Chapter 223
The Tribe of Sloth.
In a way, they were the tribe most similar to ‘Dragon God Sephiro,’ utterly indifferent to anything outside their interests.
Among dragons, it was common to say Sephiro came from the Tribe of Sloth, as they shared so many similarities.
Sephiro’s origins were thoroughly concealed, but thanks to those rumors, no dragons dared to easily criticize or provoke the lazy Tribe of Sloth.
After all, they had little interest in authority, the desire to approach Sephiro, or external events.
Since there was no conflict, they simply didn’t pay attention.
…However.
Even the Tribe of Sloth moved at times.
When it came to what they were interested in—what they yearned for—they were endlessly diligent.
“Is that true?”
“There really is a being capable of ‘Transference’?”
“We can finally succeed in ‘Core fission,’ which only existed in theory…?”
“Oh! If only we could achieve the completion of the Original God!”
Their eyes lit up.
Dragons who had been sleeping in their nests hurriedly rose.
Core fission and the completion of the Original God were topics many of the Tribe of Sloth had long been interested in.
But they had failed.
They hadn’t even come close to completing an Original God that surpassed the Colossus.
Afterward, disappointed, they crawled back into their nests for a long sleep.
“So many Spirit Stones!”
“Superior Spirit Stones and Special Spirit Stones too!”
“I-Is that perhaps the scales and bones of an Ancient Dragon?”
“Minimize the Mana! High-grade Spirit Stones are easily altered by external Mana!”
“We’ll have to manufacture the body ourselves.”
“But is ‘Core fission’ really possible?”
The Tribe of Sloth dragons were fired up the moment they arrived in the Land of Valhalla.
Materials that made their eyes spin.
More than enough to create a Colossus.
Moreover, the human next to Ataraxia and Drakan truly enabled ‘Transference.’
He could transfer a completed Mana Core to other dragons.
‘That’s a human?’
‘Unless he stands above the rules of the Abyss…’
They were briefly puzzled, but soon dismissed their doubts.
That wasn’t important now.
Whether they could complete the theory—whether they could succeed in ‘Core fission’—mattered far more.
The theory and hypothesis they had established were simple.
– Create ‘Mana pockets’ inside the core, equal to the number to be split.
– Have someone capable of ‘Transference’ separate the ‘Mana pockets’ and transfer them to others.
– At that moment, the Mana pockets recognized as belonging to others would establish themselves as individual Mana Cores.
– When these were returned to the original owner, all the Mana Cores would be connected in a split state.
The process was simple.
Creating the Mana pockets required tremendous delicacy, but it wasn’t impossible if they worked together.
All they needed was the ability to transfer.
However, theory and reality were completely different.
“Why isn’t it working?”
“The theory is perfect…”
“It seems ‘Transference’ alone isn’t enough to cause fission.”
Day 3.
They had tried countless times with Mana Stones, but all had failed.
The dragons’ theories and ideas couldn’t achieve fission.
However, Park Chan-woo also learned a lot in the process.
He gained insight into Mana, and high-level knowledge related to cores and fission.
‘I feel like I almost understand.’
There was something he could almost grasp, but not quite.
He felt like he knew what was missing, but he wasn’t sure.
“I’ll do it myself.”
What was certain was that too many cooks spoiled the broth.
The dragons’ knowledge was outstanding, but each had a different view.
He would learn what he could, but he had to prevent them from going astray.
“Without our help?”
“You’re going to try to do something alone that even the wisdom of dragons couldn’t achieve?”
The dragons sneered.
Ataraxia glared at them, but it had little effect on the slothful dragons.
Park Chan-woo moved.
The Heart of Despair.
He held the repository containing Arcana’s Mana in both hands.
Then he closed his eyes and slowly began synchronizing with Arcana’s heart.
—
There was once a discussion about this.
“Why do the most powerful beings divide and store their power?”
Dragons with their hearts, Kirin with their horns, demons with their wings and territories.
All the races said to be powerful dispersed and stored their power.
“Too much power?”
“If they have to divide and store it, doesn’t that mean it’s power they can’t handle themselves? Can we really call them Transcenders?”
“Isn’t it just a matter of efficiency, without needing to think so complicatedly?”
“Splitting up power is efficient?”
“Each dispersed area would have its own process. Just like the organs in the body each have their own role.”
“Each has their own role? Then we still don’t know what that ‘role’ is.”
“……!”
It was a rather interesting topic among the mages of the Magic Tower.
Two opposing opinions sharply clashed: that they divided and stored power because they couldn’t handle it, or that the more powerful a being was, the more they subdivided the use of their power.
As time passed, opinions leaned toward the latter.
However, it wasn’t easy to admit.
If the latter was correct, it meant humanity didn’t even know why that subdivision was necessary.
Because they were too weak, there was no need to subdivide Mana.
…Wasn’t that too miserable?
‘We were ignorant.’
Park Chan-woo knew.
He felt like he understood a little now.
Reality was even harsher.
Mana had stages.
Awakening – Flow – Cohesion – Resonance – Creation – Domination – Transcendence – Divinity – Genesis – Apocalypse.
Ten stages in total.
Humanity didn’t even know about these stages of Mana.
This was because the time humanity had begun to accept Mana was short.
Only a few decades at most.
On the other hand, the Twelve Species, including dragons, could feel and manipulate Mana from the moment they were born, even without the Abyss encroaching.
The starting line itself—the history of realizing Mana—was incomparable.
‘Core fission. Splitting one core into several. Drakan said it could only be successful if Transference was possible, but he was wrong.’
The process of splitting the core had continued for three days.
They had carried out Drakan’s and the dragons’ theories exactly, but all had failed.
He felt like he knew the reason.
‘The reason powerful beings divide their power. It was possible because they themselves had realized Mana and split the core.’
Dividing power.
It was easiest to explain with dragons as an example.
It wasn’t that more hearts were created, but that one heart was split into several.
‘Sephiro was said to have reached the 9th stage, Genesis. But his shell had 12 hearts. Perhaps from the stage of Transcendence, it was necessary to increase the number of hearts by two.’
Transcender Lil said that up to the 3rd stage was the basic area, up to the 6th stage was the advanced area, and after that was the area of Transcendence.
If ‘power storage’ increased with each stage, it was reasonable to assume the number of hearts increased by two starting from the area of Transcendence.
Of course, in that case, there would be a slight error in Lil’s words.
―Sephiro’s shell is at the same stage of ‘Transcendence’ as me, but its main body has reached the 9th stage, ‘Genesis.’
A clone.
The shell sitting on the throne of the Dragon God Palace already possessed 12 hearts.
If it was at the stage of Transcendence, it should have had 10 hearts.
In other words, there was a significant difference between the Sephiro Transcender Lil knew and the current Sephiro.
The main body, the Transcendent Dragon’s heart, had even more.
Thirteen. Perhaps it had reached fourteen, and had already reached ‘Apocalypse.’
He was a crazy monster who had erased humanity with just a word.
…Anyway.
‘If splitting the heart depends on the stage of Mana.’
A faint mist slowly took shape.
Unseen knowledge connected, and finally linked together.
‘The several split hearts merge back into one heart when they die.’
Was that why the Twelve Species left traces even after death?
As what had been split merged into one, it could be recognized as something completely different.
The Heart of Despair.
If so, this too must be a combination of several hearts Arcana had split.
It meant the heart had already been split once.
‘Splitting the merged heart again.’
He was curious.
He felt like he was going crazy with curiosity.
Because he hadn’t achieved it yet either.
Currently, he had realized the 5th stage, Creation.
However, he hadn’t dispersed and stored Mana.
If he thought about it, the Mana repositories—cores—he needed should have been five, according to the stage.
‘…My realization was only half complete.’
What he had realized following Lil’s teachings was only half complete.
If it had been perfect realization, there would have been no need for further teachings and arrangements.
To go beyond the advanced area and reach the area of Transcendence, fission was essential.
However, there was still something he didn’t understand.
Dragons with their hearts, Kirin with their horns, demons with their wings and territories.
‘Then what about humans?’
If the form of splitting and storing Mana differed by race, then humans must have something similar.
A potential only humans possessed.
A characteristic that stood out compared to other races.
‘The system.’
No race utilized and relied on the system like humans.
The species in worlds invaded by the Abyss could use the system, but it wasn’t as clearly subdivided as it was for humans.
This was why humanity’s blessing was sometimes referred to as the system.
Because everything about an Awakened One could be checked within it.
However, because the structure was too convenient, they couldn’t delve deeper.
They had never considered that what they saw might not be everything.
Park Chan-woo was certain.
Even within the system and the status window, there was something only humans possessed.
‘…The [Level Breakthrough] Quest!’
It was the way humans grew stronger.
The fact that they could only level up by breaking through the limit every 10 levels.
They never questioned why it was necessary.
They only thought of it as the grace of the system given to weak humans.
Other races could grow stronger without such quests.
Starting from 1, to 10, to 20, to 30… they were splitting.
They could only split further by breaking through the limit every 10 levels.
But this was a half-complete split.
No different from blindly rushing forward without any real understanding.
The reason Level 99 was the limit was the same.
Because they didn’t properly understand it, they were bound to hit a limit.
‘…Level is the only way humans can overcome their limits and split.’
An obvious but not obvious realization.
At the same time—
Ting!
[You have obtained a clue about ‘Level Breakthrough.’]
[The ‘Level Breakthrough’ quest will be deleted.]
[The required experience limit has been lifted.]
[Your level has increased.]
[You have reached ‘-59Lv.’]
His level had increased.
The Level Breakthrough quest itself had been deleted.
But a more important problem remained.
All fissions created practical changes—hearts, horns, wings.
Then what did the fission of levels practically change?
Park Chan-woo began to put his realization into practice, following his instincts.
Ting!
[You have awakened the true method of fission and evolution.]
[The ‘Heart of Despair’ is completed as the ‘Magic Core of Despair.’]
[Synchronize with the completed ‘Magic Core of Despair.’]
[Split the ‘Magic Core of Despair.’]
[2, 3, 4… 6…….]
…….
[Your body begins to ‘split’ and ‘evolve’ along with the ‘Magic Core of Despair’!]