I'm Being Serious Here

"Three items?"

"That's a small number."

Rather than add just one more, it made far more sense to secure a vampire with power at the level of an intermediate demon or above. With Rasty around, controlling it would be easier, and honestly, having one more body that could actually move beat me lugging around two Transcendent masterpieces myself.

"You don't think one item is a bit lacking?"

Each and every one of them was powerful enough to shatter the balance between players.

"That much is true."

Just equipping the Multicolored Successor alone granted me mana stats equivalent to level 80 or higher. Meaning a level 1 user could stand toe-to-toe with a level 80 who'd done nothing but pump mana. If an accessory could do this much, the actual weapons would surely boast impressive skills on top of their stats.

"But battles aren't decided by specs alone, are they? All the power in the world means nothing if you lack the ability to wield it."

"Me? I have it."

"Why wouldn't there be?"

Obviously, I was the one who could make up the value of one Transcendent piece on my own — I could match a vampire with mid-tier demon power. It would be difficult as I was now, but if I cleared my 4th advancement and somehow reclaimed my strength, it might well become possible.

Except I was already in the middle of the Multicolored Successor's trial.

A trial arranged by the system.

The Multicolored Successor's trials could be undertaken by anyone who counted as a user.

"From the perspective of a 'user,' one Transcendent item and that vampire are not of equal value. Anyone could see that commanding the vampire is the better deal."

"Correct. Commanding me is the wiser choice."

Ilmacheonwang answered with a nod of his head. Unlike the Lich, not a hint of rebellion flickered in him — though that much was a natural consequence the moment control of his body was taken from him.

"?"

"That's right."

Well, of course. Rasty's physical body had already died, sealed within my soul — and even if it had somehow survived, lingering somewhere on this continent, it would have been impossible to fill a Life Vessel with her true blood anyway.

"It's an option that doesn't even exist in the first place, no?"

"For someone who clearly knows everything, why are you asking?"

I reached out to the vampire and took the orb from his hand. The aura of a demon rolled off it in waves, yet at the same time, the blood-essence of something that was demon and yet not demon spread through the air around ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠us. By all rights, divinity should have snuffed it out — but because it held true blood, the energy lingered still.

"Contradiction or whatever, none of that matters."

It made no difference from whose standpoint you measured the value of the two options.

"It's true that it's insufficient from a user's standpoint. And it's true that debating the user's perspective itself is murky, since someone like me shouldn't even be able to command a vampire."

"What matters is that a single item is out of the question."

If my opponent had been an ordinary race or monster, I might have granted their argument some measure of leniency. It wasn't exactly wrong, after all — and the final say on any trial belonged to the monster, not the system or me. I could have understood, in my own way.

But.

"Unfortunately, my heart is a bit too narrow to show mercy to the Heavenly Race."

My opponent was one of the Heavenly Race.

I had no reason to extend the same courtesies others might, and no intention of doing so either.

Lorelies fell into a deep, heavy silence.

"I'm fine no matter which way this goes."

"How fortunate. I'd been hoping to talk my way through this one."

"Hahaha…"

Ilmacheonwang's orb — his Life Vessel — began to hum and tremble.

Was it shaking a little? There was really no need to be that frightened.

"So what's your name? Not Ilmacheonwang."

"A name… Ilmacheonwang is all the name I have. Lord Corfus — no, Corfus is the one who granted it."

"Hmm…"

Ilmacheonwang really did have a lousy name, didn't he. Rasty was good at naming things — maybe I should take him to her and have her christen him?

"?"

After all that deliberation, that was what came out?

I'd been half-expecting a different answer, and honestly, I was a little disappointed.

"I do find them repulsive. As much as I find the Heavenly Race — even more so."

In terms of plain humanity, I hated demons far more than the Heavenly Race, if anything.

Flinch.

The orb shuddered.

"He hangs right on the borderline."

Ilmacheonwang was not a demon.

More precisely, he was an experiment that had inherited a demon's power. Born from a demon's hands, bearing a body and even a mind that closely resembled a demon's — but in the end, not a demon at all.

I hadn't the slightest intention of letting the Heavenly Race or demons into my Void Space, but with the right amount of education, an experiment like him could be granted a pass as an exception.

"Besides, if I genuinely couldn't take him, how would I have befriended Rasty, or inherited her power as I have?"

"Truly, you are a friend beyond compare."

"Anything else you'd like to say?"

If not, she could go home.

"Four?"

"Five."

"I'm being serious here."

I rolled the orb across my palm.

The orb moved freely at the command of my hand.

"You brought me here over probability, and now you want to haggle over probability again? Five, guaranteed in full — then I'll consider it."

"Then we end it here."

I flung the orb into my Void Space and burst up through the castle without looking back.

Ilmacheonwang watching me, the Lich held in his grip — and ranks upon ranks of elite soldiers beyond them. I met every one of their gazes as I reversed my grip on the hammer and began to swell my divinity.

The true blood embedded in my heart sapped the strength of the vampires, and in an instant, the White Savior — now grown until it rivaled the castle's highest spire — readied itself to fall.

Far away, the Lich flared with light, but it was useless. Ilmacheonwang, already resigned to the death of his body, had bound the Lich's Life Vessel tight.

"Six?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

So I struck.

■

"……"

"Well, it was fairly enjoyable, wasn't it?"

"No."

"How strange. I clearly honored the agreement."

Lorelies' Sanctuary. I had cleared the trial demanding I deal with every last magical beast, and by rights I should have left immediately — but there was still a reward from Lorelies I hadn't received.

"What exactly is your grievance?"

"…Thou. Enough. Take thy reward and get thee gone. Mine aches."

"See? That's the spirit."

"Speak thy desire. As promised, I shall enhance precisely 'two' items."

"Sore loser."

"…I could smite thee where thou standest."

"Feel free to try."

I spread both my arms wide.

In that instant, Lorelies' immense divinity crashed down upon the peak of the sanctuary — but it did not come for me. The trial was over now; we stood in the stage of payment. Bound as she was under the system's authority, Lorelies could never attack me.

Of course, it'd be another story if I struck first.

A strange sort of pleasure stirred in me as I answered.

"The White Savior first, please."

I handed the White Savior to her. She infused it with a light much like that of the Light of Heritage, and before long the White Savior blazed with a dazzling brilliance and transformed.

"Oh."

"Take it and go."

The White Savior now radiated a subdued, refined glow unlike anything before. Its base stats had surged, of course, but the most important change was the total volume of divinity the Metamor could now hold. Where it had once held sixty to seventy percent of my power at best, it now felt stretched to eighty, ninety percent and beyond.

It lacked the exotic special functions of the other masterpieces, but for using my abilities to their absolute fullest, it was exceptionally well suited.

I'd examine the details properly once I was out. For now, I had one last item to choose…

"……"

"……"

"Not choosing?"

"I'm thinking."

The remaining weapons came in silver, gold, black, and green; the accessories in red and blue. I had to pick one of them — and from where I stood, it had to be one of the two accessories. Both would remain useful even after I changed weapons down ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the line, and their raw stat boosts would pay dividends regardless.

The sticking point was the masterpieces' own innate authority…

The red one was serviceable, though I questioned whether I'd ever truly need its power of Transcendence. The blue one, frankly, I'd picked up at the very start and never once used. Its authority was Protection — a masterpiece bearing the power of safeguarding, exactly as the name implied. But my body was already absurdly durable, and regeneration came standard; there had simply never been a use for it.

To be fair, it would probably become decently useful at Transcendent grade too. But with my defenses already outstanding, was there really any reason for me to go acquiring more protection?

Striking those two from the list, what remained were the weapons: a sword, a scythe, a greatsword, and a dagger — none of which were weapons I specialized in.

Still, there was another way to look at it.

The giants I'd glimpsed earlier made that plain enough, and with the coming Great Cataclysm, I would only collide with increasingly transcendent beings from here on. Viewed that way, rather than shaving off another sliver of strength for myself, it wouldn't be half bad for another user to carry a Transcendent masterpiece and pull their own weight. If that happened, the territory I personally had to worry about would shrink dramatically.

It wasn't for nothing that I ran an academy, teaching this and that to the next generation.

"Done."

"Decided, then?"

"Decided."

■

I was back.

My eyes fluttered open slowly, and there I was, reclining in the plush bed-chair. In my hand rested the Transcendent masterpiece I had chosen — the most unremarkable, and yet the most familiar, of forms. With this in hand, it would serve me quite effectively in the battles ahead.

Speaking of which…

WHAM!!

"?"

"Yena?"

"UGH, SERIOUSLY! JUST LET ME HIT YOU ONCE, NYAAANG!"

Yena — who'd promised to watch my stream.

Yena was being absolutely slaughtered by The Agent.