Chapter 68

  At the Sin Dimension’s gateway.

  Not long ago, a prosperous demon city had stood here, only for the Elemental’s legions to engulf it in flames. It was now the location of the main battlefield between the Elemental Nation and the Sin Dimension’s forces.

  After Wrath narrowly survived Torg’s surprise attack, Greed and Gluttony rallied the demons together, knowing that Wrath wouldn’t be able to hold himself back from getting even with Torg. Indeed, once Wrath recovered, he charged headfirst through the Sin Dimension gateway, appearing in the Grandsky Realm.

  When he did, Torg emerged from seclusion and a grand battle ensued.

  Torg, Rammy, Flynn, Isabal, Wrath, Greed, and Gluttony fought in the sky while the Elemental’s legions used the Sin Dimension’s gateway as a chokepoint to hold back the demons.

  That battle ended with no victor, and both sides took a few days to recover before duking it out once again. Since then, they fought three times, losing thousands in every battle and forming an enmity so great that they wouldn’t stop fighting until one side remained.

  Currently, all was quiet.

  Not far from the Sin Dimension’s gateway, inside the Elemental’s camp, Rammy sat in her private quarters and rubbed her forehead in exhaustion. She had barely gotten any sleep over the past week and was running on fumes.

  Sighing heavily, she withdrew a case from her inventory and opened it. Within were Physique Booster potions. Rammy grabbed one and swallowed its contents. It was like a super concentrated dose of caffeine swept through her body. Almost immediately, she felt her fatigue withdraw, replaced by a surge of energy.

  As one of the Elemental’s top fighters, Rammy needed to be combat-ready at every given moment and had been relying heavily on Physique Booster potions to do so. But even they had their limits. Rammy could tell her body was growing resistant to the potion's effects. It wouldn’t take long before they stopped working entirely.

  “Hopefully, it’ll be enough,” Rammy muttered to herself.

  In a war, when both sides were equally matched, what determined victory or defeat was energy reserves. As time went on, one side would inevitably run out of stamina and mana. That was why Rammy, Flynn, Isabel, and Torg resorted to doping themselves. They were doing everything they could to outlast Wrath, Greed, and Gluttony.

  Now that Rammy felt better, she started reading through several documents detailing how the Innate’s army wiped out the demons invading the Elemental’s heartland and the appearance of a celestial grade dungeon.

  “So, it was Pride’s doing,” Rammy hummed in understanding. It was of great relief to hear that the Innates had secured their borders, though it was a shame about the dungeon. Rammy, Flynn, Isabel, and Torg simply couldn’t leave the battlefield. They couldn’t even spare sending their top elites to challenge the dungeon.

  Just then, the ringing of a bell resounded throughout the camp – a signal that the demons were attacking. Rammy rose to her feet, put on her equipment, and rushed out of her tent.

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  Keith woke up to a notification blinking in his face.

  Congratulations, you leveled a skill to 1,000!

  Reach level 1,000 in two more skills to attain additional benefits.

  There was no doubt about it: his Fireball skill had reached level 1,000.

  Swiping away the notification, Keith got out of bed and stretched with a wide smile on his face. The fact he progressed while sleeping left him feeling pleased with himself. Keith focused on his clone’s activities and realized he was already studying Mana Barrier.

  Ah, how great would it be if I could get another clone? Keith thought, lamenting how expensive the Clone (2) function was. Another clone meant he could research two skills at once.

  After eating breakfast, Keith took out a journal and pencil, falling into deep thought.

  Recently, he’d been developing himself in multiple directions, either with studying skills, practicing Sword Mastery, or leveling up. Thinking about it, Keith had so many methods to grow stronger that he didn’t know what to prioritize.

  It was time to review everything and come up with a development plan.

  First, skills.

  Arsenal of the Desert’s weapons came in many forms, and sometimes using a sword wasn’t the best option. Besides Sword Mastery, there was Dagger Mastery, Spear Master, Axe Master, and so on. Each had their intricacies. Since Keith frequently used Arsenal of the Desert, it might be worthwhile to learn the corresponding mastery skills.

  Another type of skill that Keith had shied away from was endurance-type skills.

  For example, Stone Skin.

  The skill was a rare passive skill, in that it didn’t cost mana to use.

  To train the skill, you needed to take a literal beating.

  As a reward, it raised your body’s natural defense.

  Keith had always avoided those types of skills because, well, who wanted to inflict pain on themselves? But as Keith experienced more and grew, his mentality matured. He now regretted that he never picked up Stone Skin.

  Moving on, Keith felt that he had neglected his innate gift as of late.

  There were a few things he’d like to collect, namely: a Magic Network tower and a Skyship. He hoped to unlock a new function from them.

  As for his current functions, Keith wanted to make better use of Rift Simulator.

  Though the Grandsky Realm didn’t have any Rifts, he could consult with Wes, Adventurer Academy’s Dean. The man’s innate gift allowed him to create Rifts, so long as he had the necessary materials. With Keith’s current ability, he could easily acquire divine grade materials to create a divine grade Rift.

  There wasn’t much Keith could do with his Farming Simulator, outside of investing billions of gold. The divine grade seed he had planted still needed a little under two months to grow. He was looking forward to its effect.

  Regarding other functions, Keith was a bit miffed he hadn’t unlocked a function dealing with skills or monster eggs. It didn’t matter how many of them he collected; they never showed up.

  There was one final thing Keith wanted to focus on: Mana Vision.

  Besides giving him omnidirectional sight, it also allowed him to see the elements. Fire, water, earth, and wind were all different forms of mana. He wondered if he could acquire Fire Manipulation, Water Manipulation, and so on by connecting to them with Mana Vision. So far, those skills have been exclusive to the Elemental Dimension. If Keith could acquire them, his elemental skills would receive a significant boost.

  As Keith was reviewing his notes, a beep came from his magic tablet.

  Ska’dur had sent him a message.

  Keith, I have an opportunity for you.

  I recently created a new skill and want to share it with you, along with a few others.

  Tonight at 7 pm, meet me at this location.

  Upon reading through the message, Keith was astonished.

  Isn’t that Ska’dur’s second self-created skill?

  Keith knew what that meant.

  Ska’dur had completed the hidden requirements needed to create a second skill.

  Keith was still clueless as to what those requirements were.

  Now, he could just ask Ska’dur.

  In any case, Keith was looking forward to learning what skill Ska’dur created.