Great Old One.
There were names that came to mind the moment I heard them.
"Who was it?"
The 'Great Old Ones' are probably the highest level 'Gods of the Other World' or those who are considered the kings of the 'Gods of the Other World'.
'Secretive Plotter' was an example—or the incarnations who saw the end of the world in the 999th round.
However, at the end of the 1,864th round, the 'Secret Plotter' and the 999th round's gods met the 'Oldest Dream' and disappeared after ■■.
There is no reason to come back to save Lycaon.
So, apart from them, are there more 'Great Old Ones'?
[Student, I can't talk about it carelessly.]
I thought so.
I asked back while roughly predicting the reason.
"Why?"
[When I utter that name, the 'Great Old One' will also recognize you.]
In this world, a name is a coordinate.
There was a similar reason why it was considered taboo to call someone by their true name.
"Still, if I want to hear it?"
[Sorry.]
"Is even a hint difficult?"
[Yes, sorry.]
I shook my head to show that it was okay.
In fact, the stories I heard from Lycaon so far were quite high-quality information. In particular, the story about the 1,864th round is not strange even if it is filtered along the way.
Nevertheless, the fact that no filtering occurred proves two facts.
First, in this world line, the 'scenario progression speed' is that fast.
Two, there are people other than me who are curious about this story right now.
[The 'Recycling Center Director' listens to your story with interest.]
"What is certain is that the 'Great Old One' has brought you back to life. So what is his mission for you?"
I thought this could also be a secret, but unexpectedly Lycaon answered obediently.
[Collecting 'records' of twisted world lines.]
'Twisted World Line' and 'Record'.
The moment I heard those two words, something came to mind.
Lycaon made eye contact with me and slowly nodded.
[In the world, people like me are called 'Recorders of Fear'. I am the lowest among them.]]
Recorder of Fear.
I knew we would meet at least one, but I never thought it would be 'Lycaon'.
There was more than one thing I wanted to ask.
What exactly do 'Recorders of Fear' do?
What do you know about this world line?
Does the 'twisted world line' he is talking about refer to this round?
Why are you still active after everything ■■
is over…?
[Student.]
Lycaon looked at me for a moment as if he understood all my questions, and then closed his eyes.
[Sorry, but I will sleep a little.]
"Yes?"
[I guess I said too much.]
Since when did the concentration of sparks floating around Lycaon become thicker?
The 'otherworldly covenant' that Lycaon made with me is to exist in Zone 13 for 30 days.
In other words, Lycaon had no right to answer my questions.
In such a situation, the probability was about to become dangerous because he was telling me stories about other world lines.
Just before closing his eyes, Lycaon added.
[Be careful, student. This world line is one of the 'unknown beginnings'.]
It was a voice filled with gentle concern.
[Many 'old beings' are watching your choices. According to your choice—]
Pushushushu, I heard the sound of wind falling from somewhere. At the same time, Lycaon's body rapidly became smaller. Eventually Lycaon, who had grown to the size of a dog, sat cross-legged and closed his eyes. He seemed to have entered a temporary state of probability conservation.
[The 'Recycling Center Director' looks disappointed.]
I was equally disappointed, but it would have been difficult if Lycaon had been canceled here.
This is because Lycaon's presence is absolutely necessary for this scenario to go according to my plan.
In any case, I also found out that Lycaon was a 'Recorder of Fear', so it was not without gains.
To soothe my worries, I began practicing the [Way of the Wind] taught by Lycaon again.
[The story 'Heir of the Eternal Name' is starving.]
[Currently, you have 9 days left to live.]
There is still time.
The next day, and the day after that.
My companions and I continued to practice [Way of the Wind].
But no matter how much I practiced, the wind did not come out of my hands.
「 It seems that [Way of the Wind] has already been recorded in student. 」
What did Lycaon mean by those words?
If [Way of the Wind] is recorded in me, why can't I use this power?
"You're so eager."
It was the voice of little Yoo Jonghyuk. He was in a state of fainting right after 「The Three Little Pigs」, but it seemed like he had finally woken up from a long sleep.
"Are you awake?"
Little Yoo Jonghyuk nodded and slowly approached me.
Looking closely, it seems a bit difficult to call him a 'kid' now. Perhaps it was because he had grown taller while he was sleeping, but Yoo Jonghyuk had become a full-fledged boy.
I never thought I would be watching Yoo Jonghyuk's growth process in real time.
"I had a strange dream."
As he said those words, the boy Yoo Jonghyuk wiped his mouth. When I saw the crumbling dirt, something occurred to me later.
「 "You bastard, you made me suffer, right?" 」
Boy, did you really decide to believe it was a dream?
While it was absurd, I also thought it was a good thing. If Yoo Jonghyuk grows up to be an adult with memories of eating dirt, my life will be in danger.
"[Way of the Wind] isn't like that."
"Yeah. I've heard this a lot already."
Yoo Jonghyuk, standing next to me while I was grumbling, wiggled his small hands and tried to do something.
"Do it like this."
A refreshing breeze blew from the boy's fingertips.
It was definitely [Way of the Wind].
This [Way of the Wind] is different from Lycaon's wind and the wind of the Demon King of Salvation.
I smiled bitterly as I looked across the strangely lonely and dreary path of wind.
After all, the main character is the main character.
By the 41st round, is it possible to lightly imitate fragments of these stories?
"Unfortunately, I don't have any talent."
"I saw you communicating with fragments of the Brick House's story. This technique is the same. You just have to read the wind like you would understand a brick house."
It's easy to say, but a brick house and wind are different.
The boy, Yoo Jonghyuk, added as if he could read my thoughts.
"The shape of 'wind' that people think of is different. It is important to specify the wind you believe in."
The 'wind' I believe in.
I imagined the image of the wind in my head. Still, I once lived with the title of writer, but the image of wind rarely came to mind.
"I will teach you special enlightenment. In my left hand, I hold a gale—"
"A storm in your right hand. That's not enlightenment."
"You already knew."
"I can tell you more?"
I recited the [Way of the Wind] spells I knew.
The boy Yoo Jonghyuk's expression changed every moment. At first he seemed surprised, then he showed interest, and at the end he had a sad look in his eyes.
"I see. You know too much."
"Isn't the more you know the better?"
"You don't need to know that much."
"Yes, people who can learn everything easily don't need to know much—"
"I don't learn everything easily either."
"You can use [Transmission], right?"
[Transmission. With that special skill, Yoo Jonghyuk has endured the world of Ways of Survival, inheriting the abilities of 'last round' several times.]
Yoo Jonghyuk seemed a little surprised that I knew that, but then he shook his head and said,
"[Transmission] just changes the starting point slightly."
It was indeed a remark like being born with a silver spoon in your mouth.
"You don't realize that having a different starting point from others is a huge benefit."
"It's probably true the first time. But as the number of rounds increases, it becomes more difficult to catch up with the constellations."
"That can't be right."
It was something I didn't understand.
Accumulating rounds means that the total amount of accumulated experience increases. You will learn more about how to become stronger, and you will naturally realize the shortcuts to reaching a certain level.
But as the rounds accumulate, it becomes more difficult to catch up with the constellations?
"Do you know about the 'Transcendental Sea'?"
"A 'ladder' that mortals can choose to ascend to stars and power."
Yoo Jonghyuk nodded his head.
"The first step to transcendence is to go beyond the limits of the body."
I know.
Reach 100 overall abilities and overcome your physical limitations.
"The second process is 'training all skills to their limit'."
"That's right. As expected, you know a lot."
"It's just a matter of knowing."
If it seemed like everyone could transcend, the world would be overflowing with transcendents.
Yoo Jonghyuk opened his mouth again.
"And the final step is—"
"Forget everything you've built up and find your own path."
Forgetting skills, forgetting levels.
Forgetting the numerous 'universal' paths presented by the system and finding your own story.
That was the methodology of 'transcendence' defined by the Breaking the Sky Swordsman.
However, her disciple seemed to have annotations to add to this methodology.
"The final process of transcendence is special, because the 'transcendence' process of finding one's own story requires enlightenment every time."
"Isn't it easy for you? Because you have an insight from before."
"It seems you don't know what enlightenment is."
If you think about it, there is a reason why 'enlightenment' is 'enlightenment'. It is enlightenment because you gain insight into something you did not know before.
"It is impossible to transcend twice with one enlightenment."
It was a worry that other transcendents did not need to worry about. Because they don't regress.
But Yoo Jonghyuk is different.
Yoo Jonghyuk, whose level is reset at the start of each round, had to gain new enlightenment and reach 'transcendence' each time.
"It's not difficult at first. Once, twice, three times. You can gain as much new enlightenment as you want. But ten, twenty times, when the realizations start to accumulate, the problem becomes complicated."
Now that I think about it, Yoo Jonghyuk in 'Ways of Survival' did not always transcend at the same time.
There were times when he transcended a little early or a little late.
Could it be that it was because of this?
"If enlightenment accumulates more than 1,800 times, transcendence will become almost impossible."
"What nonsense? There is no reason for so much enlightenment to accumulate."
"Of course it won't."
Respect to you, Secretive Plotter.
"So, what did you do when transcendence became difficult?"
"Initially I tried to somehow find new enlightenment. But as time passed, I realized that it was impossible."
"That too is enlightenment. You must have achieved transcendence once through that."
I thought it was a joke and threw it out, but Yoo Jonghyuk didn't laugh.
Instead, he answered:
"From then on, I forgot what I already knew."
"Do you forget that?"
"Sometimes you forget when you hit your head with [Hundred Steps Godly Fists]."
I couldn't tell if it was a joke or not. Because with Yoo Jonghyuk it really felt like that could happen.
"Anyway, when enlightenment disappears, you just have to fill its place with new enlightenment."
The so-called 'overwriting' of enlightenment.
It was a story that had never been mentioned in detail in 'Ways of Survival'.
"Some enlightenments can only be realized properly if you forget them."
It was somewhat of a touching story.
If it weren't for the part where he hit his head.
"Are you telling me to forget the [Way of the Wind] that I know?"
Yoo Jonghyuk nodded and took the [Hundred Steps Godly Fists] stance and glared at my head.
I hurriedly waved my hand and backed away.
"No, wait a minute! I don't want to forget anything right now."
"It looks like you're not that desperate. Is there no reason you need to learn [Way of the Wind]?"
The reason why I want to learn [Way of the Wind].
"I..."
There was a face that came to mind reflexively. A star who sacrificed himself for me.
I had to become stronger.
Just as much, or even more, I had to become strong enough to save him.
This was only possible if Kim Dokja, more than anyone else, did it.
Yoo Jonghyuk slowly lowered his fist and continued speaking.
"There's no need to force yourself to learn something you're not good at. There's probably something you're good at."
I didn't know that I would hear such a story from Yoo Jonghyuk's mouth, so I stood there in silence for a long time.
"Thank you for the advice."
Stars shed intermittent light in the lonely night sky.
The boy Yoo Jonghyuk stared at the sky for a moment. However, he soon turned his gaze to the ground and asked as if there was no starlight in the sky he was looking for.
"So, what do you plan to do next?"
"We have to get the support of the prisoners."
"Do you think you will gain support from the beasts if you learn things like [Way of the Wind] here?"
Yoo Jonghyuk looked at me as if I was pitiful. It seemed that this time it was my turn to give him new insight.
"How long do you think the prisoners here have stayed here?"
"That..."
The temporal density in the 'Recycling Center' is much higher than in the outside world. Perhaps there are prisoners who have spent decades or over a hundred years here.
"Judging by the atmosphere of the city, it must have been a very long period of time. There must have been several revolutions."
Zone 13 is where prisoners who could not enter the Zodiac gather.
Has there never been a revolution in a place like that? Whether it's a crane, a wolf, a turtle, or a squirrel. Anyone would have resisted the
Maybe twice, or three times.
There will be prisoners who fight back just as Yoo Jonghyuk challenges transcendence.
But.
"Probably everyone was affected by the Chinese Zodiac."
The revolution failed. It was natural. Because they were not Yoo Jonghyuk.
"Then one day."
I continued speaking as if at the beginning of a fairy tale.
"These guys who suddenly appeared shattered the existing 'story' and took down one of the
The prisoners must have been surprised. To be precise, they were surprised, but I guess it was just surprise.
As the crane owner said, they had been in 'Zone 13' for too long.
"The prisoners must have thought that this would just be a temporary thing. Those guys lounging around in Zone 13 would soon be killed by the other Zodiac animals. Just like they have been doing up until now."
The prisoners will think.
Another member of the
The owners of the story will return to drive out those who believe they are the main characters.
"But no matter how much time passes, what if no one from the Chinese Zodiac comes to harm them? What if not even a shadow of the Chinese Zodiac can be seen, let alone the
"You , you can't—"
Slowly, Yoo Jonghyuk's eyes grew bigger.
I asked with a grin.
"What are the prisoners thinking now?"
It was then that I heard someone shouting in the dark.
Elongated animal shadows cast between the streetlights.
It wasn't just one or two.
A nervous Yoo Jonghyuk stood next to me in the [Hundred Steps Godly Fists] stance.
But I wasn't particularly nervous.
A voice flowed through the elongated shadows.
"You-all."
The owner of the shadow was the crane owner and other animals who stayed at the inn.
Everyone who witnessed our 「Three Little Pigs」.
"Can you change other 'stories' as well?"
I nodded.
[Your approval rating increases.]
[Currently, 10% of the prisoners in Zone 13 support you.]
It was time to do what I was good at.