Chapter 27
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 27
Chapter Title: Origin (4)
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The moment Bing Yeon persuaded Azazel and took her in as his disciple, far away in the eastern mountain range, an alchemist was searching for the Philosopher's Stone.
"Is this the place...?"
Wolfram was hunting for the secret cave hidden behind the waterfall, the one said to be packed with treasures collected by the Secret Shadow Divine Thief.
She had even used an expensive teleportation magic stone to get here faster than anyone else.
Her golden hair and lavish robe were soaked and heavy with water, while her ragged breathing and racing heartbeat betrayed her anxiety.
'No way it's a lie...'
She shook her head to dispel the nagging doubt. She had even abandoned her plan to snag the Hero first as a money-maker just to come here.
The odds of the intel being false were minuscule. The problem was simply finding the hiding spot of that legendary thief known as the Secret Shadow Divine Thief.
Layered formations made it undetectable by probing spells, and brute force searching wasn't feasible either.
"Not here either. Damn it, why are there so many waterfalls...!"
Wolfram cursed under her breath as she checked each waterfall along the range one by one. How well-hidden could it be that even magic struggled to pinpoint it?
She couldn't request backup from the Magic Tower either. In a situation like this, information was priceless.
If the Philosopher's Stone's location leaked to the public, others would covet it, or restrictions might arise on using it.
Wolfram knew that better than anyone.
She had grown up in the back alleys where starving infants wailed and desperate cries for God never ceased.
From having nothing to her bootstraps ascent as the Gold Tower Lord, who built her tower from gold.
"...Found it! Footprints on the ceiling!"
Wolfram's eyes widened as she scrutinized the ceiling. Faint traces, barely visible unless you looked closely.
Confirming the path someone had walked across the ceiling, she grinned at her breakthrough and cast a spell.
"Reverse Gravity."
Flash! A golden magic circle glowed from the tip of her staff, filling her body with buoyancy as she floated up into the air.
Then, like a bat, she clung upside down to the ceiling and began walking.
"How the hell did they do this without magic? Easterners really are mysterious."
Wolfram pictured the legendary thief Bing Yeon had mentioned, the Secret Shadow Divine Thief, as she stepped forward.
The spots with water marks must be safe. It was oddly suspicious that such a simple path had no security measures at all.
As she traversed the narrow, twisting ant-tunnel-like path upside down, Wolfram soon doubted her own eyes at the vast open space ahead.
"A whole other space inside the cave... for real."
The cave, which should have been shrouded in darkness, blazed with eye-searing brightness. Night-luminescent pearls that glowed on their own were placed everywhere, their soft radiance reflected back as sparkling flashes from piles of gold coins.
The sheer volume of jewels and gold rivaled an imperial treasury, making the cave look less like a natural cavern and more like a vault crafted by a master architect of the ages.
"Whoa..."
Wolfram's jaw dropped. Even in the Gold Tower, famed for its stacks of gold, she'd never seen a sight like this.
No matter how wealthy and materialistic the group, the sheer disparity made it hard to believe reality.
"If I took all this, how much..., no. That's not important right now!"
Wolfram slapped her cheeks hard enough to sting, snapping herself back to focus. She was here for one thing: the Philosopher's Stone.
Unlike impure fakes or counterfeit gold that resisted refinement, this could turn base metal into pure gold.
"Not this one... not that either. Where the hell is the Philosopher's Stone?"
Objects worth toppling kingdoms passed through her hands, but she casually shoved them aside in her search.
She regretted not asking Bing Yeon for a description.
Depictions of the Philosopher's Stone varied wildly across texts.
One book called it blood-red, made by grinding people into paste; another described it as clear as water, able to become any substance.
"Not this... not that..."
And so, Wolfram picked up every rock-like item and tested it against her fake gold creations.
How many tries? How much time passed?
"...You were looking for this? Gold Tower Lord?"
A clear, bell-like voice echoed in her ears, enchanting like jade beads rolling on a silver tray.
Wolfram whipped her head up toward the source. A girl appeared with a soft chuckle.
"Over here. Here, the Philosopher's Stone. Isn't that what you're after?"
The girl's face felt familiar. She had unforgettable traits.
'Plenty of white-haired, blue-eyed people around... right?'
Pale skin like a feminine Bing Yeon, hair matching her eyes, and icy blue irises.
Seeing her, Wolfram instinctively stepped back. Not as intense as Bing Yeon, but a piercing chill crept up her throat, freezing her solid.
"Ahaha, don't run. I just wanted to see what the 'real' Wolfram looks like."
An absurdly overwhelming presence.
Fighting her meant certain death.
She wore human skin and spoke human words, but touching her would unleash something untouchable.
"...?"
Chicken skin prickled across Wolfram's body as she tried to parse the girl's words, but they made no sense.
The 'real' one? Implying fakes existed in this world?
"I'm Bing Seolhwa. Hmm... like a mother to you, I suppose?"
Bing Seolhwa beamed innocently at the terrified Wolfram. Her smile shone like morning sun, but devoid of any joy, it sent shivers down the spine.
In the original story, Bing Seolhwa was Bing Yeon's half-sister by blood, the legitimate heir of the North Sea Ice Palace lineage.
She should have been the one titled Ice Emperor.
"No, 'co-creator' is more accurate!"
"...Co-creator?"
She was suddenly demanding to be called creator or mother.
With a supreme god like Solareon existing, calling herself creator smacked of heresy to Wolfram.
"Here! Your precious Philosopher's Stone!"
As Wolfram drew her staff from her sleeve to defend herself, Bing Seolhwa held up a glistening green stone.
It looked like plain jade without context, but she called it the Philosopher's Stone.
Wolfram's eyes flicked down involuntarily.
"You grew up pickpocketing in the back alleys as a kid, dreaming of helping the poor, right?"
Grinning wickedly, Bing Seolhwa recited Wolfram's past.
"Your dad went bankrupt in business, couldn't pay his massive debts, and killed himself. Your mom worked herself to death raising you alone and died of illness, didn't she?"
How did she know?
"You little...!"
Is this illusion magic? Wolfram racked her brain, but Bing Seolhwa kept spilling secrets only Wolfram knew.
"I feel bad too, Wolfram. If I'd known the settings Do-hyun and I made would become reality, I'd have fleshed them out more."
Her voice shifted to a neutral, alien tone. Bing Seolhwa's speech had this changeable quality.
Soft and feminine one moment, sharp and masculine the next.
"...What the hell are you?"
"I told you. I'm this world's co-creator, your mother."
As Bing Seolhwa stepped closer, writhing tentacles stirred in the shadows like living things.
A being beyond human comprehension, a blasphemy against reality's gods.
An Outer God, one dubbed an Outer God among them.
"Or would you prefer 'The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young,' or 'The Wife of the One Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken'? Not sure if this world's epithets match."
The Mother of All, also called the Earth Mother Goddess—mere mortals couldn't utter her true name, so Bing Seolhwa listed her known titles.
"My true name is—"
Shub-Niggurath.
Just like with Azazel, an Outer God dwelled within Bing Seolhwa's body.
Meanwhile, as Bing Seolhwa confronted Wolfram, a group emerged from a monastery in the western regions.
"I can't accept that junior!"
"I agree, Master. How could you think of taking as a disciple someone who rebelled against you?"
Verdandi menaced Azazel with her holy sword drawn, while Biwol crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks.
Somehow united, they made no secret of their displeasure at Bing Yeon accepting Azazel as a disciple.
Caught in the middle trying to break up the fight, Bing Yeon looked exasperated, like a dog stuck between quarreling cats.
"Girls, to win the Dragon-Phoenix Tournament, we need Azazel... "
He was minimizing risks.
In the massive arc featuring the original protagonists, without kids to send in his stead, he'd miss out on the Ten Thousand Year Extreme Blood Veil too.
"Cough! Hack...!"
Bing Yeon's heart jolted wildly, pain like an ice pick scraping his lungs surging through him.
The backlash from trying to use both aura and internal energy against Azazel. He spat blood repeatedly onto the ground, bracing himself with one hand.
"Master...!"
"Master!"
"Are you alright?"
The three around him gasped in horror, their faces etched with worry.
"I'm fine."
Though it was all Azazel's fault, Bing Yeon didn't blame her and tried to brush it off.
Whether she disliked his foolish side or not, Azazel attempted to heal him with holy power.
And then,
"I'll heal you... Huh?"
Realizing something off, she let out a short sigh and probed Bing Yeon's body with tentacles, searching for the cause.
"Azazel, what happened to make... "
"Why do you have these marks?"
Inky script like tangled goat hooves and horns forming black clouds.
- I believe this world should end 'as the original story,' properly. Do-hyun.
Legible only to those who had contacted Outer Gods.
- From someone who adored your writing endlessly.
Such writing was inscribed on Bing Yeon's back.