Chapter 222

Mana Core.

An artificial heart used in golems, equipment, or tools.

Most Mana Cores are made by refining something with a high concentration of Mana—like Mana Stones—then reconstructing the Magic Circuit and concentrating it again.

The process itself isn’t complicated.

However, the core’s quality depends on the maker’s skill in reconstructing the Magic Circuit.

It’s not enough to have good materials to make a great Mana Core.

Having a skilled person who can properly configure the core’s circuit matters far more than the materials.

That Magic Circuit is why Golem Crafters exist as a separate specialty.

Because…

‘The circuits of all things are different.’

A Magic Circuit is like a fingerprint.

It’s a blood vessel, a nerve, and the unique nature of the existence itself.

They may look similar in broad strokes, but in the details, no two are the same.

For example, even if you bring Mana Stones of the same shape and grade, their Magic Circuits are completely different.

They’re similar in that they’re stones that store Mana, but the thickness, strength, and shape of the circuit through which Mana flows will never match.

If that’s true for a single Mana Stone, what about everything else?

In other words, a Golem Crafter is a craftsman who specializes in handling the circuits of objects like Mana Stones.

Even then, that expertise usually applies only to Mana Cores meant for golems.

Mana Cores used for swords or other tools are handled by a tiny number of alchemists or magic engineers. That was why objects with Mana Cores were so rare.

‘To make a Colossus, you need a perfect core without a single flaw.’

And to move a Colossus, you needed a flawless, supreme Mana Core.

If you couldn’t even handle the circuit of a low-grade Mana Stone, you couldn’t even dream of a Colossus.

Drakan had no choice but to test him.

It would take an enormous investment of time and effort.

Even giving it everything you had might not be enough to create a Colossus.

So he had to see whether the human was worth that investment.

‘Mana Core…!’

Yet the unidentified human had completed one.

In just one hour.

Even master craftsmen who specialized in cores would need several days.

It was incredible that he’d done it so quickly.

‘…It’s alive!’

Drakan could feel it.

The core’s pulse.

It was tiny—smaller than a human’s pinky fingernail.

But the Mana concentrated inside it was circulating wildly, like a living creature.

‘It’s alive.’

It was impossible by any common sense.

‘It’s regenerating Mana on its own.’

Normally, Mana inside a core couldn’t regenerate.

You could refill it, but it couldn’t replenish itself.

Yet the small Mana Core before him was regenerating Mana on its own.

Not only that—

“Wait… can I hold it?”

Drakan spoke with a trembling voice.

Ataraxia asked, puzzled, “Once it’s completed as a core, it can’t be transferred, can it?”

A Mana Stone kicked around on the ground isn’t considered “owned,” but the moment a Mana Core is completed in Park Chan-woo’s hands, it is recognized as his possession.

In other words, if it were transferred, it should be destroyed under the laws of the Abyss.

However, Park Chan-woo handed the Mana Core to Drakan without hesitation.

“Ah, as expected!”

“…!!”

Drakan and Ataraxia’s eyes lit up.

The transferred Mana Core in Drakan’s hand didn’t evaporate.

It was an incomprehensible phenomenon.

Which only made it more fascinating.

This human ignited Drakan’s desire for research in countless ways.

He’d slept for over a hundred years because that desire had gone cold.

Yet the moment he woke, he found a human this interesting.

After examining the Mana Core in his hand for a long time, Drakan spoke.

“…Only the innate Mana was extracted from the lowest grade Mana Stone. Countless circuits were established one by one. The Magic Circuit itself was newly created. And I’m sure there’s more I haven’t figured out yet, but… is this even possible?”

You couldn’t recreate a Magic Circuit that already existed.

A Magic Circuit was fixed.

Creating a Mana Core meant determining the purity and amount of Mana to fill the core’s circuit, then adjusting the strength of the flow.

In other words…

The human before him had gone beyond that defined task and created a completely new Magic Circuit.

He’d surpassed the limitations of a lowest grade Mana Stone.

“What’s the difference from other Mana Cores?” Ataraxia voiced his doubt.

Even though it had transcended the laws of the Abyss, it didn’t look different from an ordinary Mana Core.

“Ataraxia. What are you doing with those eyes? If you still don’t understand after seeing this, you don’t even have the basic qualities of a dragon.”

“…That’s what I should be saying, Drakan.”

“I’ll kindly explain it to you, you fool. Living creatures don’t disappear when they’re transferred. Only dead things do. Only things created in the Abyss that were never alive to begin with—or possessions. In other words, this core itself is being treated as a living creature…!”

It was so insane his pupils trembled.

He’d changed the foundation itself.

It was like turning a human into a dog, or a dog into a frog.

No, it was beyond that.

He created something from nothing.

He created life from death.

Drakan stared at Park Chan-woo as if he still couldn’t believe it and asked, “How? How did you breathe life into the Mana Core?”

“It just happened while I was doing it.”

Park Chan-woo shrugged.

Of course, he hadn’t breathed life into it or created it.

However—

‘Magical Wave.’

He was the only one in the Abyss who could see and feel that unique Magical Wave.

He could see through the unique rules of existence.

At first, he had to touch something to know. Later, he could hear it just by standing still.

And after meeting Transcender Lil, he reached the 5th Stage – Creation and gained the ability to manipulate the Magical Wave itself.

The wave was the soul, and the circuit was the proof of existence.

As he gained enlightenment about the wave, his perception of circuits naturally changed.

He adjusted each Mana line of the circuit and completed it.

At the same time, the circuit itself began to regenerate on its own.

And then something Park Chan-woo hadn’t expected happened.

[The [Eternal Sword] trait is applied to the ‘Mana Core’.]

[Can be temporarily transferred to others.]

‘…Hidden trait [Eternal Sword]. I didn’t expect it to apply to a Mana Core.’

A hidden trait that let him temporarily receive an item recognized as a sword from someone else for a limited time.

That trait had suddenly manifested.

He could guess why.

‘I’m forging a weapon—a sword—called the Colossus.’

The completed Colossus would become another sword in his hands.

He would wield it as a sword and carve through the Abyss.

He handled the core with that resolve, so [Eternal Sword] naturally manifested.

‘The hidden trait has evolved.’

He could tell instinctively.

The trait itself had evolved.

Thanks to that, it wasn’t just that he could temporarily receive it from others—he could now transfer it as well.

The difference was enormous.

It meant others could intervene, not just the owner.

In other words, it became possible to gather experts from every field and create a far more complex and systematic Mana Core.

Drakan realized it too, and his eyes gleamed.

“…Can I wake a few more and bring them here?”

Ataraxia asked, “Are you talking about dragons from your clan?”

“Yes. There are a few who can help make the Heart of Despair into an even better core. They’re the ones who researched Core fission with me.”

“Core fission?”

“Excellent dragons have multiple hearts. You know why.”

“Isn’t it for efficient Mana storage and use?”

“That’s the fundamental reason a Colossus couldn’t surpass dragons. The limitation that one golem can only use one core. If you insert multiple cores, Mana collisions occur.”

“So Colossi are inevitably inefficient with Mana?”

“Extremely inefficient. But Mana Cores with different circuits are bound to clash. So we researched how to divide one core into several.”

“I’m guessing you failed.”

“…We concluded that for the core to be split, it had to be transferable.”

Division.

Torn apart and divided.

But the moment a core was split, it was destroyed.

It couldn’t be divided on its own.

To overcome that phenomenon, you had to transcend the rules of the Abyss.

That was why their research had stopped.

But now, a being who had made the impossible possible stood before them.

Drakan didn’t know who he was.

What was certain was that he wasn’t an ordinary human.

Ataraxia calling him a “Great One” was not without reason.

He didn’t seem like the Black Witch, and he didn’t resemble any of the people Ataraxia had used before.

‘I don’t care. As long as I can do research!’

Drakan’s desire as a researcher burned.

He could continue the research that had failed.

A major reason he’d only ever made one Colossus and never another was the failure of Core fission.

But if he succeeded in Core fission for the first time in the Abyss, his achievements would be remembered forever!

And the completed Colossus would be a new type—one that had never existed in the Abyss.

Drakan looked at Park Chan-woo desperately.

Seeing his eyes, Park Chan-woo nodded.

“It doesn’t matter if you bring dragons who can help.”

“Th-thank you!”

“But.”

“But?”

“Everyone must follow my orders here.”

“Of course!”

Drakan nodded vigorously.

If it meant success, following orders was nothing.

—

“…What am I looking at right now?”

The demon merchant Dagon rubbed his eyes.

A scene he couldn’t understand no matter how many times he looked was unfolding before him.

“The dragons are doing manual labor,” the nine-tailed fox Aurum said beside him.

All the foxes were staring blankly as well.

The dragons had taken their true forms and were hauling materials directly.

“…Why aren’t they using magic?”

“It seems like a delicate task that shouldn’t be affected by Mana.”

Even so, they were dragons.

The pinnacle of the Twelve Species—a race known for arrogance.

Yet they were moving materials with their own hands and forming the Colossus’s outer shell.

They didn’t borrow anyone else’s labor.

They didn’t even allow anyone to come close.

Even the golems were kept far away.

…They said external influence had to be minimized.

Seven dragons had been deployed.

This many dragons working together to create a single Colossus with their own hands.

“What are they making?”

“If dragons are putting in this much effort, they must be making something incredible—something far beyond our imagination.”

“…Weren’t they making a Colossus?”

“I don’t know. But it won’t be the Colossus we know.”

“…….”

He couldn’t even guess.

But the one directing them was Sephiro.

He wasn’t an existence nine-tailed foxes or demon merchants could dare judge.

‘I believe!’

Watching Sephiro command so many dragons with a mere tilt of his chin, Dagon’s loyalty rose yet another level.

The same was true for the other foxes, including Aurum.

How much time had passed?

“W-we succeeded…!”

“How many can it be divided into?”

“Two? Three?”

“It’s increasing…!!!”