The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 271

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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 271. Fishing with Lure (1)
The massive iron door creaked open slowly.
The moment I stepped inside—
‘Oh my…!’
An overwhelming sight unfolded before my eyes, drawing an involuntary gasp of admiration.
Gold ingots lay stacked in neat layers across the floor.
Surrounding them were boxes of gold coins packed densely together.
Each box alone appeared to contain roughly tens of millions of gold.
There were also all manner of precious gemstones.
Diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and more.
Rare jewels of every variety were arranged in actual ‘box units’.
Beyond that lay uncut raw stones.
Piles of unidentified mana stones.
Artifacts that could have come from ancient ruins, and so forth.
Wealth of an absurd magnitude, in absurd quantities, literally piled like mountains.
The very air seemed saturated with the scent of money.
‘Even if I sold Binu and Nightbrew and Peanut Wine for a lifetime, I don’t think I could accumulate this much.’
Even if I sold them my entire life?
Who knows.
I’d barely reach a tenth of this warehouse.
This place was truly worthy of being called The Continent’s bank.
‘To have prepared assets of this magnitude in half a day.’
This alone proved what The Empire truly was.
And it demonstrated what The Empire was preparing for.
In any case.
I swept all the warehouse’s wealth into my inventory.
Yet no matter how much I stored, there seemed to be no end.
I stored and stored and stored and stored again.
The wealth showed no sign of diminishing whatsoever.
Perhaps even my inventory grew weary of storing.
◆Your inventory now contains ‘Opulence’.
I began perceiving the wealth of this place as a concept and phenomenon itself.
Yet the Opulence continued to be stored endlessly.
But it was finite.
And finite assets, stored again and again, eventually become completely stored.
A total of 2.3 trillion.
An astronomical sum of money was now contained in my inventory.
It was only finite in name.
One could call it infinite funds that never depleted no matter how much was spent—
‘It’s a shame I can’t use it freely.’
First and foremost, the source of the funds was far too obvious.
The Empire.
When I move large sums of money, the world catches the scent of it.
They will dig into the source of the funds and trace what price I paid to obtain them.
‘It would be problematic if the existence of Runesteel became known to the world.’
Just as desire and longing follow in the wake of great power,
so too do desire and longing follow in the wake of enormous wealth.
‘For now, simply holding it is enough.’
There was no need to use it immediately.
Since I had extracted all 2.3 trillion in physical goods, I had effectively torn a massive hole in The Empire’s financial circulation.
The 800 billion I would receive in the future would have the same effect.
The Empire—or at least the Distribution Bureau—would be unable to push forward any projects for some time.
‘I’ve cut off their lifeline properly.’
I had struck them squarely at their vital point.
Of course, there was a price.
Fifty thousand tons of Runesteel ore.
Frankly, the value of Runesteel exceeded 3.1 trillion.
That must be why Barelto accepted this deal.
I wasn’t ignorant of that either.
‘Time to make my move.’
I swept up all the wealth and strode confidently out of the Warehouse.
The moment I exited the Warehouse,
the guards standing before the door saw the now-empty Warehouse and their eyes went wide.
“…Huh?”
“…What??”
A strange silence fell among the guards.
Their gazes toward me were filled with shock and disbelief.
Understandably so.
Only one person had walked out, yet the Warehouse was completely empty.
And not just any Warehouse—one that had contained 2.3 trillion.
“….”
“….”
Their expressions were beyond even bewilderment.
In any case,
I walked out of the Distribution Bureau with complete confidence.
As I exited the Distribution Bureau,
at the far corner of an alley,
Marzen stood waiting.
His eyes still burned with fury.
His hands trembled like a saury struck by lightning magic.
But the moment our eyes met, Marzen’s anger subsided.
His trembling hands, which had been shaking like a saury, also stilled.
“I thought you were nervous, but you’re quite the actor, aren’t you?”
“So what do we do now?”
Marzen asked with composure.
I paused briefly to admire his acting ability before responding.
“Since we need to demonstrate that our relationship has deteriorated, we should avoid direct contact from this point forward.”
“You mean I should keep acting?”
“Precisely. To be exact, continue playing the role of a subordinate who harbors grievances against Barelto but doesn’t dare to defy him.”
Marzen fell silent for a moment, then asked again.
“How long do I need to maintain this act?”
* * *
“As I mentioned, until the Distribution Bureau is thrown into chaos.”
Kim Fujiwara’s answer.
Marzen fell silent again briefly.
Then, mulling over the script he’d already heard, he spoke quietly.
“Until 50,000 tons of rune iron disappears, you mean?”
“That’s correct.”
Kim Fujiwara nodded.
There was not a trace of hesitation in his voice.
“…Is that really possible?”
But Marzen simply couldn’t believe it.
The Distribution Bureau’s security is impeccable.
It boasts the finest surveillance system on The Continent, with magical inscriptions carved into every single warehouse.
Moreover, rune iron is a strategic resource held in high regard even by The Empire.
Above all, it’s a transaction and operation of utmost importance that even the current regime is closely monitoring.
“This time, Director-General Barelto will oversee the management personally.”
Barelto Al Banas.
He was not someone to be taken lightly.
Political acumen—he possessed it.
Martial prowess—he possessed it.
A monster lacking nothing whatsoever.
There’s a reason he sits in the Director-General’s position.
“Few within The Empire can directly contend with Director-General Barelto.”
Marzen certainly isn’t one of them.
If Kim Fujiwara stepped forward personally, it might be possible.
But then?
Kim Fujiwara becomes The Empire’s target.
From that moment on, Kim Fujiwara can no longer set foot in The Empire.
No—he can no longer set foot on this Continent.
I would be hunted by The Empire’s surveillance network for the rest of my life, destined to die without anyone knowing.
Marzen would also be dragged along aimlessly and disappear.
In other words, Kim Fujiwara’s plan to promote Marzen could never succeed.
And even if things went differently.
Even if I crushed Barelto.
Even if I truly defeated that monster.
But to throw the Distribution Bureau into chaos, merely defeating Barelto wouldn’t be enough.
“How do you plan to secretly smuggle out 50,000 tons of Runesteel?”
Hide such an enormous weight and volume through simple concealment or manipulation?
In the heart of The Empire, no less?
With all of The Empire’s surveillance networks interlocked?
…It made no sense.
Kim Fujiwara’s pocket dimension magic.
Of course, it was impressive.
But it couldn’t store Runesteel.
Runesteel possessed a nature that repelled mana, making it strongly resistant to magic.
And not just magic.
It resisted all mana-based energy.
In other words, Runesteel blocks couldn’t be stored in a pocket dimension.
I had verified this beforehand.
So Marzen’s eyes flickered with doubt.
“Don’t worry.”
Kim Fujiwara seemed to have already planned everything.
* * *
Marzen’s doubt was, on the surface, reasonable.
No—it was an inevitable question.
“Don’t worry.”
But it was fine.
The more absurd the plan.
The more it defied common sense.
The lighter the suspicion directed at me would become.
‘I just need to store the 50,000 tons of Runesteel in my inventory.’
No one would suspect me because no one would believe such a thing was possible.
‘I can’t hand over Runesteel to The Empire no matter what.’
I had no intention of giving up Runesteel just to make some money.
Though 3.1 trillion wasn’t exactly ‘just’ money.
‘But compared to its strategic value, it is.’
So the core of this operation—this script—was this:
1. Sell the 50,000 tons of Runesteel and generate massive profits.
2. Immediately after, close an additional deal with Barelto.
3. Induce Barelto to personally transport the Rune Iron.
4. Stage the Rune Iron to ‘vanish’ during transport.
5. Blame falls on Barelto, inciting political conflict within the Distribution Bureau.
6. The moment chaos reaches its peak.
‘The Emperor will have no choice but to narrow his options to obtain Rune Iron again.’
3.1 trillion.
Not a sum The Empire takes lightly.
It was only given because Rune Iron was the price.
But the Rune Iron has vanished.
All that remains is a staggering loss of 3.1 trillion.
The Emperor will be furious.
The responsible party is Barelto.
But removing him won’t bring the Rune Iron back.
Therefore, only one choice remains.
Marzen.
The original party who first conducted the transaction with Kim Fujiwara.
The Emperor will place Marzen in the position of Chancellor precisely to secure additional Rune Iron transactions.
From that moment onward.
‘Marzen becomes a direct channel to the Imperial Palace.’
In other words, the Rune Iron is ‘bait’.
A lure to hook the colossal whale that is The Emperor.
‘The board is nearly set.’
There was only one problem.
‘Barelto isn’t as manageable as I thought.’
Even the information I gleaned from Predator’s Instinct [S] just now made that clear.
==【Character Information】==
Name: Barelto Al Banas
Classification: Mammal, Cambion
Gender: Male
Age: 56
Traits: Essence Drain [E], Spirit Sight [L]
Cambion.
The bastard offspring of Mongma and human.
Cambions inherit the power of Mongma and are inherently possessed of formidable strength.
And among certain Cambions, they even inherited the unique abilities of Mongma themselves.
The most representative of these is.
◆Essence Drain [E]
: The user can forcibly absorb the vitality of living beings and convert it into their own power.
A simple absorption-type skill.
But it is not limited to physical contact.
With merely a glance, a presence, an exchange of emotion, one could drain vitality and recover stamina or mana.
Grade Epic [E].
Potent enough to land effective blows even against lords.
It was no coincidence that Barelto was no mere cambion.
But what truly elevated Barelto to his current position was something else entirely.
◆Soul Viewing [L]
: The user can perceive spiritual entities.
The description was deceptively simple.
The effect equally straightforward.
Yet the grade was nothing short of Legendary [L].
For an ability that merely allowed one to see spiritual entities, the classification seemed absurdly inflated.
But it was not.
The capacity to perceive spiritual entities was far from simple.
Spiritual entities encompassed the souls, remnants, spirits, phantoms, and specters that drifted through the shadow side of this world.
And they did not exist.
They were fictional creations born solely within humanity’s imagination.
Only through the repeated and accumulated collective belief in divinity and sorcery could they finally attain substance.
But Soul Viewing [L] bypassed that process entirely.
It granted substance without requiring collective faith.
Because one could see it directly with one’s own eyes.
And the act of ‘witnessing with one’s own eyes’ inscribed far stronger conviction and sensation upon the human mind.
Thus imagination became more resilient.
Substance became far more tangible.
In essence, Soul Viewing [L] was not merely ‘eyes that see’—it was ‘eyes that bring into existence what did not exist before.’
Iliana’s Insight [L].
One could say this ability stood in direct opposition to hers.
Therefore, Barelto.
The imagination he had manifested into this world was none other than.
Supernatural beings.
And the power Barelto wielded was thus.
Conjuring.
A form of sorcery—the channeling of innate spiritual force.
For instance, merely harboring jealousy or hatred toward an opponent could induce calamity upon them.
‘Less broken than Mongma’s Reality Manipulation [M], perhaps.’
Yet it was undoubtedly worthy of Legendary [L] classification.
The activation conditions were far too lenient.
And there existed virtually no means of suppression.
In other words.
‘Barelto is formidable.’
He would not be my match at present, but neither was he an opponent to dismiss lightly.
Above all, I couldn’t act directly myself.
‘The Empire’s surveillance over me will be thorough.’
The moment I make a move, they’ll know immediately.
If it’s traced back to me, the entire operation crumbles to dust.
In other words, someone else has to do it.
But there was no one capable of confronting Barelto, let alone operating freely within The Empire.
Marzen?
Out of the question.
The heroes of the Allied Forces won’t work either.
There was practically no one.
In the end, it seemed impossible to recover the Rune Steel from Barelto—but.
‘By now, they should have departed.’
Someone to crush Barelto in my stead—.
…No, there was a madman who could recover the Rune Steel.
* * *
Within the barracks of Whitewolf Territory.
Beneath the aura of Yggdrasil, the world tree, the air of the barracks was crisp and heavy.
The earth felt deep and solid, as if blessed by spirits.
The soldiers’ eyes gleamed with vibrant vitality.
Upon this blessed land.
“Ohhh…!”
“So this is aura!”
Soldiers awakening to aura emerged in succession.
Some lacked the talent.
But under Yggdrasil’s meticulous care, ultimately every soldier of Whitewolf Territory could awaken to aura in their own way.
“Kya! My body feels so light!”
“So this is the true power of aura…!”
The soldiers of Whitewolf Territory, reborn not as mere soldiers but as true ‘knights’.
Yet they had merely awakened to aura.
Their ability to wield aura was pathetic.
Yggdrasil couldn’t provide assistance beyond that—but.
“Move your center, not your body.”
Kai was filling that gap.
“Aura follows the will of its user, not the flesh.”
The method of awakening embedded in the subconscious.
The way to refine killing intent and perception.
The way to temper the body with aura and amplify physical capabilities.
Kai taught the soldiers meticulously everything he had awakened to.
Day by day, the soldiers were visibly transforming under Kai’s instruction.
Sarpedon too was keenly sensing the change in his power.
Now Sarpedon had a goal.
Master.
Though he didn’t know if he’d ever reach that pinnacle in his lifetime, Sarpedon had been refining his posture hundreds of times over.
Just then.
“Sarpedon.”
Kai called out to him.
“For the time being, you’ll be in charge of training.”
“…Me, sir?”
Sarpedon blinked in surprise.
Kai gave a small nod and spoke.
“I have something that requires my absence.”
“Where are you going, sir?”
“A surprise raid.”
“…?”
Sarpedon blinked again.
He wondered if he’d misheard.
A surprise raid, of all things?
“Right now, sir?”
“That’s right.”
“So suddenly—”
“Adrian mentioned something like this before.”
Kai cut him off matter-of-factly.
Then, he casually pulled out a mask from somewhere and put it on.
“Surprise raids are supposed to be sudden, after all.”

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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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