I'm Not Even Out Yet?

He carried the fallen Mina out of the hollow.

Outside, the world looked as if some heaven-sent disaster had swept through and left nothing standing. The skin of the earth had been peeled back, and a vast hole gaped in the sky. Mountains that had once stood proud were ground to powder and strewn across the ground, and the rivers had run dry, baring the gaunt bones of their beds.

Bihyung walked through the ruin.

"Nnngh..."

A faint groan slipped from Mina where she lay across his back. The moment her eyes fluttered open, a shriek tore out of her.

"B-Bihyung!?"

"You passed out. Don't push yourself for a while. Just rest against my back."

"......"

Mina could not understand why she was slung over his back in such a state.

I definitely... caught the anomaly, and then...

Nothing came back to her. She had simply lost consciousness, and this was the moment she woke.

E-even so... this is nice...

As if melting into a warm bed, she settled her body against the broad plane of his back. Even the question of why she had fainted seemed to dissolve.

Then the landscape came into her view as well.

"...Bihyung. Why does it look like this?"

A scene of devastation, as if she were watching the end of the world. Her eyes shook hard at the sight of it.

"...I just ran into a bit of a fortuitous encounter, that's all."

Bihyung brushed it aside with a thin smile.

"...A fortuitous encounter? Like the ones in martial arts novels?"

That was right, too.

Or you could call it a strange fate, if you liked.

A dragon, drawn down by his yokai power. And the treasure it had left him as a gift at the end of their talk. A fortuitous encounter of the sort martial novels loved — and a truly strange bond besides.

"What kind of fortuitous encounter looks like this?"

"More importantly, Mina. I've got something for you."

"Huh?"

Bracing her with one arm, he dug through his pocket with the other. His fingers caught on a single scale. He drew it out and held it toward her — a Reverse Scale.

"It was a gift. I was given two, and I was told to give one of them to you."

"Why me?"

Because he felt bad for knocking her out, obviously. He couldn't very well say that, so he only smiled and offered an excuse.

"Because it's one of this world's rewards. You know how it is — things like this have to be split fairly among party members, or people start talking afterward. So take it."

"No... but I didn't even do anything... I just passed out and became a burden on you..."

How could she say she hadn't done anything? Her share in getting them into the library had been enormous. On that alone, Mina had pulled the weight of one person — no. Of two or three.

"That's why you should take it."

"...Okay. Thank you, Bihyung."

Mina accepted the Reverse Scale.

Was it because she was gifted to begin with? The moment it touched her hand, a strange change stirred.

Hah. She's going to break through her wall right here?

She had already reached the very edge of 1st Rank, so he had thought even a small catalyst would be enough to make her 2nd Rank. But this was fast. Far too fast, no matter how he looked at it.

So this is a Reverse Scale?

They had said the depth of cultivation was sealed inside it. Apparently it carried this meaning as well.

A dragon would have passed that rank long ago, and if the sum of that cultivation is held within, then the moment you reach the wall it grants the insight to cross.

A truly precious gift.

Then Mina's change faltered, and stopped cold.

Huh?

What was she doing?

Bihyung turned with a puzzled look, and Mina worked her lips a moment before speaking.

"B-but... if I break through a rank, my body gets better, right? All the impurities built up inside come out, and if I do it here..."

So that was what had caught ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her.

Fair enough. People said the smell was no joke.

I was a generated character, so nothing ever came out of me. I wouldn't know.

Still, these were a girl's feelings. He ought to understand.

All right, then.

If only for Mina's rank ascension, he needed to clear this place quickly.

Thanks to the dragon, it shouldn't take all that long.

Because the dragon had smashed everything in sight, much of the anomaly's domain lay exposed. The anomaly would try to unfurl other stories in a hurry, just to restore it.

And look. Restoration had already begun.

The river is flooding again, and the sky is filling back in.

But Bihyung's expression was easy.

Try all you like. It'll never go back to what it was.

This world had been wrought through xianxia, Taoist canons, and the methods of alchemy. Onto that had been added the Great Encyclopedia of Anomalies, and the element of a protagonist who did not hide his strength.

All that's left now are the books tied to pictures.

No matter how long the library's anomaly struggled to restore this world, the original xianxia could never be remade. And it did not stop at simply failing to form.

The settings collide.

Pile chaotic settings onto a completed world, and the writing goes off the rails. This world was no different.

"Bihyung... the sky is turning white."

Mina's puzzled voice reached him. Just as she said, where the collapsed sky was being restored, the original blue was gone, and something like a blank sheet of paper filled the hole. The clouds were black as ink, and the river flowed with the grace of a brushstroke — yet it was not transparent.

"It's only just beginning."

Kuuuung!

At last, the world began to shake. Settings collided, and something tried to lay itself over the world that had already been made. The shock reached even the two of them, standing inside it.

"...I'll get down. If I'm still on your back, neither of us can deal with this properly."

With a little hup, Mina climbed down from his back. Bihyung let out a silent sigh of relief.

Whew. For a second I thought that was a test of patience.

Mina's destructive power was, without question, second to none. He would know — he was the one who had carried her. He would not be hearing any objections.

"Well, nothing much should happen. In this state, there's nothing the library anomaly can do."

It had already made its domain and shut them inside. And now it meant to add yet another danger on top of that?

That's just putting constraints on itself.

And not simple constraints — ones that threatened the thing's very existence. There was a saying, wasn't there. If you mean to kill someone else, you have to be prepared to die yourself.

"So let's walk a bit. Then we'll reach the end."

At his words, Mina came to stand beside him. Matching their strides, the two of them walked slowly through settings that were collapsing all around them.

The river ran dark as ink, then in one moment turned blue again, and at other times writhed like a snake. The sky was daubed over in colors as jumbled as a palette smeared with every hue, dizzying to look at. In much the same way the mountains changed, then the clouds, then the wind, and at last even the earth itself — and by then Bihyung had arrived at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠end of the world.

"Here."

Tok. Tok—

He waved a hand through empty air, and a sound rang out as if he had knocked on a wall.

"It should have been made here by now."

As he spoke, Bihyung clenched his fist.

"This time, I'll do it."

"Okay!"

He wanted to use this chance to see his own limit, and the limit of the Ghost-Canon Combat Art. If he could, he wanted a glimpse of the first thread of what lay beyond it as well.

Should I use the demon blade, or a spear?

No. There was no need to go out of his way.

The demon blade loses durability the more I use it, and the spear... well, there isn't even an anomaly in front of me.

This was something he could settle with his body.

Ghost-Canon Combat Art.

He sank his Roots.

The energy flowing from the soles of his feet became like roots gripping fast to a tree, settling into the earth and binding flesh to ground. Within that binding he grasped the weight of the great earth, and shuddered.

The more energy I have, the thicker the roots grow, and the longer.

That had been his judgment of the Roots until now.

Which is why all I ever thought about was getting a cultivation method, so I could fill my energy faster...

But that thought changed now.

Thick or long, many roots or few — none of it matters.

How sturdy they were. And how alive. Like drawing nourishment up from the soil, he had to take that power into his flesh. And for that, the roots that joined the two had to be fresh and vital as well.

Then what if I poured an art of the Wood attribute into the roots?

An idea that struck him all at once. It was enough to call an ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠enlightenment.

Let's try it.

He adjusted his energy with precision and set a Wood art into the roots. Wood was an attribute whose meaning lay in growth, and its foundation was drawing the soil's nutrients in and making them one's own.

A basic Wood Art.

Germination.

Kudeuk—!

Wood Art joined the roots he had sunk. He drew in a markedly greater share of the earth's energy than before and stored it in his flesh. For a single instant, it felt as if Mount Tai itself had been loaded onto his fist.

This is it.

Energy swollen by the world's settings until it rivaled the High Ranks. Putting it to use, he awoke to the many directions in which the Roots might grow, and that awakening soon connected to the growth of the Ghost-Canon Combat Art itself.

And this was a path that countless dokkaebi had never walked. A path that only he, a half-yokai, could walk. Bihyung set his footprint upon it, clear and sharp.

He ignored it.

More precious than the notices floating before his eyes was every single strand of sensation running through his body. Bihyung rejoiced in a sense so keen he could feel even the fine hairs rising on his skin, and he stamped his foot.

Kuuung!

The fierce stomp shook the earth. Through the roots he drew up even the rebound without losing a single drop, and loaded it into his fist. Then he drove it forward.

Jjeo-eo-eong—!!

With a savage boom, the transparent wall barring his way shattered and broke apart.

Crack!

At first it was only a hairline fissure, but as time passed the crack widened, and soon the obstacle ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠in front of them was simply gone. The space beyond, unlike the jumbled colors they had walked through until now, was a realm of pure white.

"Let's go."

Bihyung turned and called to Mina, but her soul had flown clean out of her.

"Mina?"

"...Huh? Oh... yeah. Let's go!"

Only when he stepped close and called her name did she come back to herself and start off ahead. The sight he had just shown her must have left a strong impression.

Was it really that powerful?

Bihyung tilted his head at the crack he had made.

...The force did leap well past the limit of a 3rd Rank technique.

Even though he had gained power and arts on par with the High Ranks, he had used only the basic Ghost-Canon Combat Art and Wood Art, because he thought that would make it easier to break the limits he had originally possessed. Put another way, the force just now had come from nothing more than what he currently held.

Thinking of it that way, it is impressive... but Mina doesn't know that.

Then why had she looked so spellbound?

Muttering that he still could not fathom a woman's heart, Bihyung went after her.

"Mina, let's go together!"

By the time he hurried up behind her, a rippling had gathered in her hand, as if the white light around them were clumping together.

"B-Bihyung... it just started doing this. Is this right?"

Alarm was written all over her face, but Bihyung only smiled.

"Yeah. You're doing fine."

As he spoke, he seized the white wall beside him and tore at it roughly.

Riiip!

The white mass that came away had the feel of liquid slime, and as the pieces gradually clumped together, they began to form a single book.

...Finally.

The book's title began like this.

No color had been fixed, and so whatever one chose to paint was one's own freedom. A cultivation method of absurd, era-defining cheat, bearing exactly that meaning. And the only lifeline that could suppress the yokai nature he carried.

I've already decided what to paint.

The function of Demon-Breaking, able to press a yokai's nature down. With this, there was nothing left to worry about.

Anyway — had Mina obtained hers properly? He turned to find her poring over the book that had gathered in her grasp. Then the Colorless Canvas crumbled to powder and entered her body.

Looks like she got it.

Once she had finished absorbing it, he explained the Colorless Canvas to her in simple terms.

"For now it'll sit at about the same grade as a basic cultivation method, but depending on what you add to it over time, its effects will multiply several times over."

"Bihyung... thank you!"

Mina's eyes brimmed, and she threw herself into his arms with a soft thump.

She had known she had the makings of an exorcist, but a cultivation method had been beyond even her dreams. If she had only had the money, she could have bought one of the ones sold on the market and entered the academy — but that damned money was the problem. And now he was giving her something beyond what the market sold, beyond even the basics the academy provided: a cultivation method this special. She could not contain her gratitude.

"Thank you, really!"

Hardly aware of what she was doing, Mina hugged him with all her strength, and Bihyung went stiff as a broken machine.

No — does this girl even realize what her figure is doing?

This would not do. If it kept up, his reason would not hold!

Think about something else.

Mountain ridges... summits... oh, damn it.

Why does every single thought go in that direction?!

Bihyung bit down hard and forced the subject elsewhere.

"A-anyway, we've got everything we came for, so we should get out. Right?"

"...Right!"

Only then did Mina pull away from his arms.

Whew. That had nearly been a disaster.

"But Bihyung. How do we get out now?"

"If it's that, I've got a way."

Bihyung drew out the demon blade Eodugi had been keeping. A dark-crimson blade thrust up out of the shadow. He closed his hand tight around the hilt and activated the ability the blade possessed.

Kigigik...!

An unpleasant noise, like a plate of iron being scraped. Bihyung reversed his grip and drove the blade, hard, into the ground.

The change began. The white ground all around them rippled, and the sight was like looking into a stomach that had begun to digest.

"It's already manifested every bit of its content. There's nothing left for it to bring forth, so if we just deal damage to this space, it'll spit us back out on its own."

As he spoke, he turned to Mina. A hole opened beneath her feet, and she dropped. In case she was frightened, he shouted down into it.

"I'll see you outside!"

"...Okay!"

A voice growing distant. Bihyung prepared to fall as well.

But.

"Huh?"

Whatever had been moving like a stomach gradually came to a stop.

...No.

I haven't even gotten out yet?