Chapter 861: The Handover (29)
The girl stood with an unreadable expression, gazing blankly at her own consciousness construct floating in the sky.
“……”
It was a chilling scene: a colossal serpent forming a ring with its own body, becoming a well to draw up the darkness of the Outer Sea.
Just as the girl, who had been staring blankly up at it, furrowed her brow in displeasure.
Crack!!
The massive well floating in the sky of the consciousness space began to shatter into countless fragments.
CRASSSH!!
The serpent’s massive body, which had been melting into the deep darkness, splintered, scattered, and slowly vanished.
Winds raged from all directions, pushing the overflowing darkness back beyond the well.
Ignoring the mass of darkness that writhed and spasmed as if trying to remain in this world, she pulverized the consciousness construct that had become the well.
RUMMMBLE!!!!
Pyeonram accomplished all of this with a mere glance, standing motionless beyond the horizon.
Was this the level of dominion a true, physically existing Ascendant could exert when they intervened? Not a clone or a fragment of memory.
“Even if it’s a consciousness space that was carelessly neglected, I knew you would intervene if a problem of this magnitude arose.”
Pat-pat-pat!!!
Heavenly Sight laughed, swatting away the fragments of the well that fell like rain from above her head with one hand.
The Lighthouse Keeper, who had walked out while twisting her clasped hands, looked down at the girl and spoke.
“If an old consciousness construct becomes corrupted and connects to the Outer Sea, it might affect your real self. Right?”
“I have little to say to a ghost of the past.”
Despite Heavenly Sight’s cheerful voice, the girl’s face remained endlessly serene.
“Even our reminiscences are meaningless now. It is far too late to share any understanding.”
“……”
Her expression was impassive, devoid of anger or irritation, as if she felt no stimulation whatsoever.
The profound blankness, unfitting for her age, suggested that the girl before them was a Transcendent merely borrowing an external form.
“Thousands of nights have passed since you left this world. I never imagined your lingering attachments would still remain here.”
Pyeonram, or Padme Kiesa, who had descended into the consciousness space borrowing the girl’s body, replied quietly.
“I will handle the problem with the consciousness construct myself. You should also prepare to depart.”
Looking back at her own consciousness construct shattering to pieces above her head, Pyeonram said.
“Now that your physical body has entered eternal rest in reality, would it be so strange if you became like that at any moment?”
“I can’t do that. I’m not here for you,”
Heavenly Sight said, shaking her head with a bitter smile.
“I have something I must do. It’s a bit too early to disappear.”
“Your mission to observe the Outer Sea using a consciousness construct as a lighthouse to postpone doom, you mean.”
A faint trace of pity flickered across the girl’s face.
“I remember now. We were certainly in similar circumstances. We suffered under duties we endured but never desired.”
“……”
“That tone, that voice… Yes, you are a being very close to the Heavenly Sight I remember.”
“You’ve changed a lot. Your personality, your way of speaking. You used to be much gentler than this.”
Heavenly Sight murmured softly to the silent Pyeonram.
“I know. Ascendants change, too. Even after obtaining the qualification, their thoughts continue to shift. Sometimes they change their minds right before they die. Perhaps I might have been the same.”
“……”
Even after reaching the pinnacle of the hierarchy, Level 9, and becoming an Ascendant, one continues to change.
Sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse. They drift through the finite flow of time, adding things to themselves, while other parts are worn away.
Just as Jindun, who had passed on his barrier techniques to Lennok, had been. Just as Gye-baek, who had thrown himself towards an Outer God, had been.
Thus, the Heavenly Sight of the past and the Pyeonram of the present looked at each other, sharing an unwanted regret.
“……The well I must protect is not a new gate forming within my consciousness.”
Pyeonram, who had been staring at Heavenly Sight with a blank face, opened her mouth.
“My home. The world where I was born. The land those who raised me left behind. I protect the gate of the Great Forest and prevent this world from connecting to the Outer Sea.”
“Even if you forget why you must protect it?”
“Yes.”
Pyeonram murmured and slowly raised her hand.
As she opened her thin, brown hand, dozens of runic characters emerged in the air and began to elegantly wrap around her wrist.
“I will annihilate everything that exists in this consciousness space and reconstruct it anew.”
[Milbeop (Law of Silence)]
[Jongmun (Swollen Sigil)]
[Sarak (Sand Lattice)]
[Taeha (Supreme Haze)]
A massive spell formation, taller than the girl herself, was completed, and a dazzling green radiance vibrated violently.
[Gugeop: Oejeol (Seeking Calamity: Outer Severance)]
Vwooooom!!!
A Transcendent who reached the realm of an Ascendant as a sorcerer, personally incanting and using the spell of Gugeop.
Even Lennok could only barely comprehend that the spell contained an immeasurably immense vibration.
Just as the green radiance that Pyeonram had unleashed shook violently and spread throughout the consciousness space, about to swallow the space whole—
A lightning bolt flashed from the air and struck down, precisely piercing through the intertwining green runes.
CRACKLE!!!
The sharp will-thought of lightning, manifested in the consciousness space, precisely struck the moment the spell was completed, bringing it to a halt.
Watching, Heavenly Sight let out a whistle, and the girl, her incantation interrupted, turned her gaze with a blank face.
“Human. What is the meaning of this?”
“Even if it’s an Ascendant’s decision, I have no intention of sitting back and being annihilated.”
Lennok, drenched in a cold sweat, slightly raised his gaze.
Kagagagak!!!
A brilliant blue lightning bolt was boring through the runic characters being assembled like a complex skein of thread, preventing their formation.
It was a divine feat, his will-thought overwriting the Ascendant’s will to momentarily halt the spell’s operation.
It was merely like forcibly jamming the gap between a key and its lock to make it miss, but the very act of delaying an Ascendant’s incantation was nothing short of a miracle.
“Madria. There’s no time.”
Just stopping Pyeonram’s spell felt like it would split his head open.
This wasn’t reverse-engineering or dismantling it; simply interfering with an Ascendant’s spellcraft purely through the power of will-thought was an incredibly taxing task, even for Lennok.
However, Pyeonram showed little agitation even upon seeing Lennok stop her spell.
“You intend to stop me?”
The girl muttered blankly and tilted her head, then simply raised her other hand and waved it lightly.
“Then I have no choice but to make another.”
“……!!!”
[Milbeop (Law of Silence)]
[Jongmun (Swollen Sigil)]
[Sarak (Sand Lattice)]
[Taeha (Supreme Haze)]
[Gugeop: Oejeol (Seeking Calamity: Outer Severance)]
A Level 9 spell, unbound by Lennok’s interference, completed its repeated incantation in the exact same spot.
KWAAAAAANG!!!
A massive green pillar erupted centered on the girl, splintering into hundreds of branches and weaving a gigantic net across the sky.
It gathered all the fragments of the well falling from the sky, the spirit bodies that were once her consciousness construct, and clenched them all at once.
The net contracted and compressed like a hand with dozens of fingers.
Just as it was about to use the fragments of the consciousness construct in its grasp as fuel to shatter this entire consciousness space—
“Trying to eliminate the problem by erasing a part of your own consciousness. That way of thinking hasn’t changed one bit.”
Heavenly Sight, who had instantly appeared before the girl and snatched her wrist, spoke coldly.
“But not now. Didn’t I say I have something I must do?”
Kiiiing!!!
At that moment, the girl’s expressionless face distorted slightly, and she lost her balance and staggered.
“……Madria.”
“Just because this is the space where your consciousness construct resided, doesn’t mean you can do whatever you want.”
Heavenly Sight, who had forcibly twisted the spell’s direction and shattered the incantation’s balance, said as she snatched Pyeonram’s wrist and lifted it.
Following her hand, the girl floated powerlessly into the air and stared blankly at Heavenly Sight.
“I might not be able to do anything against you with a physical body in the real world, but if only your consciousness has descended here, aren’t we on the same footing?”
Heavenly Sight grinned, pointing alternately at her own eyes and the girl’s.
“Frankly, a snake with dementia doesn’t scare me much. In fact, comparing the you now, who has lost her memories, to how you were before, I’d say you’re weaker now.”
“……”
Heavenly Sight hadn’t just been idly dawdling in Pyeonram’s consciousness space without a plan.
She had remained, knowing Pyeonram herself would intervene if her clone became corrupted and turned into a well.
The reason was that she was confident she could delay that decision to some extent, even with the real Ascendant Pyeonram’s intervention.
However, Pyeonram, whose incantation had been interrupted, did not grow angry even at Heavenly Sight’s interference.
“The memory loss and cognitive impairment present in the human body are ailments unrelated to me. My lapse into oblivion is not for such a reason.”
“……”
“I understand your words, but the consciousness construct must still be dealt with.”
She merely stared at Heavenly Sight with an unreadable expression before bringing up another matter.
“Though born from a memory of the past, it has branched into a different possibility. Eventually, I too will be affected. You wouldn’t want another gate to open on top of the well, would you?”
“Of course not. Though I am curious what would happen if a passage to the Outer Sea were to open in the same spatial coordinates.”
Heavenly Sight shook her head with a bitter smile.
“What I want to propose to you is something different. That consciousness construct you just recovered. Instead of annihilating it, how about transferring it to someone?”
“Transfer, you say?”
“Yes. To that wizard right there.”
As Heavenly Sight said this and pointed at Lennok, Pyeonram’s gaze naturally turned towards him as well.
Lennok, who had been quietly watching the two Ascendants, wore a sour expression at the sudden proposal.
“……Isn’t this less of a transfer and more of a bomb disposal assignment?”
“Think about it. If you annihilate this consciousness construct as it is, your own mind will inevitably be affected,” Heavenly Sight explained.
“Especially since you are already losing your memories and confusing the past with the present, the annihilation of a consciousness construct born from past memories will surely have an adverse effect.”
“That is a valid point.”
Seeing the girl nod at Heavenly Sight’s words, Lennok asked back with a dumbfounded expression.
“Wait, isn’t she openly stating that your mind is coming and going?”
“Wizard, is that what’s important right now?”
“She is not wrong, human,” Heavenly Sight chided, and Pyeonram replied calmly.
“I have no problem communicating now that I am outside my physical body, but it has been quite some time since I lost my sense of time.”
“……”
“I don’t even know how much time has passed since I awoke. After a problem arose while I was protecting the well, I believe I received help to resolve the matter.”
The girl, who had been muttering to herself, suddenly frowned and stared intently at Lennok.
“Yes, now that I think about it, at that time, there was definitely……”
“……”
“……”
Lennok met her gaze with an impassive face, while Pyeonram frowned, lost in thought.
Heavenly Sight, watching from the side, asked with a puzzled expression.
“What are you trying to say?”
“Oh?”
At that moment, Pyeonram snapped out of her contemplation and tilted her head.
“What was I trying to remember?”
“……”
He had watched, wondering if she was about to remember Victor, but it seemed her memory didn’t even reach that far in the first place.
Pyeonram’s condition still seemed far from good, even putting it mildly.
Heavenly Sight looked at the girl with a strange expression before quickly changing the subject.
“Anyway, the idea is to hand the consciousness construct over to the wizard instead of annihilating it. To be precise, to transfer it to the wizard’s Guardian Spirit Beast.”
“Guardian Spirit Beast?”
“Wait.”
Only then did Lennok turn to look at Heavenly Sight with cold, sunken eyes.
“Madria Falcia. What is the meaning of this?”
“It won’t be a bad deal for you either. In fact, if you weigh it, it’s closer to a gain,” Heavenly Sight replied.
“Padme was born a spirit beast and rose to the apex of predators—she is spiritual nature itself. If your Guardian Spirit Beast absorbs that consciousness construct, it could solve the problem you’re currently grappling with in one fell swoop.”
“……”
“The consciousness construct may be contaminated by the Outer Sea, but you yourself have a resistance to the Outer Sea’s mana, don’t you? There’s no chance of a problem for your Guardian Spirit Beast.”
“No, that’s not what I’m talking about.”
Lennok asked in a low voice.
“Since when did you know that I entered this place through my Guardian Spirit Beast’s consciousness?”
“From the beginning. Isn’t it obvious?” Heavenly Sight shrugged.
“There aren’t many ways for a mortal to enter an Ascendant’s consciousness space. It’s impossible without a Domain of the same lineage, a connection of equivalent standing, or a curse.”
“……”
“Among those, the Curse of Metamorphosis is widely known even among Ascendants.”
Turning her head slightly to hide her expression, Heavenly Sight said.
“Because it’s a curse that not only the beasts who revere the law of the jungle, but even we, cannot completely escape.”
“……”
“The point is simple. Padme gets to dispose of her broken consciousness construct without taking damage, and in return, you get an opportunity to awaken your Guardian Spirit Beast.”
Lennok muttered, his expression twisting in annoyance.
“So this is why you explained the death of an Ascendant to me.”
“Padme. What do you think? The consciousness construct you recovered. Are you willing to transfer it to this wizard?”
“……There is one thing I am curious about.”
The girl seemed to ponder Heavenly Sight’s question, then walked up to Lennok and spoke.
“To possess a Guardian Spirit Beast must mean you are a wizard with a significant enough standing to form a Domain and a faction in the current world.”
“……”
“If you wish to survive until this world meets its end, it would not be such a difficult task. So why do you attempt to challenge Ascension?”
For a moment, focus seemed to return to Pyeonram’s hazy eyes.
“There are not a few who give up on Ascension and go into seclusion. It is not strange to humbly accept that it is an impossible task for one’s own abilities and to do one’s best in the time remaining.”
“……”
“If you have reached such a high station, you should be able to enjoy a much longer life than most mortals. Why do you desire more than that?”
The girl quietly shook her head.
“Cherish the time given to you. To have reached that point without having received a mission is, in a sense, a blessing.”
Silence fell.
Even Heavenly Sight seemed somewhat surprised that such a profound answer would come from the girl, looking at her with an unexpected expression.
“How ironic.”
At Pyeonram’s question, Lennok’s lips moved silently before he finally let out a laugh.
“Originally, that was the question I intended to ask your consciousness construct.”
“……”
“Why challenge Ascension… The answer is already decided.”
The transcendent talent and the various penalties he had received as its price.
The time and limits that Lennok himself did not know how much remained.
The destruction of the world, which constantly rang an alarm that it was by no means far away.
Lennok didn’t mention any of these long-winded circumstances that were for his sake alone.
He had no intention of putting forth a noble cause like saving the world or stopping its destruction.
At this point, having already decided to become an Ascendant, the answer that first rose from within Lennok was—
“Because it seems I can.”
“……What?”
“Because I believe I can challenge Ascension and find the answer.”
Facing the two seemingly speechless Ascendants, Lennok spoke quietly.
“From the moment I awakened my Root Mindscape and obtained my Domain, I have never once doubted that my desire is less than anyone else’s.”
“……”
“The answer for the sake of an answer is within me. It is the power of possibility that exists beyond my own belief and conviction in myself.”
A branching point of possibilities that exists beyond the past, present, and future.
From the moment he reached Level 7 and first faced his own answer, realizing its meaning.
Lennok had always thought that he would one day face this very moment.
He might not have acknowledged it on the surface, and may have pretended not to know on one hand.
He tried not to waver, telling himself not to become conceited, not to let his guard down.
But separate from that, Lennok had never once doubted his own potential.
It wasn’t because it was a talent obtained through sacrifice, or because it was a quality verified by numbers.
From the time he was struggling and surviving without even knowing what he was doubting, the possibility he had been proving without realizing it was right here.
“You told me to cherish the time I have? This is how I burn my remaining time in the most valuable way possible.”
Step.
Lennok took a step forward and looked down at Pyeonram with an intense gaze as he spoke.
“The training for a higher station, the exploration for magic, even this time spent talking, contemplating, and briefly stopping to look back… It is all just a process to become certain of myself.”
“……”
“I do it because I can. I challenge it because I believe I can succeed.”
Lennok, his gaze lifted, muttered.
“That’s why I’m still here.”
Even if everything else changed, what Lennok had to do had not.
To challenge a seemingly impossible feat, to dream of and charge towards a station and capabilities beyond what was permitted.
He adds conviction to all those moments of fighting an unkillable enemy and stepping onto a battlefield where he could not survive.
“Truly an arrogant one……”
Pyeonram muttered in a dumbfounded tone.
“Throughout a long history, there have been more than a few humans intoxicated by their own talent, but this one is on a completely different level.”
“Indeed, what incredible confidence.”
Heavenly Sight, too, let out a subtle smile, looking quite surprised.
“There isn’t a single shred of doubt in his belief in himself. It’s nearly impossible to maintain such an unshakable will-thought within a consciousness space.”
“……”
“It seems I really did change a lot in my later years. If I had met a wizard like you in reality, I would surely have thought you were dangerous.”
Heavenly Sight’s gaze on Lennok momentarily turned cold.
“Wizard, that’s not called conviction, that’s called madness. You haven’t even properly challenged Ascension yet, and you’re already a bit off your rocker.”
“I hope that was a satisfactory answer.”
“How can you say that…”
At Lennok’s shameless reply, Heavenly Sight spoke as if dumbfounded, before shaking her head with a look of resignation.
“Fine. If it’s a Root Mindscape that even my ability cannot peer into, then perhaps what you say isn’t entirely wrong.”
“I’m not fond of the proposal regarding the Guardian Spirit Beast, but it certainly seems like a decent compromise at this point in time.”
Ignoring Heavenly Sight, Lennok turned his gaze toward the girl.
“If you are willing to select and hand over the essence of the consciousness construct, I am willing to consider the proposal. What do you think?”
“……”
Pyeonram did not reply to Lennok’s question at all.
She simply, with that same unreadable expression, folded her hands and slowly raised them above her head.
At the moment the girl folded her hands and turned her wrists, complex runic characters once again shot up above her head.
Kiririk!!
The fragments of the consciousness construct, compressed and held beneath the green net, slowly ascended into the sky of the consciousness world.
The essence of the consciousness construct vanished beyond the confines of the consciousness space, into the reality that actually existed.
[Master. There’s a problem.]
Simultaneously, Davi’s urgent telepathic voice rang in Lennok’s mind.
[The lump of an egg is breaking, and something’s trying to get out……?]
“……What?”
[Uh, should I try to push it back in so it doesn’t come out?]
“……”