“Besides, this was a deal where I was at a loss, right?”
Betting one mythical item against three as equivalent compensation.
As soon as I proposed the reward, the system went into a frenzy saying the values didn’t match, but in the end, I chose it as a reward.
Such actions that don’t match the ‘price’ shouldn’t exist for the Celestial Race.
“I’m a human, not a celestial being.”
It was possible because I’m human.
[Hand?]
[Lily lost out…?]
[Huh]
[Lololololololol]
[Ah lol, anyway, I lost out]
[Daring to kidnap Sugarado?]
[Crossing the line]
[Having a legendary match equals four mythical items]
[4M’s siege war victory lol]
[4M = One PVP match]
[Pretty sweet lololol]
[Legend]
[For real lol]
[You probably lost some stats from the harvest, but it’s fine]
“Harvest?”
Now that I think about it, there was some sort of mark on my left shoulder, and I felt a little power slip away.
“It was so minuscule that I didn’t notice it.”
I checked the abilities of the Yellow Raider.
“When designated, it steals a portion of stats and has a probability of permanent theft upon attacking…”
Hmm.
“Not much.”
[?]
[?]
[No, it’s actually really good]
[???]
[What?]
[Ah lol, Lily is strong enough that stealing doesn’t mean much]
[How much stronger can you get by stealing weaklings’ powers]
[For real lol]
[Permanent theft only applies to players, so for Lily’s personality, it really doesn’t hold much meaning]
[It’s a ridiculously good ability though ;;]
[Steal boss stat would provide decent buffs]
Absorbing stats.
It might sound like a power that can be gained without cost, but to acquire the abilities built up by ‘others’, it demands a significant price.
Power that doesn’t originate wholly from oneself doesn’t fit right and tends to mess with the balance of magical power.
A typical example is the abomination born from the experimentation of the Demon Race, the Vampire.
Vampires absorb their opponent’s strength and magic through ‘blood’ and make it their own.
They possess the power to manipulate blood, so absorbing someone else’s isn’t hard for them, but if they absorb too much or if the opponent is too strong, it can backfire.
Moreover, there are blood types so resistant to absorption that it’s outright impossible; one of those is from the ‘Celestial Race’.
Their blood, imbued with holiness from birth, flows throughout their bodies.
Thus, the blood of Celestials is as good as holy water to vampires.
‘That’s why that kid was captured and sealed away.’
…Was that too many kids to mention?
Anyway, age doesn’t mean much for either Celestials or Vampires, so I decided to move past that for now.
Let’s just skip that for now.
There are two ways to fully accept someone else’s power.
One is if your resonance frequency is high with the opponent you’re trying to absorb.
The other is if you have sufficient ‘protective ability’ that fully accepts it, even if your resonance frequency isn’t high.
Here, the protective ability is the system, so the Grim Reaper must’ve absorbed things carelessly without much difficulty, but it’s not very useful for me.
I don’t move based on the system’s protection.
“In the end, it’s someone else’s stats, right? If it’s not mine, it doesn’t mean much.”
More than anything, all the lame ones get washed away by the ‘Holy’.
Using Holy for no reason doesn’t just turn weapons and clothes pure white for nothing.
Magical power, spirits, and all sorts of strength too.
In front of the Holy, nothing remains.
[? LOL]
[In other words, we don’t need the powers of the trash?]
[???: I don’t listen to commands from those weaker than me.]
[HA HA HA HA HA]
[For real, LOL]
[Honestly, it’s better to use a spear or a hammer than to swing around and steal stats bit by bit.]
[HA HA HA HA HA]
[This is Lily! HA HA]
[To think Big Lily is going around stealing stats… that’s something.]
[But it’s somewhat useful…]
“Ugh!”
Smash! Smash! Smash!
When I looked over, Sugarado was brutally hitting the poor ground where the Grim Reaper had disappeared.
It was quite rough, but since he was still physically underdeveloped, it wasn’t too threatening.
‘Sorry about that.’
Saving Sugarado was one thing, but I deliberately exposed him to danger while circling the territory to draw out the Grim Reaper who had the masterpiece.
Of course, I had engraved dozens of layers of shields and powers to ensure he wouldn’t even get a scratch, but it still must’ve been pretty scary for him.
‘Right now, the hatchling has the upper hand, though.’
“Stop. It’s already gone.”
“Ugh…”
I lifted Sugarado back up.
Suddenly feeling emotional, he teared up and burrowed deep into my arms.
As I patted his back, he seemed to calm down little by little.
[Wow]
[Me, me too! I want to be held too!]
[That little guy might not even be a dragon.]
[This is uncomfortable, cough…]
[Being held by Lily, now that’s a privilege.]
[So is Sugarado male or female?]
[HA HA HA HA HA]
[If he’s male, that’s crossing the line.]
[?]
[You dragon brats ;;]
[You crazy kids, he’s just a baby, what the heck HA HA HA!]
“Dragons are hermaphrodites.”
I quickly said as I flew outside.
…she still looks like a total rookie when it comes to controlling that power.
But hey, every dragon has to start somewhere, right?
“Ha! Take that!”
BAM!
A massive icy blast shoots out, completely obliterating a rock formation.
“Grrr… just wait until I get the hang of this!”
You could practically see the determination in her eyes—or was that just the reflection of her icy breath? Either way, she was eager to show off her newfound abilities.
“Now, let’s see if we can hunt down some of those rankers and maybe snag a few masterpieces while we’re at it!”
With a giggle, I pondered the absurdity of our situation.
“First a man, then a woman, now a dragon with a bit of an identity crisis?”
This world really is something else…
If there’s one thing I’m missing…
“Uuh?”
I lifted Sugarado’s left hand.
The purple nails exuding a chilling aura.
Just looking at those nails makes the scar that brushed past my cheek throb even now.
‘The Demon King’s power is nearly sealed.’
I expected it, but the pieces of the Demon King are more complex than I imagined.
Unlike the Celestial Race, who excel in physical abilities and weapon arts, the Demon Race specializes in ‘Magic’ and ‘Mysticism.’
At the top of their hierarchy, the Demon King is akin to a god of magic himself.
At the current level, just touching them is impossible…
‘…If it were the very end of the story.’
Although Sugarado’s replaced nails are composed of the Demon King’s powers, the will to attack and the Demon King himself have vanished.
In the past, I wouldn’t be able to undo it, but I could slightly twist the direction of the power by overlaying a new spell on the existing one.
Thanks to the overwhelming physicality and infinite recovery of the Holy Light, it’s possible, but dragons are different.
With a dragon’s body, one cannot utilize magic.
It merely swings.
“Still, swinging it does work well.”
“Uwuu?”
I poked my finger against the nail.
An intense aura flows, and blue particles bleed out.
Honestly, even this much is quite useful.
Limited to this ‘nail,’ Sugarado is the only creature in this world capable of cutting through everything.
“…?”
I hear a commotion.
Somewhere on the other side of the snowy mountain.
“Over there! That’s the summit!”
“I’m freezing to death. Hey Healer! Heal me up quickly!”
“I’m really gonna die of hypothermia…”
“Hurry up! We need to use that!”
“Why don’t they just go themselves? Why us…?”
“This is why stubborn noble NPCs are no good… They think they’re the masters or something!”
“They actually are their masters…”
Five men and women are shivering in the cold, diligently climbing up.
From their condition, they don’t seem to be a raid party, but rather like users stacking up ‘shares’…
‘Shall I watch for a bit?’
Since Sugarado has to linger in the snowy mountain and the broadcast is temporarily off.
As I briefly emitted light, Sugarado and I vanished from the snowy mountain.
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