D.I.O

*** Brilliant Knight & Great Mage ***

Clunk. Whirl!

When the power was turned on, a hollow metal sphere was activated, and a metal brush, which outputted a specific voltage, revolved around it. Simultaneously, powerful magic energy was generated inside the metal sphere. It was an energy fusion machine. With the energy created in the metal sphere, the various materials placed nearby the metal sphere began to change.

Crack!

In response to the power that was released from the metal sphere, a peach tree that had been placed in front of the fusion machine started to grow rapidly.

The process itself was very mechanical, but it resulted in the creation of the purest form and force of nature.

‘Ether is the easiest to collect. The problem is that it deteriorates quickly and is difficult to manage after collection.’

Yongno was currently researching the basic units of energy.

Merlin had collected from DIO’s library all the information related to energy science and built a huge underground research facility to experiment with all the processes that he couldn’t reproduce in his head.

Even though there was a mountain of other work to do, Merlin initiated the research because of an idea that popped into his head when he created his newest No Living World planets—Jupiter and Saturn.

‘But I still don’t get it. This would be a whole lot easier if I knew which direction to take.’

Merlin had made Mercury, Venus, and Earth relatively easily. Of course, if the countless practitioners who had practiced the Golden Pill Immortal Technique were to hear him say this, they’d lose their minds and never find their sanity again. However, from Yongno’s point of view at least, the creation of those three planets wasn’t that complex.

Nevertheless, even Merlin had to use the amplification created by the repulsion between his magic power and internal energy to create Mars. This was because it was impossible to expand the number of his planets by using the existing Golden Pill Immortal Technique method. Since it was impossible to establish Jupiter solely with his own power, Merlin had utilized the Gold Dragon’s Chintamani Stone to do so.

The Chintamani Stone, which Merlin had first thought was a copy, was genuine, so Merlin was able to create Saturn on top of Jupiter. This was a result that exceeded his expectations.

‘However, I can’t utilize outside sources of energy to create additional planets anymore. Unless I absorb dozens or hundreds of dragon hearts, it’ll be virtually impossible to create Uranus through energy concentration. No matter how strong I’ve become, it’ll be impossible to concentrate and retain such an absurd level of energy too.

Creating Uranus seemed to be impossible for Merlin; it appeared that there was absolutely no way to reach another breakthrough. In fact, even the spiritual mechanism currently operating in [Merlin]’s body was a revolutionary achievement. The novel mechanism was revolutionary enough to rewrite the traditional understanding of spiritual foundations and structures that were practiced and understood throughout the entire universe. Hence, what more was there to say about the improbability of creating Uranus?

Even so… Yongno tried various ideas and experimented constantly, and in the process of trying and testing many different ideas…

At one point, he suddenly remembered what Leighann—the great mage who resided in the Magic Tower of Babel, the Holy Land for all mages in DIO—once said.

“One doesn’t have to be a user of internal energy to use internal energy. Neither internal energy nor magic power is the smallest unit in the world.

“The smallest units in the universe… what are they?

“Force, Essence, and Ether.”

Leighann’s explanation went against the common sense of those who believed that the smallest unit of energy in the universe was mana and that all other spiritual powers were different forms of mana expressed in different ways. However, at the time when Yongno heard Leighann’s explanation, he felt that Leighann’s explanation and understanding of energy were probably closer to the truth than that of the other transcendents.

‘In the end, it’s all a matter of proportion. Internal energy, mana, and chakra all use different ratios of energy. Even if the creation process is completely different, they’re all based on mana.’

Yongno had already figured out the composition of his internal energy and magic power.

In the case of his internal energy, the ratio of Force, Essence, and Ether was 1:4.5:3, and in the case of his magic power, it was 1:3.5:5.

Though Yongno didn’t go further and check the ratios of the other spiritual powers, he was fairly certain that life force would have a higher proportion of Force while aura power would have a higher proportion of Essence.

‘In other words, if one were able to properly handle and work with Force, Essence, and Ether, which are the basic energies that compose mana, then a mage would be able to use internal energy and a chakra user would be able to use life force. And if that’s the case…’

Merlin mumbled as he started reviewing the simulations in his head.

Originally, these types of simulations required entering various variables into a supercomputer and processing a tremendous amount of information and calculations. Nevertheless, Merlin was able to do these simulations in his head before checking what experiments needed to be done in reality and quickly producing results.

However… the results were completely unexpected.

The mana in the controlled space began to amplify explosively.

“Eh? What’s going on? Wait, no way…”

Viagra was originally developed as a cardiovascular dilator, but it had the side effect of stimulating an important organ. That unexpected side effect caused Viagra to immediately become a superstar drug in the pharmaceutical world.

Similarly… Yongno saw a completely different possibility while studying Force, Ether, and Essence to get a clue on how to further develop planets in his No Living World.

‘Wait, I obviously see the results, but I thought it wasn’t something that could be done unless one was already in the transcendence realm…’

Though a variety of questions popped into Yongno’s mind, he didn’t waste any time pondering these questions.

“I should start experimenting.”

“I don’t know what you’re planning to experiment…” a new voice intervened suddenly, “…but it would be nice if you could put off that experiment for a moment.”

Yongno turned his head to check who the speaker was and saw a man with a pale complexion standing there and staring back at him.

The pale-faced man exuded a nonchalant attitude; it was as if he had been standing there from the beginning. Additionally, he didn’t give off any aura. The man possessed a well-proportioned body and was over two meters tall. He gave off an air of an undertaker standing calmly in front of a hearse.

“Ah… you came. I thought you’d come.”

Even though it was a surprise appearance, Yongno sighed and dusted himself off as he got up. At that natural demeanor, the pale-faced man—who wore leather shoes, a black hat, and a cape—grinned.

“What a strange human being. There aren’t many beings who can look at me so calmly.”

The man’s appearance would make anyone think of a [Grim Reaper], but his skin was immaculate like he had put on makeup. This man was currently looking down at Yongno with an upright posture.

It was presently dusk, the time right before the sun would rise. At this time of day, the man’s overwhelmingly ominous yet immaculate appearance would have made an ordinary person’s heart flutter.

“Hmm, that’s unexpected. I thought the Shinigami I met before would appear.”

“Shinigami? Ah, you mean the Executors of Union Law. Based on which Executors are active these days, I’d say you’re referring to Ternov. But unfortunately, he doesn’t really possess sensibility, so he isn’t used in negotiations.”

Seemingly without the thought of sitting down for a chat, the man remained standing as he reached inside his robe and took out a book. It didn’t seem like an ordinary book as it emanated a considerable amount of aura. However, nothing in that book was readable.

“So, you’ve come in regard to the dead people?”

When Tan—who ‘was’ the main operator of DIO—tried to move DIO to another solar system after forcefully logging in the majority of earthlings onto DIO, the number of casualties and damage his abrupt action inflicted on Earth was immense. The casualties numbered not in the millions but in the billions, so there was no need to say more.

Even so… Earth was currently much noisier and more clamorous about another incident than the mass casualties and vast damage caused by that forced log in.

“Of course. In fact, we’re kind of at a loss on how to proceed with this situation ourselves. It’s become even more difficult and murky because those damn dragons are playing dumb. Moreover, it’s extremely rare for beings like us, who belong to the Reaper Organization, to come face-to-face with living beings in the material world.”

A large number of people died in the mass forced log-in incident. This was a fact.

Yet, at the same time… those people didn’t truly die.

“Yeah, I can see how it’s a mess. It’s been a bit hard for many people to accept that one could die in reality but still be alive in DIO.”

People who had experienced their own deaths in real life realized that they still existed in DIO, and those who hadn’t died also realized this fact.