Chapter 1966

A loud scream was heard from the sky, which shone a brilliant gold, as if the sun had melted and covered the world. But once that golden light cleared, the sight of the serene blue sky made it seem like nothing had happened at all, like everything was just an illusion.

The swarm of humans and the clouds around them disappeared without leaving a trace, but nothing around seemed damaged, as if the destructive power of the cultivators’ disappearance had never occurred in the first place.

[There is a tenacious one among them.]

Nevartan snorted and disappeared from where he’d been standing. At the same time, a black thunderbolt fell from the other side of the sky, followed by someone’s scream.

Cranbel had been quietly watching the situation. He said, [Did you offer to help me as soon as you regained your freedom? That’s inspiring.]

Cranbel secretly harnessed what little magic power he had left. He didn’t trust the old dragons. He planned to surprise attack Raiders and run away.

Raiders’ golden eyes slowly turned to him.

[There is no reason not to help you. There are only a handful of our species left. You are the only surviving top dragon. You have helped Grid and the humans time and time again, and that is something you should be commended for. You will have to work with the humans to take on the new enemies.]

[......]

Raiders had a point. Cranbel’s wariness eased a bit.

Nevartan returned.

[I lost them. They used a bizarre trick... Was that the one who attacked your lair?]

[No, she was much stronger.]

[Her strength is comparable to ours.]

[Yes, she is among the strongest invaders of this world.]

Raiders nodded before telling Cranbel, [You trust Grid. Knowing him, he won’t turn away from you. Try to take in the overall situation while recovering.]

[What are you going to do next?]

[Unusual magic currents are being detected all over the world. Judging by the shape of the flow, these currents have the power to distort space.]

[Are we talking space rifts?]

[That’s right. This phenomenon is deliberately caused by someone.]

[That someone is aiming for a dimensional connection.]

As apostles of the foreign god, the dragons naturally knew the truth of the world. This world was nothing more than a place with the purpose of entertaining beings from the same dimension as the foreign god, also known as players.

It was unthinkable for a being born here to cross over to a higher dimension, but it was easy for a being from a higher dimension to cross over to this place. The existence of these players was clear proof of that.

[Forcing open a space rift to come here means that these invaders haven’t received the authorization of the foreign god.]

[That is how I interpret it as well.]

[Even so, the foreign god didn’t tell us to stop them, but instead to act freely?]

[I’m suspecting that the foreign god is in a position where it can’t stop them either.]

The new beings, presumed to come from a different dimension like the players, were an evident threat. They were extremely skilled and showed hostility to the dragons, the apostles of the foreign god. They were even attempting dimensional connection. They threatened the order of the world.

The old dragons had no intention to simply stand by and watch. The mission given to them by the foreign god was to oversee the world. They had a duty to protect it.

[This is a map showing the places where space rifts are occurring. We are going to deal with the rifts in the East Continent. You pass on the rest to Grid.]

The reason the old dragons had come to Cranbel in the first place was to deliver this map. Cranbel realized the real reason for his survival and nodded, completely dismissing his doubts.

***

The players and troops from each nation were busy searching for the location of the erosion ceremony.

“Um...”

Grid and Kraugel were both lost in thought, though they were in different places. They were currently classified as warriors rank-wise. The number of techniques that a warrior could learn was limited to eight.

Originally, eight was considered quite generous, but things were different now. Kraugel and Zik slaughtered cultivators, looting hundreds of technique books from their remains.

Of course, choosing the most suitable technique for them required a lot of time and thought.

‘To be precise, I can only learn two techniques.’

Six of the eight technique slots possessed by a warrior could only be filled with common techniques such as the Memory Searching Technique and the Golden Soul Technique. They had also learned two core techniques to help increase the quantity and quality of spiritual energy necessary to activate new skills.

‘Let’s disregard the skills for now.’

‘Our top priority should be leveling up.’

The average player was at the point where they hadn’t even condensed their spiritual roots. However, Grid and Kraugel already possessed those as part of the benefits of being an Absolute, even though they weren’t cultivators.

They needed to smartly use this to their advantage. After much thought, they arrived at the same conclusion.

A key technique was needed to improve the quality and quantity of spiritual energy. In order to do that, they had to learn two basic techniques similar to the ‘Internal Energy and Mind Method’ of the East Continent.

They already had many OP skills, so they didn’t have to be greedy for new ones. They had to make a long-term plan.

‘One thing I should keep in mind when choosing what two techniques I want to learn is that they shouldn’t conflict with each other.’

‘I should learn a technique that is going to be useful to me in the long run, rather than one that I will only use once or twice.’

Kraugel quickly decided and started to sort through the key technique books, while Grid summoned Noe to sit at his desk.

Noe looked quite anxious after sparring with the God Hands all day. “W-Why are you like this, nyang?” he asked, trying to ignore the books piled up high on the desk.

Grid pet his round head and kindly said, “Take a break and read a book.”

“I am a child, nyang!!” Noe yelled. “And a demonic beast, too, nyang! What master in the world asks a demonic beast to read books, nyang?!”

In his anger, Noe raised his front paws. His claws were hidden, making his paws look plump, like he was wearing fur gloves. The soles of his paws were covered with a soft, pink jelly.

“How can I flip through pages with these paws?!! And how am I supposed to read human letters?!”

“You are shameless. I remember you being able to read quite well the menu at a chicken skewers restaurant a few days ago.”

“......”

Noe was speechless for a moment. He tried to come up with something to refute Grid’s claim, but there was nothing he could say. Every time he went to a restaurant, he would look through the menu and order food by himself.

Just in time, Randy arrived. Judging from her expression, she seemed quite happy.

“Grid! Here!”

Randy handed Grid dozens of drawings—very detailed portraits of a cute girl from multiple angles.

Grid inspected the drawings closely and nodded.

“As expected from a Legendary painter. Our cute Randy was captured well. Okay, the drawings are pretty good. I will do my best, so just place your trust in me.”

Randy smiled brightly and nodded. “Of course!” She sat down on a chair.

Noe’s eyes were brimming with tears as he looked at Randy for help. However, she only stared at Grid with both hands supporting her chin, as if she didn’t even acknowledge Noe’s existence.

For a very long time, Randy’s guilt had been deepening. Grid’s enemies were getting stronger. Randy couldn’t confront his enemies because of how weak she was.

Now, it would be different. No matter what powerful enemies she encountered, she would never back down. She would remain on the battlefield with Grid until the end...

Randy’s thoughts drifted off as she thought of the future.

“Hah...”

Noe sighed as he understood what Randy was thinking about. He didn’t want to hurt his friend’s feelings, so he obediently opened the first book.

“The Water Wheel Technique. Suitable for those who possess the water attribute spiritual root. From the process of accumulating spiritual energy, it embraces water energy to soften the flow of spiritual energy and, as a result, accelerates this flow. The advantage is that spiritual energy increases quickly, but because it accumulates too much in the spiritual roots, it hinders one from mastering techniques of other attributes. However, this problem can be alleviated by mastering the ice technique when the training of the Water Wheel Technique reaches 6 stars... What does any of this mean, nyang?”

“It’s nice listening to you read. Keep going.”

Noe’s eyes, which had been wide open like a grumpy cat, softened after hearing this. He liked it when Grid praised him. There was also a part of him that was intoxicated with pride at being able to read mere human letters.

“The Five Elements Fortune Technique. Suitable for those who possess the spiritual roots of the five attributes. The accumulation of spiritual energy is slow, but from the time the level of this technique reaches 3 stars, the user will gradually gain affinity with the five elements. This technique is helpful when learning the techniques of metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.”

Grid was deep in thought as the God Hands lit the furnace. He reviewed the body manufacturing method by recalling how he’d failed in making a body before, but also how he’d succeeded at it.

He also paid close attention to the techniques Noe was reading to him. He was able to do this by using the power of Consciousness Extension, which he had learned from Judar after killing him. He had the ability to multitask, and could perform up to four tasks simultaneously.

‘In fact, this ability isn’t that special, but...’

There were many people who were particularly good at multitasking. However, Consciousness Extension was a passive skill that had levels. The more he trained and leveled up the skill, the more efficient the skill would become.

“Pfft.”

Grid chuckled. Noe was trying not to make a nyang or ong sound, so Grid found his pronunciation cute.

‘It would be nice if Noe lived for a long time.’

The lifespan of a memphis was well over a few hundred years, but it was short compared to those who would condense spiritual roots and become cultivators. Grid felt sad as he thought of this.

Noe cocked his head as he read the contents of the fifteenth technique book. “The True Demon Energy Technique. This method remodels the spiritual root by cultivating spiritual energy with demonic energy... Nyang? I think I know this. I understand this, ong!”

All of a sudden, black energy surged from Noe’s body and the smithy rapidly became a lot colder.

Grid became agitated as he was refining Greed. He increased the speed of the bellows, but to no avail. The flames in the furnace were dying down too quickly.

This was going to ruin his work, but Grid didn’t stop Noe. Greed could be obtained infinitely, while Noe was his unique, dear friend.

He remained silent and watched Noe’s transformation.

“Suup, nyang... Suuop, nyaaaang...”

“Where does it hurt?”

Randy, who had only been looking at Grid, also turned to look at Noe. She was genuinely worried about her friend, who suddenly began breathing weirdly when he had been fine just seconds before, reading aloud.

Grid raised a finger to his lips.

“Shh. Don’t disturb him.”

“I won’t.”

“Nyaaaang...”

The heavier Noe’s breathing became, the more black energy spilled out. It made the hairs on Grid’s body stand up.

Eventually, Grid gave up on the bellows. The flames in the furnace were no longer burning.

Grrr...

Something that sounded like thunder was heard from Noe’s stomach. It almost made Grid wonder what Noe had eaten before and from where...

Grid recalled Noe’s usual behavior, which resembled that of a stray cat’s, and couldn’t help but have doubts. Noe’s body started expanding rapidly. He revealed his adult body, like he had encountered an enemy, and his eyes glowed red.

A loud roar shattered all the frozen windows in the smithy. The black energy, which had been pouring out from Noe alongside a bitter chill, condensed into the form of a bead and entered Noe’s mouth.

[Congratulations! Your pet Noe has succeeded in condensing the spiritual root!]

“......?!”