Chapter 14

Lee Hyuk-soo looked around.

The hospital room was filled with the stench of disinfectant.

By the window—where he had first looked up at the moon.

‘It’s morning.’

As he stared outside, Lee Hyuk-soo squinted slightly under the bright sunlight.

Before he knew it, the sun had risen into the sky.

Not the grotesque moon whose eyes once moved.

…It felt as if he had woken from a long dream.

But this was no dream.

Lee Hyuk-soo lowered his gaze.

‘Immortal King’s Armament.’

Armor, greatsword, gauntlets, belt, boots, and even the helmet.

Exactly as he had equipped them after obtaining them in the First Night of the Abyss.

“……!”

Realizing this was reality, Lee Hyuk-soo hurriedly rummaged through his clothes.

Eventually, he found a small potion bottle shaped like a gourd, about the size of a baby’s fist.

“It’s here……”

Inside was a shimmering blue liquid.

An elixir.

A miraculous potion purchased for 3,000 points.

According to the Prophet, with this, he could wake his mother.

Tap.

Lee Hyuk-soo was already moving.

He quickly approached the bed and looked down at the woman lying there.

So emaciated her bones showed.

Even her hair lacked life.

It was his mother, Kim Ji-yeon, who hadn’t awoken in nearly ten years.

‘Dear God.’

A name he had called out thousands, tens of thousands of times.

But not once had God ever responded.

Still, Lee Hyuk-soo muttered the name one last time.

Pop!

With trembling hands, he opened the bottle and carefully poured it near Kim Ji-yeon’s mouth.

Drop by drop, slowly.

It took nearly ten minutes to empty the elixir entirely.

‘Why isn’t anything happening?’

But nothing changed.

Had the Prophet lied?

Maybe elixirs didn’t work on people in vegetative states.

Just as his mind was filling with every possible doubt—

“Mmm……”

“Ah…!”

Lee Hyuk-soo’s eyes trembled.

His mother, who hadn’t reacted for nearly a decade, slowly opened her eyes.

“Are you… awake?”

“Who…?”

“It’s me. Hyuk-soo. Ah.”

Lee Hyuk-soo removed his helmet.

Seeing him drenched in sweat like a wet rat, Kim Ji-yeon gave a faint smile.

“My little Hyuk-soo… you’ve grown so much. I hardly recognize you.”

“Mo—Mother……”

“But I’m still a little sleepy. Just a bit more……”

The reunion didn’t last long.

Kim Ji-yeon’s body slumped again.

At the same time, Lee Hyuk-soo’s expression hardened.

Was she falling back into a sleep she would never wake from?

All kinds of ominous thoughts invaded his mind.

“Mmm……”

“……!!!”

Shiver!

Lee Hyuk-soo trembled all over.

…She was sleep-talking.

It was clearly different from the time when there were no responses at all.

Suddenly, Lee Hyuk-soo’s vision blurred.

His dulled emotions had welled up for the first time in a long while.

To keep them from spilling over, he bit his lip and again rummaged through his clothes to pull out the [Coin].

—He probably told you saving your mother with the elixir wasn’t the end.

That’s what the Prophet said.

That from now on, this world would become a living hell.

To keep his mother alive in that hell, he would need this very [Coin].

But more important than that—

—If you truly want to protect her, become the Savior, Lee Hyuk-soo.

Just before charging at the Dragon God General, right after casting a spell.

It was as if the Prophet had already known how others would treat him after killing the Dragon God General.

Of course, Lee Hyuk-soo had not the slightest intention of becoming something as pretentious as a savior.

However—

‘I have to become stronger.’

He understood what the Prophet meant by “become the savior.”

He had to become stronger than anyone else.

So powerful that demons wouldn’t even dare target him.

So no one would even think of touching his family—his everything.

…It meant he had to attain overwhelming martial strength.

—From tomorrow onward, the world we know will change. An unimaginable upheaval will occur. Don’t be surprised. Don’t be afraid. Press forward like a rhinoceros’s horn.

Move forward. Keep moving forward, and you’ll protect what matters, naturally.

Lee Hyuk-soo stepped back toward the window.

Earlier, he had only seen the sun in the sky, not the state of the ground.

* * *

“Emergency patient!”

“We’re out—out of beds!”

“Aaaargh! It hurts! I said it hurts!”

“You bastards! Can’t you see the patient here?!”

……Already, this world was [Avīci Hell].

Patients dragging their injured bodies, trying to enter the hospital.

Medical staff overwhelmed and unable to cope.

Everything was collapsing.

But—

‘Light and shadow… it’s the first time they’ve looked so clear.’

Not for Lee Hyuk-soo.

It was the first time since his brain surgery that light and shadow—this entire world—felt so vivid.

It was as if everything had finally come into focus.

Lee Hyuk-soo turned and gently placed the [Coin] into his mother’s hand.

Then—

‘I’ll follow your words, Prophet.’

Without hesitation, he left the hospital.

Even though God never responded, no matter how many times he prayed.

The Prophet had answered him in just a single meeting.

And so—

From this day forward—

‘You are my God now.’

Lee Hyuk-soo’s God had become the Prophet.

* * *

After the [First Night of the Abyss] ended and Park Chan-woo returned home, he stared at the black box in silence for over thirty minutes.

“Black Box…”

What was it?

A color he had never seen before.

Of course, people had long questioned whether the known box colors were really all there were.

Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, Diamond.

Rumors also circulated about sightings of a “Pink Box” or a “White Box.”

But none of those stories had ever been confirmed.

Some who spread those rumors were even [Incarnations], deliberately planting false information to lure others into Abysses created by their contracting Creators.

With things like that, most rumors weren’t worth believing.

Park Chan-woo had also been convinced no other box colors existed.

And yet—

“To think a box of a different color actually existed…”

That common sense had just been shattered.

It was granted because it defied all expectations of the [Creators].

Not a single [Creator] believed that humanity would succeed in hunting down one of the [Twelve Divine Generals].

But Park Chan-woo made it possible.

By using [Reflect Magic], the very first spell he learned upon acquiring the [Original Mage] class.

‘My attack power has a limit.’

A mind-numbing [Minus Level].

Even leveling up didn’t increase his base stats.

And it wasn’t just that.

The attack power of acquired weapons was equally abysmal.

Could he really deal proper damage with attack magic?

That’s when he came up with [Reflect Magic].

‘If my attack power is low, then I’ll just use someone else’s.’

Empowered into [Authority] through a great spell, [Reflect] was even able to reflect the Dragon God General’s attacks.

‘Before opening the box… I should check everything else first.’

It was an ominous black box.

There was no telling what might burst out from inside.

If one wanted to live long, the unspoken rule was to never touch the unknown.

Still, that didn’t mean he could leave it unopened.

He just needed to prepare himself mentally.

First came organization.

He needed to check and sort what he had acquired through the Night of the Abyss.

Park Chan-woo muttered the word for his status window.

Soon, he stared at the center of the status panel that appeared.

Class: Mage (Lv. 2)
Available Spells: [Reflect] (Great Magic, Rare)
Remaining Class Level Points: 2

“……!”

Park Chan-woo’s pupils quivered.

Clearing the [First Night of the Abyss] had raised his level by 2.

Although his base stats hadn’t changed—

‘Class Level Points are still rewarded!’

And more important than anything—

He could give up on base stats if necessary, but never on the [Class Level Points]!

In the past, Park Chan-woo only managed to raise the Mage class to level 9.

‘…Thinking back on it makes me tear up.’

[Dual Class].

He had reached level 90 as a knight, then switched to mage like a total fool—he was the only human in history to do something that stupid.

‘The reason I could only learn basic spells was because of my class level.’

In this world, saying level is everything was no exaggeration.

With a low class level, there’s really nothing one can do.

For sword-based classes, leveling up unlocks sword energy, sword aura, or specialized techniques.

Mages are no different.

You need a high class level to learn high-grade spells.

At level 9, a mage could only learn [Normal]-grade spells.

‘To raise the grade of my basic magic… I sacrificed all my knight equipment.’

The [Fireball] that reached the Dragon God Sephiro’s heart.

He poured nearly all his wealth into upgrading the [Normal]-grade spell [Fireball] to [Eternal].

And what Sephiro had mistaken for a control spell was actually one of the most basic spells: [Telekinesis].

He had upgraded that as well to [Eternal].

Only later was a formal spell category called [Dominion] added.

‘They said no matter how many offerings you make, if you lack magical talent, you can’t raise spell grades.’

Park Chan-woo discovered his talent for magic thanks to the [God of Offerings].

—God of Offerings. What is my talent? Do I even have talent?

—Contractor Park Chan-woo. Your magical aptitude borders on the ultimate.

After offering a hefty sacrifice, he asked the deity what his gift was.

It was shortly after he lost a duel to the [Sword King Lee Hyuk-soo].

The [God of Offerings] told him that his gift lay in magic.

The kind of talent that could glimpse the ultimate—upon hearing that, Park Chan-woo immediately abandoned the sword and took the path of magic, albeit belatedly.

But… things were different now.

《Used 2 [Class Level Points].》
《Mage class level has increased by 2.》

In just one day, he was now level 4.

If he could keep leveling even beyond the [Minus Level]—

Then his effective max class level would be [198].

‘That’s almost reaching the 20th tier… that’s insane.’

The chances were slim, but not 0%.

Taking a deep breath, Park Chan-woo placed the [Mage’s Stone] and [Void] on the ground. (T/N: I’ll be calling it Mage’s Stone isntead of Philosopher’s stone from now on.)

The [Mage’s Stone] was literally a stone. Blue in color, tinged slightly with black.

Name: Mage’s Stone
Rarity: [Legendary]
Description: A stone discovered in the ruins of a collapsed [Magic Tower]. Said to contain everything a legendary mage once had.
Equip Slot: None (Passive Effect)
Unique Option: Increases Magic Power by 1 every time you level up while in possession.
Current Bonus from Mage’s Stone: +2 Magic Power

It was a growth-type item that increased magic power—a stat that affected a mage’s attack power and stature.

The earlier you acquired it, the more it snowballed in value.

That’s why Park Chan-woo went all out to get the Mage’s Stone.

[Void].

But more important than the Mage’s Stone was [Void].

A jewel barely the size of a pinky nail. It emitted a gray hue so mesmerizing it felt like he could fall into it.

As he shifted his gaze to it, a description instantly came to mind.

Name: Void
Rarity: [Eternal]
Description: [Void] recovered from a place where nothing exists.
Equip Slot: None (Passive Effect)
Unique Option: Grants the ability to possess mutually exclusive elemental attributes.

The phrases were extremely brief.

They barely counted as descriptions.

But that single [Unique Option] was enough to devour everything.

It was broken.

The line “Grants the ability to possess mutually exclusive elemental attributes” could just as well mean “Grants all attributes.”

It removed every elemental penalty.

“This is… outstanding.”

For the first day, he’d already gained so much.

Rare and precious treasures Park Chan-woo couldn’t obtain even after years of effort in the past.

Now only one thing remained.

“…Open.”

Park Chan-woo cautiously opened the [Black Box].

And then—

《Opening the [Black Box]…》

《A powerful curse surrounding the box’s contents begins to seep out.》

《[Easter Egg (001)] activates.》

《[Luck (1)] arrives and avoids the curse.》

《Another [Luck (2)] arrives and makes the box’s contents radiant.》