The Wizard Who Endured the World of Murim - Chapter 57

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

Surviving in the Martial Realm as a Mage: Episode 57
Even when I was on the Seven Continents.
There were occasionally those who existed as exceptions to the world’s rules.
One of the most representative examples was a fellow called ‘Manmulsang’.
This madman would venture all the way to regions near the Demon King’s Castle, right in the midst of battles between the Demon Clan, peddling artifacts like some sort of lunatic.
“Think we could kill that bastard?”
“Possibly?”
“Should we give it a try?”
There was once when Trevallion, unable to contain his curiosity, had joined forces with Dvergar, the Dwarf King, in an attempt to eliminate Manmulsang.
At that moment, the creature suddenly vanished as if it were an illusion, then spoke to us.
“That would be rather problematic, valued customer.”
“Wow, now that’s impressive. Where exactly are you hiding? Are you speaking to me from the Space Between Worlds right now? What in the world are you?”
“As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, I cannot divulge my personal information. I simply sell merchandise.”
“Fascinating creature. Stay right there—I’ll have you out in no time.”
Trevallion hummed a cheerful tune, his eyes gleaming with the delight of discovering an amusing plaything.
Manmulsang, hidden within the Space Between Worlds, opened his mouth.
“Perhaps we could negotiate instead. Personally, your magic terrifies me, Trevallion.”
“I think I can extract you from there without negotiating. Would you mind waiting a moment?”
“I’ve positioned myself within a gap layered across the Space Between Worlds. Since I’ve revealed this secret, might you spare me?”
“How are you even alive and moving about in a gap layered across the Space Between Worlds?”
Setting aside the fact that such gaps lacked air and water.
Even I had no confidence in surviving intact within such a gap.
One would have to endure the crushing pressure between worlds with nothing but a bare body.
“My body possesses a rather special structure, valued customer.”
“Then would it be acceptable if I tore off one arm and dissected it?”
“…Your inquisitive nature has always delighted me, but this time is an exception. I must decline. Curiosity can kill, after all.”
A rather weighty warning.
But this was not someone who would heed such things.
“You appear out of nowhere in the middle of battlefields and peddle artifacts I’ve never even seen before. How am I supposed to resist?”
“You could very well die. You’re the sort of person who casually leaps across the Space Between Worlds?”
“For even a single line of new knowledge, my life is a trifling thing. I’ll gladly surrender it.”
At this utterly sincere declaration, Manmulsang released a small sigh and extended one arm into the empty air.
“…I concede. Here, take one arm.”
“Much obliged!”
As Trevallion fondled the severed limb, his face resembled that of a child who had received a sleigh as a Thanksgiving gift.
Manmulsang, suddenly materializing before us, displayed a serene countenance despite having lost an arm.
He methodically unwrapped his bundle on the ground as he always did, displaying the wares he had brought.
Dvergar, the Dwarf King, stroked his beard thoughtfully at the creature’s composed demeanor and spoke.
“Kekeke, I haven’t witnessed such madness besides that arrogant spellcaster lately. You’re quite the peculiar one yourself. Your severed arm regenerates instantly. Not even a lizard could manage that. Most impressive indeed.”
Manmulsang pulled his hood down low and responded in that characteristic monotone voice.
“I’m delighted that my appearance made an impression on the great Dwarf King. But what of these twin axes? They’re crafted from newly arrived metal by my associates, and their cutting power is quite extraordinary.”
“Hmm. Certainly peculiar, I must say. You don’t appear to be a short-lived species, yet I cannot fathom what your fundamental race truly is. Are you some forgotten ancient race? Then why do you take human form? You’re not human at all, are you?”
I left Trevallion behind, laughing like a madman while dangling a single arm in the distance.
Dvergar peered through the darkness beneath his hood, his expression growing complex.
Then he whispered softly.
“That you are more terrifying than the Demon King—both I and that cunning elf eavesdropping over there have known for ages. What we long-lived races wonder is why you exist in this place at all. You shouldn’t exist here, should you?”
“So you harbored such suspicions that you conspired with that magical monster to kill me? I find that deeply disappointing. After all our dealings together.”
“Kekeke, I wouldn’t have attempted it alone. But I was certain that if I moved with that spell-weaver, you’d reveal your true nature. And indeed, you’ve half-revealed it already, haven’t you? Just one arm, but that spell-weaver would have little difficulty discerning your identity. That one is as much an anomaly as you are.”
Manmulsang adjusted the hood covering his entire face as he replied.
“Your Majesty likely suspects this already, but that mage is genuinely dangerous. If we delve any deeper into secrets, we may burn to ash entirely.”
“I cannot stop him. Nor do I wish to. To be more honest, I lack the ability to stop him. That spell-weaver has long since slipped from my grasp.”
“Because of that mage, this world might very well cease to exist.”
“Tsk tsk, such is inevitable, I suppose. We would simply vanish, nothing more. But you may find yourself in considerable difficulty. You are an entity of the [Administrator], are you not?”
A peculiar word flowed from the lips of the Dwarf King Dvergar.
Manmulsang quietly shifted his hood aside, regarding the dwarf with deep, azure eyes.
Those eyes held some indefinable emotion rippling within them.
Yet neither the dwarf facing him nor Manmulsang himself
spoke another word. Then,
“Today I’ve conducted quite an unprofitable transaction. How delightful. It was a good trade.”
“Information is also part of the exchange, so from your perspective it wasn’t an unfavorable deal. From the viewpoint of beings like us, it appears one-sidedly disadvantageous for you. But that’s merely surface appearance. Surely you gained something from this transaction as well.”
Manmulsang turned his gaze toward Trevallion and spoke once more.
“Ah! Since things have come to this, I should propose a new transaction to that mage. Today is a special bargain sale day.”
“Bargain sale?”
Manmulsang left the dwarf tilting his head at the unfamiliar term behind him.
He approached the great mage Trevallion in quick steps, and quietly opened his mouth beside him as he busied himself disassembling the arm.
“I shall teach you a special method of borrowing, Mage.”
“Borrowing? Unlike before, I’m not particularly fond of going into debt now. My credit rating isn’t good either.”
Trevallion displayed an unexpectedly reluctant attitude.
He even carefully set down the arm he’d been disassembling onto the workbench and answered with a rather serious expression.
“I actually have painful memories regarding debt. Or should I say I’ve developed an allergy to it? I borrowed heavily from the Steel Bank and happily purchased magic tomes, and I nearly died because of it. Ugh, dying itself wouldn’t matter, but what comes after death is the real problem. Those Steel Bank bastards would have ground my very soul to dust to recover the debt, wouldn’t they? If it weren’t for this Demon King’s Castle raid, I don’t know what would’ve happened.”
As if unfamiliar with the meaning of fear,
Trevallion, whose mind was thoroughly soaked in something, used the word “allergy” instead of fear, and Manmulsang smiled knowingly beneath his hood.
“This is somewhat different. It’s a special borrowing method, you see? Tailored precisely to your circumstances.”
“Is that so? You said special borrowing, right? But doesn’t that require a credit rating? Mine’s in the negative across the empire right now. If it’s possible anyway, I’ll do it. Go ahead.”
Of course a dog never stops eating shit.
How could a mage possibly resist the temptation of debt?
As Trevallion showed interest, Manmulsang held up one finger and opened his mouth.
“Special borrowing is simple. It’s….”
That day, Trevallion learned new knowledge from Manmulsang.
It was forbidden knowledge, but.
It had become a trump card I could deploy in such an overwhelmingly disadvantageous situation.
* * *
“Good heavens, another breach has opened.”
“Tch, how tiresome. Just handle it yourselves. I have much on my mind and am far too occupied for such crude labor—sort it out among yourselves.”
“Keke, it seems our Tae Eul-jin’s thoughts are quite tangled, are they? We’ll keep that in mind. In any case, fortunately this one connects to the Lower Realm, so it appears to be a dimensional rupture. Unlike last time, it doesn’t seem to have breached from another dimension.”
“Wasn’t the previous incident concluded as merely a simple barrier malfunction?”
“Well, yes, that’s true.”
Five Immortals examined the Dimensional Barrier each in their own manner.
They were probing the densely woven net-like barrier that had been torn asunder.
Then the Blue-Bearded Immortal’s eyes widened in startled surprise.
“Huh? Wait? This is extraordinary. Did you all see this? Normally, dimensional ruptures should pierce from the Upper Realm downward to the Lower Realm. But this one—it pierced from the Lower Realm upward to the Upper Realm.”
The remaining four.
The great Immortals of the Upper Realm, who had been observing the breach with expressions of mild irritation.
Their eyes transformed in an instant.
“Someone ascended from the Lower Realm to the Upper Realm? We haven’t received any reports of this recently?”
Tae Eul-jin, who had been standing slightly apart with arms crossed, strode forward.
The Blue-Bearded Immortal smiled faintly and spoke.
“Tae Eul-jin, examine this location carefully. As you well know, the terminus of this breach’s direction points toward the Demon Immortal Realm. So someone likely ascended in that direction, which is why we remained unaware.”
“Why would a human go there? Moreover, one cannot arbitrarily adjust the direction of ascension, can they?”
“You’ve misunderstood my meaning. This is not an ascension.”
“Then what?”
“…It appears to be more akin to a unilateral invasion.”
An invasion.
An invasion from the garbage heap of the Lower Realm, teeming with nothing but commonplace rabble, into the exalted Upper Realm—it was preposterous nonsense.
Utterly impossible.
‘And yet.’
Observing the actual direction of the breach before their eyes, they could not help but believe it.
“What in the world is happening over there among those beasts?”
Complex, inscrutable emotions began to surface on the faces of the five Immortals.
* * *
Cheongpung Eung licked his lips, his eyes gleaming with fervor.
‘I have him.’
A mere lowly human daring to meddle in my domain.
At first, there had been surprise and intrigue.
But after becoming trapped within the Mental World he had unfolded, wariness had surged.
But now?
My eyes blazed with pure avarice.
‘If I devour his spirit and flesh…!’
Unlike humans, who require enlightenment each time they transcend minor or major boundaries, demon beasts can grow instantaneously by consuming resources.
But only if those resources are clearly of a higher tier than myself.
Such precious resources were necessary.
Inner cores, souls—
Or even a pure physical body would suffice.
Such things were far more immediately absorbable and efficient than cultivation in the Fourth Realm’s spiritual meridians.
‘Just a little more… just a bit more!’
Swish—swish—
With each continuous sweep of Cheongpung Eung’s arms, pristine white mist materialized along their trajectory.
In response, cracks began to form across the deep abyss that the human had manifested.
Pristine white mist.
This was Cheongpung Eung’s Mental World.
More precisely, it was the unique dominion that the Demon King possessed.
Humans manipulate Mental Worlds.
But demon beasts who break through to a certain level of cultivation wield dominion instead.
That dominion, wielded by the Demon King, began to splinter and dismantle the surrounding Mental World, expanding his own territory.
Soon now.
All I need do is devour that delectable creature’s body and soul.
Then.
He began performing a strange action.
With a single flick of his right sleeve—
A peculiar bracelet wrapped around his arm in an odd manner became visible.
Cheongpung Eung’s brow twitched.
That dark metal bracelet.
An ominous aura emanated from it.
[What in the world is that? A human wielding such high-performance artifact magic? What is being concealed?]
Cheongpung Eung’s eyes grew fierce.
A technique he couldn’t even fully comprehend.
A human possessing a magical artifact, no less.
And wasn’t that a sealing vessel?
An unsettling premonition flickered through his mind.
Cheongpung Eung gritted his teeth and swung both hands with renewed force.
If he destroyed the Mental World entirely, whatever tricks that creature attempted would become meaningless.
‘It’s a race against time!’
Crack—crack—
With his full dominion unleashed, Cheongpung Eung finally carved a distinct fissure across the Mental World.
The pristine white mist exploded outward, consuming everything around it.
Crash—!
‘It shattered!’
Normally, when a Mental World shatters, the caster suffers tremendous backlash instantly.
As Cheongpung Eung’s eyes gleamed with anticipation for that recoil—
“Fool. I cancelled it.”
The instant Cheongpung Eung let his guard down.
Ilhyang spewed black blood from his lips and thrust his right arm forward.

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