"Where am I?" I said, covering the intense light hitting my eyes.
Slowly, I got used to the brightness and looked around.
I was in a small pool amid roots, with a strong light shining down from above.
"But what is this?" I looked at my body again—a black substance constantly leaking from it, contaminating the surrounding water.
However, in just a few moments, the water was purified again as the light seemed to burn away the black substance.
"Why am I in the final chamber?" I quickly realized where I was and analyzed my body again.
"Everything is wrong… what happened to me?" I moved, feeling the Primordial Force once more—however, it was different now.
The energy flowing through me was no longer Primordial Force.
"What is this?"
Even so…
BOOOM
A simple swing of my arm destroyed the roots, sending out a powerful gale.
"Wow…"
I continued analyzing my body—stronger than before, with an even greater flow of some other kind of energy.
More than that, even the channels through which Primordial Force had previously flowed had been altered.
My anatomy had been changed—optimized.
"Ugh." I clenched my teeth as my head felt like it was about to explode, but slowly an idea began to form.
I raised my hand; flames wrapped around my fist and quickly shot out like a flamethrower.
"What?" I stared in awe, not knowing how I had done it. Or rather, I knew—but I didn't know how I knew.
With my other hand, I summoned water; with my feet, I summoned earth; and by manipulating air, I even flew briefly through the area.
Soon after, I entered the water again, feeling it help cleanse and heal me.
Help me… after all, I was also healing myself.
Unlike other abilities, I didn't need to move to invoke healing. That was a contradiction, since Primordial Force depended on movement.
I took a deep breath, calming my mind. Something very wrong had happened—and at the same time, something very right.
My body was naked in the middle of mystical waters, with fairies around, and that's all I knew.
SPLASH
Suddenly, something dove into the water, drawing my attention. A shadow slowly approached me from beneath the surface.
SPLASH
"Good morning my dear…"
Euphy emerged just a few centimeters from me, wearing a mischievous smile, both arms wrapping around my neck.
Euphy's face looked me up and down, a strange gleam in her eyes.
"You've grown so much…" she said, touching my chest. "It's getting hard to hold myself back—I might end up attacking you at any moment."
She rested her head against my chest, her eyes still fixed on mine.
"Would you be very angry if I were a bad girl?" she chuckled softly as my heart beat faster and faster.
Her moist lips slowly moved closer to mine. My breathing grew more rapid.
However, I quickly pushed her away.
"Tsk!" The shadowy entity wearing Euphy's face and body pulled back with a scowl.
"That part I didn't forget—don't take advantage of my dementia. You're some kind of evil god."
"No, I'm not. I'm an Entity of the Left; it's different," she said, still sulking, before swimming away.
'Look up, don't look at her chest!'
I quickly averted my gaze as she swam, as naked as I was.
"Still, you're not that far from the truth," she said calmly while swimming. "When I was mortal, I did some truly bad things."
"What?" I was surprised by her frankness.
"All Left Entities have done something bad. Many were thieves, murderers, addicts. But that doesn't deprive them of the right to ascend to the divine."
"Why the hell would criminals be allowed to become gods?" I asked, shocked, as the entity laughed softly.
"Why? Do you think only pacifists are wise? That only mystics of royal blood possess wisdom? Ah, how poor humanity would be if it depended only on them."
She kept laughing as she swam.
I sighed, continuing to watch the entity before me with interest.
"Please, enlighten this foolish child," the entity laughed.
"What a good boy," she said. "You should already know this, but gods are as mortals call us. We don't consider ourselves divine—just further along than you, and we want you to reach the same stage."
I nodded in agreement.
"Second, there are two types of entities: Left, those who had difficult lives and were often criminals; and Right, those who always sought peace and innocence. There are things only the Left can do, and things only the Right can do."
"What kind of things?" I asked curiously.
"Well… I could grant you women, riches, power, and even destroy your enemies in your place. All it takes is my goodwill—depending on my mood, I might do it for free or even without you asking."
"And the Right?" The entity laughed.
"They never interfere in worldly affairs beyond words. They would never kill anyone." I nodded in agreement.
"Now let me ask you," the entity said. "Who do you think is more loved by mortals?"
"The Left."
"And who are they?"
"Criminals." I sighed as the entity burst into laughter.
"You'd be surprised to see the paradise of the Right—it's endless peace, completely boring. While on my side, it's an endless party, with food and drink, and all the carnal pleasures the other side rejects."
"Just one last question… what was your crime?" The entity immediately looked tense and coughed.
"I may have slept… with some men… and then killed them… with stabs…"
My eyes widened, and I was grateful I hadn't let her continue enchanting me.
I took a deep breath.
I nodded and returned to the main topic.
"So what happened here? Why am I in this place so early?"
"Oh right—you shattered your mind after trying to comprehend a Star-Shattering–level power… repeatedly, in fact…"
"What?"
"Your mind was shattered among the water spirits, then those of fire, earth, wind, and healing. Inevitably, you lost some mental capacities, like creating new memories."
I brought a hand to my chin, pondering.
"But I kept training?"
"Yes. I don't know how, but yes. Even I was surprised." She stopped swimming and stared at me with a strange light in her eyes. "Not even blowing up your mind made your focus waver. You stayed standing from beginning to end, training for over ten years without even being conscious. And you know the most ridiculous part? You learned to heal your mind without ever reaching this chamber—slowly recovering your mental functions while training."
She laughed harder and harder, pressing a hand to her forehead as tears streamed down her face.
"This is ridiculous! I always try to bring people here, and no one can ever withstand these worlds. Demons far above your level come here and still cry after hearing whispers from the smallest fish—and you heard a Leviathan! A being capable of destroying stars, and you kept training as if it were nothing! What the hell are you made of?! Ah, what a temptation! I really can't hold myself back!"
She laughed even more.
"…"
I listened silently to the entity's outburst.
She sighed, exhausted, before returning to a calm state.
"You've already finished the ritual; you can leave the chamber. I only recommend that you name your techniques."
I nodded, remembering once again that I would need to reacquire those powers—or regain that form.
However…
'It doesn't seem so difficult now…' Creating flames, healing—these seemed complex only when you didn't understand the process.
But now I knew every step. It was simply a matter of understanding my tiger body.
"Star-Heart Method—that's what I'll call the original technique developed under the starry sky. As for my tiger body, Earth-Heart, since it's my earthly body."
"Cough, cough." Suddenly, the entity coughed, drawing my attention. "There's a hidden benefit to listening too much to elementals… normally, these beings are almost omnipresent, but invisible and inaudible to mortals. But for someone who has heard them so much… the second part might not be entirely true for you."
I nodded and asked one last question.
"I know we talked a lot, but you never told me your name."
The entity frowned, then approached with a smile, tilting her head cutely as her eyes scanned me.
"It's a terrible sin to forget a lady's name," she said, smiling. "I'll give you a hint: you knew my name before coming here, and you still remember it. What is it?"
I frowned.
"Before here? I remember long before… but Euphy never told me your name." For some reason, the entity laughed and turned away.
'Look up, don't look at her butt.' I averted my gaze once more.
"See you later, Kai. I will miss you."
Suddenly, the world dissolved into a sea of sparks along with my body, and for a moment I glimpsed my soul.
Before long, I was there again, facing Euphy as a Tiger, who watched me with a smile.
Decades had passed—and at the same time, no time at all.
[ Pain Tolerance 6 → 10 ]
[ Fainting Tolerance 8 → 10 ]
The familiar voice of a goddess spoke to my ear after so long.
I sighed, then focused on sharpening my hearing once more.
Familiar whispers reached my ears constantly—from candle flames, from the breeze of the wind…
'Damn… I'm one step closer to completely losing my mind.'
[ Skill Acquired: [Spiritual Hearing (Lv.1)] ]