The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 158

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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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Chapter 158. Ripples (1)
The Dwarf’s voice echoed across the Town Square of Whitewolf Territory.
It was so thunderously loud.
The sound struck Seraphia’s ears with crystalline clarity, even as she sat buried beneath documents in her office.
“Wh—?!”
Startled, Seraphia’s quill pen tumbled from her fingers with a soft tap.
She rushed to the window and peered outside, only to find the Town Square already in absolute pandemonium, as if a festival had erupted.
Dwarves collided shoulder-to-shoulder, roaring with jubilation.
The people of Whitewolf Territory rejoiced alongside them.
“Kahahaha! We did it! We actually did it!”
“Congratulations to you all!”
“This is all thanks to our brothers and sisters! Ahahaha!”
Everyone had gathered in the Town Square to share in the celebration.
“Me too…! Me too!”
Seraphia’s body burned with such fervent excitement that she could not remain still.
Without hesitation, she bolted toward the office door.
At that very moment, the mountain of documents piled upon her desk caught at her ankle—
“…Forget it!”
Seraphia squeezed her eyes shut and burst from her office.
“Eh…? Countess?”
“Where are you going? Countess!”
The bewildered voices of her attendants reached her ears, but she paid them no mind.
Her body thrummed with heat and exhilaration.
Seraphia’s mind was already in complete disarray.
* * *
Iliana was in the Library of Count’s Castle, eagerly studying grimoires.
Dozens of magical tomes surrounded her in a dense circle.
She turned pages with one hand while drawing magical circles in the air with the other.
Whoosh—!
Intricate equations materialized in the air alongside the azure magical circle.
“Ah, the voltage fluctuations occurring in the neural network—”
“So you were here!”
“Eek!?”
At the sudden voice, Iliana jumped with a start.
The equations and magical circle inscribed in the air scattered chaotically and vanished.
Iliana’s blue eyes widened in surprise.
As she lifted her gaze from the book, silver hair that gleamed with an ethereal, moonlit radiance cascaded into view.
Her skin was pristine and luminous, as clear as the brilliant Snowy Plain.
Her crimson eyes, like rubies set into porcelain, and the delicate shadows etched across her features only accentuated her breathtaking beauty.
Her eyelashes curved slightly upward.
Lips as crimson as pomegranate seeds.
The woman before her—delicate and refined as a thin flower petal—.
“C-Count? Count Whitewolf?!”
Seraphia Whitewolf, Count Whitewolf.
And Adrian’s sister.
“What were you doing here?”
“Oh, I… well….”
“My goodness, what is all this?”
Seraphia examined the dozens of grimoires surrounding Iliana, turning them over in her hands.
[On the Activation Conditions and Structural Changes of Blood Factors], [Phase Transformation of Neural Networks and Mana Flow], [Cellular Fusion Mechanisms]….
Grimoires bearing all manner of complex and abstruse titles.
“…These look terribly difficult.”
“B-but what brings you here….”
“Oh, right. Where are my manners.”
Seraphia blinked once before continuing.
“My brother has awakened.”
“R-really?!”
“Yes. I just came from seeing him training at the Frost Trial Grounds.”
“Thank goodness….”
Iliana exhaled a deep sigh of relief.
And no wonder she was so startled.
While explaining the half-demon, Adrian had suddenly gone completely still.
Up close, his face had turned deathly pale.
His heart beat only faintly.
And worst of all, foam was bubbling and frothing from his mouth….
…No, wait a moment.
“Training?”
Hadn’t he just awakened?”
“My brother is always like that. He never rests, even for a moment.”
“I see….”
“That’s what makes him so incredible!”
Seraphia cried out, her eyes shining brightly.
But her expression soon grew melancholy.
“…Still, I do worry sometimes.”
The brightness faded from her eyes, and a subtle shadow fell across Seraphia’s face.
“I wish my brother would think of himself, just a little.”
Seraphia’s heart laid bare before her.
Genuine concern.
And deep affection for Adrian.
An emotion Iliana had never once received.
It was unconditional affection and trust—the kind given in the name of family.
…On the other hand, I envied it.
It was something Iliana could never receive or give in her lifetime. She had no family to bestow such affection and trust upon her—.
“By the way, you’re really not your brother’s girlfriend?”
“Yes, yes?!”
Seraphia’s question came at me suddenly, striking like a blow.
Iliana quickly shook both her hands and head.
“No, no!! I, I’m just receiving sponsorship, that’s all!!”
“That’s what I heard….”
“Besides, it’s completely out of the question!! I, I…! Someone like me being Adrian’s girlfriend…?!”
“Why not? You’re incredibly cute and pretty.”
“P, pretty, you say…?!”
My face flushed crimson of its own accord.
“The Count is far more, more beautiful than I am….”
“Hehe! Thank you.”
Seraphia smiled brightly, her expression radiant.
She truly was so beautiful and lovely.
“You know what? Want to be friends with me?”
“Yes, yes?! F, f, f, friends?!”
…Just like that?
“Yes. Your brother mentioned you’re around the same age as me.”
“I’m sixteen this year….”
“I’m sixteen this year too!”
Seraphia exclaimed, her eyes sparkling.
“Let’s definitely be friends!”
“That, that’s impossible…!”
“What? Why?”
“I, I am a concubine’s daughter….”
The daughter of a concubine—a bastard.
In other words, no different from a commoner.
Seraphia, meanwhile, was a Count.
A high-ranking noble and a commoner.
An insurmountable wall existed between us—.
“So what?”
“Yes, what…?”
“I’m an adopted daughter too.”
“But, but…! You’re a Count, after all….”
“A Count in name only, though.”
“Yes, yes?!”
“So let’s be friends.”
“Ah, no, I… how could someone like….”
“Someone like me? But you’re the one who healed me—Iliana.”
“What? Ah, well… that’s….”
“Let me thank you properly! Thank you for saving my life!”
Seraphia bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle.
But to be honest.
I was more grateful to Iliana.
Because thanks to her, I was able to meet Adrian.
“In that case, let’s be friends.”
“…Huh? Why are you suddenly….”
“Won’t you be my friend? Please?”
‘S-so close…!’
Seraphia’s face was far too near.
Iliana’s mind went completely white.
“So we’re friends now, right?”
“….”
“Yes! I have a friend now!”
And so it came to pass—
‘A friend… I have one now.’
Iliana had gained a friend.
The first friend she had ever made in her life.
“Come on, let’s go!”
“Eh…?”
“The festival is starting now!”
“B-but—!”
My gaze lingered on the grimoire.
“It’s fine, we can do it tomorrow!”
Seraphia seized my wrist and pulled.
It wasn’t particularly forceful.
Yet I found myself dragged along helplessly.
“W-wait a moment…!”
“I’ve got a mountain of paperwork piling up too. My brother will scold me for sure… but ah, who cares!”
Seraphia laughed brightly as she led me forward.
“Let’s have fun today!”
Then she grasped my hand firmly and began to run.
I didn’t let go of Seraphia’s hand.
…Small, yet warm fingers.
The feeling was utterly strange.
Iliana, the illegitimate daughter of Baron Segretus.
Within her family, Iliana had always been alone.
Not even a single kind word could she hear.
No one called Iliana by her name.
-You vulgar wretch. How dare you show your face here?
-Your lowborn mother seduced the lord, didn’t she?
-In any case, where could that vulgar blood go?
-Get out of here! Even breathing the same air as you is revolting!
Iliana’s place was always in some forgotten corner of the household.
She existed in darkness beyond the reach of anyone’s gaze.
Reading books alone in that cramped attic was her only happiness. When she lost herself in the knowledge within those pages, she could forget all her worries and sorrows.
And so, she grew accustomed to loneliness.
And so, she no longer dared to hope for warmth.
Whenever someone extended a hand to help, she suspected them first.
…She couldn’t trust them.
What if it was just another cruel jest?
Hands offered in comfort had always transformed into mockery.
Words spoken in sympathy had only ever been means to use Iliana as a tool.
In the end, she couldn’t trust anyone.
No—she had forgotten how to trust.
But then.
After meeting Adrian.
“Come on, Iliana! Let’s go!”
“…Yes!”
The life she thought would be forever cursed began to overflow with more happiness than she could have ever deserved.
* * *
An exhilarated atmosphere rippled across the entire Whitewolf Territory, as though a festival had erupted.
But I had no luxury to be swept up in such excitement.
I needed to inspect the situation at the Runesteel Ore Vein, which had begun full-scale mining.
And in accordance with that, I had to review my plans to ensnare The Empire.
There was no time for leisure—yet.
I sat in proper meditation posture in the center of the Frost Trial Grounds, alone.
Weak Point Hunting [M].
I intended to conduct mental training and meditation for its sake.
Weak Point Hunting [M] perceives its target at the atomic level.
Through this, I could instantly grasp all of an opponent’s vulnerabilities, detect intercellular potential changes, and even ‘predict’ their movements.
But that tremendous volume of information and analysis exceeded my current intelligence level.
If Predation [M] caused ‘physical overload’, then Weak Point Hunting [M] caused ‘cerebral overload’.
Therefore, even a body evolved through the Ogre’s Predation [S+] was meaningless.
“The body can endure, but the brain cannot.”
Intelligence.
In other words, I possessed no abilities related to the brain and intellect.
In this state… I couldn’t use it.
But I couldn’t give up either.
Weak Point Hunting [M]—surpassing Ian’s Lumen Pax.
Before entering The Empire.
Before any future battle with a lord.
I had to make Weak Point Hunting [M] my own.
The problem was how to make it mine….
“Haaah…!”
I exhaled deeply and organized my thoughts.
Three methods came to mind immediately.
First, then.
Iliana’s Peak Intelligence [A+].
In other words, if I Predated [S+] her heart and acquired that ability, it would be solved simply and cleanly…but.
…was that even remotely possible?
It wasn’t worth considering.
“Rejected.”
I immediately discarded it into the mental trash bin.
Then the second method.
This was a kind of alternative.
“If I Predate an intelligence-related ability comparable to Iliana’s.”
Then, while not perfect, I could endure ‘a certain degree’ of cerebral overload.
Just as I endured the physical overload of Predator [M] by Predating [S+] the Ogre.
“On hold.”
But this one was on hold.
Intelligence is humanity’s most prominent biological evolution ability.
In other words, no intelligence-specialized monsters exist.
So I had to find a ‘human’….
“I can’t think of anyone off the top of my head.”
Even sifting through memories of my past life, there was no one who seemed to possess an intelligence-specialized ability.
And that made sense—merely being exceptional wasn’t enough.
They’d need to withstand the cerebral overload from Weak Point Hunting [M].
In other words, they’d need to rival Iliana’s Peak Intelligence [A+].
By rank, that would be at least [A-] grade.
The problem was that [A-] and above approached dragon-level abilities.
Realistically, there was no one but dragons.
There was nothing I could do about it now.
So for now, it remained on hold.
Therefore, the only method I could act on immediately—.
The third and final method.
“I have no choice but to destroy the damaged brain and repair it immediately.”
I continuously repair the damage to my brain using Regeneration [B+].
The mechanism worked like this.
1. I activate Weak Point Hunting [M].
2. My brain becomes overloaded.
3. I intentionally destroy a portion of the overloaded brain.
4. I immediately regenerate the destroyed brain using Regeneration [B+].
5. The regenerated brain has its damage reset.
6. I activate Weak Point Hunting [M] again.
I repeat this cycle.
It’s a form of forcing the issue, relying entirely on my Regeneration [B+] ability.
But precisely because I’m forcing it, the problems were far from trivial.
First, the brain is the organ that consumes the most energy in the body.
The caloric expenditure from using my brain and then regenerating it [B+] was astronomical.
Considering the additional calories needed for combat, it was simply unsustainable.
“Isolde has been an enormous help.”
The title 【Saint of the Black Moon】.
Merely possessing it increased the efficiency of all recovery-related skills by [+30%].
Of course, this alone couldn’t completely overcome the caloric consumption. But thanks to it, I could pull the impossible down into the realm of possibility.
Still, the limits of my intellect remained starkly apparent.
Additionally, damage accumulated across my entire brain.
Most critically, if I made even a single mistake?
If I failed to regenerate immediately, or if I destroyed my brain excessively, I could reach a point of no return.
Therefore, this was not a sustainable method for maintaining Weak Point Hunting [M].
But it was the only way I could currently leverage Weak Point Hunting [M].
“I’ll need extensive practice.”
…The road ahead was long.
Still, I had gained a foundation to grow several times stronger than I was now.
“Let me begin.”
I started my training by destroying and regenerating portions of my brain using Dragon Burst [E].
* * *
The festive atmosphere gradually intensified throughout the Whitewolf Territory.
Seraphia gazed quietly at the bustling Town Square, breathing steadily.
Now only one final matter remained to resolve.
Her first festival in the Whitewolf Territory in her lifetime.
There was one great mountain she had to overcome for it.
‘I need to convince my brother.’
Adrian would undoubtedly dismiss it with some complaint about what kind of festival this was.
Perhaps he would say, “We must first inspect the situation at the Runesteel Ore Vein.”
Or possibly, “Handle the backlog of documents instead of wasting time on leisure.”
And so, he would likely cut her off decisively with some incomprehensible remark like, “The task is Crawlgar.”
How could I persuade Adrian under such circumstances?
Seraphia’s strength alone was insufficient.
A concrete strategy was needed.
In other words, I required the assistance of others who could render Adrian immobilized and unable to refuse.
‘I’ve already brought Iliana to my side.’
Adrian cherished Iliana enough to support her unconditionally.
That meant if Iliana simply stood beside me and offered her backing, Adrian would not outright refuse.
‘As for Broombar, the clan chief….’
Unfortunately, he was not currently in the Whitewolf Territory.
He had departed to resolve matters concerning the Dwarves’ kingdom, Feractrum.
Though he was returning to the territory now, it would not be immediately.
‘Then what about Isolde….’
At that moment.
I caught sight of a familiar face at the far end of the corridor.
A handsome man with flowing golden hair that shimmered in the light.
“Sir Kai!”
Kai, who stood at the corridor’s end, turned his head.
Seraphia rushed toward him, her face flushed with excitement.
“Have you heard? The matter concerning the Dwarves’ homeland has been resolved!”
“I have. It is truly fortunate.”
Kai nodded slightly with a smile.
Seraphia’s eyes immediately sparkled as she spoke.
“So a festival is being held right now! Sir Kai, won’t you join us?”
“I must decline.”
“What? Why?”
Seraphia blinked, looking up at Kai.
“You’ve been training constantly without rest lately. So this time, please come with us—”
“I am content if the Count enjoys himself. That is sufficient for me.”
With that, Kai walked past Seraphia.
His long, shimmering golden hair brushed against her cheek.
“Wait, Kai—Sir Kai!”
Seraphia called after him, but his figure only grew more distant.
His usual composed and unruffled silhouette.
Yet something felt different.
For some reason, he seemed distant.
Seraphia reached out to call him once more, but ultimately let her hand fall.
‘Sir Kai….’
…Something was amiss with Kai.

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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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