Chapter 413
Entering his dormitory, Se-Hoon collapsed onto the sofa without even changing his clothes.
“That was way too tiring...”
Who would’ve thought a single slip of the tongue would cause him to be dragged around the streets of Paris for ten hours? Feeling as though he had worked for an entire week without sleeping, Se-Hoon rubbed his temples, trying to ease his mental fatigue.
Still... at least it worked out in the end.
Aria had even suggested they hang out again—an utterly terrifying notion. Though, on second thought, it wouldn’t be the worst. He wouldn’t get dragged around like that again as long as he avoided making the same mistake.
Recalling Aria’s light footsteps as she entered her mansion, Se-Hoon turned his gaze toward the ceiling. The moonlight had blurred the darkness, casting flickering shadows across the ceiling.
For a while, he was just absentmindedly staring at them, when out of the blue, a forgotten task resurfaced in his mind.
“Ah... right. I forgot to check it.”
Sitting up, Se-Hoon moved to the edge of the sofa and summoned the Fatestones he had extracted from the Myers siblings.
Thump-
With a slightly harder than usual thump of his heart, the two energies of the stones gathered in each of his hands.
Woong!
The golden light in his left hand dispelled the darkness and solidified into an octagonal gemstone, whereas the blue light in his right hand embraced the darkness and transformed into a hexagonal gemstone.
Both were radiant, each gleaming as brilliantly as stars in the sky. Examining the similar but different stones closely, Se-Hoon pulled up their information messages one after another.
[Fatestone - Dawnlight Star]
[Tier: Hero] [Quality: Perfect]
[A small star radiating golden light.
It can amplify its luminosity by consuming mana. The user can exert powerful influence over those enveloped by its glow by also consuming mana.
*Consumes mana to generate Dawnlight
*Can project Dawnlight to interfere with a target, with mana consumption increasing depending on the target]
[Fatestone - Primordial Star]
[Tier: Hero] [Quality: Perfect]
[A small star imbued with blue light.
It can expand its gravitational force by consuming mana. The user can absorb and compress forms of energy caught within its range.
*Consumes mana to expand its gravitational field
*Can absorb energy from targets under its gravitational influence that is then compressed into a Primordial Core]
“Oh...” An involuntary exclamation escaped his lips.
Although Se-Hoon had already sensed they were unusual back when he first extracted them, their abilities far exceeded his expectations.
I think I get the gist of it... but let’s try them out first.
Deciding to first test Aria’s new Fatestone, Dawnlight Star, Se-Hoon wasted no time and infused it with mana to amplify its light.
Woong-
The Dawnlight Star shone even more brilliantly, its radiance so intense that the entire living room was bathed in golden light.
Observing it, Se-Hoon then tried focusing the energy on a single point.The scattered light gradually converged into a single beam, elongating into a laser pointer-like thin ray.
He waved the beam around as a test before turning his gaze toward the empty air above the table. Focusing on it, he moved the Dawnlight Star.
Slash-
Space—its very fabric—was split along the beam’s trajectory.
Woong-
A palm-sized rectangular outline appeared in midair. Unlike a typical disturbance where mana would surge or space would distort, the cut seemed to leave only an afterimage—no, something more substantial than that.
Tap!
Se-Hoon pressed a finger against the golden-bordered section of space, and like a building block being removed, the severed section detached and fell onto the table.
Examining the perfect rectangle carved out of space itself and then the golden light filling the void left behind, Se-Hoon smirked.
Yep, this is definitely similar to the power of the Perfect Ones.
The Dawnlight Star didn’t just cut space, it severed the very concept of it. Its power was exactly like the power of Severance once wielded by the Holy Swordsman, Aria, before the regression.
Comparing them in his mind, Se-Hoon was admiring its effectiveness—
Crackle!
A faint rupturing sound rose from below. Surprised, Se-Hoon looked down and saw the detached piece of space crumbling apart.
“...Huh?”
Simultaneously, the golden border flickered and faded away. Soon enough, the severed space had basically reverted to its original state.
Se-Hoon frowned. The power of Severance had a much longer duration...
Recalling how the power of Severance had been semi-permanent, he examined the phenomenon more closely. And that was when he noticed the surrounding space—or rather, the ‘world’ itself—was actively working to undo the Dawnlight Star’s effect.
“...I see. So that’s how it works.”
If the power of Severance stemmed from the Holy Swordsman, then the Dawnlight Star stemmed from a mere human: Aria Myers. Unlike when she was a Perfect One, the world itself was actively trying to erase the effect.
It’s like an illegal structure is being forcibly removed.
Doing a couple more tests of the Dawnlight Star, Se-Hoon accurately determined the duration of its effect and could summarize its effects.
I’ll need to turn this into equipment.
The mana efficiency was poor, and with the Golden Ring itself interfering, it had too many limitations compared to other authorities. While it was still usable in its current state, rather than struggling with it, refining it into proper equipment was clearly the better option.
I'll figure out the details later...
Placing the Dawnlight Star on the table, Se-Hoon moved on to test the Primordial Star, Jake’s Fatestone.
Woong!
Waves of blue light rippled outward, making everything within its range sharply clear in Se-Hoon’s senses. If he activated the gravitational force it produced, he felt like he could pull in everything within a hundred-meter radius.
However, he instead focused on a single element.
Woong!
The darkness within the living room—and even the entire dormitory—was sucked into the center of the Primordial Star’s gravitational force. The room, now as bright as midday, had an eerie atmosphere.
Fascinated, Se-Hoon looked around the room.
So the Primordial Star can interfere with the fundamental attributes of the universe too.... Siblings are siblings in the end.
Though weaker than the Dawnlight Star, similar abilities were more about whether they could be done at all rather than its strength. Because of that, there was nothing to be disappointed about.
Turning his focus to the darkness swirling around the Primordial Star, which made it look like Saturn and its rings, Se-Hoon attempted compression.
Creak-
An intense gravitational force surged from the Primordial Star’s core, pulling the darkness even further in. Following it, a powerful compressive pressure, laced with blue light, shook the space.
The vast darkness that had once filled the dormitory shrank even further down into a speck no larger than a fingernail, which now made it truly resemble a star in the far away night sky.
Intrigued, Se-Hoon stared at it closely.
“Wait, this...”
As a certain thought briefly passed through his mind, he immediately released the compressed darkness.
Whoosh-
The concentrated mass of darkness hovered at the tip of his index finger. And with a single flick, he sent it flying toward the living room wall.
Fwoosh!
Like ink spreading in water, the darkness exploded outward upon contact, engulfing the entire room and swallowing the unnatural brightness in a pitch-black void within seconds. Unlike before, when the faint moonlight mixed with the shadows, now he couldn’t see an inch in front of him.
Confirming his guess, Se-Hoon smirked. The compression attribute strengthens the very darkness itself. Just as I expected.
Although the affected area had shrunk from the entire dormitory to just the living room, the power had increased dramatically; it was more than a fair trade. Unlike Dawnlight Star, the Primordial Star wasn’t restrained by the Golden Ring, which meant its potential for immediate use was far greater.
Still, I should also refine it into equipment for proper use.
Done with all tests now, Se-Hoon stared at the two luminous stars resting side by side on the table and couldn’t help but smile. He already knew exactly what kind of equipment to forge—and who to entrust them to.
This will be fun...
Though the finer details weren’t decided yet, a few more experiments would be enough to finish the blueprint. However, he had done enough testing for the day. Se-Hoon absorbed the Fatestones back into his body.
“Whew...”
Letting out a deep sigh, he was about to lean back onto the sofa when his gaze drifted to the window. The central district of Babel was still brightly lit up despite the approaching dawn. But instead of its beauty, a sense of familiarity struck him.
Basking in the feeling, he silently observed the night view before snapping his fingers.
Snap!
In an instant, the dark living room transformed into the open sky. A vast, cloudless night stretched before him, and a cool breeze brushed against his skin. Now high above Babel, with the entire city laid out beneath him, Se-Hoon turned his head toward a specific landmark.
“...”
A colossal, pure-white tower stretched impossibly high, piercing through even the heavens.The Towers of Heroes defied all common sense—grotesque and beautiful in its unnatural existence.
Gazing at the one before him, Se-Hoon remembered the conversation from earlier that day.
She said I already conquered the Tower once...
Was Aria mistaken? Or was there something he had forgotten? Even while wandering the streets of Paris with Aria, he had been trying to recall the truth. Alas, no matter how hard he thought about it, he was certain he had never even challenged the tenth floor, let alone cleared it.
I’m sure I vividly remember giving up.
The ninth floor had required him to forge something out of absolute darkness, which alone had taken him an entire month to clear. And that was a month that he counted by counting his heartbeats—in actuality, it had likely taken even longer.
Because of that, Se-Hoon had abandoned any thought of attempting the tenth floor. The situation outside the Tower had been worsening, and he had barely passed the ninth floor by using a loophole. Back then, he had been certain he could never clear the next floor.
If I never reached the tenth floor...
Then where had he come to understand the existence of the Golden Ring so completely? He had no clues for now, albeit for the one thing he knew for certain.
The key lies in my regression.
If he could uncover the secret behind the miracle that had sent him back in time, he believed he would finally understand the changes happening within him. Keeping that thought in mind, Se-Hoon stared at the Tower, lost in thought.
Woooong-
A faint ripple echoed in his mind. It felt like a cautious, almost hesitant knock within his consciousness. Someone was trying to contact him.
Ah. Now that I think about it... was it supposed to be today?
The conversation from a week ago returning to him, Se-Hoon released the barrier he had placed over the Beads of Omniscience.
“Agh! Agh!”
“Quiet.”
“O-okay... okay.”
The Seeker fell silent with just a single word. It seemed her previous experience of being burned in the Sacred Flames and then dunked in the sea of the Netherworld had left a lasting impression.
“Connect me with Terra. She just contacted me.”
“Of course.... But, um, you’re always so cold—”
“Tsk.”
“Which is understandable sometimes! Yes, I’ll connect you straight away!”
Woong!
The Beads of Omniscience flickered with a crimson glow, and, moments later, a panicked voice filled his head.
“Please don’t abandon me, please don’t abandon me, please don’t abandon me...”
The sheer anxiety in the voice made Se-Hoon frown.
“...Abandon what?”
“Huh? Oh, s—sorry!”
Belatedly realizing she had been connected with Se-Hoon, Terra let out a startled yelp and immediately apologized.
Her overreaction made Se-Hoon consider scolding her, but after a brief thought, he let it slide. She had panicked just because he took ten seconds to respond. If he actually reprimanded her, who knew how she’d react?
“Have you finished the clean-up?”
“Ah, yes! The ley lines have been completely restored, and as you instructed, all potential links with the Demon Force have been severed!”
Following their battle, Se-Hoon had destroyed all of the underground research facilities of the Demon Force with the help of the Perfect Ones and tasked Terra with stabilizing the planet. Most of those facilities had been siphoning power from the ley lines, and their destruction had left significant damage he wanted Terra to deal with.
“What’s the final restoration rate?”
“Um...”
“I won’t scold you. Just say it.”
Despite his words, Terra still flinched before carefully answering. “Once all the currently undergoing repairs are complete... it should be around seventy-eight percent.”
“Hm...”
Se-Hoon narrowed his eyes at the response. A seventy-eight percent final restoration rate meant that the planet had suffered a permanent twenty-two percent loss in lifespan due to the battle.
It’s better than what it was before... but it’s still too unstable.
Although Terra had been managing to protect the planet so far, there was no guarantee she could continue doing so. Furthermore, now that the Demon Force knew he was in control of her, they could target the planet even more aggressively than before.
The real problem now is figuring out how to protect all of it...
He fell deep in thought, wondering if there was any way to protect the planet if an all-out war were to break out between the Perfect Ones and the Harbingers of Destruction.
“Um...”
“Shh. He might hit you if you interrupt him now.”
“Gasp...!”
Half listening to Terra and the Seeker whispering to each other, Se-Hoon shifted his gaze to the Tower of Heroes in front of him. For as long as he had known, the mysterious structure—its origins, materials, design, and very existence—were veiled in secrecy.
But knowing some of those secrets now, Se-Hoon slowly curled his lips into a grin.
“I guess there’s one way.”
A blueprint to rebuild the planet took shape in his mind.