Mortal, Demi-God (1)

To live unimaginably long is both a blessing and a curse. So among those who have lived long, I haven’t seen one who is sane. Whether dragon, god, or spirit.

But sometimes even among those who haven’t lived long, an insane one appears. And strangely, those kinds of people are fortunate in their ill-fate.

From Aetas’s diary.

Sometimes a person is flustered by the unexpected, but they’re even more flustered by unexpected luck. Like me now.

“What on earth is happening now? A god manifests, then suddenly disappears, and on top of that this… isn’t it that thing?”

This is what is making me so extraordinarily bewildered.

It’s absurd enough that an ‘Advantage Rule Scroll’—a thing I never heard of in my previous life—appeared, and just as I was about to get a clue about Deicide, the teaching material vanished right before my eyes.

It disappeared, literally, with no flow of divine power at all.

But in the place where it vanished, a red crystal emitting a faint light and a string of messages floating in the air made me babble.

Honor to you who sent back a manifested god with what is dismissed as a common man’s common attack!

“Huh?”

Is that it? I opened the status window just in case, but there was no change from the title. That meant it was over.

I thought the system messages were getting more Arun-like, and now the title effects feel Arun-like too. Could this be because the Creator is getting more and more Arun-like?

I shifted my gaze from the messages floating in the air to the red crystal glowing in my hand and turned it this way and that.

“It’s obviously a Dragon Heart at a glance, what are you staring around for? Don’t tell me you’ve never seen a Dragon Heart before?”

“No, I have.”

That’s exactly it. As Talis said, it was obvious: why on earth is a Dragon Heart left alone in the place where Caelum disappeared?!

He’s not some common boss monster in a game; the corpse disappears and an item is ‘dropped’—what the hell is this situation?

“What are you worrying about. Just use it. Thanks to these masters you even got a Dragon Heart, so pour out more liquor.”

I exhaled at Talis’s breezy words and took out liquor from my inventory.

I shifted my gaze from the three masters joyfully grabbing bottles back to the Dragon Heart.

“Huh…”

Has there ever been a representative who owned four Dragon Hearts before their fifth year even began?

Whatever the reasons and process, thanks to the three masters Unos is safe(?) and I even got this ridiculous extra income, so I’m plenty grateful.

If Caelum had saved Unos and then healed them by any means necessary?

‘Ah… I don’t even want to think about it. That annoyance and carcinogenic situation…’

I shook my head to dispel that unpleasant imagination and put the fist-sized red gem into my inventory.

I called the White Tower Lord who was waiting in the distance to go to the Garden of Gods and bring the party. Then I began to take out the liquor stacked by the hundreds in my inventory, by type.

At first the three, who looked at me as if wondering what I was doing, began to fidget as the bottles multiplied.

“You worked hard today, thank you. It’s my token of appreciation.”

“Oh! As expected, my disciple knows a thing or two!”

“Good! Very good!!”

“I am your disciple!”

The three leapt forward and competitively began grabbing bottles.

Sitting beside them, I sliced a piece of well-cooked boar meat, took a bite, brought the bottle in my hand to my lips, and swallowed.

『You have consumed Healing potion. Over 15 minutes, 20% of your divine power will be restored.』

“Phew…”

So many things happened at once that I feel dazed, as if slapped unexpectedly.

I have to consume the Black Dragon Heart to raise my physical grade, and based on the Deicide I’ve grasped, I need to learn Destruction as well. On top of that, I can’t suppress the greed to raise my divine power to 200.

“Come to think of it, this is the first time I’m having a drinking session with my disciple?”

“Is that so? I’ve been a bit busy… I’m sorry.”

“I didn’t bring it up to make you apologize. It’s meant as praise, you dullard.”

I scratched my cheek at Biosis’s scolding and silently downed the potion. The training ground, where the representatives hadn’t arrived yet, only occasionally echoed with the sound of firewood burning and liquor swallowing.

“Tell us.”

“…Yes?”

“Your troubles!”

“Ah…”

Their experience showed; from my expression alone they seemed to know my head was a mess and that I was worried. Even Talis and Jimnas.

“Hmm… how should I put this…”

“You can say it roughly. We’ll listen and figure it out.”

“Heh. Yes.”

I spoke incoherently, saying whatever popped into my head.

Perhaps because it was clear this wasn’t ordinary relationship advice, Talis had already set up a thick energy curtain around us.

The situation where my divine power wouldn’t rise.

The patron god who told me to consume the Ancient Black Dragon Heart.

Because you can raise divine power stats with powers as if learning a skill, if you get greedy you could become a tainted individual instantly.

And that I had become greedy.

“That’s the situation. The original problem is that I’ve become stronger than I expected—no, to the point my expectation is embarrassing.”

“To sum up, your divine power has been blocked by a wall for some time, but you have a Dragon Heart that can break that wall? And your patron god even modified it to suit your body. Eating it would cause a metamorphosis. But you want to get greedy and reach half body paralysis all at once? By raising those stats? Your abilities?”

“Yes.”

“Your patron god said to wait at least two years to use stats to achieve the half growth, but your foolish head thinks it’s just a training period and wants to trust that and try it now?”

“That’s right.”

I waited with anticipation for their explanation, but neither Talis nor Biosis said much.

When I looked up, the three of them wore sour smirks.

“So you’ve become that strong until now?”

“Huh?”

“Did you get strong by raising those stats or whatever?”

“Yes.”

“Heh, hahaha.”

Talis and Biosis let out hollow laughs and smiled helplessly. Did they feel hollow seeing me grow so easily?

“Now I get it. Why you, who exudes a killing intent that could devour gods, haven’t awakened Deicide and Destruction. If we had known earlier we’d have worked you to death—it’s a pity about the time wasted. Damn.”

“Exactly. That’s why we always call you foolish! You stupid disciple!”

“What? Suddenly, what…”

“Is that also part of it—the book that emits light and causes you to awaken skills automatically?”

Talis asked with a serious face, and I could only nod.

That made Talis and Biosis even more serious. They looked at each other for a moment, then nodded.

“No wonder… At first we saw you training your body ignorantly and judged too hastily. Listen carefully, you foolish disciple.”

“Yes.”

“Our—no, all transcendants’ techniques are steeped in their lives. As my lifelong honed martial art became Deicide, and the mad old man’s Tao became Destruction, so too with other transcendants like Jimnas. Most representatives are probably similar. When selecting representatives, potential and combat ability are considered together. But you have a killing intent that could be emitted by those who’ve rolled in muck for decades, yet you lack the corresponding standard. You merely ‘use’ techniques.”

“…”

“There are tens of thousands of paths in the world. Which of them is the true path, no one knows. But if you follow the path you’re drawn to and walk and walk, you’ll eventually reach its end, and that becomes your own path. Half God cannot be achieved by playing with numbers.”

“Then…?”

“It seems, unlike other representatives, your patron god truly loves you. Disciple, half God means the body being adapted to fit one’s martial art. A brawler’s body adjusts to that, a mage’s to that. That’s why Talis’s and my bodies differ, and why Jimnas and ours differ as well. If someone as middling as you forcefully achieves that under the name of power, you’ll become crippled. You probably won’t die. It’s a training period, after all.”

“…I don’t quite understand. Is it like a total rebirth or something?”

“Yes. The stage between mortal and immortal, before becoming immortal, is half god. It’s shedding the shell of humanity, you idiot. Your patron god said two years, right? Ridiculous! How can someone who hasn’t decided their martial art and path do that? But if your patron god said that, it means that when they next visit the Garden of Gods they’ll use some of their power, to whatever extent, to do something to your body so you can become half of a god within two years. In other words, your patron god intends to use their power.”

Biosis’s words were hard to accept, but the expressions of Talis and Jimnas confirmed Biosis’s guess was true.

Did Ludicer prepare something for me at such a cost to herself? Ah, that handwritten letter back then.

I am saving rewards to give you a gift in the fifth year, after the fourth year passes and the true battlefield opens.

“…Is that it?”

“Yes. ‘Setting’? You idiot. If you rely on the ‘Setting’ you might end up disabled and be out of the Battlefield of the Gods. Your body hasn’t decided whether you’re a mage, warrior, magic-warrior, or elementalist, so if you rush into half god your meridians will be scrambled and you’ll become a cripple.”

“Then… what should I do?”

A disciple has the right to seek methods from their masters and ask for answers. With the heart of a disciple, I asked the three masters.

“First, eat the Black Dragon Heart. We’ll help you. But we’ll change your training method from now on. We forbid you from using techniques. For the remaining one year of training.”

“Understood.”

“Good. That’s enough for now. We waited 20,000 years. And you weren’t planning to kill Heavenly Gods or Demon gods directly, were you? Don’t be hasty. Also, personally, we think it’s a more satisfying revenge if their two years of power are broken and they suffer the thousands or tens of thousands of years of pain we endured. So what I want to say is…”

“…”

“You’re foolish, but you’re doing well enough.”

“Yes, you’re doing well. Better than we expected.”

“Of course. Whose disciple are you?”

Biosis, for the first time, spoke sincerely in a warm voice.

That’s right. I’m not—and cannot—go and personally dig out the hearts of Heavenly Gods and demon gods by hand.

I let out a long breath and exhaled the impatience in my chest. My shoulders felt lighter and my heartbeat steadier.

“But among your powers you have something called ‘techniques’?”

Talis leaned in with a ‘I’m really curious!’ expression and asked. Why is cold sweat running down my back?

Caelum felt as if excruciating pain was gnawing through his whole body. Without a doubt, even in the fierce life he lived as a representative, he had never felt pain like this.

Pain that bit away at his flesh and bones little by little. Even amid that pain, Caelum’s characteristic survival instinct kicked in.

He sent a rescue request to the goddess who was foolish but loved him, Cortina.

Even as his head flickered white from the pain, he barely completed the divinity word and sent a short plea to be saved.

Then,

“Oh my! Even in that state you want to live? Sending a plea to be saved with a divine word. Look, the recipient is… Cortina? Cortina! I’m looking for you here!”

Before he could wonder at hearing a woman’s voice he had never heard in his own castle, he only heard that Cortina was already here.

He forced his trembling head up.

“Caelum.”

A tender voice. A frail, youthful tone. Breasts so enormous that from the floor his face couldn’t be seen. It was Cortina.

“Sa, sa, sa, sa, ve, ve, ve, ve…”

“I’m sorry. I don’t have the ability to perform Destruction.”

“Ugh, ugh, ugh.”

The coughs he forced out, struggling to breathe, mirrored Caelum’s will to live. But the more he did, the more pain grew.

“I loved you. If only I hadn’t manifested, I would have continued to love you, even though you were weak. I would have tied you down to the forest.”

“…!!”

“There is nothing I can do now. Then, goodbye, my old love…”

Cortina’s voice, which had been faintly saying goodbye, suddenly changed. It turned chillingly cold and indifferent.

“I am done, Lady Aetas.”