I Became an Evolving Space Monster

Episode 293 – Goal (2)

｢…It’s even more hideous now that it’s an adult.｣

Heaven’s Mother was disgusted when she saw the human face with Jason’s face.

She had also seen human insects several times in games, but seeing a 3m-sized insect monster in real life seemed burdensome.

‘Then shall we begin?’

I used the ‘mimetic organ’ to ask Jason in a human voice.

“What level of quest did you clear?”

“I cleared level 10 and was working on level 11.”

The cult has its own unique system called ‘Quest’. The quest consists of a total of 12 stages, and rewards are provided for each stage cleared.

The armor and weapon Jason brought with him when fighting me was the ‘Dragon Slayer Set’, a reward for clearing level 10. So I expected it to be somewhere around that point, and it was like that.

‘It takes quite a while to break from level 11.’

Anyway, if you have cleared up to level 10, you are quite close to the ending. So, there is a high possibility that you have had a similar experience as me.

“Have you ever seen a vision of your time as a human while clearing a quest?”

“yes. “I watched it every time I cleared each stage of the quest.”

“You mean things that happened in the past?”

“That’s right.”

It was as expected. Just as I had seen things that had happened in the past, he also had the same experience.

“Was there anything strange about the vision? “Only bad memories are listed or there are distorted parts.”

He paused at my question. Jason’s face distorted eerily. It seemed like he was recalling a bad memory.

Inmyeonchung, who had been answering obediently until now, hesitated for a moment before answering.

“There was no distortion in the memory shown by the vision. “It was all exactly like what I experienced.”

“Then it must have been an unfortunate memory.”

“yes. My father, who was drunk, always called me a faggot. My mother and I could not resist my father in any way. “I just got beaten by my father every day.”

Unlike his wrinkled face, Jason spoke in an extremely dry tone. Heavenly Mother, who was listening next to her, frowned. From what he was saying, Jason didn’t seem to have had a very easy life either.

“In addition to that, I also saw memories of being alone because I couldn’t adapt to school, and memories of having to return to my hometown because I failed to get a job.”

The memories he talks about are all from his time as a human.

‘Similar to me.’

“Is that the end of the fantasy? “Anything other than memories of being abused?”

“no. “When I cleared level 10, I saw another vision.”

“Another fantasy?”

Jason’s distorted face slowly began to straighten.

“The vision started and I woke up in front of my room. “I was standing there with the body of a cult.”

A situation where you are standing in front of your room in reality with a body acquired in this world. It’s the same as when I saw ‘me’ in reality.

“I opened the door and the real me was there.”

“What did you do with him?”

“I killed it.”

He calmly says that he killed his real self. Just like his voice, his expression seemed very comfortable.

“Killed him?”

“In reality, I lived a failed life. But here I am different. Women who live with only one thing in mind: perfect looks and powerful strength that everyone looks up to. That’s a lot more valuable than ‘Jason Turningham’!”

He speaks passionately as if he is completely intoxicated. It’s the first time I’ve seen him this excited since he became a human being.

‘You seemed to have a strong ego.’

This was something unexpected. Even before he died, he did not give up his arrogant attitude. Of course, I thought that would be the case in real life, but I never thought he would be such a self-loathing person.

‘Is this a reaction to the bad reality?’

The Antler Cult is the highest noble within the empire. In addition, he was a priest, a key position in imperial power. So, he was able to let Muriel into a sacred place that no one could enter.

‘It’s a life that completely contradicts the miserable reality.’

That’s why he chose to kill his human self.

In that respect, Jason and I have something in common. Loathing the real me.

I almost killed myself in my fantasy. I was able to stop because something was blocking me at that time, otherwise it would have probably eaten me.

‘Heavenly Mother didn’t like the past that much either.’

If she increases her level of deification in the future, she may have experiences similar to ours.

‘Is the purpose of fantasy to force us to remain in this world?’

I wonder if they are intentionally emphasizing only the negative aspects of reality to prevent us from returning to reality.

‘So did Jason and the other factions see hallucinations that were different from ours?’

Cynthia, whom I met at the Space Fortress, said that her goal is to see the ending and return to reality.

That means that she and those in her faction have a lot of regrets about reality.

‘Is it because their reality is not as unhappy as ours?’

So is the vision they saw different from ours?

While I was lost in those thoughts, Heavenly Mother, who had been watching our conversation from the side, opened her mouth.

｢I have something to ask.｣

“….”

｢You chose this world because reality is painful, so why did you cause pain to others?｣

“Answer her question.”

Since it is like a part of my body, it only obeys my commands. Only after I prodded did Jason break the silence.

“Because it works.”

“What?”

“If you have power, isn’t it natural to use it? “If you use this power, you can get what you want at any time, so why should you care about other people’s pain?”

“Have you ever thought about using that power to protect those who love you?”

“Everyone still loves me, so why would you do something like that? Well, it’s a bit of a shame when the bitches you worked hard to raise die, but it’s not a big loss. “You just have to grow it again.”

“What do you value the lives of those who sacrifice themselves for you?”

“It’s a toy. “I am the owner of the toy.”

The Mother of Heaven fell silent at Jason’s brief words. I was so dumbfounded that I was speechless.

“Rather, I just don’t understand you. Why do you insist on coexistence?”

As she just stared at him in silence, Inmyeonchung asked her a question in return.

“…They are not just NPCs. They are residents living in another world. If you’re going to live and adapt to this world, don’t you naturally have to hang out with them?”

“Adapting to this world and treating NPCs as human beings are two different things. Even if they are really alive, I have no obligation to help them as I am a strong person.”

“You think this is reality, but you treat all other creatures as slaves… I don’t understand.” “

But didn’t you also keep Wolff as a pet toy? “Being worshiped as a god by them.”

“I was trying to protect them!”

“Me too. My power alone is beneficial to the empire. “I only received a small compensation for it.”

Their argument ran parallel.

The same thing is that both Jason and Heavenly Mother chose to adapt to this world rather than reality.

But the process was completely different. Jason chose to abuse and dominate other beings, and Heavenly Mother tried to live in a relationship with the Wolfs.

“I heard that the reason the Coexistence Faction failed was because of people like you who are overly obsessed with NPCs. If it wasn’t because stupid Muriel failed, you too would be my last name…”

“Stop.”

“ !”

Jason tried to cross the line, so I forced him to be quiet.

“Heavenly Mother is my precious friend. “Don’t insult her.”

The guy looked at me with puzzled eyes and lowered his head.

“are you okay?”

“…That damn bastard, he hasn’t changed even after becoming an Inmyeonchung.”

The Mother of Heaven glared at the Inmyeoncheong whose mouth was blocked and immediately sighed.

“It would be nice if you beat me up, but if you do that, you’ll probably die, right?”

“There’s no problem with hitting me if you want. “Because it can be played anyway.”

“You’re being very harsh when you say that?”

Contrary to what she said, she flopped down on the spot, as if she had no intention of punching Inmyeonchung. There was still irritation in his amber eyes, but he seemed calmer than before.

After seeing that she had calmed down, I loosened the restrictions so Jason could speak again.

“I heard that there are people who aim to achieve the ending. Do you know about them?”

“yes. “They call themselves ‘returners.’”

“And I talked about the ‘coexistence group’ a little while ago. They are people who, like you, chose to remain in this world, right?”

“It’s very different from us, but I think our goals are similar.”

The returning faction’s goals are clearly different, and the coexistence faction is similar to Jason’s faction, but has a big difference in direction.

The reason why the three factions cannot coexist is because there is a significant difference in perception between reality and the world of space survival. There may also be differences between factions even in fantasies that contrast them sharply.

We need to know what the difference is in order to understand why illusions exist and how they affect us.

‘And you will also be able to know whether the illusion is dangerous or not.’

The idea that we need to see the ending to find out why we fell into this world remains unchanged.

However, if I did not decide it on my own but was guided by something, I would never follow it.

‘I guess I’ll have to find another way instead.’

“This is the last question. “Do you know where the members of the Returning Sect and the Coexistence Sect are?”

After hearing my question, Jason gathered his thoughts for a moment and then answered.

“I know of three in total, two from the return faction and one from the coexistence faction.”

“say it.”

“4th place outspacer player, 7th place cult player, 22nd place cold blood player. The first two are the returning faction, and the cold blood player is the coexistence faction.”

“4th and 7th? “Those two are returnees?”

“yes.”

I know both of them well.

‘For some reason, there are only a handful of picky ones left.’

The 4th place ranker is the best player in Outspacer and is skilled at controlling a huge amount of volume very well. He knows as much in-game information as I do.

‘And 7th place.’

Jason called his name, as if he knew him. The name ‘Beomho’ doesn’t fit with the cult, so it’s probably his real name. As far as I know, 7th place was the only Korean among the cult rankers.

‘He was the most annoying member of the cult.’

Among the cult rankers, the one with the highest ranking is 2nd. Since the ranking is lower than that, it is easy to think that the skills are lacking, but that is definitely not the case.

‘Second place is rather easy because it is a simple and ignorant style.’

On the other hand, Beomho, ranked 7th, was the one with the most sense and strategy among the cult members I know. If you look at his fighting sense and sense of game planning, he is better than me. So, if you fight in this world, you really have to risk your life.

‘The two returnees are having a hard time in their current condition.’

Since neither of them are very smart, there is a high possibility that they have already noticed my presence.

In particular, the 4th place knows that Outspacer is included in the evolution conditions for Aimorph. As long as I’m in this world, I’m sure I’ll be fully prepared for someone coming to take my life one day.

‘Then what’s left is….’

A cold blood player from the coexistence faction.

“Where is number 22?”

“I do not know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I missed 22nd place and only caught his colleague. All I know is that Number 22 is hiding somewhere in the Empire.”

The territory of the Cult Empire is wider than Megacorp. Many star systems are the territory of the empire, but saying that they are hidden somewhere is the same as saying that they do not know.

“Since the location of the tiger is unknown, I can only tell you the location of number 4.”

‘…It became annoying.’

It is not easy to fight 4th place without knowing the location of 7th place. Since the two are from the same faction, the possibility of them being together cannot be ruled out.

What if the two of you come out together to catch me?

‘That’s it.’

Even if I take all the Gallagons and the Giga Cracker, I will definitely lose.

As my worries deepened, Heavenly Mother stood up.

“I have something to tell you.”

“Huh?”

“…There is a way to know the location of number 22.”

“What?”

“Instead, promise me one thing.”

Her amber eyes looked at me, shining like lanterns.

“When you meet her, don’t attack her right away, but start talking to her.”

“She might attack from over there first?”

“She probably won’t because she’s a coward. If you find it hard to believe, I will try to convince you first.”

Judging by her tone, she seemed to know the 22nd person. No, it seemed like a closer relationship than just acquaintances.

‘But I don’t know if that will still be the case now.’

The Heavenly Mother has been in the cult shrine for a long time without meeting other players. It seems like she met No. 22 a long time ago, but will they still be able to maintain the same relationship as before?

I thought for a moment and only half agreed to her request.

“I will try to have a conversation. If it is judged to be even slightly dangerous, it will attack immediately. Because I have a lot of kids to protect. “You can’t leave behind anything that could cause harm.”

“…Okay.”

“If I decide it’s not dangerous, I won’t kill you, I’ll just subdue you.”

“huh. “Thank you.”

She realized my intention and expressed her gratitude. If you subdue her without dying, you can use the symbiotic spores to treat her. Just like you did when you first met her.

‘The next place to go has been decided.’

The next place to go after the nest where there is a flock of Aadhai.

Number 22 is a hidden cult empire.