Chapter 17

Infinite Skill Copying with EX-Grade Interpretation Chapter 17

“Huh...?”

[The spirit is evolving.]

[The low-grade spirit has evolved into a mid-grade spirit.]

Evolving?

I couldn’t take my eyes off the message that appeared along with the spirit’s sudden behavior.

Was it because of the mana crystal?

True to the word evolution, the spirit began to change.

The tiny white spirit I knew, which had looked like nothing more than a little dot, changed into a yellow glow and grew to the size of a fist.

And that wasn’t all.

As though proving that absorbing the mana crystal had been no lie.

Sparks crackled around its body, displaying its power.

If that’s the case...

[Your connection with the spirit grows stronger.]

Huh?

At the same time, an intense sensation naturally flowed into me.

I felt power boiling up from within my body, while something powerful seemed to burrow into the center of my chest.

[Absorbing the mana of the mana crystal purified by the spirit.]

[The skill ‘Crude Mana (D+)’ changes to ‘Clean Mana (C).’]

[The skill ‘Spirit Arts (B)’ changes to ‘Spirit Arts (A).’]

[Clean Mana]

─Stores clean mana purified by a spirit within the body.

─Mana strengthens the body.

[Spirit Arts (A)]

─Allows you to use the element residing within your spirit.

─The element currently possessed by your spirit is lightning.

“Wow...”

“Don’t ‘wow’ me... Wh-what the hell is that? The mana crystal we just went through all that trouble processing... No, ha. What the hell!”

The craftsman’s son, who had been watching beside me, started making a huge fuss, apparently shocked that the mana crystal had disappeared.

‘I can use an element now? Mana strengthens my body?’

I didn’t even have time to explain because my head was spinning as I took stock of what I had gained.

Strength overflowed through my body.

More importantly, how was I supposed to use an element?

Was it like Yuri’s magic, where I shot it from my hand?

Or.

“Does the spirit fire it directly?”

─!!

─Nod, nod.

The round sphere bobbed rapidly up and down as though saying yes.

The spirit I had originally used only for searching and scouting could attack now...

It felt like I could create incomparably more variables than before.

Not only had I gained a proper ranged attack.

The number of things the spirit could do had increased, so naturally.

“Then...”

As a test, I sent the spirit outside the building and borrowed its vision again.

Originally, borrowing the spirit’s eyes was basically just sharing its field of vision.

But what about an evolved spirit?

As though answering my expectations, the vision I borrowed through the spirit...

─Crackle!

Hmm?

Electricity flowed from the body of the spirit floating high in the air, and its already-wide field of vision began expanding even further.

No, calling it wide wasn’t enough.

‘Thermal vision? No, this is a little different.’

I could faintly see the forms of people inside buildings or standing behind walls.

It was as though the entire surrounding area were being scanned.

‘This’ll be much more useful when chasing someone.’

Whether it was bright or dark.

No matter how messed up the buildings or terrain were.

The moment it pierced through everything with a magnetic field, all of that would become meaningless.

And within that vast field of vision, I saw something familiar.

‘Those guys are...’

What appeared within that near-omniscient vision were men wearing white suits.

They were wandering around the building I was in, taking up positions nearby.

They hid in the darkness between buildings and quietly waited.

As though waiting only for the darkness that would cover them to arrive.

Watching them, I wondered.

Why were they occupying this area?

Why were they waiting?

Why exactly.

That question soon focused on the one person wandering around near me.

“Damn. The workshop got filthy... When am I supposed to clean all this up?”

His father had died, but he hadn’t.

And he said he had seen the men in suits.

‘Eliminating a witness...’

Realizing that his fate was about to end with a full stop called death, what I had to do was simple.

“Damn... that took longer than I thought.”

“If you’re done, hurry up and get out... I’m going back to drinking.”

“Ah, can’t be helped. It’s late anyway, so I’ll stay the night. That’s fine, right?”

“Like hell it is. Hurry up and get...”

“Let’s see. Is there somewhere to sleep on the second floor... Bring me some blankets. You should treat a guest properly.”

“What? Who said you’re a guest...”

No matter what he said, I simply went up to the second floor and quietly settled in.

Don’t be too harsh on me. I’m trying to clean up the bad connection tied to you.

Of course, since it was also a bad connection tied to me, I suppose we were even.

___________

The room shown to me by the craftsman’s son, who introduced himself as Tome, was fairly spacious.

From outside, the house looked completely wrecked, yet the room where we could sleep was comfortable, making for a bizarre sight.

But apparently there weren’t many rooms like this, because we had to lay down two blankets and sleep in the same room.

‘They’re still waiting.’

Even though night had fallen, they didn’t move.

The men in suits simply smoked, white smoke hanging from their mouths, and quietly waited.

Then I could rest a little too.

As long as the spirit was watching this area, they wouldn’t be able to harm me first.

─!!

“They’re here.”

[Activating the skill ‘Spirit Arts.’]

Perhaps sensing danger, the spirit shone brightly and flew around me as I lay down.

“What is it now...? What’s going on?”

“Just a moment.”

The man woke from the intense light and complained for a moment.

Through the spirit’s vision, the men in suits wandering around the area began moving closer.

They had come right up to the building.

Apparently having decided it was time to act, they drew their blades and began approaching.

“Stay still.”

After saying that, I also drew my sword and quietly hid myself in the darkness.

[Using the skill ‘Shadow Step.’]

I slipped into the shadows and hid inside the workshop while making as little noise as possible.

The footsteps of the men who had infiltrated the workshop gradually drew closer.

“Ha, that little fuck... This is why we should’ve killed him that day, just like his old man.”

“Who knew those Blue Sky Guild bastards would arrive that quickly?”

“Let’s finish this fast and go back. What the fuck are we doing out here in the middle of the night?”

‘So I was right.’

Their purpose really was eliminating the witness.

No, that wasn’t all.

Was it the Blue Sky Guild...? Those guys seemed unbelievably incompetent.

All this was happening inside their guild territory, yet they weren’t taking any action.

No, maybe they had intended it.

‘Doesn’t matter.’

I simply watched them and placed my hand on the hilt of my sword.

If someone intends to harm you, strike first.

That was practically the first rule for surviving in this city.

Facing the bastards who had come back, I also measured their strength.

[Using Interpretation.]

[The targets are of a similar level.]

‘A similar level... This is doable.’

Seeing that there wasn’t much difference in level, I didn’t feel afraid.

Instead, I rapidly formulated a plan in my head.

How should I deal with opponents who had the numerical advantage?

Assassination?

That would only work once.

They hadn’t noticed me yet, but the instant I killed one of them, people of their level would quickly realize something was wrong.

If not that...

─!!

‘I should deal with them using the skills I just gained.’

If the spirit that had evolved after eating the mana crystal was involved, I felt like I could overcome their numerical advantage.

So I simply hid in the darkness and waited for my chance.

“Heeey~ We’re here!!”

“Boss, if you suddenly shout like that...”

“Whatever. We’re only killing one civilian who isn’t even a hunter.”

The men in suits were completely off guard.

I quietly took position behind them and...

“If you come out quickly, it won’t hurt...”

Now.

[Using the skill ‘Spirit Arts.’]

I gave the spirit an order while taking position behind one hunter.

One down first.

“Mmph!?”

─Stab.

I announced the beginning of the fight by driving my sword into the area near his spine and twisting it.

One down.

The instant I took one of them out, the atmosphere changed, and the expressions of the men in suits transformed.

The other two, around the same level as me, drew their weapons in an instant and rushed toward me.

The moment both of them raised their swords to thrust at me.

For a single instant, light surged.

─BOOOOM!!

“Ugh...!?”

“Ghk... fuuuck!”

Lightning erupted from the spirit’s body and swept over the two men, beginning to burn them where they stood.

A single bolt of lightning cooked their bodies and began incapacitating them.

I didn’t miss the opening and charged in.

[Using the skill ‘Perfect Acceleration (A).’]

─Slice.

In an instant, I cut the throat of the man in the suit directly in front of me and overturned the battle.

One left.

Just one more throat to cut!

“You fucking bastard!”

“Hup!”

─Clang!

Even though his body had been scorched by electricity, he apparently still had strength left, because he drew a longsword and charged at me.

I met the blade he swung wildly as though burning away his final bit of life, focusing on defense.

And waited.

Because I didn’t even need to create the opening myself.

─!!

“What the hell is—ugh!?!!”

─CRACKLE!!

Even without me giving an order, the spirit cleverly moved behind him and fired another bolt of lightning to help me fight.

Naturally, I wasn’t going to waste such a good opportunity.

─Slash!

“Ghk! Kgh... ugh.”

I looked down at the two men who could no longer make a sound after having their throats cut, then briefly stared at my hand.

‘I really have gotten strong.’

The fact that I had just cut down three people who were probably third-grade hunters all by myself surprised even me.

I really did get fucking strong fast.

Thinking back to when I had been a sickly scavenger getting pushed around by hunters, it was almost moving.

If I entered the Tower now, maybe I could even go beyond the twentieth floor.

That thought crossed my mind.

─Thud.

─Thump.

“You fucking bastards... Fuck. Fucking assholes. Die. Die!”

“...”

At some point, the sound of someone beating a person began nearby.

Tome, who had been hiding in the room, had crawled out at some point and was wildly stomping on the white-suited men whose throats had been cut.

I had nothing to say, so I simply watched.

Until he finished venting his anger.

“Haa... ha.”

“Feel any better?”

At my question, the man simply nodded, looking at least somewhat relieved.

Then that was enough.

There wasn’t anything in particular I could say to him, so I remained silent.

“Sorry. You got dragged into this because of me.”

“Not really. I’ve had a pretty long bad history with those bastards too.”

Who could’ve known?

I took out one loan shark, and somehow got deeply entangled with those lunatics, running into them over and over again.

But Tome apparently still felt uneasy, because he crouched down and held his head.

This probably wasn’t the end.

The immediate situation had been resolved, but it was still too early to rest easy.

“All right, then should we do some farming?”

“What?”

“Of course we should loot them. Scavenger bastards will come swarming later and steal everything anyway, so we should take it first.”

It was practically a rule of the back alleys.

Once someone was dead and gone from this world anyway, letting the living make good use of their ownerless belongings was a kind of courtesy.

Actually, forget courtesy. It was more like a habit ingrained in me because picking up this stuff increased my chances of survival.

“Ugh...”

“You just haven’t suffered enough. You have no idea how useful this is.”

I slowly searched through the blood-soaked white suits, reaching inside to see if there was anything useful.

“Potions... mine are better. Hmm, what’s this?”

Inside the clothes of the one who looked like the leader was a rolled-up piece of paper along with something resembling a ticket.

I unrolled the paper and briefly examined the writing.

A long string of sentences.

But there was something strange.

‘The words don’t connect properly.’

The words formed sentences, but the sentences had no meaning, so I quickly realized it.

The writing on this paper was composed in code.

Apparently they had pulled some cheap trick to maintain secrecy, but.

“Let’s see...”

Deciphering codes is what I’m best at.

[Using the ability ‘Interpretation.’]

[Interpreting the coded message.]

It didn’t even take long. Along with the illusion that the sentence before me was being rearranged, the correct words gradually began appearing.

[Make contact at Seat 11 of Cheonji Restaurant within Blue Sky Guild territory. Bring the item carefully so that it does not break.]

“A meeting... an item?”

I began to understand why they had remained here for so long despite causing trouble inside Blue Sky Guild territory.

It seemed their true objective had been to receive this item.

Apparently, they had come to kill Tome while they were at it.

‘What the hell were they trying to receive?’

I was curious, and the resentment I still held toward them began creeping back up.

We had such a long and ugly history now that I hated seeing them successfully accomplish anything.

And.

‘I’m curious how valuable that item is.’

If they were willing to send people along with written orders just for it, how good could it be?

A smile naturally formed on my face at the thought.

‘Should I... stir up some trouble?’