I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 49

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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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Episode 49. Why Do They Keep Gathering

Cold sweat dripped steadily down Krash’s forehead.

After swallowing the Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill, Krash could certainly endure it.

But endurance was all it was—the pain had not vanished.

His body was heating up from the pill’s warmth, raising his core temperature, and a faint wisp of smoke escaped his lips.

Within that inferno, Krash closed his eyes, absorbing every ounce of the pill’s power into his body.

Normally, the agony would shatter such concentration, but Krash could manage it.

-That’s practically a madman’s feat.

Crimson Garden shook her head, watching him.

Now that she thought about it, the Flame Erosion that Krash had developed was itself a technique born from tremendous pain.

A lunatic’s work—stoking fire so intense that the organs inside the body practically cooked themselves.

She should have guessed from the moment he wielded it without apparent concern, but she’d only realized it late because he used it so matter-of-factly every time.

‘If he can bear having a severed arm’s nerves reconnected, what can he possibly not endure.’

Crimson Garden’s tone was blunt, yet inwardly she felt a twinge of pity.

A Regressor was certainly worn down by each cycle of return.

But Krash seemed to be among the most eroded of all Regressors.

For him to maintain his sanity through all that was a talent in itself, if nothing else.

‘Or perhaps he’s simply enduring it all through a single, unwavering resolve to achieve his goal.’

Crimson Garden regarded Krash steadily as he absorbed the pill’s essence.

What kind of life had he lived before the regression?

She couldn’t know—she wasn’t from that world.

But the vague sense came to her that the Krash standing here was walking a precarious tightrope.

‘How irritating.’

That he’d caught her eye for no good reason.

Crimson Garden stepped forward before him, her mood darkened.

-If you fall, I’ll force you back up again.

Her words wouldn’t reach him now.

He’d raised his concentration to its peak in order to absorb the pill.

There was no room for her voice to break through.

So no matter what happens, don’t let yourself crumble.

But Crimson Garden continued.

=I’ll make sure to keep my promise no matter what.

Until then, Crimson Garden intended to keep Krash firmly in hand.

A soft hum.

And a moment later, Krash’s eyes began to open slowly.

Crimson Garden’s reflection shimmered in Krash’s pupils, which glowed with a brilliant blue light.

“Crimson, did you say something.”

The presence emanating from him was different from before.

He had fully absorbed the Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill.

Krash had taken another step forward in his growth.

Feeling it clearly, Crimson Garden climbed onto Krash’s shoulder.

-Nothing at all.

She simply held the hope that one day Krash would take her immortality from her.

＊ ＊ ＊

The Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill.

Having experienced its effects directly, Krash now understood what the true power of this elixir truly was.

‘It forces the body to overcome nine critical thresholds.’

The body grows stronger each time it passes through such a threshold.

And the Aura possesses this same quality.

This is why the world says:

You grow stronger through experience.

‘I’ve had many experiences, but my body hasn’t shared in them.’

The experience of regression had certainly worked powerfully in Krash’s favor.

Yet whether that experience translated wholly into his flesh was another matter entirely.

But the Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill was different.

It forced body and Aura to endure nine trials they had never faced.

Body and Aura shattered endlessly in agony, then recovered through the pill’s power.

What was the outcome when this cycle repeated nine times.

The answer was simple.

‘My realm had ascended.’

Krash’s two fists clenched with a sharp snap.

The vitality coursing through his body was naturally far superior to before.

Yet what had grown most visibly was none other than his Aura.

Krash, who had been lingering at the tail end of Expert intermediate rank, had surged in an instant to the very edge of Expert advanced rank.

With just a little more effort, Expert peak seemed within reach.

‘If I layer World Erosion onto this…’

He might even stand before the wall of Master.

‘But that’s not all.’

As Krash absorbed the Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill, he realized the very essence of his Aura had changed.

Aura is commonly compared to water.

The reason is that Aura can be divided into two categories.

The first is quality.

The second is total volume.

The quality of the first depends on how pure the water is at its source.

Just as water is classified into grades one and two, so too does Aura vary in rank according to its quality.

Krash excelled in this qualitative aspect.

The secret arts housed in Balheim’s library all placed emphasis on this quality of Aura.

Thus Krash had naturally been able to refine his Aura’s quality.

But total volume was something those secret arts could not resolve.

The Aura of an ordinary person is typically contained in a very small pool.

That pool is so tiny that as one draws upon the Aura, it quickly dries up and vanishes.

So those who wield Aura forcibly cultivate their inner reserves to expand them.

Such work demands painstaking effort and time, and excess can destroy one’s foundation entirely.

Yet unlike ordinary people, there are those whose Aura volume is vast as a lake.

They wield their Aura broadly from the start without effort, drawing upon it endlessly.

The world calls them Geniuses.

And ironically, these very Geniuses expand their Aura volume at a faster rate.

After all, the power to cultivate Aura volume itself springs from Aura.

An Ordinary Person cannot catch up to a Genius, no matter how hard they strive.

That was the nature of the world.

Krash’s total Aura capacity fell squarely within that Ordinary Person’s realm.

Over the past year, he’d cultivated and expanded it however he could—but it remained mere puddles.

Without qualitative superiority, there was no way to bridge the chasm with those Geniuses who possessed lakes.

But the Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill solved this problem.

‘A lake.’

Krash’s eyes snapped open.

He felt the Aura flowing through his body welling up endlessly.

‘My Aura has become a lake.’

That vast Aura capacity which Geniuses possessed as a matter of course.

No matter how much effort he’d poured in, he’d seen no solution to matching it.

But now things were different.

At last, he possessed the foundation to stand on equal footing with the Geniuses.

That fact flooded Krash with unbounded joy.

Had he not resolved this shortage in capacity, he would never have crossed the Master threshold.

But now such concerns were behind him.

He possessed the foundation to advance to the next stage.

—Are you pleased with yourself?

Crimson Garden’s voice reached him.

Krash slowly let his rising smile fall.

“No. This is far from something to celebrate.”

He’d merely caught up to where Geniuses stood.

They’d possessed such talent from the start and cultivated it to grow.

And Krash knew beings who surpassed even those Geniuses.

An ocean.

Creatures bearing boundless Aura that made lakes seem laughable.

And those monsters stood at the very forefront of Changong’s generation.

‘And I’m going to devour every last one of them.’

Today’s growth was merely the foundation upon which he would consume them all.

There was still a long way to go before celebrating.

Krash felt the impurities being expelled as the Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill settled into place.

Normally they would have been forced through his skin, reeking abominably, but Krash didn’t let them escape.

Instead, he triggered Ignite from within his body.

The impurities were devoured by the flames and burned away to nothing.

—Stubborn stuff, that.

But Crimson Garden seemed oddly pleased by Krash’s reaction.

“How is it? Feeling alright? There were a lot of pretty dangerous ingredients in there.”

By then Darling had noticed that Krash had finished absorbing the Nine-Curve Dragon Fire Pill and asked the question.

Concern flickered in her eyes.

She’d made it for him, but she knew what he was about to endure wouldn’t be ordinary.

Seeing that, Krash shrugged casually.

“I’m fine. Performance-wise, it’s nothing short of exceptional.”

Once again, Darling struck him as a genius.

“Whew, that’s a relief.”

Darling’s expression softened with relief.

She had no desire to watch him die because of a bad elixir.

“What about Bianca?”

It was then that Krash noticed Bianca had gone quiet.

When he turned, there she was—sound asleep under the blanket Darling had draped over her.

She must have grown tired waiting and dozed off.

“I was going to take her to a proper room to rest, but she insisted on watching.”
“She’d have woken up and come back anyway.”

That was Bianca.

Krash turned to face her, moving close, and gently stroked her hair.

The softening of her expression beneath his touch brought him an unexpected sense of peace.

Darling, watching from behind, soon let out a soft chuckle.

“We are engaged, yes.”

“Say that in front of her and you’ll lose your head.”
“Is that so? Then I suppose I’ll just have to become Krash’s concubine instead.”

Krash ignored Darling’s cackling laughter.

Watching him, Darling smiled with her eyes.

Krash really was fun to tease.

“Krash, you’re enrolling at Rarheln Academy next year, right?”

At her question, Krash nodded as though it were obvious.

“Good. Then I’ll head there first.”

The moment those words left her lips, Krash’s eyes went wide.

His expression screamed: ‘Why you?’

And with reason—Darling had never enrolled at Rarheln Academy before, not even when Charlotte did.

“Since you’re coming next year, I want to hear you call me senior. Just once.”

Going to Rarheln Academy for that?

Krash’s face twisted into an expression of utter disbelief.

“…Rarheln Academy doesn’t operate on a conventional grade system.”
“I know—they’re divided into cohorts only, and you have to pass exams to advance to the next level. I’m aware.”

By her response, it was clear Darling had already begun preparing for Rarheln Academy.

“And I’d like to be in the same cohort as Charlotte.”

But what followed was different.

Krash’s eyes narrowed sharply.

“Why would you go to the academy? Unless you’re also tracking the World Erosion.”
“I think I know why. Because Charlotte’s enrolling at Rarheln Academy this year.”

Darling fixed her gaze on Krash, a smile playing at her lips.

Krash’s reaction was confused, but she was certain.

Charlotte would definitely enroll at that academy before Krash did.

“I’ll be waiting in a year. Don’t take too long—it’ll be lonely.”

Watching Darling speak like a wife sending off her husband to work, Krash clicked his tongue.

“Do as you wish.”

Whether Darling entered the academy or not, it wouldn’t change his own path there.

And so, March first.

The day Rarheln Academy opened its doors for the first time.

Rarheln Academy welcomed a generation of unprecedented geniuses and made its name known to the world.

And it was not long before Krash found himself confronted with proof that Charlotte had enrolled among those very geniuses.

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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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