Chapter 241
By the time the fierce giant had nearly recovered, Yadong appeared. It had a gravity weapon in its mouth and charged straight at the good giant. As the good giant faced mortal danger, it seemed to have retrieved something from the spaceship. The fierce giant came rushing in a rage, trying to kill it. But the good giant activated the gravity weapon first. With a massive boom, the fierce giant took a direct hit, its head and upper body exploding into fragments.
Something emerged from those shards, beginning to coalesce. It was the gold bar they had possessed before. Yadong hurriedly tried to snatch it up. It looked like the good giant could survive if it got that. But the good giant was already dead, its breath having stopped. They were just a little too late to save it. Yadong threw its head back like a wolf and let out a mournful woooo.
Glancing over, the Yadong beside him was sniffling too, clearly missing the fallen good giant. Then, out of nowhere, three sentinels appeared. Taking advantage of Yadong's distraction, they grabbed the gold bar in their mouths and fled. Yadong chased after them in fury. The sentinels burrowed into the ground and vanished. Yadong bared its fangs but didn't pursue, turning back instead.
Then, thousands more years passed. The spaceship's entrance was completely buried in soil, and the dead giant's corpse had rotted away. And now, here we are.
"Whoa, that's incredible. Felt like I just watched a full documentary."
No one knew how it was recorded, but everything was saved as video. The entire planet's history was viewable. As expected, Yadong had been the giants' pet. That's why it knew how to operate the spaceship over their shoulders.
The giants Hanyaseong had seen seemed bored out of their minds. With nothing to do, they looked utterly listless. The fierce giant had experimented out of sheer boredom. It wasn't driven by any goal or sense of mission. They had simply toyed with lifeforms, creating and playing with them to alleviate their ennui. Hanyaseong couldn't help thinking humans might be the same. Maybe Earth had been created by giants' survey ships.
In any case, Hanyaseong was satisfied knowing this planet's history. But he was dying to know what the gold bar really was.
"Show me info on the gold bar."
Yadong placed its paw on the panel and moved it around. It clearly understood the giants' script. Hanyaseong figured he'd need to learn it too if he wanted to pilot the ship himself.
Unable to read the text, he switched it to images. The gold bar was a substance born from the universe itself, created over hundreds of billions of years—the stuff of creation. The giants had built their civilization around it. Its power enabled advanced society. Before it, they couldn't even travel the stars. Thanks to this cosmic creation material, they built colossal starships and conquered space travel. In turn, they created life on countless planets.
In truth, even the giants didn't know exactly what it was. They just used it. The gold bar had multiple stages. The first granted immortality. Absorb it into the body, and you'd live forever. Only the giants' ruling class extracted fragments and implanted them. But side effects existed—if the body couldn't adapt, it would explode. Many giants died that way. Those who adapted gained not just eternal life but golden bio-armor that protected their bodies. It was just like the thing from his dream: the golden armor.
Next, it served as an energy source. They powered megacities and starships with it. The gold bar itself was a colossal energy mass, akin to a compressed sun, brimming with immense power.
Finally, it enabled creation. The gold bar could transmute itself. Cities, starships—anything could be shaped from it. This very ship was made by alloying vast quantities of metal with gold bar essence. In short, it was the universe's flawless creation material—nothing to discard.
But that wasn't enough for Hanyaseong. He craved more.
"Pull up footage of what happened to me back then. When that freak bird got me."
Yadong growled in understanding and pawed at the panel. A screen flickered on, showing the Forest 3 wasteland. The video rewound like fast-reverse. It paused at the moment: him and Yadong fleeing the monstrous bird. His side got clawed, and he collapsed dying.
"That fucking bastard!"
Seeing it again boiled his blood. The freak bird finally slammed its black talon into his fallen chest. His body went limp, pupils dilating in death. As the bird withdrew its talon to peck at him with its sharp beak—
—the gold bar, blood-soaked in his bosom, began absorbing into his body. He had no memory of this; he was already dead. It was straight out of his dream. The gold bar liquefied, embedding itself completely. A brilliant flash, and his body mutated. He grew into a giant, clothes ripping away, shoes exploding. The freak bird hesitated, backing off. Now a naked behemoth over 3 meters, his mortal wounds healed clean.
"KRAAAA!" He bellowed monstrously, rampaging. His face was no longer human—ferocious, like a one-eyed fiend. The bird bolted skyward in terror, but giant-Hanyaseong was swifter. He grabbed a wing, slammed it down, and tore it to shreds.
The bird wailed, struggling to flee, but trapped in his grip, it could only flap helplessly. The berserk giant shredded its body. Black feathers rained down; blood misted the air. Hanyaseong watched, thrilled yet terrified. Why had he become such a monster? No clue. But the bird died torn to pieces.
The giant kept roaring insanely—reason gone. Then he dropped like a stone, shrinking back. But it wasn't over. Golden light cloaked his body like living armor. Once settled, a translucent, undulating glow rose from his chest, floated, then sank back in. That was it. The footage cut to him waking in shock, fleeing into the grass.
"Clearly, the gold bar saved me."
He couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was. But it was cosmic matter capable of bodily restoration, creation, and infinite energy tied to immortality. Whether chance or fate, he'd received the universe's gift.
"Figure out why the gold bar absorbed into me."
Yadong growled and pawed the panel. No detailed explanation emerged. Just that it had fused with his heart. His body must have been compatible. Pure luck— even giants succeeded or failed at it. If it hadn't absorbed, the bird's talon would've ended him for good. Whatever happened, he was alive. Good enough.
"Teach me the giants' script."
Yadong growled and summoned the character panel with its paw. First, master reading their writing. Then, punish the invaders. He wouldn't let the army trample this land with their boots.
The giants' script looked complex at first but revealed simple patterns—around 200 characters, oddly reminiscent of Hangul. A couple months, and he'd have the basics.
Hanyaseong studied the screen for a while before hunger hit.
"Hey, Yadong, got anything to eat?"
It growled and trotted off. Following the now-lit corridor to a door, Yadong pawed the emblem, sliding it open. With the cockpit unlocked, security codes seemed disabled. Inside looked like the giants' mess hall—huge tables everywhere. Yadong went to a corner and tapped a black wall. Psssh—a small hatch opened, dispensing a pack.
"What's that?"
Growling, Yadong tore it open. Hot steam billowed out. Giant rations, probably. Hanyaseong tapped the black wall like Yadong. Psssh—another pack emerged. Cool exterior, but ripping the top released steaming heat from within.