Chapter 65
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 65
Chapter Title: One Month
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"Wh-what is this... How could you possibly do that!?"
Liliet's voice rose sharply for a moment.
As if she were screaming.
But even as the protagonist, there was nothing particular he could say in response.
After all, it had been that way from the start, hadn't it?
'After acquiring the cultivation method, my yang energy just naturally built up.'
No. To be precise, it wasn't because of the cultivation method.
From the moment a yokai core formed in his dantian, the space had already existed.
Meaning he could acquire yang energy at any time and harbor it within himself.
In other words, he had been capable of it from the very 'beginning'.
'This confirms it. EX grade. He means transcendence.'
Does that mean he could become a god just by accumulating myths?
'...A god.'
The word felt familiar yet distant.
As a modern man who had lived on Earth, hearing that he was suddenly close to godhood would make anyone feel that way.
It seemed eternally out of reach, yet like he could grasp it if he just stretched out his hand.
A truly contradictory emotion, but the protagonist welcomed it with pleasure.
"...Impressive."
Liliet gazed at him softly and continued in a low voice.
"A being who has already achieved transcendence is only now beginning to inscribe myths... I truly can't fathom what kind of legend you'll create."
A whirlwind of thoughts churned in Liliet's mind.
The Great Sage Equaling Heaven, once called a genius beyond the heavens.
That one's birth had been similar.
'A yokai born with both yin and yang.'
In other words, a mistake of the heavens.
The Great Sage, dubbed thus, had fought the heavens themselves shortly after birth to prove his existence.
'...That monkey, the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, was among the highest of the celestial divinities. Yet even he couldn't wield yang energy properly until he inscribed the 'Inheritance' domain.'
Liliet judged that even that was the fastest among all postheaven gods.
That's why, despite having accumulated legends for a shorter time than her, he was stronger and superior to any other divinity.
Yet even the Great Sage had taken longer.
This young half-yokai, who hadn't even inscribed his 'Foundation' yet, wielded yin and yang freely.
It felt like confronting an incomprehensible existence.
'If I could capture him as the foundation and herald the start of his legend...?'
The moment that thought incidentally surfaced in her mind,
Liliet couldn't help but be shocked.
Impossible to gauge.
She, who had achieved myth, said this.
Her trembling pupils fixed on the protagonist, then she steadied herself and spoke.
"...You. Seeing that calm expression, it seems you still don't grasp your own potential."
"?"
Gazing at the protagonist's puzzled face marked with a question, Liliet explained everything she had been thinking.
As a result,
the protagonist fell into deep contemplation.
'...Somehow, it feels like the stage is bigger than I thought?'
To begin with, his ability to wield both yin and yang was merely a gift from those celestial beings.
Would things really unfold as easily as Liliet suggested?
'Probably not.'
Since the celestial divinities had brought him here expecting something in return, they must have granted him power befitting that.
But put differently, it also meant he was taking on tasks they themselves couldn't handle.
The process of cultivating the strength to deal with him would naturally be arduous and grueling.
'...Getting beaten up along the way is a given.'
Sigh, life.
'Still, not bad news.'
Achieving a rank surpassing even the Great Sage Equaling Heaven?
It felt like he could really smack the backs of those divinities who brought him here.
The protagonist felt satisfied.
Krrr...
The yokai nature steeped in his blood also seemed content, intentions unknown.
The protagonist nodded and lifted his head.
"Then it's about time we head out."
He had learned about the Library Committee Chair, his current goal.
And he had incorporated Liliet, a yokai bound to myth, into the Night Parade of One Hundred Yokai.
An unexpected harvest and serendipity.
To end this journey, the protagonist stirred his presence to shatter the Library Yokai's domain.
But at that moment.
'Hm?'
He sensed a strange flow.
'The Library Yokai's domain is twisting and warping. Aftermath of Liliet's descent?'
Inevitable.
Liliet had been inside the Chair's body to begin with, and bringing her here had predetermined the descent.
Rather than lament the situation, the protagonist sought a solution.
Then.
'...Didn't the Great Sage get the Fiery Golden Eyes from the Eight Trigrams Furnace?'
The original cheat eyes came to mind.
'Eight Trigrams Furnace, Samadhi True Fire, Fiery Golden Eyes... legend.'
The thoughts filling his head unconsciously extended his hand.
Shwaaak!
In that instant, an ink-black Ruyi Spear gripped his hand.
"Huh?"
The protagonist's eyes widened round.
He'd left it in the dorm. How did it appear here?
'...Didn't know it had this ability.'
Whatever. The very thing he was thinking of came to him on its own.
The protagonist spun the Ruyi Spear once and slung the shaft over his shoulder.
'......'
He closed his eyes and entered perfect unity with the divine weapon.
From his shoulder to his entire right arm, it merged with the Ruyi Spear.
Within that, the protagonist was reading the legend it showed him.
『Roar!』
The flames of the Eight Trigrams Furnace blazed up.
True to his delinquent nature, far from reflection, it brimmed with thoughts of smashing the heads of those who suppressed him once he got out.
'When he acquired this legend, it was said the Great Sage would perform miracles under suppression.'
Then, now was that time.
An unforeseen situation had pinned him down, confining him here against his will, hadn't it?
If this wasn't suppression, what was?
'Therefore.'
Grant a miracle, Great Sage Equaling Heaven.
As if responding to that wish, he seemed to hear a monkey cackling somewhere.
The protagonist soon realized.
It was a fragment of emotion from the Ruyi Spear.
'He's enjoying this situation right now.'
A divine weapon that had overcome countless ordeals with its former master, achieving the great feat of myth at the end.
As he gradually understood the 'Ruyi' intent, the divine weapon unity covering his shoulder slowly spread to his upper body.
Starting from his right shoulder to his chest, then along his scapula to his back.
He no longer knew what to call this achievement.
'Just call it 'assimilation' for now.'
Still insufficient for full unity, yet he felt a bit closer to it.
Based on the legend from the Ruyi Spear, the protagonist immediately stirred mana infused with Samadhi True Fire.
Roar!
The flames rising through his meridians gathered near his 'eyes'.
Sizzle...!
Hot.
His eyeballs felt like they would melt.
He didn't have Sun Wukong's ridiculously tough body or immortal life.
Yet he endured steadfastly while reading its legend.
The results began lingering around his eyeballs.
Roar!
Soon, his sclera was bloodshot, and his pupils took on a faint golden hue.
Far from true Fiery Golden Eyes, a degraded version.
Still, more than enough to find a 'path' in the warped yokai rift.
'I see... it!'
His eyes shed bloody tears from the overwhelming power,
yet strangely, the pain had stopped.
Instead, a cool, refreshing sensation flooded his mind.
'......'
The protagonist looked and swung the spear.
Fwoosh—!
No sound of slicing or shattering.
Yet along the spear's trajectory, space dispersed like mist before the wind.
"Oh?"
"This is..."
Liliet recognized what was in that technique and showed interest, while the Chair gaped in astonishment.
Only natural.
The move the protagonist had just shown was far from ordinary.
[Authority, 'Fiery Golden Eyes' approached!]
An authority of a god.
The symbol of the Great Sage Equaling Heaven, Sun Wukong.
A technique swung from one step closer to it was too lofty for mortal eyes to follow.
'...Urk!'
But he still hadn't fully shed his mortal shell.
Just harboring the degraded, nerfed Fiery Golden Eyes shook his insides and crushed his soul.
Only after the legend from the Ruyi Spear cradled him did it ease a bit.
Then, a grin crept across the protagonist's lips.
[Bloodline Ability, 'Mimicry' analyzes 'Authority: Fiery Golden Eyes'......]
[Failed. The target's rank is too...]
[Attempting different method.]
[Attempting to comprehend fragments.]
[......]
[Success.]
The lofty celestial gods.
At this moment, he had 'understood' a fragment of the authority of the Great Sage, vaunted as the pinnacle among them.
'If I can apply and fuse its legend and power in my own way based on this...'
As the protagonist set his future direction.
Sssrr.
The surroundings melted away.
The Library Yokai.
Its domain crumbled bit by bit, casting the light of reality around them.
But something felt off.
"...Huh?"
"Eh?"
The protagonist and the Chair looked around to see a crowd surrounding them.
For reference, Liliet had returned to the Chair's body upon reverting to reality, so she didn't see this.
'Whoa. Look at this lineup. Impressive.'
Professors, guards, even the Elder Council Head and student council members.
The auras emanating from them were anything but weak.
'But... what's going on?'
As the protagonist tilted his head in confusion,
a familiar face parted the crowd.
"...Top Student. Do you cause incidents everywhere you go?"
"Pardon?"
As the protagonist's head tilted further at the sudden pace, Class A's homeroom cadet chuckled wryly.
"Good to see you. It's been a month, right?"
...Pardon?
A month?