The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 265

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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 265. Rule Breaker (1)
Kuuuuuuuuuuuung…!!!
A deafening roar that shook heaven and earth.
Iliana and Broombar’s eyes widened simultaneously.
No—they flew open in shock.
Yggdrasil, the World Tree itself, startled and stumbled about in alarm.
Iliana, Broombar, Yggdrasil.
The gazes of these three beings(?) converged upon a single point.
Within a landscape where the surrounding space tore and warped.
“Adrian…?”
Adrian was there.
At the center of a raging vortex of energy, Adrian’s body convulsed and twisted.
As if he could not contain the energy itself.
But energy that even Adrian could not handle?
What in the world was this power?
Iliana did not know.
Broombar could not even fathom it.
Soon after, Adrian staggered and dropped to one knee.
“Ugh… Kh…!”
Blood seeped from between his lips.
Adrian clenched his teeth.
Every muscle in his body convulsed as he fought to control the energy within.
Time passed in this manner for a while.
“Haa…! Haa…!”
Adrian exhaled in ragged, heavy breaths.
The swirling energy now lay dormant and settled within his body.
Iliana asked in a trembling voice.
“A-are you… are you alright?”
“I’m… fine.”
Adrian answered, barely managing to breathe.
His physical condition appeared anything but fine.
Yet somehow.
To Iliana’s eyes, a tremendous surge of energy swirled within Adrian’s body.
Soon after, Adrian asked with a puzzled expression.
“Iliana?”
“…Yes? Yes!”
“Rilseinium…? Do you perhaps know what this is?”
“Ri-Rilseinium?”
Iliana blinked and trembled.
* * *
Iliana looked taken aback by my sudden question.
But she quickly composed herself and answered.
“Oh, um… Have you perhaps heard of the periodic table?”
“I’ve heard of it.”
Oxygen, hydrogen, helium.
Isn’t it simply a table listing such things?
Iliana steadied her breathing and spoke.
“Simply put, it’s a table of ‘all the materials that exist in the world.'”
Hmm.
My head was beginning to ache slightly.
But it was still comprehensible so far.
“Initially, there were 63. In ancient times, people believed those were all the materials that existed.”
But as time progressed, new materials were discovered one by one.
“Now, 118 have been discovered.”
And it wasn’t the end.
There remained room for further discoveries in the future.
“So the question naturally arose: how many more could be discovered?”
The maximum number of materials that could exist in the world.
People thought it was infinite.
“But it isn’t.”
“So there’s a maximum number of materials?”
“Yes. The one who first predicted this was ‘Arcanis Rilsein.'”
“The first mage, you mean?”
“That’s right.”
Iliana nodded.
Arcanis Rilsein.
Somehow, his name kept appearing.
Whenever I encountered a difficult concept, Arcanis’s name was invariably there.
‘There’s a reason he’s called the first mage, I suppose.’
The one who first established the concept of Mana Force.
The one who first defined the laws of the world.
And the one whom no one has yet fully surpassed.
The words, theories, and problems Arcanis left behind.
All of them still captivated the minds of countless mages even now, countless ages later.
[Thousands of years have passed since Arcanis entered eternal rest. Yet we still merely learn the laws he interpreted.]
There was good reason for such a saying.
…Anyway.
Iliana scattered mana through the air with her fingertips.
“Here, I need to explain something rather difficult.”
I straightened my focus.
Just in case, I’d also prepared the Heir’s Will [EX].
Of course, preparing it didn’t change anything.
“Matter is composed of ‘atomic nuclei and electrons.'”
Following Iliana’s gestures, scattered mana took on a distinct form.
What appeared first
was a massive, glowing sphere.
“This is the atomic nucleus.”
A sphere burning like a scorching sun.
Small spheres orbiting around it soon came into view.
“These small spheres are electrons.”
The electrons, those tiny spheres, rotated around the nucleus at their center.
It resembled planets orbiting a star.
“This is the basic composition of matter itself—an element.”
…My head throbbed.
But okay.
I could follow along this far.
“And the atomic nucleus has the property of attracting electrons.”
Just as a star’s gravity pulls planets toward it.
The nucleus has positive charge and whatnot.
The electrons have negative charge and such.
I gracefully let those details slide past me.
If I listened to every little detail like that?
My head would explode.
Even the Heir’s Will [EX] couldn’t handle it.
Soon, Iliana pointed at the matter with her finger.
The nucleus and electrons.
Drawn by gravity, the electrons were being pulled toward the nucleus.
“So to prevent being pulled in, the electrons’ rotation speed must increase.”
Iliana swept her hand through the air.
The electrons’ rotation speed accelerated.
As the speed increased,
the electrons that had been pulled inward now orbited the nucleus in a stable trajectory.
“But as the atomic number increases, the nucleus grows larger, and its attractive force becomes stronger.”
Iliana swept her hand again.
The nucleus grew larger.
The gravitational pull intensified, and the electrons began being drawn in once more.
“Therefore, the electrons must also spin faster in proportion to the enlarged nucleus.”
Iliana swept her hand one more time.
The electrons rotated even faster.
Despite the nucleus’s strengthened gravity, they maintained a stable orbit once again.
And thus.
A new substance was created.
“This is how new substances—new elements—are discovered.”
The atomic nucleus grows slightly larger.
And the electrons orbiting it accelerate accordingly.
“But here’s the problem.”
Snap!
Iliana flicked her finger.
In that instant, the atomic nucleus expanded violently.
The electrons began accelerating in response.
Yet.
The nucleus did not stop.
It swelled larger and heavier still.
The electrons continued accelerating their rotation to avoid being pulled away—but.
“There exists a speed in this world that can never be exceeded.”
At some point.
The electrons could no longer accelerate.
A speed limit this world would never permit.
“The speed of light.”
Flash—!!
With a brilliant flash, the electrons were drawn into the atomic nucleus.
There was no sound.
It simply vanished, leaving nothing behind.
Iliana gathered her mana and spoke.
“As the nucleus grows larger, the electrons must rotate faster. But there is a limit to how fast they can accelerate.”
In other words, the moment electrons exceed the speed of light.
“The entire substance collapses, and that is element 138.”
“You mean….”
“The periodic table ends at element 137, which means only 137 substances can exist in this world.”
And the 137th element, the final substance.
The substance that adorns the very end of this world.
“Its name is Rilsanium.”
Arcanis Rilsein, the first mage.
It was named after him, who first predicted this.
‘…That’s remarkable.’
I found myself in awe.
The mind that conceived such a theory.
The ability to actually prove it.
It was no wonder he opened the horizons of magical science and transformed the paradigm of The Continent’s civilization.
“However, according to a theory I’ve been researching recently, the conclusion is somewhat different.”
“…?”
What in the world was she talking about?
“According to my calculations, 172 is the last one.”
“…??”
My head tilted involuntarily.
In other words, what she was saying was.
“Are you suggesting that Arcanis Rilsein made an error?”
“Oh no, no. He wasn’t wrong.”
Iliana hastily waved her hand.
“It’s true that matter cannot exceed the speed of light, but it seems he made a mistake.”
“A mistake, you say?”
“This requires a very difficult explanation. Aha, haha….”
Iliana laughed awkwardly.
And trailed off.
But it wasn’t evasion.
As she said, I was thick-headed—.
…No, she simply wouldn’t explain because I couldn’t comprehend it.
Iliana had absolute confidence in her theory.
Which meant.
‘Has Iliana’s magical knowledge surpassed Arcanis’s?’
No, I couldn’t say she’d surpassed him.
But it was fair to say she’d reached the same tier.
‘…She’s truly remarkable.’
She’d already transcended her previous life’s accomplishments.
A Sage of Truth.
It was no exaggeration to say she’d now entered that realm.
In that sense, one thing became certain.
‘I can’t devour a dragon to catch up.’
Even if I studied and strived my entire life?
I could never match Iliana’s intellectual level.
“But here’s the thing.”
Iliana exhaled softly and continued.
“The materials I mentioned earlier don’t actually exist.”
“…?”
“We forcibly create them in laboratories by pouring energy into them, and even that only goes up to 118.”
“…??”
“We can’t produce the elements beyond that. They’re essentially materials that cannot be realized without ‘divine intervention.'”
“So they exist only in theory?”
“Yes, exactly.”
Iliana nodded and continued speaking.
“As you say, it ‘theoretically’ exists, but the probability of it actually existing is zero. Absolutely zero.”
“And if it did exist?”
“Who knows? It would probably possess an absurd energy that defies all laws of nature.”
“To what extent?”
“Hmm… Ah! You know about annihilation reactions, right?”
I nodded.
The power generated when anti-mana and mana collided.
A staggering energy that had created a pseudo-black hole.
“It could possess energy so vast that even that wouldn’t compare.”
“I see.”
Now it truly sank in.
The sheer incomprehensibility of such power.
“It would be an energy that becomes a ‘law-breaker’ in and of itself.”
Iliana shuddered, unable even to imagine such a thing.
“But why are you suddenly asking about this?”
“Well, it’s not anything else, but…”
◆You have synthesized 1mg of Rilseinium.
“I think I just created it.”
“…??????”
Iliana’s head tilted in confusion.
Broombar, who had been listening quietly beside her, tilted his head in unison.
A moment of silence.
Iliana asked in a trembling voice.
“What…?”
“Rilseinium.”
Iliana’s body went rigid.
Broombar’s body beside her also froze like stone.
Having listened to Iliana’s explanation, Broombar seemed to have learned what Rilseinium was.
Perhaps because of this, the expressions on both their faces held the question: ‘What in the world is this guy talking about?’
“Wh-what…are you creating?”
“Ri-Rilseinium…you say?”
Instead of answering, I extended my hand forward.
Upon my palm.
A deep crimson aura flickered for an instant.
Then, with a sharp crack—
Spacetime ignited like lightning, warping violently.
And then came the silence.
“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEK?!?!?!?”
Iliana was the first to collapse, losing consciousness.
A sharp screech, then a thud!
Broombar collapsed forward, rigid as a statue.
* * *
News of the Whitewolf Territory’s victory spread across the entire Continent in an instant.
And in the trading city of Caravana.
The place where all rumors on the Continent converged fastest and mingled most rapidly.
“Did you hear the news?!”
“About the Territory? Of course!!”
There had never been such an uproar.
The dock workers stopped their labor and murmured amongst themselves.
The merchants in the streets forgot their business, their mouths running faster than their hands.
The taverns were packed from midday onward.
Alcohol was merely an excuse; talk of the Territory flowed more freely than wine from the cups.
In Caravana, where public sentiment toward Adrian already burned hot.
Rumor bred rumor.
The gossip swelled like a rolling snowball.
In every street, every tavern, every inn, tales of the Territory never ceased.
“Hmm.”
Marzen sat at his desk and swallowed hard.
A tenfold disparity in military strength.
Honestly, it was a battle that couldn’t be won.
Except for a few exceptional circumstances Marzen had considered.
“What’s the likelihood that fifty thousand troops were merely a disorganized rabble?”
“Very low, sir.”
The Subordinate answered decisively.
Indeed it was.
The fifty thousand comprised mercenaries, bandits, foreign tribes.
All seasoned fighters.
To call them a disorganized rabble?
Their combat prowess and experience were exceptional.
Marzen wasn’t ignorant of this, yet he simply couldn’t accept it.
“What’s the likelihood the commander was incompetent?”
“That’s also very low, sir.”
That was true as well.
But without this explanation, nothing made sense.
“What’s the likelihood the Territory possessed an asymmetric strategic weapon?”
An asymmetric strategic weapon referred to an absurdly powerful instrument that could overturn disparities in troop strength and military force.
A wild card that rendered Lanchester’s Law of Warfare obsolete.
A Master-tier martial artist was not classified as an asymmetric weapon.
Even a Master could be neutralized by overwhelming numbers.
“It’s possible the Territory possessed an asymmetric strategic weapon, but the fifty thousand also had the same advantage.”
…That much was true.
The latest magical weapons had been supplied to the invading forces.
Marzen knew this fact.
Therefore, even if the Whitewolf Territory possessed asymmetrical strategic weapons, it would have been difficult for them to become a major variable.
“Then how?”
As Marzen asked, the Subordinate paused for a moment.
“That is….”
Then the Subordinate opened his mouth.
“A single sword fell from the sky above the Whitewolf Territory, and when it struck the ground, a massive chasm opened and swept away the invading forces.”
“…?”
“An enormous tree suddenly rose from the center of the invading army’s main camp, and its roots swallowed them whole in an instant, or so they say.”
“…??”
“Some rumors claim the heavens split open and a burning dragon descended from the rift.”
“…???”
“Other accounts speak of a Death Knight clad in teal-blue armor appearing and reducing an army of fifty thousand to ash in a single moment.”
Is this bastard insane?
Otherwise, what in the world is this?
“….”
Marzen found himself at a loss for words.
Right then.
A sharp aura that stimulated Marzen’s senses swept through the room.
“…Leave.”
Marzen sent the Subordinate out.
The Subordinate immediately bowed his head and left the room.
At the same moment, in one corner of the room.
Sssssss—!
An unidentified shadow rose.
Marzen quickly identified who it was.
Alaric Straud.
An elite operative of the Special Operations Bureau dispatched to rebuild Caravana.
In that sense, the various materials currently being used in Caravana’s reconstruction.
Construction materials, provisions, and so forth.
All of it had been supplied by the Special Operations Bureau.
The citizens believed it came from the Predator Merchant Company.
That is, from Adrian’s support.
But the truth was otherwise.
Alaric Straud stepped forward until he stood before Marzen.
Marzen swallowed hard.
Cold sweat trickling down his back.
A chill rising across his skin.
A memory surfaced in Marzen’s mind.
Marzen’s hometown.
The information city, Inforen.
The day Inforen had uncovered information about The Empire that should never have been unearthed.
That was when Marzen had witnessed Alaric Straud’s true nature.
His fingertips trembled uncontrollably.
Marzen barely managed to steady himself before opening his mouth.
“I’ve just heard the news, but—”
“It’s not entirely false.”
“…!!”
Marzen’s eyes widened dramatically.
That absurd, utterly preposterous claim was not entirely false…?
“Is that… truly the case?”
Alaric Straud did not answer.
Yet his silence itself seemed to provide the answer.
Marzen’s mouth fell open wider, and then—
“His Majesty has summoned you urgently.”
Marzen’s eyes widened even further than his gaping mouth.

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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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