Chapter 190

I could hear gasps from all around me.

In front of me stood Flower.

“Oh.”

For a moment, her appearance was so vivid that I almost thought she had truly materialized before my eyes. However, considering the cacophony of machinery surrounding us, it was clear this couldn’t be the real Flower; she remained perfectly composed amidst the chaos.

Ignoring the clamor of voices, I reached out tentatively.

Thump.

My hand made contact with Flower.

I gazed closely at her face. It had been ten years since we last met—ten years since I’d given birth to our child.

Though still young, time had etched its mark upon her features. Faint lines now graced the corners of her eyes, and a slight softening of her once sharp contours lent her countenance a warm, maternal glow.

The Flower merely smiled at me without speaking or looking around. Yet, in this moment, she was undoubtedly alive and breathing.

This might just be possible.

I released her hand and spoke. It wasn’t so much a conversation with anyone as it was a clear definition of my image:

“Palace.”

“Gigas Land.”

As I heard Love’s confused voice, I lifted my right foot.

Thud.

And when I stamped it on the ground…

The entire world turned upside down.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

Paving stones poured out like a waterfall from the earth. Asphalt spread across the land, and buildings sprang up like bamboo shoots after rain.

It was physically impossible, but for me, it was nothing new.

Wasn’t this the same sight I’d seen every time I upgraded my castle?

Ku-guguguung!

The metal space, though already vast, now stretched endlessly before me. Of course, it wasn’t really expanding. The dense mana was simply tricking my perception into thinking so.

“W-What is…?”

“My goodness! He’s created an entire field! Over seventy thousand objects have appeared…”

“And these structures… They’re not from Revenge, are they?”

“No, our development team barely managed to create one house in the last month…”

“Is this the power of a Transcendent…?”

The researchers were plunged into confusion. Inside, I laughed at their reactions.

What’s with them? Are they just here for comic relief?

Then I mustn’t disappoint.

I focused my mind.

Whoosh!

Vroooom!

“Ugh! Is this possible?”

“T-The city is functioning! The buses are moving!”

“No, is this even conceivable for a Transcendent? To manifest all these buildings, their size, materials, texture, and weight in an instant… It’s not humanly…”

As I heard the researchers’ screams, I looked around.

Suddenly, I was standing before the Guild Tower of Gigas Land.

It feels similar to summoning.

I could call elements using chakra from Earth to Ardenia. It wasn’t about completely bringing them into reality but rather borrowing them temporarily before returning them.

If I broke an item in reality, it would also be broken in Ardenia—this was proof that what happened here affected the other world as well.

But this time is a little different.

In Ardenia, I could only summon items with assigned ranks. Manifesting something like this “place” wasn’t possible using my usual methods.

Moreover, the city I had called forth now existed in reality, unlike previous summons which were merely illusions. Although it appeared tangible, it remained virtual.

There was another issue:

The item description isn’t popping up.

My right hand glowed. It was because I had equipped the Brilliant Gloves of Luck, a legendary piece of gear associated with fortune.

However, no matter how closely I examined the gloves, neither the item window nor any increased stats appeared. This indicated that all I could do was replicate their outward appearance.

Whoosh!

As soon as I let my mind wander, Gigas Land disappears. The steel castle walls, hundreds upon thousands of buildings, asphalt roads with buses crisscrossing them—and even Flower herself—all vanish without a trace.

”…Jaeyeon-ssi. What just happened?” Love asks, bewildered.

“I manifested the City of Revenge,” I reply.

“But how? Even replicating a flat drawing is hard enough—how did you create an entire city in one go?”

I understand why Love finds this absurd. After all, it’s human nature to forget details when faced with overwhelming information. If someone were to ask you about the eighth letter on the fifth line of page 237 after memorizing a book, chances are you wouldn’t recall it. Similarly, it’s common for people to fail at remembering background characters’ clothing colors despite staring at a picture endlessly.

Of course, this standard applies only to ordinary people. The story changes when you enter the realm of Transcendents, but even then, visualizing an entire city in your mind is beyond comprehension.

To be honest… I couldn’t do that either.

The ability to summon Kasim in reality doesn’t mean I can conjure him with my eyes closed, does it? All I’m doing is copying and retrieving ‘information’ from Ardenia.

“Hmm. I am indeed a Transcendent of bio-energy, but… at the same time, I am also a Transcendent of chakra.”

“Ah, right. You mentioned being a chakra cultivator before.” Bae Saram nodded, while the researchers chuckled incredulously.

“A double… Grand Master?”

“No way! It’s already absurd for someone not even 30 to be a Transcendent, let alone a Double?”

“Is he really an elf? There’s this conspiracy theory that he might be the hidden son of the great, almighty Game Master…”

“This is preposterous! Even if it were in a novel, I’d trash it as implausible!”

As I watched the bewildered researchers, I pondered:

Well, eventually they’d have to find out, wouldn’t they? I can’t keep my summoning sealed forever while working as a mercenary.

I think calling myself a ‘Chakra Transcendent’ falls short. Just like how a sixth-class mage’s magic power can pierce the heavens, my chakra mastery hasn’t caught up with my abilities yet.

However, there was one thing. I had a celestial gate. Or perhaps something even beyond that.

“Jaeyeon-ssi… If it’s not too much trouble, could you tell me what kind of element this is?” I asked hesitantly. “Summoning? Manifestation?”

Love answered my question. “Nope. It’s an element more familiar to you, Love.”

“To me?”

I responded to her puzzled look. “Ardenia.”

”…”

Indeed. Although I hadn’t been able to use it freely due to the monster situation… Ardenia had always been open from beginning to end.

It was more than just opening up a microcosm within oneself; it was like an entire world was unfolding right here.

I clapped my hands together lightly to break the mood.

“Alright, everyone! In just three hours, we have to move on to our next engagement! I’m a busy man, so let’s not waste time - please tell me what you need!”

“Oh! Th-then could you create some consumables for us? And maybe try them out too?”

“What about equipment? I’ll bring up an example list!”

“People! More people like before…”

We set to work amidst slight chaos.

During the promised time frame, I created far more objects than they had requested, advanced their projects much faster than their schedules indicated, and overall performed beyond their expectations.

Yet when I finished my tasks, pandemonium broke out among them.

“Ah! Ten minutes! No, just thirty more!”

“Jaeyeon-nim! I’ll do everything I can for research funding…”

“That’s enough. I’ll be back next time.”

As I emerged from the sea of disheartened researchers, Sangmin clicked his tongue.

“You’re quite skilled at this.”

“It’s not like it’s the first time I’ve had to fend off such requests,” I shrugged.

A pretty girl, Elise, approached me like a doll coming to life.

“Transcendent.”

“Han Jaeyeon.”

“Yes. A human Transcendent. Perhaps there will be a time when you can help me too?”

I nodded in response to her words.

“As long as the pay is right.”

“Of course. Money is no issue.”

With that, she vanished. It was only after her presence had completely disappeared that I asked:

“Who was that? They seemed incredibly strong.”

“It was Lijon.”

“I see…”

At that moment, I understood why Nemesis Soft possessed a technological prowess that no other company could hope to match. The machine spirit Lijon hailed from one of only a few Fourth Civilizations in existence—a civilization so advanced it stood among the top echelons of galactic societies.

If we could establish technology exchange with them, even Earth-34, already considered one of the most technologically advanced planets in the universe, could potentially lead the way in innovation.

“Well then, let’s meet again next week,” I suggested.

“Must we wait that long?” she asked, clearly reluctant.

“I’m quite busy. How about every Monday?”

“Hmph… Very well. After all, what you’ve accomplished today is truly remarkable.”

“Yes, indeed.”

With that, I left my beloved behind—she still had much to say—and moved on to my next appointment.

We’re filming advertisements.

Wow. They’re both major companies, yet they snapped us up immediately… Is this the power of a Transcendent Manager?

On Wednesday, I filmed for Ilsung Pharmaceuticals’ elixir ad, and on Thursday, it was Hwanwoo Company’s Water Gigas ad.

In the evening, I copied my novel, but the location wasn’t the usual one-room apartment.

Whoosh!

I crossed through space to arrive at the front of an enormous building that seemed to pierce the sky.

The building had these words written on it:

“To have a singer from just one team in a building this size.”

Smiling wryly, I entered.

In the lobby stood a giant three meters tall, clad in medium armor. They were true Dragon Tooth Soldiers, crafted using a special formula infused with dragon fangs. I nodded in response to their welcome before stepping into the elevator.

Ding!

I arrived at the eighty-fourth floor. As the elevator doors opened, I found myself immediately in my living room.

How luxurious.

This was my new abode. Not just one floor—no, from the eighty-fourth to the eighty-seventh, four entire floors had been set aside for me!

“Free lodging with a profit-sharing ratio of 10:0… I hope they don’t come knocking for an organ later.”

With a hollow laugh, I raised my hand to the wall.

“Change clothes.”

At my command, a magic circle shimmered into view on the wall.

Full-Spell Housing.

The entire building was saturated with spells, all interconnected organically, allowing one to receive any service desired at any time or place within.

Whoosh!

In an instant, my suit vanished, replaced by comfortable athletic attire. But that wasn’t all.

Giggles~

Don’t resist~

Elementals of water and wind appeared, washing over my body as they passed through me. In moments, I found myself perfectly clean, stepping into a large connection device.

My consciousness seemed to plunge for a moment before I found myself transported to an open forest clearing. It was reminiscent of simulation software from my past - like “Opening Chakras and Training,” where it was clearly evident that I was in a virtual world, yet somehow, it didn’t matter.

Perfect immersion might be crucial when playing games, but for learning or work, it wasn’t absolutely necessary.

“Place the manuscript on the left and the site on the right.”

After giving these verbal instructions, I started typing away at a keyboard floating in mid-air.

This daily ritual of transcription continued unabated.

It felt absurd to physically type within this virtual realm… Yet writing with pure consciousness still had its flaws. Random thoughts would often intrude upon the text, and the speed itself wasn’t particularly impressive.

Clack-clack-clack-clack!

I churned out manuscripts against a backdrop of typing sounds before posting them on serialization boards.

:potato: Why has the speed of this boring novel suddenly increased? Are you crazy or what?

:bookworm: No, daily serialization… Did it used to mean one volume per day?

:new_reader: Wow, new authors’ serialization speeds these days are insane…

I was controlling the serialization pace.

However, there were limits to that ‘control’. How vast was the accumulation over the past decade?

Moreover, Ardenia’s literature was experiencing explosive growth. Not only did it include works from previous competitions but also thousands upon thousands of carefully selected pieces by new writers had been amassed.

Naturally, average sales figures weren’t particularly high.

Serialized novels needed time to develop properly; releasing hundreds of chapters at once was off-putting for many readers. Moreover, these were works by unknown new authors with no established reputation.

However, it was different for writers who had already gained sufficient recognition.

:fried_potato: Wow, things have been amazing lately! The Emperor’s Knight is being serialized daily now! 😂😂😂😂😂😂 >

:kikko2020: Are you kidding me? Have you seen how fast they’re releasing new chapters on all those series? It’s insane! >

:Swordsman: Seriously though, I can’t believe this novel will never end! It feels like the serialization pace is faster than my reading speed! >

:fried_potato: Bring it on even quicker! Two volumes per day would be ideal! 😊 >

:Swordsman: You madman! 😂😂

The Emperor’s Knight continued to receive positive reactions even as it entered its fourth part. Despite the sheer number of chapters, the quality remained remarkably consistent.

Typically, novels churned out by the thousands rely heavily on self-replicating formulas. However, The Emperor was written with ample rest between chapters, so it avoids such repetition.

Even as new sprouts began to emerge, the narrative continued smoothly. The comment section remained lively, though not as fervently ablaze as before. However, concerns about an issue I had anticipated started to surface.

Fortunately, I had already resolved this issue with Nemesis beforehand. However, the conversation was taking an unexpected turn.