Chapter 156
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Translator: Ebonarch
Chapter: 157
Chapter Title: The Regressor Makes Everything
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A pitch-black field of vision.
He wondered if his eyes were closed again this time, but when he looked down, his body was clearly visible.
In this situation that was definitely different from before, Lee Se-hun clenched and unclenched his fist as he surveyed his surroundings.
'Not so much past memories as... the stage before that.'
The subconscious, containing even memories he wasn't aware of.
The moment Lee Se-hun realized he was standing on that boundary line.
Rumble!
The darkness began to churn with a massive vibration.
As Lee Se-hun tensed up at the suddenly roiling subconscious, the darkness split apart, and a ceiling and walls surged upward.
Thud!
Like pieces of a puzzle snapping together, the scenery emerging from all sides interlocked, and Lee Se-hun's body naturally rose atop it.
A shabby forge, charred and cracked everywhere as if bombs had gone off inside several times. At the familiar sight, Lee Se-hun ran his hand over the table right beside him.
"It's been a while..."
The workshop he'd used until fully joining the Allied Forces before his regression.
At the scene he'd thought he'd never see again, Lee Se-hun felt his emotions surging unbidden.
'Because it's the subconscious... emotions tied to it just flood in unfiltered.'
Normally, stray emotions would be shaved away until he recalled and consciously processed the memory, but standing at the boundary of the subconscious now, they hit raw and unrefined.
To put it simply, it was like the filter on a water purifier had vanished.
A wry smile crossed Lee Se-hun's face amid the onslaught of feelings washing over him as he closely examined the workshop.
'From the state of it, it looks like it's on the verge of being torn down... So why has this suddenly appeared?'
As Lee Se-hun wore a puzzled expression at this unprecedented situation, the surrounding scenery shifted once more.
Whoosh!
Purple flames rose from the furnace in front. Inside, an ingot was heating up, and at the sight, Lee Se-hun's eyes widened.
'No way...'
A thought flashed through his mind, and though half-doubting, he approached the furnace.
Hum!
From afar, it had just looked purple, but up close, black letters-like shapes swirled wildly inside the flames.
Without a second thought, Lee Se-hun grabbed the tongs beside the furnace and pulled out the heating ingot, placing it on the anvil.
Fwoosh!
The ingot wrapped in purple flames.
At its unique form, tangled with countless characters, Lee Se-hun chuckled despite himself.
"Yeah. Can't eat it raw, huh."
Just like reading a book once doesn't guarantee remembering or fully understanding everything in it, the information compressed by Zhuque was the same.
To properly remember and comprehend information, it needed processing. And his subconscious had prepared it in the most familiar form.
'Blacksmith through and through, down to the bone.'
He'd awakened various talents since regressing, but at his core, he was a blacksmith.
Realizing what he had to do, Lee Se-hun rolled up his sleeves and gripped the empty air.
Grip!
A red hammer materialized in his hand.
The hammer from his master, the one that had formed the basis for his most familiar residual flame hammer. Lee Se-hun looked down at the ingot of information on the anvil.
'Shouldn't be much different.'
Arrange the array, even it out. Recalling the fundamentals of forging, he swung the hammer vigorously.
Clang! Clang!
The moment the wildly swirling characters were evenly aligned by the hammer blows, the ingot's size shrank as empty spaces compressed.
Observing this, Lee Se-hun shoved the ingot back into the furnace to reheat it.
Fwoosh!
Characters floating in the flames clung to the compressed ingot's surface, making it swell again.
Confirming this, Lee Se-hun pulled it out, set it on the anvil, and swung the hammer once more.
Clang! Clang!
Heat in the fire, strike with the hammer.
It felt a bit awkward since he was refining information, not ore, but Lee Se-hun quickly got the knack and steadied the array.
Thus, in the timeless workshop, he repeated the process without rest.
Hum!
Then, the furnace flames, once murky with drifting characters, turned to pure purple. Seeing this, Lee Se-hun looked down at his finished product.
The ingot, forged through repeated hammering into a dagger blade.
So thoroughly compressed that, unlike before, no gaps remained—it looked pitch black.
"Hoo..."
As an act of the subconscious, there was no sweat or physical fatigue, but mental exhaustion brought a wave of drowsiness.
Lee Se-hun lightly slapped his cheeks to sharpen his loosening focus and picked up the dagger blade.
"Now for the next part..."
By now familiar, he promptly thrust the dagger blade into his heart.
Shhh.
Like ink dissolving in water, the blade seeped in without resistance, and his heart pumped it throughout his body.
And the moment vast information permeated his entire being.
"You crazy bastard!!!"
With a thunderous shout, Lee Se-hun's body was flung to one side of the forge.
Crash!!
His body smashed into the wall along with the table before falling to the floor. Amid the pain wracking his body and the sudden situation, as he furrowed his brow.
Grip!
His left hand swiftly seized the longsword that had fallen to the floor.
Bang!
The mana-infused longsword was hurled at ferocious speed, and gripping the hammer in his right hand tightly, he charged at the intruder.
Startled by his body moving independently of his will, Lee Se-hun quickly grasped the situation.
'Memory?'
The bond stone used to smoothly absorb the information Zhuque had compressed. The memories within it were manifesting belatedly.
'So who's the one attacking now?'
Had this happened in the past? As Lee Se-hun rummaged through hazy memories, his eyes turned forward, obscured by dust.
"Well, well."
Glowing blue eyes glared ferociously at him.
【Reflection】
Kieeeeng!!!
With a ear-splitting roar, the thrown longsword shattered into pieces scattering everywhere, and the hammer mid-swing halted abruptly as if hitting pause.
As the dust blanketing the area fully settled, the intruder's figure emerged.
"Close one. If you'd swung a bit more, your right hand would've been smashed along with it."
Silver hair to the shoulders, fiercely glowing blue eyes. A black leather jacket and rider suit wrapping her body tightly.
Louise, looking at him with pitiful disdain—the pre-regression Violent Dog. Lee Se-hun wore a surprised expression.
'If she's here, it didn't happen often.'
He'd only started properly working with the Violent Dog after joining the Alliance, so she hadn't visited the workshop much.
As he focused on the memories surfacing bit by bit, the situation continued unfolding.
"Why the freakout the second you show up?"
An angry voice emerged from his mouth, and the Violent Dog looked up at him with arms crossed defiantly.
"That's what I want to ask you."
"What?"
"If you wanna get wrecked that bad, just ask me to kill you. Why the pathetic solo suicide act here?"
What nonsense was this? As Lee Se-hun reeled in confusion, a past memory struck like lightning.
'Ah. That time.'
Just before the war with Myriad Demons' Mire began, early days after exchanging names with the Violent Dog and starting light dealings.
In other words, when they knew little about each other and things were quite awkward.
"Suicide? When did I—"
"You were just about to stab your heart with that longsword."
A time when he knew nothing of spirit link magic or demon blood arts.
"What are you talking about... It was just technique practice."
"...A technique where you stab your heart with a knife?"
The Violent Dog eyed him with suspicion beyond mere absurdity. A snide retort naturally slipped out.
"There are guys who scream instead of chanting to cast magic. Why not this?"
"..."
The Violent Dog's eyes chilled, and the surrounding mana stirred.
Slash!
A wind blade grazed his hair by a hair's breadth. If he'd been dazed, his nose would've been sliced off—that chilling strike made his body reflexively swing the hammer.
Clang!
But the hammer was blocked by a transparent barrier as if anticipated, and in that gap, the Violent Dog's black boot slammed into his shin with full force.
Crack!
Reinforced with mana, the brutal sound. Yet his past self didn't flinch or groan.
The Violent Dog strode forward, glaring up at him fiercely.
"One more quip like that, and I'll rip your mouth off."
Not a mere warning, but a threat brimming with real intent. Witnessing it from first person stirred odd feelings in Lee Se-hun.
'Man... Haven't seen her like this in forever.'
The Violent Dog's personality was always a mess, but right before regression, at Bond Level Lv.5, her grumbling had carried a fondness.
Now, only irritation and hostility remained. Strangers, through and through.
'What did I say back then...'
Given the awkward phase, probably something polite. As Lee Se-hun recalled, his past self replied.
"Go ahead. If you can."
"..."
The mood turned ominous again, the Violent Dog's blue eyes gleaming coldly, emotions bare.
After a long staredown, her gaze softened as she sighed.
"Hoo... Fine, whatever. Hand over the prepared goods."
His past self shot a dissatisfied glance at her impatiently twitching fingers, then tossed the iron case from the workshop corner.
Thud!
She caught it effortlessly, unlocked it, peeked inside, and asked.
"How do you use it?"
"Just shove it in the engine. Then handle the rest with your incantations."
"Hm. Good. If it's defective, you're dead. Be ready."
Said lightly like a joke, but her killing intent was crystal clear.
Lee Se-hun watched in fascination—this side of Louise unseen post-regression—and his past self snapped back prickly.
"If it's not defective, never come back. I don't wanna deal with scum like you."
"...Tch."
Clicking her tongue in displeasure, the Violent Dog grabbed the case and headed out of the workshop.
As the past memory seemed about to fade away.
Fwoosh.
Purple flames rose from his chest.
'This...'
The same phenomenon from the Ice Dog memory. Confirming control of his body returned, Lee Se-hun shouted reflexively without time to analyze.
"Wait!"
The Violent Dog, heading out, paused and turned.
"What?"
Her slightly annoyed expression gave Lee Se-hun pause.
He'd called out since his body could move, hoping to do something, but nothing specific came to mind.
'Anything worth asking...?'
Back then, the Violent Dog mainly tracked and smashed Dawn-related facilities, digging into the Watchers' backs. High chance she monitored both overt and covert movements closely.
That realization hit, along with churning blood—a thought flashed.
"Know anything about groups steadily buying up Twilight Ingots?"
According to Erika's data, the Valmut family had procured them through various routes for years, ramping up recently.
Alone, not suspicious, but the timing mattered.
'If it's the first movement as all factions shift, there must be a reason.'
Whether overt or hidden, it could be a clue.
The Violent Dog stared, then narrowed her eyes.
"You heard something too?"
"If I had, I wouldn't ask you."
She seemed to rummage memories, then spoke.
"Not lately, but up to about ten years ago... yeah, quite a bit. Sold like a fad, but... now that I think, it's weird."
"What is?"
"After all that hype, no standout products. Plus, Twilight Ingots don't turn up much anymore."
A fad that rose and fell quietly.
As Lee Se-hun's expression turned subtle.
"Ah. Right, that."
Recalling something, the Violent Dog looked at him.
"You know Flame Flower Sect? The one wiped out by that Mad Dog bastard."
"...Why bring them up?"
At the unexpected mention, Lee Se-hun eyed her curiously, and she wore a strange look.
"They were buying them too. Before getting exterminated."
[Awakening Dream has been activated]
Whoosh!
His mind snapped awake in an instant. Back in reality, Lee Se-hun quickly scanned his surroundings.
[Y-You bastard... What the hell was that all of a sudden...]
Zhuque, flustered and uncomprehending. Instead of explaining, Lee Se-hun recalled the Violent Dog's final words.
'Flame Flower Sect was buying Twilight Ingots...'
The current Flame Flower Sect leader was the type to do dirty deeds for power without hesitation. That raised the possibility even more.
'Should I probe them...? But how...'
As Lee Se-hun racked his brain for a way.
Vibrate.
A buzz from his pocket. Pulling out his phone, Yeom Seong-ha's name lit the screen.
'...Timing's artistic.'
As if his thoughts had transmitted. With that silly notion, Lee Se-hun answered.
"What?"
-Got time tomorrow?
"Why?"
Silence, awkward, flowed from the phone before a calm voice emerged.
-Master wants to see you.