Jin had been a hunter once. It was only for a few fleeting years, but it was enough to understand the laws of the forest. Usually, he'd never encounter a moment when the countless animals and insects would cease their movements completely.
In the few unfortunate instances he witnessed, he realized that there were things he was better off not knowing.
He didn't realize that he was unconsciously holding his breath, not because of the blood in his failing lungs, but something far worse.
It was almost immediate.
A shadow fell on him. The shadow itself was colossal, so big that even the mad ape seemed like a child in front of it.
That was not what burdened him, though.
'This thing…'
It didn't take him too long to realize what was behind him.
The entity wasn't big only physically. The moment its eyes fell on him, Jin felt like his entire mind was about to split apart. The demonic qi in his middle dantian, which had been boldly dancing in his heart, halted its movement as well, falling into a puddle.
He was certain that if his lower dantian were present, he would have fallen into qi deviation right away.
Thankfully, he wasn't looking directly at it. Otherwise, he was unsure whether he would survive the encounter.
After all, standing behind him was a deity.
He closed his eyes tightly.
'I need to avoid everything connected to it. Or, I am finished.'
He heard an ominous clicking sound, each reverberation echoing in his head.
Barely standing, he couldn't take his hands off the sword. All he could do was let his mind spin furiously as the deity examined him.
Suddenly, the sound stopped.
The mountainous pressure dissipated almost instantly.
Deeply exhaling, he opened his eyes.
The shadow wasn't there anymore, nor was the deity.
'Huh?'
He had surely been the one to summon the deity, but he hadn't thought it was actually going to work. When it did appear, he was lost as to what he was supposed to do next.
His thoughts that had completely ceased started to stir again.
'It… left? Just like that?'
He didn't have to look around to find the deity.
Because far above him, in the moonlit sky, something clashed.
The clash was cataclysmic. A large explosion followed behind, lighting up the night sky.
The explosion only kept growing further, as if the sun itself had exploded. If it were a shockwave or the aftermath of the clash between the deity and the other entity, he could have survived it.
He was too close for that. And he wasn't in the condition to run away. Even if he were in the condition, he still wouldn't have been able to escape in time.
Looking at the approaching destruction, he laughed quietly.
"So that is how it is. It wasn't another chance, but just suffering once again."
The flames arrived and engulfed him. It all happened so fast that he couldn't even see it happening.
First came the pain, excruciating pain. The moisture in his body evaporated almost instantly. The flames entered his body as well, scorching it from the inside. Every strand of hair turned to dust.
He couldn't scream, nor could he endure.
Yet, the demonic qi consumed it all. The pain, the anguish, the sorrow—it took it all. If the flames belonged to a deity, the vital qi in his heart belonged to someone similar.
After all, it wasn't simply Muyeon's qi residing in his heart currently. That qi was backed by Jin's indomitable will.
His will to brave the flames, to survive them, and to finally conquer them.
Soon, he lost his sight. Then followed his hearing, then his voice. At some point, he stopped feeling the pain because every nerve in his body had been burned away.
Since he couldn't feel the pain, nor anything else, the demonic qi settled down.
But his will didn't subside. It burned like a flame that refused to go out.
Everything blacked out. Not because he had died, but because the flames had disappeared. The flames, as well as the prayer hall and the dead beast, everything disappeared.
It was quiet, too quiet even. The serenity soothed his mind and soul.
He could feel something change, yet he was far too gone to understand what it was.
With each second, his body restored itself. The burnt muscle fibers mended themselves while the hair grew back. His sight returned, and so did his other senses.
He felt cold. Which was only natural, since he was being incinerated a moment ago.
Although his clothes didn't return, he wasn't worried about it.
Because something much bigger was happening in his body. It was so revolutionary that his consciousness came back.
"This… how can this be possible?"
Currently, as his body was restoring itself, his lower dantian, which was completely missing, formed itself from scratch. He could feel the raw essence entering the dantian and then refining almost instantly into qi.
His blocked meridians cleared themselves, circulating qi through his entire meridian circuit in a rapid manner. As the qi replenished his body with vitality, it recovered itself bit by bit.
It didn't take long for his entire body to reach its original state.
It didn't end there.
His bones were brimming with vitality, strengthened even further. The muscles in his body felt completely different than before, as if it wasn't Lian's body anymore but someone else's. The scars and wounds were replaced by taut muscles and a sculpted physique.
The change was drastic, which confused him even further.
Something flickered in front of him.
He noticed a bunch of characters floating in the air. Shaking his head, he looked again.
They were still there.
He didn't remember studying those characters, yet he could still read them.
— — —
[Objective status: Complete!]
[Completion Category: ###]
[You've successfully cleared the First Floor!]
[You've now been acknowledged as a Challenger. Would you like to proceed to your status?]
— — —
He was taken aback by the mysterious terms.
'Status? Completion Category?'
As the thoughts emerged in his mind, the translucent screen flickered and morphed again. The change, on the other hand, only added to his confusion.
Frustrated by the alien terms and the peculiar screen that kept floating in front of him, he tried touching it.
His hand passed right through it, glitching the part around his arm. It resisted for a while, and then disappeared again.
Stroking his chin, he looked around him.
'I was definitely burned to death back there. So, how am I still alive? Not alive, why am I back in this place?'
The sight in front of him was familiar to him.
'The abyss of mortality.'
The pitch-black surface stretched endlessly, not a single source of light. It was a mystery to him how he could still see.
The more he looked at it, the more disoriented he felt. Too much had happened too quickly, which made him numb.
Unlike the abyss of mortality, which was supposed to be a part of one's own soul, this abyss was not a part of his soul. Or rather, it was too vast to be a part of his soul.
Following the train of thought, he came to a logical conclusion.
'This is certainly the abyss, but it isn't mine. How is it possible to enter someone else's soul in this bizarre manner?'
The phenomenon was certainly strange, yet he still couldn't quite put a finger on where the strange factor came from.
As he pondered, another translucent screen appeared.
— — —
[The trial is over. Do you wish to return to the tower?]
— — —
He waved his hand.
"Sure. Whatever this tower place may be, let's proceed there."
At this point, he was unsure whether things could get any worse than they had been. And staying in the abyss of mortality any further didn't seem like a great idea either.
The absurdity of the consequent events had already gone past its limits for him, so he wasn't scared even if the translucent screen in front of him was simply a part of his imagination.
The surface under his feet shifted.
The darkness of the void was replaced by an unfamiliar location.
He squinted his eyes, adjusting to the sudden brightness.
People. Too many people.
He was surrounded by unknown people. Some seemed familiar, while others seemed intimidating. A few of them were wearing battered armors, some wearing no armor at all.
The space itself was large, illuminated by powerful lamps that made his eyes hurt.
It didn't take him long to realize that most of them were looking at him. It wasn't a gaze of admiration, but disgust.
The woman who was standing a few meters away from him averted her gaze. There was a stern man behind her. Clicking his tongue, he pulled her behind himself.
He could see a few others who seemed close to his own age, Lian's age. But they were too busy staying away from him. The women, particularly, avoided him like the plague.
It felt like his arrival had stopped time inside the hall.
Most of them had their eyes locked on his lower body, as if he were completely naked.
The realization hit him like cold water.
"Curses…"