The way Victoria sees me is filled with Soo-oh’s presence.
But I don’t entirely resemble Soo-oh. Strangely, there’s a hint of Choseol in there too.
Well, what Soo-oh left behind was the phrase named Soo-oh’s Divine Art Choseol. It’s not odd at all that Choseol’s figure is mixed in.
But I really don’t understand why Soo-oh would leave something like this. I didn’t even know this technique existed in the first place.
Victoria approaches me. She’s a bit taller than I am.
“5 feet? No, about 3 inches shorter. You’ve shrunk a bit, haven’t you?”
“True. That’s how people are.”
Strictly speaking, the body itself is indeed a monster’s body. The vessel remains the same. But since it has never been alive, it feels like just a lump of clay.
“You said you didn’t want to go home. What will you do if we part ways here?”
What can I do?
“I’ll just keep living.”
Since I could mimic a human, blending in among them shouldn’t be a problem. At least as far as Victoria’s memories show, there has never been a harvesting period here.
So in this third world, since I have purple hair, the chances of being killed seem low.
Expanding the harvesting period and creating a closed-off sect, finding a way to connect with higher-ups.
This time, the problem is that it needs to be created anew, not just an already established religion.
But somehow it should work out.
I looked around.
The ground was sunken like an area where a sinkhole had burst. It’s a place made by digging tunnels underground, so it’s natural for it to create a pit if it collapses, like an ant nest.
The good thing is that instead of vertical walls like a typical sinkhole, it slopes down toward the center, so I can go up.
If I can grab the rock ahead…
Grab it…
Hmm.
Choseol could easily reach up to grab it, but with my height, I can’t touch it even with a jump. With Soo-oh’s memories in mind, I thought maybe I could use martial arts skills, but I don’t get the same propulsion as Soo-oh.
As expected, I need some kind of force to push me up. This…
In the first world, there was magic power. In the second world, there was qi.
It seems I fundamentally can’t wield those powers. I can’t use them even with Soo-oh’s body.
That’s one thing.
While I searched around for something to grab and climb up, suddenly, water started rising up my legs and formed a giant water droplet around my lower body.
What the?
Thinking they had finally decided to kill me, I turned my body around.
But it wasn’t that.
Victoria was looking at me with a very pitiful expression.
“It’s worrying to leave you like this. Let’s go together.”
“Are you going to kidnap me?”
“Where do you get such horrible ideas? I just thought you wouldn’t last long alone. Don’t you have some incredible power or something?”
Victoria walked over to me, took a few swipes at the air, and suddenly a staircase made of water appeared.
After carefully stepping onto it, Victoria confirmed it was stable enough and grabbed my arm.
“What’s this incredible power of yours?”
“The power I’m using now. Isn’t it from you?”
Swish.
A small stream of water moved through the air.
I can control water freely now? Just when I was about to die from the water, I’ve gained the ability to manipulate it.
I shook my head.
“No, that’s your ability. If someone contracts with me earnestly, they tend to gain abilities sometimes.”
That “earnestly” situation, I speculate, is when one can’t overcome a situation solely with their own strength.
Those who were relatively safe didn’t gain psychic powers during the harvesting period, while those surrounded by death did.
“What is this?”
The droplet formed a question mark.
Handling it quite well from the start…
Based on information from faded memories like a comic, perhaps it draws possibilities one could have.
Which is why, upon gaining it, they’re able to use it proficiently right away.
Wide and Tisah both handled their powers quite well as soon as they obtained them. Though the methods of using their powers refined as they fought.
From seeing Wide controlling fire and Victoria controlling water, it seems you immediately know how to handle the ability upon acquiring it.
But where does that power even come from? According to the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign’s knowledge, what I draw is the Taiji.
Interpreted as chaos that can do anything and become anything.
It doesn’t mean the combination of yin and yang as I initially thought. The Primordial Heavenly Sovereign referred to it as infinite possibilities existing before that.
If that’s the possibility, if that’s the warmth, they should lose warmth when gaining special psychic powers.
But there’s none of that.
Instead, it gradually grows brighter along with the light. I shine in purple light as I am.
“So that’s why you left without hesitation. If you’re like a god, I thought you’d give me power in exchange for something.”
Ah~
That’s right. There are memories of Daegon and the Primordial Heavenly Sovereign regarding that.
Immortals or gods. Many who contract take on a role like mine, often exchanging something for a reward.
“I’m not a deity. So I don’t do that. All I did when I was below was to ask a person who had fallen into despair if they wanted to contract and go ahead with it.”
But that isn’t salvation.
Because the structure inherently means they’ll gain warmth no matter what.
Purchasing at the lowest point means any scenario is higher than the lowest point. Although there were times when the highest point had more warmth when harvested, it’s less common.
Most of the time, living long gives a lot of warmth. So keeping that freedom policy…
“Isn’t that what makes you a god?”
As Victoria was climbing the water staircase and reaching a raised area, she asked me.
“No, wouldn’t gods not need to make contracts at all?”
That’s how I envision a god. Perfect and absolute. There’s nothing they can’t do. Below that, all are mere imposters or those unaware of their subjects.
Still, I wouldn’t outright deny it.
If someone claims to be a god or insists someone else is a god, I’d let it slide.
If they block my gaining warmth, though, I might hold a grudge!
“Why the question?”
“Because I don’t know. I’m being held by a human child, and your hand feels warm, so that’s my current impression.”
Victoria looked at me with the expression of someone watching a child.
Do I look that childlike? This is genuinely a simple observation. I have no need to look like a child.
In the Future Hope Church, I had to hold my breath to gain Yasle’s trust, so I acted that way on purpose, but I’m fine parting ways with Victoria here.
Especially since Soo-oh’s last words before casting the spell still linger in my mind.
As we talked, we reached a small hill. There were traces of collapse in between the hills.
Since the place I was summoned to was a base created by digging around here, if it collapses, the whole thing sinks.
“Wow, it really all collapsed.”
Victoria observes her surroundings in awe. Following the direction of her gaze leads back through the places she moved earlier. The last place she arrives at is where she was kidnapped.
She remembers all the paths she has taken.
As if in thought, she blinks her eyes and looks down at me before speaking.
“Then you have nowhere to go, right? Come with me.”
It’s true I don’t have a specific place to go, so I nodded.
“Right.”
“Your agreement is surprisingly quick. Were you waiting for this?”
“Anywhere is fine by me.”
“You really shouldn’t follow a strange person outside just because they offer you candy.”
“Then of course I’d have to follow.”
Such villains gather warmth quickly once turned into harvesting targets.
Fast, and in great amounts, and the end is quick too.
The good harvest here feels like health food, while the villains feel like fast food.
Of course, if there’s a world where villains dominate, they might live longer, so they have a higher chance of giving me warmth. But until now, those harvesters who chased profits often met their demise.
As I thought this, Victoria looked at me with a significant expression.
“You. Until we get to my house, don’t let go of me.”
And she said it so seriously.
Looking at her as if she saw me as a complete child was humorous, so I replied like this.
“Obsession is bad.”
“Call it protection instead. No, when I was a 25-foot monster, I thought, what am I supposed to do with this creature that’s turned into a complete child…”
Victoria clutched her head as if troubled. Objectively, it makes sense. Victoria is still a student, and in her eyes, I appear much younger.
Plus, my behavior is entirely nonchalant.
That would be quite the pickle.
Victoria looked around and firmly held my hand to walk along.
“You called me a monster, but isn’t this a bit tight?”
Feeling strangely as if I had become Soo-oh, I joked about what Victoria had muttered earlier.
“I think so too. But you seem way too childlike. By the way, how old are you?”
Age.
If only considering human memories, how old am I?
“Barely a two-digit number, teetering on the brink of three digits?”
“That’s downright ancient.”
Even while expressing astonishment, Victoria doesn’t let go of my hand and continues walking. The direction she’s headed is towards the port where Victoria was kidnapped.
It seems like she intends to take me home.
