Chapter 92
It was common for item names to change. For example, if a broken sword were repaired and resulted in a completely new item, its name would naturally be different because the history contained in that sword would also change.
Similarly, Seong-Hwi filled the Ancient Fairy Queen’s Wings, which were but a shell after losing most of their power, with a new power, causing them to be reborn as the Wings of Evolution.
“Wings of Evolution, huh?” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he walked to a full-length mirror in a corner of the room.
The pointed oval wings, three on the right and two on the left, sprouted instantly once he thought about sprouting them. He was impressed with how they looked. Black net-like veins with a hexagonal pattern were bound to one another tightly. An iridescent light resembling stained glass shone from each.
[Operating Wings of Evolution.]
[Five Wings.]
The five wings shone simultaneously once Seong-Hwi focused on them. He recalled the artifact’s description about being able to store, amplify, and convert the stats and powers of the races they held.
Storing probably means the powers can be safely stored in those hexagons. As for amplifying... Seong-Hwi trailed off in his thoughts as he gathered mana in his palm.
Mana of his A-rank Magic condensed into a ball. The Wings of Evolution then shone beautifully.
“Hup!” Seong-Hwi grunted as he barely managed to keep his mana from running out of control. His eyes widened as he expressed, “Hah! So, this is what it meant, huh?”
His mana was amplified by fifty percent compared to before operating the Wings of Evolution. An amplification of 1.5 times was insane.
It’ll practically take the power of my skills to another level!
On top of that, the amplification was not limited to the Magic stat—it also applied to his other five stats.
Seong-Hwi clenched his fists as he felt the amplification of his mana. The wings weren’t just a way to steal other races’ caliber. They were also a powerful weapon.
Lastly, converting.
Seong-Hwi focused on the Wings of Evolution. He could see the hexagonal pattern much more vividly, and the genes of the other races lying dormant inside.
[Stat Conversion Material: Destiny Force]
[Available Stats: Battle Force, Sorcery Force, Harmony Force, Draconic Mana]
Could this be? Seong-Hwi thought as he sent Destiny Force to the wings.
The Destiny Force stimulated the secondary forces, causing them to move energetically. Among them, Seong-Hwi focused on stimulating Battle Force, the secondary force of orcs, which looked like a typhoon.
The hexagonal pattern on the Wings of Evolution was converted to typhoon marks, and the wings turned faintly red.
[Converting Destiny Force to Battle Force.]
[00:00:33]
[00:00:32]
...
Seong-Hwi silently stared at his fist. Small amounts of red energy were mixed with his blue mana. Battle Force, the primal, instinctive, and aggressive energy that stimulated one’s fighting spirit, had intermixed with his mana.
“Holy crap.” Seong-Hwi could only stare at his fist in disbelief.
I can steal and use the secondary forces of other races now? I knew the genes Lina extracted contained information about stats and secondary forces, but this is unbelievable.
His head spun, thinking about incorporating the stat conversion into his future battles. His heart beat faster, and he was filled with energy. Only now did it hit home that he had undergone a complete metamorphosis.
Seong-Hwi was now an intermediate caliber Double-A human, a point he had taken five years of painstaking effort to reach in his past life. On top of that, he did not have the overpowered item Wings of Evolution back then.
[00:00:01]
[00:00:00]
[Terminating conversion.]
[Battle Force enters dormancy for 120 hours.]
...
It looks like once you use a secondary force, it can’t be used again for five days. Or is it because the extracted orc gene was of inferior caliber?
Seong-Hwi fell into deep thought about the Wings of Evolution. One thing for sure was that he needed to invest more Karma into them immediately.
Just then, Lina woke up and opened the door. “Mmm... What’s with all the noise?”
***
“Hmm, I see. That’s how it is, huh?” Lina nodded as she wrote everything Seong-Hwi said without missing a word. “Hah! That’s amazing! I only expected immunosuppression from those wings, but from what you told me, it’s also acting as a harmonizing agent.”
“Harmonizing agent?”
“Yeah. You said the fairy gene dormant in those wings absorbed the injected genes, right? What else would you call it?” Lina remarked, her surprise showing no signs of calming down. “It’s not even the Harmony Stone, but an item containing its powers, and it’s still this powerful? Just how tremendous are the Race Stones?”
They sure are tremendous. You can tell how powerful they are from it sending me back to the past, Seong-Hwi said inwardly.
“Hmm. So, the genes you have are human, orc, goblin, fairy, and dragon, right? That’s five, just like the number of wings you have. In that case...” Lina trailed off as she excitedly jotted down her overflowing ideas.
Seong-Hwi stared at her and thought, Is it okay to leave Lina here?
He shook his head. Lina was his precious comrade, but now that her Ubermensch Project became a huge success, she was more valuable than an S-rank item to him.
The Hong Kong street of North Earth is relatively safe, but that isn’t good enough. It needs to be secure.
Seong-Hwi instantly thought of a place where Lina’s safety would be guaranteed. It was where an insanely powerful old man, who disliked revealing his identity, stayed.
“Have you decided on your next project, Lina?” Seong-Hwi asked.
“What? Oh... I’ve been working on a dissertation. You know I’ve been working as a gardener for quite a while, right?”
Seong-Hwi nodded. Lina was well-known among F and E-rank humans as a skilled gardener. She pruned unnecessary branches from one’s skill tree and gave recommendations to make their tree better.
Lina continued, “I’ve met a lot of F and E-rank humans through my work as a gardener. Do you know what I realized?”
“What?”
“People don’t know the simplest of things because they lack information. Even the tiniest tips could save their lives.”
Seong-Hwi smiled bitterly and thought, I completely forgot.
He had worked hard to resolve the information imbalance in his past life, but now, he was focused only on what was in front of him—growing stronger—because he had no leeway to take detours. However, the kind-hearted, diligent Lina was looking back to care for those falling behind.
“My dissertation will help humans like that. I’ll name it the Living as a Human in the Mirror World Project!” Lina shouted.
Living as a Human in the Mirror World was a book authored by Lina and distributed for free by Jurie throughout the Network. Lina’s wealth of knowledge, developed through her pruning, was combined with Jurie’s colossal information network.
She continued, “But it’s still lacking a lot. I can only get so much information while I spend all day in this place.”
“What are you lacking?” Seong-Hwi asked.
“Why? Are you gonna resolve it if I tell you?”
“If I can, I should at least repay you for the pruning.”
Lina fixed her purple frame glasses and snickered. “Hehe! Looks like you have some shame. Can you give me some Coins, then? I’ve been so busy focusing on you that I haven’t been working as a gardener, so I’m broke.”
“That’s easy enough.”
Lina’s eyes widened, not having expected the response. “Really? Didn’t you use all your Karma to open cubes?”
“Yeah.”
“Then how are you gonna give me Coins?”
Seong-Hwi smiled instead of answering. He asked, “Don’t you need a sponsor who can fund your research, Lina?”
“A sponsor?” Lina frowned. “Forget it. Why do you think I refuse scout offers from clans? I’m going to research what I want.”
“The sponsor I’m talking about isn’t a clan. It’s an individual.”
“What?”
“And she’s not that nosy either. She should also be interested in your field of interest.”
Jurie and Lina weirdly got along well. Their abilities also go very well together.
Jurie gathered information and samples through the Network, Lina examined them with the Microscope of Truth to draw out portions beneficial to humankind, and Jurie distributed the results throughout the Network. Jurie and Lina were the ideal duo.
“Hah! I’d love to meet a sponsor like that if they even exist. Would they fund any research I want? Forget sponsor, they’d be a sugar mama.”
Seong-Hwi nodded. “You could call her that.”
“What?”
“A sugar mama who owns tons of land.”
“Huh?”
Lina’s expression slightly crumpled.
***
“Wow! You must be a genius, unnie! A super-duper genius!”
“I-is that so?”
“You don’t have to speak so formally with me, unnie. You said you’re twenty-nine, right? I’m Jurie, a twenty-five-year-old French woman. Oh, I have type B blood, and...”
Two women sat at a table in Vivienne Information Center, near South Earth's entrance. One was Jurie, a blonde woman with blue eyes wearing a coffee shop employee outfit, and the other was Lina Ahn, a black-haired woman with black eyes wearing a dirty white gown.
Jurie smiled brightly as she examined the wrinkled piece of paper Lina gave her, as if it were a treasure map.
“W-wow! I’ve never even thought of this. Using the F-rank skill, Slow Moving, with the E-rank item, Whiteout Shield, can fool someone with a D-rank Sense stat?”
“Yes, that’s correct...” Lina trailed off.
“Lina unnnie, I said you can treat me comfortably like a little sister.”
“B-but as someone wishing to receive your sponsorship, I...”
Lina was left flustered by Jurie’s behavior. She was a laboratory hikikomori; even now, she was awkwardly looking around the unfamiliar store. She met eyes with Seong-Hwi, who was drinking tea at another table, and stared intently at him as if asking for help. Seong-Hwi shrugged as he smirked. He could feel Lina’s resentful glare through her purple-frame glasses.
“Hmm... What do you think about using a Mirror Cloak instead of a Whiteout Shield, Lina unnie?”
“Mirror Cloak?”
“Have you not heard of it? It’s rarer than the Whiteout Shield, but also an E-rank item. Oh, then you could use Leafy Steps instead of Slow Moving to—”
“W-w-w-wait!” Lina stuttered as she hurriedly took out a notebook and pen from her gown pocket and started writing. Her flustered attitude vanished, and her eyes blazed with passion. “Could you say that again? Leafy Steps? What rank is that skill? How rare is it? Any similarities with Slow Moving? Does it have environmental restrictions?”
Jurie smiled satisfyingly as Lina became more assertive, and she explained, “Ahem. Leafy Steps is...”
Seong-Hwi stared at them and mumbled inwardly, I thought they hit it off well in my past life, but... it looks like Jurie was the one who matched Lina’s energy.
Jurie was so sociable that barely anyone in Clan Calasanz was uncomfortable around her. Seong-Hwi felt odd seeing his former comrades chatting with each other.
I doubt their relationship will be the same as in my past life, but I’m sure it can get close.
As Seong-Hwi was off in his thoughts, a white-haired old man in a tailcoat approached from behind him and placed a new cup of tea on the table.
He said quietly, “I don’t like you, young man. You know that, don’t you?”
Seong-Hwi turned around and looked into Gerard’s eyes. They were brown but carried a mysterious red tint.
“Really? I never noticed,” he replied.
“I admit you are Lady Jurie’s benefactor. I give you my thanks. However, if you ever use that as an excuse to exploit her...” Gerard trailed off as his eyes turned blood-red, and his white hair floated in the air like the tentacles of a jellyfish.
His bloodlust was focused entirely on Seong-Hwi. Jurie and Lina did not notice what was happening behind them; they simply chatted away in peace, indicating the level at which Gerard could control his bloodlust.
Gerard continued, “Remember that you won’t be given the right to choose life or death.”
Seong-Hwi taunted, “How terrifying. Is that the advice of an old man indebted to Jurie, or a warning from the White Devil, Gerard D’Armont?”
Gerard smirked as Seong-Hwi mentioned his alias and replied, “It is a warning. If I judge that you are becoming a threat to Lady Jurie’s safety... I will have no choice but to extinguish your valuable talent.”
Seong-Hwi remained smiling under Gerard’s savage warning. He remarked, “Oh, but this sure is a predicament. You chose a terrible time to give such a warning.”
“Young man, I am not playing around—Hm?”
Gerard suddenly turned to the store’s front door with a serious expression.
Seong-Hwi stood up and said to Gerard, “They’re my guests, so don’t lay a hand on them.”
“You bastard! What the hell have you been doing?!” Gerard shouted, alerting Jurie and Lina.
“What’s going on, Gramps?”
“I-is something the matter?”
Seong-Hwi waved his hand and answered, “Nothing much. My stats have skyrocketed in the past few weeks, so I called over a sparring partner to test a few things.”
“A sparring partner?” Jurie asked, unable to understand.
“Really? Are you gonna test out your wings? Can I watch?” Lina asked, her eyes shining.
Seong-Hwi stared at the furious Gerard and replied, “Ask this old gentleman. You can safely watch if he spectates.”
“You damn brat!” Gerard shouted, veins bulging from his clenched fists.
Seong-Hwi turned to the front door, walked toward it, and said, “Don’t be so angry, old man. It’ll be over before you know it.”
He opened the front door and went outside. Gerard silently glared intensely at the closed door.
Just then, Lina hesitantly approached Gerard and asked, “E-excuse me, I want to watch Seong-Hwi using his wings so much... So, so much...”
Gerard silently looked back and forth between the woman who seemed to have a screw loose, and Jurie who nodded as if allowing it.
He unclenched his fists and swept down his wrinkled face. “Huuu... How did I end up like this?”