D.I.O

Chapter 260

Rather than choosing to use destructive magic that consumed a large amount of mana, Arc pursued the path of a mage warrior—an entity that mainly used a compressed and limited amount of magic against one’s opponents in battle.

Of course, this meant Arc found it difficult to rank up as a mage because she wasn’t pursuing the path of a pure mage. The fact that she, a mage warrior, could even use Rank 4 spells during battle was a testament to how much back-breaking effort she had put into her craft thus far.

“If you had twenty minutes to prepare safely and ten minutes of battle time, would you be able to release a Rank 1 spell?”

“No. That would be impossible.” Arc shook her head.

Since she was covered with her signature full-body black armor, her facial expression was not revealed, but her body language showed that raising her level to accomplish what Merlin was asking wasn’t a simple feat.

The clause of [twenty minutes to prepare safely] was of course something that gave any magic user a chance to accomplish something, but her situation was different from that of a pure mage like Jeros.

Of course, having time to prepare beforehand was always welcomed, but she wouldn’t be able to benefit from it as much as a pure mage could.

Moreover, the majority of Master-level users in DIO had achieved tremendous growth in a relatively short period of time as they had taken advantage of DIO’s near-perfect education and training system. So most Masters were showing considerable stagnation in their developmental progress. This was the same for Arc.

“What about in one week in real time?”

“I’ll make it happen.”

“… Sorry to burden you.”

Merlin was requesting something that was nearly impossible to achieve. Even if it were possible, it would require a tremendous amount of effort and sacrifice. Nevertheless, rather than complaining, Arc just nodded.

She knew that Merlin wouldn’t dare make such an unreasonable request unless it was absolutely necessary. However, not everyone agreed with Merlin’s seemingly unreasonable request.

“Wait, it’s not just any spell… You’re asking her to execute a Rank 1 spell! Are you insane? In terms of mage Class classifications, a user has to be in the second half of Class 7 to be able to execute a Rank 1 spell. Wouldn’t it take at least a week just to reach that Class?” Arc’s pet, Ellie, who had been listening quietly and intently, looked at Merlin and Arc in turn with an exasperated expression.

In Ellie’s view, Arc had already passed the development stage and entered a developmental plateau.

If Arc were able to take even one more step forward, it would be a minor miracle. Yet Merlin was asking her to leap and bound four to five steps further…? Moreover, Ellie knew Arc wasn’t even a pure mage; Arc was a mage warrior.

“I’ll do it.”

“Well, of course, if you say that you’ll do it, then I have nothing to say, but… phew.”

It was quite strange to see a cute-looking Russian Blue sigh like an old man, but Merlin just waved his Editor Blade as if Ellie’s comments didn’t matter.

“Data Patch.”

Ting!

Merlin’s Editor Blade spewed out an aura and created a blue gap in the air.

Miho noticed something in that foreign aura and asked quietly, “Wait… based on how you’re speaking, are you planning to leave us and go somewhere else?”

“I have other work to do. This was one of the reasons why I decided to tame Sungmuk. Miho, if reaching Level 17 is difficult, at least complete a Jeweled Eye. Users receive all kinds of benefits, so as long as you completely adapt to your user body, you should be able to produce as much power as when you were a Seven-Tailed Fox. You don’t want to always play second fiddle in reality, right?” Merlin spoke in a calm tone that was neither mocking nor intimidating.

Miho, who was by no means a slow-witted being, realized Merlin’s true purpose of requesting such lofty goals for each and every party member.

‘This guy… He’s preparing for a battle.’

Miho also knew that she probably wouldn’t be included in Merlin’s main force if she didn’t reach the level Merlin requested.

Of course, that didn’t mean that Miho would be abandoned. Nonetheless, she wasn’t someone who could stand by idly while being [protected], instead of operating as an active [colleague]. So she immediately started frowning and complaining.

“Ugh. You talk so high and mighty, but one of your eyes is mine.”

“Shall I return it?”

“No. It’s okay.”

Merlin smiled slightly after seeing Miho grumble and complain. He then turned his attention to the blue gap he’d created with his Editor Blade and its Data Patch function.

In truth, even Merlin didn’t know exactly what was inside that space nor what was waiting for him inside.

He hypothesized a few things from the information he had gleaned, but he wasn’t certain of anything.

‘I need to increase my access authority.’josei

Just as a gamer couldn’t control all system functions in a game by using a trainer or hacking program, the Editor Blade only allowed Merlin to access and interfere with a portion of DIO’s overall system.

Furthermore, DIO was the product of a higher-stage civilization, with dozens of safety systems installed to counteract external intrusions. So it was necessary for Merlin to dominate what he could currently access and destroy whatever system parts he could not bypass in order to increase his overall authority over the DIO system.

“We can’t all go where you plan to go?”

Hearing Arc’s question, Merlin shook his head. “Well… it’s a bit of a special space, so it’s difficult to take you all along. It’ll take quite some time to explain. In short, the space that I’m planning to enter… I’m the only one who has [Level 2 Access Authorization] to enter the system control room, and that authorization is something I possess because I’m bound by a contract with the power that [makes up] this Editor Blade. However, knowing that it’s possible for pets and tamed monsters under my access authorization to enter the system control room, I grabbed Sungmuk before confronting the Gold Dragon. He’ll be accompanying me on this expedition as well.”

Of course, Merlin had made all these preparations because he’d thought that he would not have a high chance of beating the Gold Dragon if he had gone at it alone.

Noticing what was unsaid but inferred, Sungmuk asked Merlin a question, “You’re still being this careful even with these cheat-like buffs… Are you planning to face off against a transcendent being? But if you’re planning on facing off against a transcendent being, even these buffs won’t be of much help, right?”

“Hmph. I can see that you’re not even considering that I’ll be of any help to Merlin,” Quiet Heaven grumbled.

However, Merlin didn’t pay any attention to Quiet Heaven as he replied to Sungmuk, “I’ve come up with a plan, so you don’t have to worry.”

“That means my guess that you’re planning to go up against a transcendent is correct! Hahaha! I’m sure looking forward to this.”

Even though Sungmuk knew that the opponent was a transcendent being, he laughed out loud instead of being afraid or showing any signs of nervousness. Sungmuk grabbed his Divine Red Sparrow Sword and stood behind Merlin.

“Can’t we go together?” Arc asked again.

Hearing that, Merlin hesitated. Arc’s expression was still hidden behind her full-body black armor though.

“Arc… No, Eunhye… It would be nice to have more firepower, but you can’t get in since you don’t have the required access authorization level… Huh?” Merlin, who was in the middle of calmly explaining his reason as to why he couldn’t take Arc with him, suddenly stopped talking.

This was because Merlin saw that Arc’s right hand had unexpectedly gone into the gap in the air.

“How is that possible…?” he questioned.

DIO’s system access authorization had multiple levels. All registered users had Level 4 Access Authorization. With this authorization access level, DIO users enjoyed various benefits. Moreover, if the operators of DIO wanted to, they could give a user additional authorization access to certain system functions or even bump them up a level. Nevertheless, most users were limited to Level 4 Access Authorization.

However, Merlin had something incomparable to other users… his Editor Blade. He had succeeded in creating an Editor Blade. It was capable of interfering with the system by isolating the most important core material that made up DIO—the Anyform Stone, which existed as a bonus stat in his user body.

Unlike the DIO operators, Merlin didn’t possess the Level 1 Access Authorization needed to control most of the system functions. Nonetheless, he had succeeded in obtaining Level 2 Access Authorization, which was just one level below the operator’s access authorization level.

“Wait a minute.”

Miho rushed in and tried putting her hand into the gap in the air. However, unlike Arc, Miho’s hand passed through the space like it was passing through a hologram.

“The system seems to be operating as normal, and your user body isn’t showing anything abnormal, but how… Hey, Arc! Wait a sec and stay still!”

Merlin checked Arc’s body and the system information contained within it, but he found that her access authorization was ordinary. It was at the Level 4 Access Authorization, just like all other users.

Despite Arc being limited to Level 4 Access Authorization, the system restrictions were not being properly applied to her.

“Arc, can you edit too?”

“Edit?”

Merlin’s expression hardened at Arc’s reaction, which showed she was unaware of the reason for this unexpected anomaly.

Of course, Arc’s presence would help Merlin if she could follow him into the system control room, but that didn’t resolve the question as to how Arc was able to access the system control room in the first place.

‘Was it because of what happened then?’

Merlin recalled the time when Arc, along with Emperor of Martial Arts Regrants, had fallen into an illusory space—the Realm of Chaos, which was close in proximity to the source origin of the universe—and how she had come out alive and largely unscathed.

That situation had caused quite a commotion among the Noblesse and also perplexed Merlin.

Originally, the illusory space was commonly called [the world beyond]. The probability of making it out alive from such a space was virtually zero, so it was a place where even the gods did not recklessly enter. Yet Arc, who was just a human, had entered and returned alive.

In truth, the Noblesse eventually concluded that the reason Arc had managed to return alive was that [the moment the Emperor of Martial Arts fell into the illusory space, his entrance pushed her out of the Realm of Chaos].

Since the Emperor of Martial Arts had done many cruel things during his lifetime, the Noblesse felt that he had perhaps been trying to do one last good deed… However, was Regrants capable of showing such kindness to his enemy? Though that question remained, the fact was that it should have been impossible for Arc to escape from the illusory space by herself, so the Noblesse ended up accepting that wild conjecture.

‘The illusory space can have a tremendous number of adverse effects on a living being, but if I remember correctly, the Noblesse guys didn’t find any problems in Arc.’

Merlin was a walking encyclopedia with countless pieces of knowledge, but even he didn’t know why Arc ha been unaffected by her time in and escape from the Realm of Chaos.

Were there any users who could be free from the restrictions imposed by DIO’s system?