Chapter 14: Dual Core – 1

[1st Round Data: Completed the succession of ‘RomanceTwo #BoundaryMage’.]

[1st Round Data: Reviewing the record of ‘RomanceTwo #BoundaryMage’.]

Consciousness returned.

I felt a surge of vitality and magic filling my body.

When I opened my eyes, there stood a giant tree in front of me.

Yggdrasil, the World Tree.

Planted by Otinuus, the Hero during the Great Upheaval, as the last hope to prevent Ragnarok, the end of the world, and her legacy.

“Why is this here…?”

As I recalled its identity, a curiosity sprouted within me.

Why is this tree before my eyes?

Did Otinuus bring me here herself?

No one answered.

To find answers, I decided to survey my surroundings first.

“Huh…?!”

Turning my head, I was startled, almost breathless.

My gaze fell below at first.

Looking down, I was met with confusion and astonishment.

My body floated in the air.

The ground, which should have been flat, was deeply carved as if struck by meteors.

The roots of the world tree, supposed to be hidden beneath the ground, were glaringly exposed.

But amidst all that spectacle, one name echoed most vividly in my mind.

“…Nidhogg?”

Nidhogg, that was surely the name.

The mythical dragon, with its tattered appearance from the age of legends.

Nidhogg’s corpse, shocking like a drained corpse or a mirage, was entwined around the roots of the world tree like a bug trapped in a carnivorous plant.

“What on earth…”

At that moment, as if someone had grabbed my head, it lifted upward.

Despite the hundreds of meters that would separate me from the top of the tree, the object hanging high was vividly visible.

It was an unnamed falcon.

A gigantic raptor, originally a guardian of Yggdrasil, now struggling, with one wing severed and most feathers on the other plucked.

As I gazed at it, almost forgetting to breathe, a weak voice resonated in my vicinity.

A presence I hadn’t seen or felt until now.

Surprised, I quickly lowered my gaze.

Reflected in my eyes, the blonde woman tied to Yggdrasil’s stem, her presence marred by a black eyepatch covering one eye.

Almost unconsciously, I muttered her name.

It had to be her. “Otinuus…?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

“Why in such a state?”

The Head of Eden, the onw who planted Yggdrasil to save humanity from the end of the mythical age.

And there she was, suspended from Yggdrasil.

As if sacrificing herself to nourish the world tree.

Hearing my despondent voice, Otinuus, bound to Yggdrasil, responded with a desolate tone.

“I suppose this was my limit, after all.”

“So, what in the world…”

Frustrated, I clenched my fist, but it was impossible.

Something held onto my hand.

Feeling an unfamiliar sensation, I looked down at my hand.

There was the familiar golden spear.

The source of the unfamiliar sensation was Gungnir, now grasped in my hand.

“Don’t worry, even though I couldn’t resolve Ragnarok perfectly… I bought enough time.”

In that moment, hearing her words, memories of the first round ending came flooding back.

This was the ending of “World Saviour Online”, where the ‘me’ from the first round had reached after countless branching paths.

The Normal Ending, “Inheritor of the Fallen Era”.

“You indulged my foolish insistence, but unfortunately, this is the result.”

The path chosen by the past ‘me’, moving the character in the game.

The end of that journey unfolded at the end of the world.

Despite efforts to save the world, it was the beginning of a bleak future, where destruction was only delayed momentarily.

Otinuus laughed, tears streaming down her face.

“I’m sorry. Truly sorry.”

Gradually, Otinuus, bound to Yggdrasil, began to blur.

Her body, starting to transform into faint magical light, slowly dissipated.

Yggdrasil began to absorb Otinuus’s body and magic, annoyingly.

“Shameless, but I want to ask one last favour.”

Not being absorbed into Yggdrasil, some of the magic scattered from her body seeped into Gungnir.

The golden spear began to shine brightly.

Simultaneously, memories of the first round ending became vivid.

“You will become the Head of Eden. Just as I found you, now you must find the hero who will prevent the end of this world.”

Voices overlapped.

At the end of life, the heart of the hero who failed to fulfil her mission sings, leaving it to me.

The light of Otinuus’s body, bound to Yggdrasil, dimmed slightly. Simultaneously, the grandeur felt from her diminished faintly.

“The last person I met, I’m glad it was you.”

The image of Otinuus, lingering in my memory, overlapped with the dispersing image of Otinuus before my eyes.

The illustrations and voice from the game, gaining resonance with the reality and approaching me.

“Goodbye…”

My eternal king.

With those words, Otinuus dispersed into light without me being able to touch her.

A series of incomprehensible situations hit me one after another.

Was my mind refusing to understand this reality?

Or is this world truly the reality?

Questions emerged from the confusion.

But the status window provided the answers to those complex questions.

[End of viewing ‘RomanceTwo #BoundaryMage’ 1st Round data.]

As the message from the status window appeared, consciousness was chased away into darkness.

“Huh?!”

Surprised, I took a gasp of breath, trying to confirm my surroundings with a reversed view.

Was what just happened a dream?

I quickly checked my hands and looked around.

There was nothing in my hands.

The surroundings were not the desolate land in front of the World Tree.

It was a familiar place.

Slowly calming my breath, I recalled where I was.

‘Is this… the infirmary?’

And then it dawned on me.

The place where I opened my eyes was the infirmary.

It’s where Eden’s students visit for specialized treatment when they have health issues or serious injuries.

“What in the world…”

My head was still in confusion.

The sudden end of the world and the message from the status window had left me dizzy.

1st Round data. RomanceTwo, Boundary Mage.

End of data viewing.

Several words from the status window’s message flashed fragmentarily in my mind.

‘But why did the status window suddenly show me this illusion?’

Curiosity towards the status window brought back fragmented memories that had been scrambled and confused.

Memories of the time when the Great Cataclysm of the World Tree was absorbed, and my magic stabilized, played out like a panorama.

Suddenly, my body convulsed in unbearable agony, and I lost consciousness.

Everything.

“Oh, are you awake?”

“Professor Bella…?”

“Yes, you recognize me. But how did you know my name?”

Didn’t she introduce herself last time?

I thought hard, and remembered that I was the only one who mentioned my name.

I had made a mistake.

I quickly made up a plausible excuse to deflect Professor Bella’s question.

“Because you’re famous. Your name often comes up among the students.”

“Is that so? Even after retiring as a hunter, it seems there are still many students interested in me.”

Fortunately, it seemed to pass smoothly.

I breathed a sigh of relief inwardly, and as I did, Professor Bella approached me.

“Leaving that aside, do you know how your body is feeling right now?”

“My body?”

As soon as I heard Professor Bella’s words, I unknowingly lowered my head to look at my body.

Was there something wrong with me?

I carefully examined my body, but there didn’t seem to be any obvious issues.

Not knowing what had changed, I glanced at Professor Bella, who was looking at me expectantly.

Professor Bella then placed her hand gently on my lower abdomen.

Why is she touching there…?

“Do you feel anything here?”

“What’s supposed to… huh?”

Wait, why is this here?

I hurriedly circulated my magic.

The magic flowing from my core spread throughout my body through the circuits.

It flowed along the same path as before, but the results were different. The biggest difference was where the magic started.

A new starting point for magic had appeared in my lower abdomen, in the area commonly referred to as the Dantian in martial arts.

“Did you notice?”

“Yes, there’s… why is my core…”

An additional core had appeared.

“Yes, your core has expanded. And it’s stronger than your original core.”

Below the navel, in the area commonly called the Dantian, a new magic core had appeared.

It wasn’t incomplete or shoddy.

On the contrary, its quality surpassed the original core in my heart.

If my core in my heart were to be ranked as a C-rank in terms of skill, then the new core in my lower abdomen would rival an A-rank.

Transplantation of the core? Or is it a new one? Either way, it’s an amazing situation.

“Cores originally arise from an individual. There have been studies on the cloning or transplantation of cores, but no one survived the experiments and they were eventually discarded,” Professor Bella said, her expression serious.

Her gaze, as someone proficient in this field, made me tense up unnecessarily.

“Seong Yujin, could you please tell me in detail what happened?”

“Oh, yes.”

I recounted everything that had happened to Professor Bella, from what occurred during Professor Karia’s lecture this morning to collapsing in excruciating pain after absorbing the potion she gave me.

I didn’t mention the discussion about the first ending.

That’s knowledge I should keep to myself for the future.

Professor Bella listened attentively to my story, her expression becoming increasingly serious.

Perhaps it was a habit when pondering something, but she started tapping her chin with her index finger.

Finally, she spoke.

“It seems the sudden surge of magic caused by the potion coalesced into a core.”

“Is that even possible?”

“I don’t know. This is the first time I’ve seen such a case.”

Professor Bella placed her hand on my abdomen.

A slight surge of magic entered my body through her hand.

“It’s not a matter of a misconnection with existing circuits or damage to the original core. Rather, the core located in the heart is resonating with the new core in your abdomen.”

What Professor Bella said was definitely good news.

It meant that my original core, which had remained at the C-rank level, was being upgraded to an A-rank core due to the newly formed core in my abdomen.

Understanding this fact and smiling inwardly, Professor Bella got up from her seat.

“I’ll call the magic specialist professor for a precise examination. Please lie down on the bed and rest for a while.”

She took out her phone, made a call, sighed, and then hung up, heading out of the infirmary.

It seemed she was going to find the person herself since they didn’t answer the phone.

“…It’s quiet.”

With Professor Bella, who was the only one guarding the infirmary, gone, I was left alone in the room.

“Should I check my status window while I wait for Professor Bella to return?”

Even though it was appropriate to wait for Professor Bella’s return while lost in thought, I needed to confirm what changes had occurred in my body.

The sudden increase in my core and the display of the first ending’s record when I lost consciousness all pointed to the reason being shown in the status window.

And even if that wasn’t the reason, there was a part of me that wanted to directly see the increase in my stats after consuming the potion and rising in power.

It’s a stubborn habit of RPG players to quantify strength in numerical values.

“Check status window.”

With determination, I summoned the status window.

“…This is insane. What’s all this?”

As soon as I saw the status window unfold before my eyes, I was amazed by the increase in my stats.