Chapter 653:

Chapter 653:

"Before we go, let's finish preparations first."

In response to Jiang Shang's suggestion to go end things now, Seong Jihan said this.

"…? What more is there to prepare here?"

"Since I've gained the power of protection, I can enhance the white light further."

Saying this, Seong Jihan approached Yggdrasil.

He pressed light body organ creation and absorbed it.

Flash…!

As the white light grew even stronger,

'This looks like it could break through Blue at any moment.'

It became more difficult to block the light with Blue's domain.However,

'It was worth inheriting Ashoka's enlightenment. If it were at my previous level, the internal white light would have already burst out… but somehow I can still manage to block it.'

Although he couldn't fully understand the insight inherited from Ashoka, just receiving it allowed him to handle Blue more efficiently than before.

As he was gathering his power and settling the power of protection,

"Hmm… Then will your hair not remain like that guy's?"

Jiang Shang glanced at Seong Jihan's head.

He said he'd take him as a son-in-law, but was he worried about hair now?

'That Id guy seems to have been destined to be bald anyway.'

It was because Blue blocked the light from going outside.

Inside, Seong Jihan's scalp was flashing with light.

But it was just shining, not particularly feeling like his hair was falling out.

'Well, this isn't urgent right now.'

In a situation where limbs cut off by Stat Eternity regenerated, hair was hardly a concern.

Seong Jihan decided to try operating the power of protection he had just obtained.

To do that first,

'I should start by enhancing the power as much as possible.'

Currently, there were 4 powers that could be enhanced:

'Time Reversal', 'Protection', 'Observation', and 'Tower Manifestation.

'If I invest white light in manifestation like last time, it will fail and be randomly enhanced.'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan tried to enhance manifestation, but.

['Manifestation' – Success rate 5%]

Seeing the changed success rate of manifestation, his eyes widened.

'5% success rate…? What? When did it increase?'

Could it be that as the white light grew stronger this time, the probability that was 0% suddenly jumped up?

'This, could it possibly succeed…?'

Manifestation, which had a zero probability.

He hadn't even been interested in this ability, thinking there was no possibility at all.

But now that there was a 5% chance, Seong Jihan became interested in manifestation.

'Manifestation… just by the name, it feels like it creates something real.'

He wasn't sure whether it created something from nothing or if there were other criteria.

But seeing the low success rate, it didn't seem like an ordinary ability.

Seong Jihan stared at manifestation for a while, then,

'But I don't have any other choice right now anyway.'

Having obtained the power of protection gathered as Id disappeared, in the end, manifestation was the only power Seong Jihan could expand.

Beep.

As he invested all the white light into manifestation,

[Power expansion has failed. Existing power, 'Protection' is enhanced.]

Starting with this message, expansion failures kept appearing, and the existing powers were evenly enhanced.

Even after trying to expand more than ten times, he still couldn't obtain 'Manifestation'.

'Hmm. Now that I couldn't get it, it feels regrettable.'

While feeling disappointed about not obtaining manifestation, Seong Jihan first checked the other enhanced powers.

The light powers that were evenly enhanced as the manifestation power expansion failed.

He looked towards Jiang Shang.

"Emperor, don't you feel something has changed?"

"Me? Hmm… This body. It's gotten a bit stronger. Though not significantly different from before."

Maybe because the Tower Manifestation was only strengthened once, it didn't seem like Dongbang Sak's body had become noticeably stronger to Jiang Shang.

'The power of observation doesn't feel particularly enhanced either… and it's unclear how to use time reversal.'

If so, was the power of protection the only useful one?

He needed to test this before they left.

"You'll feel weaker for a moment."

Saying this, Seong Jihan switched the light power operation to protection.

Then,

Whoosh…

The Tower instantly shrank.

But Jiang Shang just twitched his eyebrow and,

"Hmm… I can definitely feel it. About half of my power has disappeared."

He slowly stroked his beard and talked about the change in power.

'It seems he's not shrinking like before because of the Infinite sword's power.'

Dongbang Sak, who had previously confronted the Infinite sword in a small size.

But now, perhaps because Jiang Shang in the Infinite sword had joined him, he wasn't reduced in size like before.

'Then I can test the power of protection without burden.'

Seong Jihan began to activate the power of protection fully.

Flash. Flash…!

As Seong Jihan's head shone brilliantly, a curtain of light spread around him.

Compared to what Id had used, the curtain's thickness and the light density were clearly different.

"Are you using protection? It looks quite useful. Even the Infinite sword couldn't pierce it in one go."

Watching this, Jiang Shang gave a somewhat positive evaluation of Seong Jihan's protective barrier.

At this level, it should be able to block Urd's golden clock to some extent.

Of course,

"There was no golden clock on the northern passage, right?"

"Not in the area I protect. With the sword defending, there was no need for that clock."

"I see."

Given that they decided to go through the northern route, there would be no need to use this protective barrier to block the clock.

Seong Jihan nodded and turned his attention to other functions of the power of protection.

'Mental protection… I should test this too.'

Id, who the transcendent being's light had intoxicated, used this to regain his senses.

In the central part of the Ark, there was not only Urd but also the transcendent being.

This ability was more necessary for Seong Jihan to maintain sanity there than the light curtain.

'Let's see… Is this how to use it?'

Thanks to Id willingly giving up the power of protection at Ashoka's suggestion and disappearing,

Seong Jihan understood how to operate the power while absorbing it naturally.

He tried using the power like Id had done.

Then,

Whoosh…

Light began to rise behind his head like a halo.

Mental protection, the same as what Id had used.

Seong Jihan's expression was strange as he actually raised the light.

"Mental protection… Maybe because the power of protection is weaker than Id's, I don't really feel it."

"Is that so? Then try recalling the transcendent being from earlier."

The moment just before, when he was almost captivated by the transcendent being.

The comfort felt then was a sensation Seong Jihan had never experienced in his life.

Even after escaping from there, that comfort kept coming to mind occasionally…

"Oh… This definitely has an effect."

Using mental protection, the comfort inside the transcendent being was felt at a much lower intensity than before.

At this level, it was similar to just lying in bed so he wouldn't be captivated by it again.

'This is really useful.'

Seong Jihan withdrew the power of protection with a satisfied face.

"Then I'll raise the Tower again."

Rumble…!

As he switched the light power manifestation back to the tower, the tower rose to the ceiling again, and Jiang Shang's power was restored to normal.

"Are the preparations done?"

"Yes. Let's go."

"Good. I'll guide the way."

Swoosh.

As Jiang Shang took the first step, Seong Jihan followed.

* * *

The northern route heading towards the center of the Arc.

Originally, the Infinite sword should have cut down all intruders coming this way.

But with Jiang Shang, who was the sword, on their side, the north was essentially a free pass.

Swoosh. Swoosh…!

Jiang Shang, easily dodged the light clocks and broke through the path, and Seong Jihan, closely followed him.

Jiang Shang, who was leaping through space with his hands behind his back, glanced back.

"My son-in-law's body technique is quite useful. Did you learn it from Dongbang Sak?"

"Well, something like that."

"Hmm… Even if born with the same martial talent, the development of martial arts differs according to each one's environment. Interesting."

"Are your martial arts different? I thought the Taiji Sword and the Infinite Sword were the same."

"The endpoint of transparentness might be the same, but there are differences in the methods to reach there…"

Saying this, Jiang Shang looked down at his own body.

What he was looking at was Dongbang Sak's body that he was currently using.

"I want to quickly resolve the matters here and continue to compete in nothingness with my other self. Now that I've found someone to pass the empire to."

"…Don't tell me, you mean that?"

"That's right. My son-in-law, skip the troublesome crown prince position and go straight to being the second emperor."

He had already decided to make Seong Jihan the second emperor out of his desire to compete with Dongbang Sak.

"Let's think about that after we resolve the matters in the Ark."

"Right. First, let's cut off that evil woman's head."

As he said this, about 5 minutes after they had been traversing the northern route,

"Hmm…?"

Jiang Shang stopped in his tracks.

"A golden clock… There definitely wasn't one here before."

In front of him, a large golden clock was blocking the path like a door.

"If it wasn't here before but appeared now… Has Urd awakened?"

"Hmm. That might be the case because a lot has happened inside the Ark. Let's break through quickly."

"Then I'll prepare the power of protection…"

"No. Just reducing the size will do."

As Jiang Shang moved his sword once, the golden clock that had been completely blocking the path shrank to the size of a palm.

Unlike just before when there was no gap at all, now there was a wide open space.

Seong Jihan thought he destroyed everything with the Infinite sword, but he could do this too?

'Well… With Jiang Shang joining, there's absolutely no need to use the power of protection on the clock.'

As Seong Jihan chuckled at Jiang Shang easily clearing the path,

"Let's go then."

Swoosh!

Jiang Shang took the lead and began to blaze the trail in earnest.

All Seong Jihan had to do was keep up speed so as not to fall behind him.

'After always being the bus driver, it feels comfortable to be a passenger.'

He was thinking this while running through the wide open path,

Fwoosh…!

As they passed a certain line, a clear light appeared in both views.

The mass of white light that definitely wasn't visible from afar, only became visible to them after they crossed a certain point.

And,

"Hmm…"

Jiang Shang, who had been running ahead for a while, stopped with a furrowed brow.

"It seems this is the place."