WE TRIED TRANSLATIONS x FLAME COMICS
Translator: ZERO_SUGAR
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Omniscient Reader's Viewpoint ◈
Chapter 806: Episode 39: Rumors (5)
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The Namgung Clan sent the Divine Doctor as promised. After examining my condition, the Divine Doctor looked impressed and abruptly remarked,
"First time I've seen an Incarnation body this wrecked in half a century. Did you take part in the Great War of Angels and Demons or something?"
"I went through something similar."
"Your mouth still works."
"Thankfully."
"Your mouth might be the most damaged part."
The Divine Doctor sneered while kneading my arms and legs, then took out a brush and activated a skill.
A bright light shone down with a ticklish sensation. Wherever the Divine Doctor's brush touched, my crumbling Incarnation body began to mend.
So this was the Story Repair I had only heard about.
It was truly a mysterious power.
However, even the Divine Doctor did not seem to find repairing my Incarnation body easy. The reason was obvious.
[Fable Heir to an Eternal Name growls.]
"Good grief."
[Fable Heir to an Eternal Name tosses and turns.]
"Stay still, you bastard."
Yu Junghyeok, who had been watching the treatment, spoke up.
"I didn't expect the Divine Doctor to be an elf."
"Is it strange for an elf to be here?"
"Not in the current Martial World."
After the Martial World opened, a diverse array of races had entered the First Martial World. Elves, orcs, gnomes, goblins, demon species, and even nonhuman species.
Divine Doctor Rowellin was also a physician who had entered the First Martial World after the Outer God Incident.
"Whew, that should be enough for now."
"You missed a spot."
When Junghyeok, who was checking my condition beside me, pointed it out, the Divine Doctor clicked his tongue.
"I left that part on purpose. It is an ironclad rule to leave the bare minimum of a 'gap' if you want to preserve a fable's self-regenerative ability."
I did not fully understand, but I felt like I vaguely understood what the Divine Doctor meant.
Junghyeok also seemed to gain some insight from those words. He suddenly crossed his legs and began cultivating.
The Divine Doctor glanced at him and continued.
"As you know, this treatment is only a temporary measure. There is a limit to enduring the Exile Penalty through Story Repair."
It seemed the Divine Doctor had understood my condition long ago.
"If you cannot enter a Main Scenario, your Incarnation body will eventually collapse."
"Yes, I suppose it will."
Perhaps my reaction was unexpected, because the Divine Doctor scratched their cheek with an uneasy expression.
"You are the first exile I've seen remain this calm. Aren't you afraid of death?"
"Of course I am."
I was afraid that Constellations from giant nebulae would suddenly descend. I was afraid an unexpected Scenario would stab me in the back. Sometimes, the fact that I could die at any moment sent chills down my spine.
Still, as time passed, I felt myself growing accustomed to that fear.
It was like the "me" afraid of death and the "me" reading this story were separating.
I was afraid of death, but I still wanted to know the next story. I wanted to know the sentence that would be written next.
As I continued wrestling with that curiosity, there were times when my death did not seem like such a big deal.
After all, Dokja and Junghyeok had both gone through it several times.
"Looking at your eyes, I don't think you're in your right mind. You should consider whether a fable is controlling you."
"What fable do you think is controlling me, Divine Doctor?"
"I don't know. Honestly, you're the first Incarnation body I've seen that has gathered such bizarre fables."
The Divine Doctor lightly brushed fable particles from the air and continued.
"And being a Fable Expert does not mean one knows everything about fables. The fables we mortals can understand are no more than specks of dust in the universe."
"There's even a fable that says, 'Even dust piled up makes a mountain,' isn't there?"
The Divine Doctor frowned as though he disliked me picking at his words.
"There is such a fable. It is the fate of foolish mortals to struggle to grasp those specks of dust and somehow measure the universe."
"Listening to you, it sounds like you're controlled by such a fable too."
"You really don't let a single word go."
"You must not have fixed my mouth enough."
"What do you really want to ask?"
I recalled the description of Divine Doctor Rowellin from TWSA.
「Divine Doctor Rowellin. One of the ten greatest fable experts in the Star Stream.」
It was not easy to encounter a Fable Expert of this caliber by chance. Even Junghyeok, who had repeated countless rounds, had met the Divine Doctor in person only a handful of times.
This was a rare chance to speak with someone not sufficiently described in either TWSA or ORV. I decided to seize it.
"There is a fable I want to tame."
"What kind of creature is it?"
"One that wants to paint the whole world the same color."
The Divine Doctor grinned at my answer.
"I know what kind of creature it is."
[Fable Heir to an Eternal Name twitches its lips.]
Heir to an Eternal Name.
That damned bastard had tried to take control of my body whenever it had the chance, ever since my Kim Dokja content was low.
I had spent quite a long time sharing hardship and joy with it.
[Fable Heir to an Eternal Name is on the verge of evolution.]
However, ever since it absorbed the power of the Demon King of Salvation some time ago, its condition had become unusual.
[Your Existence Restoration Rate is currently 18.8%.]
[The Status of this fable meets the threshold for evolution.]
A fable that had been born quasi-Mythical-grade from the start. Once its evolution was complete, there was a high chance it would become a Mythical-grade fable.
I was looking forward to it, but I was also afraid.
It already did not listen to me as a quasi-Mythical-grade fable. I could not imagine how much trouble it would cause after becoming Mythical-grade.
As if the Divine Doctor understood my fear, they laughed heartily.
"Everyone has one fable like that. To control a fable, you must know the fable well. How much do you know about that fable?"
For a moment, the Divine Doctor's question sounded like this to me.
「How much did I know about Kim Dokja?」
After giving it some thought, I answered honestly.
"I thought I knew it well, but lately, I feel like I don't know it at all."
"Look into the fable often."
"I've already looked at it a lot. Will it help if I keep looking?"
"Even a fable you have already seen can seem new when you look at it again."
Re-reading.
It was something Dokja often said too.
"Stories are endlessly mysterious. Even when you believe you have interpreted one correctly, new interpretations pour forth when you look again."
It was not a particularly new insight.
I wondered if even a Fable Expert had no better answer, but the Divine Doctor asked again.
"Why do you want to control the fable well?"
"I want to become stronger."
"You already seem strong enough."
Depending on how one looked at it, perhaps I was. Even now, I was stronger than most martial artists. If my fables recovered, I could fight Historical-grade Constellations. If I could draw out the power of the Kim Dokja Fragment, I might even wield power comparable to the Demon King of Salvation.
But that was not enough.
While being pursued by giant nebulae, while facing foreign gods and Outer Gods, while watching Mythical-grade Constellations and Teacher Jaehwan, I had realized it clearly.
I was absurdly weak.
An Incarnation body that would burst apart if a Mythical-grade Constellation seriously snapped its fingers.
In my current state, I would never see the ending, no matter how many times I died and returned.
"I need to become much stronger."
"You want to become stronger."
The Divine Doctor muttered that, considered something briefly, then suddenly wrote the words "hoo hoo" in the air with his brush.
"What does this look like to you?"
"'Hoo hoo.'"
"And what does that mean?"
"Meaning? Isn't it just a creepy laugh?"
This was a matter of personal taste, but I did not like characters who laughed "hoo hoo." Everyone who laughed like that had something shady about them.
"That may be how it looks to you now. But what about someone else? For example, how would someone with hot food before them interpret those words?"
After a brief moment of thought, I answered.
"They would think it was someone blowing on the food to cool it down."
"And if someone had been thrown into a cold snowy mountain, with both hands frozen stiff?"
"They would think it was like blowing on their hands to warm them..."
Only then did I think I understood what the Divine Doctor was trying to tell me.
"If you look into a fable with only one desire, that fable may not tell you many new stories."
At that moment, I felt like I could forgive the Divine Doctor even if they laughed "hoo hoo."
"Then what should I do?"
"I don't know either."
"What?"
"First, look into the fable often. Look at it while you eat, while you sleep, and when you think of it while doing something else. Once enough time passes, the fable of you looking at that fable will accumulate as well. That fable will help you."
I nodded in admiration at those words. I was glad I had tried talking to the Divine Doctor, and I was reminded again of how vast and distant the Star Stream was.
Even people who were not well described in TWSA or ORV interpreted the world through their own insights. Perhaps the first preconception I should discard was the belief that I already knew this world.
"If I gain a new interpretation of fables, can I become as strong as I want?"
"I don't know how strong you want to become, but there is a saying. 'One very small interpretation of a fable can sometimes change the entire universe.'"
"Nice. Did a Constellation say that?"
"A Recorder of Fear said it."
A Recorder of Fear.
I had not expected to hear that name here.
"Do you know about the Recorders of Fear?"
"Those who mend the final records at the very front line of fables. Every Fable Expert hears their stories at least once. Why, are you interested in them too?"
There were brief mentions of the Recorders of Fear in TWSA as well.
However, some were too abstract and others too difficult to understand, making it hard to tell what information was useful.
Even Dokja had known almost nothing about the Recorders of Fear.
Yet the Divine Doctor knew information that even Kim Dokja did not.
"Actually, I have met one of them."
"You have met a Recorder of Fear?"
This time, it was the Divine Doctor's turn to be surprised.
"Yes. It was a brief meeting."
Lycaon, whom I had met at the Recycling Center, had said that they were among the lowest-ranking Recorders of Fear. They had also told me to find the other Recorders and seek the Loss of the world.
That was why I thought this.
「Perhaps the secret of this 41st round is related to the Recorders of Fear as well.」
Perhaps the fact that I had faced a Recorder of Fear was shocking, because the Divine Doctor examined the fables scattered across my face again.
"You faced them, yet your mind is still intact? What in the world did you talk about? Did your mouth perhaps break back then?"
"We didn't talk about anything special. But is it really that surprising that I met them?"
"You really don't know anything about the Recorders of Fear."
The Divine Doctor shook his head and added,
"I don't know much about the Recorders of Fear either. Still, there are a few commonly known facts."
"What are they?"
"First, they seek to record the Primordial Fear."
Primordial Fear.
I considered what that could mean for a moment.
"And?"
"Second, no being that faced them has ever returned in their right mind."
"Why is that?"
"Well... No, you said you met them?"
"I did."
"Did you perhaps not witness your Fear?"
Since I did not even know what the Fear the Divine Doctor spoke of was, it was difficult to answer.
"Never mind. I have never seen a case like yours either."
"Is there a third?"
"The third is actually the most interesting."
I did not understand what the first two meant either, so I doubted hearing the third trait would change anything.
Then I heard their third trait.
"They usually appear in this world in the form of Possession."
A shiver ran down my spine.
Footnotes:
"Hoo hoo" can indicate a sinister chuckle, but it can also imitate blowing to cool food or warm one's hands.
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