The wind blew gently, flowing slowly across the mountains and rivers.
The middle-aged man lifted his gaze toward the clouds drifting through the sky. He remained silent, lost in thought.
His gray eyes reflected the heavens, carrying within them a faint trace of confusion.
Words echoed endlessly in his mind — memories spanning countless epochs.
He remembered one person.
One man.
Peerless.
A genius beyond comparison.
Talented in every path — such that no single being across all ages could stand beside him.
He was the second to emerge, yet in truth the first and the last.
Across the endless Dustless Lands, through generation after generation, epoch after epoch, no one ever appeared who could resemble that young man.
One day, that man stood high above the Dustless Lands.
He hovered at the very center of the entire dustless lands .
Below him were countless living beings — mortals and animals, immortals and beasts, gods and demons, fairies, devils, and unknown existences beyond naming.
All gazed upward on him.
Some were curious.
Some fearful.
Some mocking.
Some eager for spectacle.
Some waited silently to see what would happen.
Others simply wished to understand.
Amid countless gazes, the man stood calmly in the void, without concern.
He did not care how others looked at him.
He only wished to see what he wished to see,
to know what he wished to know.
That was his nature.
He wore pure snow-white robes, flawless and unstained.
His hair was dark as the void.
When others truly looked at him, they were shocked — for no one could find a single flaw.
Handsome beyond comparison, unmatched across the Dustless Lands.
He stood at the center of all attention.
Yet what he sought, no one knew.
He wanted only peace—
to gaze at the clear sky, day and night,
to feel the warmth of the sun,
the quiet presence of the moon,
and the distant shimmer of the stars.
To accept both lightness and darkness as they were.
But one day, he saw the outside world.
Chaos filled every corner,
and fear lived deep within the hearts of all beings.
At that moment, he made a decision.
He made a vow to himself—to change everything.
Yet he did not seek to reshape the entire world.
He wanted to change just one thing—
to remove fear
and give everyone peaceful life.
He tried again and again — through every method, every path, every means.
Each attempt failed.
Again.
And again.
And again.
All roads were blocked.
No answers came.
Only when he tried did he realize how heavy that path was.
Now, only one path remained.
He stood face to face with the final question he wished to understand.
This was the last way — because all others were sealed.
He opened his mouth.
Instantly, the Dustless Lands fell into pin-drop silence.
All beings held their breath.
Everyone knew what he sought.
Everyone knew he had failed countless times.
Everyone understood that this path had no return.
If he succeeded, he would live.
If he failed — there would be no "again."
He stepped forward with no retreat behind him.
His voice echoed across every corner of the Dustless Lands:
> "If I love something,
I will work until my breath turns into fire.
I will walk through storms,
and rise after every fall.
But if I love something,
and the world tells me it is impossible…
if reaching it means breaking,
or even risking my life—
Still, I will move.
Still, I will try.
Because the heart does not run from danger;
it runs toward meaning.
The thing I love
is worth the pain,
worth the fear,
worth the fight.
Even if I never reach it,
my heart will keep walking
toward that light."
When he finished speaking, a colorless staircase slowly emerged beneath his feet.
Step by step, void condensed into form.
He took the first step.
High above the sky, terrifying thunder erupted.
All beings were shocked to their cores. Cold sweat drenched their foreheads.
Thunder was expected — but this was not ordinary thunder.
This tribulation was beyond understanding.
Some beings had lived through numberless epochs. They had witnessed every kind of thunder, every rule, every order.
Yet none had ever seen thunder like this.
This was destruction itself.
Even a single spark could completely annihilate a powerful star.
Now, it was not one spark — but an entire revelation of thunder gathered into one place.
An unimaginable calamity.
Not to mention a single person facing it —
even if the entire Dustless Lands faced this tribulation, everything would be erased into nothingness.
And yet — all of it was aimed at one man.
The Dustless Lands trembled.
Breathing became heavy.
The thunder was about to strike.
When he reached the tenth step, he saw a Vonex Portal opening before him.
But he knew — he must first pass the thunder tribulation.
Only then could he cross the Vonex.
He had failed all other paths.
This was the last one.
He shook his head lightly and took a deep breath.
Then, for the final time, he turned around and looked back at his family and friends—one last time—with a gentle smile.
Once.
No regret.
Only fear — and absolute determination.
He had already chosen.
He looked toward the sky.
His body gathered power beyond imagination.
A terrifying aura leaked from him, shaking existence itself.
When the thunder struck, he rose to meet it.
He faced it head-on.
Two unimaginable forces collided above the Dustless Lands in the early morning sky.
The shockwave spread outward.
Every being felt only one thing in their hearts:
The end of the world.
The force was more than enough to destroy the Dustless Lands entirely.
A colossal explosion followed.
But suddenly —
Light.
An overwhelming brightness enveloped everything.
So bright that all beings were forced to close their eyes.
When they opened them again—
Everything was normal.
No destruction.
No deaths.
No damaged stars.
Yet powerful beings looked toward the sky — and were horrified.
Above the Dustless Lands, countless dead stars were shattered.
The void was cracked across billions upon billions of miles.
Laws themselves were broken.
The world stabilized quickly, but the scars remained.
All eyes turned toward the center of the explosion.
But there was nothing.
No trace.
No answer.
No body.
Only a deep void blast — unrecovered, silent, absolute.
Everyone knew this was his dead end.
Yet everyone still wished to know the meaning, the outcome.
But all had turned into nothingness.
A long time has passed since that incident.
Countless epochs passed.
Most beings forgot his name.
Forgot his deeds.
Only a few powerful existences still remembered.
And even those memories slowly became illusions.