“[STAY.]”
“?!”
After the dragon arose from its tomb, my whole body suddenly went numb. Before I realized it, I had fallen under the dragon’s Malediction, a cursed speech spell.
Even though I cannot move my body, I am still levitating in the air. The dragon’s order was [Stay], so my body maintained the Fly spell as per the dragon’s order.
The spell is pretty strong, strong enough to disable my Mental Attack and Infliction Resistances. I am quite weak compared to the dragon, so that may be why.
I desperately tried to resist the force, but I could not move a muscle no matter what. I could not even cast a spell or skill, vocally or voicelessly. Thankful, I still have the leeway to use my brain.
I have nothing to do but think of a way for me to escape from this irresistible curse. Maximizing my thinking process, I leave my body to my parallel minds and succumb myself to my subconscious.
◆◇◆
Now that I have entered my subconscious, I can now focus on myself properly and peacefully. But first, I have to break the curse of the black dragon’s Malediction.
(Now then, how should I dispel the curse?)
I don’t really know what to do. I have checked every one of my skills, and it seems like there is one that could help me escape this situation.
(Okay, let’s try it out.)
Since I have evolved, I can gain new ultra skills for myself. With this new body, I did not waste time and immediately initiated the process of acquiring new ultimates.
There are two ways to acquire a ultra skill, the Ultimate Augmentation and Ultimate Combination. Currently, I don’t know what compatible skills to integrate to form a whole new skill. So I proceed with the Ultimate Augmentation.
(Hm. There are a few.)
Upon opening the Ultimate Augmentation, the skills I sorted that are capable of being upgraded show up. As I can see, there are three unique skills that are capable of evolving into the ultimate level and two upgradable ultra skills.
The three unique skills chosen are: Computerized Mind, Omnidirectional Perception, and Weaponist. While the ultras are Ultimate Art and Monarch of the Night.
The unique skills required 100 SP to evolve, which was financially affordable, but upgrading an ultra skill is different. The Ultimate Art needs a thousand freaking skill points, while the Monarch of the Night only requires a hundred.
I don’t know why the Ultimate Art requires that much SP, so I concluded that its upgrade would be overpowered. But I only have about five hundred skill points left; spending all my money is not enough to upgrade the skill.
There is still more than an hour before six in the evening, so the Monarch of the Night is out of the question. I still have no idea what the skill will do after it is upgraded.
Since I am genuinely curious about the augmentation of the Ultimate Art ultra skill, I have to save and earn as much SP as I can. That’s why I decided to upgrade a unique skill at most.
I need to think carefully and thoroughly before choosing a unique skill to evolve. A skill that would be very useful in my current and future situations.
Weaponist must be involved with weapons in ways such as mastery and enhancement. But weapons are ineffective against the immortal dragon and the curse.
For the Omnidirectional Perception unique skill, I do think it would be useful, but my guts are telling me to stop prioritizing it and proceed to the other remaining unique skill, the Computerized Mind.
The Computerized Mind has been helping me a lot since then, but evolving it would be insufficient due to the fact that all it could do is surf, record, and calculate. But my instinct is whispering to me to evolve it.
(Damn it! I hope I am making a good decision!) With the time running out, my gut reaction was to follow my instincts and strenuously pull the lever.
<Executing… Successful. Unique Skill: Computerized Mind has evolved into the Ultra Skill: Akashvani.>
Hm. It seems like the evolution was successful, but what the heck is Akashvani?
<Akashvani – (mythology) A gift or message from heaven.>
(Okay, but that is not what I mean. Wait a minute, who are you?)
As if responding to my pondering, the same computer-generated voice of the system suddenly ran across my mind.
That certain kind of thing truly threw me. Who is the voice that is answering my question inside my subconscious, anyway? It is basically impossible for someone to invade my mind. Is that the Akashvani ultra skill?
<Affirmative. This is the effect of the Ultra Skill: Akashvani, an immensely superior version of the Unique Skill: Computerized Mind.>
(Okay, so that’s how it is.)
The computer that was built in my mind had developed its own artificial intelligence and was capable of responding to my inquiries.
So it is like having an AI attached to my mind to guide me. Though it is somehow emotionless and cold, interactions with Akashvani might be boring.
It is even possible that it had gained self-awareness too. Well, it is fine with me as long as it helps me to smooth out my problems. Now, let’s see if my whimsical decision really hits the spot.
(Okay, Akashvani. Show me the way of how to escape from the curse of Malediction.)
<Suggestion. Integrating Unique Skills, Fear Incarnation, Baneful One and Discriminator might be useful. Proceed to execution? Yes / No.>
That surprised me. Akashvani really answered and came up with a solution in an instant. Akashvani is suggesting a skill combination.
Fear Incarnation is the skill that I plundered from a dreadful lizard before. It is a super-dreadnought skill that inflicts lethal mental damage to the targets.
The Baneful One unique skill, meanwhile, is the product of combining the extra skills Cursed Body and Acid Body. It is an ability to make my own body into a harmful existence.
With the Baneful One unique skill, I could turn almost everything within my grasp to dust and gain greater resistance to curses and corrosion or rot. But it still has its own limits, for example, the overleveled dragon I am facing. 𝒷𝓭ℴ𝓋𝓵.𝒸ℴ𝓶
Discriminator unique skill allows me to vastly widen the influence of the abilities and also filter out my targets then enhance the output to them. This skill is basically for racism.
Combining those three ominous skill would complement with each other, giving birth to a more ominous skill. I see no problem with its advice, so I undeniably responded “yes.”
<Executing… Successful. Unique Skill: Fear Incarnation, Unique Skill: Baneful One, and Unique Skill: Discriminator have been integrated into Ultra Skill: Ruler of Death.>
What the—what an ominous name?! But I immediately remembered that it doesn’t matter right now. I have many things to ask, but my main body is currently at risk. I hope this Ruler of Death will help me with my problem.
(Thank you, Akashvani.) I appreciated the assistance of Akashvani before returning to the real world.
◆◇◆
Crash!
As if shattered like a glass, the Malediction broke, freeing my body from the dragon’s dominion. In an instant, the Malediction was dispelled by my newly acquired Ruler of Death ultra skill.
I can even hear the dragon clicking its tongue. Well, it would be disappointing when your attack suddenly broke. It has been a few seconds since the dragon cursed me, anyway.
A moment later, the dissatisfaction of the dragon rang anew.
“WHAT?!”
For some reason, the dragon seemed to look astounded, as if witnessing something that distorted its beliefs. I sensed that the dragon had cast a spell just now, but I haven’t done anything yet.
Is there anything else I did wrong for the dragon to lose its cool?
<Report. The opponent had cast Dark Magic Level 10: Gaze of the Abyss, an instant death spell, towards the host. But was instantly annulled by the Instakill Immunity of the Ultra Skill: Ruler of Death.>
An instakill spell?! That would have been a really close call if it weren’t for the Ruler of Death. Ultimately, I can officially conclude that the evolution of Akashvani really is helpful.
Now that I mention it, what can the Ultra Skill Ruler of Death do, anyway? I asked Akashvani, and she immediately provided me with answers.
<Affirmative…>
From what Akashvani told me, the Ruler of Death is a power that is specialized in killing, including the powers of… Genocide, Deathmonger, Sure as Death, Instakill-Affliction Cancel…
The names of those abilities are already frightening, but their effects are even more terrifying.
Genocide is the massive killing of individuals on the basis of their race, nationality, affiliation, or my choice. The scary part is that it is even possible to wipe out a single race into extinction.
While the Deathmonger, on the other hand, unconditionally and indiscriminately kills anyone in a certain range.
But the targets of the Genocide and Deathmonger must be weaker than the user and do not own an ultra skill. In conclusion, it is worthless against the dragon, who has an ultra skill.
Those two abilities are too dangerous to be left activated; better to prohibit myself from using them for future use. But it is useful inside an isolated place like a dungeon.
Instakill-Affliction Cancel nullifies curses and instakill attacks that are inflicted on me. Thanks to this spell, I dominated the Malediction and Gaze of the Abyss the dragon had cast away.
According to Akashvani, “Sure as Death” is a once-a-day sure-kill move that could even bring death upon the dead and ignores the target’s immunity to death and instant death. Though it needs to be imbued on an attack as a medium to work.
(If that’s the case, let’s make use of this ability!)