Light of Arad: The First to Walk - Chapter 170



Only Noblemtl

170

Cheeeeeeeee… … !

As soon as the meat was placed on the plate, an appetizing sound echoed from the iron plate.

But now, neither Vivi nor Jinseong had any interest in food like steak.

“Is it open?”

“Hurry up, hurry up!”

“I had a hunch…….”

Vivi and Jinseong were sitting across from the chili shrimp who was talking like they were getting a raise, and their bodies were trembling with excitement.

The chili shrimp enjoyed the reaction so much that it swung open the lid on the table.

As the steam rose, Vivi and Jinseong’s nostrils flared.

“Wow! It smells so good!”

“I never thought you would make sauce for stew… You’re really amazing.”

I also tried some pretty delicious food on the continent of Arad.

The same goes for the kingdom of the black elves, Fennes, and the country of the Mutians, Suju.

After the Celestial Empire was reclaimed from the Cartel, I also got to taste some of the Celestial specialties.

However, Vivi and Jinseong readily admitted that the emotion they felt now was incomparable.

“Oh, Koreans should eat things that suit Korean tastes. Tear up some kimchi and eat it too. Yes, to make food like this, you need a house and money. Eat well.”

The chili shrimp rubbed the base of its nose with a pleased expression.

In terms of appearance, she was much younger than Vivi, a female gunner, or Jinseong, a dark knight, but from the way she carried and served food to the way she treated it, she literally exuded the force of an elder.

“I’ll eat well, Chili Shrimp.”

“Yes, Mr. Jinseong, enjoy your meal. You too, Vivi… You don’t need to tell me to eat a lot. Eat up, you idiot.”

“Meme?”

“No, that’s fine. Don’t talk and just eat. Hurry up.”

When Vivi tried to speak while chewing with her mouth full of food, Chili Shrimp stopped her and laughed.

Jinseong was also able to enjoy a long-awaited dinner.

This feast of chilli shrimp was the biggest change Jinsung felt when he returned from the Helix Labs to the industrial area near Slough.

‘You really are a person with a lot of experience. Rather than asking questions right away… … .’

They provide such special foods without even asking for payment.

Vivi may have thought this was 100% a favor, but she could tell the truth.

‘I’ll just feed you something delicious and then make you cry. Hehe, there’s nothing special about it and nothing to say.’

This is the true art of dealing with people.

This is his social life.

‘Isn’t this also a skill that the old men of the Ice Age used? Just serve them first! Something like that?’

Of course, Jinseong still doesn’t know that she is a woman.

In his eyes, he had concluded that a man in his late 40s, possessed by the body of a girl, was acting this way.

“This is really delicious! This is awesome!”

“Of course. I was the first one to get possessed, but I lived alone for a long time before I got possessed. I’ve been living alone for several years, so you, Vivi, probably can’t even imagine it.”

Chili Shrimp responded proudly to Vivi’s admiration, but it was a shame for her that Jinseong recognized him more as ‘an old man who has lived alone for a long time, an old man who has grown accustomed to cooking alone because he has lived alone for so long.’

“But you can’t make a real portal anymore, right, Jinsang?”

“Yes. When Giselle was trying to collect some data or something, Vivi shot her.”

“Ahem, of course. Ah~ Even a country that doesn’t know anything can know. If Giselle had been using that in the Meister’s lab and causing a ruckus, what would have happened? You know I was the one who stopped that, right?”

Vivi spoke with her nose held high.

Jinseong nodded, smiling.

“Well, it’s great just because it prevents the data from being reconstructed right away. The materials are hard to come by in the first place, and energy sources are rare in places where they’re concentrated to that extent.”

“Huh…? That doesn’t sound like a compliment at all.”

Data can be rebuilt, but it was Jinseong’s efforts to prevent the acquisition of essential material elements such as materials and energy sources.

Jinseong said while looking at the dead Bibi.

“Well done. The important thing is that Giselle was only able to use it once.”

The remaining charges displayed on his dimensional travel device are 1.

After one last use, the machine will be useless.

“That’s the dead man’s last name, right? That’s why you just left it there, Jinseong?”

Vivi asked.

It was a question that made Jinseong flinch for a moment.

He never told her that he had been possessed by Plain: Arad to fulfill his true role and to complete .

However, while they were together in heaven, she must have unknowingly questioned Jinseong’s true identity and come up with her own answer.

In that case, Jinseong’s judgment was that there was no need to answer honestly here, especially when Chili Shrimp was listening.

“You’ve really changed a lot, Vivi… They say that children grow up overnight, but your perception, your perception-.”

“Who, who are you calling a child!? To someone who is almost in their mid-twenties, even if you write their age in Korean!”

Jinseong slyly changes the subject and Vivi falls for Jinseong’s intentions.

And there was even Chili Shrimp who flinched at Vivi’s remark about age and joined in.

“Haha, you’re in your mid-twenties… Vivi, if you go around saying things like that, you’ll be in big trouble, seriously.”

“But how old are you, really?”

“Enough! Come on, let’s eat. Who’s talking so rudely at the dinner table? Quietly. Let’s eat.”

Jinseong, who was able to lighten the mood immediately, smiled and picked up his spoon again.

At least one thing was certain: if Giselle could use the portal freely, as Vivi had said, it would have been a disaster.

‘There’s no need to go all the way to the Meister’s laboratory. You can just go to the De Los Empire right away… … Anyway, if that technology had been filled with a sufficient energy source, it would have been dangerous.’

The reason Giselle couldn’t leave this place was probably because of the large-scale power generation facility. It’s highly likely that she was trying to extract and accumulate energy from the Helix Research Institute, which was still in operation, before moving on in earnest.

‘It might not have been a day or two, but a month… … maybe even a week, ten days, it would have been a big problem.’

It is no exaggeration to say that the axis of the great flow was literally twisted.

That kind of disaster was prevented.

Plain: The impact on Arad, in terms of risk alone, is that it prevented a number of threatening incidents.

‘But still… … what does it mean that there is no contamination?’

This was the reason why Jinseong’s expression could not always be bright.

What on earth does the phrase written on the card obtained after completing an incident of this level mean?

[Lost Opportunity for Contact]

The first thing that stood out was that there was no further explanation of (contamination).

Hasn’t there ever been a case where a (contaminated) card came out and you were collecting it to (purify) it?

‘The act of purification itself may not be meaningful, but the point where it is shown to Nemer and made Nemer check the card is important. This and that were contaminated… … and so on.’

But this card is free of contamination.

To put it in an extreme and direct way?

‘Does this mean it’s not contaminated?’

Should this be interpreted to mean that the ‘opportunity for contact’ that should have occurred, rather than contamination, has ‘disappeared’?

‘The card didn’t come out when Giselle was gone. It came out when the Helix Lab completely collapsed and exploded… … and when none of the lab’s equipment or data could be recycled.’

This card may not have anything to do with Giselle, but rather with the Helix Labs itself.

It could mean that you should have taken advantage of something in it to make contact.

In addition to that, what if we explain it by melting down the fact that there is no (contamination), that is, that it is not contamination?

‘I had to secure something inside the Helix Labs and use it to… … either make contact with someone or act as an intermediary to bring two other beings into contact… … that’s what it’s about.’

But now it’s lost. The opportunity is gone.

It is no longer possible to know who will contact whom, how, and what the consequences will be.

“Well… Now that you’re full, isn’t it time to tell us what’s going on, Mr. Jinseong?”

Before Jinseong’s eyes, who was full of worries, red hair suddenly fluttered.

“Hmm? What is it?”

“What are you talking about again? If you tell me what it is, what will I say?”

The chili shrimp, approaching Jinseong, spoke.

Jinseong met her red eyes for a moment.

Then he said as if a thought just occurred to him.

“Literally. I reached level 75, completed my awakening, and oh, at least I solved one mystery.”

“What is it, what is it?”

“You can become stronger from now on, Chili Shrimp. You won’t have to stay stuck in the past anymore.”

“Huh? What exactly do you mean?”

In the castle of the dead, where Giselle left first and he was left alone.

Jinseong opened his eyes.

I swung my sword and cut through space and time, and experienced it wherever I went.

* * *

“Here is…….”

Jinseong looked around.

It was a space where a dark purple color seemed to spread out infinitely in all directions.

You can stand thanks to the hexagonal tiles that support your feet.

Even in a space that seemed extremely unstable, Jinseong did not lose consciousness because he was used to it.

“……Dimensional crack, dimensional gap?”

[Keep kek kek… What happened, Jinseong? Did you come to save me from the crack?]

It was a familiar space not only to Jinseong but also to Heukgu.

The place where the flesh of the 6th Apostle, the Direzier of the Black Disease, is ceaselessly dismantled and rebuilt is at some point in this infinite space.

Of course, in this infinitely expansive place, it would not be a coincidence that Direji and Jinseong would meet.

“I, I’m the one who’s curious about this situation. Huh?”

[You didn’t swing your sword with confidence, did you?]

“That’s… true. But what I was trying to do was cut through space and time and go to the Helix Labs! That was the concept. Instead of a portal, instead of using a dimensional travel device, I was going to use the Dark Knight’s power, wasn’t I?”

In the first place, Jinseong’s purpose was not to meet Diregie, but to follow Giselle to the Helix Research Institute.

The Dark Knight is a being that can manipulate dimensional powers and transcend time and space in the background setting of the game Dungeon & Fighter.

Jinseong guessed that all the problems related to the dimensional rift so far were due to his own body being the Dark Knight, and that it was only at the level of a catalyst due to its lack of power and was unable to function on its own.

What he believed he would one day be able to do once he gained enough strength and became accustomed to the power to manipulate dimensions, Jinseong did it in the Castle of the Dead with the determination to literally die, and as a result, he succeeded in cutting through space-time… but… .

‘Why did I come here? And there’s no exit. Do I have to tear space apart again?’

If by any chance you get stuck here.

Wouldn’t it be even worse if you couldn’t escape the dimensional rift!

Jinseong’s grip on grew stronger.

When you’re feeling anxious, the thing you can do is to do something you’ve already done before.

‘I’ve leveled up. I’m now 75, a level where I can become aware. So, does that mean I can complete my awareness here and open the door to the Helix Research Institute? According to the setting, when you complete your awareness, you almost always regain the power to manipulate space and time~ It seems like that’s how it was set up-.’

WHEEK-!

As Jinseong was organizing his thoughts, the sound of the wind reached his ears.

[True!]

“I know! I’m going to be caught in a surprise attack slower than Kashiyas…?”

But it was somewhat different.

It was a fundamentally different sound of the wind than when the clone of the Apostle Cassillas, who had been approaching quickly through the air, had surprised the real himself.

The sound of air leaking out or rushing in through a hole in a window, so to speak.

Jinseong turned his head.

And then I realized what the noise was.

“what?”

The dimensional crack appeared again, and someone stepped into Jinseong’s own space.

It was Jinseong himself.

The sound came again.

With a chilling whooshing sound, another dimensional rift opened.

As expected, someone suddenly popped out.

It was Jinseong himself.

────, ────, ────!

As if surrounding the truth, a dimensional gap opens and opens and opens again… … .

“What, what!? What is this?”!

There is one person.

But there are many.

Jinseong saw Jinseong.

Jinseong saw Jinseong.