The Game of the Greatest Black Mage-Chapter 126

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]

Chapter 126

Seonghyun stared at the old elf’s ghost with a somewhat sullen expression.

The old elf’s ghost let out a dry cough, perhaps not having imagined they would meet again so soon after such a dramatic farewell.

-Khmm-hmm. Ahem.

Indeed, who would have known?

That he would die and become a ghost.

And in that state, that he would be able to converse with Seonghyun.

This was especially true from the old elf's perspective.

The old elf, who had been trapped in the stone chamber ever since Leonik invaded the Hall of Knights, had essentially had his soul bound to this place.

That was how he had been able to survive even now, long after his natural life span should have ended.

But now that his purpose, the final trial, had concluded…

It was only natural that he would disappear.

Both body and soul.

Yet, how could he have known that his soul would become a ghost like this?

-I did not foresee that I would end up like this.

He had thought even his soul would wear away and vanish.

It seemed that was not the case.

As the old elf realized this fact, a sense of goodwill towards Seonghyun naturally blossomed within him.

Perhaps.

-It might be that my current state is also by your arrangement.

“Pardon? Hmm, I don’t think that’s the case.”

-No, one cannot be sure. In any case, this might be helpful to you.

As the old elf spoke, he placed a teal-colored, bead-like object onto his palm.

This bead was the old elf’s memory.

As Seonghyun simply nodded and took the bead, the old elf’s memories unfolded in his mind like a panorama.

He nodded, noticing that some memories were locked.

He was reminded anew that the elf had certainly been a powerful being.

As Seonghyun absorbed even that domineering, dragon-like swordsmanship…

[You have accomplished something impossible at your current level through an ‘Unknown Power’.]

[Strength +5, Agility +5, Stamina +5 have permanently increased.]

He could see his stats increase by a whopping 15 points.

Just as he thought, the elf was no ordinary individual.

Excluding Helena, Fiora, and Leonik, this 15-point increase was the highest.

It was on par with Anemor, who had been a raid boss.

If the old elf had been turned into a monster and they had fought…

‘He would have been at least raid-boss level.’

That certainly seemed plausible.

Thinking this, Seonghyun looked at the old elf—no, the knight—and spoke.

“Seeing as we’ve both read each other’s memories, what do you think?”

As Seonghyun said this, he first presented the body of a Skeleton Warrior he had roughly retrieved from the Netherworld.

The elf was not unaware of the meaning behind this gesture.

He smiled faintly.

Looking at Seonghyun, he said meaningfully.

-As you know, I wished to wander the outside world. Like a free, wandering knight.

"I know."

-Therefore, to you—no, to Your Lordship, I shall pledge an oath. I, the lacking yet steadfast Silvanor, vow my loyalty to my liege. Please grant me the opportunity to become your sword.

It was a slightly cringeworthy pledge ceremony.

Being a modern man, Seonghyun found it a bit embarrassing.

However, knowing Silvanor's memories, Seonghyun nodded to the old elf—no, to the knight named Silvanor—and said:

“Become my knight.”

Speaking informally in a natural manner, Seonghyun used his power to bind Silvanor to the Skeleton Warrior’s body.

For now, he was confined to this temporary vessel.

“I’ll move you to a better body soon enough, so don’t worry.”

-I do not doubt it in the slightest, my Lord.

Watching Silvanor’s dependable response, Seonghyun first sent him back to the Netherworld.

Perhaps deeply impressed by the scene, Leonik clapped his hands naturally and exclaimed.

-You are truly benevolent, my Lord!!!

-Th-that’s right! It was t-touching!

“Indeed, I believe you have shown an aspect truly befitting a monarch.”

With all three of them saying such things, Seonghyun felt his face grow a little hot, but he steadfastly ignored it.

After all, that wasn’t what was important right now.

“Shall we look at the rewards first, then?”

He recalled the phrase that had briefly surfaced when he obtained Silvanor’s memories just moments ago.

[Having passed the Hidden Trial, you acquire the Hidden Piece, 『???’s Dagger』.]

An item name riddled with question marks.

『???’s Dagger』

→ 《Hidden Piece》

→ It is unknown who used this dagger.

→ How to use it, or for what purpose it was made, can never be known.

→ If you collect three items from the same owner as this one, you might be able to find out something.

A Hidden Piece that called for another hidden element.

An item about which something could be learned if three such items were obtained.

It was truly an item to look forward to.

Although parts of Silvanor’s memories were locked, Seonghyun could discern the identity of this item.

‘The Knight King’s Dagger.’

He needed to gather two more items like this one.

Fortunately, one of them was here in this Hall of Knights.

‘The last one was in the fifth village, wasn’t it?’

He recalled the memories.

What would happen if he obtained all three items, and where he needed to go, remained unknown as those memories were locked.

However, he clearly knew the location of the final item.

‘Alright, that settles this then…’

Now, it was time to examine the rewards.

The rewards for clearing this hidden field, the Hall of Knights!

As Seonghyun thought of receiving his rewards and stepped outside the spire, the system messages he had put off finally began to appear.

[You have cleared the Hidden Field, 『Hall of Knights』!]

[Rewards will be given.]

[You have also successfully cleared the hidden trial within the Hidden Field, 『Hall of Knights』.]

[Existing rewards will be enhanced.]

[You have achieved an accomplishment in the Hidden Field.]

[You acquire achievement rewards.]

[You will receive additional proficiency gained from training in the Hidden Field, 『Hall of Knights』.]

[You are the first in Eternal World's history to clear the 『Hall of Knights』!]

[Your fame spreads throughout the entire Eternal World.]

[As a clear reward, you acquire the title, 『Idol of Knights』.]

[As the first in Eternal World's history to clear the 『Hall of Knights』, you are bestowed the rank, 『Knight』.]

[From now on, wherever you go, you will receive a warm welcome from good-aligned NPCs.]

[You acquire an extremely large amount of accumulated skill proficiency.]

[The level of the Legendary rank skill, 『Shadow Glide』, has risen to 5.]

[The level of the Legendary rank skill, 『Cry of Black Blood』, has risen to 3.]

[The level of the Legendary rank skill, 『Torrent of Swords』, has risen to 3.]

[The level of the Almighty rank skill, 『Helena's Super Strong Swordsmanship』, has risen to 2.]

[As the level of the Almighty rank skill, 『Helena's Super Strong Swordsmanship』, has risen, you have acquired a new swordsmanship skill, 『Abyss』.]

[Having passed the Hidden Trial, you acquire the Hidden Piece, 『???’s ?? Map』.]

[The 『Sublime Swordsman』 maintaining the Hidden Field, 『Hall of Knights』, has vanished.]

[The Hidden Field, 『Hall of Knights』, can no longer be maintained, and all its functions will disappear.]

‘Wow, all of this…’

The list of notifications was incredibly long, but what he actually received didn't feel like all that much in terms of distinct new items.

The last Hidden Piece he obtained was the same type of item as the Knight King’s Dagger.

There was no real need to examine it closely.

After all, the parts obscured by question marks were naturally understood by him.

‘I’ll look at the Knight King’s Mausoleum Map later.’

It was a Hidden Piece that was meaningless unless he obtained another specific item.

It was more beneficial to look at the other rewards.

First, the titles.

He examined the ‘Wanderer’ title he had received when he first entered this place, and the ‘Idol of Knights’ title he had just obtained.

『Wanderer』

→《Rare》

→ A title bestowed upon the user who first discovers a Hidden Field.

→ Effects applied within Hidden Fields +10% increase.

『Idol of Knights』

→《Legendary+》

→ A title bestowed upon the user who is the first in Eternal World's history to clear the 『Hall of Knights』.

→ Slightly upgraded from its original rank due to being the first clear in history.

→ Can gain recognition from all knights.

→ Knight-type skill power +25% increase.

→ Can teach knight-type skills of this title's rank or lower to NPCs.

‘Oh?’

The Wanderer title was pretty decent.

The Idol of Knights title, however, was substantial.

The distinct increase in knight-type skill power was obviously incredible, and being able to gain recognition from all knights, as well as teach knight-type skills to NPCs, were also significant merits.

‘What if I could teach skills to some of my summons using this?’

It would be quite effective.

Now that he had looked at these two, next up was…

‘What’s this rank?’

As Seonghyun grew curious, a window popped up before his eyes.

『Knight』

→《Rank》

→ It can be considered a rank similar to a Junior Baron, but one's actual skill grants better treatment than that of a Baron.

→ Can learn Knight-type skills.

‘Ah, so this is what being well-treated means?’

The message that appeared when he obtained the Knight rank above also mentioned receiving a warm welcome from good-aligned NPCs.

It seemed he would receive treatment akin to that of a quasi-noble.

This wasn't bad at all.

And on top of that, he could now learn Knight-type skills.

It was an incredible effect.

Seonghyun looked on with considerable satisfaction and then skimmed through the skills whose levels had risen.

To what extent had they improved?

First, he examined the three Legendary skills, starting with Shadow Glide.

『Shadow Glide』

→《Legendary》

→[Lv 5][Growth-Type]

[Instant Effect][Complex]

[Cooldown 5 minutes]

[Duration 20 seconds]

→Assassin-exclusive skill.

→When using footwork techniques, this skill assists by making the body leave afterimages like shadows.

→ Immediately upon attempting to use Shadow Glide, movement speed increases by 1,250%, and stealth increases by 600%.

『Cry of Black Blood』

→《Legendary》

→[Lv 3][Growth-Type]

[Instant Effect][Active]

[Cooldown 8 minutes]

→Knight-exclusive skill.

→Select one target upon skill activation.

→Applies Black Blood stacks to the selected target equal to the number of times the user has attacked them so far.

→Hearing the cry of black blood from the weapon tears open wounds, dealing damage equal to 13% per Black Blood stack.

『Torrent of Swords』

→《Legendary》

→[Lv 3][Growth-Type]

[Instant Effect][Active]

[Cooldown 8 minutes]

→Warrior-exclusive skill

→Allows momentary, relentless attacks by continuously swinging and thrusting the sword.

→Attacks for 3 seconds at a rate of 50 hits per second, with each hit dealing 13% damage.

→Cannot move while the skill is in use.

Each skill saw an increase in its cooldown or duration, and the effect percentages had definitely risen.

In particular, Shadow Glide, whose level had increased significantly, showed a substantial improvement.

‘This is incredible.’

He thought that other skills would probably need to be used about this much for their levels to rise as well.

He suspected that his other Overlord-exclusive skills might also level up soon, considering he had used them quite a bit.

With that thought, Seonghyun opened the description for the highly anticipated final skill:

Helena's Super Strong Swordsmanship.

『Helena's Super Strong Swordsmanship』

→《Almighty》

→[Lv 2][Growth Type]

[Passive Effect][Compound]

Helena's swordsmanship, created in a short time out of love for her successor, boasts superior performance compared to any other swordsmanship, regardless of depth or profundity.

『Wave your sword around with a yap yap!』

→Overlord exclusive skill.

→In handling a sword, when wielding a sword, inflicts dark damage in addition to slashing and piercing damage.

→Allows you to naturally imbue your sword with a dark sword aura.

→Increases basic attack power by 300% when using a sword.

→Additionally, you can unlock a total of ten swordsmanship skills, which can be acquired at each skill level.

Lv 1 : Darkness.

[Cooldown: 3 minutes]

[Duration: 1 minute]

→Manipulates darkness and imbues it into the sword.

→Enemies cut are inflicted with dark damage, slashing or piercing damage, and one of their senses is blocked.

→With each cut, one sense is blocked, and with each cut, the duration of the sense block increases.

Lv 2: Abyss

[Cooldown: 5 minutes]

[Duration: 1 minute]

→ Wields the sword to judge sinners and send them to the Abyss.

→ Swings the sword to launch a sword strike.

→ Sinners cut by the launched sword strike immediately take 2,000% damage and are bound by the chains of the Abyss, making them realize the weight of their sins.

→ The enemy becomes heavier by the weight of their sins, and the caster becomes lighter by that amount.

Lv 3: (Currently unusable)

The base attack power percentage had also increased, but what caught his eye even more was the other new skill.

‘Abyss?’

An attack skill that applied a debuff and a buff simultaneously.

The word ‘overpowered’ just escaped him.

Seonghyun smiled looking at it and thought.

‘I need to try this out right away, don’t I?’

[Translator - Prøks]

[Proofreader - Prøks]