Possessing Nothing

Editors: LaidBackGuy, Ytho

Huge thanks to John Doe for sponsoring 4 chapters of Possessing Nothing (3/4)

Lee Sungmin went back to the northern gate, which he had previously escaped from. Crazy Heavenly Demon followed behind Lee Sungmin, looking around with a laugh.

“Is this Travia?”

Although he had never been there before, Crazy Heavenly Demon was well aware of the largest city in the North, Travia. Therefore, he was surprised to see that great Travia was reduced to such rubble.

“I’ve never been to the North, but I have heard of it a lot. Bloody Heavenly Demon… That foolish Museon.”

As Crazy Heavenly Demon muttered, Lee Sungmin looked at him. It sounded like Crazy Heavenly Demon knew Bloody Heavenly Demon.

“Have you ever met Bloody Heavenly Demon?”

“A long time ago.”

Crazy Heavenly Demon said.

“It was almost a decade ago. It was before I descended into madness and before Baek Museon began his reign in Travia.”

Crazy Heavenly Demon had a forlorn look on his face as he recalled the bloodshed back then. At that time, Bloody Heavenly Demon was a young master who shined with brilliant talent. Crazy Heavenly Demon thought that he would become a good opponent after taking one look at the Bloody Heavenly Demon of those days.

“You still have some business in the north, don’t you?”

Crazy Heavenly Demon asked Lee Sungmin. Lee Sungmin nodded slowly.

“In that case, I would like to go take a look somewhere as well.”

“Are you going to meet Bloody Heavenly Demon?”

“We go way back. I’ve only heard rumors, but I know that he is in despair. I’m still his elder, so I’d like to meet him once and talk about it.”

It seemed unnecessary to go with Crazy Heavenly Demon. It would be very helpful if Crazy Heavenly Demon was by his side when he had to fight with Freskan.

[You don’t need to be worried.]

Heoju said.

[This city is Geniella’s territory, and you have currently caught her attention. I don’t know how strong that lich Freskan is, but he’s definitely not as good as Geniella.]

Lee Sungmin looked up. Freskan’s familiars were still floating overhead. He did not have to go out of his way to visit him.

Three days later, Crazy Heavenly Demon made an appointment to meet again at an inn near the northern gate. Crazy Heavenly Demon left immediately after that. He did not know how Crazy Heavenly Demon planned to find Bloody Heavenly Demon in this large city, but that was his matter to deal with.

Lee Sungmin started walking slowly. He walked into a deserted alley. Freskan’s familiars floating high in the sky followed behind him.

“Are you just going to watch?”

Lee Sungmin looked up and asked. Then the familiar flapped its wings. Lee Sungmin looked at Freskan through the familiar.

“I think that we both want the same thing. What do you think? If you tell me where you are, I’ll go to you right away.”

At that end, the familiar came down stiffly. A crow that came to Lee Sungmin’s eye level opened its beak. The crackling beak snapped open several times, and a languid voice leaked out of it instead of chirps.

“You cheeky little bastard.”

The crow spat out in a ferocious tone.

“Just what is it that makes you so confident? Stealing the heart that someone devoted their lives to make… !”

“Did you keep it well? It’s not my fault that you couldn’t protect it. I didn’t take it because I wanted to either.”

“You… !”

“There is a lot I want to ask you.”

Lee Sungmin looked into the crow’s eyes and said. Then the crow’s beak closed.

“The heart in my body. I have no idea what this is. So I want to hear about it directly from the one who made it.”

“Do you think I will tell you just because you asked?”

“Let’s talk about it when we meet.”

As Lee Sungmin said that, the crow flapped its wings and laughed.

“Just take one step outside the gates. Then see if I let you go… ”

“No. I’m not going out.”

Lee Sungmin replied quickly.

“I’m thinking of staying in this city for a few months. Possibly in the vampire queen’s mansion.”

“What… ?”

“The Vampire Queen likes me quite a bit. She told me that I could stop by and use her place at any time. There’s no place to stay, so it would be okay to go back to her mansion.”

“You rascal… !”

He could feel Freskan shaking from beyond the familiar. Through his reaction, Lee Sungmin gained confidence. Freskan could not act freely as long as he was in Travia. If it were outside Travia, it would have been possible to raid him through Aine, but that could not be done inside the city.

“Lloyd, the Golden Archmage.”

Freskan flinched.

“When I put this heart in my body. I saved Lloyd, who was dying at the bottom of the dungeon.”

“You did something useless.”

Freskan said through gritted teeth.

“Anyway. Lloyd didn’t know about this heart stuck in my body at the time… What if I told him about it?”

“Crazy bastard!”

Freskan screamed and shrieked at Lee Sungmin’s threat. For Freskan, it was more terrifying to let Lloyd know of the presence of the black heart than to confront Geniella. Lloyd, a long-time mage, would recognize the value of the heart and try to study it in any way possible. If that happened, then Freskan would be deprived of the dream he spent his entire life chasing to another magician.

“Don’t want that? If you are honest about the heart, I will never tell Lloyd about its existence.”

“This crazy man. Are you trying to strike a deal with me?”

“No. It’s a threat.”

Lee Sungmin retorted immediately. The crow twisted itself as if it was having a seizure. It did not flap its wings anymore, rolling around on the ground instead.

“Bastard.”

The crow opened its beak and spat out.

“Can you swear that you will not tell Lloyd or any other mages about the existence of the heart?”

“I swear. It’s not like it’s difficult.”

Lee Sungmin answered immediately. Freskan, who was staring at Lee Sungmin through the crow’s eyes, said with a quivering voice.

“What I wanted to realize through the black heart was ‘predation’ and ‘evolution’.”

“Speak clearly.”

“… By eating the heart of another being, you can acquire its owner’s knowledge. Even when you consume a chunk of a potion, you can take it directly without needing to refine it.”

Through these words, Lee Sungmin understood how Aine was able to use the Hundred Step Manual’s moves, martial arts, and inner force; and also understood why he immediately replenished the inner force in his dantian without any need for the purification when he took the Greater and Lesser Restoration Pills.

“As it remains in them, the heart continues to evolve. It becomes stronger, better. My lovely daughter, Aine, can unfold the possibility of evolution of her heart since her body was built in such a way. But it is impossible for you. You only have the heart inside a human body.”

The image of Aine, who changed the shape of her limbs at will and generated tentacles and wings from her body, popped up in Lee Sungmin’s mind. Thinking of that, Lee Sungmin also tried to take out his tentacles just in case, he could not. It was because Lee Sungmin’s body was completely different from Aine’s body.

“What else?”

“… The heart has countless possibilities. It is intended to evolve through repeated predation, and what I wanted to create through it was the ultimate life superior to all beings. Even I, the creator of the heart, don’t know what it’s ultimate form will be. The possibilities are too ambiguous.”

“In the end, you don’t know much either.”

Lee Sungmin did not hide the disappointment in his voice as he replied like that. In response to his answer, Freskan yelled as he struck the crow’s beak.

“If I could rip the heart out of your chest and study it, I could find out more about it!”

“I don’t intend to do that.”

“Just step one foot out of Travia and see. I will defini-!”

“Whatever you say.”

Lee Sungmin ignored Freskan, who was yelling his heart out. Then he raised his foot and stepped on the crow’s body. The crow’s body turned into mana and scattered away.

‘In the end, I didn’t get the right answer.’

Predation, Evolution, and possibilities. He did not focus much on predation. Eating a human heart was too terrible of a thing for the human, Lee Sungmin. But there was something to be pointed out in terms of evolution and possibilities.

When he was attacked by Aine for the first time, and when he later fought with Ghost Blade. In the fight against Aine, Lee Sungmin realized his strength, and in the fight against Ghost Blade, he reached a path that was impossible for him at the time.

What if he evolved to avoid death? Does the heart evolve the body, given the possibility of overcoming death?

‘Perhaps it might be that.’

Lee Sungmin smiled bitterly and thought. In the end, he was just swayed. He looked down at his body. But he could be proud of one thing. Training in his subconscious realm. For 2100 years there, Lee Sungmin was not aided by the heart. The progress he had achieved there was because of his own spirit and determination.

“Where are you going now?”

Rubia, who was hiding in Lee Sungmin’s sleeves, asked with a weary voice.

“Let’s go back to the central district.”

He went North and met Crazy Heavenly Demon. After experiencing such a meeting, it seemed meaningless to go further North. So he planned to go back to the central district and spend the rest of the year there.

When Lee Sungmin was heading for the central district, he saw Crazy Heavenly Demon beating up everyone in sight. First, he beat up a vagrant, and after that, he went into the noisy tavern and beat up more people again.

“Where’s Bloody Heavenly Demon?”

Crazy Heavenly Demon steadily asked. It was a very rough method, but it worked. The moment he beat up the man, grabbing his collar and raising his fist at him. He spilled out Bloody Heavenly Demon Baek Museon’s whereabouts.

In fact, it was not a great secret. Crazy Heavenly Demon grabbed the man who spoke by the collar and dragged him out as his guide. His threat that he would kill him if he lied was clear.

The place where Bloody Heavenly Demon was staying was an old house outside the central district.

“Well.”

After opening the door, Crazy Heavenly Demon, who went inside, wrinkled his nose at the strong smell of alcohol. There was a squeaking sound coming from inside, and a woman’s screeching moan filled the room. Crazy Heavenly Demon strode into the room with a distorted expression.

It was a sight to behold.

Liquor bottles clattered on the floor of the room, and the room was filled with a strange smoke. Crazy Heavenly Demon glanced at the incense burner.

“Drugs, alcohol, and even women. You’ve completely destroyed yourself.”

Baek Museon stopped moving when he heard Crazy Heavenly Demon’s murmur. He reached out to the woman who was moaning. The woman opened her eyes and looked at Baek Museon. He crushed her using one hand and she died before she could even scream.

“… I was wondering who it was… ”

Baek Museon raised his body with a chuckle. He stood naked, not wearing anything, but he did not feel ashamed. Crazy Heavenly Demon looked at Baek Museon with eyes distorted by irritation. Crazy Heavenly Demon let out a soft sigh when he looked at Baek Museon’s left arm, which was cut off from the shoulder.

“What the hell have you been doing?”

“It’s been roughly 10 years, hasn’t it? You still like to come into someone else’s house and even lecture them?”

“I asked you what you’re doing.”

“Don’t you have eyes?”

Baek Museon said as he plopped down on the bed. He took a deep breath, wiping his hand-soaked with blood against the linen bed sheets. Crazy Heavenly Demon clucked his tongue and reached out to the closed window. Then, the closed window opened wide, and the smoke of the drugs, which filled the room, escaped under Crazy Heavenly Demon’s watch.

“You are too much.”

Baek Museon said with a smile.

“I’m glad to see you again after 10 years, but… Aren’t you being a bit too rude?”

“You are putting on a worse face in front of this elder.”

“This is my home. Even if this wasn’t my home, it’s still none of your business.”

“Why have you ruined yourself this way?”

“You are the same as 10 years ago. Not listening to others, only asking questions.”

Baek Museon muttered that way and reached for the floor. A bottle of wine floated up with a rattling sound and flew into his hands.

“I am merely despairing at my abilities and my reality. I started drinking since nothing else was fun. Tried some drugs as well. I got a woman too.”

“You’ve been reduced to such a state… !”

“I lost my left arm because of my lack of abilities. Isn’t that enough to despair?”

“You can live well with a single arm.”

“I don’t think I can.”

Baek Museon replied with a smile.

“If you meet the Minor Heavenly Demon Wijihoyeon, you will understand what I mean.”

“This crazy bastard!”

Crazy Heavenly Demon shouted and reached out for Baek Museon. Baek Museon did not escape his attack. Baek Museon’s body rolled off the bed with a bang.

“With just one defeat!”

“Aren’t the hands I suffered the defeat at more important?”

“You seem to have been stuck in this northern city for too long and forgotten that the world was wide. Do you think that you are truly the best in the world just because you reign in this small city?”

“Let’s say I know my place.”

Baek Museon replied while wrapping his arm around the severed hand.

“My words exactly. I didn’t intend to stop in the North. Someday, I really wanted to go South and challenge the best in the world. I was confident. None of the warriors of my age were better than me. But I was defeated by a bitch who was at most 22 years old. If it was just a defeat, it could have been overcome. But… that wasn’t all. The Minor Heavenly Demon… That monster’s absurd talent and strength were enough to throw me into despair, despite being regarded as a genius.”

“You foolish bastard.”

Crazy Heavenly Demon spat out through clenched teeth.

“Minor Heavenly Demon… did you say that the bitch was 22? You absolute fool. What does the age matter! I almost got killed by a 23 year old just before!”

“… What the hell does that mean?”

Bloody Heavenly Demon asked with a frown.