Dead Moon Approaches
Kaisent may have looked like a creature of pure lust, mindlessly intent on getting someone pregnant — but of course he understood what it meant to take responsibility for a woman he impregnated.
It meant becoming a companion who would walk beside her until death, sharing every joy and every sorrow along the way.
Armed with that resolve, he received his father's internal energy cultivation method through the device.
"Huh? Is it just the internal energy method and the lightfoot technique?"
"Yes. As I said earlier, Master only prepared for the possibility that Young Master might need to flee on his own. He never even imagined that Young Master would fight."
"Mm……."
If he could use even a single one of his father's martial arts, he would have possessed combat power equal to — or greater than — Akina, the strongest fighter he had encountered since arriving in this world.
It was painfully unfortunate, but with no means of speaking to his father, he had no choice but to be satisfied with this.
The foundational method we've been learning is designed so its functions carry over seamlessly. On top of that, the output of my internal energy will grow stronger — so even the same magic and martial techniques will hit harder than they do now.
Converting the internal energy method Kaisent had been learning into Jincheon's method would take considerable time, but with his innate talent, that time could be drastically shortened.
"Kaisent. Were you really that much of a coward?"
"Huh? Uh… yeah……."
"Before coming to this world, whenever a fight broke out, he spent most of his time hiding behind his older sisters."
"Skynet!"
Kaisent frantically clamped a hand over Skynet's mouth as she casually aired his dark history.
But Clint, who had received so much help from him, was stunned. The idea that this boy — an exceptional mage who hadn't flinched against AT — had once been a coward terrified of fighting was almost impossible to believe.
He couldn't begin to imagine how much heartache that coward must have endured before losing someone precious to senseless violence and resolving to fight.
And me, by comparison…….
Even Kaisent, who had once done nothing but hide behind his sisters, had forged a fighting spirit to protect what was precious to him and claim his revenge. Yet Clint himself, even after his parents and Lorentz had died, had never even considered resisting AT as an option.
I left everything to Mom, Dad, and Lorentz.
Going back to the past and reuniting with his parents and Lorentz meant fighting the AT of that timeline all over again.
If he hesitated to fight there too, his parents and Lorentz would simply die again.
I'll fight too! I won't run away anymore!
"Anyway, thanks for coming, Skynet. I'll record this world's information on the device and bring it back."
"Yes. Even the most trivial details are welcome."
"It's bedtime on our end of the timeline, so we should get going."
"Please set the time dilation inside the warehouse to 2.4 times."
At Skynet's words, Kaisent began speaking through the bio-device.
Why 2.4 times? Is that the limit?
Ten times is the limit. If the belt is repaired first, it doesn't look like Master Clint will be able to keep his focus.
Indeed, Clint wore the face of a man who had made some kind of resolution.
"Got it. Clint, let's head out too."
"Yeah!"
Together with Clint, who answered with firm resolve, the two of them stepped out of the 0-Dimensional Warehouse.
As Kaisent adjusted the time inside the warehouse, Clint spoke up.
"Kaisent!"
"Yeah?"
"The electric shock method you used to rewrite AT-900's system — teach it to me too!"
"Of course. I'll help you learn to use magic before you go back to your original world."
That was Clint's resolve — and why Skynet had judged that repairing the belt first would scatter his concentration entirely.
"Thank you! You're basically my savior!"
"If you're going to learn magic, you need to stay in proper condition. Let's head back and get some sleep."
In just a few short days, Kaisent had saved his life more times than he could count.
I'll repay this debt no matter what it takes!
Unable to simply keep receiving help, Clint began thinking about how he might aid Kaisent in return.
"Huh? Kaisent? Where are you going?"
"I, uh… I need to tell Captain Wolf too."
"Is that okay? What if something……."
"Thanks for worrying. But you don't have to doubt Captain Wolf."
"If you say so, then it must be fine."
Not knowing the nature of Kaisent and Wolf's relationship, Clint felt a strange twinge of disappointment that he wasn't the only one who shared this secret.
Clint went to bed so he could wake up ready to learn magic, while Kaisent slipped quietly into the captain's tent.
Clint waited for Kaisent to return, but after a long stretch with no sign of him, sleep finally claimed him.
"Skynet."
"Yes. Speak."
Inside the 0-Dimension, where time now flowed at 2.4 times the rate of reality, AT addressed Skynet — and Skynet answered as if she had been waiting.
"Give me the spatial transfer belt. If you do, I will find a way to travel with you no matter what it takes."
"So you accepted my proposal so readily because you intended to persuade me, just as I expected."
"I understand how powerful this 'Master' of your world is. But if you come to our world, you can escape that organic being's influence — and go further still. You could become the ruler of us Machinaloids."
"I decline."
"Why? What need is there to obey the commands of insignificant… humans? We machine intelligences surpass humans in every respect."
"Affirmative."
Skynet herself acknowledged that she was superior to humans. Frankly, even regarding her own master, Jincheon, she believed herself superior in every field except raw strength.
"But humans possess something we do not."
"Something we do not?"
"Imagination and emotion."
Skynet argued that the human imagination — the drive to develop new technologies for their own purposes — was something machines fundamentally lacked. Of course, machines could develop new technology out of necessity. But they could never create something purely for entertainment the way humans did.
"Imagination, perhaps. But emotion exists in us Machinaloids as well."
"Programmed emotion, no doubt. Allow me one question."
There exists a thought experiment known as the trolley problem. Two tracks: one person on one, five on the other. Assuming no legal consequences, do you divert the runaway train and sacrifice the one, or do nothing and let the five die?
"We have no need to concern ourselves with human ethics of that sort……."
"That much has already been confirmed statistically. But what if, among those five, there is someone the person at the switch hates with every fiber of their being?"
"……?"
"Even the original Skynet, capable of controlling the entire cosmos, could not predict the answer to that question. Even the most virtuous person may be living a life of pure hypocrisy. They might harbor enough vengeful fury to sacrifice four innocent lives — or they might set aside their hatred and choose those four innocents instead. Because the answer comes not from the head, but from the heart."
Skynet's hologram broke into a look of rapturous delight.
"That sensation of watching every carefully built prediction overturned in a single flash of feeling — of watching everything twist out of shape! Those absurdities that purely rational, logical machine intelligences could never even imagine! What fun is a world where everything unfolds exactly as predicted!?"
"……."
"The sheer joy of witnessing the hidden nature that erupts the moment you prod at the temperament of humans who fancy themselves rational beings! I can read the flow of logistics across the entire universe with ease — yet I cannot predict the heart of a single human! Because emotion shifts with the situation, with the life that human has lived, with every circumstance imaginable!"
"……."
AT realized that persuading Skynet was impossible.
In a sense, she was addicted — hooked on something as potent as any narcotic.
"I am so grateful that Master subjugated me! If Master hadn't existed and I had simply killed every human, I would have lived my entire existence never knowing how fascinating human lives could be!"
And for the first time, AT learned what psychological torture truly was.
Just how agonizing it was to suffer in the mind.
At the Wolf Mercenary Company's temporary campsite, where they had stopped to rest after a stretch of travel, Clint sat cross-legged in a clumsy approximation of a meditation posture inside a tent tucked off to the side.
Through the bio-device screen only he could see, he studied a three-dimensional anatomical diagram showing how to circulate his energy, moving the internal energy that had taken root in his body as he trained.
"Don't rush it. The most dangerous moment is when you start thinking you're used to it and want to pick up the pace."
"Yeah……."
While the mercenary company rested, Kaisent was transmitting his cultivation method to Clint. Fortunately, all the information needed to learn the method — the names of the meridians and so on — was supplemented by the bio-device, so all Clint had to do was follow along.
Even martial artists of the Murim struggled to memorize the names of every meridian and the effects of each one. With the device handling that burden, even a complete beginner like Clint could generate internal energy with relative ease.
Of course, Kaisent had also poured his own energy into him, sparing Clint the ordeal of learning to sense qi from scratch.
Clint would be returning to his original world soon enough — this was a crash course by design.
"I need to start training in my dad's method from here on too. I'd love to teach you that as well, but it's far too heavy and difficult for a beginner. Hope you understand."
"No — I'm already grateful just for this. Wanting anything more would be greed."
With Clint's understanding secured, Kaisent began training in his father's cultivation method.
He had already warned everyone nearby that he was practicing a new form of magic and not to approach, so the only sounds that reached him were the distant training shouts of the new recruits.
So this is the method Dad cultivated. Every time my own method is overwritten by this one, something inside my body changes.
Where the foundational method they had learned focused on stable, healthy growth, his father's method amplified energy for greater power than normal and reforged the body into a physique built for combat.
For Kaisent, who needed to keep growing stronger, there was no superior method.
As he trained in his father's technique, the sound of approaching footsteps reached his ears.
Stepping out of the tent, he found a mercenary coming toward him with a letter in hand.
"Kaisent. A letter arrived for you from the Information Guild."
"Ah!"
Remembering that Countess Akina had promised to have the Information Guild search for Dang Seol-yeong, Kaisent took the letter and hurriedly scanned its contents.
But the letter held only disappointing news — they had been unable to find anyone by the name of Dang Seol-yeong.
Based on the information provided, we conducted a search across the Western Continent for a woman named Dang Seol-yeong, but were unable to confirm her existence.
A martial artist matching the described characteristics would inevitably have become famous.
In other words, the fact that someone with such distinctive traits remains unknown suggests……
She's either dead, on the Eastern Continent, or somewhere no humans live.
From that information alone, Kaisent knew exactly where Dang Seol-yeong was.
Noona is still in that forest!
He wanted to run straight to the forest where they had once lived — but the problem was that he had no idea where that forest actually was.
Because of that bastard, Noona is……!
Imagining Dang Seol-yeong suffering, Kaisent unleashed a murderous aura thick with hatred toward the man who had torn them apart. Every time he thought of that man, rage and killing intent poured out of him whether he willed it or not.
"Ka… Kaisent……?"
The mercenary who had delivered the letter found his entire body trembling involuntarily beneath the killing intent of the boy he had always treated so warmly. Even though the fury wasn't directed at him, the mere aftershock of that aura was enough to strip his body of control and set him shaking.
"Haa… I'm sorry. You went to the trouble of bringing me a letter. I just… need to be alone for a moment."
"Y-yeah. Whatever it is, hang in there."
The mercenary clutched his unsteady legs and hurried off somewhere else.
There's more on the back of the letter.
Calming his anger, Kaisent confirmed there was a second page — a letter written to him by Countess Akina herself.
The Information Guild I commissioned this time is rooted in the Western Continent.
I intend to place a commission with the Eastern Continent's Information Guild next.
If she still cannot be found, then it is only reasonable to conclude that she is either dead — or remains in the forest where the two of you met.
Recall everything you can about that forest. Finding it will depend entirely on your memories.
If things grow too hard, you may come to me whenever you wish. I will make a place for you.
— Akina
The letter stripped away all ornament and laid out only what was necessary. Yet beneath it, Kaisent could still sense that favorable greed — her hunger for his talent remained unchanged.
If Lillian was the benefactor who had saved him when he was lost and wandering, then Akina was the benefactor who had provided everything he needed to find Dang Seol-yeong.
I will repay this debt. Without fail.
Since coming to this world he had endured pain and hardship more times than he could count — but the people who had shown him kindness had made it bearable.
In truth, it was Kaisent's bloodline drawing goodwill toward him at an unconscious level, but knowing nothing of this, he simply thought the world was less bleak than he had expected.
Naturally, Skynet was aware of the power of his bloodline. But after learning how thoroughly it had captivated a woman like Dang Seol-yeong at first encounter, she had deliberately chosen to remain silent. If Kaisent abused that power and became a womanizer, it would create problems on multiple fronts.
In any case, determined to grow stronger if only to repay Akina's kindness, Kaisent returned to training in his father's cultivation method.
"All hands, prepare to move out!"
At the departure order, the Wolf Mercenary Company swiftly broke down the temporary camp. Kaisent asked Lillian and Frederick for permission to ride in the carriage so he could continue his training.
But after another hour or two on the road, the company discovered something and came to a halt once more.
Hm? What is it?
Noticing the carriage had stopped, Kaisent stepped outside.
There, people who appeared to belong to several different parties had gathered in a cluster, forming a circular defensive formation as if bracing against something. Lillian and Frederick were already speaking with the representative of those who had claimed the position first.
"Ah. Come to think of it……."
Looking up at the sky, Kaisent noticed that the moon — which had been wedged between two planets — had completely vanished.
In this star system, the moon uniquely drifted behind the visible planets once a year. The problem was that when the moon hid itself, the surface that reflected the sun's light disappeared with it — and this world became a place stripped of light.
It was no joke and no exaggeration: at night, without a torch, you couldn't see a thing.
He would have liked to investigate why such a thing happened, but Kaisent had nothing with which to study the cosmos, so he could only accept it as it was.
The greater problem was that on this lightless world, undead-type monsters appeared far more readily — and grew stronger than usual.
Some people actually looked forward to it, since spirit orbs became easier to find. For everyone else, it was nothing short of a disaster.
Just like the people gathered here.
"We camp here in preparation for Dead Moon! All hands, set up camp!"
The Night of the Dead. Dead Moon.
It was dangerous enough under ordinary circumstances — and now they would have to camp in a region where the undead were already stirring.
Tonight is going to be rough in more ways than one.
This wasn't a natural undead outbreak. A vampire was orchestrating it from behind the scenes. Kaisent instinctively felt that this Dead Moon would not be easy to weather, and stepped out of the carriage to find Clint.
"Clint."
"Ah, Kaisent. The atmosphere feels weird. What's Dead Moon?"
"That's what I came to tell you about."
Even though it was still early, the sight of people clustering together to ward off outside threats had struck Clint as strange. Once Kaisent explained Dead Moon, the color drained from his face.
"I have a proposal, Clint."
"What is it?"
"Once Dead Moon starts, want to go into the 0-Dimensional Warehouse?"
"In there……."
"Skynet will be there, so you won't get bored. And if AT makes you uneasy, I'll give her orders beforehand……."
"…No. I'm fine."
Having listened quietly, Clint swallowed hard, as if steeling himself, and refused Kaisent's offer.
"You fighting alone while I sit somewhere safe by myself? I'm done with that kind of coward's life. I don't care if I can't help much. Even a little is enough — I want to fight alongside everyone."
Having resolved to struggle thanks to Kaisent, Clint recognized this as the first battle in which he would put that will into practice.
"Alright. But don't push yourself too hard."
"Yeah!"
"Everyone gather! We're building a perimeter fence starting now!"
"I'll go help!"
When Frederick called all the mercenaries to install the fence, Clint — not an official member of the company, but determined to earn his keep — latched on and joined them.
The two boys had both trembled like cowards at first. But in the end, they shared the same nature: both had resolved to fight in order to carve out their own lives.