D.I.O

What was an ability?

It was the manifestation of mana.

What was mana?

It was a combination of Force, Essence, and Ether.

And if one could recognize these building blocks and control the fundamental concept of [basic mana]….

Ting!

A golden aura flowed out from Yongno’s left hand. It was his internal energy from the Golden Pill Immortal Technique.

Soon, a white aura emanated from the transparent diamond embedded in his left hand. This aura was the magic power of the Seven Jeweled School of Magic.

Creak!

Then, as he placed his hands together, a noise, like scratching glass, resonated.

Yongno was versed in using both powers; however, internal energy and magic power did not fuse well.

While it wouldn’t cause a tremendous backlash, like when divine power met magic power, the meeting of the two different spiritual power types still caused a significant reaction.

This was primarily why magic swordsmen stored magic power and internal energy separately.

However, Yongno found a way to use this natural repulsion force to amplify his overall power output. This was also the foundational principle by which Merlin stored his Howling Spells in magic stones, a feat that had thoroughly surprised the Great Mage Leighann.

Crackle! Creak!

Mana began to crystallize between Yongno’s two palms. With this amplified magic power, Yongno started producing his magic stones.

When Merlin first discovered this production mechanism, it took him a month to make a single magic stone.

Afterward, once Merlin gradually got used to the process, he reduced the production time to three days, but that was the limit.

Three days was the minimum time required to maintain amplification and harden the magic power into a tangible product.

Yet, at this moment….

Crack!

A blue jewel formed in Merlin’s hand, revealing a top-quality sapphire.

“Ah, I see… this… this is how to control the essence of mana.”

Surprisingly, this process only wasted a marginal amount of his power.

If he had to quantify it, around half a year of internal energy and ten tetras of magic power were lost.

Unlike the violent internal energy that arose when No Living World amplified energy, the consolidated energy of the newly-crystallized magic stone was stable.

All of this became possible because he dealt with the essence of mana.

“Basic mana control ability.”

Yongno had realized basic mana control ability.

Basic mana control ability, one of the three abilities required to reach transcendence, was the ability to recognize and control Force, Essence, and Ether. By learning this, Yongno gained the power to utilize mana in any environment.

“… You… you’ve finally stepped into the transcendence realm?”

Sungmuk asked, having stopped wrestling with Muspelheim after sensing a sudden change in Yongno’s spirit. It was an obvious question, but the answer wasn’t what Sungmuk expected.

“No, it’s not like that. Originally, people will often need three abilities to enter the realm of transcendence, so having one ability doesn’t mean I’ve transcended. In other words, rather than saying that my level has risen, the more accurate phrase is that I’ve obtained a superpower… Eh? Cruze, what do you have in your hand?”

“… I showed you earlier. What are you talking about?”

While grumbling and complaining, Cruze handed the Rolling Heart to Yongno.

By obtaining the necessary alloys and reagents from Yongno’s laboratory, Cruze materialized the required tools and equipment to produce physical end products. In other words, she used aura power to create the tools necessary to create permanent items rather than materializing an object for a finite time.

Yongno took the Rolling Heart and stared at it.

When he first laid his eyes on the Rolling Heart ten minutes ago, he felt nothing special about it. However, after gaining the basic mana control ability, Yongno instantly noticed the value of the fist-sized piece of metal, which had eight intertwining rings.

Brr!

Once Yongno imbued his mana into the object, each ring started to rotate in different directions, exerting a force that attracted anything in the surrounding area.

If he changed the pattern of the magic power he injected, he could also produce a repulsion force.

“This should be pretty useful.”

As he muttered under his breath, Yongno picked up the Editor Blade he had thrown a while ago.

He didn’t intend to use the Editor Blade; he just wanted to place it back in his inventory.

Bang!

Yet, at that very moment… The sapphire in Yongno’s hand melted into the Rolling Heart, and with the amplified repulsion force generated, it flung the Editor Blade away.

The Editor Blade spun in the air and landed on Muspelheim, the fire-blazing staff still in one corner of the room.

“Oh, dear. It just went ahead and consumed the consolidated stabilized mana.”

“If necessary, it can also change the course and deflect incoming attacks by manipulating spatial vectors.”

“You should have told me that in advance.”

When Yongno grabbed the Editor Blade, which was stuck in Muspelheim, the staff came along with the Editor Blade.

Since Muspelheim was a weapon that needed to recognize its [owner], Yongno couldn’t properly use it, but he had no issue moving the weapon because there was no attack or use command placed on it.

However, at that moment….

Bang!

With an explosion, the ground- no, the entire building shook.

The outer wall of the Magic Tower cracked from the impact, which originated outside the building.

Boom!

In this urgent situation, Yongno threw the Editor Blade toward the tower’s outer wall. With Muspelheim still stuck in its blade, the Editor Blade flew through the air before getting pinned to the wall.

“Data Patch!”

Once Yongno uttered the activation phrase, the cracked outer wall restored itself.

However, unlike Muspelheim’s fiery attacks, which were recognized as [part] of the Magic Tower, it wasn’t as easy to restore destruction caused by an [external] attack.

Bang!

Eventually, once the tower’s outer wall was breached, and the internal portion gained direct access to the [outside], the furniture and equipment inside the Magic Tower started turning into particles and dissipating. The data of these objects couldn’t exist in the real, material world.

“Quiet Heaven! Separate the floor I’m on so it is the only one connected to the outside!”

[Hey, you stupid master! Now is not the time to worry about the building! Look outside!]

Yongno looked up after hearing Quiet Heaven screams from the system control room.

“Long time no see.”

“Tan… How are you…?”

A middle-aged man in a suit and a gray fedora floated before the recently-created hole in the outer wall, which was large enough for a dump truck to pass through.

It was Tan.

He was one of the head figures of the Noblesse, who had previously run and operated DIO. He had taken control of DIO by bringing down the Empress of Magic, the creator of DIO and a founding member of the Senate, a place that even Ancient Class dragons couldn’t easily enter.

As Yongno had hijacked DIO’s operating rights, Tan was the last being Yongno wanted to see.

“Hmm… but something seems off,” Tan commented.

“What? What are you talking about?” Yongno remarked.

Yongno grew alert and emitted his magic powers, but Tan didn’t take any action to attack. This was because Yongno was much weaker than Tan had initially anticipated.

‘Wait. This kid isn’t even in the transcendence realm. So… he’s not the one who recently transcended?’

Tan couldn’t comprehend this incongruity. If Merlin, the one presumed to have killed the red dragon Igniz, had not reached the transcendence realm, then who did?

Flash!

Then, a blinding ray of light struck Tan, who had been immersed in his thoughts while hovering in the air. It was a surprise attack without forewarning, but the dark blue aura floating above Tan’s head easily blocked the abrupt light-based attack.

“Are you okay?”

“Oh, you’re here, too… Seyoung… hyung?”

After Seyoung appeared like a thunderbolt, Yongno was about to greet him but hesitated. This was because the power Yongno felt from Seyoung was on a completely different level from the last time they’d met.

Whoosh!

A glowing halo appeared around Seyoung.

Even though Seyoung was emitting a halo as before, the light felt stable and robust, unlike the precarious and unstable nature that Yongno had previously sensed.

And that wasn’t all. The powerfully concentrated light of Dustin, the draconic sword that Seyoung held, made its existence readily apparent.

“He’s using… strong qi?”

This shouldn’t have been possible.

When he sacrificed his potential to gain immediate strength, Seyoung couldn’t develop further, no matter what kind of realization he attained.

However, the moment he saw Seyoung’s strong qi, Yongno devised a hypothesis that could explain what he was witnessing.

“Could it be that…. Hyung, did you go and brainwash people to gather divinity?”

“Yes. I needed to resonate and synchronize with all things.”

When the basic mana control ability, absolute mana control ability, and synchronization with all things formed a trinity, one would become a lower-level god with divinity, a divine position, and divine status. These were the hallmark components that led down the path of transcendence.

However, Arthur had already become incapable of obtaining the ability to synchronize with all things. Thus, he chose a different, non-traditional approach.

He first created the foundation for his divine status by being worshiped globally. By doing so, he gained a divine status and thus obtained the ability to synchronize with all things.

If it had been Earth at any other period, no matter how much worship Seyoung received, it would have meant nothing… but Seyoung already had power equivalent to a transcendent. Most people on Earth worshiped him, and that collective worship exerted spiritual power.

“But… this kind of power is dangerous.”

“It’s also not sustainable.”

Seyoung’s divinity originated from others’ worship, not from his own power. As such, it was possible that his divine status could disappear at any moment. The moment the people’s faith in him weakened or degenerated, Seyoung would fall from grace.

Moreover, the divinity created by the worship of countless people would gradually eat away at him over time.

Even transcendents born as humans would be burdened if they were exposed to the spiritual power of billions of human worshipers as mere lower-class gods.

“Hahaha! This is really funny. Could it be that you are the transcendent being born on Earth? I would never have thought that the Watcher’s Bell would ring from such an approach.”

Tan had been thinking for a while when he burst into laughter. He spoke as he looked at Arthur, who was constantly scattering his brilliance through his halo.

“I see. The pseudo transcendent has now become a fake transcendent.”

Yongno frowned after hearing Tan speak with such a laid-back attitude.

‘What’s going on? Why is this guy so relaxed and outspoken?’

Yongno had never expected this scenario.

Tan was the type that did things behind the scenes; he wasn’t a being who acted openly.

‘Shoot. I’ll have to fight him head-on with martial arts and spiritual powers. I haven’t prepared anything yet, but I must contend with him directly?’

Yongno didn’t have a chance to consider anything else. This was the worst timing.

He had a hunch that time was running out, but still, this progression of events was too fast.

Above all, Yongno never anticipated that a mid-class divine being would make the first move without any countermeasures.