The Nature of Transcendents
The Contractor, Lee Serin.
Every Transcendent has different tastes and different ways of showing affection… but we all adore humans very much.
To a Transcendent, the species known as humans occupied exactly that position. Beings who possessed intelligence yet were incomparably weaker than themselves, whose appearance and behavior were so unbearably cute that simply watching them brought joy. From a human perspective, it was like gazing at an adorable pet. That was why they approached humans and cherished them.
Some Transcendents drew close to young geniuses and reshaped them to suit their preferences. Others showered their favored humans with support under the name of patronage. Still others enjoyed conversing and forming bonds with those who matched their tastes.
A few humans claimed this was the Transcendents domesticating them, that humanity had become little more than the pets of Transcendent-kind, and insisted the Transcendent species should be viewed with caution… but what did that matter? The Transcendents found humans adorable, and humans found happiness through their help.
And this relationship did not change even after the first human-born Transcendent appeared. If anything, it may have grown even deeper.
On a certain day when Transcendents were doting on humans and living happily, the first Transcendent emerged from among humanity. The hero who called himself Gilgamesh grew stronger through countless trials and tribulations, finally transcending his species and ascending to the rank of Transcendent. With his ascension, he reached the higher dimension where the Transcendents resided.
And when the Transcendents saw Gilgamesh… they rejoiced.
There were many reasons for their frenzy. They were delighted that the first Transcendent had been born from the species they cherished. They celebrated the rarity of a new Transcendent’s birth. But the greatest reason was his appearance.
Humans are cute before transcendence, and they remain cute after transcendence. How could we not love them?
Transcendence is a fundamental transformation of existence. A being anchored in three dimensions is promoted to four, to five. Naturally, everything changes accordingly. Just as a monkey becomes human, one leaps beyond species to become a perfected individual. The human species, too, achieved perfection as individuals through transcendence and surpassed the limits of their kind.
Therefore, the Transcendents had not held high expectations. They assumed the first human-born Transcendent would resemble themselves. Yet astonishingly—and joyfully—their expectations were betrayed.
Whether due to the unique traits of the human species or the circumstances of his transcendence, he had ascended while nearly preserving his original form. Afterward, humans who attained transcendence through enlightenment, through the soul, and other means continued to appear. They too retained at least some trace of their human appearance, and thus received an abundance of love and adoration from the other Transcendents.
This was precisely why the Transcendents were so favorably disposed toward humans. If humans had appeared as hideous as cockroaches in their eyes, beings like Contractors would never have come into existence. Humans truly owed a debt of gratitude to their own cuteness.
“Cute… cute… all the time… is that… really…?”
Lee Serin wore a complicated expression after hearing a truth she had never wanted to know. Should she be happy? Or disappointed? She had no idea what face to make, so she could only stare at the demon with an ambiguous look.
In the end, she chose to change the subject to escape the uncomfortable truth.
“So… what did you mean when you said my, my brother is strange…?”
The demon had been watching Lee Serin’s adorable reaction with satisfaction, but at the mention of Jinseong, disgust rose on its face once more. It hesitated, seemingly unsure how to phrase its next words.
We Transcendents can see karma.
“Y-yes. I learned that at school… it’s divided into karma and dharma…”
Then do you also know exactly what it is?
“No… they said you learn that in graduate school… and asked if I was interested…”
Graduate school to someone who hasn’t even entered university yet? How dreadful. It would be best not to become close with that demonic creature.
The demon offered Lee Serin that advice before continuing.
The way each Transcendent perceives karma differs. It is the same as how every creature’s senses differ. Even if they look at the same object, an insect’s eyes and a human’s eyes cannot be the same. Even if they hear the same sound, a rabbit’s ears and a bat’s ears cannot be the same.
“Yeah… I guess that makes sense…?”
Likewise, the way Transcendents perceive karma is the same. Therefore, even if they see the same thing, their understanding and what they witness may differ, yet they can clearly grasp its essence. However, because this concerns the senses, it is difficult to convey verbally to others. That is why the existence of karma has remained a mystery to humans.
Expressing a sense directly is truly difficult. No matter how vividly one describes a bat’s echolocation, it cannot be clearly understood. No matter how one explains the vision and color perception of a hawk soaring through the sky, it cannot be vividly imagined. The same difficulty applied to perceiving and feeling karma; even when explained, it was often impossible for others to comprehend.
That was why the demon enjoyed using analogies when speaking to its Contractor. It was the easiest to understand and caused the least trouble when speaking. The only drawback was that, being an analogy, the meaning could sometimes be conveyed incorrectly.
To use an analogy, karma is your outer form and inner form. Soul and body are the womb that forms you, your beginning and your frame. The mind is the pillar and nail that holds it in place. And karma can be said to be everything else that constitutes your outer and inner form.
“That’s… difficult…”
It would be. Understanding something by hearing about what is missing is difficult even for a genius.
The demon spoke as if it had never expected Lee Serin to understand from the beginning. She felt a flicker of irritation at the gaze that seemed to look at a deficient child, but the demon’s next words forced her to stare at it with that same ambiguous expression again.
Using the kitten analogy I mentioned earlier… Yes. Contractor, my Contractor with slightly lacking comprehension but excellent imagination. Imagine it. Close your eyes and picture it. You may say you are a curious black kitten with bright, sparkling eyes. My sigil is engraved upon your chest, surgical tools are strapped across your back, and your entire body is adorned with glittering jeweled accessories.
“That would be… cute…?”
Indeed.
Lee Serin pictured the form as the demon described and finally understood its earlier explanation. If such a kitten were in front of her right now, she was confident she would shower it with affection.
Here, the kitten’s species and genes are its body and soul, and its personality is its mind. Everything else—the flesh, fat, organs, muscles, brain, eyes, fur, the sigil engraved on its chest, the accessories and tools draped over its body—those are karma. This is not a perfectly accurate explanation, so simply understand it as being roughly like this.
To fully comprehend it, one must look through the eyes of a Transcendent. The demon said so and gazed at Lee Serin.
And this is precisely why Transcendents do not like shamans.
“Ah, now that you mention it… I heard that only three Contractors have ever appeared among shamans in history…?”
That too appeared only thanks to Transcendents with rather peculiar tastes.
“At school they just said that and ended the lesson…”
They would.
The demon tapped the floor lightly with its silver hooves and continued.
No matter what ability a human learns, it does not create a great difference in their fundamental nature. As I said earlier, a martial artist is simply a kitten holding a blade, a mage is a kitten using magic. Even a summoner who interacts with summoned beings only changes the kitten’s scent and habits slightly, so its cuteness remains intact.
“Kitten…”
However, sorcery is truly strange… Some sorceries affect things beyond karma.
Karma was a trajectory, a trace. Yet no matter how much the trajectory moved or was broken, no matter how the trace influenced its owner, the essence could not be changed. But certain sorceries altered even that essence.
To the eyes of Transcendents, such changes often appeared hideous or bizarre.
Since I compared it to a kitten earlier, I will do so again. A kitten with wings. A kitten with horns on its head. A kitten carrying a turtle shell on its back. A kitten with no legs that slithers like a snake.
At least those still resembled kittens. In severe cases, they turned into tigers, lions, or leopards, or even became golem kittens. How could anyone like shamans after seeing that?
“Still… I’ve never heard that Contractors or Transcendent species reject shamans…”
Of course. Being shaped differently does not mean being wrong. Even if the appearance changes, there is still a certain cuteness to it. Just because it does not suit one’s taste is not reason enough to reject it.
The demon paused for a moment before continuing.
However… your brother is not merely different… he is closer to being wrong.
Wrong? Not different, but wrong?
Lee Serin felt a slight anxiety at the demon’s words. According to its earlier explanation, shamans changed the appearance of their essence. If it was to the point of calling that essence “wrong,” then perhaps there was a serious problem with Jinseong’s body.
I shall tell you a story.
“Y-yes…”
Let us assume you are an ordinary person. You are walking down the street and see an ordinary man pass by. His clothes are ordinary, his face is the kind you could see anywhere. His height and build are neither particularly small nor large. No matter how closely you look, everything about him is ordinary. In that case, Contractor, would you feel anything strange about that man?
“N-no, of course not…”
Then later, in the middle of the night, you see that same man again on the other side of a long crosswalk. He looks exactly the same as when you first saw him. No matter how closely you look, he is still ordinary. His height is the same, his build is the same. Nothing has changed from the first time. Now, do you feel anything strange?
“No.”
Then you see him once more. He stands at the far edge of the horizon, exactly as you saw him before. He has the perfectly ordinary appearance you might encounter two or three times on any street. No matter how carefully you examine him, there is nothing strange.
“It doesn’t seem like there’s anything strange…?”
The demon laughed.
Then let me ask you this, Contractor. My Contractor.
A being whose appearance never changes no matter when you see him. Whose form you can see clearly regardless of distance. Whose shape you can perceive as if it were broad daylight even in darkness. Who can stand casually on the horizon while ignoring perspective.
Could you truly call such a being human?