Chapter 161 (1/2)

Evolution of Skill

When I came to my senses, the gods had already completely erased their presence.

And the time that stopped also regained its original speed, allowing it to flow normally.

I was baffled since I couldn’t grasp the situation for a moment, but soon the memories I didn’t experience were pieced together like puzzles.

I couldn’t help but be surprised as I went over it.

‘The god of time?!’

Indeed, when I came face to face with the god of life, it told me about an assumption wherein it must be due to the god of time that the first return from the far future and the countless repetition of life that followed was possible.

It also said that nobody had noticed, but its power was surely within me.

‘But it isn’t just the level of indwelled strength, is it?!’

I couldn’t even imagine that a god’s fragment had settled in my soul.

Furthermore…

‘What in the world was that conversation about!’

A conversation that would make theologians faint was vividly engraved in my memory.

It was because the god of time borrowed my brain and mouth for a while to talk.

I failed to remain conscious when it was controlling my body, but the memories stayed within my mind with the details intact as well.

‘Turning the Mana into divine force?’

The sacred scars left by ‘Igras-Sho’ the other day and the [Orb of Immortality] left by “Rom” weren’t taken away. Rather, they remained intact.

In addition to those… new seals were left behind by the gods.

According to their metaphor, they had dipped their ‘paint’ to dye the world with their colors.

I looked at the back of my hand, and there were four different emblems.

The memory of the gods left in my head explained the meanings.

‘This is the type of a seal that is usually stamped on the forehead of an incarnation.’

Each was a token handed down by different gods, but blood no longer flowed from the holy wound.

The bleeding was intended to reject other gods, but the scars seemed to have retracted such a temper since they’ve reached a conclusion wherein they cooperated with each other.

‘Even if so, seriously? They left four of these marks?!’

In a clockwise direction, There was a properly marked one, which was Igras-sho’s, and beside the insect-bite-like mark on my finger was Rom and Aden.

And the other one wasn’t left by the god of time.

‘It didn’t have enough strength left in it to do such allocation.’

It was someone else than ‘time.’

A shameless deity stealthily laid its cards on the table as soon as the agreement ended when it didn’t even join the conversation.

I looked at his statue.

‘The god of luck.’

Ramang-Schitre.

Even the god that once indirectly came in contact with me by presenting to me the [Random Card of Fate] had left its seal on the back of my hand.

With such marks, all but time, space, and mind of the seven gods had given me the qualification to be their representative. And they gave it to me without enslaving my soul for eternity.

Excluding the god that no longer had enough strength left since it had used too much of its power, the god that had been scattered after being divided, and the god that hadn’t been found yet since it went missing… It could be said that practically all of the seven gods that had enough extra strength left to intervene had stepped up, as explained by the god’s memory.

“Hmm? That’s weird. Why isn’t the ordeal starting?”

I heard the voice of the skeletal Sage, who murmured as if he found it strange.

I turned my head to face him and replied to his query.

“No, the ordeal is over.”

“What?”

There was no way for him to recognize what transpired while the time around us was frozen.

The Sage, who couldn’t understand what I just told him, seemed to confirm something through the authority he received from the system.

After a short while…

“Huh? You’re telling the truth!”

He then cringed as if he sensed a chill.

“By the way, I’ve been feeling such intense sacred power since a while ago. And its source is…”

The Sage’s expression froze in the middle of his sentence.

“!”

His bones clattered in shock as he stretched out his finger to point at the back of my hand.

“T-t-that is-!”

From that point on, I knew that I had to expect situations and reactions like that to continue wherever I went.

I had become a mortal that had received four different kinds of marks that only the gods’ incarnations or sergeants could gain.

With such symbols on my hand, even if I entered any of the four religious organizations that served the gods of my respective marks, I would be offered a seat higher than the position of the pope in there.

‘They’d still do that even though I’m not a proper incarnation.’

“I’m done with what I needed to do here. I’ll get going now.”

I came out of the temple, leaving the speechless Sage behind.

The receptionist devil that was still buried deep in boredom didn’t even bother to look at me.

Ring!

I checked the system message after I had gone outside the building.

QUEST COMPLETE!

– Quest Name: Skill Evolution

– Description: Pass the trials given by three or more gods.

– Reward: You can upgrade your unique skill by summoning the system at any moment!

The moment I read it, I expressed my desire to claim my reward immediately.

“I want to upgrade my unique skill.”

In an instant, my surroundings turned dark.

*

The place where I was summoned was similar to the altar where I first Awakened or where I often received the rewards from dungeons.

– Welcome, user.

In that place, there was a similar entity to the Ministry Spirit, which was in charge of me so far.

A female figure made up of Mana instead of organic matter was right in front of me.

However, I could tell that she was a completely different individual from the one I had met before.

She was definitely unlike the spirit that I conversed with while she was surrounded only by agent that was with me at that moment was floating next to larger and sophisticated shapes and structures made up of Mana.

‘Should I call that a machine made up of Mana? A device, maybe?’

It was an object that was hundreds of times larger than the Ministry Spirit’s body.

– Your name is… Mr. Seo Jin-Wook.

The spirit noticed my gaze and made a strange expression.

However, instead of making a fuss saying, ‘Do you see me?’ like the spirit I met then, she immediately turned her gaze back.

What that meant was clear.

‘I heard from the Ministry Spirit that the fact that I was the successor shouldn’t be kept as a secret. However, the successors don’t have any other choice but to be discovered by the spirit that can see the Mana when one Awakens.’

If so, all reincarnations would’ve failed to achieve their destiny.

But the Ministry Spirit also stated that that wasn’t the case.

‘The Spirit, a component of the system, does not yet have enough data on [The Successor’s Eyes] skill. There might also be another similar skill that’s limited to ‘the ability to see Mana.’

She spoke unenthusiastically, as she would be unable to guess what I was thinking.

– You have completed the quest. In accordance with that, you now have the right to upgrade your unique skill. Take this opportunity to perform your skill.

Staring at the screen, she muttered as if she was reading a script. She didn’t even bother to turn her head to look at me.

She had a much more fatigued expression than the spirit that I had come across a few times.

Did that mean she had been on duty for a longer time?

I wrapped up my thoughts and activated [Mana Drain].

As I did so…

Whooooong!

The huge Mana machine began to rotate with more complicated movements.