The Realm of Art

The first things that caught my eye were the name and the classes.

Those two hadn't changed.

But the most dramatic transformation appeared in the section that followed.

……For a moment I thought I must have misread it.

One of the stats had a completely different leading digit.

Holy Power 233?

A number so absurd you could call it a bug and no one would argue. Anyone else looking at this would foam at the mouth screaming about cheat keys and hacks.

Holy Power was converted mana. And mana was bound up with the very rank of a being's existence — so now I understood why the Sunken Emperor and the other lords of the Abyss had mistaken me for Ruin itself.

Is it even possible for stats to spike this hard?

Just looking at the raw increase, Holy Power had jumped by seventy-five. No buff, no blessing, could produce a growth rate like this. And if something could, it would come with catastrophic side effects — staking your life on it, or evaporating every other stat entirely.

So I hurriedly scrolled through the rest of the status window, hunting for any side effects that might be lurking.

"……?"

Was this an actual bug? If not a bug, then something had clearly glitched. Because even looking at it, I was left speechless.

Eleven thousand two hundred?

My natural regeneration, which had been approaching four thousand percent, had suddenly smashed past ten thousand. Roughly a two-and-a-half-fold increase. A miraculous regenerative power that could restore a broken bone in half a day.

And it wasn't just faster wound healing.

Even lost flesh gets restored.

The terrifying thing about natural regeneration was that once it crossed a certain threshold, it literally regenerated you. As long as you still had a life left, severed arms and legs would grow back. I'd acquired a survival capacity that put cockroaches to shame.

And that wasn't all.

Crossing thirty percent total pierce is something even I've never seen.

The steep climb in Holy Power had driven total pierce to an insane level. A value that essentially ignored the defense of shields and armor. Every single percent of total pierce was precious — and mine was a full 34.3%.

I could smash a cursed Gicheonseok in one hit at this point.

It felt like only yesterday that I'd been struggling to break those cursed stones of heaven. With pierce this high, one strike would pulverize them. Was there anyone else with over thirty percent total pierce? Not among humans, at least. Even Raiga wouldn't have reached thirty.

All of that was already so astonishing it left me without words — and yet the most stunning part was that it still wasn't over.

A total EXP gain rate appeared, and proficiency efficiency doubled.

The EXP gain rate had probably doubled the proficiency efficiency as well, since proficiency was a form of experience. I'd seen options that boosted proficiency efficiency before, but never one that raised overall experience gain.

EXP gain rate is exactly the ability I need most.

Level 10. To push beyond that, this ability was essential. The experience requirements for me were on a completely different scale from everyone else — reaching level 10 by normal means had become impossible. Even hitting level 9 had been grueling, and level 10 demanded ten times the experience. That meant I'd have to grind from level 1 to 9 at least ten times over just to reach 10.

This is really……

Having confirmed everything up to that point, I distilled my reaction into a single word.

Insane.

No. That wasn't right.

It had gone past the point of insanity.

……It's art.

Every single change was at the realm of art itself. Wanting to understand why all of this had happened, I checked the special notes.

……So that's why.

Numbers one through seven were the existing special notes. Eight through ten were the newly added ones.

Cheonma Shingong at six stars. A 1.6× multiplier on Holy Power from that alone!

And yet — no side effects.

Infinite Vessel completely purged the side effects of Cheonma Shingong.

Cheonma Shingong was a technique that made you susceptible to evil and turned you into a wreck the moment you exceeded your limits. There were surely other side effects that hadn't even been revealed yet. Traps laid by the Evil God, without a doubt.

But Infinite Vessel had erased the limits. Every other side effect had been wiped clean as well.

If the Evil God finds out about this, he'll beat the ground and wail.

I glanced down at the Cheonmado. The Evil God, who had gone into deep hiding.

—This guy's weird. He's suddenly screaming?

Winter spoke up. I couldn't hear it myself, but Winter — being a similar kind of existence — seemed able to catch the Evil God's voice. The Evil God had realized that I'd completely eliminated the side effects of Cheonma Shingong.

I smiled faintly.

Six stars, huh.

With the limits unlocked, my mastery of Cheonma Shingong had surged dramatically. At this rate, I could push all the way to grand mastery without any trouble. What kind of reaction would the Heavenly Demon show if he learned of this?

The Heavenly Demon has no idea I've even learned ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Cheonma Shingong.

It wouldn't be strange if he were certain I'd been consumed by the Evil God rather than mastering the technique. But I hadn't been consumed — I'd broken through the trap the Evil God had laid and reaped benefits beyond imagination.

I moved on to the next section.

Collections and proficiency.

The end of the status window was finally coming into view.

Compared to everything else, there weren't any major changes here.

Only one thing left now.

Hidden Traits.

Fourteen in total.

The Iron-Blood Monarch's Heart and Eternal Randolph had merged into one, reducing the count by one. Beyond that, nothing particularly stood out — except:

The order of the Hidden Traits…… Heavenly Realm is still last.

A question formed. Ever since entering God's Island and gathering starlight, I'd begun to sense that the order of Hidden Traits served some kind of purpose.

I shrugged. In any case, every check was complete.

Perfect.

There could be no more perfect status window than this. Of course, I still didn't know what abilities Eternal Monarch Randolph possessed — but since it was a fusion of two traits, the fun of discovering them was guaranteed.

"What the hell…… are you? How did you drive off those monsters of the Abyss?"

A voice suddenly came from behind me.

Raiga.

I'd picked him up while he was dying, and somehow he'd managed to stay alive. But his condition was still terrible. Even now, he was slowly dying.

I turned and met Raiga's eyes head-on.

"You seem to fear me."

"……Hah. Me, afraid of you?"

Raiga denied it. But I could tell. He was confused right now. And at the same time, he was afraid of me. Raiga, who prided himself on knowing everything in the world. By his own standards, I must have been the unknown itself — pure mystery.

I spoke lightly.

"Don't you want to live?"

"……I opened the Fifth Gate. The final Fifth Gate is something you stake your life on. And besides…… my mana won't gather. I'll be dead before long."

Raiga spoke of his own death with flat calm. Left alone, he would die — that much was certain. But I still couldn't allow his death. There was too much I needed to learn from him.

There's something devouring his mana the moment it recovers. Insects so small they're invisible to the naked eye. I shouldn't touch those.

The microscopic insects controlled by the Sunken Emperor. They were consuming the mana inside Raiga's body. I knew it instinctively. That was something I must not touch.

"Tell me before you die. Your true identity."

"You're not going to die."

"……I doubt it. If that were possible, the previous masters of the Palga wouldn't have died either."

Apparently the previous masters of the Eight Houses had also opened the Fifth Gate and died. His face was already resigned.

"At this rate, the succession of the Palga ends with your generation."

"Yeah…… I suppose it does."

"So if there were a way to live, you'd do anything."

"I already told you. I can't live……"

"Nothing is impossible for me."

Saving Raiga by ordinary means was impossible. But I said it with absolute confidence. At the same time, Raiga's gaze wavered slightly. Then he opened his mouth.

"……I still have no idea what you are, but why do you want to save me? Our relationship isn't exactly friendly."

We'd tried to kill each other once. Of course we weren't on good terms. I leisurely laid out my terms.

"Obviously it won't be free. If I save you, promise me you'll grant one request of mine — whatever it is."

"A request……"

"For reference, this request sits above every 'covenant' you've ever made. Can you do it?"

Raiga's expression hardened in an instant. Every covenant. A promise ranked higher than those he'd made with the Emperor, or with the Palga.

"You're a madman. Do you need my life or something?"

"Choose. Die as ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠you are, or live and continue the line of the Palga."

"……If the promise is to betray the Empire, I cannot do it."

"Don't worry. It won't be anything that violates your convictions."

There was only one thing I wanted. The Fragment of Ruin. The method to overcome the 'bug' of that fragment! That was all he needed to tell me. Isabella had called it a 'blessing,' but that couldn't be the whole of it.

"……"

Raiga stared at me for a long time. How much time passed like that?

"Go ahead and try."

As if daring me to do it if I could. A feat that every previous successor of the Palga had failed at. Something that even the Empire's full support couldn't achieve — and I was supposed to pull it off?

Alone, it would be impossible.

Raiga's condition had gone beyond anything I could handle with my own hands. Neither a Star's Blessing nor an elixir could stop that death. But there was a possibility.

Those insects.

The Sunken Emperor's insects, devouring his mana. They didn't just disrupt and consume mana. They would surely be useful in improving Raiga's condition as well. The problem was how to persuade the Sunken Emperor.

There's a way.

For me, nothing was impossible.

The next day.

Raiga's eyes shook violently.

"Y-Your…… Majesty…… the Emperor……!"

A reunion faster than expected. The Sunken Emperor had appeared before him. But to the Sunken Emperor, Raiga didn't even register. He looked straight at me — and then:

Swaaaaaah!

He ignited azure flames and threatened me. I paid it no mind and pulled something from my coat.

"Is this what you came looking for?"

"……"

What I'd taken out was a small water bottle. A bottle filled with an unidentifiable liquid. It looked like nothing special, but I knew exactly what it was.

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

"Your most precious friend is inside this."

"……"

"If you understand, let's make a deal."

I tucked the small bottle back into my coat. How I'd obtained it was simple. After returning the drained Cheonmado to the Heavenly Demon, I'd received the bottle. The Sunken Emperor had been waiting in front of the cave. From the start, he hadn't been looking for me — he'd been looking for the Heavenly Demon, who had been carrying this bottle.

"……What do you want?"

At last the Sunken Emperor spoke.

……What should I ask for?

Raiga's treatment? That was truly secondary. Now that I knew the value of what was inside this bottle, I ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠couldn't be satisfied with mere treatment for Raiga. The Heavenly Demon hadn't known the bottle's worth, so he couldn't make a deal. But I knew. I knew it too well, if anything.

Whatever I desired, the Sunken Emperor would give it to me. Because this bottle held the most precious thing he possessed.

And at the same time, I could be certain of something else.

They're not the same person.

That old man. ……The old man who'd spent a night with me was not the Sunken Emperor.