A strong desire to see more closely arose. I was incredibly curious about what lay at the end.
Change continued incessantly.
Shining stars of various sizes gradually connected to form lines, and those lines made surfaces that seemed to beckon me over with their brilliance.
As if to say, “This is the world you desired, the place you lived in was a lie,” it seductively beckoned with an alluring voice.
“I see now why the Seekers go mad…”
I was desperately trying to collect my thoughts, fighting to keep my mind clear.
Suddenly, I realized someone was piercing through me with their gaze.
It was as if they were thoroughly peeling away at my essence.
I felt like I was stripped bare, hung from a tree, and displayed on the street…
But oddly enough, I also felt a sense of relief.
That Being seemed to want to say something to me.
“Too early. It’s too early.”
It felt as if it was saying that.
Or perhaps it was sending a benevolent gaze, asking how I ended up here.
Not knowing how to respond, I dumbly opened my mouth, and darkness loomed over me.
* * *
“…”
Before I knew it, I had returned home and regained my senses, but I had to roll around on the floor for a while due to a splitting headache.
“Ugh… my head…!”
How much time passed as I rolled in the front yard?
Yeon-hee, who had just finished showering, saw me collapsed on my head and rushed over in shock.
As I was held in her arms and listened to her worried voice, my disordered mental state finally began to calm down.
– ‘The connection with Iris Cass is slightly strengthening.’
“Just slightly… I can’t get any closer.”
Still, perhaps because it was our second encounter, or maybe due to my growth, I didn’t feel the same overwhelming fear or mental fatigue as last time.
“Il-wol, are you okay? This feeling…?! You didn’t, by any chance, go to that place I mentioned last time, did you?”
*Clap, Clap, Clap…*
With her keen intuition, Yeon-hee quickly caught on to what I had experienced.
Having shaken off the pain, I wanted to share the astonishing experience I had gone through with her quickly.
Once again activating my camouflage, I detailed the existence I had encountered by drawing on paper as I told Yeon-hee about it.
“Wow… a giant bird with countlessly many tails—what on earth is this [Iris Cass] being? How did you end up connected to it?”
“Well…”
No matter how much we thought about it, there was no answer.
“Still, someone once said, ‘If coincidences continue, that’s an opportunity.’ We might not need to overthink it. It might be wiser to think about how to seize an opportunity when it comes…”
“Oh… Yeon-hee, I didn’t know you could say things like that.”
“I, I read books sometimes!”
I pressed my lips against Yeon-hee, who was gazing at me while cradling me.
Perhaps it was because she had just bathed; her skin felt much softer than usual.
After sharing our body warmth for a moment, burying my head in her ample bosom made me realize I was alive.
“Iris Cass… was beautiful…”
It was an ecstatic moment, but it was also a strange experience that I wouldn’t want to face again if I could help it.
“Maybe it’s not such a frightening being after all…”
It gives me pain every time we meet, but that’s likely because I’m at the bottom level, finding it hard just to look at it.
“I wonder… will there come a day when I can reach that place with my own strength?”
For now, I couldn’t picture any future, and I just wanted to feel Yeon-hee’s touch.
Every day is a continuous adventure.
Starting the day after tomorrow, the representative selection tournament will begin, and I was already excited about what might happen.
For now, I planned to do a short dungeon exploration tomorrow, then stop by the White Knight Guild after work to have Yeon-hee sign her formal membership contract.
In any case, returning to the organization I had been part of excited me, but it also made me anxious.
“Finally entering the tiger’s den.”
The first day I met Yeon-hee, it snowed; now it was spring, with a gentle breeze.
Three months had passed in the blink of an eye.
* * *
On the morning of the White Knight Guild’s representative selection tournament.
We left home early and had already arrived at the training ground at the White Knight Guild headquarters.
I had briefly stopped by yesterday afternoon to sign the contract.
Usually, guild members would gather in groups, scrutinizing the newly joined staff, but perhaps because it was the day before the selection tournament, the guild headquarters was quite deserted.
Already, many members of the White Knight Guild had gathered outside the training ground to watch.
Most of them looked at us with curious eyes, but a few couldn’t hide their displeasure, glaring at us.
Thinking back, it was a bit strange for Yeon-hee to participate in the selection tournament immediately after joining the guild.
But since it was the pick of the vice guild leader, Kang Yeon-su, no one could complain about it.
“There’s no one in particular to be wary of, except for Hwa-ryeon, right?”
Ten minutes before the first match of the selection tournament.
In the distance, a woman with flaming red hair stood out.
S-rank Fire Sorcerer, Seok Ryu-hwa.
She was the beloved disciple of ‘Hwa-ryeon.’
Hwa-ryeon was rumored to be the most powerful among the fire deities, ‘Rivisenax.’
She freely wielded fire magic, her power was destructive, and her personality was incredibly aggressive.
Her specialty was simultaneous casting.
She was a Hunter with the insane talent to implement dozens of fire magic spells at once.
As is often the case with those born with such talent, her personality was quite terrible.
She would pick fights for no reason, and I had seen her get locked up in a solitary cell more than once.
I had doubts about her mental state and had her see a psychiatrist several times – she was quite a handful.
Though we had never directly explored dungeons together in our past life, whenever we crossed paths in the corridors, she would put me in a headlock, so I would turn around and take another path.
Thinking back, I wondered why she only headlocked me.
She had used magic indiscriminately on other Hunters, but she never directly choked anyone.
“Right now, with Hwa-ryeon’s abilities, even a decent B-rank high-tier Hunter would have a tough time overcoming her.”
She probably postponed her promotion for the guild competition.
Hwa-ryeon seemed more interested in me than Yeon-hee, glancing over at me several times.
Of course, she wouldn’t think our eyes met.
Even sensing from afar, the flames within her seemed not ordinary.
And there was a quaint sense of familiarity—probably because we were both fire element users.
Anyway, regardless of other participants, I would feel safe facing Hwa-ryeon.
“Our Yeon-hee~ your soft cheeks are so squishy! Ah~ is this what healing feels like? Huh? How about it, my cutie?”
“Ughhhh- please stop.”
Despite Yeon-hee pleading for her to stop, the muscled woman continued to rub her cheeks from behind.
Surprisingly, she was the second-in-command in the guild.
“This is a penalty for not coming to see me even once, you sweet little lady.”
“Hahh-”
I wanted to see Yeon-hee, but the reason it pained me was that she hadn’t come to see me.
If she wanted to see me that badly, she could have come to find me directly, but maybe she was too shy for that.
Anyway, while Yeon-hee’s cheeks flushed from the massage, she started to look around the training ground she would frequently use in the future.
The area was immense, the size of several soccer fields combined.
Although the White Knight Guild building was spacious, there couldn’t possibly be a space like this underground.
This underground space was a training area expanded by a few top-tier Hunters, optimized for training with an option that reduces damage by 30% during battles.
“I used to come here often after joining the guild.”
Of course, that was before I had abandoned my attachment to combat-related skills as time passed.
“Hello there, senior! I’m Bae Joo-ah!”
“Hello! I’m Baek Ah-rin!”
“Oh, you’re the friend I saw last time. The new face beside you is… a Sorcerer?”
“Ah, yes!”
“Hmm—Yeon-hee has some good companion luck.”
Finally, Joo-ah and Ah-rin arrived.
Yeon-su, who had shown interest in Ah-rin when I first saw her, was also looking at Bae Joo-ah with interest.
“Our girls shouldn’t find themselves lacking anywhere. Joo-ah seems to have broken free from the complex of thinking she’s less talented than Ah-rin.”
It’s just because she’s hanging out with Yeon-hee, but they’re certainly all in the top 0.1% of talents.
Realizing that Yeon-su’s gaze was favorable towards them, Bae Joo-ah was trying her best to keep her magic flow elegant.
It seemed Joo-ah was genuinely fond of Yeon-su, calling her ‘senior’ right from the first meeting.
After examining Joo-ah once, Yeon-su nodded and explained today’s schedule again.
“The result will be decided by forfeiting or becoming unable to fight. There will be sixteen teams participating, just like in the guild competition, with the semifinals and finals tomorrow. I’ve prepared various materials, but looking at Il-wol makes me think I might have prepared it unnecessarily. Just do what you’ve always done.”
Kang Yeon-su lightly patted my shoulder, whispering to take it easy, and then went off to the stands.
I had become adept at hiding my energy, but I didn’t think it was necessary with Yeon-su. She seemed to have already guessed my power and smiled comfortably.
“Is this degree of growth within her expectations? I need to buckle down.”
Given that Yeon-su had essentially lost to the Great Beast, Debsorpia, and the leader of the ‘Do’, I knew she had a sharp tension surrounding her.
I understood that when Yeon-su was in such a state, she was solely focused on training.
Having pulled her combat power up to the limit, my growth might not seem incredible to her.
“Yeon-su, are you really not worried at all?… I’m worried I’ll let you down.”
“Oh, with Il-wol around, why would Yeon-hee worry about that?”
Joo-ah lightly laughed when Yeon-hee appeared to be speaking weakly.
“I didn’t expect so many participating teams.”
I was more concerned about other things than that.
This had originally been an event that hadn’t existed in my past life, and even considering the senior members of the White Knight Guild I knew, sixteen teams felt excessive.
“Who would put so many people up for a competition? If Hwa-ryeon enters, she’ll need to be cautious…?”
Hwa-ryeon.
I wasn’t sure how much she had developed, but I remembered she couldn’t fully control the flames of ‘Rivisenax’.
With her violent tendencies, it could lead to her roasting her opponents.
Perhaps because of that consciousness, S-rank healer Gu Sang-min and her disciples were situated closely near the arena.
“Gu Sang-min wouldn’t send out his disciple either, would he? That guy could potentially be more troublesome than Hwa-ryeon.”
It felt a bit concerning that I didn’t see him around Gu Sang-min.
At that moment, an announcement signaling the start of the selection tournament blared.
I spotted a familiar figure holding a microphone in the distance.
“S-rank Tank Cha Mu-yeol… still has an impressive build.”
With a powerful tanking ability befitting his jovial personality, I remembered him as a strong candidate favored by Gu Sang-min and Jo Gi-man.
“Today’s representative selection tournament won’t be against external enemies. So please keep in mind to protect your opponents as much as possible during the matches.”
Cha Mu-yeol directed his request specifically to Seok Ryu-hwa and Hwa-ryeon, who were on the left.
Hwa-ryeon scoffed at Cha Mu-yeol’s words and flailed her hand, signaling to hurry up and start.
“She’s quite overconfident, trusting in Seok Ryu-hwa.”
If things go south, her head might be sent flying.
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