The Celestial Elixir

Cheongyeon.

A mage reputed to have mastered the divination arts so thoroughly that nothing in existence escapes his gaze. His range of sight was frankly absurd — he could genuinely observe events as they unfolded, whether in Korea or in America. If I were presumptuous enough to rank him, I would place him on par with Seo Yebin. He was one of the Transcendents residing in Korea — and one of the self-proclaimed masters of Kim Seohyun.

'...So Cheongyeon was the one who came?'

If it was him, then a real possibility opened up. He was, after all, one of the figures most deeply entwined with Kim Seohyun.

Cradling the Du-eokshini's essence, the Horn of Divine Verdure, and that thing with the utmost care inside an elegant wooden case, I headed for the penthouse. I could have slipped them into subspace, but with luxury materials like these, careless storage risked dulling their potency.

"Master. Walk with some dignity. Anyone who sees you will take you for a thief."

'Do you have any idea what this is worth?' Hugging the case tighter against my chest, I shot back at Heukcheon.

Arriving at the penthouse, I set the case aside and unpacked my alchemy kit. I'd picked it up not long ago, during a stretch of downtime — Diamond grade. Back in my Gold-badge days, too broke to be picky, I'd made do with cost-effective gear, but this time I had drowned the purchase in money and bought a kit engineered for extreme efficiency.

'Five hundred million won went into this thing.'

And I hadn't even paid that outright. With my Diamond badge, the Alchemy Guild heaped every discount they had on me, tripping over themselves to be accommodating — and even then the final bill came to five hundred million won.

I laid out the Du-eokshini's essence and the Horn of Divine Verdure, along with the Amethyst Steeped in Grudges I'd obtained from the dungeon where I had awakened Seo Gayeon's Starlight Mana.

I arranged the materials in sequence and turned my gaze to the Du-eokshini's essence. This was an essence that would deliver staggering results even if chewed raw on the spot.

'But eaten raw, it would do nothing for me.' Because it would awaken my talent — Eodukshini. A power dwelling between the dark attribute and shadow itself, useful beyond measure... but the force flowing through my body is Defying Heaven. To me, that effect would amount to a useless trinket. The ideal solution was to erase the effect altogether.

'And it isn't as if there's no way to do that.' The method was alchemy — transmuting it into an entirely different elixir. Feeding an S-rank elixir and precious materials into the creation of another S-rank elixir was sheer madness, but it was madness I had to commit.

'Thank goodness the essence's purity is high.' That alone would cut the loss rate in the brewing process.

First, I added the material carrying the strongest negative energy — the Amethyst Steeped in Grudges.

'This thing is hard to use as-is.' Negative energy is violently harmful when ingested raw, so the standard practice is to neutralize the toxicity first. The catch is that doing so shaves the Mana +5 down to Mana +3. And since Mind is such a vital stat, neutralizing is technically the wiser course.

'But that's a method for amateurs.' True veterans did things a little differently. I added toxic reagents to the Amethyst Steeped in Grudges.

"You intend to maximize the toxicity?"

I nodded at Heukcheon's words. Maximize the toxicity. The Amethyst Steeped in Grudges was swallowed whole by a deep, light-devouring black.

I studied the amethyst as it gleamed with black light. Satisfactory. It had come together beautifully.

Then I took up the Horn of Divine Verdure and the Du-eokshini's essence. From here on, every second demanded focus. I activated the Sacred Star Eye.

Click. A sound like something switching on echoed through my mental landscape, and the colors of the world began to rearrange themselves. Into the vessel went the Horn of Divine Verdure and the Amethyst Steeped in Grudges and Malice, together.

Fwoooosh!

Light erupted as the two forces began violently repelling one another. The Horn of Divine Verdure carried the power of lightning that annihilates evil, while the amethyst was saturated with grudge and malice. Combine mutually antagonistic materials like these, and they lash out at each other, each trying to devour the other whole. And at the very instant those clashing energies swelled to their peak—

—I slipped in the Du-eokshini's essence. The essence of a monster that had once attained divine rank fell upon the two warring forces and began to devour them, ravenous. But the repelling forces were hardly passive prey. Materials a single tier below the Du-eokshini's essence, repelling at their absolute limit, generated a turbulence that even the essence itself could not contain.

From this point on, the natures of the materials began to twist. Which meant my real work started now.

'This had better go according to plan.'

I carefully drew out Defying Heaven and began to wrap it around them all. Defying Heaven set about negating everything. The energies of the three materials ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠rose up in resistance. But this was reality.

'I may have no mana — but I have Defying Heaven.' Where the process should have used mana to blend the three materials, I wielded every other force at my command through Defying Heaven's power and fused them together by brute force. I had never attempted anything like this before, but I trusted my Dexterity and the power of my conceptual stat.

Sssaaah—!

Every last energy rebelled. Tangling, mingling, shoving apart, dragging together, swallowing and being swallowed. I pushed them back with Defying Heaven, split the warring currents apart, seized them, and bound them fast. Over and over, without end.

I kept it up for a full hour. And when it was over, a single liquid glowed gold inside the glass vessel.

...Appraisal.

"..."

One look at the appraisal results and I was at a loss for words.

'It's completely optimized for me.' It seemed that channeling Defying Heaven through the entire process had let it leave a deep imprint on the final product.

I turned the new talent over in my mind — Tranquil Mind (A). Much like the still water of a clear mirror, it was a talent that held the heart unmoved in any situation. The only real difference was that it also lightened the strain one's abilities placed on the body.

I drank the elixir. The moment the golden liquid slid past my throat, something strange began to happen. It merged with the Defying Heaven drifting through my body and threaded itself into every corner of my physique.

Black ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠God Martial Arts — the art of mastering the body itself. I had been learning it for barely two months, and yet it had already taken root in this flesh. The golden liquid goaded my body onward, and I grew sturdier still. No doubt the work of the effect that awakens the body's latent potential.

Slowly, I steadied myself and took stock. The sensation of this elixir-reforged body was unfamiliar. It felt like being born all over again.

"How does it feel?"

'Beyond anything I imagined.' And I meant that literally. I clenched my fist and opened it. The grip strength was on an entirely different ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠plane from anything I had ever known.

Status window.

Strength and Agility had roughly doubled, and Vitality had crept up as well. But my eyes went straight past all of it to the conceptual stat.

Defying Heaven. It had more than doubled from before. Conceptual stats are notoriously difficult to raise in the first place — they govern the concept itself, after all.

'At this level...' There was so much I could do now. Enough to learn new techniques from the Black God Martial Arts and the Black Canon — and even to master Black Wings.

"Outrageous. To think a mere elixir could swell the qi of Defying Heaven..."

Astonishment spread across Heukcheon's face.

I contemplated my own body as I turned Defying Heaven over in my hands. The elixir's description had listed a strengthening of Defying Heaven as well — I wanted to know exactly how it had been strengthened...

'Looks like I'll be nailed to the training hall for a while.' The sooner I grew accustomed to this power, the better. I wanted to get to the training hall and put it through its paces.

"Oh."

The realization struck as I was changing clothes to head out. My body had been sculpted into something downright artistic. I'd had a six-pack before, sure, but this was... how should I put it. The body itself had reshaped into its single most ideal form. A physique you would struggle to find even across the internet's endless feeds — lean, without a gram of spare fat, every muscle set in sharp, clean relief.

I threw on my clothes in record time and headed for the training hall. It was already crowded with students claiming equipment and working out. Hong Yuhwa was nowhere in sight, and neither was Kim Seohyun.

'Of course. Those two were exactly the people I'd wanted to show off to.' Disciplining Hong Yuhwa, it seemed, would have to wait for another opportunity.

Instead, I spotted Kim Ara. She had awakened the power of the common Giant race and obtained Primordial Force — and because of that peculiarity, she had only ever trained at the facility I'd introduced her to. Apparently today she'd be training here.

"You done with this?"

"Uh, y-yeah. A-all done. Go ahead."

I shouldered past a student nearby who was glued to his phone and started bench pressing. The weight: a full 250 kilograms. Even so, my body registered no strain at all. I pushed up to 300 kilograms. Only then did the load begin to bite.

'Hoo...'

I slipped into pure self-admiration. The Lee Seoha of the past no longer existed. There was only Lee Seoha, owner of a perfect body. And when I turned a gaze full of wistful awe toward Kim Ara, I found her bench-pressing five tons.

"..."

Kim Ara was a scion of the Giant God race. A being on the level of literally uprooting mountains and hurling them. Someone at my level probably counted as about the strongest the human realm had to offer.

And just as I was thinking that, I caught sight of Park Unhyeok and Saint bench-pressing 500 and 800 kilograms.

...Could all the talent-freaks of the world please just disappear.