Should he thank Marie Rose? Or should he thank the empire for making him depend on Marie Rose?

‘I didn’t expect to become stronger in this way.’

The past Grid had half given up on sword energy. The method to obtain it was too vague. However, he was helped by the events that took place when he came to strengthen his relationship with Marie Rose. Cause and effect—as always, the concept of connection became Grid’s greatest strength and weapon.

‘Now, let’s see.’

Grid calmed down his joy and checked the information of the swordsmanship.

[Great Swordsman Pagma's Sword Dance Lv. 1]

[Increases physical attack by 40%, critical hit rate by 50%, and critical damage by 80%.

* This effect is only applied when a sword type weapon is equipped.

* Reduces the stride of the sword dance.

* You can create five fusion sword dances.

* Every time the skill level rises, the number of sword dances that can be created will increase.

* With this skill effect, you can only create four linked sword dances.]

[Wave Lv. 1]

[Unleash a violent sword dance like a high and powerful wave.

Inflicts 325% of your attack power to all enemies within 5 meters and reduces all speeds by 50%.

* A target that resists the affected state will only have a 19% reduction in movement speed.

* Once a target blocks, the ‘violent shockwave’ effect will occur and potentially create an ‘ignore defense’ effect.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 80

Skill Cooldown Time: 2 minutes.]

[Restraint Lv. 1]

[A restrained and understated sword dance.

Overwhelms the surroundings. Nobody can approach you for 3.5 seconds.

* A target that resists the status anomaly will have a low probability of being stopped for 0.1 to 0.3 seconds.

* Not applicable to the undead.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 60

Skill Cooldown Time: 5 minutes.]

[Link Lv. 1]

[A dazzling sword dance that is like the wings of a butterfly.

Deals 900% of your attack power to a single target 20 times in total.

* Takes one second to cast.

* This skill isn’t affected by attack speed.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 50

Skill Cooldown Time: 1 minute.]

[Kill Lv. 1]

[A killing sword that expresses hatred.

Deals 1,850% of your physical attack power to a single target. Once hit, the target will be given the ‘bleeding’ and ‘despair’ effects and the ‘Disarm’ effect will be temporarily applied.

* Disarm: The item effect won’t apply for one second. However, this corresponds to the area that is hit.

* The bleeding and despair effects won’t apply to targets that can resist abnormal statuses.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 100

Skill cooldown time: 10 minutes.]

[Pinnacle Lv. 1]

[A sword that expresses the essence of a warrior god.

Deals 900% of your attack power to a single target. This skill will ignore 65% of the target’s defense.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 60

Skill Cooldown Time: 3 minutes.]

[Revolve Lv. 1]

[Like the eye of a storm, it is calm and powerful.

It seems to conform to the flow, but this is actually a lie.

Reflects 100% of all attacks that hit within 1.2 seconds of being cast.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 50

Skill Cooldown Time: 1 minute and 30 seconds.]

[Drop Lv. 1]

[A sword dance that displays a grudge against the sky.

It is a deep and serene sword dance that informs the world of the authority of the fallen sky.

Inflicts 500% of your physical damage to all enemies within 5 meters of you, and there is a 50% of ignoring the enemy’s status resistance to inflict the ‘collapse’ condition. Deals an additional 400% damage to all divine beings.

That target that is hit can’t attack and defense will decrease.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 80

Skill Cooldown Time: 6 minutes.]

[Flower Lv. 1]

[A sword dance that depicts fluttering petals.

Any marked target will be hit with sword energy that deals 61% physical damage + 10% magic damage.

* Two sword energies will be produced per mark.

* Every time the target is hit, a mark will be left. A maximum of five marks can be stacked up.

* Any object seen with the eyes will be recognized as a target and a mark will be left. Only one mark can be left as a target effect.

* The duration of the mark is 10 seconds and this duration is updated every time a new mark is left within these 10 seconds.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 60

Skill Cooldown Time: 1 minute.]

[Transcend Lv. 1]

[A sword dance that transcends imagination.

Your attack power is doubled and your basic attacks will turn into ranged attacks.

Skill Usage Conditions: Have a sword type weapon equipped.

Skill Sword Energy Cost: 200

Skill Duration: 30 seconds.

Skill Cooldown Time: 40 minutes.]

[As the swordsmanship has been reorganized, all fused sword dances that have already been acquired have been reset.]

“Wow...”

It was more than he had expected. First of all, the changes to Wave and Drop were dazzling since they previously had comparatively low attack power and range.

If the range of the coverage was too narrow to reach the enemy, the efficiency would be low. Now, it had increased by several times and could be used more frequently. Additionally, the increased attack power meant it could deal a sufficient blow to strong enemies. It was also attractive that the movement speed of targets resistant to the abnormal status was lowered.

Drop hadn’t changed in range, but its power had risen sharply and the probability of ignoring the status resistance had increased by 20%. The change in Restraint was noticeable since it had been obsolete in front of enemies with a higher status resistance. The probability and duration were low, but suppose the opponent was a legend like Kraugel… If he could block some of the opponent’s movements, he could turn the tide of the battle.

‘It is painful about the change in Link...’

Link was a skill with an excellent synergy with the Enlightenment Sword. Whenever Grid swung the sword at the highest speed, the number of strikes exceeded 30 times per second, greatly increasing the probability of the black flames exploding. Now it would always be limited to 20 times.

‘If my attack speed was slow, the fixed number of attacks would be rather attractive.’

Well, he couldn’t interpret it as a loss. The damage was greatly increased, and the cooldown had been reduced by as much as 30 seconds. On the other hand, the cooldown of Kill had increased by a minute, but the power was tremendously strong. The previous Kill dealt 1,500% attack power at level one, but the new Kill boasted 1,850% attack power at level one. The health cost penalty was also removed. More than anything, the effect of Disarm was fraudulent.

‘Once I use Kill, I can literally send them to death.’

Kill, which had been one of the best single target skills, was now reborn as a deadly blow. Pinnacle had also increased in damage and defense reduction effect. The effect of Transcend was the same as before, but the cooldown had decreased by 10 minutes. Given that Transcend was one of the best skills, the 10 minute reduction in cooldown was a transcendent benefit.

However, Grid’s favorite part was the change in Revolve. Previously, he had 0.5 seconds to counterattack the enemy’s attacks, but now it was increased to 1.2 seconds, making it make easier to utilize. The cooldown was also reduced by 30 seconds.

‘Originally, it had a two minute cooldown at level one, so I felt regretful...’

The application of counterattacking in battle was endless. It was the strongest variable and threat. Grid felt reassured now that the cooldown time was greatly reduced.

‘By the way...’

The essential problem was the newly opened sword dance, Flower. A skill that exerted the optimal power only when he left as many marks as possible on the target and considered the time. It was a skill that had to be used when ‘thinking’, and Grid already suffered at the thought.

‘Wait?’

Didn’t Pagma instantly target the hundreds of spears of light? ...Meaning it was possible to perfectly counterattack with Flower Revolve?

‘Is it surprisingly easy?’

Grid recognized the distant rocks as targets. However, terrain and land couldn’t be recognized as targets. He tried to use Chreshler as a target but stopped because he was afraid it would cause a misunderstanding that led to him being beaten up again. He was about to ask Chreshler to summon the spears of light but stopped because he really would die. In the end, Grid summoned Randy, the Overgeared Skeletons, and Noe and recognized them as targets, but allies couldn’t be recognized as targets.

‘Ah, damn.’

He wanted to test it out right now. Grid was feeling irritated when he sighed.

‘Thinking about it, there would be an uproar if allies could be recognized as targets. It is fortunate that my allies aren’t aware of it.’

Grid asked Chreshler for his understanding, “Can I leave for a moment and come back?”

-You don’t have to come back.

“...You are cruel.”

Affinity with the coffin had increased, but it was only by three points. Chreshler wasn’t particularly interested in Grid, but Grid was tough.

“I’ll be right back. I’ll leave the kids here in case you fall asleep.”

-You want to leave these creatures in front of a pope? Have you ever heard of the saying, ‘Leaving a virgin to a vampire’?

“They will leave, and the light elemental will remain.”

Grid left Chreshler behind and flew into the forest near the cave. Then he quickly recognized the monsters in the forest as targets.

“What is easy...”

It wasn’t easy to recognize dozens of monsters that were moving continuously and changing the positions as targets. In fact, it was difficult to target specific opponents when facing a large number of enemies.

‘Pagma is just great.’

Grid was indignant when he realized the truth.

‘Dammit, this game is too difficult.’

The difficulty of the new skill was higher than expected, and his complaints accumulated. Nevertheless, Grid didn’t lose his motivation. He would work hard until he could make the best use of Flower in the future.

“Sigh.”

Grid looked at the changed effects of the skills and became familiar with them. He took deep breaths to calm his mind and returned to the coffin. A small light elemental was circling around Chreshler. It was easy to see its respect toward the holy power.

‘A cute guy.’

Grid smiled at the lovely scene of the light elemental and finally noticed the biggest change. The biggest change was naturally his ability to fuse sword dances. In the past, he had to combine the sword dances directly and the success would be determined by the system. Now, he was intentionally able to get the sword dances he desired. There were five of them!

‘I can have five fusion skills that have four sword dances fused!’

The excited Grid immediately wanted to create the fusion sword dances. He wanted to fill the skill window with four fused sword dances. However, Grid was no longer a fool. He was cautious, and he wasn’t foolish enough to experience another failure like when he made Failure.

‘First of all, let’s check sword energy.’

Grid checked his status window. The level 390 character window that was filled with 90% experience unfolded in front of his eyes. In addition to health, mana and fighting energy, a resource called sword energy was added.

[Sword Energy: 1,000.]

“1,000?”

This was really surprising. It was quite generous unlike his worries. The maximum value of 1,000 wasn’t bad considering the new Pagma's Sword Dance only consumed ~50–100 points, with only Transcend consuming 200 points.

‘Is the effect of the Ring of Absurdity applied here?’

It was a ring that reduced resource consumption by 50%. The effect of the item was as absurd as its name, but it just so happened to not be applied to fighting energy. The Hero King was a unique existence, so it was likely a special resource that only applied to the Hero King.

On the other hand, Grid knew approximately 10 people who were great swordsmen. Grid anticipated that Ring of Absurdity would apply to sword energy. It was as he had expected. Grid tested the effect of the Ring of Absurdity by using Link, and the sword energy consumed was reduced by half.

‘Good!’

It was amazing. Seriously, it was too amazing.

‘The four fused sword dances will be around 500 sword energy, so the actual consumption is approximately 250. All five slots will be four fused sword dances... No, that’s too bad.’

Grid paid attention to the recovery of sword energy. Every time the sword was swung, one point of sword energy was restored. There was no explanation for natural recovery. It also meant there might be situations where recovery wasn’t feasible, just like fighting energy. If he was greedy and only created four fused sword dances, the increased consumption might ruin him.

‘The four fusion sword dances also have a long cooldown time. In order to utilize the swordsmanship efficiently, it is better not to be obsessed with the four fused sword dances. I should also create two fused and three fused sword dances.’

The first fusion sword dances that Grid came up with were Linked Revolve and Flower Revolve. Linked Revolve was a skill that could be counterattacked several times while Flower Revolve could aim for more counterattacks depending on the situation. Grid’s expectations were high, but the difficulty of using Flower Revolve was overwhelming.

‘If it was Kraugel, he would surely learn Flower Revolve.’

Kraugel’s insight, judgment, and physical ability would definitely allow him to take full advantage of Flower Revolve. However, Grid wasn’t Kraugel. His control might be at ranker level, but he couldn’t compare with the best control skills. Feeling troubled, Grid shook his head.

‘An easy-to-use skill means that it is simple and easy to be targeted.’

The excuse that he wasn’t talented didn’t work anymore. Talented monsters could be filled everywhere in the world where Grid walked. Grid had to develop further and was forced to choose Flower Revolve.

[The new fusion sword dance Flower Revolve has been created.]

[The number of times a fused sword dance can be created is four times.]

‘Next...’

Grid was about to create another fusion sword dance.

-How long are you going to stand here absent-mindedly?

“...?”

-Weren’t you wondering about who else woke me up? Isn’t that why you asked me to stay awake until you came back? Don’t you want me to tell you? I-I am sleepy. Should I go to sleep?

Grid hurriedly waved his hands. “No! What is the identity of the person? Please let me know who it is.”

-That person...

Chreshler’s answer was unexpected.

***

The Overgeared Kingdom concentrated their forces in Reidan because there was sufficient basis for it. The empire was blocked by the water clan in the sea and was forced to use the land route. The empire had to break through Reidan to invade by land.

That’s right. The empire’s only route was Reidan, so the Overgeared Kingdom concentrated their forces in Reidan. However, there was a variable—Sky King Rigal. (Changed from Punching King) He was one of the seven dukes of the empire, and the air force he led was able to penetrate through the anti-air surveillance of the Overgeared Kingdom and enter their territory. A huge 5,000 griffons and 300 wyverns appeared over Bairan, and the Overgeared members and people of Bairan were in chaos.

“Destroy everything,” Rigal ordered, and the wyverns let out breaths while the troops on the griffons pulled out their spears.

“Kuaaaaak!”

It was a village that had a long bond with Grid. No, Bairan that had been upgraded to a city was now on fire. People screamed while the Overgeared members turned to ash.

The first knight that Grid obtained was Jude. Even the highly respected head of Bairan’s security, Jude was helpless in front of the air force’s one-sided attack. A smile appeared on Rigal’s face as he fired a bow and easily defeated two Overgeared members.

“Take the enemies captive and take away all the food. The people will become slaves.”

The Overgeared Kingdom was in crisis. The horrible scene was captured by the cameras of broadcasting companies from all over the world.