Chapter Fifty-Seven: Gaining the Right to Draw a Skill!

System rewards are just like this?

Yes, this is all...

But after having interacted with the system for so long, Colin had already realized how stingy its rewards were, so he never placed much hope in them.

Just as he was about to collect his spoils, a notification sounded in his mind.

[“Suffering Hunter” title upgrade conditions detected. Upgrade will proceed automatically.]

As the words faded, a sharp pain flared on the back of Colin's right hand, and a blood-red tattoo began to emerge, bit by bit.

He narrowed his eyes and used the prompt, acquiring the relevant information.

Before anyone could notice the mark, Colin nonchalantly covered the back of his right hand with his left.

[Name: Suffering Predator.]

[Type: Level 2 Title.]

[Usage: Rune (can be hidden): A simple outline of a campfire.]

[Attributes: You gain a fifty percent increase to all personal attributes (never below 0.5; if the increase is less than 0.1, it is not calculated).]

[Special Effect 1: “Hunt’s Hour”: When this skill is actively used, your strength, agility, and endurance are multiplied by 2.5, and you enter the Predator state. (Lasts ten minutes, can be extended up to thirty minutes at the cost of temporary exhaustion, with a cooldown of one to three hours.)]

[Note 1: That’s all, really all, not a bit of strength left…]

[Special Effect 2: “Aberration Mentor”: Due to your outstanding elimination of a “Lord-level Aberration,” you have advanced from “Scholar” to “Mentor.” In future encounters with Aberrations, you will activate the exclusive “Weakness Perception” effect!]

[Note 2: Too much strange knowledge…]

…

After quickly scanning the information in his mind, Colin was taken aback as another message appeared.

[You have slain the Lord-level Aberration “Silent Watcher” and earned a chance to draw one of its skills.]

Colin’s face lit up—skills from a Lord-level Aberration!

At worst, it can’t be something as trivial as rope skipping, right?

“Draw…”

With that thought, Colin initiated the draw.

[Congratulations! You have acquired the skill “Psychic Pierce.” This skill has been integrated into your title.]

…

[Special Effect 3: “Psychic Pierce”: At the cost of some mental energy, you may launch a “Psychic Pierce” attack at an enemy through your gaze. Against Aberrations, this is a guaranteed fatal strike, usable three times per day.]

[Note 3: Deathly Gaze! Deathly Gaze! Deathly Gaze!]

[Note: This title can be further upgraded. Next promotion condition: Slay ten Lord-level Aberrations.]

Ten of them… That’s out of the question.

“Well, it’s decent. But if my right hand gets severed, what then? And if someone sees the rune when I activate the skill, I’ll have shown off only to lose my life…”

Having finished the inscription, Colin made a quick assessment and then hid the mark.

All this happened in less than ten seconds. There weren’t many people around, so aside from Shana, no one noticed anything unusual about him.

At this moment, he looked at the items dropped by the “Silent Watcher” before him, his eyes shining faintly.

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Rare Tainted Blood,’ 32ml.”

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Twisted Soul.’”

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Damaged Three-branch Candelabrum.’”

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Meditation Headband.’”

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Silent Mask.’”

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Golden Ritual Robe.’”

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Charred, Fetid Flesh’ x6.”

“Congratulations! You have obtained ‘Mature Brain’ x1.”

“…”

Rare blood… Colin’s eyes lit up. Compared to the others, this interested him the most.

[‘Rare Tainted Blood’: Scarlet tainted blood that seems to wriggle and flow even after being collected.]

[Hint: You estimate every 100ml burns for six hours, illuminating a radius of fifteen meters. Three hundred milliliters of regular blood can be exchanged for one hundred milliliters of this.]

“Whew! A fifteen-meter radius… Let’s see, 3.14 times… That’s over seven hundred square meters!”

Colin’s eyes gleamed again—another chance to expand his forces. But then he frowned.

“Why only six hours? One hundred milliliters of regular blood usually burns for three hours. Three hundred should mean nine hours, shouldn’t it?”

Where did the other three hours go? Did the system swallow them? Or was the blood diluted on the sly?

As for the amount, Colin didn’t worry. As long as there was one milliliter of rare blood, more could be synthesized using [Rare Tainted Blood 1ml + Regular Tainted Blood 300ml = Rare Tainted Fluid 101ml].

“Forget it…”

Colin abandoned thoughts of a major expansion for now. One hundred milliliters of regular blood doesn’t sound like much, but if every team is equipped…

The consumption would be enormous.

It would be best to reserve it for a few squads, forming elite teams.

On the whole, not even someone as extravagant as Colin could afford to use this stuff—

At least, not yet.

“Now for this…”

Colin’s gaze moved past the “Twisted Soul” to the next three items.

[‘Damaged Three-branch Candelabrum’: A colossal metal candelabrum, six meters tall and weighing several tons, crafted with exquisite skill and nearly indestructible.]

[Note: You can’t swing it.]

[Hint: A huge candelabrum adorned with thorns. It may have come from that area beneath the tunnels.]

…That note is a bit too blunt… Colin glanced at the candelabrum, feeling that if he tossed it away, he’d never get it back—he couldn’t even lift it.

Useless.

Still, he didn’t throw it away.

[‘Silent Mask’: A black metal mask forged entirely from “Thorns of Suffering.” When used, it can plunge an area into absolute silence, stripping a living being of all external senses…]

[Note: Silence!]

[Hint: You realize that if it weren’t already insane and thus unusable, you’d probably be in serious trouble.]

…

[‘Golden Ritual Robe’: When worn, grants the passive “As Solid as Stone” and doubles all recovery, constitution, strength, and endurance attributes.]

[Effect: As long as the wearer’s feet touch the ground, they cannot be knocked back and enter a state of super armor.]

[Hint: A ritual robe woven from gold. The material is quite ordinary; you’re puzzled as to why it’s so durable and have made some guesses…]

[You realize all its mystery comes from a blurry pattern above—a simply drawn outline of a woman’s legs.]

[Yet, though the lines are simple, as you gaze upon it, an image forms in your mind.]

[A pair of flawless, fair, and delicate lower legs, drawn with perfect strokes—beautiful and sacred—but entwined with black thorns, the skin pierced and bleeding, the blood pooling on the ground… This seems to symbolize some mysterious meaning.]

[You realize there is more to this than meets the eye…]

“…So many words, all this nonsense…”

Colin shook his head, trying to dispel the LSP imagery forming in his mind.