Proofread by : hogu
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It wasn’t that Lee Sungmin didn’t understand Abel. His own self, who returned to the past, came in and changed the entire future of this world.
Lee Sungmin was silent. He thought back to his days when he first got sent back 13 years ago. He had changed his own life, resulting in a mass butterfly effect.
He had the knowledge of his following 13 years and had acted upon it as an observer.
His life was the polar opposite to his past life.
Lee Sungmin, a third-rate martial artist, C-class mercenary and no-class, had now become a man who stepped into the Realm of Transcendence. He even got to meet Wijihoyeon and Baek Sogo, one of which was supposed to die early on, but he had decided to save. In addition, countless changes have been made with Lee Sungmin’s involvement in the agenda of the political factions.
The fate that should have come to this world was now unpredictable thanks to Lee Sungmin’s intervention.
The distortion of fate he caused and the creation of variables due to his 13 years of knowledge had come to an end. Lee Sungmin had turned 27, and did not know what would happen in the future from here on out.
… But Abel stated these actions were bringing forth the ‘end’.
“…… am I the cause of the end?”
“It’s not ‘you’, but the regressed version of you from thhe previous timeline, that is bringing this end.”
“What about the world in my past life? Are you saying that there was an end in that world too?”
“Maybe so.”
There was no way to confirm it. The stone of past lives was from a dungeon. If someone else happened to grab the stone of past lives instead of Lee Sungmin and died… Would there be a different ending as well?
“Am I supposed to be dead then?”
Lee Sungmin asked in a confused tone. Abel had been able to tell him the truth that no one had ever been able to tell him.
His existence, as a regressor who returned to the past, was the one to bring an end to this world.
What if Lee Sungmin had died before returning to the dungeon in this life? If he did, would the ending have still happened and let fate correct itself?
“The blessing of fate was guarding you until now. Before now, you couldn’t even die if you wanted to. Am I correct?”
When asked, Lee Sungmin shut up again. There were plenty of peculiarities to point out. His past 13 years in this life had many crises compared to any other. Yet none of them were truly life-or-death circumstances, except for a few.
Lee Sungmin’s strong fate had distorted the realities in which he could have died, allowing him to always live.
The first time he had nearly died to Frescan, he obtained the black heart. There was also a time when Sima Ryunju intervened and saved Lee Sungmin from his imminent death to An Zun.
“……the reason I’ve been able to live until now…. Is it because of my fate?”
“You’re right and wrong. That strong fate that has been surrounding you until now has completely disappeared. After you reached the point that you died in your previous life, that destiny no longer protected you any longer..”
Abel muttered and then burst into laughter.
“That’s why my brother is an idiot. He ran away from you, thinking that being tangled up with you would spell his death, so he tried to cross you. If he hadn’t acted so foolishly and examined your fate closely, he would have realized that sticking by your side would guarantee his safety to an extent.”
Abel laughed as he spoke, but turned silent at the end of it. After a brief pause, he spoke up again.
“This world is a strange place.”
Abel narrowed his eyes as he spoke.
“Eria… Every day, this world summons people from different dimensions. Martial artists, Wizards, researchers and much more. But, it’s lacking in one of the categories I mentioned. What do you think the reason for that is?”
“Researchers.”
“Right, few researchers and scientists are summoned to Eria compared to the number of Martial artists and Wizards. Those researchers are also classified as no-classes. They’ve been summoned into a world without any martial arts or magic. They remember the civilization they lived in, but this world remains ignorant to them.”
It was as he said. Lee Sungmin also lived in Korea in the 21st century. He remembered that time clearly, even if it was a long time ago. Airplanes, cars, trains and much more. The technology they had developed was leagues beyond Eria’s current level of technology.
“Eria doesn’t randomly bring people in. Think about it. Martial artists and Wizards are positions of power here. No matter how talented you are at learning martial arts or learning spells, it’s impossible to learn them properly if you don’t have much talent in those fields. Only selected geniuses can thrive with excellence in those fields. But what about science? What kinds of technology are created by them? It doesn’t take much effort to learn science if one puts their mind to it, and it’s more beneficial for this world if they did. Yet, nobody does it and further shuns them.”
Abel sipped the tea that was on the table next to him.
“Of course, we are not merely ignorant idiots anymore, especially now that I can oversee it myself, both and the martial artist factions are now keeping an open ear. The Wizard Guild is even researching a machine known as an “airplane” and we’ve already implemented a magical version of a train. The goal is to combine all fields in a balance in this world.”
“Wait a world where magic, martial arts, and science coexist?”
“Yes, magic rarely existed in a world of martial arts. And that’s true of magic too. In some of the magic focused dimensions, martial arts have barely advanced.”
“…… Even in the world where I lived, magic and martial arts didn’t exist.”
Abel nodded once again at Lee Sungmin’s murmur, as Lee Sungmin recalled Korea.
“It is clear that someone has created this world and is summoning people to maintain a balance. It must be true that martial arts, magic and technology were meant to be developed together. Although the groups of researchers and scientists are few in number, they’ve been thriving with the combination of their efforts with the Wizard Guild.”
“The techniques of martial arts also have been impacted by this, it seems.”
This time it was Sima Ryunju who spoke, slightly nodding his head in agreement.
“Even if it‘s a household name with the same general techniques, they have been constantly narrowed down and modified to become the best versions possible.”
“It’s the same with magic. Even if the spell is called the same, there’re different methods to each version of the spell. That’s why we, at the Wizard Guild, are always bringing in new and young Wizards to use their knowledge to advance further… it’s almost like if whoever created this world had this idea in mind of creating better and better techniques or magic to create a weapon of sorts…”
“… Are you saying we’re being bred?”
“Maybe so.”
The air grew heavy at the implications of that conjecture. Everyone in the room fell silent.
Lee Sungmin still felt confused. It sounded as if there was still something he was missing. He knew the implications of his existence and how it meddled with fate, but there was still something that seemed uncomfortable to the word ‘end’.
“…… Does this mean the ending of this world is drawing near?”
Sima Ryunju opened his mouth to respond to Lee Sungmin this time.
“The end of the world? I don’t quite understand your logic, you dumb disciple. Are you thinking that because of you traveling back to the past? It simply means fate is free to run its course now. Do you really think that the end will happen tomorrow or something?”
“I don’t know what the end is. As long as the Apostle of the End exists, the end might…… it might be an Apostle of the End will come down and slaughter everyone in this world. But this is only a guess. I don’t know how the ending will be, or why they exist. But I do know that I don’t want to die.”
Abel spoke with conviction. That was the end of Abel’s story. The end of this world? Even he didn’t know that far. Nobody did.
“…… Do you know what this is?”
Lee Sungmin put his hand in his sleeves. What he took out was the mysterious golden key from the dungeon.
As Abel tilted his head, Lee Sungmin explained the key’s origins and how it was in the place of the stone.
“…… I don’t know what it is.”
Abel murmured, staring at the key. Abel didn’t touch the key, thanks to being told in advance that it was a bound artifact.
Abel used magic to try and detect the key’s identity.
“No… that won’t work..”
Abel murmured in an irritating voice to himself.
“It must be something extraordinary. I don’t know what it is.”
Abel gave up quickly. Lee Sungmin was a little flustered and asked questions because he gave up so quickly.
“Don’t you want to try and look at it more maybe?”
“I am the greatest wizard in the world. If it’s something I can’t do, no wizard will be able figure out what it is, so there’s no need to try and pry further.”
It was an arrogant remark but it was true.
“Anyways Sima, I don’t want to die either. That’s why you’re resisting the end, isn’t it? I’d like you to at least cheer me up with some news.”
“Are you suggesting we form a coalition against some unknown end?”
“Isn’t it better than sitting on your hands and feet blind?”
“That’s true.”
Sima Ryunju nodded his head. He glanced at Lee Sungmin sitting next to him. Sima Ryunju talked to Lee Sungmin, who bit his lower lip in frustration.
“Don’t think about stupid things.”
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
“Don’t blame yourself.”
Lee Sungmin was speechless with his words that hit the mark.
“You did not make a choice in bringing the end of the world. You can’t be responsible for something that was bound to happen one day. It’s not certain either, and your existence in itself is a variable since you are not the only one that can bring change thanks to your actions of saving certain individuals.”
“What do you mean?”
“I thought Oslo told you. She must have told you that you will have to make a choice one day.”
Oslo, the Fairy Queen, had indeed said that.
She said she felt sorry for him. She also said to not ponder the past so much and live in the present, so that he would not regret any decisions he made in the future.
Osla said it was a long-standing commitment. Meaning the Apostles of the End had already set the end long before Lee Sungmin was even alive.
The end of the world was already set to happen.
And that an Apostle of the End would be the role to fulfill that ending.
What about him? Was he an Apostle of the End, himself?
When he had asked that question to Oslo back then, she had remained silent and would not speak further. As a result, Lee Sungmin had been thinking that he might be an Apostle of the End.
To some extent, that remark was correct. Thanks to Lee Sungmin’s life so far, had resulted in an end coming to the world early thanks to the laws of causality being twisted.
But, nothing had been decided yet.
That was what Oslo had said word-for-word, and Mush had said something similar.
Why did he come back to the past?
Was it really something to be regretful of?
There were no such things as coincidences in this world.
If he had returned to the past, there was surely a reason to return to him back to the past.
If he had come back, he would have to prepare himself properly, and Lee Sungmin had surely surpassed his expectations of being prepared in terms of strength.
“To be worthy of the reason you came back.”
Abel had said that his destiny would no longer protect him from here on out. Lee Sungmin had used this time well to become strong and prepare himself to survive.
‘It doesn’t matter anymore, even if it won’t protect me.’
Lee Sungmin chewed his lower lip.
He didn’t even have protection or a skewed destiny anymore. But that didn’t mean he didn’t have a reason to be here. He recalled once more what Oslo had said.
There was nothing to be set in stone yet. The end was not fixed.