Episode 142. Transcendents (4)
“Whew….”
Transcendence wasn’t such a big deal. My body felt lighter, and I felt refreshed as if I had emptied something inside me. That was it.
I didn’t gain amazing powers like characters in myths, nor was I filled with absolute power. Transcendence wasn’t filling but emptying.
“It will feel awkward at first. What you experienced is completely different from transcendence written in history.”
“…….”
“Breaking through the wall and destroying your vessel is not filling it again with something different. It’s the process of emptying what is unnecessary and returning yourself to nothing.”
The first thing the Traveler made me do after transcending was training. I was to reflect on my past experiences and adapt to my new body.
“Rekindle your senses. And once you are capable of handling your body to an extent, we will fill you back up with new things.”
“New things?”
“Yes. Mortals accumulate so many things inside during their lives. Trivial memories. They fill their vessels with what they ate this morning, who they met, and who they passed by on the street. Those little things come together to create a simple life, but no one calls that a grand story.”
“…….”
“Transcendents put great efforts into making themselves different from others. They move to build unique myths and form their class with only grand and amazing things. That’s what you have to do. As far as I’m concerned, your class will be piled up with things so brilliant that everyone looks up to them.”
I raised my arm. It moved beyond the position I meant to move it. I felt stiff as my arm went over behind my shoulder. I couldn’t control my body because it had become too light.
“For a while, you’ll have to keep moving your body as if you were in rehabilitation. Take your time. No matter how long it takes, it will be meaningful.”
“…What about the people left behind?”
“Don’t worry. Time passes differently here. No matter how long you stay here, they’ll only think it’s been a few days at most.”
“A few days at most… Yes, I see.”
I frowned slightly at his remark. A few days at most? At the time of my death, the Great Overlord realized most of his abilities.
One mistake, or the collapse of the Wailing Wall, and the world could end in 72 hours or 96 hours. A few days. That was how terrible a monster he was.
‘I have to advance as fast as I can.’
I couldn’t be late. If any one of the people close to me died, I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle it. I forced my stiff body to move and began training.
The Traveler, who had been watching me, slowly got up as he spoke.
“I’ll leave you alone now. If you don’t know if you’re making enough progress training alone, ask other Transcendents. What I can tell you won’t be helpful anymore. So ask for advice from those in similar positions.”
“…Can I meet other Transcendents?”
“Yes, you’ve transcended, haven’t you? This is my territory, so no one can enter… But if you want, you’ll be able to enter the higher place where Transcendents stay.”
“How?”
The Traveler smirked at my question.
“There’s no way. Transcendents are beings that can do what they want just by thinking. Don’t be bound to the ways of others, and think for yourself. That way, you’ll be able to build up a class that is distinct from others.”
And with that, the Traveler disappeared.
I looked for a while at the empty space where he had been and then stared ahead and began to train again.
‘Don’t be bound to the ways of others and think for yourself. That way, you can build up a class that is distinct from others.’ His words were directions on how I needed to act as a Transcendent from now on.
“I’ll have to meet other Transcendents.”
I didn’t have enough information at the moment. Asking the Traveler had its limits. Since he was just treating me as his toy, there was no way he would tell me everything. And I couldn’t tell whether he was lying or telling the truth.
I was the only one I could trust here. So, I needed to collect information myself and find a way by assembling it.
“For later.”
The lives of numerous people and my world were damaged because Transcendents were playing with worlds. There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again.
So, I had better kill those bastards before they did it again. I was going to dig up all of their weaknesses I could find and tear them apart and destroy them without leaving a single trace behind.
Because that’s what I did best. I was going to eat up their hearts and all of their experience. And I was going to become a giant predator and trample them to pieces.
“Whew—”
I threw a punch. Following a precise trajectory, the amount of impact spread to the exact location. There was no mistake. A perfect blow. It was followed by the consecutive standard moves. My movements were smooth and flowing.
And that way, I quickly got used to my body until I could control it perfectly with pinpoint accuracy.
* * *
Two weeks passed.
I couldn’t tell how much time passed in the other world.
I hoped it was a few hours or a few seconds. But I had better not keep my hopes up. If I were so optimistic and then ended up facing the worst, I would panic right away.
I already imagined that the world had ended and everyone had died.
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