The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 326

—————

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

—————

Chapter 326. Questions (1)
Violet light surged from The Man’s fingertips.
It was as if it embraced emptiness itself.
Void.
This concept was much like the ‘nameless village’.
The nameless village has no name.
Yet if a village is called the nameless village, then it has a name.
Therefore, the nameless village is a paradox.
Similarly, the void is ‘non-existence’.
But the violet light before my eyes.
Clearly existed.
It had no form.
Yet an overwhelming sense of presence in a state of non-existence crashed down upon me.
Shhhhhhhhh─!!
The void expanded as if to swallow this entire space.
Everything it touched was being erased.
I confirmed Rielin’s safety, then leaped forward with my bare body.
Perfect Organism [UL].
An ability that had completely fused with every branch of evolution.
Through it, I could mimic the functions of all living creatures and create any ability whatsoever.
Then.
What was the most powerful ability I could mimic?
What was the most superior ability I could create?
My answer was this.
Crack crack crack─!!
The muscles across my entire body swelled like an Ogre’s.
The Ogre.
The perfect form of biological evolution, possessing overwhelming strength enough to hunt even Dragons.
But that was all.
The Ogre was powerful, but stubbornly simple.
Only straight-line assault.
It could not accommodate change.
So.
I added the genetic information of the Cave Fisher.
The Cave Fisher—a monster born when a snail underwent mutation.
The Cave Fisher’s mucus possessed both tremendous elasticity and flexibility simultaneously.
The most perfect ability, as I conceived it.
Lay in adaptation to circumstances.
In responding to necessity.
In the ‘autonomous adaptability’ to freely transform my abilities.
Ogre and Cave Fisher.
Two evolved abilities unfolded simultaneously in my grasp.
It was not difficult.
It required no comprehension.
Even though both abilities had evolved in completely different environments and along divergent paths, they were ultimately familiar powers to me.
I added fluidity to Ogre’s stubborn strength.
I added stubborn strength to Cave Fisher’s fluidity.
Crack!!
My fist tore through space itself.
* * *
The Man’s eyes widened in shock.
‘That attack just now….’
It appeared to be thrown carelessly.
Yet it contained truly immense power within it.
Power this world could scarcely contain.
Crack!!!
The shockwave tore through space belatedly.
The Man’s face contorted violently.
Had it been merely overwhelming force, he could have countered it.
The problem was the fluidity.
The extended fist was predictable.
There was no technique to it.
Yet the water-like elasticity and flexibility perfectly robbed him of any opportunity to respond.
‘That is….’
Genetic information from different sources had been merged to alter the phenotype.
In other words, it transcended the very concept of striking that he understood.
Thud!
With a heavy sound, the Man’s body was hurled backward.
But in that instant.
Boom!!!!─!!
The unleashed void detonated.
The entire space flooded with violet light as everything crumbled.
Yet.
It held firm.
Lucius stood against the exploding waves of the void.
Thus protecting the female Elf from harm.
…But how?
Boom crash!
The Man’s body was driven into the ground.
He barely clung to consciousness as it threatened to slip away.
The Man clenched his teeth and forced himself upright.
Narrowing his eyes, I observed him within the void.
And I could discern it.
‘That is….’
A crab and a clam.
It had hardened its outer shell by mimicking the survival strategies of two distinct organisms.
Simultaneously, it generated a foam barrier to separate the interior from the exterior.
Thus, it reflected the waves that the void sought to devour.
‘It was not merely an attack, then?’
By inputting different genetic information into its defense as well, it could transcend limitations.
Now I could speak with certainty.
A Perfected Lifeform.
This creature had reached the terminus of evolution.
However.
It did not appear capable of enduring eternally.
In other words, it was deficient.
Certainly, it encompassed every branch of evolutionary possibility.
Yet somehow.
It was not flawless.
More precisely, it was not ultimate.
The clash was brief.
But from that fleeting exchange, I could discern the nature of the Perfected Lifeform.
First of all.
‘Its knowledge has limits.’
Becoming a Perfected Lifeform did not suddenly grant knowledge that had never existed.
For instance, if one knew nothing of the cosmos as a space.
One could not know what physiological structure to employ in a vacuum.
Which genes to activate against stellar winds.
One would understand nothing.
Even possessing the genetic information of all living things, without knowledge, one cannot manifest the necessary capabilities.
Therefore, secondly.
‘It cannot withstand cosmic catastrophes.’
Should the sun explode.
Should a black hole draw it in.
Against such universal-scale disasters, a Perfected Lifeform cannot survive.
Perhaps it would not perish outright.
But it could not preserve its form.
It could not maintain its consciousness.
And even if it recovered, the astronomical energy required was self-evident.
Thus, thirdly.
‘So you require energy after all.’
Because I am a living being.
Even possessing the genetic code of every living creature in existence, no life has ever discovered how to survive without consuming sustenance.
That is an ability that cannot be created.
Energy does not materialize from nothing.
The total quantity of energy is always finite.
Therefore, even if I replenish energy through a method like photosynthesis.
Photosynthesis requires the sun.
And even the sun, eternal as it seems, will one day exhaust its lifespan.
In other words.
A perfect being is not ‘perfectly immortal’.
Thus, the final constraint, the fourth one.
‘There must inevitably be limitations based on cognition.’
The perfect being’s hypersensitivity extends infinitely.
But there is a limit to the cognitive capacity to process that information.
After all, I remained ‘human’.
The limitations experienced as a human remain valid still.
Therefore, perfect transcendence—Ultimacy.
I could never reach that place after all.
“Haha… hahaha…!!”
The Man burst into laughter.
* * *
The Man suddenly erupted in laughter.
“Haha! Hahahaha…!!”
That laughter, echoing like a reverberation, was somehow.
Not consumed by madness.
Neither despair nor rage.
A hollow emptiness of some kind.
Or perhaps.
A certain resignation contained within it.
“You were designed with such a perfect structure… so why could you not reach it.”
The Man extended his hand.
A violet light bloomed forth.
I simply drove my fist forward.
Crack!
The violet light extinguished.
Space shattered as residual light scattered in all directions.
In that instant, The Man retreated backward.
I allowed him to withdraw.
I had no choice but to allow it.
I was blocking the encroaching void with my entire body.
The Man slowly clenched his fist where he had retreated.
“Evolution is magnificent, yet perhaps it is a power that ultimately cannot reach the pinnacle.”
The lingering violet light seeped slowly through the gaps between his fingers.
“The natural force that sculpts life is wondrous, and yet….”
The Man’s gaze turned toward me.
“It seems it was not infinite after all.”
The Man extended his hand.
The void’s mana that had seeped through the gaps followed his hand, filling the space once more with violet light.
…That was not targeting me.
Rielin.
It was targeting her.
I acted immediately.
Before the void’s wave could extend, I dispersed a Dragon Breath and a dust barrier mimicking the Bomb Dust Beetle.
The moment the dust barrier made contact with the wave.
A violent explosive reaction erupted.
Boom! Rumble rumble!!
The wave wavered.
But it was not completely blocked.
I continued dispersing the dust barrier.
At this sight, the Man’s pupils blazed with deep violet light.
“So Ultimacy was never something life could attain after all.”
Soon, another emotion filled the Man’s eyes.
“How futile.”
The Man raised his hand again.
This time, not violet light, but ashen light began to condense at his fingertips.
“…My interest has faded.”
Pop!
The ashen light burst once.
In an instant, my entire vision darkened.
And at the same moment, the void vanished.
I immediately kicked off the ground and leaped upward.
“You speak of fleeing with such grandiosity.”
My fist cleaved through the ashen light.
Within the cleaved ashen light.
The Man flinched in surprise, arching his body backward.
The void’s mana convulsed for a moment, but my fist was already crushing the Man’s body.
Crash!!
The Man’s body twisted grotesquely.
His left shoulder burst open entirely, flesh scattering through the air.
“Ugh…!!”
The Man let out a groan.
He steadied his shattered shoulder with his opposite hand and spoke.
“…I’ve been found out.”
Blood trickled from between The Man’s tightly clenched lips.
The Man steadied his wavering frame and barely managed to open his mouth.
“No matter how much I think about it… *cough*! I don’t think I can handle Lucius right now…”
“Right now?”
“Yes.”
“…?”
“Ah! I forgot to mention this.”
The Man wiped the blood from his lips and continued.
“Do you remember? When we first met, the reason I had lost my name?”
I calmly retraced my memories.
And soon.
I could recall what The Man had said back then.
-Perhaps I am not entirely alive.
-What do you mean by that?
-I exist in a time before you, Lucius. From my perspective, you are a being of the future.
-….
-I am still alive in my timeline, but in your timeline, I have already ceased to exist.
-….
-As you, a future existence from my perspective, observe me, all possibilities of my future have been completely erased.
-….
-Therefore, even now in the past, I cannot maintain my name.
In other words, The Man was already dead in my timeline.
That was why all information about him displayed as ※Error※.
That was why The Man had lost his name.
But now.
“Allow me to introduce myself properly.”
The Man had reclaimed his name.
In other words.
It meant that The Man had become a being who existed and lived even in my timeline.
“My name is Yukal.”
Yukal lifted his head.
Violet eyes brimming with emptiness gazed directly at me.
“People call me the hero of The Continent and—”
The corners of his mouth curved slowly upward.
A smile bloomed.
“The Pathfinder of Infinity.”
In that instant, the air twisted.
A violet current rippled outward like a disturbance across still water.
And then.
Yukal vanished.
Without a trace, without warning.
It felt as though Yukal’s very existence had been erased.
An empty void.
In the space where Yukal had been, only the information left behind by the predator’s instinct[S] shimmered faintly.
==【Character Information】==
Name: Yukal
Classification: Indescribable Realm Existence Continuum Group Eternal Entity Type
Gender: Male
Age: None
Characteristic: Pioneer of Infinity[EX]

—————

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

—————