D.I.O

“Eek! Why are you saying you don’t want to change, you idiot?! Do it now! Why are you so adamant about keeping that yucky orc body?!” Snowflake Flower insisted.

“What’s wrong with this orc body?” Sungmuk blandly replied.

“Everything! It’s not a good look!”

After watching the two bicker for a moment, Yongno returned his attention to the magic circle engraved on the floor. For some reason, a sense of urgency was pushing him to research and produce results as quickly as possible, so he couldn’t help but feel as if his head was caught in a vice.

“… If I can complete this Unified Soul Catcher, earthlings will become completely free from the influence of extraterrestrial beings.”

However, though Yongno understood the general gist of what he needed to do, he lacked a few core technologies.

Yongno believed he’d barely see any results even if several months or even years passed.

“Want to take a break?” Eunhye asked from the side.

“Don’t tempt me. Ugh, this is giving me a headache. I want to stop. I want to do something else.”

To be honest, Yongno had never studied or trained with exceptional grit or diligence.

In the past, Yongno only researched what he wanted, and he based his training on the random thoughts and ideas that popped into his mind and interested him at the time.

So, rather than slowly progressing with a specific goal in mind, Yongno only conducted proper research or trained earnestly when he had an unexpected, intriguing idea.

However, the idea he was currently working on was a concept that would have an enormous impact on humanity and far exceeded Earth’s magic civilization level. Thus, Yongno had trouble progressing and developing the project with such a vague, fragmentary theory. Even he, an Irregular and universal genius, needed to spend a lot of time researching and verifying his concept’s various components to produce tangible results.

Hence, at that present moment, Yongno felt himself nearing his [limit].

“What should I do….”

If he researched, he’d undoubtedly obtain results, and if Yongno continued to work with those findings, he’d obtain new data… as this cycle of research and results continued, Yongno felt an increasing sense of pressure pushing against him from all sides.

The more urgency he felt, the slower his research progressed.

To put it one way, as he felt an increasing need to do something, the less motivated he became.

“This is starting to become a huge issue. This damn motivation problem of mine is reoccurring and at such a critical moment… I don’t have time for this paralysis… I’m running out of time….”

Yongno had to somehow push through, but that was easier said than done. If it was so easy to push through, why would any scholars or artists suffer from writer’s block or creative slumps?

“Try researching something else.”

“At the moment, this is the most vital task, so how could I consider researching anything else? I don’t have much time left, so I must succeed….”

“Hey, Merlin!”

Then, Cruze ran into the lab and shouted. After she entered the tower, Cruze was in a perpetual 24-hour state of manifestation.

“Let’s make Earth Breaker and Genocider!”

Cruze confidently exclaimed as she held out a piece of metal the size of her fist. On it, a pattern of eight intertwined rings could be seen.

Yongno didn’t know, but the metallic object Cruze presented was the Rolling Heart, a key component of Earth Breaker.

“If we can make Earth Breaker and Genocider, we’ll be able to get a good smack in on those damn Noblesse!”

With her materialization ability, Cruze could create high-level scientific weaponry capable of exerting tremendous power. However, as she made weapons of a higher civilization level, her materialization became less efficient in terms of the energy required.

Of course, from the start, her ability to materialize things was a cheat-like ability.

Cruze had the all-powerful skill to create any weapon as long as she understood its internal structure.

Moreover, Cruze also had the flexibility to make any materialization she desired, delete it at any time, and reimagine new ones.

Unsurprisingly, this ability of hers came from her high-level genius ability, something all aura power users envied. Yet, with such genius, she had to sacrifice other areas.

Energy efficiency was one of those tradeoffs.

To make up for her weakness, Cruze tried utilizing pre-materializing items and consuming them when needed, as Yongno did with magic stones. Unfortunately, Cruze could not use this option.

Her manifestations took up a portion of her overall aura power capacity, so when she created something, the aura power she used reduced her total capacity. Hence, if she maintained a materialization, doing so would permanently lower her overall amount.

Due to this, she decided to utilize a completely new method and approach.

If she couldn’t save materialized items without lowering her total aura power, she would materialize the tools and equipment needed to produce the final products.

In other words, Cruze chose to materialize a vast infrastructure rather than one end product.

This change of thought and approach was quite effective.

No matter how powerful a weapon she materialized, the item would eventually disappear after the manifestation period ended. Furthermore, if creating and maintaining this weapon constantly drained her aura power, Cruze would eventually exhaust her total capacity. Therefore, Cruze concluded it would be better to create a foundation from which she could continually materialize an assortment of weapons.

Most importantly, she knew exactly how to make the items she materialized.

However, Yongno had a sullen expression.

“Hmm, about production… Can those two weapons be mass-produced?”

“No, mass production is impossible. For weapons of this level, I’m faced with a materialization time limit for the tools needed.”

“Hmm….”

Yongno mulled over the problem for a while. He didn’t feel that Cruze’s materialization ability possessed much merit.

Over time, Yongno had widened the skill gap between himself and Cruze, so her unique materialization ability didn’t seem so powerful or useful anymore. Above all, after potential enemies reached a certain power level, they could easily block Cruze’s attacks.

‘Well, maybe Earth Breaker is worth using? Genocider is useless because it kills everyone indiscriminately- no, wait. I shouldn’t be casting this sort of idea aside so easily….’

Earth Breaker, a thick sword that shook the dimension just by existing, was a weapon from the 4th Stage of Civilization. It could control gravity and repulsion and, by extension, manipulate spatial vectors. Genocider was an antimatter cannon that utilized the tech from the most advanced 3rd Stage of Civilization; this cannon’s explosive power was tens of times greater than a modern atomic bomb.

Didn’t the great powers of the world, including the United States, fear Cruze more than Arthur? This was because if Cruze suddenly went mad and materialized her antimatter cannons, she could blow away a country or two without breaking a sweat.

‘Yet, why do I see her in a lesser light?’

Yongno pondered for a while. Why did he have this preconceived impression of Cruze and her ability?

Was it from when the Emperor of Martial Arts, Regrants, caught Cruze’s antimatter cannon attack, Genocider, with his bare hands? As long as one overlooked how Genocider didn’t discern between friend and foe, it was essentially an ultimate attack. However, Regrants neutralized the threat without much difficulty.

Even so, this didn’t mean that Cruze’s attack was weak; rather, Regrants was just too formidable.

‘Now that I think about it, it’s kind of weird….’

The Emperor of Martial Arts was, undoubtedly, a great being.

Even in the entire universe, Regrants had a prominent reputation. He was almost comparable to a monster and could probably survive a stint in a black hole or endure a dimensional strike. As such, it went without saying that an antimatter cannon wouldn’t trouble Regrants.

However, that was only the case for the Emperor of Martial Arts; it wasn’t the same for the other Grand Masters present during that joint battle.

Based on Yongno’s judgment, a 1 kg antimatter explosion at close range would cause enormous damage to even the most accomplished transcendents.

Didn’t Yongno kill two transcendents with his 6,400-year Irrational Hand Strike?

Although the transcendents he defeated were classified as gods, albeit lower-class, they weren’t immortal. Even lower-level energy could inflict considerable damage on transcendent beings if the amount reached a certain threshold.

Most transcendents could likely easily block such antimatter attacks, but if they took the hit head-on, they’d suffer a considerable blow.

‘I see.’

And at that moment, Yongno realized why he had taken Cruze’s power and ability for granted and not considered including her in his main force.

‘At least, from the transcendent’s perspective, Cruze is an entity that can be ignored. Unknowingly, I took on their point of view… and didn’t see any hope in her.’

Yongno recalled the scene when Cruze had fired her antimatter cannon.

Back then, Yongno wasn’t surprised that the Emperor of Martial Arts could grab her attack with his bare hands, but thinking back on it now, he felt a sense of incongruity regarding the scene.

‘None of the Grand Masters prepared any defensive spells, though they should have known that the AOE nature of the antimatter attack didn’t discern between friend or foe. It seemed that they didn’t even try to dodge. Despite being aware that Cruze had fired, they weren’t concerned in the slightest. It’s as if… as if they knew the attack could be neutralized with a single gesture.’

Yongno’s eyes narrowed.

‘Why? What do they know? The force of such a large antimatter attack wouldn’t be trivial. In terms of power alone, it’s enough to exceed my Irrational Hand Strike, which used 6,400 years of internal energy. Even if the attack isn’t focused, as it’s an explosion of lower-level energy, it’s still a spiritual attack… wait… a spiritual attack?’

Great discoveries sometimes occurred by chance.

If Yongno had heard Cruze yesterday or tomorrow instead of this exact moment, his mind would not have processed her words like it was now. He wouldn’t have contemplated them any further.

He could only think and ponder in this manner because he questioned why he had [excluded Cruze from his main force].

Otherwise, his focus would’ve been solely placed on the impending alien attacks and his need to further his research, casting aside Cruze’s words.

However, right now, Yongno was mentally fatigued, as he was forcing himself to continue researching. Consequently, he clung to a glimmer of an idea, one that had suddenly come to him without realizing it.

Tired of being constantly worried, he found an outlet to think about something else, and because of that, he suddenly arrived at the [correct answer].

‘Materialization can be disabled!’

“Uhm, Hey there, Merlin? You alright?”

Cruze waved her hand in front of Yongno’s face, but Yongno paid no attention as he focused.

Although Cruze’s ability was close to omnipotent, it had a fatal weakness. Usually, aura power users chose only one object to materialize.

They would pick a sword, a gun, a watch, and so on. They’d keep the item in their hands for a considerable amount of time, grasping its feel, smell, volume, and weight until they memorized the item’s properties. Once they could fully recall the item’s shape and size, even with their eyes closed, they could materialize the item with their aura power. Later, they’d be able to imbue their special abilities and attribute powers onto that materialization.

On the other hand, Cruze used a special rule. She utilized a programming foundation to repeatedly install and uninstall items as long as she possessed the memory capacity required.

This meant that she could materialize or install a weapon whenever she needed it!

However, the special abilities and attribute powers she could imbue in her materialized weapons would be limited to [mechanical phenomena] rather than [magic phenomena], and above all… since Cruze maintained the flexibility to continuously change what she materialized, the object she created would have a weak concentration of spiritual power.

‘In this way, if someone dissipated her materialized aura power, no matter if it’s an antimatter explosion or attack, it would all revert to the most basic component of energy, mana. This is because Cruze is utilizing materialization, not material creation!’

Transcendents recognized and dealt with the smallest unit, mana. As such, they could easily reduce a lower [level] power into its fundamental building block.

‘No, it’s not that Cruze’s attack is particularly easy to neutralize and deconstruct … it’s just that transcendents can effortlessly neutralize a lesser attack. Mana… right… they can essentially deal with things under the principle of mana!’

“Uhm, Merlin? Are you still with us?” Cruze asked.

“Hush. Quiet,” Eunhye muttered under her breath.

“Huh?”

While Eunhye dragged Cruze away, Yongno began to grow calmer.