Chapter 299
Lina groaned as she looked into the eyepiece of her Microscope of Truth while writing something with one hand. She was in her laboratory, a renovation of the boiler room in the basement of the Fence Hotel’s main branch. She was examining blood that she had freshly extracted from Seong-Hwi.
“The primordial copy... The primordial copy,” she repeatedly mumbled.
Once the work she had been focusing on was done, she immediately moved on to personal research—her hypothesis about the race stones being the primordial copy.
She believed in the existence of the very first DNA molecule born from the primordial soup, beating nearly impossible odds. She designated that molecule as the primordial copy and hypothesized that its countless copies were somehow connected to it.
By her hypothesis, one could decipher the copies to reach the original and use it to recreate the primordial copy. The primordial copy was the race stone, and its copies were the members of the race.
“The Race Stones... could be reproduced!”
Lina couldn’t imagine what would happen if that were possible, but she was at least sure that it would change the Mirror World’s dynamics forever. She manipulated the Microscope of Truth, thoroughly examining Seong-Hwi’s blood as if dissecting it. She had chosen his blood as the medium for her research because she believed it was the copy closest to the original.
“You’re special... You have been, from the day we met,” she mumbled as she stared at the hexagonal pattern through the eyepiece. “It’s only thanks to you that the Ubermensch Project, which I had thought was impossible, was a success.’
However, it was an incomplete success. Only Seong-Hwi’s hexagonal genes allowed for the heightening of one’s caliber through the genes of other races. The hexagonal genes were greedy and stable enough to hold the other races’ genes without falling apart—as if they had been constructed to be able to do so from the beginning.
“How can such genes exist? Really... It’s perfect, no matter how many times I look at it. It would be impossible to create something like this artificially, even if I wanted to,” Lina mumbled, maximizing the zoom of the microscope to examine Seong-Hwi’s genes even more.
Countless more hexagons existed inside one hexagon, and there were just as many inside those hexagons.
More... More... More!
Lina delved deeper and deeper into the genes. She felt the dial stop turning; this was the microscope’s limit, as always.
But not today! she shouted inwardly.
Blue mana enveloped the Microscope of Truth, and the dial turned even more. The more the microscope zoomed in, the more Lina felt she was sinking deeper and deeper into the sea of the hexagonal genes. Her vision became darker—it was the purest color of black she had ever seen. Then, sparkling objects began to shine within the darkness.
“Ah...” Lina trailed off, lost for words.
The countless dots flowing throughout the darkness resembled the orderly and harmonious system of the universe, the cosmos. She couldn’t believe such a vast universe could exist in a human. If there was such a thing as the truth of the universe, she was certain this was it.
Just then, incomprehensible Akasha Messages appeared before her, interrupting her admiration.
[You arrived in the Aether Plane.]
[The Regulator detects an act of cheating.]
Aether Plane? Regulator? Cheating? Lina wondered as her brain cells fired rapidly to figure out what the messages meant.
However, she was not given the time.
[You are not an official Recorder.]
[The Regulator declares an erase on Lina Ahn.]
[The Eraser acts on the declaration.]
[Penalty: Memory Erasing]
“AHHHHH!” Lina screamed, feeling her memories rapidly being erased.
Nooooo! she shouted inwardly as she wrote on a piece of paper so quickly that her hand muscles spasmed.
The pen fell as her hand convulsed and rolled to the ground. Moments later, she took her eyes off the Microscope of Truth’s eyepiece.
“Mm? What was I... doing?” she mumbled in confusion.
She seemed to have begun researching something, but couldn’t remember anything.
“Huuu, I must’ve dozed off. Yawn~ It’s been a while since I’ve slept. Maybe I’ll find my Thumper plushie and take a nap.”
She opened her laboratory door and went outside. The door closed, and the wind generated by the door blew the pieces of paper off her table and onto the floor.
***
A few days had passed since Seong-Hwi had departed for Gurzes. His boat was still slicing through the ocean at several hundred knots. The water shook intensely, and he saw black silhouettes underneath the surface. Just then, bizarre-looking lifeforms jumped out from the ocean.
“Kaaaaahhh!”
“Kill him!”
“Come with us!”
[Ctenophora of the race Chaos, discovered.]
Their heads were shaped like mushrooms and had dozens of disgusting, slimy legs. Considering they were exuding Chaos Mana and could speak clearly, they were at least Adora-rank Chaos monsters.
“I remember eating chilled jellyfish salad... It was a pretty decent dish, but I rarely had the chance to eat it since I lived alone,” Seong-Hwi said leisurely despite being ambushed by hundreds of Ctenophoras.
He had been experiencing endless such ambushes from the Underfish for the past few days.
“Chilled jellyfish salad is best with spicy hot gyoza sauce that opens your sinuses. Yeah, let’s go with hot.”
[Activating Unique Skill: Symbol Embodiment.]
[Ace of Wands]
[Two of Wands]
...
[Nine of Wands]
He embodied forty-five red Wands, surrounding him like a fence. Fire filled the gaps between the Wands, making it seem like a giant ring of fire was protecting him.
KYEEEEEHHH!
KAAAAAHHH!
The Ctenophoras that had charged at him simultaneously fell into the Wands’ flames like squid being grilled on an elvan stone grill.
“Hmm... This is strange,” Seong-Hwi mumbled as he grabbed the white scroll from his pocket and opened it.
It contained information about Gurzes, provided by the Sēmen.
“It didn’t say anything about the Underfish rampaging.”
No matter how many Underfish there were in the blue ring, it was abnormal to be attacked every few hours in this vast ocean. It was as if they were trying to delay him.
“But who?”
He couldn’t find a reason why the Chaos of all races would specifically target him. It made more sense to believe that the Underfish had gathered around Gurzes for some reason, resulting in more Chaos around this area.
“Did the scent of blood attract them? They could be planning to invade Gurzes once the civil war breaks out,” Seong-Hwi said.
He thought momentarily, then shook his head. He couldn’t know what was happening in Gurzes without seeing it for himself.
“Meaning there isn’t much use for this,” he mumbled as he placed the white scroll back into his pocket.
It also contained information about the key figures in Gurzes, the factions, and their relationships, but it was all superficial and had no realism.
“I can’t blame the Sēmen for that. I heard Pontus had been distancing itself from the Sēmen after the death of the Ocean King.”
Before the now-deceased Haema Sanguis was the Ninth Fiend, the seat belonged to Squama, the Ocean King. It was never accurately revealed how Haema had done it over a decade ago, but he had somehow managed to kill Squama.
Pontus, the merfolk society, claimed it had been a cowardly scheme instead of a fair fight and demanded that the Sēmen put Haema on trial. However, the Sēmen did not accept Pontus’s demands, acknowledging Haema and Consanguineus instead.
After that, contact between Pontus and the Sēmen broke down. Pontus was reclusive enough as it was, but it became nearly impossible to know what was going on inside once they cut off all contact from the outside world. Not only that, but the few warp gates leading to the merfolk cities were closed, forcing anyone who wanted to visit them to do so by boat.
Despite all this, Pontus had requested support from the Sēmen this time.
“The Sēmen sees it as a chance to arbitrate the civil war occurring in Gurzes and bring them back to the Sēmen,” Seong-Hwi mumbled, seeing what they had planned.
He also believed they had sent him specifically to Gurzes, to the point that they would create the new position of inspector, because he had waged war against Consanguineus and was involved in Haema Sanguis’s death.
“I wonder if there will be a crowd welcoming me?” he said with a smirk.
The merfolk of Pontus would be amicable to him, who had waged war against Consanguineus, the faction that had killed their king.
𝐟𝗿𝐞𝚎𝚠𝐞𝚋𝕟𝐨𝚟𝐞𝕝.𝕔𝕠𝚖
White flames from the forty-five Wands spread radially, causing the water around the flames to boil. Because of that, the Ctenophoras under the surface that had been preparing for another ambush were boiled to death.
Kyeeeeehhh!
Kaaaaahhh!
[1,152 Karma obtained.]
[1,322 Karma obtained.]
[1,527 Karma obtained.]
...
Seong-Hwi smiled optimistically, watching his Karma balance rise.
“Arbitrating this civil war might be easier than I thought.”
***
“A-ambush—! Kurgh!”
“Kill the ganoid scales!”
“Ahhhhh!”
Screams, the clanging of weapons, and the slicing of flesh reverberated throughout the battlefield, dyeing the water red. The blood was sucked into a giant hole. This cave-like hole was the main water gate, through which one needed to pass to enter Gurzes.
There was an artificial island beside the main water gate, made of coral reef and seashells. It was normally a checkpoint regulating entry and exit to Gurzes, but the guards protecting the artificial island were being unjustly attacked.
“W-why are you attacking us?!”
“Stop! We’re fellow merfolk!”
“Placoid scales!”
The merfolk guards immediately recognized their attackers as placoid scale tribesmen because of their tooth-shaped scales.
“Shut up!”
“How dare you, despicable ganoid scale bastards, call us fellow merfolk?!”
“Not just the ganoid scales! The ctenoid scales and cycloid scales are just the same as you bastards!”
“Kill them all!”
Thousands of placoid scale merfolk charged at the merfolk guards and pierced them with their spears.
“Kurgh!”
“W-we must let Gurzes know of this!”
“After them! Don’t let a single one escape!”
The sound of scales being split and flesh being cut open echoed for a while. Bitter blood pooled in the dips of the artificial island’s rough surface, making thousands of blood puddles. The sound of battle gradually died down, and silence soon filled the island.
“Huff! Huff! Gahaha! We won!”
“You bastards started this war first, so don’t resent us!”
“We will pay blood with blood!”
The battle ended in the placoid scale tribe’s victory. Not only had they outnumbered their enemies five to one, but it had also been a surprise attack.
Just then, a male merfolk, a head taller than the rest, rose from the water's surface and stepped onto the artificial island. He was covered in sharp, dark-blue placoid scales and had a shark fin on his back.
“Confirm your kills,” the man commanded coldly as he looked around.
He was Otodus, the one responsible for this operation, and the second son of Carcharocles, the Ghost Tooth.
“Close the water gate,” he commanded.
“Yes, sir!”
“Close the water gate!”
The merfolk quickly took action. The cave made purely of water began to disappear; the power of several thousand tonnes of spinning water had lost its momentum and collapsed. The only path leading to Gurzes had been blocked.
“Master Odotus! A boat is rapidly approaching us!” a subordinate reported.
Otodus bared his sharp teeth and remarked, “Prepare yourselves. A meaty guest has come of their own accord.”