The Dream Dragon's Pact
It took Casarnox quite a while to calm down after laughing. With the pressure gone in the meantime, Han Yujin was able to take a proper look at him.
He was staggeringly handsome — beautiful enough that one could believe he was a dragon.
Dark violet horns, near-black, rose from his head and radiated a faint halo. His vertical pupils held cosmic depths of color, yet rather than seeming alien, the effect was simply magnificent. His hair, a gradient of black bleeding into purple, was tied back and left to fall long, but it gave off nothing resembling a feminine air. He wore an ornate robe with such effortless grace that the longer one looked, the more one could only marvel.
Even as he studied the dragon's appearance, part of Han Yujin was quietly organizing his thoughts, and once Casarnox seemed fully composed, he boldly asked his question.
"You read my memories, didn't you?"
"I did."
The dragon answered in an ordinary voice, his tone faintly deflated. It seemed that after that bout of laughter, the truth he'd realized had left him with a mild existential crisis.
"I read everything — down to how old you were when you first watched porn."
"Ahem..."
"You don't even seem particularly bothered. Is it because it'll all vanish the moment you 'wake up' anyway?"
He let out a hollow little laugh, then suddenly turned and moved toward the interior.
"Come in. It's uncomfortable talking on our feet like this."
Sitting down on one of the chairs carved into the inner space, he gestured toward the opposite side. Having no reason to refuse, Han Yujin promptly crossed over and sat.
"It seems this entire space is an illusion — isn't a dangerous battle still raging outside?"
"It's a matter of mere instants. And having realized a truth like this, what difference would a small loss make?"
"My memories could be severely distorted — riddled with lies, for all I know."
"A being of my caliber possesses an intuition that grasps truth without need for logic or proof. Besides, if you had mental interference abilities of that magnitude, then from the moment I let you into this space I'd already be half dead — in which case, being gladly deceived would hardly be the worst outcome."
"Ah... I see."
He was apparently talking about the backfire — the backlash unique to mental-type magic.
Sure enough, if one could fully deceive someone even within a space the opponent had created, it would also be possible to trigger some manner of backlash and turn their own power against them.
"If you've read all of my memories, I'd think you'd have no questions left to ask..."
"That was a lie, actually. Some of your memories I couldn't read at all."
"Pardon?"
"But I got the important parts, so the statement stands — no questions left."
Han Yujin wasn't sure whether that was honesty or something else entirely.
He kept his expression carefully managed as the thought crossed his mind. The moment his eyes met Casarnox's, however, he hurriedly erased it.
"I don't go around reading your memories and thoughts at every hour. If I did, you'd feel the pressure of it somehow, and you'd know on your own."
"...So just now, it simply showed on the surface?"
"If you want to deceive someone, mind your body as well as your face. Heartbeat, the movement of your pupils — things like that."
Caring about and controlling even those details, Han Yujin suspected, would require reaching Golden Core at the very least.
"Anything else you're curious about? Ask freely."
This dragon apparently wanted something from him.
Judging so, Han Yujin took it as a welcome opportunity and asked.
"If you know about my awakening ability, I'd like your opinion on it. What do you think this is?"
It was a question he'd been intensely curious about himself for a long time, but he'd kept putting off any judgment because there was far too little relevant information to go on.
The answer that came back was rather underwhelming.
"I don't know either."
"...Then at least share a rough conjecture."
"It doesn't seem like something born of mere coincidence."
"...Is that all?"
"Ask something else."
"Didn't you say just now that all of this is fake illusion-play? At least explain that, if you please."
Casarnox let out a long sigh before answering.
"That was a careless remark. Either way, it matters not at all from where I stand."
"Pardon?"
"Whether every last bit of this is illusion, or merely one branch of a real possibility — in the end, I am simply a being who can be manipulated at will by someone like you. What difference, pray tell, is there between the two?"
Then he raised a hand.
"I have no desire to answer further on this matter. Ask something else."
Glimpsing a fraction of the dragon's feelings, Han Yujin obediently changed the subject.
"How did you know I was a Mender?"
"Your kind and my race share a certain bitter history."
"Bitter history, you say?"
"Our Dragon God went searching for that so-called Dao Ancestor of yours — whether it truly exists, who can say — and vanished without a trace. How could it be anything but bitter?"
The Dao Ancestor.
Known as the origin and apex of all immortal daos — a mythical, abstract existence that, as the dragon Casarnox said, might not even exist at all.
"Besides, your kind has always been rather famous. Wasn't even that barren wasteland you call home — Earth — exposed to the concept of the Immortal?"
"A barren wasteland..."
"It seems less so now. Whether that will prove a blessing or a curse, only time will tell."
"You mean it could be dangerous."
"Doesn't your own Earth already have a saying about it? That encounters between different civilizations inevitably bring conflict."
A silence followed.
He couldn't very well ask about every trivial little thing, so he was giving the matter some deliberation. And there was one thing he genuinely wanted to ask — but it felt provocatively sharp, and he couldn't help hesitating.
Right then.
As if he'd read the very mood in Han Yujin's heart, the dragon lifted one corner of his mouth and asked first.
"Aren't you curious about my abilities? I imagine you're planning to use my Dragon Heart as the vessel for your External Alchemy Dao."
"...If you're willing to tell me, then naturally I would be most grateful."
"Then I shall tell you. Of course I must."
Rising from his seat, he stood in stately silence, gazing out at the garden beyond the pavilion — even as he waved off Han Yujin's attempt to rise with him.
"First, allow me to teach you the Five Great Laws of this universe, which you don't yet properly know, and the classification of magic beneath them. What your fellow Menders would call the Great Dao Laws and their arts."
The Law of Fate, encompassing magic of divination, destruction, causality, annihilation, and creation.
The Law of Dimensions, encompassing magic of radiance, darkness, gravity, space, and time.
The Law of Elements, encompassing magic of flame, lightning, wind, flowing water, and earth.
The Law of Life and Death, encompassing magic of the body, the soul, death, life, and transcendence.
The Law of Mind, encompassing magic of communication, illusion, influence, manipulation, and dominion.
"All magic falls within this classification. The Fireball Art you learned, for instance, belongs to the flame class of the Law of Elements; the Heart-Cleansing Art to the influence class of the Law of Mind; and the Purification Art to the causality class of the Law of Fate."
"By causality class, do you mean it produces an effect without a cause?"
"Precisely. Your dao power substitutes for the cause, instantly producing the result we call cleanliness — no?"
"Hmm."
Han Yujin mulled it over briefly, then asked.
"Then what about the Earth-Binding Art?"
"A compound-class art, mixing the earth class of the Law of Elements with the body class of the Law of Life and Death."
"So they can be combined, then."
"Magic that isn't combined is actually the rarer kind. What of the Spirit Flame Weaving Art?"
Suddenly an atmosphere had formed in which he was receiving instruction from a master. Rather than resenting it, Han Yujin welcomed it and answered at once.
"The flame class of the Law of Elements, and the soul class of the Law of Life and Death?"
"Correct. And the Radiant Golden Light Art?"
"The radiance class of the Law of Dimensions, with the earth class of the Law of Elements, I'd say."
"Right. I trust you have a rough grasp now."
"But... doesn't the soul class of the Law of Life and Death include the mind? The mind is classified as a Great Law all its own, after all."
Casarnox nodded.
"The soul and the mind are intimately connected, in that the soul is the spiritual vessel that holds the mind — but a mind without a soul can exist, and a soul without a mind can also exist. Your spirit is precisely a fragment of a mind without a soul. And souls without minds are common enough that necromancers use them as mere ingredients. Besides, if you want to be pedantic, isn't the body also a physical vessel for the mind?"
"Ah..."
"Moreover, your question can be answered by tracing the birth of this universe itself. Tell me — which of the Great Laws do you think came first? In other words, before the chaos that conceived this universe, what emerged first from the primordial void of the beginning?"
Truly a profound question.
Creation arising from the primordial void as chaos emerged... the Law of Fate? No — can creation occur without any will of any mind? The void is, by definition, complete nothingness — how could creation have happened there without even a will? Then... the Law of Mind? But if some mind's will did exist, wouldn't that itself constitute life? Even if it can't be explained as ordinary life, it certainly existed as something, and if so, wouldn't there need to be a dimension for that existence to occupy? Wait — if a dimension as a substrate had no elements at all, it couldn't maintain any form, could it? Would it simply return to being the primordial void?
Watching Han Yujin spiral into confusion, Casarnox smiled.
"What came first cannot be known. Therefore, what is important cannot be said either. That has been the settled doctrine since time immemorial to the present day."
"...Thank you for the teaching."
"And the power I was born with innately, and pursue at the same time by choice, is the Law of Mind. You've seen me handle illusions above all, so you'll have deduced that much already."
Han Yujin let out an ah of realization. He had understood why Casarnox had bothered with all this explanation.
"If you take my Dragon Heart as the vessel for your External Alchemy Dao, you'll be able to prevent your memories and thoughts from being read — without ever having to laboriously cultivate the Law of Mind."
"Oh..."
"And that's not all. It pairs well with that Taiyi Five Elements Dao Scripture of yours in your plans, too. Enhancing illusions by adding elements to them is a combination as thoroughly proven as Great Law theory itself."
It was true — even in the meager knowledge Han Yujin already possessed, that much had been recorded.
"Above all,"
Casarnox continued, as if he were still not finished.
"In the past, I was a dragon who unambiguously attained the rank of Magus. Though I have since fallen to roughly half that realm, my potential did not burn away with it. Had that unfortunate event not befallen me, I might by now have dared to challenge the transcendence of the Ipsissimus. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"...Surely you don't mean the Magus realm is equivalent to Body Integration?"
"Not entirely identical, but close. The Ipsissimus would be comparable to your Menders' True Immortal stage."
Han Yujin couldn't help but be sorely tempted.
If it were really true, then even if the heart's current realm was only Void Refinement — it was a Dragon Heart whose potential, once having reached Body Integration, remained preserved, was it not?
"High potential, low current realm — which means that much less Karma consumed. I'll stake my name on it: of all the options realistically available to you, the best is me."
It was an argument he could not dispute.
And so, nodding along repeatedly, Han Yujin finally let out a deep breath and asked, seriously.
"Then what do you want from me?"
All of this goodwill could hardly be free.
In truth, emotionally speaking, the moment Casarnox had realized that all of this was nothing but fake illusion-play, it would not have been strange for him to tear Han Yujin limb from limb.
The loss of meaning is an event more than sufficient to draw out rage alongside the emptiness.
Merely from the fact that he maintained such a rational demeanor even in a state where all meaning had vanished, it was plain that Casarnox was, indeed, a great being.
"Swear it upon your Dao-heart."
He spoke in a lowered voice, seemingly calm on the surface.
"Not all dragons are one race. I belong to a clan called the Fey Dragon — or the Dreamhaze Dragon. That is why I was born innately attuned to the powers of the Law of Mind. If you someday secure sufficient means, seek out me and my clan, and aid us to the degree that feels appropriate to you."
Han Yujin sat in silence for quite a long while before asking.
"Do you believe you're alive somewhere in reality?"
"Who knows. Even if you were to peer into the past or future with your awakening ability, it might all be illusion — or merely one branch of possibility."
"...Hmm. That's true."
"Which is exactly why I worded it as I did."
They fell silent a moment longer; then he spoke again, first.
"When you have sufficient means in the future — to an appropriate degree — I specified those terms. And if you do not neglect the matter yet still fail to find me or my clan, then naturally you are under no obligation to help."
Interpreted favorably, it was endlessly favorable; depending on the circumstances, it could become an extremely cumbersome shackle.
And yet, however he turned it over in his mind, Han Yujin found it difficult to consider this a loss.
"And if I swear but never keep my word?"
"What a pointless question. Even having secured sufficient means, you would deliberately break an oath sworn upon your own Dao-heart? What your fellow Menders dread above all else is the Heart Demon, is it not?"
"Do you perhaps hate me?"
"...Could you bring yourself to adore someone who came to use your own heart as cultivation material?"
It was a useless question — one he simply hadn't been able to stop himself from asking — so all Han Yujin could do was laugh awkwardly for a moment.
"Still, it won't have been made from some mere offhand fabrication, so that much is a comfort."
"Hmm..."
"For me — a being whose situation is no different from an illusion — if this bargain lets me help the true me and my clan in reality... seen one way, that is a gain on the level of creating something from nothing."
Casarnox murmured the words as if to himself, then closed his eyes briefly.
"And this may prove a gain for you as well. If this bargain can serve in place of Karma."
Then he opened his eyes again and, fixing his gaze directly on Han Yujin, asked.
"So then — shall we make the deal?"