Genius Wizard Takes Medicine [EN]: Chapter 859

“……That explanation feels a bit lacking.”

A snake, hundreds of meters in size, floated above the vast jungle.

It coiled itself into a massive circle, filling the inner space with darkness, a chilling sight.

As if the snake’s consciousness had become a door connecting to the Outer Seas, it slowly writhed and corrupted.

Dark waves emanated from it, threatening to collapse and devour the entire consciousness space at any moment.

Even after hearing the Heavenly Eye’s explanation, Lenok quietly observed the scene before speaking.

“I understand that if an Ascendant dies with their mind broken, a door connecting reality and the Outer Seas opens. Then, the [doors] in this world must be spaces created by the deaths of Ascendants in ancient times.”

“That’s right.”

“But that thing is more like a fragment of the Handbook’s memories from the past, similar to you.”

Lenok glanced at the Handbook and said,

“Can something like that happen even if it’s not the actual body in reality?”

The Handbook’s consciousness space exists beneath the unconsciousness of the tower’s guardian spirit.

However, that Handbook is not the real one, but a consciousness created from the memories it left behind.

A fragment created by cutting and pasting the Handbook’s memories and time, once clearly the Handbook itself, but now detached from the timeline of reality.

Even if such a being goes mad and corrupts, how can this fact affect reality?

As soon as Lenok heard the Heavenly Eye’s explanation, he understood the subtle nuances and was instead filled with questions.

However, the Heavenly Eye smiled at Lenok’s words.

“I told you, I’m not going to stop it, but show it to you.”

“Then……”

“What’s happening here is the last of the consciousness left by Padme. It’s a conclusion that hasn’t yet come to her.”

The Heavenly Eye shrugged.

“Only this consciousness space is breaking down. Only Padme’s consciousness, the owner of this space. However, one question remains… she chose this ending herself.”

“She chose it herself?”

“Yes. She was clearly holding back until recently, but right before you arrived, she cut off all attachments and became corrupted. I don’t know why she chose the worst possible death.”

“……”

No, Lenok felt like he knew the reason.

The curse of devouring that existed between the Handbook and the guardian spirit.

Only after confirming that the curse of the same lineage of spirits devouring each other had disappeared, did the Handbook’s consciousness choose death.

If the curse of devouring had not been resolved, the guardian spirit connected to this consciousness space would have been swept away by the Outer Seas.

The Handbook’s consciousness was aware of this, and after delaying its own death, it accepted its fate only after realizing that Lenok had succeeded.

Knowing it was the worst possible death for itself, it was only after being certain that no repercussions would leak out to anyone else.

While Lenok was silent, having realized this, the Handbook’s massive form floating in the air began to slowly rotate.

Kugugugugu!!!

The giant snake’s entire body turned black, and even its scales turned black and began to fall off one by one.

The darkness of the Outer Seas that leaked from inside the circular passage corroded the snake’s entire body and transformed its shape.

Even Lenok, who was watching, was witnessing the corruption and death of a transcendent being for the first time.

The Handbook’s consciousness, having lost its head, scales, and even its tail, eventually turned into a completely black ring.

From within the circular door stained with sticky darkness, pitch-black matter surged like a fountain.

Kuoohhhhhh!!!

“……”

At that moment, Lenok understood why the [doors] connected to the Outer Seas were called wells.

A chilling circular passage that seemed to draw up infinite darkness from beyond an invisible space.

Anyone who witnessed its birth would not have thought of any other word but a well.

However, Lenok’s thoughts were cut short the moment the darkness overflowing from the well surged towards him like a wave.

“No, wait.”

Kiiing!!

Just as he was about to raise his mental power to block it, the Heavenly Eye raised a hand and began to form a hand seal.

At the same time, a massive pillar of light rose from the Heavenly Eye, creating a dazzling barrier.

Kugwagwagwagwa!!!

A white lighthouse of light, tens of meters high, burst into a dazzling glow, illuminating the darkness surging from all directions.

The light that flowed out from it illuminated and blocked the pouring darkness as if driving it away.

“……!!!”

“Keep watching, mage.”

The darkness of the well, created based on the Handbook’s massive form, was vast, deep, and sticky like the sea.

However, the Heavenly Eye did not even blink, even while single-handedly receiving the massive darkness pouring out from a diameter of hundreds of meters.

“See how the Handbook’s consciousness is dying. Confirm how an Ascendant’s consciousness breaks down.”

“……That’s.”

“It’s a beast born as a spirit beast that became an Ascendant, pouring out everything and dying.”

The Heavenly Eye said quietly.

“If someone who is trying to challenge wants to gain something, this moment would be the perfect opportunity.”

“……”

Was she advising him to gain inspiration for ascension by watching the Handbook’s consciousness die?

Although Lenok had listened to the Heavenly Eye’s words for a long time, he honestly did not agree with them.

Having gone through countless battles and realizations to reach this point, Lenok had not easily obtained much.

No matter how intense and transcendent the intuition, even if he engraved a stimulating and great inspiration in his eyes, it would be meaningless if he could not reproduce it himself.

In the realm of transcending hierarchies and pioneering one’s own path, the important thing is whether one can create it with their own hands.

Just as observation and learning are different, and learning and understanding are different, understanding and creation are also different.

If it were possible to change simply by facing the corruption and death of an Ascendant, something should have already changed the moment he watched Gye Baek in the Outer Seas.

“……Okay.”

However, Lenok put aside the questions that arose and closed his eyes.

Since his plan to ask questions when he first met the Handbook had been ruined, there was no reason not to follow the Heavenly Eye’s words.

If the Heavenly Eye, who had seen a considerable amount of the power accumulated within Lenok, said so, there must be a reason.

Kiiing!!!

He raised his mental power to its limit, refining it endlessly to be able to observe everything around him.

Ignoring all forms and procedures, he focused solely on catching up with the Handbook’s consciousness that was sinking before his eyes.

“Hoo……”

Lenok, ignoring even the faint exclamation of the Heavenly Eye, slowly turned his consciousness towards the dark well.

Paat!!

He slammed the senses he had left in the space towards the other side of the well where sticky darkness was flowing out.

The moment he looked into the well created by the transformation of the Handbook’s consciousness, just like when he first faced the Outer Seas following Gye Baek,

Lenok was able to realize why the Handbook was a transcendent being who had reached the rank of Ascendant as a shaman.

Kagagak!!

The massive body of the snake coiling and sinking in the darkness.

The form of the consciousness slowly scattering with all its scales fallen off.

All of that consciousness, becoming one with the sea of darkness and crumbling, was made up of countless formulas.

Squeak squeak squeak

Click click click

[……]

High-dimensional shamanic characters that even Lenok, who had studied ancient literature, could not understand at all.

An extremely elaborate shamanic incantation woven using millions of such shamanic characters.

What did it mean that such formulas were being decomposed from the Handbook’s consciousness as it died, becoming a well?

The fact that the Handbook’s consciousness existed as the actual shamanic art itself.

The moment Lenok, who realized this, raised his gaze with a chilling feeling passing through a corner of his heart.

Pat!

Lenok’s consciousness instantly returned to its original position.

“Kuh……!!”

“I told you to watch, not to throw your consciousness into the well.”

The Heavenly Eye asked, looking quite surprised at Lenok, who was sitting down and gasping for breath.

“In that short time, you analyzed the structure of the well and even calculated the time to return, manipulating your mental power? You seem to have a lot of experience with this.”

“……”

Instead of answering the Heavenly Eye’s words, Lenok grabbed his throbbing head and lowered his head.

The Heavenly Eye chuckled as if it was not surprising.

“It’s impressive that your head didn’t explode even after looking directly into the well. Your information processing speed seems to be even better than mine. Did you inherit the barrier art of Jintun in that way?”

“……The Handbook’s consciousness was being absorbed and decomposed by the Outer Seas.”

Lenok barely answered.

“All of that decomposing consciousness… was made of shamanic art.”

“If you watched all of that, then the story will be faster. Were you able to interpret it?”

“No.”

Lenok shook his head after pondering.

“It’s the result of completely reconstructing one’s intellect and will from the ground up with shamanic art. If an Ascendant’s intellect can be created with formulas, then it’s already a concept that is not bound by the realm of hierarchy. It’s difficult for me as someone who is not a shaman.”

“That’s the core concept that defines the existence of Padme Kiesa.”

The Heavenly Eye nodded.

“Padme was born as a spirit beast, learned shamanic art, and suffered from an identity crisis for a long time. She was said to have greatly struggled with which side she should stand on, the instinct as a beast or the reason as a shaman.”

Kwaang!!

From the end of the white lighthouse’s barrier, thick darkness overflowed.

The Heavenly Eye, who caught a lump of darkness falling from above with one hand, casually rubbed it with the back of her hand.

Shamanic characters, writhing as if alive, appeared on her palm.

The Heavenly Eye showed the shamanic characters she was holding to Lenok and said,

“So, what Padme chose after much deliberation was… to completely dismantle her instincts and intellect and reconstruct them through shamanic art.”

“……”

Lenok, who had been silent, asked,

“Is that… possible?”

A surreal explanation that felt absurd even to a mage who had seen all the secrets and taboos of the world and transcended hierarchies.

Lenok, who quickly mulled over the Heavenly Eye’s words in his head, asked,

“To do such a thing, an extremely precise design is needed so that the formulas operate autonomously even after the caster’s will disappears. Is it possible to do such a thing with shamanic art that relies on senses?”

“……”

“Even if it succeeds, from the moment you reconstruct your instincts and reason in that way, you won’t be able to be sure if that’s the real you.”

The method explained by the Heavenly Eye was not simply about injecting shamanic art into one’s mind.

Deconstructing and reconstructing instincts and intellect was, in fact, an act that touched the caster’s ego itself.

To put it simply, it was like replacing one’s brain with a calculation processing device that only operated with formulas.

Even if it worked the same as before, no one could be sure that the self after reconstructing the mind would be the same as before.

“Padme is not human, so her sense of perceiving the self is different from ours. No one knows how she accepted that fact.”

The Heavenly Eye gestured indifferently.

“The important thing is that Padme succeeded. She completely dismantled and redefined her instincts and reason, and immediately after that, she rose to level 9 and became an Ascendant.”

“……”

“Do you understand why I’m explaining this to you?”

“Is it that to challenge ascension, you have to take a gamble that even abandons the self?”

“No.”

The Heavenly Eye shook her head firmly.

“It was to say that the method Padme used has something in common with all of us.”

“……”

“The shamanic art that Padme Kiesa used to reconstruct her self. It was already far beyond the concept of hierarchy that we recognize.”

The Heavenly Eye said quietly to the silent Lenok.

“A power that breaks the caster, does not rely on the caster, and reconstructs the caster themselves. That was already something that surpassed Padme Kiesa. Do you understand what this means?”

“That’s……”

At that moment, Lenok, realizing what the Heavenly Eye was trying to say, fell silent.

Because he realized the reason why she was trying to tell him through the death of the consciousness and the way the Handbook existed.

Becoming an Ascendant by obtaining the qualification is not a miracle performed only at the end of a grand ritual, a great divinity, or an infinite ascent.

The decisive reason why Padme, who was born as a spirit beast, learned shamanic art, and gained intellect, could become an Ascendant.

“The shamanic art that the Handbook used to reconstruct her own consciousness. It was something of a transcendent concept that surpassed level 9.”

Lenok answered quietly.

“The moment you recognize a standard beyond what is allowed for an Ascendant, is that when the qualification to become an Ascendant is created?”

The shamanic art that the Heavenly Eye had been mentioning since earlier, which surpassed the concept of hierarchy.

The decisive trigger that reconstructed the Handbook’s existence from the beginning and made her an Ascendant.

Something that symbolizes a transcendent concept.

“There’s no exact name. Everyone calls it whatever they want.”

The Heavenly Eye turned her gaze with a blank expression.

“Padme was able to do it because it was the wish she had longed for her entire life as a spirit beast. It was a feat made possible by the time she struggled and agonized between instinct and reason.”

The Heavenly Eye said, looking at the scenery of the well that was turning black in the distance.

“One answer that runs through her entire life. Padme used more talent and miracles than she was given to succeed in it-”

Kugwagwagwa!!!

All other consciousness worlds except for the barrier of the lighthouse that the Heavenly Eye was protecting were already being stained by endless darkness.

“Because of that, she ended up falling into ruin, losing her memories, and falling into oblivion.”

“If the reason for falling into oblivion is……”

“Yes. From there-”

The Heavenly Eye, having said that, turned her gaze slightly back.

“It would be better to hear it from the real person.”

“……What?”

At that moment, the consciousness world that had sunk into darkness behind the Heavenly Eye was split in half and twisted.

Jjeoeoeok!!

As if bisecting the real world, the sky and the ground distorted, and a different crack from the well was struck down from the outside.

Along with that, the darkness of the Outer Seas that filled the entire consciousness space began to be sucked into the crack in an instant.

Uuuuuuung!!!!

In the midst of the violently blowing wind, Lenok opened his eyes and stared at the other side of the newly created crack.

Something with an immeasurable and powerful presence was sucking in the darkness of the Outer Seas from the other side of the crack and looking down at this place.

The moment Lenok became aware of it and immediately solidified his consciousness.

Hwaak!!

The darkness that flowed out from the well was completely sucked in and disappeared, and a quiet silence came.

The Heavenly Eye, who had been observing the situation, turned around, withdrawing the lighthouse she had built.

On the opposite side of the vast horizon of consciousness, a pale-haired girl with a blank expression was standing.

A sharp appearance with unknown complex shamanic characters engraved on her brown skin.

It was a face he had never seen before, but the moment he faced her like this, he felt like he knew who she was.

The moment Lenok unconsciously inhaled and hardened his expression at that fact.

“It’s been a while, Padme.”

The Heavenly Eye, looking back at the girl, smiled and opened her mouth.

“How long has it been since we met like this?”

“Well, Madreah.”