Chapter 65

Chapter 65
## Chapter 65

Customization (1)

Low murmurs echoed through the air—

Wounded soldiers and knights were being systematically moved out from the inner sanctuary of the Roselia Cathedral, directed straight toward the medical tents.

It was a grim spectacle she had never envisioned occurring within these sacred walls.

Saintess Liesta observed the unfolding chaos with a deeply troubled countenance.

A heavy sense of inadequacy weighed on her; she felt as though she had failed to honor their sacrifice, despite every single one of them wagering their lives on the line.

Her gaze eventually drifted toward a corner of the ward, where a holy knight remained encircled by a cluster of healing priests.

That knight was Heinrich, whose flesh still bore dark, mottled patches of corruption, defying the multiple successive purification rituals that had been performed on him.

“Haaa…”

A weary breath escaped her lips, losing count of how many times she had let out a heavy sigh since the sun rose.

“Saintess, you are still watching over them?”

“Ah, Cardinal Cordelia…”

Exhibiting an equally drained demeanor, Cardinal Cordelia stepped up beside her and offered a gentle word.

“You pushed your limits past the breaking point today. You truly need to close your eyes and rest.”

“I find myself unable to settle, likely because my spirit remains so deeply unsettled.”

She had drawn far too heavily upon her reserves of sacred energy during the confrontation with the Immortal King, leaving herself completely spent after expending what little remained to mend the wounded right after the clash…

Yet, surrounded by this grim reality, any thoughts of peaceful repose vanished.

“Furthermore, that concluding moment keeps replaying in my mind.”

“That final scene… Ah, I understand.”

Cardinal Cordelia tracked the direction of the Saintess’s fixed stare.

“As for Sir Heinrich…”

“He will survive. Though the road to a full recovery will be quite prolonged.”

“That brings some peace to my heart.”

“However…”

Having personally examined Heinrich’s condition earlier, the Saintess was acutely aware of how malevolent and stubborn the defiling energy clinging to him truly was.

It was a brand of vile sorcery designed to inflict agonizing physical torment alongside severe psychological fracturing.

Even an elite champion of the faith could be entirely broken if they suffered a direct exposure to it.

‘Under ordinary circumstances, such devastation would be mitigated if one kept a dense shroud of sacred energy enveloping their form… ‘

Yet Heinrich had met the onslaught completely unprotected, relying entirely on his physical frame.

He couldn’t have been blind to the immense peril of the hex detonating right before his eyes, yet he chose to withstand the brunt of it through sheer force of conviction.

He had gathered every scrap of sacred energy he could muster, channeling it into the very point of his blade, honing the edge with the absolute clarity of his intent.

He moved with a singular purpose: to pierce the core of the Immortal King, even if it demanded the absolute destruction of his own body, all to tip the scales of victory by a fraction of a percent.

All for the sake of his calling… and his creed.

It was a reckless gamble, but witnessing his resolve brought a sharp ache to her chest, knowing with absolute certainty that the Immortal King would still be standing had he not made that desperate move.

“At that moment, I truly believed there was no alternative, but was it genuinely the wisest path? Had I exerted myself further… could we have found a less costly solution?”

The art of spatial transposition—a divine gift capable of triggering in the blink of an eye—was an exceptionally scarce talent.

In that critical hour, Heinrich was the sole individual possessing such a gift.

She had convinced herself it was the premier strategy available, but did the reality match her assumption?

Would it not have been far more appropriate to offer herself up as the sacrifice, rather than exposing another to such mortal peril?

Had she taken that burden upon herself, they might have erased the Immortal King from existence then and there…

“Saintess!”

Cardinal Cordelia spoke up, her tone sharpening with gravity to abruptly sever the young woman’s descending spiral of self-condemnation.

“That choice represented the absolute peak of what could be done in that hour. Every soul on that battlefield offered their utmost, and his achievements went far beyond what anyone anticipated. There is zero baseline for you to shoulder the blame here, Saintess.”

“But even so…”

Cardinal Cordelia offered a soft, comforting expression to the wavering Saintess, regarding her with the warmth one might show a beloved grandchild.

“Moreover… through this trial, a fresh champion has risen for our cause. Now that the Immortal King has walked back into the world, we stand in absolute requirement of a champion capable of standing against his shadow.”

A youthful holy knight barely entering his third decade of life, yet wielding a reservoir of sacred power equal to a high bishop—matching the very commanders who led the grand holy knight orders.

His martial prowess was equally formidable, marking him as a prodigy with boundless potential stretching out before him.

“This trial will serve as the crucible that tempers his strength. He is far from a fragile vessel that would shatter under a burden of this scale. He is a champion who has drawn the direct gaze of the Main God.”

The older woman finished her thought by emphasizing that their true obligation lay in fostering his development, ensuring he grew sharper and more powerful with each passing day.

‘A champion…!’

The Saintess squeezed her hand into a tight fist, her gaze snapping back to the resting form of Heinrich.

When she reflected on it calmly, the logic was sound.

Throughout the countless legends and chronicles she had pored over in her youth, wasn’t the role of the Saintess always to serve as the steadfast companion walking alongside the true champion?

Even searching through the depths of her memory across every heroic epic she had consumed, she could not recall a single chronicle where the Saintess marched at the vanguard to personally strike down the Demon King.

‘The Demon King, the Chosen Champion, and the Saintess!’

The vivid imagination of an eighteen-year-old girl filled with grand aspirations began to flourish.

Cardinal Cordelia simply monitored the change in her charge with a contented expression, watching the young woman’s eyes ignite with a freshly forged sense of purpose.

—

Clap, clap, clap—

“Superb, absolutely magnificent.”

I found myself rising to my feet, offering a solitary round of enthusiastic applause.

It was a well-deserved commendation directed entirely at myself, the individual who had successfully orchestrated and executed such a flawless performance.

“The opening act was set up perfectly. With this foundation, the long-term narrative arc of the rivalry between Hans and Heinrich is securely locked into place.”

We have Hans, the already realized and terrifying ultimate adversary, contrasted against Heinrich, the budding protagonist climbing the ranks at a blistering pace.

As a candidate for the role of the world’s savior, he was executing his part flawlessly.

The bishop-tier sacred energy he had tapped into during this crisis placed him on par with the elite commanders of the holy knight orders.

Granted, his practical swordsmanship and battlefield intuition lagged miles behind those seasoned veterans, but those deficiencies could easily be ironed out through relentless training and the unique traits intrinsic to Heinrich himself.

‘Furthermore, securing the “Blessing: Holy Blade” is an incredible windfall. A devastatingly effective offensive attribute capable of cleaving through dark-aligned entities as if they were fragile parchment.’

At this juncture, the underlying logistics mattered very little—whether he had genuinely manifested this power through sheer desperation and willpower, or if his hidden benefactor had tipped the scales to maximize the theatrical impact of the moment.

‘The only detail that truly carries weight is that this specific power perfectly mirrors the archetype of a legendary protagonist!’

He had also managed to leave an indelible mark on the leadership of the Holy Church through this stunt, maximizing every ounce of leverage and political capital available to him.

‘And naturally, there is an entirely separate, far more substantial prize waiting for me.’

My focus shifted downward, targeting a specific patch of flooring near the corner of my chamber.

Swoosh—

The wooden surface instantly dissolved into an inky blackness, and a shadowy form gradually materialized, ascending from the dark void.

A skeletal figure draped in tattered, battle-worn vestments stood before me.

This was Hans, who had successfully undergone his transformation into the Immortal King.

His immense aura was tightly reined in, completely bottled up to prevent any leakage, yet merely looking in his direction sent a profound shiver straight through my spine, as if my very spirit was being flash-frozen.

‘His passive aura is absolutely terrifying.’

In truth, the array of capabilities now under his command was even more absurd.

-Individual Identifier: Hans

-Lineage: Undead (Immortal King)

-Universal Attributes: “Mind Hub”, “Persona”, “Clear Mind”

-Personal Attributes: “Immortal Heart”, “Wicked Wisdom”, “Forbidden Knowledge”, “Path of Magic”, “Abyssal Eye”, “Magic Domination”

-Special Designations: Has ascended as the third Immortal King, recognized as the systemic scourge of the Auterica Dimension, achieving full inheritance of the ‘Immortal King’s Heart’. Negative magical reserves are perpetually replenished via the core. Grants limitless physical reconstruction provided the core remains unruptured. Has risen above the boundaries of mortality to rule as the sovereign of all deceased entities and the ultimate nemesis of living creation.

The “Abyssal Eye,” an asset he had deployed during the recent conflict, wasn’t something he could leave active indefinitely, but its performance metrics were incredibly satisfying.

The “Immortal Heart” wasn’t merely a slightly upgraded variant of his historical toolkit; it functioned as a massive force multiplier that enhanced every single aptitude in his possession, directly amplifying both “Wicked Wisdom” and “Forbidden Knowledge.”

Furthermore, his fundamental authority over magical currents had reached new heights via “Magic Domination,” granting him the terrifying capacity to wrest control of active spells away from his adversaries…

‘This represents the absolute zenith of development for a pure spellcasting archetype.’

He had effectively become the living manifestation of a Demon King.

And given his functionally deathless nature—derived from the fact that his true vital core resided within an isolated sub-dimension, requiring an attacker to breach reality itself to inflict genuine harm—

‘That single mechanic guaranteed the absolute success of this entire theatrical production.’

Here stood Hans, appearing completely unblemished for an entity whose vital core had supposedly been impaled and incinerated by concentrated divine radiation.

The newly awakened “Blessing: Holy Blade” lacked the dimensional properties required to sever spatial pockets, meaning his physical vessel had knit itself back together long ago.

Heinrich, conversely, would require an extended period of convalescence to recover from the lingering toll of the dark hex, adding a delicious layer of dramatic tension to his journey—a classic narrative beat showcasing the champion weathering his darkest hour.

Phase one of Project ‘Grand Theater: The Fiend and the Savior’ had wound down its opening act with flying colors.

While Hans, the supposedly grievously wounded villain, would need to operate within the Earth sector for the immediate future, he could easily utilize this downtime to handle some long-overdue domestic tidying.

Which left only one final task on the agenda…

‘Time to rake in the profits! It is time to collect the gate receipts from our audience.’

This performance had been broadcasted across the conceptual stage of the entire land mass.

Granted, the ripples of this massive upheaval would require a modest window of time to propagate to the distant corners of the world.

The immediate fallout was currently contained within the administrative borders of the Holy Church, but when factored alongside the fundamental achievement bonuses, the volume of Karma currently sitting in my reserve was bound to be significant.

『Karma Shop』

『Unique Skill Evolution (800,000)』

『Attributes Upgrades – Expand Options』

『Current Karma Reserves – 1,641,132』

‘Wow, a net increase of roughly one million?’

That specific figure represented the total capital required for a displaced voyager to secure direct transit back to the soil of Earth.

And he had managed to pull that entire sum from the execution of a single orchestrated crisis.

‘Then again, the overall parameters of that single operation were admittedly massive.’

Regardless of the specifics, it was an incredibly favorable outcome for his prospects.

Without a shred of hesitation, he locked in the investment to upgrade his unique ability.

The familiar, dull throbbing thudded against his temples, bringing with it the distinct realization that his maximum capacity for simultaneous avatars had increased by one slot.

Furthermore…

《The unique ability undergoes a profound evolution, unlocking latent developmental pathways. You have successfully unlocked the advanced sub-skill “Customization”.》

He now possessed the authority to overhaul and fine-tune specific parameters for each individual avatar, usable once per vessel.

‘This changes everything…!’

This was equivalent to the comprehensive character creation suites in grand virtual titles, the very feature that could easily siphon away hours of a player’s life as they labored over every microscopic aesthetic detail!

His fingers practically twitched with the sudden urge to take the system for a test drive.

His eyes naturally fell upon Hans, who remained standing like a silent sentinel in the center of the room.

The remaining vessels under his command were currently occupied with their respective assignments elsewhere, leaving the skeletal mage as the solitary subject available for immediate experimentation.

Moreover, if this “Customization” protocol allowed for a fundamental restructuring of physical mass, there was a non-zero probability he could restore the entity to a standard human appearance!

Clinging to that optimistic theory, he immediately triggered the “Customization” protocols using Hans as the target anchor, and…

He found himself entirely struck dumb.

-Polished Cranium, Protruding Cranium, Fractured Cranium…

-Orbital Cavities (Symmetric), Orbital Cavities (Aggressive), Orbital Cavities (Sullen)…

-Linear Dentition, Serrated Dentition, Sanguinary Dentition…

An absurdly granular directory of options manifested directly across his field of vision.

Not only were there presets, but the interface allowed him to manually sculpt the contours of the bone structure by sliding micro-adjustments across individual vertices!

‘…So it turns out I cannot simply bypass the fundamental constraints of the underlying biology?’

When viewed objectively, altering the visual structure of his bones offered very little utility for Hans, an entity who permanently operated behind an enigmatic visor and possessed zero capability to engage in standard social networking with ordinary citizens.

‘If a situation demands a human visage, I can simply fall back on high-tier phantasmagoria. My current magical output has expanded significantly, meaning standard sensory measures won’t pierce the veil easily.’

Reconciling the limitation in his mind, he turned his attention toward the remaining modules of the system. Regrettably, it became apparent that the structural cosmetic overhaul was the solitary feature accessible for an existing vessel like Hans.

The ‘Baseline Attribute Initialization’ baked into the “Customization” framework was explicitly ring-fenced for newly generated entities during their initial conception phase.

‘Even with that caveat, this is an immense step forward! This means I can manually optimize an avatar’s baseline attributes ahead of time to align perfectly with their intended operational role.’

His current roster of vessels featured heavily generalized attribute profiles resulting from balanced point distribution, yielding impressive aggregate totals but lacking hyper-focused efficiency.

They could pivot smoothly to handle various scenarios, but they fundamentally lacked the explosive performance of a specialized build.

With this tool, he could funnel those generalized points into a singular, devastating focus.

Allocating raw intellect and cognitive reservoirs for a dedicated magus casting platform, or funneling physical density and muscular endurance into a front-line juggernaut.

‘The system has granted me a fresh slot, so there is zero reason not to test this out immediately. Which archetype should I manifest for this venture…?’

Just as he prepared to engage the “Customization” engine to birth a brand-new entity,

“Wait a moment.”

A sudden cascade of system data flashed across his consciousness.

Abilities within this framework rarely unveiled their entire operational blueprint upon their initial manifestation.

It was absolutely vital to build familiarity and elevate one’s mastery over these advanced systems, as hidden functionalities routinely unlocked themselves once the user attained a specific threshold of personal comprehension or satisfied distinct environmental triggers.

‘No, that detail can wait for later!’

The freshly unraveled mechanic possessed a staggering level of utility.

‘To think the system allows me to forge an avatar of a genetically linked lineage provided I supply a matching physical catalyst!’

The parameter requiring a ‘catalyst’ was conceptually vague, yet an intuitive, instinctual comprehension settled within him automatically.

He shifted his stance, marching directly toward the ceramic planter situated in the far corner of his common area.

The domestic botanical unit… rather, the ‘Fragmented Bough of the Desolate World Tree’ sat nestled within the soil.

‘I had grown genuinely attached to its presence.’

Regrettably, sacrifices were required; he closed his hand around the wood and firmly dislodged it from the planter.

This was the exact catalyst required to anchor the creation of an Elven vessel.