Chapter 113 – History Journey (6)

Click, click, click, click.

The process of editing genes, as if fitting puzzle pieces together, continued.

The factors merged, firmly settling as part of a single, complete entity.

And so, as the evolution—no, the rebirth—was completed…

Crackle, crackle.

The pulsating flesh cocoon split open, and with a burst of steam, the newly transformed Gobhan revealed himself.

Sssssss—

A body larger than before, with more defined muscles.

Skin dyed crimson as if he had entered a Berserk state.

Yet, conversely, eyes with a clear rationality, as if thoroughly controlling the madness.

This meant Berserk was no longer his calling Awakening Skill.

“Fuuu… haa…”

Gobhan had evolved into a 4-Star monster, the ‘Red Hob Goblin King.’

If he had awakened normally, Gobhan should have merely become a Red Hob Goblin Rider at 4-Star, with reddened skin.

But through factor synthesis, having gained the strengths of different races and classes, he had reached the level of a king.

The crown-like horn on Gobhan’s head was proof of his kingship.

Groooooo!

An evolution that, while only a one-grade promotion, was practically equivalent to awakening two grades.

This, of course, was an achievement.

Clap, clap, clap, clap!

As Rough witnessed the moment of rebirth and applauded with an intrigued expression…

“Mother.”

“I am proud of you.”

Henrietta, embracing the changed Gobhan with a proud expression, saw the inevitable System Message appear before her eyes.

[Achievement, ‘Giving Birth Again’ has been attained.]

[The Clay Constellation records Henrietta’s achievement and altered history.]

[The 4th Awakening Skill 《Rebirth(Rebirth)》 blooms.]

[Henrietta’s 4-Star promotion is completed.]

[The Historical Alteration related to Henrietta will conclude shortly.]

And so, with the completion of the 4-Star promotion, the Historical Alteration ended.

Zzzzzzt— Pop.

Henrietta’s Shadow God, engulfed in noise like the spirits that had vanished earlier, disappeared from the Reverse World.

Half of the initial six Historical Alterations were now complete.

As Rough, who had been with Henrietta, was also flung into another era with the conclusion of her Historical Alteration…

Rough spoke to the remaining spirits through his Shadow God.

“That just confirmed it. It seems our Historical Alteration lasts until we complete our 4-Star promotion.”

As if agreeing with Rough’s words, Rian and Alter also nodded.

Based on Utangka and Non’s cases alone, it wasn’t clear whether the condition was completing two promotions or completing the 4-Star promotion.

But with Henrietta’s case confirmed, the condition became certain.

* * *

Whoooooosh!

Traveling the Path of the Fairies, the next place Rough arrived at was Kuruwari, in the era where Alter was.

“You are…?”

“We meet again like this.”

“Half a year, perhaps? Last time, I couldn’t tell you much, and I was sorry to see you leave.”

“Half a year?”

“……?”

For Rough, it hadn’t been that long, but for Alter, roughly half a year had passed since he left last time.

Come to think of it, when moving from Henrietta’s record to Alter’s record initially, a portal had opened, but this time, he had crossed through a spacetime tunnel.

The time passed by the Shadow Gods in the Reverse World flowed similarly to Rough’s.

But each individual’s present flowed faster or slower depending on the density of events, which seemed to cause this discrepancy.

[Conditions met. Rare Skill <???> blooms into <Genetics>.]

While Rough was touring the presents of the other spirits, Alter had continued interacting with Henrietta in the Reverse World, learning the Genetics she possessed.

Utilizing his favorable time ratio, he had fully mastered it.

However, this was merely an additional event; something else was important.

“Anyway, you’ve come at the right time. The news I’ve been waiting for should be arriving soon.”

“It seems something good has happened?”

Seeing Alter speaking with a pleasant smile, Rough asked. Alter then recounted the events that occurred right after he left.

Even after realizing Anatomy, Alter continued teaching the Kuruwari through Pedagogy.

He believed that someday, a clue to completing his 3-Star promotion would appear.

The enlightenment came at a certain moment while he was teaching the Kuruwari residents daily.

“Teacher, why did you come here?”

When a child asked, Alter tried to answer with a smile but found himself momentarily speechless.

It was a question he might have thought nothing of normally, but for Alter, influenced by the Heavenly Fortune Rough left behind, it became a question that made him reflect on himself.

Much like how Newton on Earth realized the law of universal gravitation upon seeing an apple fall.

It was the moment he realized that what he had taken for granted was not so.

Alter realized the existence of a force, similar to gravity, that had naturally acted upon him throughout his past life.

“Why did I make those choices?”

Heading to the remote Kuruwari.

Choosing to study Medical Knowledge to save lives.

Entering the Imperial Academy to study—none of these were things he had initially desired.

‘Rather, at first, they were things I didn’t want to do.’

So why had he ended up doing things he didn’t want to do?

Behind that, family, friends, teachers, colleagues, and Imperial society had influenced his decisions.

The cultural traditions and norms accumulated and formed by society were pushing him forward so naturally that he hadn’t even been aware of it.

“Conformity pressure.”

The term to define that force naturally sprang from his lips.

The implicit pressure within a specific group for those with differing opinions to align themselves with the majority.

Upon recognizing the existence of conformity pressure, his perception of the Kuruwari cannibal tribe also changed slightly.

‘There must have been those within the Kuruwari who rejected cannibalism.’

Alter personally visited each of the Kuruwari natives and confirmed that his speculation was true.

Rebellious spirits exist everywhere.

But the conformity pressure created by their funeral culture had forced such rebels to conform with the others in the tribe, blocking change within the Kuruwari.

‘Aah…!’

And that wasn’t all.

Conformity pressure existed in Alter’s memories of life in the Empire and even in the ecology of monster groups included in Monsterology.

Meaning created anew by shifting perspectives.

Within the enlightenment that opened a new horizon of perception, Anatomy advanced from being merely the principle of dissecting life’s structure to dissecting societal structure as well.

Whoooosh—

[Conditions met. <Monsterology> and <Anatomy> integrate.]

[Unique Skill <Deconstruction Theory> is formed.]

Wisdom of unique grade, containing the principle of ‘dividing a large thing formed by many parts into smaller parts,’ settled within Alter.

Thanks to this, he naturally understood what he needed to do to complete his 3-Star promotion.

‘I need to create conformity pressure in the direction I desire.’

And the method would be education.

Simply teaching Imperial common sense to the Kuruwari tribe was insufficient.

He needed to spread an ideology large enough to influence the Empire itself.

But that wasn’t something he could do alone.

‘The seeds are already sown.’

His paper on cultural relativism submitted to the Imperial academic world was sprouting a new school of thought within academia.

“I heard Professor Alter Goulds is staying here.”

Scholars following his doctrine came to Kuruwari to meet him.

Alter welcomed them warmly and engaged in conversation.

“Ooh! You’ve truly civilized the cannibals.”

“Not civilization, merely understanding their difference.”

“Ah, yes, of course. I momentarily lost my relativistic attitude.”

The scholars, confirming the changes in the Kuruwari, would become witnesses and spread Alter’s ideology further in the Empire.

All that remained was to wait for his ideology to take root as a mainstream thought in the multiracial Ardenia Empire.

So, after mastering Deconstruction Theory, he could focus on learning Henrietta’s Genetics.

And finally, today…

“Professor Alter! A letter from the Imperial Academic Society has arrived!”

The end of the wait approached.

A scholar claiming to be Alter’s disciple brought a letter adorned with splendid golden decorations.

“Haha, finally… The Society has acknowledged us.”

The letter’s contents acknowledged the status of Deconstruction Theory spread throughout the Empire and announced the establishment of a school studying it within the Society.

“Professor Alter, your eyes?!”

“A blue glow…?”

After reading the entire letter, Alter’s pupils held a blue halo.

Eyes that recognized system code had opened, even without activating Law Revision.

It was proof that ‘Force,’ a form of Starlight called the power of ideology, had fully settled within Alter’s body.

[Achievement, ‘Leading a Change in Mainstream Ideology’ has been attained.]

[The Wheel Constellation records Alter Goulds’s achievement and altered history.]

[The 3rd Awakening Skill 《Ideology Synchronization》 blooms.]

[Alter Goulds’s 3-Star promotion is completed.]

[Historical Alteration continues for 4-Star promotion completion.]

[Remaining achievement is consumed. Current remaining achievements held: 2 > 1]

Witnessing Alter, who had completed his 3-Star promotion and changed, Rough felt an instinctive aversion and adjusted his mask.

As Lee Hanseong responded to his wish and created a portal…

Swoosh— Pop.

Rough hastily threw himself into the portal.

Because he had a premonition that if he stayed near Alter any longer, he would be tainted and cease to be himself.

* * *

While he could leave within the record, the Shadow God left in the Reverse World couldn’t avoid Alter.

Fortunately, realizing that the Reverse World itself was already under Lee Hanseong’s Grasp and wouldn’t be contaminated by ideology, he felt relieved.

Alter’s Shadow God then spoke to Rough’s Shadow God.

“Why did you leave in such a hurry?”

“I was somewhat wary of the power Professor Alter gained.”

Against his intention, Rough answered the other’s question honestly, then belatedly realized what he had said, covered his mouth, and glared at Alter.

He realized that the title for Alter in his mind had naturally changed to ‘Professor.’

It seemed he had been briefly influenced by Ideology Synchronization.

Fortunately, the influence seemed limited to the title.

But that wasn’t the only strange thing.

Rough, who sought others’ smiles, did not easily engage in behavior that might displease others.

Yet here he was, revealing inner thoughts that might displease someone without a second thought?

“What have you done to me?”

“I merely intended to inform you about the power I gained thanks to you.”

The moment Alter completed his 3-Star promotion, the Wind of Heavenly Fortune Rough left behind gave him another gift.

[Conditions met. General Skill <Lie Detection> evolves into Rare Skill <Truth Compulsion>.]

It evolved Alter’s sole remaining General Skill in a direction other than a combination formula.

A Rare Skill that, true to its name, compels the other to speak the truth.

It was similar to the power shown by Archbishop Gabriel during Hanna’s Historical Alteration.

“If you have no ill intent, please stop using that power.”

“Of course, I will.”

After Henrietta left, no new exchange had begun among the three spirits remaining in the Reverse World.

Because there were no skills left for them to exchange and newly combine.

But even without skills, exchange could continue.

“However, I think it would be a pity to end our exchange like this.”

First, Alter approached Rian, who was well-versed in Imperial etiquette.

“It seems both of us are from the Ardenia Continent. Even without special techniques or knowledge, wouldn’t we have things to exchange?”

“So, thou art also from Ardenia.”

“Yes, and given that among the royals I know, there is no one like you… We are likely beings from different time periods. My present may be your past or future.”

“That is a fact I also anticipated.”

“The important thing is that we, living in different time periods, have been given this opportunity to communicate.”

“Each other’s common sense could be advanced future knowledge or lost past knowledge for someone else.”

“That is correct.”

At Rian’s response, Alter nodded with a faint smile.

“What should I call you?”

“Address me as Your Majesty. Physician. I am the rightful successor to the Empire who will revive the fallen Ardenia Empire.”

“What? The Ardenia Empire has fallen?”

For a moment, Alter blinked, not understanding Rian’s words.

But through <Truth Compulsion>, he soon realized the Empire’s fall was fact, and his face paled.

Conversely, Rian wore a pleased expression upon learning Alter was from before the Empire’s fall.

For the current Rian, who had become the face of the Golden Dawn Society plotting the Empire’s revival, the value of Alter, who possessed actual Imperial-era common sense, was not low.

Nod.

And so, Alter began exchanging common sense with Rian—Alter to uncover the reason for the fall, and Rian to obtain the Empire’s legacy.