Chapter 53. The Weakness Triangle
Derived Skill.
The word ‘derived’ meant something that had branched off from an original source.
In that sense, a Derived Skill could be described as a transformed and expanded version of its original skill.
◆Find Weakness[U] : When this skill is activated, it awakens Predatory Instincts[S], allowing the Player to detect even the smallest changes in the surrounding environment and the enemy. The Player can perceive the enemy’s body-temperature fluctuations, heart rate, attack patterns, and psychological state.
Through this, the Player can [find] the target’s [weaknesses], intuitively identifying unprotected areas, vulnerable points in armor, and openings caused by variables such as exhaustion and fatigue through priori knowledge.
<This is a Derived Skill originating from Predatory Instincts[S].>
‘So this is what a Derived Skill is.’
True to the meaning of ‘derived’, it was a skill that had branched off from Predatory Instincts[S].
It seemed I had naturally awakened it after using Predatory Instincts[S] extensively while examining Seraphia’s condition.
Its measured rank was [U], which stood for Unique.
In other words, it was an ability unique to me.
‘Were my experiences and memories from my days in the Coalition Forces incorporated into it as well?’
That seemed to be the case.
Although the original ability had been obtained from the Lycanthrope, it appeared to have developed into an ability unique to me.
In any case, it was an extremely useful skill.
The ability to identify an enemy’s weaknesses instantly could confidently be called ‘absurdly powerful’.
When I used it on Seraphia, the areas that could be considered her weaknesses glowed red, allowing me to recognize them at a glance.
Her chest, where her heart was located.
Her head, where her brain was situated.
Every blood vessel throughout her body, including the carotid arteries.
They were weaknesses that any human would naturally possess.
In other words, they proved that Seraphia was currently a human rather than the Monarch of Frost.
But there was one exception.
“Why am I...?”
For some reason, my body was glowing red as well.
Like a leaf dyed in autumn colors, my entire body shone bright red.
It was at that moment.
Knock, knock.
Someone knocked on the door.
—I’m coming in.
With that brief knock, a man entered the room.
He had barged in without waiting for my permission.
Only one person in the entire County possessed the nerve to do such a thing.
I turned my head, intending to reprimand him.
“What...?”
Then my expression stiffened.
“What do you mean?”
Kai asked me in return.
He stood there looking completely healthy, without a single visible injury.
‘Why does he look perfectly fine?’
The wounds Kai had suffered at the hands of the Lycanthrope had been ‘fatal’.
Granted, five days had passed, but even that shouldn’t have been enough.
No matter how he had obtained immortality, he still needed time to recover his Aura.
I had expected his recovery to take at least two weeks. Yet he had completely recovered in only five days.
“Did you achieve a breakthrough?”
“How could you tell merely by looking at me?”
Kai stared at me with widened eyes and asked in surprise.
Even though I was the one who should have been surprised.
It seemed he had gained some form of enlightenment during his battle with the Lycanthrope.
That much had been apparent when he completed the Wolf Swordsmanship during the battle....
‘Was it really that easy?’
Even considering that, his growth was absurd.
I stared closely at Kai, utterly dumbfounded.
◆Activating the Derived Skill ‘Find Weakness[U]’!
A message appeared before my eyes, followed by Kai’s weaknesses—
‘....There aren’t any?’
He had no weaknesses.
No matter how carefully I examined him, I couldn’t see a single weakness anywhere on Kai.
‘How does that make any sense?’
This….didn’t make sense.
As long as something was alive, it was impossible for it to have no weaknesses.
No living creature in this world was without a weakness.
Even dragons had weaknesses.
So did Ian.
Even I would die if my ‘head’ or ‘heart’ were destroyed.
Regeneration[B+] couldn’t heal a fatal wound that exceeded its limits.
I would also die if I exhausted all my nutrients.
The Ultimate Lifeform.
Only a creature like the one Ian had described could exist without any weakness.
And at that point, it could no longer be called a living creature. It would be more appropriate to call it a god.
No matter what sort of breakthrough Kai had achieved—
‘Wait. Could it be?’
Feeling deeply suspicious, I activated Predatory Instincts[S].
Just as it had with Seraphia, information about Kai appeared before me in an organized format.
==< Character Information >==
Name: Kai
Classification: Kingdom Animalia, Class Mammalia, Family Hominidae, Human
Gender: Male
Age: 20
Traits: Adoptive Muscle Memory[A-], Immortal Link[E]
<These skills are passive and will remain permanently active once acquired.>
As expected, there was unusual information.
First was Adoptive Muscle Memory[A-].
◆Adoptive Muscle Memory[A-] : Upon acquiring this skill, the user’s muscle cells are granted [learning and memory capabilities]. This allows the user to intuitively remember previously experienced physical activities and training, increasing efficiency by [+1,205%] when relearning them.
The connections between the brain and nerves, as well as the interactions between muscles, are amplified by [+2,290%], allowing the user to operate their body efficiently while consuming less energy.
The user’s ability to learn physical movements can be raised to the biological limit. However, the accumulation rate of muscular fatigue increases by [+6,550%], while the risk of injury to the joints and ligaments increases by [+1,430%].
….It was an absurdly powerful ability.
Considering that it was one rank below Dragon’s Claw[A], a dragon’s genetic ability, it could be considered a talent only slightly inferior to that of a dragon.
It seemed this was the foundation of Kai’s genius for swordsmanship.
However, the ability was not purely advantageous.
It carried penalties that increased the accumulation of muscular fatigue by [+6,550%] and the risk of injury to the joints and ligaments by [+1,430%].
Put simply, he became exhausted easily and was easily injured.
But then there was Kai’s other ability.
‘Immortal Link?’
In response to my question, Predatory Instincts[S] activated again, and information about Immortal Link[E] appeared before my eyes.
◆Immortal Link[E] : The user obtains immortality by anchoring their life to a [specific target]. As long as the target to which their life is anchored remains alive, the user cannot suffer physical death under any circumstances. However, mental death may still occur, and the body may fail to regenerate if it is severely damaged.
Its measured rank was [E], which stood for Epic.
It was the same rank as Dragon Rage Explosion[E].
It was also an ability capable of completely overcoming the penalties of Adoptive Muscle Memory[A-].
Unfortunately, I couldn’t obtain that ability.
It was an ability Kai had manifested through his ‘Aura’.
Since I couldn’t manipulate Aura, I would never be able to obtain the ability even if I consumed Kai with Predation[S+].
No, more importantly.
‘He anchored his life to a specific target?’
The specific target mentioned in the description.
I didn’t even need to ask who Kai had anchored his life to.
My gaze naturally shifted to one side.
And sure enough.
Seraphia’s entire body was glowing red.
Like a leaf dyed in autumn colors, her entire body had turned bright red.
In other words.
‘Does that mean Seraphia is Kai’s Life Force Vessel?’
A Life Force Vessel.
It was an object in which a Lich’s soul was sealed and the core that granted the Lich its immortality.
As long as the Life Force Vessel remained intact, the Lich could resurrect endlessly.
In other words.
….This bastard was undergoing Lichification.
But it wasn’t true Lichification.
Kai could still suffer mental death, and his body might not regenerate if it sustained extreme damage.
That alone proved that Kai was still unmistakably human.
Unlike in my previous life, he had currently obtained only a Lich’s ability while remaining human.
He had accomplished it through the absurd power of Aura.
Still, since his body could be destroyed while his life merely remained intact, it would be more accurate to call him a ‘zombie’ for now.
In a sense, he had surpassed his former self as the Commander of the Frost Legion.
Just as I was surpassing my former self as the Predator, Kai was surpassing his former self as the Commander of the Frost Legion.
….For a moment, I was rendered speechless.
‘Is he sane?’
No matter how I looked at it, he wasn’t sane.
He had reached a point where even calling him a madman was no longer enough to describe him.
‘Is he seriously sane?’
….No matter how much I considered it, he clearly wasn’t.
There had to be a limit to how madly loyal someone could be to Seraphia. What in the world was this...?
‘If this is the case....’
Killing Kai had become nearly impossible.
As long as Seraphia remained alive, Kai could retain his immortality.
Of course, the reverse was also true.
If Seraphia died, Kai’s immortality would become useless.
In that sense, killing Seraphia would also finish Kai.
The problem was that I couldn’t kill Seraphia under the current circumstances.
‘That bastard Ian....’
Why did he have to leave me with words like that?
Ultimately, the question of what to do with Seraphia and Kai had become a problem that could only be resolved after finding Ian.
‘I should stay away from him.’
Until then, I completely abandoned the idea of associating with Kai.
I was afraid that staying near him might drive me insane as well, so avoiding him entirely was the best choice.
“How is Lady Seraphia?”
Not wanting to speak with him, I stepped slightly aside and gestured for him to examine her himself.
Kai strode forward and inspected Seraphia’s condition.
Even in heat approaching 253 degrees Celsius, Kai didn’t shed a single drop of sweat.
Kai’s large hand covered Seraphia’s forehead.
When he felt the freezing chill radiating from her, his expression became as hard as stone.
“I will take care of Lady Seraphia from now on.”
“Do that.”
I had been preparing to embark on a trading expedition to Freche anyway.
I needed to prepare for the journey to treat Seraphia.
I needed to find Ian.
And I needed to raise the residents’ Affinity through the one remaining stage.
“I’m leaving, then.”
I immediately walked out of the room.
The main product for this trading expedition would naturally be monster meat.
The monsters killed by Seraphia and Kai couldn’t be sold.
The monsters’ madness could only be removed if I personally used Predation[S+] on them.
Therefore, the legion brought by the Lycanthrope couldn’t be sold.
‘Still, I consumed every monster from the legion that attacked the County, so I have plenty of stock.’
Calling it plentiful would have been an understatement.
We were completely overloaded.
The count’s castle warehouses couldn’t possibly contain it all.
That was why several additional temporary storage facilities were currently being constructed.
Even I couldn’t estimate how much all of it was worth.
Selling only a reasonable portion would likely be more than enough to cover several years of the County’s operating expenses.
Thanks to the approaching season of bitter cold, there would be no problem preserving it for an extended period.
On top of that, I had completed the fully evolved form of my abilities.
Confronting the legion alone had certainly been worth it.
‘Let’s see....’
I organized my priorities for this trading expedition.
My highest priority was the ‘investigation into Ian’s whereabouts’ that I had requested from the Merchant Guild last time.
With its immense financial power, the Merchant Guild of Freche possessed considerable influence within the Free Cities.
If Ian had visited a Free City anywhere on the continent, he couldn’t have avoided being detected by the Merchant Guild’s information network.
Given Ian’s personality, he would almost certainly have thrown a massive fit…. No, he would have caused some kind of incident.
Therefore, the first thing I needed to do in Freche was hear the results of their investigation.
‘And then....’
Next came purchasing medicinal ingredients to improve Seraphia’s condition.
Securing funds to establish the Coalition Forces.
Purchasing daily necessities to increase the residents’ Affinity.
Expanding the influence of the Predator Merchant Company.
And so on.
There was a horde of work to be done.
The members of the Predator Merchant Company and the soldiers selected for the expedition were busily transporting and loading supplies.
“Load the Rex meat over here! Put the Alakron meat over there! Load it onto the carriage in the back!”
“Where should we load the Dermexus meat?”
“Ah! Load the Dermexus meat here, on this carriage!”
Once a proper system had been established, the company members and soldiers moved with impressive efficiency.
We were preparing for the trading expedition when—
“Lord Adrian.”
Someone called out to me.
When I turned my head, I saw a man in a neat suit with slicked-back hair approaching me.
Bernard, the Head Butler of House White Wolf.
Seen up close, Bernard looked unusually exhausted.
My father had passed away, and now Seraphia was bedridden.
Since Bernard was currently responsible for every administrative duty in the County, it was hardly surprising that he looked like this.
“What is it?”
When I asked, Bernard immediately answered.
“It is nothing else, my lord. A guest has just arrived in the County.”
My eyes widened sharply.
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