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214. It Seems I Picked Up Something That Does Not Exist In the Encyclopedia?
“A talisman? I have an encyclopedia for that. Master, please let me out quickly.”
“Is that so? Come out for now. Let Dan out.”
“It’s not too bad to be sought out in times of need, I think?”
“Enough, just look at this instead.”
“Hm…”
At my command, the storage spat out Dan, and I pulled out the talisman that I had put on earlier.
After being stuck in the pitch dark storage for some time, he ran out with great haste.
Immediately he looked at the talisman I handed over carefully.
Afterwards, he pulled an encyclopedia yellowed with age from a flat cloth bag that always hung by his hip.
Perhaps because he had the role sorting all the items that ended up in Swesi’s headquarters after the hunts, there were quite a lot of encyclopedias in his bag.
The reason why I took off the talisman even after equipping it on my armor and had Dan identify it was simple.
After I equipped the talisman, I felt as though I had gained a vast amount of power, but I couldn’t tell in what way exactly.
Since my body was that of an Awakened and not that of a Protector, I wasn’t able to see numerically the powers granted by artifacts from here.
You could say it was as if I was eating something very delicious, but I was eating it with my nose pinched shut.
Simply put, I couldn’t tell what it was.
Dan opened his encyclopedia.
“Let’s see… Surprisingly the patterns on this talisman are on both sides of the talisman. Also the color looks a bit redder than the usual color of gold.”
“Enough small talk and hurry up instead.”
“Yes!”
It was exactly as Dan had said.
The Indomitable Talisman that Dump had made with embarrassment and handed over to me had these engravings carved only on one side of the talisman.
However, the talisman that this elite monster dropped had engravings on both sides of the talisman.
I had thought that this was normal for talismans that dropped from monsters to be like this, but seeing Dan’s surprise, it seemed as though that wasn’t the case.
This talisman was special. Not only was the shape, but the energy it gave off was immense.
After crouching on the ground and flicking through the encyclopedia, Dan spoke up.
“That’s strange. Master, please wait a bit longer.”
“Why?”
“It seems that I may have missed it. I’ll try searching it again. There’s no way that this isn’t present in the encyclopedia…”
“Hm… Start searching from the end. I’ll start searching for it from the start.”
“Ah. You don’t have to bother with something like this.”
“It’s because I’m getting impatient. Move.”
“Yes.”
It was rather unsightly to see two men in the middle of a messy battlefield so close together and focusing on something as if playing house, but since there were a lot talismans to go through in the encyclopedia, I sat right next to Dan to assist him.
However, no matter how many times we went through the encyclopedia, we could not find any that matched the patterns on the talisman that I had obtained.
This only further confirmed that this talisman held a great power.
However, we still could not find information on what that power was.
My curiosity increased greatly.
No matter how good the talisman was, it would only serve its full value when I knew its ability and used it with 100% effectiveness.
I didn’t want to miss out on utilizing all of its power because I didn’t understand it.
“Master, it seems that this is a rare talisman that doesn’t appear in the encyclopedia, you know?”
“Not found in the encyclopedia, right? I did feel a vast amount of energy the moment I equipped it.”
“It seems that we need to show it to an alchemist to find the answer. But are you curious about the name of the talisman? You could find out about the ability of the talisman immediately after wearing it. Since that is the case, there’s no reason to identify it, right? It’s just a name.”
“You might find this crazy, but I’m not a Protector. So there’s no way for me to find out about the ability.”
“Huh?”
“Didn’t I tell you before? I said that I’m a god.”
“Huh. Master, your jokes are going too far.”
“It seems you’ll have to try this on. I just have no way of finding out.”
“I do not understand this situation. I don’t know if you are being serious or joking. Can I really put it on?”
“Everything I’m saying is the truth. Just do as I tell you.”
“Yes. Then… Ah. Can you open the storage before I do so?”
“Hm? Why the storage?”
“Because I’m still a human, there’s a chance I can get greedy after confirming the talisman’s ability.”
“You sure have a lot of pointless worries. Do you think you’ll pick it up and run?”
“It is a possibility…”
“Eh. Do you really think you would? Then you’ll be killed, you know? Well, if you’re that nervous, then I’ll open it up for you.”
“Yes, yes…”
Dan threw himself voluntarily into the storage.
He must’ve asked to be put in storage because he knew that the contents of the storage cannot leave said storage without the permission of the caster.
There was a small talisman slotted into his armor as well.
Taking that out, he put in my talisman.
However, the normally talkative man was standing still in a trance without a single word.
It made me wonder if it was a fluke contrary to my expectation.
It even made me wonder if he was putting up an act.
“Are you able to confirm the ability of the talisman?”
“…”
“Hey, Dan. Can you not hear me?”
“…”
“What are you doing?”
“…”
“What a mess. Are you asleep? You really are quite troublesome in many ways.”
He fell forward on the spot.
It seemed that he had passed out due to a power that was greater than what he was capable of handling coming into his body.
Because of that, my expectations kept rising exponentially.
Just how great was it that you could not even handle it without being strong.
Hearing his faint, shallow breathing, thankfully I could tell that he was still alive.
After taking Dan out of the storage, I didn’t take off the talisman and healed him.
It didn’t take long before his consciousness returned and he shouted while standing up suddenly.
“H… Holy shit! A dragon?”
“Enough sleep talking and tell me what the ability is.”
“Master. It’s a dragon! A dragon!”
“…”
“No matter how skilled the alchemist is, they would not be able to find out the name.”
“What do you mean?”
“This is an item that does not exist. This!”
“It seems that it can’t be helped. I think the shock was pretty hard, so do you want to get back in and rest?”
“I thought that this talisman only existed in passing rumors, but to think that it really did exist. This is no ordinary item!”
“So what is its ability?”
“I shall read it as it is written. You obtain the power of a fire dragon. It says that you can use the power of the fire dragon, the dragon that is specialized only for combat. However, it does not state the activation condition.”
“No other abilities than that? When I equipped it, I definitely felt a great amount of power…”
“Yes. There’s no such thing. I also thought that due to the amount of energy the talisman was letting out, such a small amount of explanation seemed odd, but this is everything.”
“A fire dragon… A dragon, of all things. Guess it’ll have its use eventually. Well, good work.”
“Yes! Here, master. This is definitely not an item you should take lightly. My intuition is telling me so.”
“I understand.”
To be honest, finding out about the Fire Dragon’s Talisman was rather disappointing.
I definitely felt a massive amount of strength flow in.
I wasn’t able to confirm the ability, but it was the same feeling when I had defeated all of Swesi’s guards.
A mighty power almost to the point where it could be considered overwhelming.
However, from what I heard from Dan, that talisman didn’t hold any stat bonuses.
A dragon is but a dragon. What I needed right now was strength.
I desperately needed an artifact that would support my main focus of growth.
I didn’t know what kind of ability this talisman would show in the future, but it was obvious that it was of no help right now.
However, the effect of the Indomitable Talisman that Dump made for me overlapped with the effects of the Titan Boots, making it redundant and so I decided to replace talisman with the Fire Dragon’s Talisman.
“Master. Please call me again when you need me. I shall head in for now.”
“You plan on going back in? Don’t you think it’s okay to be outside with me?”
“No. After staying inside for a bit, it’s rather cozy and nice.”
“Well, do as you’re comfortable.”
“Yes. See you then. You’ll be dealing with a lot of hardship tomorrow, so please take care of yourself.”
“The plan is for tomorrow, right? I got it.”
“Yes. See you…”
Despite holding the title of Swesi’s guard captain for years, this seemed to be precisely the reason why he was weaker than the other guards.
He is laid back. On top of that, he knows how to be very satisfied with the present.
That’s why he seems to be afraid of change and focusing on getting acclimated to the current situation.
I’m sure that each person has a way they want to live, but I felt as though no one could match up to how happy he is.
There was still a lot of time left that I had set aside to hunt.
To increase my hunting speed even a bit more, I casted Cloning Jutsu.
My current Cloning Jutsu allowed three copies, as the skill level was currently around level 60 out of 100.
They weren’t currently strong enough to cause chaos in the unexplored territories yet, but I could see that they were getting stronger.
Their forms looked exactly like mine.
When I first used the skill, I couldn’t help but be surprised when I saw my copy that appeared before me fully naked.
After that, I put on a weapon and a few armor pieces without much thought just enough to cover the copy’s body.
The copies did not have any sentience, and could only be controlled by my will.
Perhaps the copies exactly copied my combat ability and sense, because the clones followed my orders extremely well.
I was also pleased by their smooth movements without delay.
Training the Cloning Jutsu skill only worked through hunting.
Instead of sharing the power I’ve obtained through hunting monsters, each clone took down the monsters themselves and grew independently by doing so.
That also meant that there were power differences between each of the clones.
Because the number of clones I could create increased as the skill level rose, it was obvious that the clone that was created the moment I had obtained the skill had the greatest strength.
Right now, they only served as support for my hunting, but I was positive that they’d become monstrous in their own right.
As explained in the skill, it is said that once the skill reaches its max rank, each of these clones would obtain unique skills.
To put it in Awakened terms, it would mean that each of them would obtain some special passive.
These clones could already cast magic infinitely.
They all had the passive of infinite mana as default, same as the original caster, but it also meant that they could obtain another special passive.
It didn’t end there. They were also able to equip artifacts.
This meant that they could be equipped with armor and weapons. I could even equip them with the Fire Dragon’s Talisman I had just obtained.
I wondered with high expectations just how much % of my strength these clones could follow up to when reaching the peak of my skill, because at the start these clones could only follow up to 50% of the caster’s strength.
Perhaps I would be able to control monstrous clones that easily surpassed my own strength in the future.
And this was why I was supplying Dump with high quality materials.
The artifacts that would be created by his hammering. It wasn’t just for me.
It would also be beneficial for the unknown number of clones I would be able to create in the future.
On top of that, I could equip my clones with similar looking artifacts in order to confuse the enemy.
Barub and I did not have abilities that allowed us to see through our opponents.
For me, who learned the Cloning Jutsu, this rule was extremely beneficial for me.
This meant that there was no way for Barub to tell who the real me was between the clones and me.
There was no way for Barub to win without getting real lucky or defeating all of us.
This was a hunting ground very far in without anyone present.
It made me wonder if there was anywhere I could be freer to train my Cloning Jutsu.
After releasing three of my clones, I commanded them.
“I’ve become a master at raising skill levels at this point. I’ll drop their health low, so just make sure you properly land your final blows. You all getting stronger means that I’m getting stronger as well after all.”
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