Chapter 850: The Path of Memory (3)
‘Aquarium? Take them off? Take what off…?’
“Surely you don’t think I would be stingy over a mere coat like this.”
Voices followed one after another. Silekia. The name came to me all at once. Silekia was with me. But the reason Seong Hyunjae had handed over its ownership was hazy. It wasn’t in my memories, but we must have decided to go to the aquarium together. We had made that promise, and probably—
‘It never got kept.’
Seong Hyunjae had taken with him a promise he had made with me. I reached out toward the fading voice of memory. My hand, my fin. That was one of my memories that Seong Hyunjae carried.
“We still haven’t gone to the aquarium.”
The voice drew farther away. I spread my wings wide and chased after it. Water splashed. The glass of the tank shattered with a crash, scattering in glittering fragments.
“Stop right there!”
I chased after the thread I had barely caught, afraid I might lose it. It nearly brushed my fingertips, then slipped away like an eel. I plunged into water somewhere.
“Hey! Diving isn’t allowed there!”
Someone shouted. I barely got my head above the water, but my vision was blurred and milky. Not a pool. The aquarium!
“Cabbage juice tastes awful, but cabbage wraps aren’t bad, right?”
Beyond the glass wall, I saw Yuhyun standing with me. I, which was to say, the manatee I had become, was chewing on cabbage. It tasted good. This was when I’d gone to the aquarium with Yuhyun and Yerim.
“I want to go in the shark tank!”
Yerim shouted as she came running over. It was an aquarium, all right, but I couldn’t feel the memory of mine that Seong Hyunjae had taken. Did I have to go to Seong Hyunjae’s house?
– Mbaa.
Seong Hyunjae stood there, one arm gone. A white-haired mountain range filled my sight. No, not this house. The house with the aquarium!
“Were you a fish in your previous life?”
I heard my own voice. I saw the soles of feet in slippers. It was Seong Hyunjae’s new house. I crossed the living room in a hurry and climbed onto the sofa.
“I’ll prepare refreshments.”
“No, thank you. I’ve decided to cut back on snacks. If I don’t at least brush my teeth before I leave, Yuhyun will notice.”
“I prepared strawberry-flavored toothpaste.”
“Oh, forget it!”
Seong Hyunjae came in with the Pegasus contract documents. I swam this way and that through the water. Was this not it either? Back to the aquarium in his original house—
– “I have prior plans.”
A faint whisper came from under the water instead of above it.
“That… right. We haven’t gone to the aquarium either.”
Seong Hyunjae’s voice mixed with mine. I had found it again. Sharpening every sense in my body, I chased after that faint memory. At last, I could feel the path. A path of memory leading into Crescent Moon’s domain, which existed everywhere, and for that very reason could not be found.
Shaaaaa—
Countless memories vanished behind me. Amid them, only one strand of memory I did not possess remained. It was like a thin thread. Suddenly, that awful hot-pink yarn came to mind. Did Seong Hyunjae still have it? As if reacting to my memory, the thread of memory began taking on a pink tint. It became real yarn with soft little fuzz along it.
“What is this supposed to be.”
– It’s better to make it that concrete, Dad.
Chirp appeared before I knew it, flapping his wings beside me.
– Don’t lose it. Don’t let it break. Make it into a stronger cord.
“This yarn is plenty strong. It was a custom order.”
It was very tough. The pink yarn stretched away through the dark night. I grasped the end of the thread and flew. A bitterly cold energy scraped past my wings. The farther I advanced, the stronger the pressure closing in from every direction became. And then.
“Ugh!”
I slammed into a wall blocking my way. I couldn’t see it. But I couldn’t follow the thread any farther. The pink yarn drifted beyond it. Tough or not, it was still a thread of memory that could snap at any moment. More than anything, if, by some chance—
‘If Seong Hyunjae loses himself.’
Even that memory would be cut off. My heart lurched with urgency. A white-and-black spear appeared in my hand. Blue-black flames wrapped around the spear and surged up. I struck the wall blocking my way with all my strength.
Bang!
Sparks burst. The recoil shoved my body hard backward. Barely managing not to let go of the yarn, I attacked again.
“If I can’t even break through one wall—!”
Then even if I reached Crescent Moon, I wouldn’t stand a chance. Again, with a boom, flames surged high. This time too, I was the one sent flying. A short breath escaped me, threaded with a groan.
– Dad! You can’t break through it by swinging your power around so crudely!
“Crudely? Hoo. I’m using a skill.”
– Compared to a transcendent on Crescent Moon’s level, it has no depth. If Crescent Moon were firing a gun, Dad, you’d be swinging your power around like a stick. That’s about the difference.
Chirp’s assessment was cold. If you hit someone properly with a gunstock, you could still crack a human skull open. I spread Blue Willow Leaves. The instant I stepped onto a leaf, I beat my wings with all my might and charged straight at the wall.
“But I have—!”
Bang! My body spun through the air. Pain throbbed through every inch of me. I used a healing skill on my aching shoulder.
“I don’t have time. I’ll just have to get used to it by ramming into it.”
There was no way I could catch up at once to transcendents who had lived for ages upon ages. Even with equal power, the difference in skill at handling it would inevitably show. If you didn’t know how to use it, even a high-performance computer was just a metal box. Or maybe I could learn from someone, but.
“Chirp, you don’t seem like you can fight either.”
– …
Yes. The only powers I awakened are time and space. Even these are temporary.
Not learned, but awakened. As expected, he didn’t seem to be an ordinary baby monster. The strand of yarn fluttered long. I could feel the thread of memory gradually growing weaker.
‘A skill that works even on transcendents.’
Chief Song’s Seeping Plunder was the first thing that came to mind. But it was easier to use defensively than offensively, and besides—
‘I’m not confident I won’t be swallowed.’
If I raised Lunar Eclipse to a transcendent level, there was a high chance it would consume even me. It was a shadow that devoured everything without distinguishing friend from foe. The other option besides Plunder was—
‘Blue flame.’
Yuhyun’s blue fire. The fire that had melted even the Gardener’s shell, which neither the system nor countless transcendents had been able to break. That fire was every bit as dangerous. I spread my palm. Blue-black flames filled my hand.
‘Han Yuhyun’s very essence.’
I’d been told that if he drew it out carelessly, he would burn his own existence itself and shorten his lifespan. Yuhyun had become pure fire, then returned to being my brother. That was probably impossible for me. I might have transcendent-class power now, but I wasn’t fire. I was human. An F-rank Awakener.
‘How much of my lifespan is left?’
How much longer could a cracked Origin last? I looked at the wall and the yarn stretching beyond it. The root of my existence was still creaking even now. It was impossible for me to heal it myself. No transcendent could help me either. Only an Origin could touch an Origin.
But I had no intention of backing down here. The blue-black flame in my hand gradually cleared. Bluer. Even bluer. And before it could turn completely blue—
“…!”
My vision spun. My whole body went cold as if I’d been drenched in ice water, while my insides boiled hot like fire.
– Dad!
My wings folded. My body dropped straight down, then swung like a pendulum, suspended in midair. Thank God I had wound the end of the yarn around my wrist. I hadn’t let go of the spear either. Barely pulling myself together, I flew back up. Dangerous. It felt as though warning lights had gone off throughout my entire body.
‘I can’t use it.’
Not unless I’m fire. Transcendent or not. I put the spear into my inventory and drew up the power of water. I recalled the Mermaid Queen’s power. I filled my body with Yerim’s experience and memories from when she had become a transcendent. Craaaack—
Water froze into sharpened blades and shot toward the wall.
Thud! Cracracrack!
The ice spears shattered to pieces. Between the glittering fragments, the yarn became thinner and fainter. If I lost that memory, I would have to wander through the memories all over again. I no longer knew how many days had already passed. Could I even continue keeping myself as myself? There was also no guarantee that I would find the path of memory again.
I had to go now.
I drew up fire. I stared into the blue held within it. Somehow, I would break through the wall and get in. But if I met Crescent Moon there—
Could I win?
For an instant, fear seized me. No, it was a fear I had been carrying for a long time. Fear Resistance could no longer wrap around me. My current rank had risen too high for that.
I was scared. Could I save Seong Hyunjae? Could I come back alive? Could I stay intact until the very end? My fingertips trembled faintly. I could still turn back. I could ask Chirp to guide me, not to Seong Hyunjae, but to the place with the Snowfall Tree, retrieve only the magic stone of my twenty-five-year-old brother, and then go home.
Honestly. I had tried hard enough, hadn’t I?
The yarn connected to my wrist moved softly, as if stirred by wind. It would be easy to unwind it. It was tough yarn, yes, but I could cut it lightly enough. I grabbed the yarn with my other hand. The memory held within the thin thread came to me.
“…Of all the memories he could’ve taken.”
When I imagined Seong Hyunjae, with himself lost, trying to escape Crescent Moon by thinking, We were supposed to go to the aquarium, an incredulous laugh slipped out of me. What was he, a ten-year-old kid? His goal was way too ordinary.
‘Just once more.’
Let me try hitting it one more time. I released the yarn and drew out the fire again. That instant—
Flutter. A flower petal brushed past my eyes.
“…Flowers.”
They were scattering through the air. Immediately after, a large hand snatched my wrist. The flame broke apart.
“You little fool, what do you think you’re doing!”
“…Sir?”
It was Young Chaos. Red eyes, narrowed in a frown, looked down at me. Chirp flapped his wings broadly as if he was glad to see him.
“Don’t do something that reckless. That isn’t power you can handle.”
“But, it’s…”
All at once, my throat tightened. It felt like I had been wandering lost all alone and had suddenly run into an adult I knew. Nothing had been solved yet, and still, a deep relief washed over me.
“I found a path to where Seong Hyunjae is.”
“It does look sturdy.”
Young Chaos looked at the wall. Something rippled around him. Things like soft down drifted through the air.
“Oh, these ones told me to pass along their greetings to you.”
“…What?”
“You said you’d met Lighthouse Keeper and Sloth in person. Wildflower says thank you.”
“…What?”
Wait.
“By Wildflower, do you mean the early creator who fell asleep inside the system ages ago? Uh, I never actually met them in person. Back then, that was the system’s…”
“It was inside the system.”
…
Ah. It hadn’t been the actual past, but Wildflower was a being that dwelled within the system. Which meant that, back then, it could also be said that I had met the real Wildflower. Wildflower must have been seeped into that illusion of the past too.
“But… sir, how did you…”
“They woke up for a short while. They’ve gone back now.”
Chaos continued speaking as he examined the wall.
“They said Rabbit carried the system all by himself for a while.”
“What?! What about Rookie! Is he safe?”
“He should be. They’re not the kind to let a junior that far beneath them disappear. Thanks to them, I’ve become lighter too. And so have you.”
The things drifting around Young Chaos wrapped around me. It was warm mana. All kinds of buffs seeped into my body.
“That wall is essentially several worlds layered together. Of course it would be hard to open with the power you have now.”
“It’s that bad?”
Breaking through even one world would be hard enough, and this was multiple worlds? Young Chaos stood behind me.
“Even if we make an opening, it will close immediately. So jump in at once.”
“Sir.”
“Use the Teacher skill on me.”
Chaos placed a hand on my shoulder.
“You should be able to use it even on a transcendent now.”
“Ah, yes.”
“And feel my movements.”
Young Chaos’s other arm reached forward, half enclosing me as it did. A sword appeared in his hand. His voice continued from right behind me.
“The power you have now is by no means weak. You simply don’t know how to handle it properly.”
I nodded slightly. I used Teacher on Chaos. The movement of an ancient transcendent flowed into me. His breath, his mana, his flowing magic, every strand of power spreading through his entire body.
“Listen, Firstborn.”
His voice rang with absolute confidence.
“I am the oldest sword. I cut down all that stands in my way.”
The tip of the sword aimed at the wall. It held a clear, unwavering sharpness.
“You, too, will cut the moonlight.”
Young Chaos’s presence swelled explosively all at once. All of it focused into a single point. He was a transcendent who had lived through an unimaginable span of time, but Chaos did not know how to weave and layer his power in complex patterns or transform it into something new. He could not use magical techniques the way other transcendents did.
He simply cut.
He broke, sliced away, and moved forward.
Shrrrr—
That single resolve flowed along the blade. The sword stretched straight and moved. Young Chaos’s red eyes held the wall within them. I, too, could feel the thick world that perfectly blocked the way. But everywhere within it—
There were gaps.
No existence was one single, perfect mass. It was an accumulation of small flows, then smaller, then smaller still. So naturally, gaps existed. I could feel them.
If it was already split, then there was nothing that couldn’t be cut.
Riding the flow of certainty, the blade moved.
Sss—
For the briefest instant, light was drawn. Without a sound, the wall split open and parted by a small margin.
“Go!”
Young Chaos’s hand pushed against my back. I leaped toward the closing gap between worlds.
The darkness of black night was swept away in an instant, and moonlight poured down in a flood.
–TL Notes–
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