Chapter 261
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 261
Chapter Title: Lesson 51. A Solid Alliance - 3
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Ban Yu-won, having safely barricaded himself in his private room away from the sharp gazes and probing hands of the women in the mercenary group—who were all too eager to exploit any opening—spent the entire night immersed in artifact crafting.
The first priority, naturally, was gifts for the women in the mercenary group he was working with on this commission.
He started by crafting a bracelet for his mother, one that could activate a defensive function in emergencies while also amplifying her Crimson Flame.
Concepts related to defense—like shells, iron armor, or stone walls—were surprisingly easy to acquire from the Tower and various other places. He had been embedding most of them into his school uniform as he obtained them.
Lower-level concepts could be combined in large quantities to form higher-level ones with lower depth but greater purity. In this way, he converted the massive stockpile into a handful of the pinnacle defense concept: Adamant.
'If I didn't have Adamant myself, I wouldn't have even dreamed of sublimating them like this.'
Then, drawing out his vital energy with the Yu-won Art, he refined it into Crimson Flame and imbued that as well.
Temporary concepts created by expending magic power originally lacked permanence.
But ever since mastering the Yu-won Art and growing adept at controlling conceptual changes with the Origin Sword, the duration of altered concepts had gradually lengthened. Now, with both martial arts having advanced and his command of Verbal Magic, he could bestow permanent concepts onto objects.
'Of course, this is only possible with concepts I've fully mastered and can wield freely.'
The rarer the concept and the deeper its meaning, the exponentially more vital energy it consumed to generate.
For example, Defense 10 might cost 50 vital energy, while Crimson Flame 10 demanded 500.
He had only experimented a few times with advanced processes like conceptual conversion or synthesis without truly mastering them, so even expending 1,000 vital energy, he doubted he could produce even a single unit.
'If I could freely create anything with the Yu-won Art, I'd basically be a god, right? At least my abilities are developing in the right direction.'
Ban Yu-won pulled out the vital energy storage talismans he had steadily prepared whenever he had excess, tearing them one after another.
Absorbing the vital energy that filled the air, he created Crimson Flame up to the bracelet's capacity, then filled the remaining space with amplification and support concepts to make it function as a proper artifact.
It wasn't particularly difficult or dramatic work, so no mutations triggered, but it was still a treasure that would send the Prominence family into a frenzy if presented to them.
After all, who besides a direct follower of the Myriad Calamity could craft an artifact that amplified Crimson Flame so effortlessly?
"I hate that I can't change the design at all. If only Mira were here right now... No, she'd probably cry if I said I wanted her help making gifts for other women."
—She might even slip a curse in behind your back.
"Don't say that—it actually sounds like something she'd do, and now I'm scared, Cellon."
Should he learn smithing now that it wasn't too late?
No, Mira would probably cry again, telling him not to steal her job.
Settling for just altering the internals, Ban Yu-won moved on to crafting earrings for the other three.
Of course, they were all identical in design.
Any differences would just lead to them assigning weird meanings and fighting over it.
'Kee-ra and Sis both handle Crimson Flame, so something similar to Mom's will do.'
As talismans filled with vital energy tore apart one by one, the earrings for the two shimmered even more brilliantly, infused with Adamant and Crimson Flame.
Continuously generating Crimson Flame deepened his understanding of it, pushing his own Crimson Flame depth from its current level to 300.
Likewise, sublimating defense concepts into Adamant raised his own Adamant depth from 50 to 70. So it wasn't all selfless charity, even after burning through the talismans.
There was still a bit of space left in the gems' magic power capacity—too little for more Adamant or Crimson Flame—so he pondered what to add.
'Charm...? Accessories in games always boost charm as a basic rule.'
Charm was the power to sway others' hearts.
Not just seduction, but overwhelming foes, making them obedient, and influencing in various ways.
It wasn't mere superficial beauty, so filling the space with Charm seemed fine.
Besides, no woman would dislike looking more charming.
'Last one's for Aneri.'
He infused Adamant into it as well.
Crimson Flame would be pointless for her, so after much thought, he created and embedded Grotesque Shadow from the Grotesque Shadow Art in its place.
With her innate stealth prowess, she should handle Grotesque Shadow masterfully.
He finished by adding Charm, then gathered his momentum to tackle the main event: the pendant.
That's when a report came in from Lilith, who was out scouting.
[Found them. Process as instructed and let one escape, right?]
She had spotted the Crimson Spear members infiltrating the planet Galahad.
Eve was out too, disguised as an Exodus executive, conducting her own search.
'Of course. If it gets tough, link up with the others...'
[Master's joking. With Requiem, I don't feel like I'd lose to anyone!]
'Good girl—growing into someone strong enough not to lose to any foreshadowing. I'm proud.'
Acquiring Requiem had bolstered his retainers' strength even more than his own.
Even shared between Eve and Lilith, it let them effortlessly capture dimension-roaming space pirates.
Ban Yu-won monitored Galahad's situation via Tike's live feeds with newfound peace of mind, continuing to craft Asha's accessory.
He did want to make gifts for Lucelle, Mira, and Dokgo Yeon too... but that might make Asha feel bad instead, so he'd save them for next time.
Yumina? He didn't want to burden her affection any further.
[All done, Master!]
'Good. Stand by until the escapees report back and we see their reaction.'
[Got it!]
Yet through the night in the royal capital, the Crimson Spear fleet showed no major changes, maintaining their standoff with the Guardian Alliance.
The reason emerged only at dawn: dozens more Crimson Spear ships breached the dimensional barrier.
"What the hell? Are these Crimson Spear losers seriously gearing up for a real fight with us Exodus?"
"Don't talk like you're actually Exodus."
Ban Yu-won had stepped out with the group to ponder the enemy's arrogant escalation when Ban Yu-mi pointed it out.
"Maybe after clashing directly, their sword seemed even more badass than they thought?"
"That could be..."
"So they're thinking: hit Exodus hard before they escape with the holy sword, snatch it, and slaughter them all? Exodus's ships in D-13 dimension are MIA too—looks like a golden opportunity from their side."
"That's... convincing!"
It was all because Eve and Lilith had showcased Requiem's power too spectacularly.
Crimson Spear, whom they'd expected to retreat vengeful against Exodus, had grown greedy for Requiem and called in reinforcements!
Ban Yu-won had planned to exploit Crimson Spear's panic from Exodus's sudden appearance and the holy sword theft, toying with them before slipping away. But now, there was no room for leisure.
"Eve, Lilith—head out now and put on a show."
"Hee-hee!"
[Knew it. Should've wrapped it up quick yesterday.]
"I just wanted to give the Guardian Alliance a chance to unite against Crimson Spear..."
Ban Yu-won admitted his plan to catch two—or three—birds with one stone using Requiem had too many holes.
But the outcome wouldn't change.
No matter how many more ships Crimson Spear threw in, they couldn't outpace Lilith, who had mastered Acceleration, Breakthrough, Meteor, and more.
[We're off!]
"Hahaha!"
Eve, letting out an exaggerated laugh, boarded Lilith—who had shifted into an Exodus ship.
"Nailing the transformation gimmick."
"......"
As the cute doll and snake morphed into a fierce dimension pirate ship and captain, exuding overwhelming presence, the group was left awestruck. Lilith activated Acceleration and Breakthrough, launching in a blink and piercing the atmosphere!
Quellan Ruchato was a pretty successful guy.
Good family background, quick to realize his talents, and plenty of resources to develop them.
By adulthood, he was already the world's top hunter, so Union Academy recruiting him was a given.
Lucky—or unlucky.
He encountered the truth of Union and the Tower far sooner than most.
—Become a slave, or escape with us?
He chose Exodus.
A natural decision, without hesitation or conflict.
During the escape from the Academy, he lost parts of his body but restored them mechanically with the group's aid. He diligently cultivated destructive dark magic power, even forging his own unique weapons and techniques.
At a young age, he rose to command an Exodus fleet, becoming an executive.
Recently, he'd had the misfortune of crossing an Academy full professor, losing everything below the neck—but it wasn't a huge loss.
His decades-cultivated dark magic power, dense with his life force and soul, allowed him to transfer everything into his head the moment his body was severed.
With the mechanical race's blessings, he gained an even stronger body.
"A blessing in disguise, a blessing in disguise."
Cigar in mouth, whistling a tune, he led his fleet through the dimensional barrier.
Destination: D-13 dimension.
Crimson Spear had mobilized en masse out of nowhere; investigating revealed a absurd relic unearthed there—utterly mismatched for a lower dimension.
D-13 was already in the spotlight as the home of this year's special admission standout, As Light, infamous for his freakish monsters.
A newly discovered relic there? An opportunity not to be missed—so Quellan jumped on it.
"Lin got killed, Katro betrayed like a punk, and 90% of our Union plants got axed."
Honestly, it was a massive blow.
As one of the planners, even Quellan faced scrutiny.
But!
If he secured the relic from D-13?
And used it as bait to hook As Light—that thorn who humiliated Rebellion?
"Blessing in disguise."
No need for calculations.
Of course a 'real gem' like As Light was far more useful than phonies like Woo Hye-rin or Katro!
Quellan Ruchato whistled into his bright future, crossing the barrier.
In that instant, he saw a massive light explosion in the space beyond.
—Quellan——Ruchato————!
A horrific telepathy shook the entire space, rattling his brain.
What the fuck? Did they plant a spy? How'd they pinpoint me the second I crossed?
Absurd, Quellan opened comms to complain—when a small Exodus-marked ship streaked past his at light speed.
"Huh?"
"Hahaha!"
That ship carried... himself, laughing heartily.
No mistake.
Even he would be confused.
Mouth agape, he clamped it shut to keep the cigar from falling.
"Hey, wait—that guy's... grab hi—!"
—You brought your minions!
As Quellan panicked and yanked the helm, Crimson Spear's massive fleet opened fire in unison.
The doppelganger ship had already slipped beyond the barrier.
"Captain, engaging!"
"No, that's not the priority—damn it, what the hell!"
Letting his perfect double escape cleanly and stumbling into full combat with Crimson Spear, Quellan felt everything unraveling.
It was spot on.
Crimson Spear was charging, demanding he hand over the holy sword he so desperately wanted.