Chapter 608 – The Stolen World (23)
—
User: Han Kain (Wisdom)
Date: Day 235
Current Location: 1, Eui-daero, Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul
Sage’s Advice: 3
—
— Dududududu…!
The former Wisdom appeared with a fierce vibration that shook the air.
In his hands shimmering like a blue jade, he wielded a spear made of light. The moment I saw it, I knew.
As soon as that spear was swung, all the buildings around would vanish without a trace.
I silently gazed up at the former Wisdom.
He also looked down at me in silence.
With a single swing, he could easily take my life.
But I knew the former Wisdom wouldn’t do that.
It was time to break the silence.
“It’s been a while.”
“You.”
His eyes sparkled as if we were about to have a showdown.
“I think you might die today. What do you think?”
That sounded bizarre, even to me.
“This is going to be a long story…”
The former Wisdom didn’t refute my utterly insane words.
It was as if he too had come with the thought, ‘I might die today.’
— Ting!
The moment the clear bell rang, the surrounding scenery suddenly began to change.
Knowing it wasn’t an attack, I didn’t resist.
Secret conversations should happen in a safe place, after all.
*
Current Location: Searching…
All I could see was a vast plain filled with golden wheat.
It was so beautiful that it could almost be mistaken for paradise.
Just then, a voice echoed.
The former Wisdom was no longer the blue jade-like demi-god but had transformed into an ordinary-looking middle-aged man in casual clothes.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
A Caucasian man appearing to be in his late 40s to early 50s. From his appearance, he looked like he was from the Anatolian Peninsula.
“It resembles heaven.”
“Not that much…”
“Is this really your original form?”
“Not exactly.”
After a brief silence, the former Wisdom poked, “Did the Owl tell you a lot about me?”
“As you know, direct questions are prohibited.”
“Well, can’t you just ask indirectly? That bird is always the one working hard to find ways around hotel rules.”
I couldn’t help but chuckle a little at his words, which struck a chord.
“Right.”
“Did I come to reality today without knowing I would? Did I ask things like ‘How long does it take for a demi-god whose body is only 30% intact to recover?’”
“More roundabout than that.”
We were both tired from dancing around the questions, but it’s true that the Owl had shared some information.
“I guess that means he actually did spill some beans. What a disloyal bird.”
“Well, I thought, while asking, that you must have gained quite a bit of information about me as well.”
“I admit that. Questions like ‘How to win the Moon’s favor as a human?’ gave me quite the detailed answers.”
“What a disloyal bird indeed.”
“But thanks to that, here we are, having a chat.”
“Wow! Truly! The master of wisdom knows best.”
“I’ll answer your earlier question. I said I feel like I might die today.”
“Isn’t that the truth?”
“… I also see the potential for that.”
Bizarre as it is, some might consider this a conversation between madmen, but we both understood.
It was a logical discussion, each of us choosing our paths to achieve a goal.
A conversation formed solely because both were wise.
“I’ll go first since I’m young.”
“Being young is true.”
“More so than you.”
“Fine, go ahead.”
“As you know, I possess a peculiar power. It makes it so people, except my allies, periodically forget information about me.”
“….”
“Doesn’t apply to you at all.”
“Indeed.”
“Also, your power is absurdly strong. The strongest physical blessing is ‘Justice,’ and even that, alongside two or more legacies, is just a stalling tactic before you.”
“….”
“Lastly, you don’t seem to appear in reality often. It doesn’t seem like you’re being attacked by the tablet either.”
Dreams not working.
Excessively strong power.
Difficulty in manifesting in reality.
It’s the answer piercing through all the former Wisdom’s riddles.
“You are an Ark. Aren’t you?”
An Ark in completion becomes something independent from its loop.
Thus, it can ignore dreams that only work for a single loop.
The reasons for being incredibly strong or hard to show up in reality are characteristics of a completed Ark.
“Let’s call it a half one.”
“A half?”
“I have no mirror. Many years ago, I fought a small Ark, destroyed its mirror.”
“Just because you beat the Ark does it mean you can merge with it, like you now?”
“Well, let’s say it’s thanks to my legacy. There’s no need to go further.”
This time, the former Wisdom took the floor.
“Now that you’ve gained one, it’s my turn.”
“Just confirming what I already know doesn’t sound like you’ve gained something…”
“I just want to reconfirm something I already know.”
“… Go ahead.”
“I’ve been pondering while recovering from injuries. What on earth provoked this chaos?”
“….”
“I don’t think you’re foolish, but what could have possibly woken that devil called the Moon, who is beyond anyone’s capability?”
“….”
“At first, I truly thought you fell under the Moon’s spell.”
“Not anymore?”
“No. After careful consideration, I realized. What you’re doing right now was something I did often back in the hotel.”
“….”
“You just destroy everything because you don’t understand it. Then people start to reveal their hidden cards.”
“….”
“In the hotel, that was fine. Why? Because participants have a ‘next chance.’”
“….”
“You have a next chance, don’t you? Can you turn back time?”
Should I try to deceive him?
I stopped short.
He already knew and was asking, so a shallow lie would only be distasteful.
“Yes. It’s my turn now.”
“Speak.”
We both learned a secret of the other.
To be precise, we came already knowing.
“Former Wisdom, about your goal.”
“….”
“For a while, I thought you were just aiming for the Raiders’ victory. But something curious happened a few days back.”
“….”
“The third floor of the Pioneer Hotel has begun to form. When I asked the Owl about the conditions for the third floor, he said it forms when we seem qualified to challenge it.”
“….”
“Is this enough? It seemed so simple for us, but it means the hotel thinks we might have a shot.”
“Huh….”
The former Wisdom couldn’t help but show a complex expression as if he couldn’t bear it.
“Back then, I recalled what I heard from the Silent One. It was an evaluation of you.”
“… What did he say?”
“A member of the Silent One. A loser. Someone who failed the exam and couldn’t show up in reality.”
“Ha!”
“It isn’t entirely untrue, but at least one thing seems accurate.”
“What?”
“You already consider the entirety of reality as meaningless.”
After countless loops, the former Wisdom came to see all of reality as an empty dream.
“Then what’s your reason for siding with the Raiders? To preserve humanity?”
“….”
“That can’t be it. Your goal is singular. It’s to return to the hotel. Am I wrong?”
The meaningless reality is essentially a colossal prison.
The former Wisdom longs to escape that prison and return to the hotel!
I realized this through my recent experience, understanding his heart.
“You’ve discovered the conditions for the third floor through some means. Did the Owl enlighten you?”
“….”
“What does it mean to have the qualifications to challenge the third floor? It translates to solving the problems of reality.”
The hotel even perceives reality as a grand scenario.
It applies somewhat different rules compared to the cursed rooms of levels 1 and 2.
Thus, the ongoing construction in Delight Hotel doesn’t just conclude over time.
We absolutely need to resolve the problems in reality perfectly for it to finish!
“Understanding all this and watching your actions, I grasped many points.”
“….”
“Why did you side with the Raiders? Because you think that’s how to stop the Moon.”
Joining forces with the Raiders to battle the Moon—that’s the 30-point answer I just uncovered.
If we figured it out within a year, while the former Wisdom failed to for eons, wouldn’t that be unusual?
The former Wisdom has been ‘plotting’ against the trials of reality.
“Phew… You indeed have discerned much about me.”
With a sigh, the former Wisdom continued.
“Just to confirm, I want to compare my answer and yours. Your answer is also about the Raiders’ victory, isn’t it?”
“I’ve yet to find a better answer.”
“The Raiders must win. The Management Bureau can’t face the Moon, whose victory means humanity’s end—a no other option.”
At least, I had reached a similar conclusion.
“I have…. cultivated this arrangement over far longer than you could imagine.”
“….”
“Originally, the Arks beyond the boundaries were too busy fighting among themselves.”
The Raiders are ultimately a group destined to splinter.
They’ve even aimed for one another’s worlds, leading to bitter enmity.
“I’ve forged them into a single force.”
“….”
“I persuaded them to put their past grievances aside, to confront the Moon first.”
“….”
“Was it a simple task?”
“Certainly not.”
If it were easy, the entire world would have halted the war long ago and collaborated for humanity’s glory.
“Do you really think the Management Bureau discovered all the measures to slow the Moon’s growth?”
“….”
“Does an infant Ark spring into action instinctively to block the Moon? No, that’s all my fabrications!”
The former Wisdom lamented without rest.
He probably met the only one capable of understanding his pain.
What he wanted to say was simple.
He had worked diligently to resolve issues in reality.
He is the creator of the tableau you see before you now.
But.
“Why is that?”
“….”
“Why hasn’t the third floor appeared for me?!”
“….”
“Have all these efforts been utterly insufficient? Were they woefully inadequate to overcome the terrible despair that is the Moon?”
“….”
“That may be so. The one crying for the sake of the three thousand worlds, a seeker wandering in search of a single paradise for eons! To such a being, my efforts must seem utterly trivial. Thus, I accept the notion that I’m lacking.”
Enduring through eternities, the former Wisdom acknowledged a bitter truth.
In the eyes of the hotel, his efforts appear woefully inadequate.
Just nurturing a force to stand against the Moon simply isn’t enough.
That’s why he couldn’t bear it even more.
That the third floor of the Pioneer Hotel is currently forming!
“Phew….”
Once more, an emotion starkly visible appeared.
It swirled in a storm of bliss and despair, longing and jealousy.
A culmination of desires the former Wisdom had accumulated over countless ages.
“You young ones are enviable.”
“…”
“To think that you’ve achieved more in just over a year than I have in the endless years of my toil—it’s only natural I feel envy.”
“So you intend to kill me now?”
Suddenly, the former Wisdom seemed to age before my eyes.
Despite still looking in his late 40s, perhaps his spirit had shattered.
“If I killed you, what would change? Would the hotel create a third floor for me? Just to clarify, back in my day, it wasn’t even a hotel but rather a ‘school.’”
“Is that so?”
“Countless thoughts crossed my mind. I even had a childish notion that perhaps the cosmic god was favoring you.”
The old man slowly shook his head.
It seemed he was trying to shake off boiling emotions to make a rational judgment.
“What a ridiculous thought. The one crying for the sake of three thousand worlds sees us as nothing but ants, don’t you think?”
“…”
“Why would there be a reason to favor or not favor me?”
“…”
“Seeing my pathetic self, a mere ant who knows it’s done for even in a million years, might make you think I could manage something in 200 days, huh?”
At that moment, I found myself genuinely amazed.
To have pursued a goal for thousands of years only to have some punk, who merely started half a year ago, come out on top?
I couldn’t fathom accepting this judgment.
Even if the judge were the most supreme deity in the universe!
“What do you think the reason might be?”
“I’ve pondered that endlessly.”
“…”
“If only you could have taken an utterly different approach, I’d think, ‘Ah! I’ve just been chasing the wrong lead.’”
“…”
“But seeing your methods, they appear rather similar to mine.”
The similar conclusions drawn by me and the former Wisdom.
To stop the Moon, the Raiders’ power is crucial.
“Why, then, am I wrong? And you are right?”
“…”
“There’s an essential difference between you and me.”
“…”
“No matter how much longer I try, there’s an insurmountable gap I can never bridge.”
“…”
“What do you think that difference is?”
I know the answer.
And so does he.
We both understood that we knew it.
“It’s the relationship with the Moon.”
“The Moon cherishes you. It freed itself for the first time, and once again this time as well; it’s only natural. For me, it’s impossible no matter how long time has passed.”
This point is the absolute differential between me and the former Wisdom.
Is it possible for the former Wisdom, who cannot earn the Moon’s love, to achieve a problem deemed impossible?
I say no.
If I possess the weapon of ‘The Moon’s Love,’ the former Wisdom had the weapon of ‘It all began a lot earlier.’
There might have also been methods that only the former Wisdom could utilize.
A long time ago.
The former Wisdom missed that chance.
The means possible now are impossible for the former Wisdom but possible for me.
In other words, the former Wisdom can never reach the third floor on his own.
“From now on, you need to see just one more thing and then turn back time.”
“I have a hunch.”
“Go see the Moon. Confirm the most significant secret that the crimson lord has hidden.”
The old man’s hand began to shine a turquoise light.
“You have two issues to resolve, my dear.”
“…”
“First, you messed up your relationship with the Moon while fighting the Virgin. Second, the fractured insight.”
“…”
“I think everything can be solved with my death.”
“…”
“Tell the Moon that the moment I acquired the mirror, I wanted to die. I’d say the Virgin would be opposed, so I locked myself away.”
“…”
“Would it not forgive you if you brought back the head of that raider? It even cared for you at one point.”
“… You noted that on the status window? What I’ve learned now, after reversing time—”
“Let’s not engage in basic intellectual sparring.”
“Thank you.”
“Is there any reason to thank me? I merely want to reach the third floor…”
As the hauntingly glowing power aimed at the former Wisdom, I asked one last question.
“This is such a trivial question.”
“…”
“Earlier, when you tried to kill me in the Ark. Did you genuinely see it as a matter of insight to kill me?”
“Ugh!”
“Ah?”
“Did you still buy that lie?”
“… So why were you trying to kill me—”
“Shut it, kid! I’m not having some punk who hasn’t even dried off from spilling blood getting cocky around me!”
— Rumble!
The realm of the former Wisdom, which resembled heaven, starts to crumble.
As my disoriented body steadies, I ponder over today’s conversation.
I knew what the former Wisdom might think.
The former Wisdom knew what I was thinking.
It was a bizarre conclusion reached in complete understanding of each other, leading to the former Wisdom’s suicide.
…
Beneath the heavens, only one Wisdom remains.
Once again, my consciousness stretches into the realm beyond humanity!
—
Feel free to let me know if you need anything else!
My site has received a lot of DMCA notices, lol. From now on, I will update the MTL on https://darkmtl.com/.
The site is fast and lightweight because there are no ads yet. However, the theme is different from Cybor-TL, so take some time to familiarize yourself.
Support me by donating at least $10, and you'll have the right to request any novel from Novelpia (excluding 19+ content) using a newly developed tool.