The Outer God Needs Warmth-Chapter 134: Academy, you’re out of your mind (4)

Victoria’s perspective of me is full of Sooh's image.

But it’s not entirely just Sooh’s likeness. Oddly, there’s a trace of Choseol’s appearance mixed in as well.

After all, what Sooh left behind was the phrase Sooh Sim Gong Choseol (Sooh’s martial art, Choseol). It wouldn't be strange if Choseol’s image was interwoven with that.

But I still don’t understand why Sooh left something like this. I didn’t even know about this technique at all before.

Victoria approaches me. She’s a little taller than I am.

“Five feet? No, about three inches shorter. You’ve really shrunk, huh?”

“Seems like it. This is what being human is like.”

Technically, the body itself is a monster’s body. The vessel is still the same. But because it never truly lived, it feels more like a lump of clay.

“You said you didn’t want to go home. What would you do if we split up here?”

How?

“Just live on.”

Since I can mimic human form, blending in among humans isn’t a big deal. At least, judging by Victoria’s memories, there’s never been a harvest cycle here.

So, in the third world, with purple hair, the chances of being killed are slim.

The goal is to extend the harvest cycle, build a closed-off cult, and try to get in touch with influential people.

But this time, it's not about an already established religion—it’s a completely new one I have to build.

Somehow, I’ll manage.

I look around.

The ground is sinking, like the area where a sinkhole formed. Since it’s a place made by digging underground tunnels, when it collapses, a pit like an antlion trap naturally forms.

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The fortunate thing is that, unlike a typical sinkhole with vertical walls, it slopes inward from the center, so it’s possible to climb up.

Leaving Victoria, who looks like she's deep in thought, I decide to move upward.

If I grab the rock in front of me...

If I grab it...

Hmm.

Choseol could have easily climbed up, but with my height, even if I jump, I can't reach it. Since I have Sooh’s memories, I thought I might be able to use martial arts, but when I tried to use Bobeop (footwork), I didn’t get the same propulsion as Sooh.

It really needs a force that helps push.

In the first world, it was mana. In the second world, it was ki.

It seems like I’m fundamentally incapable of using such powers. I can’t even use them in Sooh’s body.

That’s that.

While looking around to see if there's anything I can grab to climb, suddenly water starts rising up my legs, and a massive water bubble forms around my lower body.

What’s going on?

For a moment, I thought they had decided to kill me, and I turned my body around.

But no.

Victoria was looking at me with the expression of someone seeing a pitiful creature.

“I’m worried about leaving you like this. Let’s go together.”

“Are you kidnapping me?”

“Where did you get such a nasty thought? I’m not leaving you here; you’ll die in no time if I do. Don’t you have some kind of amazing power?”

Victoria walks toward me, swipes her hand through the air a few times, and water stairs appear.

Cautiously stepping onto them, Victoria confirms that they’re strong enough before grabbing my arm.

“What kind of amazing power are we talking about?”

“The power I’m using now. Didn’t you give it to me?”

Swish.

A small stream of water moves through the air.

She’s controlling the water at will. She must have gained the ability to control water after nearly dying in it.

I shake my head.

“No. That’s your ability. Sometimes, someone who contracts with me gains a power if they truly desire it.”

This "desire," I speculate, comes when someone can’t overcome the situation in front of them with their own strength.

People in relatively safe environments didn’t gain powers during the harvest cycle, but those near death gained them.

“What’s this?”

The water droplets gather to form a question mark.

She’s handling it well from the start.

It might be an inference based on the faded memories of a cartoon-like work, so it could be far from reality, but I think it’s pulling out the possibility someone like her might have.

That’s why she can use it well as soon as she gains it.

Wide and Tisha.

Both were able to use their abilities quite well once they gained them. Of course, how they used them in battle became more refined, but...

Still, seeing Victoria control water and Wide control fire, it seems that once you gain a special ability, you instantly know how to use it.

But I don’t know where they draw it from. According to the information from Primordial Heaven's Lord, what I draw is the Taeguk.

It’s interpreted as chaos, something that can become anything and do anything.

It doesn’t mean combining Yin and Yang, as I initially thought. The Primordial Heaven's Lord called it the Taeguk—the boundless possibility that existed before.

If that’s possibility, and if it’s warmth, they should lose warmth when gaining special powers.

But that doesn’t happen.

Instead, they gradually bloom brighter with the light. Even though I shine dark purple because I’m inside the light.

“So, you didn’t hesitate to leave me like that. If you were like a god, I figured you’d give me power and expect something in return.”

Ah~

Right. There’s that in Daegon’s and Primordial Heaven’s Lord’s memories as well.

Gods or immortals, many of them, like me, make contracts, often giving something and receiving something in return.

“I’m not a god. So, I don’t do that. What I did when I was down there was simply ask if someone who had fallen into despair wanted to make a contract, and that’s it.”

But that’s not salvation.

Because it’s a structure where warmth can’t help but be gained.

It means that in the lowest point, any situation is a high point. Of course, compared to the lowest point, I’ve harvested warmth when it was the brightest or the warmest.

But that’s rare.

Most of the time, when you live longer, you give more warmth. So, I stick with the freedom policy.

“Isn’t that what they call a god?”

Victoria grabs my arm, and as we climb the water stairs, she asks me.

“No. If I were a god, I wouldn’t need to make a contract, would I?”

The god I imagine is perfect. An absolute being who can do anything. Anything less than that is just a half-baked imposter or someone who doesn’t know their place.

But I don’t intend to outright deny it.

If someone says they’re a god or someone nearby says I am, I’ll just accept it and move on.

If I interfere with gaining warmth, though, I’ll hold an unreasonable grudge!

“Why the question?”

“I don’t know. I’m just being held by a human kid, and your hand is pretty warm, so I’m just enjoying it for now.”

Victoria looks at me like she’s observing a child.

Do I really look that much like a child? It’s just simple admiration this time. I don’t need to look like a child.

In the Future Hope Cult, I had to hold my breath to gain Yasle’s trust, so I acted this way on purpose. But with Victoria, it’s fine to part ways here.

I still remember what Sooh said before chanting the last incantation.

As we talk, we arrive at a slight hill. There are signs of collapsed ground between the hills.

The place where I was summoned was a base created by digging this entire area, so if it collapses, everything sinks.

“Wow, it really all collapsed.”

Victoria looks around in awe. Following her gaze, I go in reverse order from where she had moved earlier. The last place she arrives at is the place she was kidnapped.

She remembers every step of the way.

As if thinking about something, she blinks and stares into the air before suddenly looking down at me and speaking.

“You don’t have anywhere to go, do you? Come with me.”

It’s true I don’t have anywhere to go, so I nod.

“Sure.”

“You’re agreeing unusually quickly. What, were you waiting?”

“I’ll go wherever.”

“You shouldn’t follow a stranger who offers you candy outside.”

“Well, of course I should.”

Such evildoers, when turned into harvesters, gather warmth quickly.

Quickly, and in large amounts, and their end comes quickly.

Harvested saints are like healthy food, and evil ones are like fast food.

Of course, in a world where evil people dominate, they might live longer, thus giving me more warmth. But until now, harvesters who chased after gains and wielded power often died prematurely.

Thinking this, I respond, and Victoria looks at me with a serious expression.

“You. Don’t fall behind until we reach my house.”

And she says it seriously.

It’s a bit funny that she sees me as a child, so I respond like this.

“Obsession is bad.”

“It’s not obsession. It’s protection. I thought I’d have to figure out how to deal with a 25-foot monster, but now you’re completely a child...”

Victoria grabs her head as if it’s a headache. Objectively speaking, it’s true. She’s still a student, and from her perspective, I probably look younger than her.

Moreover, my actions show no wariness.

It must be troublesome for her.

Victoria looks around and then grabs my hand, walking forward.

“You called me a monster, but you’re holding my hand too tightly, don’t you think?”

I feel like I’ve taken Sooh’s perspective, which feels very strange, so I jokingly point out what Victoria muttered earlier.

“I think so too. But you really do act like a child. By the way, how old are you?”

Age.

How old am I if I only count the memories of a person?

“Just barely two digits, maybe almost three?”

“That makes you a total grandma.”

Even while marveling, Victoria doesn’t let go of my hand and walks on. Where she’s heading is the harbor where she was kidnapped.

She seems to be planning on taking me home with her.