After Returning, My Abilities are Infinite

Episode 142. Transcendents (4)

“Whew….”

Transcendence wasn’t such a big deal. My body felt lighter, and I felt refreshed as if I had emptied something inside me. That was it.

I didn’t gain amazing powers like characters in myths, nor was I filled with absolute power. Transcendence wasn’t filling but emptying.

“It will feel awkward at first. What you experienced is completely different from transcendence written in history.”

“…….”

“Breaking through the wall and destroying your vessel is not filling it again with something different. It’s the process of emptying what is unnecessary and returning yourself to nothing.”

The first thing the Traveler made me do after transcending was training. I was to reflect on my past experiences and adapt to my new body.

“Rekindle your senses. And once you are capable of handling your body to an extent, we will fill you back up with new things.”

“New things?”

“Yes. Mortals accumulate so many things inside during their lives. Trivial memories. They fill their vessels with what they ate this morning, who they met, and who they passed by on the street. Those little things come together to create a simple life, but no one calls that a grand story.”

“…….”

“Transcendents put great efforts into making themselves different from others. They move to build unique myths and form their class with only grand and amazing things. That’s what you have to do. As far as I’m concerned, your class will be piled up with things so brilliant that everyone looks up to them.”

I raised my arm. It moved beyond the position I meant to move it. I felt stiff as my arm went over behind my shoulder. I couldn’t control my body because it had become too light.

“For a while, you’ll have to keep moving your body as if you were in rehabilitation. Take your time. No matter how long it takes, it will be meaningful.”

“…What about the people left behind?”

“Don’t worry. Time passes differently here. No matter how long you stay here, they’ll only think it’s been a few days at most.”

“A few days at most… Yes, I see.”

I frowned slightly at his remark. A few days at most? At the time of my death, the Great Overlord realized most of his abilities.

One mistake, or the collapse of the Wailing Wall, and the world could end in 72 hours or 96 hours. A few days. That was how terrible a monster he was.

‘I have to advance as fast as I can.’

I couldn’t be late. If any one of the people close to me died, I wasn’t sure I would be able to handle it. I forced my stiff body to move and began training.

The Traveler, who had been watching me, slowly got up as he spoke.

“I’ll leave you alone now. If you don’t know if you’re making enough progress training alone, ask other Transcendents. What I can tell you won’t be helpful anymore. So ask for advice from those in similar positions.”

“…Can I meet other Transcendents?”

“Yes, you’ve transcended, haven’t you? This is my territory, so no one can enter… But if you want, you’ll be able to enter the higher place where Transcendents stay.”

“How?”

The Traveler smirked at my question.

“There’s no way. Transcendents are beings that can do what they want just by thinking. Don’t be bound to the ways of others, and think for yourself. That way, you’ll be able to build up a class that is distinct from others.”

And with that, the Traveler disappeared.

I looked for a while at the empty space where he had been and then stared ahead and began to train again.

‘Don’t be bound to the ways of others and think for yourself. That way, you can build up a class that is distinct from others.’ His words were directions on how I needed to act as a Transcendent from now on.

“I’ll have to meet other Transcendents.”

I didn’t have enough information at the moment. Asking the Traveler had its limits. Since he was just treating me as his toy, there was no way he would tell me everything. And I couldn’t tell whether he was lying or telling the truth.

I was the only one I could trust here. So, I needed to collect information myself and find a way by assembling it.

“For later.”

The lives of numerous people and my world were damaged because Transcendents were playing with worlds. There was no guarantee that it wouldn’t happen again.

So, I had better kill those bastards before they did it again. I was going to dig up all of their weaknesses I could find and tear them apart and destroy them without leaving a single trace behind.

Because that’s what I did best. I was going to eat up their hearts and all of their experience. And I was going to become a giant predator and trample them to pieces.

“Whew—”

I threw a punch. Following a precise trajectory, the amount of impact spread to the exact location. There was no mistake. A perfect blow. It was followed by the consecutive standard moves. My movements were smooth and flowing.

And that way, I quickly got used to my body until I could control it perfectly with pinpoint accuracy.

* * *

Two weeks passed.

I couldn’t tell how much time passed in the other world.

I hoped it was a few hours or a few seconds. But I had better not keep my hopes up. If I were so optimistic and then ended up facing the worst, I would panic right away.

I already imagined that the world had ended and everyone had died.

‘No, I should stop thinking.’

I couldn’t go over to that world right now, and I had a few things to do here. After I was done preparing, thinking for a little while would be enough.

‘It’s important to look around this place right now, anyway.’

After letting out a deep sigh, I hurried along. I was walking along a sort of busy street. It wasn’t the Traveler’s territory where I usually trained, but the world of Transcendents that I came on my own.

There were so many people here. Of course, some creatures weren’t human, and they were gathered together and talking like ordinary beings. The Transcendents were nothing special.

‘After what I went through to get here, I can’t afford to be distracted.’

Since the Traveler told me to find the way on my own, I agonized as I thought of various methods. And the method I thought of was Sung Hyun-woo’s teleportation.

I thought of how it looked like and the underlying mechanism and repeated to myself that I wanted to go to the place where other Transcendents stayed. And I was there the next moment.

It sounded simple, but the process took three whole days. Damn it.

‘By the way, it’s fascinating.’

After looking around, I glanced down at my hand. There was a line drawn on my palm. When I asked the Traveler about it, he told me that it signified the first power I had created with my will.

I had come up with an idea and conceptualized the specifics to create an ability. The Traveler was proud of me, saying that I had learned very quickly how Transcendents gain power.

‘Earning abilities from simple ideas… Interesting. At this rate, I will definitely gain power on a different level from mortals.’

I looked up again. I had learned how to gain power. But I still didn’t know how to become stronger effectively.

The Traveler didn’t teach me that. I had to move about and find it myself. By training alone? No. That wasn’t my specialty, and it wasn’t time-efficient at all.

I glanced around and scanned the Transcendents nearby. And one that looked useful caught my eye.

“The image of a flame flaring up in my hand… How the flames will flicker and their temperature in detail… Ugh…….”

He was a stupid Transcendent who was talking aloud to himself. Thanks to him, I was able to further establish a framework.

Down to the smallest detail.

It looked like he had heard it from someone. If he had realized it himself, he wouldn’t be agonizing like that. After I overheard him, I decided to try it right away.

‘Image.’

I opened my hand and imagined. I remembered how I burned in flames and how I burned others with flames. The temperature that could cause harm and fear. The terror it would bring upon others, its aftermath, power, and wavelength. I imagined everything and specified the image.

The way it flickered and the smell of fire. How much skin would be charred and melted down. The sound of the flames burning accelerant. I defined every feeling I could imagine and every area I could specify. And then…

Flicker-!

The next moment, a big flame shot up in my hand. The Transcendents walking past me stepped back. The flames that suddenly appeared on the busy street attracted everyone’s attention.

“…….”

Everything fell silent for a moment. Some glared at me as if I were crazy, and some looked surprised by the flames I created.

withdrew the fire. There was another line drawn on my hand. It meant that two powers were created inside me. And, at that moment.

“W-what are you doing─!”

The guy who had been muttering to himself nonstop yelled as he came close to me.

“How, how dare you steal someone else’s power? That, that’s mine! It’s mine. How dare you!”

“Why is this yours? I just created it by drawing up an image.”

“I… I was talking about it. I just wasn’t able to turn it into an ability. I’ve been working on it for a long time. And, and you stole it. You heard my detailed explanation… And you stole it!”

“Is that a problem?”

“Of, of course, it is! You, you can only make one power. There are many ways to make flames erupt, but, but that power is the only one that can be done the way I just said!”

He stuttered a lot. Annoyed, I looked at him. But things were getting weird.

“Oh, so he stole it? How shameless.”

“He has two lines on his hand. Looks like he’s just recently transcended.”

“He’s disrespecting his senior just because he’s talented. He won’t last long.”

“Fighting like that just to steal a single power… Tsk tsk.”

I felt dazed at the response. What was going on? Were Transcendents this ignorant? Seriously… They sounded very unsophisticated.

“Well, so what are you going to do? M-make it up to me. Make it up to me!”

I became increasingly annoyed as I watched the guy squeal like a pig. And then, I came up with a fun idea. The Traveler, who had my back, what was his status among Transcendents? Could I be able to observe his status here?

‘I kind of want to see the guy treating me like a toy getting criticized.’

Since he was the one who brought me here, if I caused trouble, he would end up taking the blame. Good. I was done thinking. I looked over at the guy who was still yelling. And then…

“P-pay me back! D-don’t stand there quietly and… Argh!”

Without hesitation, I swung my fist into his mouth.