Chapter 72. The Infinite Inventory
A translucent message stated that the Inventory’s storage weight limit had changed.
Moreover, it had changed to [∞ kg].
‘....Is this real?’
Honestly, I could not believe it.
Of course, the translucent messages had never lied to me even once, but—
‘Even so.’
How could ∞ kg possibly make sense?
I could not even begin to estimate how much magical power would be required to reproduce a subspace with infinite storage capacity through magic.
No, actually, I did know.
It would require infinite magical power.
But was infinite magical power even possible?
That was why not even the Archmage—or even Ian—could use an infinite subspace.
Although, based on what I had recently learned, Ian possessed an inventory rather than a subspace.
In any case—
‘Should I try it?’
A sack filled with gold coins stood taller than I did.
Judging by its appearance alone, it seemed to weigh several thousand kilograms.
However, when I lightly extended my hand—
Whoosh!
◆Storing “Sack of Gold Coins” in the Inventory.
The sack vanished without the slightest resistance.
When I extended my hand toward the sack of gold coins beside it—
Whoosh!
◆Storing “Sack of Gold Coins” in the Inventory.
That one was also stored without any resistance. The sack beside it and then the next one as well.
I had long since exceeded the inventory’s storage weight limit determined by my strength stat, but—
◆Storing “Sack of Gold Coins” in the Inventory.
◆Storing “Sack of Gold Coins” in the Inventory.
◆Storing “Sack of Gold Coins” in the Inventory.
They continued entering the Inventory.
‘It was real.’
The Inventory’s storage weight limit had truly been converted to [∞ kg].
As long as I fulfilled its storage conditions, I could now store an unlimited quantity of anything inside the Inventory.
There were two conditions for storing something in the Inventory.
It had to be an “object”.
It also had to be something I “owned”.
Suppose a continent fell within the category of an object and I could claim ownership over it.
That would mean I could store an entire continent inside my Inventory.
I stored all the sacks of gold coins, along with the remaining coins and gemstones that I had yet to pack—
“......!!!!”
Kai’s eyes widened as though they were about to tear apart.
His blue eyes were no longer merely wide with astonishment; they practically looked ready to split open.
His reaction was understandable since sacks containing tens of thousands of kilograms of gold had disappeared before his eyes.
“Magic...?!”
Moreover, it had been done by me, someone completely incapable of using Mana and whose Mana sensitivity approached zero.
“Were the soldiers’ stories true...?”
I had no idea what the soldiers had told him about me, but—
“You’re right. It really was true.”
I was also extremely surprised.
I knew that the messages would not lie to me, but personally confirming it was still astonishing.
There was a reason it was an authority possessed by the Monarch of the Abyss.
There was a reason it was ranked [M].
It was such an outrageously—no, overwhelmingly—overpowered ability that the word Myth did not feel even remotely excessive.
Furthermore, Infinite [M] could be integrated with concepts other than the Inventory.
A concept was the generalization of a group of objects.
It also encompassed invisible things such as human thoughts, time, gods, and transcendent entities.
That meant I could integrate it with anything as long as I raised my Understanding of Infinity.
I could start with infinite stamina and Mana like Avarus, followed by infinite strength and agility, infinite calories, infinite eyesight, infinite memory, infinite luck, and so on.
I could integrate it with anything that could be generalized into a concept.
Just in case, I attempted to integrate it with every concept that came to mind.
However, none of them worked.
Apparently, my [Understanding of Infinity] was still too low to integrate it with anything other than the Inventory.
‘Understanding of Infinity....’
Honestly, I had no idea what that was supposed to mean.
It was not as though I did not know what infinity was.
A state that continued expanding endlessly. Something without limits or restrictions. That was infinity.
However, what the vision had taught me was different.
It was possible to compare the sizes of different infinities.
Different types of infinity existed.
Consequently, certain infinities were “countable”.
‘Hmm.’
It was not easy to understand.
More precisely, I could not grasp it intuitively.
‘Would the Archmage know?’
The Archmage, one of the heroes of the Coalition Forces, might know something about infinity.
Arcane Studies was an academic discipline that interpreted every phenomenon and law in the world.
Consequently, Arcane Studies contained countless fields.
Life Arcane Studies researched the phenomena of life.
Energy Studies researched the laws governing energy.
Elemental Arcane Studies researched the fundamental elements of nature, among many other fields.
Alchemy was also a field of Arcane Studies.
A mage who specialized in Alchemy was called an “Alchemist”.
Being a mage did not mean that one was proficient in every field.
It was both common and natural for mages to choose one field of Arcane Studies as their specialty and devote themselves entirely to it.
However—
The Archmage was different.
She had mastered every field of Arcane Studies.
In that regard, the Archmage had once told me something.
—If you ask me “why” a phenomenon occurs, I cannot give you an answer.
However—
—Under a given set of conditions, I can explain everything about “how” that phenomenon occurs.
The laws that composed this world and the truth known only to the gods.
The Archmage had come closer to reaching that truth than anyone else, and the Coalition Forces called her the [Mage of Truth].
In that sense, all my current knowledge of Evolutionary Biology—
I had learned and studied all of it under the Archmage during my time with the Coalition Forces.
The Archmage was bound to know something about infinity that I did not.
‘At this point in time, she should be at the Langrid Mage Tower.’
Unlike Ian’s location, I knew approximately where the Archmage was.
For now, I had put her aside because reuniting with Ian was my highest priority, but—
‘It wouldn’t hurt to establish a connection with her in advance.’
After all, she was also one of the greatest assets I absolutely had to recruit into the Coalition Forces.
In any case—
Although I could not use Infinite [M] for anything else right now—
Expanding my Inventory’s capacity to [∞ kg] was already an enormously satisfying achievement.
I could now store an unlimited quantity of the nutrients required for Regeneration [B+].
In other words, I had effectively obtained “conditionally infinite stamina”.
Of course, I did not possess infinite money with which to purchase infinite nutrients, but—
‘It’s worth more than twenty million gold.’
The money I had taken from Avarus’s secret vault exceeded twenty million gold.
To be precise, it amounted to 23,453,200 gold.
That was equivalent to a kingdom’s annual budget….or perhaps not quite that much.
Still, it was an enormous sum comparable to the annual budget of a small principality.
Furthermore, this was by no means an amount of wealth that could have been accumulated within a mere Viscounty.
‘Was this the Dark Merchant Company’s operating fund?’
That seemed to be the case.
It was money the Dark Merchant Company had accumulated to recruit collaborators throughout the various kingdoms.
In other words, it was a slush fund intended to bribe the nobles of the Kingdom of Vatenberg.
In my previous life, this was probably how the Dark Merchant Company had taken control of the Kingdom of Vatenberg’s political establishment.
In this life, however, I had intercepted the money midway.
Not only had I inflicted an enormous financial blow upon them, but I had also practically destroyed the Dark Merchant Company’s plan.
‘I’m loving this.’
I could already hear the Devotees of the Fallen Souls screaming in delight.
‘This should also be enough as the Coalition Forces’ initial funding.’
Now—
‘All I have to do is find Ian.’
I merely needed to reunite with Ian.
There was still no news of him, but that was probably because he was searching through some remote mountain valley in an attempt to find me.
Before meeting Ian in my previous life, I had lived no differently from a monster after succumbing to madness.
Because I could not allow people to see me, I had wandered through regions far removed from civilization.
Therefore, if Ian was searching for me, he would prioritize areas isolated from civilization.
However, he would not continue searching only those places forever.
The Predator Merchant Company’s reputation was spreading rapidly.
I would probably meet Ian soon.
In other words, everything was proceeding smoothly. Once I finished organizing my thoughts—
“I-Impossible...!!”
Kai still had not recovered from the shock.
It was the most extreme display of astonishment I had ever seen from him.
“U-Ugh...!”
The Infinite Inventory appeared to have been quite a shock to him.
A power that transformed the impossible into the possible. An ability that turned recklessness into miracles.
Until now, Kai had struggled to describe Adrian with such phrases, but Adrian could no longer be explained or understood through them.
Whenever Adrian waved his hand through the air, piles of gold coins disappeared.
Then he continued walking as though nothing unusual had happened.
“....Oh, right. I should take this RuneSteel door too.”
Crack!
Adrian tore apart the solid RuneSteel door as easily as splitting tofu.
When he waved his hand, the solid RuneSteel door disappeared somewhere as well.
As Kai silently watched Adrian—
“N-No....”
He could not even begin to comprehend what kind of person Adrian was.
Because that was just how Adrian was. That was the only way Kai could accept it.
Nevertheless, there was another issue he needed to address.
“Do you intend to take all of the wealth?”
At Kai’s question, Adrian stopped walking.
“Are you suggesting we should leave that much money behind?”
“But that wealth belongs to Viscount Venenon, does it not?”
“So?”
“What?”
“Did what you saw earlier look like Viscount Venenon to you?”
Kai could not think of anything to say.
“The real Viscount Venenon died a long time ago.”
“Then it should at least go to his children—”
“They’re dead too.”
Kai tightly closed his mouth once again.
....As Adrian had said, Alteron, Viscount Venenon’s son, was also dead.
Furthermore—
“Count Edmond, the original owner of this County, is also dead. Avarus killed every last one of his blood relatives because he wanted to swallow the County whole. You already heard about that, didn’t you?”
Count Edmond had bestowed the title of viscount upon Venenon.
He was also dead.
When Adrian had interrogated Avarus inside the Infinite Labyrinth, Kai had heard this information himself, so it was certain.
Even so—
“It is true that the victor has the right to claim spoils from a Territorial War, but it must be done in the presence of the Royal Family. The appropriate taxes must also be—”
“What are you talking about?”
“What I mean is—”
“When did we do that?”
“What do you mean?”
“When did we ever fight a Territorial War?”
“Why, naturally—”
....Now that Kai thought about it, they had not.
“We launched a surprise attack. A sudden one at that. If we keep our mouths shut, no one will know that we were responsible. Look, we even wore masks.”
Adrian took out a mask from somewhere and put it on.
Kai had no idea when Adrian had obtained it, but what possible purpose could putting on a mask serve at this point?
“Didn’t you reveal your identity as the delinquent the moment you began the attack?”
“Ah, right. I did. I thought they wouldn’t realize it was me, but who could have known it was Transmog?”
Adrian removed the mask and tossed it away again.
“Still, there aren’t any witnesses who saw our faces.”
....That was true.
“Then we might as well have been wearing masks.”
If there were no witnesses, it was an assassination.
That was what Adrian had shouted when he first kicked open the mansion’s front gate.
In other words, it was complete nonsense.
Amazingly, however—
....Kai could not think of a rebuttal.
Even so, that did not mean he had no concerns.
“The Royal Family will dispatch an investigative team regarding this incident.”
Venenon Visounty had completely collapsed.
Viscount Venenon had still been a noble, and more importantly, Venenon Timber was high-quality lumber used by the Royal Family and numerous nobles.
What would happen if its supply suddenly stopped?
“It is only a matter of time before news of this incident reaches the Royal Family.”
The Royal Family would thoroughly investigate the incident.
“If we are identified as the culprits who attacked the viscounty....”
They might even be falsely accused of murdering Count Edmond—
“What are you talking about?”
Adrian interrupted Kai as though he had no idea what Kai meant.
“The culprit who attacked the viscounty is above me.”
Kai raised his gaze and looked above Adrian’s head.
There was only the dark ceiling of the underground secret vault.
He could not see anything.
“No, not that one.”
Adrian gestured toward his abdomen with his chin.
His stomach.
The human organ responsible for digestion.
In other words, Adrian was referring to “Avarus”, the chunk of flesh currently being digested inside his stomach.
For a brief moment, Kai’s mind abandoned him.
“Wasn’t Venenon Viscounty destroyed by Avarus, after which he stole all its wealth and fled?”
Adrian instantly fabricated a scenario.
Kai’s runaway mind never managed to return.
That was because not a single part of Adrian’s statement was false.
Venenon Viscounty had indeed been destroyed by Avarus.
Avarus had then swallowed the County whole.
While impersonating Viscount Venenon, he had also stolen all the viscounty’s wealth.
The only difference was—
“When we arrived, the secret vault was already empty. What are you talking about?”
Adrian had merely added a slight embellishment to the scenario.
“More importantly, this is the safest money in the world, so there’s nothing wrong with taking it.”
“What do you mean by the safest money in the world...?”
“A criminal’s money.”
....Amazingly, Kai could not refute that either.
Since not a single thing Adrian had said was incorrect—
“I understand perfectly.”
Kai carefully picked up the mask Adrian had thrown away.
* * *
Rustle, rustle.
After somehow convincing himself, Kai picked up the discarded mask and put it on.
He meticulously adjusted it to ensure that no part of his face was visible.
I wondered what purpose that could possibly serve at this point, but regardless—
We left the secret vault while following the light from Kai’s Aura.
A long spiral staircase stretched upward.
As I slowly climbed the stairs, I organized the information in my mind one piece at a time.
It was information I had extracted from Avarus inside the Infinite Labyrinth.
Desperate to gain even a brief reprieve from his endless suffering, Avarus had freely revealed information that I had not even asked about.
Most of it was information I already knew.
However, there had also been a fair amount of unexpected information that I had never learned, even in my previous life.
The first revelation was—
‘He deliberately approached Seraphia.’
Avarus had intentionally approached Seraphia.
His objective was to make Seraphia consume the Elixir of Infinity that Avarus himself had reluctantly taken.
‘Seraphia must have consumed it in my previous life.’
After all, Seraphia must have fallen ill in exactly the same way during my previous life.
Although the process through which the Lycanthrope and the monster legion that attacked the County were defeated had been different, the outcome of Seraphia falling ill had remained the same.
Therefore, the future altered by the variable known as me—
One could say it truly began from this moment onward.
From the moment Seraphia did not consume the Elixir of Infinity because of me, a new branch of the future would begin to grow.
In that regard—
‘He called her the Predestined One.’
Avarus had referred to Seraphia as the “Predestined One”.
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