< Chapter 119 - Those Who Prepare >
Chapter 119 – Those Who Prepare
“Do you think that… that kind of thing is really possible?”
The man smiled bitterly at the woman’s question.
He answered in a soft voice.
&
The nine gates of heaven and earth, the eight gates of the seventh heaven and earth.
After opening the eighth door, Yuder felt a remarkable change.
As the flesh opens, the reconstructed body breaks and forms again.
Uther’s body became light and was recreated by combining with his soul.
Beyond being simply functionally superior, it has achieved true harmony between spirit and flesh, transcending the level of a vessel that holds the soul.
The nine heavens and the nine earths.
In order to transcend, one must first reach the limit.
And now Uder realized that opening the Eight Gates would soon reach its limit.
Uder slowly opened his eyes.
I raised my head and looked at the sky in a world that was completely pitch black.
As if in the night sky, countless stars were looking at Yuder.
And one person.
A woman standing under the stars.
An ancient sage who has been called a fairy until now.
She opened the sentence, crossed the limit, and reached a state of true transcendence, and quietly looked at Yuder.
Suddenly he said with a big smile.
“you are-“
That was it. I couldn’t hear properly.
It was the aftermath of opening the eight gates and completely reconstructing the spirit and flesh.
But I knew one thing.
The difference between those who have reached their limits and those who have surpassed their limits and achieved true transcendence.
It was like a horizon.
Following the memories of the black man, I was able to know the moment I reached the end, even if it was just a little bit, through the confrontation with the first sword.
Reaching the horizon was just the beginning.
It is impossible to realize perfect clarity unless you go beyond the horizon.
The ninth gate of the nine heavenly gates.
A world beyond the horizon.
“-there is.”
The fairy smiled gently.
Uther smiled at her too.
Someday again.
In the not too distant future.
The stars poured down.
In the sea of countless stars, Yuder closed his eyes.
&
“Uder!”
“Cordelia.”
As I opened my eyes naturally and spoke, I immediately felt Cordelia’s warmth.
Cordelia’s arms – to be exact, himself lying on Cordelia’s thighs.
A dark night sky with bright moon and stars.
“are you okay?”
Uther nodded to Cordelia’s question.
I became clearly aware of the changes that had occurred in my body.
The five senses have become more developed.
Even though I didn’t have my eyes open, I was able to perceive everything around me much more clearly than before.
“The eight gates… are you a beggar?”
At Cordelia’s cautious question, Uther nodded again.
“That’s right, I opened the door.”
“Yay!”
As soon as Uther answered, Cordelia raised both hands in joy.
Seeing that bright expression, Yuder asked without realizing it.
“You like it that much?”
“That’s great! Then why not? I’m just shrugging my shoulders and feeling excited?”
At the cool smile, Yuder looked dazed for a moment, but soon smiled back.
Although many memories were entangled and mixed, Cordelia was still Cordelia.
“Hey, Yuder.”
“Oh, Cordelia.”
“A lot of things came to mind.”
They were not complete memories.
All that came to mind were fragmented, broken, and fragmented memories.
But still, there were things we could know.
“This isn’t your first time, is it?”
“Yeah, it took a few tries.”
Even Yuder couldn’t tell exactly how many times.
Because, like Cordelia, Uther’s memories were not perfect.
“Still… I probably know the most.”
Because it was always Uther himself who resisted until the end.
The first to hear the full story of the reckless plan set by the young god Atalia was the black man – the past Uther who had reached the sword.
“Explain it to me.”
As short and concise as possible, and easy to understand.
At Cordelia’s request, Uder narrowed his brows and spoke in a cautious tone.
“What, what is that… Didn’t you talk about classic SRPGs before?”
“Shrodae?”
“Oh, that. Super Robot Wars.”
A simulation game where lots of robots appear and fight.
A game for older male players, with an average age of players in their late 20s to 40s.
I once saw Cordelia from her previous life chatting away excitedly and thought, ‘Ah, this is a real man. He’s definitely a man.’ In fact, she was a woman, a teenage girl at that.
“Why is that anyway?”
“Is that what you want to ask now? The difference between the method chosen by Atalia and the so-called regression?”
Cordelia nodded immediately at Uther’s comment.
“As expected, it’s our Yuder. He knows my heart well.”
“Thank you for the compliment.”
Even in the midst of this, Yuder, who was still whining, continued his explanation.
“It’s the difference between a complete annihilation grind and a reset grind.”
“Huh? Huh… Ah!”
The annihilation grind and the reset grind.
If you are annihilated in a game, you will start the battle over again from the beginning with all the experience and funds you gained from that battle.
Using this, the annihilation grind was to intentionally get wiped out repeatedly to collect experience and money, while the reset grind was, as the name suggests, to repeat saving and loading until the desired result was achieved.
The same situation is repeated until an attack with a 10% hit rate hits.
Although they were both repeating the same situation, there were significant differences between the two.
“First of all… the total number of turns for the annihilation grind increases.”
If you played for 10 turns, were wiped out, started over, and cleared it in 10 turns, then a total of 20 turns had passed.
On the other hand, the reset nogada was done for 10 turns and then went back to 10 turns, so no matter how many times you tried, the total number of turns used was always 10 turns.
“That’s right, the Annihilation Nogada somehow follows the flow of time, while the Reset Nogada goes against time.”
Cordelia nodded at Uther’s words, but soon frowned again and asked.
“But isn’t the latter better?”
It seems like something much simpler.
“That’s true, but it’s much harder. In the comics and novels you recommended, Cordelia, regression was very easy… but regression is actually a huge undertaking. You have to turn back time for the entire universe.”
That’s impossible.
If Atalia was so omnipotent that she could do such a thing, there would have been no need to repeat such an act in the first place.
“Uh… Instead of turning back time, the main character? Anyway, wouldn’t it be better if only that person went back to the past?”
“You say you’re going back to the past… but if you’re really going back in time, it’s impossible. Even a god can’t go back to the lofty flow of time. And if you’re not going back in time, you could think about going to a parallel world—that is, to a point in time in a parallel world… but that’s really a parallel world. As you said, the world the protagonist leaves will be left in a ruined state. Even if the protagonist saves the parallel world, it’s the parallel world that’s saved, not the world the protagonist leaves.”
Of course, this was a story about when parallel worlds existed.
“In the end, it’s a question of ability. Can you do it or not? It’s impossible to return with Atalia’s ability. However, it’s barely possible to copy and paste while following the flow of time like now. The scope isn’t the entire universe, but is limited to three: the Pleiades, Heaven, and Hell.”
“I think the latter would be incredibly difficult as well?”
“It’s hard. The Pleiades are an old world… They have accumulated a lot of power from the worlds, so it’s possible. Unlike the gods of Hell and Heaven… the overlords and archangels who share their power, Atalia is the only one who exists, so it’s possible.”
At Uther’s words, Cordelia pursed her lips and collected her thoughts.
“Then, wouldn’t it be okay for such a powerful Atalia to just defeat all the guys who appear through the grand summons?”
“That’s impossible. Atalia is still a young god. Atalia will be copying at least 10 years from now… That is, the latter half of Hero Chronicles 3. Atalia’s records are reset every time she copies… So she’s basically powerless right now. Besides, as you know, an excellent magician isn’t necessarily a powerful magician, right?”
“Ah… That’s it. Roughly speaking, Atalia is a utility wizard, right? Not a combat wizard.”
“Similar.”
After saying that, Uder took a deep breath and looked at Cordelia’s face again.
“Going back… First of all, regression is impossible in terms of ability. But other than that, there are differences between Atalia’s method and regression. Do you understand what they are?”
“Oh, I see. It’s the difference between a complete annihilation grind and a reset grind.”
“Yeah, that’s it.”
Regression was literally turning back.
Because of this, everything that happened before the regression becomes like ‘never happened’.
But that wasn’t Attalia’s way.
Even if you copy and paste, the things that happened in between won’t disappear.
“I didn’t do it on purpose, but… I guess it’s thanks to that that I can remember the past like this. And I was able to become stronger more quickly.”
It was like writing over and over again the records on the same soul.
Memories that accumulate in the soul with each repetition of copy and paste.
Although I didn’t receive all of the experience and funds as I did when I was doing the annihilation grind, I was able to receive some of them.
‘And one more thing······.’
Significant difference.
Rather, it is an advantage that can be gained because it is Atalia’s method.
‘I don’t remember.’
It was blurry.
But it was clear that something was up.
But that was just then.
“Then, Yuder. What happened to us?”
Cordelia’s face was filled with an unconcealed anxiety.
The us that Cordeli spoke of.
Before becoming Uder and Cordelia – Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee in their previous life.
“I don’t remember that part clearly either. But… I think I can guess.”
It was something I couldn’t be sure of until I heard it directly from Atalia, but as she said herself, I had some idea.
“The downside of Attalia’s method is that memories aren’t fully transferred. Because of that, we’re just rolling the dice over and over again, and we can’t foresee what’s going to happen next, or prevent unfortunate events, like we did this time… those kinds of things.”
Cordelia nodded at Uther’s words.
The evidence of this was the repeated copy and paste from the beginning.
“That’s why I think he resorted to trickery. Instead of copying and pasting right away, he postponed the copying and pasting for a moment and then sent your soul and mine to another world.”
“On Earth?”
“I don’t know if he chose it on purpose… but anyway, he sent it to another world, taught it what would happen in the Pleiades, and then brought it back. I guess you could say he added a little bit of data to the data he was copying and pasting.”
The memories of Kang Jin-ho and Hong Yu-hee that were added like that.
“So Atalia created the heroic story?”
“I didn’t make it myself, but I think… I sent a record. Someone must have unconsciously received it and made it into a work of art. If the recipient wasn’t a game developer, it could have appeared as a comic or a novel… something like that.”
“Eh …
The reason why the memory was lost when logging out.
“I guess we won’t know until we ask Atalia.”
After saying that, Yuder suddenly let out a long breath.
As I answered Cordelia, the memories that had been scattered in my head became clearer.
It all really happened.
Cordelia becoming a mine, fighting Cordelia like that, and ultimately taking her life······.
“Hey, Yuder.”
Cordelia’s call interrupted Uther’s memories.
Cordelia also regained some of her past memories, although not as much as Uther.
That’s why I was able to figure out what Uder was thinking and what was hurting him.
So Cordelia held Uther’s hand tightly.
Although I was embarrassed and felt new, I opened my mouth and spoke.
Cordelia, who had become a mine, said the words she had so desperately wanted to say in her last moments.
“I really, really like it.”
A smile spread across my face without me realizing it.
At that smile, Yuder’s face became blank, but soon he smiled back and said.
“I like you too. No, I really love you.”
I’m glad we can meet again like this.
I’m so glad we can be together again.
“Cordelia, what about you?”
“uh?”
“No, I love you, but you?”
It was a sudden, childish, and even mischievous question.
But I couldn’t help but answer that way.
Cordelia pursed her lips, then quickly whispered with a blush on her face.
“I, I love you too. I really love you so much.”
Why is this short statement so embarrassing?
But it felt good after saying it.
Seeing Yuder’s happy face made me want to say it over and over again.
Don’t be stingy, and say it one more time when you can-
[Okay, that’s it.]
[That’s about it. There are a lot of things to take care of, right? Yes?]
It was Belencia and Melissa.
Both of their voices sounded like they were enduring pain.
But as always, Uder raised his upper body while listening to the two people’s voices. He naturally caressed Cordelia’s cheek and kissed her lips.
And that’s it.
I wanted to go further, but it was too much. Cordelia pushed Uther away and pointed towards the broken Red Gate – where Lucas was standing there, looking embarrassed.
“Ahem, ahem.”
Lucas stares blankly in this direction and coughs awkwardly.
“Come to think of it, it’s Yuder.”
“Oh, Cordelia.”
“What should we do with Lucas now?”
My memory is hazy, but I think both Kaiser and Scarlett were lovers at one point.
To be exact, when Scarlett was his lover, Kaisa was his enemy, and when Kaisa was his lover, Scarlett was his enemy.
When the two were close, Lucas was mine.
“Uh… well.”
Wouldn’t you all do well on your own?
“Let’s watch it while eating popcorn.”
Cordelia burst out laughing again at Uther’s irresponsible words and jumped up from her seat.
“Anyway, let’s take care of the situation first. The troops that followed the First Sword are also a problem.”
Since the First Sword had fallen, they could have withdrawn as is, but their opponent was not a normal human army.
It’s not like the only one leading the army was the First Sword.
But neither Cordelia, who was speaking, nor Uther, who was listening, were that worried.
Although the main gate of the Red Gate had collapsed, there were still many elves inside, and there was one more person added to this.
Things I saw while flying in a hurry.
Another force advancing from a completely different direction.
Time has passed.
The army of the prime minister led by Jeilgeom appeared in front of the Red Gate.
The advance party of a large army prepared to attack the Shadow Forest.
The faces of the elves turned pale in front of the army of monsters that seemed to be numerous at first glance, but Yuder and Cordelia did not lose their smiles this time either.
Because I heard the sound of horse hooves from afar.
“Lucas.”
Lucas turned his head at Uther’s words. He looked in the direction Cordelia was pointing with a smile, and burst into a bright laugh.
Southwest.
The Guardians of the North advance with a mighty force that shakes the axis of the earth.
The flags of the crows flying through the wild land fluttered in the wind.
&
< Chapter 119 - Those Who Prepare > End
