Chapter 6: Blue integer

Blue Essence

“Huuuup!”

I stretched vigorously.

Too many things had happened.

Perhaps because my brain was exhausted, I fell asleep as if collapsing the moment I lay down.

Thanks to a good night’s sleep, all my depleted mana had also recovered.

Just as I was about to get up.

My eyes met the full-length mirror across from me.

“…”

Every time I look, I feel how dazzlingly handsome I am.

Hair and eyes as black as pitch.

Even the clothes I was wearing were all black.

Amidst it all, my skin was remarkably pale.

Dazzling features that stood out even amidst a monochrome feast.

It was likely the result of my charm stat.

But that was all.

This tolerable appearance was of no help in surviving.

What was important was power.

Because this was a fantasy world within a game, not modern Earth.

If only I had allocated even a little of my charm stat to stamina.

Just like before, I suddenly regretted not putting any points into stamina.

If I had been transmigrated to the Empire’s side instead, it might have been different.

Because they could freely receive healing magic called ‘Heal’.

However, demons were different.

Heal acted as poison to demons.

There was only one way for demons to recover.

Natural healing using demonic energy.

Demons would push demonic energy into their injured parts, and those parts would regenerate.

The recovery speed varied greatly depending on the quantity and quality of the demonic energy.

In the case of the Demon King, she could easily recover from any injury, unless her neck was severed.

I was in the exact opposite situation.

I could feel demonic energy within my body.

Just a tiny bit of demonic energy.

Of course, there were various ways to increase it.

But I didn’t have much time.

Because Sein said she would be coming soon.

A way to become stronger in a few days.

I had to find it.

‘Aura of Dominance.’

It was a unique binding skill that only I possessed.

Its effect was somewhat overpowered.

Since it sealed the opponent’s movements.

However, Aura of Dominance alone couldn’t kill an opponent.

After all, the final attack had to be done separately.

There was no way I could kill an opponent with my bare fists right now.

Besides, the duration of Aura of Dominance wasn’t that long either.

Then I needed a weapon.

The easiest weapon to handle.

And a weapon I was familiar with.

It was a sword.

It was difficult to acquire a top-tier weapon right now.

But the fortunate thing was that my opponent was Sein.

I didn’t need a weapon with immense attack power.

Wouldn’t a decent top-tier weapon sold in a shop suffice somehow?

The problem was money.

I was sure I had saved up some money, but I didn’t know where it was.

There wasn’t any kind of storage in the room either.

The moment I wondered how to summon the subspace.

Suddenly, a black dot appeared in the air.

“What is it?”

The black dot, initially the size of a fingernail.

It gradually began to grow larger.

And soon, it expanded to the size of a soccer ball.

“…A subspace?”

I knew without any separate explanation.

Because its form was exactly like the subspace described in the game.

However, I hesitated a bit when actually trying to put my hand in it.

What if it suddenly closed?

Having my hand cut off was an experience I’d refuse.

So, for a long time, I observed the subspace and conducted various experiments.

And a conclusion was reached.

The conclusion was that the subspace would never close unless I willed it to close.

‘…But what happens if it closes in the middle?’

I was curious.

But I couldn’t experiment with my own hand.

I brought a book from the corner of the room.

I placed it halfway into the black hole and then closed the subspace.

Snip.

“…”

Sure enough, the subspace vanished, devouring half of the book.

“Hmm.”

I felt a slight regret.

‘If only it were a little bigger.’

If it were human-sized, I could have combined it with Aura of Dominance to use it as a good offensive skill.

I carefully summoned the subspace again.

And put my hand inside.

But I couldn’t grasp anything.

Shouldn’t there at least be the book I just put in?

‘…How do I get it out?’

I stared intently at the black hole.

Of course, merely staring didn’t make the subspace politely spit out what I needed.

I re-evaluated my thoughts.

How did I summon this subspace in the first place?

When I thought of ‘subspace,’ the subspace appeared.

Then shouldn’t I also think of what I need?

I put my hand back in and thought of ‘gold’.

Suddenly, something heavy was grasped in my hand.

When I pulled it out, it was gold, the currency unit of the game.

It was a surprisingly large amount.

Even by my standards as a veteran player.

‘That’s a relief.’

I had transferred a lot of money to this character, intending to properly conquer the Demon King.

Fortunately, that had been applied.

With this much, it seemed I wouldn’t have to worry about struggling due to lack of money.

If you have money, you should spend it.

I immediately left the room.

****

“Welcome.”

“Where are the swords?”

“They’re somewhere over there.”

The shop employee didn’t even look at me, merely gesturing vaguely towards a corner of the wall.

She seemed to have no interest whether a customer entered or not.

She was fiddling with something.

‘…A scarf?’

I didn’t have much knowledge in that area, so I wasn’t sure, but she seemed to be making a scarf.

It was perfect negligence of duty.

I liked it very much.

Because there was nothing more annoying than someone talking to you while you’re shopping.

However, my happiness didn’t last even five seconds.

“Oh my, you’re handsome! What are you looking for?”

The employee, who had been focused solely on her knitting, had somehow moved right beside me.

Her speed was incredible.

“I’m fine.”

“No! I’ll help you!”

I wished she would just go back to her knitting.

Reluctantly, I opened my mouth.

“The sturdiest and sharpest one.”

“Ah! Just a moment!”

She exclaimed cheerfully and ran off somewhere.

Leaving the sword display right in front of her.

She seemed to burst through a door behind the counter with a bang, and then brought out a sword.

“How about this one?”

“…”

I was dumbfounded.

It was a rare sword, stocked only once a month in the shop.

Moreover, its performance-to-price ratio was excellent.

Unless one personally procured materials and crafted it, it was considered the ultimate sword generally obtainable.

Because of that, it was a sword that could only be obtained on the 1st of every month by battling through an immense crowd of clickers in the shop.

“Because you’re handsome, 20% off!”

She even said she’d give a discount.

Of course, I didn’t believe that part.

That was just one of the employees’ standard sales pitches, like a macro.

I quickly paid and practically fled the shop.

But…

“…”

When I checked the change, it had indeed been calculated with a 20% discount.

“That’s ridiculous.”

Shops operate on a fixed-price system.

It was common knowledge that discounts didn’t exist unless you were something like the lord of the village.

But exceptions always exist.

This world was no different; appearance was everything…

****

Next was mana.

My only skill, Aura of Dominance.

However, its duration was simply too short.

I needed to resolve this tiny mana pool first.

“What’s going on?”

As I lingered around the Demon Realm’s city walls, a demon soldier approached from a distance.

“Nothing.”

“What do you mean ‘nothing’, Eek!”

The demon soldier, who had approached with a swagger.

Upon seeing my face, he recoiled in fright and instantly backed away.

“L-Lord Kyle! What brings you here!”

“Ah.”

He seemed to know me.

Indeed, I had appeared in every battle.

From the demon soldiers’ perspective, I might be a familiar sight.

“I was wondering if the city walls were in disrepair…”

As I vaguely mumbled an excuse.

“I’ll check immediately!”

The fellow, startled, ran off somewhere.

“Is this… power?”

It felt as if I had become a division commander.

It was exactly that feeling, where the entire unit would be thrown into chaos whenever he appeared.

“My apologies.”

I offered a brief condolence to the soldiers who would have to diligently search for non-existent structural flaws.

Still, I must have saved your lives a few times, right?

My atonement was brief, and my rationalization was swift.

I fumbled along the city wall and found a point.

“Is this it?”

A distinctly indented, regular pentagonal stone.

When I pressed it firmly, the stone popped out and fell forward.

A newly formed empty pentagonal space.

As I put my hand into it, a dark blue stone appeared.

It was definitely the Blue Essence.

At that, the corners of my mouth curled into a grin without me realizing it.

“Found it.”

I put the fallen stone back in its place and quickly returned to my room.

****

This hidden item, the Blue Essence.

Despite being in a very easy-to-find location, it was an item most users didn’t use.

Why?

Because it was impossible to absorb.

So everyone thought the Blue Essence was a useless item.

“That can’t be.”

From the start, it was a hidden item in name.

There’s no such thing as a hidden item that’s utterly useless.

Over several days, I conducted various experiments on the Blue Essence.

The information I discovered at the end was this:

If demonic energy was absorbed, its repulsion would lessen.

The problem was that the demonic energy of the character who would consume the Blue Essence had to be inserted.

Tricks like having someone else insert demonic energy didn’t work.

Thus, it was concluded that it was an item that virtually no one could use except demon characters.

‘Because I’m a demon.’

Although I only had a tiny bit of demonic energy in my body, it was still undeniably demonic energy.

I pushed it into the Blue Essence.

The dark blue stone began to glow.

Then its color gradually turned bluer.

Up to this point, it was easy.

The problem was consumption.

One simply had to eat this rock-like object, but the issue was that its side effects varied for each character.

From mild fainting to various status ailments, and even vomiting blood.

While characters would recover if left alone, I would have to endure the full pain.

Still, the fortunate thing was.

“Surely, I wouldn’t die.”

That there had been no cases of a character dying yet.

The moment I tightly closed my eyes and pushed it into my mouth.

“Ugh…!”