Trait Hoarder-Chapter 255

Teaching – Part 3

I left the disciples within the barrier and called over three people.

Kim Chulkwon, Kim Mabeob, and Kim Saje.

After they went out as the “Kim Party” in the arena, I’d seen them occasionally, but we hadn’t done anything together since.

Even during this expedition, they’d been background characters, honestly.

Their levels were too low.

My disciples were all at the edge of Level 6 and, being natural SSRs, held their own.

“Sword Star. You called for us?”

“Hyung! I’m here!”

“Whoa, all your disciples are hitting Level 7 now.”

Kim Chulkwon bowed politely.

Kim Mabeob greeted me cheerfully.

Kim Saje, on the other hand, glanced first at my disciples.

“I should’ve looked after them more, but I didn’t. How was the expedition? Was it manageable?”

“Yes. I’ve learned a lot. I thought I’d grown pretty strong myself, but this showed me how far I have to go.”

“Chulkwon hyung is right. I’m even thinking of going back and learning magic properly from my grandfather. Phoenix Pyromancy is strong, sure, but I feel like I’m not using it right.”

“I need to start spreading the faith again. I’ve hit a wall as an Apostle.”

All three were at the end of Level 5.

Stuck at the wall to Level 6.

They needed to take a reformulated elixir and break through that limit to advance.

I started by checking on Kim Chulkwon’s condition.

[Close-Combat Mastery] [Six-Armed Asura] [Combat Specialist]

[Infernal Mana] [Low-Altitude Flight] [Corruption]

His martial arts had evolved into [Close-Combat Mastery].

Kim Mabeob’s were:

[Phoenix Pyromancy] [Heart of the Phoenix] [Fire Specialization]

[Mana Soul] [Rampage] [Magic Brain]

He’d replaced [Meditation] with [Magic Brain].

And Kim Saje:

[Sacred Apostle] [Full Recovery] [Light of Purification]

[Holy Domain] [Wrath of the Divine] [Golden Blessing]

No trait changes, but his divine energy was brimming to the point of swelling his body.

All three had clearly worked hard.

Who would still call them N-grade characters?

With this set of traits, they were comparable to SR-rank.

I stayed silent for a moment before speaking.

“You all want to reach Level 6, right?”

“Of course! Who wouldn’t want to?”

“Obviously, hyung!”

“Do you have a method? Even sacred relics don’t boost my divine power anymore.”

Desperate gazes landed on me.

I looked first to Kim Chulkwon.

“Director Kim. You still have the blueprint I gave you, right?”

“Yes! I finished the research too. I even uploaded it to the Celestial River main computer here!”

“You can go ahead and use it as-is. That should get you to Level 6 smoothly. We’ve got plenty of elixirs, and if you tweak the blueprint slightly, it’ll reduce the recoil during level-up too. Might even hurt less than when you reached Level 5.”

“Thank you! Sword Star! I’ll never forget this grace!”

The reason Kim Chulkwon had held off on leveling even after preparing everything—

It was the pain of the process.

So I decided to help.

Whether by diluting the elixir or using [Damage Absorption] to share the burden.

“But, Director Kim. You’ve got another option.”

“Option?”

“Yeah. I originally taught you the Suracheon combination. The Demon-enhanced build. But I’ve thought of something better.”

Right now, Kim Chulkwon was using the Demon build.

A combination of Devil, Hell, and Demonic traits.

The build I taught later was a strengthened version of that.

Enhancing [Six-Armed Asura], [Infernal Mana], and [Corruption]—continuing the same style.

But now that I had the [World] trait, and was looking at Kim Mabeob and Kim Saje next to him, a new idea came to mind.

“What is it?”

“If I had to name it… I’d call it the Uriel Build.”

“Uriel? What’s that?”

“Put simply—it’s a Flame Angel.”

A figure from Jewish lore.

Said to wield the flame of God and judge sin with a burning sword.

A being that doesn’t exist in this world.

There are no Christian-based religions here.

“You decide, Director Kim. Keep wielding the power of darkness like now, or switch to a holy fire-based build.”

“Hmm!”

Kim Chulkwon looked conflicted.

Kim Mabeob, on the other hand, lit up with curiosity.

“Hyung. What’s the difference?”

“Suracheon is easier. You’re just upgrading your current setup, so it’s a smoother level-up. But Uriel… it’ll be several times stronger. Normally they’d be similar, but I’m planning to give Uriel an extra psychic power.”

I held up one finger.

Fwoosh—a flame ignited.

Golden fire, like a candle flame, danced gently.

Kim Chulkwon, Kim Mabeob, and Kim Saje all stared at it, entranced.

Of course they did.

This was [Supreme Flame].

One of Arcane Seoul’s rarest top-tier traits—[Supreme Flame].

Kim Chulkwon swallowed hard.

“You’re giving me that psychic power?”

“Yeah. I received a strange power from the World Tree. It lets me copy and pass on some of my own abilities. So that’s what I’m offering. There’s no suitable psychic power to pass on to Suracheon, but for Uriel—there is.”

“C-Can I handle it?”

“Not like I do. The mana cost is too high. Your mana pool can’t support it fully. But you should be able to coat your fists with [Supreme Flame] instead of Aura or fire [Supreme Flame] bullets with a mana gun.”

“Then I choose Uriel!”

“Okay. Smart choice.”

That’s how it should be.

After Kim Chulkwon, I turned to Kim Mabeob.

He took a deep breath and pointed to himself.

“Hyung. Can I get it too?”

“Yeah. But you’ll have to give up one psychic power.”

“I’ll delete anything! Anything!”

“From your current set… Yeah. Get rid of [Rampage]. If you’ve got [Supreme Flame], you won’t be lacking in firepower.”

“Absolutely! Do whatever you want, hyung! Anything!”

Kim Mabeob’s eyes were sparkling.

He was pushing so much force into them, it looked like they were about to pop out.

Lastly, it was Kim Saje’s turn.

When I looked at him directly, Kim Saje blinked nervously.

“Hyung… can I receive [Supreme Flame] too?”

“Of course you can.”

“W-Wait, isn’t that a Mage psychic power?”

“There’s no such restriction. Honestly, it might suit you even better.”

[Supreme Flame] straddled both the Mage and Priest categories.

Strictly speaking, it leaned more toward the Priest side.

It had originated from [Black Flame] in the first place.

Kim Saje closed his eyes.

He brought his hands together in a reverent posture, and after a moment, opened his eyes again.

A profound light flashed from within them.

“I asked the Lord, and He said it’s fine! He also said He’ll personally reorganize my mana circuits!”

“What’s being erased?”

“[Wrath of the Divine]. He said I’ll still need the rest.”

“Right. If you’re getting [Supreme Flame], you won’t need that anymore. And it’ll push you into Level 6.”

“Are you okay with this? The Lord said He doesn’t know what He can give you in return. Passing [Supreme Flame] to me would affect Him too.”

“You got anything to give?”

“Well… hehe.”

Kim Saje gave an awkward laugh.

After building a temple in the Great Labyrinth and negotiating with the Old Father’s Cult, Kim Saje’s order had gone bankrupt.

Even with the Sun Mage Tower mediating, they’d probably used up nearly all their hidden assets.

And it’s not like they had an abundance of manpower either.

I looked at Kim Mabeob and Kim Saje and held up one finger.

“I have a condition for giving you [Supreme Flame].”

“I’ll do anything!”

“Same here!”

“Ten years. You’ll work under me for ten years.”

That was a pretty big ask, in my opinion.

But both of them looked like it was nothing.

“Oh, that’s only natural.”

“Ten years? Make it twenty! Thirty’s fine too!”

“Honestly, I was prepared to take an oath of loyalty like Chulkwon-hyung. [Supreme Flame] isn’t just Sunfire—it’s comparable to [Ultimate Flame].”

“The Lord said an oath of loyalty is forbidden for me…”

An oath of loyalty?

Not necessary.

Kim Mabeob and Kim Saje were in a completely different situation from Kim Chulkwon.

Ten years was more than enough.

Honestly, three years would be fine.

Because I’d be working them to the bone during that time.

Fwoosh!

I released [Supreme Flame], drawing a 3D schematic into the air.

It was a blueprint of the Celestial River—our current ship.

A myth-class golden super-battleship, outfitted with massive turrets and now, a newly added gigantic main cannon.

Currently nonexistent.

Or rather, not yet installed.

Kim Chulkwon slapped his knee as he looked at it.

“Sword Star, is this why you brought in a Mage and Priest?”

“Exactly.”

I tapped the newly installed main cannon.

“You all know about the Saintess’s airship, right?”

“Of course.”

“She always travels with it, doesn’t she?”

“One day, we’re going to have to fight that airship. And the Celestial River isn’t enough as it is.”

“What? Seriously?”

“It’s true.”

Even in the game, everyone thought the Saintess’s airship was just for show.

In truth, it was a combat ship.

After you defeat the Black Reaper version of Seo Woojin, the airship rises, and you have to shoot it down to unlock [The Theocracy of the Old Father].

“The Celestial River’s already crazy strong, right? It’s practically an aircraft carrier!”

“It has great defense, sure. Its crew is top-tier too. The problem is firepower.”

“What’s wrong with the firepower?”

“Oh… right. That is lacking.”

“Huh? Chulkwon-hyung. It’s really that weak?”

“It is. We don’t have military-grade weapons.”

The current Celestial River arsenal included mana cannons, magic machine guns, and missile launchers.

Honestly? Weak.

In Republic of Korea Navy terms, it’s barely a patrol ship.

Not even a destroyer—it’s weaker than the torpedoes and missiles on a high-speed patrol boat.

If you allowed that kind of firepower legally, you’d be a warlord, not a hero guild.

“The Saintess’s airship is similar, right?”

“The one she’s using now is for show. The real one’s hidden.”

“Of course it is. Freaking Old Father’s Cult…”

“That’s why I need you guys.”

They won’t sell us weapons?

Won’t authorize purchases?

Screw it—we’ll just modify.

A regular mana cannon can’t beat magi-tech missiles.

But a [Supreme Flame] cannon? That’s a different story.

“So Saje and I are going to be artillery?”

“You two and Director Kim. He’ll be the gun commander, Mabeob’s the shooter, and Saje’s the loader.”

“Hyung! Why am I the loader? I can fire better than Mabeob-hyung!”

“If all else is equal, Mabeob can manifest [Supreme Flame] way faster than you. Can you enchant it faster than Phoenix Pyromancy?”

“Ugh…”

Saje had a much larger mana pool.

If Kim Mabeob could fire two [Supreme Flame] rounds before panting, Kim Saje could manage triple that easily.

Though Mabeob’s enchant speed was probably twice as fast.

“I’ll aim and fire, then.”

“Exactly. And if the main cannon becomes unusable, Director Kim can just be the shell himself.”

“Wait, what? Be the shell? You’re joking, right?”

“I’m not joking.”

This was a perfectly viable tactic in the game.

In fact, the easiest way to shoot down the airship was this.

If you didn’t have a flying mount to match it, you loaded a character into a giant cannon and fired them.

Then land on the deck and capture it. Done.

Of course, if you fired without preparation, the character died instantly.

“You ride in a specially modified shell, take some Ambrosia, and get launched.”

“Still… that feels like it strips away my humanity.”

“If it comes down to it, I’ll be a human shell too.”

“…Excuse me?”

“It’d be a [Supreme Flame] shell. Don’t you get it? The Celestial River can compress [Supreme Flame] with its mana supply and fire it with me inside. For that brief moment, I’d literally descend like a flame angel.”

In that moment, I’d utterly overwhelm even an 8th-level Saintess.

What about Kim Chulkwon?

He’d probably flatten any 7th-level superhuman.

Kim Chulkwon’s eyes trembled anxiously as he listened.

Kim Mabeob and Kim Saje let out long sighs of relief.

“Thank God I’m not Reinforced…”

“For real. I’m just glad I’m a Priest.”

Kim Chulkwon clenched his eyes shut.

The hesitation only lasted a second before he nodded with newfound resolve.

“Understood! I’ll devote the life Sword Star saved for Sword Star’s sake! Human shell or whatever—I’ll gladly offer myself!”

“This isn’t a suicide mission. Take this—once the [Supreme Flame] fades, you’ll need to return. For now, carry this, and later I’ll get you a ring. You can designate the Celestial River as a Grand Escape return point.”

“Yes, Sword Star!”

I handed over one of the Grand Escape spell chips I had on me.

Just one of these was worth at least several billion won.

Kim Saje glanced at it with envy.

“Hyung. Can you get one for me too?”

“Sure. I’ll buy you one. Mabeob, you already have one, right?” 𝒻𝓇𝑒𝘦𝘸𝑒𝒷𝓃ℴ𝑣𝘦𝑙.𝒸ℴ𝘮

“Of course. My grandfather gave me one.”

“Tch. Must be nice being born with a golden spoon.”

“Then why don’t you ask your god for one?”

“My god’s broke.”

“How can a god of gold be broke?”

“Because He eats all the gold as soon as He gets it!”

I let their banter flow in one ear and out the other.

I tossed ingredients and traits into the magic cauldron to brew the elixirs.

Even though they pretended not to care, I could feel all three of their attention locked onto me.

The brewing went smoothly.

I handed the completed elixirs to Kim Mabeob and Kim Saje.

“Here. [Supreme Flame] elixirs.”

Gulp!

Gulp!

“Just in case, drink it here. I’ll watch over you.”

“Yes!”

“Please take care of us!”

The [Supreme Flame] elixir—both a trait elixir and a reformulated one.

The mana circuits were smoothly transplanted.

Circuits spread through their bodies, restructuring their physical forms and pushing them into Level 6.

Kim Chulkwon watched the two with yearning in his eyes.

“Director Kim, get in there.”

“Huh? Oh, that facility’s for physical modification too, I see.”

“Exactly.”

I had all the necessary materials.

Deva Mutation Factor. Celestial Gold. Flame Angel Mana Core.

The Heavenly, Celestial, and Angelic fusion.

It’s not called the Uriel build for nothing.

‘I got lucky.’

Meeting that Flame Angel mid-expedition—

If not for that, I would’ve had to return to Earth and scrounge the Rift auction house.

“Fuuh… fuuh…”

Nervous, huh?

Kim Chulkwon stripped off his clothes and stepped into the magic cauldron.

“Don’t worry too much. I’ll be using plenty of elixir dilution. And [Damage Absorption], so the pain’ll be manageable.”

“Please. Last time, I really thought I was going to die.”

Chiiiiiik!

The cauldron came alive.

The Deva Mutation Factor was injected, the Celestial Gold prosthetic assembled, and the Flame Angel Mana Core embedded.

“Grrrrrrgh!”

Even with the elixir dilution, that was his reaction.

I grimaced too.

‘This is no joke.’

The pain I absorbed via [Damage Absorption]—

It was immense.

Almost on par with the divine fever I once experienced.

If I’m feeling this, how bad is it for Kim Chulkwon, experiencing it directly?

No wonder Reinforced-type superhumans often die or go insane trying to level up.

‘He’ll make it to Level 6 just fine.’

The disciples are complete.

The Kim Party is complete.

Getting stronger from here will be difficult.

Unless they have busted trait switching like me.

But hey, wanting more than this would just be greed.

They went from Level 0 to Level 7, and Level 1 to Level 6.

By any standard, it’s historical growth speed.

‘Still not enough.’

The power I’ve gathered so far—yeah, it’s strong.

But when compared to the Old Father’s Cult, it’s clearly lacking.

And if the global branches of the Old Father’s Cult were to concentrate on Korea? It’d be even worse.

My forces, my subordinates—must grow stronger.

To do that, I need two essential traits.

‘My Home and General.’

[My Home] grants buff effects when fighting near a stronghold.

[General] partially applies my stats and traits to all subordinates.

An essential combo for faction warfare.

[General] only requires [Commander], which I already meet in real-time, so it’ll naturally complete with time.

So, what I need to do right now—

Is fill the last two blanks and complete the [My Home] trait.