Kingdom's Bloodline, page 496
“‘Hmph, what is the world? You may not know… but in those unfamiliar memories, what I have to do is look at the world from another angle… discover problems we have never discovered, doubt the principles that we assume are correct, break our external shackles, whose existences we don’t know of because we have been bound…
“‘This is not an easy task. As Plato said, once you get out of the cave and see the sun… hur hur…
“‘We used to laugh and laugh at characters who have eighth-grade syndrome in anime… But sometimes, when you look at the world again and again from a perspective no one’s noticed, you’ll find…
“‘Maybe, maybe the one who’s wrong really isn’t me…
“‘It’s this world.
“‘Right? Hey, old horse, what do you say?”‘
His head hurt more and more.
‘Argghh!
‘Damn. Don’t… Don’t you f*cking stop me!
‘I need it…
‘I need that space, that fog…
‘I need to ascend!
‘I need to have it!
‘I need this world!’
The next moment, Thales was like a person who had just recovered from drowning. He woke up in pain!
*Boom!*
There was a strange and loud clap of thunder.
‘Aaarghhhh!
‘Why…’
Thales gasped and looked up…
He was confused for a few seconds and felt like he had forgotten something again—
He instantly began to fall!
Then, without any warning, he came to a sudden halt!
It almost made him dizzy.
However, it was not over yet…
He seemed to be caught in a gust of wind, which threw him upwards. He began to ascend again.
‘Why…’
*Bang! Boom!*
The moment he reached the peak again, Thales tried hard to open his eyes. Then, he jolted!
He found that there was a visible storm before his eyes.
A storm!
*Swoosh…*
At the next moment, he was blown by a gust of strange wind, causing him to topple sideways!
The sensation he had earlier was of him rising and falling in that strange, terrifying, and endless storm against his will!
‘What the hell—’
*Boom!*
The wind there had color.
The gusts of wind were black, like smooth-moving blades formed by ink as they blew in the air. There were thousands of ink blades. Sometimes, they scattered away, and the ink spilled everywhere. Other times, they gathered into big waves and swept towards him like a tornado, causing the panicking Thales to tumble back and forth!
It was as if they… were flying a kite.
In the dark air, similarly-dark lightning occasionally flashed. They were accompanied by huge thunderclaps, which almost damaged his eardrums.
*Boom!*
Every clap of thunder made the dark black storm rage even more!
Thales did not know if the place was real or an illusion. He endured the sharp pain of the wind blades and sensed the panic brought on by weightlessness.
‘Damn, damn…’
Thales trembled and tried to catch one of the patches of ink. But in the panic, he found himself without a body.
‘What the hell is this place?’
*Boom!*
He waved his imaginary hands, but he could not grasp onto anything that could serve as his point force.
His gaze drifted with the storm. It wilfully made him turn. His whole body—if it could even be considered a body at this point—was dragged around in the air by the storm non-stop!
All he could see through his eyes was ominous black.
All he could hear was a terrifying and strange thunder.
He was a lone ship in the ship that was in even greater danger.
*Swoosh—Boom!*
Damn!
He was blown away by another storm.
Thales felt like he was about to lose his breath.
He could not see the ground or the sky. He could only feel himself being surrounded by the endless, merciless, callous, and black storm. It was all around him!
*Boom—*
He shouted, but there was no response. He could not even hear his own voice.
It was something he had never encountered since the first time he lost control up to the moment he first knocked on the Door!
‘This is… the truth of losing control over mystic energy?
‘A… sea of mystic energy?’ he thought with trepidation.
“‘When you roam the great sea of mystic energy, you’ll constantly feel the threshold rising and falling, and it will affect you far more than just your physical body…”‘ Taurus’ words rang by his ears.
*Boom!*
The storm was wild, terrifying, violent, and without moderation. There was no end in sight, and it was out of control. It continuously tormented Thales’ senses.
Compared to the amazing feeling he first sensed… he really did not want to stay there right then.
As that thought occurred to him, Thales found the area before him shrouded in a layer of smoke.
It seemed like he was instantly intoxicated by it, and he sensed that amazing feeling of omniscience as well as omnipotence again…
‘Ah…
‘So amazing…
‘I saw the world again…
‘And I want more…’
When Thales thought of that, he instinctively smiled.
‘No!’
The next moment, however, Thales shook his head desperately and tried to wake himself up!
*Boom!*
A strange clap of thunder sounded!
The illusion before him dimmed. He came to his senses for a short period of time and he returned to the dark storm of terror.
He continued to rise and fall along with the waves.
‘Da… mn!’
The torture of the ears and senses made him try to gather his remaining will to the best of his abilities.
He knew that Asda’s classroom training allowed him to get out of the psychedelic state for a short time and avoid evolving any further. But obviously, he was currently still far away from what Taurus called the “matter” stage!
‘No!’
Just as the mysterious Taurus mentioned, he could not get lost there. He could not lose himself in his desires and impulses!
He had to get through it!
‘Aarghh! F*ck!’
Thales growled in his heart. He focused his mind and tried not to think about the previous illusion.
*Boom!*
The ink-colored storm roared again and pulled him back into the terrible air.
‘Don’t think about it, don’t think about it, don’t think about it!’
Thales tried to get rid of the comfortable and beautiful illusions as well as the feeling of power, which allowed him to sense everything…
Yet, the more he wanted to get rid of it, the more he could not help thinking of that feeling.
The harder he tried not to think about it, the more he could not help but remember it.
He thought of the thrill of evolving and the excitement of knocking on the Door…
He remembered his desire to enter the dark space in his basic form, and the urge to touch the gray fog…
That omniscience, that omnipotence, that grand feeling that he was the whole world and the mighty truth of all manner of being! If he touched it, he could be free from restriction, limitations, and without any discordances, he could—Damn it!
While rising and falling in the storm, Thales jumbled his thoughts and struggled to get rid of the temptation.
‘No, no, no, no!
‘Do not think about it!
‘Stay sane… Stay true… to myself…’
Right then, he felt his brain split into two.
One half of it was in that perfect world, which seemed like paradise. It allowed him to sense that amazing and beautiful feeling of being filled with power while he sensed the truth and secrets of the world. That part of him longed endlessly—F*ck! Again!
The other half of his brain was in the dark storm of terror and brutality. He suffered from the pain of being torn apart. He tumbled back and forth, wandering about without knowing where he would end!
‘Wait a minute!
‘I can’t have this continue. I can’t go on like this!’
*Swoosh—*
He was thrown back into the air again by a gust of wind, which was accompanied by the roars in the black storm!
‘Right, there’s a way!’
Just as Thales felt like he could not last anymore in the storm, he remembered what Taurus said.
‘The second declaration among Mystics.
‘Stay true to one’s self.’
The illusions and storm had occupied his thoughts as well as surrounded his body, giving him no time to remember Taurus’ words. When he had to remember it, he found that he lost too many memories while he lost control.
‘The self.
‘Quick…’
With a muddled mind, Thales came into contact with the fading memory.
‘Anchor point.
‘Yes, find the anchor point…
‘Find an anchor point that’s directed to myself…
‘To pull me back… from this damn, scary storm.
From that false, tempting, comfortable, agreeable dream of evolution, which filled him with expectations because of its beauty… Ah, knock on the Door. For it, he could give up on everything just to embrace it in his arms and become the supreme—F*ck! Again?!
‘Go away!
‘I can’t even control my own thinking?!’
Thales felt like a dejected writer who had to work in an office all day and night before he went back home. He was panting and feeling exhausted, but still had to struggle to continue writing…
He forced himself to stay focused because at the slightest moment of carelessness, he would sink into that sweet dreamland. Then, he would be gone forever…
Just like that writer who would wake up the next day with an empty Word document…
*Boom!*
Thales cursed everything in his heart. A furious gust of wind blew at him and made him tumble six consecutive times.
While he was feeling dizzy, he was struck by three ink blades.
‘Sh*t!
‘Where’s the anchor point?!’
Thales struggled to search through his damaged memories again for his answer.
‘Sh*t. I was prepared before, but when things came to a head, I found out that the preparations I made weren’t useful at all!
‘This is worse than a thesis defense!
‘What even is… the anchor point that I’ve set for myself? What’s the self that I’ve understood?’
Just then…
“‘Have you ever thought of what you really are?”‘
Another illusion appeared in front of his eyes, but it was not the same as before.
This time, what appeared in front of Thales was a towering palace.
To the north of the snow-surrounded palace was a room, and in the room was a graceful young man sitting before a pale boy, pressing hard. He asked him question after question and lifted his lean fingers slowly, as though he was pointing at the boy’s heart,
“‘When you’re stripped of all the definitions given to you by others and leave all the circumstances that have become your purpose of existence, what do you have left of yourself?”‘
Ripples appeared in the scene before it dispersed like waves.
Thales was stunned.
‘The definitions given to you by others…
‘All the circumstances that have become your purpose of existence…
‘Anchor point…
‘Anchor point!’
*Boom—*
He slowly recalled his conversation with Taurus in the boundless storm and thunderclaps.
‘”So, if I want to fix the anchor on my true self, what I really need is to actually get rid of every external label.
‘”Get rid of the things that will ‘taint’ me, as you ca.”‘
Thales’ mind wandered again.
‘What are the things that will be tainted by others?
‘What is the thing that will not be tainted by others?
‘What is… the real anchor point that points towards me?’
*Swoosh—Bang! Boom!* Thunder and lightning flashed around him without stopping.
He was confused and puzzled.
It was as if he had forgotten that he was still being tossed and turned about by the scary storm, as if he had forgotten that he was tormented by it.
The anchor point that pointed towards himself had to be realistic.
Was is it his unique… mystic energy?
Was it the Sin of Hell’s River?
Was it that JC’s dagger that had saved him in distress multiple times?
Or was it his so-called royal bloodline?
Or was it… his so-called wisdom?
*Boom!*
No, they were not.
He felt that these anchor points pointed towards the wrong direction.
‘A thing not tainted by other things…
‘Perhaps he should focus his anchor point? Gather it together? Make it simpler?
‘Such as himself?
‘Such as Thales?
‘Jadestar?
‘The second prince?
‘Mystic?
‘Or… Wu Qiren?’ He paused when he thought of the name.
‘Should he just fix his anchor point… on his identity as a transmigrator?’
*Bang! Swoosh—* The storm continued, and he was blown away again, like a duckweed in the rain.
‘No no. My anchor point aren’t these things as well… a thing not tainted by others… it has to be more abstract.
‘So, my anchor point is my will? The spirit of never giving up in this world?
‘Was it my memory and knowledge gained from another life?
‘Was it everything that I know and have perceived from the moment I was born until now?
‘It’s closer to what my true self is now, but is it my anchor point?
‘Anchor point…’
‘Can the anchor point really direct him to his true self… which is what he and Taurus have discussed for a long time?
‘The matter not tainted by others…’
Just at this moment.
*Crack—Boom!*
A loud, unprecedented thunderclap accompanied by another strange black lightning stuck Thales!
He shuddered and tumbled nonstop in the air, like a broken sack!
Sharp pain.
Even his consciousness trembled because of it.
But at that moment, Thale suddenly saw it.
His answer.
Chapter 433: Decision |
In a far distance.
The narrow and simple but warm and bright tavern cellar…
“‘I probably won’t be able to escape. But they will be able to live…'”
A battered boy in shaggy clothes clenched his fists.
He raised his head and looked at the heroic and valiant looking brunette who had a pair of khukuris strapped to her ankles and forced a smile.
“‘I have to depart now to Red Street Market.”‘
‘That was…’
He thought with a blurry mind.
*Boom… boom!*
A loud thunderclap sounded. His thoughts became clear because of it. Then, he saw another scene.
It was a magnificent hall built in the shape of a semi-circle. The same boy who seemed to be dressed in beautiful clothes and gorgeous ornaments but was actually badly injured stood before many important officials dressed in luxurious clothing, had stern expressions, and had dignified mannerisms…
“‘Yes, Duke Covendier. … It was me who saved your life…”‘
He bit his lip stubbornly but also in a manner as if a burden had been lifted off his shoulders as he faced another young, round-faced man with an unpleasant expression. He said,
“So, you are the one who owes me a word of thanks.”‘
This was…
Thales’ breathing quickened. He felt as if there was some sort of emotion stirring in his heart.
He felt his consciousness tremble. The illusions that once mystified him appeared again. He saw the realm that he could touch just by extending his hand.
Supreme.
Omnipotence.
Perfection.
The tempting call.
But those temptations could no longer affect what he saw in front of him.
Thales’ vision only blurred for a second before he shook his head firmly to shake them off.
“‘Wait!”‘
It was still the boy’s voice.
This time, his face was covered in dust, and his hands were bound, but he still sat on a big black coffin with a forced smile on his face. His smile was directed towards an incredibly coquettish but extremely dangerous woman.
“‘I heard that there is a Mystic inside here? He is even the type that can be let out.”‘
The boy kicked the coffin board with a haughty face.
“‘Do you want to meet him?”‘
The dangerous woman’s smile. She revealed her hideous-looking fangs.
‘It’s her.’
Thales smiled while he drifted in the storm.
‘It’s me.
‘It’s us.’
The next moment, the storm roared again, but they were seamlessly replaced by another similar but different sound.
Battle cries.
The sky was filled with battle cries. It rose and fell while blood was shed, while people died, and while there were battles all over the place.
“‘No matter what Sonia chooses, it will be a predicament.…”‘
When countless people fought at the risk of their lives and fought until they had lost all rational thought, the boy stood at the center of the crowd who protected him and panted. He could not suppress his nervousness.
“‘We can only choose for Lady Sasere.
“‘To eliminate her indecisiveness and hesitance.”‘
Under the surprise of the other people, the boy stared at the terrifying man before him who was filled with murderous aura, who seemed to be filled with endless vitality, and who breathed like a volcano.
He stared at the silver-black bow behind the man and pointed at the flags in the north that filled the sky. He gritted his teeth and said,
