Martial God Regressed to Level 2

Chapter 597

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 597

On the rooftop of the Sword Palace.

[Ugh...]

The black skull was exhaling pitch-black smoke in all directions, revealing its gloomy mood.

And when the smoke he exhaled touched the building.

Hissss...

The rooftop structure began to melt rapidly.

"Hey. Keep puffing out that smoke, and the building's gonna melt away."

[Isn't this where you live? Why's it so weak?]

"I usually live quietly too."

[Tch... My star was the best after all...]

As Karlein stopped exhaling smoke at Seong Jihan's warning and started reminiscing about his collapsed dead star.

"And can't you be in your human form instead of that appearance?"

[Human form? The demigod race existed long before you humans, you know?]

Karlein grumbled like that, but.

Whoosh...

He returned to his demigod form as Seong Jihan instructed.

A white-haired man in a black robe.

With a beauty comparable to an elf...

'Unlike before, the Sun King's brand is gone.'

The slave inscription of the Sun King that used to exist under his eyes had disappeared.

"Huh? Who's that? Don't tell me it's that black skull from earlier?"

"Yeah."

"He looks perfectly normal. I wonder why he lived as a skeleton."

"You don't get it. Living as a skeleton is so much more comfortable."

As Gilgamesh spoke, Karlein was picking his ears.

"So I guess I'll have to live by sponsoring humans for a while... Ah, I should challenge the Tower of the Martial God too. By the way, head, got any countries you don't like?"

"Why's that?"

"Thought I'd go there and create some undead."

"Just stay put quietly."

"Ah, if that's not allowed either, I'll have too much time on my hands... What should I do?"

He started pondering what to do while living on Earth when told he couldn't create undead.

"Blue Administrator. Can't we just use that guy as a mercenary?"

"I'm not human, you know? There's a vast difference in racial ranking between me and humans. Even if I wanted to help, it's not possible."

Indeed, while his appearance was similar to humans, Karlein's body size was almost twice that of an average adult male.

It would be unreasonable to integrate such a demigod into humanity.

So Seong Jihan didn't have any expectations from the start, but.

[How about giving it a try?]

The Red Administrator, who had been quiet until now, suggested to Seong Jihan.

'Integrate him into humanity? They're completely different species.'

[Yes... There's something I'd like to experiment with.]

'What experiment?'

[For now... why don't we proceed with the integration?]

With a strange certainty, the Red Administrator proposed to Seong Jihan to integrate Karlein into humanity.

He added the condition to withdraw if the system demanded an unreasonable cost or if the Black Administrator intervened.

"Karlein."

"What?"

"Let's try the integration once."

"Head. Demigods are top-tier in racial classification. We're not a class that can be integrated into a mid-low tier like humanity. I know humanity is struggling, but can't you think more rationally?"

He snickered at Seong Jihan's words, telling him to come to his senses.

"Your master says to give it a try."

"R-Really...? If master says so, there must be a good reason... Then let's do it right away!"

His attitude changed 180 degrees immediately after hearing the Red Administrator's suggestion.

He didn't know how he was brainwashed, but he couldn't disobey Red at all.

"Well then, let's begin."

Seong Jihan proceeded with the integration process for Karlein, just as he had done for Gilgamesh.

Then, from the very first step, a message appeared saying it wasn't possible.

[Integration is impossible due to different species.]

"Ah. It doesn't work after all? Right. There must be some connection between demigods and humans for it to make sense."

Karlein was grinning while watching this.

He tried the integration following the Red Administrator's words, but he didn't want to become part of humanity deep down.

'Right. Just because they look human doesn't mean it'll work.'

If it were possible, they could just bring humanoid mercenaries from space and integrate them into humanity.

They'd easily win the Gold League then.

Seong Jihan thought so and was about to close the message window, but.

Flash...!

A pure white light that wasn't there before was faintly flickering on the border of the message window.

'...A pure white light, huh.'

When such light appeared in the system, it was always connected to the 'White Light'.

Seong Jihan, thinking 'no way', reached out his hand towards it.

Then.

[Do you want to reset the evolution tech tree to return the target to its origin?]

[Upon reset, the target player will become part of the human species, while maintaining their existing abilities.]

[20 points of the 'White Light' stat will be consumed.]

A completely new message appeared.

"So resetting the evolution tech tree makes you human...?"

This implies that the origin of the demigods is humanity.

Seong Jihan blinked as he looked at the newly changed message.

"The message window changed when I touched my head. What does it say?"

Karlein, who was peeking from the side, asked.

"It says the origin of the demigods is humanity."

"What? What nonsense is that? The demigods must have lived much longer than you humans. If we're talking about origins, we should be first."

"Right? So why don't we test it? I can turn you back into a human with just a little consumption of my stats."

As Seong Jihan said that, Karlein's eyes trembled slightly.

"Um... Head. Let's think about this calmly. Me becoming human is totally, totally fine! But isn't it a waste of your stats? You already have to fight that monster, so there's no need to waste your abilities on someone like me, right?"

Although he tried because the Red Administrator told him to but Karlein started talking a lot when faced with the possibility of actually becoming human.

"I'll do well! Yes... did you say the human level was insufficient? I'll make you an undead hunting ground! I still have plenty of those I brought from the dead star inside me!"

"But weren't those guys your comrades in revolution?"

"Right! For the revolution, I need to maintain my center first! If I become human... ugh... a mid-low tier race? Me?"

He was even willing to throw away his revolutionary comrades to the undead hunting ground to maintain his demigod status.

As Seong Jihan smirked upon hearing Karlein's true intentions.

[So the origin was indeed human.]

The Red Administrator spoke meaningfully after seeing the test results.

'Did you predict this?'

[Yes.]

'How?'

[Remember when I said there was content related to me in 'Hephaestus' while searching the database through the white light?]

'I remember.'

Hephaestus, Urd, Yggdrasil.

He had been wondering why figures related to human mythology kept popping up.

'Did you learn to read more data because the white light increased?'

[No. Analysis still takes a long time. However... I can now see the version numbers of the updates.]

'Version numbers?'

[Yes. The number of the most recently updated version is 4212.]

While Seong Jihan was pondering what significance this number might have.

He soon opened his eyes wide.

'...4212 is exactly the same as humanity's race number.'

[That's right.]

It was the number assigned to humanity, NO.4212.

He thought this was just a number assigned in the order of entry into the BattleNet.

But for it to be the same as the updated version number visible in the White Database...

'...So the White Administrator side and humanity are connected in some way.'

[That's what I think. We'll have to continue investigating for more details.]

'...This can't be just a coincidence, right?'

[The names of the Administrators came from human mythology. The updated version number of the database is identical to the one assigned to humanity. And the origin of the humanoid race, 'demigods', was human.]

One thing might overlap by chance.

But it couldn't be a coincidence if all three items were like this.

[If you're still doubtful, test it further with other races. Right. You have a Shadow Elf too, don't you?]

'...Alright.'

Seong Jihan quickly summoned Ariel, who had been unemployed since Kim Jihun disappeared.

"Master... did you call?"

Ssuuuuu...

The Shadow Elf, who seemed to have been resting in Seong Jihan's arm, appeared yawning.

"Ariel. You've been watching the situation so far, right?"

"...No. Since you weren't using me, I was just sleeping..."

It was true that there wasn't much use for her besides controlling the doppelganger with shadow energy.

Still, it had been too quiet inside, so she had fallen asleep completely.

"If you have nothing to do inside, just join the human race."

"Human...? You know, I'm a Shadow Elf. I have no connection to humans at all?"

"We'll see about that if we try."

Seong Jihan attempted racial integration towards the bewildered Ariel.

[Integration is impossible due to different races.]

"See? It doesn't work."

At first, a message appeared saying it was impossible due to different races.

But when Seong Jihan touched the message window using white light.

Ziiiiing...

[Do you want to reset the evolution tech tree and return the target to its origin?]

[Upon reset, the target player will become human, maintaining their existing abilities.]

[Stat 'White Light' will be consumed by 2.]

Except for the change in the amount of white light consumed, the same message appeared as with Karlein.

'20 white light was a bit wasteful, but 2 is manageable.'

Perhaps because the Shadow Elf's racial rank is much lower than the demigods.

There was a significant difference in the cost of reverting the two players to humans.

'I should really try this.'

Seong Jihan decided and asked the other party for their final opinion.

"It says I can revert you to your origin, which is human. What do you think? Want to do it?"

"My origin is human...? We're a race-derived from elves, though?"

"That's why. I'm curious, too. Want to revert?"

"...I owe my life to you, Master. Do as you please."

Unlike Karlein, Ariel showed little resistance to becoming human.

As she nodded, Seong Jihan pressed 'Yes' on the newly appeared message window.

Then.

[Stat 'White Light' is consumed by 2.]

Flash...!

As the white light was used, Ariel's body was dyed in a bright white light.

"No way... was this really possible? Head. Was I really about to become human earlier?"

"Stop making a fuss and watch till the end."

"O-Okay..."

While Karlein was feeling almost terrified watching the flashing Ariel.

Paaah!

The light scattered in all directions.

"Uh..."

Ariel examined herself with a confused face, then touched her ears.

'...Her ears have changed to be like a human's.'

One of the distinguishing features between humans and elves were the elongated ears.

Ariel reverted to human, and now had small ears like a human.

"Was our origin really human...?"

"I didn't think it would actually work. How does your body feel?"

At Seong Jihan's question, Ariel, was examining herself, opened her mouth with a slightly surprised face.

"...Master. I'm impressed."

"Why?"

"How did you rise to become an Administrator with such a crappy race?"

"Hey. We developed from the lowest tier, you know."

"What kind of battles must you have fought..."

Whish. Whish.

Ariel frowned as she moved her body.

"I received 200 residual stats as compensation for racial downgrade, but I think I'll still be weaker than when I was a Shadow Elf even if I use all of these."

"Can you not enter shadows anymore?"

"That should still be possible since I have the Shadow stat... but the efficiency will probably be lower than before."

Then he should stop using Ariel as a sword now.

Seong Jihan nodded and asked her a question to confirm.

"By the way, what class category are you?"

"Me? If I had to say, I'd be in the warrior category."

"That's good. Then join the human representative team."

"...What. How can I join the Space League representative team when I've just been integrated into the human race?"

Ariel showed her status window.

"With these abilities, I don't think I'd even make the national team..."

While she thought her abilities were far from adequate.

Seong Jihan's thoughts were completely different.

'...This level would make her an ace among humans?'

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]