CHAPTER 41: TESTING NEW ABILITIES

Deklan smiled inwardly.

His hand glowed with a pristine white light as the Paranormal Heart neared his grasp.

Once his fingers wrapped around it, he could feel a surge of energy seeping into his hand and spreading across his entire body. Deklan could tell clearly that this power doesn’t belong to him. It was too feral, too violent, completely different from the nature of mana.

But even so, the nature of this power didn’t last long.

Deklan closed his eyes and directed his senses internally—as the power from the Ghost Conqueror skill enveloped the invasive power and suppressed it. Rapidly, the power was morphed and contorted, forcing it to merge seamlessly with him.

It felt oddly invigorating, like the sensation of winning a battle.

And soon, another notice appeared.

[Assimilation complete!]

[Weapon Persona: Shadow Beast acquired!]

As soon as the power settled inside, Deklan opened his eyes and checked the skill description again.

...

[Ghost Conqueror]

Rank: ???

Description: Host can capture all Ghosts and Supernatural entities!

First Technique — Doppelganger (Assimilation): Now, the host can scan the soul of a deceased Ghost to harvest its Minor Presence and assimilate it into the skill. Minor Presence harvest depends on the gap between the host’s power and the targeted Ghost.

Weapon Persona:

Slot 1 — Shadow Beast

Slot 2 — (Locked)

Slot 3 — (Locked)

...

Just as he expected, the newly acquired Weapon Persona was now registered within the skill.

Deklan was about to test it out to check, but he stopped mid-track as he remembered Marsha was still around, and it would look odd when she saw him using some sort of ability that she had never seen him use before.

Fortunately, Marsha was still resting soundly.

Maybe the exhaustion—from having her sanity lowered significantly dulled her senses, but she doesn’t seem to notice what he was doing, which was good. Instead of going through with testing the Weapon Persona, Deklan decided to leave first.

No Ghosts around, so it should be safe for him to leave Marsha behind.

Of course, he didn’t forget to put the Drifting Skeletal Wolf carcass into his inventory.

Other than wanting to save it or when he used the Awakening Ritual, the scent of blood coming from it might attract other Ghosts or animals within the forest. It would be bad if one encountered Marsha, who was too tired to defend herself.

But then again, she’s the chosen one. I doubt her luck would be that bad.

Shaking his head, Deklan sprinted away.

He headed straight for the inner area, deciding that testing the Weapon Persona before stepping into the danger zone would be a great idea. Along the way, Deklan looked at the trees he passed and thought of something.

"I should also test my new skill," He nodded and focused. "Elementary Phasing..."

Swish!

Immediately after he chanted the skill name, the mana inside his body churned.

Nothing visible changed in his appearance, but Deklan could clearly feel that his body felt different.

Deklan sidestepped and charged straight to the tree.

Even though he had read what the skill allowed him to do, charging head-first towards a tree that was three times his size doesn’t feel like a good idea. He raised his arms to protect his face, but the contact he expected never came.

Lowering his arms, Deklan laughed when he emerged on the other side.

"Hah!" He cheered. "Now I really felt like a Ghost."

Anything done for the first time was always terrifying, but once that big hurdle was crossed, the second, third, and every attempt after became markedly easier. Deklan darted through the forest, phasing cleanly from one tree to the next, wielding his Elementary Phasing skill with seamless precision.

Soon, his eyes caught sight of the translucent barrier ahead.

He was near the inner area.

Brak!

"Fuck!" Deklan cursed as he held his throbbing forehead. "What in the hell? What happened?"

Deklan crouched down and hissed in pain, holding his forehead with both hands as he suddenly could not phase through this particular tree. He was running quite fast—so his head slammed against the hard tree trunk so hard it felt like his skull almost split open.

Gritting his teeth, he stood up and kicked the tree.

It was a mistake.

"Fuck! Why is it so fucking hard?!" Deklan cursed aloud, holding his throbbing toe.

He stared up at the tree with pure anger.

Even though his intelligence stat was lowered in this form, he still has enough mana reserve, and not to mention, he has no problem going through the trees previously. But for some reason, he couldn’t phase through this one.

Once he recovered, Deklan held the tree and sensed the mana inside it.

Just as expected, the mana density inside was higher.

"All of the trees here have higher mana concentration," Deklan swept his gaze across the trees ahead of him, noting that each one of them was filled with mana to the brim. "Must be because I am now close with the inner area."

Headbutting a damn tree is extremely painful.

But even so, it served as a good warning.

Since the trees near the distorted barrier were already filled with mana to the brim, the trees within the inner area should also be the same or even denser. Deklan would be in trouble if this happened inside while he was running away from a Ghost.

If he died in this form, then that’s really game over for him.

"Let’s stop playing around and focus," Deklan muttered inwardly before he averted his gaze.

Now, he looked down at his hand and summoned a spear with the Ghost Conqueror skill.

Deklan held the spear before him and then tried using the Doppelganger technique from the upgrade.

Swoosh!

Under Deklan’s gaze, an ink-black energy erupted from his hand, writhing up his arm like living flame.

It coiled around the spear, swallowing its pale surface whole until the weapon was no longer visible—only the furious dance of what looked like black fire remained. The air shuddered with a low, growling hum as the corruption seeped into the weapon’s core, transmuting it before his very eyes.

Now, the translucent, alabaster shaft darkened to a deep obsidian sheen.

A faint outline traced its edges.

But what surprised Deklan the most was the faint, mournful howl that rippled through the air.

Perhaps only he could hear it, but it was unmistakably real.

And lastly, the spearhead twisted and reshaped, metal stretching like molten wax until it formed a fierce, snarling visage of a wolf. Its elongated snout became a blade, and the hollow sockets where eyes should be burned faintly white.

[Weapon Persona; Shadow Beast is active!]

[Strength ↑↑]

[Agility ↑]

[Skill 1 (Brand): Each successful strike will inflict Brand status effect.]

Deklen read through the notifications and nodded in delight.

Out of the status effects that the Drifting Skeletal Wolf’s Minor Presence inflicted, he wanted the Brand status effect the most rather than the Slow. And he got exactly that, which was quite surprising, as luck was rarely on his side.

Glancing to the side, Deklan fixed his eyes on the tree and brandished his new spear.

A howl thundered from the slash, and the blade sliced through the thick tree trunk like it was nothing.

Crash!

Deklan stared at the toppled tree blankly.

He stared at the seething glow where the spearhead had sliced through and then sucked in a cold breath.

"I didn’t even put that much strength into that slash..."

Since this Weapon Persona gave increased agility and strength, he wanted to test how high the increase would be. He expected to leave a deep gash on the tree with a simple slash, but instead, his light gesture cut the massive tree down.

It was also more unbelievable considering the mana concentration inside the tree was much higher.

"Had I possessed this Weapon Ego—back when I threw the spear at that wolf..." Deklan’s eyes gleamed with a spark of excitement. "Can I snipe it with one throw? Even if I can’t, I’m sure it wouldn’t be able to shrug the spear like it did before."

Deklan wanted to test it out.

The Shadow Beast Weapon Persona added with his Breeze Affinity and the Astral Strike skill, Deklan was confident that he could obliterate any unsuspecting bronze-ran Ghost with a single blow. He could stack all of those abilities on top of each other to turn him into a sniping machine.

He was excited to try it out.

Fortunately, he’d have the perfect chance to test that once he entered the inner area.

But then, a thought came to mind.

"What if I also become an Exorcist...? How strong will I become then?"

Just the prospect of how strong he would be alone boiled the blood inside his veins.

Perhaps coming back to Paul wouldn’t take him as long as he thought it would.

[Seems like you finally realize the potential you have, host. Keep up the good work.]

"Don’t try to butter me up," Deklan rubbed his nose as he continued ahead, heading straight to the inner area again. "I know that bitch is going to ask me to do something impossible—when I have more than enough strength."

[It’s a mutual relationship, host. You’d also go back home.]

"Yeah, yeah... Now stop talking, I need to focus."

Dekan stopped before the distorted barrier and calmed himself down.

As soon as he walked through this barrier, his life would instantly be in grave danger.

He didn’t know what kind of Ghosts lie behind this barrier, and if there was a Ghost that was far stronger than the Drifting Skeletal Wolf, then he’s going to be screwed. Heck, if there was a Ghost as strong as the wolf, he would probably run away.

Safety is always first, after all.

"I said that, but it’s not like there would be Ghosts waiting for me—on the other side," Delan shrugged his shoulder, shaking his head as he felt like a little bitch for hesitating like this. "I can die permanently since I’m in this form? So what? I always have one life."

Nodding his head, Deklan held the spear tightly in his hand and stepped through the barrier.

Static crackled in his eardrums the moment he entered the barrier.

It was irritating to hear, and also dizzying, so he picked up his pace.

Compared to how it looked from outside, the distorted barrier was thicker than he anticipated, as it took him five steps to emerge on the other side. And as soon as the view of the inner area greeted him, his body froze.

Deklan looked left and then right.

He sucked in a deep breath and immediately turned around, exiting the inner area again.

Once he was back to safety, his body immediately shivered.

"Fuck was that place?!" He exclaimed in utter shock. "How many are there? A hundred of them?!"