Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 76
Chapter 76: Episode 20. The World Tree (5)
Blood Awakening?
I’d never heard of this phrase before.
It was a result of a reaction, which meant that it hadn’t existed before.
Also, there was a warning message, so it wasn’t something I could ignore or take lightly.
Some sort of problem had occurred while I selected Krithli to transform into the Master Guardian.
I looked away to see Krithli.
Rainbow-colored light was making a cocoon shape and covering Krithli… The cocoon was swelling and shrinking repeatedly. It looked like something serious was going to happen.
I always kept my eyes on abnormal phenomenons. It wasn’t a good idea to touch it in case it caused something else to happen. It seemed like simply waiting for the result would be the best idea.
Whoosh!
A strong wind blew by. It seemed like an intense fight was going on in the cocoon. There was no way to see or understand what was exactly going on, but it was clear that three different Manas were fighting each other.
After some time, the three Manas started to find their own place and shape slowly. Soon, Krithli’s body absorbed the bright light.
[Krithli’s transformation as the Master Guardian is complete.]
[Blood Awakening created the skill ‘the Queen of Sun and Moon.’]
Bam!
Krithli fell down to the ground.
Her Strength wasn’t enough to handle the intense transformation.
I approached her to hold her in my arms and activated my Mind’s Eye.
Name: Krithli
Occupation: Master Guardian (All Abilities+5)
Title:
*Blood descendent of The Real Magic Dragon Ahojin (Epic, Intelligence Mana+6)
*Protected by the Moon (Ex U, Mana+8)
Abilities:
Power 37 (+5), Intelligence 94 (+11)
Speed 41 (+5), Strength 39 (+5), Mana 66 (+23)
Potential (277+49/484)
Others: Blood descendent of the Real Magic Dragon Ahojin and the Dark Elf Higher Shila. Impossible to predict the limit of its growth.
Skills: Massive Necromance (U), Creating the Undead (Ex U), the Queen of Sun and Moon (Epic)
Items in use: Death Cane (Ex U, Set, Mana+4)
[Comparison]
Power 26, Intelligence 100, Speed 28, Strength 32, Mana 73, Potential (235+24/478)
Power 42, Intelligence 105, Speed 46, Strength 44, Mana 89, Potential (277+49/484)
“…Crazy,” I said without knowing I was saying it.
It was a natural thing to say, though. Becoming the Master Guardian gave Krithli a crazy level in her additional abilities. Forty-nine. They were above even my own abilities. She improved her abilities a lot after she was mine, so with this growth rate, I thought she would surpass Krithra soon.
Her Potential had increased as well, from 478 to 484! It wasn’t much, but it was clearly what we called overcoming limits. I had never heard of a monster who wasn’t a devil passing that limit until now.
Her Necromance (R) skill became special as well. The name of the skill became ‘Massive Necromance (U),’ probably because she was controlling so many dead bodies. Her Creating Undead skill was also upgraded, and there was a new skill that she received as well, an Epic-level skill.
This was one of the measures used to evaluate top-notch monsters.
It wasn’t a necessary skill, but the real top-notch monsters all had their own Epic-level skills.
‘I can’t believe this all happened in just a year.’
Her growth was still in progress. Year after year, she would become stronger. Krithli had the talent to become the top monster among many. Humans couldn’t even dream of reaching Krithli’s level.
It was a great thing to have an outstanding monster under me, but if she was too strong, I had to think twice.
‘She has skills now… Was it a mistake to choose her to become the Master Guardian?’
Krithli came to me through the Auction of the Devildom. We had done a ritual so her loyalty was guaranteed, but… that was only in the present. Krithli had high Potential that could surpass my own.
I wasn’t thinking about the numbers shown on the status window, but I was able to see that something deeper, something very hard to define was inside her.
I hadn’t expected her to receive an Epic-level skill. Her growth was incredible. It almost felt like I had taught her how to walk and she started to fly right away.
And I was able to sense this was not everything she could show me.
She was a very strong variable.
Power changed everything, always. She had been the weakest until now, but once she had absolute power, things would change.
It was possible that she would plan her own future… That’s what I had seen so many times in my former life.
Usually, a monster couldn’t disobey their Dungeon Master. Krithli had exceptional Intelligence that I had never seen before. Intelligence was one of the unknown abilities. In the very near future, it was possible that she would find a glitch in the Dark Lord’s system and perform some kind of a miracle to change things.
Sincerity? Loyalty? Those were beautiful words, but I had rarely seen those words kept. Usually, the weak loved to use these flowery words to stay alive, but as soon as they gained any power, they forgot about their past words and acted ruthlessly.
It was my personal opinion according to my experiences… But I had to observe thoroughly to see if Krithli would be like the majority.
Thoughts inspired other thoughts, and eventually, I couldn’t quiet my brain.
But then, I suddenly realized. ‘I’m scared?’
Huh! I had to exhale.
It was just one new variable. There was no real reason to overthink it and be concerned about things that hadn’t even happened yet, so why was I doing this?
Soon, I was able to learn the answer.
‘I don’t know Krithli that well.’
When I faced the variable of inventory changes at the Auction of the Devildom, that hadn’t agitated me, because I had experienced the Fairy of Darkness so many times in my former life. They usually took actions for special reasons, and I knew those actions wouldn’t harm me in the end.
However, I hadn’t had Krithli in my former life, so it was impossible to define her in any way.
I couldn’t trust her fully, either.
I was just proud to have such a monster. She was no more special to me than a puppet that I had full control over, but this variable shocked me as if I had been burned by fire.
I held Krithli in my arms and said seriously, “I will… watch you.”
I couldn’t change what had already happened. Above all, I decided to walk a different line in this life.
My experiences in my former life could have been one of the measures I used to understand the world, but was not the truth. The fact that I’d never seen it didn’t mean that it didn’t exist. Just because I couldn’t control a variable didn’t mean coming back to life was meaningless.
‘A strong variable. I should become even stronger so that I can neutralize it.’ I nodded.
That was a very simple yet clear answer.
Krithli had Potential that could surpass mine, but that would only be possible if I stayed stagnant and my abilities remained the same. Having her next to me would motivate me to become stronger and remind me that it could be a positive thing for my own development.
‘And I am kind of curious whether she can break my prejudices from my experiences in my former life as well.’
When people were in power, they changed. They always did.
What about Krithli? This was massive power that she received from abnormal circumstances. When she became stronger later, would she keep showing me the loyalty that she had shown me until now?
Pat. I tapped sleeping Krithli’s cheek lightly and started moving.
The Queen of Sun and Moon was a highly offensive skill.
When she was the sun, she could collect the light to bomb enemies from far away, while when she was the moon, she could freeze everything on the ground.
It was a skill of mass destruction just like Griffin’s Fire and Lightning.
Anyway, after the transformation, Krithli passionately extracted Mana. She slept for only a few hours to study the book of skills that I gave her. She was an impressively fast learner, probably due to her Intelligence points.
It didn’t take long to fix the Earth Dragon’s dead body.
The purified blood that Krithli collected and the Pure Mana from the Earth Dragon was a perfect ratio of combination to give us the ‘Essence of Mana.’
The experiment took some time. Krithli often came to me and asked me to combine the ingredients, but we failed a number of times. Sometimes, the poor ratio created an explosion or the Mana evaporated.
No matter what, Krithli didn’t give up and perfected the ratio every day. Finally, on the 37th attempt, the ‘Highly-concentrated Essence of Mana’ was created.
“I don’t think there are any curses on it.”
I looked at the thumbnail-sized crystal. The color was much better than the ones we had created before, and it was bigger as well. There was no word such as cursed or pure attached to it, but it was a satisfactory result.
“…Was the combination completed properly?” Krithli looked at me nervously.
She looked pale, and her skin was rough because she was pumping out a massive amount of blood.
There wasn’t much Mana left in the Earth Dragon’s dead body. Usually, Krithli was a very calm creature, but this time, she seemed a bit nervous.
“The combination is impeccable. Now, we need to check if this will sprout the Seed of the World Tree.”
“I will bring the seed.”
I shook my head. “No, let’s go together.”
I had left the seed in the hopes that the Statue of the Goddess of Prosperity would have a positive effect on it, but now that we had the Essence of Mana, I couldn’t wait to see the result.
I headed to the 15th floor with Krithli. When we reached the middle of the forest, the sprouted World Tree was already as tall as a fully-grown tree.
Around the tree, the Dark Elves were practicing their rituals.
When I arrived, they stopped their rituals, and Krithli walked between them to dig up the seed and bring it to me.
“…Here it is, Master.”
However, Krithli looked concerned when she was handing me the seed, like she was very, very nervous about it.
I told her while laughing lightly, “Don’t worry. Even if this doesn’t work, it isn’t your fault.”
“But…”
“I order you not to worry. I decided to combine it with the crystal. If something goes wrong, that would be due to my misjudgment. And isn’t there a chance that it won’t fail?” My voice was firm.
Krithli tried her best to agree with me. She still looked uncertain and nervous, but she took a few deep breaths and looked a bit more relaxed. She was trying her best to ignore her nerves and follow my lead.
‘Then…’ There was no reason to wait or waste time.
I picked up the crystal and the seed to activate the Combination of Everything skill.
Soon, a message window popped up.
[Do you want to combine the highly-concentrated Essence of Mana and the Seed of the World Tree?]
I was able to choose between ‘accept’ and ‘refuse.’
I didn’t have to think twice before clicking accept.
The two ingredients rose and started to combine.
They kept disassembling and assembling over and over again before creating some sort of shape.
This was something I had seen many times before, but this time, it felt different. I had only one Seed of the World Tree left. I didn’t know when my next chance to try this would be.
Krithli and all the other Dark Elves were holding their breath while watching it.
After a minute…
[Highly-concentrated Essence of Mana and the Seed of the World Tree have been combined.]
[Combination was successful. ‘The Sprouted Seed of World Tree’ is complete!]
Nothing had worked on the Seed of the World Tree, including rituals and blessings, but now, there was a sprout. It had stronger energy of life than the ones we had planted before. The little sprout looked like it was the symbol of liveliness.
I smiled as if I wanted Krithli to see me smile.
“Look. I was right.”
“Ahaha. I trusted you, my Dungeon Master…”
Slam!
Krithli fell down on the ground again. She became relaxed, and her body forced her to fall into a deep sleep.
It was natural, because she hadn’t slept and was pumping out her blood for a while.
She looked exhausted, but her face showed a mild smile.