The Shaman Desires Transcendence

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Dreams shatter, and consciousness is dragged into reality.

Is the voice of Whipnose echoing down the narrow, winding passage merely a delusion?

Oh, human who has ventured so deep, it is time to awaken from your slumber.

A deep dream is not much different from death, for you have endured a grueling practice today.

Until my brother comes to fetch you, you must endure, and endure some more.

As I listen to that voice, I open my eyes.

“Brother, are you awake?”

Before the newly awakened Park Jinseong stands a pair of sisters with similar appearances.

Iarin, gazing at him with worried eyes, and standing next to her, Iserin.

Clutching a transformed Transcendent Being like a doll, she looks at Park Jinseong.

Iserin’s eyes seem empty, lacking any shine, yet upon closer inspection, one can discern the countless flickers of light hidden within, paradoxically making her eyes devoid of luminance.

It was said that while black holes are darker than anything, they contain light that could blind you.

Iserin’s eyes are just like that.

Filled with countless secrets and knowledge, hiding them away “secretly” and choosing not to reveal them, that is the essence of Iserin.

She is a black hole craving secrets, a desert of sand absorbing knowledge.

She is a ‘star’ bearing a nature akin to the Transcendent Being she has contracted…

“This is strange. Was my intuition ever like this?”

Park Jinseong gazes into Iserin’s eyes, realizing her essence.

At the same time, he becomes aware that this is something he has never experienced before.

The realization strikes like lightning; is this what is termed as “satori”?

Yet, it would be truly strange indeed.

“I don’t seem to have gained nothing at all.”

To be suddenly summoned into a dream was quite unexpected for Park Jinseong.

He anticipated that Ashtosh Singh would use Anastasia as bait for some shenanigans, but to set a battlefield in dreams and then attack him with flames that burn information was beyond his expectations.

“How could I know that unless I am omniscient? Heh heh.”

The flames that burn information were indeed powerful.

Among the magics related to flames, this was top-tier: the flame that burns souls… more potent than what is commonly referred to as “Soul Burn.” The power to attack the very essence of information, burning whatever one chooses to incinerate with sheer intent.

It could incinerate just the soul, rendering one a mere husk, or scorch the mind to make one a fool, or even, like ordinary fire, burn the body, or expunge the energy to nullify one’s abilities.

It wasn’t a coincidence that Ashtosh Singh survived the Third World War.

At that time, Ashtosh Singh was nothing short of a strategic weapon.

Mass murder and destruction utilizing the spread of flames.

Superhuman assassinations using magic.

Even facing beings that surpassed ordinary limits, he wielded the “God’s Flame.”

Unless magic’s side effects consumed him, there were very few who could counter him in sheer power.

And perhaps, even now, the situation remains the same.

But life is indeed peculiar.

A shaman, who should have survived for quite a while during the Third World War, met his end just like this.

Without even a war breaking out.

Moreover, the one who killed him was none other than Park Jinseong.

He was slain so easily by the very shaman who wished to learn about Ashtosh Singh’s magic, who had intended to interact with him to grasp unknown magics.

Even more curious was the reason why Park Jinseong and Ashtosh Singh fought.

“Why such obsession?”

It was the greed of Ashtosh Singh, cloaked in righteousness.

He posed as one who was engaged in a noble task of saving people, yet his true intent was to explore the Collective Unconscious—essentially, a means to ensure the population of living humans wouldn’t dwindle.

Of course, it wasn’t inherently bad.

Some might argue it was, but Park Jinseong couldn’t claim that Ashtosh Singh’s actions were wrong.

Who was he, after all?

He was a parasitic shaman.

Being a parasite indicates a relationship where one side unilaterally benefits while interacting with another being.

If he were to claim, “That is evil,” while enjoying secular gains, it would be akin to denying his own existence.

In fact, according to the ethics prevalent in society, Park Jinseong would fit the image of the “evil shaman” even more.

At least Ashtosh Singh’s objectives aligned the public good with his gains, while Park Jinseong’s scale swayed more towards his own profit.

Therefore, Park Jinseong does not genuinely repudiate Ashtosh Singh.

Everyone lives their lives striving for their best in their own way.

It is the sum of every moment’s best that creates life and the incidents they partake in.

Thus, Park Jinseong honored Ashtosh Singh by transforming him into a god-like entity.

He applied myriad symbols and did not bury him alive but instead ensured he died amidst those symbols.

That was fitting for Ashtosh Singh, who fervently desired to become one with divinity.

Of course, that god isn’t the one Ashtosh Singh reveres…

“Ha ha. I suppose I must exact some vengeance.”

That’s a slight bit of revenge, shall we say.

For trying to use Anastasia.

For recklessly summoning Park Jinseong and attempting to harm him.

And even for the sheer audacity of meeting death while embracing the cost of magic just like before.

Considering that, one might say Park Jinseong’s actions were truly merciful.

And sometimes, mercy brings about unexpected benefits.

What happened to Park Jinseong was much like that.

“But what principle governs this?”

His intuition has intensified.

Not merely a physical change in eyes or brain, but something seemed to have shifted regarding areas he couldn’t easily introspect… something related to the mind or soul.

Unfamiliar yet oddly familiar.

It seems he has experienced such a feeling before.

But upon retracing those memories, nothing particular comes to mind.

His life before the return was filled with suffering.

His body, rendered nearly a corpse as the cost of magic.

Mind and soul deteriorating in tandem with that body.

Clinging to life with sheer willpower while moving in a body akin to a decrepit cart held together by leather strings, he couldn’t evade death and ended up performing a ritual of magic to meet his end.

In such circumstances, could one possibly preserve memories intact?

Even without pain, memory erodes; how could someone with mediocre talent remember every single trajectory of life?

That would be an extraordinary occurrence.

Yet, the reason Park Jinseong experiences déjà vu is likely tied to his unyielding purposes while living in that worn-out body.

“There must be a connection to magic.”

Park Jinseong has an instinctive realization that this event in his life relates to the effects of the magic he practiced before the return or the cost of magic itself. His intensified intuition affirms this, and his sixth sense reinforces that this notion is indeed correct.

Park Jinseong slowly raises his head to gaze upwards.

Could a star perhaps whisper to him, conveying unnoticed information through neither language nor clarity, merely a vague whisper?

Yet Park Jinseong finds himself indoors.

The roof made by human hands obstructs his view, preventing starlight from shining down.

“Hmm.”

Park Jinseong recalls that this scene is from before he was invited into the Collective Unconscious and lowers his gaze again.

Then, at that moment.

Was it chance?

Or perhaps something done unconsciously?

Park Jinseong’s gaze meets Iserin’s.

Her raven hair and black hole-like eyes.

A star that consumes others.

A black star that craves light.

The black hole-like gaze of Iserin…

Iserin is looking at Park Jinseong.

What lies within those eyes?

Is it curiosity, a hunger for the secrets Park Jinseong hides?

Are they feelings of kinship, or perhaps an evaluation of a suspicious shaman?

Park Jinseong suddenly ponders while meeting Iserin’s gaze.

“All beings are interconnected and impact one another: inanimate to inanimate, inanimate to living, living to living. From the tiniest creatures to gods, all are interconnected, evolving without regard for hierarchy.”

Then, what of the Grimoire and Iserin?

Do such changes occur even between Transcendent Beings and humans?

If so, might a contractor resemble their Transcendent Being as pets do with their owners, and might the Transcendent Being, in turn, come to resemble the contractor?

If the world could be completed with just the two—the Transcendent Being and contractor.

What, then, do their changes signify?

“…Like stars.”

Is this intuition or realization?

Suddenly, Park Jinseong is hit with a thought.

“…Stars.”

Or perhaps a notion that seems trivial.

It might just be an unnecessary thought.

…Or perhaps.

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