Chapter 464 – Finally
Warm sunlight kissed his eyelids, and Chi-Woo slowly opened his eyes. His body was awashed in a strong but gentle glow. When he took a short breath, light sucked into him at once.
—It surprises me every time I see it.
He heard a calm voice. Philip was looking at him with astonishment.
—Such a dangerous power…looks different.
“Rather than strength…I don’t know, wouldn’t the word ‘fate’ be more appropriate?”
—What? What are you talking about?
“No, just. That’s how I think of it.” It was a sudden thought Chi-Woo had. In Future Yoo-Joo’s s.p.a.ce, Chi-Woo had recognized and accepted the mysterious light as ‘me’. As such, he couldn’t define this light as simple power. Then what should he call it? Since they had been together since birth, there was no other word that came to mind other than the word ‘fate’. Thus, Chi-Woo decided to regard it as such rather than strength.
—That means you gave into your fate.
“No, that’s not the case.” He had decided to accept it but not follow it. It was up to him to decide what to do with this fate—that was what Chi-Woo had decided.
—Haha. Do you know what you just said?
Philip let out a hollow laugh.
—You just said you would embrace fate and reign over it at the same time.
It was a contradictory remark, incomprehensible to anyone born with a mortal fate. That had been the case for Chi-Woo as well. When he entered Liber, he saw the hexagonal die in his hand and thought it was an object that shouldn’t exist based on common sense. However, Chi-Woo no longer thought this.
—How interesting. Just what kind of transcendent being are you planning to be?
“I still have a long way to go.” As Chi-Woo said, he still had a long way to go. He should meet his fate properly, at least after saving Liber—no, perhaps it might be way further into the future. The more he resonated with it, the more Chi-Woo realized how wide and vast this fate was, to the point that he couldn’t fathom its end. Thus, nothing had changed in reality. This fate was still like a ticking time bomb that might explode someday. If he abused its power by mistake, it might explode immediately, and he’d be swept away by his fate. Thus, he needed to always be careful since not being afraid and not being careful were two entirely separate things.
—Well, let’s think positively. It’s still way better than when you were completely swept around by it whenever you tapped into a very small fraction of it.
Since that was right, Chi-Woo stood up with a bitter smile. Just in time, a cool wind blew in. Chi-Woo felt it and turned on his device to call forth his user information.
3. [Purification Breathing AAA] – expels the old and bad and inhales the good and new. The user has achieved a level of purification that cannot be achieved by a mortal being. It is already at a level that is virtually no longer considered human. The potential that has already been purified is waiting for the time to fully be awakened.
4. [Executioner A]
2. [Unity AAA] – Everything goes round and round and round into one. All flow becomes one…As a result of reaching the origin…its proficiency has deepened.
6. [Deus Ex Machina S] – The sudden appearance of a G.o.d. Originally this ability’s rank fell outside the standard limit…but currently, it is waiting for the right time to make an appearance.
1. [Sharing S]
2. [Imprinting: Core of Union]
3. [El Dorado’s Treasure]
4. [Shared Growth] – growth occurs simultaneously with each other. Excluding some transcendent abilities, it applies to all physical abilities, basic abilities, cla.s.s abilities, and innate abilities. Even though there is a severe difference in rank, abilities appropriately follow the user’s condition and realization. However, abilities cannot exceed the highest rank of each respective ability’s category. This is a gift from La Bella for her apostle, who finally made his resolution.
Chi-Woo saw the user information that filled the air in front of him, and a small smile tugged at his lips. He had come all this way from living as a normal person who didn’t know anything; now, he was one of the strongest individuals on Liber. He felt deeply moved.
He also thought, ‘Shared Growth is certainly making a great impact.’ Shared Growth was an ability derived from raising his Core of Balance by one rank. Although he had spent more than 110 million merits on raising Core of Balance with Divine Blood in his fostering abilities, for the first time, Chi-Woo felt like his investment of merits hadn’t been a waste.
Both of these abilities had acted as the driving force to raise the various abilities that had fallen behind as a result of the growth system’s limitation, pus.h.i.+ng them to a level similar to abilities that he had been raising as his main focus. It seemed as if La Bella was making up for his loss of the Master tier rewards when entering Future Yoo-Joo’s s.p.a.ce. Thanks to that, he had become stronger than if he had received the rewards. Of course, he shouldn’t let his guard down even then.
If he could save Liber, which was under a galaxy level crisis, at this level, his brother would have already saved Liber 100 times. Power was like drinking water when one was thirsty. He was still lacking. He still needed to get much, much stronger. Chi-Woo clenched his fist, and when he was about to go back to training, he suddenly stopped. He could feel a gaze on him. When he glanced to the side, he saw a girl standing awkwardly on one side.
“Flora?” Flora flinched and walked out cautiously. It seemed that she had been watching him secretly. Come to think of it, since he began to train in earnest, he hadn’t properly checked Flora’s growth. Thinking that it had been a while, Chi-Woo a.s.sessed her with his Spirit Eye.
1. Name & Rank: Flora(★☆☆☆☆)
[Strength C]
[Durability C]
[Agility C]
[Stamina C]
[Mental Fort.i.tude E]
[Mana C]
Ha, Chi-Woo let out a hollow laugh. She had raised all her physical abilities except mental fort.i.tude by another rank. Although Flora was not 100 percent human, it was shocking to see that she had already achieved C rank, which was usually the limit for ordinary humans. Of course, since the Golden Ratio’s effect increased all physical abilities by one rank, it was more accurate to say that her abilities were still D ranks, but even then, it was impressive. She had been growing at a phenomenal and astounding speed.
Flora’s heavenly t.i.tle was the Late Blooming God of War. A late bloomer was someone who became successful or big later on in life. In other words, their potential was guaranteed, but it took a long time for them to bloom. However, that time was drastically reduced with Chi-Woo’s support. Moreover, since Byeok stayed 24 hours with Flora and exclusively focused on her, her growth was further expedited.
Yeah. She should at least be able to do this. Chi-Woo nodded while looking at Flora’s user information.
“On second thought…you almost beat Ru Amuh in swordsmans.h.i.+p, right?” He asked while putting on a white glove. “Then duel with me too. To see how much you’ve progressed.” Light emanated from his slightly stretched hand.
Flora flinched when she saw the light form into a club in an instant. She stiffened like a poor pup.
“Don’t worry. I’ll match your level. You just need to go all out.”
Even then, she remained silent. No, she usually didn’t talk, but her reaction was strange. Her expression wasn’t impa.s.sive like usual; sweat dripped down her forehead, and she breathed quickly as if she was struggling for air. Moreover, her face was pale, and she even stepped back. Considering that she readily accepted Ru Amuh and Umaru’s request for a duel, this was an unexpected response.
“What are you doing? Come on, fight me.”
Flora looked like she was almost on the verge of crying at Chi-Woo’s urging.
“Flora!” Byeok, who had gone outside briefly for business, quickly rushed towards Flora. She hugged Flora as soon as she arrived like a mother bird trying to protect her chick. Turning to Chi-Woo, Byeok demanded, “What the h.e.l.l are you doing?”
“What do you mean, Master? I was merely trying to test her skills a bit.”
“Flora is still training.”
“Yes, I know. Master, do you really think I would fight her without considering that?”
Byeok shouted, “Don’t you see how she hates it? You should know when to back down!”
“I was just…” Chi-Woo was confused. He quickly deactivated his glove and smacked his lips.
—You’re going to be cuddling and babying her soon.
Philip also found her reaction ridiculous and added a few cents.
“You be quiet too. You’re too noisy. Even an animal will recognize their owner and not bite them. How could you not understand that this child doesn’t want to point her sword at her benefactor…” She glared at Philip and tilted her chin. “Anyway, you punk, stop your training and go out quickly. Right now.”
“Why? Master, am I not also allowed to train here?”
“Eval Sevaru is looking for you. It seemed quite urgent.”
“Ah.” That changed things. Training was important, but managing the Seven Stars was just as important. He had delegated most of the work to Eval Sevaru, so the fact that Eval was looking for him meant that there was a matter he couldn’t handle on his own.
“I see. Thank you for letting me know.”
“…Hmph.” Byeok snorted and turned away. She was quite cold as she took away Flora, who was sniffling helplessly.
Chi-Woo tilted his head. “I wonder why she’s suddenly acting like that?”
—I don’t know either…don’t try too hard to understand. A woman’s heart is complicated like a reed.
Philip said flatly.
—Anyway, I wonder why Flora rejected the idea so much. That’s what I’m most curious about.
If Aida was here, she would have told them the answer. She would have said that Byeok’s explanation was wrong, and that Flora was scared of Chi-Woo.
Chi-Woo returned to Seven Stars and got a detailed briefing from Eval Sevaru. Eval informed him that while he was training in the Image Representation s.p.a.ce, his brother had been away. Then, Chi-Hyun returned to Shalyh recently and immediately called for a meeting to not only Seven Stars, but also the key influential groups present in Shalyh. It was a well-known fact that there had been only one occasion where all influential figures gathered in one place in Shalyh. Chi-Woo prepared himself mentally and decided to accept the call.
The meeting was held at Apertum. Originally, they would have gathered at the official residence, but Apertum became the go-to meeting place after the general a.s.sembly. It was the result of Chi-Hyun partially transferring his power to Chi-Hyun, but this series of processes was only for show. In fact, except for the change in location, nothing had really changed. Of course, Chi-Hyun was willing to pa.s.s over these empty formalities and processes to Chi-Woo, but he couldn’t do that. His d.a.m.n younger brother had told him to ‘work and don’t play around.’ In a way, Chi-Woo was basically treating his brother like Eval Sevaru, so Chi-Hyun had to take care of ha.s.sles like hosting the meeting like before.
Chi-Woo arrived at the meeting place and sat down. Unlike usual, his brother had arrived first and was waiting for him. Did he eat something wrong today, or did the sun rise from the west? While Chi-Woo thought things that would have angered his brother, people began to arrive one by one.
Soon, when everyone who was invited had arrived, Chi-Hyun said, “A few years ago, I entered Liber as the first advance team.” When Chi-Hyun began, everyone blinked. “At that time, Liber was a wasteland that could be considered the worst world. Humanity has long been destroyed, and beings that should not be in the middle realm were running rampant. Other than this, there was literally nothing else.” So far, all the meetings hosted by Chi-Hyun had no greetings or opening lines at all. He emphasized efficiency to the point that the word simplicity was not enough to describe it. Without a single exception, he had always gotten straight to the point. However, Chi-Hyun started with an opening this time.
He continued, “I felt that I alone wasn’t enough to save Liber, and I asked for support. After that, the second, third, fourth, and fifth…many recruits entered, but the situation did not improve. It was still difficult to find any hope on Liber, to the extent that even survival was considered a luxury. But then…after the seventh recruits entered, the situation that seemingly would never change began to change little by little.”
After the long preamble, Chi-Hyun’s eyes lingered on Chi-Woo for a bit. “Time has pa.s.sed since then. Recruitments continued from the first to the twelfth, and they are now known as reinforcements.” Then he looked away and continued with a more a.s.sertive voice. “Although a lot has happened…one thing is clear. It’s the fact that we’re finally here.” They were now at a point where survival was no longer considered a luxury, and saving Liber was no longer a joke, but a goal that could be reached.
“Recently, I visited the Ca.s.siubia Mountain Range and met the Last Dragon, and we shared a lengthy conversation.” After finis.h.i.+ng the opening, he finally got to the point. “And we came to a conclusion.”
“We have decided to subjugate the Abyss.”
Everyone’s gaze instantly changed.