Monster Soul Online Chapter 187: Hidden Gifts

“Hello, Mister Lomyok. Did you die too? I never thought that dying was that annoying; I had to stay in an empty room for two whole hours. It's good that it didn't take longer.”

Lomyok gave Sila none of his attention. He blankly stared at his system window. His handsome face was pale.

“W-What happened? Eight of my skills are gone. All of my money is gone. Even my White Wyvern Clothing is nowhere to be seen. Eh? My level fell to Level 1 Squire Rank?! Oh! Is God this jealous of my beauty? Hmm... what is this? Sloth skill? How did I get it? More importantly, why don't I remember anything? How did I die?”

Sila just noticed that Lomyok was almost naked. All he had on his body were white underpants with a foldable fan hanging from them. Lomyok didn't seem to mind that though. Instead Sila was the one who panicked and immediately checked his body, fearing that he might be half-naked too.

Once he realised that he wasn't, he let out a sigh of relief. He then took a moment to inspect what he was wearing; dark grey wuxia clothing with bell sleeves going all the way down his arms. The outfit as a whole had gold lines embroidered all around. If he could see his back, he would see a large circle with four smaller circles within.

Regarding the four inner circles, the one in the middle was surrounded by three others in an upside-down triangular manner. The middle circle showed an illustration of a red and gold crown with a grin below it. The left circle showed a black egg that glowed green. The right showed a metal fist with electric circuits behind it. As for the last circle on the bottom, it was empty.

“That's a relief. I thought I would be half-naked. Oh? My right arm is back.”

Sila looked at his original human right arm. Thanks to the revival system, the missing arm had regenerated.

While Sila was doing all of this, Lomyok was still causing a fuss and only got louder. “AH! My most important skill is gone! NOOO! What should I do now?”

Sila asked, “What skill is gone, Mister Lomyok? Do you mean one of the Qi of Little Divine Beings?”

Lomyok frowned and replied, “Qi of Little Fish is gone too, but that isn't as important as this skill.”

Sila was interested. “Even more important than Qi of Little Fish? May I ask what skill it is?”

“It's a special skill, Scar Remover. Do you know how many hundreds or thousands of Cosmetic Random Boxes I had to purchase in order to acquire that?” Lomyok asked while gritting his teeth. His eyes became watery. It seemed he was really sad about losing the skill.

For the record, a Cosmetic Random Box was an item popular among female players. The price was cheap at just 1,000 silver. Once opened, it would randomly give the player one piece of cosmetic product ranging from the very cheap ones to expensive ones, or a scroll for learning a non-combat skill. Female players tend to purchase it in bulk to test their luck, aiming for a valuable, top-brand cosmetic set. Meanwhile, since they didn't want to spend their money on buying expensive make-up, male players tend to purchase and give it to their girlfriends as a gift to let them enjoy opening it themselves.

Scar Remover was a skill that most female players sought, even though it wasn't useful in fights at all. In Monster Soul, if players superficially healed their wounds (through methods like drinking potions), the wound would leave a scar behind. If the wound was fatal and lead to death, there would be no mark left behind after the player has revived though. Some male players might want to have a cool scar on their bodies. However, for female players, a scar was their unforgivable nemesis. By possessing this passive skill, no matter how careless and superficial they were at healing their wounds, a scar wouldn't ever appear on their skin.

Sila didn't know how to help, though he tried his best to suggest a solution. “Um... the Victorious Wolves Sect has a lot of kind members. Maybe they can help you.”

“Yeah, you're probably right, I need to ask them what happened anyway. Maybe they can tell me why I have no recollection of what happened before I died.”

As he finished speaking, Lomyok advanced to where the gathering party was held with only his underpants and the foldable fan. Many players along the way kept pointing at him.

Sila couldn't help but admire Lomyok's courage that transcended ordinary people.

“I suppose I should visit the mansion first before going to the party.”

Sila activated the invitation card and teleported himself to the beautiful mansion. No one was there. It seemed they had all returned to the party, seeing as how two hours had passed.

“Well, I better study my new skills. Let's see...”

Sila opened his system window and checked his newly acquired skills.

(S) Omniscient Evil God Qi - Level 0

Lucifer's special qi. Its true might largely depends on the target's hostility toward the user. The more the target puts up a resistance, the more powerful it will become. On the other hand, if the target lets the qi roam free, it will be comfortable and harmless.

+ Possesses the ability to trace the origins of any kind of power.

[Not available until its skill level reaches 1.]

Special Skill: Evil God's Essence

Unleash the Evil God Lucifer's essence to elevate a skill's level.

No resource required for activation. Can only be used once per day. You can only activate it again after midnight.

+ Evil God's Essence can elevate one of your non-special skills to Transcendent rank for five seconds.

Special Skill: Monster Heir

Passive skill.

+ Monsters will show more respect toward you and become friendlier.

+ The efficiency of all of your racial skills is doubled.

Special Skill: King's Treasury

Passive skill.

+ You will earn twice as much money when defeating an opponent.

+ Doubles the drop rate of all items.

+ You have the rights to all items and money that drop within a twenty-meter radius.

“Um... Omniscient Evil God Qi is terrific, but I wonder when I can use it. Cultivating it must be insanely hard even compared to Tiger Dragon Qi. Evil God's Essence is also great, though five seconds seems a bit too short. Monster Heir is the best; it's a passive skill without any drawbacks. About King's Treasury... will it cause problems? Does it mean I will always be a magnet, stealing items even if they belong to others?”

Sila checked the card slot in his system window and found that all the seven slots he had were empty; all his cards were lost. He sighed. He regretted losing the Cloudy Tiger Card the most. Even though its ability wasn't directly combat-related, it was, by far, the most helpful card; helping him survive and defeat most of his enemies.

“Well, Lucifer can stay in the air even though he is a pure qi-type being. That means, even without items, there is a way for me to do the same. I should find out how since most powerful monsters are either capable of flying or have large bodies. The ability to fight in mid-air is essential. Sadly, it isn't as easy as other types. No wonder qi type isn't popular.”

Sila went to check his equipment window and found something shocking. He only had one piece of equipment, which was the Mechanical Evil God's Protection, though it took all of the other equipment slots, including the weapon and accessory slots.

“Ah, I was delighted for nothing. And here I thought I could finally equip a sword using the main weapon slot. It turns out that this armor is even more brutal, preventing me from equipping any other equipment. Wait, it even took all the card slots? Now that I think about it, where is the Right Arm of the Sealed One? The last time I saw it, it got absorbed by the black silk... Did it... get eaten...?”

Sila inspected his item window and found that he lost all the money he had on him, though all the items remained, with the addition of the Thunderbolt Dragon Card.

He couldn't find the Right Arm of the Sealed One though, and that caused him to be more worried. Did it really get eaten and become a part of the armor?

Sila began reading the Mechanical Evil God's Protection information while feeling restless.

(S) Mechanical Evil God's Protection [Orpheus][Mamon]

An armor produced by the Android King using Orichalcum as the main material and the eleventh Gem of Catastrophe, the Eternal Onyx, as a generator.

Later, it was altered by the Devil Prince who is an item specialist. Now, the spirit of the Devil Prince dwells within the armor.

- You can't equip other equipment or cards.

*The armor opens up three slots for registering and storing items or pets inside. The user of the armor will be granted Hidden Gifts based off what is registered.

Hidden Gifts are undisclosed passive skills that the system window doesn't normally display. For more information, please ask the Devil Prince who altered the armor.

*From now on, 10% of all experience points will be given to Mamon.

*Produced from Orichalcum, but cannot collect experience points.

+ It will automatically promote your Rank once when you reach the maximum level of the Rank. (The exception is promoting from Lord Rank to Emperor Rank.)

*Cannot be unequipped, sold, transferred, or lost.

[Main Gift Slot: The Innovative Prince]

The slot where Mamon, the Devil Prince from Hell, is residing. This slot is exclusively for Mamon. You can summon Mamon. You have acquired the following Hidden Gifts:

Item Master: You can understand an item's structure and abilities just by touching it.

Money is Everything: Your abilities become stronger the more money you have on you.

There Must be Something!: When you kill a monster or a player, at least one item is guaranteed to drop.

I Don't Tolerate Being Cheated!: If your item window is full, any items that you cannot take will not drop but instead be converted to an equivalent amount of money.

Scavenger: The broken items within a fifty-meter radius of you will not disappear.

[First Gift Slot: The Sparrowhawk Egg]

The slot where the Lord-Rank sparrowhawk egg, Lookhin, is currently registered. You can summon the sparrowhawk egg. You have acquired the following Hidden Gift:

Hatcher: Once you touch an egg, the egg will immediately hatch.

[Second Gift Slot: The Legendary Android Right Arm]

The slot where Illuminus, the final stage of the legendary right arm of the sovereign of Monster Soul, is currently registered. It used to belong to Joshua as the ultimate form of protection. You can summon Illuminus. You have acquired the following Hidden Gifts:

The Third Hand: You can control Illuminus as easily as you control your own arms.

Stronger Bones: Your bones become studier. Reduces all physical damage by 20%.

An Item From a Foreign Land: You can sense junctions leading to the Monster Realm.

Short of Breath: You get tired three times faster.

Masochist: Your level of pain is set at 100%.

[Third Gift Slot: None]

The slot where nothing is currently registered. You can store an item or a pet into this slot to gain Hidden Gifts. You have acquired the following Hidden Gift:

The Talentless: It is three times harder for you to use your power.

Sila scratched his head as he read the extremely long item description. The armor's ability was even harder to understand compared to the four new skills he got.

“What the heck? So long... I'm getting a headache just by reading it. No wonder I can't equip anything else. Just its ability alone is more excessive than all of my previous equipment combined... Well, in short, I can summon Lookhin. In that case...

“Release Lookhin.”

Nothing happened. Sila wondered why. He tried again.

“Come out, Lookhin.”

Nothing still happened. Then, Sila kept trying. He said what he thought would work; for example, 'the sparrowhawk egg', 'the egg', 'the sparrowhawk', 'the sparrow', 'the Lord-Rank sparrowhawk', and so on. However, it all failed.

Later, he attempted to summon the Right Arm of the Sealed One. He tried it by saying 'the Right Arm of the Sealed One', 'Illuminus', or 'the arm of protection', though the result wasn't any different.

“What is this? Nothing works. What a piece of junk. How about the armor spirit? What is its name again...?”

Sila rechecked the spirit's name and was surprised to see that the name was Mamon instead of Mammon like he had intended.

“Come out, Mamon.”

This time, something happened. A red light flew out from the armor's chest area and the kid emerged.

The kid was around five years old. His messy black hair covered most of his face, having a little crown on top of his head. He was wearing a loose grey lab coat, giving off the feeling of a mature scientist.

“Whattt?!!! Why did I become so tiny?!!!”

The kid bawled as soon as he saw his current self. He also seemed like he was checking his abilities.

Seeing the childish sight of a kid bawling, Sila secretly chuckled.

“All my combat skills are gone!! Did Omniscient Evil God Qi affect me?!! That silly Lucifer! That muscle-head bastard!!”

The kid continued to bawl before turning his head and pointed his finger at Sila.

“This is your fault! You had a good card and a good skill. Why didn't you use them frequently? You even hesitated when I told you to use my skill. If you were slower to act, I would have died already. Ahhh!! My rank also fell to Marquis?!”

“Are you Mamon?” Sila asked, though he firmly believed the kid was Mamon.

“My great name is Mammon!! I'm the greatest prince from Hell! The Demon of Greed! I'm not a kid! How dare you give me that childish name! Die!!”

Mamon clad his body with psychic power. His eyes were gleaming red. Even though he said he didn't possess combat skills anymore, he was still one of the demons of the Seven Deadly Sins. As such, Sila didn't dare to underestimate Mamon and decided to protect himself.

Sila circulated Yin Yang Energy without difficulty and utilized Martial Formless to strike Mamon, who charged at him. His fist easily struck Mamon's head.

Mamon's face fell to the ground. He pulled himself up while rubbing his head. “Ouch, that hurts.”

Sila felt like he just bullied the kid, so he put his hand down. “Are you okay, Mamon?”

“MAMMON!! The Devil Prince from Hell!! Address me properly,” Mamon argued as he was still rubbing his head.

Normally, Mamon wasn't the type to directly engage in fights since the beginning. With his combat skills missing and his body shrunk, the Marquis Rank Mamon's strength was only on par with most Knight Rank monsters. As a result, Sila could defeat him relatively easily.

“Mn, whatever. The name is not important anyway... You are fine, right? I have some questions to ask you. You seem to be related to how my armor changed. I want to know why it can't function.”

Mamon showed a grin that could easily cause people to feel irritated just by seeing it. “You are a muscle-head like Lucifer, I see. Such simple knowledge, yet you don't know it. I suspect all the nutrients in the food you ate go to your muscles instead of your brain.”

Sila furrowed his brows with displeasure. This kid clearly called him stupid. However, Sila was more curious about how to use the armor, so he forgave Mamon and asked again, politer this time.

“So, why couldn't I use the armor...Your Highness?”

“Hmph. That's simply because the armor is not yet working. Look at the Hidden Gift you acquired from me. The Item Master one. Despite that, even though you are wearing the armor, you are still unaware of how to use it, right? It's so damn obvious.”

Sila read the armor's description again. Hidden Gifts seemed to be some kind of skill.

“You are right. What are Hidden Gifts though?”

“Hidden Gifts are secret passive skills that most people don't know about. No one can inspect them except for the great me. Most living creatures possess one or two Hidden Gifts that are granted at birth. However, the armor that I modified can exert five Hidden Gifts from what you register in the three slots. Furthermore, you can even swap items or pets to change Hidden Gifts. All in all, this is the pinnacle of armor that surpasses all others!”

For the record, Hidden Gifts were something the system randomly assigned to each player when they created their avatars. Some were good and some were bad. As a result, some players thought they were better or worse at something compared to others. The difference is usually subtle, so they often think they're just imagining it.

Mammon's main ability allowed him to see any and all Hidden Gifts that someone possessed. He could give and take them, meaning he could snatch the good Hidden Gifts for himself while dumping bad ones on others. Thus, he was hailed as the craftiest monster. When everyone fought against Mammon, they would feel they were extremely unlucky and failed to accomplish anything during the fight. The longer they fought, the more disadvantageous the battle became without them even knowing what was causing it or how to fix it.

For this exact reason, he was regarded as the Demon of Greed. His greed drove him to rob everything others had, including Hidden Gifts. As a result, he was sealed together with the other demons that make up the Seven Deadly Sins despite his fighting ability falling far behind.

“That's amazing. I didn't know the concept of Hidden Gift exists.”

“Hmph. Stupid. If everyone knows, how can they be called Hidden Gifts? This knowledge is only the tip of the iceberg, you know? There are also Permanent Gifts, which are...”

Mamon was about to continue showing off his knowledge when Sila interrupted.

“Then, why is the armor not working?”

“Won't - tell - you!!”

Although Mamon was talkative just now, suddenly, he refused to answer Sila's question.

“You won't tell me?”

Mamon showed his favorite disgusting smile and lifted his chin up, looking down on Sila with eyes showing contempt.

“I won't. Well, if you get on all fours, lick my boots, crawl under my crotch, and beg at my feet, I will consider answering your question.”

“...” Sila stared at Mamon, thinking.

“How about it? You can start by getting on all fours. I just love it when...”

“Seal Mamon.”

Sila had already wasted too much time. For this kind of thing, he could just ask Julia. He was wondering what had happened at the gathering party.

Red light enveloped Mamon's body. He tried to resist but it didn't work. The armor silently absorbed him.

“Oi!! Wait! Don't imprison me! The armor is not working so the inside is dark and...!”

Sila didn't know this, but without context it looked like he was bullying a kid, even though the person himself said he wasn't a kid.

After spending ten minutes or so in the mansion, Sila's body shone and left. He reappeared in Zhongsuyuan City and soared to the place where the gathering party had been held.

Chapter end