The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2

Chapter 632:

'Location tracking, real-time monitoring, and criminal rehabilitation, huh.'

Seong Jihan inwardly scoffed after hearing the additional functions the mechanical voice had revealed.

He had felt he couldn't fully trust Noah while listening to her, but...

He didn't expect her to pull such tricks so soon.

'Yggdrasil proves useful at times. A secondary authorized user, huh.'

He hadn't expected the fragment of the Key of Life he'd obtained from her would be useful here too.

It was such a nuisance when alive, but now that it was gone, it helped out multiple times.

Thinking this, Seong Jihan recalled the mechanical voice's question.

It had clearly asked if he wanted to maintain those three functions.

He hadn't yet heard from her about how to conquer Urd.

She did seem knowledgeable about Ark, after all.

For now, he needed to hear her future plans.

'I'll leave the first two functions on for now. I'll just deactivate the last one that bothers me the most.'

Location tracking and real-time monitoring were one thing.

But criminal rehabilitation sounded ominous from the name alone.

It seemed like a function that would make him obey their words if he accepted it.

'Criminal rehabilitation... What exactly does it do?'

Seong Jihan sent a mental query towards where the mechanical voice had come from, just in case.

['Criminal rehabilitation' is a function that alters the brain of serious criminals to turn them into loyal members of the human government.]

The mechanical voice kindly explained about criminal rehabilitation.

Altering the brains of serious criminals.

And changing their perception to become government dogs, at that.

They really had the nerve to include this as a basic function.

Seong Jihan thought this while maintaining a neutral expression.

'I definitely need to remove this function. And if Noah notices that criminal rehabilitation has been deactivated, I'll just break everything then and there.'

Hearing Noah's future plans was one thing.

But deactivating the criminal rehabilitation function was more important.

'Deactivate criminal rehabilitation function.'

As Seong Jihan sent this mental command,

[Deactivating criminal rehabilitation function with secondary authorized user privileges.]

The mechanical voice sounded in his ears.

And then.

Whoosh...!

Light gathered in one organ within Seong Jihan's body.

The organ he chose for evolution was the gallbladder, located below the liver.

'I can remove the gallbladder if necessary anyway.'

It was not that it didn't have a function in the body.

But it was certainly less important than organs like the heart or liver.

Thinking this, Seong Jihan concentrated the light specifically on his gallbladder.

Then,

[Some internal organs are evolving.]

[Stat 'White Light' increases by 100.]

[White Light absorption efficiency increases.]

White Light increased about twice as much as when he had transplanted the new humanity's skin onto his hand.

And simultaneously,

[You can expand the authority of light one step further.]

A message appeared saying he could gain one more light authority as White Light exceeded 300.

'White Light increases so easily.'

It would have taken quite some time to raise it in the server.

Here, it just shot up from evolving a single organ.

If this much came from just changing the gallbladder, if he had completely changed all his internal organs...

The growth would have been enormous, wouldn't it?

As Seong Jihan was feeling a bit regretful about the growth rate of White Light,

[You didn't fully accept the power of light, I see.]

A voice tinged with disappointment flowed from the Divine Eye, which had been observing Seong Jihan's changes.

"Well, that's right."

[Organ evolution doesn't end with simply accepting light. It's a process of greatly improving overall bodily functions, evolving the human species into a higher dimensional being. By evolving only a localized area like that, you're blocking your own development.]

Noah started trying to persuade Seong Jihan, but.

"It's fine. My body is stronger than yours anyway."

[It's not a matter of strength. Organ evolution is essential for fundamentally changing light reception...]

"Hey, enough. Honestly, why should I trust you guys enough to change everything? Let's just go with this for now."

[I understand that you don't fully trust me yet, but it's such a shame... If you change your mind later, please let me know. I'll provide standard evolution organs again.]

"Sure."

When Seong Jihan firmly stated he would stop organ evolution here, Noah ended the conversation about organ evolution, saying to let her know if he changed his mind later.

[However, this will inevitably delay the conquest of Urd.]

"Why?"

[To reach Ark's core, you, the being from the server, need to obtain 'Time Reversal'.]

Seong Jihan furrowed his brow at those words.

"You're telling me to get Time Reversal? Urd's attribute?"

[Yes.]

"Why?"

[Because that's how you can enter without removing the prison of time.]

"Can't we just remove the clocks as we go in, like we did now?"

The Divine Eye sparkled at Seong Jihan's question.

[That's right. Inside Ark, Urd maintains strict vigilance, so if she notices the light clocks decreasing, she will immediately act. You need to have the same authority as her to break through without hindrance.]

"Hmm. So having Time Reversal makes you immune to the light clocks?"

[Yes. Of course, your authority seems to be effective against them too... But it's important to advance inward without reducing the number of clocks.]

So even if he could resist Time Reversal using the Blue stat, the clocks would disappear as a reaction, allowing Urd to notice them.

In the end, to infiltrate deeper, mastering Urd's attribute was essential, was that it?

'Last time, the success rate for acquiring Time Reversal was around 40%, I think...'

Seong Jihan opened the newly unlocked authority expansion slot as White Light exceeded 300.

There, he saw:

['Protection' - Success rate 73%]

['Observation' - Success rate 61%]

['Time Reversal' - Success rate 43%]

The success rates for the three attributes had increased slightly compared to before.

* * *

'Observation's success rate increased more than the other two attributes.'

Observation, which was clearly in the mid-50% range before, had noticeably increased its success rate.

Was it because Noah revealed information about herself and engaged in various activities?

Seong Jihan looked at the three attributes and asked Noah,

"What happens if you fail when trying to acquire these attributes? Do you lose the chance?"

[No. If you fail, instead one of your existing attributes is strengthened.]

"Ah. So, Device Proficiency or Tower Manifestation..."

"Device Proficiency is done once you choose it. It doesn't strengthen further."

"Really?"

So Device Proficiency had a MAX level of 1, huh.

No, wait.

'If I try for Time Reversal now and fail, doesn't that mean the Tower Manifestation attribute will be strengthened?'

The light attribute that vividly manifests Tower content.

At first, he just acquired and used it without knowing what attributes of White Light existed.

But after broadening his knowledge in Ark, he could now realize it was a completely useless ability.

But if he failed while trying to strengthen a light authority, this would increase?

'No... This one might have a MAX level of 1 too, right?'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan asked them about it.

"Increase in game content manifestation...? Is that even an authority? Never heard of it."

[No, that's because you don't know about it. That kind of authority commonly develops in virtual reality developers.]

As expected, a meaningful answer came from Noah rather than Id.

"Really? What exactly does it do?"

[It increases the manifestation level of virtual reality... But in fact, the effect is minimal. Instead, it was notorious in other ways.]

"What's that notoriety?"

[It's said that the enhancement limit was never confirmed. On top of that, rumors spread that only the manifestation attribute was unusually strengthened when failing to expand authorities, so it became an ability developers avoided.]

"No enhancement limit... That's not really relevant for isolates like us. But for normal people, I guess they'd want to get rid of it from their authority options."

So, to summarize simply.

This manifestation increase was completely a trap attribute, huh.

'Apart from resurrecting Dongbang Sak, it has absolutely no advantages.'

It would be impossible not to get angry if such an ability kept getting strengthened.

As Seong Jihan was thinking this,

[If you have such an attribute, all the more reason you should fully accept the power of light.]

Noah, sensing an opportunity, was trying to sell the idea to Seong Jihan.

[Just obtaining the Time Reversal attribute isn't enough. It needs to be strengthened from level 1 to 2 to reach the central area where Urd is without being detected. But with that trap attribute you have, you'll lose many enhancement opportunities to it... We need to invest a large amount of White Light at once to induce the strengthening of Time Reversal as well.]

"Can't I strengthen the attributes I've already obtained at will?"

[No. It's random. And expanding new authorities takes priority over strengthening existing ones.]

"No way. Why is the authority system like that?"

This meant you had to develop new authorities first no matter what.

And if you failed, one of the old ones would get randomly strengthened.

As Seong Jihan frowned, unable to understand the light authority system, Id sighed while stroking his own head.

"Hah. That's because... Originally, the purpose of light authority was to photonicize the entire human body. Wouldn't you need to gain different attributes to make other parts of the body shine?"

[Finally, he says something correct. Light authority was meant to be obtained in large quantities from the start. But isolates like us ended up with only one authority strengthened, which is why we're treated as social outcasts.]

Seong Jihan nodded at those words.

For him, who had focused solely on Martial Soul and later the Blue stat, it was a system he couldn't understand at all.

But for the new humanity, this was common sense.

"Okay. I get what you're saying, more or less. But I still don't want to change my entire body to light organs yet."

Even though he had removed one basic function as Yggdrasil's secondary authorized user, changing all his organs right now still felt uncomfortable.

As Seong Jihan rejected the sales pitch once more,

[I see... Alright. Then, why don't you return to your server and try expanding your authority once?]

Noah gave up easily and suggested returning to the server.

"Return, you say?"

[Yes. Without Time Reversal, we can't go any further inside.]

"No, why return? Can't he just raise his authority right here?"

[If he luckily obtains the Time Reversal authority, he'll be judged as a 'normal' and be absorbed by the Transcendent Being right here.]

"Ah... I see. So it can't be done here."

Id nodded his head.

Dong. Dong...

[Shall we leave then?]

The Divine Eye rose and moved towards the door of the Western Sector.

'So according to Noah, we can't proceed further until I obtain Time Reversal.'

Her method of conquering Urd ultimately depended on Seong Jihan's authority.

'But if that's the case, don't we not really need her?'

He thought she might use the Observation authority to find hidden paths in Ark or something.

But if it ultimately doesn't work without 'Time Reversal',

There was no need to keep getting guidance from those dark eyes that contrast with her outward appearance.

'Who knows what other traps she might set.'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan,

Step. Step.

Approached 'Yggdrasil' at the center of the space.

"Wait. Before we leave, let me touch this for a bit."

[Ah. Are you going to write in the registry?]

"No, not that."

[No? Then why...]

He was a secondary authorized user, so he should try using that authority at least once.

As Seong Jihan said this and placed his hand on the tree,

Fwoosh...!

Light began to sparkle from Yggdrasil, the metallic tree.

[W-What are you doing!?]

"Oh. Nothing much."

[Stop that right now! Take your hand off immediately!]

Noah urgently tried to stop Seong Jihan after seeing this, but.

"Why? Just wait a moment."

Seong Jihan smirked and continued moving his hand.