Above Your Head

Vol 2. Chapter 86: The Salvation of God (23)

There was no such thing as individuality in Project End, which was simply just a system. It was a procedure, a tool, and nothing more than a process that existed for the sake of results. That was the reason why Project End was used as a weapon among the Unnamed. However, that did not mean that Project End was of a low rank.

"No!" A pitch-black child screamed as he looked at the screen. He stomped around before running off somewhere, since he didn’t know what to do. Then, after a long while, he returned to his initial position with a doll in one hand. He held onto a dragon-shaped toy that was emitting a jet-black energy.

Thuckkk! The child pressed the toy onto the mirror he was looking at. Only then did the lifeless, unmoving toy gain life. It roared loudly.

-Kruuuwangggg!!

Although the roar was intense, the child watching on only felt an anxiety and nervousness that increasingly worsened. "No, this isn't it." The anxiety completely peaked once the silver giant arose from the sphere and began beating up the dragon. Then, the child took two more dragon-shaped toys and pressed them onto the mirror again. It was then that Il-han landed on the ground.

"Wow... My son really is amazing. I can't believe that nearly 4 billion humans are still alive even though you have progressed up to Level 13." Il-han looked around at the billions of mirrors lining up to the end of the horizon. It was truly an unbelievable occurrence.

For the sake of survival, there were more than 10 'Transformation Concepts' created by civilizations that faced the Project End. However, there were still characteristics that all these genres had in common, such as the difficulty mercilessly matching the number of survivors. The higher the number of survivors, the more difficult the levels.

This was inevitable due to the purpose of Project End. If it was a concept fixed by all kinds of tricks that the corresponding civilization could sufficiently overcome, or if a certain victory element was implemented, then Project End would definitely not integrate with the existing system. However, the fact that it was trying to go back to its original state when the error occurred…

There was no individuality in Project End, but Project End could create individuality if it was a trait deemed necessary.

'Not all Unnamed are the same. Project End is an Unnamed with a narrative.'

What was an Unnamed? They were existences who did not possess names. They were existences excluded from the finished worldview, existences who shouldn't exist in the world, and were either too big, too small, too beautiful, or too hideous.

'Come to think of it, it just so happens that the [Severe Cold][The Coldest][Frost Air][Queen] whom I killed wasn't really a big deal.' The Unnamed that he killed 200 years ago was an existence that best displayed the distinct characteristics of an Unnamed. After all, she was an existence that could plummet the surrounding temperature to minus 9,000 degrees.

'It's something that didn't make sense.' Il-han laughed, recalling the bewilderment he felt when he saw her for the first time. How could minus 9,000 degrees be possible? It was literally a story that screwed with the laws of physics. Did the concept of absolute zero go on a picnic somewhere or something?

However, that simply was what an Unnamed was. They existed outside the boundaries of the sensible world view, and were unconcerned by the principles of the world. Among them, Project End, which continued the long and arduous story of the End, was a formidable Unnamed.

At that moment, the black child screamed out loud, "Run away!!!"

Il-han stood next to the child and looked into the mirror. Although he had approached so casually, the black child did not seem to mind his presence. Like a person not perceiving the dust flying around in the room, the child did not give any meaning to Il-han's existence.

"Ohhh." Il-han looked at the sight of the two Specter Dragons running away with the torso of the Specter Dragon that Dae-ha had defeated. He noticed that, to be exact, they were escaping with the Dragon Heart of the fallen Specter Dragon. Then, he said, "I have an objection."

Of course, the black child paid no attention. His attitude seemed to suggest that he couldn’t even hear Ilhan, who wasn’t even talking to him in the first place.

-Planner Kwan Il-han raises an objection!

"What?!" Only then did the black child look back at Il-han in surprise. But even so, he did not know that the mission system was designed by Il-han and not by the Great Wizard. He had no idea that it was all a copy of the great system that the God of Martial Arts and the God of Magic had created.

Il-han said, "In my opinion, the second Specter Dragon did essentially face a defeat in the hands of the player Iron Mask. It is unreasonable for another Specter Dragon to steal the drop items and run away. In fact, hasn’t it already been announced that no other Specter Dragons would be appearing?"

"What?! It's not like that though? It's not like that, okay? It's not like that, alright? I said it's not like that!!!!" The black child screamed out loud and yelled. Claaank! Cluuunk! Two chains appeared on the right arm of the screaming black child and he was bound.

Il-han spoke as if he was pressed for time, "Hurry and put the Dragon Heart down. Hasn't one already been taken away anyway?"

The black child was confused by the appearance of the chains pressing down on his arm. However, he still shook his head. "I don't want to!!"

Claaaank! Il-han laughed as he saw a new chain appear, binding the black child’s legs. 'As expected, he's scared.'

In actual fact, even if Dae-ha was given a new Dragon Heart now, he wouldn’t successfully attain the enlightenment that had slipped past his fingers. 'That's not how enlightenment works.' Even if the same situation and the same conditions were given, he would not be able to hold on to what he had already missed.

However, the black child was overstepping his boundaries. He was afraid that the same situation would simply occur once again.

Project End was an exceptional and special Unnamed. In the first place, why did the black child, in other words, the ego of Project End come into being? It was because the moment Dae-ha faced the enlightenment, Project End realized with his transcendental Foresight that his purpose would fall through at this rate. The black child was an ego created out of necessity. It was supposed to be the best choice for Project End, but...things had changed completely since Il-han stepped in.

'Hmmm, in one way or another, it worked out well.' Il-han stared at the giant Gigas standing in a daze. He thought this current situation was the best anyone could ask for.

The black child still did not seem to have a clue, but...he had already caused too many irrationalities due to Dae-ha. His actions would become a huge burden on Project End, which was eventually an existence bound by its own unique Setting.

'Dae-ha, you brat, you're working things out in a direction that completely defies my initial expectations.' Il-han had expected Dae-ha to resolve the Project End, and his predictions were gradually coming together. However, that only applied to the outcome. The process thus far was not like what he had expected at all. 'My initial expectation was the Divine Spirit. That’s all good, and there’s nothing we can do since he left it behind. But...why isn't he using the key?'

The key that had the formidable effect of lifting all constraints was a Transcendence Weapon that, perhaps, had a single-digit Numbering rank. Il-han had personally handed over the key, and he remembered Dae-ha wearing it around his neck. Therefore, he couldn’t understand why his son wasn’t using the key when it counted, and was simply spreading his bug-like play widely.

'Well, it's fine as long as he's doing great.' After organizing his thoughts, Il-han raised his hand again. "I have a suggestion."

-Planner Kwan Il-han raises a suggestion!

"No more Dragon Hearts!" There was an unprecedented power instilled in Il-han’s sharp voice. Although this was a situation that could cause anyone to panic, Il-han was unperturbed. After all, he was someone who went around killing the Untouchables of the Great Universe in the past. "Dragon Hearts don't matter. That matter aside, you didn't do what you were supposed to do."

"What?" The black child replied defensively.

"What else..." Looking at his son in the mirror, Il-han said, "The update."

***

-Death Procession has all been cancelled.

-Congratulations! The stage has been cleared perfectly! Rewards are given based on contribution.

- Your ranking is joint 1st-place(12 people).

"The ones who got joint 1st-places dropped a lot. Are the top ranking members slowly disappearing?" I wondered if it was also possible that more people were rehabilitating themselves with their full efforts through the bug strategy. Fortunately, Project End did not prevent the bug in the middle of the stage, even though it would have been all over the place.

"Ahh, thinking about it just pisses me off all over again." My hands shook even though I knew I was thinking of something that had already happened. I checked the Dragon Heart that was in the arms of me in the Unique World.

Kwan Dae-ha

???

17% Silver Heart

"Ah, I haven't even done much." I thought I had been working on it for quite some time, but I had only achieved one-fifth of the completed result. Moreover, it was the resulting product of me being in a kind of awakened state. Even if I were to try again, the whole process would go a lot slower.

"There's not enough Dragon Bone there. No? Or is there not enough energy? Or is it another process?" I muttered. Another problem was that it was only 17 percent despite using up all the Ancient Dragon-grade Dragon Bone. Of course, I still had the wings and head of the other Specter Dragon that obstructed me. I would be grateful if the remaining material could fill it up to about 20 percent. "Ahh… I think its completion would give me something great."

The magical energy radiating from the Dragon Heart, which arbitrarily named itself Silver Heart, was simply beyond imagination. It was not a joke, but if you look at the power output alone, it was a level that could be easily compared to Ares' Iron Heart. Of course, an Iron Heart had the superiority advantage and would show an overwhelming performance when compared to a Dragon Heart. However, if I did well, I might be able to make it… A God-rank Gigas.

Will there perhaps be another Specter Dragon appearing?

"It'll probably be hard." I had sent a rescue team to retrieve those who were already defeated by me, so Specter Dragons probably wouldn’t emerge anymore. It was to prevent a similar situation from occurring. Then, I asked, "By the way, why was the body of the Specter Dragon different from the others?"

Maybe it was captured somewhere else?

"I thought so, but there were several other identical ones appearing too. Ahh, goddammit. The bastard who doesn't provide any item updates is only desperate in certain weird aspects. I can't play this trashy game because it's so dirty."

Pooof! A large gacha machine appeared in front of my whiny self. And as usual, a message popped up.

-You earned 24,041,406,250,000 points as a clear reward.

-Point is a means of transaction and you can purchase Awakening Potion, Experience Potion, Equipment, Tools, and Materials.

This was a message I always saw. However, several phrases were added after that.

-The store will be updated.

-Equipments will be added.

-Tools will be added.

-Materials will be added.

"Huh?" I was surprised by the totally unexpected contents, and I went through the list. Surprisingly, there were Magic Armaments imbued with 5th-Class magic, Teleport Scrolls, and Stealth Totems. There was even a magic map and so on. There was also an Intermediate-grade Mana stone and a High-grade Mana stone. Above all…

"This… What does this mean?" I stared at the Mithril and Adamantium description. “Does this mean you’re going to fix all the bugs and faithfully update the game accordingly? And be reborn as a God Game?! Ahh, is that not right? Was I trained to be impressed by an update that’s naturally supposed to happen?"

My hands were trembling. Of course, Mithril and Adamantium had a crazy price range. However, I was unconcerned, because I did not just possess a billion nor a trillion points. I possessed a few quadrillion points. I ended up shouting, "Go, God Game!!!"

A new text popped up again in front of me, who was moved.

- Gift from Planner Kwan Il-han will arrive!

'Plooop!', along with that sound, a little marble fell on top of my hand. I asked back stupidly, forgetting joy and any deep emotions, "What?" Who was the Planner?