Chapter 78: Star Constellation Battle: Boss Mochiba Akio!

“Roar——————!”

With a resounding dragon roar, the massive Golden Dragon spiraled out from around Shengzai and immediately coiled around one of Mochiba Akio’s arms.

At over ten meters long, the Kangjin Dragon was a colossal beast to ordinary players, but to Mochiba Akio, now transformed into a Death God with a body dozens of meters tall, the Kangjin Dragon was barely the size of his own arm.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the Kangjin Dragon, Mochiba Akio did not rush to attack; instead, he carefully examined the dragon coiled around his arm, a look of curiosity appearing on his face.

For just moments ago, he had used his administrator privileges to scour SAO’s vast database—and found absolutely no data or information related to the Kangjin Dragon.

In other words, this golden eastern dragon before him had never existed in SAO’s data until now.

When developing SAO, Mochiba Akio had tried every possible means to fulfill his dream of turning this world into a true, living reality.

The rigid, fixed programs and modules of a computer were clearly insufficient to allow the world itself to grow.

To compensate for SAO’s lack of growth potential, Mochiba Akio ultimately made a crazy move: he abandoned his physical body, replacing the computer’s AI with his own brain and soul.

A computer AI could not grow, but as a human, he could. In essence, he had become something akin to an “electronic spirit,” eternally “alive” within the network.

Because of Mochiba Akio’s radical act, the SAO world itself gained far greater possibilities and adaptability.

The power Shengzai wielded was data that had never existed in SAO—but now, the world itself was evolving and accepting it, like a baby absorbing new knowledge.

“Analyzing…”

The Kangjin Dragon, originally coiled around Mochiba Akio’s arm, appeared to him as nothing but a string of question marks—except for its HP bar.

Under Mochiba Akio’s manual intervention, the dragon’s description and attributes slowly began to appear before him.

【Kangjin Dragon, one of the Twenty-Eight Mansions, second of the Seven Mansions of the Azure Dragon, Eastern Mansion. Lengthy, scaled, capable of flight and swift movement, resembling a dragon, gentle temperament, skilled in controlling wind.】

Type: Unique Skill — Spirit Sword Spirit Summoned Entity

Level: Equal to player level

Correct. When Mochiba Akio completed the Kangjin Dragon’s data attributes, Shengzai saw them too—and was utterly stunned.

He had previously lied and called his “Spirit Summoning” ability a “Unique Skill,” but he never imagined Mochiba Akio, while refining the data, would actually name this power “Spirit Sword.”

“I didn’t expect that besides being the national kendo champion, you’re also from a legendary eastern family of spirit exorcists. That’s quite a surprise.”

In today’s information-driven age, Mochiba Akio, fully integrated into the network, could effortlessly retrieve global online data—finding information on the Kangjin Dragon posed no challenge.

The Twenty-Eight Mansions are an eastern Chinese astronomical term, referring to the celestial lodges of the sun, moon, and five planets.

In ancient eastern cultures, many Daoist traditions were deeply tied to these concepts.

Mochiba Akio had searched Shengzai’s identity online and learned that Shengzai hailed from China, and that “Wenren” was an ancient, mysterious eastern clan.

A mysterious eastern family, paired with the Kangjin Dragon—an eastern stellar power—everything now made sense.

As a scientific genius, Mochiba Akio did not believe in ghosts or spirits; he was a true materialist.

He believed that in the real world, even if Shengzai had inherited his family’s ancient legacy, he could never summon a supernatural entity like the Kangjin Dragon.

But SAO was different—it was a data-driven world. After granting this world immense possibility and adaptability, Shengzai’s inherited power reappearing here was no longer impossible.

Unfortunately, just as Mochiba Akio completed the data and attempted to use this power, he realized he could not.

Just as Kirito’s “Two-Sword Style” required the game’s highest reaction speed as a hard prerequisite.

Although Mochiba Akio had used his privileges to name Shengzai’s power “Spirit Sword,” mastering and using it still required a hard prerequisite.

To master “Spirit Sword,” one must not only understand the knowledge of the Mansions, but also know how to construct talisman arrays and hand seals.

Clearly, Mochiba Akio believed these were part of Shengzai’s family legacy—only those of his bloodline could use them.

In short, this so-called “Spirit Sword” was no different from Shengzai’s exclusive skill.

Mochiba Akio, having confirmed that SAO’s data could evolve and grow beyond its original limits, was now extremely pleased.

But pleasure aside, the battle must continue.

Seeing the Kangjin Dragon tightly coiled around his arm, Mochiba Akio did not hesitate—he reached out with his other hand, grabbed the dragon, and slammed it into the ground.

After its data was completed, the Kangjin Dragon was classified as Shengzai’s pet, its level equal to Shengzai’s own.

Though its HP bar was far thicker than Shengzai’s, it could not withstand even a third strike from Mochiba Akio’s level and stats.

“Roar——————!”

The Kangjin Dragon, violently yanked and smashed into the ground, let out a cry of pain—its HP bar plummeted visibly to a sliver.

As the summoner, Shengzai could sense the Kangjin Dragon’s deep resentment.

In the real world, the Kangjin Dragon would have crushed Mochiba Akio—a mere human insect—with ease, a hundred times over without blinking.

But in this damned world, it felt bound by some rule-force, its power severely suppressed—until now, it was being ground into the dirt!

Yet just as the Kangjin Dragon was smashed to the ground and Mochiba Akio drew his scythe to deliver the final blow, Shengzai lunged forward again, blocking the strike with his one-handed sword.

“Clang——————!”

As the longsword clashed against the massive scythe, a violent storm erupted in the air—sparks flew, and both Shengzai and Mochiba Akio were thrown backward by the force of the impact.

By level and stats alone, Shengzai could never stand against Mochiba Akio—but he had just used the skill “Weapon Block.”

“Weapon Block,” as the name suggests, forces a blocking Panding using a weapon.

If timed correctly, it triggers a “Block” effect, ignoring all level and stat differences.

“Spirit Summoning · Azure Dragon—Weihuo Hu!”

“Spirit Summoning · Vermilion Bird—Xingri Ma!”

“Spirit Summoning · White Tiger—Kuimulang!”

“Spirit Summoning · Black Tortoise—Shihuo Zhu!”

(End of Chapter)