Monster Soul Online Chapter 38

Chapter 38: Seed of Revenge

Sila was left alone with his curiosity. He opened his system window to read all his skills and abilities he possessed. He pondered which power he had aside from qi.
 
'The Right Arm is currently malfunction, so not this one. The hidden weapon is fine. But it won't be enough for me to take down a strong opponent. What else do I have left?'
 
Witnessing the skill list, Sila signed. He really had been relying on qi too much. Without it, he was left with nothing. The remaining usable skills were only Barehand Mastery, Hidden Weapon Firing, Unseal, and Heart of Slime.
 
'Wait a minute, slime?'
 
Finally, Sila realized it. Those two must want to tell Sila that he still has racial skills. Obviously, racial skills are exclusive to the race that player had chosen. They are an advantage exclusively for each race. Prior to this moment, Sila had been neglected them until he forgot about it in the end.
 
"What are you smiling for?" Varee approached him together with Vata. She noticed that the other two had left without bidding their farewell to her.
 
"Hm? Are you still here?" wondered Sila while responding with an uncaring attitude.
 
"Yes, I am. Who do you think it is that saving your life just now? Not giving thanks is bad enough. Now you even want me to scram?" Varee was starting to piss off.
 
"Oh. Sorry about that. And thank you. Anyway, I'm quite busy. Let's talk again later."
 
Sila bid her farewell.
 
"Wait. Where're you going? You will become a target again, dressing like that," mentioned Varee.
 
Looking at himself, Sila found that his outfit was too ragged. As Varee had told, it was quite eye-catching. Coupled with the fact that he always wore this cloth, his enemy would easily recognize him.
 
Sila searched his item window and found that he had no other clothes available.
 
"Do you have any clothes I can borrow?"
 
"No, I'm a girl. There's no way I'm carrying male clothes with me."
 
With Varee's reply, Sila turned his head toward Vata. However, she also shook her head, indicating that she doesn't have one too.
 
"Well, whatever. It's fine this way."
 
As Sila was planning to go to Slime Kingdom, he thought that his enemy wouldn't be able to follow him there easily.
 
Varee was about to scold at Sila's carelessness. However, Vata seemed to have an idea. She opened her item window and brought something out.
 
"At least cover yourself with this. It's better than doing nothing."
 
Sila took it. It was an old normal cloak. "I'll return your favor later."
 
"Just take it. It's a cloak for qi-type player. I'm unable to use it. It also hasn't been identified yet."
 
Sila expressed his thanks to her. He decided to wear it. It covered him from shoulder to toes.
 
"Unseal," said Sila, causing Vata to surprise that he was able to use Unseal skill.
 
A light illuminated around the cloak briefly. Then, the cloak became a little bit smaller. Although it wasn't beautiful or had any aesthetic value, its texture was very soft and comfortable.
 
Sila read its detail.
 
(B) Beggar's Cloak
Increase agility by 5% and magical defense by 10%
Player will obtain 10% less coin when defeating monster.
*Slowly repair itself when get damaged.
 
Sila frowned. Is he still not poor enough? He has no place to live in reality and had debts in-game. Nevertheless, he wore it. He would remove it when he obtains other clothes.
 
Sila bid both of them farewell before moving to the edge of the forest outside the city. At first, Varee told him that she can take him to the city. But Sila declined as he didn't have any business there.
 
Looking at the surrounding, there seemed to be no one following him. Sila then took his Invitation Card to Slime Kingdom out.
 
"Go to Slime Kingdom"
 
A pink light surrounded Sila, teleporting him away.
 
***
 
At Madmen's Valley.
 
This place was quiet yet wasn't peaceful. There were many high-level monsters around the place. It was rare for this place to have a visitor due to the harshness one had to encounter before arriving there.
 
Crow was cooking a dragon soup in the pot. He had been simmering it for three days. Now the flavor would be already mature. It was a delicious food with high nutrient value.
 
"Hmm? Is this…?"
 
He sensed something. It was a weak psychic aura heading toward a place he was currently at. He was surprised that a visitor had come. Thus, he stopped his cooking and went outside.
 
One man collapsed on the floor away from his house. The injuries on this man were severed. It was almost hard to believe that he could even walk in such condition.
 
It seemed that what took him to this place was only his unyielding spirit.
 
Crow moved closer to this man. He used his qi to inspect the man's body, causing him to frown. Then, he returned to his house and took one bowl of dragon soup with him. Although he was moving at high speed, the soup in his bowl didn't waver at all.
 
"Drink it, kid. It'll make you feel better," said Crow.
 
A man drank it. He could barely sip it at first. But once he swallowed the soup, a power was surging in his body, causing him to hurriedly drank the rest of it in one go. Afterward, he returned an empty bowl to Crow.
 
He then took a deep breath and started stabilizing his psychic power, which Crow waited without saying anything.
 
'How long is it that this place has a visitor?'
 
Crow observed this man's body. This man wore a broken silver armor. He seemed to use a sword as his main weapon but there was no sword nearby. Maybe it was lost along the way. This man's hair color was silver. It was elegant under sunlight but his body instead dirty and battered.
 
Although this man's ability wasn't bad, it would be almost impossible for him to travel to this place alone.
 
This man finally opened his eyes. He could see that Crow was waiting for him.
 
"Are you feeling okay now? By the way, welcome to Madmen's Valley, kid," said Crow.
 
A man was looking around. This place seemed more like a small rural village. It was unexpected that it is the same place as Madmen's Valley people always rumored about.
 
"Is this an infamous Madmen's Valley? A place rumored to make one experience a rebirth."
 
"Kuku. Everybody said so. Yes, it is. But it's only when you survive the trial."
 
"What do I need to do?"
 
"Kuku. Don't rush things, kid. The trial will be available five days later. Now, you need to rest. With your current condition, you will be doomed immediately."
 
"Then, please pardon my intrusion."
 
"As far as I can see, your body is internally damaged by qi. Let me guess, you didn't quickly remove it when you were hit by it, right? Now it had spread all over your body. It's a dangerous qi possessing both hot and cold property. You must be experiencing a sensation of cold as ice yet sometimes hot as fire. Am I correct?"
 
Silver-haired man nodded. "As I searched for a clue to solve this problem, I stumble upon this place."
 
"Alternatively, you can just die once, and it will be gone. You don't have to go through Single-Horned Dragon Forest like you have done at all."
 
"I won't ever choose that method. Otherwise, it will be like I die by his hand." A man replied. His eyes were full of vengeance.
 
Crow nodded. "I don't particularly mind people like you. By the way, I'm Crow. Nice to meet you, kid."
 
"My name is Shueria," replied silver-haired man.
 
Apparently, this man identity is Silver Knight Shueria who engaged in a battle against Sila at Beginner Town. After that loss, he realized at his own weakness. It's not that he had never lost before. But he had never lost against someone that inferior to him in every aspect like that. He decided to reflect on himself by abandoning every responsibility shackling him back. He left Royal Armament guild and became an individual player so that he could have more time to develop himself.
 
As for qi that left in Shueria's body, it was obviously the "Tortured Soul" power of Sila. While Sila was attacked internally by his "Bomb Lurking Psychic," he too was internally damaged by Sila's "Tortured Soul." Actually, at his level, he could easily remove this power in a short moment. But at that time, Sila had been preventing him from doing so by kept attacking non-stop. With it being in his body for too long, now it was impossible for him to remove it. Although this power didn't directly decrease his health point, he had to deal with a painful sensation brought forth by hotness and coldness.
 
If he died only once, this power would be gone from his body. But he wouldn't allow that.
 
Back then, once Sila used "Light of Forest" skill, an expert like Shueria could deduce that Sila was going to seal the deal. As such, Shueria bore with the pain and used "Astral Psyche" skill. This skill allowed him to escape from any attack. The downside is that it made his health point reached the bottom 1. He also couldn't use any skill for one hour. Nevertheless, this skill had a power to deceive the system, causing anyone to think that he had died. A skill to manipulate the game system like this is unique only for psychic-type creature.
 
Sila might get informed by the system that he had killed Shueria and obtained experience points. But if he had checked his status window back then, he would discover that he actually didn't gain any.
 
Afterward, Shueria escaped into the forest nearby a harbor. He couldn't use any skill so there was no way for him to remove Sila's power from his body. Once one hour had passed, it had become too late for him to do it.

"Tortured Soul" had invaded deeply into his body and tortured him from within.
 
But he wouldn't allow himself to die in this state. This is a common thought for both Shueria and Sila.
 
"Oh, you still haven't chosen your race yet, haven't you?" asked Crow. He was somehow surprised.
 
Shueria nodded. Given how influential he once was, he was in a position to be able to choose almost any race for himself. But he had been clinging into the human race. Although choosing a race allows player to obtain new skills and some unique ability, he himself believes that human race is the most balanced race out there.
 
Crow sighed. He took something out, showing it to Shueria. It was some kind of a stone.
 
"This one is Philosophy Stone, an S-grade item. Upon consuming it, you will obtain a very special item." Crow tossed it to Shueria.
 
Shueria took it. "Why are you giving me this? Is it related to the trial you've mentioned?"
 
"It's a reward from another hidden quest. You will get it only if you are a human race and can reach to Madmen's Valley alone by yourself. I've always thought that no one would be able to do it."
 
"What is its downside?"
 
Shueria's question isn't uncommon among players. In Monster Soul, most S-grade items and skills, although possessing very useful utility, they are always come with problems.
 
"Kuku. It's good that you asked. It's nothing much. Your painfulness level will just be adjusted to 10 out of 10, which is equaled to real life level, after consuming it."
 
Shueria looked at the stone for a while. Then, he stopped hesitating once Sila's face surfaced into his mind. He needed strength. For that, no matter how painful he will get, he can take it.
 
A system sound alarmed.
 
Player Shueria has consumed Philosophy Stone. Starting now, the player's painfulness level will be adjusted to 10 out of 10, equal to real life degree.
 
Player Shueria has gotten Seal Box 1 EA.
 
A ring-size black box with silver chain covering it appeared and floated in front of Shueria. He grabbed it.
 
A seed of revenge is sprouting. This world of ours is like this. Sila sought for revenging Montra and harmed people obstructing his way. But does Sila alone have a right to seek for revenge? Once the cycle of vengeance had started, it would continue sprouting endlessly if no one stops.
 
The next time that Sila meets Shueria, Shueria's ability would be far surpassed even the current Four Emperors.

Chapter end