Chapter 201
‘What a shame.’
Transcender Lil thought.
She regretted this moment—deeply.
She was an existence who had lived for eternity. Time, by nature, meant nothing to her.
‘And yet… I regret it.’
It was the first time she had ever felt time slipping away as something precious.
While creating the Ancient magic, she had already lost her sense of self.
She had completed the magic recorded in the Ancient tome, even casting aside her qualifications as a Transcender.
When the seal was released, the time that had been stopped began to flow again.
And now, after passing the magic on to Park Chan-woo, even the little time she had left was nearly gone.
At best, a day.
She was forcibly stretching that single day.
‘Just a little more.’
Time was cruel.
It was the first time she had ever found sharing knowledge with someone this enjoyable.
What began as simple interest had become her true desire before she realized it.
She wanted to pass on everything she knew—every bit of wisdom and knowledge she possessed.
…But time was simply too cruel.
“Master?”
The man who called her that.
A mortal, Park Chan-woo.
A talent so unique it defied definition.
His will to face magic surpassed even her own.
And beyond mere ‘magical’ talent, there was something else.
It was as if… he was seeing magic itself.
As if he were dissecting the essence of magic just by looking at it.
—Concentrate.
Lil spoke heavily.
A spell had already formed above Park Chan-woo’s hand.
A small ‘star.’
—Imprison the light. Awaken the mana, and complete the ‘star.’
This Ancient magic contained the wishes of all stars.
To contain the Curse of the Abyss, the ‘star’ had to be created in a refined form.
If she had to name this magic…
‘Absolute Divine Spirit Magic Elysion.’
The pure soul of a star.
It was the Absolute Divine Spirit Magic ‘Elysion’—a soul that would block and devour the Curse of the Abyss.
Elysion was a name imbued with Lil’s wish: to erase every curse of the Abyss and turn the world into ‘paradise.’
‘Just a little…’
But time was running out.
No matter how she looked at it, he needed more time to inherit the magic completely.
And the form couldn’t be completed at only the 4th stage, ‘Mana Resonance.’
He had to reach the 5th stage—the realm of ‘Creation.’
Reaching Mana Creation would allow him to learn even entirely new forms of magic.
But Lil couldn’t force him there.
It was something Park Chan-woo had to realize on his own.
“…”
He closed his eyes and focused his mind on Elysion.
This magic contained the ‘star’—the world itself.
It was the nemesis of demons, and an ability that could threaten even the ‘Demon Gods’ or the ‘Creator.’
If he had properly mastered Elysion, the Master of the Moon, Ahetta, would have been fatally wounded—or killed—when he attacked.
‘The attribute of the star. You must convert the mana itself.’
The words were easy to say.
But to begin with, mana had no such thing as a ‘star attribute.’
It was fiction—an attribute that did not exist.
‘Feel the star itself. Listen to the story of the star.’
Those words were easy, too.
Yet no matter how Lil guided him, he couldn’t hear anything.
He couldn’t feel anything.
The beating sound echoing through this place—the ‘Eternal Land.’
Was that why?
The star of light forming in his hand refused to stabilize.
The light spread and warped at random.
‘In the end, it’s mana.’
Stubbornness surged up in him.
There was no way there existed a mana he couldn’t feel or understand.
‘I will become mana itself.’
He opened every channel through which mana flowed.
He released all the mana in his body, including his Innate Mana.
And then he felt something strange.
‘…There’s a blocked mana channel.’
At the center of his head, a channel was blocked—as if an acupoint had been sealed shut.
Worse, it was in the wrong place.
‘The Sealed Demon God’s Grail is blocking several passages.’
Master was definitely an existence without form.
But the point where the Grail sat was strangely suppressed.
As if someone had deliberately sealed it.
He hadn’t known until now.
He couldn’t have known.
Only after reaching the ‘Resonance’ stage could he sense it.
Only by piercing those channels could mana truly communicate—linking the entire body at once.
He gathered mana and swung it like a hammer.
Then—
Thud!
His brain jolted.
Cough!
Black blood spilled from his mouth.
Even so, his concentration didn’t break.
Park Chan-woo gathered himself and struck the blocked point again with mana.
Kugung!
“Keueok…!”
A scream escaped him before he realized it.
Pain beyond imagination.
But he couldn’t stop.
The channel was, little by little, being pierced open.
Then, in the briefest moment, it began to close again.
Thud!
—…
Lil watched, her eyes trembling.
‘He found it.’
Lil already knew.
When she passed on the magic, she had sensed that mana was faint in that region.
But she had left it alone, because even she couldn’t touch it easily.
It was too dangerous.
If she interfered with external mana before he realized it and pierced it himself, his head would explode.
Even after achieving ‘Mana Resonance,’ it should have been difficult to find that location.
‘You tell him one thing, and he does ten on his own.’
He did what she hadn’t even told him to do.
With the smallest hint, he produced answers beyond what she had given him.
Honestly, there was much to learn from him.
‘At this rate, he’ll master Elysion without difficulty.’
The passage Park Chan-woo was piercing was a channel that connected the world and the soul.
In all living beings, those channels were closed.
Many had degenerated, or no longer existed at all.
But in Park Chan-woo’s case, they were simply blocked.
Because the Sealed Demon God’s Grail was there, he was connected—however slightly—to the world of the soul.
And Park Chan-woo had found that barely opened gap.
Finding it was astonishing enough.
Piercing it himself was even more so.
‘Excellent.’
Now she understood why the Shadow spirit Chronos always called him ‘excellent.’
Park Chan-woo truly was an excellent human.
She had never seen anyone treat mana and magic with such sincerity.
Even the Transcenders—even the Dragon God Sephiro—had not tried to seriously communicate with mana.
‘His aptitude toward mana surpasses even mine.’
Mana was already with him.
At his touch, it lingered in his will and soul, rejoicing.
Thud!
…The passage was pierced.
He closed his eyes and began to communicate with this ‘Star of Eternity.’
The star forming in his hand gradually became clearer.
Watching him, Lil thought.
‘This is all I can do.’
That her role was over.
But…
…I want to see it.
The true completion of that magic.
The finished star—and the galaxy that would be born in Park Chan-woo’s hands.
‘But there is still one thing I can do.’
The reason she became a traitor to the Transcenders…
It wasn’t only because she coveted the realm of the ‘Creator.’
All Transcenders followed the Creator, but Lil wanted a magic that could surpass him.
Because of that, the Transcenders branded her a traitor and poured out their hatred.
But Lil’s greed did not end there.
‘…Tower of God.’
The tower she had stolen from the Creator.
A tower she had torn out of the ‘Creator’s Realm’—a realm of nothingness said to have already vanished—risking her life to bring it here.
Because of that, the Transcenders would never forgive her.
But it didn’t matter.
Because this tower would complete that human—this mortal, Park Chan-woo.
The problem was that there were conditions to bring out the ‘tower.’
Lil forcibly opened her ‘Transcendent Abyss’ within Earth’s domain.
At that moment—
“…Ah!”
Park Chan-woo gasped and opened his eyes.
He understood.
A new world had opened before him.
He had clearly communicated with the star.
“Master, I’ve completed it!”
He had succeeded.
The star cradled between his hands existed quietly now.
It did not shake. It did not spill light.
There could be no more overwhelming moment than this.
‘The 5th stage… he has entered the realm of Creation.’
His stage of mana had also risen.
He had stepped into an advanced realm where he could accept all mana.
But Park Chan-woo soon tilted his head.
“…Master?”
She was nowhere to be seen.
She had been right beside him just a moment ago.
“Chronos. Where did Master go?”
「It’s over.」
“…?”
「She disappeared after far exceeding the promised time.」
“You mean the end time of the Transcendent Abyss?”
「No. I mean she passed the time she can exist as a Transcender.」
“What does that mean…?”
「I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you, respecting her will.」
Park Chan-woo went silent.
He had thought the remaining time referred only to the ‘Transcendent Abyss.’
He hadn’t expected it to be the time Lil herself could remain.
Why hadn’t she said anything?
Even as she vanished, she had only watched quietly.
…Because she couldn’t disturb his enlightenment.
「She was an excellent Transcender—more amazing than any Transcender I’ve seen. You have inherited her will, so you will become an even more excellent Archmage.」
It wasn’t comforting.
What was he supposed to do if she left like this, without even a farewell?
There was still so much to learn.
So much he wanted to ask her.
“…”
They hadn’t met for long.
He called her Master and followed her, but the time they spent together was short.
Even so, it felt as though he had been taught for a lifetime.
A hollow emptiness spread through his chest.
「There is a way to meet again, but.」
“…How?”
「From far away, the presence of the ‘Sealing Sphere’ that contained Transcender Lil has been felt since a few days ago. If you take that Sealing Sphere and enter the ‘Creator’s Realm’… Hmm, no. It’s not a method I want to recommend very much.」
“…Chronos, tell me. What is that ‘Creator’s Realm,’ and where is it?”
When Park Chan-woo glared at the shadow, Chronos replied helplessly.
「…If there are traces, a Transcender can be reborn or resurrected in the ‘Creator’s Realm.’ Some of the higher Transcenders will know where the ‘Creator’s Realm’ is. Other than that, I don’t know either.」
“Higher Transcenders…”
He frowned.
So he had to reach the top ranks of the Hall of Fame?
But as Park Chan-woo stood there thinking—
「Transcender Lil has left you a final gift. Hmm hmm! This is very excellent.」