Chapter 463: Star, Identity Establishment (1)

J?rmungandr looked hesitant to hand over the jewel box, and Chang-Sun had a feeling he knew the reason for that. Chang-Sun began, “J?rmungandr.”

“...What is it?”

“I promise you that what you’re worrying about will never come true.”

After looking into Chang-Sun’s eyes for a long time, J?rmungandr chuckled dumbfoundedly and said, “...There is no fooling you.”

J?rmungandr was unconcerned about a threat to his position in because he had already earned great accomplishments, but he was worried about something else, which was the identity of . The possibility of losing its glory and independence from relying too much on Chang-Sun and Bestla was worrisome to J?rmungandr, as it was no exaggeration to say that he had dedicated his whole life to the .

However, Chang-Sun had noticed what was bothering J?rmungandr first and made it clear that it was never going to happen. All Chang-Sun had done was make a promise, but J?rmungandr could feel his anxiety beginning to disappear little by little. Perhaps it was because Chang-Sun’s mastery of the [Wordwielding] ability had advanced so much that he had begun using it on a subconscious level, but the biggest reason was that J?rmungandr trusted Chang-Sun.

Of course, J?rmungandr had always viewed Chang-Sun positively, despite not always showing it openly. There had been times when J?rmungandr empathized with Chang-Sun’s tribulations and rooted for his journey. If Chang-Sun led , he would...

As the thought crossed J?rmungandr’s mind, he could not help but sigh.

‘It turned out the way Father said, one way or another.’

It was amazing how J?rmungandr had ended up following Loki’s decision in the end, regardless of what he originally thought. Loki was truly an insightful man, setting aside his particularly peculiar hobby...

Click!

Silently grumbling about his father, J?rmungandr opened the jewel box, which held a turquoise ceramic piece. Chang-Sun had discovered many items engraved with the verses of [Bestla’s Poem], but this palm-sized piece looked very different.

[You have acquired the third piece of ‘Bestla’s Poem’!]

“The piece contains the verses that my has. As you can see, there aren’t a lot of verses engraved on it, but I’m sure that the verses mean so much more,” J?rmungandr explained.

Chang-Sun dazedly reached out to the fragment.

Chang-Sun took the fragment and flipped it over. The piece’s back was filled with incomprehensible ancient letters. Most of the letters were just barely recognizable, and many of them were ruined for good.

Whoosh!

As his [Gnostic Eye] activated, Chang-Sun stroked the piece, and the letters started to move, exuding blue light.

[Analyzing the verses of ‘Bestla’s Poem’!]

<...■■ roared, “They dared to break the promise with Ryu, so ■■ ■■■ to protect Ryu’s honor and your ■■.>

<...Her subjects could not dare to defy their monarch’s stern command, but believed it was still not the right time. When they continued to exchange glances, Loki the Chief Captain came forward and said...>

...

<...■■ is ■■ and ruthless, so ■■■■ ■■ ■■■■ ■■......>

...

“These verses...” Chang-Sun muttered, studying the verses in depth.

“...?” J?rmungandr tilted his head in confusion.

“They mention your father a lot,” Chang-Sun continued.

“That’s right. That was also the reason why Father was able to have the piece and was acknowledged for carrying on Bestla’s legacy, building later,” J?rmungandr said, nodding.

Chang-Sun’s eyes gleamed as he asked, “Then do you know who wrote the poem?”

Through the accumulation of gnosis, Chang-Sun’s understanding of [Bestla’s Poem] quickly deepened, but he still had a long way to go. Many of the letters were difficult, and even the deciphered letters were often ambiguous. For a more accurate analysis of the poem, it was necessary to meet the historian who had written this verse, but...

“Sadly, I don’t know either,” J?rmungandr said, shaking his head.

“What about your father? Since he was Bestla’s chief captain...!” Chang-Sun began.

“I already asked him long ago, but he doesn’t know. To be more accurate, although he knew the historian and was a close friend of his, he stopped being able to remember him at some point,” Jormungandr answered.

“Can’t remember...?” Chang-Sun muttered with a frown, feeling a strange sense of deja vu. He thought,

‘I felt the same way after observing timelines.’

Chang-Sun felt as if he had seen something important, but there was an icky, thick fog in his head that refused to clear up. No matter how hard he tried, Chang-Sun could not remember anything about that ‘something’, even though that was supposed to be impossible.

After his , Chang-Sun knew himself better than anyone else and could remember even memories he had previously forgotten, such as every little thing he had seen as a baby.

‘If someone didn’t intervene and erase my memory on purpose, there must be an external influence that’s making people forget about certain memories...’

Chang-Sun’s gaze turned sharp.

‘Or the poem’s historian doesn’t want to reveal their identity.’

Perhaps all the possibilities were true at once. The one thing that was clear was that the historian’s ability was beyond anyone’s imagination.

‘[Bestla’s Poem] isn’t an ordinary record of her history. It’s her themselves.’

A was a record engraved on one’s soul and a law of nature, so it was not something that someone could see and inscribe.

‘Inscribing a is possible if the historian understood the person fully, but it could also mean that the historian learned the without writing the poem.’

Approximating Bestla’s alone was incredible.

‘But the historian didn’t obtain the . It wasn’t necessary for them, or they had no intention of obtaining the in the first place.’

𝒇𝙧𝙚𝓮𝙬𝙚𝓫𝒏𝓸𝓿𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝙤𝓶

At the same time, Chang-Sun continued to analyze the poem verses.

‘If it’s the latter... The historian left the poem on purpose for someone to read it...’

However, Chang-Sun’s thoughts were interrupted, because the letters that had been deciphered floated up in the air.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!

The letters danced around Chang-Sun and slowly landed on his skin, where the tattoos he had engraved before were.

[Absorbing the verses of ‘Bestla’s Poem’!]

[Your understanding of ‘Bestla’s Poem’ has deepened.]

[Your understanding of ‘Bestla’s Poem’ has deepened.]

...

Chang-Sun closed his eyes and dwelled on the lingering sensation of the poem verses.

“Are you going to start now?” Bel-Marduk asked.

Chang-Sun slowly nodded, saying, “I’ll finish it as quickly as I can.”

In contrast to Bel-Marduk, who had established his identity by distinguishing himself from his past reincarnations, Chang-Sun had decided that he was going to understand and embrace his past reincarnations for his identity establishment.

Chang-Sun was now initiating the very conquest of his subconscious realm, so as to gain complete dominance and understanding of the realm and his past reincarnations; it was the only way to have complete control over his soul. However, he would be left oblivious to the outside world, so there was a high risk of being exposed to danger. Chang-Sun was leaving Bel-Marduk in charge of his safety.

“I might have a change of heart and harm you, you know,” Bel-Marduk said threateningly.

Chang-Sun chuckled and raised a brow, replying, “Then we’d have to start over.”

That meant he would simply trigger Rollback again.

“But I believe in what I saw,” Chang-Sun said nonchalantly before he closed his eyes again.

Bel-Marduk’s lips trembled for a moment, and soon, he quietly laughed. “Yes, what we see rarely turns out wrong.”

Chang-Sun smiled back at Bel-Marduk and...

Whoooosh!

...submerged deep into his subconscious realm.

[Entering your subconscious realm!]

* * *

[All the Channelings to the outside world have been terminated; unable to contact Celestials.]

[You are advised to exit the realm.]

...

[Caution! The subconscious realm is a different place from your conscious realm. Should you stay here for too long, you may lose yourself in the realm and fail to return to the real world.]

...

Standing in front of a barren plain, Chang-Sun looked toward an area beyond a sandstorm, where an enormous castle stood like a mirage; the castle was where all his past reincarnations were.

“Come out,” Chang-Sun commanded.

[The ‘Changgwi Cave’ has opened!]

Pzzzzzz―!

Following Chang-Sun’s command, the space behind him distorted, and his subordinates came out one after another.

[The warriors have appeared!]

[The knights have appeared!]

[The siblings have appeared!]

“It’s been a while...!”

Sinmara and Jin Prezia were amused to see the subconscious realm after quite some time, and began to speak. Just then, however, their voices were cut short.

[Beings that are irrelevant to the subconscious realm have been found!]

[Evicting them.]

All of Chang-Sun’s subordinates and the entrance to the Changgwi Cave disappeared like fog.

“...So it really doesn’t work,” Chang-Sun muttered, clicking his tongue.

In the past, his subordinates had been part of him, but they had sine been fully revived, becoming their own independent beings. That seemed to be the reason why the System no longer allowed their presence in his subconscious realm.

A subordinate was still only a party to a contract that was made under the law of causality, not Lee Chang-Sun himself. On the other hand, the subconscious realm was a place for Chang-Sun only, so the realm could not accept his subordinates. That meant he had to conquer his subconscious realm on his own. As he had expected that on some level, Chang-Sun was not really worried.

Paaaah...!

At that moment, a powerful gale blew, spreading sand everywhere, and Chang-Sun slowly walked into the sandstorm.

Tap!