D.I.O

Chapter 251

“It’s useless and inconvenient to bring up one’s past as the past is the past. It doesn’t matter anymore.”

“That… is probably correct. However, please keep this in mind when you investigate DIO contracts in general.”

After saying this, Sungmuk closed his eyes. Obviously, the tense atmosphere had already subsided considerably, but Miho, who had been silent for a while, spoke up right then.

“… Is it not possible for me to regain my memories?”

“You're curious about why you were slated to go to hell in your past life?” Sungmuk responded.

“Well, it is my past.”

“Oho. You’re a pretty tough kid, aren’t you?” Sungmuk broke into a smile like he found something funny.

Miho’s eyes burned red after seeing Sungmuk’s playful yet somewhat condescending expression. “Stop talking nonsense and answer me. Is there a way?”

“I’m not sure, but when I was dragged to this place, I saw the Noblesse taking something from the souls of a few centaurs who had arrived around the same time I did. They didn’t take my memories away, but they did for those centaurs, so that was probably the process by which they extracted the centaurs’ memories.”

“So, the Noblesse are in possession of others’ memories? Well, perhaps that is one of the conditions of their slave contract. It might be useful to them later, so I don’t see why they’d erase or delete such memories,” Merlin murmured.

He fell into deep thought for a moment.

If those beings’ memories were gathered somewhere, where would they be? He had not had the power or authority to seek an answer to such a question in the past, but now that he possessed the Editor Blade, it was something worth looking into.

Merlin added, “But still, it is amazing. You’re a monster… an orc at that… but you possess so much useful information.”

Of course, Merlin had chosen Sungmuk because he had noticed that Sungmuk was special, but even so, Sungmuk was providing much more interesting information than Merlin had expected.

Quiet Heaven was at the bottom of the food chain, but it was still a part of the Noblesse. Yet Sungmuk seemed to know more about the Noblesse’s inner workings than Quiet Heaven did. Did this make sense?

Of course, Quiet Heaven probably could not offer up information with ease because of the non-disclosure clause that most likely existed in his contract. Even so, it was unexpected that Sungmuk knew so much about DIO and the Noblesse.

“That’s because I signed a contract with a relatively equal footing like users’ pets. I didn’t know that my previous life’s heavenly martial body would be useful after my death, but anyway, I guess I should consider it a blessing…”

“Uh, hey, wait a minute…” Arc, who had remained quiet and listened attentively until now, spoke up at this moment.

“What?”

“It’s nothing important, but… you… you sure do talk a lot, don’t you?”

“…!” Sungmuk, who had always been a stoic, independent, and confident figure, flinched so visibly that everyone saw his embarrassment-filled reaction.

Surprisingly, Sungmuk even stuttered when offering up a reply, “W-what do you mean? I only answered what was asked of me…”josei

“Blabbermouth. Blabber, blabber, blabber…”

“…!!”

Merlin turned his attention away from Sungmuk, who seemed thoroughly taken aback and in shock, and shifted it to Quiet Heaven instead. However, it wasn’t because he was concerned about Quiet Heaven’s trivial attitude and childish response toward Sungmuk.

“By the way, what does he mean by ‘heavenly martial body’? His real body has already died, and now he’s an orc. What use is the state of his past body?” Merlin asked Quiet Heaven.

“The state of his past body is definitely pertinent to Sungmuk’s current state. Of course, physical talent and traits cannot be ignored, but there is a limit to physical talent when it comes to learning abilities. However, [spiritual talents] are retained within a heavenly martial body, and they are talents that build and develop from one’s soul, not one’s physical body. If the heavenly martial body were a physical rather than soul-related concept, the Noblesse and other highly intelligent species, who have already reached the pinnacle of bionics, would have already reproduced the heavenly martial body.”

After hearing Quiet Heaven’s explanation, Merlin looked at his own body and thought about the body that all users were given and used within DIO. A user’s body could be considered a complete biological weapon, which became stronger after training. Moreover, a DIO user’s body was immune to disease and could perform any martial arts or magic school of thought. From Level 1, users enjoyed a perfect physical foundation that was uncontaminated. Moreover, a user’s body was able to control mana from the start as it came with perfected spiritual pathways.

Even though a user’s physical body and its phenotype could be considered human, ordinary humans and DIO users were living beings on completely different levels.

“However, possessing a user’s body, which is a physically perfect vessel, isn’t considered anything special. For example, all users have the same body, but the difference between you, Arthur, and Cruze and all other users is wider than the distance between heaven and earth, right?”

“I see.”

Long arms, tall height, strong bones, and muscular strength were elements that could be called [talents] from a real-world point of view.

In fact, most of the high achieving one hundred-meter sprint racers in the Olympics were usually from specific races that had physical bodies with naturally low percentages of body fat and greater genetic propensity to grow well-developed muscles. In addition, it was very difficult for other human races to beat races that possessed a [natural talent], such as races that possessed higher bone density averages.

However… when one reached a higher level of civilization and could transform one’s physical body, physical talent lost most of its merits. This was because everything became equalized with the advancement and power of biological science. The more important and differentiating aspect among beings from that point onward was the so-called [spiritual talents]—talents that couldn’t be easily realized even with science or magic.

“In other words, a heavenly martial body and heavenly magic body are not referring to a foundation for physical talents but spiritual talents. And because Sungmuk was the owner of such a heavenly martial body, he received special treatment from the Noblesse,” Merlin surmised.

“… Right. Since talents like that are the result of [Karma] that he accumulated through his previous life, the probability of him reaching the transcendent state is much greater than that of others,” Quiet Heaven continued.

The caveat ‘except for mutant Irregulars like yourself’, seemed to linger in Quiet Heaven’s beak, but it was pointless to say such a thing as it was obvious Merlin already knew that he was special.

“In other words, since it would have been such a waste to miss something that they found by luck, the Noblesse offered you favorable contract conditions to grab onto you?” Merlin asked Sungmuk.

“… Yes. They allowed me to preserve my memories, and they gave me relative freedom and the option to leave if I ever wanted to. I like it quite a bit here, so I’m not planning on leaving anytime soon.”

When Sungmuk’s body fully recovered, he stretched out, with thumping and cracking sounds ringing out throughout his body.

Sungmuk’s body wasn’t as large as that of a professional bodybuilder, but it was still hard to believe that an orc’s body could have such a perfect muscle structure that was specialized for combat.

“I see you’ve trained your orc body to the extreme.”

Though users condescendingly laughed at orcs, the orc body naturally reached 90 Strength stat points once an orc was fully grown. In other words, an orc could exert three times the strength of an adult male. So even though orcs were naturally predisposed to be slightly dull and to possess low intelligence, they were still monsters that could easily tear apart five or six ordinary human beings alone.

The main problem for orcs was that their muscles swelled like those of a bodybuilder when exerting strength. Nevertheless, Sungmuk’s muscles weren’t like this; his muscles were very compact and evenly distributed throughout his frame.

Though orcs could produce enormous strength, their endurance was very poor. However, in Sungmuk’s case, his body was specialized to exert strength and possess endurance. This meant that Sungmuk had systematically trained his given orc body to its physical limits.

Nonetheless, Sungmuk mumbled a response as if he didn’t consider this achievement as anything special, rather than being proud of his physical body achievements.

“I don’t like it, but I have no choice but to use the body I was given.”

“Hmm, you don’t like it… Come to think of it, why are you an orc? You could have chosen a better species since you signed a contract with favorable terms.”

“I wasn’t given a choice. Not to toot my own horn, but because of my considerable talents and skills, they wouldn’t allow me to take on a high-level monster’s body. Also, isn’t it often the case that if someone is given an innate gift, they don’t maximize the development of that area very well?”

Sungmuk recalled Jooyoung, a being who originated from the same world as him.

Jooyoung possessed considerable talent, so Jooyoung had followed Sungmuk into DIO. Yet Jooyoung had not been able to improve and develop as quickly as Sungmuk. To this day, Jooyoung was still stuck with the title of an Ogre Fighter.

Of course, an ogre was a monster with a Level 8 species rating, so even if Jooyoung only rose to the level of an Ogre Fighter, he would eventually become a Level 12 or higher monster. However, that result would be very disappointing considering Jooyoung’s abilities and skills.

‘Honestly, if everything is decided only by talent, what would be interesting?’

Talent was very important, but it was not everything.

Effort… orientation of one’s mind… one’s personal tastes and habits… Numerous factors greatly influenced one’s training and one’s abilities, especially in the field of martial arts. So in that sense, Jooyoung’s rotten mental state could be said to be his fatal flaw rather than a lack of talent.

“Well, whatever. Then what was the main reason why you signed a contract with the Noblesse in the end?”

“You ask such a stupid question. Obviously, it’s to seek higher places and develop further, of course! To reach the extremes of martial arts. If I didn’t want to see and reach the peak of the sword, why would I have refused to be reincarnated and come to this god-forsaken place?”

Essentially, Sungmuk was stating that his constant will and desire to develop was the motivational force behind his decision to join DIO and contract with the Noblesse.

The desire to improve… to always seek a higher place—this was also the reason Merlin’s pet Quiet Heaven, Arc’s pet Ellie, and many other beings belonging to the Noblesse had taken on the unpleasant role of being users’ pets and the reason phantom beasts and spirits responded to a summoner’s call. What Sungmuk stated was the main reason why countless beings suffered through self-harm, abuse, and even the risk of death.

“In other words, as long as that condition is met… you don’t care whether you stay a monster or not.”

“I don’t mind being anywhere or anything as long as I can embody and manifest the extreme meaning of Divine Violet Mist.”

It was already possible for Sungmuk to fully control Divine Violet Mist through his great achievements and development in it.

Even though he had learned this ability completely and there was nothing further for him to hone, the study of martial arts was a never-ending practice.

Moreover, legend had it that one could reach new heights in Divine Violet Mist once one went past the initial full transcendent level, moving beyond the beginner god stage.

“I’m glad you feel that way.”

Merlin smiled as he pulled out his jeweled dagger… the hacking tool that shook the foundation of DIO… the Editor Blade.