Chapter 386

‘I lost.’

Grid realized he was defeated, but he didn’t get frustrated. He was burning with motivation.

‘This isn’t the only chance. I must go beyond you (me).’

The clone had 100% of his stats, skills, and items. The clone was now kindly telling him.

‘You can be as capable of me. So exert yourself.’

Kwack!

Grid strengthened his grip on his greatsword. The duration of his immortality was 5 seconds. In the meantime, Grid was trying to combine Linked Kill Wave or Pinnacle Kill. He didn’t worry about winning, losing, or dying right now.

“Pagma's Sword Dance, Link.”

Cheook!

Grid started a light and cheerful dance like a butterfly. His black eyes shone more sharply than usual, resembling that of a bird of prey. Grid’s appearance was gradually developing along with his solid heart and mature brain. His appearance and expression that were full of passion didn’t look bad.

Teong!

Grid lightly circled around and narrowed the distance to the clone. At this time, Grid’s Greatsword moved horizontally in the movements of Kill. It was the precursor for Linked Kill. Grid tried to link Wave to it.

However.

[The cooldown time of Linked Kill hasn’t returned.]

[The casting of Linked Kill is cancelled.]

Of course it was like this. Combining Linked Kill and Wave was an incomprehensible realm for Grid.

‘Why is my clone capable of it?’

Grid was confused, but didn’t stop his actions. He used Pinnacle and Kill. He wanted to try to acquire Pinnacle Kill. But once again, the combination of Pinnacle Kill didn’t work. Pinnacle was activated before Kill was completed.

Seokeok!

The power might be less than that of Kill, but Pinnacle fell and deeply cut the heart of the clone. However, it wasn’t enough damage to threaten the clone whose health had recovered thanks to Doran’s Ring and the Holy Light Armor.

Grid was wishing for one thing in this situation.

‘Come on, counterattack.’

Honestly, he wanted to avoid losing. The first problem was that he could lose his experience and items, and the second problem was his pride. That’s right. Grid didn’t give up despite sensing defeat.

The moment the clone’s counterattack reached him, he wore Doran’s Ring in order to recover his health and hope for a reversal. But the clone was Grid. No, he knew Grid better than Grid did himself. The clone acted with the knowledge that it would be pointless and dangerous to attack the invincible Grid.

Suuk.

‘You bastard!’

Rather than fighting back, the clone ran away, causing Grid to frown. He ran all over the battlefield, causing irritation to rise. Right before the immortal duration ended...

Snap!

[15,000 health has been restored.]

Grid took the super health recovery potion taken from Reidan’s alchemy facility.

Chaaeng! Chaeng!

The clone calmly devoted himself to defense. He fully understood and blocked Grid’s sword with Iyarugt. Then he started counterattacking as soon as Grid’s immortal state was over. Of course, he didn’t forget to use a powerful one shot technique that would keep Grid from relying on Doran’s Ring.

It was Kill. Blackening, Blacksmith’s Rage, and Quick Movements. Since Grid used it one step ahead of the other, the effects ran out for Grid first. Therefore, he couldn’t avoid the clone’s Kill.

[Doran’s Ring has been equipped.]

[You have suffered fatal damage!]

[You have died because health has dropped to 0.]

[You have lost 30.6% experience.]

[Mission failed!]

[Exiting the 41st island.]

[Moving to the last save point, the 40th island.]

A black screen that hadn’t been seen for a long time. Grid’s vision turned black.

***

“Are you okay?”

The 41st island. The moment that Grid came here after dying, he saw Sticks’ distressed face. He was worried that Grid would suffer a mental blow, since this was his first defeat since entering the Behen Archipelago. But Grid was fine.

"Don’t worry.”

Grid smiled at the worried Sticks and though positively.

‘I’m glad I didn’t lose any items.’

Of course, it was painful to lose a lot of experience. His current experience gauge was 2%. If he challenged the 41st island and failed again, he couldn’t avoid losing a level. But Grid didn’t shrink back.

‘This is an opportunity.’

He might fail a few more times, but if he overcame this trial, he would surely grow. Grid was confident and grateful for this situation.

‘I have to overcome this trial.’

Effort was needed.

‘I need to wait until the cooldown of Randy and the immortality passive returns.’

The next 24 hours. In the meantime, Grid concentrated on studying Linked Kill Wave and Pinnacle Kill.

‘The order of the skills isn’t wrong.’

The wrong element was somewhere else. Finding it was the key.

“Sigh.”

Grid took deep breaths and sat down to meditate. He tried to follow Regas’ usual practices.

‘Think about it.’

The clone’s Linked Kill Wave and Pinnacle Kill were different from when he used it. Grid recalled the previous battle and concentrated on analyzing it. He tried to get a clear picture of each and every one of the clone’s actions.

***

"Meditation is the act of transcending from the pain of the mind and returning to a pure state of mind, without any distortions. It is the best way to look at yourself, or to look at specific situations and find a solution.”

The desert city of Reidan.

Piaro returned to the city after working all day in the fields, and was giving a lecture to Lord.

"Meditation can also be used as a means to increase strength and stamina, and to reduce the cooldown of your skills. But humans are always self-centered. Meditation is a very challenging method of training that even the most famous knights find difficult. So young Lord, you don’t need to practice it right away. It is sufficient to know the concept... Heok?”

Piaro made a sound of surprise.

Lord Steim. The genius that Grid and Irene gave birth to quietly closed his eyes and started to maintain a constant breathing.

‘A perfect state of selflessness!’

Lord’s mana flowed around him as he breathed. It proved that Lord was affecting nature, so it was natural for Piaro to be astonished.

‘I was only able to acquire Natural State after becoming a legend.’

Of course, Lord wasn’t perfect yet. But just awakening the basic concepts was a tremendous achievement. It was because some of the world’s most powerful and tenacious minds couldn’t enter this natural state.

‘This is...’

What was Lord going to grow up into? Maybe he would be the only one who could transcend Muller, one of the greatest legends in history.

‘He will grow more and more in the future.’

It would surely give Piaro a new enlightenment. Piaro’s heart burned hot.

***

[The skill ‘Meditation’ has been acquired!]

[Meditation]

Increases health and mana regeneration rate by 50%, and stamina regeneration by 30%.

Skill cooldown time will be reduced by 10%.

Resource Consumption: None.

Skill Activation Condition: Focus.

* This isn’t a skill that can be artificially invoked. It will activate automatically when your concentration is extremely high.

In Satisfy, there were several skills that could be learned naturally when certain conditions were met. One of them was Meditation.

‘Good.’

Despite the fact that Grid gained a way to increase his stamina recovery rate and reduce skill cooldown time, he didn’t make a fuss. He kept calm. He was too busy focusing.

‘Think about it.’

Grid quickly erased any thoughts about the Meditation skill and recalled the movements of the clone. Was there any difference in the actions that the clone took with Link? No. He was certain. If so, was there something different about the actions of Kill? There was also nothing. He was certain. What about the behavior of the clone when using Wave or Pinnacle?

‘It is me.’

Then why was it only possible for the clone to use Linked Kill Wave and Pinnacle Kill?

“...Ah!”

Grid had been thinking for over five hours when he finally got a flash.

‘The timing is different.'

The action that connected Link and Kill, in the case of Linked Kill, it seemed to have been done immediately. However, Linked Kill Wave seemed to have a slight gap. But he didn’t know the exact interval.

‘I will try it once.’

Grid didn’t delay once he had this thought. He got up and used Grid’s Greatsword to try and connect Link and Kill with a little time difference.

Then Link was triggered.

‘The interval is too long.’

There was no need to worry about it. He would shorten the interval in the next attempt. Grid took a deep breath and made a second attempt. The result? It was also a failure. In order to used Linked Kill Wave, the timing of Link and Kill had to be sophisticated and perfect.

'I will challenge until it succeeds.’

Failure wasn’t shameful. It was a stepping stone to success. Grid knew this fact better than anybody because he had repeatedly lived a life of failure.

After that.

Grid failed to use Linked Wave Kill several times, but he didn’t give up to the end. A smile appeared on the face of the watching Sticks.

‘Truly Pagma's Successor.’

Sticks knew that Pagma’s Rare Book was one of the treasures that couldn’t be found. Yet Grid managed to find it. Sticks guessed that Grid’s tenacity was great, but it was actually even more than he expected. In Sticks’ eyes, Grid was the type of person who would have a much brighter future.