Ch.6363. Oldbie Pretending to Be a Newbie

I could feel the Rift wasn’t in the game before, but it wasn’t particularly surprising.

I don’t know about others, but I’m the type who always expects and anticipates new updates when I’ve played a game to its limits.

And I had somewhat anticipated this new type of Rift.

‘Even if it’s new content, it’s ultimately recycling existing content.’

When updates add new content, there’s inevitably a sense of staleness since it’s coming from the same game.

Especially when it’s not completely new but just mixing existing elements?

With my extensive prior knowledge and complete familiarity with the original map structure, I should be able to find strategies quickly.

Even if multiple elements are combined, they won’t completely deviate from the original rules.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the strategy would be easy.

No matter how recycled it is, it’s still new content. The fact remains that right now, I know nothing about it.

And… that’s why Grain steps in here.

Despite my talk about having sufficient prior knowledge, I’m still asking for help. How uncool.

Well, helping each other is what we do, right?

I asked Grain, who approached me, to manifest her ability.

In a… rather excessive way.

“…What do you want me to do?”

“I need you to identify what structures are located in this direction, about 100 of them to be safe.”

“Do you even understand my ability when you ask that?”

“Of course I do.”

Her bewildered reaction was perfectly normal.

If I truly understood her ability, I would never give such an instruction.

Grain’s ability [Observer of All Things that Prove Existence].

Its nickname is ‘Eye of Sauron.’

As the grandiose name and nickname suggest, it wasn’t an ability meant to be used merely for exploration.

However, if she manifests her ability too deeply, it opens Grain’s corruption route… which means utilizing it beyond a certain level is practically impossible.

The term “exploration specialist” wasn’t just a casual description.

Anyway, apart from that risk, her ability was objectively so overpowered that calling it unfair would be an understatement.

Basically, nothing exists that she cannot detect, identify, or analyze.

She could perceive not only visible matter but also invisible energies like mana.

She could even analyze things like air composition and liquid components that didn’t need to be seen.

She lived in an extremely scientific world… one that was difficult for a humanities person like me to comprehend.

That’s why as long as she was nearby, we wouldn’t be caught off guard by anything. Any phenomenon would be visible to her eyes.

Currently, it seems only my dodging or parrying is unrecognizable to her. But that’s beside the point.

Additionally, due to her ability, even when observing something beyond her knowledge, she could vaguely understand it.

I’m not sure what this feels like since I’ve only read the description… but thanks to this effect, her practical scores must be quite high.

It’s like having a cheat sheet that helps her understand the exam questions.

Beyond that, by simply manifesting her ability, she could theoretically perceive and manipulate everything around her… but using it to that extent would mean she’s already corrupted, and using it for even a few seconds would melt her brain, so it’s not worth discussing.

Of course, that doesn’t mean normal usage doesn’t strain her brain.

Just now, her condition worsened significantly from Celia’s magic, didn’t it?

The human brain naturally only accepts as much information as it can handle to avoid overload.

But Grain’s ability breaks through that limit and forcibly crams in more information… naturally causing headaches.

That’s why she’s always cautious and wary when meeting new people.

She never knows what abilities they might have… or whether that information would be something she could handle.

Remember how she initially refused my entry into the student council? This was the reason.

…I’ve gone on a bit long, but the conclusion is this:

What I asked would put tremendous strain on her brain, making it impossible to execute.

Yes, I know.

To mentally map 100 scattered objects, she’d need to observe a vast area.

Even in an empty space, cramming such a wide area into her mind would make her faint on the spot. In the Rift’s interior, where anything could exist, she might risk permanent mental damage.

What I asked was essentially like telling her, “Just shove a bomb in your head and detonate it.”

But there’s always a way.

“Actually, senior, you know there’s a way to do this.”

“…How do you know that…?”

If using the ability strains the brain, why not avoid using the brain in the first place?

Her ability isn’t working at full capacity anyway, so why not allocate more burden to it? Like using a CPU.

This method was actually possible.

It was even an officially recognized technique in the game, with its principles explained.

Since Grain supposedly mastered this method as soon as she acquired her ability, there was no need to explain anything to her.

“Just transfer all the burden of using your ability to the ability itself.”

“…How much do you know about my ability? I never told you anything.”

“I have my ways of knowing.”

“That’s a bit scary. Though I knew you had many secrets.”

Despite saying this, she showed hesitation.

Understandable. This method had a major problem.

If you forcibly use the ability like a CPU, it recognizes this as a connection to reality, and a “door” opens.

Then the ability tries to emerge… and if you can’t stop it, Grain gets consumed by her ability and becomes corrupted.

Think of it as a living ability.

Since there’s no dedicated story for Grain, I’m not certain, but she probably almost got consumed when she first acquired this ability.

That’s why she never uses this method.

“I know what you’re worried about. But just trust me this once.”

But I wouldn’t have suggested it if it were only dangerous.

“Can I really trust you?”

“Of course. Don’t worry and just identify the structures like I asked.”

“What do you mean ‘don’t worry’… Are you sure I can trust you?”

Since she kept repeating the same question, seemingly unconvinced, I decided to take a stronger approach.

“Have you been deceived that much? If anything goes wrong, I’ll give you all my assets plus all of Celia’s.”

“Wait a minute, Ludion? Why are you betting my assets too?”

“Alright. If you’re that confident, I’ll trust you.”

Celia tried to object to my unauthorized gambling with her assets, but I was able to ignore it thanks to the flow of the conversation.

Anyway, after my assurance, Grain reluctantly seemed to accept.

“Alright, I’ll do it.”

“Thank you. I appreciate it.”

Her eyes closed. But those were just her physical eyes; her true eyes couldn’t be covered by mere eyelids.

The next moment, I was overwhelmed by the sensation of being watched.

Front, sides, back. Even from above my head to beneath my feet. The feeling of being scanned all over gave me goosebumps.

Celia must have felt it too, as she approached me with a startled expression.

“Lu-Ludion? What is this…?”

“This is Senior Grain’s serious mode.”

Grain at her peak, offloading all calculations to her ability rather than her brain, able to perceive absolutely everything.

But now… with side effects.

Gurgle-

Gurk-

A hole ripped open in the air, and from it emerged a bizarre octopus monster that could have come straight from the Cthulhu mythos.

It’s not actually Cthulhu-related; think of it as the physical manifestation of her ability.

It gradually emerged and began approaching Grain, who still had her eyes closed.

“…Are you sure this is okay? Should I really keep going?”

“Yes, don’t worry and focus on what I asked you to do.”

Of course, I had no intention of letting it reach Grain.

I immediately drew my sword and struck the octopus tentacle that was trying to wrap around Grain’s body.

Pwang-!

The tentacle exploded on impact.

This was exactly why I confidently asked her to use her ability.

If you parry these octopus… tentacles, they get eliminated. It’s ultimately a parrying mechanic.

Perhaps because it’s the ability itself? I didn’t even need to time it—simply touching it counted as a successful parry.

Since its target was Grain, it posed no threat to me. I just needed to keep clearing it away whenever it got close, so it wasn’t particularly dangerous.

Wriggle wriggle wriggle wriggle.

“Ugh, disgusting.”

The visual assault was quite severe, though.

A mass about 3 meters large with octopus tentacles of various sizes stuck all over it.

It looked passable in the game, but seeing it like this was truly revolting.

But what could I do? It was the method I chose.

‘It’s not like there’s a better option.’

Trying to think positively, I faced the countless handshake requests from the octopus monster.