Sinhyeok touched the fruit again with a hollow expression.
[%$%@#42#)]
Incomprehensible characters.
The badly broken, blurry hologram made him realize that this was reality.
“I’m screwed.”
‘I need Insight, and I need the books I shoved into my inventory.’
All sorts of thoughts went on endlessly in Sinhyeok’s head.
But there was nothing he could do.
“Haa.”
Letting out a deep sigh, he put away the broken system’s backup.
Waving his hand, he asked Ichan,
“Ichan, keep that safe for me.”
“Okay.”
Ichan slipped it neatly into his pocket.
Sinhyeok checked his body, and sure enough, it was a mess.
‘My mana’s dead again.’
Not only that, his transmutation was dead too.
He picked up a stone and focused, trying to melt it down, but there was barely any response.
“Ha, haha. Hahahaha.”
At the sight of him only laughing without saying anything, everyone edged slightly away.
‘This is the minimized backlash? Haa.’
He was paying the price for abusing Link.
Sinhyeok gave up for now and asked more about this place.
“By the way, what exactly is this place? I think you called it the Ruined Realm earlier.”
At Sinhyeok’s question, the martial artist who loved fans smiled and stepped forward.
“Ahem! I believe that story is one I, Jegal Se-un, should tell, young hero.”
Craving attention, he monopolized Sinhyeok’s gaze.
Sinhyeok tensed slightly at the appearance of a rather intense attention-seeker.
‘What’s with this guy?’
When Sinhyeok looked at him with a bewildered expression, Namgung Jincheon quietly said,
“That younger brother is from the same hometown as I am. We escaped the murim together and then parted ways, but somehow we met again here.”
He let out a hearty laugh.
“Hahaha. Well, well! Is this not all the heavens guiding us, Brother Namgung! All of this is the first step in a grand epic that will lead me, Jegal Se-un, into the vortex of fate!”
“Wow……”
Sinhyeok was impressed.
The others, who had already experienced him for several days, shook their heads.
Namgung Jincheon corrected him with precision.
“He is simply a fool who can do nothing but formations. Not everyone from the Jegal Clan is clever and wise.”
At that extremely accurate briefing, Jegal Se-un flared up.
“I am clever! I was praised as a genius countless times!”
“Are you referring to the praise your mother gave you when you were young?”
“……”
Jegal Se-un fell silent.
Sinhyeok sighed and asked him,
“All right, so please explain in detail. What kind of place is this?”
Jegal Se-un told him what he had experienced since arriving first.
“To be honest, there isn’t much to say. It’s just a trash bin.”
He pointed at the vast ruins.
“A destroyed world. A place where the remnants of worlds that have lost their origin and wander aimlessly gather. Just like you all.”
Sinhyeok looked at this world, the only one still green and covered in grass, with senses that were still intact for now.
“This place’s origin is still fine. Though I’ll have to confirm where it is.”
Because threats had been sweeping in so violently, he hadn’t been able to check, but he had confirmed that it was somewhere around this city.
“Hm? Ah, so that’s why.”
At those words, Jegal Se-un looked as though one of his doubts had been resolved.
“No wonder they kept flocking here.”
“What do you mean?”
Jegal Se-un and the rest of the group pointed outside.
“Those monsters.”
Beyond the boundary, monsters were swarming in droves.
Pointing at them, Jegal Se-un said,
“Those wanderers never gathered in one place. But they started coming together. To be honest, I was also drawn here by something.”
Jegal Se-un placed a hand on his waist, displaying confidence as he announced his achievement.
“And when I came, lo and behold! Brother Namgung and the absolutely peerless beauty Namgung Sohye were here! So I immediately laid down a peerless formation that would shake heaven and earth!”
Since he had gone through trouble regardless, Sinhyeok at least clapped for him.
Clap, clap, clap.
Forcing his thumb up, he praised him.
“Amazing. You truly are a genius. It seems the world simply has yet to recognize you.”
“Hahahaha! Of course! Since that world was ruined, how could it recognize me! Hahaha!”
Sinhyeok narrowed his eyes slightly at this rather one-of-a-kind character.
As if doubtful, he checked the boundary and asked,
“How long can it hold?”
When Jegal Se-un realized that Sinhyeok had noticed the formation he had laid down would eventually break, he flinched.
“This is a secret art of the Jegal Clan, so it should last a few hundred years easily—”
“It isn’t stable. It seems like a method that induces an artificial effect by stimulating the overlapping points of several currents, but those centers appear to be shifting constantly?”
At the problem Sinhyeok pointed out with precision, Jegal Se-un’s voice gradually grew quieter.
“That is true, but I am continuously reinforcing the formation……”
“The changes are fast. The currents change every second. Are you correcting it continuously?”
“N-not to that extent. No! You mean you can see that!?”
Sinhyeok gave it a rough look and said,
“Under the current circumstances, it won’t last even a day.”
“Ahem, it can still hold out for a few more days. It has so far.”
At Jegal Se-un’s confidence, Sinhyeok quietly pointed beyond the boundary.
“Too many have gathered. The formation itself may be fine, but they’ll come charging in soon.”
At those words, everyone stiffened.
“No matter how much you hide something called a core, it can’t be fully concealed. They’re drawn to it instinctively.”
As a master of searching, an expert in searching, he could be certain.
“We need to prepare a trump card.”
Since his body wasn’t in good condition, he had to at least keep his head moving quickly.
Continuing to look beyond the boundary, Sinhyeok asked,
“Are there any beings among them we can persuade?”
Jegal Se-un shook his head.
“I myself have been here for over five years. But I haven’t seen a single person. Perhaps they avoid one another. But if their social nature is at that level, then alliances and such are out of the question.”
Sinhyeok thought his judgment was correct.
“This is really tight.”
Every situation was far too tight.
Feeling the suffocating pressure closing in on him, Sinhyeok quietly called out to their hope, their tall benefactor, the priest.
‘Priest?’
But there was only silence.
Sinhyeok tapped his body, hoping his mana would return.
‘Let me play alchemist a little. That’s what we need right now.’
While everyone sat in silence, filled with pity and gloom, Ichan quietly raised his hand.
“Um, excuse me?”
Everyone’s attention turned to him.
Hong Ichan glanced around and carefully said,
“It’s not like there’s no way.”
Everyone focused on him.
Sinhyeok looked at him in surprise.
“You?”
Ichan quietly took a necklace out of his pocket, twisted it, and opened the inside.
‘A World Tree seed?’
It was the being Ichan always called “Father.”
It contained that origin.
“I think this could grow here……”
Not understanding, Sinhyeok asked,
“Let’s say it can grow. What happens if it does?”
Ichan answered simply.
“It can hide everything. You can’t see anything around Father to begin with.”
At those words, everyone was shocked.
Sinhyeok’s heart leaped for a moment, but he first checked the practical performance.
“H-how hidden would we be?!”
“They’ll never find us. No, not never. It was found once before.”
Ichan explained exactly what he meant.
“If the Mother Tree of the high elves conceives life and makes it abundant, then the Father Tree of the dark elves nurtures souls and makes them pure.”
He carefully took out the black World Tree seed and held it out to Sinhyeok.
“Because the World Tree of Night is always on the other side. It only grows in the Netherworld, where souls dwell.”
Sinhyeok carefully received it from Ichan.
But then the final bomb dropped.
“But this is damaged too. To be honest, I haven’t heard Father’s voice since the moment I came to Earth.”
Sinhyeok looked at Ichan and smiled broadly.
“Hohoho, our Ichan really is……”
“Hehehe.”
“Hyung, I did good, right?”
“Yeah.”
Sinhyeok firmly gripped both his temples with both hands, then curled his palms into fists.
Feeling unease creeping up, Ichan hurriedly tried to pull away, but it was too late.
“Die.”
“Aaaaagh!”
He twisted them hard, gifting him pain and a headache.
“Why is nothing intact?”
At those words, everyone flinched a little.
There were so many things smashed to pieces that a sigh escaped Sinhyeok on its own.
“Ha, I’ll have to fix it somehow.”
As it happened, there were two traces of shattered World Trees.
The Fruit of Yggdrasil and the Seed of the World Tree of Night.
‘If I combine the two properly……’
But the most important obstacle remained.
‘Right now, whether it’s transmutation, synthesis, or fusion, none of it works.’
His very identity, alchemy, was dead.
“Ha, damn it. This is seriously fucked.”
At that bitter remark, everyone patted his shoulders.
The old knight spoke kindly.
“This old body shall move without rest. I, Graywain! Though it may not be visible now, as the Knight Commander of this Pergana City! I shall offer this body—!”
‘That’s way too much……’
“I’ll try to manage before it comes to that. Sir Knight, I’d rather you simply live a long life.”
“Hoho.”
Sinhyeok stared at the monsters gathering at the boundary and slapped his own cheek hard.
“Get a grip. Let’s just go back to basics.”
‘It’s not like I used to clear Gates with this kind of thing!’
He thought that, but Sinhyeok was anxious as well.
He went quietly into a corner and sat cross-legged, intending to meditate at least.
Seeing that, Namgung Jincheon approached and said,
“Shall I teach you a breathing technique?”
“I-I’d appreciate that.”
He sat down beside him.
“There is not much to it, really. Breathe in deeply and breathe out deeply.”
At the extremely simple explanation, Sinhyeok was disappointed.
“Are martial arts usually like that?”
“Haha. This is merely a breathing technique, so it is simple. However, I think you need a different explanation, so I will say a little more.”
He stood and placed a hand on Sinhyeok’s back.
When Jincheon observed his interior, he frowned.
“Hup. Young hero, your insides are quite unusual. This repulsive force is……”
Sinhyeok closed his eyes and focused on his voice.
“For now, do as I say. Breathe in deeply.”
“Suuuuuuup.”
“Breathe out deeply.”
“Haaaaaa.”
“Repeat.”
He really repeated it.
Until his head went blank.
Driven by desperation, he continued until his mouth tasted sweet and his throat tasted of blood.
After repeating it so much, his thoughts vanished, and he was only repeating his breathing.
“Huh?”
After the endless repetition, mana suddenly responded with a pop.
He opened his eyes and looked at Namgung Jincheon.
“It’s working? What did you do?”
He had clearly only been repeating the same thing, and Jincheon had only placed a hand on his back.
“What technique did you use?”
Jincheon smiled and stood.
“I did nothing.”
“Pardon?”
“The more the body is injured, the more instinctively it blocks off what it used to hand over to its master one by one. At such times, there is only one method. Extreme concentration.”
Sinhyeok thought it was simple, yet the most difficult thing to actually carry out.
“So discard idle thoughts. From what I see, you think far too much. Because of that, I get the feeling you cannot use even half of what you possess.”
He smiled and patted Sinhyeok’s shoulder.
“Take it simply as advice from an old man with much experience. It will not all be correct.”
“No, it really helped.”
Looking back, quite some time seemed to have passed.
With the sliver of restored mana, he immediately began mapping.
‘Let’s get a clear look.’
He sent it beyond the boundary, and his whole body stiffened.
A vivid tremor came through.
The pressure from their sheer numbers alone was considerable.
‘I’ll die……’
Each and every one was a boss-class entity with considerable strength.
“A destroyed world.”
He understood what that meant.
It wasn’t only worlds that were abandoned here and gathered.
Even the final beings that had struggled and thrashed until the very end had been abandoned.
“Damn it.”
Sinhyeok immediately grabbed the seed and the fragment of Yggdrasil.
“I have to do it right now.”