Chapter 184
‘How intense.’
The sight of the Golems lined up in formation was a spectacle.
There were probably very few demon lords who possessed this many Golems.
Normally, Golems were used to guard fortresses.
This alone showed how serious Ahetta had been about defending this laboratory.
However, more than those idle thoughts, Park Chanwoo focused on the messages floating before his eyes.
The contents were more than intense—they were scorching.
‘Golem Crafting, huh.’
Golems could only be crafted by those who possessed the Golem Crafter Class.
Since it was an incredibly difficult Class to obtain, only a handful of people ever had it.
Yet he had acquired Golem Crafting without having the corresponding Class.
This was anything but normal.
It was more unusual than a swordsman using magic.
Frankly, he’d never even heard of such a thing.
Crafting something implied specialized knowledge.
The Class that only those with exceptional dexterity and a strong craftsman’s spirit could acquire was the Crafter.
And a Golem Crafter?
‘It’s the highest-level Class among Crafters.’
Classes had tiers.
This was especially true for Crafting.
Blacksmiths who forged equipment, sculptors who made statues and set them in motion, special artisans, jewelers—none of them could match the uniqueness of a Golem Crafter.
But he had taken only the Crafting skill, without the Class.
It seemed to be the result of repairing all 900 high-grade Golems.
‘Well… there’s no way anyone but me could have had this kind of experience.’
He chuckled to himself.
Ahetta was a giving tree.
Even after death, he kept leaving gifts behind.
“Oh… that’s amazing. This is the first time I’ve seen so many Golems gathered in one place.”
Dagon, who had been watching, gaped.
He hadn’t expected that staying here even after the Third Night ended would lead to this.
He had never imagined that Park Chanwoo would repair the broken Golems and earn their loyalty.
Above all, these were Golems with self-awareness.
Normally, Golems weren’t particularly versatile; they could only carry out a small number of core orders from their user.
At most, they were assigned to guard something.
Or they were taken around in small numbers and moved by giving commands in real time.
‘Nine hundred Golems performing their roles on their own! It’s a Golem Legion.’
He was tempted by the sheer value of those Golems.
If he took them and sold them, demons would line up for the chance to buy them.
They were the kind of overwhelming asset that could be put up for formal auction in the Abyss.
-Our new master!
-Thank you!
-The master’s blood saved everyone.
-The master’s blood has greatly increased the Mana utilization of the Mana Cores.
-We have become stronger!
Behold that magnificent sight.
Nine hundred giant Golems, each one kneeling solemnly on one knee.
It was as if they were taking a knight’s oath.
Also…
‘Sephiro’s blood is connected to their Mana Cores. That blood is activating the Golems’ Mana Cores more powerfully. Their self-repair ability has skyrocketed.’
It was a miraculous phenomenon.
Under normal circumstances, the limits of a Mana Core were fixed when it was created.
Yet when the contractor Sephiro’s blood enveloped those cores, something astonishing occurred.
The inherent Mana in the cores was refined, and the quality of that Mana soared.
And that wasn’t all.
Their regeneration ability had increased dramatically.
‘Sephiro has powerful regeneration magic. And that magic is linked to his blood.’
Magic dwelled within his blood itself.
Super Regenaration.
Dagon stroked his chin.
The contractor had nearly died from using too much blood.
Perhaps Super Regenaration hadn’t activated properly because he had bled excessively.
Had that blood, imbued with Super Regenaration, enhanced the Golems’ abilities?
However, there were too many off details to explain it away as just the effect of Super Regenaration.
There was something more within that blood.
Dagon quietly made a small cut on his own finger.
‘…Because of the powerful Mana Interference, the Mana in my blood is completely scattered.’
And that wasn’t all.
The moment the wound opened, the Mana Interference phenomenon started spreading through Dagon’s entire body via his blood.
Dagon quickly stopped the bleeding and took stock of the situation.
‘Even a small wound causes the Mana in my whole body to be disrupted. The Golems being shattered and malfunctioning must have happened for the same reason.’
But Park Chanwoo was an exception.
His blood carried Mana and restored the Golems’ cores.
Even when he wounded himself, the Mana Interference didn’t penetrate his body.
No—it wasn’t that it didn’t, but that it couldn’t.
Because of his powerful blood.
Yet wasn’t that strange?
That body was clearly human.
It was a human body created by Dragon God Sephiro for the sake of amusement.
But…
What if it wasn’t just for amusement?
What if he had sincerely tried to mimic himself as a human?
‘Could it be that he transplanted Sephiro’s real heart?’
…If that were the case, everything made sense.
All of these phenomena could be understood at once.
Because a dragon’s heart was special.
Among them, Dragon God Sephiro’s heart was the most exceptional.
It was known that he had twelve hearts, and each heart was composed of ultimate magic that had reached Level 15.
A single drop of his blood contained enough Mana to fill a world, and it had a rare value incomparable to any elixir.
Sephiro poured all his Mana into his hearts, and the blood pulsing from them carried absolute power.
There were even tales that a single drop of his blood falling on a wasteland would cause a vast, unending forest to spring up.
Therefore, the being with the most special blood in the Abyss was Dragon God Sephiro.
Gulp.
‘My choice was not wrong!’
Dagon was truly glad he had brought Arkham’s Life Water.
“Hmm…”
At that moment, Park Chanwoo let out a small sound.
Nine hundred Golems were pledging their loyalty, and everything was going smoothly.
Yet it was as if he had found something that displeased him.
“Is something wrong?”
Park Chanwoo shook his head at Dagon’s question.
‘My Level didn’t rise as dramatically as I thought it would.’
His Level had gone up by a lot.
More than the eight Levels he’d received as additional compensation after Ahetta’s bankruptcy.
Still, he couldn’t deny that he’d been expecting more, given that he’d initially gained 10% from repairing just one Dark Guardian.
Ten percent per unit.
For nine hundred units, that was 9,000% by simple calculation.
He’d expected something closer to a 90-Level gain.
‘I gained 10 Levels and ended up 63 Levels short of what I dreamed of.’
Of course, he understood why.
‘As your Level rises, the required experience goes up, and the experience you gain from repeating the same action drops off sharply.’
There were many ways to raise experience in the Abyss.
Hunting, quests, training, or special events like this.
The problem was repetitive actions.
Experience meant gaining new experiences and stretching the boundaries of one’s limits.
If you kept hunting the same monsters, clung to the same kind of training, or repeated the same Abyss over and over, the experience gained from it would plummet.
Repairing Golems was something he’d done 900 times in a row, so naturally, the rate of experience gain would have fallen off.
‘Still, this isn’t bad.’
He had gained 10 Levels in just three days.
It was an insane growth rate that couldn’t be compared to his past, no matter who you asked.
He had already climbed nearly halfway up the high ground.
The odds of reaching Level 1 within his restricted lifespan had gone up, so there was nothing to complain about.
Park Chanwoo walked slowly and stopped in front of the Door.
A massive Door.
Behind it lay the Transcender’s Artifact.
Park Chanwoo pointed to the Door and said,
“I’m going to forcibly destroy the Door. I’d like all of you to help.”
-I understand, my master!
-We obey your command!
-Let’s break the Door right now!
—
Krrrrrrrrrr!
The world trembled.
The entire Eternal Land began to shake from the sheer magnitude of the force.
“…That’s an incredible amount of physical power.”
“The source is definitely Ahetta’s laboratory.”
“But isn’t that on the opposite side?”
The witches shot sharp looks at Ataraxia.
Because he had been dragging them in circles and had brought them all the way to the far side.
Ataraxia shook his head.
“We can’t definitively say the tremors originated in the laboratory.”
“No, it’s obvious.”
“This Eternal Land is empty now. There’s nothing left that could create this kind of ripple.”
“If there is anything, it’s only the laboratory Ahetta hid.”
Ataraxia sighed inwardly.
‘So this is as far as I can stall.’
The witches’ stance was firm.
If he kept insisting otherwise, their suspicion would only deepen.
Even he believed that the source of this vibration was almost certainly the laboratory.
He was just puzzled.
What was happening inside that laboratory to unleash enough physical force to shake the entire Eternal Land?
…Still, now that he’d been exposed, he couldn’t waste any more time.
He had to head to the laboratory and figure out some other way he could intervene.
“…Fine. Let’s go.”
—
Krrrrrrrr!
With a deafening roar, the Door collapsed.
And then—
Ting!
《Verifying the authority of the ‘Administrator’.》
《Only those with the authority of the ‘Administrator’ may enter beyond the ‘Door’.》
《Verifying the entry of the ‘Special Administrator’.》
《All remaining barriers have been removed.》
《A map leading to the ‘center of the laboratory’ appears.》
Park Chanwoo stepped through the collapsed Door without hesitation.
Behind him, Dagon and the Golems stood still, quietly watching him go.
“Guard the laboratory. I’ll be back soon.”
“Are you really going to be alright alone?”
Dagon asked anxiously, and Park Chanwoo nodded.
“I’m the only one who can enter anyway.”
Inside, countless barriers and traps were still active.
The moment any other being stepped in, they would all be triggered.
“…Understood.”
Even so, Dagon couldn’t hide his worry.
He had no idea what kinds of experiments Ahetta had carried out in the depths of this laboratory.
Park Chanwoo just shrugged and walked deeper inside.
Soon, he frowned.
‘…Did he conduct biological experiments?’
Because the corpses of all kinds of races were scattered everywhere.
An Orc mummified where it had been shackled to the laboratory wall, a Werewolf with its skull cut open, and fragments of various creatures stored in jars.
Charred lumps of flesh, beasts that had died with Rune Words carved all over their bodies.
Experiments on living beings, carried out on a level that was sickening to even look at, had been performed here.
‘Did he commit these atrocities to complete the Transcender’s Artifact?’
What on earth was this Transcender’s Artifact?
Park Chanwoo swallowed and followed the map’s route toward the very center of the laboratory.
When he finally arrived—
“That is…?”
His pupils widened.
The object placed at the very center.
The thing that was radiating such powerful Mana Interference was without a doubt the Transcender’s Artifact.
However, it was completely different from what he had imagined.
Because—
“…A book?”
…What sat there was just a single book.