Hermit Wizard

The Curtain Rises (4)

For those who couldn’t obtain divine nature and weren’t free from time and space, the length of time was a pain in itself. The Truth-Seekers were also desperate to find a way to relieve their despair.

‘The lucky ones can gain divinity just by rolling a given dimension with an invulnerable wall, but not me.’

By strengthening the dimensional barrier to the limit, the Channel couldn’t be opened by itself. But, it could also prevent the Channel from being forcibly opened by other Truth-Seekers. If that dimension were rich in souls in the first place, the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker would’ve made the same choice as the Earth’s Dragon.

‘If this dimension were rich in souls, there wouldn’t have been a need to be greedy for other dimensions.’

Since there was no need to covet others, the Dragon would’ve chosen to disconnect himself. As a result, it was impossible to take any soul away, but no soul was taken.

‘What I don’t understand, though, was how he planted that seed in the human body just a few years before his death. From the Dragon’s point of view, all he has to do is maintain a strong defense. Then why?’

It might not be to absorb souls of another dimension.

‘The only value of the existence of seeds is to evolve into an adult Channel. However, the meaning of creating an adult Channel is to weaken the dimensional barrier, leaving the possibility of an attack. It isn’t worth as much as a nail for a Truth-Seeker in a dimension where the soul overflows.’

The beginning and the end were at odds, and the sentences were contradictory. The intention was unknown.

‘What the hell was the Dragon trying to do?’

Earth’s Dragon.

It thought of the being who was the Truth-Seeker of the Earth.

The long and frequent sleep was mainly due to the connection between the Earth and the Channel. More souls had been absorbed than any other Channels that had been connected. It had to devote itself constantly to expanding its bowl.

‘Because the guy who was so lucky somehow dies, so many souls are randomly plundered in. It’s a really unfortunate thing.’

It was a great opportunity.

The Heart Fish flowed into that dimension and almost ruined it. However, the Truth-Seeker is glad it stopped it.

It was also feared that Heart Fish would multiply on Earth and backflow to this side, but what was even more threatening was the possibility of affluent Heart Fish entering that dimension and ruining it all. The real reason it didn’t stay on that day.

Deep thoughts continued biting the end of the tail. Thinking about the Earth’s Truth-Seeker, it was now thinking of a human being.

The Truth-Seeker thought of a useful mortal… to be exact, a ‘hidden soul’ who had captured all the Heart Fish that had flowed into the Earth, a human who even gave it a part of its body, even though he has no true name yet.

He entrusted such a task even though he was still a human who couldn’t cross the wall and could become food for Heart Fish, and he succeeded in a faster time than expected.

‘Why isn’t he crossing the wall even with that kind of soul?’

The curiosity didn’t last long. Anyway, now the priority was to go to sleep.

-Sheesh

It pulled out one of the countless souls flowing in the spirit vein of the body, a distant number of souls that were high enough to be born as a native race and had not yet crossed the wall. And it united some of its body and then blew the soul into it.

The body end of the Truth-Seeker, who had been united, wriggled. As soon as it was completely separated from the main body, it fell to the floor.

-Tuck

Compared to the main body’s size, it was a newly born creature with dozens of strands of tentacles clumping together. It fell to the ground, wriggling and making a cry.

-Growl, growl

The creature created by the sprouting method instantly had a shape similar to the bronze tentacles previously handed over to Yoon Min-joon. However, the only difference was that a living tissue in the center could be called a mouth.

It instilled necessary knowledge and intelligence before separating it from the body. Its psychology mixed moderate separation anxiety and dependence disorder. In an instant, the ‘separated body’ or interiorized piece of the body, which completed itself, spoke to the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker in Dell Giant’s language.

-Great One, I know why you created me, so please allow me to serve you so that I can achieve the purpose of my life.

The Truth-Seeker knew it was a childish imitation, but it was one of the entertainments it could never throw away. Like an apostle serving God, the Truth-Seeker looked at the creature that looked at only himself and longed for affection and attention. The Truth-Seeker felt the waves of emotion emanating from the separated body.

Pity me, guide me, do not go far, love me.

It floated items of the alien world in front of the separated body. A gift from a secluded soul recently a while ago. At that time, the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker was willing to receive it and paid the price to Yoon Min-joon.

There was no waste of a few Enchanted Wood trees made by its magic. However, it didn’t know what kind of barrier he was trying to create.

The Truth-Seeker said to the separated body.

=Read it. =

The separated body began to turn the page using its tentacle when the book was placed in front of it.

He said that he directly translated texts from his world that were not recorded in the Akashic Records into Dell’s text.

It was titled in the translated Dell’s language.

Modern British and American Poetry.

As set by the Truth-Seeker, the separated body’s squeezed mouth read aloud with the sound pressure and refraction that was the best to hear. There was no knowledge of the region in the title, but the taste of unfamiliar expressions had its flavor.

It was art enjoyed by the native peoples of another dimension. The Truth-Seeker appreciated the decoration of language that mortals created with limited senses and thoughts.

The joy that the Song of Chaos felt stemmed from what it lacked. The unexpectedness created by the author’s senses, limitations of thinking, and a narrow view of the world. It always sparked the Truth-Seeker’s interest.

The reading of the separated body continued for a while. After the Truth-Seeker fell asleep, that creature would continue reading the book as directed until it stopped breathing.

The Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker thought while listening to poetry from a strange world. The poem was about a crossroads. He thought over what the sentence meant.

‘Do you regret the possibility you didn’t choose?’

It was a concept that didn’t apply to itself.

The Truth-Seeker appreciated the contents of the poem by putting it into its situation. Couldn’t the higher-ranked beings project themselves onto the consciousness of the lower-ranked beings? The answer was, they could.

Truth Seekers made another evolution even after crossing the wall. They were those who were qualified to stand at the last crossroads. In the very far future, it would make its final choice. The Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker was sure of the direction of its decision that day.

Evolution.

Evolution was the only thing.

It wasn’t the way not to go for it. The choice of other beings was also meaningless. The Truth-Seeker’s consciousness slowly plunged into the swamp of sleep while enjoying the echo of the sound that the separated body read aloud. Even in the dim consciousness, the Truth-Seeker thought.

It would never overturn its original will.

When it gets a sweet ‘divinity,’ it drew a scene where it made a choice, and the Truth-Seeker fell asleep.

***

In a small city in Tomsk, Russia, a huge building on the town’s outskirts was burning. Residents watched the scene with anxiety from afar. Less than a year ago, people suddenly came and went to the abandoned factory site, and a fence was built.

Originally, it was a building that was used as a cable manufacturing plant decades ago. Local Citizens wanted to see what was going on. Out of nowhere, employees of a foreign company gathered to use the place as an R&D center.

The number of people working was quite large. Most of them settled their accommodation and lodged in the dormitory inside the fence, but they drunk with a crooked nose once they went out to the city. Residents engaged in the food service business had no choice but to worry that the income source would disappear eventually.

-Hwaaaaarck!

-Kwzzzing! Boong!

Also, beyond the fire barrier that prevented satellites’ observation with unknown force were the gazes of residents. R&D center employees were loyal regulars and cash cow of expensive restaurants and bars in the city. Many of them were in the worst crisis of their lives.

However, there were also quite a few who had already been freed from danger. There was only one way. The worst crisis in life lost its meaning due to the end of that life.

-Kwuazzik!

Invisible hands crushed the head like a walnut; blood and brain flowed down. There were pressed marks on the head of the body. The body was in a white gown, and the marks looked like the palm of a person. Simultaneously, a desperate body was thrown on the floor while a voice flowed out of the air where no one was there.

“This saint had to move like that little thing, but it’s pretty much annoying.”

It was bloodstaining in the air that spoke. Two red gloves were floating in the air. When it shook its hand, the fluid that was flowing down sprinkled in the air. The shape of the hand-painted red gradually became smaller and finally disappeared.

The voice of the air continued.

“Do you feel something?”

Instead of answering, the other party to whom the invisible entity spoke opened its mouth wide and vomited a white flash.

“Kwaaaaaahhh!”

-Khoobang!

A blinding flash passed by, and a hole was made in the wall. However, the object of destruction wasn’t concrete. Remains of soldiers approaching from across the wall rolled on the floor, scorched. Due to the flash height, most of the upper waist turned into bloody dust, and the cut legs were covered with dust and scattered.

“The only thing that I detected in front of me was those ordinary humans.” The snake’s head spoke, looking at the human pieces.

The other snakehead, which noticed something by sticking its tongue out, backed those words up.

“That’s right, those worms that went from behind me aren’t wizards!”

The invisible being said.

“I beg you, but you should never kill the wizards. Remember?”

The serpent nodded.

“I made a promise with Eugene. Humans with high levels of the soul must be captured alive without harming them.”

The head of a snake sticking its tongue struck the other.

“What bullshit! It was me who promised Eugene, not a tail like you!”

“Huh! Can’t you shut up? I’m still insisting on the fact that I am the head and you are the tail!”

“Hey, this idiot snake tail! Don’t you know the front or the back?”

“Shut up! The head-on the front is a noble sculpture in which the body’s beauty is concentrated, so how do you ask questions under the sky even after seeing me? The beautiful direction I look at is the front, and I am the head! Stop talking nonsense!”

“Crazy bitch! If your eyes are still working, look at your twist. What with scales like dandruff on that chewed bean-like side? Beautiful? With that fucking look, you’re trying to pretend to be the head, this pissing tail!”

“Huh! This vulgar guy is definitely…!”

Thus, the two snakeheads began to fight, raising their voices to each other. A small sigh came out of the invisible corner.

“… Damn, I can’t believe I’m moving with you guys. That little bitch would have been much better.”

The invisible being shook its head that no one could see.

The creature fighting in front of it was in the form of a four-legged snake. The peculiar thing was that the left and right sides were perfectly symmetric around the body, so the feet were each extending outward, and the two long necks on the body were connected to the left and right by the same length.

To the invisible being, the heads of the two snakes, each attached to the ends of their long necks, looked the same no matter how much it tried to differentiate. It was perfectly the same shape, so it was difficult to tell where the trail was and where the head was.

That way, the man stepped in to stop the old fight, claiming that he was looking and heading forward.

“Hey, Amphisbaena comrades. Please stop and lead the way quickly. If I knew it would be like this, I should have come with Alice, even if it was too much. She’s got one hell of Mana induction after all.”

The snake’s heads looked at each other disgustingly, and then they turned their heads with a long snort. The head of the two with the rougher mouth began to stick out its tongue. After some time, the guy exclaimed.

“This way!”

Then they set their direction to move. Neither of the two heads was in the head’s direction, but the side, which couldn’t be called the front or the back, began to move forward.

-Doodoodooodoooo!

-Aaaaaargh!

-Bang bang! Baaang!

Not far away, there was the sound of apprentices fighting a battle. The size of the troops deployed to defend this base was enormous.