Kael looked at Volaan quietly.
"Yeah." He replied simply.
Volaan adjusted her glasses again, studying him from head to toe as if analyzing a rare specimen.
"…So you're the one who made Cheng Soo lose his mind yesterday," she said flatly.
Kael didn't respond, only waiting.
The knight who escorted him quietly stepped back and closed the door behind them, leaving the two alone inside the room filled with papers, diagrams, and faint magical residue.
Volaan leaned back slightly in her chair.
"I heard you're here to 'learn healing techniques,'" she said, tapping the table lightly. "But judging by what I was told… you already read Cheng Soo's books in minutes."
Her eyes narrowed with curiosity.
"So tell me," she continued, "what exactly do you want from me?"
"Anything you have," Kael said calmly, walking slowly around the room as his eyes briefly scanned the scattered diagrams and notes.
Volaan raised an eyebrow, watching him carefully.
"That's a very vague request," she replied flatly.
Kael stopped for a moment, then turned his head slightly toward her.
"No," he corrected. "I want knowledge about this world."
Volaan paused, her expression shifting into something more serious as she finally understood the scale of his intent.
"You're not just asking for healing anymore…" she murmured.
Volaan narrowed her eyes slightly, pushing her glasses up as she studied Kael more carefully.
"…Are you newly in this world," she asked slowly, "or are you a product?"
The word product hung in the air with a strange weight, as if it carried a meaning far beyond simple creation.
Kael tilted his head slightly, not immediately answering.
Volaan didn't look away.
Her violet eyes remained fixed on him, as if trying to analyze every micro-reaction, every trace of energy fluctuation around his body.
"…You don't react to basic concepts like normal people," she added quietly. "That's why I'm asking."
Kael remained silent for a moment, as if considering the question carefully.
"I don't know what you mean by 'product,'" he finally said.
Volaan's eyes narrowed even further, but this time with sharper curiosity than suspicion.
"…So you are newly here." she muttered to herself.
Kael continued speaking calmly.
"I woke up in this world, and everything I've done so far… I learned it by observing or reading."
Volaan leaned forward slightly, placing her hands on the table.
"Then that explains it," she said softly. "Your understanding of power isn't inherited or trained—it's self-developed at an abnormal speed."
Her gaze sharpened again.
"But that still doesn't explain your body… or how you survived a Six-Core Nightmare."
"There is one possible explanation about your body," Volaan said slowly, her eyes locked onto Kael. "You're awakened to Transcension."
The moment the word Transcension was spoken again, Kael's attention sharpened slightly.
He had heard it multiple times now—from enemies, from observation, from fragments of battle… yet no one had clearly explained it.
"Transcension?" Kael asked calmly. "Can you explain that?"
Volaan leaned back slightly, as if choosing her words carefully before answering, her curiosity clearly deepening as she studied him.
"I don't have much information about Transcension," Volaan said carefully, her eyes still studying Kael. "But once a human awakens it…"
She paused, adjusting her glasses slightly.
"Their body, senses, and abilities… are multiplied ten times—no, sometimes even a hundred times."
Kael remained silent, listening intently without interrupting.
"But Transcension is extremely difficult to awaken," she continued. "Less than one percent of people ever achieve it."
"But… once I was in the Great Land," Volaan continued, her tone lowering slightly, "I heard of a group of people who defied both the gods and the Monarchs. Every member of that group is a Transcension."
She looked at Kael more seriously now.
"The name of that group… is The Mist."
"I see," Kael said calmly, already shifting his attention back to the book on the table.
Without hesitation, he opened it and began scanning the pages, as if continuing to absorb information at his own pace.
Volaan watched him quietly, still processing their conversation.
I heard their abilities are simple but terrifying… others say no one can lie in front of Transcension, she thought to herself, her expression tightening slightly.
The more she observed Kael, the more she realized—he wasn't just learning about this world.
He was trying to understand how to survive in it.
"Hey, Volaan," Kael asked without looking up from the book. "What is the arrangement of Master Level, Grandmaster Level, and Peak Mortal Level?"
Volaan adjusted her glasses and leaned back slightly in her chair.
"Those are the basic cultivation and combat tiers," she explained. "There are eleven stages in total."
She raised one finger at a time as she listed them.
"Mortal, Master, Grandmaster, and Peak Mortal. Peak Mortal is the limit an ordinary human can achieve."
Then her tone grew more serious as she continued.
"After that comes Pseudo-God or Monarch level, then Nascent-God, Low God, Intermediate God, High God, Ancient God… and finally, The Lord—the highest existence in this world."
She paused for a moment, letting the weight of the system settle in the air.
"That is the structure of power in this world."
Kael finally closed the book slowly, as if organizing everything he had just heard in his mind.
"…I see," he said calmly.
Volaan watched him carefully, expecting some kind of shock or reaction, but there was none.
Instead, Kael's expression remained steady, as if the hierarchy of gods and mortals was just another piece of information to store.
"You're not surprised." Volaan said quietly.
Kael looked up at her.
"I don't have enough reference to be surprised." he replied simply.
That answer made Volaan pause.
For the first time, she felt like Kael wasn't just learning the world—
He was rebuilding his understanding of reality itself.
Volaan narrowed her eyes slightly as she continued observing Kael in silence.
"No one like him just suddenly appears in this world…" she whispered to herself. "If there were others, they would've either hidden in houses or still stayed within the kingdom borders while adapting slowly…"
Her gaze sharpened as she studied his calm expression.
"But this man… not even one year here… and he looks like he's already adapted completely," she muttered. "And judging from his age, late twenties at most…"
She leaned back slowly in her chair, a rare sense of unease creeping into her usually composed mind.
"…He's not normal." Volaan concluded quietly, her curiosity now fully turning into cautious interest as she looked at Kael like an unsolved equation.
Kael closing the book completely. "I've learned enough for now," he said calmly.
Volaan blinked, still processing his earlier presence and speed of understanding.
"Enough?" she repeated quietly. "You mean from just this short time?"
Kael didn't answer directly. Instead, he placed the book back on the table neatly, as if returning something already fully understood.
"I'll need more references," he added. "Especially about Transcension and The Mist."
Volaan straightened slightly at the mention of that name again.
"…You're really going to dig into dangerous things." she muttered.
Kael turned slightly toward the door.
"I don't have a choice." he said simply, before walking out of the room without hesitation.
"I know in future I our path will collide." Kael whispered himself.
The moment Kael stepped out of the room, he found someone waiting for him in the training ground.
Commander Deo stood in the center of the field, dressed in his usual rough clothes, a sword resting on his shoulder.
The old commander grinned the moment he saw Kael.
"So, you finally came out."
Without another word, Deo pulled a second sword from beside him and tossed it toward Kael.
The blade spun through the air.
Kael raised his hand and caught it effortlessly.
"I can't accept what i heard plenty of things about you yesterday," Deo said, lowering his own sword and pointing it toward the ground.
His grin widened.
"But hearing and seeing are two different things."
The surrounding knights immediately backed away, sensing what was about to happen.
Deo planted his sword firmly on the training ground and looked directly at Kael.
"So, young man," he said. "How about a spar?"