Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

Chapter 19

Inside the subspace house, Suho struggled against the overlapping status effects.

It was indeed Dragon Fear.

Its effect was far more severe than ordinary fear.

However, Suho gritted his teeth and pulled out the “Purification Potion” he had purchased in advance from Dongdaemun.

[You have consumed a Purification Potion.]

[The Purification effect activates.]

[The fear status is lifted.]

[The hallucination status is lifted.]

Once he drank the Purification Potion, all the various debuff effects disappeared.

Freed from Dragon Fear, Suho finally lay down on the floor, taking a deep breath.

‘I thought I was going to die, seriously.’

Dragon Fear was one of the reasons Jang Pyeongho hadn’t defeated the Tower Dragon.

After all, Jang Pyeongho had only encountered the Tower Dragon once.

But Suho had access to data on the Tower Dragon thanks to Jang Pyeongho’s experience.

So he had prepared the Purification Potion in advance.

The Cure skill he possessed wasn’t particularly useful.

For a debuff as advanced as Dragon Fear, a minimum of A-rank was needed to anticipate a purification effect.

‘I spent a fortune, but it’s a good thing I received my scholarship.’

Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to afford such an expensive Purification Potion.

‘Dragon Fear doesn’t grant resistance just because you’ve experienced it once… tsk, guess I’ll have to manage without it.’

Ordinary fear only had an effect once, but Dragon Fear was different.

To build resistance to Dragon Fear, which was one of the highest-tier fears, one needed specialized defensive items or skills.

In other words, for now, every time the creature released its fear, Suho would have to retreat into the subspace house and drink a Purification Potion.

That’s why he had bought plenty of them.

He had enough that he could probably drink himself to death on Purification Potions.

‘With this kind of pattern, it makes sense that Jang Pyeongho couldn’t defeat it.’

Jang Pyeongho had prepared a poison skill to climb the Tower of Trials.

By poisoning his enemies and hiding in the subspace house, he could weaken the monsters over time.

But that tactic didn’t work on the Tower Dragon.

In addition, the dragon’s powerful attacks, like Dragon Fear and Earth Claw, made it hard to approach.

That was why he had ultimately failed to defeat the Tower Dragon.

‘But today, I will defeat the Tower Dragon and conquer the Tower of Trials alone.’

He had already made perfect preparations.

Suho, mostly healed, checked his status window once again.

[Ahn Suho]

– Lv: 39

– Class: Healer

– Strength: 95

– Stamina: 95

– Mana: 96

– Perception: 39

– Bonus Stats: 0

With a mana stat of 96, he was still a bit short of his target.

But he had prepared for that, too.

Suho took out several items he had purchased from Dongdaemun.

These included a skill book and a few miscellaneous items, and Suho first used the skill book.

[You have learned the Lowest-Level Combination Formula.]

There were many ways for a player to learn skills, but the most common and typical way was by using a skill book.

Skill books usually appeared in book form, like the one he had just learned, but rarer skills sometimes took the form of various other objects.

In that sense, the lowest-level combination formula he had just learned was a basic, low-grade skill that could be found anywhere.

But that didn’t matter much.

The grade attached to a combination formula didn’t necessarily increase the success rate of combinations; it simply indicated how well one could uncover the hidden formulas among the ingredients.

‘Combination formulas with absolute formulas will succeed no matter how low their grade is.’

Having learned the formula, Suho activated the skill.

A unique combination jar for the formula appeared before him, and he began placing miscellaneous items inside, along with the skill book.

[You have placed the Nameless Thief’s Socks into the combination jar.]

[You have placed the Nameless Minstrel’s Instrument into the combination jar.]

[You have placed the Nameless Janitor’s Broom into the combination jar.]

He used three ingredients in total.

These were items he had picked up in gates or received as rewards, yet had no clear use.

The world had more items like this than most people realized.

They were classified as “junk items.”

They were easy to find on the market with a little effort, but the world didn’t yet recognize their true value.

The Mad Fragment Scholar… a so-called “Mad Scientist,” would have ground these items down into dust if he had gotten his hands on them.

‘Well, thanks to that, I get to benefit.’

With the ingredients in place, Suho began the combination process.

[Starting combination.]

[Combining…]

[Oh? What’s this? The jar’s condition is…?]

At that moment, a mysterious message appeared, and the jar began to emit golden light.

[Congratulations! A rare treasure has been born from the lowest-level combination formula!]

[You have obtained the First Nameless-Nameless-Nameless (S+).]

[For achieving a great feat, the system grants you 10 bonus stats.]

‘Just as I thought.’

Suho smiled at the notification.

Then he checked the item information.

[First Nameless-Nameless-Nameless]

– Grade: S+

# Has no presence, attracts no attention, leaves no trace.

# The belongings of those who unintentionally led quiet lives have fused to become a new treasure.

# Since it was discovered through a combination formula, its grade has been raised by one level.

# When equipped, “Monochrome Solitude (S)” is applied at all times.

There were many ways to categorize items, but some people defined them by two types.

Simply, those that were “first” and those that were “not first.”

In this sense, items labeled as “first” were newly discovered and usually rated as S-grade.

After all, being the first to appear made them inherently special.

And what about the plus sign next to the grade?

A plus sign next to the grade indicated either a growth-type item that developed with the user or that it provided set bonuses; in this case, the First Nameless-Nameless-Nameless was the former.

In other words, as Suho grew, the item’s skill effects would increase accordingly.

Of course, in his previous life, the Nameless-Nameless-Nameless he possessed wasn’t S-grade, let alone S+; it was only A-grade.

That was because, in his past life, the First Nameless-Nameless-Nameless had been ground down by a mad disassembly maniac known as the “Mad Scientist” who destroyed it to uncover its formula.

‘Thanks to that, the formula for a mass-produced version of Nameless-Nameless-Nameless became known.’

That’s why Suho was able to obtain the First Nameless-Nameless-Nameless this time around.

In fact, it would be a long time before it would drop as loot from a gate.

Of course, Suho didn’t need the First Nameless-Nameless-Nameless right now.

It was originally created to grant regular people the “Solitude” effect, allowing them to move stealthily and avoid attention.

However, Suho had combined it now for one reason only—to gain the bonus stats available only once through this combination formula.

Suho laughed as he slipped the First Nameless-Nameless-Nameless onto his finger.

‘To think I created an S+-grade item just for the bonus stats.’

Once again, he realized just how absurdly privileged he was as a regressor.

The ring, now worn on his left middle finger, shrank to fit perfectly, and then disappeared entirely from view.

Suho then opened his status window once more.

[Ahn Suho]

– Lv: 39

– Class: Healer

– Strength: 95

– Stamina: 95

– Mana: 96

– Perception: 39

– Bonus Stats: 10

With 10 bonus stats secured, Suho allocated four of them to mana.

[Mana stat has reached 100.]

[Mana stat has grown further.]

[Congratulations! The Mana stat has advanced to the Red grade!]

At the moment he allocated the four bonus stats to reach 100 mana, the stat dropped to 1 but gained a red glow, with an “R” for the Red grade next to it.

Seeing the notification, Suho let out a chuckle.

This growth rate was truly outrageous.

‘I think I first achieved a Red stat around level 50 in my previous life, so this is certainly faster.’

When a stat reached 100, it leveled up, gaining a new color classification.

Players referred to this as the Color System, and the highest level humanity had achieved was the Purple grade at around level 700.

And Suho had been the first to reach the Purple grade.

Of course, not all his stats had reached Purple.

The stat he had focused most of his efforts on was Strength.

Because of this, he had high hopes for this life.

Considering he had secured a Red stat at just level 39, he thought he might surpass Purple grade this time and perhaps even reach a higher realm.

Suho then allocated five of the remaining stats to Strength, also pushing it to the Red grade, and invested the rest in Stamina.

Once the distribution was complete, he refreshed his status window to check his new stats.

[Ahn Suho]

– Lv: 39

– Class: Healer

– Strength (R): 1

– Stamina: 96

– Mana (R): 1

– Perception: 39

– Bonus Stats: 0

Now everything was ready.

Suho took out the key item needed to defeat the Tower Dragon from his inventory.

It was an old spear he had purchased from Do-Young Hardware.

‘To awaken this, I need at least 100 in the mana stat.’

And now that condition was met, it was time to awaken the spear.

Suho began infusing mana into the old spear.

[Mana is being supplied to ???.]

[The consciousness of ??? is beginning to awaken.]

The spear vibrated and started to absorb Suho’s mana at a tremendous rate.

An intense absorption rate.

But this time, he could withstand it.

Unlike before, Suho’s mana stat was now at the Red grade.

Focusing his mind, Suho channeled mana intensely into the spear until the mana absorption rate slowed down almost completely.

Flash!

The old, blackened spear emitted a burst of light, transforming into a sleek, black spear with a polished surface.

[Sufficient magic has been supplied.]

[The consciousness of Ghost Shadow Spear has awakened.]

[Congratulations! You have successfully awakened part of Ghost Shadow Spear’s consciousness.]

[Item information has been updated.]

[You have obtained Ghost Shadow Spear (A+).]

Seeing the notification, Suho smiled.

The Ghost Shadow Spear, which meant “Returning Shadow Spear,” was one of the treasures once wielded by a player known as the Shadow Lord, or “King of Shadows.”

It was finally in his possession.