Chapter 330
Chapter 330
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 330
Chapter Title: Creator Park Chan-woo (5)
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Creation Abyss.
A gambling den enjoyed by demon lords, an arena of creation and destruction where countless souls and worlds tangle.
Creators craft new forms of the Abyss to impose trials, earn coins, and struggle to evolve into higher demons.
Overreaching leads to bankruptcy—a form of death—and even the finest Abyss brings losses without challengers.
The number of Creation Abysses scrapped without recouping costs is beyond counting.
Every territory needs a "fitting" Creation Abyss.
Yet there's no gauge for where "fitting" ends and greed begins.
Creators experiment endlessly across countless worlds, but no perfect answer exists for Creation Abysses.
Popularity splits sharply by race, region, or some dividing line.
Even within the same world.
'Rift.'
What if it's a place where no Creation Abyss has ever been properly formed?
How would divine beasts, who treat it merely as prey, react?
And moreover.
...In what form would a created Abyss exist here?
That was Park Chan-woo's greatest curiosity.
It would form randomly into something fitting the territory and the race.
When discovering new worlds in the infinitely expanding Abyss, creators sometimes make "random" Creation Abysses.
Random in name only—they're calibrated to a certain "level."
Within the range new-world races can handle.
Trial types vary wildly.
For instance, Abysses created on Earth mostly focus on "death" and "challenge."
Words humans love most—and fear most.
Then what about Creation Abysses in the dragons' world?
'Creation Abysses installed in the dragons' world are usually tied to magical taboos.'
They don't explicitly ban magic or pose unsolvable anti-magic puzzles.
Dragons wouldn't enter such things.
Typically, they tempt with forbidden knowledge.
Or offer trials requiring novel magical interpretations—barely enough to draw entrants.
Trials differ by race.
So what adventures do divine beasts crave?
Indigestion?
Not a bad name for a randomly set trial's starting point—surprisingly fun, even.
And its content, too.
An empty space.
Directly ahead, countless "Fragments of the Inexplicable" lined up in three long rows.
Park Chan-woo smirked.
An unheard-of Abyss trial.
Who'd have thought divine beast trials worked this way?
'From eater to eaten.'
Whoosh!
Shooo!
One by one.
Divine beasts revealed themselves.
He stood in a line with divine beasts of unimaginable scale.
Invisible barriers between them allowed sight but no approach or interference.
-What is this place?
-Pick a fragment?
-Can't eat them?
The divine beasts' confused voices echoed through the space.
Yet their forms were neither sloppy nor pitiful.
What entered Park Chan-woo's view transcended mere "immensity."
Indescribable shapes, like chunks torn from worlds themselves.
The divine beast beside him resembled a bird with desert-dry skin.
Magma boiled from volcanic rents on its back; opening its beak unleashed crust-splitting roars.
Even the space beneath its feet warped from the heat haze.
Next was a translucent fluid being.
Its body flowed with deep-ocean blue currents, eyeless but compressing space wherever its gaze fell.
Tiny aquariums drifted within, endless micro-worlds sloshing at a glance.
Another fused machine and life.
Gears, steam, countless joints alive and whirring.
Its wings evoked steel wagon wheels.
A radiant heart pulsed at its core, vibrations rippling to all divine beasts.
Mysteries incarnate.
All divine beasts.
'Direct descendants.'
Beings of boundless potential.
Yet even these mighty descendants seemed new to Abyss trials.
-These aren't fragments we can 'ingest.'
-Eating Inexplicable Fragments causes issues.
-Seems we can if we meet the condition.
-Why must I do this?
Utter incomprehension.
Yet the trial prodded them.
Park Chan-woo turned to inspect the three fragments.
Choose one.
Their conditions soon appeared.
All bizarre conditions.
Park Chan-woo instantly grasped their meaning.
'The trial starts the moment you choose.'
Hunger, self-denial, or ego-loss.
Pick one.
'3 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds.'
Times varied.
Which hardest?
Probably the last.
Forgetting oneself.
Thus, even 30 seconds feels impossible.
Especially for absolute existences like divine beasts.
Trials centered on defying identity and instinct, emptying the self.
"Number 1! I can endure hunger!"
One divine beast boldly chose 1.
That instant.
Rumble rumble rumble!
Not quite an earthquake—the vibration's texture differed.
Not vibration, but the gut itself churning.
'Insane hunger.'
As Fragment 1, Overwhelming Hunger, activated, the divine beast's stomach boiled reflexively.
From its once-calm innards, suppressed predatory instincts rampaged, tearing sounds echoing from within.
-Gr... grrr rumble...!
The chooser threw its head back.
The magma-burning bird.
Its beak gaped; thunderous explosions burst forth.
-C-Can't... can't hold it! No way!
Gulp!
It devoured Fragment 1 in under a minute.
Undigested, it left an error.
The divine beast's form flickered faintly.
What of Fragment 2?
-I-I'm vanishing! No! Stop, please!
Choosing 2 forcibly severed all energies.
The divine beast instantly felt "fear" for the first time.
Divine beasts emanate waves by existing.
Severing them was like holding one's breath.
Sensing self-destruction.
After ~30 seconds, it gulped down Fragment 2.
Undigested again.
-...Barhar. If even he's like that, better avoid it.
-Totally spooked.
-Is this... how creatures feel facing 'Creation Abysses'?
All watching divine beasts tensed.
Meanwhile.
Signus chose Fragment 3.
The self-forgetting one.
And.
Shoooo...
The blue flows cloaking Signus slowed drastically.
-...
Consciousness unbroken.
But perception severed.
Signus existed, yet didn't.
Who am I?
Where from?
Why here?
...Nothing rose.
Did I have a body?
A voice?
Thoughts?
Was this thought?
No space, time, purpose.
Even "why think?" forgotten.
All void.
Without even the name of nothingness, sinking into silent depths.
"Signus!"
Park Chan-woo urgently called his name.
Instinct told him how dangerous that state was.
Fragment 3's peril.
Choosing it risked eternal ego-loss and collapse.
~20 seconds passed; Signus remained dazed.
Even at 30-second limit, no change.
Failed, yet no thought to eat the fragment.
"Snap out of it, Signus!"
-...
"I'm here. Your father, Park Chan-woo!"
-...Yes, Father.
~200 seconds in.
Relentless calls finally refocused Signus's gaze.
-Father. Sorry. I dozed off briefly.
"...It's fine."
-Ah. Guess I picked Fragment 3.
"You did well regardless."
Park Chan-woo exhaled in relief.
So close to losing Signus forever.
Only now did he grasp the trial's danger.
Fragment 3 most of all.
Other divine beasts instinctively sensed risks, ignoring it entirely.
As divine beasts, they auto-detected fragment perils.
Yet Signus challenged it.
10 seconds left.
Park Chan-woo chose without hesitation.