Overgeared

All players in Satisfy had something in common—healthy teeth. Chairman Lim Cheolho’s consideration sparked the desire of all players to enjoy the fully implemented taste system. However, in front of the Red Phoenix Breath, it was useless.

“Ah, ahhhh.”

Grid bit on the Red Phoenix Breath and felt a pain that was like all his teeth breaking. He grabbed his cheeks as he tried to hold back tears.

‘Damn, how the hell can I eat this?’

The reason why only Grid could smelt the Red Phoenix Breath was due to how hard it was. Apart from Grid, the blacksmiths couldn’t smelt the Red Phoenix Breath even when hammering them in a fire made from the white phosphorus wood—at least at the present time. Chewing on such a hard Red Phoenix Breath? It was impossible even if he wore dentures made of steel. 

‘Only a snap will be heard.’

It was like the snap of the elderly...

Grid recalled the unthinking behavior of today’s generation and clicked his tongue. Then he seriously thought about it again. ‘How about carving it into small pieces and swallowing it down like a pill? No, I can’t do that.’

Carving meant shattering. It was distinctively different from smelting. The shattered material would become invalid and turn into a useless stone. Then what would be the point of eating it?

“Hrmm...” Grid struggled with the fist-sized breath in his hand. 

He was currently moving to the north. It was to check the status of the sacred beasts such as Blue Tiger and Tosun and to see if there was anything he could get from them. Braham walked next to Grid and scolded him, “Pathetic. Why do you keep acting foolish when you can’t guarantee that eating a breath will strengthen the Red Phoenix Breath?”

“In the current situation, I don’t think there is any other way except to eat it...”

“Isn’t the idea of eating a mineral strange?” 

“...?!”

“Ignorant guy.”

“...”

‘Jishuka, you’re too ignorant.’

Grid wanted to protect Jishuka’s dignity and didn’t reveal that the one who thought of it was Jishula. He walked silently and organized his thoughts.

‘Yes, it doesn’t make sense to raise the skill level by eating minerals. Who can do that? I’ll just take some time to watch the progress.’

If things went well in the future, he would meet the blue dragon, the white tiger, and the black tortoise. He might have an opportunity to ask questions about how to grow their breaths. There was no need to be impatient right now.

“Hmm... Braham,” Grid abandoned the foolish thoughts and asked a cautious question, “how would you compare me to the legends of the past generation?”

It was 10 days at best—Grid had taken tremendous strides within a short period of time. It wasn’t like other rankers who invested a lot of resources and tried to rush to gain new equipment. Rather, it was through quests and story making. Grid was currently wondering about his strength. He wanted to compare himself to the legends of the previous generation that he felt was an ‘insurmountable wall’ not long ago.

“Braham?” Grid was puzzled when Braham didn’t answer. In fact, Grid thought that Braham would scoff immediately.

Unexpectedly, Braham responded after seriously considering it, “Every legend has a different field so it would be unreasonable to compare you to all of the previous generation legends. However, compared to Pagma, you aren’t lacking much.”

“...?!”

Grid was surprised. He was currently level 407 after defeating the yangbans in the battle of Kars. It was definitely the best among players but it was at least 200 levels lower than the legends of the past generation. Yet Braham estimated that Grid’s strength was similar to that of Pagma. Since Grid was following his footsteps, Grid found that this was an unexpected answer.

Grid was dumbfounded and Braham responded in a ridiculing manner, “Have you forgotten that legends and transcendents are different?”

“...!”

“You are a legend but you have also built up transcendence and even became an object of faith. Your physical ability and technical aspects are still in the growth phase but nonetheless, you aren’t bad compared to Pagma’s prime. It is both your skills as a blacksmith as well as a swordsman.”

“...Is this only when opening my potential?”

It was before the Divinity skill was strengthened. Grid had wanted to use Skill Creation to create a skill that could eliminate or reduce the cooldown of skills. He thought that if he created a much stronger skill than the ones he currently possessed, there would be side effects such as Failure. However, Divinity was enhanced and the situation changed. Grid’s judgment was clouded by the dire circumstances and he attempted to create the five fused sword dance to avoid the immediate crisis.

Of course, the results were completely different. Open Potential—the power of this skill, created with the advice of the system, was explosive.

[Open Potential]

[Allows you to use a skill that is one grade above the ones you currently have.

Does not apply to skills that have already reached the peak.

Cooldown Time: 12 hours.

Resource Consumption: 10,000 mana. 20,000 health. Half of the current stamina.

* Extreme penalties will occur after using this skill.]

A skill that forcibly activated a skill tree that has yet to be opened—for ordinary players with a normal or rare rated skill tree, they might evaluate the quasi-legendary skill as disappointing. However, it was obviously a legendary skill for Grid. Due to Open Potential, Grid was able to use the five fused sword dance, which was one grade higher than the four fused sword dances. He could also use 300,000 Army Swordsmanship, which was a grade above 200,000 Army Swordsmanship.

The only downside was that it was hard to handle. The pain that occurred immediately after the use of the five fused sword dance was unbearable, even for Grid who was already accustomed to suffering. He might’ve cried if Yura hadn’t been there.

Grid estimated that his waist likely wouldn’t be safe the moment he used 300,000 Army Swordsmanship. It meant he would be unable to fight afterward. It was just that the penalties were proportional to the power. Open Potential was now Grid’s true ultimate technique. If he consumed origin true energy like he did in the previous battle, it would be an incomparable killing skill.

Braham frowned. “You have a very high opinion of Pagma. You are overvaluing him.”

His mood was very bad. He seemed to be jealous as he added, “The Pagma I’ve been comparing you to is the Pagma who had reached his limits. I’m not talking about Pagma after he contracted with Baal.”

“...”

“Pagma was rubbish compared to myself when he was just a great swordsman and blacksmith. You can stand up to him with your current ability.”

Was Pagma so weak before he signed with Baal? Grid was baffled. It was surprising that Pagma, who was considered the best swordsman apart from Muller, was evaluated as so weak.

“No, he was trash compared to me.”

“...?”

“Pagma was naturally the strongest among humans. It means you are strong enough to grow to a level similar to him. You don’t have to overdo it trying to reach your potential.”

“Ah...” Pagma wasn’t weak, Grid was just strong—Grid clearly recognized this and clenched his fists. If his fists weren’t clenched, his fingers would be trembling. 

“Time. All you need is time. In the future, you will definitely...” Braham closed his mouth.

Just then, Grid detected a change...

The large community of poisonous rats that he had already cleared a long time ago—he felt an unpleasant sensation the moment he entered the small gorge that was just before the community.

“A bad smell is lingering.”

Braham made an absurd smile and was stepping forward when Grid restrained him. “I’ll sort it out.”

“Don’t you think it’ll be faster if I go out?”

“I have to increase my experience.”

“...Do what you want.”

The moment Braham gave permission, Grid used Lightning Speed. The passive effect of Incarnation of Lightning was activated as he entered the flying state. Grid suppressed the stamina decline and reduced the resource consumption of skills by 20%. Then he fully started the attack. “Wave.”

In the middle of the canyon, the group hiding behind a sloping pine tree were unable to resist the bombardment Grid aimed at them and fell to the ground. They fell from a huge height of 15 meters. No matter how much training they had gone through, one leg had to be broken. Normal people would never be fine. Yet they jumped up like a rabbit and one of them rushed toward Grid.

‘A blood jiangshi?’

In fact, he knew from the beginning that those hiding were jiangshi due to the smell. However, it turned out to be a rare blood jiangshi? The Enlightenment Sword struck the neck of the blood jiangshi. However, the neck of the jiangshi was as hard as steel and wasn’t easily cut.

The recoil caused by the collision meant Grid failed to capitalize on a second attack and descended. Then he kicked the jiangshi upward and attacked again before using Magic Power Detection. It was due to the belief that the blood jiangshi would have a master. It was as expected...

‘There.’ Movement was captured at the top of the gorge to the left. There were 10 jiangshi but it was extremely unlikely that they would all be blood jiangshi. He heard that the recipe of the blood jiangshi was hard to mass produce because it was extremely difficult, unlike the steel jiangshi and the poisonous jiangshi. Still, Grid was capable of breaking through even if they were all blood jiangshi.

‘I have to handle the shaman.’

Grid gained momentum after striking the face of another blood jiangshi and rushed in the direction of the group. The scenery that entered Grid’s field of view changed as quickly as that outside a train’s window. Grid was able to reach his destination in an instant.

Grid saw it—there was a man with black skin as hard as iron, especially dazzling white hair, and flames around both hands. ‘A black horse jiangshi!’

Grid was hurriedly taking the defensive when he saw the name of the white-haired jiangshi—Veradin.

“...?!”

“Hahahaha! Grid! I’ve only dreamed of getting revenge on you!”

Originally, Veradin was a player who took the best elite path. He was considered one of the best talents of the first generation rookies along with Lauel and built his own guild. Later, he became a member of Immortal under the banner of Agnus and became the first player to get a chance to become a yangban.

Then everything was lost after he became hostile to Grid. The price of driving Khan to death was harsh. After a series of deaths to Grid and the Overgeared Guild, Veradin was disqualified from becoming a yangban. Due to the killing order that spread throughout Satisfy, he was forced to take refuge on the East Continent and start all over again.

However, he had experienced too many deaths and lost his levels and items. He was weakened and the East Continent wasn’t easy. Veradin had been pushed to the edge of a cliff when the evil daoist extended his hand. He used the basic magic that was considered useless during his time as a necromancer. Now it contained great power.

It was the basic premise that it became 10 times more powerful after changing his race to a black horse jiangshi. That’s right—Veradin reappeared after a long time and was no longer human.

“Taste the pain I’ve gone through, Grid!” Veradin’s eyes shone red as he shouted in a terrible manner. His magic and the dozens of blood jiangshi that he constantly summoned struck at Grid. Veradin was assured of his victory. Of course, he knew about Grid’s epics but he believed his sacrifice where he gave up being human to become a monster was far beyond Grid’s epics.

High risk and high returns was Satisfy’s rule. He didn’t know all the sacrifices and pain that Grid had endured. He didn’t properly measure the weight of Grid’s epics.

The Storm of the Fire God appeared around Grid. The divine flames inflicted severe pain on the dozens of blood jiangshi and Grid moved beyond them to Veradin, who was leading them.

“The combination of the pain you have felt and the pain you will feel in the future is insufficient compared to the pain I have felt.”

The Enlightenment Sword pierced Veradin’s back as he tried to escape from the flames that melted his blood and flesh. Even Veradin, who was many times stronger than when he was a human, wasn’t a match for Grid.

“I have revived an old god after all...”

Grid used Magic Power Detection. Meanwhile, the only ‘living’ daoist among the jiangshi, including Veradin, was watching Grid with interest.