NOVEL NEXT Chapter 831
Chapter 831: The True Martial Home
“I told Dr. Faust.”
“Dr. Faust, whether you believe it or not, I’m from the past.”
[Looks like it.]
“About the details, with this obsidian…”
I pulled out the obsidian from my pocket and offered it to Dr. Faust. He took the obsidian and said,
[So you’re trying to transmit memories with obsidian.]
“How did you know?”
[I know it’s a technique used by the ‘Great Race,’ and on Earth before the ‘ Revelation,’ they transmitted knowledge to humans using obsidian. However, they never taught the technique itself to humanity…]
Dr. Faust muttered bitterly, then added with a bit of formality,
[Are you perhaps a ‘Great Race’ in disguise as a human? If so, treat me accordingly.]
“…No, I’m just…”
I was at a loss for words. Could it be that the memory transmission technique I acquired held such value? Although the Prophet’s race used it to assist humans, it was an exceedingly rare technique they never passed on directly.
Pa-at!
I transmitted my memories to Dr. Faust. After a while, he accepted all the memories and said,
[It seems you’ve come from 500 years in our world’s past.]
“I think so too.”
[…Hmm, it’s incredible… a reincarnated person.]
Dr. Faust sighed and said,
[If you truly are what they call a reincarnated person, you are an existence that humanity could have never imagined or dealt with before. I can understand why Lord Ha Eun-cheon had no choice but to make extreme choices…]
“Dr. Faust, may I ask a few questions?”
[Of course. Feel free to ask.]
His tone and atmosphere had shifted. The term “reincarnated person” seemed to hold significant weight for him.
“Has humanity… really perished? You became an information life form, but it seems like you can still reconstruct a human body if you want.”
Dr. Faust could physically interact with me. He passed me mechanical devices and accepted the obsidian properly. His body seemed to have no separate existence, likely synthesized from the organic matter in the nearby forest to create a temporary body.
If so, wouldn’t it make sense that he could also replicate and resurrect a human body? If Faust were still conscious in this form, could we not argue that humanity had not ‘perished’ after all?
As if reading my thoughts, Dr. Faust smiled wryly.
[You might already know, but Earth has already been drawn to the Absolute God’s throne and has perished. Attempts to terraform other planets in other solar systems have all failed, and even I will vanish if Mephistopheles’ operational power ceases. Moreover, Mephistopheles currently deems regenerating humanity to be meaningless.]
“What is Mephistopheles?”
[An advanced AI and the last legacy left by humanity… and my greatest masterpiece.]
“What do you mean by advanced AI?”
[… You are a medieval person, so it’s originally impossible to explain this concept, but with your knowledge of the Demon Path and science, you might get the gist if I provide a little example.]
Dr. Faust thought for a moment before continuing.
[An AI is akin to removing the wheels from a car and striving to attach feet in their place. In other words, it is a machine that artificially implements part or all of human intellectual ability. As science advances, it requires extremely high computational and creative abilities, but the human brain as a living being could not support that foundation; thus, it was invented.]
“So you’re talking about a scientific tool that thinks and calculates in place of humans?”
[That was the initial design. However, as AI developed, it became impossible to treat it as just a tool due to the potential to surpass human intelligence and destroy humanity.]
I gasped in surprise.
“You’re saying machines had the potential to surpass humanity and bring about its destruction?”
[That’s correct. Yet, I still developed Mephistopheles and completed it over hundreds of years. It was a wish beyond the Philosopher’s Stone for me. Perhaps in your era, a prototype of Mephistopheles with a computing power of 5 yottabytes was already created.]
I couldn’t fully grasp many unfamiliar terms, but it certainly seemed like Mephistopheles was impressive.
“Why would you create something so dangerous?”
[If I hadn’t done so, I wouldn’t even be able to converse with you right now…]
Dr. Faust waved his hand, gesturing at the scenery around us.
[Look at this forest. This isn’t Earth. After Earth perished, Mephistopheles used its supercomputing power to create a nucleus in space and attempted artificial terraforming, planting the World Tree as its foundation, flourishing the solar system. And by utilizing the fruit of the World Tree, the fruit of knowledge, and the Reincarnation Cannon, Lord Ha Eun-cheon surpassed the multiverse… and in less than ten seconds, you came across here.]
“……”
[Without Mephistopheles’ capabilities, that last opportunity would have never been grasped.]
I reached my limit. I pretended to understand, but what he was genuinely trying to convey eluded me due to my lack of knowledge. My head hurt, and I said to Dr. Faust,
“I’m sorry, but what you’re saying is too difficult and packed with advanced knowledge for me to understand.”
[That’s understandable. I will transmit our basic knowledge to you via nanomachines using synapse optogenetics. Mephisto.]
Wiying…
As Dr. Faust called Mephisto, a strange sound erupted from thin air, and suddenly I felt a jolt of electricity coursing through my body. Thinking it was an attack, I panicked and raised my energy, but that current-like sensation kept vibrating through my body regardless. Moments later, I felt my Eight Extraordinary Vessels and blood flow boiling, and a sense of expansive clarity flooded my mind.
Hooah!!
“……!!”
In that moment, a massive amount of knowledge felt like it was absorbed into my head. It wasn’t tangible knowledge, but it settled in as if stuffed into a cramped space like clothes. Shocked, I turned to Dr. Faust.
“Could it be memory transmission capability?”
[It simply vibrated the brain’s synapses using optogenetics, incorporating a pattern for a similar learning effect. Compared to the transmission capability of the obsidian in your possession, this is vastly inferior memory transmission. It’s also highly volatile and not a good learning method. Compared to the Great Race’s technologies, Mephisto’s abilities are like that of an infant… However, you should have no difficulty grasping the situation.]
Dr. Faust explained matter-of-factly and continued.
[To get back to the main point, I suspect the reason you crossed the multiverse is due to that Heavenly Secret, but the truth is that neither Mephisto nor I can ascertain the exact cause. Thus, the probability of me telling you how to return converges to zero.]
“……”
[Stay calm. And first, try to sort out your current situation.]
“I got it.”
I thought for a moment, then said,
“Is there no way to cross the multiverse again?”
Returning home is the utmost priority. However, the answer was disappointing.
[No, the fruit of the World Tree, the fruit of knowledge, blooms only once, and it was already used up when sending Lord Ha Eun-cheon. Unless we germinate a new World Tree, we can’t obtain it again. Moreover, the Reincarnation Cannon has also been taken by him, so we have lost the means to artificially create the Primordial Void.]
“Doesn’t Mephistopheles know how to recreate the Reincarnation Cannon?”
[The blueprint for the Reincarnation Cannon is naturally included. However, it is merely a launching pad, and the actual operation of the Reincarnation Cannon was possible only because a certain amount of Primordial Void was already extracted and stored.]
“What do you mean by that?”
[During the time when the Reincarnation Cannon was being created, all of humanity’s Master Class sacrificed their lives to draw out the Primordial Void. And with 10 billion people extinguished, there are no Master Class martial arts experts, so how could we create the Primordial Void?]
“When you say Master Class…”
[To put it in your era’s terms, they were experts of the Absolute Realm.]
“……”
[Including Lord Ha Eun-cheon, there were three. Two of them died to generate the resonance reaction of the Primordial Void, which allowed us to create a single Reincarnation Cannon.]
At that moment, memories from the past surfaced.
[Baek Woong. I have a plan. Quickly resurrect the Sword Demon.]
[And summon Yong Junil, Guk-ho, and Sagong Lin.]
[With that, all the main characters are gathered. Now what’s the plan, Jin So-cheong?]
[The three martial arts experts will resonate with the Seven Luminaries.]
[Simply changing the target of amplification.]
It was during my 24th life when we faced the trial of the Seven Luminaries at the trial of the Moon Luminary. We were struggling because the Moon Luminary had obtained the innate properties of the World Tree and reached a realm of immortality. At that time, Jin So-cheong had requested the three martial artists to resurrect with the King’s power, and they strengthened the Primordial Void by combining their resonance with the Seven Luminaries.
And in that moment, when the martial artists reached the realm of ‘something’ and sublimated, the Moon Luminary also perished. What Jin So-cheong and the martial artists tried at that time was indeed amplifying the Primordial Void – I understood Dr. Faust’s words.
‘Future people also knew that the master class of the Absolute Realm could amplify the Primordial Void.’
An idea suddenly struck me, and I said to Dr. Faust,
“Could it be that they used the power of the Seven Luminaries to amplify the Primordial Void?”
[That’s right. It’s similar to what your companions did. Without the help of the Seven Luminaries, it would have been impossible.]
“How many Seven Luminaries did future people collect against the ‘Revelation’ and the ‘End’? ”
[Humanity gathered a total of three: the Moon Luminary, the Moon Luminary, and the Gold Luminary.]
I had a rough idea of why they could gather the Moon Luminary and the Moon Luminary. They were likely already scattered across the earth, making them relatively easy to collect. The Gold Luminary was also likely not sent to another world, so it could be collected. The Earth Luminary was in Dark Heaven Village, making it impossible for humanity’s technology to obtain it. The Sun Luminary could only be attained after passing the trials of the Seven Luminaries.
“Why couldn’t they obtain the Flame Elemental and Water Elemental?”
[They never discovered their locations until the end. Although you somehow managed to acquire them, it remained incomprehensible. Of course, even if we had, in the case of the Flame Elemental, there would have been barriers preventing us from acquiring it…]
Dr. Faust muttered with regret,
[Furthermore, the White Lotus Sect hindered us until the end.]
“The White Lotus Sect?”
[They attempted to steal the Seven Luminaries gathered by the Human Alliance at the end and used it as an offering to learn the Dharma Technique of the Non-Birth Mother. Although the Human Alliance annihilated the underground organization, it came at a great cost…]
“Could it be that the Master of the White Lotus Sect Dong Gu Woon-cheon was still alive until then?”
At my question, Dr. Faust shook his head.
[The figures you saw in your memories, such as the Master of the White Lotus Sect and the Dharma Guardian, were absent from both my and Mephisto’s database until just now. They exist in the historical texts of the medieval Ming Dynasty, but only in a line or two, and even that isn’t worth paying attention to. Naturally, we couldn’t see them in the future.]
“……”
It tasted a little bitter that humanity fought amongst themselves even as doom approached.
I needed to uncover something significant, so I said to Faust,
“The Master of the Twelve Joules drew forth tremendous power through a different method. How did they do that? And how can one use the Phoenix? What is Heavenly Unrestrained Technique as well?”
[Let me tell you one by one. That’s Mephisto’s…]
At that moment.
Pachijijijik!!
[Ah^%^^….]
Dr. Faust’s form suddenly collapsed completely, being sucked somewhere as if turned into a dot. It happened so abruptly that I had no way to react. As I froze and scanned the surroundings with vigilance, a massive explosion erupted shortly after.
Kukwakwang!
Kwakakwang!
The ground shook, and the forest was utterly destroyed. The sky and earth twisted in a whirlwind, forcing me to hurriedly leave that place. However, as I climbed onto a reasonably tall tree, I couldn’t escape the waves that were rising from the earth, and I had no choice but to burst through the earth and fly through the air.
Whoosh!
Had I flown about a hundred floors from the ground? I suddenly felt a substantial decrease in gravity enveloping my body, and I realized the surroundings were dimming significantly. Simultaneously, I witnessed a terrifying sight where the massive branches of the giant trees filled the void of the universe.
Kukwakwang!
‘A meteor, huh.’
A meteor slicing through space had crashed here. It was still erupting; the heavens and earth turned crimson and exploded. It seemed Mephistopheles was gathering the identity of Dr. Faust and responding to the current situation.
I decided to leap further outward. As I jumped onto the branches and moved, I suddenly noticed something bobbing in the far-off void.
‘What is that?’
Even with an immense distance, I could see that shape clearly, and I tilted my head in confusion. But as soon as I recognized it as a strange tentacle exuding an unprecedented fierce aura, my expression hardened. Surrounding that colossal tentacle were an overwhelming number of alien tentacles floating about.
Kuuuuuoo!
That is the [Old Ruler].
I don’t know the name, but such beings exist only as the [Old Ruler].
‘Could it be… could it be this situation…?’
Was the [Old Ruler] attacking humanity to erase the seed?
No, no way.
The target is the World Tree.
‘Since they planted a core in the solar system’s space and made the World Tree grow, it would indeed be tempting for the [Old Ruler]. The World Tree is an egg of chaos, so they would want to consume it.’
In that case, it makes sense that Mephistopheles deemed regenerating humanity meaningless. There’s no point in reconstructing human bodies while the [Old Ruler] threatens to annihilate this base in a state where Earth has perished. We now find ourselves in an unavoidable situation of destined demise.
I contemplated on how I could survive in this situation, but no answers came to mind. I couldn’t possibly face the [Old Ruler] alone, and the Seven Luminaries I possessed were rendered inoperable.
That said, I couldn’t commit suicide either; in this state, traversing the multiverse led to unpredictable outcomes. If reincarnation were impossible, what would I do? Or… would I continue to reincarnate from the moment I met Faust earlier?
No matter how I tried, I couldn’t acquire the strength to confront the [Old Ruler] from such a bottomless state. It felt like a meaningless repetition of death millions of times over.
However – even in this situation, was there a way to survive? With Earth annihilated and the [Old Ruler] preparing to invade the terraforming site?
There was nowhere to escape.
Even in battle, there was no chance of victory.
It was the very definition of a dilemma!
‘Damn it… is there no way to avoid death…?’
Suddenly, the thought of a different approach struck me.
‘Yeah! With things having gotten this far…’
Jun-wook’s power!
As an Apostle, let’s manipulate the [Small Wheel of Destiny] to turn back time!
Then, I can revert to just before I spoke to Dr. Faust, gather all the information, and potentially discover a way to survive! At the very least, I could avoid dying and maximize the results.
It may not drastically differ from simply dying, but I had to do anything to avoid that fate. After all, with no alternative options, at least let me escape death while trying to make the most out of this.
Just as I focused on invoking Jun-wook’s power and stretched my hand forward.
“……?”
Nothing happened.
It wasn’t the feeling of Jun-wook rejecting my call. I felt no sense from the very target I was trying to request, and it seemed I could not use the Apostle’s powers at all.
“This, what’s going on?”
Jun-wook might run over in anger, but he’d never not activate this power. As I panic-stricken flailed my hand, it still wouldn’t budge.
Then I realized.
The Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors don’t exist in this era.