Reset Life with Infinite Talents - Chapter 219

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Infinite Talent Reset Life Episode 219

It was by chance.

One day, a child fell and got something on their hands.

In an era when the concept of hygiene, the concept of brushing off something that got on your body, didn’t exist.

Startled by the mother’s ear-splitting call, the child who returned to the nest pressed their palm against the nest wall.

And forgetting that fact, they ate the food the mother forced into them and went outside. Thirsty, they buried their head in a small pond to drink water, and what was on their hands was washed away by that water.

And that day the nest was turned upside down.

Something that wasn’t there suddenly appeared.

The group trembled in fear, and some coveted the leader’s position.

So the group’s leader declared it a revelation from the nest god.

The large cave that had accepted their group.

Something far more frightening and magnificent than their insignificant and weak selves.

That day the group’s leader became an even greater being than before, one who received revelations from the nest god.

It was the moment when humanity first created a symbol of idolatry.

Time passed.

One day, a group fleeing from another group’s attack hides in a small cave.

The female members who survived covered in blood huddle together trembling, and the male members holding stone weapons contemplate.

We’re going to die.

Get eaten.

There are many of them.

What should we do.

Even if we run, we’ll get caught.

We have to end it here.

Let’s do this. Make them come here, into the cave. Once they’re in, they can’t escape.

How?

We sacrifice one female.

Good.

So the group left the oldest female inside the cave while hiding their bodies around it.

Soon the attacking group that had been pursuing them arrived.

No more traces.

There’s a smell coming from inside. Let’s go in.

Then.

These weak ones who were no match for them anyway.

They entered the cave cheerfully.

And…

Aaaaaaaah!

Waaaaaaah!

Screams bursting out from inside the cave.

Now!

They rushed into the cave and found the cruel, evil group members prostrating themselves and begging for forgiveness while looking at something.

Though bewildered, they first smashed their heads.

Kiyooooo!

The cruel and evil attackers became even more terrified of the charging group and retreated, unable to properly resist before being annihilated.

Only then did they understand why they had acted that way.

The handprints all over the old female’s body.

Eek!

Aaaaah!

Like a storm, something great and magnificent.

Such a being had appeared borrowing the old female’s body.

The male members prostrated themselves flat.

But the female members were different.

Don’t be surprised. That’s ours.

The handprints they had made to comfort the old female who accepted death, in response to the male members’ cold decision to save the group.

Evidence that we won’t forget you.

The male members gained great enlightenment then.

That’s it.

They became the first in humanity to learn how to hunt their own kind using drawings.

* * *

‘Some as a symbol of idolatry for their own authority, some as a trap.’

It developed into different meanings as time passed.

‘This nest has this many group members.’

So run away even now.

‘A medium of display and threat.’

And when the ice age came and life inside caves became longer, it began to develop differently again.

Our territory has these kinds of animals.

Our group also hunts this kind of prey.

“These are contents too precious to keep to myself.”

‘But since I can’t prove it…’

Because those murals don’t remain until now.

‘I can find murals from a bit earlier than what’s been discovered so far…’

For now, it seems I should put it on the list for later.

Swoosh!

Two arms come over from behind Johann, who’s smacking his lips, and embrace him. A pleasant scent tickles his nose.

“What are you regretting so much?”

“Lecture contents?”

At those words, Emily’s eyes light up.

The wide lawn bathed in warm sunlight, the shade under the trees.

After glancing at people sitting here and there, stealing glances or reading books and playing guitar, Emily sits across from Johann, and Johann feeds a donut into her mouth.

At that sight, Joy makes a face and briefly looks for Mason.

“Wow?”

“Is it good?”

“Yeah!”

The donut and coffee taste quite good.

Emily expresses her gratitude and burns with curiosity again.

“How was the lecture? Was it interesting?”

“It was quite interesting.”

More advanced content than what he learned in high school, or completely different content as if what he had learned before was completely wrong.

“Among them, the most interesting was the content about humanity’s first drawings.”

When Johann explains that content, mixing in truths that current humanity hasn’t reached conclusions about, Emily and Joy listen intently with bright eyes.

“Display and threat…”

“That makes sense?”

“Well, in that era they would have been closer to beasts rather than intelligent beings like now…”

“That is humanity’s original sin.”

Johann, Emily, and Joy look at the white young man who suddenly interrupted.

“Because they committed sins, God…”

“…Cruz?”

Campus Crusade for Christ, which later changed its name to Cru, is a religious club centered on Protestant missionary activities.

Cru at UCLA, no, Cru itself goes beyond the level of college clubs across America and is one of the largest Christian organizations in the world.

“…It’s Four Corners.”

Four Corners Christian Fellowship. A club centered on UCLA undergraduates, infinitely smaller in scale compared to Cru that Johann mentioned earlier.

“Go away. Don’t waste my time.”

“Don’t be like that, let’s just talk a little…”

“Hey.”

Chilling!

The white young man who met Johann’s dry, emotionless eyes swallows nervously.

Some kind of energy that seems to cut through his entire body.

“I said go.”

Don’t spout useless words.

‘You too.’

Johann looks around at the club officials hovering nearby.

Flinch!

“Y-you’ll regret this! The chance to serve Jesus…”

The white young man, whose voice grew smaller as he hesitantly backed away, hurriedly fled, and Emily and Joy look at Johann with surprised eyes.

“Wow, it’s been a while since I’ve seen that side of you.”

The way Johann looked long ago when he tried to kill Flash.

Unlike then, threatening with his much greater height and build makes it feel even more menacing.

“That wildness doesn’t disappear easily.”

“So are you scared?”

“Not at all?”

Knowing this threat won’t be directed at them, they’re not scared at all.

Johann chuckles at their lively response, and Emily and Joy think of the white young man who disappeared.

“But for someone who’s even involved in Christian club activities, he doesn’t seem to have studied the Bible much?”

When Johann expresses his doubt, Emily looks puzzled.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

“According to what’s recorded in the Bible, the Earth and humanity were created only 6,000 years ago, that is, around 4,000 BC.”

Adam, the first human created on the sixth day after the world was created.

Tracing back through the genealogies of Adam’s descendants recorded in the Bible, the world and humanity were created approximately 6,000 years ago from now.

That’s why Protestantism claims the Earth is 6,000 years old.

“So if he had properly studied the Bible, instead of talking about humanity’s original sin related to cave paintings discovered 40,800 years ago, he should have outright denied their existence.”

“Ah.”

A cool breeze blows gently, whispering of sleep.

As Johann quietly lies down on Emily’s lap, Emily strokes his hair and moves her lips slightly.

“What’s your next class?”

“Sculpture.”

“Oh, sculpture. It’s not your first time… doing it.”

Come to think of it, since middle school, she’s tried sculpture at least once a year. In art class.

Joy disagrees with Emily’s comment.

“No way. All we’ve ever sculpted is clay. Do you think university sculpture classes would be at that level?”

They’ll be sculpting materials much harder and larger than clay or modeling clay.

“Right?”

“I don’t really know either.”

There’s also the fun of learning about things you don’t know, so he deliberately didn’t look it up.

“Well, either way it’s a first for us, but it won’t be a first for you.”

Joy shakes the obsidian bracelet on her wrist.

A friendship bracelet made from obsidian found in the cave where Norton I’s gold coin was discovered. Emily also shakes the bracelet she received as a Valentine’s Day gift.

“That’s crafting.”

The concept is slightly different from sculpture.

That’s why he’s looking forward to it. Because sculpture is a first.

Johann, checking the time, gets up.

“See you later.”

“Yeah! Keep in touch!”

Johann headed back to the art department building.

* * *

“Hello everyone!”

A female professor in her 40s enters, waving her hand widely.

The Hispanic professor who boldly carved marble with a grinder during orientation.

“Let me briefly introduce myself…”

The lights go out, the screen comes down, and her credentials are displayed.

All the freshmen majoring in sculpture look at her with shining eyes.

The giant who commands the sculpture world of the US West Coast, Olivia Rodriguez.

She’s the reason these students, who had held sculpting tools since childhood, chose UCLA over several prestigious universities.

“I’ll leave my introduction at that… hmm, it wouldn’t be fair for only me to introduce myself, right? Let’s have time for each of you to introduce yourselves. Starting with that student there.”

“Ah, hello Professor Rodriguez! I’m John Smith!”

“Oh, aren’t you the student who won the California Student Showcase?”

“Gasp! You remember me?”

“Of course. I was one of the judges.”

One by one, they stand up and introduce themselves.

Johann does the same.

After about twenty students finish their introductions, Professor Olivia grins.

“We shouldn’t open books from the first lecture, should we?”

“…Yes!”

“Wooooo!”

“Olivia! Olivia!”

“Hoho. Instead, let’s have a simple Q&A session.”

Click!

A stone sculpture of a human figure with a lion’s head appears on the screen.

“Does anyone know what this sculpture is?”

Everyone except Johann raises their hand.

Professor Olivia, slightly disappointed by this, skillfully hides her emotion and points to someone.

“Student John Smith?”

“It’s a sculpture called the Lion-man, discovered in Germany’s Stadel Cave, estimated to have been made between 35,000 and 41,000 years ago.”

Since it was discovered in Germany, its official name is in German: Löwenmensch, meaning lion-human.

“Correct! Bonus point!”

“Yes!”

Clap clap clap clap!

They don’t know what the bonus is for, but they celebrate and congratulate anyway.

“Then does anyone know what the Lion-man symbolizes? Can anyone explain why it was a lion?”

Again, everyone raises their hands and Professor Olivia points to someone.

“In Europe at that time, lions symbolized strength, protection, and spiritual beings…”

The Lion-man shows that modern humans, Homo sapiens, unlike earlier ancient humans, became capable of abstract and symbolic thinking, evidence of having a complex symbolic system.

“You did your research well.”

“Thank you!”

As the student sits down, Professor Olivia looks at Johann.

“What do you think about this theory, Student Jefferson? Let me hear your thoughts.”

Everyone’s eyes turn to Johann.

Johann, who didn’t even know what the Lion-man was.

Several students who misunderstood that he had easily enrolled just because he was a famous singer look at Johann with evaluating gazes, and Johann slowly closes and opens his eyes before standing up.

“I think it might be a form created by desperate wishes and shaped by dreams.”

“…Oho.”

Words that dig into the cause of symbolism.

“Could you explain in more detail?”

“At that time, all life forms other than humans were both prey and threats to humanity.”

For the group that made Stadel Cave their nest, lions would have been the greatest threat.

Thick hides that stone spears couldn’t easily penetrate.

Strength that guaranteed death the moment you were struck.

Claws and teeth that easily tore human skin.

Cruelty, agility, stealth.

Hearing a lion’s roar would drain all strength from their bodies.

Looking into its eyes would freeze them solid.

“They must have thought, ‘Ah, that’s something magnificent.'”

So they wished.

Not to encounter lions.

For them not to come looking.

Even if they met by chance, to be forgiven.

“To possess such bravery.”

To possess such strength.

“Such desperate wishes must have created the abstract being called the Lion-man in their dreams.”

“You mean it was shamanism.”

“That’s how I see it.”

“Then what do you think about the speculation that lions were symbols of spiritual beings at that time?”

“Hmm… Have you ever experienced facing a wild beast up close?”

How many people would have had such an experience?

It’s such a rare occurrence that whenever someone has an accident, the media reports on it.

Suddenly, Johann’s past flashes through everyone’s minds.

Wolf Boy.

Johann looks around at them indifferently.

“How far do you think an ordinary human can detect a beast?”

“Three hundred feet?”

About 90 meters.

Johann snorts.

“Right in front of their nose.”

Even in a forest during broad daylight, it’s barely 30 feet, less than 10 meters. Even when being vigilant.

“If the day is overcast, it would be less than half of that half.”

In other words, the moment you recognize a beast, you should already consider yourself dead.

Rustle!

“But wouldn’t humans of that era have had better senses than modern humans?”

At someone’s outcry, Johann waves his hand.

“Even so, it wouldn’t make a difference.”

Because the beasts of that era also had much superior senses compared to modern animals.

“Now, let me ask you this. Imagine you’re a person from that era who had no one to teach you what kind of animal a lion is, who could only know what they saw directly with their own eyes. You’re alone in the forest when suddenly a lion appears right in front of you and then disappears.”

Like smoke, like wind, like darkness.

“What would you think it was?”

“…Some kind of transcendent being different from themselves?”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

“…Wow. So you can think about it this way too.”

The students were amazed, and Professor Olivia smiles contentedly.

‘That’s usually how shamanism starts.’

Worshipping and wanting to emulate some phenomenon that cannot be explained by common sense. That is shamanism.

Clap! Clap! Clap!

“That was an interesting deduction. Student Jefferson gets 1 bonus point too. This bonus will be included in future grades.

If you get 3 points, it becomes 3.1 points.

Each bonus point adds 0.1 to your grade.

“Wow?! Thank you!”

Everyone’s mouths drop open. Their eyes change.

Professor Olivia smiled contentedly at this, while Johann inwardly clicked his tongue.

‘She knows how to handle people.’

“Now, let’s move on to the next question and answer. Anyone have questions for me?”

Swoosh!

Again, everyone except Johann raised their hands.

“An hour has already passed.”

“Wow!”

“Whoa, already?”

The new students who had been absorbed in the fun of discussing, imagining, and discovering new conclusions through questions and answers are surprised.

In high school, even listening to a 50-minute class was boring to death, but now they hadn’t noticed time passing.

Johann has the same thought.

‘This is… a university lecture?’

The first thought that comes to mind is that it’s interesting.

Professor Olivia’s eyes light up as she looks at Johann.

‘At this level, he must have developed interest, right?’

If he’s developed interest, what she’s about to do will drive the point home, and if not, he’ll start to find it fun.

“I’d like to end it now, but then I’d get scolded by the Dean.”

“Ho ho ho!”

“Ha ha ha!”

“So how about we spend time doing some simple carving, like the sculptors we are?”

“Sounds good!”

Johann agrees too.

Clap! Clap!

When Professor Olivia claps, a teaching assistant quickly brings a large box and distributes pieces of soft wood and carving knives to the new students.

“The theme is shamanism.”

A theme that runs through today’s discussion.

“Anything related to shamanism is fine. Now begin!”

“Hehe. Totem pole, here I come.”

“I should carve a rabbit’s foot.”

Each person picked up their carving knife while thinking of the symbols of shamanism they had in mind, and Johann falls into thought for a moment.

‘Hmm. It’s not my first carving though…’

Since clay and modeling clay could be considered carving too.

Still, this is the first lecture in sculpture studies. He wanted to carve something interesting.

The topic of today’s first question and answer session flashes through Johann’s mind.

‘Lion-man.’

Johann slowly closes and opens his eyes.

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————