Lucia raised her hand. A pure white aura swirled at her fingertips.
“Can you feel this?”
I reflexively nodded.
“Divine power.”
Lucia smiled faintly.
“You call it divine power. The person who taught me this called it purification.”
“Purification?”
She nodded, looking at the pure white aura swirling at her fingertips.
“Yes. He used this power to fight those coming over from the rifts. It was extremely incompatible with their contaminated ether.”
I quietly watched Lucia’s fingertips.
“The problem was… he was alone… and traitors appeared inside, so they were eventually destroyed.”
There was bitterness in her voice.
“But what exactly is ether? If they’re contaminated by ether, doesn’t that mean ether itself is dangerous? According to a guy named Alexander before, otherworlders sprinkled ether on Earth, creating Awakened in this world… so what are they?”
“Probably… the traitors came here first. Traitors worship them like gods. So they deliberately cross dimensions and spread ether in worlds without it. Then the lifeforms there adapt to ether, their bodies gradually evolving or completely optimizing.”
And Lucia spoke again.
“The strong Awakened born that way are eventually used as sacrifices to open rifts. Ether itself isn’t dangerous. To them, it’s just a guiding signal and nourishment. A kind of food.”
“In other words, the stronger you get… the more you end up on their dinner table.”
Lucia nodded.
“Exactly. The more humans crave strong power, the more delicious-smelling food they become to them.”
I let out a short sigh.
‘In the end, the stronger people get, the more dangerous the world becomes…’
Looking at Lucia, I spoke with the most natural expression possible.
“I understand the purpose.”
I extended my hand first. Not reconciliation. Just pretending.
“For now… I’ll believe what you say for the time being.”
Lucia took my hand.
For a moment, I considered leaking a bit of lust but stopped. Even in the previous fight, this woman was an opponent my lust didn’t easily affect. No need to unnecessarily heighten her guard.
The most important thing for me right now was saving Biyeon. That was all.
***
After ending the long conversation with Lucia Valencia, I quietly entered the guided room. The moment the door closed, I took a deep breath, exhaled, and barely suppressed my emotions. Throughout the conversation, I nearly died holding back the urge to attack the occasional openings she showed.
‘I’m still weak.’
As felt in the last fight, the strength of Lucia Valencia I sensed and the strength felt in actual combat were worlds apart.
‘I need to be a bit more cautious from now on.’
Whatever Lucia Valencia babbled about no longer mattered. To compose myself, I just pretended to listen obediently on the surface. Rifts or whatever, with the libido app, I can get stronger. In the end, I win everything.
‘Still… thanks to the information that bitch leaked, at least I can prepare for when a threatening enemy pops out.’
I slowly looked around the room.
This place was a space converted from an old cathedral on the outskirts of Rome. At a glance, it exuded an exotic atmosphere with traces of time. And—I had just learned from Lucia that I had been in deep sleep for a full two days.
‘Mother-in-law and Hwayeon must be worried…’
The first thing that came to mind were my women in Korea. The problem was there was no way to contact them right now.
My smartphone was already smashed. In the end, I bought a temporary usable smartphone.
The moment I turned on the new smartphone, the libido app automatically began installing on the screen.
‘No matter how many times I see it… it’s amazing.’
I had experimented before in case I lost or broke my smartphone, how the app would react.
The conclusion was simple. The libido app is invariably installed on any new device I use.
I wanted to ponder the principle, but it seemed like it would just give me a headache, so I dropped the thought.
Immediately, I typed keywords like ‘innate true energy recovery’ ‘martial arts innate true energy restoration method’ into the search bar.
Innate true energy is the source of inner energy one is born with. Much stronger and purer than ordinary inner energy, but like the fundamental life force of humans, it’s not easily replenished.
Depending on the setting, once fully exhausted, recovery is nearly impossible. Even if one survives, most lose martial arts or become cripples.
Still, in every martial arts world, there are extremely rare recovery methods.
Legendary elixir, fortuitous encounter, yin-yang union, that is, ‘sex’ to share or exchange another’s innate true energy.
‘Not as difficult as I thought.’
Among them, what I can try right now is—
“Elixir or fortuitous encounter, sex… impossible while Biyeon is in sword state… all that’s left is to pass my innate true energy?”
The problem was if even that didn’t work.
‘If even that has no effect…’
I immediately shook off the bad thought.
‘Still, I have to try everything I can right now.’
Immediately going down to the basement under the cathedral, Lucia Valencia was already sitting in front of the central experiment table. Various parts, tools, and half-disassembled suit components cluttered the table.
She had a cigarette in her mouth, focused on repairing something.
“What are you doing?”
At my question, Lucia put down the machine for a moment and shrugged.
“Repairing the suit your girlfriend smashed. The self-repair system was supposed to activate… but something’s twisted, it completely stopped working.”
I casually glanced at the suit fragments scattered on the table, the sword marks on the chest.
“Suddenly curious. What kind of place was the world you lived in?”
Lucia’s fingertips stopped for a moment.
“…Why are you curious about that?”
“Just curious. You don’t have to if you don’t want to. But I think knowing what kind of life you lived will help us cooperate better in the future, so I asked.”
Of course, it was a question to extract even a bit of information.
Hearing me, Lucia stubbed the cigarette on the floor and let out a low sigh.
“The place I lived was a world far more scientifically advanced than you imagine. However, everything was developed through ether.”
She gazed into the distance for a moment.
“Like this world, in our world long ago, otherworlders came and spread ether. Gaining that power, we replaced life sciences, energy, technology—everything with ether and pushed civilization to its limit.”
I just listened quietly.
“Unlike here, there weren’t many Awakened. We used ether systematically.”
Lucia casually brushed off the soot on her fingertips.
“We developed endlessly. Stronger energy, more efficient lifeforms, more lethal weapons. But we were that much more arrogant and didn’t know when to stop.”
“Back then, were you… as strong as now?”
“No. I reached this realm in less than 50 years.”
“50 years? How old are you exactly?”
“Me? Exactly 300 years old. Birthday is lunar March 15.”
I blinked in disbelief.
“Are you perhaps not human?”
Lucia lightly shook her head.
“Huh? I’m human. It’s just that one of my abilities reverses aging, so as long as I don’t die, my body stays young.”
Suddenly, I recalled what she said when she first visited our house.
‘She said she traded with governments, selling ‘youth.’’
More serious was the part where she was “at my level when we first met.”
When was that? Probably when I had a public duel with Ryu Ja-ho, self-proclaimed Heavenly Demon.
“Wait, how many strong people like you were there back then?”
Lucia answered without much hesitation.
“At least a few hundred? Honestly, I was around middle back then. There were about ten with strength like mine now.”
“That many strong people gathered in one world and it was destroyed?”
“Yes. That eyeball monster you fought, it’s literally for scouting. In Korean terms… just dog shit.”
A sigh escaped unknowingly.
‘……We’re really fucked.’
I wished all this was just a story that crazy bitch made up.
My plan to live enjoying moderately was blown to bubbles. I had to run around shitting blood to prevent Earth from being destroyed right now.
Then Lucia quietly met my eyes and said.
“The real ones are still writhing beyond the rifts. If the real ones come out here, no matter how strong you get, you can’t stop them alone.”
A brief silence flowed. And pretending to be nonchalant as much as possible, I asked what I wanted to ask.
“But why didn’t you inform each country about this?”
“Because of the traitors in this world. There are probably ones hiding in governments or major organizations in each country even now. Seducing people, diligently pulling them to their side? All the monsters summoned to each country this time were the first ritual by the traitors to connect dimensions.”
“Wait… each country? You mean those appeared in other countries too?”
“Yeah. I handled Europe and went straight to your house that day. America… what was that guy’s name?”
“Aiden Crowe.”
“Right. He handled it. Other countries seem to have blocked it somehow too.”
I muttered with a deeply furrowed face.
“The one that appeared in Korea clearly used mental domination that even high-rank Awakened couldn’t withstand… how did other countries block that?”
Lucia answered calmly.
“Probably the one in Korea was the strongest sacrifice. Other countries weren’t that level. In the first place, those guys were for testing, literally to check how many humans with ‘strong ether’ there are.”
I rubbed my nape once and sighed.
‘Annoying.’
“But why did you suddenly come down? Surely not because you’re curious about my past.”
“Came to see Biyeon. Can you take her out for a bit?”
“It could be dangerous if I take her out… you okay with that?”
“It’s fine. Just for a moment.”
“Got it. Wait a sec.”
Lucia pressed a few buttons on the terminal with simple motions. Soon, the transparent cover wrapping the tube opened with a ‘chick’ sound, and the blue liquid slowly drained downward.
After a while, a sword carefully floated up in the center.
I approached and received the sword with both hands as if offering it. The cold metal texture, a faint vibrating tremor. It felt like a heartbeat transmitted to my fingertips.
I gripped the sword tightly and whispered quietly.
“Biyeon. Can you hear me…?”
There was no answer. But I felt like the sword trembled faintly. Really very weakly, but a sensation calling me from somewhere far away.
A system message appeared.
[Spirit Sword Biyeon]
Bicheon Sword has absorbed Minerva’s essence and awakened its original form.
[Warning! Current state is very serious.]
I slowly closed my eyes. I concentrated all nerves solely on the sword.
‘Biyeon… hold on just a bit more.’
Suddenly, a system message sounded.
[Warning! This action may cause permanent stat reduction!]
I ignored the warning. Stats don’t matter when saving my woman.
Ignoring the message, I carefully flowed the innate true energy accumulated in me into the sword. Extreme exhaustion covered my whole body as the energy escaped along the blood vessels.
‘Fortunately, it’s absorbing the energy.’
Cold sweat flowed from my whole body.
Lucia’s urgent voice came from the side.
“Are you crazy right now?!”
I gritted my teeth and answered shortly.
“Need to concentrate… be quiet.”
Soon, the sounds of the world faded.
I concentrated my consciousness only on the sword, on Biyeon. But at some point, no more energy was injected. As if saying any more was impossible, resistance was felt.
At that time, Lucia muttered in disbelief.
“My god… it’s stabilized now? What the hell did you do? Even my ability didn’t work…”
I took a deep breath. My head rang, feeling like buckets of blood had drained.
‘Biyeon, you alive?’
And—
‘Seoyoon-ah… I’m hungry… I want chicken…’
A familiar, so welcome voice. I let out a sigh of relief.
‘When you recover, I’ll buy you as much chicken as you want.’
‘Yeah… and… the woman next to you hit me… you’ll scold her, right?’
‘Of course.’
‘Then… can I sleep a bit…?’
‘Yeah, sleep well. Don’t worry about anything.’
Biyeon’s voice was no longer heard.
The only worry was the sword’s state. Cracks in the blade, a precarious state that wouldn’t be strange if it broke anytime.
I needed to find a craftsman who could repair Biyeon.
‘I should go see Ma Wanyong.’
Getting stronger comes after Biyeon recovers.