Chapter 470
'The distortion value is rising in real-time...'
Could something be happening in the sealed Tuseong?
Seong Jihan's eyes sank as he watched the distortion value of Martial Soul grow.
'Come to think of it, the performance of Martial Soul seems to have improved too.'
Until now, he thought his abilities had only been amplified after becoming the Blue Administrator.
But it seemed that Martial Soul was also a cause for his body feeling lighter.
'Martial Soul is the ability of the Martial God, but...'
Martial Soul, the unique ability possessed by the Martial God.
The rise in the distortion level of Martial Soul was no different from saying that the Martial God had developed it.
But Seong Jihan recalled the Martial God he had seen in Tuseong.
Although his power was overwhelming,
He wasn't really a being that fit well with martial arts.
Rather,
'The name Martial God suited Dongbang Sak better.'
But would it be possible for such a Martial God to raise the distortion level of Martial Soul in such a short time?
'Hmm... at this level, could it be that he even swallowed Dongbang Sak?'
For Seong Jihan, who couldn't know what was happening in Tuseong, he could only make such speculations.
At that moment,
An exclamation mark appeared next to the Martial Soul stat.
'What's this? Is it telling me to press it?'
When Seong Jihan pressed the exclamation mark,
Whiiiing...
[The distortion level of the stat 'Martial Soul' has risen abnormally.]
[Would you like to identify the cause of the problem?]
A new message window popped up above the status window.
'Of course I need to identify it.'
When Seong Jihan pressed yes,
Whiiing...
A new screen appeared.
The first thing that caught his eye was Dongbang Sak sitting cross-legged.
'Dongbang Sak... he wasn't devoured by the Martial God.'
But seeing that he was identified as the cause of the rise in Martial Soul' distortion level,
It was clear that he was influencing Martial Soul in some way.
Seong Jihan continued to stare at the screen for now.
[...]
With his eyes closed, his seated body slowly rose,
And a pure white light began to bloom around him.
What the light took the form of was a single sword.
It was similar to the Taiji Sword that Dongbang Sak had taken out from the Taiji.
And,
[Insufficient.]
As Dongbang Sak's mouth opened,
Flash!
Light exploded on the screen, and dozens of swords of light began to rise.
Each one contained absolute power, the swords of light.
Seong Jihan looked at them closely.
'...Looking closely, they seem slightly weaker than the Taiji Sword.'
Perhaps because they were directly created instead of being drawn from the Taiji,
Compared to the main Taiji Sword, the swords of light seemed to lack power.
But even so, they were only slightly weaker and still possessed a threatening power.
Moreover, the number of swords was much greater.
Seong Jihan counted the number of swords of light Dongbang Sak had formed.
'54.'
A total of 54 swords of light were created.
This number was definitely the same as the distortion value of Martial Soul he had seen a moment ago.
And,
Flash!
As light flashed in the air and one more sword was created,
The distortion level of Martial Soul in the status window also rose to 55 in real-time.
'The number of swords of light Dongbang Sak creates is truly proportional to the distortion level.'
Seong Jihan's eyes flashed as he watched the real-time changes.
No matter how much the Martial God didn't actually suit martial arts,
He thought that the growth of Martial Soul' distortion level was ultimately possible only if the Martial God directly developed Martial Soul.
So he wondered if he had swallowed Dongbang Sak or something.
'Just by Dongbang Sak training, Martial Soul develops.'
Martial Soul, which was said to be the ability of a star.
Was the source of this ability actually coming from Dongbang Sak?
Indeed, when the distortion level of Martial Soul changed from 54 to 55,
Even Seong Jihan could feel a slight increase in the power of Martial Soul.
As Dongbang Sak trained, he was also influenced in a way.
'Gosh, even after becoming an Administrator, I think I'll have a hard time against that old man...'
Although he could clearly feel that he had become stronger after becoming the Blue Administrator,
Perhaps it was because the reference ability of Blue, Stat Azure, was still nothing special.
Compared to other Administrators, his abilities were definitely lacking.
In this state, if he faced Dongbang Sak, he would honestly lose.
At that moment,
[The cause of the rise in the distortion level of the stat 'Martial Soul' has been identified.]
[Would you like to rectify the problem?]
[You can restrain the target using Administrator authority.]
A new message appeared in the status window.
* * *
"Even such things are possible with Administrator authority?"
Now it felt a bit like being an Administrator.
Seong Jihan nodded his head while looking at the system message, but.
[It is an ability related to the Administrator. You can properly reverse it by consuming authority.]
"Consuming authority... It's saying I'll use something."
As the system message precisely said consuming authority instead of using it, he frowned.
"Is this also using some kind of points?"
[It's similar. Would you like to quantify Administrator authority?]
"Yes."
Even after becoming an Administrator, there's no free lunch in this world.
As Seong Jihan nodded, an Administrator authority item appeared at the top of the status window.
Administrator Authority - 12000
"If I rectify the distortion of Martial Soul, how much authority will be used?"
[500 is consumed per distortion level of 1.]
"I can't even reduce it all? Then it'll end after reducing 24."
Seong Jihan looked at the swords Dongbang Sak had manifested.
Even if you subtract 24 from 55, 31 will still remain.
'And Dongbang Sak will develop it back to 55.'
Then it would be like wasting Administrator authority.
Sealing Dongbang Sak was something he could attempt only when he had accumulated more authority.
Moreover,
'If resolving the distortion weakens Martial Soul, I need to consider whether it's beneficial to me or not.'
Among the various stats Seong Jihan possessed, the most central ability was undoubtedly Martial Soul.
No matter how much the system told him to rectify the distortion level, there was no need to already choose a path of weakening while using authority.
"I'll hold off for now."
[Understood. The current screen will be terminated.]
"End? Can't you keep it on?"
Seong Jihan asked with a hint of regret as the screen that allowed him to spy on Tuseong for free was disappearing.
[The current location is a sealed area. Starting 10 minutes later, 100 authority will be consumed per minute to maintain playback.]
"Ah, is that so? Turn it off right after 10 minutes."
As soon as it was said that authority would be consumed at a rate of 100 per minute, any lingering attachment disappeared.
He couldn't waste the mere 12000 authority just to watch Tuseong.
'But I can watch it for 10 minutes without any cost.'
Thinking so, Seong Jihan quietly stared at the screen.
Dongbang Sak, floating in the air, moving the 55 swords of light.
Sensing the transcendent power contained in each sword, Seong Jihan suddenly thought.
'Come to think of it, that Martial God really doesn't do anything...'
He thought Martial Soul was an ability with the Martial God as the main axis.
Was this also a structure that exploited Dongbang Sak?
Come to think of it, among the abilities of Martial Soul, there was one that copied and mastered all martial arts of humanity.
Could this also turn out to be a manifestation of Dongbang Sak's talent?
'What the hell does the Martial God even do?'
While Seong Jihan was lowering his evaluation of him by another level,
[Stop.]
From within the screen, the Martial God's voice was heard telling Dongbang Sak to end his training.
[Martial God.]
[I told you not to train the Taiji Sword in here.]
[This sword is not the Taiji Sword...!]
[Seeing that it can't be analyzed, isn't it a similar type?]
Shwooo...
In front of Dongbang Sak, a red light flashed.
As the light spread, it began to examine the swords one by one.
[With this much, even the Sun King would be subdued without resistance. Stop training.]
[...Understood.]
[Then, as soon as the seal is lifted, hunt down the Sun King.]
[Yes, Martial God.]
Dongbang Sak, who had been floating in the air, had already come down and knelt before the red light.
Certainly, his every movement was loyal, but.
[I will emphasize once more. From now on, do not do any kind of training.]
[...Yes.]
The Martial God emphasized once more for Dongbang Sak to stop training and disappeared.
'The Martial God has been suppressing Dongbang Sak's potential until now...'
The current Dongbang Sak, who was already a monster.
But if he continues training and develops further and further, he may even escape his control.
With such thoughts, the Martial God seemed to have strictly controlled Dongbang Sak's training.
'With this, the distortion value of Martial Soul won't grow for the time being.'
Unexpectedly, the Martial God is playing a restraining role.
Seong Jihan stroked his chin and watched Dongbang Sak put away the swords.
Although he appeared to be a loyal subject of the Martial God on the outside,
'Asoka said that Dongbang Sak locked himself inside the Taiji Sword to avoid revealing his true intentions.'
And he said that if the Taiji Sword was drawn out during the battle with him, he would come to his senses and help.
At that time, he optimistically thought that it would be fine if he fought with all his strength.
'Now that I see it, I need to destroy those 55 swords.'
The swords of light, possessing unique power, even if not on the level of the Taiji Sword.
He didn't know how strong they were, but while all other martial arts could be mastered through Martial Soul,
Those, like the Taiji Sword, could not be analyzed or copied by Martial Soul.
Looking at the swords, Seong Jihan recalled Asoka's last words.
- If you can't draw out the Taiji Sword, you and humanity will all die at Dongbang Sak's hands.
Before becoming an Administrator, he thought, 'No, that much should be possible.'
But after seeing the 55 swords, the difficulty had skyrocketed.
'It's rather fortunate that Tuseong is in a sealed state.'
Perhaps because the grade of Stat Azure was too low,
Even after becoming the Blue Administrator, he had not yet gained the strength to subdue Dongbang Sak.
He had to quickly obtain power befitting an Administrator, taking advantage of the sealed state of Tuseong.
[10 minutes have passed.]
Beep.
As the screen turned off with that message, Seong Jihan tried pressing the other abilities that had distortion levels.
But unlike with Martial Soul, no screens appeared for Red and Eternity.
"Why don't these have problem identification or rectification screens?"
As Seong Jihan asked that,
[They are abilities of beings with higher authority than the temporary Administrator. You do not have access rights.]
The system drew a line, saying that unlike Martial Soul, he did not have the authority to modify the two abilities.
"...Then there's practically no way for me to resolve the distortion phenomena?"
Martial Soul can't be done because authority is lacking.
Red and Eternity can't be modified because they are abilities created by beings of higher rank than him.
In this situation, how was he supposed to resolve his own distortion phenomena?
As Seong Jihan expressed such doubts,
[A temporary Administrator does not necessarily need to rectify distortion phenomena.]
[The problem of an Administrator is possessing distorted abilities. Abandoning distorted abilities is also a way to resolve distortion phenomena.]
The system message suggested a different solution.
Of course, this was,
"Abandon abilities? That won't do."
It was a proposal that Seong Jihan could not accept.
'If I abandon Martial Soul, Red, and Eternity, Constellation Candidate Seong Jihan would be stronger.'
If he deleted all those abilities, the only things left are Void and Blue.
With this, drawing out the Taij Sword from Dongbang Sak would become even more impossible.
[If you cannot delete all distorted abilities, we recommend deleting at least some of them.]
[If you maintain the current abilities, 50 Administrator authority will be consumed per day.]
[If you delete the stat 'Red', 100 Administrator authority will be added per day.]
Seong Jihan looked at the system message and did a simple calculation.
'The value of Red is about 150 authority per day.'
Currently, when maintaining abilities, it's -50 per day.
If Red is deleted, it becomes +100, so it can be said to have a daily value of 150.
'Since Red's distortion level is 50, I guess it subtracts about 3 per distortion level then.'
After becoming an Administrator, it's making me do arithmetic.
While figuring out the Administrator authority calculation method, Seong Jihan asked the system.
"Instead of forcibly removing my abilities, wouldn't it be better to increase the daily incoming amount? How do I increase the daily authority?"
[To increase the daily authority acquisition amount, you need to develop abilities related to your symbolic color.]
[The grade of the stat 'Blue' related to the symbol is too low. Raise the grade of Blue.]
Right.
Rather than reducing consumption, it's enough to earn a lot.
"Open the management item, stat 'Blue'."
With that mindset, Seong Jihan opened the 'Blue' item, but.
[There is no information about the stat 'Blue'.]
[This ability cannot be upgraded currently.]
That attempt encountered a reef from the very beginning.