D.I.O - CH 292

*** A Fake Divine Being ***

In a gorgeously decorated room, beautiful statues could be seen throughout; furthermore, masterful paintings dotted the walls, created by genius artisans who poured their lives and souls into these works. The spacious bed, which could easily accommodate five or six people, gave people a chance to rest comfortably and regain their peak physical condition. Additionally, the soft blanket atop the bed was so light that someone may not even know it was covering them. Even so, the blanket would certainly provide the utmost comfort and warmth.

It was a room so luxurious that anyone would have widened their eyes in astonishment. However, Tan, the one currently occupying this space, showed no joy or relaxation.

It was a wonderfully decorated room… but there were no windows and only one door.

In addition, since the building itself was protected by an absolute magic system, Tan would find it difficult to use any of his abilities.

To put it bluntly, the room was a high-end prison.

“What brings you here? Have you come to have a laugh at my expense?”

“How could I ever dare to do such a thing, Elder?”

In front of the confined Tan, a man with shiny blonde hair, which hung down the side of his head, prostrated himself.

Like Tan, he was also a Noblesse with an emperor lineage, but even so, he did not presume to compare himself to Tan.

Although Tan had lost most of his power and was barely holding onto his position as a Noblesse elder, he was a survivor of the Mythical Era – an era starting at the beginning of time itself. He was also the king of all arrogant beings and someone popularly called the Beast of the Apocalypse. Moreover, for whatever reason, there were rumors circulating that Tan had even regained some of his former abilities. So, nothing beneficial would come from offending him.

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“Then what brings you here, Seventh Prince?”

“Please, just call me by my name.”

“Stop saying nonsense and get straight to the point.”

Tan growled in a low voice. He wasn’t originally this grumpy and violent, but the accumulated stress and defeats from recent incidents were enough to drive him to the brink of madness.

“The Watcher’s Bell has rung.”

This news was enough to stimulate Tan’s interest.

The Watcher’s Bell was one of the Watcher’s treasures, and a Watcher was a conceptual being who monitored the universe through their connection to the Akashic Records. The Watcher’s Bell could ring autonomously when it detected a new transcendent.

There were many variables in the world, though, so a ring didn’t necessarily completely guarantee that a transcendent was born. Yet, at the least, its accuracy was over 80 percent. Thus, it was considered fairly reliable.

“… And you think it’s Merlin?”

“We can’t tell exactly. The target isn’t specified, as you know.”

Though the prince didn’t give a definitive answer, Tan shook his head.

“You don’t have to verify anything. There’s no way that guy hasn’t reached the transcendent realm. After all, he could handle Igniz alone. No, even if he’s only a pseudo-transcendent, his speed of growth is absurd. While Igniz only stayed in the War Dragons for less than three years before being kicked out, does it make sense that a recently-transcended kid could defeat a former War Dragon?”

When Igniz invaded DIO on Tan’s orders, Merlin killed the dragon in one blow using his signature Irrational Hand Strike, which contained 6,400 years of internal energy. This incident was kept strictly confidential; however, it was impossible to hide how Merlin took over DIO afterward.

Arthur wasn’t even considered a candidate as the newest transcendent being.

If people were asked which DIO user was the strongest, everyone would undoubtedly say Arthur, but he used an inappropriate process to overcome what should’ve been an insurmountable barrier. In this way, Arthur had essentially stunted his growth permanently. Hence, it wasn’t possible for Arthur to stop Igniz.

Even though Igniz was a criminal… she was by no means a weak dragon.

Furthermore, wasn’t Igniz equipped with the powerful Numbered transcendent weapon, Muspelheim?

“Yet,t that human… is truly absurd. He’s only lived a few decades, but he’s been able to leap over developmental barriers like they’re nothing; it’s as if entering the transcendence realm is just another boring step for him.”

One of the reasons why the Elohim were jealous of the Noblesse was because the latter could transcend just from [getting older].

In contrast, as the Nobless took roughly 1,000 years to enter the transcendence realm, they thought it unreasonable that lower species could transcend, especially since some couldn’t even live for 100 years.

The Noblesse complained that the lower species took an inordinately short period to become transcendents. Compared to humans, this criticism was even more compelling when considering that dragons, being born with higher levels of intelligence and magic power, couldn’t transcend without living for a thousand years.

Dragons had a 99 percent chance of transcending if they reached the required age. Meanwhile, species equivalent to humans only had a one in tens of billions probability of producing a transcendent. At the lower end, some human species could only produce a transcendent at a rate of one in every 100 billion; yet, the growth rate of those beings was astonishing.

“So, what… what’s your purpose in coming to see me?”

“The committee’s judgment is that if Earth is left unchecked, the astronomical resources we’ve invested in DIO will be lost forever.”

The resources used for making DIO were on a scale that even the Noblesse couldn’t ignore, and they exerted influence throughout the entire universe.

The staggering amount was equivalent to half of the Union’s annual budget. No matter how wealthy the Noblesse were, how could they idly watch as their precious resources were taken from them?

If it weren’t for the Elohim’s interference, a fellow Union member that was always a thorn in the Noblesse’s side, the Noblesse would have already mobilized tens of War Dragons and forcefully taken back DIO without any regard for Union Law.

“Hahaha. Of course, what you’re saying is true, but… if you insist on coming here while I’m under arrest and bringing me this information, you’re essentially saying that you want to use me as a disposable knight on your chessboard.”

Tan smiled bitterly. He had used Igniz in the same manner.

“Why would we do that? We’re saying that you should take care of your own mistakes.”

Dragons, the main faction of the Noblesse, were individualistic beings by nature. The dragons from the protoplanet would even laugh rather than seek revenge or help if a human killed one of their own brethren. Hence, the committee’s response was logical and in line with the dragon species’ worldview.

“Hahaha… fine. I’ll correct my mistake.”

“You’ve made a wise choice. My underlings will assist you with the finer details.”

Bow.

After expressing his respect, the prince removed the ring he was wearing and placed it on a table.

The ring was ornately decorated, but unsurprisingly, it wasn’t an ornament. Tan was in a prison, after all, so the prince was leaving behind a way to escape.

“Once you’re done, please rest on Planet Aden. I heard the scenery there is quite pleasant.”

Tan was expected to remain on Planet Aden for several hundred years. However, since the Noblesse’s power wasn’t going anywhere, once things blew over regarding DIO, Tan would be able to operate and resume his activities as he did in the past.

Bam!

And that evening…

The safe house, where high-ranking Union political prisoners were held, exploded.

***

Yongno, or Merlin as he was known in DIO, produced and sold an immense number of artificial spiritual pathways throughout the entire globe. In fact, people expected that the manufacturing method to produce these pathways was done through mass production, not manual labor. In other words, Yongno had produced so many goods that no one expected the process to require such extensive work.

However, contrary to the public’s expectations, the manufacturing method of artificial spiritual pathways required manual work, and the subsequent pathways that went to the market were produced in this labor-intensive fashion. Hence, everyone soon realized that artificial spiritual pathways couldn’t be mass-produced – they had to be made by hand.

To create an artificial spiritual pathway, a martial arts user had to learn the requisite production technique and how to process their internal energy to reflect certain special properties.

Moreover, the spiritual power that went into an artificial spiritual pathway could only be from a single creator’s [source]. Consequently, it took quite a long time to make even a single pathway, as a significant amount of spiritual power needed to be consumed.

Currently, close to 50 million artificial spiritual pathways had been released to the general market, and many people equipped with these pathways would then, in turn, create more and contribute to the overall production numbers. Yet, even with an ever-increasing number of manufacturers, production couldn’t keep up with demand.

This was why many couldn’t help but ask the same question…

How the hell did Great Mage Merlin gather so much spiritual power as the [source] for his first batch of artificial spiritual pathways? His pathways were identical creations, so they had to have been created from a single source.

Obviously, the answer was Merlin’s groundbreaking invention, Pathway to Hell.

“Wow, this is a scam-like creation. To be able to infinitely produce such a tremendous amount of spiritual power….”

Yongno shook his head when he heard Miho’s admiring words, which she stated after feeling the tingling flow of immense spiritual power from Pathway to Hell.

“There’s no way it’s an infinite source of spiritual power and energy. I’ve been using it for a while without any issues, but because I’ve extracted so much, I can see the bottom. At most, I think it has about 15 days left.”

Pathway to Hell, which was initially the size of a modern refrigerator, had been expanded to be as large as two shipping containers. This was done through constant reconfiguration and expansion to extract greater amounts of spiritual power and energy.