Chapter 6: Using the Special Privilege

M E M O R I Z E

The Essence of Fire was scalding as it slid down my esophagus. And the moment it reached the mana flowing leisurely through my body, it reacted for the first time.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

Reacting with my mana, the Essence of Fire instantly transformed into a raging inferno, swelling with an uncontrollable force. Its energy was so pure and powerful that I could almost smell the latent flame within the orb.

Boom...!

That was just the faint, initial reaction. Even so, my body bulged and convulsed, spewing flames. It was proof that my body couldn't handle the sudden explosion of energy and was expelling it outward. With every twitch, sparks flew in all directions, and my body spasmed intermittently.

Seraph must have seen my state, as I could faintly hear her chanting a spell. I barely managed to raise a hand toward her, though I couldn't tell where she was. It was a signal not to interfere.

Seraph wasn't wrong. It was a hopeless task for me to forcibly control the Essence of Fire with my current abilities. Of course, using the Ancient Priestess's Engraving might have made it possible, but I had no intention of using its power just yet. No, it would be more accurate to say that I never intended to suppress the Essence of Fire with it in the first place. The engraving was merely meant to provide a place for the essence—my future companion—to reside. Nothing more, nothing less.

What I wanted was neither suppression nor control. What human could possibly withstand a power that rivaled the Inferno of Hell?

But the story changes if it's simply a matter of borrowing its power.

I briefly opened my eyes and saw a blurry image of Seraph. She was anxiously pacing back and forth. Seeing an angel act like that was rather refreshing, but my face contorted in pain almost immediately. I knew all too well that what I had experienced so far was merely a prelude. The real ordeal was just beginning.

It would be a mistake to compare the explosion caused by the Essence of Fire to a normal one. This wasn't a material explosion but a blast of pure energy. As such, it was accompanied by an incomparable surge of power and pain. And then, the Essence of Fire began its real work inside me.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Guh. Gurgle."

My eyes rolled back for a moment from the successive explosions. The pain from the full-force assault was beyond imagination. I had suffered countless injuries and felt immense pain during my ten years in Hall Plain, but all of it felt like child's play compared to this. A chill ran down my spine at the thought of the intensifying agony, but it only made me grit my teeth harder.

I repeated it to myself over and over. I am Kim Su-hyeon, the user who saw the end of Hall Plain. Throughout that time, I had to endure and persevere endlessly. The decade of experience and the pride of obtaining the Zero Code, which no one else had, were not earned through simple games.

Whether it was the sound of explosions leaking out or Seraph speaking, my surroundings were incredibly noisy. Not that I could hear anything clearly. With each passing moment, the Essence of Fire steadily grew stronger. Just as it was about to erupt again, I mustered all my strength and began to channel my mana, fueling the essence's power.

As my vast mana, nearing 90 points, bolstered it, the Essence of Fire momentarily paused its impending explosion. Though it was just for an instant, I managed a faint smile. My mana had blended seamlessly with its energy.

A pure aggregate of fire. An eternally burning flame. The Essence of Fire was an energy with a will of its own. It was similar to an ego weapon, which has its own consciousness and chooses its master, but there was a difference. The difference was in its will. It could exercise its power according to its own will, or it could choose not to. It had no ego, but its emotions were alive. And right now, through the union of our mana, I was communing with the spirit of the flame.

The emotion I currently sensed from the Essence of Fire was bewilderment. Normally, when something was causing destruction inside a body, the logical response would be to control it. But I was doing the opposite, making it easier for the essence to act. I was extending a hand. I wasn't trying to make you kneel. I want to borrow your power as an equal. I cried out in my mind, pouring my desperate feelings into the plea.

'I desperately need you. So go on, run wild as you please. Judge for yourself whether I am worthy to be your companion, to borrow your power, and show me the result.'

At that, I finally got a moment to breathe. A hot breath billowed from my nostrils. Flames flickered from my nose.

'Alright. I understand.'

I had finally obtained its permission.

After a brief moment of composing myself internally, I guided the Essence of Fire, which was whining to play, to its new playground. The first targets were my right and left arms. I quickly split the energy and sent it forcefully in both directions. As I guided it through the pathways of my circuits and meridians, the immense energy surged forward like a tidal wave. Before I could even register it, the Essence of Fire had occupied even the finest meridian points at the very tips of my fingers.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

I felt a pleasant ache as something popped within the pathways of my body. It was the sound of blocked vessels being forcefully and refreshingly cleared. Even though I was forcing them open, the effect was far greater than I expected. It was clearing even the minute acupoints at my fingertips, something that had been difficult to open even with my past, mastered body.

Simultaneously, a yellowish fluid and a black liquid bubbled up through the skin of my arms before evaporating into the air, unable to withstand the heat. The waste and impurities hidden deep within my body were being unceremoniously blasted away for obstructing the essence's path. Under normal circumstances, I would have clapped my hands in joy, but unfortunately, I had no time for that now.

Just channeling it into my arms left me dizzy, but I gently coaxed the energy back to my core. Thankfully, the essence seemed to have lost interest in the territory it had already conquered and obediently followed my will. The moment all the energy that had filled my arms receded, they fell limp. The sheer shock had caused them to lose all sensation.

I worried I might lose my arms, but I had no desire to turn back. Soothing the Essence of Fire, which was now clamoring to be taken somewhere else, I hurriedly guided it toward the passages leading to my legs. As we neared them, I gave it a gentle push, and as if it had been waiting eagerly, it began to descend like a raging wave once more.

Sizzle! Sizzle!

Pop! Pop! Pop! Pop!

The process was no different from my arms. The result was the same. The moment the energy that had occupied my legs receded, they too lost all sensation. I crumpled to the ground helplessly. With my current Endurance, Stamina, and Mana stats, it seemed the most I could do was barely keep my body from shattering and maintain its form.

But I paid it no mind. The Essence of Fire, frolicking like a fish in water, continued to set off explosions within me. I was genuinely on the verge of going insane. The pain hammering my entire body made me want to pass out, but my superhuman patience kept a tenuous grip on my consciousness.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!

With every explosion, my heart pounded and my blood boiled. 'Anywhere else to play?' As the essence conveyed its will, I steeled myself and asked it to gather more energy for now. The next destination was the final and most difficult barrier: my head.

For the first time, facing the path to my head, I felt fear. It was a fear that couldn't be controlled. Whether I succeeded in breaking through or not, the pain I would feel was something I didn't even want to imagine. It was then.

'Want to stop if you don't like it? There's no need to go all the way up to the head, right? This is enough.'

It was as if the Essence of Fire was whispering seductively in my ear. For a moment, I was about to nod, but I immediately shook my head. Reason screamed at me to stop, but I instinctively gathered the energy and guided it toward the passage leading to my head.

'You're a fool. You could die, you know?'

"Over something like this."

The preparations were complete.

Don't. Don't. Don't.

My mind tried to stop me from going to my head, but my actions paid it no heed, following only my instincts. Finally, as I sent the Essence of Fire into the passage, I let out a desperate roar.

"Don't you dare look down on me!"

The words escaped me unconsciously, but my will seemed to have been clearly conveyed. Simultaneously, the energy at my core began to rotate vigorously. It gathered strength, descended to the area of my energy core below my navel, and stopped.

In that moment, I summoned every last ounce of strength and shot the energy upward. Just as the Essence of Fire was about to pass through my neck, leaving a spectacular explosion in its wake...

"Gack!"

Splurt!

Dark red blood erupted from every orifice in my body—my nose, mouth, ears, and eyes. My intuition was screaming at me. This felt like staring death in the face.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

The energy of the Essence of Fire, blocked at my neck, raged furiously. If it exploded here, a reality too horrifying to imagine would consume me. Dizziness washed over me, and my entire body felt as if it were plummeting into an abyss.

I knew this was the end. Even in my dazed state, I pulled the energy swirling around my neck back down to my energy core. Miraculously, the energy moved according to my will.

'I have to break through, no matter what.'

Once... twice... three times... After gathering the rampaging energy by rotating it a total of ten times, I braced myself for the final push and surged it toward my head with all my might. The pain that would follow was no longer a concern.

BOOM!

A violent shockwave rocked my entire body. As my neck was cleared and the passage to my head was forged, the energy of the Essence of Fire instantly enveloped my entire head, just as it had before.

*

My vision was gone. Literally. That was all. In an instant, my sight flickered out, the world turning into a canvas of pure white. I was in a state where I could feel nothing, absolutely nothing. It was as if a section of my memory had been sliced out and the severed ends stitched back together.

Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh! Fwoosh!

I finally processed the situation. The energy of the Essence of Fire was rampaging through my head, as if throwing a tantrum for my resistance. It literally felt like my brain was melting.

Pain? Honestly, when it first broke through, it felt refreshingly clear. But as my vision slowly returned and my body's senses gradually came back, I began to feel it. A pain I never wanted to experience again for the rest of my life.

'Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!'

If I could have screamed, I would have let out a roar that could shatter my lungs. A stimulus of a different dimension, one that had long surpassed what an ordinary human could endure, coursed through my body. Would it feel like this if I plunged my head into a molten furnace? Would it be similar if I doused myself in oil and dove into a bonfire wearing straw sandals? No matter how many battles I had fought—on land, at sea, in the air, or in cities—at this very moment, I genuinely wanted to die.

An explosion of energy, massive enough to be seen from the outside, engulfed my entire body. It was an explosion on a completely different scale from the ones before. Starting from my head, the eternally burning flame began to conquer my insides, bit by bit, as if to declare, "You're mine now." Every cell the essence touched sizzled and boiled, but by now, it felt less painful and more... warm.

After some time had passed, my vision returned, albeit blurry. My body was still immobile. As I lifted my leaden eyelids, I saw Seraph staring down at me, her face pale white.

'Am I even alive...?'

If someone told me to go through that horrific pain again, I would rather just die.

The finishing touches were considerably easier compared to opening the path to my head. I slowly gathered the Essence of Fire that had spread throughout my body and gently guided it toward my heart. Whether it had taken a liking to me or not, the essence moved obediently according to my will.

And only then did the magic of the Ancient Priestess's Engraving begin to activate. The Essence of Fire, seemingly satisfied after its rampage, willingly entered my heart. The moment I felt it settle down quietly in its new place...

"Su-hyeon! Su-hyeon!"

I passed out, just like that. Without even a moment to feel relief.