Jin was the last one to find out that Kullam had descended.
Everyone else had been waiting for five minutes for Jin to wake up.
'Was everything that I saw a delusion?'
Impossible.
The energy shard that pierced his chest. Him throwing up blood and fainting. Everything seemed so real. Even now, being alive felt like an illusion.
'Then does that mean I already lost my consciousness when Laosa started walking?'
Exactly as he said, Jin had already lost consciousness at that point. However, all of his wounds from the impacts and mana overflow were now gone.
His body felt cleansed and light. He pinched his cheek to confirm whether it was all a dream, and he felt pain.
Seeing his confusion, Syris laughed.
"Just a moment ago, you were ready to face the end. But it seems you really do value your life."
"And you tried to save me there when I fainted…"
"What? When did I? As soon as you fell, the god descended, and it was game over."
Jin made an awkward smile.
'It seems Kullam showed me the scenario where everything went wrong.'
The others didn't experience the 'worst universe'.
Yet, Jin knew that Syris would act the same if she were at death's door.
"Hmph. Honestly, I thought the Runcandel baby was out of his mind doing something so foolish based on nothing. Somehow, he made the god descend… Syris, your lover here is so mature for his age."
Talaris thought that Kullam's descent was due to Jin's meticulous calculations. Syris thought the same, so they were genuinely impressed.
Jin felt a little embarrassed in the situation, but before he could clear things up, there was business to deal with.
"Murakan… Where's Murakan?!"
"I'm fine. God dammit. You beatable motherfucker. I thought you died!"
Murakan spat curses with a beet-red face. He was just pouring out his relief onto Jin.
Indeed, it was very dangerous.
Had Kullam not descended, their plans would have been over.
Murakan halted his reproaching at Jin and turned to glare at Kullam.
"So, who the hell are you? You're doing some divine ability stuff, so you aren't just any minor god or something. But your energy is very foreign to my memory."
Murakan felt that Kullam wasn't very authentic.
Experiencing the life of the gods with Solderet, Murakan knew that gods descended in order to fulfill some ulterior, selfish motive.
"Damn, look at the destroyed ship. That Zipfel genius is lying and rolling on the ground… Look at you, showing up so late even when you have this much power. You definitely have something up your sleeve. What the hell do you want from the kid?"
Wherever Murakan pointed, there were magicians who fainted from mana overflow. Even the six dragons succumbed to the immense power.
Kullam used his divine abilities to induce it within them. Instead of answering the black dragon, he pulled out a small mirror.
'Mirror?!'
The artifact that the Zipfels used to generate 7-star magicians in Jin's past life—the Fountain of Mana.
「I was waiting for someone to take this. Solderet's thousand-year contractor. That fellow over there.」
Kullam looked towards Jin, and everyone else's eyes followed. Some of the Kollon natives who were bowing to Kullam also glanced at Jin every now and then.
「There was a time when I was a god who had a hold of all the mana. But after losing control and almost destroying the entire world, I received help from Solderet to seal myself in the mirror.」
"I haven't heard anything about that from Solderet. And the fact that a God of Mana existed."
「I'll show you evidence that you cannot doubt, Black Dragon.」
As soon as Kullam stopped talking, the mirror turned black.
In an instant, something within the mirror tried to escape. However, the black energy on the surface of the mirror kept it in.
The black covering was made of spiritual energy. A strong and potent concentration of it that Murakan would never be able to handle.
"Solderet's seal…?"
Murakan had seen many beings sealed by Solderet before, but he had never seen a seal this strong.
He nodded.
"I guess you weren't lying about destroying the entire world… I kinda get it. So the seal is getting weaker. And you needed someone to fortify the seal."
「That's right. This seal separates the world and the source of infinite mana—me. With the infinitely expanding and increasing mana, I can swallow this world whole…」
Kullam made a melancholic smile.
If there were more mana than air, no life on the planet would be able to breathe.
「So I asked Solderet to seal me inside this mirror. And the Kollon natives who were worshipping me at the time swore to protect the mirror at all costs.」
"Why did you offer that important job to these runts? Do you even know how long they suffered?"
「…That was because it was the beginning of human history, and the natives were ahead of their time. Back then, they were the strongest tribe on the planet.」
The ancient relatives of the Kollon natives were the rulers during the early ages of humanity.
「Furthermore, in my sealed state, I couldn't intervene with their actions. I couldn't help them advance their technology and create a stronger civilization.」
The natives were speechless at their own worthlessness, and Kullam opened his mouth once more.
「However, my decision was right. Thankfully, Solderet's thousand-year contractor found me.」
Kullam walked towards Jin.
「Take it, Jin Runcandel.」
Jin received the mirror, and the spiritual energy undulating on the surface of the mirror suddenly died down.
Just by touching it, he could feel the immense energy of the spiritual energy seal together with the infinite mana pool that was shocking him like electricity.
The two energies mixed and roared inside his body.
「On the item you are holding is the force that is saving the world from destruction. Solderet's seal.」
Jin never knew such information about the Fountain of Mana. He just thought that it was an overpowered artifact that would increase one's mana.
'This isn't an artifact but a weapon of mass destruction.'
Holding the mirror, he felt that his mana rapidly increased—as if he could gain at least 7-star on his mana just by holding onto it for a day.
'However, every second my mana increases, the seal grows a little weaker.'
If one didn't have the ability to use spiritual energy, they would not be able to sense it.
'If someone used this without knowing and the seal broke… It'd be all over.'
The Zipfels did exactly that in his past life.
As they cranked out thousands of magicians, the seal grew weaker and weaker.
And during that process, consequences would definitely arise.
"So, has the duty of protecting this been passed on from the Kollon natives to me?"
「To be exact, the Kollon natives were protecting something that only you—Jin Runcandel—can protect.」
"That is an exceedingly heavy task. I've watched the natives suffer even after centuries of oppression without anything in return. Of course, I doubt I will face such fates."
Kullam nodded.
「You're right. I, as a god, have done nothing to the people who worshipped me. But since I was sealed, there was nothing I could do, so my case is different from yours.」
"How so?"
「Solderet's seal. That is not just any seal, but also a present for you.」
"This seal?"
「That is a creation that Solderet used when he was in his most powerful state. It is not just dense spiritual energy, but a part of the God of Shadows himself.」
"My original reward for this conquest was being able to see Solderet one more time from Lady Laosa's call…"
'She said that because she does not know that you are living your second life. Neither does she know how you got such an opportunity.'
Kullam swallowed those words and met Jin's eyes.
「She probably lied to convince you to help. How would she be able to call such a being when she can't even address your black dragon?」
In his past life, Jin faced death, and his connection with Solderet was severed. Murakan lost his connection with his god after losing a battle against Temar. They were two beings who weren't receiving any protection from their god.
「On that note, you two have a similar fate as the Kollon natives. Maybe that is why you help them so much. Because you saw a reflection of yourself in them.」
Kullam lowered his head for a short bow.
Seeing this, Talaris felt a shock in the back of her head. She had never seen a god bow down to a human.
「I feel deep gratitude for you who protected and helped these people. Now, to put those other fellows in eternal slumber.」
Before Jin could even respond, Kullam's body slowly became transparent—akin to salt dissolving in a river.
The epiphany was ending, which also meant that Laosa's body was going to disappear as well.
"Kullam! Prophet Laosa!"
Jin tried to hold on to Laosa's disappearing body, but before he could even reach her, her body was gone.
Kullam—with all of his power sealed in the mirror—could only appear because Laosa sacrificed herself.
"…Hmph, alright. So you're Solderet's contractor. Well, I heard a lot of fun things today. And saw a god bow down to a child."
Startled, Jin looked at Talaris.
Associates of the Hidden Palace had just found out a lot about him.
"Madame Talaris."
"How about we get out of here? I think that they'll wake up in a few hours. And that over there looks like it's gonna crash any time now."
Her finger was pointing at the Kozak that was split in half and slowly descending to the ground.
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