Chapter 7

Is Oz a Female Form?

My attainment as a mage was at the perfected Two-Star level.

By cultivator standards, that was the sixth stage of Qi Refinement; by martial artist standards, the Realm of Creation; and by augmenter standards, a Full-Frame-class user.

Simply put, by the standards of so-called ability users, I hadn't reached any particularly impressive realm.

I was an awkward half-measure with one foot still in the world of mortals.

'That's making me tingle.'

That was exactly why I could feel the difference between myself and Yu Seolyeong, a genuinely proper ability user.

I probably couldn't beat Yu Seolyeong.

Of course, Yu Seolyeong shouldn't be all that strong at this point either.

At most, she'd be around the Foundation Establishment realm.

By mortal-world standards, the realms of cultivators were Qi Refinement-Foundation Establishment-Core Formation-Nascent Soul-Spirit Transformation-Void Refinement-Body Integration-Great Ascension.

She was only second from the bottom.

It sounded a little ridiculous, but that meant she was second from the bottom even in the mortal world, where even planetary-scale destruction was impossible.

But I was even weaker than that Yu Seolyeong.

Of course, as long as I didn't make some mistake in how I conducted myself, that weakness wouldn't become a problem.

Still, it was impossible not to think that I needed to grow stronger as soon as possible.

Yu Seolyeong was still on the first floor, waiting for something.

She even looked vaguely anxious, which gave me the feeling that some kind of incident might happen.

...Not my problem.

For now, I had no plans to pursue cultivation anyway, and in any case, the Cheongheo Sect and Yu Seolyeong were only characters who appeared near the beginning of the story.

I planned to leave not only Hyeondeok City but Haedong Nation itself before too long, so there was no reason for me to get involved.

What did her miserable end have to do with me?

She could ask the protagonist who would show up a few decades later for help.

Of course, if the original story proceeded unchanged, even he wouldn't be able to help her.

"She is pretty, though."

That was about the only reason my gaze lingered on her for a moment.

She was also the first person among the characters described in the original story whom I had actually seen in person.

With that, I parted ways with the memories of the past and headed outside.

_____________

Points accumulated by writing posts and comments in the gallery, or by receiving recommendations.

...Why did they have value?

I couldn't help but spend some time thinking about that.

And not long afterward, based on what I remembered from the original story, I was able to reach a vague guess? An inference? Something resembling a conclusion.

"Probably karma."

Karma.

A value more important than almost anything else to transcendents.

In cultures using Chinese characters, it was expressed as "業."

It might look like nothing special, but the process of using the Transcendent Gallery probably generated large quantities of karma.

Of course, when the amount was small, it probably wasn't worth much.

Writing a few casual posts or comments would be a drop in the ocean compared to the karma transcendents naturally accumulated through their positions.

But once it reached tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of points, the story would probably change.

Of course, I doubted the gallery had been created with farming karma as its goal.

Either way, it was extremely fortunate for me.

It was a resource I couldn't even use directly right now, so if I could exchange it for the possessions or knowledge of other transcendents, nothing could be better.

I was planning to pay for this cyberware that way as well.

There were sure to be countless examples of things worthless to them that would be equivalent to a fortune over here.

So I just needed to pick an appropriate person and propose a trade...

"What the hell is this guy?"

That was what I had been thinking.

[ Oz, it's me... ] - Nonexistent

A message had arrived.

It was probably because I'd unlocked the private message function not long ago.

Of course, dozens of other messages had arrived as well.

But the others were mostly ordinary in content.

There was a reason this particular message caught my eye.

[ Think about how desperate I must be to make a request like this, and please help me just a little... ] - Nonexistent

[ I'm not asking you to force my rank higher, so can you at least please keep me at my original rank? ] - Nonexistent

[ I'm so worried my rank will drop that lately even souls won't go down my throat. Please, I'm begging you ] - Nonexistent

"...No, seriously. This much?"

The contents of the message left me a little dazed.

Judging from his own mentions and everything else, the guy called 'Nonexistent' who had sent this message was probably a top-tier divinity even among transcendents.

In other words, he was an absurd monster who would easily rank within the top hundred across all seventeen dimensional systems.

And yet a guy like that was surrendering before a mere tier list.

Of course, this guy probably thought 'Oz' was one of the same highest-ranking divinities as himself.

Still, I was once again realizing just how much influence my tier lists had.

Me> [ Why are you making this so burdensome? ]

Me> [ I make tier lists according to my own judgment, so I don't arbitrarily adjust them, yeah ]

Still, I couldn't alter the tier list.

Naturally, part of the reason was my own principles, but this consistency was probably exactly why the transcendents cared so much about my tier lists right now.

Credibility built from my knowledge of the original story and the consistent standard of my own judgment.

And then I'd change someone's ranking because they asked me to?

No chance.

Of course, if I granted his request, I might be able to ask for just about anything in return.

In the original story, he had been depicted as highly prideful and extraordinarily aloof.

If he was lowering himself this much, it was easy to guess that the stress he was under right now was no small thing.

That meant I could probably receive an appropriate price.

But I had no intention of cutting open the goose that laid the golden eggs.

Until the aggro power of my tier lists wore off, I planned to keep sucking points out of them.

[ Ha, fuck ] - Nonexistent

[ No, I mean, you're right ] - Nonexistent

An immediate reply came not long after my answer.

But nothing followed after that.

Well, he'd probably agonized a great deal even before making the earlier request.

It was simply surprising and fascinating that someone with an ego that enormous had come to me with a request like this.

At the same time, the image I'd had of him was also getting shattered a little...

Gallery username: Nonexistent.

He had been one of the protagonist's most prominent allies in the original story.

The overwhelming majesty he'd displayed in so many scenes had been enough to captivate even me.

[ Hey, still, can't you make an exception just once? I swear I'll never ask you for something like this again, just once ] - Nonexistent

...This current 모습 was the complete opposite of that.

Of course, I already knew transcendents had sides like this.

The gods and transcendents of this world weren't absolute beings who had completely detached themselves from worldly affairs.

But this is way too pathetic, you bastard.

Me> [ I said no, didn't I? ]

Me> [...But if you do one favor for me, I can at least tell you your rank ]

[ Even that is fine, please. I'll do the favor... What do you want? ] - Nonexistent

Me> [ Get me a few Jade Dew Fruits. If possible, get me the base too so I can cultivate them ]

[ Why Jade Dew Fruits? Don't tell me you're a female form, Oz? ] - Nonexistent

What kind of random nonsense is that?

I was about to answer that, then thought about it and realized I could see why he'd think so.

Jade Dew Fruits were precious spiritual fruits to mortals, but once you surpassed the mortal realm, they weren't particularly useful.

At most, they were used for skincare.

Naturally, the ones who cared more about that tended to be female forms.

Maybe it was only natural that he'd ask such a question.

So, partly out of a bit of mischief.

And partly because there was a practical benefit in hiding my identity as much as possible.

Me> [ Think whatever you want about that ]

[ Wow, I never would've guessed. I just assumed you were definitely a male form ] - Nonexistent

Me> [ Does that matter? Anyway, there's a reason your reputation is filthy ]

[ Fuck lol You sound exactly like some woman I know ] - Nonexistent

Yeah.

Because I copied that exact line from her.

[ If you want Jade Dew Fruits, I can get you a whole pile of them ] - Nonexistent

[ So what rank am I this time? Hurry up and tell me, please ] - Nonexistent

Me> [ You first ]

[ Ah, damn ] - Nonexistent

[ Should I put them on the Marketplace? ] - Nonexistent

Me> [ Yeah. Put them up for about five thousand ]

After that message, I checked the Marketplace, and before long, ten Jade Dew Fruits and their roots appeared for 4,999 points.

It wasn't like anyone else would take them anyway, but I quickly completed the purchase.

"How do I receive them?"

I'd completed the purchase, but how exactly was I supposed to receive them?

I was wondering about that for a moment.

[ Marketplace transaction complete! ]

[ You can receive purchased items through the Item Storage section at the top of the Marketplace ]

"Oh."

A conveniently helpful message appeared.

I immediately selected one Jade Dew Fruit and pressed the receive button.

At the same time, a faint, whitish image of a Jade Dew Fruit appeared before my eyes.

"Ah, so that's how it works."

The image moved around according to my will.

So apparently, if I precisely targeted a certain spot, it would appear there.

I opened one hand and then clearly focused my intention, and before I knew it, a Jade Dew Fruit appeared on my palm.

"...Ha."

If word got out that even a single piece of this fruit had appeared somewhere, there would probably be a bloody struggle among mortal-world ability users.

So the fruit immediately went into my subspace ring.

It was a cheap one with relatively little capacity that I'd picked up at the market on the way here, but it was more than enough for this.

[ Hey, Oz, did you get it safely? ] - Nonexistent

[ Now tell me my rank... ] - Nonexistent

At that moment, another notification sounded.

I could feel the desperation just from the text.

I gave a faint snicker and was just about to reply.

"Oh my, you've been waiting a long time."

A middle-aged man in a brown robe appeared in the distance.

I reflexively closed the chat window.

...I did feel a little guilty after taking what I'd wanted.

But right now, this was more important to me.

A transcendent wasn't going to die just because his reply was delayed by thirty minutes, right?