Seeing the information in front of him, Negut was overjoyed.
[Skill: Halo of Truth]
[Rank: A - 15i]
[Description: Increases the stats of all allies and yourself by 300%. The effective range depends on the Spirit stat of the one using the skill. While this skill is active, your defense is increased by 500%; if you receive a fatal blow, you will not die but instead enter the "Almighty" state.]
[Almighty State: In this state, all of your stats are increased by 1,000%, but it only lasts for 10 seconds. After those 10 seconds end, you will recover 10% of your life energy, but your life energy will then decrease by 1% every 30 minutes.]
[Duration: 60 seconds | Cooldown: 4 hours.]
[Required Mana: 500]
Seeing that skill, Negut was delighted, because for a Summoner like him, this was no different from having a second life.
Not only could it boost the strength of his allies, it could also push him into the [Almighty] state if he took a critical hit.
But what was even better was that… once he learned this skill, with the [Grace of the Gods], all of its limits could be broken, and on top of that, he would be able to upgrade it.
In that case, he no longer needed to fear the Newbie Challenge; on the contrary, he was now full of anticipation for it.
Seeing how happy he was, Naomi's eyes curved into crescents as she said softly, "I had to put in a lot of effort to get this for you, you know."
Negut laughed. "Thank you, hehehe… really, thank you. But… what does [15i] mean?"
Naomi explained, "The normal rank is [A - 15], but this skill has been replicated and slightly optimized by the Government and the research department, and that new version is labeled [A - 15i]."
Negut nodded lightly, realizing that the [i] meant a skill developed by the Government, to distinguish it from naturally occurring skills.
"What do I have to do to thank you?" Negut asked with a smile. He knew very well… there is no such thing as a free lunch in this world.
A skill this precious definitely meant Naomi had taken quite a risk to obtain it; how could he just accept it for free?
Naomi chuckled. "I have not thought of any request yet. You can owe me one, all right?"
Negut agreed readily. "Of course."
At first, he had already been very confident about this Newbie Challenge thanks to his two [Graces of the Gods]. Now, with the [Halo of Truth] skill on top of that, he really did not want to wait any longer; he wanted to jump straight into the trial.
"All right! I will take you back to the villa so we can continue your training. At the very least, by the time you enter the Newbie Challenge, you need to be able to walk steadily."
Negut nodded, the smile on his face growing even brighter.
…
The next morning, Negut woke up feeling that he had slept quite well the previous night.
"Wait!" He suddenly remembered what Lilith had said yesterday and felt a bit puzzled. "Did she not come home last night?"
But then he just shrugged, acting as if he did not care. Whether she came back or not had nothing to do with him anyway.
As long as she transferred money into his account on time, that was enough. Where she went, who she met, or which man she slept with, he did not care.
In fact, if she paid him enough, he could even prepare a bed and a romantic setting so she could have an even better time with whatever man she liked.
He could then sit off to the side and use money to wipe away his tears, hehehehe…
After that… he would take that money and find ten beautiful girls to have fun with, to make up for the pain in his heart.
Negut stretched and slowly got out of bed, feeling a little bit better.
Although he could only move slowly for now, that was enough. He believed that with just one more day of training, he would be able to walk normally; he just would not be able to run or react as well as an ordinary person.
"Ah!" Negut suddenly sighed and muttered, "If only I could get another eye, that would be perfect."
He touched the left eye he had lost, now nothing but an empty, hollow socket. Fortunately the skin was still there, so he could at least close his eyelid. Otherwise, anyone who saw it would probably faint from fright.
Negut recalled the state of his body when he had just arrived in this world and could not help finding it a little funny.
Back then, he could have played a zombie without needing any makeup.
Lost in thought, Negut walked to the dining room and began enjoying the meal prepared by the maids.
As he ate, he checked the skill Naomi had given him yesterday, now that it had been combined with the [Grace of the Gods].
…
[Skill: Halo of Truth]
[Rank: A - 15i]
[Description: Increases the stats of all allies and yourself by 300%. The effective range depends on the Spirit stat of the one using the skill. While this skill is active, your defense increases by 500%. If you receive a critical hit, you will not die but instead maintain the "Almighty" state.]
[Almighty State: In this state, all of your stats increase by 1,000%. Duration: Unlimited. You can actively cancel this state. After canceling the Almighty state, you will instantly recover 10% of your life energy, but your life energy will then decrease by 1% every 30 minutes.]
[Duration: Unlimited | Cooldown: None.]
[Required Mana: 500]
[Upgrade requirement: 25,000 Energy Points.]
…
Seeing that the skill information had changed, Negut felt delighted inside, but there was one major problem, which was the amount of mana required to use this skill.
Right now he only had 12 points in [Spirit]. Each point of Spirit corresponded to 10 Mana, which meant that at the moment he could not use this skill at all.
"Ah, what a headache," Negut muttered, cursing in his heart. "To use this skill, I need at least 50 points in Spirit."
He let out a long sigh, feeling a little disappointed.
Fifty points of Spirit was not a big number for other people, but for an F rank Summoner like him, he would probably need to reach at least level 30 to have a total of 50 points in [Spirit].
Negut suddenly remembered something that could help him increase his [Spirit].
"A Cultivation Method."
It was not a Skill, nor was it a Talent. It was a kind of Cultivation Method used to train and increase attribute points, yet it was treated as a treasure that only large clans and the Government possessed.
It was even banned from trade. Anyone who violated that law would be arrested by the Government or even sentenced to death.
Negut sighed and shook his head inwardly, then continued eating.
"What are you thinking about?"
"AGH!"
Negut screamed when a voice suddenly rang out right next to his ear, spraying the food in his mouth all over the table.
Seeing Naomi, he angrily shouted, "Are you insane or what? Why do you always appear right next to me out of nowhere like that?"
Naomi clutched her stomach laughing, the medical mask still covering her face so that only her eyes were visible.
"Hahahaha… you really are jumpy. I came to check your physical stats. But when I went to your room you were not there, so I came here instead."
Hearing Naomi's explanation, Negut pouted and sighed. "Fine. Have you had breakfast yet? Eat with me, we can do the checkup after."
"Ah, I already had breakfast, but… if you want…" Naomi pretended to be shy, then giggled. "I can be your breakfast."
"Pff!" Negut had just taken a bite of salad. Hearing her words, he immediately sprayed it all out.
"You?" Negut curled his lip, stabbing a piece of meat with his fork, then holding it up in front of her with a mocking smile. "I feel a lot more interested in this piece of meat than in you. Got it? And you should stop drooling over my looks."
"You…" Gritting her teeth, Naomi grabbed his ear with two fingers and tugged hard. "You dare look down on me?"
"Ak! Ow, ow! Let go!" Negut felt as if she was about to rip his ear off and yelled, "If you are not ugly then why do you always wear a mask?"
Naomi: "…"
Negut pushed her hand away and said with disdain, "I know I am handsome, but my looks are not something you can just touch whenever you like, understand?"
Naomi: "…"