Astral Code

The Astral Code is a unique-grade strengthening relic recovered from ancient ruins and bought by Randalph Brigsiel at the second Demon World Auction. He consumes it to overwrite Wrath, persistently lowering the sword skill’s intelligence safety threshold and preventing its abnormal state from taking him over while that requirement is met.

History

Discovery, auction, and purchase

The spirits find the Astral Code in ancient ruins and make it the opening lot of the second Demon World Auction. Dubolong presents it in a long black box as an apparently ordinary black rod more than twenty centimetres long. Although every grand duke bids, Randalph wins it for 300,000 points, and the spirits arrange to send it to his dungeon after the auction. (Chapters 64–69)

Overwriting Wrath

After returning from the auction, Randalph reviews the relic and chooses Wrath over his cloak Sloth because the sword is his more directly used equipment. He calls the Astral Code’s name, selects Wrath from the system prompt, and begins the overwrite. His magic power of 93 significantly raises the success chance, and the process reaches completion without failure. The randomly selected characteristic lowers Wrath’s intelligence requirement: if its user has more than 76 intelligence, the Wrath state cannot take control. The Astral Code is not treated as a separate object after this operation; later references concern the property it left on Wrath rather than a reusable relic. (Chapters 72–76)

Lasting protection from Wrath’s abnormal state

The enhancement is later confirmed in combat. Activating Wrath still reduces Randalph’s intelligence by twenty and leaves him excited, but the Astral Code property prevents the destructive abnormal state from controlling him when his qualifying intelligence remains above the threshold. It does not remove the intelligence penalty, protect him from Sloth’s separate unknown state, or make Wrath safe under every condition. (Chapters 98–99, 113)

Abilities and properties

• It adds one option to a selected item. Its listed possibilities include increasing a statistic by one or two and randomly strengthening a specific characteristic; the user cannot directly choose the resulting characteristic. (Chapters 64–69, 72–76)
• Activation requires calling the relic’s name and selecting an eligible item from the system prompt. The target is then “overwritten” during a progress sequence. The cited use is one-way, with no later separate Astral Code object or reversal procedure described. (Chapters 72–76)
• The operation can fail, and the probability of failure depends on the user’s magic power. Randalph’s magic power of 93 significantly improves his odds, but the evidence supplies neither a universal success threshold nor the consequences of failure. (Chapters 64–69, 72–76)
• On Wrath, the selected characteristic prevents takeover by the Wrath abnormal state when the user’s intelligence is above 76. Wrath’s normal twenty-point intelligence loss still applies, so the protection has a real stat requirement rather than granting unconditional immunity. (Chapters 72–76, 98–99, 113)
• Its protection is specific to the enhanced item. Randalph explicitly notes that it does not resolve the distinct danger posed by Sloth. (Chapters 72–76)

Ownership and custody