“Huff… Huff...”

Frantic breathing echoed throughout the closed stone chamber.

Woohyuk leaned against Verserios and stared at the newly revealed s.p.a.ce.

The purple magic circle in front of him was gradually losing its color and fading away.

'I finally escaped.'

It was the worst imaginary world he had ever experienced.

He hadn't expected it to reach and read his subconscious.

Thanks to this, he even fought fierce battles against unknown beings.

It felt like he had been in the Abyss world.

That's why he learned for sure what was wrong about himself.

'I am afraid of the Demon G.o.d's power.'

The fear that he might get swallowed up and consumed by the abyss while overusing Verserios. This fear had rooted itself deeply in his heart.

'Well, I somehow managed to overcome it this time around, but…'

It was a fear-based on his subconscious, so it was difficult to say that he had completely gotten over it.

In other words, it was easy to get over it temporarily, but getting rid of it forever was a lot more difficult to do.

However, he didn't think he was weak enough to be torn apart by his inner fears.

Putting his fear aside, Woohyuk walked towards the treasure chest.

'It's sealed with a lock.'

In general, the key was held by a monster who guarded the secret room.

But in this situation, there was a magic circle that was replacing the guardian monster's role, so he couldn't find the key.

Although it could be hidden somewhere else in this ruin, he didn't have enough leeway to search for it right now.

His mind and body had already reached their limits while struggling in the imaginary world, and fighting additional battles was unreasonable.

'I have to pick the lock.'

Having conquered numerous historical ruins in the past 40 years, this was not a difficult task for him to achieve.

Woohyuk pulled out a long lockpick from his pocket and inserted it in the lock.

Creak. Creak. Creak.

Click.

It didn't take long for him to succeed. Woohyuk's proficiency was too high compared to other ordinary people.

Before long, the treasure chest opened, and a golden gauntlet appeared.

[Hand of Midas]

Type: Equipment

Grade: A

Durability: 26,000

Effect: Converts all ent.i.ties that you touch with the hand to gold after equipping it (Only equipable by those with Phrygia royal blood. Does not work on targets with higher magic resistance than the user).

'The same effect as the myths.'

He used the archaeologist's golden magnifying gla.s.s just in case, but there were no hidden effects or options.

Woohyuk picked up the Hand of Midas and immediately went back to where he had left the Phrygian King.

“Turn that statue into gold.”

"Yes...”

Midas walked toward the statue of a monster without resistance.

As he touched the statue with the golden gauntlet on his hand, the statue glowed brilliantly and turned to gold.

'Amazing.'

It wouldn't be of any help in battle, but with this ability, he could generate money anytime, anywhere.

However, the problem was that there were no more descendants of the Phrygian royal family.

The Midas in front of him could not be taken out of this world created through imagination.

'But we can't be too certain.'

Just as Joanna was the descendant of Queen Iona, the descendants of the Phrygian royal family could have survived somewhere, although it was extremely unlikely.

After retrieving the Hand of Midas from the man himself, Woohyuk headed for his starting point, the Memory Garden.

“When will these flowers be harvested?”

"Their… growth... is… almost… over...”

The flowers of the secret garden were implanted with the memories of those who had been offered as sacrifices.

The memories were managed by the garden's mechanics. When they reached a happy ending, the memories produced an unknown substance in the pistil of the flower they had used as the host.

The usual required time was one month.

If left unattended for a long time, the flowers withered, so the harvest cycle was kept accurately.

At Midas' explanation, Woohyuk looked at him with a puzzled expression.

“But how do you know that? Are you also a member of the Witch Cult?”

“That… is… the case...”

Midas rolled his sleeve.

A witch stigma.

Amongst the seven deadly sins, a pattern representing Greed was clearly engraved on his arm.

“They must have wanted to make the entire Phrygian kingdom their own.”

This place was Angrboda's imaginary world, so there was no reason for her to control Midas by forcibly imprinting a witch stigma on him.

In other words, the witch stigma in this imaginary world reflected the real world. He had truly been a member of the witch cult in his lifetime.

Since the king was a witch at the time, Phrygia would have been no different than the Dane Kingdom.

As Woohyuk observed the flowers in the garden, a familiar laughter resounded in the distance.

"Hahaha! I see that an uninvited guest has arrived, even though this place is Lady Lilith's sanctuary.”

Aleister Crowley.

He had reappeared.

Woohyuk straightened himself as a deep frown appeared on his face.

'He really appears anywhere and everywhere he wants.'

Woohyuk could not afford to fight him in his current state.

However, the information on the Clipport Fruit was too precious to try to escape without confronting him.

He also had some questions regarding this place.

Woohyuk decided to start a conversation to buy time.

“What kind of experiments are you doing with these flowers?”

“Hmm, should I call it an experiment that goes beyond the limits? Well, it's still in the clinical trial stages though.”

Aleister took out a clear flask.

A solution with a purple hue.

It was probably an alchemical solution made from extracts of the flowers here.

'Has he failed to successfully produce Clipport's fruit as of yet?'

However, considering the appearances of Awakeners in the ancient records and doc.u.ments, the prototype had already been completed around the War of G.o.ds and Demons.

Having found out about these flowers were more than enough of an achievement.

In particular, the solution Aleister was currently holding was required for the complete product.

“I want to offer you a deal.”

“Oho, you don't seem to have a sense of crisis. Is it because of the demonic energy that is contained within you?”

Aleister's red eyes scanned Woohyuk once again.

He was sensing that his opponent was no ordinary foe.

The Aleister of this imaginary world knew nothing about Woohyuk.

“If I was afraid of Lilith's mutt, I wouldn't have come here in the first place.”

“A mutt… You're not wrong, since I am acting according to Lady Lilith's revelations. So, what is this deal of yours?”

"That solution for this man's life."

Woohyuk pointed his vampiric dagger against Midas' neck.

Alaster, who saw his actions, showed interest in him.

“There are many Phrygian royalties besides Midas…”

"Angrboda won't be happy if he dies though."

“…That is true. She does consider Midas her lover.”

Angrboda loved the handsome Midas. She had asked Aleister to protect him in exchange for allowing him to harvest the flowers in the Memory Garden.

Woohyuk obviously didn't know that much, but he understood that Midas was quite an important existence.

“Midas will be useful in many ways for you if he stays alive. There is no one better to use to control the Phrygian Kingdom from the shadows other than him.”

“I admit it. The financial power of gold is enormous. And this garden needs to be maintained until the end of the experiments and research.”

Aleister honestly told his current situation, because Woohyuk had sparked his curiosity.

There was so much that he did not know about him, such as how he had broken into the witch's chapel or who he was.

“Then hand over the solution first.”

“I'll give it to you if you want. I have a lot of these in my lab anyway.”

Aleister threw the flask into the air with a cool look.

Then the flask was carefully delivered to Woohyuk through floating magic.

'I've got everything I need now.'

In truth, he wanted to study Angrboda's secret garden a bit longer, but the situation at hand wasn't ideal.

It would be wiser to withdraw right now.

The important question was whether the flask would be recognized as a reward of the ruins like the Hand of Midas.

Since the things that existed within the imaginary world were not real, they could not be brought out at will.

'Because Aleister had it on him, it could be seen as some kind of loot...'

First, it was necessary to find out how the system would cla.s.sify it.

Woohyuk took the archaeologist's golden magnifying gla.s.s and looked at the violet solution inside the flask.

[Memory Flower Extract]

Category: Consumables

Effect: Alchemical material. By consuming it, you can enter your own imaginary world. All stats slightly increase depending on the individual's capabilities, and some of the potential abilities are temporarily revealed (the shape may change if taken outside the imaginary world).

'So it is recognized as a reward.'

If not, there was no reason to put that little message at the bottom.

When Woohyuk was satisfied, Aleister opened his mouth.

“You seem to know what it is. Did you get any information from Eteria Rodinus or p.r.o.noia?”

"Who knows? Let's a.s.sume you're correct.”

He didn't want to share details since he would soon be leaving this place.

Woohyuk kicked Midas, knocking him forward, and moved to the center of the garden, the initial starting position.

“Are you trying to run away? I have already blocked all the exits...”

“Do you really think so?”

There was one thing Aleister had overlooked.

He didn't know where Woohyuk had come from. And even if he knew, it was impossible for him to chase after the infiltrator, since Aleister was just a creation within the imaginary world.

[Historic Ruin: Would you like to leave the Memory Garden?]

[YES / NO]

As he touched the adventurer's watch, a system message popped up before his eyes.

Woohyuk did not hesitate and pressed the YES b.u.t.ton.

Afterwards, a dazzling flash swallowed up everything in his sight.

***

“But Lady Leifina, why does Lord Asura care so much more about you than others?”

“What are you talking about…? The Lord has never really favored me.”

“Never favored you? During this incident, he was so worried that you would lose your memories. You didn't seduce Lord Asura while I was away in Floren, right?”

“Seduce him…? That's nonsense...”

While Woohyuk was exploring the Memory garden, Aris was talking to Leifina about a topic she normally wouldn't mention.

She was being sort of jealous.

She thought she was more suitable for Woohyuk than Leifina since she was a demon king.

“What's certain is that Leifina likes Lord Asura. That's obvious to me since I can peer into souls.”

“I came to the same conclusion after using advanced a.n.a.lysis magic. Now that the subject of Lord Asura has come up, her heart is beating faster and she keeps leaking out some sort of aura of love.”

Alphone and Agnes, who were next to the other two, added their own thoughts after Aris.

Leifina stepped back in confusion.

“Tha, that's not true. To quote My Lord's expression, it is because I am a vir...”

“Ohoho, so you've told him that you're pure? You're trying to appeal to him, aren't you? However, I am a young woman just like you in my heart. I have been having a one-sided affection towards Lord Asura for thousands of years.”

Aris placed her hand on her meager chest and tried to show off.

She was conveying that she wouldn't lose to Leifina.

Leifina began sweating as if she had understood the message.

As the two women faced each other silently, a pillar of light shone in front of the divine tree and Woohyuk appeared.

He looked tired as if he would collapse anytime soon.

“My, My Lord!”

“Lord Asura!”

Leifina and Aris ran to Woohyuk with anxious expressions. They each grabbed Woohyuk's arms and supported him while competing.

“Are you unhurt, My Lord? Just what happened inside exactly…?”

“But I'm relieved you're alright. My heart was heavy as I feared you wouldn't return, Lord Asura.”

Woohyuk's body was clean without any wounds.

The Memory Garden might've been a location where only spiritual and mental trials were given.

The gazes of the two relieved women crossed.

Soon enough, subtle sparks flew between their eyes.

Woohyuk spoke with a reproachful tone.

“Aris, did you bully Leifina while I wasn't here?”

"Huh? I, I...”

“She is my escort knight, so don't reprimand her too much for making small mistakes.”

This was definitely favoritism. Undeniable favoritism.

Aris shed tears in her heart.

'Lord Asura doesn't understand my heart.'