NOVEL NEXT Chapter 6: Hidden Skill
“This makes no sense.”
“What do you mean it makes no sense?”
I have almost completely killed all the monsters.
At the beginning, the monsters would die after 7 swings,
But now they died after one swing.
Well, of course, after all,
[Status window]
Name : Park Si-woo
Level : 11 (1st Stage Awakener)
Condition : Happy
[Strength : 10] [Stamina : 1] [Agility : 1] [Magic : 1] [Luck : 1]
(Remaining attribute points are 21.)
Skill :
(There are currently no skills.)
I put in 9 attribute points into strength.
My improved strength, certainly different to what it used to be,
Makes it easy for me to tear those monsters apart like sheets of paper.
‘He should have gradually increased the level of those monsters to match my level. What do you mean he just leaves them as are?’
Compared to me raising my level as I hunt them down,
Those monsters are still left with all their attributes at 1.
Although I didn’t notice at first, as time passes the difference in power becomes apparent.
But it looks like this guy doesn’t even realize something this simple,
“This is not a task that a regular human can handle. Originally, it should be difficult for you to even defeat one of them. On top of that, we are not on a narrow road but such an open space, so how come?”
“Well, I guess I’m just strong.”
On the contrary, he’s just saying absurd things that make the listener laugh at him.
Of course, it’s not like I can’t comprehend what he is saying at all.
This task is, in fact, more difficult the stronger the person taking it is.
If I had owned at least one S-class skill,
All those 300 monsters would have used that S-class skill on me.
And that would probably…, be no different to hell.
“Maybe you….”
Almaimon looks like he’s in a deep dilemma.
But still, it’s just funny to see him with two bird heads having that look on their faces.
A guy with, not a human face, but bird faces, having a dilemma,
Don’t you think it would look like a stupid guy pretending to smart?
But,
“Anyway, you don’t have any other task to give me? They, why don’t you give me the reward?”
It’s none of my business anyway.
I urge him to give me the reward.
And as he hears what I say, he starts opening his mouth.
“No, I shall give you another test.”
“…What?”
“Did I ever say it was only one task at the beginning?”
Had he not been satisfied by the fact that I cleared the assignment he gave me?
I can tell he just didn’t like it,
So he is going to give me an extra task.
Of course, I don’t know if he’s going to give me the reward when I finish this task…,
‘It seems he’s not just going to give it to me.’
The guy thinks hard about the task to give me to ensure he won’t ever have to give me the reward.
Just by looking at that I can tell that he had no plans to give me a reward in the first place.
But thanks to that,
‘I think I’ve actually got a hint.’
I think I’ve certainly got a hint I might be able to use against him.
Hmm…, you see,
If I want to get the reward from him right now…,
“Hey.”
“…What?”
“You don’t have anything to set me as a task, right? Well, you see, it would probably eat up my conscience to get the reward this easily.”
“…Stop going around and just get straight to the point.”
“What about we make a bet?”
There is probably no better way than this.
“A bet, you say?”
“Yeah, a bet.”
And as I propose a bet,
The guy makes a rather reluctant expression.
But from the moment he doesn’t refuse right away,
The hint I thought about becomes clear.
‘For now, that guy can’t hurt me directly.’
If this boss could attack me directly,
Bet or whatever, he would have just killed me.
But this guy doesn’t do that.
If he didn’t want to give me the reward, he could have just killed me.
As soon as, instead of doing that, he goes beating around the bush, I become certain of my suspicions.
‘I bet that’s just a puppet body.’
From the moment I discovered he can’t kill me,
The chance that this bird-head is someone’s puppet just increases.
It works by significantly restricting him by not letting him directly kill someone for the price of borrowing the body.
That is why he probably summoned the monsters instead.
Just from the fact that he could use such skills it became clear that he’s a very high level boss,
But since he’s using a puppet body, there’s probably not much he can do.
And just from knowing that,
Our situation just completely reversed.
“Don’t worry. The bet will be much better for you. And if you don’t like it, you can just reject it.”
I put up the most innocent smile I can and continue speaking.
I set up a trap, asking him to just hear me out once, and that he can reject me if he wants to after listening.
“…Well, talk.”
And the guy falls for my trap.
“It’s simple. It’s something called the “truth game”. If you can’t answer the question the other person asks, or if you get caught lying, you lose. We’ll take turns asking questions until one of us loses.”
“That is all…?”
“Think about it. This is actually a game where you have a huge advantage.”
I deliberately continue while pointing at the Eye of Greed artifact.
This guy can use it to tell if the opposite person is lying or not, after all.
Since he can tell if I’m lying or not right away, he definitely has an edge over me with this.
“…Good. If that is what you want, we shall do it your way.”
And after pointing at his artifact,
The guy realizes the advantage he actually has over me.
It’s laughable to see him make an expression as if he was being generous to me despite only having realized all of this after I gave him a hint.
“But, it would be boring to just do this for the reward, so should we make it more exciting?”
“…Continue.”
“It’s not much. What I’ll wager against that reward won’t be an object, but my life.”
“…What do you mean?”
“Why are you thinking about it so much? If I lose, I’ll just kill myself. You want to kill me too, don’t you? If you don’t believe me, just use that artifact to see if I’m lying or not.”
I did not lie.
If I were to lose to this guy,
I would probably just die from embarrassment.
So that guy will see my words are all truthful when he checks the artifact.
“You would not say something like that for nothing. Is there something you want?”
“Finally we understand each other. If I win, I want that Eye of Greed you have. Give it to me.”
“…Then you do not need the reward?”
“No? Since I’m taking such a big risk, of course you should give me the reward in advance.”
“…What?”
Almaimon makes an expression as if he just heard some nonsense.
…I honestly admit it.
Even I think this is quite an unreasonable proposal
‘But it depends on how I say it.’
There’s a reason why fraud exists.
If I just change my wording a bit, I would be able to deceive him.
Particularly if it’s him.
“Seriously, don’t you understand I’m taking the loss here? Think about it. This is a game where you have a considerable advantage, so what would it be like if my reward is insignificant?”
“My reward is not insignificant.”
“Of course. I believe you too. But, you know? It’s human nature to not believe in something until you actually see it. Anyway, if you win you can just take the reward, so it shouldn’t matter, right?”
“…….”
Almaimon thinks about it as soon as he hears what I say.
There is no good coming my way the longer he thinks about it, so I keep talking immediately.
“Or, is the reward actually insignificant? And you’re afraid I’ll just not take the bet and leave as soon as I see the reward.”
I slightly try getting on his nerves to prevent him from thinking properly.
I know it very well too.
If he was a bit smarter, or at least as suspicious as my underlings, he would have refused.
But the attitude this guy had shown me thus far was stupidity itself.
So even at this small taunt,
“…Okay. We shall do it that way.”
He just falls for it.
Looking extremely furious, he accepted my proposal.
[The reward has been given.]
And not long after, a phrase like a status window shows up in front of my eyes.
And,
[Skill : Ability Copy(Growth-Type) has been obtained.]
[Skill : Ability Copy]
Class: S(Growth-Type)
– If the skill holder wins in a fight, they can copy one of their opponent’s abilities. Some of the opponent’s experience is absorbed. (There is a cooldown time per person per day.)
– In the case of an incomplete victory, a random ability is copied. A minimal fraction of the opponent’s experience is absorbed. (There is no cooldown.)
– [Currently unlocked.]
– [Currently unlocked.]
[Skill: Ability Copy has been activated.]
[Incomplete victory. A random ability from the boss, Almaimon, will be copied.]
[Skill : Magi Manipulation has been acquired.]
[Skill : Magi Manipulation]
Class: S
– User is immune in the Magi.
– Simple Magi manipulation has been enabled.
– Within the Magi, attributes are significantly increased.
– Magi can be used to create a Summoned.(The Summoned will depend on the skill user’s attributes. It is also possible to summon a Summoned of lower class.)
[You have leveled up.]
[You have leveled up.]
“…What the.”
The words escape me without even thinking about it.
I, of course, thought I would get something good,
But these skills are better than I thought.
I got a sign that says I acquired two S-class skills, skills that are so great even just getting one through your life is amazing.
I can’t help but stand in awe.
‘It’s an S-class, but still a growth type?’
The highest commonly known skill class was S.
But this is different.
It is an incredibly OP skill, even being S-class, but it says it can improve.
There is nothing else to worry about.
Just from the fact that it copied a skill that’s also S-class, this clearly shows me that this is the most OP skill I’ve ever seen.
And it doesn’t just only copy a skill,
It even absorbs a part of the experience.
But on top of that, a skill this OP can even level up.
I have nothing else to say other than “I got lucky” for this.
‘This is pretty much a treasure chest?’
I still don’t know what an incomplete victory really is,
But the important thing is that I randomly obtained an S-class skill.
Despite my luck attribute being at 1,
The skill I copied was S-class.
In other words,
All the skills this guy has are OP.
‘Crazy.’
My heart starts pounding.
What insanely good skills does this guy have?
Could it be that this guy has better skills than these?
“Did you properly receive the reward?”
“Yeah. Very properly.”
“How is it? Do you still think the reward is insignificant despite this?”
“What? Are you very satisfied?”
As the guy said, I was very satisfied.
Not just because of this reward,
If I think about all the stuff I will get out of this guy, I feel like I’ll go crazy from joy.
“Then, shall we start the bet?”
Now, it is time for me to get as much as I can out of him.
Translator’s Note
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