Chapter 44

The plaza connected to countless metal corridors.

In the center of the plaza sat a massive lake with a single tree. The water’s surface reflected numerous scenes like a screen. The Guardian’s Graveyard we had passed through rippled within the waves, and various parts of Arsenal #7 that we had explored appeared bright and clear in the water.

‘CCTV?’

I thought that at first but shook my head.

Functionally, it wouldn’t be wrong to call it CCTV, but… it was far too beautiful for such a mundane term.

The lake wasn’t just on the plaza floor. An identical lake existed on the ceiling too. I had no idea what principle kept it from pouring down, but… the clear waters reflecting all manner of scenes rippling above and below created a spectacular sight just to behold.

In the center of the lake stood a tree with all its leaves withered away, stretching out its branches. Though its leaves had dried up, the tree reflected the light emitted by the lake, giving it a majestic appearance. Its branches extended in all directions, long and thin, reaching the walls of the plaza.

Meanwhile, from the lake on the ceiling, the large tree’s roots protruded outward. The winding roots extended beyond the lake, reaching the plaza’s ceiling and walls.

“Urgh… Yuria, you ran too fast… bleurgh…”

“Oops, just rest there.”

Yuria abandoned Monggu, who was complaining of motion sickness, and was examining the lake from various angles.

“Jun-woo! Is there a curse here too?”

The magical powers here floated about, brushing against the water’s surface as if touching something they missed, but none crossed over into the lake itself.

But what was strange… was that there were magical powers inside the lake too. I could see a group of magical powers languidly swimming through the lake’s interior. Just as the magical powers outside couldn’t enter the lake, those inside couldn’t exit either.

“I don’t… think so. I’m not entirely sure.”

“Hmm, really?”

Yuria took out her three-section staff from her backpack and poked the lake. Then she lightly touched the staff where it was wet, followed by slowly touching the lake water, and—

Splash!

She suddenly jumped into the lake.

“Yuria!”

Because she jumped in, the scenes reflected on the surface disappeared, and instead, I could see Yuria endlessly diving deeper into the clear water.

While I was deliberating whether I should jump in too,

“Yahoo!”

I heard Yuria’s voice again. It came from above.

Splash!

Breaking through the ceiling lake, Yuria performed an elegant dive before gracefully swimming out. Then she smiled confidently.

“Just as I thought. They’re connected.”

“How is this…?”

“You know I have good eyes, right? When I looked down at the water, I could see the back of my head. So I decided to jump in. And look! I went down but came out from above! The ceiling and floor are one. One lake. One tree!”

An infinite loop where the bottom of the lake connected back to the ceiling.

“Wow… spatial distortion…”

I examined the ceiling and floor with renewed interest, subtly letting magical power flow through…

‘This is definitely an important location, as Monggu suggested. But this place…’

Just as my concerns were deepening,

“Whoa!”

Someone suddenly pushed me hard from behind.

“Huh?”

As I fell toward the lake in surprise, Yuria shouted:

“You try it too! It’s fun!”

And soon after,

“Aaaaah!”

With a scream, Monggu was also thrown into the lake.

+ – + – +

Looking at the end result, it was fun. Really fun.

So much so that,

I remembered Earth boys who would head to valleys and beaches every summer,

And felt indignant: ‘You got to do this fun stuff every year?’

For all the talk about magic training… the way they raised boys and girls on the Star Continent would be considered terrible child abuse by Earth standards.

This was the first time in my life I’d played and swam freely without worrying about others watching.

“Hee hee!”

“Heh heh.”

“Heh heh…”

Soaked with water, we lay spread-eagled on the floor, making strange sounds as we laughed. Laughing strangely while looking up at the lake rippling on the ceiling.

This might make me sound crazy, but…

Ah, I’m happy.

But the happiness that suddenly arrived just as abruptly faded.

We closed our mouths as if by prior agreement. Adding to the silence, the chill rising from our wet clothes made Monggu speak while still lying down.

“Um, b-but is this r-really a functioning p-place? It l-looks important, b-but… it’s just a l-lake and a t-tree… S-sorry. I thought this w-would be s-some central location, b-but… it d-doesn’t seem like it.”

“…You’re right. I checked, but there doesn’t seem to be anything here.”

I acknowledged it lifelessly.

Even though Yuria pushed me in, the reason I’d given in to reckless play might have been because of that.

Nothing in this room—the lake, the tree, or anything else—responded to my magical power. We were essentially at a dead end. In fact… I was starting to feel a bit desperate.

Feeling the mood growing heavy, I tried to change the subject.

“By the way, Monggu! What’s with your speech? You didn’t stutter before, did you?”

“Y-yeah? Why am I d-doing this… A-anyway, I’m sorry. M-maybe we came all this w-way for nothing because of m-me.”

Ah, I diverted the topic only to have it come right back.

“Why? Afraid we’ll die miserably eating pink powder down here?”

“N-no, that’s not it…”

“No?”

“…Y-yes. Actually, I’m afraid this w-will become our tomb…”

“Why would we die? We’ll crawl out of here if we have to.”

I berated Monggu for no good reason.

Yuria, who had been listening quietly, chimed in.

“You’re being so serious.”

Still lying spread-eagled, she spoke loudly.

“Well, it’s your first time, so… let me give you some advice as someone with experience.”

Then she suddenly rolled over, grabbed something from her bag, and threw it at us.

Pink powder. The food with cosmetic flavor that Yuria had found.

“Argh! Ptoo! Pfft! What are you doing?”

I yelled, and

“Urp! Ugh!”

The smell must have been especially bad for Monggu because he started dry heaving. Yuria looked down at us triumphantly and said:

“You have to go crazy.”

“Huh?”

“I said you have to go crazy! Think about it. Our families are all dead. The entire nomad is dead. We’re stranded vagabonds in the middle of the wilderness. And now we’re trapped in a relic underground so deep we don’t even know where we are, surviving on powder that smells like perfume. In this situation, if you get serious, do you know what happens?”

“…What happens?”

“What happens? You go crazy! And in a bad way! So before that happens, we go crazy first. In a good way!”

Yuria jumped up, grabbed handfuls of pink powder, and stuffed them into our mouths. Monggu tried to escape, convulsing, but couldn’t overcome Yuria’s strength and ended up with his mouth full of pink powder, coughing. With each cough, powder rose from his nose and mouth like cigarette smoke. I accepted one mouthful, but in return, I stuffed two fistfuls of pink powder into Yuria’s mouth. “Argh! It’s disgusting!” Yuria jumped straight into the lake to hide. We followed her. The second round of water play had begun.

Swimming around in the water, Yuria rummaged through Teacher Sena’s bag and pulled out some leaves. Horugallis leaves. They contained psychotropic substances with anesthetic effects. I’d heard they were used as medicinal herbs.

Yuria put one in her mouth and then gave us some too.

Combined with the pink powder left in our mouths, it created an unbelievably awful taste. Monggu was out after just one leaf, and I chewed through ten in a row until I started to feel like I was losing my mind.

We shouted like madmen.

“Your parents are dead! Because of that damn coward Monggu!”

When Yuria shouted, I responded.

“Damn it! I want to kill him right now! But don’t kill your comrades! That’s the law!”

“I-I’m sorry! Damn it! I’m sorry! B-but don’t k-kill me! I’ll try harder! No, damn it! B-but who here hasn’t l-lost their parents?”

“Parents are meant to die.”

“Grrr! Losers. It’s all because they’re weak. Survival of the fittest, you know? That’s why they’re doomed. Your parents died because they were weaker than us. They failed to evolve!”

“Whoa~ That’s going too far.”

“Hmph! Isn’t blasphemous humor the basics on the Star Continent?”

“Well, that’s true.”

“Ha, ha-ha, d-damn adults. L-leaving us behind…”

“You know, about your stuttering. That’s trauma. You’re crazy. It might last your whole life!”

“Y-you just told me to g-go crazy!”

Splash, splash.

Spraying water, feeding each other pink powder, chewing leaves… I couldn’t tell who was saying what anymore. I felt like I was Yuria, and Monggu was me.

After making a ruckus like that, once the drug effect wore off, we all collapsed.

“Any more horugallis?”

When I asked, Yuria threw more pink powder at me. I guess there was no more horugallis. Disappointed, I opened my mouth to catch the scattering powder. The awful cosmetic taste. The terrible food we’d have to eat until we were sick of it. But this little thing, after consuming so much earlier, now felt like nothing.

Yuria murmured.

“No more. You’re supposed to use it all at once. That prevents addiction. That’s what a nomad teacher taught me. When you’re under extreme stress and fear, use up all your horugallis at once. …I never thought I’d have to do this twice, though.”

…Was it the drug making my emotions fluctuate?

Hearing Yuria’s words, tears suddenly welled up.

Come to think of it… all of this had happened in just one day.

Fleeing through the forest, the nomad’s annihilation, our parents’ deaths, left with only Yuria and that damn Monggu, exploring this incomprehensible relic.

Damn… what kind of day…

Yuria glanced at my tears and murmured.

“Yes. This is what we needed.”

I just lay there silently, letting the tears flow. Without making a sound.

+ – + – +

It was at least thirty minutes later when someone spoke again.

We shared sentimental stories.

“Baek Ho-yang… Baek Song-i… Those were my parents’ names. Since we didn’t usually call them by name… I’m afraid I’ll forget.”

“Hmm—come to think of it, have you heard my full name? Since we don’t use surnames… I’m Yuria Lin. My dad was Herman Lin. My mom was Sonya Allen.”

“Uaaagh… all of you come at me…”

Of course, Monggu was still completely out of it.

Lying there, I cried, then laughed, then looked at the capsules we’d brought. Even amid this chaos, the magical powers were calmly going about their business. They’d float through the air, and when they approached a capsule, they’d brush against it once.

“…They’re mourning.”

“Hm?”

Leaving Yuria asking behind me, I stood up unsteadily.

Am I just projecting my emotions?

Somehow, I felt like I could sense the magical powers’ emotions. It felt like they were paying respects to something.

They seemed to be mourning something inside the unopened capsules…

They seemed to be caressing and honoring something.

The three-dimensional shapes engraved on the surface… they seemed to be caressing and honoring them.

Has the drug not worn off yet?

All sorts of leaps of logic exploded in my head, and I became convinced without any evidence. I shouted.

“It’s names!”

Yuria asked from behind me.

“What is?”

“That. The drawing you made!”

I rummaged through my bag for the notebook. We had brought four capsules here, and in the notebook were four three-dimensional figures Yuria had drawn. Cubes and tetrahedrons combined in different sizes and patterns to form shapes.

“What do you mean names?”

“These are names! Names that can only be spoken through shapes!”

“Where would such things exist?”

“Circle!”

I immediately activated my Circle. The Circle murmured, and mana began to flow out from inside. But it was still mana without a proper form. I tried to shape it into what I wanted, but it wasn’t easy. It was even more complex than 2nd Circle magic that I hadn’t even learned yet. But I couldn’t give up.

[Simulation]

Thanks to becoming a 2nd Circle mage, my time limit had increased. After running simulations for nearly 24 hours straight, blood gushed from my nose when I emerged.

“Hey… you…”

Yuria was startled by my sudden nosebleed, but I opened my bloodshot eyes wider and moved the magical power.

Woong—

Finally. Mana resembling Yuria’s drawn three-dimensional shape flowed out from my Circle.

My Circle had essentially called out the name written on the capsule!

Tzziing!

Instantly, the capsule twisted and magical power poured out from inside.

Whoosh!

The lake, which had remained calm even during our commotion, suddenly produced a large wave that swallowed the capsule.

Each time my Circle called the name (the three-dimensional shape) written on a capsule, that capsule was sucked into the lake.

The absorbed capsules dissolved and disappeared in the water, and the magical powers released from within began to fill the lake. The lake gradually emitted a brighter light.

And finally, the long-awaited voice was heard.

-Power restored. Power severely insufficient. Arsenal Ego is in hibernation. Waking auxiliary ego. Restoring partial functionality of Arsenal’s lowest level. Restored functions include: partial main control room.

Bang! With that sound, bright light flooded into our plaza, and a few new buds sprouted on the tree in the center of the lake.

-Elevator.

Woong—

The sound of an elevator activating echoed from far away.

-Barracks.

Lights came on in one of the many corridors connected to the plaza, perhaps guiding the way.

-Mobility.

Whiing!

Making a sound, a hovering disc flew in and stopped in front of us.

Wow…

I didn’t know what it was, but it was incredibly cool.

But right now, there was only one urgent matter. I asked loudly:

“Is there a bedroom available?!”

I wanted to lie down immediately.

It had been… such a long day.