Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 163

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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SR) Mana Manipulation lv.1 has become UR) Mana Manipulation lv.1.

SR) Mana Manipulation lv.1 has become UR) Mana Manipulation lv.1.

Title: Nascent Mana Master has been granted.

No, I have to return this to Makina! What if I’ve absorbed it? Can’t I undo the fusion?! Undo it! Undo it, damn it! You bastard!
My heart plummeted, but the suffocating sensation from moments before had vanished completely. This is bad—I think I’m actually fusing with it. What happens to the Machine King then? Does he lose power and die? What do I do?
If I end up taking the Machine King’s power and Makina can’t restart him, how am I supposed to face Gerth and the Department Head Professor? Cold sweat poured down my face, and that infernal system notification just wouldn’t stop.

Upon reaching Nascent Mana Master, a complete metamorphosis is commencing.

How much further does this martial arts fantasy go, you lunatic!
I wished the status window were physical so I could grab it and shake it violently. As I reached out to grasp it, something black began oozing from my hands. The stench was overwhelming.
“Aaaahhhhh!”
You said it was just metamorphosis! Why am I suddenly molting?! Be honest—you don’t actually know martial arts, do you?! If this lasts even a moment, my hair… what’s happening to my hair?!
“Aaaaaaahhhhh!”
My blue hair! The lustrous azure locks I inherited from Mother—all falling out! I became completely bald in an instant, and the metamorphosis continued without pause. I felt the broken bones grinding and reassembling themselves. My flabby muscles compressed and flattened. The tingling sensation across my entire body suggested new flesh was sprouting over my scars.
I felt many things happening, but there was no way to stop it. I was powerless. Helplessly, I expelled all the waste from my body and gained new bones and new muscles.

L) Fusion with the Machine King’s Power has been completed.

Complete metamorphosis has been achieved.

After enduring all that pain, I caught the scent of water and bolted toward the riverbank. With my body transformed, I could detect the water’s aroma with supernatural precision—no superhuman skills required.
“….”
I splashed into the river and washed myself, then gazed at my reflection in the calm surface. My skin was flawless—not a single freckle—and my hair gleamed with a brilliant silver sheen, newly grown. My new hair sparkled just like Makina’s metallic exterior.
“Ah…, how beautiful.”
I was ridiculously gorgeous now, but how on earth was I supposed to go back like this?
“It’s collapsing….”
In the distance, Sky Island crumbled and fell in chunks. The debris seemed to have already hit the ground, so I opened my status window—and the time limit had vanished. Well, at least the countdown was gone. That was a relief.
“….”
What do I do now? This wasn’t the time to stand here dazed in the river. Should I run? But then what? I’d have to face them eventually anyway. And could I even escape from Serpent King Gerth and Ilyong? With my current physical condition, maybe I could—but if I succeeded in escaping, wouldn’t they suspect something? Suddenly improved physical performance?
“Ohhh….”
This was bad. It was too late to run now. The Department Head Professor leaped down from the collapsing Sky Island, dragging Makina’s eyeball form and the others toward me. The eyeball wasn’t moving at all—it must have been deactivated. Reina waved from a distance, checking if I was alive.
Maybe I could hide somehow…, break some branches, cover my face and hair….
“Evan! Are you safe!”
“You startled me. You really are fast, Evan.”
The Department Head Professor landed gracefully on the riverbank and dumped Makina’s eyeball form with a clang onto the ground, then gestured for me to come closer. Apparently, he didn’t want to get his nice clothes wet wading through the river.
“Evan, why are your clothes all soaked?”
“Stop the act and get over here! What are you doing with those leaves…!”
Gerth and Kanna waded into the river, growing closer out of concern. Reina remained on the riverbank beside the Department Head Professor, but when our eyes met, her face went rigid.
The way she smacked her forehead told me I’d been found out.
“Hey, you Mitchell Neftis, Duke’s daughter!”
Damn it, why are you calling me that, Reina Letem, Count’s daughter?
“Oh my god! You bastard! I knew something was seriously off about you!”
Reina pointed at me accusingly while pounding her own chest. She’d been frustrated thinking I was a noble she didn’t recognize, but now I was the one who felt wronged.
Who could have predicted that a bone-marrow transformation would restore my original face? Wasn’t the principle that anyone undergoing such a transformation would become an exceptionally beautiful boy or girl? But I’d been an exceptionally talented, absolutely adorable girl from the start. My original face was the most beautiful girl a god could craft. This was inevitable. I accept my restored appearance.
“N-Neftis?”
Kanna was bewildered, asking if Mitchell Neftis wasn’t supposed to be dead. There was no choice now but to reveal my identity.
“That’s right! The most beautiful face ever created by god, an absolutely adorable girl! I am Mitchell Neftis! I am Evan Laef!”
“You crazy bastard! How many crimes have you committed! Insulting the Royal Family, deceiving the Emperor, identity fraud?! Where did you even get the name Evan Laef!”
“My Nanny gave me the dead child’s resident registration!”
“You’re bragging about it!”
Then yes, I’m bragging. Thanks to my Nanny and her deceased child, I’ve been able to live well all this time under the name Evan Laef. I’m grateful and thankful for it. I’m proud of my Nanny! And don’t count the Emperor deception—I clearly received his permission before coming out of the bread!
“S-so Evan was, a Duke’s daughter, this whole time?”
“I was released without execution on the condition that I renounce my seat on the Nobility Council. I have no intention of returning to Neftis. The name I go by is sufficient as Evan Laef.”
“O-okay!”
Since Evan remains Evan, nothing really changes, Kanna accepted it. Only Gerth was left.
“What have you two been talking about?”
“Well, old man, it turns out Evan was actually a high noble.”
“Evan is still a noble. I heard she was a Baron.”
“Ah, a newly-created Baron and the eldest daughter of an ancient Duke house are in different leagues.”
“Ilyong certainly knows human culture well.”
“Old man. Don’t call me Ilyong.”
“But Ilyong is a fine name.”
“Shut it.”
And so the Department Head Professor’s true name spread to the world. Kanna and Reina muttered in slight shock, “So his real name was Ilyong.”
“How sudden.”
Gerth glanced between me and Reina before speaking. It seemed odd to him that Reina, who had been quiet until now, suddenly began cursing me as the Duke’s daughter.
“No, I don’t want to make a fuss either! That bastard exposed his face!”
“Evan kept her face exposed the whole time.”
“That’s not the point!”
In any case, Reina—who complained that the couple was equally frustrated and patted her chest—pointed at my sculpted face with her finger in anger.
“Your face! Your face changed!”
“Evan’s face has always been this way.”
“Fine, whatever! Just live like that forever!”
Gerth, unable to see what had changed, hoisted me up like Simba from The Lion King and examined me from every angle. I wasn’t sure whether to call this dullness or what. Gerth possessed the same type of eyes as Sera. Sera had also said she couldn’t tell the difference between Mitchell Neftis’s face and Evan Laef’s face. Did they both possess some kind of insight ability? A skill effect?
“Setting aside such trivial matters.”
“How is this trivial, Professor! If it’s revealed that she’s alive, the entire Empire will be in an uproar!”
“Student Evan. Return Makina’s power.”
So this topic finally caught up with me. Neither Reina nor Kanna had remembered—they gasped and checked their status windows, cheering that the time limit had disappeared. Yes, I was glad the time limit was gone too, but the thing is, that…
“Um…”
“What’s wrong?”
“Actually, I…”
I fused with the Machine King’s power. Tee-hee☆
I spoke cutely to avoid getting hit by the Professor.
“Student Evan.”
“Yes.”
“You sounded just like Dr. Bruno.”
“I’ll stop. I apologize. I recklessly fused with the Machine King’s power, and there’s no way to separate it now.”
I apologized politely and confessed honestly. Then the Professor became interested in something odd.
“Recklessly? It’s a skill in your status window—you can’t control it?”
“Yes.”
Wait, now that I think about it, that’s strange. My fusion skill has never been under my control, has it? Since I first came here, I fused with Mitchell’s consciousness and figured it just happened randomly each time… but now that I realize it, something feels off.
Did I really fuse with Mitchell’s consciousness from the start? I’ve always been myself, haven’t I? Am I fused but just not noticing? But I’ve been myself from the beginning until now, so much so that…
“Even if it’s a passive skill, it should cancel if you resist it yourself.”
“I did resist! I didn’t want to fuse! I even screamed for it to deactivate!”
“Then it’s even stranger.”
I insisted on my innocence, that I had never intended to fuse with the Machine King’s power, and the Department Head Professor even tilted his head in confusion.
“You can freely use and cancel ice magic, correct?”
“Yes.”
“Yet only fusion is restricted from your control?”
“Yes.”
The Professor’s relentless questioning only made it stranger! That’s right?! Why can’t I fuse skills however I want?! When I combine the skills I possess, my will should be the determining factor, shouldn’t it?! Why does this one keep moving on its own every time?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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