This Second-Rank Leech was considered one of the "taboos" of this world. Yet no one possessed the luxury of refusing it if it ever fell into their hands.
Everyone chased after it—not merely out of greed for power, but because it granted its owner a rare insight that could shield them from countless disasters and misfortunes, avoiding mistakes that could easily claim the lives of even the strongest warriors.
The white-haired boy's voice softened as he gathered his thoughts, hesitation flickering within his eyes.
"With a First-Grade Farm, it is impossible for me to contain the weight of this Leech.
It far exceeds my current capacity."
He fell silent for a moment before his eyes suddenly gleamed with a fierce light.
"But it doesn't matter. I have my own methods.
I will place it into a deep slumber inside my farm, and I will not allow it to awaken unless I need it… unless I wish to use it."
He took a deep breath, as if expelling the last fragments of doubt from his chest.
"The important thing now is to pass this trial first.
After that… we will deal with whatever comes."
With a gesture filled with excessive confidence, he tossed the book aside without care and began walking slowly toward the heart of the endless white void.
As for Jumanji, he remained frozen in place, shock shaking his entire being.
The information that had flooded his mind was not mere text.
It was fragments of imagination—truths far beyond the limits of ordinary human comprehension.
If someone had whispered these secrets to him before, he would have dismissed them as madness.
But now they were rooted within his consciousness, tangible as if they were part of his soul.
Jumanji began processing the essence of this legendary "Leech" as described by the book.
The ability in his hands was as terrifying as it was astonishing.
"Looking Forward" granted its owner the keys to the unknown future with nothing more than a single touch.
The moment he touched someone, the curtains of the future would open before him.
He would see the destiny awaiting that person and the path their life would follow.
As for "Looking Back," it allowed one to dive into the depths of the past.
To uncover hidden secrets and witness everything that had ever happened to a person, no matter how long ago.
To see both the past and the future at once…
What a terrifying burden.
What a power that the human mind could barely endure.
Suddenly, an overwhelming wave of joy slipped into Jumanji's heart.
He realized that this Leech was not merely power.
It was the bridge that could shorten the road toward his ultimate goal.
A goal he once believed to be impossibly distant.
Now it suddenly felt closer than ever before.
At that moment, a blazing passion ignited within his chest—an intensity he had not felt since the cries of the victims echoed through the massacre of his village.
It was as if his soul had risen from its ashes, declaring the beginning of a new era.
Jumanji summoned the images of his family within his mind.
The faces of his children.
The features of his wife.
The expressions of his parents.
Everyone who had left him behind, forcing him to struggle alone against loneliness and despair.
He remembered those days that had vanished like a mirage.
But the hope born from this Leech was enough to rekindle the ashes within his soul.
He clenched his fist so tightly that his knuckles turned pale and whispered to himself with iron determination:
"I will give every ounce of my strength to obtain it, no matter the cost.
I will no longer fear loss.
Because…"
He paused.
"…I simply have nothing left to lose."
Yet amid this burning determination, a seed of caution crept into his mind.
If this Leech truly possessed such miraculous abilities…
Why had it remained here all this time?
Why had no one succeeded in taming it before?
At that moment, Jumanji realized a bitter truth.
Obtaining this Leech might lie within the realm of impossibility itself.
Just like its powers that defied logic.
The path toward it would not be paved with roses.
It would be paved with horrors beyond human endurance.
There was nothing Jumanji could do within this endless void that devoured all directions.
There was no guide.
No landmarks to break the harsh emptiness of this white abyss.
After a moment of hesitation, he began walking forward.
There was no other choice except to advance… or be lost forever within the folds of this silent nothingness.
Jumanji and the white-haired boy were not the only ones driven by this obsession.
Elsewhere within this dimension, Kairos felt overwhelming excitement as well.
He had resolved with unshakable determination to claim this legendary treasure no matter the cost.
Likewise, greed ignited within the hearts of the remaining youths.
Their spirits boiled with challenge and ambition.
Each one believed himself the most worthy of obtaining the "Absolute Insight."
As the youths advanced deeper into the void, a tree suddenly emerged from nothingness.
The sight froze the blood within their veins.
It was not a living tree.
It was a terrifying entity carved entirely from white bones.
No color covered it except a pale white resembling the shroud of the dead.
Its branches twisted like skeletal fingers stretching toward the heavens.
At the base of that bone tree sat an old man in a dignified meditative posture.
A profound silence surrounded him, as if he were part of the very landscape.
The moment Jumanji stepped within the tree's domain, the old man spoke in a quiet voice.
Yet his words echoed within Jumanji's consciousness like thunder.
"There is no path forward from here.
No one may pass…
Unless they awaken their spiritual farm."
The words fell like an absolute truth.
Logic itself confirmed their meaning.
Even if someone managed to touch the Leech with their bare hands, its overwhelming power would crush their bodies instantly.
The only way to contain such an entity was to attract it as an "embryo" into the heart of one's spiritual farm.
There it would feed upon the farm, and the farm would feed upon it.
Such a Leech, with its pride and greatness, would never accept being a mere secondary tool.
Either it became the central embryo of the farm…
Or it would destroy whoever dared approach it.
And even if it became an embryo, there could be no better choice.
Its arrogance was not empty pride.
It was simply the reflection of unmatched potential.
A Leech coveted by the mighty across the entire world.
Could it truly be anything less than legendary?
Jumanji looked at the old man with deep respect.
He approached him and greeted him with the manners taught within his tribe.
"This boy does not know how to awaken his farm," he said humbly.
"I ask the honored elder to illuminate the path for this weak one."
At first, the old man did not speak.
He merely stroked his long white beard that flowed like a cascade of snow over his immaculate robes.
After a long silence, he finally spoke.
"So… you are the one the Leech Jewels were following."
His eyes examined Jumanji carefully.
"He appears completely ordinary… yet why did they choose him?"
After a moment of contemplation, he pointed toward the ground.
"Sit."
Jumanji felt stunned.
He remembered those glowing spirits that had followed him earlier.
He had assumed they were nothing more than harmless lights.
Now the truth shook his very being.
Why had those jewels followed him?
What had they seen within him that made them pursue him even to the foot of the mountain?
Despite his confusion, Jumanji obeyed the order and sat in the same meditative posture as the old man.
"Are you a resident of this place, elder?" he asked cautiously.
The old man closed his eyes.
"I am the guardian of the farm.
I am the will of the owner of this land… after death embraced his body."
Then he continued calmly.
"Close your eyes.
Do not search for the farm around you.
Search for it at the zero point within your soul.
Find the moment that existed before everything."
Jumanji did not fully understand the meaning of those words.
Still, he slowly closed his eyes.
Darkness enveloped him.
A heavy silence settled around him, broken only by the echo of his breathing resonating within the depths of his soul.
It felt as if he were drifting through an endless cosmic void.
Then the old man's voice returned again, slipping into his consciousness like a thread of light.
"Do not scatter your thoughts.
Search for the first seed.
Search for the spark within your soul."
Jumanji tightened his focus.
He gathered every fragment of his awareness, searching for that tiny point within the vast emptiness.
Suddenly, deep within the void, he saw two faint seeds.
The first burned with a strange still flame.
Though unmoving, its fire flowed like majestic waves across an ancient sea.
The second seed was a mass of pure darkness.
Its color resembled the blackness of Jumanji's own eyes.
It remained perfectly still beside the burning seed.
A silent void given form.
Jumanji stared at the two seeds with confusion and awe.
One burned with overwhelming life.
The other sat quietly like its shadow, silent and unsettling.
Yet eventually his gaze settled upon the burning seed.
He realized that it must be the "spark" the old man had spoken of.
"I found it…" Jumanji whispered.
"Good," the old man replied calmly.
"Now… detonate it."
Confusion spread across Jumanji's face.
He did not understand the request, yet he obeyed.
Gathering every ounce of his will, he tried to force the spark to explode.
But it remained unmoved.
Its flames danced calmly within his soul as if mocking his efforts.
"It won't explode! What should I do?" Jumanji asked anxiously.
"Try again.
Do not stop until it submits and explodes."
Jumanji obeyed once more.
He pushed his will harder, trying to force the spark into ignition.
Yet it resisted him fiercely.
"It refuses to obey," he said helplessly.
The old man raised an eyebrow in astonishment.
In all the ages he had witnessed, he had never seen a seed refuse its own birth.
"A farm that refuses to appear…" he murmured.
"That is something I have never encountered before.
Perhaps its time has not yet come.
Or perhaps it awaits a different kind of spark."
Jumanji felt bitter disappointment.
Awakening his farm was the cornerstone of his hopes to restore his tribe.
Yet now he faced an unyielding wall.
But then he remembered his tribe.
He remembered his family.
The promise he made above their graves.
The legendary Leech before him.
And suddenly memories flooded his mind.
The warm days of the past.
The happiness he once had.
A gentle smile appeared on his face.
And in that moment…
A faint cracking sound echoed within the seed.
Soon that smile faded.
Painful memories followed.
The massacre.
The deaths.
The endless grief.
Another crack appeared within the seed.
Light began bursting through its fractures.
Jumanji gathered his will.
He had to awaken his farm now—no matter the cost.
Then suddenly—
The seed split in half.
BOOOOOOM.
A thunderous explosion erupted within his soul.
White light expanded endlessly as the seed shattered open.
Jumanji remained within that boundless whiteness.
Then slowly, as the light settled and the echoes faded…
He began to feel the weight of his body again.
His clothes.
His feet touching solid ground.
He slowly opened his eyes.
And found himself standing inside a world born from the ashes of his sorrow and the light of his hopes.
His farm had finally awakened.
End of Chapter.