Chapter 160
Chapter 160
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 160
Chapter Title: Part 2 Chapter 23
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Rihaowel's room.
The bookshelf held titles like *How to Be a Good Parent*, *Ways to Speak Without Hurting Feelings*, and the like.
As Rihaowel pondered what to read, his gaze landed on a photo album tucked away in the corner of the shelf.
He opened the album to find pictures of Dun from his childhood days—days that could no longer be seen.
[Blocked 1 unauthorized access attempt.]
[Blinded]
That gave him a start.
The early pages showed mostly scowling faces or stiff expressions, but as he turned toward the more recent ones, Dun's smiles became more apparent. It was heartwarming.
"He's grown up now and hardly comes home anymore."
It seemed he'd already hit puberty.
He couldn't quite grasp the line between nagging and not, so lately he'd been holding his tongue.
Still, Dun kept up with his picture diary without fail. He seemed disobedient, yet obedient in his own way—it was utterly endearing.
*Autumn Day 67*
*(Drawing of a weird monster and a stretchy man)*
Daboseok's current population(?) is around 650. I let a bunch go because some were missing their old home. Playing with the ones left is fun.
*Autumn Day 68*
*(Drawing of a stretchy man splashing in water)*
Swimming by the Leighton River below the territory has been pretty fun lately.
Rihaowel read the diary entries with a warm smile.
Dun sometimes treated the diary like his personal notepad. He'd jot down shopping lists there too.
Rihaowel read through the entries, then discreetly tore out the page about swimming and playing in the Leighton River.
He burned the page with magic.
After incinerating it, Rihaowel let out a deep sigh.
* * *
Hea-il pored over soul stone and mana research in the imperial secret library, day and night, using the materials he'd gathered from the Cheiler Dungeon.
But there were limits to what could be gleaned from established knowledge.
So Hea-il tracked down a man reputed to know a great deal about soul stones.
He was called an adventurer named Seol Do-yun. Word was he showed up at the national library every Saturday.
Today was Saturday.
Hea-il arrived carrying an armful of soul stone-related books and sought out the man.
[Adventurer Seol Do-yun]
It didn't take long to spot him. He looked like a boy in his late teens.
His jet-black hair and pale skin gave off a cold impression.
He was looking to the side, revealing a cherry blossom tree pattern etched clearly on his snow-white neck.
Hea-il, tense amid the strange aura, approached the boy cautiously.
"Uh... hello. Would it be all right to talk for a moment?"
As he spoke, the adventurer called Seol Do-yun closed his book and turned to him.
Then he broke into a bright smile.
"Sure. Got something to ask?"
Now that it came time to speak, the words stuck in his throat.
"I heard you know about soul stones... I was hoping we could share some information."
"Ah, I see."
Seol Do-yun leaned obliquely against the bookshelf with his arms crossed. Then he carefully extended a hand toward Hea-il.
Dark blue mana extended out and touched Hea-il's solar plexus. Soon, a small crystal formed in Seol Do-yun's palm.
[Unique] Hea-il's Soul Stone
"You're curious about this, right?"
Hea-il frowned at the crystal that had suddenly appeared in his hand. For some reason, it felt incredibly dear to him.
"Feels close, doesn't it?"
"Yes? Oh, yes."
Hea-il answered reflexively, flustered by the question that voiced his exact thoughts.
"It's your soul stone. I can extract soul stones from people."
Hea-il's eyes went wide. Someone who could pull out a person's soul right there and turn it into a soul stone?
"Do you know what happens if I break it?"
Seol Do-yun channeled mana into the hand holding the soul stone and applied pressure. A strange crunching sound came from the soul stone.
In that moment, Seol Do-yun extracted a fragment of the memories Hea-il had been researching from the soul stone.
He then read off the list of imperial forbidden books the man had referenced in his studies.
Not a very bright guy, so the info from his memories was limited. Felt like plot summaries he'd only heard about.
"*Brianak's Autobiography*, *Soul and Mana*, *Soul Stone Research*, *God's Stone*, *Bachinoum and Souls*, *Monster Psychology*. These should do it. I'll hold your soul stone here while you fetch the forbidden books. Please."
Seol Do-yun's gentle threat left Hea-il bewildered.
He was the one who'd come seeking based on rumors, yet it felt like the other man had been waiting to blackmail him.
The rumors themselves must have been a trap set by this guy.
Where had he heard them again? From adventurers? Imperial staff? There were so many sources, he couldn't pinpoint it.
He'd been properly caught.
Chills ran down his back, his heart pounding.
"B-but... those are forbidden books."
"I don't force choices. I just crush the worthless pebble in my hand when I'm bored."
Crunch.
The soul stone made another grinding sound.
Hea-il hurriedly tried to dissuade Seol Do-yun.
"Ah, ah, got it! Just... wait here."
He had to rush and inform His Imperial Majesty about this man.
Hea-il turned hastily to leave, but Seol Do-yun grabbed him.
"Why the rush? Here, take this Sharing Eye too. If you head to Dun or the emperor, it'll hurt my feelings a bit. It's expensive, so I hope it doesn't get damaged or stop transmitting."
"......"
Seol Do-yun placed the Sharing Eye in Hea-il's hand and flashed a grin.
"You understand what I'm saying, right?"
* * *
To figure out this Seol Do-yun boy's intentions, Hea-il racked his brains hard while gathering the forbidden books.
How should he handle this? What should he say? Would he hand back the soul stone if asked? Was soul extraction even possible in the first place?
Would the century's greatest archmage meet such a pathetic end here? What about his remaining family?
Tearfully, he gathered the forbidden books and headed back to the library where Seol Do-yun waited.
He was standing right there.
Having handed over the imperial secret library's classified info to Seol Do-yun, Hea-il could only gnaw at his nails.
"Here, I brought them."
"Thank you. You've had a hard time."
Seol Do-yun smiled radiantly as he took the books. It was a smile that had seemed angelic at first glance, but now it felt oddly chilling.
He picked up one book, skimmed the table of contents, then flipped through the rest with barely reading it—a speed-reading style.
He went through the remaining books the same way.
In less than three minutes, he'd fully read every book Hea-il had brought.
"The principle is simple enough, despite all the long-winded explanations."
"Yes?"
"My legs are getting sore. Shall we sit over there and talk?"
Seol Do-yun slotted the book he'd been reading before Hea-il arrived back onto the shelf and walked to a spot outside the library where talking wouldn't disturb anyone, then sat down.
There were plenty of empty seats with no one around.
As Hea-il stood there blankly, Seol Do-yun pulled out the soul stone and mimed crushing it with a crunch.
Snapping back to reality at the threat of death, Hea-il scrambled to sit in the seat in front of Seol Do-yun.
"You recently concluded that dungeon monsters have a property of trying to absorb mana possessed by living beings, right?"
"......How did you?"
Seol Do-yun drew on the knowledge he'd just acquired to infuse mana into the soul stone.
With precise work, the soul stone separated into an emotion stone and a memory stone.
He then extended the length of the mana that bound the two separated stones, loosening their connection so it wouldn't sever.
Afterward, Seol Do-yun placed the categorized memory stone on Hea-il's palm.
"What is th......"
Hea-il frowned briefly at his own memory stone, but suddenly, memories from birth to the present flashed before him like a montage.
What was truly bizarre was that all the scenes appeared simultaneously.
His current memories were still being generated, and the sight of himself looking at the memory stone was simultaneously etched into it, creating the sensation of being sucked into an infinite loop of memories.
"Ughhh......"
Seol Do-yun took the memory stone from Hea-il's hand. Letting him hold it longer could break his mind.
So this was why a person shouldn't directly contact their own memory stone—straight into a memory loop.
That cleared up a curiosity.
When someone else holds a memory stone, it's like viewing another's memories from a third-person perspective, so no loop.
For Hea-il's mental health, Seol Do-yun edited out the parts after the near-loop entry point.
It had only allowed reading before, but thanks to the book he'd just read, he could now edit too.
Mana consumption was heavy, so best not to overuse.
"What...... What did I just see......"
"I showed you how I learned your research conclusion since you asked. Understand now?"
"Yes? Yes......"
Hea-il nodded dazedly. It felt like he'd suffered a huge loss somehow, but since he'd gotten an answer to his question, he shut his mouth.
"Now, this is your emotion stone. The material you've been researching. Want to check it out?"
Seol Do-yun placed the emotion stone in Hea-il's hand this time. He was curious what would happen.
"......"
Suddenly, Hea-il's focus blurred. Seol Do-yun checked what the man was seeing by holding the memory stone.
Since he hadn't severed the mana connection, the two crystals continued sharing information.
The view from the memory stone matched exactly what the archmage was seeing in real time.
"Archmage?"
"......"
It seemed that holding the emotion stone temporarily blocked all thoughts to prevent emotional overload.
'Holding separated soul stone info causes a lot of issues for the individual.'
Seol Do-yun recombined Hea-il's soul stone and then used soul replication to duplicate it into two soul stones.
He tested by bumping the two soul stones together.
'No rejection reaction.'
Dun seemed to be a lifeform created by duplicating Isaewol's soul, so he'd expected some rejection between them.
But even placing the duplicated souls side by side produced no reaction, defying expectations.
He considered disassembling and restructuring the soul stone, but gave up seeing the archmage on the verge of breaking down.
If this archmage's mind shattered, Dun might hunt down the culprit and kill him.
Isaewols' intelligence ranged from amoebas to dolphins—wide and unpredictable at times. It made him cautious.
Seol Do-yun restored Hea-il's soul stone to its original memorized state.
As the soul stone repaired, focus returned to Hea-il's eyes simultaneously.
Hea-il, who had bowed his head and briefly lost consciousness, jerked his head up.
"Ah, sorry. I must have dozed off for a moment. What were we talking about?"
"You were earnestly explaining your personal research and then fell asleep just like that. We haven't gotten far yet."
"Oh, right. Sorry. I've been so immersed in research lately, must be exhausted. Why didn't you wake me?"
"No, you looked too tired. I felt bad waking you."
"I'm really sorry. I called you here and was so rude."
He'd edited the memories after the blackmail.
An arrogant mage wouldn't apologize so humbly, yet he was subtly watching Seol Do-yun's reactions, tense as could be.
Seol Do-yun pulled out Hea-il's soul stone again and showed it right in front of his eyes.
"So, what is this?"
"?"
Hea-il tilted his head, then suddenly clutched his throbbing head.
*Do you know what happens if I break this?*
*I don't force choices. I just crush the worthless pebble in my hand when I'm bored.*
*You understand what I'm saying, right?*
In that instant, the nightmare tied to that soul stone flashed back all at once. Terror filled Hea-il's face as he flinched back and collapsed to the floor.
"You, you!!!!!"
Seol Do-yun smiled.
Cut memories didn't fully vanish, it seemed.
A soul stone was merely a medium for easily editing the soul within a person—it wasn't the soul itself.
If you could pull the soul out of the body and handle it directly, the potential for abuse would be too great.
Looking down at the panicking Hea-il with a sneer, Seol Do-yun popped his soul stone into his mouth.
He made eye contact with Hea-il and crushed the soul stone with his molars.
Crunch.
The soul stone shattered cleanly.
Unlike the loud sound, not a single fragment remained.
The mana flowing from the shattered soul stone clung to Seol Do-yun's lips before drifting aimlessly, lost.
His emotionless gaze downward was quite chilling.
"Soul stones don't kill you even when broken. Just a meaningless pebble."
Seol Do-yun gathered his things and stood from his seat.
"So if you meet your boss later, please tell him it wasn't blackmail. I'd appreciate it."
His polite tone and beaming smile only made it more bone-chilling.