Chapter 262: Zero (4)

Five minutes after Louis and the Twins were swallowed by the darkness, a glint of intelligence flickered in the Mad Dragon’s eyes.

Chulsoo88 reappeared.

The fact that the darkness, which erased all existence, hadn’t dissipated meant those trapped within were still alive. Moreover, a faint light had begun to seep through the darkness moments ago—an impossible phenomenon that should never have occurred.

Chulsoo88 frowned at the light.

Could it be…?

This wasn’t a random occurrence. Something was changing within the darkness, causing this shift. It was clear this wouldn’t bode well for him.

Guessing what was happening inside the darkness, Chulsoo88 gritted his teeth.

That damned bastard…

Louis had completely upended the world he had created.

It was no exaggeration to say that this world was no longer his creation, but something entirely different.

That was why, despite his relentless efforts to kill him, Louis stubbornly clung to life, even in the face of death.

Moreover, each time he narrowly escaped death, he grew stronger.

This time would likely be no different.

He had painstakingly hoarded his “power” to create the Mad Dragon, convinced that this time he would finally succeed in killing Louis. Yet, he knew Louis would survive once again.

And this ordeal will only make him stronger.

What was meant to be his final act had instead provided Louis with an opportunity to advance.

If Louis managed to break through that darkness, he would undoubtedly have reached Zero’s Domain.

If only I could eliminate him here, before he fully masters Zero’s Domain…

Is it too late?

But pushing further now would be reckless.

The fake Mad Dragon, crafted by pouring all the “power” I had gathered, was crude compared to the real thing.

And Louis’s strength was greater than I’d anticipated.

Even the technique the fake Mad Dragon had just used strained its limits.

If I pushed it any further, the forcibly maintained form might collapse.

In truth, the “Dark Space” I had used was Chulsoo88’s trump card.

No choice.

That was all for today.

To kill Louis now would require far greater power.

I needed to prepare for that.

A chilling, murderous intent flickered in the Mad Dragon’s eyes.

The Mad Dragon turned and began to fly away, heading east toward the continents of Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.

As time passed, the light emanating from Louis’s body grew increasingly brilliant.

Simultaneously, his thoughts deepened.

Zero’s Domain… and the Key…

The Zero’s Domain, as he understood it, was an extraordinary power that interfered with the laws of the world.

Could the Key my father mentioned be the medium connecting me to those laws?

Was this Key a physical object, or merely symbolic?

Even if it were one or the other, who exactly were They?

They… Who are They?

Beings capable of connecting him to the laws of the world.

Who could they possibly be?

As Louis continued to ponder, he noticed something strange.

Huh?

A sound, like someone calling to him. No, it wasn’t so much a sound as a signal—a peculiar sensation resonating from within.

What is this?

Louis slowly savored the strange sensation, a feeling of familiarity as if he had known it for an eternity.

Then, he realized:

Is it… calling to me?

The signal seemed to be pleading, almost desperately begging to be acknowledged, like a child’s whimpering.

Who are you?

The signal shifted in response to his question.

You must find the answer yourself.

Louis focused his mind on the signal resonating within him. Instinctively, he understood: this was the entity Genelocer had referred to as “They.”

What is this… Why does it feel so familiar?

What is this thing’s true nature?

Where have I encountered this sensation before?

His first thought was his own mana, or rather, his attribute power. But the sensation was fundamentally different, carrying a distinctly different texture.

“This is far more evolved… a feeling on an entirely different level. But when… how did I ever experience this…?”

As Louis continued to grapple with these thoughts, a bolt of lightning struck above his head.

It finally dawned on him.

Where he had felt this sensation before.

Only once in his life.

When his father carried him into Silver Flower Castle.

Surrounded by the Thirteen Originators, who had reached Zero’s Domain, as they assessed his attribute power, a concentrated mass of attribute power, like a jewel, had flown toward him.

That very sensation… was exactly like this.

In the past, he had simply assumed it was another form of attribute power.

But now, reflecting on it, he realized that the Thirteen Originators’ attribute power was different from ordinary attribute power.

If ordinary attribute power was derived from mana, then this…

This feels closer to the essence itself.

And this was how the world referred to it.

“The Origin.”

The moment Louis murmured the word, a true voice echoed within him.

And then—

Click.

The sound of a key turning in its lock resonated as a dazzling, rainbow-hued radiance erupted from Louis’s entire being.

At the same time, Louis felt his soul connect with something vast and profound.

An overwhelming sense of fulfillment surged through him, igniting a boundless confidence that made him feel capable of anything.

Louis channeled that confidence into action.

And then—

Tsu tsu tsu-.

The darkness began to tear apart, shredding into nothingness.

Whoosh!

A ship surged forward, propelled by a favorable wind as it sliced through the waves at high speed.

This was the passenger liner bound from the Spring Continent to the Summer Continent.

To navigate this massive vessel, carrying 300 passengers, across the vast sea required the concerted efforts of many.

There was the chief officer, responsible for overseeing every aspect of the ship, the navigator who charted courses and set directions, and countless others.

Among the crew, the deckhands formed the largest group.

Why so many?

For no particularly profound reason.

They were simply needed everywhere, at all times.

Well, when we say “needed,” what we really mean is that the deckhands handled all the menial tasks aboard the ship.

They performed the dirtiest, most physically demanding jobs.

As a result, countless deckhands quit after just a few voyages, unable to endure the relentless grind.

The notorious reputation of deckhands meant that the position was always understaffed.

For this reason, warships sometimes hired temporary deckhands on short-term contracts, similar to modern-day part-time jobs.

That summer, Elvis was among those recruited as a temporary deckhand on a warship bound for the continent.

“Hey, Elvis! Go dump this slop overboard!”

“Yes, sir! Right away!”

Elvis nodded at the cook’s order, hoisted the slop bucket, and began struggling up the steep interior stairs of the warship.

Some of the slop splashed onto his pants and shoes, but Elvis, seemingly accustomed to such incidents, carried on without complaint.

Reaching the stern, Elvis dumped the food waste into the sea.

“Whew…”

Elvis exhaled a long sigh, slumped against the wall, and caught his breath. His gaze drifted upward to the clear blue sky.

”…I guess you get used to this kind of thing after a while.”

Before he had turned back time, even when he was fleeing from the Mad Dragon or locked in a prolonged battle against it, he had never experienced such dire poverty.

The Wise One, as I was once called, now reduced to scavenging food scraps…

The reason for Elvis’s predicament was simple: he had no money.

“Haa…”

Unable to adapt to his altered reality, Elvis wasted his days away in a daze. He repeatedly attempted to travel to the Spring Continent to assess the situation properly, but his family had thwarted every attempt.

After countless struggles, Elvis finally managed to slip out of his house in the dead of night, fleeing like a fugitive.

From the eastern reaches of the Summer Continent, he headed west, toward the port where ships sailed to the Spring Continent.

It was a long and arduous journey across the vast Summer Continent.

At first, Elvis believed he could easily reach the western coast.

But that was a delusion.

He had overlooked a crucial fact—or rather, a truth he knew but couldn’t bring himself to accept: his entire situation had changed.

The family’s wealth, his personal fortune, even his own cultivation level—everything was gone.

Though he thought he had adapted to his new circumstances, he remained trapped in the illusions of his past.

How could his ordinary body, untrained in attribute power, possibly endure such a grueling journey?

To make matters worse, Elvis had fled his home in such haste that he was completely penniless.

Having never known poverty in his life, he was utterly unprepared for its terrors.

In the past, Elvis had always believed that money was something easily earned, something he could effortlessly acquire.

Back then, with his extraordinary abilities, wealth had flowed effortlessly into his hands.

But now, reduced to an ordinary, unskilled man, he finally understood the brutal reality of earning a living—the daily struggle of working for a single meal.

As he traversed the Summer Continent, days of hunger became commonplace, and nights spent in proper shelter could be counted on one hand.

Even when he tried to leverage his knowledge for profit, success remained elusive.

After enduring countless hardships day after day, Elvis finally reached Eibout Port, located on the western edge of the Summer Continent, where ships bound for the Spring Continent docked.

He thought his troubles were over, but they had only just begun.

He immediately needed to find work to earn the fare for a ship to the Spring Continent.

But living hand-to-mouth, he found that no matter how hard he worked, he couldn’t save any money.

Desperate, he applied for a temporary crew position on a ship bound for the Spring Continent.

After enduring every hardship imaginable once more, he finally arrived on the Spring Continent.

From there, he embarked on another journey, this time to Kendrick’s hometown, a place Kendrick had once told him about.

To make matters worse, Kendrick’s hometown was located on the far western edge of the Spring Continent.

If Elvis hadn’t known about the ancient Space-Time Formations on the Spring Continent…

If he hadn’t diligently cultivated even a shred of attribute power to regain his former strength during his journey across the Summer Continent,

If he hadn’t been able to activate the Space-Time Formation,

He might have wasted years crossing the Spring Continent again.

After countless trials and tribulations, he finally arrived at what he believed to be Kendrick’s hometown, only to find…

The village… it’s gone.

Nothing remained.

In fact, he hadn’t even seen another person since leaving the village.

Despair washed over Elvis.

Yet he refused to give up.

That’s right… this might not be the place.

Clinging to this sliver of hope, a hope he couldn’t bear to abandon, he frantically scoured the Green Mountains.

He had been scouring the mountain range for over ten days, the culmination of a grueling march that had lasted for more than three years. After days of rummaging through the mountains with barely any food, he finally collapsed.

If a hunter hadn’t stumbled upon him by chance, he would likely be rotting in the belly of a monster or wild beast by now.

Later, after recuperating at the kind hunter’s home, he left the village, repaying their hospitality with a warning:

“The Mad Dragon will appear. If you want to survive, flee.”

In truth, those words were less a warning and more a vow to himself, fueled by stubborn conviction:

The Mad Dragon will appear. It must appear! So don’t give up.

After leaving the village, Elvis continued searching the Green Mountains for several days. Eventually, he couldn’t deny the truth any longer.

“The Mad Dragon… it’s gone.”

He had traveled back in time for the sake of his fallen comrades, to prevent the world’s destruction. But the world he returned to was vastly different.

Peace.

The very peace he and his comrades had yearned for so desperately.

They had fought tirelessly to restore peace to the world, yet now that peace had arrived, Elvis found himself adrift, his purpose lost.

Later, he abandoned his search in the Green Mountains and returned to Eibout Port. There, he took a temporary position as a crew member on a ship bound for the Summer Continent, which led him to where he was now.

Swoosh…

Hearing the sound of the ship’s bow slicing through the waves, Elvis stared vacantly at the sky, a sense of emptiness settling over him.

A soft voice escaped Elvis’s lips.

”…How am I supposed to live now?”

Having lost his purpose, Elvis’s heart wandered aimlessly.