A grin slowly spread across his face. Three Transcendent skills and two SSS+ rank skills. The gains were ridiculous.
Someone looking from the outside might think Isaac no longer cared much about skill ranks. After all, he already possessed abilities that most people could never dream of obtaining. Yet that assumption could not have been more wrong.
Skills were power, and his Warthrone Physique made them even more valuable. The physique allowed him to fuse skills of similar nature together, essentially stacking them into something far greater. Every new upgrade increased the potential of his existing arsenal.
If he encountered another Transcendent-rank user in the future, their skill might be powerful on its own. However, Isaac’s fused abilities would almost certainly overwhelm it. The advantage granted by the physique became more absurd every time he gained a new skill.
His attention shifted to upgraded Hollow Reservoir skill. The moment he finished reading the updated description, his eyebrows rose slightly.
The skill had gained an entirely new effect. It could now absorb life force within a ten-meter radius without requiring the target to be killed first.
The ability reminded him of Emily’s Life Drain skill. However, there was one crucial difference that immediately caught his attention.
Emily’s summons could use Hollow Reservoir. Any life force absorbed by them would automatically be transferred back to Emily.
Isaac reread that section twice to make sure he hadn’t misunderstood it. The implications were far greater than they initially appeared.
"That’s... powerful."
He considered the possibilities. Emily already commanded several powerful summons. Now every one of those summons could continuously harvest life force and funnel it directly back to her.
The more Isaac thought about it, the more ridiculous the skill seemed.
After a moment, he moved on to Soul Tax. At first glance, the changes looked surprisingly modest.
The siphoning effect had increased from twenty percent to thirty percent. Meanwhile, the passive damage had risen from one percent to three percent.
For a Transcendent-rank upgrade, those numbers almost looked disappointing. Then Isaac actually considered how the skill functioned.
Soul Tax siphoned energy from incoming attacks, and that stolen energy could be converted into healing. In practice, thirty percent of incoming damage would disappear and then return as recovery.
That effectively reduced damage by sixty percent. Thirty percent was removed, and that same thirty percent returned as healing.
Sixty percent.
The number sounded absurd no matter how many times he calculated it. Any attack directed at him would lose nearly two-thirds of its effectiveness.
"This skill is completely broken."
The passive damage effect was hardly any less ridiculous. Three percent damage every minute over ten minutes amounted to thirty percent total damage.
And unlike direct attacks, the effect required almost no effort after it had been applied. If this wasn’t cheating, Isaac honestly didn’t know what was.
Soul Tax had easily become one of his strongest skills.
After calming himself down, he opened Soul Ledger. A few moments later, confusion appeared on his face.
"...What?"
He read the description again from the beginning. Then he read it a third time.
The only addition was a new ability called Index. Using it, Isaac could think of a name or a date of death and instantly retrieve every related record stored within Soul Ledger.
That was all.
No offensive effect. No defensive effect. No overwhelming passive bonus.
Just a search function.
Isaac stared at the description for several seconds. The more he looked at it, the stranger it felt.
"Why is this skill SSS+ rank?" he murmured.
The upgrade—and the skill—was suspicious.
A skill reaching SSS+ rank should not receive something so ordinary. He had been wondering if there was something unusual about Soul Ledger, and this only strengthened that feeling.
Perhaps the skill’s true purpose was still hidden from him. Perhaps he simply lacked the knowledge necessary to understand what it really did.
His thoughts immediately drifted toward the Sword Empress. Since she had known Emily’s mother, there was a good chance she understood more about Soul Ledger than anyone else.
Isaac made a mental note to ask her later. For now, he moved on to the next skill.
Empty King’s Stomach had received a simple upgrade. The storage capacity for Mana, Dark Mana, and Life Force had increased from one thousand units to two thousand.
The improvement wasn’t flashy, but Isaac appreciated it immediately. Some upgrades didn’t need complicated effects to be valuable.
Allowing Ezekiel and Oz to fight consumed enormous amounts of resources. Previously, he constantly had to pay attention to his reserves whenever they were active. Letting them join the battle had left him unable to use his mana hungry skills like Domain of War and Dragon Transformation.
Now that burden would be significantly reduced. Two thousand units still weren’t enough to allow both Ancient Kings to fight at full power for extended periods, but it was more than sufficient for normal situations.
As he considered the upgrade, another thought surfaced.
"I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but Oz should be able to start unlocking classes and gaining skills now, right?"
The possibility was intriguing. Oz never had proper access to System, yet he was incredibly strong. Further growth would make him even more terrifying.
Still, that was something he could investigate later. For now, he focused on the final skill.
Hollow Crown Manifestation.
The changes were immediately obvious. The stat amplification remained the same, and the cooldown reduction remained unchanged.
However, the enhancement granted to summons had increased dramatically. The bonus had jumped from fifty percent to one hundred and twenty percent.
Isaac blinked.
Then he checked the description again just to be sure.
One hundred and twenty percent.
A seventy percent increase was no small matter. In fact, it was large enough to completely transform the effectiveness of his summons.
The boss monsters under his command had lost some of their overwhelming power after leaving the Great Dungeon. They were still formidable, but they no longer possessed the advantages that had once made them terrifying rulers of their respective Areas.
Now Isaac could practically return those advantages to them.
With Hollow Crown Manifestation active, their strength would reach an entirely different level. Combined with everything else in his arsenal, the results would be terrifying.
A satisfied grin spread across his face as he closed the status screen.
Today was starting to be a very good day.
After leaving the mirror world, Isaac headed toward the farm. He could have sent clones to handle the work, but he felt like moving around himself.
Farming had always helped him relax. There was something calming about the simple routine, especially after spending so much time fighting, planning, and managing responsibilities.
By the time he finished, the sun had climbed higher into the sky.
From there, he headed toward the gym. Alice was already inside and appeared to be nearing the end of her workout.
Isaac walked over and greeted her. "Morning."
Alice glanced at him briefly.
"Morning," she replied.
Something felt off immediately. Her tone wasn’t hostile, but it certainly wasn’t warm either.
Isaac tried starting a conversation, but the responses he received were short and distant. Before he could figure out what was wrong, Alice picked up her towel and left the gym.
Isaac watched her leave with a puzzled expression.
"Why is she angry?" he muttered as he scratched his head. Did he do something wrong yesteday?