Chapter 98: Chapter 98

"I'm not here to fight this time."

Kim Dojun, who had instinctively clenched his fist at the sudden appearance of Revi of Reverie in the dormitory, eyed her suspiciously as she raised both hands as if immediately surrendering and then spoke.

"Why have you shown up this time?"

Kim Dojun's question.

Revi of Reverie slid down from the desk she had been sitting on and, this time, took a seat in the chair as she replied.

"... Judging by your reaction, it's not time yet—"

"No, just talking to myself over here."

"If you're going to talk to yourself, why not keep it in your head instead of blurting it out?"

At Kim Dojun's sarcastic remark, Revi briefly wore a slightly pouty expression, but soon sighed as if conceding and shook her head, then spoke.

"The reason I came is because I have something to say. Three things, to be exact."

Kim Dojun, not replying, just gave her a slight nudge with his chin as if to say, 'Go on, let's hear it.' Revi continued.

"But my business is so short that I could save it for last anyway. Why not ask your questions first? Isn't there anything you're curious about?"

"Yeah. This time I'll answer."

At Revi of Reverie's nod, Kim Dojun spoke without hesitation.

"I'm Revi of Reverie."

"No, not that—I'm asking what your true nature is."

"... I told you I'm Revi of Reverie?"

"That's all I have to say."

Kim Dojun stared at Revi, who answered so nonchalantly, baffled, then quickly spoke up again.

"Sorry, but do you mind if I beat you up right now?"

"That would be a bit troublesome. Besides, it would be pointless if you did."

At Revi's words, Kim Dojun seriously considered killing her on the spot, but held that urge back with a sigh.

Just then, a thought flashed in his mind and he asked.

"Then, do you know anything about the prophet?"

He figured the prophet seemed related to maglignant spirits, so he tossed out the question without any real expectations.

"The prophet, huh...."

At Kim Dojun's question, Revi unintentionally muttered, following his words.

"... So you do know something?"

Seeing Revi speak as if she knew something, Kim Dojun pressed her further, and after a moment of thought, she replied.

"I don't think I can give you any useful information right now."

"Ah, fuck—then what the hell am I supposed to ask—!"

"But there's one thing I can say for certain."

She cut him off before he could get really angry, looking him straight in the eyes as she spoke.

"Your purpose is fundamentally different from theirs."

Having said that, she tapped her foot a few times and then continued.

"Actually, thinking about it, there's not much I can tell you right now anyway. I'll just say what I have to and go. Hiding my spiritual power to get here is starting to hit its limit, you see."

With those words, her form slowly began to fade away, changing into a violet glow of spiritual power.

"First off, you're doing well. Even better than I expected."

"Doing well at what?"

Kim Dojun asked, but Revi of Reverie, as if she wasn't obliged to answer, immediately continued.

"And second, watch out for the blue eyes. It seems like they're here to take care of you."

"Didn't you mention that last time too?"

"Yeah, wasn't there already a time or two you've met them?"

"No? I've never met them."

"Do you think I'd lie?"

For a moment, Kim Dojun and Revi of Reverie exchanged confused looks.

She seemed to think deeply about something for a moment, but soon finished and looked back at him.

"... Then be even more careful. When I sent my spiritual power here to see you, I sensed the followers of the blue eyes nearby."

Revi of Reverie nodded at Kim Dojun's follow-up and checked her own body.

Noting that her form had already vanished up to her waist and was dissipating rapidly, Revi looked at him again and continued.

"And lastly— this is the most important thing."

"Sorcery is... imagination."

Kim Dojun wore a puzzled expression.

"If you ever truly realize this—"

But Revi of Reverie only said, with a calm face,

"I'll tell you everything about what you asked today."

Mumbling as she faded—

With those words, she vanished completely from Kim Dojun's dorm.

All Kim Dojun could do was space out as he stared at the empty spot where Revi of Reverie had disappeared.

Right after Revi of Reverie vanished.

"'The prophet's purpose and mine are fundamentally different,' huh."

Kim Dojun thought over the words Revi had left behind, one by one.

'Sure, at first glance, it does seem similar.'

Granted, he didn't quite know what the prophet was up to, but as Kim Dojun had learned from the recent Murye incident, their goal had clearly been to summon a maglignant spirit.

'Still, I guess knowing this much is better than nothing.'

There, he decided to put an end to his thoughts.

'Thinking about it further won't help— it's just the realm of speculation and guesswork now.'

With so little information, it was impossible to determine the truth. Fittingly, the prophet, who didn't even appear in the setting, kept their identity strictly concealed.

Having settled on that, there wasn't much he could do at the moment, so Kim Dojun switched topics in his mind.

"Imagination... imagination, huh."

Of course, the last time he met Revi of Reverie, she also told him that the essence of sorcery was imagination, but back then, he'd just let those words wash over him.

After all, Kim Dojun couldn't use sorcery.

'Even if I have spiritual power.'

The only reason Kim Dojun gathered spiritual power was to use Chohwasu's assimilation or later abilities that he might need, not for casting sorcery.

"Do I really have to learn sorcery now?"

Kim Dojun looked over at the Sorcerer King's book, lying carelessly on his desk.

Moving his hand, he picked up the book of the Sorcerer King and absentmindedly opened it—

—only to snap it shut right away.

"Yeah, this is bullshit."

The moment he opened the book, Kim Dojun realized.

He just wasn't cut out to learn sorcery.

His heart wanted to try, but his head couldn't keep up.

... Actually, besides not being able to keep up, it was just so incredibly bothersome.

Yet, the reason Kim Dojun kept thinking about sorcery was because of one word Revi of Reverie had mentioned.

'I'll tell you everything about what you asked today...'

As he murmured that sentence again,

'I should ask around about this as well.'

He decided to ask about that matter too.

"... So blue eyes are in Korea."

He muttered again, recalling Revi's warning.

Truthfully, for Kim Dojun, this wasn't particularly shocking news.

After all, in the Sorcery Killing Technique, the followers of the blue eyes appeared during the player's first summer break and stormed the Sorcery Institute, attempting to conduct a 'Sacrificial Ritual' targeting the students.

'Besides that, there's a sub-story right at the end of summer break that leads straight into a bad ending— I'll have to deal with that too.'

Even if the sub-story was later, considering timing, the blue eyes' followers were about due to raid the dorm soon.

The reason Kim Dojun wasn't keeping track of this clearly—

'After all the trouble clearing this damn thing, it didn't even give any spiritual tools or anything, just some XP and that was it.'

It was simply that this story arc wasn't all that helpful for him now.

'... Still, since the player's supposed to stop this event, who knows what'll happen if I ignore it. Besides—'

If things could resolve themselves without his intervention, he would have just gone off to torment Goryuwon some more or focused on training Shin Se-yeon, who was now an ally.

'-But since things have been shifting since the Salvation's Gauntlet, and these side-stories are now independent and targeting me, I'll have to handle it myself anyway.'

It was far from pleasant, so he clicked his tongue, but then shrugged as if there was nothing to be done.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him, and he tilted his head.

'By the way... now that I think about it, did Revi of Reverie have detection abilities like that?'

Kim Dojun knew that Revi of Reverie was unquestionably strong, but had never heard of such an ability in the game's lore, so he was momentarily puzzled.

'Well, when even the prophet existed outside the original setting, it's not too far-fetched for a maglignant spirit to have a few extra abilities.'

He soon put the thought away.

Varki of Pride has been manipulating things as blue eyes for over 200 years.

In other words, blue eyes is essentially a group that spans over 200 years. Of the branches established all around the world during that long time, the Korean branch alone had nearly 70 years of history.

While countless families and guilds repeatedly rose and fell in the public eye, these people maintained their positions, working covertly from the darkness, their numbers befitting such a long history. The source of thɪs content is Nove1Fire.net

Among them, there are four members who had the distinction of meeting Varki of Pride in person and being granted sorcery.

And right now, in the current blue eyes' hideout—

Of course, Han Soyeon wasn't the only one present.

Around her, several organization members lay dead, having been killed rather brutally, their blood seeping out.

In front of her were blue eyes' followers, staring at her with endlessly trembling eyes.

Her face perfectly calm, with a gentle smile, she said,

"I was just going to push you aside lightly... but I ended up killing you by mistake."

At those words, the blue eyes' followers stared at Han Soyeon, unable to process what they had just heard.

But even with all their terrified gazes upon her—

"Still, it should be fine, right?"

Han Soyeon kept her gentle smile, and—

With just a flick of her finger—

"After all, all of this is—"

Boom—crash-crash-crash-crash!

"Let me live! Please let me live!!"

Bringing the underground ceiling above the blue eyes' sorcerers down on them, crushing them under the concrete.

She smiled serenely at the sight of blood seeping through the shattered concrete.