<h4>Chapter 157</h4>


    All Se-Hoon could see was pitch-ck darkness.


    At first, he wondered if his eyes were closed, but when he looked down he could see his body clearly. In that case, he was in a distinctly different situation than before when he used the Phantasmal Spyde to glimpse memories.


    Trying to figure something out, he looked around, clenching and unclenching his fists as he did so.


    <i>Is this the boundary before entering a memory?</i>


    Immediately after that thought, a massive vibration shook the darkness. It seemed that realizing he was standing on the boundary of the subconscious, something his conscious mind was unaware of, had caused it.


    <i>Rumble-</i>


    Feeling the churning and trembling, he raised his guard. Then, the darkness split, and the ceiling and walls surged up.


    <i>Boom!</i>


    The walls, each showing a different scene, emerged from all directions and interlocked like puzzle pieces. Following suit, Se-Hoon''s body also started to rise.


    He was unable to resist, and could only watch as he was put into a ckened, cracked, and worn-down workshop that looked like several bombs had gone off inside. But... the workshop was familiar.


    Scanning the shop, Se-Hoon swept his hand over a table nearby.


    “It’s been a while...”


    He had been ced in the workshop he had used until he officially joined the human alliance all those years ago. He had thought he would never see the workshop again, so his emotions uncontrobly surged.


    <i>Is it because I’m in the subconscious? My emotions are rushing in.</i>


    Whenever one recalled a memory, various emotions were chipped away until it could be consciously recognized. However, Se-Hoon could feel every raw emotion that came to mind with the memory.


    In simpler terms, he was experiencing the emotions unfiltered.


    Experiencing the emotions surging through his entire body, he made a wry smile before trying to ignore them to examine the workshop in detail.


    <i>Judging by the condition, this was moments before it copsed. But why was I suddenly ced here?</i>


    Unable toprehend the situation, he just stood there when a part of the scenery around him changed.


    <i>Fwoosh!</i>


    The furnace in the workshop red up with purple mes, heating a metal ingot inside. Seeing that, he froze, a single thought crossing his mind.


    <i>No way...</i>


    He quickly approached the furnace, half-doubting what he would actually find inside.


    <i>Woong~</i>


    From a distance, they seemed like just purple mes, but up close, ck letters could be seen swirling chaotically within the fire. Without much thought, he grabbed the tongs next to the furnace to take out the heated ingot and ced it on the anvil.


    <i>Fwoosh!</i>


    The ingot was engulfed in purple mes. Seeing the unique intermingling letters again, he couldn''t help but chuckle.


    “Right, of course. I can’t just have this easily.”


    Just like how reading a book wouldn’t guarantee one would remember and understand all the information in it, the informationpressed by the Vermillion Bird into the Phantasmal Spyde needed one to properly process the information to understand it.


    And to do that, Se-Hoon believed he needed to process the ingot. In fact, it seemed his subconscious had prepared the environment specifically for him to easily process it.


    <i>I’m truly a cksmith to the core.</i>


    Even though he had awakened several other talents after regressing, fundamentally, he was still a cksmith.


    With what he had to do now clear, he rolled up his sleeves and grabbed at the air.


    <i>Squeeze-</i>


    Grasping the red hammer—the one given by his master, the one he felt most familiar with—that appeared out of thin air, he stared down at the ingot of information ced on the anvil.


    <i>Hmm, I don’t think the processing should be much different.</i>


    Reminding himself that the goal was to rearrange and evenly distribute the information infused inside the ingot, he swung the hammer vigorously while keeping the principles of forging in mind.


    <i>ng! ng!</i>


    With each hit, the words that had been swirling chaotically were aligned and the ingotpressed. A few more swingster, he examined the ingot and ced it back into the furnace to heat it again.


    <i>Fwoosh!</i>


    Attracted to thepressed ingot, the letters floating in the me adhered to the surface, causing it to swell up once more. Then, when it had reached its original size, he took the ingot out again, ced it on the anvil, and swung the hammer once more.


    <i>ng! ng!</i>


    Like that, he repeated the process tirelessly. Initially, it felt a bit awkward to forge information instead of metal, but he quickly got the hang of it and adjusted the arrangement ordingly.


    <i>Woong-!</i>


    Eventually, the letters swirling chaotically in the furnace turned a pure purple hue, disappearing into the mes. Taking that as an indication ofpletion, he looked down. The ingot, repeatedly forged into the shape of a dagger, was now sopressed that the spaces between the letters were gone.


    “<i>Phew</i>...”


    Within the subconscious, there was no physical exertion or fatigue, but there was mental fatigue. Unfortunately, it wasn''t time to ck around, so Se-Hoon pped his cheeks lightly to keep his mind sharp and picked up the de of the dagger.


    “Okay, the next step should be...”


    By now, he was familiar with the process, so he promptly plunged the de into his heart.


    <i>Swish.</i>


    Like ink dissolving in water, the de sank in without resistance, and his heart pumped the information that was injected with the dagger throughout his body.


    And the moment it started to be absorbed into his body—


    “YOU CRAZY BASTARD!!!”


    With a booming shout, Se-Hoon''s body flew across the forge.


    <i>Crash!</i>


    mmed against a wall by a table, Se-Hoon fell to the floor. Bewildered by the sudden turn of events, he endured the excruciating pain and narrowed his eyes.


    <i>Clutch!</i>


    Reaching over, he grabbed a longsword from the ground with his left hand, infusing it with mana.


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    Throwing at a frightening speed, Se-Hoon gripped the hammer in his right hand tightly and charged at the intruder—all involuntary actions.


    Though startled, he quickly grasped the situation.


    <i>Am I in a memory now?</i>


    He remembered he had used his own Fatestone, which had his memories, to absorb the informationpressed by the Vermillion Bird.


    <i>Who had attacked me?</i>


    Struggling to recall if something like this had happened before, he suddenly saw something in front of him, within the area obscured by dust.


    “Well, I''ll be damned.”


    A pair of fierce blue eyes red at him.


    <strong>“Reflection.”</strong>


    <i>ng!!!</i>


    With an ear-splitting sound, the longsword he had thrown earlier shattered into pieces, scattering everywhere, and the hammer he had swung abruptly stopped as if paused.


    Freezing in that state, the dust that had thickly covered the surroundings could settle, and soon, Se-Hoon could see the assant.


    “Fuck, if you just swung the hammer a bit more, I would''ve wrecked it along with your right hand too.”


    With her silver hair cascading to her shoulders, ominously glowing blue eyes, and a ck leather jacket and rider suit covering her entire body, Luize disdainfully red at him.


    Truthfully, Se-Hoon was surprised to see her.


    <i>I remember she rarely visited my workshop.</i>


    Since he had only started working with the st Dog after joining the human alliance, she had rarely visited his workshop.


    The memories continued to unfold.


    “Why the hell are you acting up as soon as you arrive?”


    Hearing his voice filled with anger, the st Dog leaned back on one leg and crossed her arms.


    “That''s what I should be asking.”


    “Huh?”


    “If you want to die so badly, then you should just ask me to kill you. Why are you pathetically trying tomit suicide all alone?”


    What nonsense was this? Completely bewildered, Se-Hoon just stared at her when a memory shed through his mind like a bolt of lightning.


    <i>Ah. This should be that time.</i>


    Finally remembering, he realized the memory was from pretty early on, before the war with the Demon Forces even officially began. It was a period when they knew little about each other and were still quite awkward.


    “Suicide? When did I attempt something like that?”


    “Didn’t you literally try to stab your heart with a dagger just now?”


    At this time, the st Dog had no idea about Soul Honing or the Demonic Blood Art.


    “Oh, no wonder you were confused... I was just practicing a technique—”


    “A technique where you stab your heart with a dagger?”


    Interjecting, the st Dog looked at him with suspicion.


    Seeing that, Se-Hoon responded sarcastically, “If there''s someone who can cast spells by yelling instead of chanting, then why wouldn''t there be?”


    “...”


    The st Dog’s eyes immediately turned cold and the surrounding mana began to swirl.


    <i>Swish!</i>


    He swung his hammer, narrowly deflecting a de of wind. If he hadn’t instinctively swung, his nose would have been cut off.


    <i>ng!</i>


    But then, his hammer was locked in ce by a transparent barrier, having been anticipated, and the st Dog took the opening to kick his shin hard with her ck boot.


    <i>Thwack!</i>


    It seemed she had enhanced the strength of her kick with mana, as just the sound hunt. Yet his past self didn''t even flinch or groan.


    The st Dog strode forward with a fierce expression.


    “If you dare to say something like that again, I''ll rip your mouth open.”


    It wasn’t a mere warning; it was filled with genuine murderous intent.


    <i>Wow... It''s been a while since I''ve seen this side of her.</i>


    Although the st Dog never lost her terrible personality, by the time their bond reached level five, there was a kind of grudging affection between them, despite all theints she threw at him.


    But right now, all he could feel were irritation and hostility since they were practically strangers at this point.


    <i>Hm, what did I say back then...</i>


    They were still awkward around each other, so surely he replied with some level of politeness, right?


    “Try me. If you can.”


    “...”


    The tension heightened again, and the st Dog’s blue eyes grew frosty—she was showing her emotions tantly.


    Refusing to lose, Se-Hoon stared back. It was only after a long staring contest that she softened her gaze with a sigh.


    “Well, whatever. Just hand over the stuff you prepared.”


    Upon seeing her motion her hand irritably, his past self, ring in dissatisfaction, threw her a metal case from the corner of the workshop.


    <i>Thud!</i>


    Catching it with ease, the st Dog unlocked it and peeked inside.


    “How do I use it?”


    “Just put it in the power core. Your incantation magic should handle the rest.”


    “<i>Hmm.</i> Fine. If it’s defective, I''ll rip you apart, so be prepared.”


    Her words were spoken lightly, like a joke, but her intent to kill was evident.


    Fascinated by the side of Luize he hadn’t seen in so long, Se-Hoon watched with full focus.


    His past self curtly responded, “If it’s not defective, don''t ever think abouting here again. Who would want to deal with someone like you?”


    “...<i>Tsk.</i>”


    Discontent, the st Dog took the case and turned to walk out of the workshop.


    <i>Fwoosh-</i>


    Just as the memory was about to fade, purple mes red from his chest.


    <i>Isn’t this...</i>


    Realizing it was the same phenomenon that urred when he saw his memory of the Frost Dog, Se-Hoon urgently called out to Luize without analyzing the situation.


    “Wait!”


    At his call, the st Dog paused and turned around.


    “What?”


    Her slightly annoyed expression made Se-Hoon hesitant. He had called out reflexively, but nothing specific came to mind.


    <i>Is there anything useful I can ask...?</i>


    His mind raced. He remembered how, back then, the st Dog had mainly focused on locating and destroying facilities rted to Dawn. To do that, she would have tracked their movements, meaning she would have closely monitored both their public and hidden activities.


    Feeling his blood flowing vigorously, an idea shed in Se-Hoon''s mind when his thoughts reached that point.


    “Do you know anything about the group that has been consistently buying Twilight Ingots?”


    ording to the information Erika gathered, the Barmuths had been purchasing Twilight Ingots through various channels for a long time, and recently, the quantity had increased. Buying the ingots wasn’t very suspicious, but the timing of the increase was.


    <i>If it''s their first noticeable move after the faction shift, there has to be a reason behind it.</i>


    Regardless of whether it was something overt or covert, it was still a clue.


    The st Dog narrowed her eyes at him.


    “Have you also heard something about it?”


    “If I had, would I even be asking you?”


    Somewhat convinced, the st Dog gathered her thoughts.


    “Nothing recently, but up until about ten years ago, it was prettymon for people to purchase Twilight Ingots. It was like a trend... but now that I think about it, it does seem strange.”


    “What’s strange?”


    “It was trendy for a while, but nothing ever stood out about the equipment made from it. Plus, those Twilight Ingots seem to have disappeared recently.”


    Se-Hoon focused. The Twilight Ingot’s quiet rise and fall in poprity made him curious.


    “Oh, right. There was that one thing.” Recalling something, the st Dog looked at Se-Hoon.


    “You know the me Sect, right? The one that was wiped out by the Mad Dog?”


    “Yes... but why are you bringing them up?”


    It was an unexpected mention.


    “They were also mass purchasing those ingots. Before they were wiped out.”


    ***


    <strong>[Activating Awakening Dream]</strong>


    <i>Whoosh!</i>


    Snapping back to reality, Se-Hoon quickly scanned his surroundings.


    “You... What did you do...?” asked the Vermillion Bird in confusion. It sensed something, but it was unable to grasp what Se-Hoon had done when he was knocked out.


    But instead of exining everything to the Vermillion Bird, Se-Hoon sunk into his thoughts, recalling the st Dog''sst words.


    <i>The me Sect was also buying Twilight Ingots...</i>


    As the current head of the me Sect was known to do anything to expand his influence, it was definitely a possible scenario.


    <i>Do I have to probe them too...? But how...?</i>


    <i>Vrrr-</i>


    His phone interrupted his thoughts. Taking it out, he nced at the screen and saw Sung-Ha’s name.


    <i>...What timing.</i>


    It was as if his thoughts had been transmitted to Sung-Ha. Se-Hoon picked up with a wry smile on his face.


    “What’s up?”


    —Do you have time tomorrow?


    “Why?”


    A brief awkward silence ensued.


    —My master wants to see you.