"The peak... the peaks..."
The thick mist and clouds of dust were slowly clearing.
However, what should have been revealed beyond it did not appear.
Jin Hagyeong narrowed his eyes, but not much came into view.
"It's gone..."
It was the mountain ridge that had enveloped Colorful Lake and its entire northeastern vicinity.
He was sure there had been at least three peaks... but now they were nowhere to be seen.
In their place, only an empty sky and a few wisps of clouds hung forlornly.
His right hand unconsciously gripped the hilt of his sword.
'It wasn't sheared off... nor was it cut.'
If it had been cut by a sword, the slopes should have been covered in landslides of earth and sand.
If the peaks had slid down, the foot of the mountain would have been buried.
There was no trace of any such thing.
The mountain had not been cut, but rather scattered and dispersed like dust.
"…"
He blankly took a step, widening his field of vision.
It wasn't just the northeast.
Nearly half of the northern ridge had lost its original form, the continuous line of the ridge was broken midway, and the severed cross-section was revealed darkly through the mist.
His breathing had grown shallow without him realizing it.
"...Impossible."
Next to him was Jeon Rahwa.
Her hand, holding her sword, was also trembling.
Her lips moved, but no sound followed.
Jin Hagyeong said nothing more.
What could he say?
Having witnessed a battlefield where mountains had vanished, it would be strange to talk much.
And all from the clash of just two people.
Just then, his skin felt a pressure.
The atmosphere had been different for a while now.
It wasn't Killing Intent.
Nor was it a domineering aura.
It was just a presence that was there.
It was of a similar nature to what he felt when he first arrived at Colorful Lake, but incomparable in scale.
The very air he breathed felt heavy.
It seeped down from the mountaintop to its base.
The spot where the peak had disappeared.
Someone was standing there.
The distance was too great to make out a figure, but there was no doubt that it was the center of the aura.
"...Kim Rae-won."
The source, no, the originator of the aura pressing down from the mountain stood there, as steadfast as when he had first seen him.
Just then.
Fwhoosh!
A light erupted from the mountaintop.
It was not the glint of a sword.
Nor was it the light of rampaging Internal Energy.
It was not something emitted into the atmosphere, but a light that emanated from within.
A golden light spread along Kim Rae-won's outline, like the dawn, crossing over the peak and extending as if to embrace the rubble.
It was warm.
A warmth felt even at this distance.
It wasn't the wavelength of Qi, but a sensation of being warmed not on the skin, but somewhere deeper inside.
"Ah..."
It was brilliant, yet not blinding.
It was like a gentle sunlight, as if tempting him to look, to keep looking.
And.
Something was flowing within the texture of that light.
He did not know its name or origin, but he had seen it before.
Long, long ago, depicted on a mural in an old temple.
It was a light like the circular halo spread behind a Buddha statue.
At that moment, Jin Hagyeong heard someone fall to their knees behind him.
One of the defeated soldiers.
Then a second.
A third.
No one had ordered them to kneel.
Their knees simply knew to bend on their own.
The light soon subsided, but most of the survivors were bowing in that direction.
"…"
Kim Rae-won, on the peak, stood as if nothing had happened.
Jin Hagyeong's lips moved unconsciously.
"Was he truly... an Immortal?"
● ● ●
The flash that had momentarily covered the mountainside soon faded, revealing Dong Bongsu's figure in its entirety.
As expected of a strong opponent, he gave a massive amount of experience points.
A level up already.
However, the New Murim Online level-up was not a matter of great interest right now.
"How strange."
The headless corpse of Goeum lay prone on the bedrock.
Its shriveled back faced the sky, and only a red liquid called blood spurted out intermittently.
There was no value in it.
It was freshly butchered and quite fresh, but Dong Bongsu's interest was not in some inedible slab of meat.
Dong Bongsu looked away from the corpse and into the empty air.
"…"
Nothing was visible to the eye.
But it was different within the Field.
Something was floating in the atmosphere.
It was slowly repeating a cycle of contraction and expansion as it dispersed.
The remnants or lingering thoughts of what had filled that body until just a moment ago.
Fwoooosh-.
Sounds began to return.
First, the sound of the wind.
Then, the sound of stone debris rolling down the slopes.
The order in which the silence broke was interesting, but he had no interest in that right now.
He raised his hand.
Minutely adjusting the density of the Field, he drew the fragments of Qi, be they remnants or lingering thoughts, onto his palm.
It was like placing something invisible on his hand, but the sensation was distinct.
A lukewarm vibration.
It pulsed like a heartbeat, repeatedly weakening and strengthening.
'This is certainly not Internal Energy or Natural Qi.'
If it were the Qi of a Martial Artist, there should be no difficulty in reading it.
Whether it was Evil Qi, Essence Qi, or Demonic Qi, the fundamental material had to be the same.
Something that flows through Meridians and gathers in the Dantian.
The expression might be different, but the raw material could only be one.
It had to be.
This was different in its very raw material.
The Field captured and rotated it.
From whatever angle he read it, it did not fit into any category.
There was no trace of Meridians.
It had never passed through the Meridians.
The root that made that slab of meat's Sound Art possible... It wasn't a martial art built upon Qi, but without a doubt, something that originated from outside of Qi.
Just in case, he chewed on a piece of the meat and tasted the blood, but as expected, it was nothing more than a slab of meat with human flesh and O-type blood.
"Interesting."
He had swallowed a Spirit Root Stone and had faced a fair number of this world's martial artists, but this was distinctly different.
This wasn't a martial art layered on top of Qi; it must have been this man's very foundation.
The pieces of Spirit floating in the air were diminishing.
The contraction quickened, as if trying to escape the Field.
The vibration on his palm also faded.
He strongly increased the density of the Super True Qi Field in the area.
The thickened Field caught a few more pieces, but it wouldn't last long.
He compared them one by one.
As if searching through the data in his memory.
The textures of Qi he had met.
The types of energy he had felt.
It matched none of them.
Just then, a faint sensation overlapped.
'So that was it.'
He realized it was similar to what he had encountered on that island.
That sky island where he first fell into this place.
The aura emitted by the fox with eight tails.
It wasn't exactly the same as the piece now contracting for the last time in his hand, but it overlapped closely with what he could not categorize in this world.
Fwiiirrrrr-.
He moved the Super True Qi with precision, meticulously tracing the spot where it had vanished.
As if chasing the outline of what was gone, not what remained, as if reading the form held by the empty space.
Before long, even that disappeared.
'Immortal Qi.'
So, is this what true Immortal Qi is?
Only after reaching a conclusion did Dong Bongsu finally lower his hand and turn his head.
A ruined mountain.
Shattered bedrock.
Dust and stone powder.
Whenever the wind blew, the rock powder still rose hazily before settling.
And with it.
Thud-.
The What is Hero window belatedly appeared in his vision.
[Sudden] Rakshasa of Slaughter:
There are those who wield swords in the name of Buddha.
Among them, two with particularly heavy steps are revealing their hostility towards you.
Be careful.
They don't seem to have ordinary fangs.
· Defeat the Rakshasa's high-ranking forces.
├─ Target: 2
├─ Progress: 2/2
└─ Reward: Hero History +5, Fame +5
[+5]
History from 51 to 56.
Thud-.
[Guild] Threshold of Growth:
Your sect is growing. To embrace more people, a vessel of suitable size is needed.
Please achieve one of the following.
․ Solidify the Guild's Foundation: Raise the average combat level of the guild members above a certain standard.
├─ Progress: 100%
└─ Reward: Guild Member Cap +10, Guild EXP +100
․ First Resonance of Martial Fame: Resolve a crisis outside the River Capital in the name of the Hero's Sect.
├─ Progress: 100%
└─ Reward: Guild Member Cap +15, Fame +10, Guild EXP +200
Following that, the Guild Quest was also completed.
It seemed the combat prowess of the Hero's Sect members had also risen a level amidst this chaos.
[You have sent a powerful enemy who brought harm to the world to the heavens. A reward is given.]
[The world has become much better because of you.]
Although new content was added, the wording was standardized as always.
But that part was not important at all.
"…"
Dong Bongsu silently moved only his eyes, scanning the various parts of the system.
Because there had been a definite change.
In the first place, the fact that the What is Hero system had settled its accounts later than the broken Murim Online system was a problem in itself.
He had a certain feeling.
A sense for the system.
As if to prove his strange premonition of an impending 'patch' was correct, Thud-.
A new notification appeared.
[Unregistered Energy Pattern Detected — Auto Logging]
He hadn't requested it, and it was a pattern he had never seen before.
The system had voluntarily detected something and begun recording it.
And the numbers rose quickly.
1%, 2%, 3%... Thud.
100%
[Auto Logging Complete.]
[New Energy Type — Classification: Unregistered]
[Matching Item in Existing Database: None]
[Auto-generated Tag: Unknown_001 — Sample Saving Complete] The energy sample collected from Goeum's remains.
The analysis result showed no match with any type in the existing database.
And a report that the system itself had created a new tag and completed the save.
Up to that point, it was understandable.
New data came in, so it was recorded.
For the sophisticated AI system shown so far, it was perhaps a natural thing to do.
The problem was what came next.
A void.
At the timing when Lumina's next guidance should have appeared, nothing came out, nothing was heard.
A gap had formed in the usually seamless routine.
And.
—...Ah.
It was not a standardized tone.
Not guidance or a report, but a single exclamation.
A faint golden light spread not inside the system window, but outside it.
It wasn't the light of the UI.
A single streak that spread in the atmosphere and vanished.
Dong Bongsu's gaze lingered on the spot where the golden light had disappeared.
Right after the energy pattern data was recorded in the system.
The interval was almost nonexistent.
He didn't know if it was causality or coincidence.
He didn't know yet, but a massive change was occurring in the Spiritual Root that was the system.
"…"
After a moment, Dong Bongsu closed the window and turned his body.
The system window scattered.
The particles of light that would normally disappear immediately lingered for a moment in the atmosphere.
The things from Goeum's remains that had not yet vanished trembled minutely upon touching that light.
It was a fleeting moment.
Too short to even be called a reaction.
But Dong Bongsu's eyes did not miss it, taking it in as he descended the mountain.
Fwhiiiii-.
On the mountain, where the sound of the wind had fully returned.
Stone debris rolled under his feet, and the faint sound of human voices rose from far below.
The silence had ended, but the great change was just beginning.