The Weight of Mortality
The pouch remained stubbornly sealed, its opening cinched so tightly that no amount of force could pry it open. The longsword was equally strange—its edge was completely blunt, not worn down by time but seemingly crafted that way from the beginning.
The moment Han Yujin picked up the final gourd bottle, the faint sloshing sound from within immediately piqued his interest.
‘There’s still liquid inside?’
Since the bottle itself showed no signs of damage, it wasn’t entirely unreasonable for it to have remained perfectly sealed. With careful movements, Han Yujin uncorked it and took a cautious sniff—only to immediately scrunch his face in disgust.
The stench of rot, though not overpowering, was unmistakable. It was in no condition to be drunk.
‘I was hoping it might quench my thirst…’
Drinking it would likely cause stomach trouble and make him lose even more fluids.
Disappointed, he roughly guessed the purposes of the remaining two items.
The first was obviously some kind of storage pouch. It might even be the famous “storage bag.” In fantasy terms, something like a spatial pocket.
The other was clearly a weapon made for combat, despite its dull edge. It probably could only be used properly by channeling the “Dharma Power” that cultivators wielded.
Without much hesitation, Han Yujin decided to take all three items. They weren’t immediately useful, but he hoped to select them as rewards once this exploration ended.
‘Once I begin my cultivation, I should be able to use them all.’
He didn’t know how famous or powerful this Ohaeng Sect had been, but if these were the final possessions kept close by one of its inner sect members until the very end, they couldn’t possibly be worthless.
After somehow stuffing his rewards into the pouch and carrying the rest in both hands, Han Yujin resumed his exploration. If he found any more loot, he was even prepared to take off his shirt and turn it into an improvised bundle.
Unfortunately,
there were no further gains after that. He had no choice but to leave the canyon behind.
The inner sect area was by no means smaller than the outer sect area where he had first begun his exploration.
Yet he finished mapping it surprisingly quickly—not because Han Yujin was particularly skilled or lucky, but simply because the paths were blocked.
One must not forget that the Ohaeng Sect had been a gathering of cultivators. The inner sect area, in particular, would have housed only the most talented among them.
Perhaps for that very reason, the sect had shown little care in connecting the pathways. Whatever links had once existed had long since eroded and collapsed under the passage of time, leaving everything severed.
The buildings perched high on steep cliff faces were a prime example.
In an era when the environment had brimmed with vitality, their placement and structure would have created a truly scenic, immortal-like vista. Now they simply looked treacherous. Han Yujin didn’t even dare attempt the climb.
Some areas also seemed to lead into massive caves, but their entrances were sealed by boulders of terrifying size. Without heavy machinery, there was clearly no way through.
In any case, his exploration of the inner sect area ended quickly.
‘I’ll have to come back once my strength improves.’
Since this was a world where all life had been extinguished, he didn’t need to worry about anyone else stealing the treasures.
Returning to the outer sect area, Han Yujin resumed his search while enduring ever-worsening thirst and hunger. Midway through, the sun finally began to set, and he found shelter to ward off the night’s bitter cold.
It was a truly miserable and endless night.
After moving all day without a single drop of water, his thirst had now clearly crossed into the realm of genuine torment. Moreover, the nights in this ruined world were far colder and darker than he had anticipated.
He also feared that some unknown danger might appear, just like in the Post-Apocalyptic Earth. Even while telling himself such things probably didn’t exist here, and even knowing that death would simply wake him in reality, maintaining his composure proved difficult.
‘Fuck…’
He didn’t even have the strength left to voice the curses rising in his mind.
How long had he endured in a half-fainting state, wishing he could simply pass out?
When dawn finally began to break, Han Yujin staggered to his feet and continued his exploration. It was pure hell, but having already accepted that whether he moved or stopped, death would eventually claim him, he found it easier to keep going.
Fortunately, the results were substantial.
It turned out the outer sect area was vast. There wasn’t just one library pavilion or pill refinement hall. In the second library pavilion he discovered, he harvested quite a large number of helpful new books.
Most were not cultivation methods but rather spell techniques. Like the Hoe-won Gong manual, they had been produced in large quantities and built to last, so their condition was relatively good. He also obtained three or four books containing common knowledge of the cultivation world and information about the Ohaeng Sect.
‘This will be my grave.’
Han Yujin made up his mind.
It would be good if he could keep moving and find even more valuable rewards, but even though barely a day had passed, he already felt as weak as someone who had suffered from a serious illness for decades.
It might simply be because he had never experienced anything like this before. But there was also a chance that the “Dharma-Ending” calamity of this place was affecting him.
What he began reading first were, naturally, the spell techniques.
There were no high-level spells among them. They all appeared to be basic techniques that any cultivator should know. It made sense that they would be stocked in large numbers in the outer sect’s library pavilion—and precisely for that reason, they were currently the most useful to Han Yujin.
Learning advanced spells before he had even stepped foot into cultivation would be like putting pearls on a pig’s neck.
In total, there were seven spell techniques.
Fire Bullet Technique — could attack enemies by burning them and causing explosions.
Jade Skin Technique — could defend against external physical and spiritual impacts.
Wind Cloud Technique — enabled rapid movement and short-distance flight.
Healing Technique — could treat injuries, illnesses, and poisons.
Object Manipulation Technique — allowed remote control of objects.
Spirit Eye Technique — enhanced vision and allowed one to see spiritual entities.
Hidden Shadow Technique — concealed spiritual energy to avoid others’ notice.
‘Attack, defense, evasion, healing, utility… It has everything needed for survival.’
It would have been even better if there had been crowd-control spells to hinder enemy movements, but those apparently didn’t count as basics.
Han Yujin devoured the spell books without noticing the passage of time. Even as his condition rapidly deteriorated, he maintained a level of concentration that surprised even himself.
If this had been real life, he could never have done this. But because it wasn’t, the thought that time was running out only made him focus harder.
Some time later.
After reading through every spell book once, he picked up the volumes containing common knowledge of the cultivation world and various miscellaneous records about the Ohaeng Sect. To him, such information could sometimes be even more important than other techniques.
As expected, his judgment proved correct. Han Yujin soon obtained useful information—specifically, the true identities of the items he had acquired in the inner sect area.
The pouch was indeed the famous storage bag. Its internal capacity didn’t seem particularly large, but as a spatial storage item, it was inevitably extremely valuable.
The sword was a mid-to-high-grade Dharma weapon called the Ohaeng Sword. In game terms, it was a magic item. By infusing it with Dharma Power, one could freely draw upon the five elemental attributes of fire, lightning, wind, water, and earth. It excelled in both offense and defense.
One point worth noting here was that the Five Elements in this cultivation world were not the commonly known fire, water, wood, metal, and earth of Earth’s Eastern traditions.
Here, the Ohaeng—fire, lightning, wind, water, and earth—symbolized the five states of matter. Or, even if not exactly those states themselves, natural phenomena deeply connected to them.
Solid — represented by Earth.
Liquid — represented by Water.
Gas — represented by Wind.
Plasma — represented by Lightning.
And finally, the energy released during the annihilation of matter — represented by Fire.
‘This feels much more intuitive.’
It also seemed more rational. It might feel somewhat unfamiliar to those fond of Earth’s traditional Five Elements, but still.
In any case.
The final gourd bottle was a mid-grade Dharma artifact called the Spirit Liquid Gourd. A single sip of the liquid it generated could replace an entire day’s worth of food intake.
Compared to consuming proper cultivator meals like spirit rice, the benefits were smaller, so it wasn’t highly preferred. Still, it had the effect of removing accumulated impurities from the body to aid training, and it allowed one to endure for long periods during emergencies without issue.
For Han Yujin, it was bound to be extremely useful—provided, of course, that he could actually use it properly.
After reading through every book he had harvested at least once, he suddenly felt an overwhelming wave of exhaustion and pain. He collapsed onto the ground.
He wanted to read them several more times to commit everything to memory, but his body refused to cooperate. When he thought back to how much he had suffered from the cold last night, the fact that he had endured this long already felt like a miracle.
‘Let’s rest for a bit.’
With that thought, Han Yujin closed his eyes.
And a moment later.
You have died.
Select your rewards.
In a way, it was probably for the best.
He had fallen asleep as if fainting. Night had come while he was unconscious, and already in a weakened state, the biting cold had swept over him. It seemed he had died without even waking up.
‘Was that… lucky?’
If he had woken up there, he would have suffered even more before dying. In the end, this was probably a gain.
Pushing the thought aside, he examined the abundant rewards floating before him.
As Han Yujin checked the amount of Karma consumed by each item one by one, his expression gradually brightened. The cost of selecting books was far lower than he had expected.
‘Is it because the knowledge written in books can be replaced through repeated experience?’
That seemed to be the case.
Considering that the cost of activating this ability in the first place wasn’t particularly high, it made sense that Karma would only be consumed at a level that offset that extra effort.
Thanks to that, he selected every single book without hesitation. Or rather, right before he touched them to make his choice, he discovered a function he hadn’t noticed before and widened his eyes.
By consuming additional Karma, he could restore the rewards to their original, pristine condition!
‘This is it…! This is exactly how it should be…!’
Overjoyed, he thrashed about in excitement for a moment before selecting all the books. Naturally, he restored them to perfect condition while doing so. Since the base Karma cost had been low, the additional cost for restoration was well worth it.
Ancient Eastern-style books, now looking as if freshly printed, floated over and stacked neatly beside him. Han Yujin instinctively knew they would appear in reality as well.
Next, he examined the three remaining items he had yet to select.
The decision didn’t take long.
These were highly useful artifacts that an inner sect member of the Ohaeng Sect had kept until the very end. Now that he could restore them to their original state, they were worth obtaining even as an investment for the future.
‘Yes, this… this is an investment. You can’t just stuff all your money into a bank account and leave it there.’
He was only just beginning to grow. Wasn’t it common sense that the earlier the investment, the better the returns?
Thus, he boldly spent more than half of all the Karma he currently possessed.
He obtained the storage bag, the Ohaeng Sword, and the Spirit Liquid Gourd—essential Dharma artifacts for survival. Just as he was feeling refreshed and finally relaxing—
“……”
He opened his eyes on his bed in reality.
When he sat up, he saw the rewards neatly arranged around the bed. They looked exactly as they had in that dark space.
‘Just what the hell is this awakening ability of mine…?’
The surreal sight brought forth the question he had been putting off until now.
He had never seen any hunter with an ability like this. There might be someone somewhere, but it was clearly not common.
It allowed him to explore other worlds that matched his desires, ensured that no negative aftereffects remained no matter how he died, and let him bring back the rewards from those worlds into reality.
After remaining silent for quite a while, Han Yujin soon shook his head, casting off his thoughts.
He knew too little to reach any conclusions right now, and above all, he had just finished an exhausting exploration. Mentally, he was utterly drained.
Suddenly feeling a powerful thirst, he got out of bed.
It was time to shake off the lingering sensation of suffering through thirst and hunger.