The Eldritch Files

He began to connect the knowledge he’d learned with the changes in his body, analyzing his way to a concrete conclusion: ’Tier One of Mysterious Power has three stages: Activity, Penetration, and Transformation. They must be completed in order.’

’But what if someone doesn’t develop according to these three stages?’

’Take my left hand, for example. A scar appeared on it, and I could concentrate my Spiritual Power on it to gain terrifying strength. However, the Spiritual Power couldn’t complete the Penetration stage there.’

’In other words, it’s always been stuck in the Activity stage.’

’It wasn’t until I chanted that Spell this time that the cross-shaped scar on my left hand bled and turned the color of copper. *That* was the sign of Penetration.’

’In truth, it was only then that the power in the back of my left hand reached the same level as the power in my right eye.’

’...’

As he silently organized his thoughts, he let out a slow sigh of relief.

The changes to his left hand were so obvious that they had helped him understand the core aspects of training with Mysterious Power.

The mysterious wasn’t so mysterious after all. Once you fit it into a theoretical framework, everything became traceable.

But this also made him think of his right eye.

’The power in my right eye doesn’t follow those three stages either.’

’Chanting the Fishing Song made the power in my right eye complete Activity, Penetration, and Transformation all at once.’

’But if I follow this principle...’

’...’

A sudden thought struck him. He slowly raised his hand and covered his left eye.

He looked at the world using only his right eye.

He activated a tiny amount of his Spiritual Power and focused it into his right eye. Instantly, the world seen through that single eye grew blurry. Everything developed overlapping images, which then began to separate, layer by layer.

”Holy shit!”

Han Su suddenly understood, a pleasant surprise welling up inside him.

His right eye, just like his left hand, had another Tier One application besides Penetration—one he had previously overlooked.

And the manifestation of this power was...

Han Su looked around the all-metal break room. At first, everything was just a blurry, overlapping mess. The more Spiritual Power he focused, the worse the effect became. There were no other abnormalities, until he suddenly saw a patch of shadow.

The shadow seeped out from the ceiling, a patch of pure darkness.

A faint ache bloomed in his right eye, and he felt as if he were being pulled into that darkness. He saw a blood-red pupil staring intently at him.

”...”

”WHOOSH!”

A terrifying tremor ran through Han Su’s entire body, and every single hair on his skin stood on end.

His gaze shifted slightly to the water cup he habitually kept beside him. Fine ripples spread across the water’s surface as if it had been shaken, mirroring the goosebumps that had broken out on his skin.

’That monster is watching me?’

He immediately recalled Song Chushi’s warning. He’d always been careful, but he had never made direct eye contact with the entity before.

It knew he had seen it now. A stubborn fierceness rose in him, and he decided to stare right back.

’You’re always watching me, so it’s only fair I get a look at you, right?’

’I’m not outside the city; I’m in a Disaster Management Bureau base. If you really had the guts to kill me, why haven’t you done it already?’

His direct stare, however, clearly enraged the eye. It seemed it had only intended to take a quick, secret peek, not expecting to be noticed. An indescribable, venomous hatred surged forth, using a connection beyond reality to bear down on Han Su.

In that instant, Han Su felt as if his skin were being peeled away, layer by layer. He knew it wasn’t real. It was just that the entity’s Spiritual Power was so immense that its pressure felt like the tearing away of his own defenses, a raw and painful sensation.

But just then, a crisp warning suddenly rang in Han Su’s ear: ”We are inside the base. You’re underestimating me, aren’t you?”

As the voice spoke, Han Su perceived a cold, hard quality within it, like the grinding of machinery. The voice was distinctly similar to Miss Ai’s, yet it was filled with humanity.

The next moment, he seemed to see a vision: countless metallic tentacles, hazy and overwhelming, rising from the very bottom of an infinite Abyss. One after another, they pierced into the eyeball, tearing through its pupil and boring into its very depths.

It was accompanied by the voice’s cold declaration: ”Since you like to look where you shouldn’t, you won’t be needing this eye anymore!”

”Aaaargh...”

A scream of indescribable pain rang out, followed by a shocked and furious voice: ”He hasn’t even gotten his Investigator License yet!”

More tentacles rose from the Abyss, frantically burrowing into the eyeball, so viciously it seemed they would rip out the creature’s brain. At the same time, the voice, so very similar to Miss Ai’s, spoke coldly, ”But he is already under my protection...”

BOOM!

An endless shockwave spread out, and Han Su was jolted back to his senses.

The scream still seemed to echo in his ears, making him feel both shocked and angry. But more than that, he felt a certain satisfaction.

’This is Miss Ai’s idea of protecting me?’

’I would have thought it’d be some kind of intertwining and confrontation of Mysterious Powers. Why does it look more like someone being hacked up with a cleaver?’

His emotions were in turmoil. He waited for a long time, but there were no further disturbances. Miss Ai sent no message, and the water in the cup no longer rippled. It was as if everything had returned to perfect calm.

A confrontation of that magnitude had not caused the slightest ripple in the physical world.

Only then did Han Su slowly pick up the cup of water. ’So the Tier One manifestation of my right eye is... seeing Mysterious Power?’

In theory, Han Su hadn’t truly ”obtained” this power; he had merely discovered it within himself.

But he felt an unprecedented sense of elation.

It wasn’t just because the spying monster had taken a beating, but also because of his newfound understanding of Mysterious Power.

’Before, I could only use it, but I didn’t understand it. Is this what Miss Ai meant by ”spaghetti code”?’

But now, beyond simply using it, he had gained a degree of understanding. It was only at this moment that the Mysterious Power in his body finally felt like his own, and not just a remnant left behind by the monster from the Ancient Castle...

’No, that’s not right...’

He immediately corrected himself. ’It’s not really mine now, either. I just ”happen” to be able to use it.’

’If I really want to make this power my own, that would belong to the next stage:’

’Stealing?’

”I can finally situate myself in this mysterious world.”

Han Su let out a soft breath. ”Without chanting the Fishing Song, I’m just an ordinary Investigator with two Advanced Spells.”

”But if I do chant the Spells...”

”...I’m just an ordinary Investigator with hacks turned on!”