Chapter 233: Answer (1)
His wrinkled skin was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a smooth, muscular physique devoid of tattoos.
The ornate accessories that had adorned his entire body were gone, replaced by the appearance of a solitary monk in a humble robe, holding only a stone staff.
Though his appearance, physique, features, and aura were all different, Lennok was neither flustered nor misled.
Instead, he simply let out a small laugh as he gazed at the young man.
“I think I understand why you deployed your Domain so late.”
“……”
“Even while priding yourself on having followed the Cartel’s Chairman for half a lifetime, were you, deep down, yearning for the place you returned from?”
The young man quietly closed his eyes.
Lennok spoke.
“It’s not surprising. A person’s heart rarely moves as they intend. Are there really only one or two people who, much later, look back and realize what they truly desired?”
“I am grateful to you.”
The young man, Parden McQueen, who had regained his youthful body, spoke.
He slowly turned his head to gaze up at the colossal temple standing behind him.
“Even after reaching the Transcendent Realm, I wandered for a long time. I couldn’t accept that the fundamental imagery deep within my heart had returned to this place… because I believed I had never once regretted the moments spent with the Chairman.”
“I see.”
“But now I finally understand. The reason I missed these days of ascetic practice, which I always thought were lonely, boring, and solitary… it was because that, too, was me.”
“……”
“The Parden McQueen who was born an ordinary human and practiced asceticism as a monk is also myself. I… I left all my youth here.”
As McQueen spoke, he spread his arms wide.
It meant that McQueen had reconciled his identity as a human with his identity as a sorcerer.
Even if it was a miracle only occurring within his Domain, the fact that his body had temporarily regained its youth.
It was proof that he had overcome one of the countless branching points that existed even within the realm of a Level 7 Transcendent Wizard.
The stone staff in his hand floated into the air, glowing brightly.
Rumble!!!
At that moment, from the temple courtyard behind him, four stone statues rose, beginning to glare at Lennok.
Arjumarta, which had deployed the Domain with McQueen. And Asura statues, each with the fearsome countenance of a general.
[ROOOOOOOOAR!!!]
The four roaring statues, mouths agape, smashed through the temple walls and charged forward.
Their speed was unbelievable for bodies over ten meters tall. Simultaneously, chains attached to their waists extended, swiftly beginning to encircle Lennok.
Originally a grand barrier used to protect a high-mountain temple. But within McQueen’s Domain, it transformed into a colossal restraint meant to bind only one person.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Like guardian Buddhas protecting a monk’s back, the statues, having swiftly surrounded Lennok from all four directions, simultaneously raised the weapons in their hands.
The chains encircling Lennok rose into the air, forming a massive circle, simultaneously tightening around the space itself.
A space-element binding spell that even McQueen couldn’t normally manipulate.
However, within his core imagery, within the memories of the temple he yearned for.
What could he not achieve within the heart of an ascetic seeking salvation for his own inner self?
Releasing the stone staff, McQueen slowly formed a hand seal with both free hands.
As the incantation completed, the weapons of the statues surrounding Lennok glowed bright yellow.
The power of each individual strike surpassed even the [Pillar of Perdition Liberation Cannon] that McQueen used as his signature technique.
The light streaming from his half-opened eyes simply gazed at the enemy before him.
“Farewell.”
[Four Cardinal Liberations]
[Seven Heavenly Asura Vista]
[Slothful Prison Fall]
The weapons of the statues, falling from four different directions, collided and converged at a single point, generating a massive ripple.
From the center of the ripple, which spread in a colossal circle, an immense amount of energy vertically descended, targeting the single person bound directly beneath it.
A certain-hit technique that Parden McQueen, who struggled to summon even a single statue outside his Domain, now deployed by summoning four directional shikigami.
There was no joy, no sorrow.
Only respect for the opponent who had given him another chance and revealed a new realm.
McQueen slowly closed his eyes.
Until a voice seemed to whisper in his ear.
[Excellent.]
“……!!!”
[Is this truly the landscape of a Transcendent Wizard’s Domain, deployed at full power… This is the second time I’ve seen it firsthand, but the first time I’ve truly felt it.]
“H-how…?”
[Only after reaching this point can I truly see.]
Pale-faced, McQueen snatched the stone staff floating in the air.
The tranquility that had filled his mind was nowhere to be found.
All he could think was that he had to stop the voice lingering in his ear, right now.
His body, temporarily returned to its youth, responded, and McQueen trampled through the snow, sprinting forward.
To confirm the corpse of the enemy who should have undoubtedly died, at the center of the four stone statues, frozen stiff.
And Lennok replied.
[Then, it’s my turn now.]
At that moment, a colossal shadow flowed out from the center of the four statues, instantly beginning to engulf the surroundings.
The high-mountain landscape McQueen had envisioned vanished, instantly devouring the ground and sky, repainting everything with black light.
A world dyed black. Like gazing at a starless universe, he floated in the dark void, forgetting even the ground beneath his feet.
“Aargh!!”
McQueen, who had been struggling madly, stopped breathing only after a massive golden circle appeared before his eyes.
A golden light, appearing abruptly in the air, rotated counter-clockwise in place, chasing its tail and drawing a colossal circle.
“Uh…”
As he blankly stared up at the circle, dozens of similar lights appeared from all directions, also rotating in place and chasing their tails.
Fwaaaah!!!
Golden rings overlapped dozens of times, then created hundreds more ripples.
And then thousands of waves converged, forming a single colossal golden ring.
From the center of that brilliant radiance, Lennok calmly looked down at McQueen.
“Th-this is…?”
McQueen’s fingertips trembled.
Because he knew what kind of technique Lennok had used, it was all the more incomprehensible.
It was proof that a wizard had truly entered the Transcendent Realm.
He couldn’t believe it because he knew this was the landscape of a sorcerer’s Domain, ingrained with their core imagery.
“Can this truly be… the core imagery a human can possess…?”
How could he accept that this vast and incomparably empty space was the landscape of core imagery held by that young wizard?
McQueen couldn’t understand what it meant for a fundamental core imagery, based on one’s lived time and memories, to be a landscape like the universe.
He couldn’t possibly be a human. Unless a monster descending from the outer void had transformed into a human shape—
“I merely changed my perspective.”
Stepping onto the bottomless space, Lennok spoke as he slowly walked.
Ripples resonated wherever his feet touched, and the golden waves behind him faithfully followed.
The only radiance illuminating this dark space shone solely from behind Lennok.
“Moving beyond the past residing in memories, passing through the enlightened present… I decided to choose possibility itself.”
The memories of living as an ordinary human on Earth, and the moments of living as Lennok in this world.
He reviewed all those memories, but there was no core imagery that met Lennok’s standards.
A simple Domain wouldn’t satisfy him. Because Lennok’s talent, spirit, and resolve were already complete.
The core imagery of a Domain, once set, does not change. To stand on equal footing with the powerful individuals who dominate this world, he had to choose the best possibility at this branching point.
Lennok made his decision in an awakened state, thanks to Yakson’s help, contemplating what to do if that possibility wasn’t visible within his own memories.
If there was no core imagery to his liking, he simply needed to bring forth the possibility itself.
Neither past, nor present.
Lennok decided to bring that possibility from a future he had not yet experienced.
“That’s absurd.”
McQueen mumbled blankly.
Because he understood what Lennok’s words meant, he was all the more unable to comprehend the process itself.
“That’s impossible. It’s just wordplay…!! How can a human possibly do such a thing!!”
Just as Parden McQueen hadn’t liked his own core imagery, it was impossible for a human to choose the landscape of their heart as they desired.
It would be unbelievable enough to bring desired core imagery from one’s memories, let alone bringing the necessary core imagery from a non-existent future.
It was something that even McQueen, who had lived for hundreds of years and encountered countless superhumans and monsters, had never once heard of.
“I always agonized over it.”
Lennok ignored his words and continued speaking as he walked toward McQueen.
“In a choice where I could not afford to be wrong even once, what would be the absolute best move I could make…?”
The moment he fixed the core imagery of his Domain, it would become difficult for Lennok to hide his identity in battles against powerful individuals.
What ability could he use to maximize his talent to its limits, without losing the anonymity that had allowed Lennok to move most freely until now?
It would be better if he could freely change the core imagery of his Domain according to the situation.
That’s why Lennok made ‘the opportunity to choose’ itself his guiding principle, and drew possibilities from the future.
“Avid Yonsen accurately saw what I had obtained.”
“……”
“To have obtained the very opportunity to choose. That was practically the same as directly foreseeing countless futures I would face from this very spot.”
It was a path forged by sharpening Lennok’s most powerful talent to an unparalleled degree.
Maximizing his powerful intuition that foresees dozens of steps ahead and his exceptionally keen battle senses, he observes and chooses from countless future possibilities.
The power to observe and realize the myriad branching points extending from Lennok’s own potential.
The Domain chosen by a wizard who had reached the pinnacle was, precisely.
A kaleidoscope reflecting countless parallel worlds.
Flash!!!
At that moment, within the thousands of golden rings that appeared behind Lennok, various different landscapes began to reveal themselves.
A massive amount of information that paralyzed the brain just by looking at it. It was impossible to even guess how vast the compressed capacity within them was.
“Ah, ah…”
Only then did McQueen realize what the landscapes visible within those thousands of rings meant.
The countless branching points that Lennok, as a single human, could have chosen.
The golden rings floating beneath this dark sky were, in fact, ten thousand mirrors reflecting those countless possibilities.
“If they learn, if they learn this… all the magic towers will try to kill you.”
McQueen stammered.
He could say this because he understood, more accurately than anyone else, what Lennok had achieved.
It doesn’t merely stop at dividing, observing, and realizing parallel worlds.
If it were just that, the kaleidoscope behind Lennok wouldn’t be scattered so disorderly.
A deliberate disorderliness. A hint of leeway to allow his Domain to grow further in the future.
Realizing that fact, McQueen screamed at the top of his lungs.
“You are utterly arrogant, Wizard! With a mere Transcendent Realm, are you attempting to steal a glimpse of the world’s laws, without even the certainty that you will reach that point?!!”
“How dare a wretch like you try to grasp a fragment of omnipotence…!! Do you not fear the wrath of the Ascendants?!!!”
Despite McQueen’s desperate scream, Lennok paid him no mind.
Hadn’t he waited for McQueen to deploy his Domain first, precisely to keep this moment a secret?
There was no need to hesitate.
Within two layers of Domains, thoroughly isolated from external gazes, Lennok’s true essence would remain a secret forever.
One of the countless golden mirrors floating behind him slowly descended onto Lennok’s hand.
“Here I come.”
It was one of the countless future possibilities Lennok could have embraced.
One where he disguised himself as Eden, the boss of the Cigar Bang Gang, entered the Torben Magic Tower, and learned unique lightning-element magic.
Overcoming the infighting and rivalries among the wizards within the tower with overwhelming talent alone, reaching a higher state.
And finally succeeding in facing his own inner self – the core imagery of a wizard from that magic tower.
A faint possibility that might have existed at the crossroads of infinite choices was pulled into the realm of reality at this very spot.
RWOOOOSH!!!
A swirling sea of lightning.
Within a sky filled with dark clouds, where no ground existed, colossal blue light flashed, and only one wizard perfectly manipulated all those natural phenomena.
[Domain Deployment: Branching Point Observation]
[Thought-Tier Core Imagery Manifestation]
[Eightfold Thunderous Firmament]
A sky where eight streams of thunder converged.
Within Lennok’s Domain, where never-ending thunder reverberated, McQueen cried out.
“Aaaaaargh!!”
The peak-era techniques, deployed with his restored youthful body, shone once more at this spot.
The four stone statues that had appeared behind him formed hand seals with McQueen, transforming into shields of righteous light, defending all directions.
[White Guard Realm]
A pure white whale surged up from beneath the sea of clouds, swallowing everything whole.