Ch. 11: The Seal

"I don't really need this, you know. I just wanted to kill the dragon. I don't use money." I told Perseus, as he gave me a bag filled with gold coins.

"I understand that you don't care for society as a general rule, Arc, but there are only a handful of humans on the planet who can fight equally with a dragon, and the pass is safe now. You even set up a barrier around the road to make it safer. I can't let you go unrewarded." It wasn't really a physical barrier I set up, so much as some fear-based magic that worked on anything non-human and with an Intellect stat lower than the amount of MP I pumped into it. Since I only pumped about a quarter of my MP into it, the strongest Ancient Dragon on the planet could still break through if she really tried, so it wasn't that impressive to me.

Besides, I had far more money than I could ever use. I generally stayed at low to middle-class inns, and I made all of my own gear, and caught and prepared my own food.

On top of that, since I had sold the parts of dozens of low class wyverns and a dragon or two to the guild, I had thousands of gold coins at the ready at any time, and I only burned through a silver a day on an expensive day. Money was the last thing I needed.

I wanted power, which was why I was in such a bad mood.

[God's Omnipotent Curse: Ignores Seal Resistance. Seals all skills that allow artificial status expansion].

Found that one on me right after checking my status after killing the dragon. Now, each of my stats were stuck at around 100,000, making me the most powerful thing on the planet, yes, but…

[Confirmed. Unique Skill Invoked.] [Unique Skill: Omnipotence will be created for 5 Million MP.] [Error, Skill Creation Failed, Not Enough MP.] [Skill Mastery too low].

After seeing the Omnipotent part of my new curse, I decided to check the skill out. I'd glossed over it before, but that price was truly insane.

I'd managed to pick up [Omnipotence Resistance] Level 1 for 1 million MP during my travels, but all it'd done against that seal is level itself up to 10 in an instant, thanks to my various growth skills.

Now that the [Seal] was applied, no [Resistance] skill was going to unapply it. I'd have to [Unseal] it myself, which I could only do using [Omnipotence] myself. According to the description of [Omnipotence], having the skill would essentially give me the power to do whatever I wanted, without any limits, not even taking up MP.

Apparently, the God that oversaw this world decided that I shouldn't be allowed to get strong enough to [Create] that skill, so he basically gave me a strength cap. Technically, I could get around it by leveling up, but even if that did help my stats, I was already at level 450. I'd probably only get a couple hundred levels even if I literally wiped out all life on the planet.

It made me feel like I was one of the characters on a TV show, just there to be watched. Had I not been cursed, I likely would have been fine with just kind of retiring from the world, keeping an eye out to make sure that nobody destroys it, but now I had a cause.

"You can join my army whenever you want, Arc. Just remember that." Perseus was the king of his kingdom, and an extremely important man, but he treated me like an equal because he respected my power and judgment.

He didn't know about my origins as a summoned hero of the Alric Kingdom, nor did he know that my 'Arc' persona was just a pseudonym based on 'Carr,' but he never pried, which allowed us to get pretty close compared to normal people.

However, that was far from close enough for me to rely on him. So…

"I don't like the idea of being tied down to a country. It'd be an amazing offer for most people, Perseus, but…"

"I knew you'd say no, but I had to try. Adding someone like you to my roster… I'd easily sell my whole country for that." A literal king saying that meant a lot, and his guards nearby were clearly stunned by what he said so easily, but…

"Thanks for the kind words, but I'm actually planning on leaving the country once we go our separate ways. I have a new goal, and I have no intentions of getting you and yours caught up in it." I was partial to Perseus. I didn't want to see whatever this dumb god did to it if I kept close ties with its king while I waged war, if it came to that.

For now, I planned on going to the country known as 'God's Headquarters,' where the people there enjoyed 'direct ties to god,' and speaking to him directly through his 'Oracle,' who led the country on 'His Behalf.'

Honestly, before that seal, I hadn't cared one way or another about any 'higher powers,' but nobody tried to cage me.

I decided my own limits, morals, and destiny.

"I understand. I wish you well, but you'll always be welcome in Perseus, Arc Cardinal. Take this as a symbol of my appreciation for you." He handed me a badge. It was made from orichalcum and dragon bone, and it had the word Cardinal on it, as well as a crest. It was something that nobles were given.

"I don't want a noble title."

"This is a house title, not a noble title. It's a small difference, but since you don't want ties to the kingdom, it's essentially just a symbol of my trust in you and any descendants you may have. Even if a thousand years pass, you'll be able to simply show that, and you'll get the same privileges as a direct relative of mine, so long as you are in Perseus."

"Fine. Thanks. Goodbye." I disappeared into the shadows.

...

After I left, Perseus chuckled, "He never changes, does he?"

Perseus had a pretty high opinion of me. As a king, he was a pretty good judge of character, and he could read three or four moves deeper than other people and judge intentions rather than actions, which was why I interested him so much.

From his point of view, I had killed dozens of monsters literally strong enough to raze the kingdom to the ground, and done it all even though he couldn't really compensate me in any way that would actually satisfy me.

He understood that I killed the dragons to get stronger, rather than for any noble reasons, but some part of him instinctively understood that I didn't really care about that, either.

I was the strongest thing on the planet at the moment. Before I knew about the Omnipotence skill, I'd had no real reason to want to get stronger. It was mainly just busywork, but that didn't really explain it.

If an incredibly powerful person, driven only to fight strong enemies despite the costs came around, the natural thing to do would be to wipe out every monster above a certain strength, then allow them to procreate and grow before culling them again, but I didn't do that.

When I fought the strongest dragons in existence, more times than not, I let them go rather than killing them, because I had a certain respect for what I considered 'intelligent life,' even if I had no respect for the actual will behind said intelligence.

Essentially, I had killed that wyvern on the pass for the simple reason that it was dangerous for the average person if left alone. Beyond that simple reason, there wasn't any sort of drive or desire behind my actions.

Now, though… I wouldn't hesitate.

I couldn't [Create] a skill strong enough to [Unseal] myself, but that was fine. The seal was only part of my problem, anyways.

It was admittedly a large part of my problem, but I was mad at a literal god, so it obviously wasn't going to be as easy as breaking out of the seal and slaughtering a bunch of dragons.

Once you were stronger than common sense, you learned why patience was sometimes called a virtue.