Chapter 222
Chapter 222
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 222
Chapter Title: Mana Core Fission
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Mana core.
The artificial heart used in golems, equipment, or tools.
Most mana cores are made by refining something dense with mana, like a mana stone, then reconstructing the circuits and reconcentrating it.
The process itself isn't complicated.
However, the quality of the core ultimately depends on the creator's skill in reconstructing the 'mana circuits.'
It's not like good materials alone guarantee a superior mana core.
The presence of a true expert who can properly configure the core's circuits matters far more than the materials.
These 'mana circuits' are precisely why golem artisans exist as a separate profession.
Because.
'The circuits in all things vary wildly.'
Mana circuits are like fingerprints.
They are veins, nerves, the unique signature of the existence itself.
They might resemble each other on a broad level, but in the details, they're all different.
For example, even mana stones of the same shape and grade will have vastly different 'mana circuits.'
They both store mana, so the basic structure is similar, but the thickness, intensity, and shape of the circuits through which mana flows will never match perfectly—zero percent chance.
If even a single mana stone is like that, imagine other materials.
In other words, a 'golem artisan' is a craftsman who specializes solely in handling the circuits of items like mana stones.
And even they focus only on creating 'mana cores' for golems.
The 'mana cores' for swords or other tools are handled by a tiny handful of alchemists or magical engineers. That's why such items are practically nonexistent.
'To create a Colossus, you need a flawless, perfect core without a single blemish.'
And to move a 'Colossus,' you require an impeccable, top-grade mana core.
If you can't even handle the circuits of the lowest-grade mana stone, a Colossus is nothing but a pipe dream.
Drakan had no choice but to test him.
It was a task that demanded pouring in his own time and effort.
Even giving it your all wasn't enough for crafting a Colossus.
Didn't he need to verify if this human was worth that investment?
'A mana core...!'
Yet, this unidentified human had completed a mana core.
In just one hour.
Something that would take even artisans at the peak of their craft days to accomplish.
The speed alone was astonishing enough.
'...It's alive!'
He could feel it.
The core's pulsing heartbeat.
It was tiny.
Smaller than a human pinky nail.
But the mana concentrated within surged through the core's interior like a living organism gone mad.
Alive.
Impossible by any common sense he knew.
'It's regenerating mana on its own.'
Normally, the mana in a core couldn't regenerate.
You could refill it, but it didn't recover by itself.
Yet this tiny mana core before him was doing exactly that—regenerating mana independently.
And that wasn't all.
"Wait... Can I hold it for a moment?"
Drakan asked in a trembling voice.
Ataraxia responded with puzzled curiosity.
"Once it's completed as a core, it can't be transferred, right?"
Mana stones kicked around on the ground don't count as owned, but the moment Park Chan-woo finished it in his hands, the mana core was recognized as his.
Handing it over would cause it to vanish under Abyss's laws.
But Park Chan-woo handed the 'mana core' to Drakan without a care.
"Ah, as expected!"
"...!!"
Drakan and Ataraxia's eyes lit up.
Because the transferred mana core didn't evaporate upon being held.
An incomprehensible phenomenon.
Which made it all the more intriguing.
This human had ignited Drakan's research cravings in so many ways.
He'd slumbered for over a century because his desire as a researcher had faded.
Yet upon awakening, he encountered someone this fascinating.
After examining the mana core in his hand for a long while, Drakan spoke.
"...He extracted only the 'origin mana' inherent in the lowest-grade mana stone. Established countless 'circuits' one by one. He created entirely new mana circuits. And there's more I can't even grasp... Is this even possible?"
You couldn't recreate already-formed mana circuits.
Mana circuits were fixed.
Creating a mana core meant adjusting the purity and quantity of mana to fill those circuits, calibrating the flow intensity, and so on.
Which meant.
This human before him had surpassed that predefined 'process' entirely, reconstructing the mana circuits from scratch.
He had overcome the limitations of a lowest-grade mana stone.
"What's different about it from other mana cores?"
Ataraxia voiced her doubt.
It transcended Abyss's laws, sure, but to her eyes, it looked no different from a standard mana core.
"Ataraxia. What are those eyes of yours for, decoration? If you can't tell from this, you lack the basic qualifications as a dragon."
"...That's my line to you, Drakan."
"For your thick skull, I'll explain kindly. Living creatures don't vanish when transferred. Only the dead do. Things made in the Abyss that were never alive to begin with, or their possessions—that's all that vanishes. In other words, this 'core' is being treated as a living being...!"
It was madness enough to cause an earthquake in his pupils.
He had changed its very essence.
Turned a human into a dog, a dog into a frog.
No—even greater than that.
Created something from nothing.
Brought life from death.
Still unable to fully believe it, Drakan stared at the human, Park Chan-woo, and asked.
"How on earth? How did you breathe life into a mana core?"
"It just worked out as I went along."
Park Chan-woo shrugged.
Of course, he hadn't actually infused life or created anything from scratch.
Simply.
'Mana wavelengths.'
In the Abyss, he alone could perceive and sense unique 'mana wavelengths.'
He could pierce through the inherent rules of any existence.
At first, he needed to touch them to know. Later, he could hear them even at rest.
And after meeting 'Transcender Lil' and reaching the fifth stage of mana, 'Creation,' he could manipulate the wavelengths themselves.
Wavelengths were the soul; circuits were proof of existence.
Insight into wavelengths naturally shifted his understanding of circuits.
He had maneuvered each mana line in the circuits to complete them.
At the same time, the circuits began regenerating on their own.
And then something unexpected happened that even Park Chan-woo hadn't foreseen.
'...Hidden trait: Eternal Sword. I never imagined this trait would apply to mana cores too.'
A hidden trait that let him temporarily borrow any item recognized as a sword from another person.
That trait had unexpectedly activated.
He could guess why.
'I'm crafting a weapon called a Colossus—a sword.'
The completed Colossus would become another sword of his.
To swing as a blade and cleave through the Abyss.
With that resolve, he handled the core, and naturally, the 'Eternal Sword' manifested.
'The hidden trait has evolved.'
He knew it instinctively.
The trait itself had evolved.
Now, it wasn't just borrowing from others—he could lend as well.
The difference was enormous.
It meant others could intervene, not just the owner.
In other words, gathering experts from every field to create far more complex, systematic 'mana cores' was now possible.
Drakan realized this too, his eyes gleaming as he spoke.
"...Can I wake a few more and bring them here?"
Ataraxia asked.
"You mean your clan's dragons?"
"Yes. A few could help upgrade this Heart of Despair into something superior. They were the ones I researched 'core fission' with."
"Core fission?"
"Superior dragons have multiple hearts. You know that much, right?"
"For efficient mana storage and usage, isn't it?"
"That's the fundamental reason Colossi can't surpass dragons. A single golem can only use one core. Multiple cores cause mana clashes."
"So Colossi are inevitably inefficient with mana?"
"Extremely so. Cores with different circuits inevitably conflict. That's why we researched splitting one core into many."
"Failed, I take it."
"...We concluded that to split a core, it must be 'transferable.'"
Fission.
Splitting apart.
But cores shattered if split.
You couldn't fission them inherently.
To overcome that required transcending Abyss's rules.
That's why the research stalled.
Yet now, a being who made the 'impossible' possible stood before them.
He didn't know who.
But definitely no ordinary human.
Worth Ataraxia calling him a 'great one.'
Not the Black Witch, nor those he used before.
'Doesn't matter. As long as I can research!'
His researcher's passion blazed.
He could resume the failed project.
He'd made only one Colossus and stopped partly due to the core fission failure.
But succeeding in the Abyss's first 'core fission' would etch his name eternally!
Moreover, the resulting Colossus would be a new form unseen before in the Abyss.
Drakan gazed with desperate eyes.
Seeing them, Park Chan-woo nodded.
"Bring whatever dragons will help. No issue."
"Th-thank you!"
"But."
"But?"
"They all follow my orders here."
"Of course!"
Drakan nodded vigorously.
If it led to success, obeying was no big deal.
"...What am I even looking at right now?"
Demon merchant Dagon rubbed his eyes.
No matter how many times he looked, the scene unfolding before him defied understanding.
"Dragons are doing manual labor."
Beside him, the gumiho Aureum spoke.
All the foxkin were dumbfounded, watching.
Dragons transforming into their true forms to haul materials themselves.
"...Why not use magic?"
"Seems like delicate work that can't be influenced by mana."
Dragons, no less.
The pinnacle of the twelve races, entitled to utmost arrogance.
Yet they were personally moving materials, crafting the Colossus's outer shell.
No one else's hands involved.
They wouldn't even let anyone approach.
Not even golems were allowed nearby.
...Minimizing external interference, or something.
Seven dragons committed, no less.
This many dragons pooling their power to craft a single Colossus.
"What on earth are they making?"
"If dragons are pouring their hearts into it like this, it must be something way beyond our wildest imaginations."
"...Isn't it a Colossus?"
"Who knows. Definitely not the kind we know."
"... ."
Impossible to guess.
But the one in charge was Sepiro.
No place for gumihos or demon merchants to judge.
'I trust him!'
Seeing him command so many dragons with a flick of his chin, Dagon's loyalty surged another level.
The other foxes, including Aureum, felt the same.
How much time passed like that?
"S-success...!"
"How many did it split into?"
"Two? Three?"
"It's increasing more...!!!"