When I woke up from my long slumber, although I was still unable to move, the world in my eyes was completely different.
If I had a mirror, I would be able to see that my eyes were completely different from before. One side of my eyes was now black and white, while the other side was now black and white. It was as if the two halves of the Taiji symbol were the two halves of the Yin Yang symbol, which was quite frightening.
My vision was even more strange. On one side was a world of energy that seemed like an infrared image. Red, yellow, orange, and other warm colors could be seen everywhere. On the other side was a world filled with dried bones and black mud, as if all the filth of the world was right in front of me.
Fortunately, my eyes returned to normal after I canceled the [Stare of the Hell God]. Otherwise, I really would have to find a cloth to cover my eyes and cosplay as some unlucky person who had been "imprisoned for ten thousand years" … I suddenly felt that this style would be quite cool, but it would be quite embarrassing to have to bare my upper body. It would be even more embarrassing if I died halfway through the classic line of "You're all seeking your own deaths."
I took a deep breath and discovered that more than half of the dragon blood in my blood pool had been consumed. Also, something mysterious seemed to have happened to my body.
"System?"
At a time like this, I really needed to find an expert. At the very least, her interface would always be able to use precise numbers and words to help me understand my own situation.
Unfortunately, although a status window popped up, my racial talents and stats kept changing, making it impossible for me to see them clearly. It seemed that they were still changing.
"Ha, it seems that it's still early."
It would seem that my physical body was still evolving. I took a deep breath and intended to send my consciousness into my Frigidwinter Earth again. However, I received a response from my System.
[Your physical body is about to enter the adolescent stage. Please choose the direction of your evolution. System Notification: Please pay attention to your choice. Once you make a choice, it will be impossible to change it.]
I paused in surprise for a moment upon hearing this, but then my System directly gave me a bunch of information that helped me come to a sudden realization.
[Arbiter Bloodline: Strength: 19, Agility: 19, Constitution: 19, Intelligence: 29, Will: 19, Charm: 19. Talent Abilities: War Angel Form, Original Sin Demon Form. Overall evaluation: Double Diamond Bloodline. Recommended job class: Order Knight/Chaos Witch King. System Evaluation: An Arbiter Bloodline that exists on the border between Order and Chaos. It doesn't belong to any faction, but it can coexist with any faction. Perhaps he isn't the strongest, but he definitely has the most potential.]
To be honest, I had always found it rather strange. Even though my Bloodline was evaluated as a Double Diamond Bloodline, in actual combat, it was far inferior to the Titan Giants' Quasi-Diamond Bloodline. In fact, it was much weaker than Little Red's Immemorial Dragon Bloodline. Now, I had a rough idea of what the problem was.
From a certain standpoint, the System was the same as me. Although it never lied, it would often say things that would tempt people to misunderstand and fall for it.
This time, it was the last sentence in the description that "he's not the strongest, but he's definitely the one with the most potential."
When a teacher praised a student for having potential, there might be a subtext that said, "He really isn't much right now." So, what the system gave me was just an embryo. As for how far it would go, it would depend on my future development and choices.
And so, intentionally or unintentionally, the System still tricked me. At the very least, what it gave me back then wasn't the complete Arbiter Bloodline, but rather the Arbiter Bloodline's Infant Bloodline.
This was also why my physical body had always been in an infant state. It was just like a child who had just finished his childhood education. Whether or not I would become an athlete, an artist, a musician, and so on would all depend on the child's long-term learning and training. A child should first learn how to run and how to talk.
This world had never been balanced. Just like how the sports and intelligence geniuses in my previous world were all so easily capable of achieving things that ordinary people would never be able to achieve in their entire lives. Black people also had sports abilities in certain areas that other races would never be able to achieve no matter how hard they tried.
The differences between the races in this world were even greater, and the imbalance was even more obvious. Beastmen were naturally skilled in melee combat, elves were skilled in archery and magic, Dragons were skilled in both magic and martial arts, but their growth was slow. Undead were born with a natural affinity for negative energy. The only race that had average development was humans, who seemed to be the best at everything.
A physical body with the most potential? A stairway to the strongest? Nobody knew what type of power would be most suitable for you, what type of combat style you would use to reach that level, or what type of natural talent ability you wanted the most. It was just like how the so-called "most potential" would give you a chance to choose, creating a physical body and natural talent that you desired the most.
[Give up on at least two racial talents. Give me a direction to strengthen. The more detailed, the better. System Notification: Congratulations on graduating from elementary school. Now, it's time for you to go to middle school.]
"Average development during infancy, and I'll have to make a choice during adolescence?"
From my System's information, I learned that the "Arbiter Bloodline" was just like the perverts of insects. It would undergo a breakthrough mutation when it reached a bottleneck. And now, it was time for me to make a choice based on my combat experience.
"Choice? Choice? If there's a choice, then there'll definitely be a choice to give up. If there's a choice that's the most important, then there'll definitely be a choice that's the least important. "
Indeed, I wanted to be as agile as the elves, as strong as the beastmen, as naturally attracted to negative energy like the undead, and be able to control negative energy at will. I wanted to be as close to positive energy as an angel, and be as instinctive as breathing. But this wouldn't do … Even if my unreasonable bloodline ability really succeeded, it would only make up for my flaws and make my original strong points mediocre.
"… War Angel incarnation, Original Sin Demon incarnation, Sword of Order, Titan Giant's body, Shadow Feet, Divine Child, and Chaos Barrier. Do I have to give up on more than two? Strengthen? Which one should I strengthen? "
I went through my past natural talent abilities and considered which one would be the most useful to me, as well as what type of combat style I should adopt in the future. However, I was momentarily troubled. Not a single one of my current abilities was weak, but if I looked back at my past abilities, there would obviously be differences.
The War Angel incarnation and Original Sin Demon incarnation would definitely be kept. No matter if it was in actual combat or my "Frigidwinter Earth Creation" ability, they would both be incredibly effective. And I felt that since they were two foundational abilities that came with my physical body, they probably wouldn't be canceled. The Divine Child ability would allow me to easily activate the Divine Book of Descent, which was also my trump card, so of course I wouldn't cancel it.
In that case, let's start eliminating the abilities that I had used the least. Of course, I could always ask the living library Harloys for advice.
"Shadow Feet is the least used out of all the natural talent abilities. It's the ability to escape through the Shadow Plane. Although using it can save my life, it's the equivalent of throwing myself into another plane. I'll probably need to think of a way to return, and it's highly unlikely that I'll be able to return in a short period of time. That's why I've never used it before. But since it's an ability to escape, perhaps I'll need to use it at some point … "
"… Is it even possible for you to escape? Weren't you still eager to try the Titan Giant right before you? I think you should've faced your true self long ago and become a berserker. "
"Hmph, that's only because I wasn't in a situation where I was certain to die. Otherwise, I definitely would've escaped for you to see."
As a mage, it was perfectly normal for them to run if they couldn't win. Mages had a much slower growth period than other job classes. If they wanted to go on an adventure, they would definitely prepare two or three specialized "tactical" magic spells. Harloys saying that I should become a berserker was no different from slandering me as a brainless idiot.
"No, I think that as long as you're forced to your limits, you'll still turn into a mad dog mode and fight to the death. Back when Aso cast a forbidden spell on you, you were still able to escape to the Shadow Plane, but you ended up burning your soul in order to die together with him. Just think about it, have you ever tried to escape after all these years? "
"… It's possible that I've never tried to escape."
"From this standpoint, you're just like those inflexible tin cans."
When I said this, I recalled the teachings of a certain so-called strongest Holy Knight teacher when I was younger. He basically nagged me for more than three hours every day. It was almost like brainwashing.
"… We Holy Knights will never despair. As long as we fight to the very end … even if we're destined to die, we'll make a worthwhile sacrifice …"
Actually, the greatest advantage of the Holy Knight job class was that they were nearly immune to fear and despair magic. Not only that, my team was used to having Holy Knights do the most dangerous jobs. In fact, since there were far too many precedents, when Beyana ridiculed the Holy Knight class for being a "martyr fanatic" and a "suicide syndrome", I was unable to retort at all.
Personally, I didn't believe that my childhood teachings would affect someone for the rest of their life. But honestly speaking, if I was forced to the brink again, I probably wouldn't even think about escaping as long as there was even the slightest possibility of victory. The fact that I hadn't used my Shadow Feet even once was probably the most obvious evidence.
"It's not necessary to strengthen my escape ability?"
"For you, it's indeed not necessary. It's not like you'll ever escape. Besides, you're the undying Roland. Even if you die, you can always start over again."
Alright then, aside from the first reason, the second to last reason was …
"Apart from the Shadow Feet for escaping, the second least frequently used ability is the ability to summon a 'Holy Sword', the ability to summon a 'Holy Sword'."
I had only used this ability a few times at the very beginning, but I hadn't used it much after that.
It was a small matter that I could only use this ability once per day, and it couldn't be used for very long. But my greatest regret was that I didn't lack weapons.
Pale Justice, Roland Holy Sword, and Undying Killer War Hammer were all excellent weapons capable of carrying the power of Holy Light and Law. Although I had given the God Equipment Roland Holy Sword to Renée, ever since the silly cat evolved to the point where she possessed the abilities of "Calamity Chill" and "Hibernation Chill", the Ice Calamity that Harloys had transformed into became my first choice.
In fact, as my ice magic improved, Irene Béla's buffs on ice magic, and that fatal "Calamity Chill", the Ice Calamity that Harloys transformed into was no weaker than the God Equipment Roland Holy Sword in my hands.
In that case, the conclusion was quite obvious. It was also quite obvious what I needed to give up.
"You don't lack melee attacks. A Holy Sword that only uses the power of Holy Light and Law will be useless to you."
Harloys's words were logical, but why did I feel like she only wanted to eliminate her competitors and become my one and only beloved sword … Fine then, since I accidentally revealed my true thoughts, I would probably have to think of a way to remove her from my head. Recently, she had actually learned how to make her fangs act like drills, which gave me even more of a headache …
"Melee combat abilities are meaningless to you, and escape abilities are meaningless to you. The conclusion is already clear. What is the talent ability that you use the most?"
Of course I still had to ask …
[Titan Body (Diamond Racial Talent): Your physical body contains the original power of the Titans. Your skin is becoming more and more like Titan metal. All damage and debuffs will be reduced by 30%. All damage will be reduced by 5.]
[Chaos Barrier (Gold Racial Talent): Protect your existence from the pressure of a Divine Domain or Soul World. Reduce the effectiveness of will-type abilities and illusions.]
Yep, these two pure defensive passive talents were the ones that I used the most. The former protected my physical body, while the latter protected my soul. It was only by combining these two talents that I was able to survive to this day.
As I looked at the word "Titan" in "Titan Body," I mysteriously recalled the Titan Incarnation that survived even a True God's self-destruction. The deepest impression they had left on me was their outstanding defensive abilities.
With the existence of the Frigidwinter Earth World, with my accomplishments in ice, death, Holy Light, and Law, I didn't lack offensive power or offensive methods. However, perhaps my weakness was still my defensive abilities. If I was trampled to death on the battlefield, no matter how many abilities I had, I would still die with a grudge.
My Frozen Flame Armor, which was nearly invincible against Ömdiroken, was actually my glass porcupine armor that Ömdiroken was afraid of. If I met an idiot who really rushed up to me and shattered my ice armor, I would probably have to think of a way to prevent myself from being frozen into eternal slumber.
Only by staying alive would I have hope. Only then would I have the possibility of turning the tables.
"… Perhaps strengthening my defensive abilities is the most suitable path for me."
[… I don't recommend that you choose this path of evolution. Without the assistance of the Titan Incarnation, you won't be able to evolve to your desired level. And once you choose this path, you won't be able to change it. System Notification: It's your fault for not completing your Quest. Maybe next time.]
Although I didn't say anything nice about it, from a certain standpoint, I could see the System's painstaking efforts.
The System had given me a Quest during my duel against Zero, probably because Zero's knowledge system would be the greatest supplement for me. It would be a great opportunity for me to complete my Undead Element Soul Imprint. Meanwhile, the Titan Incarnation was probably the most suitable path for me to improve my physical body. The Immemorial Red Dragon Bloodline that I had obtained with Little Red's assistance was probably nothing more than a consolation prize.
Just from my recent battles, it was easy to tell that the physical strength of Dragons was on a completely different level from the Titan Incarnations. If I chose a Dragon Bloodline, although it would greatly increase my physical body's strength, and perhaps I would even be able to obtain the Dragons' attacks, pure defensive abilities would likely be far inferior to the Titan Incarnation's bloodline.
I was hesitating as well. I had worked so hard to get to this point. It would be far too much of a pity if I took the wrong path.
I could already guess what abilities a Dragon Bloodline would have. After all, since Dragons were of the most basic nature, there were far too many True Dragon Bloodline hybrids. There were also many Dragon Bloodline Warlocks in this world, and the abilities of those Dragon Bloodlines had already been thoroughly researched by others.
Dragon Bloodline and Dragon Bloodline would greatly increase my stats. Although it would be quite useful for ordinary Dragon Bloodline Warlocks with weak bodies, my basic stats were far too high, so the increase would probably be limited. I didn't really look forward to it.
Dragon Scale Armor would allow my body to grow scales that would increase my physical and magical defense. If I hadn't met the Titan Incarnations before, I would have said that they would be impenetrable and incredibly practical. However, I already had the powerful talent "Titan Incarnation", and I had also seen the Titan Incarnations' disgustingly tough defensive abilities. How could I possibly be satisfied with just this?
Dragon Wings would give me the ability to fly. This seemed simple, but the ability to fly would forever be the most practical. Unfortunately, I already had the War Angel transformation. As my power level increased, the number of times I could transform would increase as well. This ability to fly would be completely useless to me.
Dragon Breath would be an incredibly powerful attack ability. It would have a wide AOE, powerful attack, and quick to activate. However, just as I mentioned before, I didn't lack any other offensive abilities. This ability would probably be of little value to me.
Dragon Claws and Dragon Tail would increase my melee combat abilities … To be honest, this would be the most useless ability. I was no Warrior Monks. I was a swordsman, so melee combat abilities would be completely meaningless. The claws of Dragons would actually affect the agility and habit of using swords.
If I really grew claws, teeth, and a tail, I would be more worried about that legendary male than I was worried about being disfigured. En, it was that half-dragon man who had inexplicably tamed a Divine Beast! Dragons were his family! He would definitely be capable of doing anything!
The more I thought about it, the more I regretted it. This Dragon Bloodline evolution wouldn't just be useless anymore. In a way, it would be dangerous …
But suddenly, I saw Harloys and Irene Béla, who were forced to soak in dragon blood together with me due to our soul contract. A very zombie-like idea suddenly appeared in my mind. If this was possible, then the Dragon Bloodline evolution wouldn't be useless anymore. Instead, it would truly be a shortcut to greatly increase my combat strength. And so, I hesitantly made my request to my System.
The only response I received was a long silence. It seemed that my System was calculating something. However, I was delighted. What I was most afraid of the most was being rejected. This doubtlessly meant that my idea was feasible.
[… 150,000 Fate Points. A refund for any overpayment … that's impossible. This is a fixed price!]
I was instantly furious. I had accumulated 143,451 Fate Points, and I was stuck at this price. This bastard was obviously trying to scam me.
"Even if you remake your body, it wouldn't be this expensive, would it? Also, why do you have to stick to the upper limit of my total Fate Points? Don't think that I don't know why it's a whole number every time. It's because you're taking the bigger part and then taking the smaller part! "
[You think it's too expensive? You can find someone else.]
Alright then, this condescending tone and line instantly caused me to imagine a certain bastard picking his nose while looking at me out of the corner of his eye.
I really wanted to find someone else, but this was a monopoly. How could I find someone else? Not only that, this was a complete monopoly that was impossible to turn back from! You were already using its System. Did you really want to not patch it and buy its follow-up services? It would have all sorts of bugs and viruses that could kill you.
"… You win. What if it's not enough? Can you owe me? "
I had pretty much figured it out. This bastard was obviously trying to suck all my Fate Points out of me. It would seem that it was even trying to force me to do ridiculous daily quests.
[No.]
I paused in surprise upon hearing this. I never expected that this bastard would actually refuse. Could it be that it actually had a conscience this time? Was it really only willing to give me a reasonable price without owing me?
If that was really the case, then what should I do? Was I supposed to give up on this idea that I had worked so hard to come up with? I'm really not willing to just barely use my physical body to evolve like this!
[You can owe me, but you'll have to pay me back with Justice Points. But first, you have to give me the 2300 Justice Points you have right now as a deposit for something that I want.]
Alright then, I had still underestimated a certain black-bellied System. At this moment, I mysteriously recalled a certain pitiful man who had been booked by a certain woman before he even received his salary. At such a time, as a proper man, he would probably only be able to raise his head and sigh, before … lowering his head and begging for mercy!
"… You win, but you should at least leave me a hundred Justice Points as pocket money. You should know that it's quite difficult for me to earn Justice Points."
But at such a time, no matter how pitiful you sounded, your opponent wouldn't let you off so easily.
[Fifty. No need to thank me. Pay me the rest within half a year. Otherwise, I'll give you thirteen out of ten. You understand.]
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