Chapter 860: Handover (28)
“…I feel your explanation is lacking.”
A serpent, hundreds of meters long, hovered over the vast jungle.
It coiled its body into a great circle, its terrifying form filling the space within with darkness.
As if the serpent’s consciousness construct had itself become a gate connecting to the Outer Sea, it slowly writhed, falling into corruption.
A precarious wave of darkness emanated from it, threatening to collapse and devour the entire mindscape at any moment.
Even after hearing Heavenly Sight’s explanation, Lennok quietly observed the scene before speaking.
“I understand that when an Ascendant’s mind breaks upon death, a gate connecting reality to the Outer Sea opens. That would mean the ‘Gates’ in this world are spaces created by the deaths of Ascendants who existed in ancient times.”
“Correct.”
“But that thing,” Lennok said, glancing at Pyeonram, “is a construct of memory left behind in the past, much like you. Is it not?”
“How can something like this happen when it’s not the main body that exists in reality?”
Pyeonram’s mindscape existed within the subconscious of the tower’s Guardian Spirit Beast.
But this Pyeonram was not the original, but a consciousness construct created from the memories she had left behind.
A fragment, pieced together from Pyeonram’s memories and time—once undoubtedly Pyeonram herself, but now detached from the real timeline.
Even if such a being went mad and became corrupted, how could it possibly affect reality?
Upon hearing Heavenly Sight’s explanation, Lennok had immediately understood the subtle difference in nuance and, paradoxically, had fallen into deeper doubt.
But Heavenly Sight simply smiled at his words.
“I told you, didn’t I? I’m not stopping it. I’m showing you.”
“Then…”
“What is happening here now is the final moment of the consciousness construct Padme left behind. It is an end that has not yet come for her true self.”
Heavenly Sight shrugged.
“The only thing collapsing is this one mindscape. Only the consciousness construct of Padme, the owner of this space. The one thing that puzzles me, however… is that she chose this end for herself.”
“She chose it herself?”
“Yes. She was clearly restraining herself until a short while ago, but just before you arrived, she severed all attachments and fell into corruption. I don’t know why she would choose the worst possible death for herself.”
“…”
No, Lennok thought he knew the reason.
The curse of molting that existed between Pyeonram and the Guardian Spirit Beast.
Only after confirming that the curse—which caused spirit beasts of the same lineage to devour each other—had vanished, did Pyeonram’s consciousness construct choose its own death.
If the curse of molting had not been resolved, the Guardian Spirit Beast, connected to this mindscape, would have been swept away by the Outer Sea as well.
Pyeonram’s construct, aware of this, had postponed its own death, and only after realizing Lennok had succeeded did it accept its end.
Knowing full well it was the worst possible death for herself, she waited until she was certain that the consequences would not spill over to anyone else.
As Lennok, having realized this, fell silent, the massive form of Pyeonram hovering in the air began to slowly rotate.
Kugugugu!!!
The giant serpent’s entire body turned pitch-black. Its scales, too, discolored to black and began to fall away, one by one.
The darkness of the Outer Sea, seeping from within the circular passage, consumed the serpent’s body and warped its form.
The corruption and death of a Transcendent, a sight even Lennok had never witnessed before.
Having lost its head, scales, and even its tail, Pyeonram’s consciousness construct finally transformed into a completely black ring.
From within the circular gate, stained with viscous darkness, a jet-black substance surged like a fountain, gurgling upwards.
Kuuuuuooooooh!!!
“…”
In that moment, Lennok understood why the ‘Gate’ connected to the Outer Sea was called a ‘Well’.
A horrifying, circular passage that seemed to be drawing up infinite darkness from an unseen space beyond.
Anyone who had witnessed its birth with their own eyes would have found no other word but ‘well’ to describe it.
But Lennok’s thoughts were cut short as the darkness overflowing from beyond the Well rushed toward them like a tidal wave.
“No, wait.”
Kiiiiing!!
Just as he was about to raise his will-thought to block it, Heavenly Sight raised a hand and began to form a hand seal.
Simultaneously, a massive pillar of light erupted with her at its center, creating a blinding curtain.
Kugwagwagwagwa!!!
The pure white lighthouse, dozens of meters high, burst with dazzling radiance, illuminating the darkness surging from all sides.
The light that poured from it pushed back the cascading darkness, illuminating and halting it.
“…!!!”
“Keep watching, wizard.”
The darkness of the Well, created from Pyeonram’s massive form, was as vast, deep, and viscous as the sea.
But Heavenly Sight didn’t even blink as she single-handedly received the immense torrent of darkness pouring from the hundreds-of-meters-wide diameter.
“Witness how Pyeonram’s consciousness construct dies. See for yourself how an Ascendant’s consciousness breaks down.”
“…That is.”
“A beast, born as a spirit and became an Ascendant, is now pouring out everything it has as it dies,” Heavenly Sight said quietly.
“For one who seeks a challenge, if you wish to gain something, this moment is the most perfect opportunity there is.”
“…”
Was she advising him to gain inspiration for ascension by watching Pyeonram’s consciousness die?
Although he had listened intently to Heavenly Sight’s words until now, Lennok honestly couldn’t empathize with them.
Through countless battles and awakenings to reach his current state, there was very little Lennok had obtained easily.
No matter how intense and transcendent the intuition, no matter how stimulating and grand the inspiration seared into his eyes, it meant little if he couldn’t reproduce it himself.
At the stage of pioneering one’s own path beyond the echelons, the important thing was whether one could create it with their own hands.
Just as seeing is different from learning, and learning is different from understanding, understanding is also different from creating.
If he could have changed merely by witnessing the corruption and death of an Ascendant, then something should have already changed the moment he faced the Outer Sea with Gye-baek.
“…Fine.”
But Lennok set aside his rising questions for a moment and closed his eyes.
From the moment his initial plan to question Pyeonram fell apart, there was no reason not to follow Heavenly Sight’s words.
If Heavenly Sight, who had seen a considerable amount of the abilities accumulated within Lennok, was saying so, there must be a reason.
Kiiiiing!!!
He raised his will-thought to its absolute limit, honing it to an infinite sharpness to observe everything around him.
He ignored all form and procedure, focusing solely on catching up to Pyeonram’s sinking consciousness before him.
“Hoh…”
Ignoring even the faint sound of Heavenly Sight’s admiration, Lennok slowly turned his consciousness toward the dark Well.
Fwaat!!
He slammed the senses he had left in the space toward the other side of the Well, from which the viscous darkness was flowing.
Just as he had when he first followed Gye-baek to face the Outer Sea, the moment he peered into the Well formed by the transformation of Pyeonram’s consciousness construct…
Lennok understood why Pyeonram was a Transcendent who had reached the echelon of an Ascendant as a sorcerer.
Kagagak!!
The massive body of the serpent, sinking coiled within the darkness.
The form of the consciousness construct, slowly scattering as its scales all fell away.
All of that consciousness, becoming one with the sea of darkness and crumbling away, was composed of an uncountable number of formulas (式).
Sg-sg-sg-sg-sg
Chk-chk-chk-chk-chk
[…….]
High-dimensional sorcerous script that even Lennok, who had studied ancient texts, could not comprehend in the slightest.
An extremely intricate sorcerous chant woven from millions of such scripts.
What did it mean for such spellcraft to be breaking down and emerging from the consciousness of Pyeonram as she died to become a Well?
It was the fact that Pyeonram’s consciousness construct had existed as sorcery itself, made manifest.
The moment Lennok realized this and lifted his gaze, feeling a chill brush past a corner of his heart…
Pat!
Lennok’s consciousness instantly returned to its original position.
“Kuh…!!”
“Telling you to watch didn’t mean you should throw your consciousness into the Well.”
Seeing Lennok collapse to his knees, gasping for breath, Heavenly Sight asked, looking genuinely surprised.
“In that brief moment, you analyzed the Well’s structure and even calculated the time to return, manipulating your will-thought to do so? You seem to have a lot of experience with this.”
“…”
Instead of answering Heavenly Sight, Lennok clutched his throbbing head and bowed.
Heavenly Sight chuckled as if it wasn’t that surprising.
“It’s amazing your head didn’t explode after looking directly into the Well. Your information processing speed seems even better than mine. Is that how you inherited Jindun’s barrier techniques?”
“…Pyeonram’s consciousness construct was being absorbed and dismantled by the Outer Sea,” Lennok finally answered.
“And all of that dismantling consciousness… was made of sorcery.”
“If you saw all that, then things will be quick. Were you able to interpret it?”
“No.”
After a moment’s thought, Lennok shook his head.
“It’s the result of reconstructing one’s own intellect and will from the very bottom with sorcery. If one could weave an Ascendant’s intellect with spellcraft, that concept would no longer be bound by the echelon of a tier. As someone who is not a sorcerer, it would be difficult for me.”
“That is the core concept that defines the being known as Padme Kiesa,” Heavenly Sight said, nodding.
“Padme was born a spirit beast, and as she learned sorcery, she suffered from a long identity crisis. She said she agonized greatly over whether to stand with her instincts as a beast or her reason as a sorcerer.”
Kwaang!!
Dense darkness overflowed from the edge of the pure white lighthouse’s curtain.
Catching a lump of darkness falling from above with one hand, Heavenly Sight casually wiped it away with the back of her hand.
Sorcerous script, writhing as if alive, materialized on her palm.
Showing the script in her hand to Lennok, Heavenly Sight spoke.
“So what Padme chose after much deliberation was… to completely dismantle her own instincts and intellect, and reconstruct them through sorcery.”
“…”
Silent, Lennok asked.
“Is… such a thing possible?”
It was an unrealistic explanation that felt absurd even to a wizard who had peered into all sorts of the world’s secrets and taboos and transcended echelons.
Quickly mulling over Heavenly Sight’s words, Lennok asked.
“To achieve something like that, you would need an extremely intricate design that allows the spellcraft to operate autonomously even after the caster’s will has been extinguished. Can you do that with sorcery, which relies on senses?”
“…”
“And even if it succeeded, from the moment you reconstruct your instinct and reason like that, you could never be sure if it’s the real you.”
The method Heavenly Sight described was not simply a matter of injecting sorcery into one’s mind.
Dismantling and reconstructing instinct and intellect was an act that tampered with the caster’s very self.
It was, in a sense, tantamount to replacing one’s own brain with a processing unit that operates solely on spellcraft.
Even if it were to function identically to before, no one could be certain that the self after the mental reconstruction would be the same as the one before.
“Padme isn’t human, so her very sense of self-awareness is different from ours. No one knows how she took that fact.”
Heavenly Sight gestured with an indifferent expression.
“The important thing is that Padme succeeded. She perfectly dismantled and re-established her own instincts and reason, and immediately after, she rose to Level 9 and became an Ascendant.”
“…”
“Do you see why I’m explaining this to you?”
“Are you saying that to challenge ascension, one must gamble with their very self?”
“No.”
Heavenly Sight shook her head firmly.
“I’m saying that the method Padme used has a common thread that applies to all of us.”
“…”
“The sorcery that Padme Kiesa used to reconstruct her self. It was already far beyond the concept of echelon as we know it.”
Towards the silent Lennok, Heavenly Sight spoke softly.
“A power that breaks the caster, does not depend on the caster, and yet newly constitutes the caster’s self. That was already something that surpassed Padme Kiesa herself. Do you know what this means?”
“That is…”
At that moment, realizing what Heavenly Sight was trying to say, Lennok fell silent.
Because he understood what she was trying to convey through the death of the consciousness construct, through the way Pyeonram existed.
Becoming an Ascendant by gaining the right is not a miracle performed only at the end of a grand ritual, a great divinity, or an infinite flight.
The decisive reason why Pyeonram, born in the body of a spirit beast who learned sorcery and gained intellect, could become an Ascendant.
“The sorcery Pyeonram used to reconstruct her own consciousness. It was something of a transcendent concept that surpassed Level 9.”
Lennok replied quietly.
“Is the right to become an Ascendant created the moment one perceives a standard beyond what is permitted to an Ascendant?”
The sorcery that transcended the concept of echelon that Heavenly Sight had been mentioning from the start.
The decisive catalyst that reconstructed Pyeonram’s existence from scratch and made her an Ascendant.
Something that symbolized a transcendent concept.
“There’s no precise name for it. What people call it is also up to them,” Heavenly Sight said, turning her gaze with an expressionless face.
“Padme was able to do it because it was the lifelong wish she had held since she was born a spirit beast. It was a feat made possible because of the time she spent suffering in conflict between instinct and reason.”
Looking at the scenery of the Well, which grew darker the farther it went, Heavenly Sight spoke.
“A single answer that pierces through one’s entire life. Padme succeeded by using talent and miracles beyond what was given to her, and-”
Kugwagwagwa!!!
Already, the entire world of consciousness, except for the curtain of the lighthouse guarded by Heavenly Sight, was being stained by endless darkness.
“Because of that, she eventually fell, lost her memories, and sank into oblivion.”
“The reason she fell into oblivion…”
“Yes. From there-”
As she said that, Heavenly Sight casually turned her gaze back.
“It would be better to hear it from the real one.”
“…What?”
At that moment, the world of consciousness, submerged in darkness behind Heavenly Sight, split in two and twisted.
Craaaack!!
As if bisecting the real world, the sky and ground distorted, and a fissure, different from the Well, struck down from the outside.
With it, the darkness of the Outer Sea that filled the entire mindscape began to be sucked into the fissure in an instant.
Wooooooong!!!!
Amidst the violently blowing wind, Lennok opened his eyes and stared at the other side of the newly formed fissure.
Something possessing an immeasurably powerful status was on the other side of the fissure, devouring the darkness of the Outer Sea and looking down upon this place.
The moment Lennok realized this and immediately hardened his own consciousness…
Fwaah!!
All the darkness that had flowed from the Well was sucked in and annihilated, and a quiet stillness fell.
Heavenly Sight, who had been observing the situation, withdrew the lighthouse she had erected and turned around.
On the opposite side of the endlessly vast horizon of consciousness, stood an expressionless, white-haired girl.
A sharp appearance with complex, unknown sorcerous script tattooed on her brown skin.
It was a face he had never seen before, but upon meeting her like this, he felt he knew who she was.
Just as Lennok, realizing this, unconsciously took a sharp breath and his expression hardened…
“It’s been a while, Padme.”
Looking back at the girl, Heavenly Sight smiled and opened her mouth.
“How long has it been since we met, even like this?”
“Who knows, Madria.”
A cold sneer appeared on the girl’s lips.
“I didn’t particularly want to see you.”
The Level 9 Ascendant Pyeonram, Padme Kiesa.
The Ascendant herself, who was sleeping in reality while guarding the Well, had personally descended upon this mindscape.