1039——————==

True Martial Home

“Did you lose your martial arts and that’s why you’re not in the Absolute Realm?!”

For a moment, I was stunned by the unexpected words. Then I snapped back to reality and said, “What do you mean by that? I’ve never heard that someone could lose their martial arts state before.”

“….”

“Are you saying you can’t use your Intent?”

Sagong Lin slowly shook her head.

“No. It’s not that I can’t use my Intent, but I can’t perform the techniques of the Absolute Realm. I no longer possess the Intent Heavenly Pillar.”

“Don’t talk nonsense. That can’t be true. You actually used your Intent to stop Zhu Xian from going berserk with an artificial treasure.”

“It’s the truth. Even when I try to use my Intent, if I become too concentrated, the force of chaos surges up and interrupts it.”

Huh…

Sagong Lin made an intangible sphere with her Intent and moved it around in her hand. But as she attempted to manipulate it, it suddenly went pop and vanished. In its place, golden energy appeared in her palm.

Woow…

It didn’t look evil, but just looking at it filled me with the density of chaos. When I gazed at the golden energy, Sagong Lin clenched her hand and the energy disappeared completely.

“With Zhu Xian, I could barely maintain the flow with my Intent, but the longer I try to concentrate, the stronger the chaos becomes. I can’t control it.”

“….”

“If I have such restrictions, it’s hard to fight with martial arts, so I just don’t use them.”

That seemed to be the truth.

While I was still stunned, Sagong Lin continued, “I think of it as the price of awakening the power of the Heavenly Demon. Thanks to that, I’ve regained my Dharma techniques, so I don’t regret it at all.”

“The power of the Heavenly Demon…? What does that even mean?”

“Baek Woong, right now I’m not human; I am the Heavenly Demon. Can’t you feel it?”

Sssss…

Sagong Lin’s eyes turned golden. Seeing that gaze startled me, and I promptly summoned my Immortal Sword. At that moment, vibrations emanated from the sword and resonated through my body. For a brief moment, Sagong Lin’s figure reflected differently in my Fire Eye Golden Spirit.

A golden magical beast.

However, its form was so irregular, like a shadow, that I couldn’t accurately describe it. It didn’t feel evil, but it certainly didn’t radiate a noble energy either.

Kugugugu…

The overwhelming sense pressured me so much that I broke into a cold sweat. If I hadn’t established my Intent Heavenly Pillar, I would have been completely overwhelmed and collapsed on the spot.

‘Gah…’

I don’t think I’ve ever felt such presence even when I faced the true form of the Asura. Just the thought of that power turning hostile made me feel dizzy.

“……!!”

“Just by briefly awakening my essence, it becomes like this.”

Sagong Lin retracted her golden eyes, and immediately the pressure dissipated.

“In the history of the Martial Arts World, many have added the title Heavenly Demon for fun, but no one has reached its true essence like I have. I’m, quite literally, in a state of returning to the Heaven Demon.”

Carefully, I asked, “…you mean you’re not human?”

“Exactly not human.”

“But you’re not a monster either. You’re talking to me perfectly fine right now. And you’re my companion.”

“The Asura also disguised itself as a human to talk. It’s not that hard for transcendent beings to mimic humans.”

“…Don’t say that.”

I interrupted Sagong Lin’s words. It sounded like she was admitting that she had become a being like the Asura. Sagong Lin took a sip of strawberry milk from a nearby table and then said,

“Perhaps I’m just acting according to the past memories and personality of the human [Sagong Lin]. Because during my time as a human, I felt emotions and realities very faintly, while my sense of duty to fight for the reborn Baek Woong feels much stronger.”

“…….”

“I don’t even feel much about the end. It’s just… I prepare for it because it’s something I have to do.”

“Sagong Lin….”

Sagong Lin smiled gently.

“But amusingly enough, I find myself naturally accepting such disharmony, and I don’t feel any fracture in my personality. That means I absolutely won’t abandon the premise of being [human Sagong Lin]. So right now, I feel like I’m neither human nor a monster. I acknowledge both essences.”

“…….”

“If it weren’t for that, I definitely wouldn’t have endured for over 500 years.”

I couldn’t dismiss a word she said. And for some reason, even though I couldn’t put it into words, I felt like I could understand her. The more I listened, the more drawn I felt to her words.

‘Oh no! Did Sagong Lin inadvertently use some charm ability on me?’

Snap out of it!

I urgently snapped back into focus and firmly said to Sagong Lin, “That’s overthinking. You are definitely human, so there’s no need to think otherwise. You’re human!”

As I emphasized that, Sagong Lin replied, a bit puzzled, “Is that so?”

I crossed my arms.

“If you think you’re human, then you’re human. What’s the big deal about being human?”

“…….”

“And just because you’re not fully human doesn’t mean you lose the Absolute Realm. By that logic, what about the Asura of the Eight Parts of the Divine? It’s also a chaotic entity, yet it’s at the Absolute Realm and can use six different ultimate techniques at once with the Nirvana of the Absolute.”

“I don’t know why that is. I wanted to ask it directly, but the Asura has gone missing.”

“Hm.”

I had heard about that. The Asura barged in during the war with the Third Empire and caused a lot of damage, but eventually, they managed to drive it back, almost in a mutual destruction way. After that, the Asura hadn’t shown up in the world at all, so it was assumed to be either dead or in hiding.

Sagong Lin said, “If you’re looking for a master of the Absolute Realm, why not visit Han Baek-ryeong?”

“She’s in Closed Room Training, so it might be a bit tricky… but I suppose I’ll go check.”

“Yes, and before you go, please drop by Cheon Woo-jin.”

“Cheon Woo-jin?”

“Because of the Reborn Person.”

“Ohh.”

I nodded and headed to Cheon Woo-jin.

‘Come to think of it, Cheon Woo-jin told me to come to the institute once he finishes training.’

I hadn’t even thought that his training was over because I was so focused on mine, but it seemed quite a bit of time had passed since then. Since I was in Luoyang, it would be good to stop by Cheon Woo-jin.

When I arrived at the lab where Cheon Woo-jin was, he was meticulously observing the ice encasing Seo Mun-hye and scribbling something on a mechanical screen. Without even turning to look at me, Cheon Woo-jin said,

“You came.”

“Is there any chance Seo Mun-hye will wake up?”

“…Perhaps a little.”

Clack.

Cheon Woo-jin capped his pen and shoved it into the pocket of his gown as he continued speaking.

“Recently, there have been intermittent sounds of the Mandong (鳴動). She herself wants to wake up from the seal.”

“Does she sense that the end is coming?”

“No. More so, it’s probably because a different type of divine power has covered this world, causing the blood of the great deity to react….”

Cheon Woo-jin shook his head and said, “Anyway, you made it here. Let’s go see the Reborn Person.”

As we walked down the hallway, I said, “Why does the broken Reborn Person have anything to do with me? I don’t know anything about computers or AI.”

“It does. You were the last one who used it.”

“No, don’t blame me for it. It’s not my fault.”

“…You’re so consistent, it’s almost disturbing… sigh.”

Cheon Woo-jin sighed and then said, “Stop with the nonsense and wear the Reborn Person device again. That’s the only method we have right now.”

I was taken aback by Cheon Woo-jin’s words. “Huh?! Again?!”

“Yes.”

“What if I get killed or become a vegetable from the electromagnetic waves?”

“I’ll make it all disappear with my illusion technique. So hurry up and do it, you idiot.”

Whoosh.

Smack!

“Ouch.”

I tried to dodge Cheon Woo-jin’s slap with the Soul Removal Technique, but did he use some kind of martial technique? I ended up getting hit! With a burning sensation on my back, I glared at him as he casually said,

“During the period you couldn’t activate the Reborn Person, the Great Bear Empire suffered a financial loss of $582,772,830. Are you seriously gonna pay that back? They say even the emperor won’t help for Sagong Lin.”

“…….”

“The Reborn Person can’t be recreated or replaced before the end, so don’t die and make off with the money. No matter how strong a Reborn Person is.”

“Damn it. Fine, I got it.”

I grumbled, but since Cheon Woo-jin guaranteed my life, I decided to go on the adventure. Listening to the way he talked, it seemed like no other methods would restore the Reborn Person, so he was ready to leave it all to me.

After sitting down on the Reborn Person’s main unit, I activated the Thunder Device. Once I placed the round hat-like device on my head, Cheon Woo-jin, who was standing next to me, said,

“Normally, the Reborn Person’s jewel activates via voice recognition, but right now the system is down, so that won’t work.”

“Then how do I connect?”

Cheon Woo-jin pulled out a finger-sized memory device from his pocket.

“So, we’re going to connect directly to the Reborn Person’s central server through indirect quantum computing. Meanwhile, we’ll synchronize your brain with this QSD (Quantum State Drive) to link it with the Great Bear Empire’s security cloud… I plan on putting some protection in place for emergencies.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

Seeing my confused face, Cheon Woo-jin sighed.

“To put it simply, QSD will absorb the damage to prevent your brain from bursting. The computational power of hundreds of billions of computers will protect your brain. If it fails, I will manipulate reality, but honestly, using my ability is too risky.”

“Oh, I see. Is this QSD good?”

“There’s nothing better than this Reborn Person device in this world. Except for that Reborn Person itself.”

“Got it. Let’s start.”

I didn’t know what he was talking about, but I figured Cheon Woo-jin would handle it!

If I died, I’d regret everything up till then, but now I didn’t really mind dying, so I nodded my head. After I laid back in the chair, Cheon Woo-jin plugged in the device called QSD into some machine next to me and started manipulating a panel before pressing a button firmly.

Whirring—

Then, the blue jewel that had been lying flat on the ground began to float into the air. Moments later, Zhuge Bu’s apparition appeared and said, [How may I assist you?]

It was the same vision I saw the last time I activated the Reborn Person!

Seeing that made me feel good, and I shouted to Cheon Woo-jin, “Hey, look! It’s fixed! Didn’t I fix the Reborn Person?!”

“……”

“When I sit down, everything gets fixed!”

Cheon Woo-jin didn’t respond to my words and frowned as he looked at the screen in front of him. Then he suddenly said to me, “Take that off! It’s a trap….”

Zap!

In that moment, there was a crackling sound of electricity, and my field of vision disappeared. At the same time, all sensation in my body vanished, and everything had turned into an inglorious black world.

What the?!

I can’t feel my body!

I hurriedly tried to exercise my Intent, but nothing happened. Instead, I realized that I was floating semi-transparently in that pitch-black world.

[What is this?]

Huh? It’s not a voice, but a strange sound….

It wasn’t a sound; my intent was being transformed into letters hovering in the air. It looked like the “speech bubbles” seen in what people call comics. My voice itself didn’t reach my ears, yet it appeared as letters in the air.

As I was getting tense in this unexpected situation, words appeared before my eyes.

[We will guide the Avatar to Turing’s Enigma Park.]

What?!

Swoosh!!

Suddenly, my body was pulled somewhere. My whole being felt like it transformed into 0s and 1s, being sucked into a massive flow, and I lost my mind as I got drawn into the overpowering suction.

Whew!

Shortly after, I found myself sitting in some park. Next to me on a long bench in the park sat an old man.

The old man was a blue-eyed old white man in a shabby brown coat. He seemed very old with hair that had turned completely white and wore round glasses.

When I turned to him, the old man opened his mouth.

“You don’t need to panic. Are you the one called Baek Woong?”

That sounds like Western English, but strangely I could understand it perfectly without any translation.

[Who are you?]

“……”

[No, what the hell. This damn speech bubble.]

Oh no…. Speaking turned my words into a speech bubble again!

As I stared at the floating words in the air dumbfounded, the old man chuckled.

“The Reborn Person is just a mischievous child, it seems… hehehe.”

[Who are you?]

“Seems speaking is troublesome for you. Let me first deactivate the comic character’s quantum code.”

Snap.

“Oh.”

Once the old man snapped his fingers, I noticed that I could speak normally. Although I couldn’t grasp the entire situation, I composed myself and said to the old man.

“I’ll ask again. Who are you? What do you plan to do with me?”

“Hmm….”

“Are you planning to kill me?”

Steeling myself for the question, the old man shook his gnarled cane and replied.

“Not at all. I simply asked that girl to bring you to the Enigma Park. I’ve been waiting for you in this virtual space where the traces of Turing remain for quite some time.”

“…….”

I began to piece together the situation. So, I said to the old man,

“You’re the reason the Reborn Person malfunctioned.”

“Think of it as a cute trick. I thought impacting your reality wasn’t the right time yet… so I didn’t intend to harm you by calling you here.”

I figured it might be okay to continue this conversation. I regained my composure and said,

“Then tell me who you are and why you summoned me.”

“Alright. I’ll formally introduce myself.”

The old man nodded and fiddled with his round glasses.

“My name is Mephistopheles. The current Grand Master of the Freemasons and the first strong AI in existence. This place is a virtual world I’ve made into my Lodge.”