abcnovels
Chapter 541
Chapter 541
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 541
Crackle...
As the crimson thunder continued to increase on the massive tree trunk connecting heaven and earth,
Seong Jihan thought,
'The Green Administrator could have easily extinguished the crimson thunder, but she deliberately left it.'
Although the power of Crimson Thunder Cannon was strong, someone of Yggdrasil's level should have been able to deal with it easily.
She purposely left this and threw it to Earth to test if the Blue Sword could counter the Red Authority.
'Hmm... This won't be easy.'
The crimson thunder was a power derived from Seong Jihan's martial arts.
The Blue Sword's level was still too low to extinguish it.
This was going to take quite a while.
As Seong Jihan was thinking that,
Float...
An Ancient Elf holding the sword 'Kim Jihun' rose into the air and instructed the High Elves.
"Start with the units with low compatibility."
"Yes."
The group of High Elves surrounding the tree trunk.
They all drew their Blue Swords and brought them to the trunk.
Then, the crimson thunder wrapped around the trunk and touched the Blue Swords.
Crackle...
While some endured well,
Most of the swords disappeared, unable to withstand the crimson thunder.
"Ugh..."
"The sword was recalled."
"What was that sword's compatibility?"
"7 percent."
"Pathetic. Can't even withstand the crimson thunder."
"It's been determined that swords below 10 percent compatibility can't even endure the red current."
10 percent compatibility.
This standard was considered quite excellent, even among male half-elves.
Only a select few High Elves possessed Blue Swords above this threshold,
Ancient Elves held most.
As swords below 10 percent were eliminated like that,
Naturally, the next verification proceeded mainly with Ancient Elves.
"The sword doesn't disappear, but..."
"It can't eliminate the red current either."
"It's too useless, isn't it?"
"This sword is somewhat usable. It's pushing away the surrounding current."
Those in the 10 percent range barely withstand the crimson thunder,
Blue Swords, around 20 percent, start to overcome the current.
Considering how rare compatibility above 20 percent was,
The usefulness of Blue Swords could only be evaluated as low.
"Hmm... Only swords above 20 percent are left?"
"These are still usable. However, just bringing them to the World Tree trunk no longer has meaning."
"It seems... we need to try stabbing the swords in."
"But isn't this trunk part of the World Tree? How can we..."
The tree trunk transformed from the World Tree's hand.
No Ancient Elves were bold enough to stab swords into the body of Yggdrasil, who was like an absolute goddess in the World Tree Alliance.
Finally,
"The Cosmic Tree herself has permitted the verification. Don't hesitate and stab the swords in."
"Understood, Chairman."
When the Ancient Elf holding the sword Kim Jihun ordered,
They finally began to act.
'So this Ancient Elf was the Council Chairman.'
An Ancient Elf with a long mustache.
Unlike the others, he wasn't wearing a half-mask.
Since those with higher status took better swords, he had guessed this elf held quite a high position in the Council...
'Isn't Chairman almost the highest position?'
Of course, he didn't know the exact structure of the World Tree Alliance's Council,
However, for the Chairman to personally choose him, they must value the Blue Sword 'Kim Jihun' quite highly.
Thinking that, Seong Jihan watched as the Ancient Elves stabbed in the Blue Swords.
As the swords entered the trunk,
Crackle...!
The Blue Swords began pushing away the crimson thunder inside the trunk all at once.
Certainly, around 20 percent compatibility made for usable Blue Swords.
However, the swords only blocked the surrounding current, unable to eliminate the source.
[This is below expectations.]
Yggdrasil showed disappointment seeing this.
[Blue was originally a power antithetical to Red. But as the Red Administrator took over Seong Jihan, has that relationship changed too?]
The Blue stat emerged as a counterforce to Red,
So, Blue energy possessed an incomprehensible destructive power against Red.
But now, although the Blue Swords weren't ineffective,
They didn't show the same level of opposing relationships as before.
[Blue Administrator... If you were going to die anyway, you should have just died instead of lending power to the Red Administrator.]
Yggdrasil blamed Seong Jihan as she saw the Blue Swords not working like before.
He found this absurd as he listened, but,
'If the Blue Swords are too useless, the World Tree Alliance might not continue this project...'
He coolly assessed the current situation.
A test was conducted to see how effective the Blue Swords were.
If they continued to show below expectations here,
Who knew what these guys might do?
'For now, I need to show that Blue works.'
As he was thinking that,
[Stab in the rest too.]
"Understood."
At that moment, the Council Chairman also stabbed the sword he was holding, 'Kim Jihun.'
'Good.'
He should use power through Kim Jihun.
Thinking that, Seong Jihan slowly proceeded with his work.
* * *
One hour later.
[The top tier is indeed different.]
Yggdrasil was showing a different reaction from before.
That was because,
The crimson thunder that had been constantly rising throughout the trunk,
Had disappeared by about half and was no longer regenerating.
"Compatibility is indeed important."
"Having thousands of 10 percent swords is useless."
"Even though the latter would have much more Blue stat in total."
As the Ancient Elves discussed seeing the World Tree's crimson thunder reduced,
[This sword, in particular, is quite usable.]
Flash...!
One of the swords stabbed into the tree trunk and shone with green light.
"It's the rank 1 sword with 25 percent compatibility."
[25 percent compatibility... That's about what's needed for practical use.]
As Yggdrasil was generously evaluating the male half-elf ranked 1st,
"This guy was said to be a growing sword... but he's not first yet, huh."
The Council Chairman stroked his mustache, looking at the sword he had stabbed in.
Unlike the rank 1 sword, the Blue Sword 'Kim Jihun' barely pushed away the surrounding crimson thunder.
Seong Jihan inwardly smiled hearing the Chairman's evaluation.
'It went according to plan.'
Seong Jihan, who could inconspicuously control the crimson thunder through Kim Jihun,
Worked to make the crimson thunder disappear near the rank 1 sword, not his own Blue Sword.
'Kim Jihun's characteristic of growth is enough.'
If the Blue Sword Kim Jihun both grew and eliminated crimson thunder on its own,
It would likely arouse Yggdrasil's suspicion.
The rank 1 sword should take this aggro.
[We should continue the experiment for now. It has use.]
Yggdrasil made that final evaluation and,
Whoosh...!
Returned the tree trunk to its original state.
Then the hand was placed back on the ground.
As that hand was briefly tinged with green light,
The crimson thunder that had seemed eternal was extinguished at once.
'As expected, crimson thunder alone isn't much of a blow.'
As Seong Jihan was gauging Yggdrasil's power seeing this,
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]
[Report all the research here directly to me, without missing anything.]
"Understood."
[And you said there was a growing specimen?]
"Yes, it's this sword."
The Council Chairman respectfully offered his Blue Sword to Yggdrasil.
[Hmm... I see.]
Yggdrasil's hand stroked the sword a few times, then passed it back to the Chairman.
[Try to replicate this talent. By any means necessary.]
"Yes, we will proceed with experiments."
[And attach elves to the top-tier Blue Swords 24 hours a day.]
"Elves, you say?"
[Yes. Monitor the 1st place especially closely. The disappearance of half the crimson thunder is slightly suspicious.]
"Yes, understood."
'...It was good to have the rank 1 take the aggro.'
He carefully eliminated the crimson thunder earlier, but,
Even so, Yggdrasil's intuition was sharp.
If Kim Jihun, who had growth potential, had also eliminated the crimson thunder,
The surveillance would have focused on this side.
'Still, since Kim Jihun is also one of the top-tier Blue Swords, elves will come.'
Was this the end of living alone?
As Seong Jihan was thinking that,
[Then, Chairman, stay on Earth and report to me daily.]
"I will carry out the mission you've bestowed with all my heart and soul, World Tree."
[Good, I'll trust you.]
After leaving even the Council Chairman on Earth, Yggdrasil,
Whoosh.
Retrieved the hand she had placed on the ground back to the portal in the sky.
"Experiments... What should we do? Cloning?"
"According to previous experiment results, no matter how much we clone male half-elves, only the original specimen retains the compatibility..."
"A male half-elf with growth potential might be different. Start with cloning."
"Understood."
Tap. Tap.
As the Council Chairman tapped the Blue Sword,
Kim Jihun's body returned from the sword to its original half-elf form.
"Take him to the lab."
"Yes."
Then, an Ancient Elf picked up the body and entered a portal leading there.
Beyond the portal, a laboratory full of test tubes was revealed.
And as he stepped on the ground,
"Oh my, for an Elder to come here in person...! It, it's an honor!"
A High Elf quickly ran over, repeatedly bowing his head.
"Skip the greetings. Stop all other work and prioritize cloning this one."
"But, regarding the cloning experiment results, we reported last time..."
"It's the Chairman's order."
"Ah. Yes. We'll proceed."
The lab staff who was about to mention that half-elf cloning was ineffective,
Immediately accepted the order, eyes widening at the mention of the Chairman's name.
Thud.
As the Ancient Elf threw Kim Jihun to the floor, another High Elf who caught him asked,
"Is there any peculiarity specific to this specimen?"
"Unlike others, this one's compatibility is said to grow."
"Oh... Indeed a specimen worth cloning."
"Yes. It's the top priority, so proceed with this before anything else."
"Understood."
"Once the body composition copying is complete, send the original back to Earth's Colonial Government."
After saying that, the Ancient Elf disappeared.
The High Elf researcher sighed in relief as he left and looked around the lab.
"I thought this chimera would turn out usable..."
The test tubes were filled with chimeras mixing various races.
He looked at them regretfully, then,
"...Still, I should handle the Chairman's order first."
Beep.
He went to the machine and pressed a button.
"Release all chimeras. We're sending them to the dump."
[Please enter coordinates.]
"The coordinates are..."
Beep. Beep beep.
The researcher entered the planetary coordinates that appeared on the screen.
When the input was complete,
Flash. Flash...!
Light flashed from the test tubes, and the chimeras began disappearing one by one.
"Ah... We could have succeeded this time..."
As the researcher clicked his tongue, watching that, about to put Kim Jihun's body in an empty test tube,
Seong Jihan, who had left Kim Jihun's body and was observing the lab,
Lit up his eyes seeing the coordinate number entered on the screen.
'So that's the dump coordinates.'
The dump was where the Shadow Queen was presumed to be imprisoned.
He didn't expect to learn those coordinates in a place like this.
'I should raid there later in the Red Administrator's form.'
After memorizing the coordinates like that,
"But even with growth potential, I don't think the cloning experiment will work... Ah. My poor chimeras..."
He watched the researcher's cloning experiment from midair,
As he grumbled with dissatisfaction.
[Translator - Asura]
[Proofreader - Gun]