Martial God Regressed to Level 2

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 599

When the white administrator asked how he managed the species transformation, Seong Jihan retorted,

"You should know better than I do."

After all, it was the power of white light that had turned Ariel into a human.

Then.

[...So it was indeed transformed by the authority of light. I didn't realize your ability had already grown to that extent.]

The white administrator said this, then brightened the white screen even more.

'What's this guy doing, hurting my eyes?'

[It seems he's manifesting the power of white light, probably trying to make you follow him.]

'He's doing the exact same thing as Urd,'

Seong Jihan frowned and said,

"Hey. Cut out that cheap trick. Urd already tried that one."

[...Urd tried it too? But you resisted?]

"Yeah. By the way, she's desperately looking for you."

[About that matter, tell me more in detail.]

"For free?"

At Seong Jihan's words, the intensely flickering light returned to normal.

[What do you want?]

"It says that Shadow Elves and demigods originated from humans. How did this happen? And why are humanity's number 4212 and the update version number the same?"

Seong Jihan took this opportunity to ask all the questions that had been bothering him.

[You know quite a lot. However, I cannot tell you about this.]

"Why?"

[This information is only shared among our kind.]

"Your kind?"

[Yes. Only the Light Clan can know this.]

"...You were a clan? Besides you and Urd, are there more?"

The Light Clan?

As Seong Jihan asked with a hint of disgust, the screen flickered.

[Urd is a great sinner. She's an entity banished from the Light Clan. So in this world, I'm the only one of the Light Clan.]

"Really? Only you... That's somewhat fortunate, I guess."

If another one popped up here, it would be hard to handle even as it is.

But still, in the end.

"So you're saying you can't tell me anything?"

[No. There is a way. You could join the Light Clan.]

"What? You're telling me to become one of your clan?"

He thought it was nonsense, but he was suddenly asked to become one of them.

Seong Jihan looked at the white screen with disbelief, but.

[An 'human' possessing white light essentially qualifies to become part of the Light Clan.]

Zzzzing...

Light gathered on the screen, and a pure white button appeared.

"...What's this?"

[It's a test device. Pressing the button will determine whether you can become one of the clan or not.]

"This thing? Looks suspicious."

[I swear on my name. This is indeed a test device.]

As if he could trust the words of someone who tried to subjugate him with light at every opportunity.

Seong Jihan didn't really trust the other party's words, but.

'It should be fine to touch it while manifesting blue stat.'

He believed in his own abilities.

He pressed the button and drew up his blue stat.

Zzzzing...

The white button disintegrated, and pure white light spread out, enveloping Seong Jihan's body.

[Race - 95% or more match]

['Light Clan' test beginning...]

'Seems it wasn't a lie.'

But if it looked like he would pass the test, could he just withdraw at the end?

Zzzzing...

[Failed]

A failure message appeared before his eyes.

Looks like he counted his chickens before they hatched.

As Seong Jihan was scratching his head, thinking he worried for nothing about passing, reasons began to appear one by one below the failure message.

-'White light' levels cannot be accurately measured.

The first reason that appeared made sense, thinking it might be because he manifested blue energy.

-Too diligent.

-Too lacking in greed.

Seeing the messages that appeared afterward.

"...What the fuck? Are you kidding me?"

Profanities involuntarily spilled from Seong Jihan's mouth.

* * *

The White Administrator.

Was this what he summoned as a test device?

"Hey, what's this? It says I can't be part of the Light Clan because I'm diligent and lack greed?"

[...Did it really say that?]

"Yeah. If you're going to joke around, just cut the communication."

[Hmm. Hmm. I apologize. I didn't expect it actually to activate.]

Seeing Seong Jihan's unsettling mood, the White Administrator apologized and explained,

[Actually... our Light Clan's original name was 'Lazy and Greedy'.]

"...That was the name?"

If they were greedy, they should at least live diligently.

They combined things that didn't even help each other?

As Seong Jihan frowned, the White Administrator added, as if making an excuse,

[Of course, this 'Lazy And Greedy' soon disappeared, and Light Clan became the official name... but it's surprising. To think it's still used as a test criterion.]

"You must have been quite lazy."

[Hmm... Such old matters, I don't even remember.]

He was not denying it 100%.

Seong Jihan laughed incredulously and asked something else.

"So, were you human too?"

[Human... Our beginnings were similar to yours. However.]

"However?"

[Before the test, all members of our race possessed at least constellation-level power.]

So, while their start was similar to humanity, their inherent power was at the constellation level.

If all 7 billion humans today were constellations, it would probably be a cosmic disaster.

As Seong Jihan pondered the White Administrator's words,

[Now. Your curiosity should be somewhat satisfied, so share the information about Urd.]

He demanded information about Urd.

"What's satisfied? You didn't answer any of the core questions."

[That's only possible if you become part of the clan.]

"But it says I can't because I'm diligent and lack greed... How do I meet such subjective criteria?"

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]

[No. The test device's judgment is based on objective data. The fail result must have come from referencing your stats.]

Diligence and lack of greed are determined from the stat window?

Seong Jihan shook his head, seemingly unconvinced.

[Alright. Then, I'll give you the test device.]

"The test device?"

[Yes. If you pass the test, I'll answer all your questions.]

Crackle...!

Electricity sparked from the screen, and a white button fell out.

'I might as well take it.'

Seong Jihan picked it up and put it in his inventory.

['Light Clan' Compatibility Test Device]

'Hmm... So this looks at my status window and detects diligence and lack of greed.'

He still had no idea what criteria it used to measure.

But having it as an item meant he could test it anytime.

'It's disappointing that this is all the information I got from him, but I should probably tell him what I know about Urd now.'

The test device wasn't much in exchange for information about Urd.

But given Urd's ominous momentum, he couldn't afford to withhold it.

The White Administrator boasted that he could defeat her if she attacked, but...

'Considering Urd in Void mode, this guy would 100% lose if he met her.'

Recalling Urd's authority to delete planets, Seong Jihan hoped the White Administrator wouldn't act rashly.

"Urd devoured a planet that was in the World Tree Alliance's domain."

[Devoured a planet?]

"Yeah..."

Seong Jihan then recounted what happened on the dead star.

[No, I thought she was obsolete... but she's a crazy monster. Why was she lying dormant in the World Tree Alliance?]

"You can't handle her either?"

[...If what you say is true, it won't be easy.]

The White Administrator raised his guard against Urd.

[We have more reason to cooperate now.]

"Cooperate..."

[She kept you alive on the dead star solely because of your blue stat. If she hadn't been curious about the blue, you would have died when she was in her Void state.]

Seong Jihan slowly nodded at those words.

Void Urd was indeed a monster of a different caliber.

Seong Jihan would have vanished like the Alliance's planet if not for her obsession with blue.

[I'll hide from Urd's eyes as much as possible, so in the meantime, you try to become part of the Light Clan.]

"Light Clan... It'll be difficult for me since I'm diligent and lack greed."

[Analyze your stats. The answer should be there.]

"Hmm..."

He was still skeptical about how stats could measure diligence and greed.

"Alright."

Seong Jihan agreed to try for now.

Then,

[Good. Then... I'll hide deeper. I don't think I can defeat her before you join us.]

"That's a good idea."

[When you become part of the Light Clan, turn on the BattleTube to manifest light. Then we'll contact you again...]

He always boasted about being a constant administrator, but...

'I guess he can objectify his own power to some extent.'

Flash...!

Seong Jihan watched the white screen disappear before his eyes and continued his thoughts.

'But Light Clan... Do I really have to join? He's also trying to make me his subordinate somehow.'

[Hmm. Why don't you try meeting the conditions first?]

'The conditions...'

Currently, there were 3 unfulfilled conditions.

The unmeasured white light, diligence,

And lack of greed.

Among these, the easiest to test was...

'Obviously the white light.'

The white light that wasn't properly measured when he pressed the button while manifesting the window.

This time, Seong Jihan pressed the button after internalizing the window.

Then,

-Your 'White Light' is 54. It has not reached 200.

Unlike before, a message appeared saying he couldn't become part of the Light Clan because it didn't reach 200.

'So the standard is 200.'

With the Tower of Martial Gods activated and extraterrestrial viewers flooding in, his white light was increasing by almost 1 every day lately.

At this rate, reaching 200 seemed like a matter of time.

'That's fine, but the other two conditions are the problem.'

How on earth did they measure diligence and lack of greed from stats?

Seong Jihan opened his status window and stared at it intently, then suddenly his eyes lit up.

"Hmm... Could greed be that?"

He seemed to have found a hint from his stats.

[Did you figure something out?]

"Yeah. But I shouldn't test it here."

Whirr...

Seong Jihan opened a portal and moved to where the dead star had been.

Whoosh...

Seong Jihan manifested the Taiji behind his back in the space where only debris floated after the star's destruction.

[That's...]

'It seems the Void might be related to greed.'

Beings pursuing immortality all tried to shake off the Void somehow.

If the Light Clan was lazy but very greedy, wouldn't they have tried to shake off all Void and pursue immortality too?

'But I have 500 Void that I gained from breaking Seah's Great Vessel of The Void.'

He had left the Void stat alone until now as it hadn't caused any harm.

But if this was the scale for measuring greed in the test device, he needed to shake it off.

The Void consumed when maximizing the Taiji Sword to its extreme...

Seong Jihan repeatedly created and erased the Taiji Sword among the dead star's debris.

'Let's reduce it by 100 first.'

Whoosh...

After the Taiji Sword appeared and disappeared several times,

Seong Jihan saw that enough Void had disappeared and removed the test device.

He pressed the button once more.

-You are too diligent.

-You lack greed.

'I see... The "too" disappeared from the greed part.'

Unlike before,

A change appeared in the fail reason message.

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]