A Veteran of Infinite Buffs - Chapter 109

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 109

A messenger from Bexson rushed urgently toward Loren Fortress.
There was no need for interrogation—the outcome was already determined.
Since I had resolved to drive a wedge between them, no message could be allowed to reach Loren Fortress.
“Hah.”
My main force, now at level 3, corresponded to three times its previous strength.
Thanks to that, an enormous concentration of power began gathering in my legs.
“M-move aside…!”
‘Thunder Strike.’
Crackle!
The messenger and the horse he rode were both pierced through at my feet.
There was no Achievement notification, nor any change in level.
He had merely been an ordinary messenger.
“This firepower is absurd. Thunder Strike makes my previous attacks look like child’s play.”
Still, since I had secured a suitable corpse, I decided to offer the reward directly to Thunder Strike.
Mystical entities possessed the characteristic of absorbing the status embedded within corpses.
“Hmm?”
But for some reason, the power wasn’t being drained away.
It was as though the will of something other than myself had intervened.
“What? Why won’t it eat?”
Thunder Strike’s lightning remained in my legs, and the golden power merely circled around them.
“Are you picky? The type that only accepts premium offerings?”
Unfortunately, whether Thunder Strike’s rank was simply too low or for some other reason, there was no meaningful communication.
“This is troublesome. If I have to dispose of the corpse separately… burning it would create smoke. Hmm.”
Several hypotheses suddenly crossed my mind.
What if a mystical entity could only absorb a single corpse?
What if it could directly select which corpse to absorb?
If my hypothesis was correct, it made sense.
The only other reason a mystical entity would reject a corpse would be a preference for absorbing only humans imbued with magical power.
“Tiger, what about you?”
This time, I manifested Tiger and lightly threw a punch in front of the corpse.
Similarly, the power remained wrapped around my hand and didn’t dissipate.
“You won’t eat either?”
This made my hypothesis increasingly plausible.
Mystical entities either absorbed only a single corpse, were selective eaters, or absorbed only superior corpses.
This clarified what I needed to do.
“Then I’ll have to farm new mystical entities.”
Buffs granted through sorcery boast overwhelming performance rivaling permanent buffs.
The stronger the corpse, the stronger the buff it provides—a principle that ensures sorcery remains competitive.
This means the importance of sorcerous entities has risen to match that of eternal beings.
“Yet since leaving Ash Village, I haven’t encountered a single sorcerous entity.”
The last sorcerous entity I encountered was a worm-like creature positioned along the passage between Ash and Liam.
I reasoned that if traditions were well-preserved or nature remained untouched, another sorcerous entity would likely exist in such places.
“For now, I should distance myself from this road.”
Having captured the first messenger, there would be a considerable interval before the next one arrived.
Thus, I moved away from the path toward a secluded location.
Even if I couldn’t find a sorcerous entity, I still needed to dispose of the messenger’s corpse.
During my retreat to a sparsely populated area, numerous whispers continued to flow.
There was news that Chung-geom’s party had arrived at Ash Village, and that Bella had departed for Ash Village through Liam with orphans in tow.
I received word through Beta that Chae-rim had transferred the proceeds from item sales.
It seemed Silverpenn had returned to Liam.
Among all these whispers, the critical ones came from Seoguang’s side—specifically from Cha Eun-kyung and Sung-chul (Elder).

[Eun-nyang E: I’m heading to Kraha. Right now.]
[Nyx: First meeting’s over. There’s a lot to cover, but I’ll give you the essentials. Seoguang decided to align with the Royal Court, and some personnel will move to Kraha to execute various sabotage operations. Oh, and the Royal Palace has dispatched four Knight Orders to Liam.]

Cha Eun-kyung’s characteristic way of cutting straight to the conclusion became perfectly interpretable thanks to Sung-chul (Elder).
It appeared Cha Eun-kyung was included among the sabotage team members selected from Seoguang.
I could certainly trust her.
She would achieve excellent results.

[Kael: Understood. I’ve completed my business in Bexson Village and am moving to Loren Fortress.]
[Nyx: Already? That’s incredibly fast?]
[Kael: A full-scale war won’t work. I believe that even by tomorrow, the defenses will be so heightened that infiltration becomes difficult. I caught a glimpse of Count Ponsen from a distance, and I’m certain I couldn’t defeat him alone.]

Given my nature, I might eventually be able to contend with Count Ponsen, but for now it was impossible.
This war requires the strength of the Royal Court, Seoguang, and many others—there’s no way around it.

[Nyx: Right. The Royal Knight in this game isn’t an NPC designed to be hunted. Even if our entire guild threw everything at it, victory wouldn’t be guaranteed.]
[Kael: I’ve already cut off the messengers traveling from Bexson to Loren Fortress. There shouldn’t be major disruptions to the strategy today. I need to dispose of the corpse, so I’ll contact you later.]
[Nyx: Got it. I’m heading into the second meeting.]
[Kael: Thanks for your efforts.]

As we exchanged whispers while dragging the corpse, we had ventured quite far from our starting point.
The traces of the narrow path from before had vanished entirely, and I found myself in a strange region filled with withered trees.
“Hmm. There doesn’t seem to be any mystical entity here either.”
I recalled the moment when I had absorbed the mystical entity.
Whenever a mystical entity was absorbed into me, the location it had inhabited would rapidly wither—a characteristic pattern I had observed.
Based on this information, it was highly likely that this region was where a mystical entity had once departed.
Of course, this was merely a hypothesis, excluding all scientific knowledge related to natural environmental factors.
“Still, it doesn’t seem like a place where people’s footsteps would reach.”
I had already deviated sufficiently from the path.
At this distance, it seemed unlikely that a pursuit team would come searching for the messenger.
“Even so, it would be wasteful to simply abandon him, so I’ll give him a proper burial.”
Even if he was merely an NPC, I decided to extend a measure of mercy.
By laying him to rest in the earth.
Crack! Thud!
I retrieved an appropriate shovel from my subspace and began digging into the ground.
The soil was quite hard due to the arid conditions, but my overwhelming strength allowed me to excavate regardless of the resistance.
“Don’t resent me for this—it’s all for the sake of survival.”
After digging to an adequate depth, I placed the corpse inside and, though I held no religious beliefs, I observed a moment of silent reverence and offered a prayer for his peace.
Once the true war begins, I won’t have the luxury of such gestures.
“Exhale.”
Thus, the messenger from Bexson Village became one with the withered earth.
Now it was time to return to Loren Fortress.
Gugugu…
“Hm?”
At that moment, an unexpected sound began emanating from behind me.
It came from the very spot where I had just buried the messenger.
“What is this? What’s happening?”
I spun around hastily, but everything appeared unchanged.
The landscape seemed unaltered.
No, upon closer inspection, there was a subtle transformation occurring.
The withered tree near where the messenger was buried had begun to change.
“Could it be one of those trees that uses corpses as nutrients?”
I hadn’t noticed any monsters appearing, which was peculiar.
It seemed there were specific conditions required for their emergence through some separate mechanism.
One of those conditions appeared to be burying a corpse in the ground, which was problematic.
“Still, since it’s a monster I haven’t encountered before, defeating it would be worthwhile.”
I decided to eliminate it before the tree could completely absorb the corpse.
Since it wasn’t an exceptionally thick tree, I judged it could be handled at the Sumoq level.
‘Mana infusion.’
I would swing the mana-infused tree with full force, targeting the creature’s core.
Whoosh!
Yet absurdly, the attack cleaved through empty air.
“Hm?”
It wasn’t a matter of mistiming either.
Sumoq had aimed precisely at the tree’s center, and since I’d activated Instant Severance from the start, it should have either connected or been blocked—missing entirely defied all logic.
“Wait… seriously?”
And I had learned of one circumstance where mana proved ineffective.
Sorcery.
Spirit force and mana don’t mix; they annihilate each other.
“Is this thing actually a sorcerous entity? This?”
The tree offered no counterattack.
It merely showed signs of expanding its form and growing.
For me, that meant I could simply unleash my spirit force freely.
Crackle, crackle, crackle!
“Go on. Take a bite. Isn’t it exquisite?”
Perhaps because there was no corpse to consume.
This time, golden spirit force erupted freely, beginning to coil around the tree.
This phenomenon occurred when spirit force resonated with a sorcerous entity.
“Nice. This works.”
The tree didn’t reject the spirit force.
Instead, it became one with the spirit force, merging into golden radiance.
“It’s coming. It’s coming. I feel it!”
The tree vanished long ago.
Because it had become one with the spirit force.
I carefully withdrew the spirit force and opened the buff window.

[Active Buffs]
[Noble Beast (Superior)]
[Strength +3 Wisdom +3]
[You gain the ability to use Consumption.]
[Consumption: Decompose dead organisms into nutrients.]
[Duration: ?]

Its name was Gui-su.
Gui-su had become the third mystical entity I had obtained.
Moreover, through its unique ability called Hwan, it displayed exceptional prowess in corpse disposal.
The fact that it converted remains into nourishment was equally remarkable.
Perhaps this was a separate absorption capability, distinct from how other mystical entities consumed corpses.
“…I’m curious about something.”
I posed the question to myself.
How could I distinguish which humans were permissible to absorb?
The answer was already clear.
“How could I possibly refrain from this?”
The only humans I must not absorb were those I knew.
I had already shown sufficient respect to the dead, and as one who needed to grow ever stronger, verifying my abilities took far greater precedence.
This was my conclusion.
Whoosh! Whoosh!
As I swung Sumoq, the parched soil covering the remains scattered instantly into the air.
And there, revealed in moments, lay the skeletal remains of a messenger.
It appeared to have already been in the process of being absorbed by a mystical entity.
“Hwan.”
Screeeech!
With that strange cry, Gui-su burst forth from my left hand.
Ho-gi manifested from my right hand, Nae-eung from my right foot.
Perhaps each entity had its preferred location of emergence.
Screee! Screeee!
Gui-su immediately took root upon the corpse and began rapidly decomposing it.
I waited calmly for Gui-su’s return and carefully opened my buff window.

[Active Buffs]
[Gui-su (Superior)]
[Strength +3 Agility +1 Wisdom +3]
[You gain access to the Hwan ability.]
[Hwan: Decomposes deceased organisms and converts them into nourishment.]
[Duration: ?]

Gui-su, which had granted me increases of three to Strength and Wisdom, now added Agility to its benefits.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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