Ranker's Return Chapter 625

[Throne that Defies the Natural Order]

[The throne stuffed inside the head of Fuca, the dragon who dreamed of rebellion. It contains Fuca’s regret.

Rating: Epic

Restrictions: Master of the Throne.

Effect: Health and magic power are restored by 1% per second. You can use ‘Preparation for Defying the Natural Order’.

Preparation for Defying the Natural Order: It can only be used when sitting on the throne. You can permanently increase your stats by consuming your health and magic power. However, the amount of health and magic power consumed is increased in proportion to the time spent sitting on the throne.]

‘What are these effects?’

Hyeonu read all of the item information and frowned. It was because the item effect wasn’t as good as expected.

‘I don’t know if consumption means physical exertion or reducing stats…’

He didn’t intend to challenge an uncertain gamble.

Hyeonu was particularly reluctant due to the annoying experience he had some time ago.

‘Fortunately, Callioraks helped me…’

He hadn’t been able to resist and had been almost completely deprived of his magic power stat. It was the worst experience, but it taught him not to rush things this time.

‘Shall I try it once?’

Nevertheless, such a mindset lasted a very short time. The moment his eyes met Suped’s, Hyeonu gained courage. Suped would help if something happened to Hyeonu.

‘Yes, what is there in life?’

Hyeonu made up his mind and acted immediately. The hesitation he felt a short moment ago seemed to have been an illusion.

‘Preparation for Defying the Natural Order.’ 

Hyeonu triggered the skill attached to the throne. Then a message window appeared in front of his eyes.

[Preparation for Defying the Natural Order has been used.]

[From next time, the ‘Preparation for Defying the Natural Order’ will be cast the moment you sit on the Throne that Defies the Natural Order.]

[If a non-owner sits on the throne, he or she will die immediately.]

‘Is it letting things slide because this is my first time?’

Another message window appeared as Hyeonu was looking at the previous one and smiling.

[Depending on the player’s magic power level, the speed at which magic power and health decrease might be slower.]

[The rate at which magic power and health decrease is in proportion to the time, and there are up to five stages.]

[The stage will rise every minute.]

[Stage one has begun.]

Shortly after the last message window, the throne started to absorb Hyeonu’s magic power and health.

‘There isn’t even a notification here!’

Hyeonu frowned. The start was too abrupt. There was no minimum notice.

‘Still, it doesn’t seem like my stats are being decreased.’

The good news was that Hyeonu’s gamble wasn’t a failure.

His stats weren’t decreased; only his recovered health and magic power were being absorbed.

‘By the way, how can I use magic power to reduce the speed at which it is being absorbed?’

Hyeonu frowned as he felt his health and magic power slip away unceasingly. He was bullied helplessly. However, he didn’t know what to do, so he didn’t know how to respond.

‘Even so, I can withstand the effect of stage one…’

Stage one didn’t take away a large amount of health and magic power. He had more health and magic power restored by the inherent effect of the throne than what was absorbed. In other words, he could pass stage one unconditionally. It was just that this was merely Hyeonu’s misconception. Hyeonu’s health and magic power were so high that the throne’s 1% per second recovery effect was greater than the absorption of the first stage of Preparation for Defying the Natural Order.

Then it happened at this moment. Another message window appeared in front of Hyeonu.

[Strong concentration is needed to reduce the health and magic power absorption.]

[Imagine it—the method for not losing health and magic power.]

[There is no definite method. There is just a hint—use magic power.]

‘What is this nonsense?’ Hyeonu read the information in front of him and cursed inwardly. There was no help provided anywhere.

‘What should I do…?’

It couldn’t be more abstract than this—just imagine it. Even so, he couldn’t help doing precisely that.

‘I have to get stats.’

Hyeonu couldn’t miss such an opportunity. Preparation for Defying the Natural Order was always available just by sitting on the throne, but he couldn’t always use it. He didn’t have time to stay in Phinis leisurely.

‘I don’t even have enough time to move around the demon world.’

Arena Week was over. Now, Hyeonu had to focus on the demon world invasion. The war had to be started at the earliest time possible. This way, the main scenario could proceed, and Hyeonu could go on a rampage in the war, receiving all types of rewards.

‘Digging just one more spoon into a demon king…’

Hyeonu’s happy imagination ended there. It was because another message window appeared in front of Hyeonu.

[After the passage of time, stage one has ended.]

[Stage two has begun.]

‘Why is so much being absorbed?’

At the end of stage one and the beginning of stage two, the amount of health and magic power that was absorbed was completely different.

‘I have to do something.’

Hyeonu gradually became anxious.

‘It told me to imagine it.’

He recalled the phrase in the message window.

Imagination—this was something Hyeonu did more than any other player in Arena. It was because most of Hyeonu’s skills were made of imagination and senses. Imagining and embodying the senses without forgetting it was how Hyeonu used Mysterious Sky Demonic Art.

‘Imagine it, imagine.’

Hyeonu imagined it. He pictured a way to protect his health and magic power that were being taken away by the throne.

‘Use the Mysterious Sky Core as the center…’

Hyeonu focused his magic power in his body. At the center was the Mysterious Sky Core—a small bead that the Mysterious Sky Demonic Art generated when it reached 9 stars. He imagined wrapping his magic power around it. Then the magic power in Hyeonu’s body and the magic power around him started to gather around the Mysterious Sky Core.

‘The magic power is fine.’

The magic power stuck to the Mysterious Sky Core didn’t flow to the Throne that Defies the Natural Order. It didn’t slip out even the slightest bit—not at all. On the contrary, due to the effect of Throne that Defies the Natural Order and the power of his high magic power stat, his magic power rose rapidly. Now the remaining problem was health.

‘There is nothing I can do about my health…’

This meant that Hyeonu’s approach was wrong. However, he didn’t care much.

“Tang-E,” Hyeonu called out Tang-E’s name. Tang-E responded to Hyeonu’s call. A colorful magic circle was drawn on the ground, and Tang-E appeared on it.

“Master dude, what are you doing there?” Tang-E asked while looking at Hyeonu, who was sitting in the floating chair.

“Tang-E, buff me.” Hyeonu asked for buffs from Tang-E the moment he appeared.

The method Hyeonu thought of was Tang-E’s buffs—specifically Bear’s Momentum, which increased strength and physique, and Forest’s Blessing, which increased defense and restored health. These two things would be very helpful for Hyeonu to break through ‘Preparation for Defying the Natural Order’.

In Arena, the strength and physique stats were associated with physical strength i.e. health. So, Bear’s Momentum increased Hyeonu’s health, of course. Meanwhile, the effect of Forest’s Blessing to restore health per second naturally restored Hyeonu’s disappearing health. In particular, it restored a large amount of health when combined with the effect of Throne that Defies the Natural Order.

“Understood, Master dude. Let me help you first.” Tang-E didn’t argue and immediately gave Hyeonu the buffs. It was because he sensed the magic power that was condensed in Hyeonu’s body.

‘If I don’t give it to him, he might throw it at me,’ Tang-E thought.

He felt that Hyeonu’s condensed magic power was like a show of force—that if he didn’t give Hyeonu the buffs, Hyeonu would immediately release the magic power at him. Thus, he cast the buffs on Hyeonu without saying a word.

‘Okay, this has resolved my health,’ Hyeonu thought.

Hyeonu’s health, which had reduced slightly, quickly increased again. Tang-E’s buffs had an A+ proficiency; they provided an overwhelming stats increase and health recovery per second.

[After the passage of time, stage two has ended.]

[Stage three has begun.]

Hyeonu smiled after passing stage two safely. He was clearing it smoothly.

‘There is no big difference with stage three.’

Perhaps the difference between stage one and stage two was too large. Therefore, the difference between stage two and stage three didn’t seem that big. Hyeonu’s health and magic power were as full as usual.

‘How can I stop my health from reducing?’

He wanted to find the perfect answer while he could still afford it.

‘I can control my magic power, but it is impossible with health.’ 

Hyeonu didn’t have a skill to handle health. Among the rare classes, there were some that dealt with blood, but Hyeonu didn’t have such a class. Thus, he couldn’t control his health by will.

‘Then should I stop the throne?’

If so, the direction of the solution had to change. He had to do something to the throne instead of searching for a solution within his own body. In other words, Hyeonu had to prevent the throne from absorbing his health and magic power.

‘By the way, how do I block this?’

There was no way to stop it. The throne wasn’t a hole in the sewer that could be blocked.

‘Wait, block it?’

The absorption wasn’t done through a hole in the throne, so it was impossible to block it physically. That was why there seemed to be no way to stop it.

‘There is no physical hole…’

However, there had to be spots in the throne that did function with a hole as it was happily absorbing Hyeonu’s health right now.

‘Focus, focus.’

Hyeonu awakened his senses and concentrated hard to find the place where his health was being absorbed. 

‘It won’t be sucked by the entire throne.’

This was a fact that Hyeonu learned as soon as he focused his senses. The entire Throne that Defies the Natural Order wasn’t absorbing Hyeonu’s health. Hyeonu’s absorbed health was obviously transported to a certain place and absorbed into the throne from that certain place.

‘It isn’t the backrest… It isn’t the handle.’

Hyeonu carefully examined the entire throne from top to bottom.

‘I found it.’

As a result, Hyeonu was able to find the point where it was absorbed. It was the footrest part where Hyeonu was currently putting his foot. Hyeonu’s health, which was being sucked into the throne, gradually decreased every time it passed by there.

‘I have to completely block this hole.’

He gradually pulled out the magic power he’d gathered in the Mysterious Sky Core to the outside and focused it on the footrest. The area around Hyeonu’s feet was now dyed purple. At first, it wrapped around the entire footrest, which was a task that required quite a lot of magic power. Yet soon, Hyeonu realized he didn’t have to do this because he felt that only a certain part of the footrest was sucking in his health.

As a result, Hyeonu’s magic power consumption was further reduced. It was as efficient as when he condensed magic power on the Mysterious Sky Core.

[After the passage of time, stage three has ended.]

[Stage four has begun.]

In this way, Hyeonu passed through stages three and four. Stage five was quite different from all the stages so far. In fact, it was different in many ways.

[After the passage of time, stage four has ended.]

[Stage five has begun.]