Chapter 169
Chapter 169
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 168
Chapter Title: Extreme Intent Body
-----------------------------------------------------------------
My weight had decreased.
Precisely by about 17 kilograms. My face hadn't lost any fat, so my complexion wasn't gaunt or anything... but the problem was that [muscle] had been lost.
'The thighs—specifically, the quadriceps. Evenly from both sides and the latissimus dorsi.'
In other words, it had come off mainly from the large muscle groups.
Obviously, I had no idea why.
"No... what is this?"
It couldn't possibly be that my energy had been drained from our lovemaking after so long.
For one thing, the difference in our stats was just too vast.
There was no way my body could have been worn down from sex where I treated her like fragile gold or jade, always careful not to hurt Flower.
It had been more about emotional bonding than physical pleasure anyway—and even that had required hero-grade rice cakes and healing magic because she was so exhausted.
"There's still something I don't know about this body..."
Puzzled, I got out of bed. As the covers slipped away smoothly, Flower's lithe naked form came into view, still passed out in sleep.
"Your Majesty... Your Majesty..."
I took her hand as she murmured my name and groaned. She struggled to open her eyes.
"Yes. I'm right here, Flower."
"...Hehe."
She giggled vacantly, unlike her usual self. Her smile bloomed brightly, fresh as a flower, and I smiled too.
And after a moment like that? Flower finally shook off sleep and propped herself up.
"You need to eat..."
"Lie down a bit longer. You must be exhausted."
"It's not that bad. I even ate the rice cakes... Great Heal."
Flash!
She cast a healing spell on herself and stubbornly got up to dress.
Her outfit was a modern, form-fitting women's suit that clashed with anything from Medievaland. With her inherently urban look, it suited her like a fashion model.
'Come to think of it, items like that are starting to circulate. Even so... the drop rate must be ridiculously low.'
But considering her position as second-in-command of the Humanity Empire, she could obtain it if she wanted. If she'd been corrupt from the start, she could have piled up a tower of gold.
"Um... please stop staring..."
I shrugged at Flower blushing halfway through dressing.
"What? We did far worse yesterday."
"...I'll prepare breakfast."
Flower fled the bedroom, face beet red. Along the way, she hastily straightened the furniture and clothes strewn from yesterday's first round in the office to the bedroom.
And shortly after.
"Your Majesty, breakfast is served."
"Alright."
I began devouring the food the attendants had laid out on the bedroom table.
With 17 kilograms gone, my stomach felt like it had a hole in it—I was starving.
"Any special reports?"
"In the past three months, 187 new guilds have registered. A group of legendary-grade monsters, sphinxes, raided the Flame Star, resulting in 17 deaths, and..."
Over the next hour, as I ate, I received all sorts of reports on the Humanity Empire.
Despite the massive volume, Flower's voice flowed without a hitch, showing how perfectly she had mastered her daily duties.
'Still... even after eating nonstop for an hour, my weight isn't recovering.'
I didn't need a scale to know. My current weight was 178 kilograms.
Considering it had originally been 190... I'd only regained a measly 5 kilograms. Since it was muscle loss, not just weight, recovery wasn't easy.
'Well, at least the hunger's somewhat satisfied... I can recover slowly.'
As I thought that, Flower handed me a report.
"The value of gold coins is rising."
"The value of gold?"
I'd been fretting over constant inflation, wondering if I needed to summon the shopkeeper again. This was good news.
But why?
"The cause?"
"Collections."
Not just me—plenty of Ardenia's players received system benefits.
Once you became a player via a class card, anyone could form a guild, claim attendance rewards, open the cash shop, gain exp from monsters, and use inventory.
Just no diamonds.
'That one thing's a huge problem, though.'
Anyway, other players could benefit from the system too, so collections were naturally possible.
"I see... Players are burning through gold."
"Yes. More and more are buying weapon and armor enhancement scrolls from the cash shop."
The cash shop didn't only take diamonds—there were plenty of gold-purchasable items.
Weapon Enhancement Scroll (6,500 gold).
Armor Enhancement Scroll (3,500 gold).
These sold 10 per day and were so efficient that Revenge guides said, "Even if you're short on gold early on, buy them religiously!"
Makes sense— in Revenge, where everything demands diamonds, these were a rare gold-buyable item.
Not cheap, sure, but gold piles up by the hundreds of thousands from daily auto-hunting anyway.
'But Ardenia's different.'
In the Humanity Empire, 1 gold was worth about 100 won. Compared to its past value of around 10,000 won, that's a 99% crash... but even that's propped up by my central exchange items and national policies.
With no NPC consumables or skill book shops in Ardenia, inflation was inevitable.
But keeping gold from tanking created its own issue: those mandatory daily enhancement scrolls from Revenge became exorbitantly expensive.
At 100 won per gold, a 65,000-gold weapon scroll cost 650,000 won. Ten of them? 6.5 million.
Armor scrolls for another 3.5 million—10 million won daily. No matter how much gold players farmed, who could blow it all on enhancements?
So players only bought cash shop scrolls one at a time when needed... but as their levels rose, they started buying in bulk.
Impressive, considering they couldn't run 24/7 auto-hunt like in Revenge.
'Free-to-play collections, huh... Time to leak some info.'
Revenge had f2p guides for easier collections, obviously.
Completing collections curbs inflation and raises player averages, so supporting it aggressively makes sense.
"Good trend—encourage it. But don't let gold value spike too high. Release some gold: buy up common-grade items like wild boar hind legs at 10 gold each, steadily..."
I outlined the direction. The Humanity Empire was densely packed with residential areas and a nation—specifically, the emperor's power was so absolute that blocking corruption kept it running smoothly.
'Honestly, easy. Running an empire's easier than my old territory days. Talented people flock like clouds.'
Not because I'm some genius administrator—the environment's just favorable.
Food cheat, housing cheat, money cheat, military cheat—all maxed before running a nation. Anyone who fails at this is a hopeless idiot who should off themselves.
"Then I'll post the notice on the guild board as instructed."
"Good. As I always say, cut back on work. Hire more administrators. If I see you dozing off like yesterday again, I won't go easy."
"Won't go easy... on me?"
I answered Flower's baffled look.
"In bed. Three days and nights."
"...!"
Whoosh. Her face flushed so fast it was practically audible.
"I-I'll keep it in mind!"
She yelled, backing away, then hesitated. She shuffled toward me.
"...?"
I watched curiously.
Smack!
She planted a quick kiss and bolted.
"...Good grief."
I chuckled and headed upstairs to the rooftop via the stairs. Summer had arrived; basking in the pouring sunlight, countless people bustled energetically through the streets.
"Alright. I've practiced fine control for three months, even in bed yesterday..."
So.
Time to test full power.
"Kasim."
[Roaring Drake Kasim (Legendary) is summoned!]
I leaped off the rooftop, rode Kasim for about 10 kilometers, then landed in an empty plain and unsummoned him.
Thud!
Touching the ground, I felt the solid earth—carefully chosen landing spot.
This time, I looked up at the sky—specifically, the sun floating there.
"Good."
I opened inventory and pulled out a reset potion.
[Consumed Reset Potion!]
[4,400 bonus points added!]
Mana was less necessary now, so I pumped strength. With vitality at 999, no risk of overdoing it.
[Transcendent stat unlocked. Strength.]
[Target: Han Jaeyeon]
Glancing at the world message, I steadied my breath and crouched low.
"Three..."
Posture sunk low, torso pressed till my chin nearly touched the ground.
"Two."
And from there.
"One."
I kicked off.
---!
A crater hundreds of meters wide formed where I'd stood, the blast reaching my ears as the crater shrank to a speck.
The whole world receded.
Everything shrank.
Soon the vast plain, the long mountain range, all formed a massive checkerboard below.
And—
Thud.
I bumped my head.
On the world's ceiling.
"...No universe, as expected. No other continents either."
Ardenia wasn't that vast. Revenge was a massive war game, not exploration—wars need constant clashes and conflicts.
Just one continent.
And in a world without space, celestial bodies were predictable.
Whoooosh...
"Yeah. So that's how it is."
Standing on empty space, I eyed the blazing fireball a few kilometers away.
The sun.
Ardenia's light source.
"Thought it was huge... but up close, it's small."
Standing on space, gazing down at the unmistakably artificial checkerboard continent.
Yes.
With one leap, I'd jumped over 100 kilometers... and hit the world's ceiling.
"..."
I turned to the sun.
Thud.
Kicking space to approach, immense heat washed over me.
Fwoosh!
My pajamas incinerated instantly, leaving me naked—but that was it. No strain on my body.
Pulled a bone longsword from inventory and closed in.
Fwoosh!
It caught fire and crumbled to ash. Next, a steel sword—metal held longer, but as I neared, it changed.
Sizzle—!
Unable to withstand the sun's heat, it glowed red-hot and melted away. A glimpse of the sun's ferocity illuminating Ardenia.
"So hot, yet..."
Standing on space, I felt only mild stuffiness—no damage. Even pressing right up against the sun, same story.
In heat melting steel gear to slag, my body didn't burn— not a single hair singed. Ardenia's sun couldn't touch the fine hairs on my skin.
Partly my body's toughness, but...
My flesh itself [resisted] the heat.
"..."
Just as a martial artist reaches absolute mastery to wield aura, or a mage becomes an archmage to wield ultimate magic, bioforce cultivators have their own pinnacle.
The bioforce trait of resisting all things reaches its peak, letting the body tear through any worldly power.
The ultimate form forged by extreme will, transcending human—no, all life.
Extreme Intent Body.
"I suspected as much."
Yeah, I knew.
No technique—just extending a hand to touch dimensions like objects meant my flesh had entered the realm of the divine.
Like a dragon aging into transcendence.
No lofty enlightenment or worldly pursuit—I'd arrived.
The absolute realm.
Transcendence.
"No need to drag it out then. Log out."
Back on Earth. Lion Queen Sohyang glanced over.
"Your aura... stabilized?"
I shrugged and smiled at her narrowed eyes.
"Can't keep leaking it forever."