The month was April. When the class ended at a quarter to three, there was a young man who was sleeping on the desk in the business classroom. At that very moment, a golden beam of light, which no one could detect, struck the body of this sleeping youth. Shortly after this incident, the sleeping youth began to wake up with a shiver.
He opened his eyes and looked around. 'There really is no one around,' he thought. He sat in the empty classroom and stared at the blackboard full of writings for 5 minutes. He still couldn't believe this was happening to him. He raised his right hand and looked at it and saw a very realistic tattoo of a crimson pagoda. Eventually he took a deep breath and sat down comfortably on the floor, cross-legged and closed his eyes.
'Let's see if I can feel the pagoda before I meet Lita. There is no qi in this world and Parcae said she was going to upgrade the relic. Let's see if I can find out what these upgrades are.'
For a short while he thought of the pagoda with his eyes closed. The pagoda tattoo on his right hand disappeared. And suddenly he found himself in an empty field. He knew this was his consciousness. He turned around and saw the Hongjun pagoda in the sky, glowing in crimson gold and spinning. It was truly a breathtaking sight.
Yu Il Han could clearly feel that each of the rotations of this spinning pagoda was synchronized with this unnamed flow of energy and blood in his body. It was being synchronized over and over again in an endless loop. He started walking quickly towards the pagoda. The pagoda, which seemed small in the sky, began to grow larger, the door on the lowest floor opened and a dense white fog spread out from it.
Il Han's consciousness began to merge with this white mist. The mist was so dense that it seemed almost solid. As this mist surrounded him, he felt as if a sense of peace had overtaken him. He felt absolute comfort. Even his soul rose to a level where his soul wanted to sing happily..
He observed his surroundings and was surprised to realize that he was right in front of the pagoda. Above his head he saw two words written in an ancient language: 'Hongjun Pagoda'.
He entered through the open door of the Pagoda. Through the white mist floating around him, he saw that the room was empty. Suddenly the thick mist moved and came together to form two rows of writing Exquisite Pagoda - The First Eternal Art.
When the mist gathered in a specific place, he saw a potion on the ground, a transparent glass potion with a transparent liquid inside. Knowing the function of the mist, he headed towards the potion. When he took the potion bottle in his hand, he immediately realized what purpose it had.
"Wow.."
[Essence of the Broken Limiter]
"When you drink this essence, you break down all obstacles on your way to power.
The first time I drank this Essence, I would have the opportunity to reshape my body according to my desired aesthetic and idealized self-image. And nobody who knows me will notice that my body has changed. I would also be healed from all kinds of physical ailments, psychological trauma and other unwanted mental disturbances, disabilities, etc. I would have absolute control over my reproduction and other minor, related enhancements.
My natural limiters, the factor that determines that all beings can only increase their power up to a certain level, would be completely broken and eliminated. This applies not only to my physical strength, but to all aspects of my being, mental, spiritual etc. and also to all the talents, powers, skills etc. that I can have. My body would be freed from the restrictions of normal logic; the size of my muscles would no longer determine how much weight I could lift, the size of my brain would no longer limit how much information it could store or how fast it could process information, etc. There was no obstacle I could not overcome, no level of opposition I could not overcome, given enough time and effort.
Even when I was doing nothing, I would passively grow in strength, each day surpassing my previous day's state with a small increase in strength. This rate of growth would constantly increase exponentially whenever I trained or practiced my abilities or was challenged even slightly by any opponent.
My immense strength will allow me to resist or completely ignore the abilities of those weaker than me. Whether it is a punch in the face, the spells of a sorcerer, or something esoteric like an eldritch entity attacking the soul, all of these things are futile against me unless they are backed up by sufficient power to overcome my limitlessly expanding strength. If I wanted to, I could quickly overcome the weaknesses of mortality and even evolve to the point where I could breathe in space (or beyond).
My future power was never a curse, it was always a blessing. I was completely immune to the "cardboard world" problem, and I could always perfectly restrain myself to the exact limit that I wanted to apply, and no more. I was immune to any kind of madness or insanity and my mind and soul could not be controlled, leashed, sealed, etc. by anyone. I could still feel normal emotions, but they would never overwhelm my ability to maintain healthy judgment. Finally, unlike a certain bald man, I would never be the least bit bored and I could continue to enjoy life no matter how big I grew."
Parcae gave me such a gift even though I didn't ask her for anything extra.. I don't know what to say. For now I can only thank her from the deepest part of my heart.
"Cheers to Parcae!" I said and took the cork out of the mouth of the potion and swallowed it without thinking. It didn't have any taste. I closed my eyes and tried to focus and feel if there was any change in my body.
And again, suddenly, unspeakable comfort flooded my body. I remembered that my body was going to be reconstructed. I thought of Garou's figure, Medici's face and red hair, and I could feel my body changing. But I didn't feel any pain. When I finally felt that the changes in my body were over, I opened my eyes. My body, which was originally slightly overweight, was now extremely fit. When I moved my hand down from my chest to my stomach, I could feel my compact muscles through my clothes.
Now that I have this potion out of the way, I can focus on the fog. I walked towards the fog again, and as I got closer, the fog curled and formed a hazy-looking formula in my Mind. Then the characters, symbols and drawings moved and formed a swirling spiral. Il Han felt an enormous amount of information entering his mind. He felt as if a big train had entered a small hut. However, the train continued on its way without causing any damage to the hut. He could feel that the Grind had already started. His mind began to improve.
He looked around again to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. When he saw that there was nothing left, he closed his eyes and wished he could leave. And a moment later he came to his senses where he was sitting in the classroom. With that, he realized that he could still remember the cultivation formula. He could also see the diagrams representing the pathways in the human body. There were accompanying forms and practices. "The Art of Unlocking Heaven's Fortune!"
"Heh. Cultivation techniques with mouthfuls of names."
When he looked at his body, although his body had changed, he hadn't shed black liquid from his body like in the Cultivation novels. Although he was going to take a shower when he got home, he didn't want to breathe in that clichéd stench all the way home. He closed his eyes and focused on his body to see if he could take control of his passive concealment ability and hide the energy of the pagoda in his body.
For now, he didn't want Lita to notice this energy. The pagoda was his biggest secret. And right now he didn't want anyone to find out. He knew that the klutz angel wouldn't do anything even if she found out, but for now he wanted to keep it a secret to avoid unnecessary questions.
"A secret known to two people is not a secret. Not counting Parcae, of course."
And he realized that with his concealment ability he could perfectly conceal the energy of the pagoda. 'From now on, this energy will always be hidden.' he thought.
In addition to all this, 2 sets of memories appeared in his mind. One was Yu Il Han's memories and the other was Jun Xie's memories. He didn't think Il Han's memories would be of any use to him except for his home address and the names of his parents. But Jun Xie's techniques he learned while in the Earth, how to improve his body, etc. would be of great use to him.
With the happiness of all these developments, he stood up. He emptied the business textbooks in his bag on the table. He took his backpack which was empty except for his pen, notebook and water flask and headed towards the library. Although he would return to the library later, he wanted to take a few high-level coding books and test his memory capacity.
After finding and 'borrowing' the books he was looking for, he left the library and headed towards the exit gate of the university. All his attention was on the cars. He was trying to find a car with a left key on it.
Finally he found a black Hyundai Tucson. He was looking for a spacious car because he was going to go to the mall later to buy computer equipment. And this car was exactly what he wanted. He got in the car and started driving to the location of Il Han's house, which he had learned from his memories.
As he drove slowly down the road, he looked in the windows of the restaurants. There was still smoke from the food on the plates and the chairs were pulled back slightly as if someone had been sitting there a few minutes ago. Moreover, chopsticks, spoons, etc. were scattered on the tables. And abandoned cars in the middle of the road, cars on fire and motorcycles smashed against the walls...
The only thing missing were zombies. If they were there, he would think he had woken up in High school of the dead. 'Saeko baby, I hope we meet in the future. But now I have a klutz angel to meet,' he thought. And he zigzagged through all this chaos, trying to get home.
Normally, if he wanted to walk home from the university, the journey would take an hour and a half. It took 40 minutes by car, despite accidents on the roads.
When he entered his house, of course there was no one in the house. He checked the clocks and saw that all the wall clocks had stopped, including those on his phone and computer. He turned on the television, but all he could see was a dark screen. The radio was no different. Everything was crippled except the internet.
The water was still running so he took a long shower. Looking at his body and face in the mirror, he still couldn't believe what had happened. 'It was a really good choice to think of Medici from Lord of Mysteries for my face. The bastard is really handsome. Wait a minute... Am I cursing myself in this situation?" His long red hair fell down his back to his shoulder blades. He dried it as much as he could and left it slightly moist.
He looked at family photos at home to check whether the first sentence of the essence was true. And he really looked red-haired in the photos. The essences were really bullshit.
"Fuu..." He couldn't help sighing as he plopped himself down on the living room couch.
A beautiful blonde woman suddenly appeared in front of him with white feathered wings on her back. 'There she is..'
[Wow, someone's really here!] And this was a woman who entered into the dialog in a very energetic way.
"Well.. Who are you?"
Yu Il Han had just gotten out of the shower and was wearing only a bathrobe. The woman looked at the scene in front of her as if it was quite extraordinary, then hurriedly straightened her expression.
[Ahem.. You can call me whatever you want.]
"A Weird cosplayer who invades private property?"
[I am a messenger of God. An angel!!]
As she looked at Yu Il Han, she emphasized every single letter that she was an angel. Yu Il Han already knew who she was from the moment she first appeared in the room.
[I don't have time, so I'll get straight to the point. You're an outcast from humanity.]
"...I am outcast? That's not new information. People always act as if I don't exist."
Yu Il Han's face took on a strange expression. Being an outcast was a big part of the original Il Han's life, but Kutay had preferred to be alone.
[Our Great God realized the Great Cataclysm that was about to take place on Earth and sent humanity to countless other worlds. And for some reason only you were left out of this process.]
Yu Il Han started asking what he would like to know.
"What is this 'Great Cataclysm' you speak of?"
[It means that the Earth has accomplished its experience so far and now it will rise to a new level.]
"Okay.. What happens when the level-up happens?"
[The energy of a higher system will be unlocked on Earth. This is called Mana. Also, the Akashic Record will communicate with the world and people will have permission to access some of these records. This is called status.]
"That's a very easily understandable explanation."
[Hehe.. I'm very talented.]
The angel was very proud and flattered to receive such praise from Yu Il Han. Yu Il Han was expecting such a chance, so he immediately continued with his questions starting with 'but'.
"But why did people have to go to another world? In fantasy books, it would all change in a day."
[In fact, mana coming into the world means animals evolved with mana, in other words, monsters. Anyway, that means you're going to have to deal with them. Animals adapt to mana faster than humans. So if humans were left alone, we would have had an extinction event after the Great Cataclysm. There are already dozens of worlds where humans are extinct, so Great God decided to send Earth humanity to safer worlds where they can easily adapt to mana.]
"So does that mean that everybody, all people, have already been sent to worlds where they can adapt to mana?"
[Of course. The natives of other worlds will be able to achieve a fixed amount of Status in exchange for training those from Earth. Of course there will be people who don't adapt well, but God can't save everyone.]
The situation was obvious. Even Yu Il Han thought they had done enough. However, there were still questions that lingered in his mind.
"But can't we kill these mana-transformed monsters with firearms, cannons or nuclear weapons?"
[Even the nuclear weapons on your planet can't slay a monster.]
"Then we really need to strengthen the people."
[Of course. That's why Almighty God is merciful and loving.]
The angel's unnecessarily large chest puffed out again. Yu Il Han waited for this opportunity and asked with the saddest expression he could muster: "And what about me?"
[...] The angel was really at a loss for words.
"Dear Angel, what am I supposed to do?"
When Yu Il Han persisted with his question, the Angel turned her head away and answered quietly. [I think there's been a mistake.]
"Can you fix it, please?"
[Tickets are already sold out. You can't go to another world.]
"Are there really no more tickets left? Even the bootleg tickets are sold out?"
[Yes, there aren't any left. All of them have been sold.] The angel's face turned strange when she heard about the bootleg ticket, but she answered anyway.
"Haah.. What an unreliable 'God'.." Yu Il Han sighed.
The angel took pity on the man and murmured as if to pacify him. [However, there is an extra bonus of outcast..]
"I don't need a bonus. Send me to another world where I can learn to use mana. Please!"
[When all humans were sent from Earth, time on Earth stopped. So you will not be affected by the passage of time until humanity returns! In other words, you will not age. Well, this is the same for people who are sent to other worlds. What's more, the Great God, who empathizes with you being alone on Earth, will give you status bonuses when the Great Cataclysm occurs. Incredible, isn't it?]
Yu Il Han didn't really care about this bonus. He only wanted the mana.
"What about mana? I need to learn how to use it too."
[This is not possible until the Great Cataclysm occurs].
The angel shook her head, looking resolutely at Yu Il Han in front of her, who was looking at her with disappointment. It really seemed impossible. Even if he was God!
[God has set 10 years for the departed people to get used to mana. Be cheerful and wait until then. I will provide your meals.]
"...You said time stops, but do I get hungry?"
[Your cells work, but they don't age.]
"That's a bit contradictory.."
[Since you can't train to adapt to mana, you can at least develop your body. Think positively, other people adapt to mana at the cost of having all their 10 years of development reset the moment they come back. But your body will not reset.]
Yu Il Han sighed and looked at the Angel. It was all their fault that he had become like this, but the angel was still smugly telling him how 'merciful' they were.
"Fuu..." He took a deep breath and asked another question to the Angel in front of him.
"Well, why am I the only outcast? Why am I the only one?"
[When he was writing the list of people to be sent to the other world, Almighty God didn't find you until the end. He said it was really an amazing concealment technique.]
"..." And so began Yu Il Han's 'lonely' life on Earth.
3159
-The end of the first chapter-
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