I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 123

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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 123. Tian Shu Star

Tap, tap-tap-tap—

The floor was so dark that light barely penetrated it.

The sound of falling stone echoed through the darkness.

For some time that sound carried on.

Haring, who had lost consciousness, began slowly to stir.

‘Haring, how much longer are you going to sleep? Your meal’s gone cold.’

A faint old memory drifted through Haring’s mind.

It was something her brother used to say long ago, gently running his hand through her hair.

Her brother, with whom the age gap was considerable, had always been kind that way.

And even in his final moment, he remained endlessly tender.

It was a day like any other—chatting with him over breakfast, going off to training as she always did.

Haring still remembers that day with perfect clarity.

On the roof of the Laggren Family Estate, gleaming in the morning sun.

A man with long hair the color of blood, his crimson eyes burning bright, had waved once in her direction.

As Haring stared blankly, wondering who he was, what met her eyes was the moment he raised his hand toward the sky.

And then, the heavens turned yellow.

Invasive Species surged upward in overwhelming numbers, and the area of the Laggren Family Estate underwent World Erosion.

The rising Invasive Species attacked the household members, and the family’s knights and numerous others fought them desperately.

Had the Poison King and the family’s knight order been present, it might have been different, but the Poison King and the order were away on an expedition for some reason.

The Laggren Family was in the most vulnerable state to external assault imaginable.

When young Haring stood dazed amid the unfolding catastrophe—

‘Haring!’

Her brother, spotting her, seized her and ran.

He was desperate to protect her.

Her brother, born with a weak body.

Because of it, he had achieved no great martial prowess, yet he possessed a talent bordering on genius when it came to poison.

So he pulled Haring along, intending to hide them in the Poison Chamber—a place where the vile stench of poison was so thick that it was nearly impossible to breathe.

He believed that even the Invasive Species would shun such a place.

But in that moment, Haring made a single mistake.

‘Eek?!’

On the way to the Poison Chamber, she’d caught sight of an Erosion Beast nearby tearing into a servant’s head, and the cry had escaped her lips before she could stop it.

That scream was more than enough to draw the Erosion Beast’s attention.

And so her brother immediately shoved Haring deeper into the Poison Chamber and hurled poison at the creature.

‘Shrieeek!’

The enraged Erosion Beast shrieked, its half-liquefied head dripping as it vented its fury.

Watching it, her brother locked the Poison Chamber door from the outside.

‘Brother!’
‘Haring, remember when we used to play hide-and-seek and count? Do you remember that game?’

He spoke calmly as he drew the last of his poison from his waist pouch.

‘Keep counting. Count all the way to the highest number you know. And no matter who calls you, don’t come out until then. You understand?’
‘Brother, no! No, Aring, no!’

In that instant, the Erosion Beast came barreling toward him.

Behind the locked door, Haring trembled at the gruesome sounds that reached her ears.

She was only seven years old.

There was nothing a child could do but obey her brother’s words.

‘One, two, three…….’

So she continued counting.

Haring had always been good at hide-and-seek, and when she played with Aring, he’d told her that if he couldn’t find her even after she finished counting, she should come out and look for him instead.

Tears began to fall from her eyes.

Frightened and terrified, she held it in and kept counting as her brother had told her.

And as she counted on and on.

The sounds from outside gradually grew quieter, then slowly faded away.

When she realized this, she had already finished counting to the end.

Haring approached the locked door from inside.

Then a faint voice came through.

‘Ha……ring.’

The moment she heard his fractured voice, Haring tried to open the door.

But from outside, her brother was gripping the locked door tightly.

‘I wasn’t trying to save you. I ended up like this by trying to survive. So you didn’t do anything wrong. Do you……understand.’

To the very end, her considerate brother had spouted nonsense in her defense.

Though it was plainly his own mistake, he had insisted on those words to the last, desperate to spare her any guilt.

All Haring could do was weep before him.

After that, she had collapsed where she stood, drained of everything.

It was some time before anyone found her.

Aring’s corpse had been severed at the waist—upper and lower halves torn apart.

The Erosion Beast’s claws had ripped him to shreds.

And one tome, which the Laggren Family treasured as a priceless heirloom—the Dok Hyul Jeon—had vanished.

Whether it had been taken by the World Erosion agent or destroyed by the Erosion Beast, no one could say.

It was only because the Emperor himself, upon hearing the news, had hastily dispatched the Imperial Knights that the Laggren Family was saved from ruin.

It had been a catastrophe—the very roots of House Laggren nearly torn from the earth.

Indebted to the Empire for this salvation, the Poison King had sworn his loyalty to them.

Until then, the Laggren Family had maintained a precarious neutrality between the Imperial Family and the nobility; now they turned irrevocably toward the throne.

That debt to the Imperial Family became the Laggren Family’s greatest burden.

‘Brother.’

Haring opened her eyes slowly, releasing them from their tight squeeze.

The memory, surfacing after all this time, had left her eyes glistening with tears.

The image of that day remained painfully sharp in her mind.

She had two purposes.

One: to ensure that no one else would die as senselessly as her brother had, victims of World Erosion.

Two: to hunt down the World Erosion agent who had killed him and the Laggren Family, and exact her vengeance.

This was why she had enrolled at Rahelern Academy, which claimed to train heroes to halt World Erosion.

But the other students at Rahelern Academy seemed nothing like her.

In the brief time she had observed them, the newcomers appeared far more concerned with their own petty power struggles than with stopping World Erosion.

She had grown disgusted with them in a single day.

She had no desire to speak with them at any length.

Her purpose was too urgent, too vital—she would not let her brother’s death be for nothing.

But there was one exception.

The boy her age assigned with her on this practical mission was different.

‘I didn’t come here to play at politics and power.’

It was Krash speaking, his gaze fixed on Karandis and Mary.

‘World Erosion has been accelerating dramatically over the past few years, and I came to Rahelern Academy to study, to prevent catastrophe if it should come.’

Hearing those words, her eyes turned toward Krash.

Valheim Krash.

A direct heir of that famous Valheim Family.

One could call him a product of nobility.

His very bearing was admirable.

She found herself regarding him highly.

By chance, Krash and Haring ended up in the same team.

Krash was formidable.

He had triumphed against a creature bearing the power of the God of Night itself, gave orders with certainty, and moved with sharp efficiency.

Moreover, while he presented himself outwardly at ease and seemingly open,

beneath that surface lay meticulous calculation, luring his opponents into carelessness.

In World Erosion, a single mistake could cost you your life.

He seemed to have faced World Erosion countless times.

A part of her felt a quiet admiration.

To find someone her own age who approached World Erosion with the same gravity she did—it was a relief she hadn’t known she needed.

But then, with him,

her own carelessness had allowed him to be kidnapped by an Erosion Beast.

Even now, remembering that, Haring’s chest tightened.

She hated that complacency, that thoughtlessness—her mistake within World Erosion that had meant her brother had to die.

Perhaps that was why.

She kept overlaying Krash with the image of her brother, unbidden.

Though they were the same age, there was something subtly unlike their peers about him.

“Hgh.”

Haring wrapped her arms around her abdomen as pain lanced through it.

Only then did she remember what had happened just before.

After consuming a Baek Chung Pill, which forcibly removed the limiters the brain places on the body to keep it whole,

she had driven an Assassin’s Dagger into Decarabia’s jaw.

After that, she’d failed to evade Decarabia’s follow-up strike and lost consciousness.

Her thoughts traveled that far, and she looked around, taking in her surroundings.

Trying to orient herself—where was she right now?

Her eyes halted on a single point.

Someone sat there, their back turned to her.

A blurred memory flickered across her mind—the final moment before darkness.

That image of him holding her as they plummeted downward, consciousness returning just long enough to register that much before slipping away again.

The memory was fragmented, interrupted by the blackness that had claimed her so quickly—but as the recollection surfaced, her eyes widened.

Krash had caught her as she fell.

Startled, she felt her strength drain away as she slowly moved toward him, dread creeping through her chest.

A terrible premonition seized her.

Krash had pushed himself so hard already.

If he had caught her from that height and broken their fall, there was no way he could have escaped unscathed.

“Krash.”

She called his name, and her hand was just reaching for his shoulder when—

“Ugh!”

The moment her palm made contact, she gasped as though touching flame.

When she pulled back in shock and turned him toward her, she saw his eyes flutter open—barely.

“You’re… awake.”

The words came out fractured, raw.

His face was flushed crimson, and watching him, she felt her composure begin to crumble.

Each breath he drew seemed to cost him profound suffering.

Krash had already been reeling from the aftereffects of the Jeok Ho Pill when he had forced himself to draw on reserves that should have been depleted.

The result was catastrophic—his internal organs ravaged beyond measure.

And then, to save her from the fall, he had pushed himself once more.

To prevent her death in that plunge, he had wrung out whatever strength remained in him—a certainty as plain as daylight.

Now Krash’s body burned like an inferno.

The aftereffects of the Jeok Ho Pill were indifferent to whether his body weakened or held—

they simply ravaged him from within with fire, an agony that consumed everything.

“Why did you save me? If you hadn’t, it wouldn’t have come to this…”

She spoke in a daze, her voice trembling with alarm and desperation.

Krash gazed at her for a moment, then closed his eyes.

“That’s not what you were trying to do.”

Haring’s eyes widened sharply.

It was because Krash had just spoken the very words her dead brother once said.

“So… just wait quietly for now.”

The moment those words reached her ears, Haring’s lips pressed together hard.

Taking it as a sign that Haring had risen, Krash lowered his head.

It was to endure the aftermath of the Jeok Ho Pill.

Haring sank down slowly behind him.

All she could do now was wait for the Jeok Ho Pill’s effects to fade completely from his body.

In this state, any attempt to help him could only make things catastrophically worse.

Just as it had been that day, all she could do was wait.

That realization left her feeling utterly powerless.

……

She clutched the Poison Pouch tightly to her chest.

It was a memento from her brother Aring, who had used it when facing the Erosion Beast back then.

Waiting—she could do that with certainty.

She could wait as many times as it took.

‘……So please, don’t die.’

Deep within her heart.

Holding this day close.

Haring desperately wished for Krash to open his eyes safely.

If he didn’t, she felt as though she would truly shatter beyond repair.

* * *

While the effects of the Jeok Ho Pill persisted.

Krash kept his eyes closed, enduring its aftermath entirely.

To be precise, the Jeok Ho Pill’s effects barely harmed him at all.

After all, Krash was someone whose body burned from within every single day.

A mere aftermath of internal burning fire was nothing.

For Krash, who daily subjected himself to the Annihilation Erosion, searing and roasting his insides, such things were trivial.

So the effects of the Jeok Ho Pill posed no problem for him.

Rather, Krash was using this opportunity to absorb the Jeok Ho Pill’s energy that lingered in his body.

The Jeok Ho Pill was a poison crafted through a secret technique of the Laggren Family.

Setting aside the agony of burning flesh, its potency was certainly worth absorbing.

Poison, when used well, becomes medicine.

So Krash was swiftly swallowing the Jeok Ho Pill whole in this moment.

—Madman, lunatic, out of his mind.

Thanks to Crimson Garden’s constant barrage of curses, his concentration did fracture somewhat.

But Krash kept absorbing the Jeok Ho Pill steadily.

As he’d said before—poison, when used well, becomes medicine.

Krash felt his body, which had been so ravaged by his exertion that even movement was a struggle, gradually grow stronger.

He would need to return and rest properly, receive treatment—but still, this was something unexpected.

Time passed.

Soon, having absorbed all of the Jeok Ho Pill, Krash opened his eyes.

His entire body was drenched in sweat, his face burning—yet it felt good.

Moreover, thanks to the Jeok Ho Pill, the amount of his Aura had grown slightly more than before.

‘This is nice.’

Though he hadn’t particularly worried about the Jeok Ho Pill’s effects, he hadn’t expected such potency.

Next time, if the chance arose, it wouldn’t be bad to get a few more from Haring.

“Haring.”

The moment Krash called her name, she started, her eyes snapping toward him.

She stared at him blankly for a moment, then her expression crumbled—she looked ready to cry—before she hurried to his side.

“Are you all right? Your body? Is anything hurting?”

She thrust her face forward and fired the questions at him.

Her expression looked as though it might shatter at any moment, which caught Krash a little off guard.

Why was she like this?

“Should I lean on you, or would you rather carry me?”

This time, she seemed to mean it earnestly.

Krash only now realized, belatedly, that she was concerned about having rescued him.

“Like I said before, this didn’t happen because I was trying to save you. Don’t worry about it.”

Though in the final moment, his body had moved of its own accord.

Haring’s Invisible and her poison would be essential to what came next.

So Krash had instinctively caught her as she fell.

There was too much she still needed to do for her to die here.

But Krash didn’t realize it.

How deeply his words burrowed into Haring.

She bit her lip hard before finally answering.

“Understood.”

Yet her eyes burned with an intensity that was almost unsettling.

‘Now that I think about it, the Laggren Family did place considerable weight on obligation.’

The Poison King’s destruction of House Haden Hartz at the Imperial Family’s command had been driven entirely by debts owed to the throne.

‘So Haring would be the same.’

Krash recalled her strange behavior from moments before.

An almost obsessive fixation on keeping him alive.

‘And from what I saw, she has a trauma—an excessive concern for those who sacrificed themselves in her stead.’

Bound by family discipline on top of that, it made sense she’d become this way.

Since things had come to this, Krash decided to clear the debt he owed her quickly.

That would put her more at ease.

“If it bothers you, I have some research into poison I want to pursue when we get back. Just help me with that. That’s enough.”

Krash had been wanting to research the connection between curses and poisons.

At the mention of poison research, her eyes wavered once more.

But no matter how perceptive Krash was, he couldn’t discern what lay beneath the surface without knowing her circumstances.

Haring clenched both fists, then nodded firmly.

“Research. Got it.”

There was a resolve in her eyes so absolute it was almost burdensome.

Still, he figured a good working relationship beat a poor one.

“Now, let’s head back.”

Thanks to the Jeok Ho Pill, some of his strength had returned.

Krash rose and looked up toward the sky above the Plaza.

He’d come down quite far, and the climb back up didn’t look like it would be easy.

But Krash wasn’t particularly worried.

His Sixth Sense was picking up a presence.

Krash lifted his head.

Then vines began descending from the dimness above.

And soon a figure came into view for Krash.

“Krash, Haring!”

Not Anyx—the one who’d abandoned him long ago when they fell into that trap.

This was Anyx, who had come down despite the limits of the Wood Heaven Style, determined to save them.

Krash swallowed a brief laugh.

A person’s life.

Well, there’s no predicting it.

* * *

By the time they finished the mission and escaped the Ruins.

Dawn had already faded, and the sun was rising overhead.

The Ruins naturally concealed itself beneath the sand.

It would remain hidden until night fell again.

“You alright?”

When Haring asked, Krash swung his arm lightly to show her.

“Fine.”
-Bluffing, though.

Crimson Garden’s jab reached his ears, but he didn’t pay it any mind.

If he could move, he was fine—that was his philosophy.

His gaze drifted to Anyx.

When their eyes met, Anyx smiled as he always did.

It was the kind of smile Krash used to despise.

A false smile, or so Krash had always judged it to be.

‘I was looking at him through colored glasses.’

Until they first set out to find the Ruins, Krash had regarded Anyx’s smile as counterfeit.

He’d always assumed that Anyx saw the Shining Pair members as his faction, and kept bracing himself for the betrayal he was certain would come.

But now, having glimpsed Anyx’s true heart.

Krash finally understood that he’d been seeing the world through a lens of distrust—and it was gone.

“You’ve earned your rest. I’m alive because of you.”

At Krash’s offhand words, Anyx’s eyes went wide, then his face broke into another smile.

“I never thought I’d hear something like that from you.”
“I never expected to say it either.”

A weight lifted from his chest.

Krash tilted his face toward the sky.

Through Pendal, he’d learned not to judge people by their regression alone.

Now, through Anyx, he’d learned that people could be transformed entirely by the smallest of catalysts.

And perhaps this lesson would become a fetter on the path he walked.

He would carry in his mind those skills he meant to seize, and that meant endless deliberation awaited him.

Yet one thing he could say with certainty.

‘If I could hold back the apocalypse alone, then Arthur could have done it alone too.’

When World Erosion reached its worst.

The world fell into chaos.

Arthur could stop one catastrophe, but not multiple catastrophes at once.

And the same held true for Krash.

Knowing that fact, Krash had spent all this time building connections with others.

‘To set the Starry Generation right.’

A thread of light was beginning to emerge.

A single path by which the apocalypse could be held at bay came into view.

‘I stand at the very front of it.’

Whether rain fell in torrents, sandstorms swept across the land, or hurricanes bore down.

To endure steadfast at the forefront—that was his role.

The Starry Generation would follow in his wake and soar to heights where they would finally hold back the apocalypse.

Krash’s eyes blazed with light.

Fixed on a single goal, his gaze gleamed like a star itself.

Tian Shu Star.

It was a thought worthy of Krash—fitting perfectly with the role of guide that Elfin had spoken of.

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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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