The Blank's Back Page (I)
After solving the trials of the ancient ruins, they obtained three keys as their reward.
Each key was made of a different material—gold, silver, and copper. Using a magnifying glass, Duran carefully examined the three keys one after another.
His goal was to record and preserve the mana circuits engraved on them.
But aside from that—
…When is this going to end?
It was boring.
As Woojin sat with his eyes closed for a while, Claire—sitting beside him—began humming softly, almost like singing.
He listened closely to the lyrics.
"Gold belongs to the sharp-witted merchant,
Silver belongs to the noble nun,
Copper belongs to the skilled blacksmith.
All of them are fine…
But iron—cold iron—is truly the greatest of all~"
It was a song about metals.
It seemed that while looking at the three keys, a melody had come to her mind. Woojin listened for a moment before asking,
"What song is that?"
"…Y-You heard that? I thought you were asleep."
Claire stammered, clearly flustered after being caught singing.
"Why are you so embarrassed?"
"I'm not very good at singing."
"I thought it sounded nice. Did you make that song yourself?"
Claire laughed as if the idea were absurd.
"I don't have that kind of talent. I heard it when I went to watch a play the other day."
"You went to watch a play? When?"
"When you went fishing, Jin. Arwen, Cindy, and I went together. Oh—and Rachel was there too, so four of us."
Come to think of it, Arwen had also mentioned a play once before.
It seemed the women had spent some time bonding together while Woojin was away.
Looking back… that might have been the most relaxed and peaceful time they had.
"It's a bit of a shame I missed the play."
"Would you like me to tell you the story?"
Claire offered, but Woojin was more interested in something else.
"Finish singing that song you were just humming."
"…That's a little embarrassing. Like I said earlier, I'm not good at singing."
"Why? I liked it."
"I hate singing."
Her answer was firm.
Woojin asked several more times, but Claire kept shaking her head.
I shouldn't have said anything.
Just as he was feeling slightly disappointed—
"It's done."
Duran nodded as he spoke. It seemed he had finally finished examining the keys.
Gathering the keys, Duran immediately started walking somewhere. Woojin and Claire rose as well and followed behind him.
"Tower Master, where are you going all of a sudden?"
"Well, now that the observation is finished, shouldn't we try using these keys?"
It was easy to guess what the keys were for.
Duran walked toward the center of the ruins.
There was a wide plaza beneath a dome-shaped ceiling. Strange inscriptions and murals were carved into the walls, while thick stone pillars rose up here and there to support the ceiling.
At the very center stood a massive altar.
The Tower Master climbed the steps calmly, leading the way.
After walking a bit—
They reached the top of the altar.
There stood a smooth stone slab carved like a monument. On its surface were three holes.
"Are those keyholes?"
"Most likely."
It was quite intuitive.
Around each hole were patterns made of melted gold, silver, and copper. It seemed obvious that the matching key should be inserted.
Duran personally pushed the copper key into one of the holes and turned it clockwise.
Clunk.
A sound like enormous gears locking together echoed throughout the entire plaza. Then the blue gemstone embedded in the key's handle began to glow.
The key had found its correct place.
Convinced of this, Duran handed the remaining keys to the others nearby.
The gold key to Woojin.
The silver key to Angelica.
"Here. Since you're the ones who obtained the keys, you should turn them yourselves. It's an important moment, after all."
"Understood."
Angelica took the key first.
Her face was flushed red, as if she were drunk with excitement.
Perhaps she was thrilled to take part in such a historic moment.
She turned the key firmly.
Clunk!
The grinding sound of gears rang out.
Finally, Woojin stepped forward to the stone slab. Without hesitation, he inserted the golden key.
Clunk!
And something began.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump…
A rhythmic rumbling filled the ruins, like an engine starting up. It sounded almost like a heartbeat.
At the same time, the murals and inscriptions on the walls and ceiling began to glow.
Even at a glance, the spectacle was extraordinary. Everyone began to panic slightly—
Shhhhhh—
The ceiling split open from left and right, and brilliant multicolored light poured down onto the altar.
As Woojin looked up at the light—
Suddenly, a strange sensation of weightlessness overcame him.
His body, enveloped in the light, slowly began to float into the air, as if gravity had disappeared.
"…!"
The same thing happened to the others.
Angelica, floating high above, cried out in confusion.
"What is this?!"
"W-Whoa—!"
"Everyone stay calm!" Duran shouted repeatedly. "It's just levitation magic!"
Thanks to him, the people who had been flailing around gradually regained their composure.
The ceiling grew closer.
…This situation looks familiar.
Woojin wasn't the only one thinking that.
Claire, floating beside him, spoke.
"Doesn't this situation look like the mural we found in the second trial?"
"You're right."
The Feast of Heroes.
There had been a mural in that hall depicting a very similar scene. It felt far too deliberate to be a coincidence.
What was it trying to tell them?
Woojin didn't think about it too deeply. He had a feeling the answer would soon reveal itself.
So he simply waited calmly for whatever would happen next.
Their group floated upward and passed through the split in the ceiling.
And the sight that greeted them was—
Bookshelves arranged like a maze.
And countless books packed tightly onto them.
Ancient texts created during the era of the Ancient Empire.
"…My goodness."
Duran muttered as if in a trance.
He looked as though he couldn't believe his eyes. The reactions of the other mages were no different.
It was only natural.
The entire Magic Tower had nearly turned upside down over a single ancient book found in the second trial hall.
Yet here, wherever the eye could see, books and scrolls were piled high.
"…A library left behind by the forgotten age."
Duran sighed in awe.
It was the greatest discovery since the beginning of the Holy Era.
The surrounding mages looked at the Tower Master like hunting dogs awaiting their master's command.
Representing them, Fabian carefully asked,
"T-Tower Master… what should we do?"
"Put on gloves first. We can't leave disgusting fingerprints on such precious books."
Examine the books carefully.
As soon as Duran said that, the mages—starved for knowledge—rushed toward the shelves.
Woojin, on the other hand, didn't care much.
Books again.
It was certainly a remarkable discovery, but Woojin had never been fond of reading. He had no particular desire to start flipping through them.
If he accidentally tore one while handling it, the long-grudging mages would probably nag him about it forever.
I'll just ask Claire about it later.
Once the research was done, he could simply ask her to summarize the contents.
He was thinking that lazily when—
"...What the hell are these books?!"
"There's nothing written here!"
"Look more carefully!!"
Suddenly, confused shouts erupted everywhere. Something seemed to be wrong.
Woojin quickly approached Claire.
"Why is everyone suddenly acting like that?"
"Th-that… look at this."
Claire, looking distressed, opened a book.
What appeared inside was a perfectly blank page.
It was nothing more than an empty notebook.
"Are the other books like this too?"
"Yes… all of them."
There were countless books—but nothing was written in any of them.
Hearing that, Woojin pulled out a book himself and flipped through the pages. No matter how many times he turned them, he couldn't find a single word.
Why would someone hide blank notebooks in a secret place like this?
Just as he was wondering that—
Shhk, scratch—
Golden letters began appearing in midair.
—Once, these books held valuable knowledge.
—Therefore, they were offered.
What did that mean?
The mages seemed just as confused, unable to grasp the meaning. Woojin suddenly shouted,
"Speak so people can understand! Stop trying to make everything sound like some weird riddle!"
The moment he finished speaking—
—That was the plan anyway.
Golden letters appeared again in the air, as if answering him directly.
Flash!
The lights suddenly went out.
Darkness spread across the entire library.
Then a faint glow began to ripple across the wall. With each passing moment, the light grew clearer, gradually painting a large mural upon the surface.
Everyone watched silently.
Lavish palaces and mansions appeared in the image. Floating islands drifted beneath the clouds. Before their eyes unfolded a majestic scene from the ancient empire.
—The Golden Age.
—Humanity built a brilliant empire.
—Whatever they desired, they believed they could achieve.
—But eventually, they reached their limits.
They could go no further.
Humanity had explored every possibility of magic. Their development had reached its peak—beyond which no further progress could be made.
But desire knows no end.
Ancient humanity wished to reach beyond the horizon.
—Through research, a new world was discovered.
—A world governed by unfamiliar forces and rules. Ancient humanity believed they could control it.
And so they created a door.
A gate to another world.
Ancient humanity opened the gate to the Demon Realm…
And the price of their arrogance was devastating.
The mural before their eyes began to change.
It was as if a picture made of sand had been wiped away so that a new scene could be drawn.
Palaces collapsed.
Cities burned.
Ash and mold spread across the ruins.
—Ancient humanity fought back.
—Many heroes sacrificed themselves… but they could not stop the outer gods that came through the gate.
Extinction loomed close.
To escape their inevitable fate, they needed a new breakthrough.
—There was a genius.
—The great archmage Talos. Together with his companions, he devised two strange spells.
—The Offering of Wisdom. And Ascension.
…Those were familiar terms.
Offering of Wisdom.
Woojin had witnessed that sacred rite several times during the second expedition.
Priests of the Order of Wisdom could offer the knowledge in their minds to their god, gaining temporary divinity in return.
The more difficult the knowledge sacrificed, the greater the divine power they could manifest.
But the offered knowledge was forgotten. Even if they studied it again later, it would be difficult to understand.
It was a sacred technique that granted immense power at the cost of losing the knowledge stored in one's mind.
Because of that, priests who served the God of Wisdom had to constantly study many fields of knowledge.
—Though the empire collapsed, ancient humanity still possessed something most precious.
—Knowledge.
—Our final inheritance.
They would offer knowledge to obtain a new power.
Five heroes gathered to perform the ritual.
Talos the Wise.
Asela the Devoted.
Morian the Knight of Strife.
Ea the Archer of Harmony.
Beonir the Valiant.
The five stood upon a towering altar—humanity's greatest champions.
Below them, mages began chanting the Ascension spell.
As the ritual progressed, the five heroes began transforming into beings beyond humanity.
The price was the knowledge accumulated by an entire era.
The offered sacrifices evaporated and vanished.
Not only books and scrolls, but even the memories inside people's minds.
Ascension devoured knowledge in every form with insatiable greed.
And thus, an entire age was erased from history.
…Five Ascended beings were born.