After summoning a piece of the broken cloud, the Sword Emperor sat on it and raised one finger.
“But if you gain true understanding, you can sink into deep meditation in any situation, break down the boundary between yourself and the world, and can deliver the world’s aura you absorb to wherever you wish. Then, your own internal aura is unnecessary. That is the Mind Sword.”
The process held no grand concepts, abstract ideas, or indecipherable mysteries. Once one understood the process, it all became logically possible. That was likely the secret of all magic.
“Have you always been here?”
The Sword Emperor crossed his arms and smiled. “Yes. The spirits by your side and Gramps’ are… Hmmm. I control them, but that’s even harder to explain than the Mind Sword.”
“Try it.”
“I’ll show you.”
He snapped his fingers.
Sword Constellation—Origin
Class: A+
Effect: You can create living spirit(s)[1] and advise others climbing the Tower. You have arrived on the ninety-ninth floor. Whisper your experiences into their ears. Those who hear your advice will be amazed by your deep knowledge.
※A person must possess the matching skill. Those who don’t have it will not be able to perceive you.
※Synchronization between you and your living spirit(s) occurs at a set interval. This interval is usually about one day, but it can be shorter or longer based on the floor the recipient of your advice is on.
※The knowledge given to your living spirit(s) may become distorted or censored during your recipient’s journey up the Tower. The guideline details will be set in the Pillars’ meetings.
I understood now.
“Chattting apps don’t send messages directly to the recipient. They go through a server first, so the messages you send through the Guardian are censored while passing through the Tower server.”
“It’s similar to that. Uhh, how should I explain it? Rather than a chat app, it’s more like—”
“Ah, so it’s closer to the Puppet Master’s Parade. No, rather than sharing memories…”
“Yes, the Guardians are made by copy-pasting my memories. When the Guardians make their own memories, I regularly synchronize with them and absorb their memories. After that, I paste my new memories onto them again to update them, but the Tower censors the updated memories. The synchronization, updates, and censoring aren’t happening in real time, so…”
I recalled the look of pure confusion on the Guardian’s face when I first copied him from the Sword Star. It would have been as strange as waking up to find oneself in another world.
“When my fox god was toying with me…”
“Yup, since the sync is periodic, I saw something was off quite early on.”
Still, in addition to the time lag, the Sword Emperor had been under the manipulation of my fox god’s abilities and the Tower’s censorship, so he had to find an indirect way to help me.
“Oh, then I guess others may also have you by their side. It’s not just me and Mr. Sword Star.”
“Do you want to know?”
“No. Although I’m curious, I’m not going to ask.” I pulled out a new roll of duct tape and wrapped it around the handle of my dagger, which had been torn apart during the earlier fight. “The fact that you’re here means I came first, after all.”
The Sword Emperor’s smile widened. That was enough of an answer, so I asked my next question.
“What is the ninety-ninth floor’s quest?”
“What do you think?”
“I’m not sure.”
I rested my chin on my hand and looked around. The bright flower field still welcomed me. Despite the Sword Emperor and me having drawn and used the world’s aura and reinforced aura during our recent clash, nothing had changed, as if we had scooped a cup of water from the sea. That wasn’t the case because the outer aura we drew and used wasn’t exhausted but returned to the world.
Having seen such a world, my gaze naturally fell on the Sword Emperor. I smiled. “Do we settle this by going for a round?”
The Sword Emperor smiled, too. “You’ve grown a lot, my Zombie.”
“I’m in my growth spurt.”
“Aren’t you technically older than I am now?”
“Call me Mr. Gong-Ja.”
“Old man.”
“Your childishness does make me feel like I’m the adult here.”
The Sword Emperor smirked. “Come at me, old man.”
“Gosh.”
I had finished wrapping duct tape around the dagger’s handle and cut the leftover tape with my teeth.
“So, what is it? What is this ninth key that has kept someone like you stuck to this ninety-ninth floor for over a hundred years?"
As if waiting for my question, a quest window appeared.
The Ninth Key
Do you remember when you first entered the Tower?
The Sword Emperor had surely seen that quest window many times before, but it was the first time for me.
How did you feel when you first entered the Tower? What was the first Skill you gained? What did you seek to prove?
The Sword Emperor stood with his arms crossed.
Here stands a man. He said that everyone can be like him, so his last key should be the one who has become like him.
There is another man. He asked if he could become someone else, so his last key should be someone he wants to become.
And so, the two men finally stand before each other.
I looked at the Sword Emperor, who looked back at me.
Your keys are each other.
The next moment, the world roared.
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1. The raw is 생령. It's the soul of a living person, not the deceased's. ☜
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