The Lord Who Levels Up by Devouring - LLD Chapter 96: The Teaching (Part 1)

An endless barrage of questions.

Although her personality was completely different from her past life, her intellectual curiosity was just as intense—

“What methods are there to minimize time distortion when compressing or expanding space?!”

This could go on forever.
And frankly, I had nothing left to offer.

I didn’t have an answer for a single one of her questions.

“…Would it be alright if I asked you a question instead?”
“Ah, ah…!”

Iliana flinched and gave a visible jolt.

“I… I’ve been hogging the conversation with my questions, haven’t I…”

And with that, she lowered her head, her voice shrinking to a whisper.

“I got too excited and couldn’t hold back my curiosity…”

She looked utterly dejected—like a dog that couldn’t go on its walk because it started raining.

It almost looked like I had scolded her or something.
And considering she used to be the Commander of the Mage Corps, technically my superior, I was more flustered than anything.

“P-please go ahead! Compared to Lord Adrian, my knowledge is pitiful, but I’ll do my best to share what I can!”

Iliana clenched her fists tightly, as if her earlier mood had never existed.
Two tiny fists gathered near her chest, filled with resolve and sincerity.

“Then… may I hear your thoughts on infinity?”
“Infinity…?”

“Yes.”

Iliana tilted her head slightly—

“…Are you researching infinity?”
“I wouldn’t call it ‘research.’ Let’s say it’s more of a curiosity.”

Her expression suddenly turned serious.
I wondered why—but only for a moment.

“You said you’re not a mage or a scholar of Magicology, right?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Well… have you ever been to the Langrid Magic Tower by any chance?”
“No, I haven’t.”

Even considering my previous life, I’d never visited it directly.
By the time I could’ve gone, the Langrid Magic Tower had already been destroyed by war.

“If you ever stand in front of the Langrid Magic Tower, you’ll see an inscription on the front gate. It was carved by the very first mage—”

The first mage: Arcanis Lilseyn.
He was also the founder of the Langrid Tower itself.

“It’s a strict rule we all must follow at Langrid.”

The Langrid Magic Tower is the cradle of all mages.
That inscription could be considered the iron law of all mages across the continent.

‘Place no limits on your curiosity.
Except for infinity.’

“…So you’re saying the study and research of infinity is forbidden?”
“Yes, exactly.”
“Can I ask why?”
“Well… yes.”

Iliana organized her thoughts for a moment before speaking.

“Infinity is, by its nature, a paradox. The moment you try to define it with finite language, you’ve already missed its essence.”
“Hm.”
“And actually, it’s not like people haven’t tried to study it.”

Of course.
What mage would simply give up on something like that?

Just look at Iliana.
She lives for analyzing and explaining things.

Granted, she’s especially extreme, but most mages shared a similar inclination.

And above all, telling someone not to do something only makes them want it more.
That’s human nature.

“There’ve been countless attempts to describe and study infinity using the systems of Magicology. However…”

Iliana looked downward and continued in a lower voice.

“…The results were disastrous.”
“Disastrous in what way?”
“There were mages who went mad from studying it, or who died trying to experiment with it.”

Like opening uncontrollable dimensional rifts.
Calamitous events caused by runaway energy.
Outbreaks of plagues that disrupted nature’s cycle.
Even the birth of mysterious, incomprehensible entities…

“The fate of those who pursued infinity was never a good one. That’s why a certain proverb came into being—”

‘Infinity is the warning letter you receive when you’ve taken a wrong turn on your path toward truth.’

“But to be precise, it’s the actual infinity that’s taboo. Conceptual infinity is still used in formulas and techniques.”

…What the hell does that even mean?

Actual infinity? Conceptual infinity?
I wanted to just cover my ears and give up.

But since I was trying to deepen my understanding of Infinity [M], I had to force myself to listen.

“Could you explain in more detail?”
“Hmm… Conceptual infinity is essentially the property of numbers.”

“Like the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5?”
“Yes. Natural numbers like that can be extended indefinitely. No matter how large a number N you think of, you can always imagine N+1.”

That endless ability to expand—

“That’s Gamuhan.”

…Wait.

“Isn’t that just the basic idea of infinity?”
“Exactly. It’s the concept of infinity that people are most familiar with. That’s what we call Conceptual infinity.”
“Then what’s physical infinity?”
“Physical infinity is… hmm…”

Iliana seemed to struggle before cautiously continuing.

“…You could say it’s infinity that exists in complete, tangible form.”
“……”
“Or perhaps, physical infinity, you might say.”
“……”
“You’re having a hard time with this, aren’t you?”
“To be honest, yes.”
“That’s where most people get stuck. The idea of physical infinity doesn’t feel real, and it’s not even acknowledged by the laws of our world.”

Iliana elaborated further.

“Did you know that infinity can be counted?”

Countable infinity.
It was the same concept I’d seen in the illusion when I devoured Avarus with Predation [S+].

But seeing and hearing something isn’t the same as understanding it.

“If you don’t mind, could you explain it to me?”
“Of course. It’s a key idea if you want to understand Physical infinity.”

Iliana gave a small nod and continued.

“Countable infinity is called ‘Countable Infinite.’”

I paid close attention to her explanation.

In my previous life, I’d learned countless things from Iliana, including evolutionary biology.

It was thanks to that foundation that I could understand biological evolution abilities,
create combination skills,
and develop evolution skills.

It’s what allowed me to build the Predator’s unique combat style that Ian had envisioned.

Iliana’s teachings were the basis of all of it.
Of course, learning it all had not been easy.

I had to overcome countless moments of wanting to give up before reaching this level.

“For example, let’s say a large group of customers walks into this restaurant.”

Iliana glanced around the Predator restaurant before continuing.

“In that case, how would you compare the number of tables to the size of the group?”
“Wouldn’t we just count the number of tables and the number of customers separately?”
“That works too, but there’s a simpler way—just have one customer sit at each table and see how it turns out.”
“Hm.”
“If there are extra seats, that means there are more tables. If there aren’t enough seats, there are more customers.”
“Ah.”
“So by matching the two groups one-to-one, we can compare their size. And that’s what countable infinity is—it refers to infinite sets that can be compared through one-to-one correspondence.”

At that moment, a faint bluish thread of light appeared at Iliana’s fingertips.
Following the gentle movement of her hand, glowing numbers floated into the air.

Odd numbers like [1, 3, 5, 7, 9…]
Even numbers like [2, 4, 6, 8, 10…]
Natural numbers like [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10…]

“If all three of these sets are infinite, which one has the most numbers?”

Natural numbers include both odds and evens.
A whole is greater than its parts.
So obviously—

“Natural numbers, right?”
“Nope.”

Iliana shook her head.

“They’re all the same.”
“They’re equal in quantity?”
“Yes. You can prove it using the one-to-one correspondence I just mentioned.”

As Iliana waved her hand again, the glowing numbers in the air began pairing up like stars aligning.

1 ↔ 1
2 ↔ 3
3 ↔ 5
4 ↔ 7
5 ↔ 9
6 ↔ 11
…
…

“If you keep going, there should be an odd number corresponding to the natural number 10,000—namely, 19,999.”
“……”
“No matter how large the natural number, it always corresponds one-to-one with an odd number.”