The Martial God who Regressed Back to Level 2

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 558

Upon arriving at the temporary base on the dead star, Seong Jihan was greeted by the Constellation of the Dead Star, Karlein.

[You're here?]

[What's that mouth? Is that also a type of fragment?]

"Yes. I brought it because they said to grow it with its own mouth and then eat it."

[You can even say things like that?]

Click. Click.

The skull clacked its teeth while staring at the large lips.

[This seems much more worth growing than the flesh I was commissioned by the World Tree Alliance last time.]

"Um, wait a moment..."

[Hehehe. How should I grow it?]

The lips moved frantically as the Dead Star Constellation approached with an ominous gleam in its eyes.

"I, I demand humane cultivation...!"

[Humane?]

"Don't try to dismantle and grow me, but cultivate this form itself!"

[But that's too slow. Why should we do that?]

"That's... right. I may not remember everything in this form, but if I normalize further, I might recall forgotten memories. That information could be useful to you!"

Hearing this, they wondered what he was talking about.

Memories?

'Even if it's Gilgamesh's memories, it's probably just being experimented on by elves.'

And before that, going further back in memories.

It would end with each dying once to Seong Jihan and the Red Administrator.

It didn't seem like it would be very helpful.

As the two reacted indifferently, the lips kept moving.

"Also... That's right! If you dismantle a vessel that speaks properly like me, you might never get another being like me..."

[What are you talking about now?]

"Surely, those damn elves said it. This was the first 'test subject' to express itself so clearly... So they said they had to send it to headquarters urgently."

[Hmm. Is that so? A rare species among test subjects... What should we do?]

Karlein asked Seong Jihan what he wanted to do.

"If you were to cultivate it, what method were you planning to use?"

[Me? Well, similar to the Alliance's method. Splitting it all up, cultivating it at the tissue level, and keeping the ones that grow well? The difference from them is that I can use necromancy to twist and develop even dead tissues.]

So he would mix necromancy into the Alliance's methods.

'I don't really want to go that far.'

Of course, upgrading the Gift Blue Vessel was important, but copying the World Tree Alliance's inhumane experiments didn't appeal to him at all.

It felt like sinking into the mud with those monsters.

"Let's skip that method. Let's do something different."

[Alright. But how are we going to grow this thing on this dead land?]

"I do have a way to rapidly grow it."

Sssss...

With that, red chains began to sprout from Seong Jihan's back.

Infinite Annihilation God

Annihilation God's Secret

Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit

The power of Gilgamesh, Heavenly Tree Descending Spirit.

These chains that absorbed life force could also be used to infuse it.

Fwaaah...!

As the chains touched the giant lips.

"Ugh, uugh. This is...! This power...!"

Sssss...

The form gradually restored, centered on the giant lips.

[Stat 'Eternity' is consumed by 1.]

Seong Jihan, who was infusing life force, frowned as he saw the message appear.

'No way. Why does it consume so much life force?'

If he knew this would happen, maybe he should have followed the World Tree Alliance's method.

While he was briefly regretting this,

Fwaaah...!

Having absorbed the life force properly, Gilgamesh's head appeared from the giant lips.

A head three times larger than when he was human.

"Ah ah. I am... I am...! Yes. I remember... I am Gilgamesh, king of humans...!"

Now that he had a head, he seemed to have regained his forgotten memories, shouting about being the king of humans with wide eyes.

"Hey. Instead of that, why don't you recall some useful memories?"

"Th-this! What could be more important than this memory! Ah, but you. Aren't you my son... Seong Jihan!"

Whip.

As Gilgamesh turned his head towards him and spoke with spittle flying, Seong Jihan reflexively raised his hand.

"Ha. This guy's calling me son again."

Smack!

With that, Seong Jihan struck the back of Gilgamesh's head.

Swoosh...!

Blue smoke rose from Gilgamesh's head, then was all sucked into Seong Jihan's hand.

At the same time.

['Gift - Blue Vessel' is upgraded to A-rank.]

[The upper limit of Stat Blue increases by 70.]

As the Gift's rank increased, Gilgamesh, whose head had been restored, returned to his lip form.

[Um... Couldn't you have hit him a bit lighter? He just got restored and now he's back to this?]

Karlein, unaware of the situation, said this, but.

"...No."

Seong Jihan's eyes flashed.

"We need to keep doing this, like before."

* * *

Smack! Smack!

The method of restoring Gilgamesh's head, then hitting the back of his head to upgrade the Blue Vessel.

This was a very efficient development method except for the consumption of Stat 'Eternity'.

And.

"S-stop hitting me...! Why are you killing me after reviving me! I won't call you son anymore...!"

Smack!

Regardless of what Gilgamesh was saying, when Seong Jihan struck the back of his head again,

['Gift - Blue Vessel' is upgraded to S-rank.]

[The upper limit of Stat Blue increases by 150.]

The Blue Vessel was upgraded once more.

'This makes a total of 250, right?'

The Blue Vessel, whose growth limit for Blue jumped from 999 to 1249.

As Blue grew like this, Red's limit increased accordingly.

'I should be able to use up to 900 Stat Red now.'

Of course, the cost to upgrade the Blue Vessel to S-rank wasn't insignificant.

The cost of reviving Gilgamesh's head.

20 Stat Eternity was consumed.

It took one try to reach A-rank, but S-rank was possible only after reviving him 19 times.

Still.

'Eternity is useless right now anyway. Increasing the limit is more important.'

Eternity, which would be a lifeline in life-or-death battles.

But there were no such situations right now, so increasing Blue's limit was more important.

Plus, Eternity could be replenished anytime through the World Tree.

'Then, shall we try hitting for SS?'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan regenerated Gilgamesh's head, but.

"Aaaagh. Please stop...!"

Smack!

This time, even after hitting the back of his head, Gilgamesh's head remained intact.

"Hmm..."

What was this?

Had this guy gotten used to it?

Seong Jihan tilted his head and hit a few more times, but.

"Huh... Wh-what? Why am I not dying? And it hurts less than before..."

Gilgamesh's head remained intact, with only Seong Jihan's handprints on the back of his head.

'Hmm, is this the limit of Blue Vessel I can extract from this guy?'

Originally, the Blue Vessel automatically absorbed Gilgamesh's fragment.

But perhaps this was the end of the material that could come from the lips.

The Blue Vessel stopped growing at S-rank.

"It's not absorbing anymore... I revived him for nothing at this rate."

As Seong Jihan clicked his tongue looking at Gilgamesh's intact head, he rolled his eyes.

"S-so, is it over now? The head-bursting thing?"

"Probably. But if it's like this, you're useless now... Should I just dispose of you now?"

"Useless? Th-that's not true! Look carefully. I must be useful for something!"

As Seong Jihan's gaze changed, Gilgamesh tried to appeal his usefulness in an attempt to survive somehow.

"Hmm. Then do you have any useful memories?"

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]

"Useful memories... Are you talking about when I ruled over my people as king?"

"Not that crap. I mean memories after you died to me and the Red Administrator."

"That... Actually, there's not much. I only remember being in a test tube continuously."

He only had detailed memories of useless times.

Ironically, he didn't remember much about being resurrected and experimented on by the World Tree Alliance.

'I guess I wasted 1 Eternity for nothing.'

Right.

He should consider that 1 as extra spent for upgrading Blue Vessel to S-rank.

As Seong Jihan was thinking this and pondering over what to do with Gilgamesh,

[Shall I try to find some use for this guy?]

"You?"

[Yeah. From what you said, it seems there's no need for cultivation anymore...]

"Yeah. I've extracted everything I can from him here."

[Then, I'll use him when exploring the Alliance's research facilities. I have an idea that came to mind.]

Seong Jihan nodded at those words.

"Alright. I'll leave him to you for now then."

[Okay. I'll conduct the tests 'humanely'.]

Click. Click.

Karlein emphasized the humane approach while laughing ominously.

"S-Seong Jihan. Can't you just take me to Earth... This star doesn't seem suitable for life..."

Seeing this, Gilgamesh's head appealed to Seong Jihan, but.

"You want to live here or just die?"

"...I'll stay here."

When presented with these two choices, he reluctantly chose the former.

"Then, I'll come again next time."

[You're welcome anytime. Send my regards to the master as well.]

After receiving Karlein's send-off like that, Seong Jihan returned to Earth and found Yoon Seah and Ariel with peculiar expressions.

"Ah... Uncle, you're back?"

"Yeah. Your expressions are strange? Why? Are you filming a commercial?"

"No. We were all prepared to film but..."

Swish.

Yoon Seah pointed at the TV screen with her finger.

"An emergency news broadcast from the Colonial Government came on, and all work has been suspended."

Seong Jihan turned his gaze to the TV at those words.

There, instructions to stop all work and stay awake were being broadcasted.

"Stay awake? What are they trying to do now?"

"It's fine for our country since it's daytime now. But it's chaos on the opposite side of the world. They say sirens are blaring to wake up residents."

Well, was this the positive function of having the Colonial Government established?

Seong Jihan smirked and expanded his senses.

"Kim Jihun is at home."

"Yeah. They told everyone to return home an hour ago. And to absolutely not fall asleep."

"Hmm... Is that so? I should go experience what those guys are up to. Let's go, Ariel."

"Understood."

Swoosh...

As Ariel was sucked into Seong Jihan's hand again, he went downstairs and entered Kim Jihun's body, who was sitting quietly.

-What on earth is going to happen that they're telling us to stay awake like this?

-Does anyone know what's going on?

-How many people here would know what's happening at the Colonial Government ;(

-Thanks to this, early leave from work is sweet lolol

-Our country is still better off. I saw that in America, police cars and fire trucks are all blaring sirens to wake up residents.

-They'll probably rage again about why the Colonial Government is in Korea. lol

While passing time looking at the comments on the emergency news feed,

Ziiiing...

Suddenly, a message window popped up in front of his eyes.

[The Green Administrator, 'Yggdrasil', wants to sponsor you.]

[Will you accept this?]

'This is... a Constellation sponsorship?'

Yggdrasil, the Constellation he had graduated from before.

But it seems the Constellation sponsorship slot could be used like this.

'Kim Jihun shouldn't press no here.'

Thinking this, Seong Jihan pressed yes.

Ziiiing.

[The Green Administrator 'Yggdrasil' becomes the sponsoring Constellation for player 'Kim Jihun'.]

[Look to the sky, receive the Constellation's sponsorship.]

A message to look at the sky appeared.

'The sky?'

For now, he should do as instructed.

Seong Jihan stood up and opened the living room window.

And peeking his head out there, he looked up at the sky.

In the place where the sun was,

The faint form of a World Tree shining with rainbow colours was appearing.

'Rainbow colours... Is this the form of the Cosmic Tree?'

As Seong Jihan thought this while looking at the sky,

Clatter clatter.

Windows started opening one by one all around.

The Yggdrasil sponsorship message, it wasn't just sent to Kim Jihun.

Was it given to all awakened humanity?

As numerous people were all looking up at the sky like that,

[Receiving the blessing of the Green Administrator, 'Yggdrasil'...]

Yggdrasil began to exert her power towards humanity like this.

[Translator - Asura]

[Proofreader - Gun]