Chapter 10

Positive-Cute-Sunshine-Sexy-Menhera-Decadent-Busty-Beauty

The work continued.

Of course, it was finished before even an hour had passed, but the aftermath of the intense tension had spread throughout my entire body.

"...Ugh, my whole body aches."

There wasn't a single place on my body that didn't hurt.

The obsession that there couldn't be even the slightest mistake had overloaded every muscle in my body.

Perhaps thanks to that, fortunately, all the elixirs were completed perfectly.

Of course, all I had done was assist in preventing their medicinal properties from deteriorating.

But even if the method was low-grade, the resulting product was not.

Fifty-two bottles of elixir diluted to one-thousandth strength, and six bottles diluted to one-two-hundredth strength.

Naturally, I no longer needed to worry about the eighty million hwan cost of the cyberware.

"Seriously. This is ridiculous."

It had only been three days at most.

Since I gained access to the Transcendent Gallery.

Thinking back to when I used to scrape by because I lacked even a few tens of thousands of hwan, the change was staggering.

Pop─!

I pulled the stopper from one of the elixirs I'd sealed immediately after preparing it.

Naturally, it was one of the ones diluted to one-two-hundredth strength.

It couldn't compare to the overwhelming scent I'd smelled earlier while cutting the fruit, but a rather intoxicating fragrance still spread out.

Gulp-!

Then, without hesitation, I drank the elixir in one go.

As it flowed down my throat, its medicinal properties rapidly spread throughout my body.

Normally, that ferocious energy would have rampaged wildly inside me, but the base I'd created by combining several preparation methods stabilized it.

"Huuuh..."

The energy seeped into my blood vessels and dantian, merged with my original energy, and soon began asserting itself.

It pushed out the somewhat turbid energies that had originally occupied my body.

The displaced energies screamed as they searched for an escape route.

Naturally, every place where they could remain inside my body had already been occupied by the elixir's energy, so the only exits left were the openings of my body.

"Bweeeeeegh-!"

As nausea surged up, I pulled out the bucket I'd prepared in advance and vomited its contents into it.

Naturally, most of it was gastric fluid and the like, but through the process, the turbid energy inside me was expelled as well.

Once I felt that it was working, even the slightest hesitation disappeared.

I continued vomiting out everything inside me. Once there was nothing left to throw up, I dry-heaved instead.

"Ughhh... Huu..."

I retched for so long that I started wondering whether I'd vomited up my internal organs.

My stomach still felt like it was turning inside out, and the turbid energy that had yet to escape kept stabbing painfully throughout my body.

But the effect was undeniable.

"Three-Star..."

I had easily leapt over an entire realm.

And I was already nearly at the perfected Three-Star level.

I hadn't merely crossed one wall. I had reached the point where the next realm was already in sight.

"..."

Five bottles of elixir still remained before me.

Naturally, they should still have plenty of effect.

I didn't know after how many bottles I'd develop resistance, but once it seemed like resistance had formed, I could simply stop there.

"Next time, I should consider a method that hurts a little less..."

Of course, raising my realm through ordinary training would probably be hundreds or thousands of times more painful and difficult.

But my hand trembled on its own as it reached toward the elixir.

Simple nausea wasn't the problem. The pain really felt as though my limbs were being torn off.

But what could I do?

If I was going to be beaten anyway, better to get it over with early.

I squeezed my eyes shut and drank the elixirs one after another.

And then.

"Urgh... Uuuugh..."

The fifth bottle.

Immediately after drinking elixirs until the point where I'd developed almost complete resistance.

I could do nothing but collapse onto the floor and convulse.

"Haa... Haa..."

How much time had passed?

The swelling that had turned my entire body red gradually subsided, and my breathing slowly returned to normal.

But the inside of my body was still a complete mess. There wasn't a single place that felt intact.

Maybe I won't be able to move for about a week.

It seemed impossible to do any real activity with this body for now.

From the gallery bastards' perspective, that would probably be good news.

"Anyway, it worked..."

Still, regardless of the fact that my body had practically become useless, the achievement was undeniable.

"Four-Star... no, four and a half stars."

The reservoirs of mana that existed within my body.

The spaces mages themselves called 'stars' numbered four and a half.

If someone found out about my current achievement, they might faint.

They might even immediately give up cultivation and retire to the countryside.

That was how absurd this rate of growth was.

Of course, the backlash meant I'd have to live like a half-cripple for several days.

Compared to the achievement, this much wasn't even much of a penalty.

"Whatever."

I barely managed to move my body and place it onto the brittle mattress.

And since I'd literally only managed to put myself on it, it took several more minutes just to get into a proper position.

It seemed I'd be stuck living in bed like this for a while.

...In that case, I might as well browse the gallery in the meantime.

Before, it would've been nothing more than a rather lowbrow pastime, but now it was something I absolutely had to do for my future.

Even I found that a little absurd.

Vwoooong─

A hologram rose from my wrist along with the sound of a notification.

Naturally, the notification came from the Transcendent Gallery.

"...Should I turn them off again?"

+9999

That was the number displayed in the upper-right corner of my profile.

It looked like every bastard imaginable had sent me a DM.

Looking through them a little, there were even guys whose true identities I couldn't guess from their usernames and few posts alone.

It might not be something a mere Four-Star mage should say, but there were plenty of small fries who were relatively removed from the main story's central cast.

At most, they were probably only around Mid-Ranking God or Heavenly Immortal-Heavenly Martial Realm level.

Within this gallery, their standing was apparently a little low.

[ Would you like to block TogetherWithUs? ]

[ Would you like to block RunDemonKing? ]

[ Would you like to block Dummy? ]

As I blocked the DMs of several such people, I soon couldn't help but notice something slightly strange.

[ Our dear Miss Oz... perhaps you have some interest in the Ninth Dimension...? hehe ]

[ Oz. Our garden has many spiritual herbs that are excellent for skincare... ]

[ Human form based on incarnation body: height 182 / 75 / 18, slim muscular build. Please contact me ]

[ me pp big contact me ]

"What-the-fuck-is-this."

More than half of the DM previews contained shit like that.

I couldn't understand why this kind of chaos had suddenly erupted.

That incomprehensible demonic realm.

After immediately closing the DM window, I entered the free board.

And there, I was able to discover the culprit.

[ Nonexistent, is it true Oz is an S-Rank beauty in her dimension? ]

[ Upvote if you stopped being mad after finding out Oz is a female form lol ]

[ Wow asking for Jade Dew Fruit because she wanted to do a face pack really makes it undeniable hahahahaha ]

[ So Oz really doesn't have a partner, right? Starting today, I'm her husband, yeah ]

"Is that bastard insane?"

Nonexistent.

That crazy void-serpent bastard had apparently spread an outrageous rumor.

_______________

Once again, another peaceful day in the Transcendent Gallery.

...In truth, there were actually far more genuinely peaceful days than otherwise.

The gallery's usage rate itself wasn't particularly high.

Unless some enormous incident occurred, people generally only exchanged occasional small talk or searched for those they couldn't contact.

In fact, comparing the current usage rate to back then, it was roughly eleven to twelve times higher.

That wasn't a difference that could be described as 'only.'

There was an enormous gap between the two periods.

Naturally, that difference had been created entirely by Oz's existence.

And after Oz personally arrived in the gallery, usage rates increased sharply once again.

[ That bastard disappeared again ]

[ Oz said she was going to upload the Fifth Dimension rankings!!!!!! ]

[ Ha, this won't do. Wandering Merchant, deploy again, yeah ]

[ Wandering Merchant got super pissed earlier and left the gallery hahahahaha ]

Therefore, it was only natural that public sentiment flared up again during the brief time Oz was absent.

In fact, practically no topic other than Oz or the tier lists gained any traction at all.

And while speculation about the announced 'Fifth Dimension Transcendent Rankings for a Fight to the Death with Eternal Annihilation on the Line' and posts searching for Oz were being mass-produced.

[ I Withdraw All Support Starting Today ] - Nonexistent

A sudden post appeared from Nonexistent.

Someone expected to definitely appear in those combat rankings.

And someone expected to react more violently than anyone else.

[ What the hell is wrong with that bastard?????? ]

[ Did he meet Oz or something? Why's he suddenly sucking up to Oz? ]

Naturally, there was no way anyone would simply accept it.

Until recently, hadn't he practically been the leader of the most radical anti-Oz faction?

Because of that, the transcendents in the gallery united as one and began pressuring Nonexistent.

[ No, seriously, I was just saying it for no reason ] - Nonexistent

Of course, Nonexistent resisted fiercely throughout the process.

Kuuuuuuung─!

"Spit it out honestly, you bastard!!!!!!"

"Holy fucking shit, why did you actually come here over this? Are you insane? Gweeegh- Let go of meee- Gweeegh-"

"Tell us properly!!!!!!"

Under the relentless assault continuing both online and offline, Nonexistent ultimately failed to endure even half a day before confessing everything.

[ Oz is... a woman? ]

[ What? Oz is a female form? ]

[ Oz is a positive-cute-sunshine-beauty? ]

[ Oz is a mentally-ill-menhera-decadent-sexy-woman? ]

[ Ah lol DMs, here I come ]

Immediately afterward, it was only natural for the gallery to collapse into chaos.

After the original fact passed through several rounds of embellishment, Oz had become an unmistakable ranked beauty from the Record of Myriad Beauties: a positive-cute-sunshine-sexy-menhera-decadent-busty-beautiful-girl.

[ How far are these lunatics going to take this? ]

...That was what she had become.

A truth that nobody in the gallery disputed.

Only one person objected.

[ Where did that void-serpent bastard go ] - Oz

He begged me to tell him his rank, so I told him, and then he leaked my DMs

You've seriously lost your mind. Want to become snake liquor?

Upvotes 771 Downvotes 1

Comments(339)

-Sweet Guy) Oz, please read my DM T_TT_T

-Ancient God) Oz, do you perhaps like younger men? I'll probably be younger than you, hehe

-EatsWheneverBored) Identified downvoter hahahahahahahahahahahaha

-Moonlit Night Journey) Upvote if Nonexistent is gonna die before the rankings go up and get deleted from the list hahahahahahahahahaha

└Sun Picker) Smashing that upvote hahahahaha Instantly tap dancing hahahahaha

-WriggleWriggle) Wriggle wriggle

Oz herself appeared, obviously filled with rage.

And at the same time, Nonexistent vanished without a trace.

Amid that fascinating situation, the gallery was more active than ever before.

[ If I tell you guys I'm not a female form, will you believe me? ] - Oz

Would you even believe me?

From where I'm sitting, there's absolutely no way you would.

Upvotes 638 Downvotes 3

Comments(218)

-Moonlit Night Journey) You think we'd believe that? hahahahahaha

-Passing Immortal) Just admit it

-Divine Maiden) I don't understand what anyone sees in such a frivolous woman

-Outside the Boundary) Sis, let's get along lol

Naturally, her protests were no longer being accepted.

The firmly established faith had become so solid that not even denial from the person herself could destroy it.

[ Believe whatever you want... ] - Oz

Eventually, after the person herself declared surrender.

The Transcendent Gallery became filled with the victorious atmosphere of having defeated some great evil.

And not entirely without reason, as Oz was an object of intense love-hate for those who ended up listed on her tier lists and rankings.

[ I'm just going to make the tier list and upload it ] - Oz

[ Kyaa lol Oz's tier list is finally going up ]

[ How to summon Oz) Expose her gender hahahahaha ]

[ Upvote if you're honestly more curious about Oz's husband-material tier list than any other tier list now hahahahaha ]

In the end, seeing Oz carry out her main occupation(?) caused Nonexistent to be elevated to the position of the gallery's second great hero.

His contributions were summoning Oz and making her personal details more concrete.

However, the tier list announced several hours later.

Immediately after it was uploaded.

[ Final Battle Rankings with Eternal Annihilation on the Line (Fifth Dimension Edition) *No Personal Bias* ] - Oz

Upvotes 880 Downvotes 14

[ No, Oz, what are you doing right now...? ] - Nonexistent

Upvotes 133 Downvotes 269

The gallery's hero reappeared, openly displaying his bewilderment.

-Oz) Your ranking stayed the same, yeah. I don't change rankings based on personal feelings

└Nonexistent) My ranking isn't the problem right now...?

└Oz) Shut up

└Nonexistent)...

The second great hero, fallen as expected!