The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 107: Journey to the Capital (3) (Part 1)

The potion Iliana had crafted—
It had awakened Serapia’s Power of Cold.

The hero of the Allied Forces had essentially aided the Monarch of Frost.

‘That was short-sighted of me.’

…To be precise, it really was my fault.

First, because I didn’t expect Iliana to make a potion.
Second, because I underestimated what kind of effect such a potion from Iliana could have.

Iliana had made it with full sincerity.
She’d even kindly explained the effect of the potion in detail.

…It was just that I didn’t understand her explanation.

If I’d known this would happen, I should’ve at least used Predatory Instincts [S].
Then I could’ve identified the properties of the potion in advance.

Though it was a little late now, I activated Predatory Instincts [S] to analyze Serapia.

====

Name: Serapia Whitewolf
Classification: Animalia – Mammalia – Hominidae – Human
Sex: Female
Age: 16
Trait: Power of Cold [P]

The Curse of Frost [P] had been replaced with Power of Cold [P].

◆ Power of Cold [P]

: The user generates a supernatural thermal energy deficit, reducing both entropy and enthalpy in thermodynamic systems to an infinitesimal value. As a result, all thermal energy and molecular motion within finite systems converge toward [0], causing physical, chemical, and biological processes to halt completely.

It was packed with complex terminology.
Even reading it, I had no idea what it actually meant.

In fact, even if I had used Predatory Instincts [S] on the potion,
I probably wouldn’t have understood it anyway.

‘…What exactly did you make, Iliana?’

She wasn’t called the Mage of Truth for nothing.

Still, one relief—

‘So it’s just the Power of Cold that awakened?’

She hadn’t awakened as the Monarch of Frost.
And judging by her saying she still needed practice, it wasn’t fully awakened either.

If it were, I wouldn’t still be standing.

Sure, I had surpassed the Predator of my previous life—
but the strength of a Monarch is on another level altogether.

Another level.

Even the heroes of the Allied Forces couldn’t reach that height.
Only Ian had the strength to stand against them—
and even he couldn’t guarantee a win.

Despite that, Ian managed to defeat every Monarch with minimal loss.

Except for one.

The Monarch of Frost.
The most infamous of all the Allied Forces’ enemies.
The witch who took Ian’s left arm.

Those horrific memories from my past life surged back in an instant.

Crack.
My fist clenched on its own.

All those who were killed by the Monarch of Frost.
The cries for help.
The desperate hands clawing at life, begging not to die.

It felt like yesterday.
The memory looped through my mind, suffocating me.
Dragon’s Claw [A] dug into my palm. Blood dripped to the floor.

◆ Your Will of the Successor [EX] resists surging madness!
◆ Gained 13 Sanity.

The message snapped me out of it.

That’s how deeply the Monarch of Frost had traumatized me.

Among the six Monarchs, she ranked among the strongest.
Just hearing her name would send shivers through the entire Allied Force.

Even now, my instincts told me to kill Serapia immediately.

But Will of the Successor [EX] held me back.

She couldn’t be killed.

Ian had once regretted killing the Monarch of Frost.
He must’ve had a rational reason for that.

‘Still, I can’t just sit here waiting for Ian forever.’

Ian might be drawing the Emperor’s attention somewhere else.
I didn’t know when we’d reunite.

I couldn’t afford to wait for his hindsight to catch up to me.

Now that I had committed to action, even if Ian threw a fit about it, I had to think and act on my own.

I raised my eyes calmly.

Serapia was completely hunched over.
Then, as her eyes met mine—

“Eek…”

Her small shoulders flinched, and she bowed her head low.

…No matter how I looked at her, she wasn’t the Monarch of Frost.

When I used Find Weakness [U], I detected no hostility—
only wariness, anxiety, and clumsy innocence.

She didn’t look like a future Monarch.
She looked like a girl waiting to be scolded.

My past life’s memories and instincts rejected her.
But logically, there was no reason to kill her now.

‘As long as she doesn’t awaken as the Monarch of Frost, anyway.’

Which meant that if I wanted to continue not killing her,
I needed to find out something crucial:

When, where, how, and why did Serapia fall and become the Monarch of Frost?

My first hypothesis was the Infinite Elixir.
But the more I thought about it—

‘…It seems more tied to the Power of Cold.’

The power of Infinite [M] didn’t appear to be the cause of her fall into Monarchhood.

‘Hm.’

I tried stitching together memories and clues from my past life…

‘Still don’t know.’

I had no ability to deduce what I didn’t know.

In my previous life, I’d abandoned my family and lived like a vagabond.
I had no idea what was happening during this part of the timeline.

Worse, due to the Monarch of Darkness, most of the related intel had been lost.
Which made it all the more important to investigate the Monarch of Darkness in the capital.

In short:
Right now, I had no idea when, where, how, or why Serapia would fall into darkness.

So the conclusion was simple.

Even if Serapia does fall into darkness—
Even if she fully awakens the Power of Cold—

If I become strong enough to defeat the Monarch of Frost,
none of that matters.

A forest so deep and dark it felt as though it had swallowed all light.

Tree branches overlapped in jagged silhouettes, casting sharp shadows,
and the wind slipping between the leaves made a chilling sound.

‘…That must be it.’

I activated Predatory Instincts [S], and a familiar message floated up.

====
Name: Noctura
Classification: Monsteria – Aves – Nyctalidae – Owl Family
Sex: Male
Age: 8 years
Trait: Low Light Vision [C]

Noctura.
As the classification suggested, it was a mutated owl-type monster—rare and elusive.

Among them, the Noctura had taken the owl’s night vision to an entirely new level.

◆ Low Light Vision [C]

: When activated, the player expends [5 Kcal/sec] to enhance the retinal membrane and photoreceptor density to extreme levels.
While active, the player can detect even minimal light, increasing night vision by [+58,330%].

This skill can be toggled [On/Off].

With this level of Low Light Vision [C],
a Noctura could hunt a rat in a massive city with just a single candle lit.

That alone made it an incredible ability—
but the true value of Low Light Vision was as a component skill.

It was a required piece for Spectrum Vision—
a combined skill that let you see infrared, ultraviolet, and even X-rays.

With infrared, you could detect hidden enemies by reading body heat.

With ultraviolet, you could identify invisible markings, residues, and toxins.

With X-rays, you could read through body structures and clearly observe internal movements.

It brought me one step closer to the realm Ian had once described—

Lumen Pax.
The ultimate state of unity between mind and perception,
where one could grasp the full scope of an opponent and their surroundings with clarity.

According to Ian:

“Those who reach the level of Lumen Pax can perceive every micro-movement in an enemy’s muscles… and track every flow of Mana.”

From that, they could predict attacks, sense subtle shifts in pressure,
and react as though glimpsing a few seconds into the future.

To an outsider, it would look like you were reading the future.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t use Mana,
so I couldn’t fully attain Lumen Pax.

But I could get close—
by building a biological version of Lumen Pax using Spectrum Vision.

And to do that, I needed the retina-enhancing skill: Low Light Vision [C].

But hunting a Noctura wasn’t easy.

Translatin_Otaku

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