After Returning, My Abilities are Infinite

Episode 143. Transcendents (5)

Characteristics, skills, stats.

All the factors that gave me, -Hunter Jeong Si-woo-, special powers disappeared when I transcended. They vanished as if they had evaporated, and all the while I trained, I felt like I had gone back to my Academy years when I was powerless.

The factors that enhanced unnatural and explosive power. Now that I lost all of them, I was no different from an ordinary person.

I thought all I had was my tightened muscles, the bones I acquired as I was reborn, and the technique that came from the martial arts knowledge in my head.

Therefore, I had evaluated myself as an ordinary person who was capable of knocking down a few adult men at most.

“Arrghhh!”

But I had been underestimating myself. The two weeks of training were enough to instill martial arts into my new body, and the instinctive blow stretched forward with precision.

I felt no pain in my fist that delivered the impact along a clear-cut trajectory. It meant that my body was much harder than I thought. I had hit him in the face with all my might, but there was no recoil.

-Skin as hard as Orichalcum, the material of Mirage.

The phrase I thought of when I made my new body suddenly passed through my head. No way, really? Did the image I envisioned become imprinted on my body? I couldn’t help but wonder.

“What are you… what are you doing!? You stole… from me, and now this!?”

The Transcendent shouted out loud. And before I could answer, he quickly added in a mumbling voice that was hard to understand.

“You… don’t seem to know because you just transcended……. So, so you’d better get it ri- right. Yeah! I’m gonna teach you a lesson!”

He cried, clutching his nose and pointing his finger at me. I could see that more than ten lines were drawn on his palm.

I couldn’t guess what kind of powers they were just by looking at that. He had more than five times the number of powers than me since I just had two. But I couldn’t imagine myself losing at all.

That was the first thing I learned as a Transcendent. The most important thing was the image. The moment you imagined a certain image in detail and believed in it, it became reality. Of all the Traveler’s teachings, I listened to that part most intently.

“Da… damn it─!”

A line drawn on his palm gave off a faint glow. And the ground trembled. The small grains of sand on the ground swelled up and soon turned into shapes of spears.

It was a power similar to magic. But it was different because it didn’t need any incantations or casting, nor did it need any resources like mana.

The first thought I had when I saw someone else using their power was this:

‘This guy has no creativity whatsoever.’

I didn’t know about other worlds. But I had fought endlessly with monsters and countlessly saw people go through Awakenings to become superhumans and hunters. And to me, the Transcendent’s power was very trivial.

It was merely a combination of elements you could see in games shaped into something. It had no impact.

‘And it’s slow.’

The spears made from sand grains were rising from the ground very slowly. Or, to be exact, my senses were way more acute than I expected.

The air’s vibrations against my skin, the slight gaps between the sand grains that made up the spears, and the tip of the spear that seemed to be constantly rotating due to the Transcendent’s power.

They were not human sensations. They… they were close to monster instincts. I could instantly draw in my mind where the spear would stab and how it would threaten my life. It wasn’t one of the five senses. It was a sixth sense that monsters were born with.

For my inner muscles, I imagined the powerful muscles that make up a monster’s body.

I constantly improved my eyes, ears, nose, and skin that sensed the air.

I still didn’t know exactly how my body evolved.

Crack.

Like a curved bow, I bent my back at an unnatural angle. It was a posture impossible for humans. The sand spears barely missed me. A few of the Transcendents’ faces hardened.

“How the hell did he compose his body?”

“Is he a hero? What kind of life did he live before transcending…?”

“Maybe he’s from an advanced world. If he’s from Moorim or the Valstaya Empire, that would explain…….”

I definitely knew some of the worlds they were talking about. I moved my bent body and glared at the guy staring at me stupidly. Once he saw me, he started to hiccup with a frightened face.

Instead of giving him more attention, I looked down at my body.

‘I’ve become much stronger than I thought. No, stronger doesn’t explain it. My body’s mechanism has completely changed.’

To start, my speed was different. I thought my body had just become lighter, but it wasn’t that. It seemed like I was faster now than when I was the 1st class hunter Jeong Si-woo, wrapped in stats and characteristics.

Also, my skin, which was presumably made of Orichalcum, and my muscles that were seemingly those of monsters, produced a surprisingly explosive force.

My heart skipped a beat. Just a few conceptions and two weeks of training had completely transformed my body.

And while I was lost in those thoughts.

“What are you doing─!”

A loud voice rang from above.

“How dare you cause disruption in the square!? Just because you are a bit talented, do you think you can bully a senior Transcendent and steal their power?”

Fire. That was the only word that could describe his appearance. His head, arms, legs, torso, and facial features were all made of flames. Whenever he spoke, flames flickered, and burning heat smothered the atmosphere.

He was a Transcendent that was in a different class from those that were here. He seemed to have reached the level where he could change his appearance at will, just like the Traveler did.

“Hmph!”

My body soared into the air. It was as if something invisible was pulling up my collar. My body was caught in the air like a fish caught on a hook.

“Who is your constellation?”

“…Constellation?”

“I’m asking who helped you reach transcendence! Surely, you should know their name!”

The flames flared up. I gulped at the sight. It felt like my whole body would burn up at any moment. Sweat soaked my clothes, and the pressure made me dizzy.

“…The Traveler.”

There was no reason to hesitate in the face of such danger. After all, I had done this to figure out where the Traveler stood among the Transcendents. How would such an enormous and intimidating figure be treated here?

Wouldn’t he be quite well known?

“What, the Traveler? Hahahaha!”

However, his reaction was completely different from what I expected.

“The Traveler? Did anyone go by such a stupid modifier? I don’t know. Well, I suppose you weren’t even taught the basic concepts because such a lowlife brought you here!”

“…….”

“Follow me. I’m not letting go of you until you learn to be polite and make up for my child’s power! Kids, grab this guy!”

Something hot clutched my whole body. I unconsciously bit my lower lip. The pain was intense. But despite the pain, my body was unharmed.

It was probably thanks to my skin made of Orichalcum, which wasn’t affected by high or low temperatures, ignored all magical damage, and couldn’t be destroyed.

Well, that was the official description by the -System-, so it wouldn’t work perfectly against Transcendents… But it seemed to be worth its name.

‘By the way, is the Traveler a nobody?’

I couldn’t help but sigh. I thought I could test something, but all I realized was how insignificant the figure that constantly followed me and gave me advice was.

‘Now, how do I get out of here?’

While being taken away, I kept thinking of a way to escape amid the pain.

Getting kidnapped, learning manners, and working off compensation? And apologizing to that shameless fellow? Just thinking of it made me want to vomit.

I refused to imagine it. What I wanted was for these guys to kneel in front of me, begging for forgiveness and apologizing for wasting my time.

‘Let’s think. Let’s keep thinking.’

* * *

The atmosphere of the square was ice-cold. Those who usually talked excitedly or exchanged information were bowing their heads, their mouths tightly shut. It was because one entity had appeared.

“…What?”

Not a fairly strong one, whose entire body was made of fire, but a real monster.

A monster that could wipe out every Transcendent in this square by revealing his true self and uttering a few of his modifiers.

An entity that could fill ten libraries worth of achievements in the history of Transcendents. The overwhelming number one who could destroy those who were ruling over the Transcendents in an instant if he came out of retirement.

“Who… took what is mine?”

“It… it was… The Undying Flame…….”

“Undying Flame? How dare a bastard with such a stupid modifier touch my possession? And you just watched it happen?”

“Sorry… I’m sorry. We’ve never heard of the modifier Traveler before….”

“Ridiculous.”

Traveler. He was looking down at everyone, floating above the square.

“Where does he dwell? I’ll accept just three replies. I will spare the first three to answer me and destroy everyone else.”

As soon as the Traveler spoke, the bowing Transcendents frantically raised their hands and shouted. They were all saying the same thing.

Someone shouted out the location, and some even named the entities living there in detail. It was because they knew the Traveler did not issue empty threats. They knew so well that he kept his word.

“Three. Well received. The rest can go now.”

The Traveler moved his finger. And what he said came true. Except for the first three who spoke first, everyone in the square was erased.

It wasn’t a horrible or gruesome death. Like erasing a scribble on a piece of paper, they just disappeared as if they had never existed.

And before leaving right away, the Traveler stopped, turned around, and spoke.

“Be sure to remember my other name from now on. If I see a single Transcendent who doesn’t know the name ‘Traveler,’ I will tear them apart. There will be no more mercy of sparing three.”

He uttered a strong warning that they could never forget.

And with that, the Traveler disappeared from the square to get back his favorite toy.