According to Sinea, the āSpiritsā Roadā was only accessible by spirits. Lee Shin Woo moved under her guidance, and at some point, the surrounding environment became faint, with a silver transparent layer of mana hanging under their feet. It felt like theyād entered a shimmering light tunnel.
It felt similar to the Giantsā domain, where they were isolated by spatial magic. However, the sense of distortion was far more intense. Is it because only spirits could enter? He felt like he would either get thrown out or never be able to enter again if he was careless.
[Paul Zero, you have to follow me.]
āOk.ā
āā¦Shin Woo, are you ok? Youāve been strange since way back. Is this āspirit transformationā thing that hard on you?ā
āAh, no. Itās nothing.ā
āHeās only sharp when it comes to situations like this,ā Lee Shin Woo inwardly muttered. Now wasnāt the time to be deep in thought and study the āSpiritsā Roadā. Jin was one of the reasons for that.
āI can fully transform into a human with the Disguise skill now, but I canāt use it to that extent on others yet. If Jin figures this out, then heāll be really sad.ā
He figured that the final remaining task was related to it, but he had no way of figuring out what that task actually was. Lee Shin Woo had no idea how to increase his skill level going forward.
For the time being, Lee Shin Woo was getting adjusted to the leveled up Disguise skill by maintaining the spirit transformation, butā¦
āI should transform into a human when Jinās not lookingā¦ā
Lee Shin Woo was human. He wanted to sleep, he wanted to have sex, and he wanted to eat. Once he realized he could regain all the things heād enjoyed as a human being, he cheered and wanted to go through with it. But out of consideration for his partner, Jin, he endured with superhuman patience. If he looked āstrangeā, then it was because of that.
And there was one other reason. That wasā¦
āI figured this out once I succeeded in transforming into a human. Ultimately, life and death, humans, the undead, or even the Dryads only look different on the outside; they are essentially the same at their roots. Itās just a matter of perception. Like how Iāve fooled everything with my Disguise skillā¦ā
Lee Shin Woo didnāt know how much hardship and suffering one had to go through to come to this realization. He came to this realization by using the Jokerās innate skills however he wished.
Reaching the truth so sloppily was perhaps a fitting end to a swindler. Though if God figured that out, then sheād be shocked.
āBut if thatās the case, then thereās a big problem. The source ofĀ myĀ life, or the Invisible Heart skill isā¦ā
Until now, heād thought that his ālife forceā had been stored in an invisible container called the Invisible Heart. Heād first thought of the idea after heād encountered the archmage lich.
However, he was wrong. An ambiguous energy like life force didnāt actually exist. Even if it did, Lee Shin Woo could create it, and it would only be another type of energy like mana.
āNow that I think about it, the Archmage probably sealed his soul, not his life force.ā
He wouldnāt die, even if his body was destroyed, because heād sealed his soul into a separate container. Then that would explain that disharmony he sensed thenā¦ Although the Archmage had been right in front of him, he couldnāt sense his āessenceā and only felt a bizarre feeling.
Of course, Lee Shin Wooās soul was contained in his body, so he was built differently from a Lich. In other words, the Lichās ability wouldnāt help him learn more about the Invisible Heart!ā
āThen what is the Invisible Heart?ā
Of course, now that he could freely transform into a human, there wasnāt anything wrong with ignoring that matter for now. Rather, there was nothing better, as he could maintain a human form while retaining multiple lives.
But despite that, he couldnāt help his curiosity due to his instincts as a Joker. It was his nature to understand and control everything, so he couldnāt help but pay attention to this unmeasurable power.
āAlright. Letās go with this hypothesis. I thought my life force was replaced by a level 100+ Invisible Heart skill, but I already know that thatās not true. Therefore, my life and the Invisible Heart skill arenāt the same.ā
He came to the conclusion that God had tricked him, but he also thought she didnāt do what she claimed needed to be done.
In other words, she couldāve given him the Invisible Heart skill with no strings attached, but she had taken his life and turned him into a skeleton with the excuse that āit was too hardā.
āā¦My grudge can wait. In any case, Invisible Heartās more important.ā
If he assumed that his previous hypotheses were correct, then the Invisible Heart was the goddessās power, not his own. Perhaps it was a crystallization of divinity.
It made sense, as the max level of Invisible Heart would go up whenever he completed one of the goddessās tasks.
āIf I can make this power my own, then would it help me against powerful opponents?ā
If he could imitate it with his mana, then he should be able to use Invisible Heart infinitely. At the very least, he would become a true, immortal undead. No, it wouldnāt be that easy. He couldnāt even figure out where to start.
[Paul Zero, weāre almost there.]
āAh, already?ā
[By human standards, weāve already run for five hours.]
Sinea called him, and Lee Shin Woo stopped thinking so much and replied. It seemed like Sinea knew that he hadnāt been paying attention to her, as she replied while sulking.
In order to best handle the Invisible Heart, heād made various plans and practiced, yet five hours had passed in the blink of an eye. Lee Shin Woo was slightly surprised.
āAs I thought, thereās something going on with you, isnāt there?ā
āMm, I was just thinking about my ability. Iāll tell you about it later if I figure it out.ā
āIt feels like itās more important than thatā¦ Whatever, itās fine, since youāll tell me about it later.ā
Lee Shin Woo replied and remembered something. Now that he thought about it, Jin possessed a different type of revival skill than him. If he figured out how Invisible Heart worked, then he would look into Jinās Blessing of Death. He also had to look into Perium as well.
Although Lee Shin Woo was diligently completing his tasks, he had more to do each and every day; it made him think back to his days as an employee, which very slightly depressed him.
āNo, itās still a lot better than when I was an employee.ā
āYouāre using that excuse again.ā
Lee Shin Woo and Jin followed Sinea. Their surroundings remained cloudy, but they found a small entrance to a cave at the end of their path.
Although they were already in a subspace, they had to go even further within. It was only natural that the surface dwellers didnāt find it.
āYou canāt make something like this in the Underground Empire?ā
[10 billion spirits werenāt enough to create a space this large while bearing the curse.]
āAh, thatās right. Sorry.ā
[Itās ok. ā¦Hoo.]
Sinea complained, so Lee Shin Woo comforted her by stroking her head. She quickly returned to her old self. Lee Shin Woo thought it was quite nice that spirits were so easy to fool, but he didnāt dare say it out loud.
[Letās go in, Paul Zero. I only came with hopes of a small trace of them, but if itās sealed this perfectly, thenā¦ there may actually be living spirits here.]
āYeah.ā
FYI, he had already revealed his true name to her when they arrived at the surface. But because he hadnāt formed an official contract with her, it apparently didnāt matter if he used a false name or not. On the contrary, she had been overjoyed that heād revealed his true name to her, albeit belatedlyā¦ Even so, she said that she was still more comfortable with his false name, so she kept calling him Paul Zero.
[This way. Follow me. Nothing strikes me as dangerous yet.]
āOk.ā
Sinea went into the cave first. The moment she did, the inside of the cave lit up weakly, as if sensing her presence and welcoming her. Lee Shin Woo and Jin followed suit and carefully enteredā¦
[Level 9 dungeon ā You have acquired the permit to the Spiritsā Spring. All stats increase by 100 within the dungeon. The dungeonās information is added to your minimap. All actions are buffed within the dungeon.]
And then stopped. He heard a phrase that he swear heād heard somewhere before, albeit a long time ago.
āā¦The Spiritsā Spring?ā
[The Spiritsā Spring? ā¦The Spiritsā Spring!? This is the Spiritsā Spring!?]
Sinea belatedly realized what he was saying and was shocked. Yeah, she should know about it too. After all, heād originally heard about the Spiritsā Spring from the contaminated Dryads protecting their dungeon!
[The Spiritsā Spring existed on the surface!?]
āIf you donāt know whatās going on, then what am I supposed to do?ā
At the time, the Dryads had degenerated due to the curseā¦ and one of the Corrupted Dryads had given him a Spiritsā Spring Key Fragment. While also saying that he had to give it to the Spirit General; if he did, she would take care of everything and would protect the spirits.
Of course, Lee Shin Woo had pocketed the Spiritsā Spring Key Fragment and had put the matter on hold. However, that matter was being brought to his attention once again. So, he trusted that Sinea would add her own explanation to this, but looking at her now, she wasnāt reacting any differently than him.
[Since all I know about the Spiritsā Spring is what Iāve heard from the other Dryads! Itās said to be the paradise for all spirits, but I thought it was referring to the spirit world!]
āSo the spirit world does exist?ā
[I have no idea!]
Ah, crap. Heād suspected this, but she was no help whatsoever. No, wait. Should he be thankful that she even led him to the Spiritsā Spring? Lee Shin Woo sighed and took another step forward. Then, his chest radiated light.
[The Spiritsā Springsā Key Fragment is reacting to the Spiritsā Springsā energy. The artifact is being restored.]
[You have acquired the Spiritsā Springsā Key. The Heaven Doorās Key reacts to the artifact and the artifact is absorbed.]
[You can now open a passageway to the Spiritsā Spring with the Heaven Doorās Key. You have become more familiar with the Heaven Doorās Key. By using more mana and bones, the passage can now fit up to 12 people.]
āAh, it happened again.ā
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Heād become used to this happening. It was an artifact that even absorbed Godās power, so this was nothing! While Lee Shin Woo was thinking that, something appeared before him.
[I sense that the long lost key has returnedā¦ An irregular has come.]
It was a huge entity. The entity was slightly translucent like Sinea but was also covered in flickering flamesā¦ a lizard that looked as though it had been injured somewhere.