Chapter 626: Iron Discipline (1)
“Boyan must have had his own calculations.”
Lennok said, looking at Boyan, who bit his lip.
“He likely thought it would be difficult to notice if he secretly raised a spirit, as there were too many furnaces to pinpoint the heat source.”
“…”
“Even after the number of furnaces increased to five, he probably believed that if the spirit consumed the heat, it wouldn’t be noticeable. But the problem was, he overlooked the fact that as the spirit grew, it would start emitting heat itself.”
Even if someone were to inspect the inside of a furnace to check its internal facilities, the spirit could simply transform into its ethereal state and hide.
Otherwise, it would be enough for it to simply flee through the intricate furnace passages of the workshop, avoiding any watchful eyes.
“The fact that Machina is relatively unversed in spirit magic also provided a good environment for hiding the spirit for a long time. He used his head quite well, in his own way.”
“Why, Boyan?”
Only then did Cyberd, his face flushed, turn to Boyan, his hands trembling.
“I thought I had never treated you poorly, yet how could you betray my trust for years…!”
“…I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize, tell me why!”
Despite the sharp rebuke, Boyan instead hugged the spirit and bowed his head deeply, offering no reply.
“If he could successfully become a Spirit Sorcerer by raising the spirit well, in some ways, it might be even better than remaining a craftsman in the workshop.”
Lennok chuckled, crouching down in front of the bowed Boyan to meet his gaze.
“Even if all the time he spent in the workshop became meaningless, he probably thought it would be enough to just endure for a few years and raise the spirit like this, didn’t he?”
“You… you know nothing!!”
At those words, Boyan sprang up as if scalded, grabbing Lennok by the collar.
“Don’t make me laugh! How dare a brat who just arrived in the Upper Workshop District…!!”
“Yan!!”
Cyberd roared loudly, but the agitated Boyan didn’t stop there.
“Do you have proof? You’re spouting off as if you know all my thoughts just because you made a few pathetic guesses?”
“Proof?”
But Lennok merely chuckled, letting Boyan’s grip remain on him.
He brought his shaking head close to Boyan’s ear and whispered quietly, so only he could hear.
“That spirit. Shall I guess where you got it?”
“!!!”
Lennok had accepted Cyberd’s request not solely to establish himself in the Upper Workshop District.
There was an undeniable, faint trace of a spirit emanating from Cyberd when he sought him out.
In a way, Lennok was certain that it was connected to his fundamental objective in Machina.
Boyan hadn’t acquired the spirit by chance.
Someone had gifted him the spirit and awakened his talent as a Spirit Sorcerer.
Lennok had just confirmed through Boyan’s reaction that this shadowy figure was connected to Machina’s secrets that Lennok was already aware of.
“Seeing that reaction, I think I can narrow down the candidates even further.”
“Ugh…!!”
Boyan’s face distorted horribly, as if he thought all his secrets would be exposed if he stayed like this.
Thwack!!
Boyan forcefully pushed Lennok away, then thrust the fire spirit he held in his arms forward, drawing out his mana.
The lizard spirit, reacting to Boyan’s mana and synchronizing its own power, immediately opened its mouth wide.
[Hiss-s-s-s!!]
With a strange metallic screech, it violently spat out a torrent of flames.
Kwoooosh!!!
The immense wave of heat instantly engulfed the workshop, not only that, but it burst through the wall and erupted outside.
As the other craftsmen’s faces hardened at the unexpectedly tremendous firepower, and their gazes focused on Lennok, who was caught in the flames, at that very moment.
“Ugh…!!”
Boyan, clutching the fire spirit under his arm, quickly began to flee.
Yan’s figure instantly darted through the hole he had made in the workshop wall and vanished.
The craftsmen, who had been huddled, unable to move properly within the fiery wind, frantically picked up their phones.
“P-police! Call the police!”
“No, you should call the firefighters first!”
“Wait a minute. Come to think of it, the craftsman Mouser earlier…!”
Several craftsmen quickly stood up and frantically checked the spot where the fire spirit had swept through and disappeared, their eyes wide.
There wasn’t a speck of dust left, let alone a pile of ashes or a corpse, near the workbench that had been thoroughly charred by the lizard’s flames.
Mouser, who had been standing by the furnace, yawning, merely clicked his tongue with a leisurely expression.
“Pant, pant!!”
Boyan ran like a madman, clutching the lizard under his arm.
People on the streets stared curiously at the spirit Boyan was holding. He hastily pushed the lizard into his collar, hiding it.
His entire body was instantly drenched in sweat from the heat the spirit emitted and his frantic sprint, but Boyan didn’t care.
His entire body was already soaked in cold sweat from the moment he was accused as a culprit right in front of his master.
“Damn it, damn it…!!!”
He cursed under his breath without ceasing, trying to escape by finding a quiet alleyway where no one was around.
It wasn’t supposed to be like this at first.
When he first obtained the spirit, he only intended to rely on the workshop for a little while until he could properly handle spirit magic.
How long did it take for that small flicker of hope to endlessly swell and transform into greed?
It was already too late from the moment he started secretly raising the spirit in the furnace and failed to report the fluctuating internal temperature of the workshop.
“If it weren’t for that bastard…!!”
If it hadn’t been for the nonsensical babbling of that suspicious craftsman his master brought, he would never have been exposed.
He thought it was only a little more time until he could continue raising the spirit by feeding it the furnace flames for a few more years, becoming a proper Spirit Sorcerer.
Everything had turned to nothing.
All that remained with Boyan was the spirit, which greedily consumed the furnace’s heat and now began to emit flames itself.
[Hiss-hiss?]
Boyan looked at the lizard peeking its head out from his collar and flicking its tongue, then slowly stopped walking and sank down against a wall.
“Pant, pant…”
Boyan had tried to research related books and information to raise the spirit properly, but he hadn’t achieved much success.
All the information about spirit magic existing in Machina was old.
But Boyan believed that precisely because of this, becoming a Spirit Sorcerer was a way to rise higher in this suffocating machine city.
There was no way there wouldn’t be craftsmen or businessmen who would want to smelt or process metal using the spirit’s flames, which couldn’t be explained by the rigid old men and artisans’ experience in the workshop.
And in Machina, where spirit sorcerers were almost nonexistent, this ability was a unique advantage that only Boyan could provide.
With this ability, Boyan could secure a unique position that no one else had in Machina.
“I was planning to leave the workshop and start a business within two years…!!”
“An ingenious idea, but that’s impossible.”
“…”
A cold voice echoed from directly behind the wall Boyan was leaning against.
As if sensing Boyan suddenly standing up, someone slowly emerged from behind the wall.
“It’s difficult for a spirit’s elemental mana to manifest significant peculiarities in the material world. That’s only possible if the spirit itself is of a high Hierarchy, or if its ethereal essence originates from a special environment.”
Lennok, leaning against the wall, gestured towards the spirit Boyan held.
“Your spirit belongs to neither of those categories. It’s a futile dream.”
“…”
Even with his thoughts openly denied right in front of him, Boyan was momentarily unable to respond.
The presence emanating from the craftsman named Mouser who had accused him in the workshop earlier, and the man standing before him now, felt completely different.
There was no trace of the somehow neat and composed craftsman.
Even as he simply stared at Boyan with an expressionless face, there was a dangerous flicker, making his next action utterly unpredictable.
An unknown dread and sharpness mixed, spreading out as a strange pressure.
Boyan, for a moment, thought Lennok didn’t seem like a human being.
“Aaaargh!!!”
Like a seizure, he desperately drew up his meager mana and Will-thought, pouring it into the embraced spirit.
The moment the lizard, clearly sensing its master’s fundamental desire and murderous intent, bristled its burning crest, puffed up its body, and opened its mouth wide.
A wave of flames erupted from the lizard spirit’s maw.
Kwoooosh!!!
It was the most powerful and vile flame Boyan had ever attempted with his spirit.
With this, he could surely incinerate that man, leaving not even a speck of ash.
As Boyan’s cornered face twisted with momentary euphoria, a jet of water erupted directly in front of Lennok, who had been standing still, blocking the wave of flames.
Swaaaah!!!
“…”
A desolate, empty alleyway. A sudden jet of water shot from beyond it.
Boyan, his face blank, turned his gaze and gritted his teeth as he discovered the reason right next to Lennok.
“The fire hydrant…!!”
A fire hydrant, covered in dust, standing in a corner of the street, had suddenly exploded. Its water stream had accurately shot right in front of Lennok, blocking the flames.
Lennok watched the slowly dying flames and asked.
“You were lucky. Weren’t you?”
“That’s impossible. There’s no way this is a coincidence!!!”
What were the odds of a fire hydrant exploding at the exact moment Boyan shot out the spirit’s flames?
Even if the goddess of fortune favored him, it was logically impossible.
Moreover, in Machina, where the entire area was controlled by systems and electronic signals, there could be no errors or coincidences.
Boyan, knowing this, tried to somehow refute it, but Lennok crushed Boyan’s resistance with a single sentence.
“What if it’s not a coincidence?”
“…What?”
“Wouldn’t it be more comfortable for you to just think it’s a coincidence, that you were just lucky?”
What in the world was he talking about? As Boyan thought blankly about the meaning, at that very moment.
Click!!
A utility pole standing beside the alleyway suddenly snapped in half and fell right onto Boyan’s head.
Thump!!
“Aaahhh!!”
As Boyan narrowly dodged the heavy concrete mass and recoiled in terror, at that very moment.
A nearby wall shattered, and a driverless car burst out from inside, ramming into Boyan.
CRASH!!
[Hiss!!]
The lizard, still clutched in Boyan’s arms, opened its mouth wide and spat flames once more, melting the car’s form on the spot.
But it didn’t stop there. All sorts of facilities and structures in the street seemed to be struck by ill fate, collapsing onto Boyan simultaneously.
BANG!!
A dislodged traffic light fell from above, and overheated wires buried beneath the road melted under his feet.
A nearby trash can exploded, showering its contents over him, and a drone patrolling the vicinity rammed into Boyan’s back.
Every time he tried to attack Lennok using the spirit’s power, the entire street, as if a living creature, persistently tried to trip Boyan.
“Pant, pant…!!”
As Boyan tried to somehow counter Lennok, dodging the exploding and scattering facilities around him, and rushed forward.
A manhole cover beneath his feet exploded upwards, hitting Boyan directly in the chin.
CRUNCH!!!
Boyan’s eyes rolled back in their sockets, his jaw twisted diagonally.
Still, being a mana user, he somehow desperately tried to hold onto consciousness and continue the fight.
“…Ugh!!”
But the moment he approached Lennok, he felt an inexplicable dread and immediately retched, collapsing to the ground.
Lennok looked at Boyan curiously, then slowly walked over and looked down at Boyan, who was kneeling and crumpled.
“It seems you’re not without talent as a Spirit Sorcerer. If you can sense something purely through spirituality, it means your senses are alive.”
“You, what… what are you…”
Boyan, his face pale, struggled to speak while writhing on the ground.
Lennok ignored Boyan’s words and casually took the lizard spirit from Boyan’s arms.
Even though his hand held no mana or power, Boyan couldn’t even resist and surrendered the spirit.
The lizard, unlike before, also offered no resistance, stiffening like a dead corpse, merely held up in Lennok’s hand.
“I’ve killed quite a few spirits recently.”
Lennok said with a smile.
“I wonder if it’s because I’ve eased my presence a bit, allowing me to sense them.”
“Gasp, gasp…!!”
Leaving Boyan, who could no longer even properly reply and was gasping for breath, Lennok slowly lifted the lizard and looked at it, speaking.
“Your spirit, I couldn’t explain it earlier, but it’s a rather peculiar ethereal being.”
“…What?”
Lennok’s eyes glowed coldly as he looked at the spirit.
“To be precise, it’s a spirit that shouldn’t exist here.”
He hadn’t explained it to the other craftsmen, but Lennok knew this lizard spirit didn’t originate from this world.
It was a fire spirit fundamentally given to Spirit Sorcerers upon acquiring fire spirit magic in WORLD 2.0.
Eldorgon. Tarhim. Called by unknown languages, but among players, it was commonly known as ‘Salamander,’ a spirit pet.
What Boyan had acquired was precisely a relic and a trace of a spirit from the Old World.
The reason Lennok had been able to relatively quickly identify the problem and find the cause in Cyberd’s workshop was also because it differed somewhat from the traces of spirits Lennok knew.
Lennok had already been half-certain that this faint sense of anomaly was no mere coincidence.
‘Traces of the Old World are more widespread in Machina than I thought.’
This was already the third time he had directly witnessed traces of the Old World in Machina.
Was it truly a coincidence that he had encountered such knowledge and traces, which were rare even in the great cities, multiple times in this city?
The moment Boyan attacked Lennok in the workshop and fled, Lennok hadn’t immediately pursued him precisely for this moment.
“Spirits are sometimes born by chance in harsh or extreme environmental conditions, but there’s no way you acquired the Salamander by yourself.”
Lennok asked.
“Who was it?”
“…”
Was it because it was Boyan’s most fatal memory and weakness?
Even as he was drenched in cold sweat, Boyan tried to evade answering.
Snap!!
Lennok grabbed Boyan’s chin with one hand, forcing his eyes to meet his own.
“Answer me.”
Kiiing!!
“Ah, ahhh…”
In Boyan’s eyes, Lennok’s pupils seemed to rotate strangely, creating an illusion.
After a bizarre battle, difficult to describe in words, Boyan’s mind was pushed to its limit.
Completely blocking all avenues of escape, physically and mentally, and driving him to a dead end, was solely for this moment.
Boyan’s mind collapsed almost too easily, pierced by the Mystic Eye, ransacking the deepest parts of his memory.
Flash!!
[The blindfold. You put it on properly, right?]
[Yes, yes. Of course.]
In the utter darkness, only Boyan’s trembling and a gruff man’s voice could be heard.
[I’m telling you this for your sake, not mine, so make sure there are no gaps in your vision.]
The man, who spoke in a somewhat archaic manner, repeated.
[If a normal human faces even a sliver of light from The Gate, they’ll instantly become an imbecile.]
[W-what… what is The Gate?]
Perhaps his tension eased slightly at the man’s concern.
Boyan in the memory bravely spoke.
[Why are you making a craftsman like me do… something like this?]
[…]
[I thought I’d get paid, but I didn’t know about this… This is too scary!!]
Boyan, walking through a space where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, hands bound, trembling uncontrollably.
The man was silent, then quietly replied.
[Excess is worse than deficiency, and existence always precedes annihilation. A price is required to defy this law.]
[…Huh?]
[The responsibility for awakening lost memories must be borne by all of us.]
Ignoring Boyan, who numbly questioned him, unable to understand his words, the man admonished him.
[You weren’t chosen, nor do you have to be sacrificed, so rest assured. Many others besides you have already retrieved forgotten things from inside The Gate, and in return, they have forgotten.]
[…]
[You just need to stand before The Gate and remind us that the cycle of failure is still turning.]
The man said calmly.
[That will be the only lifeline left to us, who have failed to ascend.]
Boyan, silenced by the frantic will contained within, made no reply.
He simply accepted the reality facing him and continued to walk forward, trembling.
[The required time is but a fleeting moment. No need to endure long. Even this conversation today will simply sink beneath the world as a handful of foam.]
Clank!!
At that moment, a sound of something moving was heard right in front of Boyan, where nothing had been felt.
Boom, Whirrr, Click, Swaaah!!
Growl, Gurgle…!!
A grotesque sound, as if something mechanical, something biological, monsters and humans, all existing forms, were clumped together and moving.
With all his senses blocked, hearing only that sound with his two ears, he couldn’t escape the overwhelming information.
His arms, legs, and shoulders trembled uncontrollably, and his mouth filled with saliva, dribbling out.
The moment Boyan lost control of his body, forgetting even to breathe in ecstasy amidst the sounds.
The man said.
[The Gate opens. Prepare yourself.]