3 – Third Transformation

Third Rebirth.

Entered the [Custom Room].

There’s no time.

I can’t expect time to stop while I’m setting things up.

Without hesitation, I quickly selected the options I had decided on in advance.

First, [Geass].

<Geass>

[Dokgoda]

[Heavenly Slaughter Star]

[Nine Yin Constitution]

[Femme Fatale]

[Calamitous Talent]

I changed all the available options among the existing [Geass].

The [Unlocked] list appeared.

[Arrogance]

A curse that easily leads to arrogance.

It makes you honest, without a shred of shame under the sky.

Change the stat [Focus] to [Arrogance].

Change the Skill [Solo Journey] to [Sole Existence].

Additional points +30

[Heavenly Slaughter Star]

A curse where Intent to Kill goes berserk.

You must kill.

Change the stat [Intent to Kill] to [Killing Intent].

Change the Skill [Berserk] to [Self-Sacrifice].

Additional points +30

[Frozen Heaven: Nine Yin Constitution]

A curse where Magical Power freezes.

The more you freeze, the more it freezes solid.

Change the stat [Yin Energy] to [Cold Energy].

Change the Skill [Ice Crystal] to [Freeze].

Additional points +30

[Nation-Toppling Beauty]

A curse that easily exposes you to good and evil.

It becomes easy to be misunderstood.

It stimulates desire.

Change the stat [Charm] to [Love].

Change the Skill [Discernment] to [Insight].

Additional points +25

I immediately changed to the [Unlocked] [Geass].

But I was blocked at the last one.

[Natural Disaster] [Locked]

A curse that easily exposes you to luck and misfortune.

Karma accumulates.

Events occur.

Change the stat [Focus] to [Cliché].

Change the Skill [Divulging Secrets of Heaven] to [Spoiler].

Additional points +25

*Aptitude 100 points.

[Natural Disaster]. The condition required by the higher version of the [Geass] called [Calamitous Talent] is [Aptitude] 100 points.

It was a stat type that could not be changed since the initial setting.

Huh?

But now it was selectable.

[Aptitude] [91]

-> [100]

I set [Aptitude] to 100 points.

[Natural Disaster] is [Unlocked].

<Geass>

[Arrogance]

[Heavenly Slaughter Star]

[Frozen Heaven: Nine Yin Constitution]

[Nation-Toppling Beauty]

[Natural Disaster]

Now, all that’s left is to [Enhancement] these [Geass] by raising [Prayer].

This time, I changed the stats.

<Stats>

[Level] [34]

[Strength] [40] [Vitality] [112]

[Sense] [60] [Spirit] [100]

[Magical Power] [100] [Mana] [100]

[Luck] [20] [Arrogance] [20]

[Killing Intent] [20] [Cold Energy] [20]

[Love] [20] [Cliché] [20]

[Charm] [100]

[Aptitude] [100]

[Unallocated Points] [150]

Current stats.

Thanks to the additional points received from [Geass], a whopping 150 unallocated points had accumulated.

Of course, with so much to invest in, 150 points couldn’t be considered a lot.

I invested them.

<Stats>

[Level] [34]

[Strength] [100] [Vitality] [112]

[Sense] [100] [Spirit] [100]

[Magical Power] [100] [Mana] [100]

[Luck] [0] [Arrogance] [0]

[Killing Intent] [70] [Cold Energy] [100]

[Love] [0] [Cliché] [0]

[Charm] [100]

[Aptitude] [100]

[Unallocated Points] [0]

The changes are as follows.

[Strength] 40 -> 100

[Sense] 60 -> 100

[Cold Energy] 20 -> 100

[Killing Intent] 20 -> 70

[Luck] 20 -> 0

[Arrogance] 20 -> 0

[Love] 20 -> 0

[Cliché] 20 -> 0

[Strength] and [Sense] were invested as planned in advance.

[Cold Energy] was judged to be a necessary stat for me now.

“….”

[Heavenly Slaughter Star]—no, Americano, who inherited the thoughts following the inertia left by [Heavenly Slaughter Star], still followed her faint consciousness and [Decided] on the changes.

Hongyeom spat fire from her hand, incinerating the skull.

She erased the monster, which was no different from an Undead labeled Espresso, from this world.

The flames continued.

The flames kept going.

They didn’t stop.

The name Espresso wasn’t erased from above the skull.

She tried to incinerate that information window by giving it a stronger firepower, but soon a sense of doubt filled her mind.

When she extinguished the flames, Espresso’s appearance, which had been hidden by the flames, became visible.

Crackle.

Sparks?

No, noise.

It was closer to a tearing sound.

When she completely withdrew the flames and looked at Espresso, the shape of the skull was shaking erratically.

The mannequin’s skin was being applied to the skull, which was the foundation, but it was causing an error and tearing away.

Espresso, who had half her body submerged in lava, looked at Hongyeom.

Her eye sockets had already lost their life and turned black.

She was maintaining ‘The Sun’, so fire was leaking out, but the ominous gaze that was trying to kill her was gone.

‘If she’s dead, she should disappear.’

Hongyeom prepared her final blow.

Heat Beam.

Light and heat concentrated into a single point with absolute cutting power.

Light shone from her palm.

Gathering her strength,

She fired the light.

The Heat Beam pierced straight into the skull.

The information window Espresso was pushed away by the Heat Beam, and soon that ominous information window would disappear.

───That’s what she believed.

Her belief was betrayed.

The end of the Heat Beam warped.

“S-Stop dying already.”

Even though she had drawn in the fire implemented in the game, Espresso rose as if she were getting up.

She was just a skull, but was she going to float it in the air with Telekinesis?

No, that wasn’t it.

Espresso was really getting up.

When Hongyeom saw that,

“….”

Her mouth was open and she couldn’t close it.

R-Recovery?

A head.

A skull, at that.

No, what the heck.

She was just a head made of bones, but not only did she recover from there,

Espresso completely recovered into a perfect body.

A bug that threw off its skin.

She showed her true form in the [Arena].

That must be her true form.

But,

It was like a skin.

A beautiful woman took advantage of the bug and stared blankly with a deep gaze. Red starlight appeared in her eyes.

It shone crimson like ominous starlight, and the Heat Beams gathered and floated above her head like an angel’s halo.

The Heat Beams were dyed in the same color as those crimson eyes.

From her pure white naked body, she scattered a thick Frost like a dress, even though it was a lava zone.

It was so thick that it covered her naked body in white.

“W-What is it.”

She could only say, “What is it?”

Hongyeom took a step back.

One step.

One step.

When she realized she was trying to escape, Hongyeom gritted her teeth.

There was also the option to give up.

But her pride was hurt.

No, was the 7th-ranked Korean on the world rankings going to lose to such an unheard-of opponent?

If this fact became known on social media, it would be an international disgrace.

She was going to return to reality someday anyway, so that woman might record this battle today and post it on social media, right? There was no way she wouldn’t recognize a celebrity like herself.

‘Where else in the world would there be a pyromancer like me!’

It was hard enough being famous.

An ominous future pushed her back.

At that moment.

‘What is she trying to do this time?’

Espresso raised her hand.

She raised her hand very high.

Fire gathered.

…Huh?

Nuclear fusion power generation confines plasma in a facility called a tokamak to turn a turbine with steam to produce electricity.

But a steam turbine wasn’t right for Americano.

Americano was an Electrical Ability user.

Just as she had obtained a cooling effect with the properties of Electricity, this time she reversed it.

She converted heat into Electricity.

An Ability user who freely controls Electricity is favored by Electricity.

As the ring of Heat Beams added light, a stronger current flowed through her body.

Electricity was converted back into Magical Power, and the converted Magical Power gathered in the [Mana Hole], was infused with [Cold Energy], and then emitted again.

Ultra-low temperature Magical Power flowed out, freezing the lava zone again.

She stepped on the hard volcanic rock.

Standing on a stable floor,

Raising her hand,

Ultra-low temperature.

Superconductivity.

The quantized magnetic field gathered the flames following her delicate senses.

Everything around her was the flames that Hongyeom had scattered to kill her.

Flame is a kind of plasma.

Plasma gathered and created a large fireball above her hand.

Since the principle of nuclear fusion was added, it could be called a small sun.

But fire doesn’t work on a fire Ability user.

Even in her hazy consciousness, she didn’t forget that basic common sense.

“….”

The small sun was her power plant.

The hand raised high was just a performance.

No, it was a kind of sight.

Now that the small sun was formed, she maintained it even with her hand down, and felt the electrical energy permeating her body more strongly.

Dynamic vitality.

It wasn’t just that electrical energy was overflowing.

There was something else.

Strictly speaking, the small sun was formed from Hongyeom’s flames.

The Magical Power after being manifested by Awakened Ability was no different from a natural phenomenon, but even so, Hongyeom’s will was mixed in the flames.

Will is Magical Power.

She ate Hongyeom’s Magical Power in a form she could eat.

‘Power is overflowing.’

She felt the overflowing power in a state that was half-asleep.

Stronger Electricity.

Stronger Frost.

Stronger Superconductivity.

Stronger Firepower.

Stronger Electricity.

A virtuous cycle that goes around and around.

Each time the cycle turned, the total amount of power increased exponentially, like a [Mana Cultivation Method].

‘I think I can do it now.’

Crack.

Cracks burst in Espresso’s body.

It was too much for a human body to handle.

Energy burst.

Like a Bronze Golem.

Like when she used [Sword God].

A mass of Magical Power with will broke the shell called Espresso and awakened the body within, stretching out in a huge yawn.

Magical Power scattered like smoke gathered to form a single huge shape.

Hongyeom stared blankly at that series of processes.

“Ah… ah…”

She saw Espresso, who had become as huge as a mountain, and collapsed.

What is that.

What is that?

“Ah… ah…”

She couldn’t finish her words.

She lost her will to fight.

The terrifying opponent she couldn’t kill even when she was small had become as huge as a Power Rangers monster, so she couldn’t even think of defeating her.

Regardless of size, even if she was a fire Ability user boasting the world’s largest destructive scale, she couldn’t transcend her mentality.

Her mind was already exhausted from fighting until just now, and then suddenly there was giantification.

Don’t mess with me.

How can I win against something like that?

Why suddenly?

“Hngh… Aaaaah.”

She couldn’t even choose the option to give up and just met the eyes that had become too high.

The huge energy mass that was Espresso stretched out a huge hand,

And covered Hongyeom with her palm.

There was no technique in that movement.

She just stretched out her hand.

“….”

Her entire vision was blocked by the huge hand coming towards her, and even when it came within reach of her head, she just stared at it.

Her mind and body were completely captured.

How,

Can I,

Win?

The palm of the huge energy mass gently pressed down on Hongyeom.

She was crushed.

Like a bug.

‘I’m going to die.’

Like a bug.

Her mind couldn’t consider this a game anymore.

Her head was pressed down.

Her body was bent over.

Her knees were bent.

Both hands touched the floor.

She was going to die now.

Just that last moment was left, when the pressure that had been pressing down on her body disappeared.

Even so, Hongyeom couldn’t raise her head for a long time.

Because she was scared.

What the heck was she fighting?

She cried because she thought she was going to die.

Hongyeom was just a college student who had a strong sense of pride and liked to receive attention from others.

She was born with an extremely strong Awakened Ability, but that nature didn’t go anywhere.

When she sensed death from an opponent who showed even greater power without being broken by that strong power, she became the ordinary college student she was before she Awakened her Awakened Ability.

She was scared of dying.

So she couldn’t resist.

Because she thought she was going to die.

Her face was wet with tears at the thought of dying right now.

The system message informed her.

[YOU WIN]

Silence.

Stillness.

Quiet.

She stared blankly at the message and was finally able to raise her head.

The giant was gone.

That overwhelming presence was gone.

It was only left in her experience.

Like she had a Dream.

Trembling.

There was no way she could have seen it wrong.

That was reality.

Espresso.

That name was deeply engraved in Hongyeom’s head.