Chapter 300


    Ian’s chewing slowed slightly.


    "Well...."


    The initial talk of assassins was just something he had thrown out there. He simply didn’t want to let Felix go that easily. In that sense, Seras was incredibly fortunate. If it hadn’t been Felix who came, Ian might have manipted the situation to establish a double contract or just let the visitor go peacefully.


    "If you can persuade him to talk, maybe we’ll find out something, don’t you think?" Ian’s casual question brought a faint smile to Seras’s lips.


    She knew better than anyone that by <em>persuasion,</em> he didn’t mean a peaceful conversation. And if Seras was as Ian knew her, she would very much want to handle that persuasion herself. She’d probably enjoy every moment.


    Eventually, she nodded. "True. That makes sense. I understand. I’ll look into it."


    Of course, the way Felix had reacted was indeed suspicious.


    Though Felix’s reaction had indeed been suspicious, Ian kept that to himself. In truth, he wasn’t too interested in discovering who was behind the assassins. After all, they weren’t targeting him specifically, and he had no desire to get more involved in the battle for session.


    "Well then, I’ll take my leave. There’s much to do. Please rest well, all three of you.""Take care."


    Seras, now visibly more cheerful, said her farewells and left the dining hall.


    "... I should go check on the prisoners too. We’re short on hands, so I’d better help out." Philip, who had just finished his bread, rinsed his mouth with beer before standing up.


    "Please rest well, both of you. If you need anything, just call me."


    "Make sure no onees into the dining hall while we’re here—not even the servants," Ian said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin.


    When he saw Philip’s questioning look, he shrugged.


    "I’m about to do something that wouldn’t look good if others saw."


    "Ah, I see. Understood." Without saying more, Philip nodded and turned to leave.


    As he reached the doorway, he looked back at Ian. "Should I close the door, my lord?"


    <em>Now he’s getting the hang of things.</em>


    Ian gave a slight chuckle and nodded. Philip murmured, "Oh, Lu Sr," as he closed the door and disappeared.


    The quiet didn’tst long. Elia, who had been watching Ian, whispered softly, "Godfather, if it’s something that wouldn’t look good to others, then surely...."


    <em>I was wondering when she’d ask.</em>


    Ian thought as he reached into his pocket dimension instead of answering. He pulled out a small, old wooden box, just a bitrger than his palm, and ced it on the table.


    "I knew it!"


    Elia’s eyes gleamed.


    "You’re going to examine it again?"


    "Last time, we looked at it during the day. Now, I want to see it at night. I also need to check if the ck Wall’s seizures had had any effect on it." Ian replied calmly as he rinsed his mouth with the remaining beer and stood up.


    Holding the box, he walked into the adjacent kitchen. His gaze swept over the room until itnded on a wooden board ced over a hidden staircase in the kitchen’s corner floor.


    "...<em>Hmm</em>."


    Ian paused just before taking another step, then turned to look back at the dining hall. Elia was still sitting neatly in her chair, watching him with bright, eager eyes. Ian tilted his head toward the inside of the kitchen.


    "Want toe with me?"


    "... Can I?" Elia’s already wide eyes grew evenrger as she asked, her short legs swinging back and forth under the chair.


    <em>... If something goes wrong, this might be thest chance to look at this.</em>


    Ian added silently to himself, nodding once more before turning around. Elia jumped off her chair, quickly following him.


    ***


    <em>Fwoosh—</em>


    The torches on either side of the wall at the bottom of the stairs red to life one by one.@@novelbin@@


    Ian grabbed the remaining mes with his bare hands and scattered them. The heat was mild enough that it only caused a slight sting, even with no protective covering. The flickering torch light dimly illuminated the underground space.


    The cer was deeper and wider than expected. The air was not just cool but cold, with a stale and musty scent lingering in the space. Several crooked storage cabs stood empty, covered in dust. It was clear that no one had used this ce for a long time.


    <em>This is the perfect ce for some shady business.</em>


    The presence of the gods’ gaze seemed absent here. Ian could feel the divine influence of De Lu’s Grace fading around his neck. He felt a strange sense offort as he moved further in, finally stopping in front of one of the storage cabs. He ced the wooden box on the dusty nk and opened the lid.


    Insidey a smooth orb.


    Ian’s gaze moved over the orb’s reflective surface, which caught the torchlight, and then to the fragments within it.


    "What do you think?" Elia asked, looking up at him.


    From her height, she couldn’t quite see what he was observing. Of course, that was precisely what Ian intended as he answered calmly.


    "It looks the same. On the outside."


    Within the orb, charred fragments that looked like pieces of brittle coal floated around—the tiniest shard of the ck Wall. Ian reached out and picked up the orb. Almost immediately, a faint echo from the fragment of chaos rippled within him before fading.


    <em>It’s definitelyining less than before.</em>


    The fragment of chaos, which had once acted so unruly, was now once again responding well to his control. The only thing that had changed was his level. Though he hadn’t realized it at first, looking back, he realized that the time when the fragment became more manageable coincided with his level up. Even during his confrontation with Kralen, the fragment had been far more obedient than before.


    <em>Does increasing my level strengthen my soul or something?</em>


    Or perhaps it’s more like the vessel of his soul is growing. Whatever it was, ?levels in this world had a sort of tangible impact. It wasn’t something he’d ever given much thought to before, but if it were true, it was a strange realization. The growth of the chaos fragment had almost caught up to his level.


    <em>If the fragment grows to the point where it surpasses my control...</em>


    He wasn’t sure what would happen if that ever urred. However, one didn’t have to stick their hand in a me to know it was hot. From now on, he’d need to be careful when absorbing chaos power. Of course, it also meant he had one more reason to focus on increasing his level even more.


    <em>Just the external threats alone make it feel like my life is hanging by a thread...</em>


    Well, the danger had been inevitable ever since he had taken on the chaos within himself. Despite the bitter smile forming on his lips, Ian meticulously inspected the fragment from every angle. As expected, there were no abnormal signs. The only noticeable change was that it seemed to rotate a little faster than before.


    "Be careful not to inject any magic power into it, Godfather. If it reacts to the magic, it might...."


    "It’ll probably corrupt the magic’s wavelength and emit it back out. I know. Don’t worry." Ian replied indifferently to Elia’s warning, giving the orb a light shake.


    Maybe the reason the dark sorcerers used this was not just because it was easier to obtain than other dark relics or fragments of chaos. Its lower performance also meant it posed less risk. Of course, it might just be that his own Mental Fortitude and Resistance were high.


    "Do you want to take a look?"


    "... Can I?" Elia’s eyes widened, and she gulped nervously before responding.


    Ian shrugged. "As long as you don’t infuse it with magic, as you said."


    "Of course, I won’t. Absolutely not." Elia lifted her hands above her head, palms together.


    Ian ced the orb in the center of her hands. If nothing happened when she held it, that would serve as a basic validation before they sent it to the university. If anything strange happened, he could always absorb the chaos energy before it became a problem.


    Elia lowered her hands to eye level, her gaze fixed on the fragment inside the orb as if mesmerized. The sparkle in her eyes wasn’t just from the reflection of the torchlight.


    "It’s truly... mysterious. Did you know that there’s still much debate in the academic world about what exactly the ck Wall is made of or how it came into existence?" Elia murmured, her eyes still glued to the fragment.


    She didn’t seem to expect an answer as she continued speaking almost immediately. "Remnants of the Void. Byproducts of chaos. Shadows of the divine... Some say it’s material from an entirely different dimension, summoned by demons in a final act of desperation. They believe it was tainted as it passed through the void."


    "... A different dimension?" Ian narrowed his eyes slightly at her words.


    Elia, oblivious to his reaction, nodded.


    "It means a world entirely separate from this one. Some argue that the void isn’t just an abyssal chasm asmonly believed, but a gap between dimensions. They say the true nature of the void is the space created betweenpletely different worlds."


    "...."


    "And that through the void, it might even be possible to travel to thosepletely separate dimensions. Of course, how to identify a specific dimension within the void and how to create a passage to it is a different matter entirely. And they also say...."


    Elia’s lips curved into a faint smile as if she were sharing a delightful joke. "Supposedly, Chaos power is created from the intertwining of countless different wavelengths drifting in from other dimensions. It’s not the primordial force as it’smonly believed to be."


    <em>So, what, is a ck hole like a hole punched through a dimension or something?</em>


    It sounded like nonsense, but as someone who was from another world, Ian couldn’t dismiss the idea entirely.


    <em>Then is that guy...</em>


    Suddenly, the image of the long-headed figure that sometimes haunted his nightmares shed in his mind. He couldn’t recall all the details of its appearance or their conversations. As with most dreams, the memories were hazy and fragmented. However, he distinctly remembered that creature’s curiosity about his original world.


    Perhaps that being was wandering through the void, trying to find Ian’s home world. Its asional visits to his dreams might be its way of seeking clues.


    <em>... So at the very least, that creature might not be the one who dragged me into this world after all. Is it interested in me just because I’m the only person from another world?</em>


    Ian couldn’t be sure. He could only specte. He didn’t even think of asking the creature the next time they met. Given its personality,? it wouldn’t give a straight answer. Besides, even if he heard something, there was no guarantee he’d remember it afterward.


    "Of course, it’s all just a theory," Elia continued. "Nothing has been proven yet. I also think most of it is far-fetched."


    Ian replied in a nonchnt tone, "Far-fetched theories—is that all there is?"


    "Not at all. Returning to the ck Wall, some im that it’s aposite of divine power and chaos, a fusion of these two opposing forces tangled through the medium of magic. They say the ck Wall emerged during the era of wars because..."


    Elia’s eyes reflected the slowly spinning fragment of the ck Wall.


    "...it was the result of the apostles of the gods and the demons scattering too much divine power and chaos into the world. The onset of the twilight of magic following the ck Wall’s appearance is said to be the conclusive proof."


    "Of course, I assume they don’t have any evidence to back up that im," Ian muttered.


    Elia let out a low chuckle, nodding in agreement.


    Ian continued, still indifferent, "Butst time I saw the tinum Dragon, it seemed like it knew something about the ck Wall."


    "That’s probably not the case," Elia replied, slightly shaking her head.


    "The Great One’s goal is to destroy it, after all. Destroying something doesn’t necessarily require a deep understanding of it. Of course, the tinum Dragon won’t know what the consequences of that destruction might be. Figuring out those details is..."


    Elia lifted her head slightly to look up at Ian.


    "... the job of schrs like me."


    "So, have you figured out anything by looking at it directly?" Ian asked.


    "Well... I still don’t even understand how the mages harvested this in the first ce—" Elia’s voice trailed off as she gazed back at the fragment.


    Thin, reddish cracks were spreading like a spider’s web across its surface. It was a change that happened in the blink of an eye. Upon closer inspection, the cracks shimmered with a blend of violet and crimson hues.


    The red light that gleamed in Elia’s eyes grew more intense and vivid in an instant.


    "<em>Ah</em>, <em>ah</em>...!" The gasp that escaped Elia’s lips came almost at the same time Ian reached for the orb.


    Without a moment’s hesitation, Ian grabbed the orb. Instantly, the fragment of chaos inside him responded eagerly, drawing in the chaos energy contained within the fragment.


    Compared to what Ian had absorbed before, it was meager—barely a few drops of chaos energy.


    At that moment, a sh of vision crossed Ian’s eyes. He saw a deste in, with a towering ck curtain rising to the sky—the ck Wall. But this time, it wasn’t as quiet as before.


    The surface of the ck Wall rippled as if swarming with countless ants. Around the perimeter of this veil of perception, which flickered beyond the thick clouds, a crimson glow pulsed. Then, dozens of red lightning bolts, resembling roots or blood vessels, burst forth, piercing through the clouds.


    <em>Boom—</em>


    With a deafening roar that seemed to shake the very world, the vision ended, and his sight returned to reality.


    He was standing there alone, still holding the orb.


    "<em>Phew</em>... <em>Phew</em>...."


    Elia, gasping for breath, had copsed to the floor. She looked up at Ian, her wide eyes filled with shock. Her gaze, now returned to its original color, was brimming with disbelief.


    "Are you okay?" Ian asked.


    After taking a couple more deep breaths, Elia finally spoke.


    "What... what was that...?"


    "It was the ck Wall. You saw a vision of it," Ian replied.


    "Not that! I mean you...!"


    Elia’s voice shook with shock and disbelief as she stammered, "Your eyes... they were glowing purple! And the blood vessels around them, too. It was like, like..."


    Elia couldn’t finish her sentence, her mouth opening and closing in silence.


    Ian curled one side of his lip into a faint smile and said, "Like a corrupted one?"


    The smile was more than enough to make Elia freeze in fear.