Chapter 161
Chapter 161
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 161
Chapter Title: Part 2 Episode 24
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“You met this kid named Seol Do-yoon and got the forbidden books' info extracted?”
“Yes, I'm sorry. He threatened my life...”
Hea-il bowed his head deeply and nodded. He didn't have the face to meet the Emperor's gaze.
That said, he couldn't just bury the fact that critical information had been leaked.
Whoever it was, they seemed to be on bad terms with the Emperor or the Bachinum faction.
“Do you have any guesses who it might be?”
“Ah, I suspect he's a Bachinum from the adventurer faction. He's also an old acquaintance of Dun's.”
“What? A Bachinum from the adventurer side?? An acquaintance of Dun's...?”
“I denied his recent request for access to the Imperial Secret Library, and this is how he responds.”
Dun, who had been sitting next to Prim with his eyes closed, gathering mana, spoke without opening them.
“I told you that guy has a rotten personality.”
Dun got along well with adventurers in general, so he seemed to have some rapport with this Seol Do-yoon too.
Hea-il marveled at Dun's vast network in the adventurer world. Along with a small worry that hanging out with someone like that might rub off on their own kid.
“How did you end up associating with someone like that, Dun?”
At the question of how they got tangled up, Dun recalled his first meeting with Seol Do-yoon.
It had been on a back road just off the path leading up to the orphanage.
The orphanage was built in the mountains, and you had to take a detour from the main road and climb further up.
He'd been running around with a dragonfly net made of spider silk, trying to catch cicadas, when he spotted a pale-skinned kid being chased by a monster.
He helped the kid escape a bit, but the brat threw a tantrum over every little thing and was totally unlikable.
He twisted his ankle helping, and the kid ditched him, so Dun chucked a rock and nailed him. That was their first memory.
“From the same orphanage... Ah, it's complicated. We just got tangled up somehow.”
The story was messy, so Dun brushed it off vaguely.
More importantly, threatening someone's life? The method was crude and aggressive—seemed like a showy move.
Was he starting to pressure Prim subtly for permission to the Secret Library?
“More importantly, what books did you hand over?”
When Dun asked, Hea-il pulled out a paper listing the books.
Briannac's Autobiography, Souls and Mana, Soulstone Research, God's Stone, Bachinum and Souls, Monster Psychology.
A ton had been leaked.
Since he'd changed classes to a soul-related job, it made sense he'd target the Imperial Library for that info eventually.
“But there was something strange after meeting that person.”
“What?”
“Parts that never made sense before suddenly clicked into place, you could say. But it felt like understanding from someone else's perspective was being transferred into my head. I'm certain he took my soulstone and did something with it.”
Hea-il crouched down, frowning. It felt like recalling a dream he'd had once, as scenes etched themselves into his brain.
Again.
He remembered a person's pale fingers. And those fingers pulled a sheet of paper from a bag.
『Imperial Secret Library Access Request』
Then the fingers took out a small memo pad and started writing on it.
『It's Seol Do-yoon.』
『I'd be grateful if you could pass on the request for permission ^^』
“He did something with my soulstone, and memories are still being injected... He's requesting access to the Imperial Secret Library.”
“What if we refuse again? How will he react?”
Prim asked with a hardened expression. Hea-il closed his eyes briefly, focusing on the added memories.
『If refused, nothing we can do about it.』
“He says he won't do anything crazy.”
Prim stroked his chin.
Hard to tell if it was said with pure intentions.
He'd used a life threat as a tool, so it seemed meant to intimidate, but now he's playing nice.
“Why go out of his way to contact me through you instead of directly?”
“That's just one of his tactics.”
“Hm?”
“By speaking through your memories, he avoids nuance detection. And whatever he did, it seems based on your memories, so your personal views and emotions get mixed in when conveyed. That way, later if things don't go his way and you don't budge, he can brush it off saying he never meant it that way.”
“Wow... What a headache to deal with.”
“I told you he's a sleazy guy.”
Hea-il closed his eyes, groaning for a bit, then frowned upon hearing Dun's explanation.
“Ah, he says to pass this symbol to you, Dun.”
『ㅗ』
Hea-il scribbled the symbol on paper, and Dun flipped her off with both middle fingers right in front of her eyes.
“Why make me pass an adventurer's insult to... No, more than that, so that's why he's using my memories? How do you even figure that out, Dun? What kind of life have you lived... Noah's a real bastard.”
“Ah, enough, enough. Anyway, Hea-il. Any new memories coming in now? He's not the type to just shrug and say 'oh well.'”
When Dun asked, Hea-il closed his eyes again, focusing on the memories. Something had indeed been adding steadily since earlier.
“Gasp. It's the reason the monster leader creates gates and dungeons... Wow, that could really be it. Fascinating.”
“Ho. What is it?”
Hea-il explained what came to mind.
“It's a new hypothesis based on one I recently proposed. Let me give you the background. You know monsters can't possess mana themselves yet have a property that drives them to absorb it, right?”
“I know because you told me.”
“That property is linked to instincts injected into monsters and their soulstones. And...”
He forgot.
Hea-il clutched his head and pulled a book from his bag, trying to read the relevant parts.
But suddenly, what he knew didn't make sense anymore.
“Linked to soulstones?”
“I forgot...”
“What.”
“Surprisingly, I forgot everything... Ah, hold on a moment.”
And more memories draped over his mind.
A person's pale fingers resurfaced. And those fingers pulled a sheet of paper from a bag.
『Imperial Secret Library Access Request』
『I'd be grateful if you could pass on the request for permission ^^』
It seemed like recycling the previous memory.
“The access request keeps popping into my head.”
Prim let out a hollow laugh.
“What's his intent with the Secret Library access?”
“Probably developing abilities for his new class. He won't give up easily.”
At Dun's response, Prim fell into thought.
With Hea-il—one of the Imperial heads—'s memories and knowledge in his grasp, there weren't many choices here.
On top of that, he seemed willing to share new knowledge.
He was emphasizing that his choice could either harm or help them.
“Remarkable. Fine, I'll grant permission and send it.”
“He says to issue the permit right now and add him to the approved list.”
Since they'd decided, better to do it thoroughly. Prim handled the procedures immediately.
“Now, tell us what you know.”
At Prim's words, the pale hand in Hea-il's memories snapped its fingers with a click.
“!!!”
New content poured into his head, including info he hadn't recalled earlier.
“Now, finish telling us, Hea-il.”
“Ah, yes.”
Hea-il's heart raced at the flood of shared info. So many spells and studies he wanted to try.
The hand in his memories moved, writing something new.
『A gift. As long as there's no trouble ahead, I won't mess with your memories, so don't worry too much.』
It waved side to side like a goodbye, and no more memories added.
Hea-il organized the influx and spoke.
“Monsters desire to kill living beings—especially the 'human' species with vast mana. It can be seen as instinct.”
Monsters didn't only target humans, but they had a particular obsession with them.
That's why plans to lure monsters with wild animals as bait failed so often.
“To understand monsters' instincts, you need basic knowledge of soulstones, the mana they produce, and their abilities.”
Hea-il pulled out a pen and sketched the soulstone he'd seen on paper.
“Human soulstones consist of memory stones and emotion stones. Emotion stones form first, then memory stones layer on over time. When connected, they're called soulstones. As they combine, they draw in ambient raw mana, creating a person's unique mana from the soulstone.”
Hearing the principle of unique mana generation piqued Dun's interest, and he leaned in, staring at Hea-il's drawing up close.
Suddenly, he recalled the time before mana manifested in his past body.
If mana was soul-related, the reason his past awakening was hard might be due to his current self.
Two souls from the same generation causing paradoxes, making mana manifestation tricky for one.
“And monsters are made via manipulated emotion stones. These make memory stone formation hard, so full soulstones are rare, but they're easy to copy and mass-produce, ideal for monsters.”
Hea-il recalled the emotion stones often found in dungeons.
That explained why so many emotion stones dropped—they were core to monster creation.
“Any lifeform desires a complete soul, so monsters kill humans to acquire memory stones. But without soulstones, they can't possess even refined mana they absorb.”
“Monsters don't have unique mana? But ones like Luyan or Tiaryn seemed to.”
“Ah, insufficient explanation. Monsters have ranks and types. Regular grunts, high monsters, boss monsters by rank, or by origin: Ardam Continent monsters, Elemental Continent monsters, Montgijel monsters. Neat classification.”
“I know that.”
“Depending on type and origin, the emotion stones inside differ slightly. Higher-rank monsters have emotion stones resembling soulstones, due to polluted memory stones forming alongside—called 'beast stones.' Their polluted memory stones form differently from normal.”
“So if they have soulstone-like forms, they can generate unique mana?”
“It's ambiguous. Unique mana in monsters is extremely rare. Most low-rank ones store absorbed mana in beast stones, use some, and send the rest to Montgijel via dungeons.”
Suddenly, Dun recalled his 'Monster Domination' skill.
An ability he could use unconsciously even before the skillbook.
He'd thought Monster Domination just tamed them, but the explanation suggested it altered their soul structure to obey.
He'd seen it as random, but now it made sense as a unique ability tied to the Bachinum overseeing the world.
“Wait. Monsters sending mana to Montgijel through dungeons means...”
“Yes. The monster leader halts their growth, drags out time, and creates dungeons likely for mana collection.”
Recalling the recent surge in dungeons and gates, Dun spoke.
“If true, he's absorbed tons of mana in this war, maybe using it to spawn more dungeons. Building more power.”
“That could be.”
Dun had thought he just hid away, but he was growing power secretly until matching his level.
No clue what for, though.
Many lingering questions cleared up.
In summary:
Montgijel's pathetic leader uses monster instincts to absorb mana and build forces.
Dungeons or gates suspected as the means.
What he's collecting mana for? Unknown.
Kill level 999 him and become world top? What does he even want?
Whatever the goal, it'd probably be pretty fucked up.
Because of it, that shitty orphanage, Abyssal Project happened, and unawakened past self wandered gates, body torn apart lifelong.
And not stopping there, reborn as Dun—
* * *
“Hm... Wonder when Dun'll show.”
Rihao Well muttered while brewing recovery potions. Just in case—
§ § §
“Hey! Who's this? Dawn, isn't it?”
Kids all off raiding gates, so I was spacing out strumming an acoustic guitar when Joo-ho, filming inside the Hunter Association with his camera, approached.
“Wow, Dawn. You play acoustic guitar too?”
“Yeah? Yeah.”
“Live stream. Wanna say hi?”
I nodded, and Joo-ho swung the camera my way.
“Hi, hi.”
-O, it's Dawn
-Dawn~
-Ooo
-ShDawnShDawn
-Wtf acoustic guitar?
-Hunter not raiding gates, playing guitar?
-SSS-rank Guitar Hunter
I read the chat on Joo-ho's phone. Pretty popular—chat flying fast.
[User ㅇㅅㅇ donated 1,000 won.]
[Dawn, aren't you Abyssal chow so no gate spots left lololol guitar benchwarmer lolol]
Someone donated, bold chat lingering.
“Hey. Don't cross the line.”
No big deal to me, but Joo-ho panicked, face hardening, and instantly banned the guy.
-Fr
-Fr crossed line;;;
-Fr;;;
-Dumbass thinks he's funny.
No need, but vibe turned icy. I tossed out a mood-lifter.
“Abyssal's guitar chow has a word.”
-?
-Wut
-Spill.
“True masterminds don't step forward.”
Delivered in solemn tone.
-Lololololololololololololololol
-Chow (X) Mastermind (O)
-Wow sf mentality strong agree
-Our Dawn crying insideㅠㅠㅠㅠ
-But fr could be true
-Lol wall kinda cute
-OKOK~
-Mastermind agree lololol
-Dude who donated gonna get assassinated by Abyssal later
-Surrendering to love without resistance....
Half nice, half jokes flying, then spotted SSS-rank chow hunter chat.
Seeing it, I filled the screen with a middle finger.
[Blocked 1 unauthorized access.] [Blinded]
§ § §
Prim had been deep in long talk with Hea-il about monsters and their leader when a servant knocked.
“Dinner is ready.”
Stomach rumbling right on cue, Prim grinned wide.
The aroma screamed savory—steak for dinner, no doubt.
Prim went to Dun sprawled on the sofa, shook him—exhausted from mana control practice.
“Serious talk ends here. Time for dinner. Dun! Get up.”
“Eh...”
“No whining. Skinny as a twig—how'll you get anything done.”
“Got muscles.”
Dun sprawled, patted belly. Abs rippled clear under clothes.
“Gahhh, Lord Dun! Don't just strip like that!”
“My... Handsome, but ribs show more than muscle. Come on, dinner time.”
Starving-eyed Prim grabbed Dun and dragged him to the dining hall.