The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 36

—————

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

—————

Chapter 36. Love and Hate (1)
A semi-transparent message appeared: Seraphia cannot reach the [Affection] state in favorability.
◆Those in the [Affection] state are drawn to you and love you passionately.
◆Such individuals will sacrifice themselves wholeheartedly for you, willing to give everything they possess.
◆If they are the opposite sex, they would offer not just their heart, but their body as well!
In short, it was a state bordering on love.
Not just bordering on it—it was love itself.
Of course, love came in many forms.
But the love described here apparently included ‘physical love’ as well.
In that sense, Seraphia could never reach the [Affection] state toward me.
◆Favorability Obstruction Factors – Older brother, family, incest.
◆You cannot reach the [Affection] state unless you remove the favorability obstruction factors.
Between Seraphia and me stood an insurmountable wall: .
Of course, we were step-siblings with no blood relation.
Yet incest was still incest.
“I’ve heard there are people who can never reach the affection state no matter what.”
This was apparently what that meant.
So in a way, I was relieved.
Seraphia’s favorability toward me was at the affection level.
…Just thinking about it made my skin crawl.
Because my favorability toward her was in the [Hatred] state.
I possessed an unwavering resolve to destroy and kill Seraphia without fail.
I was merely postponing her execution because of what Ian had said.
“Pointless.”
I was clearing away the messages before my eyes when it happened.
◆Your favorability with Kai has increased dramatically!
“What is this now?”
Had they all gone mad?
* * *
Kai’s mind was in considerable turmoil.
Smoke rising from chimneys in every house throughout Whitewolf Territory.
People gathered around bonfires, eating warm soup.
The cheerful laughter of children echoing through the air.
It was all thanks to Adrian.
All of it was what Adrian had brought back from this trade expedition.
With a single trade run, he had struck it rich and completely solved the chronic problems plaguing Whitewolf Territory.
‘How is this possible…’
I couldn’t comprehend it at all.
Of course, I had tasted monster meat myself. I wasn’t unaware that it possessed excellent value as a commodity.
But as the saying goes, the protruding nail gets hammered down.
It would not have been strange if the business had completely collapsed due to the territorial monopoly of the existing merchants.
Of course, given the superior quality of the goods, some level of success could have been achieved.
But according to what the soldiers told me….
“When we went to buy things, the merchants belonging to the Merchant Guild treated us so well.”
“The merchants even asked us to put in a good word for them with Adrian, and they gave us generous discounts!”
Adrian had apparently seized control of the Merchant Guild.
And through that, he had seized control of all of Frecce.
All with just a single transaction.
‘How is this possible….’
I could not believe this was something the Count Whitewolf House’s wastrel had accomplished.
He had not caused trouble like a wastrel would.
He had integrated into Frecce, achieved mutual prosperity with them, and drawn out their natural loyalty.
He had not solved everything through force alone.
Sometimes through cooperation, sometimes through negotiation.
That was something I could never do.
I could wield a sword better than anyone to cut down obstacles before me.
But I did not know how to build what comes after.
That is why I could not protect Seraphia.
That is why I could not protect anyone.
But Adrian was different.
He knew how to persuade people and how to live together with them.
Adrian possessed not only the pursuit of martial growth, but also the talents of a great lord.
He was simply… different.
The very vessel of Adrian, whom I had thought was merely a wastrel.
He was simply different.
He was far too vast.
He was so immense and expansive that I could not fathom him, and because of that, I could no longer call him ‘the Count Whitewolf House’s wastrel’.
Moreover, my shock did not end there.
“How did he manage to return to Whitewolf Territory?”
Currently, Whitewolf Territory was completely cut off from the outside world by a blizzard.
And the blizzard of the Northern Region was not to be taken lightly.
The environment was already one where vegetation could not grow.
When a blizzard falls, everything loses its original color. The expression that the entire landscape is covered and consumed by white was perfectly fitting.
If a fierce wind swept through, it immediately turned into a snowstorm, and one could not see even a few steps ahead.
The words of Bernard, the head steward, were no exaggeration whatsoever.
Whitewolf Territory was in a situation that required preparation for prolonged isolation.
Yet Adrian had returned to Whitewolf Territory.
That meant he had pushed through the blizzard.
And he had done so while leading several wagons laden with relief supplies.
“Ah, that is to say….”
One of the soldiers answered Kai’s question.
“It was….”
But the soldier’s expression grew uncertain, and his words kept trailing off. From his demeanor, it seemed he couldn’t quite believe what he had witnessed himself.
What on earth had he seen?
“Adrian used magic.”
“…Magic?”
Kai found this equally absurd.
Adrian using magic? That made no sense.
“In truth, we believed the blizzard would prevent us from returning to Whitewolf Territory.”
“The snow had piled up nearly to our height, making it impossible to discern where anything was….”
“And the whiteout phenomenon left us completely disoriented.”
The soldiers’ testimonies poured forth one after another.
In other words, this wasn’t some delusion witnessed by one or two people.
“But when Adrian placed his hand forward, all the accumulated snow suddenly vanished.”
“The snow disappeared?”
“Yes! With a whoosh—! The snowdrifts were sucked away somewhere….”
“To us, it looked like he was using magic!”
The soldiers reminisced about that moment, murmuring amongst themselves.
From them came exclamations like “It was absolutely incredible,” and “He was like the Grand Mage parting the very seas!”
Not just one or two, but dozens of them.
All giving identical accounts.
This was certainly no delusion.
The possibility of deception was extremely low.
“That’s….”
Yet Kai couldn’t easily accept it.
Adrian had used magic.
That was… impossible.
Adrian’s talent with mana approached zero.
Mana—the energy that forms the foundation of all existence.
Mana is the energy that exists in nature, the primordial force that constitutes the world’s laws.
Because of this, mana could be said to contain nearly infinite energy.
Therefore, for any single entity—
That is, for a human to wield it posed considerable difficulty.
Simply put, if a human tried to use mana, they couldn’t withstand the energy and would perish.
Yet humanity’s desire for power eventually found an answer.
In the distant past, one called the Great Sage devised a method to refine mana and convert it into a usable form.
What is known today as “Available Energy” is precisely that.
And such available energy exists in two primary categories.
Mana Force.
Auror.
And mages wielded mana, while knights commanded aura.
Yet the mechanisms of these two usable energies were not merely different—they actively clashed.
Those who used mana could not wield aura.
Those who wielded aura could not use mana.
A mage could never become a knight, and a knight could never become a mage.
But whether mana or aura,
both were ultimately energy refined from the force called mana itself.
In other words, both were rooted in the same fundamental power: mana.
To use either mana or aura, one had to sense and harness this foundational force.
And Adrian?
His talent for perceiving mana approached absolute zero.
Mana sensitivity: 0.
He could neither feel nor perceive mana.
Therefore, he could wield neither aura nor mana.
Adrian should have been incapable of using magic.
More precisely, he could not use it.
‘Then what is happening now…?’
Of course, whether Adrian had actually used magic remained uncertain.
To the soldiers’ eyes, it resembled magic—but whether it truly was magic remained unclear.
What was certain, however, was that Adrian had performed a miracle indistinguishable from magic.
Just like
when he had subjugated Gelu Drake.
Adrian, who had blocked the Ice Breath head-on.
Adrian, who had exploited Gelu Drake’s carelessness and delivered the final blow.
‘Something…’
Adrian possessed something extraordinary.
What it was remained unknown.
But something miraculous, something akin to magic, had awakened within Adrian.
During that week Adrian had fled Whitewolf Territory,
something latent within him had been awakened.
This also explained how Adrian had purged the madness embedded in monster flesh.
A feat no one in the history of the Continent had ever accomplished.
Humanity had discovered, through countless studies, how to convert mana into usable energy.
But they had found no way to remove the madness dwelling within monsters.
They had declared it definitively impossible.
‘A power that transforms the impossible into the possible…’
Kai had defined Adrian’s inherent nature in precisely those terms.
Look now.
At the territory of Whitewolf Territory, brimming with vitality and life.
See the smoke rising from every chimney, the savory aroma drifting gently through the air, and the children who no longer knew hunger.
What if.
What would have happened if Adrian hadn’t existed?
If Seraphia had accepted the proposal from Beneron Barony House, what would have truly become of her?
Would the soldiers, the territory’s people, and the entire Whitewolf Territory have been able to see hope as they do now?
Would I have witnessed tears of joy streaming down Seraphia’s cheeks?
No. It wouldn’t have.
It would have been the opposite.
The Whitewolf Territory would have been filled with nothing but despair, not hope.
Seraphia’s cheeks would have been wet with tears of misery, not happiness.
Adrian created it.
And protected it.
Seraphia, and the entire Whitewolf Territory.
Kai closed his eyes quietly.
About a month and a half remained until the Royal Court’s decree arrived.
Kai had planned to kill Adrian after that.
He had intended to eliminate Adrian the moment Seraphia definitively secured her position as lord.
But perhaps.
A thought suddenly occurred to him—that he might not need to kill Adrian after all.
Rather, the thought arose that Adrian might be necessary for the Whitewolf Territory.
Moreover, to truly protect Seraphia, the person capable of genuinely safeguarding her wasn’t Kai—it was Adrian.
For that reason, just for a very brief moment.
-Kai! Look at this! I’m doing great, aren’t I?
-Be careful! You’ll hurt yourself!
The thought that he might be able to spend time with Adrian as he once did—.
“….”
Kai stopped himself, if only for an instant.
* * *
A semi-transparent affinity message suddenly appeared before his eyes.
◆Kai’s affinity toward you has entered a [Conflict] state!
◆Characters in a [Conflict] state will clash with your opinions, actions, emotions, and goals, creating disputes.
◆Such individuals have a high probability of causing friction during interactions with you.
◆But don’t worry!
◆Love and hate are separated by only a thin line!
◆Resolving conflict relationships harmoniously promotes relational cohesion with that individual and can lead to more creative and change-oriented relationships!
◆Remember that relationships without conflict are merely static, apathetic, and conservative!
Following Seraphia, Kai’s affinity had risen as well.
Of course, Kai remained in merely a [Conflict] state.
But considering he had previously been in a [Hatred] state, this represented a rise of two entire stages.
In other words.
“Have I lost my mind?”
While I was away on a business trip to Frecce, it seems those two have lost their minds entirely.
There was no other explanation for it.
“Could there have been something wrong with the Gelu Drake meat?”
It was possible, given that the specimen had the dragon’s genetic markers imprinted so powerfully.
In any case.
“Irrelevant.”
I waved my hand dismissively, scattering the thought away.
My favorability rating with Kai remained at [Hatred].
I possessed an unwavering resolve to kill and destroy Kai without fail, so I dismissed their favorability ratings as utterly inconsequential.
If anything, I might have cared about the territory residents’ favorability.
But Seraphia and Kai’s favorability ratings were of no concern to me.
To be precise, I simply had no time for such matters.
“Let’s go hunting.”
I needed to evolve my abilities and grow stronger quickly.
I had to acquire experience points and fully utilize Ian’s capabilities.
Furthermore, I needed to secure products for the next business expedition.
I had no time to concern myself with favorability ratings.
I had no time to idle about leisurely either.
Every moment wasted delayed the spread of the Predator Merchant Company’s name.
And that delay pushed back the timeline for finding Ian’s whereabouts.
It delayed Ian learning of my presence in Whitewolf Territory, which in turn gave The Emperor more time.
Ten years.
I had to complete all preparations within that timeframe.
In that sense.
“The monster population is steadily declining.”
The decreasing number of monsters on Snowy Mountain posed a problem.
No living creature had an infinite population.
The monsters of Snowy Mountain had merely survived in that harsh environment; their numbers were never abundant to begin with.
It wasn’t a major issue at the moment, but—
“The fact that I have to hunt every time is also problematic.”
The current supply method had its limitations.
The Predator Merchant Company was not merely a tool to find Ian.
It was a precious merchant company that would become a reliable financial lifeline for the Allied Forces.
My plan was to make the Predator Merchant Company the greatest merchant company on The Continent.
So I pondered, and I found a clue to resolve this issue.
Ironically, that clue came from my memories of my past life.
Specifically, from The Emperor.
“If I use Icetroll….”
Utilizing Icetroll’s regenerative ability.
Icetroll could quickly regenerate even if its limbs were severed. Not just limbs, but belly fat or any other body part—everything regenerated instantly.
If I could just utilize that ability well enough.
Couldn’t I supply monster meat indefinitely?
“Should I go catch it right away?”
I headed straight toward the Frozen Peak.

—————

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

—————