Hermit Wizard

Chapter 66

The Soul Flows High (11)

=They were flustered, but they couldn’t even afford to gather and discuss. The elder in charge of the records came forward and recited some of the best-known poems. The Truth-Seeker heard it and spoke.

“It’s rough, but it has a strange taste. I’ll keep this poem by heart. But try to refine it a bit more. You’ll need more time. I will come back in just two hundred years from now.”

“Wa-wait a minute!”

The elder in charge of the record gathered up the courage of his life and spoke.

“According to old records, you, the Truth-Seeker, described yourself as the one who opens the door to the worlds. For a long time, we had no way of knowing the meaning, but now things have changed.”

The elder went on with his trembling legs.

“A wilderness that can be reached in a few days from here. The blue door opened there! Through the door that suddenly appeared several decades ago, different races continue to cross over. Giants with long hair!”

The Truth-Seeker answered.

“Oh, it is said that the name of that race is Ashpim.”

“Ashpim! Could you please close it? Those giants have the weird ability to burst flesh without using their hands, and they are huge; they are always threatening us!”

The Truth-Seeker looked at the elder.

“I don’t care how mortals come and go between dimensions. I will neither help nor stop them from moving.”

“Ah…you are the Truth-Seeker.”

“No matter how you and the Ashpim interact, how you die or kill each other, that is none of my business.”

“Then why did you open that door?”

“…If I gave that answer to you mortals, it could become annoying later on…but I’ll tell you because you’re the first kind who recited a poem that I like. In fact, the door wasn’t opened by me.”

The elder couldn’t understand at all. The Truth-Seeker said that it was the one who opened the channels, but he didn’t open this particular Channel.

“What? What do you mean by that?”

The Truth-Seeker paused for a while, as if thinking, then telepathized again.

“The door was opened by a Truth-Seeker in the dimension where the Ashpim live. Apart from civilization’s level, if you compare the world’s age, that dimension is much older than yours. There is no difference, so the Channels aren’t connected. However, the soul price is higher in the other dimension if you compare it. Therefore, I have no motivation to open the door to that dimension. Because the soul is supposed to flow high.”

None of the elders in the place understood the Truth-Seeker’s words. The Truth-Seeker seemed very happy and disappeared after telling a few more stories.=

“Oh, the word of mouth that the Ashpim wasn’t originally from this dimension was true!”

Elder Kapal was impressed, striking her thigh with her palm. The interpretation provided by Parvache had cleared many doubts and assumptions.

“There is one more justification for us to catch and slay them, Elder Kapal. After all, aren’t they just invading our world?” Ghur laughed, revealing his teeth.

[Hmm…I think that’s why the war between the two races began in the first place…]

Parvache muttered only to me. On the other hand, my head grew more complicated with the list of stories. I didn’t know what the hell was going on anymore.

“No, is there any information we want? Like how a dead Truth-Seeker is resurrected.”

[No such thing here.]

My head hurt.

[I knew when it always brought up poetic concepts, but I guess it’s a crazy fan of poetry. Well, it’s not uncommon for a Truth-Seeker to obsess over strange things.]

“What about the scrolls you haven’t read yet? What is it about?”

[After that, it appeared once again…asking for a poem and listening to it. The visit cycle has been shortened. At that time, the Dell race also got information. It’s a personality that says he doesn’t care how they die or kill, but it’s just spraying out information when it’s happy. Or maybe it’s just an indulgence for the Truth-Seeker.]

Well, I also received such information as well as the branches and seeds of the Enchanted Wood. Parvache continued to walk through the scrolls.

[The Truth-Seeker gave information such as the world’s principles and the Truth-Seeker’s abilities while also teaching Magic to the Dell tribe. So, it seems that later, the elders who had jurisdiction over the records would take the jurisdiction of magic knowledge as well.]

“Oh, from there, it is written in a language that I can be interpreted. The elder, who plays the role of reciting poetry to the Truth-Seeker, received the magic transfer, so naturally, he was also in charge of Magic.”

“Ah…then, is the founder of Dell’s magic the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest?”

“To some extent, yes. But its teachings are really…they say they were incomprehensible. Our ancestors didn’t even know what he meant. Even now, as far as I can see, the magical theory we use is problematic, and the connection is unnatural. Should I say that many parts seem to memorize only the conclusions and write the conclusions without the intermediate process…”

Listening to the story, it seemed like a civilization that had been around for quite a long time. Still, strangely, the level of Magic had fallen. I guess there was another story like this. At that time, Parvache stopped walking in front of the scroll and asked.

[By the way, according to the content here, the Truth-Seeker left a message that he will be coming again soon? If it was xxxx, it was 500 years ago in this world time. Why is there no record afterward?]

Elder Kapal answered.

“It was before I was born, but I heard it for sure. Five hundred years ago, the Truth-Seeker suddenly showed a different behavior than before. And then they stopped coming to our people.”

“What happened?”

She looked me in the eye.

“In the middle of the wilderness, it made a forest of the Enchanted Wood tree and became secluded in it. Since then, no one has ever seen it face to face…until you and Ghur met it not long ago.”

***

After spending the day at the Dell Giant’s Tower, I set out on my way home in the early evening. I headed out of the woods with Ghur seeing me off. When I came here, I was covered with concealment magic and movement speed, increasing Magic to move with the wind. I had a telepathic conversation with Parvache in case that my voice might cause trouble.

‘What? In the end, only a waste of time!’

It wasn’t a waste of fabric, but it was a waste of two days and one night, given how busy I was these days.

[Still, we got a lot of knowledge that you can’t see in Akashic Records, right?]

‘What kind of knowledge? That the Truth-Seeker of Silver Forest is a fan of poetry? No, didn’t it seem a bit like that in the first place, that it’s a being who collected mortals’ poems?’

[No, not that…]

‘Then what? Do you mean about the Asphim Giants, who are extradimensional species in this world? That’s very useful knowledge, Mr. Parvache.’

[No, wars between indigenous species are common. Then, if civilization is changed a few times, people will not even know who the alien is in the first place.]

I think I heard an expression that bothers me, but there was something else I wanted to say.

‘Then what are you talking about?’

[Don’t you remember what I interpreted? It said that the soul flows high…maybe the phrase has a clue about the relationship between the Truth-Seeker and the Channel. I don’t know if it is the literal meaning or the literary expression of the old Dell Giants.]

However, it was more urgent for me to get rid of the shit on my way right now than to break down the secrets of the universe and dimensions. I was trying to respond, but I saw the Channel leading to Earth from a distance. I put away what I was trying to say and picked up speed.

‘We’re almost there. Let’s go quickly.’

I approached the barrier and created a crack that could fit my body. And I stepped inside. And, there was an unpleasant sensation flowing through my whole body.

“…!”

[Hmm? What’s wrong?]

I couldn’t answer back to Parvache. It was like unfamiliarity and confusion as if I were seeing something for the first time since birth. A vague awakening, as if encountering something that had been long forgotten. These two completely contradictory thoughts wandered around in my head. Debris of fragmented thoughts and one that couldn’t be found seemed to flow roughly through the blood vessels of my brain. I froze in front of my mind-struck presence.

[…Min-joon? What’s wrong?]

Parvache asked from inside my backpack. I gritted my teeth. Parvache…it said it would be impossible for God to observe the whole world! Then what was this?! It was only then that Parvache shouted as if it had noticed something.

[…That’s!]

There was a gaze looking at me. Just as I felt pain when I burned my hand in hot water, I felt the other person’s feelings as soon as I was exposed to that gaze. Confused, funny, restless, boring, surprising, curious, wanting to stop, expecting, cruel, indescribable, miserable…also, among the emotions I had experienced, a mass of unrealistic emotions that I had nothing to compare with passed through my skin. Parvache spoke in confusion.

[Uh… how? What’s on your chest is not its Seed, so the Power of the Echo will not work…!]

At that moment, there was someone who cut off Parvache’s consciousness and spoke to me in my head.

=Oh, are you here again?=

Damn it! Damn it! Damn it!

=It looks like you came over while I was sleeping. Well done. Why don’t you see me for a second?=

As its words echoed in my heart, the ground on which I was standing began to drift away under my feet.

‘…!’

I screamed silently in my heart. I realized that I couldn’t breathe anymore. Losing all the senses, my body rose to an altitude of hundreds of meters and flew as if it were being sucked in. I managed to check the direction. North. It was self-evident what would be at the end of this pull. I could see it in my eyes as it rose in the absurdly high sky—a destination by others, initially within a few days’ walk.

A vast silvery forest was covering the horizon.

***

It was late at night, and the moon shook coldly on the river. For the first time in a long time, Yusu came out of the water and sat on a bench in Han River Park. He wasn’t familiar with the kind of trick to hide his body. Although it was a rare place, he brought his companion just in case. It was a drinking friend who was good with concealment techniques.

The barrier hid the bench they sat on side by side. Yusu lifted a bronze wine glass with a long nose while the crane filled the cup. The long beak opened, and a solemn voice flowed out.

“The wind is full of painful burns and smells of iron, and the light of the stars in the sky is as shabby as debris. The only thing I enjoy as a snack is that moon, and it’s been a sad time.”

Yusu received a toast from the crane. They both shook off what was in their glasses. As they emptied the cup, the crane asked.

“By the way, why are you staring at that one without responding to my words?”

After all, there was no answer. Instead of rushing to speak, the crane moved quietly. One feather was pulled out of the upper left wing among the three pairs of finely folded black wings, and it was trying to bring it close to the mouth of the bottle.

“…Brother Song, it would be better to put that ugly thing back in.”

Yusu said so without even turning his gaze toward the crane.

“I’m afraid your mouth will open when you get a little tipsy…”

“I don’t need it. How could I drink alcohol to lose my mind?”

Hmm, it thought he wasn’t watching. The crane swallowed its words inside. Then it made a nonchalant expression and shed its feathers in the wind. The wind on the river was so strong that the feathers flew to the Han River’s edge and fell on the water. Then the feathers crumbled like a black cloud and melted into the river. The purification started by Yoon Min-joon’s artifact judged it as a pollutant. The crane spoke, feeling the soft Magic rising from the bottom of the river.

“That treasure is a little stupid. When there is something as good as liquor, it just makes it into plain water like that.”

“Isn’t the feather that just melted made by quite a bit of liquor? Isn’t it something that normal human beings would lose their mind if they drank just a drop? It’s not impossible to judge it as poison. But don’t even think about mixing that weird thing into what we drink.”

“Okay. Okay.”

Then it suddenly thought of something.

“So, is it true that that terrifying master went into that space?”

“Exactly. The gatekeepers who were patrolling the river said they saw it.”

“Is it anxious to keep watching?”

Yusu finally took his eyes off the crack in the space he was looking at.

“It’s a scene I want to show to you, Brother Song. But unless you’re a Maek, you won’t be able to see it…”

“Are you saying you were looking at the soul right now?”

Yusu nodded.

“I can see it in my eyes when I concentrate my mind. No matter how high Master Yoon’s skill level is, it seems impossible to create barriers that block the movement of the soul.”

“With no bottom or end, is that what you mean?”

“Not long after we moved to this place, didn’t Elder Hamun say some strange words? So, I kept it in my memory and looked at it carefully. So, it looks obvious.”

Yusu’s eyes became more serious.

“I don’t know what the reason is for so many souls being sucked into the crack in that space.”

“If you say that only the soul is sucked in, they won’t be alive. Are you quite old now? Can you see the souls of the dead?”

“At my level now, it’s only possible by concentrating my mind and trying. Elderly Maek, who have lived for a very long time like an elder, seem to see the flow of all the souls around them at a glance.”

“I think it will be a little uncomfortable at that point. Anyway, the souls are sucked in? Aren’t they joining the ring of reincarnation in this world? What happens then?”

Yusu responded by shaking his head.

“I’m not sure either.”

The crane quietly tilted its head and raised its glass.

“Anyway…” Its voice was low.

“I don’t know how many souls are being sucked into that world…but I should at least pray for them. So that they can join the ring of reincarnation without any fuss in that world.”

“Maybe not? Unless there is an evil lurking in there, like the Dragon.”

The crane bumped its glass into the Maek’s. Yusu thought while holding its liquor in its mouth. The strange things that occurred when the Dragon disappeared…was this series of events an unusual phenomenon caused by the absence of the Dragon, or should it be viewed as part of the process of returning the world to normal due to the disappearance of the Dragon? The answer was unknown.

Recently, he had been asking God for every ritual. The reason for the cataclysm that was taking place in this world. But the answer didn’t come back. Yusu mumbled inside.

‘I’d rather have a question about Dragons to God. I’ve come back with the same answer every time.’

White Deer’s ritual was a time of historical question and answer. When the priest asked a question, God answered. Yusu asked at each ritual like a custom. How long must the being who cross the wall live under the Dragon’s agreement? What was the Dragon’s identity? When would that Dragon die and disappear so they could return to the land?

And at that time, the same answer that came back to the numerous priests of its previous generation was often heard by Yusu. Yusu muttered the answers of the god he had always heard.

“Is it encroaching? Evolving or not. The moment you qualify to stand at this crossroads, you will have all the answers in your hands, my priest.”