The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 353

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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 353. The Eve of the Storm (3)
Iliana’s eyes widened, her face flushing crimson.
Her bewilderment was unmistakable.
“L-live together with Adrian…?”
Like a puppy caught in the rain, Iliana fidgeted nervously.
Her hands gripped her skirts tightly.
Her face had already flushed all the way to the tips of her ears.
“I… I’m not quite ready in my heart yet…”
“Do you dislike the idea?”
“N-no! It’s not that I dislike it…”
Her halting words came with a trembling voice.
Perhaps she was startled by her own reaction.
“Ah…”
Iliana buried her face in her hands.
Well, it was certainly surprising.
But it was something I’d been contemplating for some time.
“Besides, returning to Langritd Magic Tower now would be rather awkward, wouldn’t it?”
There was no need to return at all.
Iliana had absorbed all of Arcanis Rilsein’s knowledge from the Akashic Records.
She was essentially the Wizard of Truth herself—what more could she possibly learn at the tower?
“W-well, that’s true, but…”
“More importantly, having you close to me puts my mind at ease.”
“Ah!”
Iliana’s head snapped up.
Her eyes, wide as saucers, were filled with astonishment.
But soon she curled inward slightly.
Her body twisted shyly as she lowered her gaze again.
Her lips pressed together, her face growing ever redder.
“S-so… we can really live together…?”
Her voice came as a whisper.
Soft, yet perfectly clear.
“Of course. If you would remain by my side, I could ask for nothing more.”
“…!!”
“Seraphia will be delighted as well.”
The hands gripping her skirts trembled.
Iliana hesitated before looking up at me.
Those sapphire-blue eyes.
Within them lay both bashfulness and a cautious hope.
Iliana’s lips parted slightly, and she spoke softly.
“Then… from today onward… I look forward to it…”
I finished speaking and immediately lowered my face.
What was there to be so embarrassed about?
Small hands gripped my clothes tighter, and my feet turned slightly inward.
Right then.
“What about me?!”
Gwendolyn interjected abruptly.
“I can live in Whitewolf Territory with you too, right? Me as well! Obviously!”
Gwendolyn raised her hand high, her eyes sparkling.
She was already brimming with confidence.
There was no particular reason to refuse.
“…Well, sure.”
I had no real reason to decline.
At that, Gwendolyn clenched both fists and exclaimed.
“Yes!! I’ll learn magic here, and cooking, and also…!!”
Gwendolyn grabbed Iliana’s hand.
“I have to bathe with Iliana too!”
“Eh…? B-bathing?”
“I’ve always been curious about how soft Iliana’s skin is~?”
Gwendolyn winked playfully and linked her arm through Iliana’s.
Iliana trembled in surprise.
Her face flushed crimson, too bright to hide even with her head bowed.
Gwendolyn found Iliana adorable and hugged her arm tighter, pressing closer.
“Tehe, you cute little thing. I can hardly wait to see how much cuter you’ll be in the bathhouse.”
“Th-that kind of talk…!!”
The two of them had been close in their past life.
This life was no different.
But there was one thing.
Gwendolyn’s obsession with beauty.
Or as they say, a weakness for pretty faces.
“It’s such a waste to only look at this beautiful girl with my eyes.”
“Ah…!”
“And if your skin is this soft, I might just pounce on you without thinking…?”
“Wh-what?!?”
It seemed this wasn’t something that applied only to men.
* * *
The two women bickering (?).
More precisely, Gwendolyn was teasing Iliana one-sidedly.
I slipped out, leaving the two of them behind.
The landscape of Whitewolf Territory visible through the window.
It was peaceful.
As though nothing had ever happened at Langritd Magic Tower.
Children laughed brightly, running and playing without a care.
Elves, Dwarves, and Werebeasts mingled together in the marketplace.
I paused mid-step.
I took in the peaceful scene, committing it to memory.
In doing so, I finally checked the rewards I’d been unable to verify due to Mungu’s relentless pestering.
First came the experience points.
The enormous experience I’d gained from defeating The Immortal Lord.
When I’d defeated the Beast Lord, I’d earned a staggering 6 billion experience points.
Of course, that had been an exceptional circumstance.
When T-Rex transformed into the nucleus of evolution.
The genetic information of all life and monsters across The Continent had manifested, and I’d been credited with defeating it.
Even for another Lord, 6 billion was unrealistic.
But this was different—I couldn’t know for certain.
The Immortal Lord was a being who had lived for countless eons.
It was possible he carried far more experience than the Beast Lord.
My heart racing with anticipation, I summoned my 「Player Information」.
==「Player Information」==
[Name] = Adrian Whitewolf
[Title] = Dragon Slayer
[Level] = 1,022
[HP] = 2,945,800
[MP] = -1,344,000
[Sanity] = 0/ℵ0
[Stats] = Strength: 24,512 Agility: 22,425 Endurance: 29,458 Mana: -13,440(x-1.2)
[Experience] = 35.8%
【Additional Stats +5】
My mana stat had increased dramatically.
Through the ability absorption factor [EX], I’d absorbed some of The Immortal Lord’s—
Arcanis’s mana.
“It’s unfortunate I couldn’t obtain more…”
But I wasn’t about to complain.
Gaining this much mana for free was already satisfying enough.
More importantly, the skill—Fragments of Immortality.
I’d obtained a broken skill that nullified instant death damage and critical status effects once.
“I can steadily increase it through level-up stats.”
In that sense, the experience points—
Contrary to my expectations—
Only amounted to a single level up.
No matter how inflated the required experience had become, this was excessive.
“…Seems I didn’t gain any experience from it.”
In other words, my defeat of The Immortal Lord wasn’t recognized as a kill.
The decisive annihilation came from Iliana’s Materialization of Fantasy.
Of course, I had driven him to that point.
But I only drove him.
I never delivered the killing blow.
I didn’t even bring him to a state where death was possible.
I merely restrained him.
“…But it’s not as though I gained nothing.”
Calamity Quest: [That Vampire from Last Year Came Back Without Even Dying].
Clear experience: +1 Level Up.
But the real reward lay in the new Privilege Skill.
◆Level Reset Factor [EX]
: The player may reset their level once every 100 days. All invested stats are retained.
…Truly a broken skill.
Well, a Privilege Skill, rather.
A level reset meant the required experience was also reset.
Yet the invested stats remained intact.
“This means….”
Growth Acceleration Factor [EX] multiplies combat experience by 100.
Transcendence Factor [EX] multiplies additional stats by 5.
With lower required experience, leveling would be explosive.
Growing steadily like that—
◆Level Reset Factor [EX] is activated.
◆Player level resets to 1.
“This is insane.”
The growth per level would skyrocket with each cycle.
But that wasn’t all.
The strange vision I had witnessed.
That is, the skill I obtained from the vision that suddenly overwhelmed me while consuming Arcanis’s heart.
◆Finite [M]
: A state wherein any concept is finite and possesses an end. The player may attempt to interface with specific concepts based on their understanding of Finite.
A Concept Skill—Finite [M].
It was a skill that required understanding.
But then again.
“I already understand Finite.”
I didn’t need Iliana’s instruction for it.
I already possessed a certain degree of understanding.
“Should I try it now?”
I drew forth all the genetic factors dwelling within the Perfect Organism [UL].
I grafted it onto Finite[M] haphazardly.
But it didn’t graft onto anything.
“Do I need a deeper understanding?”
Or rather, that wasn’t quite it.
“I think I’m not properly utilizing the Perfect Organism.”
I claimed to have drawn all the genetic factors of the Perfect Organism[UL], but that wasn’t the reality.
I only brought what I understood.
I could only extract and use what was comprehensible to me.
“In the end, it’s the limitation of cognition.”
The path to Ultimate Life was long and treacherous.
But it was fine.
Now Iliana would live on as well.
“I’ll have much to learn going forward.”
I stepped back, consoling myself with that thought.
Even so, I wondered if perhaps something might graft successfully.
I attempted various grafting combinations.
I hadn’t particularly expected anything.
But it grafted.
Moreover, with a concept I hadn’t anticipated at all.
◆Concept Skill: Finite[M] grafts with Anti-Mana.
Anti-Mana.
The power to erase/reverse/negate mana.
As it grafted with Finite[M], it created a new fusion skill.
◆Fusion Skill: Anti-Infinity[T] acquired!
The rank was none other than Transcendent[T].
Surpassing Mythic[M] and exceeding the rank of Lords.
◆Anti-Infinity[T]
: Collapses the concepts of [Expansion, Accumulation, Continuity, Perpetuity] necessary for Infinity to be established.
As a result, all infinities are forcibly given an endpoint, and infinite duration effects such as [Immortality, Circulation, Eternity, etc.] are converted to finite duration effects.
Indeed, it was worthy of being Transcendent[T].
The power to erase/reverse/negate infinity.
Simply put, it turned infinity into finitude.
With this, I could even eliminate the power of immortality.
Had I possessed Anti-Infinity[T], I could have killed The Immortal Lord with my own hands.
Of course, since it was an ability obtained by devouring The Immortal Lord, the sequence didn’t align… but regardless.
“This is completely broken, isn’t it?”
The word “broken” didn’t do it justice.
Perhaps that’s why.
“Should I go back and ask Iliana about Paradox[M]?”
Paradox[M], obtained by devouring the Beast Lord.
What kind of ridiculous fusion skill would that create?
The mere thought sent a thrill through me.
I turned to leave immediately.
“…No, wait.”
I stopped in my tracks.
Come to think of it, Iliana wasn’t in good condition.
The backlash from Imagination Manifestation had strained her entire nervous system.
Of course, her body had recovered completely.
But her mind hadn’t.
What if I carelessly asked her about the paradox and she overloaded, suffering a complete meltdown?
◆P-Please don’t!!!
“…I’ll ask later.”
Since we were now living under the same roof, there would be plenty of opportunities to learn.
I turned back around.
At that moment.
Yggdrasil’s verdant branches called out to me.
Creak, creeeeak!
Before I could wonder what it meant.
Beyond my hypersenses.
I caught the sound of Gwendolyn and Iliana bickering.
-Look at you, already thinking about which room to use~?
-T-That’s only because Adrian brought it up first…!!
-Oh please, all that bashfulness, and yet you’re acting so suspicious~ very suspicious~.
-Absolutely! Not at all! Completely unsuspicious!
-Don’t tell me you’re planning to take the room next to Adrian’s? Or perhaps… the same room?
-W-W-What are you saying!!
-Oh my? Look at that blush spreading across your face. You’ve definitely imagined it at least once, haven’t you?
-T-That’s not what I meant!!
Creak, creeeeak? (Same room?)
Creeak? (Then I don’t need to prepare separate rooms?)
Creak?! (Wait, are you already sharing one?!)
Creeak, creeeeak! (Ah, if the room’s too cramped, just say so!)
Creeeeeeak! (I’ll make you a spacious newlywed suite right away!)
…Whether it was joking or sincere.
It was hard to tell.
In any case.
To create a comfortable place for Iliana as well.
“Since things have come to this, I’ll establish a Magic Tower in Whitewolf Territory.”
More precisely, the Mage Corps.
I would lay the foundation for it.
Iliana would be living under the same roof as well.
Gwendolyn, my former advisor, would be staying with us too.
“I suppose it’s about time.”
Truth be told, the Mage Corps required an astronomical amount of funding—something I couldn’t have afforded until now.
But what was money?
Now I had more than enough rotting away in my inventory.
“First, prepare a separate room for Iliana.”
Kee-kee-kee~! (Just like that~!)
Yggdrasil vanished, rustling its leaves merrily.
Ever since absorbing the Death Lord.
That one was gradually losing its mind as well.
Ignoring the “kee-kee~♪” laughter echoing from somewhere, I began formulating plans to establish the Mage Corps.
“I can request the necessary structures from the Dwarves.”
The Elves could cultivate the essential magical materials.
That left only one problem.
“I don’t have the land to build a Magic Tower.”
Whitewolf Territory lacked sufficient space.
And for good reason—a Magic Tower wasn’t simply a matter of erecting a single tower and calling it done.
Research facilities, laboratories, quarantine zones.
Installation of magical formations, external defense networks, and more.
When all essential facilities were included, it rivaled the size of an entire city.
Perhaps even larger.
Langritd Magic Tower alone was larger than most duchies.
Of course, Langritd Magic Tower’s scale was exceptionally vast.
“The Mage Corps was no small undertaking either.”
It operated with the Allied Forces fully integrated into its structure.
Therefore, it served simultaneously as a military base, research facility, and administrative headquarters.
It was an entirely different dimension from a typical Magic Tower.
“It would need to be even larger than Sylvandir Forest or Feractrum.”
And that was the bare minimum.
On top of that, the Werebeast forces.
Or rather, the beastkin needed land to inhabit as well.
The land shortage was becoming increasingly urgent.
“…I suppose I should go see for myself?”
It seemed I wouldn’t have a moment’s rest.
* * *
Count Whitewolf’s Castle.
In its heart lay Seraphia’s Administrative Office.
“Eh…?!”
Seraphia blinked her eyes in bewilderment.
None other than Adrian standing right before her.
He had awakened suddenly, which was shocking enough in itself.
“You’re heading to the Capital right now?”
“Yes.”
Adrian answered with composure.
Seraphia blinked once more.
It was not something someone who had just awakened should be saying.
Seraphia gazed at Adrian with worried eyes.
His body was perfectly fine.
Thanks to Yggdrasil’s recovery, he was in flawless condition.
Yet Seraphia couldn’t bring herself to speak easily.
“Um… well… brother.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Are you aware that His Majesty has awakened?”
“His Majesty has?”
“Yes. He awakened when you lost consciousness. About a week ago.”
Adrian’s eyes wavered for a moment.
But soon his expression returned to its usual composure as he asked back.
“And?”
“And that…”
Seraphia hesitated for a long while before finally opening her mouth.
“News arrived today that he has… passed away.”
“What?”
Adrian’s eyes widened slightly.
Seraphia flinched and continued.
“I only received word this morning, so I don’t yet know all the details. Regarding His Majesty’s death…”
Seraphia’s words trailed off.
Should she say it or not?
She deliberated seriously.
But Adrian stared at her intently.
Sensing his urge for her to speak, Seraphia finally squeezed her eyes shut.
“Leon has been named as the prime suspect.”

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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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