chapter 44: The Old Friends of Unknown 1
In a place filled with stars — stars of all shapes, types, and sizes...
The sizes of these stars ranged from large to small, though the smallest among them was the size of a multiverse.
And the largest? It had surpassed even distance itself.
In this place, filled with these colossal stars,
there was a dragon—a dragon so massive that its eyes alone were the size of the largest star in the entire space.
This dragon's color was white with hints of gold at the edges and scattered across its body.
Its body was so long, it wrapped around every star in this place.
And by the way, the number of stars here surpassed all known numbers.
The dragon was asleep.
Then...
A white beam of light appeared in front of its eyes.
The dragon awoke.
Its eyes were golden.
It raised its brows in surprise as information poured directly into its mind.
The dragon frowned slightly, scratched its chin with its claw, and thought to itself:
"Strange… It's not usual for him to send a message. But this... is definitely intriguing."
The dragon smiled.
Then, all the stars disappeared—
And so did the massive dragon.
---
In their place appeared a tall young man, muscular and imposing.
His eyes were golden, and his long white hair flowed.
Two horns—golden and white—rose from his head.
Then, the young man vanished.
---
In a place full of ruin, destruction, death, chaos, entropy, slaughter, and killing intent of all kinds...
A place so terrifying that if any living being were to enter it,
they'd simply die without a trace.
In this place, killing intent permeated everything.
It was so strong that even releasing a fraction of it outside—
a fragment as small as a quark's quark—
would annihilate all life.
And the source of this killing intent was a man:
blood-red hair, blood-red eyes, a face void of any feeling or emotion—except pure killing intent.
He stood 188 cm tall,
but the aura he emitted was in no way lesser than that of the white dragon.
A red beam appeared before his face.
When he saw the contents of the message,
he smiled—a terrifying, savage smile.
His killing intent surged, growing in immeasurable magnitude.
His form began to blur—except for his eyes and mouth, glowing with dense crimson.
Then, even his form vanished.
Only a smiling red face remained.
Eyes and a mouth—savage, monstrous, cruel.
Then...
That terrifying place vanished.
The killing intent vanished.
The red face vanished.
And what remained was a young man.
He resembled the terrifying figure—
but he was different.
He radiated peace, serenity, and calm.
He smiled slightly...
And then disappeared.
---
In a place full of intertwining formulas, symbols, shapes, letters, and unknown things...
Everything was woven together in ways beyond logic.
Some things were so small they made a quark seem infinitely large.
Others were so vast they made infinity itself seem tiny.
But most shocking of all was the amount of compressed, terrifying information within each object.
Even the smallest contained more data than any being could ever comprehend.
In the midst of this strange place hovered the spectral form of a woman.
No features were visible—just a ghostly silhouette.
She seemed to be searching for something, as if this was a library of forbidden knowledge.
Then...
A blue beam arrived.
She looked mildly surprised.
Then...
With a gentle smile—
Everything vanished.
And so did she.
---
In a place full of mountains greater than multiverses...
Above them floated clouds so massive that they dwarfed all the mountains combined, countless times over.
Atop one mountain sat a handsome young man,
playing a flute whose melody brought peace and calm to all who heard it.
His long hair flowed in the wind.
Behind him was a yin-yang circle, its two sides intertwining in incomprehensible ways.
Even the two fish of yin and yang moved with mysterious purpose, each shift seemingly symbolizing a deep, dangerous meaning.
The young man continued to play his flute—
Until a black and white beam reached him.
He looked surprised at first.
But after receiving the information in the beam...
He smiled.
And said:
"What are you planning this time, Unknown?"
Then—
Just like the others, his world faded.
And only the young man remained.
Then he, too, vanished.
---
In a vast, expansive space...
There was what one might call a training hall.
It contained all types of equipment, arenas, and weights.
Massive—so massive that if you combined all the previous worlds—the dragon, the killer, the spectral woman, the yin-yang man—
they wouldn't equal even the lightest object in this place.
Somewhere within this colossal gym stood a bald man,
his muscles chiseled, dense with detail.
He was performing a deadlift-like motion—
but he wasn't lifting metal or stone.
He was lifting expectations,
hopes,
and other unseen burdens.
His face turned red—
for he was lifting Hope itself.
Then—
An orange message appeared before his eyes.
He looked mildly surprised.
Then, the information flooded in.
He forgot what he was doing...
And casually tossed the weight into the air—
as if it weighed nothing—
sending it flying a distance beyond comprehension.
Then...
His training ground disappeared.
And like the rest...
He vanished too.