Chapter 167

“Wow.” A gasp escaped my lips as I looked at the status window.

“This is crazy.”

It wasn’t just two additional stats of 900 each.

[Health: 999 (+)]

[Recovery: 999 (+)]

“A limit to the stats…”

The absence of any further numbers after the plus sign was probably due to reaching the maximum possible stat value within this physical world. It also meant that without divine authority over life and recovery, it couldn’t exceed these limits.

‘However… discussing anything beyond these maxed-out stats would be overly ambitious.’

Simply put, having 999 Health means there’s nothing more durable in the material realm than my body.

Of course, I would still be injured by attacks like the sword force that could cut through dimensions, but my life force is now at a level where chunks of flesh won’t keep getting sliced off as before. Moreover, with a recovery stat of 999…

“I am almost immortal now.”

Even the other stats aren’t low. Strength was 600 points, making me stronger than an ogre, while Stamina and Agility also reached 600 points. Already, my physical abilities were enough to beat most large monsters.

Strictly speaking, I had three transcendent stats. My mana power remained at 900 stats after using bonus points, although it wasn’t reflected in the overall notification.

“The class bonuses, which can be exchanged anytime, seem to be treated as a type of buff.”

Putting aside my slight disappointment,

“Now… I have to check the most important thing.”

Before drinking the reset potion, I decided to maximize my mana power. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the study, I started breathing deeply with vital energy. Concentrating and taking deep breaths…

Hoooomm!

“Huh?”

I was startled by the wind blowing through the room and uncrossed my legs. The novel books scattered around the study were flying everywhere.

“Your Majesty?” The door opened, and Flower rushed inside, surprised. I waved my hand to reassure her.

‘But why is there suddenly this wind?’

Then I remembered something similar happening on Earth. When I covered my mouth while coughing, didn’t it cause a sudden gust of wind?

“The attribute of wind… but why is it manifested like this?” Flower realized to some extent what was happening and bowed towards me with confusion.

“My congratulations, Your Majesty.”

“Ah, thank you. But how did you know…?”

I hesitated, realizing that my question sounded too foolish.

‘Oh right. There was a world message.’

Not just Flower, every being on the continent who could read would’ve seen it. While I wasn’t sure exactly what transcendental stats entailed, they were clearly immense powers.

As expected, Flower nodded. “Yes. I saw the overall notification. However… even without that, I would’ve known.”

”…How?”

In response to my question, Flower pointed towards a mirror located on one side of the study. As I glanced at it, I saw my reflection.

”…Wait, what is this?”

My height had increased significantly. Although I was already quite tall, now I surpassed two meters easily. However, what caught my attention wasn’t just my increased stature; it was my eyes, shining brightly.

“You have truly transcended human form in various ways.”

Flower’s words were undeniably accurate, leaving me speechless.

“But why…?”

Both my eyes glowed with a brilliant white light, and the radiance seemed to rise like smoke from beneath my gaze. It made me appear less human, more akin to a celestial being descended from above.

Then as I strained my eyes to look more closely… Flash! Crash!

My eyes flashed and the mirror shattered.

“No, no this is crazy… Beams coming from my eyes?” The situation was so absurd that I could only laugh hollowly. I looked at the broken mirror shards scattered on the floor and the piles of paper strewn around before speaking again.

“I need to check my physical condition on the rooftop. Sorry, but please have someone come and clean up the study.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

I left the study, taking the stairs next to the elevator to reach the rooftop.

Whooosh…

Standing in the middle of the windy rooftop, I assumed a cross-legged position atop a massive ‘H’ symbol, its origins unknown to Ardenians.

‘First, let’s examine my current state.’

I focused my concentration and awakened my seventh sense to examine my body. This was something I couldn’t have dreamed of before, but it became possible after overcoming the lung-type mana affinity.

‘Indeed, awakening Physique has slowed down my psionic energy.’

Nevertheless, even with the slowdown, my senses were still far more sensitive compared to when I had the lung-type mana affinity, allowing me to quickly grasp the situation.

‘What… The flower shop is embedded within my physical body itself?’

Originally, the flower shop should reside in my inner world, but now it was present in various parts of my physical being—eyes, lungs, nerves, blood vessels, muscles, liver, skin, bones. When I briefly peeked into my inner world, I noticed that where the flower shop once stood on the chessboard, there was now a large nail hammered in place. Obviously, it wasn’t a literal nail; rather, it symbolized the closure of the flower shop.

“Ah, wait, this means… I absolutely cannot afford to lose any more flower shops.”

Until now, losing the flower shop only resulted in spiritual damage… But now, it caused a horrific physical impact as well, which wouldn’t heal easily unless I regained the flower shop. In the worst-case scenario, my eyes might burst or all my blood could drain away for a prolonged period… However, I dismissed these fears with a snort.

“I didn’t intend to lose it.”

I stopped observing and started breathing exercises.

“Hwoo…” I took a deep breath.

“Hwoo…” Then exhaled.

With this simple breathing, I felt the energy of the universe stirring around me. That wasn’t the only problem.

Kuooooh---

A sudden gust swept through, its fierce howl demanding even greater concentration from me.

‘I need to control it.’

A single cough caused a storm around me, and I couldn’t show such grotesque behavior like emitting rays from my eyes when trying to see something closely. Anyway, controlling attributes was a power I had been using until now. While controlling the attribute, I started to observe deep within my body.

Hwack!

I discovered the presence of the Eternal Sun at the center of my dantian.

‘Precisely, it is pseudo-Eternal Sun.’

It meant that this was a fake Eternal Sun. Perhaps creating the real Eternal Sun would require more processes or materials. Of course, there was no intention to complain about Merlin giving me an incomplete item.

‘I almost died after consuming it. This itself…is truly transcendental…’

Instead of possessing near-infinite inner energy, I gained a transcendent physical body. Now, my speculation was… perhaps the Bio Factor I consumed earlier awakened the destructive power of the Eternal Sun. Maybe my current bodily condition wasn’t what Merlin had anticipated.

‘However… no matter what situation he envisioned, it wouldn’t be better than this.’

I examined the Eternal Sun closely. During the transformation process, the Eternal Sun expended all its inherent power. This didn’t mean it disappeared entirely; although depleted, the vessel itself remained intact.

‘Strictly speaking… it’s no longer truly the Eternal Sun.’

The once vast and seemingly limitless inner energy, along with the scorching yang energy capable of burning everything, and even traces of divine essence, were now absent.

Strictly speaking…it’s now just a colossal vessel.

And this colossal vessel had become an organ within his physical body.

“How peculiar…”

It definitely felt like a dantian. When he breathed in vital energy, it flowed through minor circulation channels and entered the vessel.

The problem was that this dantian physically existed.

“This means I’ll have to develop a new cultivation system different from traditional inner energy techniques. Since maintaining this dantian requires no resources…”

Essentially, ki or mana shares properties similar to heat.

Meaning it tends to diffuse.

To harness it effectively, one needs sufficient force to overcome its natural tendency to disperse when gathering it in one place.

In martial arts, this force is known as willpower. However, unless one possesses transcendent or near-transcendent levels of mental power, it’s impossible to continuously control mana using mere willpower alone.

That’s why inner energy cultivation techniques were developed.

But these techniques aren’t without drawbacks; maintaining and circulating vital energy within the body requires spiritual resources. The creation of a physical dantian changes everything. How could a biological organ consume any resources? All it needs is blood flow for nutrients. Just like water stays still when poured into a container, inner energy would remain stable within the dantian with no additional cost.

In other words, I could absorb more than half of my previous inner energy without any issues.

“This is like…that thing.”

I’ve never heard of a physical dantian anywhere before. It wasn’t even mentioned as a possibility. However…there was something similar that came to mind: A biological organ serving as a massive mana reservoir and exerting near-omnipotent power simply by existing.

“The Dragon Heart.”

And now possessing such an organ akin to the Dragon Heart…

“Heh.” With a quiet laugh, I began Qi Accumulation.

One week, two weeks, three weeks. One month, two months, three months…

Apart from the time spent eating meals brought by Flower, I dedicated every moment to meditation and cultivating my energies. I focused on comprehending my body’s condition thoroughly and controlling its inherent elemental attributes. Most importantly, mastering the new biological organ was paramount.

I endeavored tirelessly to familiarize myself with it.

“Phew… So this equates to ten years of inner energy?”

Considering my current capabilities, it might seem insignificant, but accumulating ten years’ worth of inner energy within just three months without any shortcuts is far from ordinary. Even for advanced divine or magical arts, achieving such efficiency would be challenging.

“The name shall be… Yes, let it be ‘Great Potential Unleashed Late.’”

I created a new heart method. Compared to the existing heart methods I knew, it was simple and primitive with a small volume, but it was still the best heart method for me right now.

“The lack of volume… can be gradually added.”

I got up from my seat. Looking up at the sky, I saw twinkling stars amidst the dark sky. Below, there was a city shining brighter than the night sky. Unlike cities that were once immersed in darkness after sunset, this scene wouldn’t look out of place on modern Earth.

Is humanity an adaptable animal?

In the past, people would lock their doors and wait for dawn, but now they laughed and talked while moving through the streets at night.

“Good.” I smiled and descended the stairs. In many ways, I was tired and needed to eat something before getting some sleep. However, these thoughts disappeared when I saw Flower sitting at her desk in my study.

“Coo…” A beautiful woman with fair skin and urban appearance had fallen asleep while holding a pen. She didn’t move an inch, making it feel like looking at a painting. Various documents were stacked around her like towers, indicating not just administrative tasks but also the sheer volume of work she handled daily.

‘What a rare sight.’

Flower, always meticulous and attentive towards me, seemed flawless. It was unusual to see her so unguarded, considering even seeing a speck of seasoning on her food bothered her.

‘She really takes on too much.’

I quietly observe her. The first time I met Flower, she was just a young girl whose head barely reached my knee. Back then, I visited groups of barbers who performed surgery, considered a lowly profession by nobles, to find someone skilled enough for an operation. Flower was a slave belonging to one such barber group.

”…”

I remember that moment vividly. As we were about to leave after I broke the barber’s head for trying to poison me under the guise of treating my wound, a girl knelt before me and confidently recited various surgical techniques. Her brilliance and decisiveness were remarkable even back then. Reflecting on it now, Flower is truly an extraordinary individual. Had she been born not in this hellish Midland but on Earth, regardless of psychic abilities, she would have undoubtedly excelled in any field.

‘When I think about it…it has been quite a long time.’

During the lengthy period when the small girl grew up to be a mature woman, she consistently stayed by my side. If she hadn’t been there, the Human Empire would now be in a much more chaotic situation.

”…!”

Flower’s body trembled. Somewhere along the way, she had awakened and was watching me caress her cheek.

”…”

”…”

We quietly looked at each other. This moment felt unprecedented. Having taken care of her since she was so young, I never truly saw her as a woman.

Drip.

Suddenly, a tear fell onto the desk. Flower was crying.

“Oh…”

Surprised, I quickly removed my hand from her cheek.

‘Damn, what have I done?’

As regret and self-blame flooded me, Flower hastily grabbed my hand.

“No! No! It isn’t like that!”

Her unusually raised voice made me grasp her hand as well.

“Calm down, Flower. I’m sorry.”

“No, it’s not that. Just…just because I have been waiting for too long.”

“Waiting? For what?”

Flustered, I looked at Flower who spoke softly:

“To be gazed upon with such eyes…I’ve waited for a very, very long time…”

”…”

We silently stared at each other without saying anything. After a brief moment of silence, I suddenly swept her up in my arms.

“Eek?!” Flower let out an uncharacteristically cute scream. We quickly entered the study room-

Tap.

The door closed behind us.