How fascinating, utterly fascinating!
She had encountered another monster.
Merely by coming into contact with such a being, he was already qualified to become one of the Thirteen who would decide the fate of humanity.
Of course, Brunhilde still needed to observe carefully.
She wanted to determine exactly what the Four Great Demon Kings were scheming, what kind of conspiracy they had in store.
The timeline shifted back to the moment when King Solomon successfully touched the realm of the divine.
Though King Solomon had now reached the fundamental substrate of the universe and seemingly could wield what was called "magic," he was still far from unleashing true magic.
At this point, he had only grasped the basics. He still needed to explore how to convert and release magic in various ways—not just forming a simple fireball in his hand, but learning to manipulate it, to shape flames into different forms of attack.
How to project it, how to compress it, how to make it explode—all of this required his own research and creation.
That said, these demigods—who had never undergone the divine magic circle's ascension to become true gods—could they not use magic? Of course not.
Even as demigods, they could still wield magic, though it was far inferior to that of true gods.
True gods could draw upon the substrate of the universe—the power of the Root—to unleash magic of an entirely different magnitude.
At present, King Solomon had also touched this substrate, but that didn't mean he could wield power on the same level as a god.
This limitation existed because he was human, while gods were gods. The difference in their physical strength was too vast. The extent to which magic could be unleashed largely depended on how much power the body could withstand.
As the vision continued, King Solomon seemed to grow tired of experimenting with his current abilities and simply went back to sleep.
After half a month of intermittent observation—though not every single minute—totaling over a hundred hours, King Solomon had finally succeeded in creating what could truly be called magic.
To Brunhilde, these spells seemed rudimentary, but that was because she and the others had learned from existing magical knowledge. King Solomon, on the other hand, had developed them entirely on his own.
"Ah~!"
That was Göll yawning. Though the observation had been intermittent over half a month, the cumulative time still exceeded a hundred hours.
Fast-forwarding half a year, was there any major change?
During the day, King Solomon was as busy as ever with various affairs. By night, he was likely still working on magical creations.
In the grand hall where King Solomon met with his ministers, deputy officials from the twelve administrative districts were reporting recent developments in their respective regions.
"That concludes the current situation in the Sixth Administrative District, Your Majesty."
The deputy governor of the Sixth District wore a pained expression as he finished his report.
According to him, the Sixth District had once again suffered attacks from nomadic tribes along the border, resulting in heavy losses. They needed sufficient resources and funding from the capital to rebuild and prevent further raids by those wretched nomads.
After hearing the report, King Solomon showed neither sorrow nor anger—only a sigh.
"Is that so? Then how much do you believe is necessary?"
After King Solomon spoke these words, the deputy governor of the Sixth Administrative District proposed a figure that made the other deputy governors frown slightly.
At this point, Brunhilde decided to skip ahead.
Simultaneously, she withdrew her disgusted gaze from the Sixth District's deputy governor.
This man might deceive others, but he couldn't fool her eyes—this deputy governor was lying.
The amount was likely intentionally inflated so he could embezzle a substantial portion.
Yet just as she was about to look away and fast forward, something bizarre suddenly occurred.
"Ahhhhhh...!"
A piercing scream erupted as the deputy governor's right ear fell to the ground.
It was utterly bizarre—how could an ear just fall off like that?
It looked as though an invisible blade had cleanly severed it without warning.
Had King Solomon used a wind blade to cut off the deputy governor's ear?
But Brunhilde hadn't seen the king make any magical gestures; he simply sat on his throne, perfectly composed.
"Aakos, lying isn't good, you know?"
Faced with this scene, King Solomon merely narrowed his eyes and spoke in a tone laced with amusement.
This confirmed that the deputy governor named Aakos's ear loss was undeniably linked to the king.
But how had he done it?
"My King, what—no, I don't understand what you're—AAAAHHH!"
Another scream tore through the air as, without warning, the fingers of his right hand were crushed into pulp by an invisible force.
"So, would you care to explain what exactly the Sixth District is up to, Aakos?"
"My King, I—I don't underst—AAAAAAAHHHH!"
This time, the scream was so agonizing that everyone in the hall couldn't bear to watch.
One of his eyeballs burst out of its socket, and half his face was torn off by an unseen force.
By now, even the dullest among them understood that these grotesque injuries were connected to their king.
In this moment, their king had become eerily enigmatic.
"Next time, it'll be your heart getting ripped out, Aakos."
King Solomon's eyes remained half-lidded, his faint smile sending the screaming Aakos crashing to his knees.
"I'll talk, I'll talk..."
The reason the so-called Sixth Administrative District suffered such losses was actually due to the district executive colluding with outsiders, allowing nomadic tribes to plunder and then dividing the spoils.
They were always making various excuses to demand supplies from the capital.
After the adjutant finished speaking, his condition grew even more pitiful, as if he had tried to conceal something and was subjected to invisible attacks once more.
"I see. Then you may go to hell."
King Solomon on the throne smiled faintly and waved his hand.
In the next instant, the adjutant, who had been lying on the ground, was lifted by an unseen force, his body twisting violently until it was grotesquely deformed.
"No, nooooooo—!"
The adjutant's agonized screams ended as he was contorted into something no longer recognizable as human.
The sight of his flesh splitting open and bones piercing through was utterly horrifying.
But what exactly had happened?
Brunhilde, who witnessed this, saw no signs of King Solomon casting any spell. Could it be that in just half a year, his magic had already reached an unimaginable, godlike level?
Wait—she sensed something, though she couldn't see it.
No, not that she couldn't see it—she could faintly perceive the air distorting.
Could it be...?
Brunhilde summoned the Akashic System interface and, after some adjustments, saw something that made her expression shift.
There, on the scene, was an additional figure.
A demon!
Had he tamed a demon?
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