Chapter 120
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Thanatos' Advent
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In my estimation, it should have taken at least a month or two more for my body to reach this state.
That's why I even created a magic circle using the mana core.
Your soul has already mastered the adaptation process. The body resonates with the soul and adapts accordingly. It is presumed that this resonance has greatly intensified from the depths.
As I puzzled over it, a message from the Librarian appeared.
"This won't turn me into some hulking muscle monster by mistake, will it?"
There had been no changes to my body in the Dream Labyrinth, but who knew what might happen here.
Changes to your appearance are judged to be negligible.
Well, that's good then.
Is this what they call a Heavenly Martial Body, like something out of a novel?
No, it's even better than that. It's endlessly adapting to grow stronger.
Real-time complete body transformation.
There was no need to spell out just how ridiculous a windfall this situation was.
A massive flow of energy was visible.
It was a torrent of necromantic mana swirling with ferocity far beyond any human realm, yet astonishingly, it had no effect whatsoever beyond the training grounds.
Normally, no one breaking through to a new realm could spare attention to control something like that.
Leon, who was controlling that flow, was handling it as if it were nothing.
7th Circle...
Is this even possible?
Misha, the head maid who knew little of the Magic Tower, narrowed her eyes and racked her brain dubiously, but as far as she knew, there wasn't a single 7th Circle mage among the continent's top wizards.
Ah, maybe those five most famous great archmages surpassed that.
But in the first place, this wasn't pioneering a new realm. It was simply stepping to the next stage once prepared.
In other words, all the countless elements needed to break through realms were meaningless to Leon.
"I shall report."
Misha, who had been silently watching, made her routine report to the main family.
-How's the situation?
"The Young Master is up to his antics again."
-Ha... haha. What, claiming to break through to 7th Circle this time?
When Duke Catsy Mielephon's voice came through the artifact, Misha narrowed her eyes and fell silent.
-...He's actually doing it?
"Yes. He's still in the process, but if it's the Young Master I know, he wouldn't have lied."
-Unbelievable. If anyone could reach 7th Circle just by wanting to, we'd all be archmages.
Duke Catsy's hollow voice echoed from the artifact.
-Any chance he's not human?
"By my personal judgment... he seems human enough."
She seemed about to say more but held back.
-What's wrong?
"This... might be overstepping, but may I ask your thoughts on his engagement to Lady Isna?"
Misha asked carefully, laced with concern.
-Why? Has Leon taken a liking to someone else?
Misha couldn't say for sure.
"I'm not certain, but..."
-It's that girl from back then. I had a feeling from the first time I saw her. Though he himself seemed oblivious.
She replied calmly.
"Is that alright?"
-It was a fake engagement from the start. I can't demand his heart too. Besides, I owe that girl Luna a debt.
He didn't seem overly concerned.
"Family Head, if so, then for the Lady..."
-Misha.
Duke Catsy's voice dipped slightly.
"Your command."
-She's my daughter, but I've never seen Isna harbor romantic feelings for any man. If anything, she's only ever been wary, pretending to be harmless.
Misha flinched at those words.
-I see. We should keep in mind the engagement might be annulled soon...
Even so, Duke Catsy sounded regretful.
"Is that truly fine? That..."
-It's fine. Holding her like that was more about forging ties with him than truly hoping for marriage. Father seemed to genuinely want it, though.
"Then, even if there's a slim chance the Lady has truly fallen for him..."
-As if that would happen.
Duke Catsy judged coldly.
Because she was his precious daughter, he shared every parent's wish to let her have the marriage she desired.
The problem was that his daughter was anything but ordinary.
"Then the Lady is now..."
-Causing trouble and confined to her room. Blissfully blew up a stable.
Of course she did...
-Support him well until my return, Misha. I'll order the return at an appropriate time.
"Understood."
Fwoooosh!!!
No sooner had the call ended than the magic circle around Leon began spewing a fierce cluster of violet light.
The massive flows swirling around Leon began to roil violently.
He said he'd break through to 7th Circle with that, but 7th Circle wasn't something you reached just by wanting it.
So what principle was this expanding the caster's circles?
Primal curiosity stirred her slightly.
Just as that question arose, something bizarre unfolded.
The space in front of Leon tore open, splitting completely as something eerie emerged from the magic circle amid smoke.
The first thing she saw was a hand made of stark white bone.
Then mist-like fog poured out from the rift like dry ice, spilling onto the floor.
Hsssss...
It was so eerie that Misha's legs nearly gave out the instant she saw it; she barely steadied herself.
It felt like facing the rumored Dragon Fear head-on.
"Ah, I can't hold back anymore. Thanatos, I request a contract."
As the eerie being slowly extended a hand, black shadow-like tendrils isolated Leon's space, aiming countless shadowy scythes at his neck.
That's a monster. Not some transcendent like a Sword Master, but something akin to a colossal disaster. It looked alive, yet felt utterly unlike any living thing.
As if a massive spell had taken form.
What the hell did that madman summon!?
-Hsssss...
Whether it lacked will or not, no voice came from the massive bony reaper.
"What I desire is the 7th Circle. What I offer is the right to contract with me."
A one-sided, tyrannical contract demand flew forth.
The form of the reaper made of massive bones.
Misha's face paled at the sight.
She had no choice.
The entity I'd summoned before her eyes wasn't a living being—it was like a concept incarnate.
Of course, my contract request held no special meaning either.
The key to unleashing that colossal phenomenon—essentially an explosion—was the mana core.
The first condition: pour vast mana into a magic circle refined over ages.
Normally, crafting this from 6th Circle would take a year, but with overflowing necromantic mana, it was shortened to a day. A fortunate turn.
Then, ignite it like starting a battery with the mana core.
This harnesses the resulting storm of necromantic mana to forcibly bloom a new circle.
That was the method for awakening the 7th Circle now.
What I hadn't anticipated was the dominance within my current necromantic mana.
I'd never manifested Thanatos with this level of dominance in the Dream Labyrinth.
Thanatos devours anything below a certain dominance threshold in its torrent, while resonating with those above to grant immense power.
So then.
What happens when it far exceeds the threshold now?
I had no certainty on the outcome.
So I had to try it myself.
In an instant, black mist enveloped everything.
As the ghost energy and vitality forming necromantic mana's basis intertwined and wrapped the surroundings completely, an eerie chill spread from my neck throughout my body.
As if declaring it would claim my life right then.
Yet I didn't resist and simply waited.
The form was created by the magic circle and core, but a huge portion of the raw material was my necromantic mana.
In other words, I'd already paid the price to it.
As I waited, the black scythes at my neck vanished all at once.
Simultaneously, my 6th Circle ring spun furiously, drawing closer as if about to collide.
Circles encircled the heart, but collision would send the shock straight to the mage—truly dangerous.
Yet ironically, from 7th Circle onward, you had to narrow the gaps between existing circles to achieve anything.
A realm ascended only at the risk of life.
At least, that's how I saw realms beyond 7th Circle.
In that process, nothing was as easy, swift, and low-risk for narrowing circles as utilizing this Thanatos phenomenon.
Basically, with a baseline for narrowing circles, you could gauge how many more you could form.
Then narrow again for 8th, and again beyond.
The immediate goal was 7th Circle, so not much narrowing was needed.
In truth, from direct experience rebuilding from scratch in the Dream Labyrinth with full power discarded, manifesting Thanatos once didn't narrow them much easily.
But.
"Huh?"
The narrowing was far more than expected.
Assuming about 10 cm gaps, for 7th Circle, you'd narrow roughly 1 cm.
No more was needed.
Yet now, it shrank over 5 cm in moments—not even 1 cm.
By the time I thought "Huh?", I tried controlling it, but astonishingly, the circles kept narrowing endlessly without meshing, pushed to one side.
Of course, narrowing would eventually converge to a point.
But their speed didn't slow, leaving me flustered too.
Eh? This space could handle up to 8th Circle?
Why's it still shrinking?
The moment I questioned the changing circles.
The necromantic mana circles shrank at tremendous speed, merging into a single ring before I could react, and began spinning.
Simultaneously, it resonated with my heart—the Machine God's heart.
"Librarian."
Adapting. The dominance inherent in your necromantic mana is so overwhelming that bodily changes have occurred all at once.
The Librarian responded immediately to my call.
Insane.
Another evolution—or adaptation—unfolded. And something odd happened in the process.
The necromantic mana phenomenon manifested around me. Thanatos' form solidified and began seeping into the circles I'd formed.