Chapter 61

Chapter 61. Immeasurable

Immeasurable.

The moment that single word emerged with crystalline clarity.

"......"

Silence descended.

In a word, it meant a value that could not be assigned.

It meant reaching an absolute concept beyond the grasp of mortals, Void-born, and even the Astral Sovereigns who preside over the laws of the universe.

【Immeasurable......?】

The voice trembled violently.

Darkness tore away and clumped together in cycles, expressing extreme turmoil.

But I stood with my arms crossed, staring at that word.

'Ambiguous.'

It said the measurement itself was impossible.

The standard was vague.

Was my Innate Potential so astronomically high that it exceeded the system's display limit, rendering measurement impossible?

Or was the Caliber of the 'Lord of the Void' simply too small a vessel to contain me, causing the measurement to fail?

If not even that.

Then something may have forcibly deflected any external interference and measurement.

Either way, it didn't matter.

The result was clear.

I had won.

【Th-this...... is an error.】

The Watcher of the Void struggled to steady its voice.

It was plainly making a strenuous effort to conceal its trembling.

【It is simply impossible for an immeasurable value to appear in a mortal body. This is clearly a system error. An anomaly outside my measurement range, nothing more.】

It was trying desperately to sweep the situation under the rug.

A pitiful excuse -- it wanted to take back the wager it had made.

I scoffed.

"An error?"

I raised the tip of my staff and pointed it at the Watcher of the Void.

"Are you blind? Or do you have amnesia?"

When I sneered, the Watcher's eyes glowed ominously.

But I didn't back down.

"The Void-born limit you stated. 150."

I spoke clearly, driving force into each word.

"That measly 150 was left in the dust long before the Immeasurable readout even triggered. The result only popped after it hit 99,999."

【......!】

The Watcher swallowed a groan.

Because there was no rebuttal.

"So cut the nonsense."

I extended my hand.

"Open it."

【......!】

"The Celestial Vault."

The rightful claim of a winner.

But the Watcher of the Void didn't answer readily.

It was clearly searching for an excuse to wriggle out of the situation and lord over me.

I clicked my tongue.

"Trying to weasel out? Is this how Astral Sovereigns normally treat their promises -- like a joke?"

【Insolent wretch! You dare insult the Astral Sovereigns?!】

"You're the one insulting yourself."

I shot back coldly.

"The higher a being's Caliber, the more each word that leaves its mouth becomes law and covenant."

Even the gods in the Tower take responsibility for their words.

Because that is the very foundation of their existence and faith.

"And yet you'd tuck your tail over losing one little wager."

I sneered.

"Astral Sovereigns don't amount to much, do they? No different from street thugs and petty hoodlums."

【Silence!】

BOOOOM--!

A fury so immense it warped the Demon Realm's earth erupted.

The Watcher of the Void snarled.

【A worm dares lecture me on Caliber?! Fine! If you desire it that badly, I shall open it!】

I'd struck its pride.

It worked.

【I shall open the Celestial Vault! But mark my words!】

Inwardly, I smiled.

I'd passed the test.

【Within sleep treasures and secrets beyond imagining. But with those eyes of yours, you shall never discern what is truly valuable!】

A curse if ever there was one.

【You will never find what you truly desire in that place!】

RUMMMBLE--!

Space tore apart.

In the middle of the Demon Realm's empty air, a colossal golden gate materialized.

The entrance to the Celestial Vault.

CREEEAK.

With a heavy grinding sound, the gate slowly opened.

Blinding, radiant light poured forth.

"......"

Behind me, Park Jihun and Park Hayan held their breath.

They were too overwhelmed by that light to even look.

I shrugged.

"Whether I despair or not is for me to judge."

I slung the Great Sage's Staff over my shoulder.

There was no hesitation.

Into that cosmic storehouse where radiant light and the abyss coexisted.

I walked in at a leisurely pace.

***

The Astral Sovereign of the Void hung motionless in the air.

Its gaze was fixed on a single point.

The brilliantly glowing golden gate.

The retreating back of a single human crossing the threshold of the Celestial Vault and walking inside.

Unhurried.

Not the faintest trace of hesitation or shrinking could be found.

A carefree stride, as though strolling through his own living room.

【.......】

The Astral Sovereign of the Void closed its mouth.

The violent fury that had shaken the Demon Realm moments ago was gone without a trace.

The killing intent that had raged as if to tear everything apart had vanished just as cleanly.

Of course it had.

The rage and pressure it had displayed.

All of it had been a kind of 'test.'

It was merely a phantom.

And yet, it was still an Astral Sovereign.

An absolute eye that presides over the laws of the universe and gazes down upon the primordial stars.

The waves that being emanated alone were enough to crush a mortal's soul and shatter their reason.

The proof was sprawled out right beside it.

"Hff, hkh......"

"......"

Even the sounds of gasping were suppressed.

Two humans slumped on the ground with deathly pale faces.

Park Jihun and Park Hayan.

And cowering beside them, trailing wisps of black smoke and trembling violently, the Aberration -- Mayon.

They couldn't move a muscle.

Their entire bodies rigid as if even breathing were a sin, they forced their heads to turn away, averting their gaze from the Astral Sovereign.

Because if they met its eyes, it felt as though their very existence would be erased.

That was normal.

The perfectly natural and proper reaction when a mortal faces an Astral Sovereign.

But.

'That human was different.'

Not once did he avert his eyes from the Astral Sovereign's gaze.

From start to finish, he'd looked straight at it.

Even most lesser and mid-tier gods would bow their heads before an Astral Sovereign's phantom.

They wouldn't dare meet its eyes, staring only at the ground.

And yet a creature wearing a mere mortal's shell had done the opposite -- arrogantly raising his chin and glaring back.

'The one who stirred the Void.'

At first, it was incomprehensible.

How a mere human had made the depths of the Void tremble.

How he had dared summon a Watcher to the Demon Realm.

But now, it was starting to understand.

In a word, that one was.

'A madman.'

It had offered him eternal glory.

Proposed a path that any mortal would dream of -- traveling to the Void and becoming an Astral Sovereign.

But he'd refused in a single stroke.

He'd gone further and accepted a wager that staked his life and soul without a moment's hesitation.

As though he'd been certain from the very beginning that he would win.

And he actually had won.

'Immeasurable.'

An Unprecedented vessel that even the system couldn't assign a value to.

A monster for whom the very metric of Innate Potential was meaningless.

This was the first human like this.

The Astral Sovereign had lived for aeons beyond counting.

It had gazed down upon countless dimensions and watched over countless worlds.

Throughout that immense span of time, beings who stirred the Void hadn't been entirely nonexistent.

Once every tens of thousands of years.

Geniuses born like miracles, or heroes who defined an era, would knock on the door of the Void.

But.

Even they had been nothing more than mortals before the Astral Sovereign.

No different from ants crawling at its feet.

-O great Watcher.

-Please grant me mercy, grant me power.

Without exception, they knelt.

They pressed their heads to the ground.

Begging for their wishes, pleading for strength -- that was the only thing they ever did.

So the Astral Sovereign had always been bored.

None had drawn any great interest.

In the end, they were merely slightly larger ants. Nothing more, nothing less.

But this human was different.

He doesn't beg.

He doesn't plead.

As though it were the most natural thing in the world, he seizes what he wants with his own hands.

He plays his hand against an Astral Sovereign and demands his rights with impunity.

He'd behaved as though he were an equal -- or something greater.

【Let us see what you can do.】

The Watcher of the Void murmured, staring at the closing gap between the Celestial Vault's doors.

He'd lost the wager, so it had opened the gate.

It had readily permitted access to the storehouse where the cosmos's treasures slept.

But.

Finding the item he wanted inside would be next to impossible.

This was the 'final test' the Astral Sovereign had imposed.

The Celestial Vault is not a simple storehouse.

All information within is encrypted at an unfathomably high tier of security.

Looking with one's eyes doesn't reveal an object's form.

Touching with one's hands doesn't reveal its material.

In the truest sense, without the insight and perception of a 'Watcher,' one could never peer into the vault's true contents.

An Appraisal skill?

Such a low-grade metric couldn't analyze so much as a speck of dust in the Celestial Vault.

Everything would appear as nothing but shapeless lumps of the unknown.

Moreover, the interior of the Celestial Vault was chaos incarnate.

It was said to contain cosmic mysteries and treasures of legend.

But at the same time.

All manner of cosmic junk and fragments of vile curses were mixed in as well.

Like searching for a single invisible needle in a desert of sand piled high as mountains.

Selecting the one truly valuable treasure from all of that?

Impossible through luck alone.

Fluke wouldn't cut it.

'Well then.'

The Astral Sovereign's enormous eyes glittered with keen interest.

Will he accomplish what he desires even in this final trial?

Will he be blinded by false shells and pick up refuse?

Or will he pierce through the veil of the abyss and grasp a genuine cosmic mystery?

If he passes even this test.

......It would feel 'great interest' in a human for the very first time.

Shortly after.

CREEEAK.

THUD.

The Celestial Vault's doors closed with a heavy sound.

***

The moment I entered the Celestial Vault.

"......Hah."

An exclamation escaped me before I could stop it.

The sight was truly breathtaking.

It was so vast that its dimensions couldn't be gauged.

All manner of bizarre objects were piled into mountains.

Literal mountains.

Swords, spears, armor, and other armaments were just the basics -- unidentifiable ores and geometric relics were heaped in endless stacks.

The Watcher of the Void's claim of having collected cosmic treasures was certainly no idle boast.

But.

I furrowed my brow.

"So this is the trick."

There was a problem.

I walked closer and picked up a longsword lying on the ground.

But the form of the sword in my hand was hazy.

It was like watching a broken television screen with the wrong frequency.

Bzzt. Bzzt-bzzt.

Noise.

Every single object was coated in a thick layer of dark soot.

Not only was it impossible to make out their appearances, but the very texture of their Mana emissions was completely blocked.

Ordinary observation skills couldn't cut through this noise.

This must be the Astral Sovereign's final test.

A malicious arrangement: find treasure in a mountain of refuse while blindfolded.

'Damn you.'

I bit my lip.

Do I have to give up after coming this far?

Am I supposed to just pick something at random?

Scowling, I stared straight at the sword in my hand.

That was when it happened.

DING!

['Observation' Talent shines brilliantly!]

[This Talent has already reached its maximum limit (MAX).]

[Piercing universal law.]

[Forcibly disabling the Astral Sovereign of the Void's security.]

BZZT--! SHATTER--!

The noise broke apart.

"......Gotcha."

A smile crept across my face unbidden.

What had been invisible was becoming visible at last.