Contrary to Braham’s concerns—
‘It reminds me of how this all began.’
A smile lingered on Grid’s face. He showed no signs of hardship despite crossing the continent and fighting thousands of cultivators. He enjoyed learning about unfamiliar enemies and getting used to new skills and combat methods.
It brought back memories from when he first started playing Satisfy: the monsters living in front of the gates of the fortress city of Patrian; the pleasure gained from gradually winning more battles by understanding the attack power, HP, behaviors and patterns of those wearing rabbit masks came to mind.
“How vicious were those monsters’ ambushes?” Grid muttered to himself.
“A rabbit attacked Grid?”
Randy, who joined Grid as he savored his memories, tilted her head. She had lived in the mountains for many years. She often hung out with birds, rabbits, squirrels, deer, foxes, and other animals, but she rarely saw them attack humans first.
‘Was the rabbit a monster that seemed polite before unexpectedly attacking…?’
Grid was taken aback by the unexpected criticism and reflected on his memories. Since becoming an Absolute, his cognitive skills became a lot sharper and his ability to retain memories also improved by a lot.
His fights with the rabbit came to mind. He was very embarrassed…
He would forever remember rabbits as fierce and persistent monsters. Now that he remembered everything clearly, that creature wasn’t a monster. It was just a cute little rabbit. When people attacked it, it simply fought back with all its might to protect itself.
However, Grid was too embarrassed to grit his teeth and admit his mistake.
“…Don’t think of Patrian’s rabbits as ordinary rabbits. They are much better at hiding and ambushing than most monsters.”
Randy nodded and smiled naively. “Yes, they’re amazing! They’re completely different from ordinary rabbits that are small, cute, and innocent!”
Noe glanced at Grid, who looked rather remorseful. “If they were that dangerous,” Noe muttered, “There would be a separate rabbit suppression team deployed in Patrian…”
“Noe, if you’re done, hurry up and read the next book.”
“I understand, nyang…”
Grid didn’t waste time, not even when he was traveling. As he practiced Profound Martial Technique, as well as Ten Thousand Wheels One Thousand Wings Technique, he also enhanced Randy’s combat skills and learned from Noe what types of mystical arts books he possessed.
That’s right.
Since he filled in his two technique slots, it was time to fill in the mystical arts slots.
Now that he leveled up both Profound Martial Technique and Ten Thousand Wheels One Thousand Wings Technique and his total amount of spiritual energy exceeded 200,000, his Warrior realm had evolved into Warrior (late stage).
There were a total of sixteen mystical arts that Grid could learn. Excluding the previously learned Golden Soul Technique and Memory Searching Technique, there were fourteen slots left.
‘If I was to use cultivation terms, then I would be in the late stage qi refining realm right now.’
In other words, it was pretty shabby. Still, he could learn sixteen skills?
Considering the cultivator’s characteristic of rapidly becoming stronger every time their realm increased, he assumed there would be around a hundred skill slots for the cultivators in the foundation building and core formation realms.
Cultivators had an overwhelming advantage over players. In fact, it was convenient to recognize them as a higher species since their lifespan was way longer than human’s.
Noe was disgusted as he finished organizing the books. “There are still 142 books left, nyang…”
Grid had obtained plenty of loot after destroying dozens of Full Moon Fortresses. The total number of techniques and mystical arts books alone exceeded five hundred. Noe had read around 75% of them. The smell of paper was enough to make him vomit now.
However, the reason he read the books without any major complaints was…
[Your pet ‘Noe’ has learned the ‘Yuri Clan’s Wind Escape Arts.’]
Noe also got something out of this process. Even before the word quest ‘Stop the Erosion Ritual’ appeared, Noe’s was similar to Grid. He had learned a technique and condensed a spiritual root. Noe had mastered a technique that was very suitable for him.
Just as Profound Martial Technique was a technique that got better by continuously training it, the technique that Noe learned got stronger by absorbing the spiritual energy of cultivators. This meant that destroying Full Moon Fortresses helped him a lot.
Plus, Noe had learned more than ten techniques. Grid was puzzled. How did a demonic beast learn man-made techniques and mystical arts?
The techniques and mystical arts books that Noe studied from were all made of unique materials. The content wasn’t written on paper, but on animal skins or scales. Above all, the characters were unfamiliar. They were hieroglyphs reminiscent of ancient characters.
After questioning a few cultivators using the Golden Soul Technique, Grid learned that these books had been written by demon cultivators, not humans. Surprisingly, demon cultivators were considered monsters. Monsters who were as intelligent as humans could become cultivators.
‘Indeed… There is no way there wouldn’t be monsters like Noe or dragons in the cultivation world.’
“Nyahaha! How fast am I, nyang?!”
Noe laughed because he was excited from learning a new skill. Randy looked envious as Noe rushed far ahead using wind currents. She was flying because the floating God Hand was holding onto the back of her head, but couldn’t catch up with Noe…
‘By the way, why is it holding her by the back of her head?’
Grid belatedly realized that this sight could cause others to misunderstand and called the God Hand to his side. He took Randy into his arms and said, “Randy, I know you want to learn the techniques and mystical arts quickly, but please be patient.”
“Yes, I know I can only do that after I get my body. I’ll brag to Noe once that happens.”
In order to transplant Randy into the forged body, the doppelganger’s core needed to be intact. If Randy learned some techniques and condensed a spiritual root before that, unexpected things might happen.
Grid patted Randy’s head, redistributed his stat points to Agility, and quickened his pace. A minute later, Grid finally caught up with Noe, who was exhausted.
It was surprising. Even if he didn’t use Shunpo, he didn’t think that Noe would be faster than him after putting all his points into Agility.
“The Yuri Clan’s Wind Escape Arts? Aren’t you too fast with this technique?”
“Fast… Gasp, what are you, nyang… Gasp, can’t breathe properly… Gasp, have to rest… Ugh… I’m going to die, ong…”
“The technique would be too OP if you achieved this speed while still retaining good endurance. But it’s a perfect technique to use if you need to run away in an emergency.”
Grid’s expression darkened a bit as he fed a mana potion to Noe. He realized it would be quite troublesome to meet a cultivator who could use the Yuri Clan’s Wind Blade Arts.
‘Well… I won’t meet a demon cultivator, so there is no need to worry about it.’
He’d only encountered human cultivators after the update. People fought cultivators numerous times every day, so the fact that there were no sightings of demon cultivators meant that there weren’t that many of them.
[A new Absolute has been born.]
A world message appeared, stating that Braham had become an Absolute.
“Finally…!”
Grid was overjoyed. He hugged Randy and Noe, cheering.
How worried had he felt when he saw that Braham had not been able to become an Absolute despite everything he had accomplished?
If only Braham didn’t troll so much…
Could it be that his trolling had undermined his achievements? Had it not been for such ridiculous doubts, Grid would’ve protested against the S.A Group in earnest. Wasn’t this a bug? Unless this was a bug, why were they keeping Braham from becoming an Absolute?
…But he was glad everything had worked out in the end.
Randy, who was in Grid’s arms, looked up with wide eyes and smiled. “Grid loves his friends.”
Noe, who was still having trouble breathing, struggled to regain his breath. However, Grid didn’t care, and hugged the two children tighter.
“I wish you all the best.”
“Put me down… Ughhh…”
It wasn’t until Noe’s eyes rolled back that Grid calmed down.
“Now you can just sit still and read your books.”
“You don’t even tell me to rest, nyang! Am I your servant, nyang?! Am I?” Noe shouted.
Grid was taken aback. “No… You were the one flying around for no reason. Why are you scolding me…?”
They heard an unfamiliar voice. “I sensed the presence of the Yuri clan and came to see what was going on, but there are no Yuri clan members here. Instead, I see an evil human tormenting a young child.”
Grid was already on the move. He adjusted his stats to the golden ratio, pulled out Defying the Natural Order, and swung it horizontally.
Shockwaves swept through the clouds in the area. Sparks appeared when the sword collided with a mace.
Grid was wary of this strange phenomena and activated Multiple Weakening Barriers. Hundreds of flowers bloomed on the indigo barrier. Half of the flowers sprouted outside the barrier, while the other half made their way inside.
A brilliant light flashed in Grid’s eyes as he recognized the mystical art that rendered shields useless. ‘This is a mystical art designed to kill cultivators.’
Before he knew it, the flowers that covered the indigo barrier exploded. They applied great pressure and Grid couldn’t move anymore, while the flowers that exploded inside should have directly harmed Grid.
However, Grid was fine. Multiple Weakening Barriers was a ten layered protective shield. The explosion created by the flowers that made it inside the barrier didn’t reach Grid.
“Hmm…? Do you know who I am? What you’re using is a protective art designed specifically to counter me.”
The moment he activated Profound Martial Technique, Grid saw the demon cultivator. He was a large white deer. However, he was standing on two feet like a human, his back upright.
His torso was thicker and broader than Grid, who was wearing armor, his shoulders were wider, and his front feet looked exactly like human arms.
Grid’s hands were starting to feel numb as he gripped Defying the Natural Order. ‘He’s very powerful.’
“Where did you even come from?” he asked. “There was no information about any sightings of demon cultivators.”
“As the human cultivators were brought into this world, some of us also made it here. However, we have no interest in the society of mortals, so we do not want to get involved with you.”
“You guys are a million times better than those who openly want to harm people.”
Grid’s eyes, which were as fierce as a bird of prey, relaxed somewhat. He didn’t feel the need to be hostile toward demon cultivators since they never harmed humans.
“This child is my friend,” Grid said as he patted Noe’s back. “Don’t misunderstand. Shall we talk? I have a lot of questions I want to ask you.”
Noe’s cheeks were puffy. He blew out air and rubbed his face against Grid’s chest. Anyone could tell that they were good friends.
The deer man chuckled. “The demon clan doesn’t deal with unqualified people. If you want to talk to me, prove your skills.”
“Alright.”
There was no reason for Grid to avoid a fight. He took a stance, ready for a duel.
The deer man warned him, “The thing you rely on the most is the ten-layered protective shield, but that won’t work against me again. So don’t regret using that, and play fairly.”
“Then do you want to play Rock Paper Scissors?”
“Simpler than that. Let’s use the same mystical art to compete with each other. No magic or swordsmanship. Just mystical arts.”
Just because the deer man didn’t interact with humans that didn’t mean he was clueless. The deer man understood the concept of magic by observing the humans of this world.
‘This bastard…?’
A rule that made it so they could only use mystical arts… Grid was only in the qi refining realm, so he was at a disadvantage. There was no way the deer man didn’t know this.
Grid realized that the deer man in front of him was a jerk.
“Don’t fall for it,” whispered Noe.
Noe’s demonic energy spiked up, showing that he was ready to attack the deer man right away.
“Taking into account that you’re not so strong given your cultivation realm, I will give you the choice of which mystical art to use. But if you are afraid, you can give up,” the deer man suggested.
At first glance, this suggestion seemed kind, but it was actually a clear provocation. Of course, this provocation didn’t work on Grid. Noe believed that Grid would naturally reject this approach.
Surprisingly, Grid nodded.
“Are you an idiot, nyang?” Noe asked, bewildered.
Grid ignored him and offered a condition for this fight.
“I accept your suggestion. However, why don’t we cast the Golden Soul Technique on each other to prevent us from breaking the rules?”
A big smile appeared on the deer man’s face. “Fine by me.”