REAPER SCANS
The Martial God Who Regressed to Level 2
[Translator – SCM]
[Proofreader – ilafy]
Chapter 278
'Fusing the dragon’s fire and red lightning…' His red lightning was a product of combining fire and lightning, to begin with, so what would happen if he used the dragon’s fire on top of that?
'Would it become dragon lightning? Anyway, how fascinating. It's the first time I've seen a message like this…' Even though he'd acquired many great stats like Martial Soul, Void, and Red Lightning, he'd never seen a message that said anything about stat fusion.
'Should I try it?' Just when he tried to fuse them…
['Dragon Flame' is of a lower stat value than 'Red Lightning'.]
[There is a high chance of the fusion failing.]
[Are you certain you wish to attempt fusing the stats?]
'Right now, the Dragon Flame stat is at 50… There's still definitely a big difference between it and Red Lightning.' Even if the Dragon Flame stat had devoured the Hellfire stat, 50 was far less than the Red Lightning stat, especially after what the Thunder God had given him. The possibility of failure was simply too high.
'The failure penalty isn't mentioned, but there's no need to take unnecessary risks.' That aside, he also had no experience in handling the Dragon Flame stat yet. Of course, if he wanted experience…
"Altkaizen, can you use that breath on me again?" JiHan asked.
“What…? Do you want to get hit by that again…? Didn't the First Breath hurt at all?”
"I did take some damage, but it was bearable."
The First Breath condensed the sun's heat and fired it at the target. Artmu had run away as soon as he felt how intense it was, so Altkaizen was sure that it would be too much for JiHan as well.
'If I hadn't become stronger after Planet Pioneer, I would have suffered severe damage,' JiHan thought. Thanks to the Life Energy and void power he’d absorbed from the ancient elf, he was strong enough to endure the First Breath without much issue.
Altkaizen, still in his fire dragon mode, gave JiHan a shocked look, his mouth agape. “You aren’t even related to the Dragon Lord. Did he support you in another way? Did he, perhaps, make you his kin…?”
"No,” JiHan said. “He just gave me the heart. Hey, you used the First Breath hoping I would burn, right?"
“Eh… ehem. Despite being a member of a lowest species, you managed to defeat me. I was confident you would be able to endure it! Also, didn't I say it would hurt you a bit?”
The flames had been more than just a bit painful, but JiHan decided to let it slide. "Let's forget about such details. Anyway, can you use that attack again?"
“No… It’s a blessing originally intended for the dragon who's going to become my offspring. It's something I can request from the Dragon Lord once every thousand years.”
"Once in a thousand years? That won't do."
[You've absorbed part of the 'Dragon Heart'.]
[Dragon Flame has increased by 10.]
[You've absorbed part of the 'Dragon Heart'.]
[Dragon Flame has increased by 10.]
Swoosh—
JiHan watched as the heart gradually shrank in size. He’d started to absorb it after he was hit by the First Breath and gained the Dragon Flame stat, so it’d already gone from being a fist-sized gem to being the size of his pinky finger.
'It finally reached 100.' He absorbed almost all of it, and his Dragon Flame stat reached 100. He looked at the last bit Altkaizen was trapped in.
“You absorbed it quite well…” the dragon said.
"Yes. It increased my Dragon Flame stat a lot."
“Dragon Flame…?! You, a human, acquired that power? As expected, you're an irregular being. Anyway, are you satisfied with the increase in stats?”
"No. It's still far from my target. If I absorb the last of the heart, I might be able to increase it by another 10…" JiHan gave the small gem an intense look.
Altkaizen hastily flapped his wings. “The look in your eyes is somewhat eerie… We made a promise, right? You said you'd release me if I told you how to absorb it.”
"That's right, but I was wondering if I should just consume you anyway. After all, I'm someone from a lowest species, so I'm not really bound by promises."
“H-how could you say such a thing…! Even if you're from a lowest species, you're their representative! Don't you have a sense of pride?!”
"Didn't you use the First Breath because you thought I would die?" JiHan asked.
“No…! I knew you would endure and survive!”
"Can you swear it on the dragon language?"
“Ugh…!” Altkaizen couldn’t say anything.
JiHan smirked. "As I thought, you believed I would die."
“I would be lying if I said I wasn't expecting it…”
"You're finally being honest."
“So, are you really going to absorb the remaining piece?”
"No. A person must keep their word. However, since you didn't properly warn me about the First Breath, just answer a few of my questions; then I'll let you go."
“Questions…! Ask as many as you like. I will answer them all, if possible.” Altkaizen brightened up.
"Is there another way to increase the Dragon Flame stat other than investing stat points?"
“Another method… Hmm… You could absorb Fire Energy from things sold in Battle Net’s market. It’s not very efficient in regards to GP, so investing stat points would be best.”
"Anything related to fire?"
“Only S-rank items or higher will be effective.”
An opportunity to use all the GP he'd been accumulating had arisen. JiHan nodded and then asked the next question. "Why are you guys weak against the World Tree's elves?"
“That's… Well, I guess it's okay to tell you since the Dragon Lord's sponsoring you. It's an order given to all dragons by the Dragon Lord. He warned us not to fight them.”
"He did? Why?"
“How would I know?”
The Dragon Lord and the World Tree's elves… Had they made some sort of deal?
"Is there no other reason?" JiHan asked.
“None. Why else would we deliberately lose to those doll-like beings?”
"I guess that makes sense."
“Then… are you done with the questions?”
"Yes. You said I should throw the gem onto your planet, right?"
“Y-yes!”
"How am I supposed to throw you that far?"
“W-will you really…?” It seemed like Altkaizen couldn't believe JiHan was actually going to release him.
"Shall I just consume you?" JiHan asked.
“N-no! I have a way! Could you use some fire here…?” As Altkaizen's figure burned, dozens of magic circles appeared in the air. Only half activated while glowing with a red light.
Fwoosh—!
"On these?" JiHan asked.
“Yes!”
JiHan used the Dragon Flame’s power on them, setting the magic circles alight.
Dozens of magic circles merged into one. Altkaizen's voice echoed from within, and then he disappeared along with the last piece of the gem. “Great! Then, I'm off! I will make sure to keep my promise!”
Flash—!
* * *
Reaper Scans
Translator - SCM
Proofreader - ilafy
Join our discord for updates on releases!!
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'How fast,' JiHan thought.
Worried that JiHan might change his mind, Altkaizen quickly returned to his planet.
Tsss—!
After he disappeared, Artmu came down from the sky. “Customer. As expected, you're unharmed. Did you release the dragon in the end?”
"Yes. A deal is a deal."
“That's a bit disappointing… I wanted to investigate him a bit more.” Artmu looked at JiHan's empty hands.
JiHan asked, "Do you have fire-attribute S-rank equipment?"
“Fire-attribute equipment? I sold all the useful ones. Why?”
"I need them to increase a stat." JiHan explained what Altkaizen had told him about how to increase the stat.
However, as a specialist regarding items, Artmu pointed something out. “Extracting the Fire Energy from items? Customer, I know you're wealthy, but if you increase your stats using such a method, you'll eventually go bankrupt.”
"Really?"
“Yes. Even if it's a fire-attribute S-rank item, the rank isn't judged solely based on the element's power. Within items of the same rank, it can greatly vary.”
"So it won't be very efficient, huh?"
“Yes. However, I can help you with that, customer.”
"How?"
“You can use our smithy's exclusive market search system.”
Ziing—!
Artmu displayed a screen in the air—a Battle Net window with more details than the market window JiHan used was displayed.
“The market only lists the ranks of items, and the descriptions are insufficient. I applied some of my species’s discerning abilities to the searching system. With this, you'll be able to buy fire-attribute items that are more efficient for your purposes than others.”
"Oh, that's nice. What about the cost?"
“The items after you absorb the Fire Energy… May I handle them? Most of them will just be chunks of metal anyway.”
"Okay. Let's do that." JiHan accepted Artmu's proposal.
“Good. Let's return!” Artmu opened a portal to the smithy.
Soon after…
“W-wait…” Artmu said. “How many more are you going to buy?”
"I still have a long way to go."
Flash! Flash—!
The huge smithy was soon full of items.
* * *
[You have absorbed the Fire Energy from the item…]
[Fire Energy has reached 150.]
'I can't seem to absorb more after hitting 150.' JiHan smacked his lips. First, it was S-rank items. Later on, SS-rank ones. Thanks to all the GP he'd been collecting, he was able to increase his stat to 150, but it seemed that going beyond that was impossible through items.
'After handling the stat for a while, I think that if the difference is just 20, I might be able to fuse it successfully.' He had been absorbing Fire Energy from Artmu's smithy as well. Thanks to that, he'd gotten used to the stat’s power and had a sense of when he’d be able to fuse it with the Red Lightning stat.
Whether it was back then when the stat was at 150 or when there was a difference of 50, the end result would probably be Red Lightning devouring Dragon Flame. He just needed them to be a bit closer so that they could interact without overpowering each other.
"Dear customer… Are you out of GP?" Artmu asked.
"I still have some GP left, but it seems like the stat won't increase with items anymore."
"I see… then are you going to return to your planet?" the dwarf asked as he looked around at all the powerless items in the smithy.
"Yes, I'm going to return for now. Open a portal for me."
"Okay. Then I'll… be cleaning these things up."
Flash—!
JiHan returned to the penthouse through the portal Artmu opened for him. 'Should I increase the remaining 30 with stat points?' He had a lot of stat points left over before, but most had gone into the Void stat, and the rest were a valuable resource.’ He debated increasing his Void stat instead.
Paf—!
The door to his room opened.
"Uncle!!” Sae-ah exclaimed as she hurriedly rushed into the room. “Are you back?!"
"What's wrong?"
"Uncle… this is bad!"
"What happened?"
"There are three abysses in North Korea now!"
"The abyss…?"
"Mom wants to know what you've done."
JiHan blinked in confusion. "I just came back after devouring fire."
"Uh… Mom says both other abysses must be dealt with before a master is assigned."
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