[Skill: Resurrection (SSS-Rank)]
[Type: Sacrifice]
[Cost: 0 Mana]
[Description: Resurrect someone completely as long as their body exists.]
Cipher looked at the skill description. Something weird was going on here.
The skill’s previous description said he would have to offer his life in exchange for resurrecting someone else. But now, after using the Patch Card on it, the skill had transformed into something free.
The way the Patch Card worked was simple - it got rid of negative effects. Offering one’s life was definitely a negative effect. But it was also the price for the skill, which the card’s description said it couldn’t remove. When he’d used the Patch Card, he wasn’t actually sure it would even work.
He thought for some time. "Maybe only mana can be a cost," he muttered to himself.
It made sense. After all, looking at the skill description, there was a cost section that showed the amount of mana needed to activate it. Since the skill didn’t use mana, did that mean he could negate any other cost with the Patch Card?
This opened up quite a few possibilities. He needed to find more sacrifice-type skills to try this on to see if his guess was right.
Speaking of, didn’t he already have a sacrifice-type skill? The Battery skill he’d just gotten. He decided to look for a Patch Card once the shop reset.
As for the Resurrection skill itself, it was quite powerful, though it had its own limitations. It still needed a body. If the body was completely destroyed, he wouldn’t be able to resurrect someone. That’s why he’d been so against destroying the Chairman’s body.
This also meant he couldn’t use it to resurrect the Heavenly Demon, since her body didn’t exist.
He wondered if he should try to Fork the skill and apply a Rework Card on it to see if it would develop some other abilities through mutation.
At that moment, Marcus, who was being pressed under Cipher’s knee, finally began showing signs of coming to. The undead features slowly receded, and his eyes slowly opened.
"Are you yourself now?" Cipher asked.
"I think so," Marcus spoke, getting up to a sitting position and looking around in confusion.
"Looks like the undead don’t remember their time as undead. At least not perfectly," Cipher thought.
Well, there was no time for that.
"That’s good enough. Do you have any mana left?" he asked.
Seeing his expression, the Chairman quickly pulled himself together, understanding there was no time for chitchat. "What do you want? Just tell me," he said.
"The Immortal King is currently attacking HQ. Are you able to teleport the two of us there?" Cipher asked.
"I barely have enough mana for one of us," Marcus said. "I’ll send you there. I’m barely in any condition to fight at the moment." He paused. "I’ll recover, then catch up with you."
Cipher looked at him. "Alright..." He then placed a hand on the Chairman’s shoulder. "Don’t get yourself killed again," he added.
The Chairman nodded. "I’ll be more careful," he responded, placing his hand on Cipher’s shoulder. "Thanks... and take care," he said as he activated space magic, teleporting Cipher away instantly.
...
Selene stood before Cipher’s office.
She needed to make sure no one found out that Cipher was gone.
She let out a slight sigh. She was worried about Cipher and felt a little pity for him. When he’d agreed to join the Association back then, she’d seen him as someone different from the others. He wasn’t rude or arrogant, despite having the abilities that would make others act that way.
For him to be so kept together, she figured he had some great goals or ambitions of his own.
Yet after joining the Association, it didn’t seem like the Association had given him anything of benefit. Rather, it was the other way around. From offering his stats to getting thrown right into the middle of Association politics, having to hold the Association together at a time like this - it wouldn’t be easy for anyone.
And now he was even conducting such risky missions. She hoped he didn’t push himself too hard.
Although she was worried about him as someone on her team, she also understood what had to be done and thus couldn’t stop him. She wondered how he was faring now.
At that moment, a guard suddenly came rushing over. Seeing as he was rushing toward Cipher’s office, she stood before him, stopping him.
"What is it? Why are you running around here?" she asked.
"Captain Selene. Is the Chairman here?" the guard asked.
"Yes, but he’s busy. Tell me what’s happening," she said.
The guard paused, gathering his breath. "It’s the Guild Master. She’s here," he said.
"You’re not making any sense. Which Guild Master?" Selene asked impatiently.
What Guild Master could cause the guards to be so worked up that they’d summon the Chairman himself? Cipher had already ordered that he wouldn’t be seeing any officials for now as they conducted the internal investigations, and everyone was aware of that.
"It’s Azure Rose Guild’s leader, Amélie," the guard said.
Selene’s eyes widened. Things had just gotten much more complicated.
Azure Rose Guild was a Major Guild.
Major Guilds were powerful guilds led by extremely strong individuals - people almost at the level of the Chairman - and they commanded their own forces that were nearly as strong as the Association.
There were only five such guilds in existence: the Moonlight Shrine Guild in Japan, the Golden Hand Guild in Egypt, the Celestial Dragon Guild in South Korea, the Eternal Jade Sect in China, and finally, the Azure Rose Guild in France.
Usually, they wouldn’t have to worry about a Major Guild. After all, the Association itself was quite strong. The Association had started off as three Major Guilds led by the Chairman, Draven, and Orion. The three had then united to form what was now known as the Association.
But after the recent failures, the Association wasn’t as strong as before. They couldn’t afford to get into a confrontation with the Major Guilds.
At least not while Cipher was away.