Chapter 36 – Superhuman Alice

Alice tentatively reached for a protrusion on the radioactive crystal. Fortunately, although the crystal was large, it wasn’t to the point that her system refused to acknowledge it as a weapon. As evidence, the crystal’s weapon information appeared in Alice’s mind.

[Weapon: Radioactive Soul Stone – Grant Specific]

[Quality: Epic]

[Effect: Strength +500, Spirit +1000, Control +1000, Mana +1000]

[Additional Effect:

Mana Radiation (Passive Skill. Release a large radioactive mana field with the weapon as the center);

Soul Attachment (Active Skill. You can attach your soul to this weapon);

Demon King’s Protection (Passive Skill. Opponents weaker than the user cannot destroy or move this weapon.)]

It isn’t Garbage?

Alice was surprised. This was her first time seeing a weapon rated as Epic. Before this, the weapon ranks she had seen were Garbage, Not Bad, Fine, and Artifact. Simply put, the weapons she had seen were either overwhelmingly powerful or incredibly underwhelming.

Moreover, this Epic-rated crystal was probably the only weapon whose appearance and setting fit its rank.

But this is problematic… How am I supposed to destroy this thing now that it isn’t Garbage? Alice frowned when she sensed the boost in power she received from the crystal. Moreover, this additional effect… I see. This “Demon King’s Protection” is responsible for keeping this crystal intact until now. Anyone weaker than Grant wouldn’t be able to destroy or move it with this buff in place. Grant must’ve also been at his peak when he strengthened this crystal, so someone must be at the level of a Demon King at the very least to destroy this thing.

After making this discovery, Alice realized that the Windy Kingdom’s king might not have been spouting nonsense after all. He might have known about the Demon King’s Protection buff, hence he had said that only someone with the strength of a Demon King could destroy this black crystal.

…Wait. If you think about it normally, the “user” mentioned in the Demon King’s Protection’s description should indeed be Grant. Alice started carefully pondering whether there was a loophole she could exploit in the additional effect’s description.

Then, inspiration struck her as she thought, But because of my right hand, the crystal’s user should now change to me. Also, the description explicitly states that opponents that were “weaker” than the user could not destroy the crystal. So, the skill should be useless against someone equal in strength to me. And going by that logic, the skill should be useless against me, right?

With these thoughts in mind, Alice immediately tried lifting the crystal. While the crystal was indeed heavy, Alice had received a bonus of 500 Strength from it. Hence, it didn’t take much effort for her to lift the entire thing.

Sure enough, it works!

Joy immediately appeared on Alice’s face. Originally, Grant had been designated as the Radioactive Soul Crystal’s user. However, because of her right hand’s ability, she had forcibly replaced Grant as the crystal’s user. Hence, Alice naturally gained the ability to move the crystal freely.

Of course, if Alice released her grip over the crystal, the designated user would switch back to Grant. However, that no longer mattered. Alice never intended on leaving the crystal here. Instead, she wanted to destroy it.

It also wasn’t feasible for Alice to carry such a large crystal with her. Moreover, none of its additional effects served any use to Alice. Seeing that she stood to gain no benefit from keeping the crystal, she might as well destroy it and use its destruction to tell the demon realm that a new Demon King had appeared.

Regardless, this is a big discovery. If I encounter any items with effects similar to Soul Attachment in the future, I can NTR it with my right hand.

While harboring such thoughts in her mind, Alice raised her left hand, closed it into a fist, and punched the crystal with all 500 points of Strength she received from her right hand’s ability.

Demon King’s Protection was only effective against opponents weaker than the user. In other words, the skill only took effect against individuals weaker than Alice. However, since Alice couldn’t possibly be weaker than herself, the skill naturally wouldn’t take effect against her.

Sure enough, the moment Alice’s fist made contact with the human-sized crystal, dense cracks began appearing all over the crystal. Even the information in Alice’s mind had changed.

[Weapon: Cracked Radioactive Soul Stone – Grant Specific]

[Quality: Legendary]

[Effect: Strength +300, Spirit +500, Control +500, Mana +500]

[Additional Effect:

Mana Radiation (Passive Skill. Release a radioactive mana field with the weapon as the center);

Demon King’s Protection (Passive Skill. Opponents weaker than the user cannot destroy or move this weapon.)]

The word “Cracked” was prefixed to the weapon’s name, and even the weapon’s quality had degraded. Although Alice couldn’t tell if the crystal’s quality had dropped by only one rank or more, the effects were roughly halved. Now, Alice had started struggling to keep the huge crystal raised. In addition, the Soul Attachment skill was nowhere to be seen, possibly because the cracked crystal could no longer house a soul.

After seeing this change, Alice decisively slammed her fist into the black crystal once more. This time, the giant crystal shattered into countless black fragments that scattered all over the floor. Meanwhile, when Alice picked up one of the small fragments from the floor, her system promptly told her the current function of the crystal fragments.

[Weapon: Black Crystal Fragment With Some Mana]

[Quality: Not Bad]

[Effect: Speed +2, Mana +2]

[Additional Effect: None]

That settles it, I guess.

Alice sighed in relief and took a few steps back. Then, she pulled out her phone and snapped some pictures of the shattered fragments. She planned to register a new LINKS account while claiming herself as the new Demon King and use these pictures to prove her claim. She also wasn’t worried that the demons would doubt the validity of her claim.

To the demons, the birth of a Demon King meant that another opportunity to invade the human realm had arrived. The demon realm’s inhabitants had long since sought to obtain the human realm’s excellent living environment. Meanwhile, so long as they could gain the help of a Demon King, the success rate of their invasion would increase dramatically.

It was also because of this reason that the demons would only ever invade the human realm after they had welcomed the birth of a new Demon King. In response, the human realm would have its Hero resist the demon realm’s Demon King. In a certain sense, the existence of the Hero and Demon King was the main factor that transformed what could’ve been an endless war between the human and demon realms into a war that only occurred once every few hundred years.

Speaking of which, what name should I use this time? Also, should I make another account in the human realm as well…?

While looking at the picture she took, Alice pondered how she should disseminate them to the public. However, she was quickly dragged out of her thoughts as she heard movement coming from behind her.

Turning around, Alice discovered that at some point, Heris had sat up and was currently looking at her while trembling. And judging by the conscious look on the demoness’s face, it was evident that Heris had woken up for quite some time now. Moreover, seeing that Heris was trembling while looking at her…the demoness had most likely witnessed her destroying the radioactive crystal that had troubled the demon realm for the past three centuries.