Chapter 60 : New World
Chapter 60. New World
[Stage 7 evolution complete. You have acquired the [Magnetic Organ].]
[Ascension Conditions Met.]
[Initiating the Path of Ascension.]
[Due to the [Divinity] you possess, the options have been modified. Please choose from the presented options.]
[1. Path of Primal Regression]
[Why were you born, and why were you of that species? A path to seek the past and uncover your essence.]
[2. Path of Eternal Future]
[A path to becoming a god who can endure until the end of the universe.]
-Option 1.
[The karma obtained in this life of the current species is 10,000,000.]
[The creatures you may choose from are as follows.]
[Deep King Tribe]
.
.
.
[You have chosen the [Deep King Tribe] from the Path of Ascension.]
[Ascension Complete]
[According to the newly established rules, a rank is assigned to all sea creatures.]
[Common–Rare–Elite–Heroic–Unique–Legendary–Mythic–Transcendent]
[Your current rank: Mythic]
[According to the unified rules of Phantaratsa, all creatures are assigned ranks, and Mythic-rank creatures are subject to severe constraints.]
[Because you are blessed by Oron, you can bypass certain limitations and make use of ‘loopholes’.]
[You did not reach the Deep King Tribe through normal means.]
[Your body is on the verge of collapse.]
[You are entering a deep sleep for synchronization.]
-I can’t sleep yet…….
The world goes dark.
* * *
…….
Darkness.
I can’t see ahead, and it’s hard to open my eyes.
My memories are a mess.
Where is this? Who am I?
‘I’m Yul.’
Right. I’ve always been Yul, and in this world, too, my name is Yul.
‘But where am I?’
With great effort, I managed to lift my eyelids.
But everything around me was pitch-black. And it felt as though my body was trapped somewhere extremely cramped.
Even when I tried to move by putting strength into my body, it wouldn’t budge at all. As if I were bound by chains.
[Current Status: Sealed]
‘Sealed? What happened?’
As my memories gradually returned, the moments just before this state surfaced one by one.
‘There were no choices. So I was forced to choose the Deep King Tribe.’
With such an enormous amount of karma, the moment the Regulator’s protection vanished, my body was going out of control, and I had to choose evolution immediately.
Options like [Sea Dragon Tribe], [Deep King Tribe], and [Spirit King Tribe] appeared, and I tried to choose, but all of them were deactivated, leaving only the Deep King Tribe available.
‘Right. That’s why I wondered why there were so many options shown.’
Just as I had encountered a ‘stone tablet’ as a condition to evolve into a Deep King Tribe, I thought that evolving into the Sea Dragon Tribe or the Spirit King Tribe would require being entangled in a similar event.
In any case, after evolving into a Deep King Tribe, Yul was swept away by crashing waves of the sea.
His body didn’t respond properly, and he fell straight down into the deep seabed. He did manage to change direction toward shallower waters instead of heading further into the deep sea.
‘This is probably the continental shelf.’
He must have crashed onto the seabed of the continental shelf, relatively shallow, with heaps of rocks piled above him.
Being sealed seemed to be due to the new rules of this world.
[High-Rank Rules]
[Creatures of Mythic rank or higher must possess experience befitting their rank, or a narrative worthy of it.]
[Creatures holding vast amounts of karma cannot directly interfere with the surface.]
[Creatures of Mythic rank or higher can move at least 1,000 years after the Heaven and Earth Resonance, unless awakened by someone.]
[Creatures of Legendary rank or higher can move 50 years after the Heaven and Earth Resonance.]
[If these rules are violated, the creature will be sealed until normalization.]
‘Ha. This is ridiculous.’
Yul was indeed a creature of Mythic rank or higher, but the time he had lived was relatively short, leaving him lacking in experience.
On top of that, he possessed ten million karma, and as a Mythic-rank being, he wouldn’t be able to move for another 1,000 years…….
He could feel it. The pile of rocks on top of his body was something he could shake off if he could just use his strength.
But being sealed, able to see only the darkness right before his eyes, and having to endure 1,000 years beneath this massive pile of rocks.
A contradiction where he needed help from someone, yet couldn’t move at all.
Yul struggled with all his might, but he couldn’t move even 1 cm. The sensation of something enormous pressing down on his entire body.
‘Is this really it?’
After quite some time passed, his agitation subsided somewhat. It seemed that this seal couldn’t be broken.
The thought of being stuck like this for a full 1,000 years lodged firmly in his mind.
That was when two objects appeared before his eyes.
‘It’s the Stone of Authority and the Abyssal Polyhedron.’
They must have been flung out of his body during Ascension. But no matter how much he strained, even reaching them was difficult.
‘There has to be some way.’
-Status window!!
* * *
【Status Window】
【Name: Yul】
【Rank: Mythic】
【Creature Traits】
[Transcendent Creature: Possesses formidable durability, a magical body, and numerous functions that transcend the limits of living beings.]
[Fluid Movement: By using magic power, you can naturally fly or dive into seas of extreme depth.]
[Magic-Powered Life Support: In extreme conditions, you can breathe using magic power and regulate body temperature and heartbeat.]
[Ultra-Fusion Heart: A region formed by the fusion of superalloys that fulfills the role of a heart. It can output terrifying amounts of magic power, and your heart constantly shines like a star.]
[??? : An ability related to the eyes. As it has not been long since you were born as a member of the Deep King Tribe, it has not yet been unlocked.]
【Gem: Moonstone】
[Moonstone: An attribute that does not interact with any other gem attributes. It has neither weaknesses nor strengths. Its attribute is [Distortion].]
【Skills】
[You may possess one skill per rank. As you are a Mythic rank, you may possess up to 7 skills.]
[Based on the life you have lived thus far, your abilities have been converted into skills.]
[1. Madness: Your body’s durability increases, and you gain overwhelming power, at the cost of losing part of your reason. Consumes lifespan.]
[2. Great Balance: Combines all the magic power of the target and yourself, then redistributes it evenly between both parties.]
[3. Regeneration: Allows you to regenerate body parts.]
[4. Soul-Splitting Art: You can divide a portion of your soul and store it in something else.]
[5. Evolution: You can autonomously evolve or devolve up to four body parts.]
[6. Telekinesis: An ability that allows you to lift objects and manipulate them in midair.]
[7. --.]
[8. --.]
【Contracts】
1. Island’s Soul Contract, 1 count
[The islands of the Archipelago Ocean each possess their own will, and by mixing your magic power with an island’s soul, you may become the owner of that island.]
[Island currently owned: the Island of Boundaries]
2. Frangia Royal Bank Account Ownership Contract
[A mutually agreed contract. A soul-recognition contract account authenticated via a magical authentication device. You may open an account at the designated nation’s bank and withdraw or deposit money.]
【Ascension】– Ascension Stage 3
[Current Karma: 10,000,001]
【Your Current Lifespan】
[Remaining – 1,129 years 228 days 23 hours]
【Divinity】
[Having inherited the divinity of the orca, you may now gather and absorb faith from those who worship you. Faith helps increase your karma value, and once it reaches a certain threshold, 【Faith】 will be unlocked.]
【Status】
Blessing of Aeon Oron: Unless you accomplish feats on a cosmic scale, you can avoid the gaze of Aeons-class beings, and you may use precarious ‘loopholes’ that narrowly bypass the rules of the universe.
* * *
The status window had undergone a drastic upheaval. There was so much he didn’t recognize that he had to tap through this and that.
‘What’s this gem attribute?’
[Affinity between gems. A strong attribute deals 1.5× damage to a weak attribute.]
[Ruby→Emerald→Topaz→Sapphire→Ruby]
[Onyx→Pearl→Amethyst→Onyx]
[Moonstone – Neutral]
‘Attributes? Ha.’
There had been something similar in games.
Anyway, the status window had been completely overhauled. Countless minor settings had been added as well.
The biggest change was that the Authority, Inheritance, and Awakening had all vanished entirely. Magic and mantras were gone, too.
Instead, the abilities he had possessed up until now had been converted into something called skills.
Some contracts had also been terminated. The contract with Rukit had naturally disappeared with his ascension, and the contracts formed through the Abyssal Polyhedron were gone from the contract list altogether.
Yul looked at the Abyssal Polyhedron before him, then shifted his gaze to the Stone of Authority beside it.
‘Huh? Wait. The Stone of Authority is right there, so why do I have skills?’
He was certain he had absorbed the Stone of Authority. Yet now it had separated and fallen away, and still his abilities were manifested as skills.
‘What happens if I obtain the stone again in this state?’
Curious, he tried to move closer, but no matter what he did, his body wouldn’t move. So this was the seal. As he examined the status window further, he noticed that another quest had appeared.
【Path of Fate】
[The Path of Ascension has now been integrated into the Path of Fate.]
[Your choices thus far are as follows.]
[1. Head toward the Shallow Shallows]
[2. Path of Primal Regression]
[Path of Primal Regression: You have chosen the Path of Primal Regression. Your race is the Deep King Tribe, a superior race with more secrets than what is known. Unravel the secrets of your kind and proceed toward the origin of your existence.]
[To unravel the secrets and find the origin of your existence, fulfill 5 of the conditions below.]
– Establish ‘Communion’ with intelligent beings, share experiences with them, and reach the highest level of Communion.
– Defeat every Mythic-rank creature in existence other than yourself and ascend to the position of the absolute strongest.
– Discover information about your original species, Xenoia, and learn the whereabouts of your ‘siblings’.
– Descend into the deep sea and defeat at least one powerhouse of the deep sea.
– Gather believers who trust in you and raise your divinity to ‘Lower’.
– Find one extinct species and restore it.
– Find the location of the All-Purpose Dawn Artifact.
– Find the Paradise Everworld.
– Reach at least 3 of the six Sky Islands and comprehend the overall structure of the Sky Islands.
– Meet a believer of the Right Hand of Creation.
‘Why are there so many quests?’
Most of it was incomprehensible, and even the parts he understood were impossible to accomplish while sealed like this.
Compared to the quests he had received back in his Jelly Octopus days, this was on a completely different level of difficulty.
In any case, one more new quest had appeared.
【Time-Limited Quest】
【Karma Collapse】
[Current Karma: 10,000,001]
[Due to abnormally prolonged contact with the Regulator, you have acquired an amount of karma that a living being should never possess. Through a single Ascension, you resolved the critical threshold of karmic annihilation, but its aftereffects still remain.]
[Objective: Reduce your karma value through special means, or raise your [Communion] with the human race to its maximum and distribute your karma among them.]
[Time Limit: 20 years]
[Upon failure: Historical erasure due to karmic critical annihilation]
He didn’t know exactly what kind of penalty it was, but it was unmistakably something terrifying.
‘So having a high karma value isn’t purely a good thing.’
Karma was necessary for ascension, but having too much of it also seemed to be a problem.
‘For now, the most important thing is lifting the seal.’
To escape the rules created by the Aeons, he would need to resort to tricks.
‘It said that because I’m blessed by Oron, I can use loopholes.’
As Yul examined his skills more closely, he noticed that Soul-Splitting Art stated he could separate a portion of his soul and store it elsewhere.