Chapter 167


    [Trantor  Jjescus]


    [Proofreader  Demon Gods Disciple]


    Dad, are you not busy today?


    No, today Ive prepared to go to a special ce with our little darling.


    A special ce?


    Yes. Were going straight to moms shooting location.


    Wow! Really? Oh, but didnt mom say not toe?


    This time lets throw a surprise party for mom. How about that?


    Haha, sounds fun! I want to go!


    ***


    Someone help! Our child is stuck under the car!


    The engine is on fire, its dangerous! Step back!


    , no! This cant be happening!


    If only you hadnt taken him that day, none of this would have happened!


    And are you ming me for that now? Do you know who will pay for the expensive medical bills?


    Huh, medical bills? You dont even care about the child.


    ***


    Ahh! Teacher! Switch seats with me! This kid smells!


    Hey, isnt there a weird smelling from somewhere?


    Eww. There goes a stink bug.


    , if youre not feeling well enough toe to school, why dont you just stay home? Rather than just expecting understanding from friends, shouldnt you consider changing yourself?


    Ugh, did I just see a monster?


    Me too. Wow, I thought today was Halloween.


    Poor thing. If I were like that, Id rather bite my tongue and die.


    Poor thing.


    Disgusting.


    Why live?


    Monster.


    ***


    Huh?


    As I opened my eyes, a slightly chilly yet humid air greeted me. Sensations that had been dormant stirred back to life, and I felt the lukewarm liquid flowing on the floor.


    A dream.


    Since arriving in this world, I rarely dreamed. At most, I might have had fantasies when evolving or utilizing the transcendence system.


    Is it because of the memories I saw when I reached transcendence level 2?


    Memories from when I was a child.


    Days spent in the intensive care unit because of burns. It was a past I didnt want to recall.


    Phew.


    I had been forgetting about the events in the real worldtely, but remembering them now makes me feel uneasy.


    The next stage after Quasi-saint, ascension.


    Though not certain, if I were to achieve ascension, there was a high chance Id be given a means to leave this world.


    I wasnt the only one thinking this way. ording to the Mother of the Sky, yers who came before me also aimed for simr goals.


    They all failed, though.


    The aftermath of failure led to the death of the top yer, and the remaining yers dispersed, each seeking new goals. That seed of conflict led to the present.


    Its the end.


    If even the top yer couldnt clear it, the difficulty of the unachieved 1st ce must be unimaginable.


    In the original game, ascension was notorious for its murderous difficulty. Unlike other evolutionary stages, ascension wasnt just about fulfilling conditions.


    The final battle. There was ast test from the being that held the secret of the world, and one had to pass that test to ascend. Among the Amorph yers who met the ascension conditions, I was the only sessful one.


    If its the same difficulty as the game, other yers would have cleared it first.


    That I couldnt do it means there are changes I dont know about. But that doesnt mean Im considering giving up midway. Ive be an Amorph Ranker, despite everyone saying its impossible. If Rankers higher than me have failed, then I just need to be even more prepared than them.


    But


    I raised myself slightly.


    Near me, the others tossed and turned. Number 26, Adhai, and Mother of the Sky, ally sleeping together in the underground space that had turned into a shallow swamp.


    What will happen to this ce if I leave?


    Setting aside the causes and processes of arriving in this world. I dont think this world will disappear or copse just because Im gone. Its too far-fetched to consider this ce merely a virtual game world. Its more reasonable to see it as something new, resembling space survival.


    The experiences Ive had all have substance. That fact troubles me.


    Ill miss them if we part ways.


    The longer I stay in this world, the deeper my emotions be. Mother of the Sky, who arrived here about ten years earlier than me, even got married.


    My feelings towards them arent exactly love, but theres certainly deep affection. A special feeling I havent experienced since childhood.


    Plus, theres something worrying.


    Can Number 26 and Adhai manage without me?


    Honestly, theres a mix of hoping theyll be fine and hoping they wont. The former is a sort of pure wish for them to live out their given lifespan happily.


    As for thetter


    Its a twisted desire.


    A messy feeling of sadness, longing, and loneliness knowing Im not there.


    Sigh.


    Its still a long way to ascension, yet here I am having unnecessary thoughts already.


    Thanks to a damn dream, Im wide awake, feeling unsettled. I should do something productive.


    The nest still feels a bit cold, doesnt it?


    The underground space, which was nothing but soil and ice, transformed into apletely different environment thanks to my touch. This was due to two of the nest-rted characteristics, Swamp Formation and Master of the Environment.


    Both were traits acquired while traversing the swamp before reaching level 2 transcendence.


    Both were useless traits in the game, but theyre useful in this way.


    Swamp Formation is a trait that creates a swamp in the nest. Its difficult to use alone, but whenbined with traits that spread toxins or pathogens, it bes somewhat useful.


    It could be used like when I spread space bacteria in the sewers of the T&C Special Trade Hub. Of course, its difficult to demonstrate such a far-reaching impact as in the game, where there are many powerful healing techniques and equipment.


    At least Swamp Formation could be used to inflict debuffs.


    Master of the Environment, despite its grand name, wasnt very useful in the game.


    The effects ovep with the nest.


    This traits effect is to change the environment on the nest as I wish. For Amorph, who can manipte the surrounding environment through the nest, its utterly useless.


    Amorphs nest has the effect of creating a beneficial environment for Amorphs survival. It has beneficial effects such as increasing healing power or supplying fallen energy.


    On the other hand, Master of the Environment doesnt offer much benefit other than changing the temperature or surroundings.


    I never thought such a trait would be used in this way.


    It was kept in case it could be used as a transcendent material, but it unexpectedly came in handy in a different ce.


    Thanks to Master of the Environment, the temperature in the underground space has decreased to a chilly level. One might worry that the ceiling and walls would melt, but this was resolved thanks to the slime, which was the nests material.


    Nests spread within a radius of 100 meters block heat, preventing the ice from melting, and maintain a cool temperature inside.


    And on top of that, theres the swamp. If light were to reach this ce, youd be able to see steam rising from the swamp.


    Heat emission and swamp formation. I bet Im the first one to use them together.


    Lying on the swamp created on top of the nest, slowly emitting heat, it truly became a mud hot spring. Thanks to this, even Adhai and Mother of the Sky, who felt cold, could sleepfortably.


    Thinking about it, even the psychic organs and the traits I didnt use are being rediscovered one by one. I thought there wasnt a yer among the Amorphs who yed as diversely as me, but I need to reflect. Theres still much for me to learn. With that thought, I adjusted the temperature I was emitting. As the heat from my body increased, the temperature of the swamp rose ordingly.


    Big one? What are you doing?


    [ZZZ ZZZZ ZZ ZZZ (Sorry. I woke you up.)]


    Through the flow of waves, or perhaps sensing my movement, Number 26 sent a wave. I stopped emitting heat and reached out to stroke them.


    [ZZZZ ZZZ ZZ ZZZ (Dont worry about it. Go back to sleep.)]


    Big one, not sleepy? Then let me put you to sleep!


    Before I could refuse, it wrapped itsrge body around my head.


    Despite being half the size of my body, it turned into a perfect pillow without any trouble.


    This is another strange sensation.


    Until now, it had climbed onto my head, but I had never climbed onto it. Perhaps its thanks to its body maintaining a suitably cool temperature.


    Big one, sleep well.


    Feeling a strangefort, I closed my eyes.


    ***


    The noble capitals of MegaCorp possess colonials scattered throughout the universe. Somes are coveted hubs targeted by other factions, while others remain rtively unknown.


    The Yujin family also holds numerouss. This is to procure materials necessary for gic modification and creating Hulk mutants.


    Among suchs is one unnamed. Discovered by Akira Yujin himself during exploration, its a location not recorded on the shared ship map of various factions.


    On this unnamed lies the nest of the Gagons, creatures of the universe.


    This frozen, chilled to the bone, was the sole supplier of Gagon gics.


    However, as there is no such thing as a benevolent Gagon, one had to risk their life to enter this. It was so harsh that out of a hundred who entered, only one might barelye out alive.


    Danger and value.


    Due to these two reasons, only a handful within the Yujin family knew the location of this.


    And Si-hyun Yujin was one of the few who knew the location.


    Because the source of the Gagon gics embedded in her body was from here, she couldnt remain ignorant.


    But her knowledge of how dangerous this ce was wasnt solely because of the gics.


    She was the only noble capital besides Akira Yujin himself to have set foot on this.


    This was because she had stolen Gagon eggs and captured a mutant Blue Gagon on this.


    At that time, her faction suffered tremendous losses from pursuing Gagons. Although shes a clone now, she retained most of the originals memories. She knew well how terrifying enraged Gagons could be, so she hadnt even dreamt of returning here.


    Yet here she was now, setting foot once more on the where Gagons dwell.


    Theyve been here.


    Si-hyun, d in her specialized reinforcement suit, White Maiden, rose slowly from the snow. Those who had been hiding around her heard her words and began to rise one by one.


    To prevent the power source from freezing instantly, her subordinates wore specially made reinforcement suits instead of regr ones.


    These suits, painted white like snow and thick like space suits, were equipment used for exploring volcanic or icys. Apart from that,munication devices and the weapons they held were all specially treated to prevent freezing.


    Like everyone else, La Chemblin, painted white with camouge paint on the outside, approached Si-hyun.


    These gagons seem quite diligent. Do they usually roam around so frequently?


    No, they dont. They mostly stay in their nests unless theyre hunting.


    Earlier, all crew members had to hastily hide themselves due to the sudden appearance of a White Gagon on the.


    Its fortunate that the gship didntnd. Otherwise, the exploration might have ended abruptly three days ago.


    The day Si-hyuns gship arrived at the unnamed was three days ago. As La mentioned, instead ofnding on the in her gship, Si-hyun came through a transport ship. The decision was deliberate because a giant gship would easily be detected by Gagons and could potentially require external support. However, considering the situation, that decision proved to be advantageous.


    Thats strange. They dont usually roam around like this.


    While Gagons are the top predators on this, there are many other creatures withparable strength. White Gagons have the duty to protect their nests from formidable adversaries. It was clearly unusual for them to venture outside the nest without hunting.


    Captain Neiren, you said the artifact was buried in those mountains?


    Yes, but let me see the map for a moment.


    Si-hyun handed a smallputer pad to Neiren, a middle-aged cultist with yak horns. Once the former captain of the Imperial Battleship Judicator of Damocles 08, he lost his ship and subordinates to the Devil with Three Heads. He came to this seeking revenge. Despite his cultist appearance, he adeptly marked a red dot on the map at a certain point in the mountains.


    Its buried here.


    Its quite a distance.


    Still, itll be quicker to go this way.


    I dont rmend going in that direction. Another White Gagon might fly in.


    Both Neiren and La had valid points.


    What about crossing over to the in? It shouldnt take too long. It might be safer.


    Thats difficult. There are dangerous monsters in the Frozen teau area.


    La pointed with her mechanical hand to an underground space where very powerful beasts reside. When they came here before, over a hundred of their soldiers perished because of that creature. It wasnt fighting Gagons that caused their deaths, but rather an unexpected entity that resulted in the loss of many subordinates.


    If that creature is still alive, going in that direction would be risky.


    Cant be helped. Even if it takes a detour, Ill choose a safer route.


    Time wasnt on Si-hyuns side, but if she failed here, the trust of the people aboard her gship would diminish, especially Min-seok.


    His trust is still needed.


    She nced ahead after closing the map. Beyond the horizon was a ck barrier. One of the peaks of those mountains held the artifact she was seeking.


    [Trantor  Jjescus]


    [Proofreader  Demon Gods Disciple]


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