Recovering the Lost Records

My newborn Nascent Soul floated above my forehead, tiny hands spinning a cartwheel fitted onto a long, stick-like tower.

The cartwheel jutting from the top of my head whirled round and round, drawing out slaughter energy and spiritual power at the same time. Under the Nascent Soul's wheel, the two forces began to circulate.

"Death is a new life, and life is death — and so, at this very place, in this very moment, I raise a new fulcrum for that cycle."

Restriction seals unfurled. The Mental World, expanded through the Erosion skill, poured out power so fierce it went beyond merely blending with reality — it began to influence it. In that instant, a complete miniature world took shape.

"Save."

I let out a long breath.

I scooped up the Nascent Soul — limp with exhaustion, blinking dully — and tucked it into the Mental World. The Humanity Clones came swarming out at once, took the Nascent Soul in hand, and headed back to the mansion standing under the golden sky.

If I hit an Eok-kka and had to load, I could end up dumped back at the moment I'd entered the hidden dungeon. Saving first was the only sane option.

I'd poured everything into it — the realm I'd reached with the Nascent Soul, the Nascent Soul's own help, the new law, even the power of my innate ability — and only then managed to update the save point.

Having done it once, I could say this much for certain: expanding the number of save points was not something I even wanted to think about.

The drain had been so brutal that after saving, I spent three straight days unable to do a single thing, just lying flat and resting inside Elder Togo's barrier.

Anyway. With a save in place to guard against any surprise Eok-kka, I opened my inventory and pulled out the sect's old book for the first time in a while.

The Nascent Soul had wanted to go to the Abyss. Reason had wanted to hit the map and find the Training Ground. In the end, a democratic vote settled on the third option: clearing the sect event.

For the record, the voting rights were of course thirty for me alone, twenty for Reason, ten for the Nascent Soul, and one each for the Humanity Clones — so I was always going to win. A thoroughly democratic vote.

"Use."

Anything but the Dharma Treasure or the techniques!

Let's go!!!!

"Oh, come on."

Golden Core or Nascent Soul, it made no difference in front of a Hwashin cultivator — one hit and I was dead without so much as a chance to hold on.

Was there seriously no way to get through this in one try?

"Maybe it's a sign not to go, Main Body."

"A sign from who? Heaven? The gods? What the hell even—!"

The red button nearly slammed down and flipped on the [Rage] emotion expression, and I almost lost it — but Reason's power cut the thought off cold. More precisely, it was Reason's True Name Dharma Treasure peeking out from my heart, plus the Humanity Clones hammering the [Rest] emotion expression over and over.

I dug through my inventory, grabbed the drink Cheon Nan-cho had brewed for exactly these meltdowns, and chugged it. My head cooled off in an instant.

Yeah. That stuff worked.

Loading put me right back where I'd saved, so I rested another three days, then triggered the sect event again. This time, mercifully, I managed to dodge both the Dharma Treasure and the technique events.

The moment I entered the map, I killed my presence.

I went looking for the guardian of the records — someone who, like Elder Togo, was almost certainly at least late Nascent Soul. Last time I'd come here as a Golden Core, I hadn't even sensed a thing before I was dead mid-grunt.

All right. Show yourself.

Not a transcendent species.

A small elephant, only a little larger than me, sat cross-legged and floating quietly in midair. Silver fur mixed thickly with dry, pure-white hair, like something old.

Wait — an elephant with fur? Wasn't that a mammoth? I was still turning that over when the elephant's forehead split vertically, an eyeball bulged out, and it flashed.

"Ghk—?!"

My forced concealment was blown open on the spot. A shoving force slammed into me, and before I knew it I was face-down on the floor.

A glance at the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠minimap showed a gray dot — a neutral NPC.

Not that it mattered. The second I showed the Record Book, it'd clock me as the Successor and go red anyway.

"How did a giant end up washing into a place like this?"

It had recognized me as a transcendent species just by looking. So this elephant had been someone serious once, maybe. I didn't really know — but I was going to have to clash with it at least once either way. Still sprawled on the ground, I lifted only my head and opened my mouth.

"I came to receive the records."

"…Successor!"

How was its reaction identical to Elder Togo's, word for word? What exactly had the previous player — the one who'd held the role of Sect Master of Hwanga-gongdong as Successor — done to get this kind of reception?

I'd asked Elder Togo, but he'd just flooded the air with killing intent and clamped his mouth shut.

The elephant rose, launched itself through the air, and landed in front of me. A slight twitch of its trunk was enough to haul me upright.

"So I am not the first… Hmph. Knowing that fool Togo, he would fuss over a giant like you more than over the Successor."

"You know Elder Togo?"

Wait — free carry? The thought had barely formed when a high-pitched ringing hit my ears and I realized, a beat too late, that something had exploded. My torso was gone. Only my head dangled from the elephant's trunk.

"That is not a reason for me to spare the Successor."

"Load."

I loaded back to the base, found Elder Togo, and flopped down to rest inside the barrier while I asked about the elephant. Elder Togo looked faintly intrigued.

"That bastard, you mean?"

What? Elder Togo was radiating open displeasure in front of me — enough that I had to wonder just how badly the two of them had gotten along.

"Do you think I can win?"

"Hah. That one is nothing but a worthless insect. Even with the power I have now, I could kill him easily enough. Baby, I shall go with you."

"Please don't push yourself. I can just grow stronger and kill it myself, can't I? Or is it that you want to handle this personally, Elder Togo?"

"Heh heh. It is a rather embarrassing personal debt I owe that creature — not something one likes to admit to a baby."

Uh. Elder Togo's eyes had gone terrifyingly cold.

What the hell happened between them?

Curiosity bloomed thick and fast, but Elder ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Togo never gave me an answer. Three days passed, and I used the Record Book again.

Good — hit the records on the first try again!

I still couldn't tell if that was good luck or bad.

"Ah, Elder Togo, you can come out now."

I pulled Elder Togo's vessel — the war machine — from my inventory. His Nascent Soul, which had been sightseeing at the tower in the Mental World, shot out and settled into the war machine Starter. Elder Togo descended into the small secret realm.

This place had been completely sealed off by the Successor, so using power here supposedly wouldn't cause problems.

Of course, Elder Togo was still recovering. Fine for a short decisive fight — dangerous if it dragged on. But once I recovered the records, the elephant would be swallowed by them outright, so it shouldn't matter.

"Togo?! How are you—! So. You joined hands with the Successor, did you?"

"Silence, you mongrel!!!"

Elder Togo and the elephant collided head-on.

A single clash shook the small secret realm as if it would shatter wholesale. The world cracked like glass; spatial rifts tore open on every side, gouging the landscape into something that looked like the end of days.

"Haha! You've grown pathetically weak, Togo!!!"

"Hmph! Look who's talking!"

The elephant formed a complex series of hand seals. Countless characters unfurled, blanketing the entire sky — like a single page of a book packed solid with text — and restriction seals surged upward.

"Togo, who cast aside his flesh, possessed a metal puppet, and became the Successor's dog! Unlike you, who sat waiting only for the day you would die — I never gave up!!!"

Countless restriction seals seized the collapsing secret realm and pinned it in place. At the same time, those seals began rewriting the small secret realm — the entire world — from the ground up.

"Baby. Now."

"Yes, sir! Record recovery!"

"A giant? This Successor is a giant?"

The elephant was so startled it actually stammered. What difference that made, I had no idea. I just watched the unfurled restriction seals pour into the Record Book in my hand, drawn in and reclaimed.

If those seals hadn't been laid out, I never would ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have recovered the records without killing the elephant first!