The Player Who Stands Above All

Chapter 51

A magic stone is a kind of core created by the condensation of a monster's magic power.

Although the difference in level is greater than that between heaven and hell, it would be easier to understand if one recalls the relationship between a dragon and a dragon's heart.

Seen differently, it is a relationship similar to that between a spiritual beast and the inner core that forms inside its body.

In other words, besides being used to make magic circles or artifacts, it could also be used for pills to enhance internal energy.

However, that was only after primary processing; no human eats a magic stone as it is.

Although spiritual beasts and the like often eat the inner core whole because its energy is pure, it is not the case with magic stones.

Although one of the reasons was to obtain a more outstanding effect by combining it with several things, that was not the fundamental reason.

The reason for not eating magic stones raw was simple.

Because it was an act that could be dangerous both physically and mentally.

Stories about martial artists who became madmen after learning a demonic art that sucks the essence and blood of others, like the Star-Sucking Great Art, are common.

Even when trying to absorb the ki of the same human being and make it one's own, the reality is that such side effects exist.

Then what would happen if one tried to eat the core of a completely different species of monster or the magic stone of a monster and absorb its ki?

Nine times out of ten, one's ki and blood would be twisted and one would die, or one would be possessed by its demonic nature and die.

Nevertheless, Lee Shin ate the magic stone without hesitation.

It was certainly a gamble, but it was not a gamble with no chance of winning.

Paching-! Paching-! Paching-! Paching-! Paching-!

Lee Shin used his internal energy to sequentially break the grape-sized magic stones that had entered his body.

Shururururuk-

Then, the magic power contained within the magic stones flowed out.

A sinister feeling of magic resembling a snake, it revealed a clear hostility toward Lee Shin, sticking out its tongue.

But Lee Shin, far from being intimidated, smiled with a murderous intent and raised his internal energy.

However, simply raising his internal energy was not enough.

Therefore, Lee Shin mixed his killing intent with the raised internal energy.

The endless killing intent that had been engraved on his soul since he was born.

After completely releasing it, he loaded it onto his internal energy and aimed it at the snake.

Faced with the endlessly dense and huge killing intent, the snakes that had flowed out of the magic stones could only tremble.

At that, Lee Shin moved his internal energy with the same feeling as when he had created a spear ki and finely cut the snakes of magic power.

Kill, kill, kill, kill, kill.

The demonic nature that should have invaded Lee Shin's entire body disappeared without leaving anything behind in front of the dense and huge killing intent.

The huge killing intent like the dazzling sun and the greatest talent that Lee Shin had since he was born.

The talent to kill something was now being displayed to its limit.

The killing intent that was beyond common sense and the talent that was beyond common sense.

Those two combined to create a situation like a miracle.

-Extreme madness is encroaching on your body.

Lee Shin, after gathering the finely scattered magic power of the magic stones together with the internal energy refined by the Flame Lightning Tree God Art, put it into the black egg where Irhegue was.

The magic power of the magic stone could cause a demonic nature and a heart demon, but now, that was actually helpful.

Because Lee Shin now had to create a new ego separate from himself.

Jjeojeojeok-!

The black egg increased the number of cracks on its surface as if it would break at any moment.

Jjeojeojeojeok--!!!

Finally, it broke.

No, it would be more appropriate to say that it exploded rather than broke.

Woooooooong--!!!

The moment the black egg broke, Lee Shin's internal energy, which had been condensed into one, exploded.

"Cough-!"

At that shock, Lee Shin spat out black, dead blood.

In the first place, Lee Shin's body had been dying from poison even before he entered the mental world.

It was only because [Recovery] had continuously healed his body using the food he had eaten a lot before entering the dungeon, and Irhegue had sucked up all the poison in his body, that he had been able to hold on until now.

Kwagwagwagwa--!!!

A huge wave of internal energy that started from his dantian swept through Lee Shin's entire body.

If it were an ordinary martial artist, it was a situation where his entire body could have exploded like a balloon, but for Lee Shin, this was now a great fortuitous encounter.

Because Lee Shin had a skill that could use such overflowing resources.

Wooooong--!!!

[Recovery] maximized its power and began to slowly absorb the overflowing wave of internal energy using his entire body.

Then, Lee Shin's body, which had been on the verge of breaking, began to slowly recover.

As the muscles and bones and blood vessels that had been injured once began to become strong and tough, color began to return to Lee Shin's face.

However, since [Recovery], a normal-grade skill, had a clear limit to its absorption, Lee Shin began to guide the internal energy, which was a mixture of [Flames] and [Lightning], to all parts of his body.

Kwang-! Kwang-! Kwang-!

The walls that were blocking all parts of his body began to burn and tear from the flames and lightning, creating a path.

Enormous pain continuously pierced Lee Shin's mind, but for Lee Shin, pain was just a light stimulant that raised his concentration.

Hwoooong-

Due to the influence of the internal energy that was raging violently inside his body, the clothes Lee Shin was wearing began to become tattered.

As the waste products accumulated in his body began to be discharged, a hard, dark shell formed on Lee Shin's skin.

But Lee Shin's body inside that shell looked like the skin of a newborn baby.

-Normal-grade skill [Recovery] has evolved into rare-grade skill [High-Speed Recovery].

-You have obtained the normal-grade skill [Ten Poisons Immunity].

"Hoo~"

After dealing with the explosion of internal energy that had occurred in his dantian, Lee Shin once again entered the mental world to check the situation.

There, along with the Flame Lightning Tree that was shining more brilliantly than he had seen a moment ago.

Kkyu-

There was a small dragon with red eyes that seemed to contain flames and golden eyes that seemed to contain lightning, Irhegue.

The red scales that covered its entire body had a faint golden light, and on its wings and tail, there were golden lines like on Lee Shin's head.

***

Tadak-

Tadadak-

A man with all-back black hair is typing on the keyboard rhythmically at a tremendous speed.

The screens of numerous monitors are reflected in the horn-rimmed glasses the man is wearing.

Click-

In the midst of that, the door behind the man opened, and someone entered the room.

"Huh? Who is it?"

"It's me."

"Ah, it's Beta."

A woman with a faint blue light-colored hair that reached her waist, reminiscent of ice, approached the man who was typing on the keyboard and held out a tablet.

"Huh? What's this?"

"It's something that's been bothering me a little, so I brought it to see if you knew about it."

"Really?"

At the words of the woman called Beta, the man stopped typing on the keyboard, took the tablet, and looked at the video in it.

"'Come at me as much as you want, you cockroach bastards,' huh... she's coming out really hot."

What was written on the tablet the man had received was an article based on the press conference Cheon Yuhwa had held.

At that, Beta looked at the man and asked worriedly.

"Will it be okay? We're also half-involved in the incident of attacking [Wonderland]."

"Hmm~"

The man spun the chair he was sitting on and thought about various things for a moment, then nodded.

"I think it'll be fine."

"Really?"

"Yeah."

The man said, stroking his chin.

"Well, because we needed some promotion to make money, we didn't bother to hide our name, so our name was included in this guild, but..."

The man shrugged his shoulders lightly.

"That's probably all there is to it. There's probably nothing else they can do. And in the first place, we just provided information, so there's no reason for us to be trembling."

"Hmm..."

As Beta narrowed her eyes and looked at him suspiciously, the man scratched his cheek and said.

"Well, they might be able to find our homepage and try to hack it, but if that happens, the virus I've planted will invade their computers in reverse."

Ah!

The man, with a look as if he had realized something, smiled and said.

"Since our customers might increase in the future, should I grasp and organize a little more data on [Wonderland]?"

"...Alright, I'll trust you. In the first place, I decided to leave the role of the head to you."

"Thanks for trusting me."

At Beta's words, the man smiled lightly.

"Then I'll be training, so call me if anything happens."

"Yeah, alright."

Beta went out of the room like that.

"...Is she gone?"

And the man, who had been looking at the door for a moment and confirmed that Beta had left, quickly moved his mouse and entered their homepage.

Although he had said that, as he spoke, he wanted to check if there were any problems.

The man checked various things on the homepage, which had a blue moon drawn on it, and then let out a sigh of relief.

Because there were no particularly visible problems.

"By the way, if this happens, the Chaotic Players and the Black Guild will become incredibly noisy... if I'm lucky, I might have a chance to catch their tails."

The man's eyes, as he said that, shone coldly.

***

The next day, Lee Shin, who had returned at dawn when the sun was beginning to rise, first took a shower.

"Why does my body get dirty when I get a fortuitous encounter? Is this also a side effect of my past life as a shut-in?"

Lee Shin, who had come out after washing his body for a long time, over an hour, grumbled.

Fortunately, he always carried extra clothes in his camping truck, so there was no big problem.

"Hmm? Hyung-nim?"

As he was lightly drying his hair after showering, Eun Yeon-woo, who had also woken up, came out.

"You're back now? I thought you had run away because you didn't want to do the dishes, so I didn't bother to look for you. Why did you come now?"

Lee Shin waved his hand at Eun Yeon-woo and said.

"Ah, I unexpectedly got a fortuitous encounter, so I got a little stronger and came now. I'm probably twice as strong now as I was yesterday."

"Haaam~ Is that so? Then it'll be easier to make money in the future."

Eun Yeon-woo simply summarized Lee Shin's state and then spent his time doing simple stretches after washing his face and brushing his teeth.

"By the way, you woke up really early."

"My body still hasn't forgotten the feeling of delivering newspapers in the past, so my eyes automatically open at this time."

"Really? Then is the reason you're warming up like the grandfathers at the mineral spring similar to that?"

"After going through all sorts of hardships, I've come to the conclusion that my body is my asset, so I do simple gymnastics every day."

As they were chatting and passing the time, the morning sun rose, and Lee Hyun-seok and Lee Hyun-young also woke up.

"Haaam~ Ah, hello. Did you sleep well?"

"...Hello."

Lee Hyun-seok, who had come out with dazed eyes, saw Lee Shin and Eun Yeon-woo and quickly bowed his head to greet them, and Lee Hyun-young looked at the two with eyes that seemed to have slightly lessened their suspicion and greeted them.

They shouldn't have.

"Ah, you're up."

Lee Shin, who was drying his hair with a towel after seeing the two wake up, smiled broadly and approached the two.

"Here, take it, younger sister."

Lee Shin held out a thick envelope to Lee Hyun-young, and Lee Hyun-young, who was still half-asleep, unconsciously took the envelope.

"Buy some food to feed your older brother with the money in there. He'll probably be back around evening. Ah, and please get some extra clothes too. I think my clothes will get torn a lot in the future."

After finishing his words, Lee Shin approached the dazed Lee Hyun-seok and put his arm around his shoulder.

And he naturally dragged the sleepy and dazed Lee Hyun-seok and put him in the camping truck.

"???"

"???"

As both Lee Hyun-seok and Lee Hyun-young were unable to come to their senses, Lee Shin said to Eun Yeon-woo.

"Let's go."

"Yep."

(End of Chapter)