[Vol. 7] Chapter 197: Using the Rules Smartly Isn’t the Same as Cheating
The “Manager Lady” completely ignored Violet’s complaints and calmly said,
[Rules are rules. So, have you decided on your wish yet?]
“Uhh…”
The priestess scratched her head awkwardly.
“Making a wish… I’ve always been the one helping other people or making their wishes come true. Getting such a lucky chance for myself out of nowhere… honestly feels kinda weird.”
Suddenly, the black-haired girl had a flash of inspiration.
“Wait! What if I wish for you to tell me all the secrets? That would—!”
[Your wish must still stay within the limits of the rules.]
“Ugh! If I ever find the person who made these rules, I swear, they're in trouble!”
Since there was no way to sneak around it, Violet gave up on trying to be clever and started thinking seriously about what kind of wish to make. At the same time, she looked more closely at the [Heart of Creation] itself.
Only now did she notice that a few of the magic energy tubes connected to the “Heart” looked different from the others. Instead of glowing with clean, bright energy, they had been tainted with a faint gray color, clearly affected by some outside force. What’s worse, instead of feeding energy into the core like they should, these tubes were now pulling energy out of it.
It seemed that the [Heart of Creation] either couldn’t stop this from happening… or had chosen not to. That probably explained why she was reaching out to the outside world and asking the “administrator race” for help.
Just as Miss Manager said before, she really wasn’t all-powerful.
Violet muttered to herself, even though she felt like she was stating the obvious:
“You sure about this? You're not exactly in your best condition right now. You've been disturbed by outside forces, and you're still forcing yourself to use your power to grant my wish. Are these so-called rules really that important?”
The [Heart of Creation] gave a firm answer without any hesitation.
[Of course. That’s the reason I exist.]
Then, after a short pause, the soft and distant-sounding voice, which had been calm and emotionless the whole time, continued on its own, as if realizing that her earlier words sounded a bit too extreme.
[As you can see, because part of the restriction power was moved, the “Trial Grounds” were invaded by some outside force. That influence even spread to me through the trial creations, trying to steal the power of [Origin].]
[According to the rules, in this kind of situation, I sent out a wide-area broadcast, hoping someone from the “administrator race” would hear it and come help… But Violet, you’re an outsider who has nothing to do with the “Trial Grounds”. You didn’t even clear all 50 levels, you came here completely by chance.]
[For someone to be able to attack me through trial beast creations, they must also be at the level of understanding [Laws]. According to the rules, I shouldn’t involve beings outside the “administrator race”. But since the situation is special, if you’re willing to help, I can additionally—]
“Pfft—hahahahaha~”
The [Heart of Creation] was suddenly interrupted, and its voice carried a hint of confusion.
[What’s wrong? You don’t want to help? Based on my observation, you have strength beyond normal limits and you’re enemies with the invader. Working with me should match your stance and goals. Also, the benefits—]
While still laughing, Violet quickly waved her hand.
“Haha… don’t get me wrong! I’m not refusing or laughing at you. I just thought what you said sounded so… personal. You’re clearly not some stiff program or machine AI, but you keep talking seriously about ‘rules’... and you don’t even seem to realize it! That’s just too funny!”
[...?]
Seeing that Miss Manager was getting more and more confused, Violet decided not to tease her anymore. She cleared her throat and straightened up a bit.
“Alright, relax. Like I said, I came here exactly to help you solve the problem. After all, I have a special connection with the [Dragon Race], and this [Trial Grounds] is very important to one of my companions too… But before that, about this whole [wish] thing…”
“From what you said, it seems like even you can’t make an ordinary person become a god. Then, what about this wish: ‘Help a young god grow’. Can that be done using the power of [Origin]?”
…………………………………
[The power of [Origin]… It even healed the damage caused by the [Godslayer Spear] this fast. Haha, amazing. I thought this arm of mine was going to be ruined forever~]
In the Cavern Zone, a smoky haze like ash clung to the [Immortal Magician]’s left chest and right arm. It gave off a faint golden glow that didn’t seem to belong to him, slowly healing the injuries caused by being pierced by a divine weapon.
The man gave a soft chuckle and shook his head.
“This power from the [Heart of Creation] is truly amazing. Too bad that even with His Divineness’ help, we can only take a tiny bit of it. If we tried to steal more… I’m afraid the punishment of karma would fall upon us.”
His withered arm regained life again, and in the end, even his torn black magic robes were miraculously restored to their original state. Timos Young, who had been sitting cross-legged on the ground, stood up once more and looked at his now fully healed body with a thoughtful expression, as if something was on his mind.
After a short moment, he turned his head to look at the strange being nearby, a creature that had just healed his wounds. It was reshaping itself again, like smoke forming a body with no solid shape. He smiled.
“Thank you so much. If not for your help, [Desecration], I really would’ve been finished by that ruthless princess.”
The smoke creature didn’t respond to the magician’s thanks. Instead, it continued twisting and reforming, slowly taking on a strange human-like shape, almost exactly like Timos in outline, but completely grayish-black, like a shadow or a reflection. Its lips moved a few times, and judging by the shape of the mouth, it seemed to be trying to say the word “plan.”
Timos Young moved his newly healed body a bit and nodded with a bright smile.
“Don’t worry. Everything is going smoothly according to the plan. The seeds have been planted, and Lord [Nightmare] has found the perfect candidate. It won’t be long before we get a reaction from the other side.”
The creature, shaped like a shadow copy of Timos, made a few vague gestures with its limbs and moved its lips again, like a baby trying to learn how to talk. Though its actions were hard to understand, the [Immortal Magician] seemed to get it easily, nodding and smiling again.
“Of course, there’s no problem. Even though She is said to have divine power beyond imagination, She’s not invincible. Our goal isn’t to defeat or kill Her anyway, so this won’t be too hard. As long as any living being walks this world, it cannot escape karma. Even gods are no exception.”
“Just like His Divineness said, those around Her are Her weakness. Now we just have to wait for news from [Nightmare]… Haha, but seriously, those research maniacs from Sainz actually dared to reach for the power of [Origin]. Even I didn’t see that coming. Let’s teach those arrogant fools the true meaning of ‘Forbidden’.”