87. The Last Newcomer
The elves had already distanced themselves.
In Yirina’s case, she was pulling up a golden divine power in her eyes with a tense gaze, and it was evident that they were on guard at a glance.
Perhaps their reaction seemed as if they hadn’t even considered that this bead might be the reward for clearing the 3rd level.
To them, unfamiliarity meant danger.
The threat of the Frey planet they faced came from the unknown, and distancing oneself was an instinctual behavior rooted in experience.
A natural response.
[If you wish to confirm the reward, simply hand it over to the cleric class Yirina first. She has the power to purify the object.]
“So, it needs to be purified. Understood.”
Following the system’s instructions, Han handed the reward directly to them.
Along his touch, the swirling smoke moved as if drawn towards Yirina’s hand in no time.
“Are you saying… I should take it, my lord?”
“Of course.”
Nod. Nod.
At Han’s response, Yirina cautiously stepped forward among them and took it.
Yirina, with divine power emanating from her eyes.
The moment she placed the smoke on her hand.
Crackle!
Sparks shot up, revealing a backlash.
“Oops!”
“Ah! The bead!”
Startled, Yirina momentarily dropped the bead.
Fortunately, it didn’t break.
The bead still contained the ominous aura within.
However, there was a slight change.
“The… color of the bead changed slightly?”
Han widened his eyes and observed the change happening inside the bead.
Part of the bead was burning, turning a pale white.
It seemed as if it was rejecting sacredness.
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It was a phenomenon that anyone could understand, even if they didn’t know anything about it.
A series of sacredness that flowed from Irina, part of the magical power that covered this spirit-like object, was stripped away.
“System. What is this?”
[It is energy purified by magical aura.]
“Irina? She just touched it lightly?”
[A priest class with exceptional talent has the power to purify magic. It is not strange that just touching it possesses the effect of ‘dispelling evil’.]
“I see.”
Come to think of it, that was true.
Her power acted as an extreme contrast to the undead.
Even the Dura clan was particularly wary of Irina.
Perhaps it was a sign that Irina’s talent and sacredness were more outstanding than most priests they had encountered.
Anyways, Han understood vaguely.
Han picked up the bead again and handed it to Irina.
“Here. Quickly purify the rest too.”
“…Understood.”
Irina nodded cautiously.
She carefully accepted the bead.
Crackle! Crackle!
As soon as she took the bead in her hand, a strong spark shot up.
“Oh…”
“What’s happening?”
As everyone watched, the once dark bead gradually regained its color.
A change was taking place.
With each spark, the color of the bead brightened without fail.
Soon, it turned into a perfectly clear white bead.
Ding!
A familiar alert tone sounded, and a message appeared.
Avatar Archers
– Category: Skill
– A skill that summons a large number of archer soldiers for battle command. They have physical bodies and can perform various physical activities beyond just shooting arrows as commanded. They remain summoned until destroyed.
“What is this?”
Han, who had been silently observing the contents for a while, was taken aback only after a few seconds had passed.
“…Skill? No, a skill?!”
But without time to be shocked by the subsequent impact.
“Oh.”
As everyone watched, the bead melted away like water and seeped into Irina’s hand.
“….”
Amidst the silence of everyone.
About two seconds had passed.
“Oops.”
Yumina expressed her confusion a beat late.
After gently touching Irina’s hand, Yumina asked, “Could it be that the bead just disappeared?”
Amidst everyone’s confusion, Hahn, hesitating, asked, “Uh, where did it go? The bead?”
[The purified bead will vanish instantly upon possession. The acquirer of the skill ‘Avatar Legion’ is Irina.]
“…Ah.”
She tightly shut her eyes.
“You should have told me about that first.”
Without hesitation on who to reward, it was Irina who swallowed up the compensation in the end.
***
A flash.
Hahn opened his eyes.
Before him lay a space shrouded in utter darkness.
There was no ground to step on, no sense of falling, no feeling of floating anywhere.
But that too was short-lived.
Before he could even realize it, his view had flipped.
Goooo-
Upon regaining consciousness, Hahn found himself standing in front of a massive temple.
He looked around.
“…Where is this?”
[This is the lower realm of the Akashic Records, the cosmic repository of information.]
Was this the place where the records of the universe were kept?
Hahn gazed up at the temple.
The building was so immense it made him feel like an ant.
“Was it always like this?”
A strange sensation.
As if his mind was detaching from his body and being drawn into some distant and mysterious place.
Perhaps, in reality, that thought wasn’t entirely wrong.
This was a type of access named ‘connection’ to some unknown place.
In truth, his body still remained in reality.
Hahn entered the library.
The vast interior of the enormous library stretched endlessly with numerous books and shelves.
Rustling.
He looked around.
“What’s that?”
He saw shadows moving around the library.
The sizes were all different.
Some had forms similar to humans, while others had long limbs that stretched endlessly like an octopus or squid.
However, no one could properly grasp their shapes.
The moment one tried to focus, it dispersed like mist.
It was a strange experience.
“Clearly… something is visible, but the form is not clear.”
[The connectors here are perfectly separated into channels to prevent interference.]
“Channels?”
[Think of it as similar to the channels in a game. Most of them are race gods similar to you or beings of equivalent status.]
Han felt a newfound emotion.
“All of them….”
Were all those numerous beings race gods?
It felt as if wandering through a bustling street.
“…More than I thought. Oh, no. Even though gods seem so common, is it okay for them to be this common?”
[Gods are undoubtedly rare beings but from the perspective of the vast universe, they are not that rare. Even if there is only one race god per planet where civilization exists, the number would be as vast as the number of planets.]
“True, hearing that makes sense.”
Indeed, considering the types of gods that Han had encountered in the system so far, they were quite substantial.
From ancient Greece to the gods who led civilizations of various races.
Just the number of them was already considerable, and if the gods between each planet were included, the number would surely increase exponentially.
Han followed the system’s guidance.
The corridor was wide.
There were many people walking around, yet none showed interest in each other.
They were all solely focused on reading books.
Han absentmindedly looked at the bookshelves.
The names of the books stuck in caught his eye.
[Brain and Spirit Techniques]
[Immortal Techniques]
[Power Techniques]
[White Magic Techniques]
─ From well-known martial arts manuals that even outsiders had heard of to unfamiliar ones like [Dragon Techniques] or [Spirit Techniques], Han saw a variety of names.
Although Han was a modern human, he knew a bit about martial arts manuals.
Occasionally, dungeon treasures discovered by hunters were widely known.
Then suddenly, Han’s feet stopped.
At one point, he realized that books with the same name had been lined up endlessly on the shelves.
The names of those books.
“…Heavenly Demon God Technique?”
A martial arts manual left behind by the Heavenly Demon, once hailed as the best in the martial world.
What was easily found in novels, dramas, and literature was now right in front of him.
“But….”
Han looked around and asked.
“The book is here? And why are there so many identical books? All these books are related to the Heavenly Demon Arts?”
[They are not the same books.]
“Huh? Then?”
[Those are all publications written by different Heavenly Demons.]
…His mouth fell open.
As many Heavenly Demons existed as there were books.
Suddenly, a suspicion crept in.
“Those Heavenly Demons were just imaginary beings?”
[As mentioned before, human imagination is not as exceptional. Those beings imagined here are, in fact, mostly passed down through someone’s verses and mentions.]
“I see.”
He looked around.
Rows of books filled with unprecedented visions of history were visible.
Here, the kind of visions modern hunters would eagerly thirst for seemed so common that it was almost strange.
Swallowing dryly, he asked with a glimmer of hope, “Could I learn from those as well?”
[I’m sorry, but to excel in martial arts beyond a certain level, you would need talents like the figure ‘Sion.’ Even that is just a minimum requirement, along with diverse, complex environments and a long time.]
At the mention of the leveling system, Han let out a wry laugh.
“Well, that makes sense. I’m not a proximity hunter or a hermit, so having talent in martial arts is out of the question.”
Without hesitation, he let go of any lingering regrets.
Han turned inward once more.
The more he delved, the fewer sightings there were of the kindred deities who roamed around him.
After glancing around for a moment, he asked in puzzlement, “It seems like there are hardly any other gods from here on? Even if they exist, they appear sporadically, one or two at most. Is this a different place?”
[From here on, it is a space permitted only for higher gods directly involved in the truth of the grand universe. It is a place where the history of the grand universe related to the Creator God is preserved. Just by accessing this place, manipulation of various spaces in reality becomes possible.]
“Does that mean I can’t come in?”
[You have already stepped into this realm.]
“…What?”
Han questioned.
[Though your own status may only be at the level of an intermediate god, within you lies the extremely rare lineage of a higher god that is unparalleled across the entire universe. Have you not realized?]
“…Wait. What does that mean?”
Lineage? A lineage?
In an instant, Han belatedly grasped the implications and felt his breath catch.
Now that he understood what it meant.
The system pronounced as if delivering a verdict.
[You are of divine descent. Perhaps, the last remaining pure lineage in the universe.]