Hermit Wizard

We approached a location where all the patterns engraved on the Root Stone could be clearly seen.

A magnificent appearance stood up as if supporting the sky. While looking up at the Root Stone, I thought, ‘How high would that be?’

I didn’t get a sense of it at first since there was no object to compare around, but I knew that many buildings in downtown Seoul would be no match. Part of its top-end was also touching the clouds.

Looking ahead, I asked Parvache.

“We can see it better from this place. Can’t you still interpret it?”

[Not at all.]

What language was it?

“Hmm…”

I frowned around my eyes. The assumption that the search wasn’t possible because the pattern wasn’t visible was also wrong.

That really wasn’t searchable on the Akashic Records.

Mrs. Pearl speculated, “Maybe it’s not a language?”

“There is a possibility of that.”

Anyone could tell that it wasn’t a naturally formed mark. It was difficult to say that the original was damaged because the groove gap was so large and clean. In other words, the object was intentionally made and preserved for a long time, but there was little tampering or wear in the meantime.

“Maybe it’s a magical symbol?”

[… The Ramumings said they didn’t feel any Mana in there.]

“It may not have been felt because their magic level was low.”

Focusing on that possibility, I tried to take a step again.

It was then…

-Wriggle!

“What’s wrong with this guy all of a sudden?”

Maru, hiding its body inside the hoodie I wore, began to jolt in my clothes. After being still for a while, I felt like it was sleeping, but now it was awake.

The inside of the chest in my clothes swelled up, and then it dragged its bronze tentacles and slid out towards the nape of my neck.

Maru then stretched out its eyes on the tip of its tentacles and stretched forward. It pointed to the direction of the Root Stone.

That guy said as it scratched the air, “I know that… poundpound…”

“What?”

I didn’t understand what it said for a while and asked. What was ‘poundpound’?

“That… stone… is talking. I know. It’s pounding.”

“What are you saying?”

“The stone talks. It’s pounding.”

I couldn’t understand what Maru meant until I asked a few more questions.

It said it was feeling a kind of wave emanating from that stone. When I heard that, I tried to concentrate again, but neither my sensory organs nor my Mana circuit felt anything.

“Wave? I don’t think it’s magical.”

Maybe it was literally a physical wave. In other words, Maru might be feeling electromagnetic waves or microscopic air vibrations.

“Is there anything you can feel at, Mrs. Pearl?”

Mrs. Pearl’s physical senses were more sensitive than mine; she looked around and shook her head.

“It’s a wave that none of us can feel, and only Maru can feel it, huh?”

It meant that signals that only Maru’s body organs could feel were emanating from that stone.

“Wait a minute. This guy’s body is, after all…”

I watched with my own two eyes the process of Maru being born.

Yes, Maru was separated from the body of a huge being that could never be compared to the Root Stone over there. Presumably, there must be a biological similarity to the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker in addition to the visible appearance.

“If the ruins where dragons are worshiped react with Maru’s body…”

It couldn’t have been a coincidence. I quickly made eye contact with Parvache.

“Dragons were originally said to have originated from a pet raised by Song of Chaos—by its native race, right?”

[…Yes, then the one that made that Root Stone… probably…]

I nodded. Was that ruins a trace left by ‘that species’?

The Song of Chaos’ kind that Gramiel called monsters.

I reconsidered Yodmo’s words. It was said that the Root Stone was a phenomenon that only appeared in the dimension where dragons live. The dragon and that race. The connection was good enough.

I asked Maru.

“Can you read the letters engraved on that stone?”

Maru said the dragon was cute, and it said it was familiar to the smell of dragons. Was that the genetic information passed to Maru from the Silver Forest’s Truth-Seeker? Or was it a transmission of memory?

Did it include both?

Maru that has no eyelids looked closely with the pupil at the tip of the tentacle. As I ordered, it turned the tentacles’ angle to read all the patterns and focused up, down, left, and right, moving as if reading a text. I then said…

“… Stone, I can’t read it.”

Ah, did I expect too much there?

I tried to sigh, but Maru continued.

“That’s not… reading… but listening.”

“What?”

Maru’s explanation continued for a while, and it took a little longer for us to understand everything.

In Maru’s point of view, it was difficult to explain such a natural concept such as ‘to hear sounds through the ears’ in words, and from our point of view, it was the same as listening to a completely unfamiliar concept through the mouth of a child.

After organizing the concept in my head, I spoke.

“So, in the end… when the user creates another wave corresponding to the wave emanating from that stone and collides with the stone, the reflector, which may be an electromagnetic wave or a sound wave generated by the two waves, rubs against the surface of the monument, and is derived from there. You mean the user hears the signal and recognizes it as information?”

“… Reclusive, I don’t… know what you’re talking about.”

“It’s a summary of what you said.”

Maru didn’t understand some of the words I used, but it did in the end.

It was difficult and easy to obtain the information recorded on that monument, as I understood.

First of all, it was difficult because it isn’t a type that users could read if they only had two eyes attached and know the language like a monument to human civilization.

First, it involved recognizing a kind of cogwheel-like wave emanating from that giant object and responding by creating a wave of a shape that exactly matches the cogwheel. By analogy, it meant like that.

It wasn’t only that. It was only possible to obtain information when the user recognized the echoes created by the two waves being combined with flowing on the Root Stone’s surface and hitting the grooves of the engraved patterns.

Let’s say that some species in the world have evolved to feel the wave of the monument, even though it was rare. Let’s say that they even accidentally discovered that monument. Nevertheless, suppose the race didn’t know how to make waves corresponding to the monument or read the signal generated by friction and reflection with the surface. In that case, the information on the Root Stone became useless.

That was why it was one of the safety devices.

“Certainly, it’s a safety device that even feels paranoid, but…”

Saying so, I blurred the end of my tongue.

Nevertheless, it was also easy to obtain the information engraved on the Root Stone. The precondition for everything listed earlier was surprisingly simple.

Maru said, “This… anyone can do it. I can hear it.”

In that case, Maru’s word of ‘anyone’ probably meant its own kind.

“Go for it.”

As I encouraged it, Maru completely fell from my body and came out.

-Crawl, crawl.

Maru crawled little by little and then stretched out dozens of tentacles in all directions, making it looked like a sphere. It looked like a bronze sea urchin with very thick, blunt spines out of the water.

“… I’ll start.”

After it said that, it just stayed still.

“…”

It created a wave that couldn’t be felt by our sensory organs and sent it out toward the Root Stone.

After a little while…

“… I hear it.”

Maru seemed to be starting to hear something the rest of us hadn’t heard.

“It’s a surprisingly easy condition. If the user is that race, seems like all the condition is okay, huh?”

[… You must also know how to use it.]

“That’s right, but that guy… how does it know how to use that stone? It was just born recently.”

Certainly, there was no time to get any separate education from the Song of Chaos. Was it a transmission of magical knowledge? There was no such sign at the moment of birth.

I tilted my head and answered.

“Isn’t it sort of an instinct?”

[… But, it’s too sophisticated for an instinct. To consider it a natural phenomenon in which such a large amount of information is inputted into the gene is…]

Maru made a sound again.

“… I heard it all.”

“Can you tell me?”

Maru hesitated for a moment.

“… Difficult. I can’t explain… with the Reclusive’s words.”

Oh my, my head was about to burst. It had heard it all, but that guy thought it was difficult to explain with its Korean vocabulary.

Suddenly Parvache said with its will.

[… Maru, instead of making a sound, think intensely about what you’ve heard.]

“Parvache, this guy can’t make telepathy.”

I could only deliver my will to Parvache. That was a bit different from magic.

Therefore, it was too much for Maru.

[… It might be possible to read surface consciousness. Min-joon, help me.]

After listening to Parvache’s explanation, I put my arm out. As if Maru was waiting, it quickly wrapped around my skin.

When I first went around with this guy to catch Heart Fishes, Maru could only understand my will when directly contacting my body. Even if it wasn’t a real will, it could recognize my strong thoughts.

It was communication through contact. We had already confirmed that one direction was possible, so currently, we were trying the other direction.

[Min-joon, backdoor…]

When I opened the passage of the mind that was only allowed to Parvache, the spirits came into contact with it. That time, it wasn’t completely encroaching like when we caught the Fake God, so I observed Parvache’s mental body while maintaining consciousness.

Also, I realized again… its mind was like a candle before it was burned out and melted down to the root of the candlestick.

However, it was only a little peculiar that the candle was so big and vast that the melted candle wax flutters like the ocean.

I muttered.

That spirit went through countless false deaths, and even the remnants of every moment were so distant and great. Ah, that was too bad. What a pity. If only it had evolved like that… if only it had created a suitable body…

[Min-joon, what are you doing? Come to your sense.]

“Ah…”

Parvache shouted at my consciousness. I get out of my vague thoughts. I felt a strange sensation as if I had dreamed for a while.

Um, what is that?

It passed before my eyes like a hallucination.

There was a curtain like a black cloud. It was familiar, but at the same time, unfamiliar.

The concentration of darkness was a little lighter than before.

[Focus.]

Parvache, who hadn’t completely covered the consciousness, didn’t seem to see what had happened in my head.

I came to my sense and focused on my original purpose. The thoughts I had been immersed in just before disappeared from my mind as if they had never been there before. It was similar to how the memory disappeared quickly after opening the eyes, no matter how intense the dream was.

I focused my thoughts according to Parvache’s instructions.

I talked in my heart to Maru, who was in contact with my skin, and at the same time, I spoke aloud.

‘What was the story that stone told you?’

“What was the story that stone told you?”

Maru seemed to respond to it, consolidating its thoughts. Of course, I didn’t have the ability to read it.

However, Parvache, who was connected to my mind, tried with all its might and succeeded in reading Maru’s consciousness.

[… Done!]

Parvache translated Maru’s thoughts into a language I could understand. That was the information engraved on the Root Stone. Simultaneous interpretation through the conscious world began.

Among them, only the parts that could be understood through my consciousness were delivered, but the context of the whole meaning wasn’t missed.

I listened to my heart.

[… ##Stage Entaph##Rouse input completed. All information is transmitted without implications, omissions, analogies, deletions, or distortions.]

… Huh?

[The creation time of this information is ## period ## year ## day. This calendar method is not included in the basic knowledge tool within the user’s species’ gene.]

I looked puzzled by the unexpected content, but Parvache’s interpretation continued.

[For users who can’t understand the meaning of the verse just quoted, immediately adjust the amplitude corresponding to the calculated year by ## of Entaph##Rouse and resend it to this storage device. The procedure for rebuilding and restoring under object unit of the civilization’s conditions is initiated.]

[The genetic information of the ‘Independent Glory Pioneers’ such as ## or lower divine power, Mana, bar##miom phenomenon, ##elasticity, spiritual pollution, the action of all particles existing in the physical world, etc. is set so that it is not damaged or altered even if any mutant element or evolutionary inducement interfere.]

[If the message is repeatedly outputted instead of starting the civilization reconstruction and restoration procedure even after the amplitude is adjusted and retransmitted to this storage device or the user does not properly understand the retransmission method, the phenomenon is caused by the user’s genetic information. It indicates that it is severely damaged and means divine power intervention exceeding the ## level.]

[This storage medium may not attempt physical, spiritual, magical, or ## injury to users directly or indirectly following ethical regulations.]

[Thus, if it is possible to reason that a user has a divine power exceeding ## level, it is recommended that the user commit suicide immediately.]

[This is the end of the obligation notice according to the “2#nd Amendment of the Basic Act on Storage Media for External Distribution” enacted in the ## period ## year.]

“What is this… all about?”

I received the content of the will that came into my head, and I ended up opening my mouth.

Wow… What bullshit of a country was that?

However, Parvache didn’t know how to stop interpreting simultaneously.

[Then, let’s listen to the text of this storage medium.]

After a sigh, Parvache delivered the title of this ‘storage medium’ with a calm mind.