Chapter 6: Using the Privilege
Chapter 6: Using the Privilege
The Eternal Flame burned as it slid down my throat. The moment it reached the mana flowing gently within me, the orb reacted for the first time.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
Reacting to my mana, the Eternal Flame erupted into a fierce blaze, swelling with an unstoppable force. Its energy was so pure and potent that I could almost smell the essence of flame latent within the orb.
Boom…!
That was just the first, faint reaction. Even so, my body bulged and contorted, spewing out flames. It was proof that my body couldn't handle the sudden explosion of energy and was expelling it outward. With every twitch, sparks flew in all directions, and my body shuddered intermittently.
Seraph must have seen my state, as I could faintly hear her chanting a spell. I barely managed to raise a hand toward her, wherever she was. It was a signal not to interfere.
Seraph wasn't wrong. Forcibly Controlling the Eternal Flame's energy with my current abilities was a near-impossible task. Of course, I might have succeeded somehow by using the ancient priestess's tattoo, but I had no intention of using its power just yet. No, more accurately, I never planned to use it to suppress the Eternal Flame in the first place. The tattoo was meant to provide a place for the Eternal Flame's energy—my future companion—to reside. Nothing more, nothing less.
What I wanted was neither suppression nor control. What human could possibly contain a power that rivaled Hellfire?
But if I treated it as simply borrowing its power, the situation could be different.
I briefly opened my eyes and saw a blurry image of Seraph. She was stamping her feet in frustration. Seeing an angel act like that was a novel sight, but my face immediately contorted in pain. I knew all too well that this was just the prelude. The real trial was about to begin.
It would be a mistake to compare the Eternal Flame's explosion to a normal one. This wasn't a physical explosion, but one of pure energy. As such, it was accompanied by an incomparable amount of power and pain. And now, the Eternal Flame began its real work inside me.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
“Ghk. Ggrk.”
The successive explosions made my eyes roll back into my head. The pain from its full-scale assault was beyond imagination. I had suffered countless injuries and felt immense pain during my ten years in the Hall Plain, but all of it felt like child's play compared to this. A chill ran down my spine at the thought of the agony yet to come, but it only made me grit my teeth harder.
I repeated it to myself over and over. I am Kim Soohyun, the User who saw the end of the Hall Plain. During that time, I had to endure and persevere endlessly. Those ten years, the pride of obtaining the Zero Code that no one else could—none of it was won in some children's game.
The world around me was a cacophony. I couldn't tell if it was the sound of the explosions leaking out or Seraph shouting. I couldn't hear properly anyway. With each passing moment, the Eternal Flame steadily amplified its energy. Just as it was about to erupt again, I summoned every ounce of my mana to bolster the Eternal Flame's power.
As my vast mana, nearing 90 points, lent its strength, the Eternal Flame's impending explosion momentarily ceased. It was only for an instant, but it was enough for me to manage a faint smile. My mana had mixed with the Eternal Flame's energy without resistance.
A pure embodiment of fire. The Ever-Burning Flame. The Eternal Flame was an energy with a will. It was similar to ego equipment, which has its own consciousness and chooses its master, but there was a key difference: the nature of its will. It could choose to wield its power or not, according to its own volition. It had no ego, but its emotions were alive. And right now, through the union of our mana, I was communing with the fire’s energy.
The emotion I sensed from the Eternal Flame was bewilderment. Normally, when something was causing destruction inside you, the logical response was to control it. But I was doing the opposite, making it easier for the Eternal Flame to act. I was extending a hand. I wasn't trying to bring it to its knees, but to borrow its power as an equal. I cried out in my mind, pouring all my desperate feelings into the plea.
I need you. So go on, run wild as you please. Judge for yourself whether or not I am worthy to be your companion, to borrow your power, and show me the result.
With that, I finally got a moment to breathe. A hot breath escaped my nostrils, and flames flared from my nose.
Fine. I understand.
I had finally obtained the Eternal Flame's permission.
After briefly composing myself, I guided the Eternal Flame, which was now whining for me to hurry up and play, to a new space. The first targets were my right and left arms. I quickly split the energy and sent it surging in both directions. As I guided it through my energy channels and vessels, the immense power rushed forward like a gleeful tidal wave. Before I could even register it, the Eternal Flame had occupied every last minute pressure point at the tips of my fingers.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
I felt a pleasant ache as something burst open within my body's energy channels. It was the sound of blocked vessels being forcefully and refreshingly cleared. Even though it was being done by force, the effect was incredible. It was thoroughly clearing even the minute pressure points at my fingertips, something that had been difficult to do even with my past body that had attained Master rank.
Simultaneously, a thick, yellow ichor and a black fluid sizzled and seeped out of the skin on both my arms, only to be vaporized by the intense heat. The waste and impurities hidden deep within my body had been unceremoniously blasted away for getting in the Eternal Flame's way. Under normal circumstances, I would have clapped my hands in joy, but I had no time for that now.
Just channeling it into my arms left me dizzy, but I gently coaxed the energy back toward my core. Thankfully, the Eternal Flame seemed to have lost interest in the territory it had already conquered and obediently followed my will. The moment all the energy that had filled my arms receded, they fell limp at my sides. The sheer shock had caused them to lose all sensation.
A flicker of worry that I might lose my arms crossed my mind, but I had no desire to turn back. Soothing the Eternal Flame, which was now pestering me to take it somewhere else, I hurriedly guided it toward the channels leading to my legs. As we neared them, I gave it a gentle push, and as if it had been waiting eagerly, it began to cascade down like a raging torrent once more.
Sizzle! Sizzle!
Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!
The process was no different from my arms. The result was the same, too. The moment the energy that had occupied my legs receded, my legs, which had been trying to hold me up, also lost all sensation. I collapsed into a heap on the floor. It seemed that with my current Durability, Stamina, and Mana, the best I could do was barely keep my body from shattering.
But that didn't matter. The Eternal Flame, frolicking like a fish in water, continued to set off explosions inside me. I was truly on the verge of going insane. The pain hammering my entire body made me want to pass out, but my superhuman patience kept a tenuous grip on my sanity.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
With every explosion, my heart pounded and my blood boiled. ‘Nowhere else to play?’ As the Eternal Flame conveyed its will, I steeled myself and asked it to gather more energy. The next destination was the final, most difficult challenge: my head.
For the first time, facing my head, I felt fear. This wasn't a fear that could be controlled. Whether I succeeded in breaking through or not, the pain I would feel was something I didn't even want to imagine. It was then.
‘Want to stop if you don't like it? There's no need to go all the way to the head, right? This is enough.’
It was as if the Eternal Flame was whispering seductively in my ear. For a moment, I was about to nod, but I immediately shook my head. Reason screamed at me to stop, but I instinctively gathered the energy and guided it to the channel leading to my head.
‘You're a fool. You could die, you know?’
“By something like this?”
The preparations were complete.
Don't do it. Don't do it. Don't do it.
My mind begged me not to, but my actions paid it no heed, loyal only to my instincts. As I sent the Eternal Flame into the final channel, I let out a defiant roar.
“Don't you dare underestimate me!”
The words escaped me unconsciously, but my will seemed to have been clearly conveyed. Simultaneously, the energy at my core began to rotate vigorously. It gathered and gathered until it descended to my Dantian, just below my navel, and stopped.
In that instant, I squeezed out every last ounce of strength I had and shot the energy upward. Just as the Eternal Flame was about to pass through my neck in a spectacular explosion…
“Keuk!”
SPLAT!
Dark red blood erupted from every orifice in my body—my nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. My instincts were screaming at me. This felt like staring death in the face.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
The Eternal Flame's energy, blocked at my neck, raged furiously. If it exploded here, a reality too horrific to imagine would befall me. Dizziness washed over me, and my entire body felt like it was plummeting into an abyss.
I knew this was the end. Even in my dazed state, I pulled the energy swirling around my neck back down to my Dantian. By some miracle, the energy moved according to my will.
I have to break through, no matter what.
Once… twice… three times… After rotating the rampaging energy a total of ten times to bring it under control, I gathered all my strength for what I knew was the final push and shot it toward my head again. The pain that would follow was no longer a concern.
KABOOM!
A violent shockwave rocked my entire body. The passage in my neck was blown wide open, and as the path to my head was forged, the Eternal Flame's energy instantly flooded my entire mind, just as it had before.
*
I couldn't see a thing. That was all. My vision had blinked out for a moment, and the world was nothing but white. A state where I couldn't feel anything at all. It was as if a chunk of my memory had been sliced out and the severed ends fused back together.
Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!
I finally grasped the situation. As if throwing a tantrum for my resistance, the Eternal Flame's energy was rampaging through my head. It felt like my brain was melting.
Pain? Honestly, when it first broke through, it felt refreshingly clear, like something had been unblocked. But as my vision slowly returned and my body's senses began to come back, I felt it. A pain I never wanted to experience again in my life.
Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!
If I could have screamed, I would have let out a roar that could shatter my lungs. The stimulus coursing through my body had long since transcended the limits of what an ordinary human could endure. Was this what it felt like to dunk your head into a scorching furnace? Would it feel similar to dousing yourself in oil and jumping into a bonfire with straw sandals on? I may have been through hell and back, but in this moment, I sincerely wanted to die.
An explosion of energy, large enough to be seen from the outside, engulfed my entire body. This was on a completely different level from the explosions before. The Ever-Burning Flame, starting from my head, began to greedily conquer my insides as if to declare, "You're mine now." Every single cell the Eternal Flame's energy touched sizzled and boiled, but by now, it felt less painful and more… warm.
After some time had passed, my vision returned, albeit blurry. My body was still immobile. When I lifted my leaden eyelids, I saw Seraph staring down at me, her face pale as a sheet.
Am I even alive…?
If someone told me to go through that horrific pain again, I would rather just die.
The finishing touches were considerably easier compared to opening up my head. I slowly gathered the Eternal Flame's energy that had spread throughout my body and gently guided it toward my heart. I wasn't sure whether it had taken a liking to me, but the Eternal Flame moved obediently according to my will.
And only then did the ancient priestess's imprinting magic begin to activate. The Eternal Flame, seemingly satisfied with its rampage, willingly entered my heart. The moment I felt it settle down quietly inside…
“Soohyun! Soohyun!”
I passed out on the spot, without even a moment to feel the relief.