The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - Chapter 95

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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 95. The Grand Mage of the Allied Forces (2)
Four heroes who followed the hero Ian.
These four heroes represented the Allied Forces’ greatest strength, and among them, Iliana was the woman known as ‘The Grand Mage.’
In my previous life, I had never been particularly close to the Allied Forces’ heroes.
Their positions were far too elevated to maintain any real connection.
Above all, our spheres of activity were entirely different.
The Special Task Force to which I belonged operated under the Allied Forces Command.
In other words, we were Ian’s direct unit.
We acted and moved solely at Ian’s command, carrying out missions that could not be revealed publicly—what one might call unrecorded operations.
Because of this, the Special Task Force operated as an elite unit isolated even within the Allied Forces.
Unless our missions happened to overlap, I rarely had the opportunity to even speak with the Allied Forces’ heroes.
This was why my relationship with Isolde was poor, to say the least.
But with The Grand Mage, I had shared considerable conversation.
More precisely, I had asked her many questions.
Curiosities about my Predation [S+] ability.
Inquiries and knowledge regarding evolution abilities.
In that sense, all the knowledge of evolutionary biology I currently possessed—
—had been learned and studied from The Grand Mage during my time with the Allied Forces.
The Grand Mage never found me troublesome.
She made time to teach me, and even conducted her own research on matters I hadn’t asked about, sharing her findings with me.
She was the hero I was closest to.
And the Allied Forces hero who had helped me the most.
That Iliana now sat quietly in one corner of the Dining Hall.
Perhaps she sensed my gaze upon her.
Iliana lifted her head.
Our eyes met in that moment.
“Hah…!”
Her body flinched and trembled as she hurriedly looked away.
Like someone sitting on thorns, she couldn’t keep still for even a moment, her body restless and fidgeting.
As I thought.
She was utterly different from my previous life.
The Iliana of my past existence.
The Iliana I remembered.
She was someone who always concealed darkness within her heart.
Like one devoid of emotion, her expression was perpetually blank and expressionless.
The helpless gestures she displayed now.
The faint blush spreading across her face.
The way she bowed her head deeply to avoid meeting my eyes.
I had never witnessed such things in my previous life.
No matter how much I had returned to the past, her personality was far too different from what I remembered.
‘Could I have misjudged her?’
The moment I activated Predator’s Instinct [S], information materialized before my eyes with crystalline clarity.
==【Character Information】==
Name: Iliana Segretius
Classification: Animalia, Mammalia, Hominidae, Human
Gender: Female
Age: 16
Distinctive Traits: Insight [L], Peak Human Intelligence [A+]
Fortunately, I hadn’t misjudged her after all.
Her name, her age—everything aligned perfectly with the Iliana I knew.
But those distinctive abilities were what truly caught my attention.
Activating Predator’s Instinct [S] once more, the description of Iliana’s abilities surfaced before me.
◆Insight [L]
: The user can intuitively comprehend all phenomena. This applies to all forms of information, knowledge, wisdom, and experience. The user instinctively understands the origins of this complex world and the flow of its energetic foundations, grasping their workings with perfect clarity.
The rank [L] denotes Legendary.
It was one tier below Isolde’s Vessel of All Things [M].
Yet [L]-rank was far from being a low-tier ability.
It stood on equal footing with abilities like the Radiant Dragon’s Wrath [L].
But there was more than just Insight [L] to consider.
◆Peak Human Intelligence [A+]
: Upon acquiring this skill, the neurons and neural networks of the brain expand explosively. Through this, one can reach the absolute pinnacle of biological cognitive capacity.
Literacy, memory, and reasoning intelligence increase by [+5,850%].
Aging and damage directly related to brain injury incur [+2,330%] additional harm. The probability of developing mental illness increases by [+18,325%].
【This skill, when acquired as a passive ability, applies permanently.】
Two exceptional human capacities: intellect and physicality.
Iliana was a kind of ‘mutant’—one who had pushed ‘intellect’ to its absolute extreme.
Her rank alone was [A+].
A tier above Isolde’s Perfect Muscle Control [A].
In other words, Iliana’s intellect rivaled or even surpassed the innate abilities of dragons themselves.
Insight [L] and Peak Human Intelligence [A+].
These two abilities were creating a ‘synergistic effect’.
Through this, she could approach the laws that governed this world—truths known only to the divine.
Iliana could draw closest to such truths, and she had become the first in Continental history to earn the epithet [Sage of Truth].
After confirming Iliana’s information, I lit the fire on the grill.
Sizzle—!
The pleasant sound of Prime-grade Lex meat cooking.
A spectacular display of flames followed, captivating the eye, while a rich, savory aroma wafted through the air.
“Huh?”
Iliana’s expression shifted from cautious observation.
Her nose twitched like a puppy’s, and her fingertips, which had been tense moments before, trembled ever so slightly.
Blue eyes fixed upon the griddle.
As they gleamed with anticipation, shimmering with light.
“Mmm…!”
She bit her lip gently, as if cradling a small thrill within herself.
Yet could she truly contain such excitement?
As saliva trickled from the corner of Iliana’s mouth—
Indeed.
Nothing dissolved one’s guard quite like delicious food.
* * *
A Lex steak, grilled to appetizing perfection.
Iliana’s blue eyes lost focus for a moment before returning.
“Is this… monster meat?”
“It is.”
Iliana hesitated to reach for it.
A gulp.
Yet the sound of her swallowing saliva rang out clearly.
“There is nothing to worry about. Do try some.”
Still, Iliana did not readily extend her hand.
But could a mage’s curiosity truly be overcome?
“W-well then….”
Iliana carefully grasped the fork and knife.
Her blue eyes flickered with anticipation, though only for a moment.
She delicately maneuvered the fork and knife in both hands, cutting a slice from the steak.
From the perfectly cooked steak, juices dripped steadily.
And from the corner of Iliana’s mouth, saliva dripped just as steadily.
Soon, Iliana’s small lips parted slightly.
The moment the steak entered her mouth, her eyes closed softly.
As if she were savoring every sensation of its taste.
A small moan escaped from her slender throat—
“Mmmmm!!!”
Her delicate shoulders trembled with a shudder.
Her eyes, which had been gently closed, snapped wide open.
Before the steak had even descended her throat, Iliana stabbed her fork into the remaining meat.
The knife had long since been abandoned.
She shoved unsiced steak into her mouth, chewing ravenously like someone who hadn’t eaten in days.
“Mmmmm!!!”
Her body trembled as she expressed her delight in her own unique way.
A reaction similar to Seraphia’s, yet subtly different.
Before long, the Lex steak had vanished as if hidden by sleight of hand.
“W-what…!!”
Iliana’s face and expression were a mixture of ecstasy and shock in equal measure.
“Am I truly not losing my mind?!”
It wasn’t merely the exquisite flavor that Lex’s meat bestowed upon her.
In any case, Iliana possessed an unparalleled intellectual curiosity.
This aspect hadn’t changed one bit from her previous life.
“This was a difficult problem that Arcanis Rilsein posed as a challenge…!”
The first mage, Arcanis Rilsein.
Thousands of years ago, in the distant past.
A great sage who devised the method of converting Mana into Mana Force—an energy that could be harnessed and utilized.
Arcanis was the first to recreate the phenomenon of magic using Mana Force.
In other words, Arcanis was simultaneously the first mage and the founder of the discipline known as magical studies.
Thereafter, Arcanis pondered the direction in which magic should develop.
He selected important problems that the magical world would need to solve in the future—
“Do you happen to know of Arcanis’s Twenty-Three Conundrums?”
What is known today as “Arcanis’s Twenty-Three Conundrums” was precisely that.
And these conundrums, merely by posing the questions themselves, are said to carry profound magical significance.
The birth of homunculi in the past also originated from Arcanis’s Twenty-Three Conundrums.
—Are life and soul identical, or are they separate entities?
In their attempt to resolve this conundrum, mages ultimately drew the creation of life—a domain of the divine—into the realm of human reason.
As a result, golems and homunculi were born.
Beyond this, there were several other conundrums.
I don’t know the details, though.
“But I have a general understanding.”
From my previous life, I had learned things from Iliana, so I possessed a vague grasp of them.
As for what comes to mind immediately…
“Regarding the permanence of magic: Is magic eternal, or does it dissipate with the passage of time? If the effects of magic could be made permanent, what conditions would be necessary?”
On one hand, there is such a conundrum.
“Regarding the subordination of magic: To what extent can magic influence reality? Can magic transcend laws, or is it subordinate to them?”
And there is also such a conundrum.
“Regarding the ethics of magic: Can magic be divided into good and evil? When devising powerful magical formulas and incantations, what ethical standards should the creator consider?”
Roughly, these were the sorts of headache-inducing conundrums.
Four of them have been resolved.
Seven have been partially resolved.
Twelve remain unsolved.
And among the four resolved conundrums, one is precisely—
“There is also the conundrum about whether one can eliminate the monster madness imprinted at the genetic level, which you just mentioned, Iliana.”
And as I said, this conundrum was in a “resolved” state.
Impossible.
The monster madness imprinted at the genetic level cannot be eliminated.
Thus the conclusion was reached, and the conundrum was resolved.
Yet that resolved problem had been flipped on its head.
For the mages—especially from Iliana’s perspective—it was nothing short of shock, astonishment, and sheer terror.
“Oh, could you possibly be a mage?!”
True to form, Iliana cried out in surprise.
Her wide-open eyes held even greater astonishment than when she’d eaten the Lex steak.
“I am not a mage.”
“Then are you a mage scholar?!”
A mage scholar referred to someone who studied the theory of magic.
A mage was a practitioner.
A mage scholar was a researcher.
That was roughly the distinction between them.
“No. I’m not a mage scholar either. I merely possess superficial knowledge of magic, nothing more.”
Knowledge I had learned from Iliana in my previous life.
Since even that consisted of headache-inducing material that I only grasped in the most cursory manner, it felt embarrassing to even call myself a mage scholar.
But perhaps Iliana didn’t perceive it that way.
“If, if you don’t mind, would it be alright if I asked you a few questions?!”
Iliana’s blue eyes gazing at me.
They sparkled and shone like a puppy’s before going for a walk.
* * *
A few questions—what nonsense.
It wasn’t a few ‘questions’ but several ‘hours’ that had slipped away.
Truly.
…My head felt like it might split open.
Gazing out the window, dawn was slowly breaking.
I had stayed awake the entire night.
Yet Iliana—did she never tire?
“To think of it in such a way…!!”
Her face remained as bright and innocent as a puppy’s from the very beginning.
Until now, I had managed to provide answers somehow.
But honestly, I no longer knew what I was even saying.
I was merely reciting what Iliana had taught me in my previous life.
In that sense, everything I had said thus far was not my own research.
All of it was knowledge that Iliana from my previous life had researched and uncovered.
I had merely cast out fragments of that knowledge.
More precisely, they were only magical knowledge I had been forced to learn in order to study evolutionary biology under Iliana.
In short, Iliana.
You did all of this.
“You’re truly a genius!!”
Did she even realize she was praising herself?
In any case, I had reached my limit.
No matter how hard I racked my brain, nothing more would come out.
In other words, I’d exhausted my entire stock of knowledge.
“Then what do you think about the impossibility of faster-than-light travel?!”
I have no thoughts on it.
I don’t even want to think about it.
“Why are ancient rune incantations more efficient than spellcasting?!”
I don’t know.
Ask a dragon about that sort of thing, not me.
“Why did life forms capable of using mana evolve to respond to it?! What biological changes occurred during the process of adapting to mana?!”
Sorry, but I can’t handle mana at all.
“Darkness and light cancel each other out, but couldn’t we use both simultaneously to create neutral magic?!”
That might be possible.
Right now, Iliana, you’re making me exactly that.
Chaos.
Because of you, my mind is a cauldron of chaos.
“Is there a physical difference between naturally occurring lightning and lightning generated by mana? If so, what method could detect that difference?!”
…My head feels like it’s about to explode any second now.
“Undead don’t have life energy, so how can they move? Could there be another form of energy we’re unaware of?!”
But Iliana’s intellectual curiosity knew no bounds.
Honestly.
Isolde was far easier to deal with.
Though Isolde tried to kill me outright at first, I could still convince her with a simple sparring match and be done with it.
But now, even as my mind was being worked to exhaustion, the endless barrage of questions threatened to drive me completely mad.
In other words.
“And then also…!!”
…This woman is far too difficult to build affection with.

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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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