'Finally, I got the chance to challenge a Divine Throne seat.'

How long had he been waiting for this moment?

Even when his va.s.sals were dying and his estates were devastated by endless battles and wars, he stood firm and stayed the course.

After his return to this world, he fought against and beat expected and unexpected enemies, and constantly pushed his limits to become stronger. He may have had a leg up from his previous life, but that didn't cheapen the effort and achievement he had made to get to this point.

All that effort was to occupy a Divine Throne seat.

Ultimately, he pursued his endeavors to end the constant turbulence inherent within the system and return to a peaceful daily life. Furthermore, he carried the expectations, anguish, and wishes of many others who he defeated who shared the same lofty goals.

Woohyuk read the quest information window, feeling rejuvenated.

[New Achievement]

Name: Demon Lord

Type: Epic (1/3)

Content: Obtain the material for the Elixir of Transcendence. The materials are hidden in each of the four epic dungeons.

Others: Retry is not allowed after failure. One chance.

'… The Elixir of Transcendence…'

Based on the name alone, it seemed to be an item that allowed one to overcome human limitations.

However, the problem was that he had to retrieve the items from all four epic dungeons.

Currently, there were two known epic dungeons, one each in the East and the West, so in order to complete this epic quest, he had to proceed with his Eastern Conquest plan.

'Well, I have been delaying it for too long. Now is a good of a time as any.'

By now, Emperor Tiberius should have been a.s.sa.s.sinated, and Eleanora would have succeeded him as the next Emperor.

In other words, Woohyuk could easily influence and control the Holy Aperian Empire from behind the scenes.

In this situation, the Eastern Conquest plan couldn't be seen as overreaching.

Before leaving the ruin's stone chamber, Woohyuk took out the soul stone and called Kloto.

“Hey, don't you think the rewards are a bit lower than before?” Woohyuk asked in a dissatisfied tone.

He had fought to the death against a DemiG.o.d, but his only quest reward long reward was the cure for Blood Death.

Of course, the reward had tremendous meaning since it could be used to prevent one of the three major catastrophes, but it was still relatively less in value than the Return Scroll that he received in his past life.

[Do you want to return to this world once again? Do you want to start over again? I don't see any reason for that.]

“No, I don't want a Return Scroll, but I want to go to Urdarbrunn.”

In order to recover his previous life's memories, he had to go to the lake where the G.o.ddesses of Fate were located and drink the lake's water.

When Woohyuk requested this, Kloto broke out in laughter.

[Hee-Heet. Don't be so impatient. If you complete the quest, you'll get everything you need.]

“… It's hard for me to trust your words.”

[Regardless, make sure to take good care of the soul stone. I won't be responding to you for a while now.]

Essentially, she was telling him to shut up and proceed with the quest designed by the Creator.

Woohyuk put the soul stone in his pocket after making a sour expression.

'I'll have to leave the pre-planned track of doing quests someday soon.'

At this moment, in order to become stronger, he inevitably had to go through this pre-planned process, but there would be no further reason to do so once he fully took over the power of the demon.

The power of the demon was not prepared by the Creator but was left in an area that the Creator couldn't reach.

When Woohyuk left the ruin's stone chamber, Leifina, who had been waiting outside for a long time, greeted him, “Lord! Have you been injured?”

“Ah, don't worry. Nothing special happened,” Woohyuk replied.

If possible, he didn't want to make Leifina worry.

Woohyuk walked out of the Einherjar ruins with her.

Hwi-Ee-Eek!

The cold blizzard winds. .h.i.t their faces as soon as they walked out.

“Are you going back to Inotia now? Or maybe something else?” she asked.

“… It would be impossible for the two of us to conquer the East,” he muttered under his breath.

As the scale of the Eastern Conquest plan was large, it required its own dedicated preparation time.

Once outside the ruin boundaries, Woohyuk ordered Aris to take off from Inotia to their location through the thought dialogue channel.

[My work here is done. Come and pick us up.]

[Yeah, okay!]

The magic shuttle invented by Aris was able to reach the Northern Sea Island in half a day if it flew at the highest speed.

They had some time before Aris would arrive.

There was nothing to do, so Woohyuk decided to take a break.

“Leifina, let's go to the area where the indigenous people live here,” Woohyuk said.

“Oh? Is something hidden there?” she asked.

“No, I suddenly wanted to eat their traditional food,” he answered.

The indigenous people had a special dish that was hard to come across and especially delicious.

Leaving the confused Leifina behind, Woohyuk hurried his steps.

“It was made with great effort. I hope you like it, but…” Runesmith Dexter said as he put his products on a table.

A reinforced Andvaranaut made of dark metallic material and a Seven Color Rainbow Ring that radiated bright light.

Both were S-cla.s.s artifacts with tremendous abilities.

[Seven Color Rainbow Ring]

Type: Accessory 

Grade: S (Growth Type) 

Durability: 350,000

Description: Bring out 7 of your abilities to your highest limit or possibly higher. The degree of the upgrade depends on the user's potential.

[Enhanced Andvaranaut]

Type: Accessory

Grade: S (Growth Type)

Durability: 350,000

Description: The user does not take natural (water winds) and dark property damage. Instead, light property damage is doubled. In a radius of 1km, the user will be given the location of those who have hostile hearts towards the user and cast the curse of the ancient devil on them.

'This could be called the ultimate set of accessories.'

Woohyuk no longer had to wander around to get legendary artifacts.

He now possessed all of the ultimate weapons, armor, and accessories that he needed, as they were all Growth Type items that would constantly improve as he developed.

Furthermore, all four cla.s.s slots were full.

All that was left was the growth of his baseline stats.

“Good work. As promised, I'll give you a big reward fairly soon,” Woohyuk said in an appreciative tone.

“Thank you. But where did you get that armor?” Dexter asked.

Like a blacksmith, Dexter had a keen and discerning eye, so he showed interest in the Immortal Armor that Woohyuk was wearing.

Woohyuk unequipped the Immortal Armor and handed it over to him.

“It is an S-cla.s.s artifact made by the G.o.d of Blacksmithing. Here, take a look.”

“… This is amazing! It evolves by itself while absorbing other artifacts. Using this concept, one won't have to worry about having to wear multiple pieces of equipment.”

Dexter's gaze also fell on Liandry's Ring, which Woohyuk was wearing on his right hand.

In addition to the one he just handed Woohyuk, there were now three rings that Dexter had made for Woohyuk.

No matter how excellent his workmans.h.i.+p was, or the power of the abilities exhibited by the rings, Dexter couldn't help but feel that his workmans.h.i.+p paled in comparison to the Immortal Armor.

“I guess utilizing the combining and absorbing concept may be better. But there's a large inherent risk of losing the main benefits of the original artifacts, so let's experiment with this first,” Woohyuk said as he handed Dexter another artifact.

[Elder Lizardman's Fighting Spirit] 

Category: Accessory

Grade: D

Durability: 2,600

Effect: Spirit +10. Increases immunity to poison and hypnotic magic by 20%. 20% increase in natural resilience to natural forces.

He had obtained the accessory a long time ago. It was loot from Adventurer's Gorge that served him well in the past, but now, it wasn't a necessary item.

Woohyuk absorbed it into the Immortal Armor and then checked his equipment information window again.

[Immortal Armor] 

Type: Armor 

Grade: S (Growth Type) 

Durability: 500,000

Description: +10 Spirit. Not damaged by weapons of grade A or lower. Absorbs equipment and the abilities inherent in it.

Ability: Can summon Fenrir, the Frost-Fire Wolf. Increases immunity to poison and hypnotic magic by 20%. 20% increase in Natural Resilience.

Unlike the previous time, when the Thunder Lord Spear was absorbed, there was no loss.

When he went on to absorb other artifacts, like the Moonshadow Ring, Berserker's Plate Armor, and the Bronze Rock Golem Captain's Waist Belt, the results were the same.

According to his observation and reasoning, it seemed that there was no need to worry about losing artifact abilities and skills unless it was an artifact of the light attribute.

'Then what about Grandia?'

The Sword of Condemnation obtained in Paradise Lost.

It was certainly a weapon of the light attribute and had pretty decent options.

Woohyuk thought for a while and then proceeded to feed Grandia into the Immortal Armor.

[Immortal Armor] 

Type: Armor 

Grade: S (Growth Type) 

Durability: 500,000

Description: Strength +20. Health +40. Agility +40. Intellect +20. Spirit +25. Not damaged by weapons of grade A or lower. Absorbs equipment and the abilities inherent in it.

Ability: Can summon Fenrir, the Frost-Fire Wolf. Increases immunity to poison and hypnotic magic by 20%. 20% increase in Natural Resilience. The more blood that is absorbed, the harder the armor becomes. Consistently consumes stamina to increase muscle strength and agility by 20%. 10 equipment slots. Gain visibility in the dark. Concealing or distorting information about the user and the equipment being worn. Creates a transparent stigma over the head of an attempted attacker for 1 hour (others cannot be identified). In the case of judgment, up to 10% of the opponent's vitality and abilities are absorbed depending on the severity of the sin.

Grandia's existing options were included in the last line.

Contrary to his concerns, there was no loss in options.

Woohyuk saw this and came to his own conclusion.

“Even if it is an artifact of a certain attribute, it seems that all options not related to it are absorbed.”

“I think so. This armor seems to be made of a similar material to the reinforced artifacts,” Dexter commented from the side.

Both the Immortal Armor and the reinforced artifacts were made of dark metal.

Perhaps the original blacksmith used forbidden knowledge in the production process.

The original blacksmith, the G.o.d of Blacksmithing, seemed to have attempted to make up for the birth defect of his imperfect son by borrowing the power of this cancerous, absorption nature of the metal.

“I will use the rest of the artifacts as they are. If I put too much power and rely too heavily on one item, my ability to cope with a crisis situation may decrease,” Woohyuk said after contemplating his options.

“That's a smart choice. Since it's armor, it is unlikely that it will be damaged during the battle, but one never knows what may happen,” Dexter added on.

In addition, artifacts such as the Banshee Queen's Cloak and the Disguise Mask were highly versatile, so other va.s.sals could make use of them if necessary.

After a while, as Woohyuk equipped all of his items, a series of system messages came before his eyes.

[Legendary Quest: You have completed the Immortal Path.]

[The DemiG.o.d t.i.tle and hierarchy rank has been given to you as a reward for completing the quest.]

[The DemiG.o.d body is basically free from the fate of mortals to some extent and is eternal and immortal as long as it does not suffer fatal damage.]

[Also, you've obtained Atreus' pa.s.sive ability, Calm Heart.]

[Calm Heart can see through the essence of the other person and is not fooled by various tricks or disguises.]

[From now on, the abilities of the DemiG.o.d will be corrected.]

[During this process, your existing potential may be revealed.]

Chwe-Ahh!

Suddenly, pitch-black wings sprung out of Woohyuk's back and spread on both his sides.

He looked like a fallen angel.

Dexter stared at the wings with surprise and stuttered, “This, what the h.e.l.l is this? In the description section of the artifacts I created, there was no explanation that wings would be created when worn…”

“You're correct. You can just a.s.sume that I got closer to a Divine Throne seat.”

In truth, this pitch-black wing was highly likely to be the manifestation of his potential as Archangel Rafael.

However, it was too complicated to tell this story, so Woohyuk gave a roundabout answer.

“The Divine Thrones… I'm sure that's why I'm on edge these days. Everyone says that they have to achieve impossible achievements, and they do what they don't normally do, and whenever they have a chance, there is compet.i.tion and battles,” Dexter explained.

“Are you interested, too? The Divine Throne seat of the G.o.d of Blacksmithing is empty right now,” Woohyuk asked.

Runesmith Dexter could challenge it.

When Woohyuk asked, Dexter hesitated.

“Ah… how dare would I, such a skill-less being, sit atop such a lofty place…”

“When you become the G.o.d of Blacksmithing, you can hold beautiful women in your arms. You can keep exchanging them if you want,” Woohyuk added on.

Woohyuk was well aware that Dexter was always flying solo. Deep down, Dexter always yearned to be popular with the opposite s.e.x.

As expected, Dexter reacted hotly.

“Well, is that true?!”