D.I.O - CH 287

“Yeah, tattoos. These appeared on my arm a couple of weeks ago, but they’re not ordinary tattoos. They change every so often,” Leaf explained.

“And that isn’t all. Those characters… have a strange power,” Sunghyun added.

“Strange power?”

When Yongno asked for clarification, Leaf made an embarrassed expression before replying.

“I can’t explain why, but strange things keep happening. The other day… before getting my artificial spiritual pathway, I got in a car accident. The tattoos changed into some strange Chinese characters, and afterward, all the occupants were teleported out of the car.”

“It wasn’t some strange Chinese characters. The idioms were ‘Crisis Situation’ and ‘Emergency Escape,’” Sunghyun added.

Yongno looked at the engraved characters as he listened to Leaf and Sunghyun’s explanation. Fortunately, once Yongno directed his attention toward the area, he could feel the divine qi aura emanating from the arm.

However, the problem was that the divine qi was too high level.

‘My goodness… this must’ve been created by a monstrous being at Level 30 or higher.’

No matter how much Yongno focused his senses and explored the mysterious characters, he could only read the superficial information on the surface. Of course, he could possibly understand the tattoo’s magic system if he destroyed them and interpreted their composition, but there was no need to invite an unknown, formidable entity’s animosity.

‘Damn.’

Inwardly, Yongno cursed and gnashed his teeth. To think that a monstrous being at Level 30 or higher, a mid-rank god, would meddle in Earth’s affairs….

Yongno knew there were few mid-rank gods in the entire universe. So, why were so many getting involved with Earth, a tiny planet in the vast, expansive universe?

“Yongno?”

“Ah, yeah. Um, thankfully, it doesn’t seem like those tattoos will present much of a problem. They’re there to protect and aid your development.”

“Why?”

“That’s what I’m unsure of. I only know the tattoos’ source. They were made by an Immortal.”

For a moment, silence reigned after Yongno’s calm reply. Sunghyun looked puzzled before he sighed.

“Ah… I really hate how such absurd words have so much persuasive power now.”

“What the hell are Immortals… if things continue like this, are angels and devils going to pop up soon?”

“Well, there are one or two religious groups proclaiming that the end times are approaching….”

Lea Schmidt, or Cruze, had been eating and keeping quiet when she saw everyone sigh, and she soon spoke up.

“Eh, don’t worry about it too much. The Celesti seemed relatively nice.”

“Ah, now that I think of it, you were the one who introduced me to Manbo. Do you have any means of contacting the Celesti?”

“Um, no.”

Yongno’s brow furrowed at the sight of Cruze responding so matter-of-factly. Judging by the atmosphere, it seemed that Cruze didn’t even think about making a connection with the Celesti outside of her single deal with Manbo.

At the least, Cruze was an Irregular, so why was she like this….

“She’s quite stupid, isn’t she?”

“What? What is this old idiot talking about?”

At Dongsoo’s, or Lancelot’s, calm words, Lea screamed.

Seeing how the two seemed to be comfortable with each other, Yongno asked, “Oh, come to think of it, Lancelot, why are you hanging out with Cruze- I mean Lea, so often?”

“We’re siblings.”

Theft is never good, try looking at bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

Lancelot’s real-life body, which could be described as a typical Asian male with no special features other than an ordinary, slightly good-looking face, didn’t look anything like Cruze. Lea Schmidt looked like a conventional Westerner with brownish-red hair and blue eyes. Actually, to be frank, there were no similarities at all. No, the dissimilarity was so strong that it seemed impossible for the two to be related in any way, shape, or form.

Since this visual discrepancy was readily apparent, Yongno instantly understood their relationship.

“You two are related by adoption. There’s no way you’re biologically brother and sister.”

“That’s correct. She has no cuteness gene to speak of.”

“What the hell? How come that makes me feel worse?”

Dongsoo laughed as Lea ferociously growled. When he saw that natural and gentle smile, Yongno’s expression hardened. He sensed a feeling he had never felt before.

“… What’s wrong?”

As Eunhye knew Yongno and could read his emotions better than anyone else, she sensed the unusual atmosphere and spoke up. Then, Yongno pointed at Dongsoo.

In truth, Dongsoo was one of the few users Yongno was friendly with.

He was the first player Yongno talked to when he started playing DIO. Within a month of DIO’s service starting, Lancelot reached the level of Master, and as pioneering members of that special class of initial Masters, Lancelot and Merlin went on several missions together.

Moreover, Merlin’s Irrational Hand Strike was a special move that Merlin created after gaining inspiration from Lancelot’s stab.

However, while Merlin continued to develop, Lancelot largely remained stagnant.

For quite a long time, Lancelot didn’t or couldn’t level up, even after realizing the true meaning of stabbing early on. Lancelot was a pioneer, but countless other users soon overtook him.

Presently, with the number of Masters increased exponentially, easily exceeding hundreds of users, Lancelot faded away and became just another mediocre Master, one who didn’t even stand amongst the so-called Rankers, the top DIO players ranked by fellow users.

“He’s Lancelot- no, actually, his real name is Dongsoo. Dongsoo hyung, please stand,” said Yongno.

“Huh? What’s going on? What’s the matter? Why are you setting such a serious mood?” Lea responded.

Sensing something unusual in the air, Lea got up and stood in front of Dongsoo, but Yongno didn’t pay any attention to her actions as he continued speaking.

“Lea, why are you here?”

“… I came to ask you to equip my brother with a growth-type artificial spiritual pathway. In return-”

“I’ll do it.”

“Huh? What?”

Poof!

While Lea was flustered, a light shot out from Yongno’s hand and struck Dongsoo as the latter stood behind Lea.

Yongno had taken out a diamond about the size of a baby’s fist, cast several spells on it, and then fired it toward Dongsoo. Essentially, Yongno planted a [seed] in Dongsoo’s body.

Even though Yongno previously gave all the ‘seeds’ in his possession to Arthur and had only recently produced this additional seed, Yongno didn’t hesitate to use it.

“Hmm… Merlin, isn’t a growth-type artificial spiritual pathway worth hundreds of billions of won?”

“Hundreds of billions of won? No way, it’s not that cheap. However… if I feel it’s worth it, then I won’t hesitate to part with one. To be honest, I’m actually a bit bewildered and surprised to have discovered an unexpected powerful ally.”

Sungmuk was surprised when the utterly dumbfounded Dongsoo received such a priceless item from Yongno. Yet, Sungmuk soon frowned when he saw Yongno’s gaze turn towards him.

“What?”

“Spar.”

Sungmuk had been eating a meal and ignoring the surrounding situation, but now, he briefly hesitated after hearing Yongno’s reply.

Thud!

“Hahaha! At last! You’ve finally decided to move that precious body of yours! Let’s fight without the non-destructive setting… make sure you fight with all your might….”

Excited, Sungmuk pulled out his Divine Red Sparrow Sword. In truth, he had wanted to fight Yongno several times up to now, but the latter didn’t gain much enjoyment from combat and avoided giving give Sungmuk any chance to fight him. Thus, this resulted in Sungmuk’s delight and clear happiness at this unexpected opportunity.

However, Yongno shook his head.

“Not with me… I want you to spar with Dongsoo over there.”

“What? Who the hell is that?”

Obviously, Sungmuk didn’t know Dongsoo, and consequently, there was no way that Sungmuk would know who Lancelot was. To be fair, Lancelot wasn’t a conspicuous user.

Although Lancelot was one of DIO’s first Masters, he couldn’t even block Sungmuk’s basic sword strike, so there was no way Sungmuk would remember such a user. In fact, it would have been weird if Sungmuk knew Lancelot.

Startled, Lea materialized her pair of plasma pistols to block Sungmuk’s potential attack.

“Hey! What kind of shit is this? Why are you pitting Dongsoo against that guy all of a sudden?! That guy is a monster even I can’t beat!”

“Just because you can’t beat him doesn’t mean Dongsoo hyung can’t. Dongsoo hyung is at a higher level than you.”

“… What?”

Lea couldn’t help but mutter the same words over and over again, as Yongno’s explanation made no sense to her. It wasn’t because she was stupid; it was because she didn’t think it was possible.

She was currently Level 18, so if he was at a higher level than her, that meant….

“He’s right. I’m Level 19.”

“What?”

“Eh?”

“What? You? Level 19?”

Everyone looked at Dongsoo in amazement, seeing him in a new light. Of course, Lea, who could be said to be Dongsoo’s younger sister, was the most surprised.

“What? How the hell are you Level 19?”

“I just reached Level 19 recently.”

“What? Eh? What did you just say? Huh?”

Lea made strange noises with a puzzled look on her face.

It was something that she could have never imagined. Lancelot, a half-assed aura user who had yet to find his main attribute and still couldn’t materialize a single aura stone… was Level 19?

“Sungmuk,” Yongno repeated.

“Ugh. Fine. I’ve never even heard of this guy, but if you say he’s Level 19, I guess he won’t be a total waste of my time.”

Sungmuk got up and stood in front of Dongsoo. As he felt Sungmuk’s tremendous fighting spirit enveloping him from all directions, Dongsoo made a bewildered expression.