Chapter 210 The Ocean of Souls

I could hear a voice calling my name. A voice Id never heard before.

But it felt nostalgic for some reason it made me melancholic.

[Fate, fate wake up. How long have you been sleeping!]

When I woke up, it was the house I had lived in since I was young. A small village located west of Tetra, the city of merchants, across several mountains. You cant even grow decent vegetables in the barren land.

Even so, her medicinal plants managed to grow, so she used them as a source of income to make a small living.

When I tried to get up, my body ached all over. It seems that yesterdays farm work had taken its toll.

[It hurts it feels kind of strange.]

Wrapped in a cocoon of some kind, a vague sensation smoldered.

I feel like Im forgetting something important I felt like I had a small bone stuck in my throat and couldnt calm down.

[Fate! Not yet?]

[Lets go now.]

I changed my clothes and opened the door to my room. A father and a strange woman were there.

She looked at me and gave me a strange look.

[What are you doing? Your breakfast is getting cold.]

[Im sorry, Mom.]

Eh What did I just say? Mom! ?

[Really what happened? Dean, say something too.]

[I guess youre still half asleep. Fate, sit here.]

Dad beckoned with a smile. As prompted, I went to the well-worn table. and sat across Dad.

Then, the doubts I had earlier disappeared.

[Come on, lets eat. Its simple, but its the breakfast your mom made.]

[Looks delicious]

Freshly baked black bread. It smelled like rye. The herbal soup had a slightly bitter taste.

It goes well with black bread, and the food goes on.

[Ill do the farm work after eating. Lately, Ive been slacking off because Ive been hunting all the time.]

[Youve been monster hunting too much recently, Im worried.]

[So mom is getting worried, huh. This is work too. The village chief is noisy when the number of monsters has increased recently.]

[Theyre getting too reliant on you, Dean.]

But, Dad replied while hugging Mom.

[Im the only one who can fight in this village. Its okay.]

[Fate is also there, right?]

Can I fight? What kind of skills did you have?

[You have the same spearmanship skill as your father. Are you still half asleep?]

[Did I?]

[I guess you are.]

Dad stroked my head roughly. Maybe thats all right I felt like I was forgetting something again.

[Well, breakfast is over. Farm work.]

[Lets go, Fate.]

My father and mother left the house. I was left behind with my hand on the front door, unable to move forward. Something inside me was in denial.

I can hear the voices of the two people who went ahead from outside.

[Fate, not yet?]

[Quickly.]

Even though it was supposed to be through the door, I could hear the voice coming from the other side.

And its funny. Moms face was not clear for a long time.

I cant see it because its foggy. I dont know why, I dont know my mothers face. No, I really dont know.

I feel uncomfortable with this situation. What the hell is this it should have been a good place.

Crouching and holding my head, I heard an inorganic voice.

Its a familiar voice. I have heard this voice over and over again. As much as I hate it

But I couldnt hate this voice.

I dont even know what youre saying to me. Anyway I guess youre talking like you always do.

Gluttony skills will be activatedhnn!?

Triggered by that, memories flowed in vividly.

Thats right.

Where was this place? My home village was no more. It became a burnt field in the battle with the gargoyles. Therefore, it couldnt exist.

When I realized something was wrong, the world began to crumble with a noise.

The house I lived in when I was young disappeared like sand. The other side of the wall was a bright red world.

Fate, hold yourself together! At this rate, youll be sucked into this world!

I woke up to Greeds voice. Apparently, I jumped into His Land and lost consciousness immediately.

The whole area was a bright red world. It was very similar to the world of Gluttony skill. One could even call it a mirror copy.

Youre making me worry

[How long has it been?]

No idea. This world is different from the one we were in

[Are Mine and Eris safe?]

They cant be beaten easily. Worry about yourself instead. What happened?

[I was dreaming of the time when I was young. No, its more than a dream.]

It seemed like reality. My mother was alive and my father was also fine I didnt have the Gluttony skill.

It was a modest and ordinary world, but it wasnt bad.

Maybe this world interfered with you and made your dream feels like reality

[This is?]

It must have been caused by those who make up this world. Youre particularly sensitive to it due to the Gluttony skill.

Those Why did it sound like Greed treated it as if they were people? Could it be the red light surrounding my body?

When I touched one of them, someones memory passed through my mind. Fragmented and incomprehensible, it was the memory of a warrior man. Moreover, the last memory of fighting monsters and being eaten. Even the pain was transmitted to me who looked into it.

Dont look at the failure. It looks like he didnt die a decent death

[Are you saying that everything in this world is human souls?]

No, not all of theml. Look into that

I touched a soul that was bigger than before.

Kuh! This was not human.

Overwhelming hatred poured in. It was a memory of a monster that hates humans, kills, and eats them.

Separated from its original territory, it single-mindedly attacked and devoured humans. The memory belonged to a stray monster.

Until now, I didnt know the reason why a stray would leave its group and go on a wandering journey alone, but I felt like I understood it. They hated humans on an instinctual level and their desire to eat them was abnormally strong compared to other monsters.

It was cornered by the warriors and finally exterminated by the holy knights. The stray monster was drowning in hatred until the moment it lost its life. Even after watching it, the remnants of it still cling to me. I cant help but feel very uncomfortable.

How was it?

[The worst]

Most monsters think like that. Thousands of years have passed, but the hatred of humans never disappeared. Drowning in hatred, they lost their reasoning. Its impossible to understand each other for the rest of your life with someone who doesnt have reason

[So, thats why humans fight monsters?]

What would you do if it was designed to be like that from the beginning?

[Its ridiculous. Whats the point of letting them kill each other?]

The result was the world you see now

Looking around after hearing Greeds words, I could only see a bright red world that went on forever.

This place was not just a space. It was almost as if another world existed.

However, what is the point of gathering these huge numbers of small souls to compose this world?

If its yousince you have the Gluttony skill, you should understand

Greed said so and quietly waited for my answer.

I recall the time when I touched the soul. I could feel the gluttony skill tingle the moment I touched it.

[No wayall these souls]

They contain status, and skills

It should be similar to the world of the Gluttony skill. But it is otherwise a much larger world.

Why are you doing this?

Fate, have you ever farmed?

[Of course.]

When I was young, I grew medicinal herbs and a few crops in the village. Plow hard soil, sow seeds, water and compost. Sometimes crops that had started to grow wither due to natural disasters or diseases.

It took a lot of patience and repetition, and there were times when no matter how much effort you put into it, there was nothing you could do about it.

Then imagine this, sowing the seeds and harvesting the crop as skills and status

[Greed.]

This place was a place to collect and store the harvested souls of this world.

Warriors and monsters use their skills to fight, raise their levels, and increase their stats. That act is the same as growing crops! ?

All living things will die someday. Battles with monsters, longevity, illness, and unexpected accidents. The list goes on and on. After death, the skills are put into a vessel called soul along with the tempered status, and gathered here. And as it continues to be stored, the world becomes bloated.

When the door to this land was about to open, a small amount of soul flowed backwards, causing a phenomenon such as resurrection.

[I mean, thats it.]

Now that its open, its trying to get back to the original flow. It has a surprising momentum just because the door is open.

It was just as Greed said.

A change will come to a world that has never seen flow before. It began to move slowly, as if the souls were drawn to it.

Let us go. Libra and Roxy should be at the end of this stream.

[Yeah, lets go]

I gripped the black sword tightly and headed for the center where souls gather. Suddenly, an inorganic voice passed through my mind.

Why did it try to awaken me when I was about to be trapped in this world? Normally, it should only speak to announce the activation of the Gluttony skill.

The inorganic voice remained a mystery even after looking into the abyss of the Gluttony skill. Where the hell was this voice coming from?