Chapter 222

Chapter 222 – Do You Know the Dragon That Became a Legend?

‘To begin with…….’

The circumstances were utterly catastrophic.

The moment the foundation started to fracture, it came undone at a terrifying speed, and the erupting mana threw his entire interior into chaos.

The mana of Senior Teheman was currently decelerating the collapse, but it was merely a temporary delay.

‘Focus. I need to find a way.’

Faced with this critical boundary between life and death, Aster focused his mind, rendering it sharper and colder than a blade to discover a solution.

In all honesty, this sort of peril was not unfamiliar to him.

He had been a street urchin in the Black-White Slums.

From the very moment his parents abandoned him, long before he could even comprehend his own destiny… all the way through his tenure as a Troubleshooter, running like a hound for a relentless organization.

His entire existence had been an unbroken sequence of emergencies.

He had faced assignments where survival seemed impossible, and positions where his demise was expected. To remain among the living, his only option was to kill—and failure to do so meant his own end.

Defeat brought death, yet even victory offered no promise of safety.

It was a life balanced precariously on the edge of a sword.

A single miscalculation would mean his erasure. He had navigated an absolute dark, where existence and annihilation brushed past each other with every stride.

That was the reality he had known.

A thousand flawless paces could not protect him from perishing on the very next step.

And yet.

‘……I endured.’

How, precisely, had he done it?

Reflecting upon it now, it seemed completely incredible.

How had he managed to hold onto life while traversing a path thick with the shadows of mortality?

The explanation, as it turned out, was uncomplicated.

He had simply… chosen the correct path.

To be more exact, he had held unyielding faith in his choice and never faltered.

That realization dissolved every lingering uncertainty.

There was no purpose in asking, “Where did the path deviate?”

The action required of him in this moment was perfectly defined.

He needed to pacify the rampaging mana, grasp its reins, and construct a core. That was the entirety of it.

Granted, even the act of pacifying that mana was a monumental hurdle……

‘Understood. Let us proceed.’

Violent mana behaved much like unbroken stallions—the more force applied to restrain it, the more violently it resisted. And currently, he was dealing not with a mere pair, but with thousands.

Therefore, the solution was to release it entirely.

Having made his choice, he moved without a moment’s delay.

Initially……

‘……Haa.’

Aster let out a gentle breath and completely cleared his thoughts.

He relinquished the desperate urge to maintain command.

With his mind rendered vacant, the violent mana ceased to invoke terror. Only the agonizing torment continued to cloud his perception.

Following that.

……He surrendered it all.

‘A core is unnecessary.’

Shatter, snap!

Aster intentionally fractured the failing core with his own volition. He ripped it apart, reduced it to fragments, and dispersed it entirely.

This was not born from a calculated plan.

It merely… felt like the inherent progression of things.

Consequently—

Crack, splinter!

Rumble……!

The mana, stripped of all restraints, began to tear through his internal pathways. Yet, it did not remain confined there.

A portion of it spilled outward from his form, and owing to his mana body, even the mana integrated into his lifeblood surged into the flood, swirling in a wild tempest.

In the center of this storm.

‘……Now, the final phase.’

Even at the absolute height of his suffering, Aster aligned himself with the inherent progression and took action.

What form did that progression take?

The New Heavenly Origin Art.

An incomplete esoteric technique, its fundamental concept still unformed.

That was the key.

“Gah!”

Library Director Teheman swiftly retracted his hand as Aster’s mana surged backward into him.

He repelled the invading energy while simultaneously quelling his own internal power, which threatened to churn violently in response.

“Splat!”

A spray of crimson escaped him.

Teheman stabilized his internal energies and wiped the blood away from his lips.

His gaze remained locked onto Aster.

“What on earth…….”

To Teheman, the unfolding scene defied all rationality.

Granted, letting the volatile mana run its course was a logical tactic.

Aster might have been unaware, but abandoning direct control was a recognized method for surviving a mana backlash.

However.

‘……For what reason?’

Aster had deliberately obliterated his own core.

To put it another way, he had consciously discarded his path as a practitioner of magic.

While various strategies existed to combat a mana backlash, absolutely none of them dictated an action of this nature.

Had the boy simply surrendered?

‘No, that is impossible.’

In truth, before Aster shattered his own foundation, the circumstances had not been entirely devoid of hope.

Combining the two fractured cores remained a viable path, as did sacrificing one to preserve the integrity of the other.

Granted, either choice would result in permanent detriment……

But to smash the core entirely?

What could have prompted Aster to make such a reckless determination?

Strangely, Teheman felt a glimmer of understanding.

“……Something is pursuing you.”

He was oblivious to what it might be.

Though Teheman was privy to more of Aster’s hidden truths than the average person, he remained blind to the full picture.

That realization brought a quiet tremor to Teheman’s gaze. It was a tragedy beyond expression.

“What…… is forcing you to push yourself to such extremes?”

Your progression is already remarkably swift.

You tread upon realms that ordinary individuals cannot even perceive in their dreams.

Continuing at this pace, your name would resonate across generations, and any opulence or renown you desired would surely be yours.

So why do this?

Through the perception of Teheman, who was blind to the physical world, Aster’s silhouette shifted like ink upon a parchment.

What immense weight was resting upon those young shoulders…….

Teheman remained ignorant of the cause.

He felt only a profound sorrow.

“You are permitted to advance a bit more deliberately.”

You are already achieving so much.

……Naturally, his sentiments would never reach Aster’s ears.

Even so, Teheman stared at the youth enduring his solitary battle and spoke softly into the void, fully aware of the futility.

“It is perfectly fine…… to proceed with patience.”

For that young boy appeared to be carrying a burden far too immense for his years. Existing in such a manner, he would eventually shatter.

Do not break. Do not succumb.

That remained the sole offering Teheman could extend to Aster in this moment.

Wishing that he would not break…… offering his trust and staying watchful.

How much time slipped away while Teheman held fast to that earnest desire?

Snap, hiss—!

Abruptly, brilliant arcs of energy ignited within the chamber.

“……!”

Teheman’s expression turned rigid at the sudden, violent shift in the mana currents, and he took a step back.

“What is the meaning of this……?”

The atmosphere began to warp.

The mana spun violently, generating a fierce vortex.

Before long, an suffocatingly thick aura erupted in every direction from the epicenter.

A solitary figure remained motionless within.

……Aster.

Metamorphoses began to manifest across the youth’s physical form.

Crack, peel—

Accompanied by quiet, snapping noises, his skin began to split apart like dry earth. Shortly after, it sloughed away entirely like a discarded casing.

Teheman recognized the truth instantly through instinct.

An event…… was shifting.

An unprecedented transformation, perhaps unlike anything recorded in the annals of magical history.

How many minutes or hours had drifted by?

A profound quiet descended upon the subterranean chamber, which had so recently been upended by distorting mana and violent energy torrents.

Teheman, maintaining his distance at the rear, felt a twitching sensation around his eyes.

‘Has it…… concluded?’

Teheman quickly cast his awareness forward to evaluate Aster’s current state.

To begin with, the youth’s respiration had turned constant. In fact—beyond mere constancy, it possessed a profound depth and purity. Whether “purity” was an appropriate descriptor for breath, he could not be certain, but it sufficed.

Yet, the condition of the mana carried far greater significance.

Thus, Teheman honed his perception even further to investigate……

Whirrrr—!

“Argh!”

Teheman flinched as an intensely sharp sensation struck his consciousness without warning.

It was a common comparison to say that staring directly into the midday sun caused pain to the eyes.

This phenomenon was identical.

Simply put, his awareness had encountered a presence far too immense for him to process……

It was precisely then that a shift occurred in Aster’s steady, measured breathing.

“…… shreds.”

Aster quietly parted his slightly lowered eyelids.

The environment greeting his sight remained unchanged.

The luminous crystals casting light across the area. The subterranean chamber heavily carved with complex geometric arrays. Though, a singular variance existed.

Senior Teheman, positioned far in the background.

Aster observed him for a brief moment, then shifted his gaze downward. At that exact instant, Teheman’s voice broke the silence.

“……Are you unharmed?”

Rather than offering a verbal reply, Aster gradually closed and opened his hand.

He remained uncertain himself. Whether this current condition represented a favorable outcome or otherwise.

After opening and closing his palm several times, Aster directed his awareness inward to examine his own state.

The quiet returned once more.

“…….”

Teheman refrained from pressing him for answers.

He merely remained patient, waiting for Aster to conclude his self-assessment and offer a word.

Concurrently, a sense of foreboding began to loom.

Judging by the lingering resonance, it appeared the youth had successfully mastered the chaotic energy—yet a mana backlash did not simply resolve upon being mastered.

On occasion, the complications arising during such an ordeal left behind permanent impairments.

How much more time did they spend in silence?

Aster finally parted his lips.

“I am unharmed…… actually, no.”

Halting mid-thought, Aster shifted his gaze as if searching for the proper terminology, then concluded.

“Superior to any previous state.”

“Superior…… to any previous state?”

Aster gave a firm nod.

Indeed, his physical and magical condition surpassed anything he had previously known.

To begin with, this physical vessel.

Though already bolstered by his mana body, it had now advanced far beyond basic durability.

It felt akin to being completely remade.

From the perspective of a martial practitioner, it would mirror…… precisely.

Marrow Cleansing.

It was as though he had experienced a total structural reconfiguration of his flesh.

Simply drawing breath and exhaling infused him with an incomprehensible vitality rising from the depths of his center.

Yet, the development that brought Aster the greatest satisfaction was an entirely different marvel.

Within his left chest, beside the heart.

Enfolding the organ as it steadily contracted and expanded with measured, potent pulses—was an intense concentration of refined mana.

It was entirely distinct from a core.

Occupying the space where the broken core had once resided, resting against his heart: a circular……

Circle.

Furthermore, it was not solitary.

……There were three.

Contemplating the three circles that had stepped into the void left by his core, a smile touched Aster’s lips.

“Sunbae, are you familiar with the dragon that transformed into a myth?”

“A dra……gon?”

Aster nodded in response to the visibly bewildered Teheman.

“Indeed, a dragon.”

“What brings dragons into the conversation so suddenly…….”

“Who can say.”

Aster let out a quiet laugh and scanned the surrounding chamber.

He lifted a single finger a fraction. Refined mana immediately converged at the tip. It was not routed through any traditional pathways……

It responded purely to his intent alone.

The resonance of the internal circles had summoned the energy.

This mirrored the exact manifestation of stepping into a transcendent realm, yet Aster had not truly attained a state of transcendence in this moment.

Rather, it was……

The authority inherent to the circles.

Utilizing this newfound esoteric technique, he had replicated the effects of transcendence.

No, replication was the wrong term.

‘……An entirely new path.’

Indeed, he had breached a fresh frontier within the study of magic.

Aster’s personal transcendence belonged to him alone, but these circles—once the underlying principles were codified—could be acquired by anyone.

The Magic Tower.

This very instant marked the creation of its foundational esoteric art.