Minerva pointed at the sword.

“That’s true, but nothing is free in this world, right?” Chang-Sun faintly smiled.

“You’re quite a sly snake. I was going to trick you into becoming my subordinate, but you managed to avoid falling into my trap,” Minerva mumbled as if she was disappointed.

Just as Chang-Sun had said, Minerva planned to become closer to him by lending him the relics. Depending on which relic he wanted, she was going to make him her apostle, so she was quite disappointed. On the other hand, she thought he acted just like himself. Minerva wouldn’t have paid attention to him in the first place if materialistic wealth could easily entice him.

‘All that matters is that I’ve discovered the [Zhan Lu Sword] is here,’?Chang-Sun thought.

He didn’t have any lingering feelings for the sword since Ou Yezi’s Nine Fine Swords attracted each other anyway. Moreover, Minerva wanted him, so he was bound to have a chance to acquire it someday.

“I would like to ask you a question, though.” Chang-Sun changed the topic.

“What is it? I will answer most of your questions. Of course, you can ask more if you accept my recruitment offer,” Minerva joked, but Chang-Sun pretended as if he didn’t hear her. His question was that important to him.

“Do you know why Mephistopheles is obsessed with me?” Chang-Sun asked.

Minerva smiled bitterly. She was already expecting to hear that question when she invited Chang-Sun to her divine ground—no, she invited him here in the first place because she had to warn him about this.

“… That’s…” Minerva lightly sighed and continued. No longer looking dignified, she worriedly answered, “... because you resemble someone.”

Someone? Chang-Sun tilted his head in confusion. He had no idea what she was talking about.

“Whom do I resemble?” Chang-Sun inquired.

At that moment, Minerva’s eyes became darker. “The Pale Star… has been looking for him for a long time.”

1. In mythology, Pallas refers to either a violent giant that Minerva killed or her childhood nymph friend. Pallas’ identity varies depending on the version of the mythology.