Chapter 56

Chapter 56

After “he” departed, Lavina collapsed just like that.

Jin Sohwi carried her away, and Persica looked as though she had a great deal she wanted to say.

However, because Jin Baek called for me, I was currently speaking with him alone.

“You knew of the being behind Lorentze.”

“Yes.”

“Where did you hear that?”

“By chance, while passing by…….”

I did not say who had told me.

Because the sparks might fly toward Persica.

With his long pipe in his mouth, he exhaled smoke.

Thick worry mingled into the white smoke haze spreading through the air.

“What were you thinking, doing such a thing…….”

He said that as if scolding me, but I knew he was worried.

What I had touched was the lord of Lorentze.

A being who had reached Master.

“That person’s power is strong, but he is just as dangerous and wicked! Even among Masters, he is especially ferocious and cruel! Do you truly not know that he is the one who wields the Enforcement Division of the Golden Order…… the Inquisitors!?”

“I know.”

I knew, even without him repeating and emphasizing it.

The fact that Lorentze’s lord had a problem with his personality had been vaguely shown even in the game, and Jin Ryeon’s Thought had also called him by the contemptuous term “serpent.”

Most of all, because I was a Possessor, I was utterly incompatible with him, the one who handled the Enforcement Division.

“Why did you do such a thing when you knew that! Are you not afraid of the Enforcement Division!? Because people praise you for being overflowing with talent, do you think you have become someone important!!”

“That is not it.”

“Then why!?”

“Because it was something I could do.”

The reason the Downfall Order had come to head toward the Second Floor.

Whatever other interests might be involved, the one who had provided the decisive cause was me.

“If there is a way to take responsibility, I thought it was right to do so.”

“You called a tiger to chase away a fox!”

“That does not matter.”

I had been prepared for that much.

And Lorentze’s lord was someone who had also appeared in the game.

In other words, he was also an existence whose strategy I knew.

‘I have never fought him, but I know how to avoid him.’

I had not acted on baseless confidence.

After all, it was not as if I did not value my own life.

“You impossible brat…….”

Whatever my circumstances were, it was true that I had taken a risk to protect White Cloud Castle.

Jin Baek sighed as if he were looking at the most foolish person in the world.

“You were the one who said you would never become a person of the house even if you died…….”

“But now I am not an outsider anymore.”

Jin Baek approached me and patted both my shoulders.

“……Thank you.”

“……Yes.”

***

White Cloud Castle had the atmosphere of a place through which a storm had swept.

A Master’s Thought had appeared without warning.

Even if only for an instant, the power of the Precept it had revealed had pressed down on all of White Cloud Castle.

Fortunately, because the duration had been short, no one had been injured, but it could not be helped that anxious voices were coming from here and there.

“As if South Spirit Mountain disappearing was not enough, now the Downfall Order and even a Master…….”

“What on earth is about to happen?”

A silence like the calm before the storm was slowly settling over White Cloud Castle.

Everyone was holding their breath, but they knew.

They knew that something ominous was approaching.

Of course, no one showed it openly.

Jin Baek governed White Cloud Castle as usual, and the people of the Jin Clan devoted themselves to training as usual.

So what I had to do did not change much either.

I looked at the Secret Manual placed before my eyes.

<Mysticism: Fleeting Dream>

The Skill Secret Manual I had obtained from the Forest of Returning Souls this time.

When used, one could acquire “Dreamer,” a Mysticism-Type Passive Skill.

Its effects were amplification of Mana recovery and Mysticism Output. It reduced the amount of Mana consumed when using Traits, and…….

‘It collectively adjusts the Proficiency of Mysticism-Type Skills.’

The higher a Skill’s Proficiency became, the faster its activation speed grew and the stronger its effects became.

“Dreamer” was a Skill that could strengthen all Mysticism-Type Skills the moment one obtained it.

It was a Skill one had to obtain if one intended to take a Mysticism build.

That was why, when raising a Mysticism character, one had to go to the Forest of Returning Souls almost by force.

It was one of the reasons Mysticism-Type was unpopular.

‘I will use this as the axis of my Cultivation Method.’

Of course, I could not use it as it was.

I had to grasp its structure, disassemble it, and reassemble it to suit my purpose.

To do that, I first needed to use the Skill and understand its principles.

[For someone who touched a Master, you are strangely at ease. Are you not afraid?]

‘I only did what I could do.’

[Foolish one.]

Hyeollyeo clicked its tongue.

[But…… perhaps that is why Jin Ryeon gave you that.]

‘What?’

[Do not think to deceive my eyes. You received a gift from Jin Ryeon, did you not?]

Hyeollyeo immediately recognized whose incantation I had used.

It had said it learned from him, and it truly seemed to know most things.

[I do not know when or where you met him, but if that blockhead gave you his technique, he must have taken quite a liking to you. Foolish ones do get along well with each other.]

‘…….’

[How was it when you examined the Skill’s structure? Could you understand it?]

‘I do not know…….’

Understanding the Skill in terms of its principles was not as difficult as I had expected.

Even if it had been through a screen, I had used it many times, so my understanding of how to use it was probably high.

However, sensing each operation of the Skill and disassembling its structure was a somewhat different matter.

It was not impossible, but once I began unraveling it, its structure turned out to be immensely complicated.

It was like how we could do calculus, but did not necessarily know by what principles the formula called calculus had been made and how it operated.

‘Skills…… have surprisingly complicated structures.’

[The things of the dungeon are all like that. Hmm…… Wait a moment.]

‘Hm?’

Hyeollyeo began to concentrate.

Then the complicated structures began to be organized one by one, changing into a form easier for me to understand.

‘This is…….’

[I organized it into a form that would be easier for you to accept. It is still complicated, but it should be easier to interpret than before.]

‘You knew how to do something like this too?’

[……I would appreciate it if you did not forget that I cultivated for seven hundred years.]

No, it was just fascinating.

From my perspective, it was on the level of finding out that someone who had only cultivated the Dao in the mountains was actually a mathematical genius.

[The things of the dungeon are usually like this. They are easy to use, but difficult to understand. In many cases, there is far too little consideration for the one attempting to understand them.]

‘Why is that?’

[How would I know the Golden Rule’s thoughts? We can only accept that such is the will of God.]

There was too little consideration for the one attempting to understand them.

As I examined the structure of “Dreamer,” for some reason, I felt as though that had been intentional.

Skills had been made solely for the purpose of being used, and the possibility of taking them apart and understanding them had not been considered.

They had been made that way from the beginning.

While I was operating “Dreamer” and grasping the Skill’s structure, I sensed someone approaching beside me.

Judging from the footsteps, it was Persica.

“As expected, you are here again this time.”

“Hello.”

She crouched in front of me, who was sitting cross-legged.

“I swear, you are going to be the death of me. If I had known this would happen, I would not have told you Lavina’s secret.”

“I am sorry. But it was something necessary.”

It surely was not information she would have told me easily.

Even so, the reason Persica had told me so easily must have been because she trusted me.

Strictly speaking, it was no different from me deceiving her trust.

Perhaps that was why, this time, I felt truly sorry toward Persica.

The conversation broke off for a moment.

I quietly devoted myself to interpreting the Skill, and Persica merely watched me quietly.

The strange silence continued for about five minutes.

“Why do you go that far?”

“Because the fact that White Cloud Castle fell into danger is partly my responsibility.”

Jin Baek had said it was fine, but I had no intention of doing nothing irresponsibly.

I would take responsibility for what I had done.

That was what I had said to Jin Baek…… but in truth, that was not the only reason.

I opened my eyes and looked at Persica.

“And because if we go back like this, it will damage your reputation.”

“Mine……?”

“Yeah.”

Because she herself had suddenly been mentioned, Persica looked puzzled.

Her reaction asked what this had to do with her.

“You said you wanted to restore your mother’s honor.”

“…….”

“If I, your team member, do something irresponsible, it will surely have a bad effect on your goal too.”

An expedition leader was a position that bore responsibility.

I was a member of the expedition she had founded, and in many cases, the leader of an expedition took responsibility for the mistakes of its members.

If I pretended not to know White Cloud Castle like this, there was a high possibility that Persica would have to bear that disgrace as well.

I did not want to see that.

“……Why do you care about me that much? Are you trying to make me owe you a debt?”

“It is not really like that.”

“Then?”

“We are friends.”

“…….”

“So I should help with what I can.”

Thinking about it, although I had attached this and that reason to it, the reason behind my actions was something that simple.

Persica had not been wrong when she said I was simple.

Because the person I was was such a foolish human being.

Still…… I liked this.

I liked the current me, who could do something for someone else.

Because the past me had been someone who withered away in a sickbed, only receiving help from others.

“That is all.”

***

Persica silently looked at the boy before her.

For a moment, she lost the words to say.

To think the reason he had taken such a risk was merely because they were friends.

No matter how simple he was, was that not a reason almost closer to recklessness?

“…….”

However, as Persica looked at that Isran, she could not say anything.

Why was that?

If it had been her usual self, she would already have poured out an entire bucketful of nagging.

No, before that, she would have shown disgust, sick of seeing him push himself too far.

But whenever Isran did something like this, she became as mute as a fish.

“Ah.”

No…… Perhaps she already knew the reason.

When she looked at Isran, she thought of Ishara.

The first friend she had ever made after being born.

The child she had met amid the competition called the Selection Grounds, who had approached her first and said she wanted to become friends…… a child who had shone with purity like a star.

When she looked at Isran, she thought of that child.

She recalled the two-week exam she had spent with Ishara…… the first memories of smiling after losing her mother.

Persica was seeing Ishara overlap with Isran.

‘They are alike.’

The two of them were very much alike.

Their personalities were completely different, but their uprightness and purity were exactly alike.

Even if the one here were not Isran but Ishara, she would have said the same thing to Persica.

She would have said she would help her without any compensation.

Because they were friends.

Therefore.

Surely, I too…….

“……This is purely my whim. Keep that in mind.”

“Hm?”

Persica took Isran’s hand and slowly began operating her Mana.

As the sensation of her Core pulsing and awakening her Energy Channels was transmitted through their hands, Isran’s eyes slowly widened.

“This is……?”

“Phantom Thunder Art. The secret Cultivation Method of Ortanis…… that I learned.”

She spoke while adjusting the flow of Mana so it would be easy to understand.

“I am only teaching this to you.”

“Is that all right? Are you sure it is all right for you to teach me?”

“No? Absolutely not. If my house finds out, it probably will not end with just being scolded.”

“Then why?”

Isran looked at Persica.

When she met those transparent violet eyes, for some reason, she felt as if her words were caught in her throat.

After a short pause, Persica slightly lowered her gaze and spoke.

“Because you risked your life for me. I should risk something similar too.”

If someone extended goodwill, one had to be a person capable of returning it.

Persica repeated the will her idol had carried in her heart and spoke.

“If it were Mother, she surely…….”

“My friend is not Hildegard Ortanis.”

However, Isran shook his head at Persica’s words.

As if saying that was not it.

His clear, shining violet eyes looked into Persica’s eyes.

“What does Persica Ortanis want to do?”

“…….”

For a moment, she was at a loss for words.

Those eyes, clear enough to be drawn into and resembling stars, were speaking to her.

Isran had received life from Ishara, but he did not live as Ishara’s replacement.

He always expressed his own opinions and lived his own life.

Life was not something one lived in another’s place, but something one made bloom for oneself.

Persica felt as if Isran was scolding her.

Asking why she did not live her own life, but tried to live another person’s life in her place.

“Ha…….”

Strange.

I am not this sort of person.

I should have been someone more venomous and more stubborn.

And yet, I always end up shaken by your words, discovering a slightly weakened version of myself.

In the past, I had thought it was merely my imagination.

But now, I know the reason.

It is probably because you are so upright.

Because you are the kind of person who knows how to make the person held in your heart shine, even without putting another’s name before you.

“I too…….”

Ishara. I think I know now too.

When you gave this child your life, you must surely have been happy.

If it was a child who would live on so uprightly and clearly, then you could have handed over your life along with your blessing.

Because I too.

Even if I had been you…….

‘Surely…… I think I would have done the same.’

Somehow, she felt a little lighter.

Because she knew the eyes looking at her would never change.

So, for the first time in a very long while, she put “herself” first.

She spoke her own will.

“I want to do that too.”

Isran smiled.

“Then I am glad too.”

For a moment, her eyes were stolen by that smile.

As she stared at him blankly, she felt as though she understood Lavina’s feelings for some reason.

Truly, it was an irritatingly handsome face.

“Haha! I cannot be left out of something like this! You would be sorry if you forgot the genius Swordsman of White Cloud Castle, Jin Sohwi!”

Jin Sohwi had slipped between the two of them before anyone knew when he had arrived.

Persica’s expression turned sullen.

This tactless, ugly battle maniac with no sense of mood.

While Persica let out a sigh, Jin Sohwi operated the White Cloud Mind Method with all his might and placed his hand over the hands of the two.

“Let us try it together!”

“Sounds good.”

The three continued their Cultivation.

Watching the three of them, Hyeollyeo surrounded and embraced them as if cradling them.

“Let us make a legend.”