Chapter 620 (2/2)

Carefully, Silo produced a small seashell case from his interspatial pouch. With trembling hands, he opened the case. A ring sat there, a small white gold band with a jet black stone. Shivering, Silo reached down and wrapped his fingers around it.

There was a second of disorientation, and then he felt something slam into his psyche.

Congratulations! Your Skill Corruption Resistance has become Level 49!

Congratulations! You have reached Level 31! +4 Stats distributed between Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Focus, +5 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Physical Stat. +18 Health, +6 Mana, +13 Stamina. Your Skill Level for Blighted Slash has mutated to Level 54! Your Skill Level for Forsaken Thrust has mutated to Level 62!

Congratulations! You have reached Level 32! +4 Stats distributed between Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Focus, +5 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Physical Stat. +18 Health, +6 Mana, +13 Stamina. Your Skill Level for Sadistic Violence Mastery has mutated to Level 31! Your Skill Level for Forsaken Thrust has mutated to Level 68!

Congratulations! You have reached Level 33! +4 Stats distributed between Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Focus, +5 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Physical Stat. +18 Health, +6 Mana, +13 Stamina. Your Skill Level for Corrupted Physique has mutated to Level 80!

Congratulations! You have reached Level 34! +4 Stats distributed between Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Focus, +5 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Physical Stat. +18 Health, +6 Mana, +13 Stamina. Your Skill Level for Corrupted Physique has mutated to Level 82! Your Skill Level for Blighted Slash has mutated to Level 61!

Congratulations! You have reached Level 35! +4 Stats distributed between Endurance, Strength, Agility, and Focus, +5 Free Stats! +1 Stat to a Physical Stat. +18 Health, +6 Mana, +13 Stamina. Your Skill Level for Blighted Slash has mutated to Level 65! Your Skill Level for Weight of the Rotten Hero has mutated to Level 19!

Finally, the sense of sickness overwhelmed Silo’s resistance and his hand sprang open. The ring fell to the wooden ground with a thunk. He tried to move quickly, but Silo couldn’t grab the bucket and pull it over fast enough; some of his vomit spilled over the edges and slopped to the ground near the ring.

All the while, that jet black stone drew the eye, sublime and twisted.

Shuddering, Silo focused on light. Pure, clean, healing light. He thought about his Skills Brilliant Advance and Shining Strike. It was… so hard to remember what each light looked like, what each felt like. It seemed like every time he relied on the stone, his light was driven farther away and he had to work harder to bring it back.

But his uncles were adamant. He must hide this treasure. If Silo was slowly corrupted by its influence, imagine how a lesser man would be swayed by it. Perhaps they wouldn’t even be able to cope.

After barely managing to clean up his sick, Silo slumped onto the cot and felt sleep calling him. But he ripped into his lip with his teeth, barely managing to keep him awake. Groggy and still trembling, he used a small piece of cloth to pick the ring off the ground and put it back in the seashell case. Only when the case was safely stored within his interspatial pouch was he able to relax.

Taking deep gulping breaths, Silo distributed his stats while staring up at the dark wood of the ceiling. It was just a good thing that he didn’t break into a new tens digit in Level: the worst part of the process was gaining new Skills. Every time it happened, he felt something break in his old Class.

The Illuminating Spear.

Could it really be called that any longer…?

Silo was barely managing to maintain an image strong enough to be called an Adept with his light images. A sudden thought struck him. He rolled over and pressed his nose to the ground.

Perhaps… perhaps Althumber was right. He was a fraud. After all, it was not his own Class that had given him the power to defeat Althumber.

He had relied one of his corrupted Skills. And when he had used it…

People had praised him, stating that he was just a hair away from becoming a Pontiff, able to manipulate reality solely through the exercise of his images. It was… impossible. Why were his images so strong, without him every working on refining them?

The answer was obviously that the images were within the ring already, and Silo was absorbing part of it. A brief check showed that his Heretic Path had risen to Heretic Path XXIX. Another Judgement would come soon. He closed his eyes.

There were so many people to protect. So many enemies around him. So many hangers-on who needed him… And he had to manage everything alone. Without him, this world would perish.