My Mind Sword’s Cooldown Is Too Long

‘Phew. I arrived just in time.’
[Mind Sword (心劍)]
Manifests a sword bloomed from the mind. With one swing of this sword, one can cleave the world.

Cooldown: 30 days
I quickly organized my thoughts while dismissing the window that appeared before my eyes.
Since my plan to encounter her just before she entered the forest had gone awry, the most important thing was whether she had already entered the forest interior.
Looking around quickly, I could spot the corpse of an evil god worshipper killed by her hand.
This confirmed that she had entered the forest interior.
From here, deliberation followed.
Should I follow her, albeit belatedly, and save her?
Or should I cleanly give up and face Libra, who would become Belmagor’s puppet in the latter part?
The decision was quick.
Of course, save Libra.
[Main Quest]
Destroy the Order of Belmagor.
Reward: Strengthening of Mind Sword (心劍)
Thinking of the main quest, there wasn’t even a need to deliberate.
It’s better than being unable to even try and helplessly dragging on until the latter part.
This would have been impossible if I hadn’t collected survival items from the beginning.
However, there was still something to consider.
Archbishop Marquizares, Bes the Corpse Eater, and Rui the Poison Drinker.
These three are very difficult to defeat in the early part.
If I couldn’t kill all three at once with Mind Sword, it could be dangerous.
So I approached them taking some risk, to ensure I hit all three.
My current appearance makes me look young to anyone, making it easy for them to let their guard down, and I’m maximizing that advantage.
‘So far there’s no problem… but I should always be careful.’
I never let my guard down because a moment’s mistake can threaten life.
Fortunately, I arrived in time, so no major problems occurred.
‘It was risky, but I gained a lot in return.’
Additionally, killing Archbishop Marquizares now holds significant meaning.
Archbishop Marquizares, the evil god worshipper.
Among the evil god worshippers of the Belmagor Order, he can be resurrected through the sacrifice of followers who fervently follow him.
Currently, there are three fanatics ready to sacrifice their lives for him.
Therefore, he can be resurrected up to three times even after death.
Simultaneously with Archbishop Marquizares’s death, one fanatic would have sacrificed their life to resurrect Marquizares.
Now there are only two resurrections left.
Having broken one resurrection from the beginning, I’ve significantly shortened the time needed to collapse the Belmagor Order.
Even so, it would still take at least three months.
‘A finishing move is so inflexible.’
Mind Sword (心劍) is an ability that represents the pinnacle and destination of swordsmanship, corresponding to a finishing move in Last World.
It has a fixed damage of 10,000 when striking once.
An ordinary person’s health is about 100. A knight in armor has health around 500.
Depending on how much magical power one can handle, one can withstand more damage, but it takes considerable magical power to withstand 10,000 damage.
In the game’s context, it’s one-hit-kill before entering the latter part.
[Remaining Cooldown: 29 days 23 hours 59 minutes]
The Mind Sword I use has a lengthy 30-day cooldown for a single strike.
Swish- Swish
At that moment, a sound of something crawling on the wooden floor was heard from inside the hut, and soon a girl bleeding from her leg appeared.
Libra, the Witch of Scales.
She was watching the situation while looking this way, her face full of wariness.
Having crawled on the floor, she grabbed the hut’s door post and slowly raised her body.
Then silence. She just stared at me without moving.
Yes, this is better.
I’ve already used Mind Sword, so I have to wait for the cooldown, right? So don’t come closer, it’s scary.
‘…She’s incredibly beautiful.’
Her deep purple hair, matching her intense purple eyes, slowly sways.
Her appearance is incomparable to when viewed in the game, and perhaps due to her injured leg, there’s even a sickly feel to her.
However, one shouldn’t be deceived by appearances.
Libra, the Witch of Scales, is one of the few NPCs in Last World with a unique characteristic.
Her unique characteristic [Scales] is a very powerful ability that can interfere with reality.
She can place two abstract concepts on scales in her mental image and add weight to them with her magical power.
I’ve faced Libra when she turned hostile in the latter part before.
I can’t forget her face when her arm was cut off, and she picked it up and pressed it against the wound.
She put her severed flesh on [Scales] and placed the question “Is my arm cut off?” on it.
When she put weight on “No”… the scale tilted towards “No.”
It was quite shocking to see her arm moving as if it had never been cut off.
Of course, extreme magical power consumption begins the moment she starts interfering with reality, so she can’t maintain it for long, and reality interference is only possible on her own body, but it’s truly a powerful ability.
Whether by her stats or abilities, recruiting her in the early part would break the game’s balance.
While crossing the forest, I adjusted my recruitment plan for her according to the current situation.
First, before speaking, I’ll check with Mind’s Eye.
[Libra]
I survived…? Did that man…these three…?
Favor: 0 – [Wariness]
She seems to have witnessed me using Mind Sword.
It’s the cooldown that’s abnormally long, but the killing power is top-class.
She won’t notice the existence of a cooldown from seeing it once or twice, so the situation is progressing very favorably.
I carefully chose my words.
Groundwork to ease Libra’s wariness while naturally recruiting her into the Calderon family.
After all, the enemy of my enemy is my friend.
“Who are you? Are you also an evil god worshipper?”
“…”
“Speak.”
Swish-
Looking at her who didn’t answer, I drew the sword at my side.
Whether viewed from the side, front, or back, Libra looked like a victim, but that doesn’t matter.
It’s sufficient if she just learns that I too am hostile to evil god worshippers.
“…When you cut those three earlier, you showed no movement, but now you’ve drawn your sword.”
“What does that have to do with anything right now?”
“I’m curious if you need preparation.”
…I made a mistake.
I merely drew the sword I habitually carry to threaten her.
A movement clearly different from when using Mind Sword.
Libra quickly grasped my mistake and is trying to take control of the conversation with minimal information.
This is what Last World was like.
This is a place where you get eaten if you let your guard down.
Perhaps because it’s been three years since the game became reality, my senses seem to have dulled.
But even so, I have the advantage.
Libra doesn’t know about me.
And I know all about her abilities and the current situation.
“It’s for light threatening. Seeing you probe me even in this situation, you must be hiding something.”
I continued after a short pause.
“I’ll ask once more. Do you worship the evil god like those vermin?”
“…You should know by looking at the wound on my leg.”
“You’re evading the question.”
Libra’s wariness is more severe than expected.
I’d like to read her thoughts with Mind’s Eye, but since Mind’s Eye also has a 30-day cooldown per target, it’s impossible.
Can’t be helped.
Now I need to be bold.
I slowly approached Libra.
With steps as slow and relaxed as possible without appearing unnatural.
“I am Cain Calderon, the next head of the Calderon family. Now that you’ve heard my name, I won’t let you live. I’ll ask one last time. Do you worship the evil god?”
“…”
Just speak already!!!!!
“If you have something hidden, use it quickly. No matter how great the ability is, you won’t be able to use it once your head is cut off.”
“I… am a sacrifice for the disgusting evil god Belmagor.”
“So you’re not an evil god worshipper. Why aren’t you answering the question?”
“…Because I thought that was your unique characteristic.”
Unique characteristic?
Wondering what she suddenly meant, I waited for her words.
“…I heard you talking with Marquizares. There were no lies in the conversation.”
“You die if you tell the truth?”
Libra looks at me as if affirming.
A short sigh escaped due to the ridiculousness of it.
“Are you satisfied now?”
“…Not yet. Can you… kill if you know the name?”
“Ha.”
“Answer me.”
“Yes. If I know the name, I can cut off your head like those three. Satisfied now?”
“…As I thought.”
Libra glares at me while covering her neck, as if she knew it.
I thought she was on the verge of death, but she has the leisure to play such a prank, though her eyes are quite serious.
She really believes it.
“Let’s stop there since we don’t have time. There’s no such convenient ability in a unique characteristic.”
“…It was a lie?”
“You’re strange for believing it. Just answer my question.”
“…”
Libra looked at me, briefly pondered, and then opened her mouth.
“I’m Livry. A ghost of murder who assassinates evil god worshippers.”
“Is your name really Livry?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a lie.”
…!!
Libra covered her neck with a look that seemed to say “I knew it!” and stopped speaking.
She wasn’t such an annoying character… Irritation rises unnecessarily.
“Anyone would notice with such anxious eyes.”
“…Libra. Fortune-teller Libra. I run a fortune-telling shop in the center of the Empire.”
“What about the ghost of murder you mentioned earlier?”
“…A joke.”
“That’s a lie.”
…!!
Libra sends a mysterious look.
By now, she seems to think I might have the ability to distinguish lies.
This was also the direction I wanted.
Because blindly believing what someone says would rather be suspicious.
Just giving off the impression of having the ability to distinguish truth from lies is effective in easing wariness.
“Why are you chasing evil god worshippers?”
“I… also believed in the evil god.”
“If you lie one more time, I will cut off your head.”
“…”
After a brief thought, Libra opened her mouth again.
“I lost my family to evil god worshippers.”
“Is that why you’re chasing them?”
“…Yes.”
“How many have you killed?”
“I don’t know. I don’t count them individually.”
“Are you satisfied now? I killed Marquizares.”
“No. He hasn’t died yet.”
Libra continued with her gaze fixed on Marquizares’s corpse.
“He can come back to life. Probably by borrowing someone else’s body.”
“Bes the Corpse Eater and Rui the Poison Drinker. Are these two also possible?”
“No. Only Marquizares can be resurrected.”
“Quite complicated.”
I’ve drawn out almost all the necessary conversation.
From now on, I just need to slowly turn the conversation toward recruiting her into the family.
“Is there anything else to do here?”
“…It’s finished once this hut is burned down.”
Libra lit a fire with her magical power in her hand and set fire to the corpse in front of her.
The dirty blood and flesh serve as fuel, and it slowly begins to burn.
If left like this, it seems the forest might all burn, but the flames don’t spread to the surrounding trees.
Libra is controlling the fire.
She must have arranged for the fire to naturally spread to the hut as the corpses burn.
However, she kept the heads separate.
I plan to show them to Merchen as evidence of the existence of evil god worshippers later.
Though she doesn’t know about Archbishop Marquizares, she would know about the two of the Eight Great Villains guarding the evil god worshippers.
“Can I ask now?”
“What is it?”
“Why are you chasing the Belmagor Order? You don’t seem to know anything.”
“It’s for political reasons.”
“Politics?”
“There’s someone in the imperial palace colluding with the Belmagor Order.”
“…Who is it?”
“Do you think I’d tell you that?”
“I can help.”
Got her!
Libra’s complexion rapidly worsened when the imperial palace was mentioned.
She probably didn’t know how powerful they were, with evil god worshippers living in hiding, but the Belmagor Order’s reach extends deeper into the Empire than expected.
As she vaguely recognized this, she showed an urgent appearance.
But I can’t be satisfied with just this.
I need to persuade her a little more and hold her leash completely.
“Help? Do you have that ability?”
“…I could win against these three one-on-one.”
“Is that all?”
“…I can tell fortunes.”
“I don’t believe in superstitions.”
“No.”
Libra seemed to have made a decision and lit up her purple eyes.
“I’ll tell you about my unique characteristic.”
Success.
I inwardly rejoiced.