Chapter 145

As I was wondering what happened…

Fwip!

Hyperion’s sword disappeared.

”…?”

In my momentary confusion, blood poured from the wound where the sword had been.

Splash!

“Blood…!”

“What? Why isn’t it healing?”

“I’ll pull you back.”

Taesuk, who had been providing various buffs while clinging to my back, moved us towards the base camp. Amidst continuous bombardment by gigas, a man sprinted between their legs, unexpectedly familiar.

“First Lieutenant Thomas…?”

“It’s been over a year since your discharge. What on earth happened for you to advance so much that you can withstand mana strikes?”

Vmm!

Using psychokinesis, he precisely connected the severed muscles and nerves. In this state, Thomas unleashed healing magic, dispelling the residual mana effects and repairing my injuries.

Thomas watched with wide eyes as my wounds gradually healed. “Can mana scars be treated this quickly? Well, you’re almost like a troll.”

“Why specifically a troll? There are many good giants and angels out there.”

“Don’t discriminate against trolls. In the civilization where I lived, trolls were intelligent species?”

We engaged in meaningless conversation while waiting for the healing to complete. Then when some sensation returned to my arm…

“Log in.”

I entered Ardenia.

“Sigh…”

[This time, you didn’t get hurt.]

“Ah, did I enter loudly?” I leaned back in the pilot’s seat. There was a slight pain from the severed shoulder muscles but at least there was no bleeding. It would recover over time.

[Now there is no one to clean up. Don’t dirty my mind.]

“What do you mean by mind…” I grumbled while opening the inventory and taking out the most curious item.

[Magic Sword: Hyperion (Level 22)]

Physical Coefficient 6.2

Mana Coefficient 7.3

[Zodiac 12 Palaces (Epic)]

[Sword of Souls (Epic)]

[Empty]. [Empty]. [Empty]. [Empty]. [Empty].

“Wow, really…”

In Blade & Magic, there was no weapon attack power. Instead, coefficients existed, with a physical coefficient of 6.2 meaning that physical damage increased sixfold compared to strength. This alone was insane.

“Wah, it has two epic attributes and five sockets…”

In fact, Hyperion wasn’t supposed to be a drop item. To be precise, Blade & Magic, with its high level gameplay, didn’t have the concept of drops at all.

‘It’s because Blade & Magic is an AOS (Aeon of Strife) game.’

It was a game where items were purchased with gold or achievements earned during battles, so it couldn’t rely on monster drops. Moreover, this magic sword seemed like a dedicated weapon used by the final boss in story mode? Yet I obtained it in such a way…

‘This is no different from a mythical-grade weapon. No, maybe even better.’

I checked the attributes of Hyperion.

[Constellation of the Zodiac (Epic)]

Every time you defeat an enemy champion (1), elite (0.1) or boss (0.5), a constellation will be activated.

[Sword of Souls (Epic)]

When attacking, Sword of Souls appears behind you and performs defense or attack.

In fact, these weren’t intuitive abilities. The descriptions for Blade & Magic were slightly more detailed, but it seemed to be because they were monster-exclusive items.

‘Well, since it is epic, I guess it will be good. Actually, this skill has been used within the game so it should work.’

The important thing wasn’t just the two attributes, but the five sockets.

“Let’s see.”

I touched my inventory and took out Hyperion. Then at that moment, I found myself in darkness.

[Ahahahaha! Foolish and stupid! Why can’t insignificant mortals always overcome their desire for power?] A small girl dressed in a dress was laughing loudly in front of me. I was startled.

“What? Did I fall for a psychic ability?”

The cursed shackle of my low mana aptitude was truly annoying but it wasn’t without its advantages. A foolish ghost wouldn’t recognize a talisman. I was almost immune to spiritual stimulation or interference. It was similar to how a blind person isn’t affected by a flashbang—this was why I survived unscathed from Headmaster Bram Wizard’s magic, despite him being an eighth-class mage from the Dreamwalker school.

“You seem quite peaceful? Don’t you understand the situation?”

“It isn’t complex enough to be difficult to grasp. It’s just amazing that you can achieve this level. Is it possible because of direct contact…?”

[What?]

However, ‘almost immune’ didn’t mean completely immune.

In reality, despite being from another civilization where I was never supposed to awaken psychic abilities, I managed to harness Inner Force at a beginner’s level through Earth 34’s massive infrastructure. The ‘Theme’ of the Golden Dragon God, which transformed national TV host Kang Boram into a magical girl, resonated with me as well.

“It’s not that impressive. You’re just pulled into someone’s inner world, right? Hyperion?”

[…]

The girl in the dress, momentarily taken aback, stared at me before her face twisted unnaturally.

[Ah, ahahaha! Ahaha! Heeheeheee!]

Instantaneously, the petite figure grew larger.

[A mere mortal, insignificant like vermin, dares to speak without understanding your place! Even Hyeokjun, who reached the Sword Star boundary, couldn’t defy this realm—!]

Graaaaaah!

A monstrous roar, as colossal as the sky itself, erupted in fury.

Jinwoo couldn’t help but scoff.

“Isn’t this just my inner world?”

And within his inner world…

Whish!

…reality returned to him. Despite Hyperion’s confidence, he failed to stop Jinwoo.

“Damn, what a blade… Well, it makes sense since it’s a magic sword.”

It was a bastard sword, approximately fifty inches long and suitable for use with either one or two hands. The blade, hilt, and grip were all perfectly black without any other colors added. Its exquisite balance and near-artistic appearance elicited admiration from anyone who beheld it.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whack!

Swinging the sword a few times produced a cool sound as it sliced through the air. It was unfortunate that there wasn’t a scabbard, but storing it in the inventory would suffice. As Jinwoo continued examining the weapon, he suddenly heard panicked voices.

[What is this? Where am I? What happened?]

“Ah, it seems that voices can be transmitted. Let’s mute…I need to adjust the time ratio. 1,000 times… It doesn’t work. Is 133 times the limit?”

With my chakra at the ninth stage, I was able to control my inner world with greater diversity and perfection.

‘Close your eyes for the inner world. Open them and reality kidnaps me to the inner world…’

It seemed like Hyperion thought he had escaped from the absolute master only to find himself trapped again. No matter how strong the mental power of an absolute master, they couldn’t match someone cultivating nine layers of chakra within the spiritual world.

“I have to check the socket first. Ah…this should also be an Ardenia item.”

I searched through my inventory and took out an item.

[Ahren’s Wand (Rare) +9]

It was a mage’s wand where the special effect ‘Soul Collect (Advanced)’ would be activated with 9 strengthening. I brought it to Hyperion.

Click.

There was a sound like something being inserted and the wand disappeared.

[Soul Collector (Advanced)], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty], [Empty]

”…Works.”

Item sockets. It was a system that allowed attributes to be applied by inserting lower items into sockets. In Blade & Magic, there were no higher items so they could be reused by putting them into sockets. This wouldn’t happen but if Hyperion was used as a socket for another item, one of the Zodiac Swords or Sword of Souls could potentially be slotted this way.

“If you choose wisely, it seems like you could create almost overpowered combinations…”

In Blade & Magic, items were balanced with the assumption that they would be socketed together. While powerful combinations were possible, there was no room for absurdly imbalanced ones! However, Ardenia’s item attributes, which required massive resources to activate through nine rounds of strengthening, operated differently.

The Sword God class attribute ‘Sword and Soul United’ isn’t called OP for nothing. If multiple primary weapon effects are combined…

Jinwoo paused mid-thought.

”…Huh?”

“What’s wrong? Oh, there’s a pack of wolves up ahead.”

He discreetly looked forward and spotted a group of gigantic wolves, each as large as small cars. Their fur resembled stone; these were Gigantic Wolves.

They were frozen, unable to run away from the landworm moving at 200 kilometers per hour on the ground.

“Let’s roughly go through them.”

[Massacre them?]

“Well, not that far. Leave any survivors alone.”

As I spoke, I manipulated the system UI to check the applied buffs…

…[Gold Overlapping], [Gold Overlapping], [Gold Overlapping]. [Soul Collector (Advanced)], [Soul Collector (Advanced)]…

Gold Overlapping was a special effect attached when legendary luck equipment was strengthened to +9. It had the function of doubling the drop rate for legendary items, making it valuable whenever special bosses were killed. Currently, all the clothes I wore, including my top, bottom, hat, gloves, and shoes, were legendary +9 luck items, so it was natural to have multiple instances of this buff.

However, the Soul Collector was different.

“Wow, really?” Jinwoo couldn’t help but marvel at it.

“It actually applies?”

[SWORD AND SOUL UNITED]

The attack power of equipped swords will be added to your base attack power. Additional effects of equipped swords will also apply accordingly. (Some effects may not apply.)

As the number one player on the Revenge Ranking, Sword God Madozhion chose Mythical weapons over Mythical skills or pets once he acquired his Sword God class. But what did he prioritize next?

Other types of Mythical weapons.

A Sword God’s strength is heavily influenced by their weapon. The effect of Sword and Soul United makes the sword as crucial as all other equipment combined! And among those effects, the most important one occurs when strengthened to level 9:

‘But five of them?’

Of course, Hyperion had the disadvantage of lacking attack power, but the situation with the buffs was different.

[Physical Coefficient: 12.4]

[Mana Coefficient: 14.6]

‘The coefficients are recognized as additional effects and applied simultaneously?’]

It was truly insane.

“Wow… If I fight Hyperion again, can’t I last for 10 minutes alone?”

With good attribute combinations, it might even be possible to last for 20 minutes. Furthermore, if I could find other mythical weapons to fill all five sockets…

This wasn’t a joke. The performance might rival that of the macrocosm-grade weapon, Transcendent Weapon.

[Aaargh…]

“Huh?” I paused at the sudden scream.

The voice quickly disappeared but it was clearly Hyperion’s.

I closed my eyes again.

[Come out! Come out! I will kill you. Kill you. Kill you. Kill you. Kill you!]

“Still full of energy.”

[You! You! This dirty…]

“Isolation.”

I separated the inner world to erase his figure. It was once an application that couldn’t be dreamed of, but now reaching the ninth floor made it as easy as breathing.

“Let’s see… Wow. He caused quite a stir.”

After a brief meditation, I realized that Hyperion had briefly occupied half of my chakra resources. In fact, no matter how robust a person might be, they couldn’t withstand the invasion of Hyperion, a transcendent magic sword into their inner world. Their control would instantly be seized and their inner world dominated!

However, with my inner world reaching the Unbounded Strata, it had become immensely vast and robust… rendering Hyperion powerless against it.

‘Wait, does that mean Hyperion is designed for chakra cultivators?’

Upon further thought, not at all. Although it was a sudden burst of power akin to a seizure, Hyperion managed to consume half of the Unbounded Strata’s chakra resources in an instant, breaking its silence restraint.

For a Transcendent chakra wielder, using this sword would require sealing away half, or possibly more, of their own chakra. Consequently, wielding Hyperion could diminish one’s strength significantly despite gaining such a powerful weapon.

‘But for me…it doesn’t matter.’

Thanks to the Chakrasphere, even when I was at the first or second stratum, I had abundant chakra reserves. Now, at the ninth stratum, consuming half barely makes a dent, less than 0.1% of my total resources.

“Let’s set aside Hyperion until it exhausts itself.”

Of course, I needed to charm him properly to use the epic attribute Sword of Souls but one epic attribute wasn’t important right now.

“What should I put?”

If I inserted multiple special effects like ‘Unstoppable Strength’, the power of my strike would be insane. If I used many special effects like ‘Battle Stance’ or ‘Battle Acceleration’, I wouldn’t lag behind when fighting against Transcendents. With numerous special effects such as ‘Diamond Body’ and ‘Wall of Lamentations’, I might even withstand a blow from strong mana.

While pondering this, I suddenly realized that my hands were shining. It wasn’t something new—it was always present because I equipped Brilliant Gloves of Luck +9 (Legendary) on both hands.

”…”

I looked at Hyperion.

”…”

I looked at the shining gloves. Then finally, all my sockets were filled:

“Log out.”

I exited to Earth.

Kwah-kwah-kwah!

Boom!

“Shoot! Keep shooting! We don’t know when it will respawn! Finish it now!”

“Treat Flower-nim’s wounds!”

“I can’t approach!”

Hearing this noisy scene, I got up from my seat. Thomas was surprised. “What, why are you already getting up? You need to rest for several days!”

“This isn’t the situation for that.”

It really wasn’t the right situation because…the Phantom Dragon Repli was still alive.

‘I…will catch him!’

In the end, Hyperion’s sockets ended up like this:

[Golden Overlapping], [Golden Overlapping], [Golden Overlapping], [Golden Overlapping], [Golden Overlapping].

Today, I would obtain more than 10 legendary items usable in reality.