Chapter 78
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 78
Chapter Title: Holy Land (4)
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Obviously, even a quack doctor needed the patient's consent before providing treatment.
Otherwise, they were a criminal long before being a quack.
"The power of the Jokyung tribe comes from their ancestors' spirits. But think about it logically—can a living human truly control the souls of the dead?"
It was unequivocally impossible.
Jun stated it plainly, and Maya asked,
"Why not?"
"Because lingering spirits are basically lumps of desire."
Everything in the world has a reason behind it.
Naturally, if souls that should have passed on lingered on earth, there had to be a cause.
"Lingering spirits crave what they couldn't have. What do you think that is?"
"A body, right?"
"Exactly. But it's not just any body they want. They want to accomplish something with it."
Specifically, something they couldn't achieve in life.
So, what was it that the Jokyung tribe hadn't accomplished in life?
"Revenge."
Maya flinched.
For a moment, her body trembled. It wasn't just her ancestors' goal—it was her own as well.
Jun continued without minding.
"The tribes living in Blackout nowadays all live in different ways, but they share one thing in common."
"......"
"In the past, they fled into Blackout to escape the First Emperor's army."
That's why the early tribes hated the Empire—and feared it just as much.
But hatred tends to fade over time.
Wouldn't it be more heartbreaking to watch your own child starve right in front of you than to dwell on some ancient grudge?
As centuries passed, many tribes adapted to reality and gave up on revenge.
But not the Jokyung tribe.
'Because they had the spirits of ancestors from those hundreds of years ago.'
Their hatred ran endlessly deep, like roots into the earth.
"It's hatred spanning hundreds of years. Bearing that is impossible."
Even one such spirit would be trouble enough, but hundreds or thousands sharing the same grudge?
No one could endure carrying that weight.
"But there is a way to fully accept a lingering spirit's power. Do you know it?"
"I do."
Maya nodded at Jun's words.
If the Jokyung tribe were just a group blindly worshiping their ancestors' spirits, they would have ended up as a mere cult.
What's more, the minds of all the tribesfolk would have been corrupted, and they wouldn't have survived this long.
So, they had their own method.
"The tribal chief said that only by undergoing the tribe's ritual can one truly earn the ancestors' recognition."
As the chief said, the Jokyung tribe had a ritual passed down through generations.
Only by performing it could they wield their true power.
But now, Maya was the only surviving member of the Jokyung tribe.
There was no one left to perform the ritual for her.
That's why she couldn't trust her ancestors' spirits, and they, in turn, didn't acknowledge her.
'But it's not like there's no way at all.'
In the game, Maya underwent a special event a few years later and awakened.
That's where Jun learned the exact principle behind the Jokyung tribe's ritual.
"Your tribe's ritual, in the end, plants mana in the head."
"In the head?"
Jun nodded at her question.
'Borrowing a wuxia novel term, it's like cultivating the upper dantian.'
Warriors accumulate mana in the lower dantian, mages in the middle.
The Jokyung tribe accumulates it in the head, enhancing their communion with spirits and awakening a way to protect themselves from the desires those spirits harbor.
'And I know that method.'
What a twist of fate.
Jun didn't have knowledge of accumulating mana in the head, but his past life self did.
To break free from the shackles of [Demon God Body], he had delved into countless techniques.
Among them was this method of storing mana in the head.
'It was ultimately useless to my past self. Or was it?'
Now, with those memories inherited, it had become invaluable information.
'The problem is knowing it theoretically versus doing it myself—they're different things.'
A few tries might lead to mastery, but those attempts could bring death.
Even so, it was fine.
Because this was the holy ground of the Ariclotos Order.
A land where death could not exist.
The phrase "planting mana in the head" was used, but the actual principle was a bit different.
Warriors "accumulate" mana in the lower abdomen, called the body's core.
Mages "create" a pathway in the heart for mana from nature.
So how does the head use mana?
The answer was to "awaken" it.
'According to my past life's memories.'
The brain is the organ that controls all information.
But humans can't perceive everything the brain does.
Mana and spirits work the same way.
The brain holds information on mana and spirits, but humans remain unaware of it.
What Jun was about to do was bring the information Maya's brain treated as unconscious into her conscious mind.
'But it ended in failure last time.'
As a result, Jun's throat was pierced by the rampaging Maya, and his body shredded.
It wasn't a pleasant experience.
Pain he never wanted to feel again.
Still.
"It had an effect, at least."
"......I'm sorry."
"No need to apologize. I didn't do it right either."
Maya apologized after regaining her senses. Her eyes held remorse, but also resentment.
"Did it hurt?"
"I thought I was dying."
And she nearly did.
What Jun had done was pull information from her brain's unconscious realm into consciousness.
The goal was to make her consciously aware only of the unconscious info related to sensing mana and spirits.
But Jun couldn't know that level of detail.
So he dragged up the entire unconscious realm.
In other words, breathing, muscle movement, blinking, heartbeat, blood flow.
All those processes were brought to conscious level.
Humans can't consciously handle those.
So Maya couldn't breathe, her muscles went limp, her eyes wouldn't close. Her heart stopped, and her blood halted.
But the real problem didn't end there.
'Maya's unconscious held the power left by her ancestors' spirits too.'
Some of that power burst out.
Thus, an ancestor's spirit rampaged in her place while she was unconscious.
And that led to what happened to Jun.
"So, what now? This won't wrap up quickly."
The silver lining was that the prior failure had filtered out much of it.
Still, more than half remained.
He needed to isolate only the mana and spirit awareness parts.
It wouldn't finish in a day or two.
"That's too much, Senior......"
"Haha, sorry."
That evening.
Aiden, who had returned, grumbled to Jun with a face like he might cry.
It was rare for him, but Jun listened quietly.
'An experience of dying must have been that shocking.'
He'd been thrown into mortal agony without any warning.
Jun had even asked Bern to keep that part secret.
"But the effect was good, right?"
"......To be honest, it's an experience I never want to go through again."
But.
"I don't think I've ever moved so desperately before."
Aiden's eyes seemed somehow deeper as he said it.
Despite his words, Aiden had always been desperate enough until now.
Every moment with Jun had been a life-or-death struggle.
'But pulling the unconscious into consciousness is another level. In a way, Aiden's going through something similar to Maya.'
Unfortunately, Jun couldn't offer much advice.
He couldn't improve a warrior's combat skills.
He could hand over a few hidden pieces, but enlightenment was solely Aiden's domain.
"No shortages?"
"I wanted to refine my swordsmanship more...... but Sir Bern the Holy Knight says there's no need."
As he said, Aiden didn't need formal sword techniques.
His talent wasn't one to be confined by set styles.
Walking his self-forged path was the way to bloom it fully.
"What does that mean......?"
"Your talent grows through real combat. When crisis hits, you find the absolute best solution right there."
And it was true.
After nearly dying to bandits on the way to Blackout.
He first grasped the sword's meaning and awakened his swordsmanship.
While evading an orc during a forest campout, he gained superhuman strength.
He used mana.
Like that, every growth spurt for Aiden required a crisis.
'And right now.'
It was time to consolidate what he'd learned so far.
But Aiden had a blind spot here.
He had no formal "learning."
'So rather than learning anew, extracting his unconscious battle sense is more efficient.'
That's why he'd asked Bern.
Still, Aiden looked unsatisfied.
"What's bothering you?"
"Even after this stage, I don't know if I can join the fight against that precept-breaker monk."
"Hahaha!"
Jun burst into laughter at that.
Aiden flushed red, embarrassed for no reason.
"I-I know. I'm only level 3, challenging level 7......"
"No, that's not it."
"Huh?"
"For anyone else, maybe. But for you, Aiden, it's not arrogance. I laughed for another reason."
"Another reason......?"
Jun gathered mana at his fingertip.
"Sometimes, problems that seem impossibly hard solve themselves ridiculously easily."
"......?"
"Wait a few days, and I'll give you the answer. Focus on what you're doing now. Only then can you seize the chance when it comes. Opportunity favors the prepared."
"Opportunity favors the prepared...... Yes! Got it!"
Aiden turned to look behind him.
There were Bern and Maya, seemingly talking.
Bern's hammer caught Aiden's eye.
"Ugh......"
Still, he never wanted to experience his head exploding again......
Turning back to Jun with a wistful expression.
"I don't have a hobby of getting my throat and body sliced up either......"
Jun wore the exact same expression......