Chapter 302 New Hierarchy -2
Chapter 302 New Hierarchy -2
Jiha looked straight at Pairan.
She had no reason to come all the way here and lie.
So it had to be the truth.
'Alex used the Mana stolen from Gashiel to exert power at the Unique level and beyond. While I was busy shattering his mind into pieces... If he'd had stronger mental fortitude and forced a prolonged fight, he would've been a real headache.'
Pairan spoke as though she was already committed to revealing everything.
"You might not believe this, but it's the truth. In the first place..."
"I believe you, so explain. How is mass production of Uniques even possible?"
Even Ouroboros's magic stone experiments on living subjects had only managed to elevate Normals to the Rare Grade.
Or, at best, further strengthen existing Rares.
"Normal Grades have no abilities whatsoever, while Rare Grades can use Mana. So what do you think is the difference between a Super Rare and a Rare Grade?"
Pairan, who had been a Super Rare herself, explained.
"Surprisingly little is known about Super Rares. The common assessment is that they are temporary grades created with permission from a Unique's closest confidant or a Legend. But few people pay attention to how that's actually possible or what the specific differences from a Rare Grade are. So..."
"When you become a Super Rare, an additional Special Ability blooms. Usually influenced by the Unique you serve. In game terms, it's like your skill slot expands. Total Mana roughly doubles too."
"...How did you know that?"
Jiha had stated it offhandedly, but Pairan's face showed genuine surprise.
"Did you think I wouldn't know?"
"Yeah."
"You'd be terrible at negotiations."
Jiha had certainly considered that angle.
Especially with Mayan, a Super Rare herself, nearby.
"I've been told the procedure for becoming a Super Rare is simply a matter of stamping a contract and undergoing a ritual. Was it the same for you?"
"I accepted it without much thought at the time too... but when I met a Purple Legend and heard an additional explanation, the story was completely different."
Pairan lowered her voice, as if what came next was an even deeper secret.
"Starting at the Super Rare level, you possess an invisible passage within your body."
"A passage?"
Lowchen had also spoken about Uniques being "open."
"In the early days of the Thousand-Year War, there were many old gods, but they've all vanished without a trace now. It's a story almost no one remembers anymore... but though they disappeared from Warsland, they are actually sleeping in another dimension."
"You mean they were banished?"
"I don't know the details. But there are beings like the Shade, who existed in Warsland but now reside in another dimension. So when the Shade... makes a human fetus accept the Shade to create the race called Yogwi, that's also a kind of passage."
"You're skipping over things. So the reason Uniques possess the trait of infinite Mana recovery is because of that passage?"
"Yes. Uniques are connected to those sleeping ancient beings through an invisible passage, granting them the Special Ability to recover Mana endlessly. The celestials seem to call it a divine blessing, but... a Purple Legend investigated it in secret. Without the Uniques themselves knowing."
"..."
Well, of course they did.
Uniques are beings with infinite Mana, of which only exactly ten appear in the world. Simply possessing them dictates strategy, and Blue and Purple had each held five until now.
That's why the balance of power and the armistice had lasted for hundreds of years.
But what if you had more Uniques than your opponent? It was only natural to latch onto that idea.
"So the research objective is mass production of Uniques. And you became a Unique artificially?"
"..."
Pairan hesitated for a moment before speaking heavily.
"Every experiment so far has failed. But since I, like my brother, am a Yogwi created directly by the Shade's leader, the Night King, they said the possibility of my passage opening was high. When I, having fled Ouroboros for Purple, heard that story, I was dumbfounded."
"You really do have a rough fate."
Jiha tsked.
Defecting couldn't have been an easy decision, yet after abandoning Asira and going to Purple, what awaited her was a different kind of experiment.
"But to stop my brother, I needed greater power. Purple and I had a matching interest, so I underwent the procedure to become a Unique."
"What was it specifically?"
"...Cutting down a previous Unique."
"..."
So the story was that she became a Unique by killing a Unique. Which meant the number of Uniques in Warsland remained at ten.
"It was an overwhelmingly uphill fight, but I barely managed to win at the very end. And then... I felt my internal passage expand, and a sense of fullness as Mana began gushing out endlessly. Before, I couldn't maintain my Gravity Field for more than 10 seconds. Now, 30 minutes is a breeze."
Pairan was truly holding nothing back.
"Until now, cases of a Unique falling in Warsland have been extremely rare, but they do exist. However, those were defeats by other Uniques, not by a lower grade. Moreover, I achieved this inside an arena that had undergone extremely special processing, which is why it was possible. But Purple... has now confirmed through me that the passage can be transferred."
"Next, they'll try to create that passage artificially."
If that became possible, it meant mass production of Uniques.
'...It is possible.'
Jiha synthesized the information he had gathered so far and assessed it inwardly.
A Super Rare is a special case where a Rare Grade is strengthened with a Legend's permission.
Alex sealed Gashiel and stole the Unique trait of infinite Mana recovery.
A person without Mana gains Mana. Another who already has it steals a Unique's Mana and recovery speed.
What Pairan represents is what Alex did, permanently fixed into something immutable.
"Why did Purple let you go to Waris so easily? They'd want to hide you away and conduct more experiments."
"Around that time, Gashiel Remaker went missing, and they suspected it was the work of Ouroboros or Blue Seal. In that case, a Unique had to step forward, and I was the only viable option available. For my part, I heard that Lady Asira was here, and with intelligence that the Shade had appeared, I aimed to stop my brother. My objective of stopping my brother was likely the contract between Purple and me, so they cooperated."
"So from Purple's perspective, Lowchen and Ouroboros were also thorns in their side."
Jiha confirmed the series of facts and nodded.
Blue Seal, Purple Liberation, and Ouroboros had been fiercely engaging in shadow wars, each with their own calculations.
The reason Purple had seemed quiet all this time was purely on the surface. Beneath the waterline, they were carrying out all sorts of schemes.
"...Now that I've divulged this, I can't return to Purple. And I certainly can't go back to Blue Seal."
"Only me, then."
Jiha summed it up.
Now Pairan truly had nowhere left to go except under Jiha.
Setting aside their other Uniques, Purple would absolutely attempt to purge at least Pairan, whom they had created through secret experiments.
She was their achievement, but also their embarrassment.
"Now you want me to trust your loyalty?"
"...Yes."
Pairan had burned her own bridge.
She was trying to prove her sincerity by showing that the only thing left for her was to serve under Jiha.
Jiha smiled.
"Or did you calculate that handing this information to me would make Asira safer?"
"..."
Pairan sighed, then nodded almost imperceptibly.
If Purple mass-produced Uniques, every existing paradigm would collapse.
The strategies Jiha had formulated were also predicated on the fact that there were only ten Uniques in Warsland.
"Still, the experiment was a limited success achieved through me, a truly special case. Purple themselves admitted that mass production is currently impossible. ...Though I can't guarantee what will happen in twenty years."
"..."
This was intelligence that meant if he took too long to conquer the world, Purple might someday mass-produce Uniques and launch an assault.
'I need a spy who can extract information from inside Purple. But...'
Purple's Unique, Leticia, had already been exposed as moving under Jiha's command.
That left Barjet, Gashiel, and Pairan... but none of the three were suited to play the role of a spy.
He'd have to devise another method.
"And be especially cautious of Purple. Blue Seal is more overt and easier to read, but... Purple moves in secrecy. They hide information extremely well within their thoroughly controlled society. What's more, the Epic... it was only a shadow I saw, but I absolutely could not gauge its limits."
"I'll keep that in mind."
"That's everything I had to say."
Jiha looked at Pairan with fresh eyes.
At first, he had dismissed her as a presumptuous hunting dog infatuated with Asira.
But Pairan was an artificial Unique created by Purple's experiments, and the younger sister of Lowchen, a key figure in Ouroboros.
From birth, she was a human experiment created to become a powerful Yogwi, a woman who had lived a miserable and unfortunate existence.
"Why the sudden display of loyalty towards me?"
"..."
Simply wishing for Asira's happiness couldn't possibly make her lay all her cards on the table like this.
Pairan spoke hesitantly.
"I've experienced life in both Blue and Purple. Neither was a utopia. But... if what you said today is true, I thought something might actually change. I don't know whether you're right or wrong, but I thought you might be able to change the current situation."
"..."
"I think it would be good if you succeeded to some degree."
She really just says whatever pops into her head.
Jiha laughed in disbelief.
"This is when you're supposed to say that your lord can surely pacify this chaotic realm. That you'd be willing to serve as a lowly hound at his side."
"I don't know if you can actually pacify Warsland."
It was a temperament utterly incapable of speaking empty words.
Loyal hounds are honest by nature. They wag their tails at their master and bare their teeth at enemies.
Things like masking their true feelings or scheming are beyond them.
The information she had just divulged was something she held in her heart, not something she had planned to use.
But that was precisely why she could be trusted.
This intelligence was Pairan's own form of sincerity.
"Well, it's not bad. I'll treat you kindly for the time being."
"..."
"Alright. You can go now."
Pairan hesitated briefly, then gave a slight bow of her head and left.
She seemed confused about how to treat Jiha, positioned as he was above Asira, but she had apparently decided to follow him at least this much for now.
'Just one or two more steps should do it. She'll be useful when dealing with Lowchen too...'
Narsha, Barjet, and Gashiel remained, but Jiha didn't bother to summon them.
If they didn't decide, he would decide for them.
"Mass production of Uniques, huh..."
Just like Ouroboros, Purple had been conducting research as well.
Blue Seal was probably doing similar research too.
'I have eight Uniques under my command. It seems like a massively advantageous situation, but there's still a gap in military forces. They must think that so long as they succeed in mass-producing Uniques, nothing else matters.'
Now the real battle begins.
As Jiha solidified his resolve, a knock sounded at the door.
"Excuse me, Commander. A messenger dove has arrived."
"Bring it in."
News had come from Enril and Leticia.
Did they pull it off properly? The bigger picture going forward would change dramatically depending on their success or failure.
The escort guard placed the letter on Jiha's desk and withdrew.
The wax seal bore a blue flower insignia, signifying that Enril had sent it.
"Well then..."
Let's see how the future landscape has been drawn.
Jiha used a paper knife to open the envelope, took out the letter, and checked its contents.
It was a success.
Only halfway.