Omniscient First-Person’s Viewpoint - Chapter 580



579 – I Will Become a Master

Clack, clack, clack, clack. The gear wheelchair smoothly passed through the wooden corridor. It climbed over small steps with its gears, and whenever the slope changed, the gears adjusted themselves to maintain balance. It had far too many functions to simply be called a wheelchair.

I muttered as I pushed the wheelchair that someone had gifted me.

“These gears….”

“That must be him. Gu Byeong, Maximilian.”

The regressor grimaced.

The military’s Sixth General, Gu Byeong Maximilian.

And the secret society, the executive of the All-Powerful. The King of Gears.

The regressor clicked their tongue, recalling an old memory.

“The crown of all creation… tsk. It’s just that the place we’re in is the Tree of Betrayal, so it’s put me in a bad mood.”

“Has there ever been a time when you felt good?”

“What did you say?”

The regressor shot me a piercing glare. After downing a bowl of elixir, it seemed they had regained some strength. When you’re in pain, it’s all about the medicine.

“Well, what can I say? A captured person should feel bad. But, Shay, why are you going alone?”

“What? What are you talking about? You’re the one pushing me. How can I go alone when I can’t use my arms?”

“I’m not pushing a wheelchair right now, you know?”

“Huh? I’m going, though?”

Indeed. I’m not pushing, but you are going.

I stared blankly at the receding wheelchair, then jolted in surprise and chased after it. The wheelchair was moving on its own, without any power!

“Shay! Slow down! If you go any faster, life might just pass me by!”

“I’m not doing anything!”

The wheelchair carrying the regressor took sharp turns, finding its own way. I hurriedly chased after them. Turning the corner after the rolling wheelchair, I entered a door and found a spacious room.

[Ah! You’ve arrived!]

Waiting for us there was a parrot with red feathers.

“Welcome! I’ve been waiting!”

And just as expected, there was the military general Maximilian. He, who could freely manipulate the gears within range, brought the regressor’s wheelchair, made of gears, closer and examined it from all angles.

“So you’re here too! I heard you lost an arm, but did you reattach it? What a waste! If you had entrusted it to me, I could have fitted you with a much sturdier, more systematic, and sustainable gear prosthetic than this!”

“Co…contraction…!”

“How about it? Won’t you try to reattach it now? I’ll even teach you how to use it myself! Once you get used to it, it’ll be much sturdier than your current arm!”

Gwabang pulled out a circular saw from under his cloak, its sharp blade spinning menacingly. His carefree nature was similar to, or even surpassed, that of Navida. With genuine kindness, Gwabang attempted to cut off the Regressor’s arm.

As the saw blade seemed about to slice through the Regressor’s shoulder at any moment, I hastily reached out my hand.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing? I fixed it, and you’re just going to cut it off without permission?”

Pfft. Blood spurted from my hand as it got caught in the saw blade. For a brief moment, the blood flowed freely, but then it suddenly reversed direction, flowing back into my hand. At the same time, the saw blade came to an abrupt halt, as if it had gotten stuck on something.

It was Goyeomado, the unique skill that allowed me to steal and manipulate the abilities of others. I had stolen Maximillian’s unique skill, which controlled the rotation of the saw blade. As I gazed at the motionless saw blade, Maximillian smiled, as if he had been expecting this.

“King of Humans. It’s been a while. This is the first time we’ve met since you and Historia’s chairman tore my body apart, isn’t it?”

“If it weren’t for Navida, that would have been our last meeting. What a shame.”

“Thanks to you, I had to replace even more parts of my body with gears. It was quite a struggle!”

“You wanted to replace the human body with gears, didn’t you? It looks like you got your wish.”

Maximillian chuckled at my blunt response.

“Wish? I wanted to change the King of Humans, not just any human.”

“The King of Humans represents humanity, so if you change him, you can eventually change humans. That’s a change that would come from me. But if you change me, it won’t change humans. What you’re doing is no different from manipulating graphs.”

“Hahaha! Is that how it is? Ah, I roughly understand now!”

I couldn’t tell if he was being bold or just crazy. Maximillian laughed heartily and then pointed the saw blade at me, saying:

“How about it? Now that you’ve become a vessel for the gods, why not test the gears? This is purely out of curiosity, of course!”

“No, thank you.”

“You won’t accept the gears? You’re strict with me, aren’t you?”

“And it’s not possible. A god has already taken residence in my body.”

I coldly pushed Maximillian away and reached out to the Regressor’s wheelchair. Maximillian’s unique skill, Gear Maiden, allowed him to control all gears within its range. In other words, it could only control gears. I grasped a gear tightly and then released it. The metal lump, which had once been a gear, transformed into a card and fell to the ground.

“Ho-oh. What’s that?”

Ignoring Maximilien’s curious gaze, I spoke to the parrot.

“I hadn’t heard there was a single auditor, Great Witch.”

[I hadn’t heard either! Eek! It’s making a fuss about needing to see you! Useless thing!]

From noble mtl dot com

The parrot scattered its feathers and shot a disapproving look at Maximilien. He responded calmly.

“What does it matter? Let’s not be too harsh on fellow failures.”

[Eek? Failures?]

“Aren’t we both dropouts who failed to reach the deity? We should put our heads together and strive to connect with the deity somehow. Why try to monopolize the opportunity to converse with the human king?”

[Eek-eek! I’m different from you! I contributed greatly to creating the Tree of Origin!]

“If that were truly the case, you would have become the deity. But the one who actually became the deity is the progenitor, isn’t it?”

The moment Maximilien casually mentioned Tirkanjaka, a strange scent of blood lingered in the air. The parrot creaked its neck and emitted a glare at Maximilien.

[Don’t… bring up… Tirkanjaka… in front of me…]

“Emotional responses aren’t good. The progenitor has recently become a deity. Naturally, we should analyze the case, shouldn’t we?”

Something glimmered between the beak that was sputtering with rage. It wasn’t an illusion. From deep within the parrot’s esophagus, something was crawling up. It was a slender, white finger. The protruding index finger forcibly pulled at the beak. The parrot’s beak opened wide as if it were about to tear.

The slender white finger that emerged pointed at Maximilien.

[Shut up!]

And at the tip of the finger’s point, Maximilien’s chest caved in by the width of a finger. Blood spiraled in a vortex above his heart.

Heart destruction. Dark magic, likely a form of advanced dark magic that I could hardly imagine. Generally, curses are difficult to exert physical force, but the darkest and most powerful dark magic is power in itself. The absurd power of the curse pierced through Maximilien’s heart.

A strike too lethal to be called a mere prank.

Yet, the fundamental principle of dark magic is identity, and Maximilien’s body had already transcended the ordinary.

Dozens of tiny gears fell from Maximilien’s front hem. Maximilien furrowed his brow and said,

“What are you doing? Stop it. It hasn’t been long since I fixed this.”

Having replaced a significant portion of his body with gears, Maximilien remained unharmed despite the lethal black magic he had endured. There was an impact, but that was all. The gears continued to pulse at a steady rhythm.

An unpleasant voice emerged from the parrot.

[Have you replaced your heart with gears too? Is there even a human part left in your body?]

“I didn’t replace my heart. I merely modified it so that the gears would take over its functions.”

[That’s the same thing.]

“It’s different. I’ve focused more on the functional aspects of the human body. You, who place your faith in the blind watchmaker known as the Tree of Origins, might disapprove. But ultimately, everything used here has been touched by the hand of a craftsman, hasn’t it?”

The fallen gears spun upright and rolled back to Maximilien’s feet. He pressed the scattered parts back into his body.

“As the great witch, you may be knowledgeable about the Tree of Origins, but I too, as the pinnacle of creation, have seen and learned much. Consequently, I understand how flimsy and careless the blind watchmaker, the Tree of Origins, is in creating humanity. The Tree of Origins did not intend to create humans. The human body has numerous limitations; it is frail and inefficient.”

Having said this, Maximilien looked at me and asked,

“The king of humans. Am I wrong?”

“No? You’re right. This body wasn’t created with divine intent.”

That’s obvious. Maximilien is correct. It’s something you can realize if you think about it properly.

“But why do you refuse to accept the gears? I’m purely curious about this question.”

Why indeed? It’s a given. I replied as I pushed the regressor’s wheelchair to one side of the table.

“It’s normal for the world not to bend to your will, Mr. Maximilien. That’s why you can’t become a true demon.”

[Ha ha ha! Serves you right! Ha!]

The parrot laughed uproariously at my statement. A hint of doubt flickered across Maximilien’s expression.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s literally true. From the beginning, the world does not cater to our convenience. The most efficient and rational way? That’s living in accordance with the laws of the world, not creating the laws. You’re trying to judge by reversing the cause and effect.”

The Demon God is the law of the world. It would be a mistake to think of law as merely the laws of a nation. Unlike the state, which is created by humans, for humans, the world simply exists.

“The problem is that you’re trying to create rules that conform to rules. If being compliant is something to be proud of, then you can continue living that way, but when you try to go in circles, problems arise.”

I am not a Demon God either. However, among the countless beasts, only humans have reached the Demon God, and thanks to that, I, who can handle the Demon God, conceptually understand what a Demon God is.

It feels like I’m lecturing after a long time. I began my explanation with a parrot and a cogwheel in front of me.