Ch-179. **Rank: None (無 Grade)**
—
Auril simply stared at Randolph’s back as he quietly stepped out of the tower.
*‘What… what did I just witness?’*
The stone monument suddenly transformed into a massive raven, the tower was rebuilt, and Karas ascended to godhood.
And that wasn’t all.
The tower expanded.
After that, Randolph climbed all the way to the 30th floor without rest and confronted Karas, who had risen as a divine being.
…Even for Auril, it was a sight that sent shivers down her spine.
Not simply because Karas and Randolph fought.
*‘A mortal shouldn’t even be able to make eye contact before a godlike being.’*
A Demi-god — *Divinity* — was an existence equal to the gods, or a god itself.
A mortal could never win. An absolute being beyond reach.
Until granted permission, one could not even dare make eye contact.
To raise a sword and face such an existence head-on… was beyond imagination.
It was instinct.
Before a being of greatness, lowering one’s gaze was the natural order.
Yet Randolph didn’t waver at all in front of a god.
Rather—
*“Initiative.”*
…He attacked first.
With no hesitation, he swung his sword at Karas.
A behavior completely against common sense.
A mortal standing face-to-face against divinity!
*‘The divine protect the world’s balance by eliminating only those who distort the order. Even the greatest evils cannot raise their heads to the sky as long as a true god exists — or so I’ve heard.’*
If those great evils dared to look up at the sky, the divine would detect their location.
And punish them.
For mortals to stand directly before a god — it was simply impossible.
*‘It was said the eyes of a god are so deep that no mortal can face them…’*
To look into the god’s eyes meant having one’s soul ripped away.
This wasn’t speculation. Not rumor.
All ancient records said the same.
About the gods who once existed — including the God of Battle, Karas.
And yet Randolph met Karas’s eyes head-on.
There was only one case in which that was possible.
*‘…Then Sir Randolph is actually a divine being as well…?’*
A god.
Only one on the same status could perform such an act.
But Randolph emitted none of the “divinity” that Karas had.
Yes — he was qualified to be a High Druid and revered as one who stood with the Great Nature, but even so, he was far from godhood.
Then did he simply hide his true identity as a divine?
A god concealing his nature while meddling in the world?
*‘There’s never been talk of such a god.’*
It was beyond common sense.
And the battle that followed proved the same.
No one could defeat the God of Battle Karas inside the tower.
A fight that was unwinnable — no matter who saw it.
And indeed, Randolph lost. It was a predetermined outcome.
*‘…Predetermined outcome? That?’*
Yes — the result fit.
But the **process** was beyond understanding.
How could anyone call that *normal*?
Karas accepted Randolph’s sword blows as they were, leisurely displaying the prowess of the God of Battle.
The problem was that as time passed, the battle began to change — little by little.
*‘A terrifying level of adaptability.’*
Randolph adapted to Karas’s method.
Faster than anyone.
With each exchanged strike, Randolph’s sword began to approach Karas more closely.
When he finally left a long slash across Karas’s chest, Auril trembled.
In the end, Karas had to bring the fight to a conclusion.
Because if it continued, one of them would have to die.
*‘Just… who is…’*
Randolph.
Who could he possibly be?
The way Auril looked at Randolph was now completely different from before he climbed the tower.
—
—
*
The Clan of Omen.
The raven’s stats were all 120 — equivalent to a 2-star Transcendent.
And on top of that, possessing the abilities of the God of Battle meant its actual combat power was far beyond that.
*‘The Clan of Omen’s power depends on which tower they manage.’*
Their strength and abilities both varied.
Meaning — if one could recruit a member of the Clan of Omen who oversaw a higher-ranked tower, the reinforcement would be even more powerful.
Even this raven alone would undeniably be a tremendous help.
*‘I’m curious what exactly “the abilities of the God of Battle” are.’*
I couldn’t see it with my eyes.
But after fighting Karas myself, I could guess.
The overwhelming spectacle of using feathers as weapons — even I had no answer to that.
*Anyway.*
I shifted my gaze to the settlement screen listing the rewards.
I earned 1,990 points — the highest among all main quests I’d cleared so far — and that was only natural.
I had stepped into a realm no one had ever challenged.
To destroy demons, rebuild the tower, and resurrect a divine being — such an achievement would likely never be seen again.
But there was something else that caught my eye more than all that.
*“…Item Combination?”*
A phrase I was seeing for the first time during a main quest.
And among the mythical-grade weapons that had appeared as rewards so far, it told me to choose **three** to combine.
*‘Previously chosen rewards are excluded, I suppose.’*
Yet the list didn’t show what I’d already selected.
Only the ones I didn’t choose remained.
I looked silently at the names — easily fifty of them.
*‘Combine to create an entirely new piece of equipment.’*
Something completely new — something not existing anywhere in Pangaenia.
Nothing like this had ever happened.
It was basically an additional reward.
*‘The highest grade obtainable from the main quest was mythological.’*
But granting only myth-grade rewards would be too underwhelming for such overwhelming points.
Even giving multiple myth-grades wouldn’t balance it.
So what was this implying?
*‘…Could it be referring to Unique grade?’*
If it was new and one-of-a-kind, that was the only thing that came to mind.
They couldn’t directly hand me unique-grade gear — so perhaps they wanted **me to create one**.
Depending on the combination, the result would vary greatly.
*‘In the end, it all depends on me.’*
A heavy burden.
Would it simply merge options? Would it function like a set item? Would the names matter?
There was no way to know — because this damned game always explained nothing.
*‘Still — most of the names are familiar, so that’s good.’*
I examined the list carefully.
Every item was hard to acquire — but most were things I knew.
I’d used many of them myself.
Probably no one knew these items better than I did.
*‘I should focus on items that compensate for each other’s weaknesses.’*
This wasn’t a set item.
A set required its unique pieces to activate extra effects.
If they were merged into one item, that set-effect advantage might be lost.
So I should look for combinations where the items would fill each other’s weaknesses.
*‘The Robe of Radiant Honor. Main option increases function based on honor.’*
The higher the honor, the stronger the equipment.
The downside: if honor is low, it’s practically useless.
Since Hel devours honor every day, it wasn’t an easy pick.
But—
*‘Dorian’s Aspect. If the option relates to honor, it always draws the maximum value.’*
These two would perfectly compensate for each other’s flaws.
Both revolved around the main stat: Honor.
A combination commonly referred to as the **“dream pairing.”**
I had thought of the combo before — but getting both was near impossible, so I gave up.
*‘If those two are chosen, the last one is…’*
I confirmed those two.
Then came the final selection.
I scanned the list quietly, then stopped on one.
*‘…Blueprint of the Pureblood.’*
A momentary, insane thought.
The blueprint of a **Unique-grade** item.
Why was I drawn to it — even though it couldn’t be crafted without impossible materials?
There was no rule saying only equipment had to be combined.
The prompt had simply said: **“Combine any three.”**
Everyone knew the name “Pureblood.”
Even though no one had ever possessed it.
*‘The ring Pureblood — the one everyone knows, though no one has ever held it.’*
In ancient times, when the continent was still above ground, the emperor of the old empire used one of the five Absolute Rings — the Pureblood.
With those five rings, he founded the old empire and became emperor.
References to the five rings appeared in countless quests and historical records.
Mentioned dozens of times — everyone knew the name.
*‘It appeared as one of the survival rewards after clearing the Abyssal Labyrinth. I didn’t choose it because making it was nearly impossible due to the materials.’*
Perhaps because Riley was one of the Six Heroes of the Old Empire?
After defeating Riley in the Abyssal Labyrinth and surviving, the blueprint for Pureblood appeared among the rewards.
But since the materials were impossible to obtain in a lifetime, I gave up on the blueprint.
*‘Combination means adding and merging primary functions. And the blueprint’s primary function is — to produce the corresponding named equipment.’*
If I put **that** into the combination?
I didn’t know. I couldn’t know.
I shouldn’t blindly assume my predictions were correct either.
But if someone asked which item among the list came closest to Unique-grade, I would, without hesitation, answer:
**“The Blueprint of the Pureblood.”**
《You have selected: Robe of Radiant Honor.》
《You have selected: Dorian’s Aspect.》
The final one.
Should I pick something safer instead?
A brief hesitation.
《You have selected: Blueprint of the Pureblood.》
Even if I hesitated — I didn’t dwell on it long.
At the same time—
《The selected items are being combined to create a new item.》
《Combining: Robe of Radiant Honor + Dorian’s Aspect + Blueprint of the Pureblood.》
《The Tower of the God of Battle bestows its blessing.》
《Karas, the God of Battle, grants divinity.》
Blessing and divinity added on top.
The tower and Karas themselves were assisting the combination.
This too was a first.
But considering the “Tower of Mystery” before — it was possible.
When I achieved achievements no one else ever had, the tower itself granted me the anomalous mystery *“Randolph (Eternal).”*
Likewise, the Tower of the God of Battle and Karas were one.
Their assistance would undoubtedly have immense influence on the result.
Soon—
《Combination complete!》
—
—
*
*Phew.*
Darkstar exhaled deeply.
The uproar had quieted.
Now it was time — for him to be the protagonist again.
“…Right now, what matters are those demons attacking us. The reality we face. To survive the cruel, hellish assault of the demon race, the most important thing is our unity!”
Unite.
Become one and fight the enemy!
Randolph in Pangaenia was someone who turned away from reality.
He did not unite — he simply fled like a coward!
That was what Darkstar was telling everyone.
A phantom climbing the Tower of the God of Battle alone — that was not what mattered.
“…He’s right.”
“Maybe we expected too much.”
“Of course Phantom would be part of the alliance… or so I thought…”
Many agreed.
Demons were right in front of them.
Earth — their home — was being invaded.
Everyone gathered here believed Phantom would show up somewhere within the alliance.
But the system message they saw told them otherwise.
*‘Good. The mood is shifting to my side.’*
Darkstar relaxed.
His moment had returned.
He — not Phantom — was leading everyone now.
If he could just successfully stop this invasion, he would become a being far greater than Master or Gracia.
Someone even Lucifer lurking behind him could not control.
“Tomorrow, everything will change. The enemy will tremble before our unity, and the world will—”
“What now?”
“What just got completed?”
“‘Aspect of the Radiant Pureblood’?”
“…Holy crap.”
“Pureblood? That Pureblood?”
“But what grade is that?”
Darkstar’s expression twisted.
Discomfort, laid bare on his face.
Because he could no longer suppress the emotions boiling up.
*‘Phantom… that son of a bitch!’*
—
—
A ring, red like blood infused with light.
*Pureblood.*
Its appearance matched the original Pureblood.
But… not quite the same.
*Aspect of the Radiant Pureblood…!*
In fact—
It was **even more beautiful.**
Far beyond the Pureblood that the emperor of the old empire once used — one of the five Absolute Rings.
Of course, I didn’t know everything about the Absolute Rings — but I was certain this one could stand shoulder-to-shoulder with them.
This wasn’t just about appearance.
【Aspect of the Radiant Pureblood (無 Grade)】
— An ancient Absolute Ring completed at last through the blessing of the tower, the divinity of a god, and the merging of countless myths. Its Radiant Aspect has been added.
— Pureblood (Natural Regeneration +3000%)
— Great Aspect (Honor is doubled.)
— Holy One (Divinity increases depending on Honor.)
— Absolute Existence (You may leave a “Divine Command”.)
— Radiant Name (Nothing can observe the wearer.)
— Last Emperor (Gather the five Absolute Rings.)
Looking at the options almost made me dizzy.
Only the natural regeneration directly raised stats — but that alone was one of the things I needed most.
And—
*“Holy crap. Honor doubled?!”*
Too bad I didn’t have this while climbing the tower — but it didn’t matter.
Because it meant **from now on** it would always be doubled.
The importance of Honor could not be overstated.
Not only was it food for Hel, but many major quests and equipment required a certain amount of Honor to use.
*“Divinity?”*
But Divinity increasing based on Honor — that was unexpected.
Divinity was the power of gods.
Could I actually become a god?
*“Divine Command.”*
Leave a Divine Command.
To those who have faith in me.
I looked at Auril while wearing the ring and said:
“Auril. Sit.”
“Yes…?”
*Thud!*
Despite her confused tone, Auril sat down on the spot.
“W-what is…!”
Auril was shocked.
So was I.
*Oh?*
This was even more immediate than the Winter Contract.
What about distance?
“Hudson. Move to the 7-warp of the Tower of the God of Battle.”
“Wh-what are you doing?”
“Hm.”
I walked to the 7-warp.
It was the warp with the least traffic — I would know instantly if Hudson arrived.
I waited.
Bzzzzzz!!
The warp hummed — and a man appeared.
“Y-you called…?”
…Hudson had crossed the warp.
I had tried it on a passerby just in case — no reaction.
I tried again after learning his name — same.
*‘It leaves commands only to those who believe and follow me. With no distance limitation.’*
So that was its ability.
If I created a religious order — expanding the number of believers —
They would become true zealots who lived and died by my command.
But that wasn’t all.
*‘A divine command. Perhaps it could work even on members of **other** religions…’*
The old emperor stood like an absolute pontiff ruling all religions.
Maybe this could function within other religions as well.
More testing would be needed.
*‘And observation immunity.’*
Nothing could observe me.
Though limited to *observation*, it felt more absolute than a hidden trait.
I had never seen the description **“by nothing whatsoever.”**
Did that mean **even gods could not observe or analyze me**?
*‘What happens if I gather the Absolute Rings?’*
I didn’t know.
But one thing was certain.
Depending on how I used this ring — it would surpass even Unique-grade.
Raising Honor to strengthen Divinity, and using heightened Divinity to leave even stronger Divine Commands.
That was when—
《You have completed Main Quest 9.》
《Main Quest 10 will now forcibly begin.》
《The Light Dragon Einhasar summons you.》
《Summoning failed!》
《…?》
《The Light Dragon Einhasar is confused.》
《The Light Dragon Einhasar summons you.》
《Summoning failed!》
《…??》
《The Light Dragon Einhasar attempts to observe you.》
《Observation failed!》
《…???》
《The Light Dragon Einhasar panics.》
—
😂