Reflecting on the old man's words, Dusk felt as though he had just unraveled a truth so insane it bordered on madness.
But what if it were true? What did it matter? As long as it didn't stand in the way of his path to immortality, it was irrelevant.
And if it did beco an obstacle—then even if he had to tear the heavens apart, he would erase it without hesitation.
He decided not to run anymore. Instead, he would speak to the old man face-to-face.
Not that he held much hope—after all, the old man's ntal state seed far from stable.
"Hello. Could you tell more about this world?"
His tone was polite, his voice soft and calm. He didn't want to agitate the old man any further by raising his voice.
The old man froze for a mont. He looked down and saw a young man standing before him, seemingly appearing out of thin air.
Seconds later, his eyes widened. Shock overtook his face, as if he had just seen sothing beyond belief.
He suddenly shot to his feet and grabbed Dusk by the collar, startling him.
Dusk didn't know what the old man was planning, but he imdiately gripped the man's wrists tightly—just in case he ant harm.
But the old man didn't seem to want to hurt him. He only clutched Dusk's collar with trembling hands, his expression twisted in rage.
"Why?! In what way am I inferior to you?! I was born in an age of poverty and clawed my way up to build the life I have now. So why you?! Why wasn't it ?!"
His outburst made Dusk's head buzz with irritation.
He had simply co to ask a few questions—how could he have expected this kind of reaction?
Suddenly, the old man let go.
Dusk thought, for a brief mont, that he had cald down.
But the next action froze him in place.
From within his coat, the old man pulled out a revolver.
He pressed the barrel to his own head—and pulled the trigger without a second thought.
Blood splattered everywhere. Thankfully, none of it touched Dusk.
He looked down at the lifeless body that had just collapsed in front of him, an unreadable expression on his face.
"Goddammit, are you kidding ?! I didn't even do anything, and you just offed yourself?!"
Dusk cursed, his lips twitching uncontrollably in frustration.
Taking a deep breath to calm himself, he nudged the corpse aside with his foot.
Along the way, he picked up the revolver the old man had dropped and gave it a quick check.
There were still five bullets left inside.
His lips curled into a faint smirk.
"Well, at least you did sothing useful. Thanks for the gun."
Right now, a firearm was of imnse value to him. It wasn't sothing one could easily buy—this country strictly prohibited the sale of such weapons.
Maybe the black market had so, but he had no connections in this era's underground scene and no clue how to even start looking.
He tucked the revolver into his clothes and turned his gaze toward the chessboard still lying on the ground.
Squatting down, he examined it for a while. Then he closed his eyes, as if focusing deeply on sothing.
Monts later, he opened them again. His eyes glead with clarity, and a faint, knowing smile ford on his face.
Reaching out, he picked up a black chess piece—then swept all the white pieces off the board with a flick of his hand.
The board was now empty, save for the single black piece that remained standing in the center.
"So what if I'm just a chess piece? So what if I'm the one playing the ga? Both have their advantages. Both have their flaws. All I know is—anything that dares to block my path to immortality will be annihilated."
His eyes turned frigid, as if his very gaze could freeze the air.
If his strength were higher, the killing intent radiating from him might have withered every tree in the vicinity.
The clear blue sky suddenly rumbled with thunder, as if responding to his declaration.
Dusk stood up and glanced once more at the old man's corpse.
A free tenth heart coming to him like this—it was a stroke of unbelievable luck.
But soon, his expression shifted.
Sothing was... off.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't sense the presence of the old man's heart.
"That's strange... Why doesn't a person have a heart? System, what's going on?" he asked. After all, the only one here with the capability to explain was the system itself.
[Ding! System scan detected nothing unusual. It's possible that the information has been concealed by a higher entity.]
Dusk couldn't shake the feeling that sothing shady was going on.
Was there really anything in this world that the system didn't know?
Of course not—his system was basically the cheat code of the universe.
So if it said it didn't know, that could only an soone with even greater authority had deliberately concealed the truth.
Dusk began to suspect that the one who'd shown him the chessboard... and the one who orchestrated this entire event... might actually be the sa person.
Everything he'd witnessed so far was just too bizarre.
When he connected all the dots, it felt more like a reminder... or even direct assistance.
"Oho, is soone out there openly letting cheat?" He chuckled. "Soone gifting a gun in the middle of the night on a hill? That's a new one."
Still, he didn't mind it. In fact, he felt rather relaxed.
If this mysterious one ant no harm and was actually helping him, then why not take advantage?
[Master, aren't you already cheating just by having by your side?]
"Pfft—hahaha!"
Dusk burst into laughter. In his past life, he'd done everything by himself.
But this ti around... he got to cheat his way through life.
He raised his head and looked up into the infinite sky, the corners of his lips lifting into a sly grin.
"If I get to cheat this hard and still fail to achieve immortality... then I'd truly be trash."
Stretching his arms, he let out a long yawn.
From the mont he was reborn, it had been non-stop action.
It was probably ti he gave himself a little rest.
...
Sunlight filtered through the tree leaves and ward his face.
Dusk opened his eyes, got to his feet, and stretched again to loosen up his body.
"What was the na of that city nearby again? Hmm... I think it was Blackreach. Yeah, it should be this way."
He mumbled as he dug through his mories to recall the right path.
Once he rembered the route, he set off without trying too hard to hide himself—just threw on a simple face mask.
By now, he'd already changed into a fresh set of clothes.
Even his backpack was different.
With the mask, unless soone is very familiar with him, it is difficult to recognize him.
After five hours of walking, he finally arrived at the heart of Blackreach City.
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