The Heavenly Demon Analyzes (3)
I had been wandering around after encountering those new things in the Divine Cult last time, investigating various matters. First on the list was the origin of Solitude. I figured that if I knew who created it and with what intent, it would help greatly in deciphering the technique itself.
The people around me—my benefactor who once served as an elder of the Divine Cult, and the current Heavenly Demon of the cult, Baek Hwaryeong—had no answers when I asked.
"As you know, most of the records have been lost. What I know isn't much different from what you already know."
"I may have been an elder, but I never held a position high enough to access the core secrets. That information was only permitted to those above the Third Elder. I know nothing. I'm sorry."
I sought out several other promising individuals, but none of them could give me a satisfying answer. What I knew wasn't any different from what they knew, so in the end I learned absolutely nothing about how the Solitude technique had been created. All I could do was vaguely wonder if it was something the first Heavenly Demon had made.
Given the situation, the only thing I could do was to analyze the various phenomena I had witnessed within Solitude. At first I tried to get Baru's help, but after some research I realized it was pointless. Since I could simply observe the techniques that existed in the Divine Cult and replicate them, it was faster to use my own body as a test subject and experiment directly rather than analyze them theoretically.
Besides, the path toward righteousness was like walking a road full of countless traps. I judged that continuing might put Baru in danger, so I sent her away.
After that, I asked Baekju for permission and repeatedly conducted experiments with the Solitude techniques alone in a remote corner of her mountain. The process was a continuous string of failures. I faced death so many times during the tests that after a certain point I stopped even counting how many times I had died.
Of course, there were ways to avoid death if I had wanted to, but that would have slowed things down. Since I had obtained a body where death was no real problem, there was no point in fearing it.
"So this is why you turned my mountain into this state?"
Baekju looked over the forest where I had been conducting my tests and turned her gaze toward me. There was no need to guess what her narrowed eyes meant. It was clearly a reproach.
"You said I could use it as I wished."
"That didn't mean you could put holes in my mountain!"
How underhanded, arguing with cold facts. This is why the old-timers are impossible. These days people boldly fight with manipulation and fabrication, yet when someone points out my crimes so precisely like this, it's hard to come up with a proper response.
I chewed on the end of my pipe and surveyed the scenery I had created. The forest that had once been so full of green life that it could barely catch the sunlight had become a desolate clearing. The ground was covered with countless holes and the cracks connecting them. Above and below them, not a single trace of life remained.
Hmm. Was it a bit much?
"A bit?! Are you trying to turn this place into Mount Hua?!"
"I have that much sense, at least."
No matter how reckless I might be, I wouldn't go so far as to completely devastate an entire mountain when I was only borrowing the space. I had been rather stubborn about it, but only within the limits of this particular location. I had thoroughly controlled any effects that might spread elsewhere.
Who did she think I was? As if I couldn't manage even that much.
I squared my shoulders as I spoke, but another sigh escaped Baekju's lips.
"If you weren't my benefactor...!"
"Yet I am the one who saved your life."
"That's exactly why I can't say anything!"
Baekju stamped her feet in frustration before letting out another sigh and rubbing her face.
"So, did you at least get some results?"
"Somewhat."
Lately I had given up sleeping entirely and thrown myself into this research. Since this world was a game, I could use methods that were far from normal by throwing my body into it without restraint. It was only natural that I would achieve some results.
"Shall I show you?"
"...It's safe, right?"
"Probably."
"Probably?!"
"Don't worry. There will be no danger to you whatsoever."
Even if something went wrong, the one who would die embracing it would be me. After saying so, I drew a picture upon the world.
The reason I had struggled so much while handling the Solitude techniques was because I had tried to use them as Taoist magic. Just as I had done when I first learned it. I had moved my energy believing that was the correct method.
Under normal circumstances that approach would have been right, but this was no ordinary technique. After countless failures, the answer I realized was this: To properly handle the Solitude techniques, they had to be treated not as Taoist magic but as the Heavenly Demon Divine Art.
It wasn't about drawing the rules set by the world—it was about forcing the rules I believed in upon the world. It took quite a long time to reach that realization, but once I did, things went smoothly. Though I did struggle a bit with controlling the power of the technique.
The moment I completed the picture, the countless strands of energy that had been drawn across this world vanished without a trace. As if they had never existed in the first place.
The wind stopped. The forest stopped moving. The air disappeared, and sound no longer carried. With the disappearance of the various energies that moved the world, it was as if time in this space had come to a halt.
But it was only for an instant. They reappeared as casually as if they had never vanished, and the clock of the world began to move once more.
"Now I understand why Baru was so shocked. To think there was a Taoist technique like this."
"Have you never seen anything similar?"
"It's the first time I've seen anything like it. A Taoist technique that erases the energies of the world... Can this even be called Taoist magic?"
Indeed. I had thought the same thing. What they called Taoist magic was the act of reproducing phenomena that occurred in the world through the use of energy. In other words, it was following the natural order.
But the technique I was using now was different. It did not reproduce phenomena that occurred in the world. It erased phenomena that existed in the world. Could something like this truly be called Taoist magic?
"It feels like it's defying the rules."
"Indeed it does."
"Hmm. Could you give me a copy of the technique as well? I'd like to look into it myself."
"That is no difficulty at all. I'll bring it to you shortly."
After answering Baekju, I exhaled smoke into the empty air. I had become fairly proficient at handling it, but there were still several tasks remaining. Since I had practiced to build proficiency until now, from here on I needed to practice for development.
The best way to do that was to use it in actual combat. Hmm. Should I ask Seol-ah or Harin to find a suitable opponent in Hwaryong Muin? Or should I visit the rogue player workshop once more? It was quite the dilemma.
*
The answer to the dilemma I had been pondering came from an unexpected place.
"Hwaryeong-nim. Do you happen to know a game called Thread?"
"Of course I don't. Why do you ask?"
"It's a fantasy survival game..."
The game called Thread that Enry explained to me was roughly like this: You were dropped naked onto a deserted island set in a fantasy world and had to survive in lawless territory using the resources available there.
"Melee battles in a fantasy world! Large-scale battles! Sieges and defenses! You can do it all! It's seriously so much fun!"
The way Enry was getting so excited suggested that it was a game with good public reception. A game where you competed using martial arts and magic in a lawless land without fixed rules.
From what I heard, it wasn't just players—there were also fantasy creatures like giants and dragons. Hmm.
After learning Taoist magic, I had played Apis from time to time for the sake of interesting broadcasts, and I knew that the Dao existed everywhere in the world. Naturally, it existed in things that used mana as well. There was definitely Dao in things like aura and magic, and if I analyzed and practiced them, I believed I could probably replicate those too.
Of course, my current skill in Taoist magic was still too shallow for that to be possible yet. Still, the important thing was one: since it was all achieved by following the Dao, it meant I could swallow it all.
It seemed I had found an interesting testing ground.
"Alright. I'll do it."
When I nodded, Enry became excited and started talking about how we should form a team and what kind of build I wanted to play. It sounded like she had already decided that I would be on the same team as her.
I didn't particularly dislike playing with you, Enry, but still.
"Are you sure you'll be okay?"
If what you said was true, starting Thread would gather close to a hundred streamers in one place. Assuming everyone moved for their own benefit, there would naturally be checks and restraints aimed at those who posed a threat. Given all the things I had done so far, it was highly likely that I would become the primary target of those checks.
That would cause all sorts of damage. Could you and the people who would become your teammates endure that?
Enry nodded without the slightest hesitation when she heard my question.
"Who cares! That's part of Thread too!"
She said that even if people focused on checking us, it didn't matter, and that if any damage came from it, we could just pay them back later. Enry looked full of confidence.
At first glance, she seemed quite reliable, but having spent a long time with her, I couldn't help but feel uneasy. Usually when Enry was this confident, there tended to be some carelessness lurking behind it.
I wasn't sure if this would really be okay. It felt like she might end up crying later. Well. Even if someone tried to harm us, if I personally repaid them for it, things would naturally quiet down. So it should be fine.
"Then we're playing together, right? Ara-ssi?"
"Yes."
Let's have some fun with this.