Chapter 306: Honcheon Sword (5)

A deep, impenetrable abyss.

Within its depths, a pair of crimson eyes flickered.

Grrr…

A low growl reverberated through the silent darkness.

The reptilian eyes, brimming with murderous intent and madness, turned skyward.

Rumble—

Above, dark storm clouds churned, illuminated by flashes of crimson lightning.

The crimson eyes gazing upward shone with an eerie light, reflecting excitement, anticipation, and joy.

An intense surge of emotion was laid bare within their depths.

For a long moment, the crimson eyes remained fixed on the sky.

Then, from the abyss’s depths, a heavy voice rumbled forth:

“The time… draws near.”

With those words, the surging darkness swallowed the crimson eyes whole.

Louis returned from a brief outing.

He had rescued Wang Cheolsoo from the torment of the Flame siblings.

Now, he placed an item he’d found in Dexter’s treasure pouch before him.

Thump.

“Is this it?”

“Ugh… ugh…”

“I asked, is this it?”

“Ugh…”

Wang Cheolsoo, barely escaped from the clutches of the Red-Haired Demons, was still groaning and struggling to regain his senses.

He had no choice.

The air crackled with the threat of another beating if he didn’t snap out of it.

He quickly examined the object before him and nodded vigorously.

“Y-yes, that’s it…”

Louis, arms crossed, smirked at the answer.

“What do we do now?”

“We need to set the Category…”

“How do we do that?”

“Only I can do that.”

“Go ahead.”

“Um…”

“Tsk!”

Wang Cheolsoo, who was about to mumble something, hurriedly grabbed the random gacha Box and flipped it over, noticing Louis’s face contorting.

He swallowed hard, glancing nervously at Louis.

W-what if this doesn’t work?

According to the setting, God’s Toy was an item meant solely for Wang Cheolsoo. While ordinary beings could technically use it, only he could unlock its true performance.

But…

B-but that’s just the setting!

The problem was that even he didn’t know if that setting would actually hold true.

If it failed now…

I-I’m dead!

He would be 100% dead at Louis’s hands.

Wang Cheolsoo’s hand, clutching the random gacha box, trembled violently.

“What are you waiting for? Aren’t you going to do it?”

“I-I was just about to!”

Wang Cheolsoo extended his index finger and hastily scribbled the Korean word “영혼” (Soul) across the bottom of the box.

Please, please let it work!

He prayed fervently.

And perhaps his prayer was answered?

Tsu tsu tsu-

The word “Soul” glowed brightly, then vanished as it was absorbed into the box.

A flicker of interest crossed Louis’s eyes, while relief washed over Wang Cheolsoo’s face.

Wang Cheolsoo set the box down and declared triumphantly, “It’s done!”

“Really?”

Louis excitedly snatched the gacha box.

He yanked the box’s lever with a powerful jerk.

Da-ra-ra-rak-

The box emitted a sound reminiscent of a slot machine.

The peculiar noise immediately captivated everyone’s attention.

A moment later,

Ping!

The top of the box split open, its upper and lower halves parting like jaws.

“Oh?”

“Ooh?”

Louis and the Flame siblings watched the opening box intently, anticipation brimming in their eyes.

What exactly would emerge? Louis wondered, his curiosity piqued.

Soon, a tiny, firefly-like light flickered upward from the darkness within the box, dancing briefly around the box before vanishing.

“Huh…?”

“What was that?”

Disappointment was etched plainly on the faces of the Flame siblings, and Louis felt the same.

The Soul Light that had just appeared was an incredibly weak soul, lacking even a proper form and existing solely as a flickering light.

It likely hadn’t been a particularly significant being even in life.

This was not what Louis had hoped for.

No matter how dire the situation, Louis had no intention of forcibly exploiting the souls of his own kind.

Therefore, he planned to explain the situation to the dragon soul and ask for its understanding.

To do this, he needed a soul that, even if incapable of proper conversation, retained at least basic intelligence and reason.

With this in mind, Louis pulled the lever again.

But…

Click-

“Huh?”

Click- Click-

No matter how many times he pulled the lever, the box refused to reactivate.

His gaze snapped to Wang Cheolsoo.

“Hey, why isn’t this working?”

Wang Cheolsoo fidgeted, nervously glancing at Louis. Scratching the back of his head, he mumbled in a small voice, “Uh, that’s… because it’s only free once a month.”

”…?”

A question mark materialized above Louis’s head.

Louis blinked, mulling over Wang Cheolsoo’s words.

“Just one free pull per month?”

”…”

“No way… do I have to pay to even use this?”

“Yes…”

Louis’s face twisted as he watched Wang Cheolsoo awkwardly avert his gaze.

That bastard!

So much for claiming it was his original creation! It was just a blatant rip-off of modern gacha loot boxes with pay-to-win mechanics!

Louis’s expression turned sour.

“What were you even thinking when you made this?”

“I… I was just bitter about never being able to Instant Win because I was always broke…”

“Sigh…” Louis sighed softly.

Yet, deep down, he understood Wang Cheolsoo’s sentiment. He had often envied those who could freely spend money to acquire top-tier gear in games.

For once, Louis somewhat agreed with Wang Cheolsoo, so he let it slide without comment.

“So, how do you use this ‘Instant Win’ thing? No way it requires Earth money, right?”

“Just gold! One gold allows you to draw once. Just insert the gold into that small slot over there!”

As Wang Cheolsoo said, there was a coin slot-like opening on the side of the box.

Seeing this, Louis frowned.

“Gold? Not even silver? That’s ridiculously expensive.”

“S-sorry.”

Grumbling, Louis took out a gold coin and inserted it into the slot.

Thunk.

The box spat the gold coin back out.

Louis blinked.

He took the spit-out gold and reinserted it.

“Huh?”

Thunk.

“What the heck?”

Thunk.

Perplexed, Louis repeatedly inserted gold into the box, but each time, it spat the gold back out.

Finally, Louis exploded in frustration and shouted at Wang Cheolsoo, “Hey! What’s wrong with this thing?! Did it break after just one use?!”

“Ah, that…” Wang Cheolsoo scratched his cheek awkwardly. “It’s called ‘God’s Toy,’ you know?”

”…No way.”

“Ha ha, I set up the Cash Shop System so only the Lord God—that’s me—can use it…”

Thwack!

Louis’s patience snapped, and his fist shot out.

“You should have told me sooner!”

“Guh!”

Clutching his solar plexus, Wang Cheolsoo crumpled to the floor.

Louis sighed, watching him writhe.

So that’s why they insisted on bringing this idiot along.

Wang Cheolsoo was essential for the random gacha box to function properly.

Louis crouched down beside Wang Cheolsoo, who was writhing on the floor.

“Hey, Wang, you idiot.”

“Yes?”

“I’m giving you a mission.”

“A… a mission?”

“Extract the dragon’s Soul, no matter what it takes.”

“B-but… that won’t be easy… and it’ll cost a lot of gold…”

Louis grinned at Wang Cheolsoo’s timid protest.

“Are you underestimating the dragon’s wealth right now?”

With that, Louis grabbed the Gacha Box and Wang Cheolsoo by the scruff of his neck.

“I’ll be back in a bit.”

“Safe travels!”

The Flame siblings, now accustomed to the current situation, saw Louis off.

Then, Louis and Wang Cheolsoo vanished.

Poof!

The two reappeared before a massive stone gate.

“Ugh—.”

Having experienced space movement for the first time, Wang Cheolsoo kept gagging.

Then, cautiously surveying their surroundings, he asked, “W-where are we?”

Louis smiled knowingly. “Didn’t I tell you? Never underestimate a dragon’s wealth.”

With those words, Louis pushed open the massive stone gate before them—the very gate to the Golden Warehouse where he had enjoyed swimming as a child.

Goo-goo-geung…

A bizarre groan echoed as the gate slowly swung open, unleashing a torrent of golden light.

“Ah…”

Wang Cheolsoo’s jaw dropped as he stared at the literal mountain of gold piled before him.

Louis’s smile deepened. “Regretting never using Instant Win before?”

”…”

“This time, I’ll let you indulge to your heart’s content.”

Louis turned his back to the warehouse, the golden radiance emanating from the mountain of gold enveloping him like a divine halo.

At the same time, his smile twisted into a sinister grin.

“Just don’t blame me if you throw up from overspending.”

Facing Louis’s sinister grin, Wang Cheolsoo trembled, already sensing his bleak future.

Time flew by swiftly.

A month had passed since Louis locked the automatic soul-extracting puppet Wang Cheolsoo in the Golden Warehouse and assigned Khan and Kani to guard him.

Kwaaaagagaaa—

In a remote valley on the Summer Continent, Louis sat cross-legged beneath a thunderous waterfall, his eyes closed in meditation.

Moments later, he opened his eyes and scratched his cheek.

“Hmm… Doesn’t seem to be working. In wuxia novels, they usually achieve enlightenment through meditation like this.”

His reason for this was simple: to break through his stagnant established realm as a Two-Attribute Zero.

In the worst-case scenario, I might not be able to complete the Honcheon Sword.

Wang Cheolsoo had been performing Soul Extraction for a month, but no suitable Souls had emerged.

Louis couldn’t rely solely on the Honcheon Sword indefinitely, so he was trying to elevate his own realm.

Now, only the Strength Attribute and Mental Attribute remained for him to master.

If Louis could raise even one of his remaining attributes to Zero Rank, he would become only the third Three-Attribute Zero in history.

If that happens, I might actually stand a chance against Kaiders.

But the path to becoming the third Zero felt impossibly distant.

If a Single-Attribute Zero wields the power to interfere with the Law, and a Dual-Attribute Zero can manipulate it… what power would a Three-Attribute Zero possess?

Louis had a strong intuition: he needed to understand what the Three-Attribute Zero’s domain truly meant before he could ever reach it.

It felt like endlessly writing down answers to a problem with no fixed solution.

It’s already been a month of this.

Despite a month spent searching for answers, he had made no progress.

I’m running out of time…

The anxiety that Kaiders might shatter the ice wall and reappear at any moment tightened its grip on him.

“Hah…”

Louis let out a soft sigh, trying to shake off his frustration.

Just as he settled into a meditative posture, trying to clear his mind of distractions,

Uung-

The vibrating communication stone jolted him back to awareness.

“Hm?”

The sender was none other than Fin.

Louis channeled mana into the stone and asked, “What’s up?”

“Yes?”

“What is?”

“Ah!”

Fin’s bright voice lit up Louis’s face.

At the same instant, his figure vanished from beneath the waterfall.

Poof!

Louis reappeared in Genelocer’s Lair, specifically in the underground blacksmith shop.

Tsuuuu-

Steam rose from Louis’s rapidly moving body as he strode forward, instantly drying himself.

He approached a furnace, where Guff, Genelocer, the Twins, and Fin were gathered.

Louis hurried over and asked,

“Is it over?”

Guff silently stepped aside at the question.

Before Louis lay a wide anvil, and upon it rested a single sword.

“Ah…”

As if entranced, Louis reached out and picked up the sword.

It was unlike any sword he had ever seen.

The hilt and guard were pure white, seemingly imbued with an inner light.

But the blade itself was as transparent as glass, making it hard to believe this was a weapon meant to kill.

Yet the cold, sharp edge that brushed against his skin dispelled any doubt. This translucent sword was no mere decoration.

Louis’s eyes sparkled with excitement.

“This… is the Honcheon sword.”

The legendary Divine Machine that had severed Genelocer’s neck in the Original Work.

But now, the weapon destined to sever Kaiders’ neck had fully revealed itself to the world.