You Will Be Blessed If You Do Good Deeds¿

I might be called cowardly for thinking this way, but let's consider it.

Honestly, Lee Ah-rin's information is useful, but that doesn't mean I have the kind of loyalty to face off directly with the True Light Church here.

Of course, if I escape, I’d contact Yoo Han-ul and tell him to raid this place, but that’s about it.

It would be difficult to quickly climb out via the outer wall, but if I take my time, it might be possible to escape somehow.

Just as I was thinking this, Lee Ah-rin, holding a gun, turned to look at me.

"Ah, don’t think you’re going to escape on your own. If the True Light Church catches you, you’ll be dragged straight to the laboratory."

I guess it was too obvious that I wanted to get out.

"Wouldn’t they try to sway me before dragging me to the lab…?"

"No chance. The Gwanghwamun Dungeon Break itself was targeted at Jung Da-on. If the True Light Church is really behind it, why would they let you go?"

…That’s true.

Looking at what’s happening, I wanted to back out as soon as possible to avoid getting tangled further, but it seems that won’t be possible.

Given that, it might be better to focus on gathering useful information from the True Light Church.

I decided to stop cowardly trying to escape and instead asked Lee Ah-rin, clicking my tongue.

"So, what exactly are you asking me to help with? You’ve already prepared a lot, it seems."

"You're quick to decide, I like that."

Lee Ah-rin smiled. I couldn't tell if she was mocking me or not.

"My plan is simple. Imanbok is already here at this branch. By nightfall, he’ll come out into the central garden to avoid being seen by others."

Lee Ah-rin showed me the long rifle in her hands.

"I’ll target him when he’s in the open. I need you to deactivate the magical shields he’ll be using before I shoot him. That’s Plan A. Simple, right?"

It sounded simple, almost too simple. I couldn’t help but snicker.

"You want me to deactivate the magical shields from such a long distance?"

"Just enough to distract the guards with an attack magic. If there’s even a slight opening, I can take that old man’s head off. I may be a Water Balloon now, but I used to be a damn good hunter."

If she’s as confident as she sounds, I can believe it. Earlier, she mentioned being capable of reaching A-rank, and judging by how easily she scaled the outer wall, her confidence seems well-founded.

"But how can you be sure Imanbok will come out? Won’t he hide now that things are so chaotic?"

"No, this is the most important event for him right now. See that statue?"

Lee Ah-rin pointed to the grotesque statue standing in the central garden. It was hard to see clearly due to the smoke.

"That statue..."

"I know it’s enchanted with a mental magic that seduces its target. If someone stays close enough to the statue, the effect will be amplified."

If it’s someone who’s religious, like Imanbok, it could even get to the point where they can’t refuse orders temporarily.

Lee Ah-rin nodded.

"I’m sure you already know. We were supposed to meet tonight in front of that statue. He’ll definitely come out."

"But that still doesn’t make sense. After all this chaos, Lee Ah-rin, do you really think he’ll still go through with it?"

"To be exact, it’s not the person that matters. If I’m not there, he’ll probably try to use Choi Mi-yeon instead."

Use her, huh.

It’s a verb that doesn’t quite fit with people.

Seeing my confused expression, Lee Ah-rin smirked.

"You must’ve heard about Imanbok from the training, didn’t you? I’ve heard online that Jung Da-on Hunter will become the strongest magician in history."

I am indeed the strongest magician, but I’m not sure how that’s relevant to this discussion.

Of course, the higher-ups talked about Pastor Imanbok a lot while showing me around the building, but it was all so absurd that I didn’t really pay attention.

"From what I’ve heard, Pastor Imanbok is supposedly a legendary magician."

That sounded like the usual stuff you hear from a cult. They say that Imanbok can make the blind see, make the crippled walk, and when he scolds a sinner, they instantly repent.

Not to mention, he can summon fire from his hands to defeat monsters with one blow, and ride on a giant winged monster from the sky.

It was all nonsense.

"But if that’s true, what does that mean?"

Lee Ah-rin’s words made me frown.

In the age of magic, the world where physical laws were no longer absolute, the feats Imanbok claimed to have performed weren’t entirely impossible.

If he mastered healing magic, he could heal disabilities; if he used mental magic, he could brainwash people; with elemental magic, he could shoot fire from his hands; and if he had monster affinity, he could tame beasts.

"But even if Imanbok is some kind of great magician, how could he possibly have mastered so many different types of magic to such a powerful degree?"

It still doesn’t make sense.

No matter how powerful a magician he is, mastering that many types of magic to such a level that it would become a legendary achievement is nearly impossible.

If it’s possible, then Imanbok would have to be a grand mage from a past life, someone like me...

-The current server has not met the appearance condition for 'Destroyer of Worlds.'

-'Destroyer of Worlds' excluded.

If that were the case, I would have already descended into this world as the "Destroyer of Worlds."

In other words, Imanbok is definitely not a grand mage on my level.

"Don’t be ridiculous!"

As expected, Lee Ah-rin chuckled.

"If that old man had been focused on magic to become a great mage, when would he have had time to create a cult like this? He’d have been holed up in his workshop, researching magic, and died alone."

...That’s true, but as a former grand mage and now a low-level mage, it still feels uncomfortable.

"So what’s your plan? Are you going to hide someone behind him like a magician trick, or make him perform illusions?"

"It’s more advanced than that."

As she spoke, Lee Ah-rin pulled something shiny from her pocket.

"The church gave me this recently. They told me to always keep it with me."

In Lee Ah-rin’s hand was a round gem, carefully carved from quartz.

Something was swirling inside the slightly colored quartz.

"Since ancient times, quartz has been known to awaken the mind and soul of its owner. Maybe that’s why it’s one of the easiest minerals to store magical energy in. When someone with magical power holds it, it absorbs and accumulates mana naturally."

I knew about this. The quartz I had used in the magic circles I set up at home had a high proportion of quartz.

But this...

I took the quartz from Lee Ah-rin’s hand.

There was something strangely familiar about the gleaming stone.

It took me a moment, but I soon recalled the memory.

"Is this...?"

"...Soul Core."

"Huh?"

Lee Ah-rin’s eyes widened.

"How did you know?"

Of course, I knew.

I looked at the quartz filled with Lee Ah-rin’s magic and gritted my teeth.

I never expected to see this here, on this Earth.

‘That crazy bastard...’

-This will truly be a great achievement, my sibling.

The voice that had said that still echoed clearly in my mind.@@novelbin@@

Though the form was slightly different, now that I held it in my hands, I could tell.

This was definitely part of the research I had been working on in my past life.

‘...I don’t even need to analyze the magic circles anymore.’

The enemy of mankind and my past-life sibling.

With this, it became crystal clear that this person was linked to the True Light Church.

The current Earth couldn’t have reached this level of magical research on its own.

If someone of my level wasn’t using cheat codes, they could never have conducted such research.

Lee Ah-rin continued, her face puzzled.

"I don’t know how you knew, but one of the main operations the True Light Church is doing is making these Soul Cores and offering them to Pastor Imanbok."

"No way. This research is a failed one."

I immediately disagreed.

I could say with certainty that this was a failed research project because I had worked on it myself.

Magic is the study of moving mana through a powerful will of the human soul to create miracles.

The more powerful a mage becomes, the more they will explore the soul and naturally wonder what it’s made of.

Back then, I was confident that I could perfectly analyze the human soul.

As I continued to explore the unknowns of magic, I believed I would eventually discover the "core" of the human soul, capable of bending the very physical laws of the world.

"If you accumulate mana for a long time, it would be possible to move some of your soul into it since it’s familiar with your mana."

I had begun my research on whether human souls could be stored in quartz after noticing its property of naturally absorbing and accumulating mana. The research seemed successful at first. Leo had even been born during that time.

"But once part of the soul is transferred from the body into a new one, it becomes a completely new being. It starts thinking for itself and has its own will."

Leo was the same.

Once a piece of his soul was transferred to a new body, that soul was no longer a part of my identity.

In the end, I concluded that the soul and body cannot be separated.

"So immortality is impossible."

If the self-awareness of "me" is lost, even if a soul is transferred into a new body, it is no longer "me."

Thus, the ultimate goal of this research—immortality—was impossible through this method.

Looking back, it was a research project that the Demon King would engage in.

In the end, I couldn’t figure out what made up the human soul, and even when I managed to transfer part of my own soul, I couldn’t prevent it from becoming self-aware. The only result of this research left behind were three loyal followers.

Despite the belief that humans could perform miracles, I had learned that there were clearly impossible realms.

And then I completely forgot about this research.

Once I reached the conclusion that it was impossible, there was no point in pursuing it further.

But I never imagined that my sibling from my past life would continue this research in the new world.

"What kind of useless thing...?"

"Hmm, I don’t really understand what Jung Da-on Hunter is talking about."

Lee Ah-rin shrugged.

"When did I say anything about immortality?"

"What?"

"Pastor Imanbok isn’t trying to achieve immortality. He’s using the powers of the hunters trapped in the Soul Core. Immortality? What kind of cult leader would think of something so absurd?"

"..."