I opened the small wooden box closest to me and looked inside.
The instant the case, just about the size of a ring box, opened, a clear yet pungent fragrance spread through the room.
That extraordinary scent, pleasant enough to lift one’s spirits with a single breath, was flowing from a round object stored inside, wrapped in paper.
‘So this is Shaolin’s famous Small Reversion Pill?’
Sniff, sniff—
Without realizing it, I flared my nostrils and savored the fragrance.
That alone sent a surge of freshness through me, as if the impurities in my entire body had been washed away and vitality was bubbling up from within.
After enjoying it to my satisfaction, I quietly closed the lid of the case and lightly smacked my lips.
This Small Reversion Pill was something Harley had received as a gift of gratitude after meeting the abbot of Shaolin Temple.
If he had not intervened at precisely the right moment during that life-or-death crisis, everyone there would have been in danger, so this much was only natural.
Of course, in the past, what he had done would have been enough to receive not a Small Reversion Pill, but a Great Reversion Pill. However, now that the value of spirit medicines had soared through the roof, circumstances were different.
As the medicinal efficacy of naturally occurring spirit herbs had steadily declined over the past twenty years, the entire field of pill refining had taken a severe blow, to the point where the production of top-tier spirit pills, including the Great Reversion Pill, had become impossible.
To make a Small Reversion Pill now required materials and effort on the level of what had once gone into a Great Reversion Pill. As such, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the best spirit medicine currently representing Shaolin Temple was the Small Reversion Pill.
‘Shaolin must have really overextended themselves to hand this over.’
On top of that, they had promised various other benefits and treatment they could offer, so in effect, it was no different from showing the utmost sincerity Shaolin Temple was capable of.
That was how important they must have judged it to be to earn the goodwill of Harley, who had shown such impressive performance against the Heavenly Demon.
‘Of course, I understand how they feel, but...’
That did not mean it was enough to satisfy me.
I set down the case containing the Small Reversion Pill, picked up the case beside it, embossed with an antique pattern, and opened its lid.
Whoooosh—
At that moment.
The scenery around me changed.
From the modern interior that had felt somewhat cold, to the shade beneath a tree on a bright spring day with sunlight pouring down.
No, was it a field before harvest? Or perhaps a summer valley where a waterfall flowed.
‘Wow, this is incredible.’
But soon, “Still Water, Clear Mirror” activated, and after regaining my composure, I realized it had only been a momentary illusion and clicked my tongue in amazement.
Like the exaggerated depiction of a character in a comic confronting the universe after eating delicious food, the energy contained within was so extraordinary that merely smelling it had been enough to make my brain hallucinate.
‘So this is the real Great Reversion Pill...’
A priceless treasure, acknowledged by all as the finest in murim, and now practically a legendary spirit pill even within Shaolin Temple.
I did not know how many they had secretly stashed away instead of using, but since it could no longer be produced, its value was impossible to measure all the same.
‘Yes, if it’s going to be called a spirit medicine, it should at least be this much.’
It was something with no stock on the market, impossible to obtain even with money and power.
Then how, exactly, had I gotten my hands on such a treasure—
‘I bought it.’
Yes, I simply bought it.
That was all.
Did I not have “Item Purchase” from the Karma Shop, which provided me with most things that existed in the world?
As long as it was not a unique item, the only one of its kind in the world and already possessed by an owner, obtaining a spirit medicine was nothing to me, who could buy anything in the world with karma.
Until now, for Hugo, who possessed the “Heavenly Qi Body” and did not care about the nature of qi, refinement through pill refining had not held much meaning, so I had mainly used spirit herbs harvested by Harris...
‘But for something the main body will use personally, I should take a bit more care.’
This was different from my avatars, who were plastered with all sorts of traits and could somehow find a way even if problems arose.
Was the main body not merely a slightly sturdy, special young man with various abilities, who happened to be rich, handsome, and had a good personality and body?
I needed to thoroughly eliminate even the slightest possibility of a problem.
‘As expected, it’s hard to get good spirit medicines from worlds other than Auterica and the Ganghwan Realm.’
On the table, in addition to the ones I had just examined, various spirit medicines were lined up.
The finest spirit pills of the Ganghwan Realm, including Wudang Sect’s Taiqing Pill and Mount Hua Sect’s Zixia Divine Pill.
Elixirs from Auterica, made by processing magic stones, including dragon hearts, with various ingredients through alchemy.
And spirit medicines from other worlds collected through several different routes.
There was a reason I had gone this far to gather spirit medicines.
‘When dealing with mystery, the existence of the energy that serves as its foundation is indispensable. But from my position, handling multiple avatars, it won’t be very good if that balance leans too far to one side.’
Their cases were different from High Elf Harris or Mad Demon Harley, who had already risen to transcendence and escaped their limits.
Even while learning martial arts, they had the capacity to modify and master them in their own ways. But if the main body, where everything was still a blank slate, fixed its path in one direction, would that not inevitably place limits on the future courses of the avatars created afterward?
I did not know what might happen in the future, or what kinds of avatars I would be able to make, so I could not place restrictions on myself.
Thus, the method I chose was this.
‘Gather as much energy as possible without breaking the balance, and convert it into pure energy that can be used for any kind of mystery.’
If others knew what I was thinking, they would laugh at me for chasing an absurd dream.
Because, by worldly common sense, it was utterly impossible.
Since the laws applied in each world were different, naturally, the nature of the energies belonging to them all differed as well.
Even in the same world, where the foundation was identical, a knight’s aura could not substitute for a mage’s mana, nor could a martial artist’s internal energy be used to perform a spellcaster’s dao arts. How much more so when the worlds themselves were entirely different?
‘But I know. A power that exists above all energies in the world, one that is valid in any world.’
Did I merely know of it?
Not only had I already come into contact with it several times, I also understood its structure and principles more clearly than anyone.
‘Divinity.’
An inexhaustible possibility that I was still borrowing even now, had thoroughly analyzed in order to face the Adversary, and had finally become able to contain within myself.
I quietly closed my eyes and observed my inner self.
“Phew—.”
There were already more than one or two avatars that contained seeds of divinity.
The Immortal King Hans, the Vampire King Heinz II, the Fighting King Harley.
Not only them, but I could also feel that the possibility was gradually taking root in Heinrich, who acted on behalf of the Main God’s power and bore His glory, and in Harris, who had received the blessing of the World Tree.
Yes, this was the situation.
Then, as the owner of those avatars, how could there possibly be no influence on me?
‘No matter how separate their bodies may be, those avatars are also myself. As for the rank that comes from realm, it cannot help but be heavily influenced by the body that forms its foundation, but...’
My soul had long since grown to match them.
Of course, because I had to divide and allocate most of that rank in order to properly operate as many as ten avatars, more than half of whom were transcendents, it usually did not show much.
I opened my eyes again and stared quietly at the spirit medicines on the table.
Most of the avatars had long since moved to the safest places possible and entered dormancy.
For the first time in a truly long while, I was able to focus solely on my real body. Moving an arm that felt almost foreign, I picked up one spirit medicine.
‘Let’s start with this one.’
Shaolin Temple’s Small Reversion Pill, the first one I had examined.
And then.
Without hesitation, I tossed it into my mouth and used the “Authority of Gluttony.”
***
“Haaa—.”
A pure white energy, mixed into my exhaled breath, rippled through the air like vapor before disappearing.
And that was not all.
The entire indoor space was already filled with heat haze that had seeped out from my whole body.
Slowly opening my eyes, I lowered my gaze and glanced over my body.
The impurities that had initially been expelled along with sweat had been repeated through that process again and again, and now not even a speck remained visible.
‘Well, after pouring in that many spirit medicines, it would be stranger if impurities were still left.’
The numerous spirit medicines that had been piled high on the table.
Now, all that remained there were empty wrappings after their contents had been used.
Thanks to the “Authority of Gluttony,” it had not taken very long, yet I had still ended up using every last one of those countless things.
And the most important part.
The result of using all those precious items was—
‘Not enough.’
A half-success.
I smacked my lips and repeatedly clenched and unclenched my fist.
The reason for the failure was nothing special.
At first, I had planned to balance the energies of the Ganghwan Realm and Auterica at similar levels to create two major pillars, then bind all the other energies together into one to form a more stable three-way structure...
‘To think that even after gathering all those other things together, they still wouldn’t be enough.’
The problem was that the quality of the spirit medicines obtained from other worlds was far too inferior compared to the items acquired from those two worlds.
Perhaps I had underestimated the potential of top-grade spirit medicines obtained through karma, but with things that only had quantity on their side, even if the amount was similar, they simply could not compete in terms of quality.
‘But for proper deification, I can’t compromise on quality. That was supposed to be the minimum line...’
In the end, due to insufficient stability, I had failed to achieve a proper conversion into divinity. Still, since it was half a success, the current result was not that bad.
Wooooong—
An energy like heat haze rose from my hand.
Aura processed on a mana foundation.
Soon, it changed into a completely different energy: internal energy, refined and polished from qi.
Then into mana, dao power, natural force—energy that changed its nature in countless ways.
In truth, that itself was not particularly impressive.
After all, using various energies was something I had already been able to do before thanks to the additional effect of “Individual Projection.”
What mattered was that now, since I could draw upon and use the energy latent within my body, the amount of energy available to me was on a completely different level from before.
‘That alone is an encouraging result. Previously, there was a limit to the power I could draw out like this.’
Of course, since there were still differences such as possessed traits, it did not reach the level of using “Individual Projection” in its entirety.
However, it was also true that now that the restriction on energy had vanished, my combat power had become incomparably stronger than before.
‘At this level, transcendence is still out of the question, but I should be able to handle someone at the extreme realm well enough.’
Of course, since this attempt had allowed me to clearly glimpse the possibility, I had not the slightest intention of being satisfied with this.
‘If I can complete this...’
Without realizing it, I placed a hand on my chest.
My heart was beating more vigorously than ever, pounding actively.
Feeling the “something” that dwelled within it, I quietly closed my eyes.
An amorphous possibility with no individuality or nature yet determined.
A power that could become anything as needed, and make anything desired possible.
That was the divinity I would cause to bloom.
“To do that, I’ll first need to obtain spirit medicines from other worlds.”
And not only quantity, but quality was extremely important as well.
Even if they were not on the level of the Great Reversion Pill, they would at least have to be on the level of the Small Reversion Pill to be of help...
‘The problem is that things like that aren’t so easy to get.’
It was hardly a secret that the efficiency of spirit medicines on Earth was rock bottom.
Most Awakened who had been transferred to other worlds would also know that after looking up information in advance.
As such, even if they obtained something so precious, they would first think of consuming it before returning to Earth.
‘What about having Hans pioneer a new dimension?’
Not bad.
Of course, to maintain balance while containing the energies of as many different worlds as possible, he would need to make the rounds of quite a few dimensions rather than just one or two. But Hans had grown considerably, and since “Dimensional Barrier Mitigation” had been strengthened, the process should be smoother than before.
‘But that isn’t something I can attempt blindly either. There’s also the matter of capturing a transcendent-level powerhouse to serve as a medium...’
And excluded from that would be transcendent beings of the divine power system, whose memories could not be properly read, as well as those from dimensions where spirit medicines did not exist at all.
Above all, the biggest problem was that once he attempted to pioneer another dimension, this side would also need a considerable period of research for synchronization.
‘...Right. I’ll proceed with that gradually. For now, I’ll try other methods first.’
Thankfully, aside from that, there was still one more move he could begin immediately.
One that was more efficient and wide-ranging, with enough expandability to be used for other purposes later on.
My gaze turned to the items set in one corner—among them, the magic artifacts I had retrieved not long ago.
Depending on their value, weren’t those precious masterpieces treated as far more valuable than elixirs, rare treasures that could not be easily obtained in this world even with money?
‘I’d been feeling the need for an organization capable of exerting global influence, so this works out well.’
When it came to obtaining rare items, money was not the only issue; finding the seller in the first place was the real hurdle.
A so-called lack of infrastructure.
And even if one found the seller, the chances of them being swayed by money were slim.
If they possessed the sort of item I wanted, they would already have the ability to earn more than enough money.
‘Then I just have to present them with something they’d be tempted by.’
If they were capable of bringing such elixirs with them, there was no need to even mention their desire for improvement.
Then I would satisfy that desire.
Not through a slim gamble with elixirs, but with a method that could make them stronger with far greater certainty.
Unlike elixirs, magic artifacts had no particular restrictions when used on Earth.
What if I announced that I would pay with those?
And not with ordinary products that could be obtained easily, but with magic artifacts so astonishing that even in their original worlds they would have been difficult to come across—rewards enough to make their jaws drop?
‘If I use this well, it could be a huge help in rallying forces on Earth to oppose the Beoncheonhoe. And going even further, if I offer custom-made orders exactly as the other party desires...’
Game over.
There was no problem at all in making the bait needed for that.
After all, I had not only a dwarven craftsman and a dragon enchanter, but also a Demon King-class black mage, a saint, a vampire of divine blood, and a high elf spirit mage.
‘Let’s bring the supply of ready-made magic artifacts that’s been taking place in the shadows out into the open and expand its scale. After spreading the name worldwide like that, I’ll use special-made products as bait to lure in Awakened.’
Humans only move proactively when there is something in it for them.
And as long as that profit continues steadily, they will not betray easily either.
‘I can leave the troublesome parts to Jin Soran and the Blood Alliance. They’ve handled the supply of magic artifacts without any issues so far. Right, as for Europe, I can leave it to Thermidor, Gomorrah, and Dracul...’
A so-called enterprise specializing in otherworld magic artifacts.
It was the launch of “Howard Industries.”