“Wake up! Nameless! It’s urgent right now!”
“Ah······.”
No matter how hard I shook her shoulders or slapped her cheeks, she remained silent.
Like her soul was sucked out, she showed no reaction.
There’s no solution to this.
I hoisted Nameless over my shoulder and carelessly tossed her into the fleeing crowd.
Even though she looked spaced out, I felt relieved seeing her instinctively heading into the shelter amidst the mob.
‘If we get bombed like this, a lot of people will die.’
It was definitely as Jill said.
The interval before the second bomb drop was too short.
Although the anti-air cannons were working hard, they couldn’t break through the fleet’s barrier.
With no way to shoot them down, buying even a single turn to buy some time to evacuate was the answer.
That was Jill’s role.
So, what did I need to do?
That had decided long ago.
“Mi Jeong. Can you replicate the magic Nameless showed?”
“······It’s impossible.”
Just as I thought.
“······But, I’ll try.”
Mi Jeong began to gather mana at her fingertips and started forming the base of a magic circle.
The 9th-tier magic I had seen at that time.
She was desperately trying to imitate the magic that creates souls.
It was her first time using this kind of magic, but she was surprisingly adept.
If it were me, I wouldn’t even remember the structure of the magic circle.
Watching her piece together the exact magic circle I had seen back then without hesitation was nothing short of astonishing.
“······Ugh.”
But even though it looked like she perfectly imitated it, the magic collapsed at the last moment.
No matter how many times she tried again, it was the same result.
While it appeared to be the same outwardly, there must have been a huge difference in the process.
After all, it was 9th-tier magic.
With 7th-tier magic, Mi Jeong might have been able to barely mimic it, but…
Jumping up to great magic level all at once was likely too much.
“······I couldn’t do it.”
Exhausted of mana, Mi Jeong sat down with her eyes glowing red.
Her face was filled with fatigue, disappointment, and hunger.
Looking up at me with trembling facial muscles, she held back tears.
Instead of the approaching fog, I looked down at Mi Jeong and patted her head.
“Magic, huh…”
Relying on magic led to an aborted plan at the last moment.
But doesn’t something feel off?
Where is this sense of incongruity coming from?
‘Is it right to create my inner world with magic? Is that how it works?’
Reaching the state of my inner world has nothing to do with magic.
It’s not even related to swordsmanship.
The easiest path to obtain martial arts secrets is to master swordsmanship and break through its limits, but the essence itself isn’t rooted in swordsmanship.
What’s important is making my will my own.
Handling the will that people don’t even recognize, letting it flow freely, and contemplating the inner world formed from the swirling of that will is what it’s all about.
So, is it possible to create such a state with magic?
Can a magician, who knows nothing about will, instantly grasp the realization gained through a lifetime of refining will?
That’s where I should have raised my doubts.
I found myself unconsciously walking a more complicated route in search of shortcuts.
“It wasn’t that difficult.”
Rustle.
Fresh flowers spilled out from inside my pocket.
I had been overthinking for far too long.
I mistook ‘my inner world’ for something overly grand.
I thought I had to grasp martial arts secrets and open my eyes to the soul and all that, but in the end, the essence of my inner world can be summed up simply.
My inner world is me.
It’s the microcosm that any sentient being possesses.
However, ‘me’ cannot be completed with just myself.
It’s formed through entanglements and relationships with others—this is ‘me.’
So, the very notion of cultivating my inner world from nothing is absurd.
Does that mean the God of the Underworld lied to me?
Did he give me an impossible task?
No.
Once again, the God of the Underworld was right.
As the God of the Underworld said, even now, I had everything ready but couldn’t take that last step.
My inner world was already complete.
Everything was already in place.
“It was an exceedingly simple story.”
I knelt down on one knee and used my hand to scoop up the evil soil.
I was foolish.
They say the darkness is under the lamp, and that was exactly my case.
What makes me is the bonds from my past connections.
Those bonds had consistently been there, right in my arms.
I didn’t need any grand magic or framework.
“The place where my bonds are is my inner world.”
These children made me.
I thought I manipulated and used the heroines by repeating my regressions.
But in the process, what got carved, polished, and changed was me.
The bonds that created the person known as me all lie within this hand.
So, what more do I need?
The essence of who I am was already complete.
Does it really matter where these things are implanted?
I began to insert flowers into the soil I had dug.
Yellow jasmine.
Black rose.
Blue cyclamen.
And red camellia.
As soon as I planted all the flowers and covered the soil, roots shot down below,
And bright light scattered all around.
The light seeped into the ground and spread into the air.
Before long, the landscape around me began to erode around the flowers.
Along with this, I reinforced the will I held in my hand.
Sharpening, and further sharpening.
Until it turned so hot it blazed red.
Before I knew it, what I held in my hand was a glowing red sword.
As I swung it, I executed the basic forms of Dakia-style swordsmanship.
Next was Merida-style.
Sequentially, I melted down the formulas of Frost-style and reforged the sword, making it even sturdier and sharper.
Wherever the sword passed, the scenery changed.
The places I stepped were covered in snow.
When the sword was completely refined and filled with will, my body came to a halt.
“Haa······.”
I looked around and exhaled a white breath, calming my breath down.
What spread around me was a snowy country.
Save for Mi Jeong, who firmly gripped my hand, there was naught but a world blanketed in snow.
If there was one realization I gained from repeating my regressions twelve times, it was this.
Life is lived alone.
No one can perfectly understand me, nor can I understand others.
Regardless of how many regressions I go through, I can never meet the same people I knew.
Everything in my perception is erased, and they reappear as completely different people.
Because of that, everything in my inner world is nothing but pure white.
The world I’ve seen repeatedly over thirteen times is so familiar, yet thus feels strange.
I know everything, but I understand nothing.
Within the regressor I am, all that remains is an unbearable loneliness and coldness.
······Or at least, that’s what I thought.
“Finally back, huh.”
“······.”
Slither.
A warm sensation suddenly wrapped around my waist and neck, and a soft touch made me chuckle softly.
It wasn’t in vain.
None of it.
Every experience from all the regressions I thought were failures led me to this moment,
And the bonds I thought I had ruined remained inside me, sustaining me in this cold snowy land.
“I’m a bit late, but it’s alright.”
“W-we can go… right away… now…”
I couldn’t dare turn back.
I knew if I looked, it would disappear.
With my eyes closed, I only focused on the voice whispering to me, feeling the energy slowly boiling up from within.
“I’ll be back.”
Whoosh!
Like a wave flowing back.
As if it was just a temporary thing from the start, the snowy scenery naturally receded.
Then I found myself back in the middle of the Union headquarters,
The situation just as it was before.
One by one, the cannons that had finished aligning were heating up, readying themselves.
[Corrupted data has been restored.]
[Reconnecting.]
[Welcome to Yggdrasil Online.]
[Username: Yoo Jin]
[Age: 21 years old]
[If you clear the game and satisfy the escape condition, the game will end immediately, and you will return to reality.]
[The escape conditions are as follows:]
[Escape Condition 1: The completion rates of all heroines must exceed 95%.]
[Escape Condition 2: You must conquer the final boss, ‘Draken.’]
[If you clear the game without satisfying the escape conditions, you will return to the starting point.]
The system window, which I thought I wouldn’t miss, appeared before me,
And I felt my lost powers returning.
One by one, in order.
[Trait: Inspection]
[Identify the information of an item.]
[Trait: Reputation]
[Check your reputation value.]
[Trait: Weak Point]
[See the weaknesses of monsters. Effective against all types of monsters.]
[Trait: Heavenly Armor Plate]
[Deploy a spherical armor plate that reflects all impacts received from outside. Maintaining and deploying requires mana.]
…
…
…
All my traits had returned.
Honestly, they were all just minor tricks.
But something more important was different.
[Initial Trait: Guardian Knight (Enhancement)]
[When protecting someone, your stats are ‘greatly’ amplified. If not activated, the base stats decrease by 5.]
[The ‘Guardian Knight’ trait has been activated.]
[Stats]
[Strength: 33(x7) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Stamina: 50(x7) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Mana: 68(x7) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Aglity: 30(x7) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
[Luck: 6(x7) *Guardian Knight effect applied]
I felt my strength amplifying from the hand clasped with Mi Jeong.
Next was my shoulders, body, and all my limbs.
Slowly, superhuman strength began to dwell within me.
Exactly seven times!
Having gradually gotten used to a body without the Guardian Knight, I felt this was sufficient.
But the body regaining its traits was stronger than I remembered.
With this level, I could probably hold my own against Yerina.
No, under certain circumstances, I might even overwhelm her.
I was no longer a fluctuating amateur trying to imitate a superhuman, but rather a being truly alongside the genuine superhumans.
My strength no longer relied on accidentally obtained traits that could be lost at any moment.
It resided solely within me.
Traits are merely there to support and amplify that strength.
Now that I realized this,
I wouldn’t lose my power or waver ever again.
Boom!
Smoke billowed out, explosions erupted in the air,
As the barriers shattered and the headquarters trembled vigorously.
“E-everything is broken…!”
Jill sank down, dumbfounded.
With all her mana poured into reinforcing the barrier, she looked utterly drained, unable to even twitch a finger.
I casually walked up from behind Jill and placed my hand on her shoulder.
“Good job.”
“······!”
Now, it was my turn.
Holding Mi Jeong, who was sucking my blood, I moved forward.
The amount of mana circulating through my body was so enormous it was overflowing.
Even if I gathered all the mana in the area, it couldn’t match what was inside me.
I turned again, reaching out my finger towards the ships rotating their cannons.
And with a firm crack! I activated the magic, now familiar as part of me.
5th-tier Magic. Telekinesis.
A basic spell.
“Uh······?”
Kaboom!
The ships drew closer with a twisted sound, colliding forcefully, producing great explosions and spiraling away.
As I brought down two, and then four, the remaining ones ignited their engines to provide thrust in the opposite direction to avoid collision.
Simultaneously, the ships began to rise higher.
They seemed to be trying to escape the influence of the telekinesis spell, knowing that distance would weaken its effects.
“Where do you think you’re going!”
But no matter how hard they tried, the ships appeared as if they were just floating in the air.
My telekinesis and their thrusts formed a balance.
No, it looked like they were gradually sinking instead.
Creeeak! Crack!
With a continuous sound of twisting, parts fell from the ships.
They couldn’t withstand the force applied in the opposite direction, and their hulls began to break down.
Now, even my seemingly infinite mana was running low.
It was time to wrap things up.
The sword, or rather, the will clenched in my hand surged violently.
At this point, it was impossible to discern whether it was a mere will or a true sword.
I designated the place where this boiling will would erupt,
And swung with all my might.
Dakia-style.
Merida-style.
And Frost-style.
The formulas from three sword arts mixed together.
The struggles and realizations of three superhumans blended.
The ultimate techniques of three became one.
The pinnacle of swordsmanship beyond limits.
And the ultimate destination sought by all swords, no, all wills.
The ultimate technique shot towards the heavens.
