Chapter 97: The Best ntor (2)
To anyone else, I might have looked like so local bum lazing around in bed all day, but my brain was working tirelessly, like a worker ant, never stopping for a mont.
It’s been half a year since I fell into this world, and during that ti, I’ve gained many abilities.
Enchantnts and ntal barriers.
The ancient glyphs I obtained from Nelitori.
Sacred Power, the ability to awaken innate potential, and my title as the Divine Hunter.
The Heart of the Immortal, Retonicalus, which was a reward from the main storyline. Plus, the Ring of Blood and the Ring of Desire that I acquired from the abandoned mine this ti.
Although I had clawed my way to survival and obtained a variety of powers, I couldn’t confidently say I had mastered even a single one of them.
Maybe I should say I just learned the skills but never bothered to work on their proficiency?
To be precise, it was because I didn’t know the proper thods to train them.
Sure, I knew bits and pieces from the novel, but training thods aren’t sothing you just know by reading; they have to be learned through experience.
I’ve gradually gotten to understand these powers through real-life situations so far, but there were clear limits to this approach.
‘This is reality, and I’m no genius.’
Unlike a ga where a skill is activated with a single hotkey press and levels up with repeated use, this world required to develop and refine them through trial and error, like studying a subject.
To shorten this developnt ti, I thought of Retonicalus.
I held onto the hope that this entity could make strong in a short period.
Right now wasn’t the ti to worry about external matters; it was the ti to strengthen myself internally.
It was ti to hone the abilities I had gained.
For that, I desperately needed the help of the being that resided within the Heart.
‘At least now I can communicate with it….’
It was two days ago, while riding the carriage to Beneta, that I first broke the ice and started a conversation with Retonicalus.
Fenry had passed out imdiately after obtaining his belt, and Dorneth was contemplating the future now that the mine’s curse had been lifted.
In that quiet space, I called out to Retonicalus.
I was worried it might ignore , but to my surprise, it responded readily to my summons.
So I asked:
[What exactly are you?]
That was my first and most important question. After all, I didn’t even know that the Heart had a consciousness before this.
To that question, Retonicalus described itself with one word: “Transcendence.”
It claid to be an independent mass of energy, created from the powerful will of an Absolute Being.
In simple terms, it seed to be a fragnt of a soul detached from its original form.
Through this conversation, I learned sothing astonishing: the Immortal no longer existed in this world.
Its physical body had been destroyed, and even its soul had dissipated.
[But I failed to achieve perfect rest.]
Retonicalus had sought eternal rest but failed. It called its own existence proof of that failure.
Whenever I spoke with it, I often found myself thinking:
‘What the hell is this thing even talking about?!’
Honestly, I only understood half of what it said. The other half went completely over my head.
Talking to this entity, which was beyond the scope of common sense, left feeling stifled and overheated.
Maybe I shouldn’t have closed the window?
“How about the na Reto?”
[Nas carry the power to affirm existence. Treating it lightly is akin to denying that existence.]
“Then are you the Immortal, Retonicalus?”
[I might be, or I might not be.]
Was it, or wasn’t it?
For two days, we argued back and forth on this topic.
It wasn’t even an important subject.
This was just my way of figuring out its personality.
However, every ti I asked a question, it would either give vague answers or respond with convoluted nonsense.
Especially:
[My physical form has been destroyed, but I still exist in this world.]
It’s like saying, “I drank but didn’t drive drunk.” What the hell’s the difference?
Retonicalus was the kind of being that liked to circle around in philosophical riddles, the classic rambling old geezer.
My head throbbed from the effort of keeping up.
“You said your physical form was destroyed. Doesn’t that make you a different being?”
[I am an avatar born from that original physical form.]
“An avatar?”
[Breaking off a branch from the World Tree doesn’t an the branch ceases to be part of the World Tree. That’s what an avatar is.]
An avatar.
A being separated from its original body….
When I awakened as the Divine Hunter, I saw an avatar in Arena Huaton’s halo.
“The avatar of Retonicalus.”
While I had prevented her from fully awakening as an avatar, if she had succeeded, Arena would have road the world as the avatar of Retonicalus.
What exactly was an avatar?
If she had fully beco an avatar, would she have walked the path of the Immortal?
“Is an avatar an Immortal?”
[What a foolish question. Do you think so lowly host could contain the power of immortality that even other Absolutes cannot bear?]
“……”
The Crystal Mimic and Arena were probably hosts for this entity.
And so was I.
This required deeper investigation.
“What do you seek to gain through your hosts?”
It was a sensitive question, but I didn’t hesitate to ask.
From my observations, this being wasn’t one to avoid giving answers.
I expected it to say sothing like, “I want to resurrect the Immortal’s physical form through my hosts.”
But instead:
[I seek perfect death.]
“Perfect death? But you said your physical form was destroyed….”
[My physical form is gone. But this world refuses to acknowledge my death. My plan over countless eons has failed, and now I must carry on that desire.]
I had no idea what it was talking about anymore.
However, I did understand one thing: this world did not recognize its death.
Arena’s Divine Awakening, which brought the na “Retonicalus” into the realm of divinity, ant that this world still perceived the existence of the Immortal.
“So what you want is to erase yourself completely from this world?”
[Finally, soone who understands.]
My heart thumped loudly.
Was it… excited?
[I must die. Completely.]
“……”
Unbelievable.
Here I was, finally getting my life together after obtaining the Heart of the Immortal, only to learn that my heart wanted to die.
Completely.
A troll could not compare to this.
Wait, was this trolling?
It did have regeneration capabilities, after all.
But if it died… what would happen to ?
This thing was literally my heart.
Reading the novel When the Villains Get Stronger, I had encountered plenty of lunatics in the story.
But the entity inside ? This guy could out-crazy them all.
Before I knew it, I had bolted upright on my bed.
This damned novel didn’t even give ti to rest ntally.
Swallowing dryly, I asked, “So, what’s your plan?”
Surely it wouldn’t actually tell … right?
[I don’t have one.]
“…What?”
[I spent countless eons creating and executing plans, all of which failed. I erased my physical form from this world, but my transcendence could not be erased.]
“You an your existence?”
[Exactly. My existence hinders the eternal rest of my physical form. Immortals are beings bound by the cycle of undying. The world will always resurrect my physical form. And when that happens, even my brief respite will end.]
My heart’s beat weakened.
Was it feeling dejected?
While it was good to understand its emotional changes, it wasn’t exactly comforting when the heart in question was my own.
“Have you had many hosts before?”
[Countless. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say I’ve passed through every species you could call living.]
“What happened to them all?”
Knowing the fates of the Crystal Mimic and Arena Huaton, I could already guess, but I needed confirmation.
[They all died.]
“Was that your intention?”
[If it were, I wouldn’t have imbued my heart with part of my immortality. When a host dies, I must start over again. It’s a hassle for as well.]
“But they all still died.”
[I underestimated the nature of living beings. Few hosts could maintain their sanity while holding my transcendence. Even with a perfect synchronization as an avatar, the assimilation rate was no higher than 10 percent. Those few eventually went mad or their bodies gave out after a few years.]
“Then what about …?”
[You are special.]
Suddenly, heat radiated from my heart.
It was so hot and intense that even Fenry, who was unconscious, shifted in his sleep.
[The Ring of Desire is an item I used in my physical form. Simply touching it would shatter the mind of anyone who wasn’t a transcendental being.]
“…What?”
I looked at the ring on my finger in shock.
A vivid red ring.
Its aura radiated from the middle finger of my right hand.
Shatter the mind just by touching it?
Yet here I was, perfectly fine.
[Moreover, the ring’s desire has been set to ‘survival,’ absorbing a part of my transcendence. While I don’t know your exact synchronization rate, I’m confident of one thing: both ntally and physically, you are the perfect host for .]
“……”
I had been acknowledged as a host.
Should I laugh or cry about this?
At least it was clear that it had a favorable attitude toward . I could feel it in how its behavior toward had changed since I obtained the Ring of Desire.
Resolving the abandoned mine’s curse had apparently been the turning point in earning Retonicalus’s recognition.
My mind worked quickly.
A perfect, irreplaceable host.
To Retonicalus, I was such a being.
How could I use this to steer things in the direction I wanted?
My thoughts circled back to one starting point: its na.
“Then how about erasing the na Retonicalus?”
[Erase the na?]
“Didn’t you say nas affirm existence? Don’t you want ‘perfect death’?”
[…Ah.]
A bizarre heart that longed for perfect death had ended up inside , soone striving for perfect survival.
It was ridiculous, but I couldn’t exactly remove my heart, so we had to coexist.
[To think I hadn’t considered such a simple truth… I’ve lived in vain. That’s an excellent idea.]
“Please take care of , Reto.”
[Reto… Reto, huh.]
Was it reflecting on the new na?
For once, it didn’t reject being called Reto.
On the contrary, the strong thump of my heart told it was in an exceptionally good mood.
Did I really have to sense its emotions through my own heart?
What if I started getting confused later?
How would I tell if the feelings in my chest were mine or Reto’s?
And then I realized sothing.
Reto and I were bound by the heart.
In other words, lying to each other was impossible.
It was pointless to doubt it from the start.
“Reto.”
[Speak.]
Its way of speaking was still as arrogant as ever, perhaps a remnant of its mories as an Absolute.
Still, since it accepted the na change, it didn’t seem entirely inflexible. If I handled it right, it could beco a huge help to .
Or perhaps, depending on how things went, it could change my fate entirely.
Even now, that was true.
“Please make stronger. Strong enough that no one can kill .”
[Strong enough that no one can kill you, huh…?]
It was an ironic request, asking a being desperate for death to teach how to survive.
But what could I do?
In this world, villains only kept getting stronger.
To survive the disasters they would bring, I needed strength.
For Reto to achieve its goal, I first needed to stay alive.
[Very well.]
Reto, seemingly understanding this, agreed to my request without hesitation.
Hoo—
I let out a long breath and sank back onto the bed.
Things were now heading in the direction I wanted.
I had gained an absolute ally.
A fragnt of an Absolute Being that had inhabited countless hosts over eons.
It even knew my body better than I did.
Where could I find a better ntor than this?
I had gained the best ntor.
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