Chapter 106 – Crossroads of Spacetime (2)

Lee Hanseong’s consciousness, stretching beyond spacetime, reached the records of the six spirits.

Swoosh.

‘I steal.’

The targets that Ten Thousand Phenomena Theft could steal were limited to those that could be perceived.

Thus, what Lee Hanseong initially aimed for were the Feats he had consumed to alter the histories of the spirits.

Possessing Spirit Particle Manipulation, he also remembered the form of the Feats consumed for Historical Alteration.

Through Hyu’s All Phenomena, he could also recognize the Feats melted into their records.

Pabababat!

The condensed masses of Achievement, which had already separated from Lee Hanseong’s soul and existed independently, returned before him once more.

Of course, he had no intention of merely retrieving them like this.

For Historical Alteration, these Feats needed to be melted into their records.

It was just that instead of consuming them as Feats in their current form, he intended to give them a slight transformation.

Uuuung.

[<Primordial Chaos Gang Qi> links <Mask: Persona> and <Supreme Crafting>.]

As Supreme Crafting unfolded, a mask was created using Feats as materials.

A mask in the form of a Taiji containing the sun and moon.

It was a type of Legendary Equipment.

‘If Legendary Equipment can replace Feats in Historical Alteration, then conversely, couldn’t the Feats consumed in Historical Alteration become Legendary Equipment?’

The mask contained the Legendary Skill <Yang Mind Art>, a degraded version of the Yang Will Divine Art possessed by Pheidippides.

Pabababat!

The masks created from the six Feats stolen from the records of the six spirits returned to their original records through Spatiotemporal Theft and Sleeve Insert.

These masks were a type of invitation.

An invitation that, the moment the mask is worn and a Shadow God is formed through Yang Mind Art, summons their Shadow God to the Reverse World via Spatiotemporal Theft and Ten Thousand Phenomena Theft.

Since the mortal body cannot withstand the Void of the Void Space passed through by Spatiotemporal Theft, the plan was to intervene in their Historical Alteration by bringing only their Shadow Gods, which are Holy Light Bodies.

‘If an invitation has been sent, I should decorate the place a bit.’

Chakchakchakchakchak!

Once again, Supreme Crafting unfolded, and the remaining materials in the Reverse World were automatically carved, cut, and combined, decorating the interior of the Reverse World splendidly.

In the central clearing, a stylish round table was created, and twelve seats symbolizing the Twelve Constellations appeared.

Since Pheidippides was dwelling in Hyu, he sat in a seat engraved with the symbol of the Sun Constellation, not the Lunar Constellation.

Arsen sat in the seat engraved with the symbol of the Lunar Constellation.

In six of the remaining seats, shadow puppets made by weaving Black shadow envoys were placed one by one.

They were the bodies for the Shadow Gods of the spirits to be summoned here.

And on the ceiling of the round table, decorations were hung like a chandelier, and a seat for Mirinae was created there so she could look down from above.

Once the preparations were complete, Lee Hanseong sent a signal to the masks he had sent back earlier.

Tak! Swoosh.

As soon as he snapped his fingers, masks clung to the faces of the spirits.

Simultaneously, their histories, which had been halted, began to flow again.

Uung.

As soon as their Shadow Gods were formed in the Imaginary Space by Yang Mind Art,

Lee Hanseong, as planned, linked Spatiotemporal Theft and Ten Thousand Phenomena Theft to bring their Shadow Gods to the Reverse World.

Pabababat!

The shadow puppets sitting in chairs engraved with the symbols of the Constellations corresponding to the six spirits twitched.

The shadow puppets inhabited by Shadow Gods naturally transformed into their original appearances, revealing their personalities.

“Oh my?”

-What is this?

“Where on earth is this…?”

“Oh dear. I have no idea what this is about either.”

“Place, changed?”

“How insolent. Are you testing me with illusions again?”

These were the reactions of Henrietta, Non, Alter, Rough, Utangka, and Rian in turn.

Since Lee Hanseong was not possessing them, their personalities were fully revealed in their reactions.

Moreover, because only their memories from their lifetimes, excluding the memories of their future lives as spirits, were summoned to their Shadow Gods, their personalities were even more pronounced.

Looking at them, Lee Hanseong concealed Hyu’s body with 《Black curtain in the dark》.

Revealing only Pheidippides’s Grade, he set the atmosphere and spoke in a stern tone.

“Silence! The exchange meeting will now begin. Those who wish to speak, raise your hands first.”

It was the moment when the exchange of spirits who had lived in different spacetimes began.

* * *

The Grade of Pheidippides, who had reached Half-Step Ten-Star.

The solemn atmosphere created by the now-stylish interior decoration of the Reverse World.

Hyu’s figure concealed within the pitch-black darkness of Black curtain in the dark.

Lee Hanseong’s stern tone imitating the Constellations and the <Grasp> skill melted within it, among others.

As these various elements harmonized, Lee Hanseong dominated the Reverse World with a transcendent presence.

Amidst spirits whose Grades had been amplified to the level of 5-Star, 6-Star through Second Stage Transcendence, yet who could not move or speak recklessly,

their reactions were varied.

‘Oh my, so it’s like this this time?’

Henrietta, who had experienced Historical Alteration for the third time, smiled faintly and quietly observed the situation.

Her eyes were not smiling at all, and mixed with the bizarre aura of <Monster Affinity>, it created an even greater sense of dissonance.

During the first Historical Alteration, it was in the form of an entity that had contracted with her future self possessing her.

During the second Historical Alteration, the Legendary Equipment <Extreme Seal of Yato> suddenly appeared and disappeared.

This time, it was in the form of being suddenly summoned to a place completely different from the original location; the method was different each time.

But all three times had one thing in common.

Namely, that when the Historical Alteration began, a skill that hadn’t existed before naturally appeared and their Grade increased.

‘<Mounting> at 2-Star, <Mutation> at 3-Star, and this time, <Genetics>.’

Believing that the purpose of Historical Alteration was ultimately to lead her to a higher state and a better history, Henrietta quickly regained her composure.

Thanks to that, she could think about what the being who appeared to be the master of this place had said.

‘He definitely said “exchange meeting” just now. Does he mean we should exchange among those gathered here? I don’t really like that….’

She wasn’t very pleased that the other faces gathered here were predominantly human.

Having been betrayed by humans, she felt uncomfortable with them and had no intention of stepping forward first to exchange with them.

Especially since Utangka, who looked like a primitive human, was looking at her with an undisguised expression of displeasure.

If she had to exchange with anyone, she thought about doing so with the armor monster that looked like a living armor.

* * *

Meanwhile, the armor monster that Henrietta had taken note of, Non Smith, couldn’t pay any attention to the others at all.

He was busy trying to prevent the control of his Demon Armor from being taken over by an unknown entity he couldn’t see.

Lee Hanseong’s <Grasp> filling the Reverse World was Grasping the Demon Armor, judged as equipment even without his intention.

‘Control is?!’

《Perfect Body Control》!

Uung.

Only after activating his Second Awakening Skill to solidify his control over the Demon Armor could he barely shake off the Grasping force.

Non looked toward where Hyu was with a flickering gaze.

His talent was seeing the essence of phenomena and drawing ideals in his mind.

Even if his appearance was concealed by Black curtain in the dark, his eyes saw much.

‘What on earth is that… that being?’

The Taiji pattern rotating behind the opponent like a halo.

The sun and waning moon within the Taiji meeting Non’s gaze like the two eyes of a god.

‘Guhh!’

Just from looking, his mind grew dizzy from the gaze, and he instinctively lowered his eyes.

His lowered gaze reached the transparent human silhouette in front of the Taiji pattern.

From the silhouette, he felt a contradiction of being both empty and full.

‘Void…?’

If he kept staring at that contradiction, he felt like the logical circuits in his head would break, so he deliberately diverted his attention.

This time, the aura of Grasp spread throughout the entire Reverse World entered his sight.

At a glance, it seemed like a mere symbol of simple dominance.

But Non’s keen eye read the essence hidden within.

‘Primordial Chaos. It contains the fundamental nature of connecting and weaving everything to place it under a single order!’

The moment he realized the opponent’s essence, Non completely blocked the Demon Armor’s visual organs.

If he continued observing the opponent like this, he felt that even with Perfect Body Control activated, he would be swallowed by the opponent’s Grasping force.

* * *

Although not to the extent of Non, there was one more person who sensed beyond the Black curtain in the dark.

‘That presence, it’s clear. It’s the Throne of the Dharma Wheel that came to me last time and then disappeared.’

It was Alter Goulds, sensing the Throne of the Dharma Wheel merged within Pheidippides’s Blinking Jade Throne.

This was his second Historical Alteration, but Alter, like Henrietta, was one of those who had realized the Historical Alteration.

‘Then… is that person the one who changed the history of my death through the Throne of the Dharma Wheel?’

Although he realized the opponent was an entity who had already helped him once,

Alter did not lower his guard against being suddenly kidnapped to a strange place.

A Transcendent’s whims could be fatal to a mortal.

Uung.

Alter, activating 《Law Revision》 and causing a blue light to glow in his eyes, recognized the system code of the Reverse World.

It wasn’t an activation with the intent to change something, but merely to gain the vision that follows Law Revision.

Chwarararak-

As the blue character strings forming the system code rapidly unfolded before his eyes,

Alter felt something amiss.

[System access is not permitted here.]

The unfolded strings formed the shape of a specific language and warned him.

‘Ugh…!’

Pazik.

As Law Revision was forcibly released, the blue light that had swirled in Alter’s eyes disappeared.

The Grasp spread over the Reverse World severed Alter’s connection with the system that had granted him vision.

‘Aah….’

As an aftereffect, his mind became slightly dazed.

It was only because the opponent had shown him some consideration that it stopped at this.

If there had been malice, it could have been a situation where he became an idiot.

Of course, even this Grasp could be ignored if he unfolded Relativity of Rules.

But since there was no need to provoke a Transcendent’s mood, he turned his gaze elsewhere.

‘At least I know the identities of two people.’

Along with the six who seemed to have been summoned here with him.

An old man whose presence was barely felt.

A woman exuding an uncomfortable atmosphere.

A living armor in imperial style.

A jester wearing a mask-like smile.

A man well-versed in imperial etiquette.

A primitive human whose bone structure and appearance were different from the start.

Among these, he could roughly guess the identities of the latter two.

One was probably a member of the Ardenia Empire’s imperial family.

The other was likely a primitive human from the Arpelgia Continent, recently identified by imperial academia as the first human.

Given that figures from completely different eras were gathered in one place…

‘It seems they didn’t gather only contemporaries.’

Thinking so, he became interested in the man who appeared to be an imperial family member and the living armor in imperial style.

Whether they were figures from earlier or later eras, the information they knew would be information about the past or future in Alter’s era.

But since he had already committed one discourtesy and provoked the Transcendent’s mood,

he felt a bit uneasy about stepping forward first, so he waited for someone else to ask a question or something.

He thought the imperial family member, who wouldn’t lose his dignity even in unexpected situations, was most likely to do so, and stared intently at Rian.

* * *

Contrary to his calm exterior, Rian’s inner thoughts were in complete chaos.

‘Where is this… who am I….’

He had just gained recognition from the Golden Dawn Society and was feeling relieved when he was suddenly kidnapped by an unknown Transcendent.

At first, he thought it was another test and continued to maintain the Emperor’s Majesty, but gradually, the thought that it wasn’t grew stronger.

Because the sense shown by <Trap Detection> wasn’t reacting.

If it were a test by the Golden Dawn Society, Trap Detection would have reacted as it had before.

《Path Revelation》!

Wondering if it might be a trap even Trap Detection couldn’t sense, he even unfolded Path Revelation.

‘Just make good use of the exchange meeting?’

The revelation he obtained didn’t particularly tell him how to escape from here.

It seemed to mean that he could return by following the will of the Transcendent who had gathered them.

‘Couldn’t someone else go first as an example? And that doctor? Why is that guy staring at me like that again?’

An emperor’s actions must be deliberate.

Even though he knew he had to step forward in the exchange meeting, Rian had no intention of being the first to do so, so he turned his head and looked at Utangka.

Somehow, he thought the primitive human, who seemed thoughtless, might step forward first.

* * *

Gya-ut. Looking around repeatedly.

Utangka, tilting his head and looking around here and there.

Contrary to Rian’s expectations, Utangka was not lacking in intelligence as his appearance suggested.

His attempts to be the first to use fire, and his establishment of primitive shamanism to awaken elementals, were all done after judging that he could handle them.

Now, Utangka was gauging the Reverse World and its master, just as he had observed the nature of fire and deciphered the rules of shamanism.

‘More dangerous than Lightning Fire.’

Through experience, Utangka already knew well that reckless courage was mere foolhardiness.

‘But… it seems he has no intention of harming us.’

After his observation had somewhat concluded and he had gained the judgment that it was okay, just as he was about to raise his hand—

Swoosh.

Rough, who had been quietly observing the situation, raised his hand one step ahead.