CH 260

Rather than using destructive magic that consumed a large amount of mana, Arc pursued her path as a mage warrior, an entity that mainly used a compressed, limited amount of magic against one’s opponents in battle.

And, of course, due to this pursuit, Arc found it difficult to rank up as a mage, as she wasn’t pursuing a path to become a pure mage. As a mage warrior, the fact that she could even use Rank 4 spells during battle was a testament to how much back-breaking effort she had put into her craft thus far.

“If you had 20 minutes to safely prepare and 10 minutes of battle time, would you be able to release a Rank 1 spell?”

“No. That would be impossible.”

Arc shook her head.

Since her entire body was covered with her signature full-body black armor, her facial expression was not revealed, but one could tell from her body language that raising her level to accomplish what Merlin was asking wasn’t a simple feat.

The clause of [20 minutes to safely prepare] was of course something that gave any magic user a chance to accomplish something, but her situation was different from that of a pure mage, like Jeros.

Of course, having time to prepare beforehand was always a welcomed opportunity, but she wouldn’t be able to benefit from it as much as a pure mage could.

Moreover, the majority of Master level users in DIO had achieved tremendous growth in a relatively short period of time, as they took advantage of DIO’s near-perfect education and training system, so most Masters were showing considerable stagnation in their developmental progress. This was the same for Arc.

“What about in one week in real time?”

“I’ll make it happen.”

“… Sorry to burden you.”

Merlin was requesting something that was nearly impossible to achieve. Even if it was possible to achieve, it would require a tremendous amount of effort and sacrifice; however, rather than complaining, Arc just nodded her head.

She knew that Merlin wouldn’t dare make such an unreasonable request unless it was absolutely necessary. However, not everyone agreed with Merlin’s seemingly unreasonable request.

“Wait, it’s not just any spell… you’re asking her to execute a Rank 1 spell! Are you insane? In terms of mage Class classifications, for a user to be able to execute a Rank 1 spell, that user has to be in the second half of Class 7, but wouldn’t it take at least a week to reach that Class?”

Arc’s pet, Ellie, who had been listening quietly and intently, looked at Merlin and Arc in turn with an exasperated expression. In Ellie’s view, Arc had already passed the development stage and entered a developmental plateau.

Even if Arc was able to take one more step forward, it would be a minor miracle, but wasn’t Merlin asking her to leap and bound four to five steps further? Moreover, from Ellie’s point of view, Arc wasn’t even a pure mage; Arc was a mage warrior.

“I’ll do it.”

“Well, of course, if you say that you’ll do it then I have nothing to say, but… phew.”

It was quite strange to see a cute-looking Russian Blue sighing like an old man, but Merlin just waved his Editor Blade as if Ellie’s comments didn’t matter.

“Data Patch.”

Ting!

Merlin’s Editor Blade spewed out an aura and created a blue-colored gap in the air. Miho, who noticed something in that foreign aura, quietly asked.

“Wait… based on how you’re speaking, are you planning to leave us and go somewhere else?”

“I have other work to do. This was one of the reasons why I decided to tame Sungmuk. Miho, if reaching Level 17 is difficult, at least complete a Jeweled Eye. Users receive all kinds of benefits, so as long as you completely adapt to your user body, you should be able to produce as much power as when you were a Seven Tailed fox. You don’t want to always play second fiddle in reality, right?”

Merlin spoke in a calm tone, neither mocking nor intimidating.

Miho, who was by no means a slow-witted being, realized Merlin’s true purpose of requesting such lofty goals for each and every party member.

‘This guy… he’s preparing for a battle.’

Miho also knew that, if she didn’t reach the level Merlin requested, she probably wouldn’t be included in Merlin’s main force.

Of course, that didn’t mean that she would be abandoned, but Miho wasn’t someone who could idly stand by while being [protected] instead of operating as an active [colleague], so she immediately started frowning and complaining.

“Ugh. You talk so high and mighty, but one of your eyes is mine.”

“Shall I return it?”

“No. It’s okay.”

Search tinyurl.com/2p9emv8w for the original.

Merlin smiled slightly after seeing Miho grumble and complain. Merlin then turned his attention to the blue-colored gap that was created by his Editor Blade and its Data Patch function.

In truth, even Merlin didn’t know exactly what was inside that space nor what was in store for him within that space.

He expected a few things from a few hypotheses he formulated and from the information he gleaned, but he wasn’t certain of anything.

‘I need to increase my access authority.’

Just as a gamer can’t control all system functions in a game by using a trainer or hacking program, the Editor Blade only allowed Merlin to access and interfere with a portion of DIO’s overall system.

Furthermore, since DIO was the product of a higher stage civilization, with dozens of safety systems installed to counteract external intrusions, it was necessary for Merlin to dominate what he could currently access and destroy whatever system parts he could not bypass in order to increase his overall authority over the DIO system.

“We can’t all go where you plan to go?”

Hearing Arc’s question, Merlin shook his head.

“Well… it’s a bit of a special space, so it’s difficult to take you all along. It’ll take quite some time to explain, but, in short, the space that I’m planning to enter… I’m the only one who has [Level 2 Access Authorization] to enter the system control room, and that authorization is something I possess because I’m bound by a contract with the power that [makes up] this Editor Blade. However, knowing that pets and taming monsters were possible under my access authorization, I grabbed Sungmuk before confronting the Gold Dragon. He’ll be accompanying me on this expedition as well.”

Of course, Merlin had made all these preparations because he thought that he would not have a high chance of beating the Gold Dragon if he went at it alone. Noticing what was unsaid but inferred, Sungmuk asked Merlin a question.

“So, even with these cheat-like buffs, you’re still being this careful… are you planning to face off against a transcendent being? But, on the other hand, if you’re planning on facing off against a transcendent being, even these buffs will be of little help, no?”

“Hmph. I can see that you’re not even considering that I’ll be of any help to Merlin.”

Quiet Heaven grumbled, but Merlin didn’t pay any attention to Quiet Heaven as he replied back to Sungmuk.

“I’ve come up with a plan, so you don’t have to worry.”

“That means my guess that you’re planning to go up against a transcendent is correct! Hahaha! I’m sure looking forward to this.”

Even though Sungmuk knew that the opponent was a transcendent being, instead of being afraid or showing any signs of nervousness, Sungmuk laughed out loud.

Sungmuk grabbed his Divine Red Sparrow Sword and stood behind Merlin.

“Can’t we go together?”

Merlin hesitated after hearing Arc ask again. Her expression was still hidden behind her full-body black armor.

“Arc… no, Eunhye… It would be nice to have more fire power, but you can’t get in since you don’t have the required access authorization level… huh?”

Merlin, who was in the middle of calmly explaining his reason for why he couldn’t take Arc with him, suddenly stopped talking.

This was because, unexpectedly, Merlin saw that Arc’s right hand had gone into the gap in the air.

“How is that possible…?”

DIO’s system access authorization had multiple levels; all registered users had Level 4 Access Authorization.

With this authorization access level, DIO users enjoyed various benefits.

Moreover, if the operators of DIO wanted, a user may be given additional authorization access to certain system functions or even be bumped up a level.

However, in general, most users were limited to Level 4 Access Authorization.

However, Merlin had something incomparable to other users…

His Editor Blade.

Merlin succeeded in creating an Editor Blade, which was capable of interfering with the system by isolating the most important core material that made up DIO, the Anyform Stone, which existed as a bonus stat in his user body.

Merlin didn’t possess the Level 1 Access Authorization needed to control most of the system functions, like the DIO operators, but Merlin succeeded in obtaining Level 2 Access Authorization, which was just one level below the operator’s access authorization level.

“Wait a minute.”

Miho rushed in and tried putting her hand into the gap in the air. However, unlike Arc, her hand passed through the space as if it was passing through a hologram.

“The system seems to be operating as normal, and your user body isn’t showing anything abnormal, but how… hey, Arc! Wait a sec and stay still!”

Merlin checked Arc’s body and the system information contained within it, but he found that her access authorization was ordinary, just at Level 4 Access Authorization, like all other users.

Arc was limited to Level 4 Access Authorization, but the system restrictions were not properly being applied to her.

“Arc. Can you edit, too?”

“Edit?”

Merlin’s expression hardened at the reaction of not knowing the reason for this unexpected anomaly.

Of course, Arc’s presence would help Merlin if she could follow him into the system control room, but that didn’t resolve the question as to how Arc was able to access the system control room in the first place.

‘Was it because of what happened then?’

Merlin recalled when Arc, along with Emperor of Martial Arts Regrants, fell into an illusory space, called the Realm of Chaos, which was close in proximity to the source origin of the universe, and how she came out alive and largely intact.

That situation caused quite a commotion within the Noblesse and also perplexed Merlin.

Originally, the illusory space was commonly called [the world beyond], and because the probability of one making it out alive from such a space was virtually 0%, it was a place where even the gods did not recklessly enter, but Arc, who was just a human, had entered and returned alive.

In truth, the Noblesse eventually concluded that the reason Arc was able to come back alive was that [the moment the Emperor of Martial Arts fell into the illusory space, his entrance pushed her out of the realm of chaos].

Since the Emperor of Martial Arts had done many cruel things during his lifetime, the Noblesse felt that perhaps, he was trying to do one last good deed… but was Regrants capable of showing such kindness to his enemy? Though that question remained, the fact remained that it should have been impossible for Arc to escape from the illusory space by herself, so the Noblesse ended up accepting that wild conjecture.

‘There are a tremendous number of adverse effects the illusory space can have on a living being, but, if I remember correctly, the Noblesse guys didn’t find any problems in Arc.’

Merlin was a walking encyclopedia with countless amounts of knowledge, but even he didn’t know why Arc was unaffected by her entrance and escape from the realm of chaos.

Were there any users who could be free from the restrictions imposed by DIO’s system?