“Master, why did you kill Mamon?” Julia asked. She was genuinely curious.

“Erm... It wasn"t intentional. I didn"t think that would be enough to kill him.”

Sebastian speculated. “Um... He has never been the type to fight by himself. It is quite understandable if what Mister Sila said about Mamon losing his combat-related skills is true. It seems he really did become significantly weaker.”

“What should we do? Do we have to wait for two hours? That"s quite a waste of time.”

Julia approached Sila and put her palm on his armor. “Please let Julia try.”

Sila nodded, and Julia"s eyes glowed light-blue. Her pure life force flew from her body into the armor. Soon, Sila got to hear the system notification announcing that Mamon had revived and could be summoned again.

“Now... what will we do?”

“Let"s wait for him to speak first, sir. Let"s hear what he wants to say.”

Sila agreed and summoned Mamon again. The ball of red light flew out from the armor and dropped on the ground, turning into an upside-down Mamon.

“Ouch! This d.a.m.n armor! Why can"t you eject me properly?!”

“Are you okay?” Sila asked while keeping Mamon within his attack range.

“I"m fine... Oi! You! Why did you suddenly kill me?! Look at what you did! My level fell down again!”

“It"s your fault. You seemed to do something suspicious, though I didn"t expect you to die in one hit.”

“Hmph! I just gave you a handicap. If my abilities return, none of you guys can even think of opposing me.” Mamon puffed up his chest.

“Your abilities? Like what you did previously, Lord Mammon?” Sebastian asked.

“Nah, that just now was Satan"s Hidden Gift, Horrifying Existence, a pa.s.sive skill that unconditionally brings fear to every nearby being. It doesn"t possess any offensive power though.”

“Satan"s Hidden Gift? Based on what you have told me, Hidden Gifts are what everyone is born with, aren"t they? How could you borrow the power of Satan"s Hidden Gift?” asked Sila.

“I didn"t borrow it from him but stole it. That"s one of my abilities.”

“May I ask what your abilities are, Lord Mammon?” Sebastian asked again.

Mamon took a side glance with contempt at Sebastian. “And why do I have to tell you, huh?!”

Sila was also interested in Mamon"s skills. “Can"t you tell us just a little?”

Mamon coughed to clear his throat once. “Mn... Actually, I can, if it"s just for a bit.”

The three of them—Sila, Sebastian, and Julia—looked at each other, feeling confused at the sudden change.

For the record, the reason Mamon was more inclined to listen to Sila"s request was because of Sila"s newly acquired skill: Monster Heir.

As Mamon"s strength declined along with his level, the skill Monster Heir affected him more, making him become friendlier toward Sila, though there was still disobedience.

Although Mamon said he would explain briefly, because he was a specialist, he took pride in his meticulousness. As a result, his explanation was quite detailed.

Mamon had five unique skills. He also explained that his capability to use the skill largely depends on his Rank. His five skills consisted of Sky Seer (unlocked at Squire Rank), Universe Shaker(unlocked at Knight Rank), Star Swapper (unlocked at Marquis Rank), Sun Stealer (unlocked at Lord Rank), and Moon Alterer (unlocked at Emperor Rank). Thus, although he still had all five skills with him, currently he could only use three of them, up to Star Swapper.

Sky Seer allowed Mamon to see through the Hidden Gifts of all living creatures. It also functioned as the highest-level inspection skill.

Universe Shaker allowed Mamon to activate the Hidden Gifts that he had successfully stolen from others. What he had done to Sila, Julia, and Sebastian just now was utilizing this skill.

Star Swapper was normally used by Mamon to block a Hidden Gift"s ability, regardless of who owned it. It could render every Hidden Gift useless.

Sun Stealer allowed Mamon to temporarily or permanently steal others" Hidden Gifts, or gave them to a single target, though he had to meet certain conditions for the steal to be successful.

Moon Alterer, Mamon"s last skill, allowed him to share the Hidden Gifts he possessed with an unlimited number of targets. It was truly a fraudulent skill that made him the greatest cheater in the Monster Realm.

Aside from his five unique skills, Mamon also possessed various skills regarding item utilization and item modification. Although his ability to produce items was lacking compared to the Android King, his ability regarding item modification was unparalleled.

Sebastian listened carefully and nodded. “I finally understand why you had to be sealed even though your fighting ability was not extraordinary compared to other Deadly Sins. Your ability gave you too many advantages over your opponents.”

Mamon snorted. “Humph!! A bird uses its wings to fly and a fish uses its gills to breathe underwater. What is wrong with me using my own abilities?”

“True, it"s your right to use your abilities, but your right can"t trample on the rights of others. That"s general morality,” Sila argued.

“Most beings don"t even know they have a Hidden Gift! I take theirs so that the Hidden Gifts can be used to their full potential instead of wasting away. They should even feel grateful for my actions. The world is full of enemies. If I had to bother considering what kind of rights my opponent had every time I fight, I wouldn"t be able to do anything.”

Sebastian agreed with Mamon. “Lord Mammon is right, Mister Sila. Our world is different from yours, sir. In our perspective, the strong are always right and the weak are always wrong. If you don"t devour, you will be the one being devoured. If we don"t use our abilities, we will just die.”

“Hah... I don"t quite understand that kind of extreme world.”

“If you stay in this world for long enough, you will eventually come to understand it, I believe, sir.”

At this point in time, Sila had yet to know that he would come to understand such a world soon. And the one that taught him was none other than his greatest enemy, Montra.

“Let"s put this topic on hold. I"m more worried about Lookhin. I wonder what I have to do in order to activate the armor?”

“Why should I tell you, brat? I don"t get anything by telling you anyway,” said Mamon.

Sebastian tried to appease Mamon. “That isn"t the case, Lord Mammon. If the armor is working, the inside of the armor will be more comfortable, I believe. Moreover, Mister Sila can help you grind experience points and return to Emperor Rank. Am I right to a.s.sume that, Mister Sila?”

Sila thought for a second. He would naturally have to grind his level, so he didn"t lose anything. Though, he wondered why Sebastian was being more polite when talking to him than usual. Is it because the butler lost his skills?

In fact, Sila"s Monster Heir also affected Sebastian, especially when Sebastian was afraid of becoming Sila"s hindrance. The journey through the Desert of Death could be a dangerous one, so he put his hopes in Lookhin"s a.s.sistance. With Lookhin"s ability that was in the realm of Lord Rank, the pet would be a great a.s.set.

“Exactly as Sebastian said. I will help you regain your strength.”

Mamon thought for a moment and realized that it was a good deal with no loss for him. Thus, he agreed to help and started explaining how to fix the armor.

“When I altered the armor, the clock was ticking, so I pulled out its power, causing it to overload and become dormant. You will need an enormous amount of electric energy in order to reactivate it. Charge it with a powerful source of electric power once initially, then continue charging it until the armor works.”

“What do you mean by electric energy? Where can we get it from?” asked Sila.

“Real electricity, lightning spells, lightning-based psychic power, lightning-elemental cards, lightning spirits, and so on. You can use whatever. Oh, you can"t unequip the armor, so you have to endure the charging too. Let me warn you. If you die, you will have to restart the whole process.”

“So, something like a charger?” Sila turned his head and asked Julia, “Can we find something like that in Lost Grea City?”

Julia took a moment to search. “Actually, there are. However, not one of them is usable when Mister Sila is still wearing the armor.”

“Mn. In that case, I think I will have to use this. And here I planned to keep it for Lookhin to eat... Mamon, please take a look. Can I use this thing?”

Sila handed Mamon the Thunderbolt Dragon Raidola Card, which he flipped once then said, “If I use the power within the card, it will suffice for the initial charge. However, what about the continuous charging in the later stage?”

“Don"t worry, I have a method. Can we start now?”

“Up to you. It"s not my item anyway.” Mamon acted like he was about to break the card in two. Meanwhile, Sebastian pulled Julia to withdraw from the scene.

Sila asked, “Eh? Is that how you use it?”

“Hmph! I am an item specialist! I can utilize items in a way that you can"t imagine. This is just a mere card. I can obviously directly pull out its power.”

Mamon shot a side glance at Sila. Suddenly, the atmosphere around Sila changed. Feeling worried that he was being betrayed, Sila grabbed Mamon"s collar and lifted him up.

“What are you doing to me?”

Mamon wriggled his body and used his hand to release himself from Sila"s grasp. “Release me! Release me first, and I will explain.”

Sila placed Mamon on the floor. He prepared himself in case Mamon tried to attack him. “Explain.”

“What a paranoid human you are. What I did to you was using Star Swapper. Your Hidden Gift might cause some issues for us if not make us fail altogether, so I was trying to temporarily block its ability.”

Only Mamon could tell whether what he had said was a truth or a lie. Even if he lied, no one would be able to tell. Nevertheless, Sila judged it was a time where he should show his trust to Mamon.

He relaxed his muscles while acc.u.mulating Yin Yang Energy inside his body. He had to control his power and keep it from releasing outside of his body, since the armor had to come in contact with the electric power. At the same time, he had to protect himself so that the electric power wouldn"t kill him.

As he had acc.u.mulated his power to a certain point, he activated Orbiting Cosmos with the lightning element.

The armor started to react. It absorbed the lightning-element magic power and shook gently.

“You can start anytime,” Sila said to Mamon.

Mamon snapped the Raidola Card in half and stuck it on Sila"s chest. Soon, the electric power poured out. Although Sila had prepared for the power beforehand, his body still went numb.

Sila gritted his teeth and unleashed more lightning-element magic power. During that short moment, he felt the time significantly slow down; he became the magic and the magic became him. It was the second time he reached the highest level of Orbiting Cosmos utilization.

He became a part of the great flow and united with nature. It was a sign that he was receiving enlightenment regarding the essence of magic, Unison, which was the realm all magic users sought to attain. As quickly as he entered the state, he exited it, lasting no longer than a fraction of a second.

As the electricity flowed through, what felt like ten seconds to Sila was actually an instant. His perception of time returned to normal, and he heard Mamon shouting something.

“Increase the electric power output and maintain it! Don"t stop!”

Sila"s awareness returned to what he was doing. He unleashed even more lightning-element magic power, and the armor rumbled. It swallowed all of the electric power, both from Sila and from the card, at a frightening rate.

Sila realized too late that he should"ve taken Queen"s Tear before attempting this. If it wasn"t for Monster Heir increasing Orbiting Cosmos"s efficiency, the armor would have already sucked his power dry.

Julia was startled by the armor"s absorption rate and how weak Sila had become. She quickly pulled out Trickstar and starting shooting him with bullets made out of magic potions.

She kept firing for five minutes, using more than three hundred magic potions, before the armor finished absorbing the electric energy and calmed down.

Sila collapsed on the floor. He wasn"t injured but felt like his vitality had been sucked away. For him who possessed Way of the Hermit to still feel this tired, anyone else would"ve died from exhaustion.

The system notification rang, together with the armor that shone as if it had gained life. The armor became as soft and elastic as silk.

You have obtained Lord-Rank Monster Egg.

You have obtained (S) Illuminus, the ultimate weapon of protection.

You have been enlightened regarding the Essence of Magic: Unison. You have unlocked a new stat, Unison Percentage.

Magic-type players would cough up blood and die harbouring resentment if they were aware that Sila, who wasn"t even a magic-type player and possessed only a single magic-type skill, had accessed the realm of their dreams.

Though, instead of feeling delightful, Sila was thinking about something else.

"They said psychic type is the most suitable for me, but what is this? I"ve received enlightenment about qi"s Fusion and magic"s Unison, but there has been no progress with psychic power. Come to think of it... what is the essence of psychic power? And what is Unison Percentage? I got something weird again."

For qi type, the concept was going back to basics. Once players attained the realm of Fusion, their skills would be infused in their body and the three energy resources—qi points, magic points, and psychic points—would fuse into special points, which performed better than the three individually.

Meanwhile, for magic type, its prominent aspect was the diversity in skills. Therefore, instead of fusing the stats like qi type, it granted another.

Like its name implied, Unison Percentage displayed a value in percentage format. Its ability wasn"t so simple. Normally, players used magic spells by spending magic points within their bodies. At most, they could only depend on a magic crystal, a magic scroll, a magic wand, a magic staff, or a ring to supplement their magic power.

However, with Unison Percentage, players could access the magic power that naturally existed in the world, also known as mana. As a result, the spell"s efficiency increased, their magic power recovery rate became faster, and their spells relied on less magic power from themselves.

The concept was that they could borrow power from nature; they didn"t rely only on themselves anymore.

"We are magic" was the heart of learning and utilizing Orbiting Cosmos. Magic meant the power of mother nature. Therefore, Unison Percentage represented how close the user was to becoming one with nature. To become one with nature was the zenith of all magic-type creatures.

Still, compared to other magic-type users, Sila was at a disadvantage. He only had one magic-type skill. For him to utilize mana, he would have to attack an opponent in close range using Orbiting Cosmos.

Sila opened his eyes and released a heavy sigh. He had regained sufficient strength to stand up.

He asked, “The armor is working now, right?”

Mamon was taking care of wrinkles on his coat that had appeared when Sila grabbed it. He replied without looking at Sila. “If you know how to use it, that means it"s already active.”

Sila noticed that he really did know how to use the armor and all of its mechanisms. He knew how to summon the items inside, how to store them, and even how to change what was registered to some of the slots. He felt like he had known everything about the armor from the very beginning, though the fact was he just came to know it.

“Release Lookhin.”

A green light emitted from the armor and shot to the floor, turning into a black egg that shone green.

“It looks fine, sir. Being inside the armor should be safe.” Sebastian and Julia approached Sila.

“I think so as well. In that case, let"s return it.”

Sila touched the egg, intending to place it back in the armor. However, as soon as his hand touched it, cracks appeared along the egg and the mansion was soon ablaze with an intense flash of green light.