ch43

“King Prigos will be visiting with Chancellor Aliya. And…”

“Well, I figured it was about time.”

I cut off the Harmonious Sword Master’s trailing words and answered, then issued commands to those around me.

“With this, all rituals are concluded. Return to your original posts and fulfill your roles.”

“Must you display such blatant bloodlust? You’re practically screaming that you want to kill him. It’s still too much for you, so quietly focus on your training.”

Upon hearing the name Prigos, I sent a telepathic message to Iskriot, who was exuding a murderous aura.

Startled by the words that resonated in his mind, not through ordinary hearing, he looked around.

But seeing everyone leaving the room as if nothing had happened except for him, he turned to me.

I chuckled and waved him away.

The momentarily fierce energy subsided, and he joined the departing procession.

As the priests left the room, Prigos and Aliya entered, crossing paths with them.

“Have you been well, Master?”

“How could I be well, confined to this small temple as if in exile?”

“…Further expansion is financially difficult.”

“Foolish one. Who said I’m dissatisfied with the size of the temple? I’m saying I’m unhappy that you’re gallivanting all over the continent while I’m stuck here managing trees.”

Prigos gave a wry smile at my grumbling.

Having spent seven years together, we had grown accustomed to exchanging jokes as master and disciple.

“The work is all finished, I presume?”

I said, sensing the energies emanating from the box Aliya was carrying.

Receiving my gaze, Aliya opened the box with a slight manipulation.

Inside the box lay seven jewels, each displaying unique lights and phenomena.

The condensed cores of the Loas, hunted during this expedition, processed and compressed.

Born as a type of god, the essence of energy accumulated over hundreds of years radiated an extraordinary aura.

I moved in front of Aliya and picked up one of the black jewels.

Immediately, the jewel extended its energy as if alive, attempting to invade my body.

Responding to this, the energies constantly circulating throughout my body swiftly subdued the intruder that had trespassed into their domain.

The difference between the sealed jewels made by processing the energy of the Loas and the cores of the Central Plains’ spiritual creatures lies in this.

It’s not just a mass of energy, but the lingering thoughts remain for a long time.

‘If a Central Plains person were to see these sealed jewels, a great disaster would occur.’

The Murim people’s desire for elixirs is beyond normal.

If a Murim person were to see these, they would undoubtedly think of eating them first.

Even when consuming the cores of spiritual creatures, most experts with skilled energy manipulation struggle, but swallowing a sealed jewel, a mass of energy filled with hostility towards everything it touches, like a core would cause the entire network of internal energy to collapse.

I looked around at the statues in the World Room.

“Seven more demons will be added to the Iju Church’s worldview. The stonemasons’ guild is here, so I should place an order.”

“There are no more places under the Loas around here, so I don’t think any more will be added.”

“Seventy-two with these seven. It’s getting hard to add more.”

I gazed at the incarnation of Mother World Tree, the figure of Ul-Kanadiel carved above it, and the statues of various Loas extending from its center.

“Mother’s help, Ul-Kanadiel’s sealed jewels, and Aliya’s aptitude. And I am the axis that maintains harmony, but anything more is greed. The Great Barrier will collapse before it’s even completed.”

Then, looking at Aliya, I said,

“And you know what would happen if this much power exploded in the center of Pohlen, right?”

“Of course. I am always grateful for Araya’s hard work.”

“Tch… You confine me here and then say that…”

“We will ensure you have everything you need.”

Even after all this time, I still couldn’t win against Aliya with words, so I sighed.

Only Aliya and I could adjust this incomplete Great Barrier, so one of us had to remain at the center of the barrier at all times in case of an emergency.

But Aliya, as the Chancellor of Pohlenia, couldn’t leave her post, so I, with my free time, took on that role.

That’s why I’ve only been able to leave the temple a handful of times in the past few years.

Thanks to that, a sense of mystique about me seems to have grown among the people of Pohlenia.

“Still, it certainly looks like a ‘religion’ now. Prigos, what do you think? Of the World Room as it nears completion.”

“…I feel like I’ve become an infinitely small being.”

“That’s a good phenomenon. To unite humans, the gods should feel that overwhelmingly powerful.”

Due to the energy flowing from the sealed jewels embedded in the statues of the Loas, depicted as demons, humans with weak energy felt intimidated when they entered the World Room.

Ironically, that was precisely why their faith in the existence of gods grew.

“Speaking of which, there was one among those who came in this time who didn’t bow his head even when he entered this place.”

“That’s good news.”

Apart from the troops under Prigos, my disciples were being raised in this temple.

The paladins were to become a secret force in Pohlenia, along with the Harmonious Sword Masters.

“Is it? I’m not sure if it’s good news for you.”

“What could be better news than an increase in talented individuals?”

“Judging by the murderous aura he exuded as soon as your name was mentioned, I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.”

“…Is he from a slave background?”

“Yes, a boy about my height. Didn’t you see him when you came in?”

“…I think I might have.”

I clicked my tongue and said,

“The young one barely passed the Martial Arts Competition and had a face that said he was ready to die at any moment, so I took pity on him and even named him myself. Iskriot.”

“……”

“Conversely, you look like you’re about to die, disciple. Is it that you’re finding it hard to bear the weight of your own karma now?”

Prigos remained silent.

Prigos was a resolute man, but ultimately, his actions were driven by the noble cause of serving humanity.

But paradoxically, Prigos’s conquests created many refugees and orphans.

Apart from the symbolic Grand Temple, there were Iju Church temples all over Pohlen, and these temples housed the orphans created in this way.

Walking around the city of Pohlen, it wasn’t difficult to see children wearing signs indicating that they were under the protection of the temples.

Paradoxically, the things he did for the sake of human integration destroyed many lives.

It wasn’t uncommon for people to show him hatred.

Even if he didn’t show it, it wouldn’t be strange for him to doubt his own path if such things accumulated.

Seeing that, I chided Aliya.

“How about comforting your husband when he’s acting so pathetic?”

“…Prigos is not my husband.”

I chuckled, looking at Aliya’s face, which had turned as red as a ripe jujube.

Listening to the Harmonious Sword Masters chattering among themselves, they said that she sometimes sighed in the direction Prigos had left.

Moreover, they had apparently been intimate long before she met me.

From what I heard, it wasn’t impossible for her to conceive with a human if she wanted to.

‘…How scandalous.’

For some reason, I felt myself getting heated as well.

I fanned myself for a moment to cool down and then opened my mouth towards the pathetic Prigos.

“As you told me seven years ago, the contradictions you have are something you must overcome yourself.”

I nudged Prigos with my fist and continued,

“You know this yourself, but don’t be consumed by inner demons.”

I received the box from Aliya.

After exchanging eye contact with Aliya, I handed the box of sealed jewels back to the approaching Harmonious Sword Master.

“So, is that all you needed? I could touch up your martial arts if you want.”

Prigos shook his head.

“The martial arts are fine. I have to go back soon.”

“Hmm.”

“And these are gifts for you, Master.”

“Huh? Did you bring something else besides the sealed jewels?”

“The sealed jewels are more like work than gifts, aren’t they?”

“You know me well.”

What was additionally handed over through Aliya was a perfect sphere shining with silver and clothing.

“Hmm? What is this?”

“This is a metal that was being worshiped as a treasure in a village during this expedition. At first, we thought it was made by processing high-purity silver, but it doesn’t melt even in the fire caused by burning pitch, it doesn’t deform even when hammered, and it’s light.”

“Really? That’s fascinating.”

“The humans in that village called it the silver of silvers, true silver. It’s impossible with current metal refining technology, but you have other methods, don’t you, Master? We brought it so you could make it into a sword or something to use since you don’t use weapons much.”

Metallurgy that shapes metal with internal energy.

It can’t filter out impurities in the metal, it just shapes it, but it can shape metals that are difficult for current humans to handle.

I received the round silver sphere.

“It’s certainly light.”

It looks like 3 Ron Geld (3kg), or more than 5 Geun in Korean weight, but the actual weight felt is less than half of that.

Moreover, it was a metal that felt warm rather than the coolness unique to metals.

‘Where…’

I pressed down hard with a finger infused with internal energy, but it didn’t budge.

It would have been enough force to dig straight into an object made of scrap metal, but it didn’t move and resisted.

It was said that it doesn’t deform even when hammered?

“Wait, then was it originally in this shape?”

“They said it was in the shape of a perfect sphere from the first time it was discovered underground.”

“That’s a very strange metal.”

Curiosity began to arise, and I began to inject internal energy into the metal to shape it.

‘…What’s this?’

The metal began to absorb the internal energy that had been injected to shape it as if sand were absorbing water.

I became stubborn and continued to inject energy, and at some point, a bluish film began to form around the true silver sphere.

“Oh…”

Ignoring the exclamations from the side, I looked down at the sphere in my hand.

‘…To absorb so much energy that the energy that has become saturated is discharged to the outside and becomes strong energy.’

Generally, even a sword made with iron-making technology as developed as in the Central Plains will forcibly collapse if it absorbs a lot of energy.

In fact, metallurgy using internal energy was made with this principle.

Therefore, masters of weapons and internal energy developed in the direction of covering the strong energy while strengthening only the core of the sword as much as possible, which was Sword Aura.

Most materials collapse before the energy that has penetrated from the outside becomes saturated, which is common sense for internal energy.

If you were to draw out Sword Aura without thinking about it unless it was a utensil made of special metal such as Ten Thousand Year Cold Iron, the weapon would not be able to withstand it.

But this metal called True Silver absorbed energy to the limit and still held energy without collapsing until a film of strong energy formed on the outside.

While maintaining the injection of energy into the True Silver sphere, I circulated energy through my meridians to strengthen my body, wrapped my hands in strong energy, and strongly compressed the sphere.

Only then did the True Silver sphere slowly begin to deform.

After struggling stubbornly for about 2 minutes, I took my hand off the sphere.

A lump of True Silver that had become flat, unlike before.

“…It’s the first time I’ve seen you tired, Master.”

I had used a considerable amount of internal energy through the Martial Arts Competition, and thanks to the internal energy used to shape the True Silver, I was exhausted for the first time in a long time.

“…It was a pretty decent gift. I like it.”

Currently, swords made with human ironworking technology were impossible to use without delicate handling, so I hadn’t been using weapons separately, but if I could make a sword with this metal called True Silver, it seemed like it would be alright.

The weight, strength, and mana conductivity were all excellent.

Though exhausted, I stroked the transformed True Silver mass with satisfaction.

“The clothes are fine.”

I refused the clothes that were handed to me next.

“You don’t need them?”

“The cloth humans make still feels rough.”

“But…aren’t you uncomfortable?”

Unlike the clothes Ati had made for me initially, the current clothes were newly made four years ago.

Unlike the initial clothes, which were made to fit perfectly, the current clothes were a bit large for my body, to the point of being loose.

In fact, the width was so excessive that I couldn’t wear anything underneath.

“…It’s fashion.”

“But…”

“Ugh! So many words!”

When I got a little heated and snapped, Aliya grabbed Frigos’ collar and quietly signaled him.

Frigos wore a puzzled expression, but didn’t offer them a second time.