The Return Of The Genius Ranker Of All Times [EN]: Chapter 55

Part 55.

Ast, still not fully aware, simply thought:

‘Baryon is just a pitiful guy in the same boat as me.’

‘Hanging out with such an oddball, Baryon must have had his share of troubles. Oh, yes, indeed.’

Baryon probably had just as many stories as he did.

Just as Ast was about to ask what kind of hardships Baryon had faced, Baryon spoke.

“This way.”

“……Huh? Here?”

Ast tilted his head at Baryon, who was pointing at a thicket that looked far too narrow, instead of a perfectly good path.

“Is the prime spot this way?”

“I’m not sure myself. I haven’t been this way,” Lark shrugged, just in case.

“Ah, Baryon knows the location of the prime spot.”

“I don’t.”

“……?”

Baryon simply uttered a word to Ast, who was becoming increasingly puzzled, with a solemn face.

“That path is already a road we’ve traveled. Going down a road we’ve already traveled offers no excitement or meaning, wouldn’t you agree?”

“What’s that supposed to mean……? No, before that, is that even a path? It doesn’t feel like a path at all; it wouldn’t be surprising if it led to a cliff!”

“My heart is racing. Surely, the true value lies in the unknown adventure. I’ll take the lead.”

Baryon grinned as if he was truly excited and began to hack his way through the thicket.

Watching his broad back, Ast couldn’t help but curse under his breath.

“Crazy bastard…….”

At the same time, he recalled what people said about Baryon.

The most famous title that defined Baryon, besides the moniker of Adventure King, was…….

-Eccentric.

A Western eccentric mad about adventure.

Baryon was the one who chewed on all sorts of bugs just to fill out his Adventure Log.

‘……No, why was I looking at a guy chewing on insect legs like it was weird?’

Everything was confusing, but one thing was certain.

“It’ll be fun, though, right?”

“Anywhere is fine as long as there’s a prime spot. And hidden pieces tend to appear in places like this.”

“Oho, Kaiser, you know your stuff. You deserve to be in the top 10.”

-Yes! Our lord’s greatness is beyond words.

He was the only one who felt something was off here.

“Haa…… yeah. That’s just my luck.”

-Lizardiza…….

Ast sighed deeply, stuck between crazy people as always.

Ast, watching Eliza comfort him, thought as he looked at the group disappearing into the thicket.

‘……This journey isn’t going to be normal either.’

He felt a sense of self-disgust and misery, wondering why he even bothered to make time to join the party.

* * *

An ominous premonition never fails, or so they say.

Ast’s prediction of a difficult journey was spot on.

Sure enough.

“This place looks good.”

“……It’s a cliff?”

After breaking through the thicket that didn’t seem like a path, the first thing that greeted them was a steep cliff…….

Baryon’s words upon seeing the cliff were quite shocking.

“I know. If we jump, a path will appear.”

“……?”

The situation was so absurd that a hollow laugh escaped him.

It was easily a 50-meter drop, and even in a game, falling from that height could result in a death if you were unlucky enough to land wrong.

No, would there even be a path continuing below?

‘……Should I disband the party now?’

He was seriously considering it when.

Fortunately, it wasn’t like Baryon had no plan.

“Lark.”

“Ah, roger.”

As if he was used to this situation, Lark understood immediately, took out a new insect leg from his inventory, and promptly chewed it.

Then, an amazing thing happened.

[You have consumed the leg of a Fly Riabug.]

[The effect of the trait ‘Foot Eater’ increases movement speed and greatly slows down the falling speed.]

[Activating the transcendent trait of ‘Foot Eater’, ‘I Become a Dragon’.]

[Can be used when ‘Foot Eater’ is activated, and consuming a foot will transform the caster’s legs into the feet of the consumed creature.]

[Transformed into the feet of ‘Fly Riabug’, inheriting the abilities of the ‘Fly Riabug’ legs.]

[Can move through the air using the small, numerous wings attached to the legs.]

It was the transcendent effect of Foot Eater, which was almost impossible to obtain.

“Everyone, come this way.”

Lark grabbed the group and jumped off without a moment’s hesitation, and for a moment, it felt as if gravity had disappeared, and they began to float gently downwards.

After kicking a few times, they landed safely.

-Wow, pretty.

-Lizardiza!

“What, there was a place like this?”

“Oho, quite a beautiful sight.”

The bottom of the cliff they arrived at was a completely different landscape from above.

Shwaaaa-

The sound of a huge waterfall crashing down greeted them, along with a cave beneath it.

And the harmony of lush trees and nature around them was almost dreamlike.

There was little time to admire it.

“Shall we start again, then?”

“I’ll take the lead.”

With Baryon and Lark at the forefront, Dohyun’s group continued their journey, and their conversation turned to Lark’s abilities.

It was a very natural progression.

[Activating the transcendent trait of ‘Foot Eater’, ‘I Become a Dragon’.]

[Can be used when ‘Foot Eater’ is activated, and consuming a foot will transform the caster’s legs into the feet of the consumed creature.]

[Transformed into the feet of ‘Terror Cutter Legmund’, inheriting the abilities of the ‘Terror Cutter Legmund’ legs.]

[Sharp blades sprout from the legs, cutting everything they touch.]

When vines appeared to obstruct them, he transformed into the feet of a creature known for its sharpness to cut through them,

[Transformed into the feet of ‘Steel Gramando’, inheriting the abilities of the ‘Steel Gramando’ legs.]

[The lower body transforms into steel, gaining the strength to lift 20 times its weight.]

When a huge obstacle was in the way, he pushed it away with his heavy lower body, creating a path where there was none.

“Hmm.”

Baryon was subtly smiling, though he didn’t show it, clearly very pleased.

“……Now I know why Baryon only hangs out with that guy,” Ast whispered, and Dohyun agreed.

Lark, who used the abilities of the monsters he consumed, could use all sorts of abilities as long as he had jerky.

Among them were many abilities optimized for creating paths where there were none, and Lark was an irreplaceable partner for Baryon, who was obsessed with adventure.

Above all, the limits of that ability were more impressive than he thought.

“Cutter Legmund is a field boss, so he’s using boss abilities?”

Cutter Legmund was a field boss that lived deep in Elannis. [Elannis is a region in the game.]

Moreover, the modifier ‘Terror’ meant it was a special field boss that occasionally appeared, and it was impressive that he could use it without risk.

‘……Foot Eater might be a ridiculously OP [overpowered] ability?’

At this point, shouldn’t he be thanking Charlie for awakening such an ability, rather than resenting him?

-But it’s so amazing. There was such an ability, Master?

-Lizardiza!

-Yes. It was indeed an amazing ability.

The others were just as amazed, and Lark grinned at them as they chattered.

“There are quite a few people with Foot Eater, but I’m probably the only one who has transcended this trait.”

Baryon agreed with Lark’s confident statement.

“That’s right. Foot Eater transcends through two routes.”

“Two routes?”

“Most traits are set to one route, but some traits have hidden routes. Didn’t you know?”

Since it was the first time he’d heard of it, he looked at Ast, who tilted his head.

“Hmm? Didn’t I tell you?”

“No.”

“Oh, really? My transcendent unique ability is also a hidden route. The condition was to achieve 100 legendary weapon enhancements to +15…… I was just enhancing weapons as usual when it suddenly popped up, and I was surprised. I’m probably the only one who has this too?”

It was surprising that Ast’s trait was also a hidden route, but what surprised Dohyun more was something else.

“……100? How many legendary weapons do you have, old man?”

“I don’t know. I’ve broken about 20 recently, so I’d have to check…… probably over 150? If you only count the ones that are +15, it’s a little over 100?”

“Crazy.”

Was this why he was called the owner of the armory?

At that level, Ast probably had almost every legendary blunt weapon in God of Seinar on hand.

And most of those blunt weapons were +15…….

“Wow, old man, you really play dirty. Just pay-to-win.”

“If I want to catch up to you talented guys, I have to do this, right? Do you know how annoying it is to get weapons?”

“At that point, whaling [spending large amounts of money on in-game purchases] is a talent, old man.”

If the old man was wearing it, it would be a max-level weapon, so what would be the value of 100 +15 legendary weapons?

It would be an astronomical amount of money, to say the least.

He knew he was rich, but he didn’t know it was to this extent.

“This is probably something only I have too? Even though this unique ability itself is legendary, it’s not very popular, and only I know the exact achievement conditions.”

“…….”

No wonder he came closer and whispered quietly.

It must have been an industry secret.

‘Certainly…… only the old man would have achieved such conditions.’

There are many rich people in the world, but what are the chances that the rich person would happen to get that unique ability?

Moreover, what are the chances that such a person would bother to make 100 +15 weapons?

It’s probably close to 0%.

“I have a mythical beast that swallows weapons, so I tried to fill the damage by throwing multiple weapons, but who would collect weapons like this?”

“……The old man who raises 100 +15 legendary weapons to throw weapons isn’t normal either.”

“You’re normal, searching for prime spots to get a good skill?”

“Hmm. I can’t argue with that.”

Anyway, there was a reason why Ast boasted a unique position in God of Seinar for one-shot damage.

At this point, he was genuinely curious.

‘Is he really a landlord? No, a landlord wouldn’t be able to handle this…… is he the chairman of some company or something?’

Or maybe a foreign oil tycoon……

He was curious for a moment, but the old man had never told him, even when he tried to pry once in a while.

He didn’t seem to want to talk about it, so he left it at curiosity, when Ast suddenly asked Lark.

“What’s the hidden condition for Foot Eater? Usually, if there’s a hidden route, it wouldn’t be at a normal level. I can’t imagine it since it’s Foot Eater.”

Dohyun was also curious, so he focused his ears.

But the answer came from Baryon, not Lark.

As if he was sick of thinking about it, he sighed deeply and spoke in an unpleasant voice.

“Eat ten thousand.”

“……?”

“Tear off and eat ten thousand feet, whether they’re from insects or animals. And eating the feet of the same creature doesn’t count. That’s the hidden condition.”

“Wow, crazy…….”

“Goodness, that’s really crazy…… no, he’s a tough guy.”

It wasn’t like you needed ten thousand hours to become an expert, but you had to tear off ten thousand feet.

It was a condition that no one would even look at unless they were incredibly determined.

Above all, the chilling thing was that Lark was the first.

‘……He achieved it without even knowing that information.’

What was he thinking as he tore off and ate the feet of over ten thousand insects and monsters?

Perhaps his question was written on his face?

Lark chuckled and told him the reason without being asked.

“It was desperate back then. Every card pack I opened only gave me common and rare cards…… my traits and unique abilities were all trash. I was able to compensate to some extent after finding a prime spot, but my job was an explorer, so I couldn’t fight. That’s when I noticed Foot Eater.”

Eating the feet of monsters slightly increased his physical abilities.

So, he kept tearing them off to utilize his abilities even a little, and at some point, he realized that the effects were gradually amplifying…….

“After that, I dug like crazy. And then, ta-da, it turned out like this. I was lucky, I guess.”

“……I see.”

……Could you really call that luck?

Dohyun didn’t think so.

He wasn’t normal in many ways, but Dohyun, impressed by his strong will, nodded.

A prime spot found by such a person?

‘It can’t be bad.’

That’s what he thought.

And as he was thinking that, Lark said casually.

“Come to think of it, Kaiser hasn’t transcended yet, right?”