All of this world’s mana was spread by Ramisa, The Black Serpent That Devours the World.

Normally, before devouring a world, Ramisa would enrich it with mana to enhance the quality of the souls within it, creating a large number of mana awakeners.

In truth, the mana awakeners in this world were effectively born thanks to Ramisa. However, that didn’t mean Ramisa controlled them.

All Ramisa had done was scatter mana to elevate the quality of this world’s souls.

And the place where the mana was most concentrated was South Korea—the very location where Ramisa was supposed to descend to devour this world.

— “These are of decent quality. The level of their souls has risen quite a bit.”

Ramisa’s voice was satisfied as she observed the fruit of her harvest, but all I felt from her was bloodlust.

The villains in front of me—who tried to kill me the moment I opened my mouth—were all on high alert. After all, I looked like a 15-year-old boy who had just emerged from a rift.

“Don’t let your guard down! He came out of the rift alive. Attack him from a distance first!”

“Yes, boss!”

Some of the villains, clearly specialized in long-range attacks, swiftly launched their strikes at me.

There were flashes of light and even massive fireballs thrown in my direction, with no regard for whether or not they’d set the entire mountain ablaze.

To top it off, they triggered explosions around me as well.

I didn’t avoid a single one of their attacks.

KWA-BOOOOM!

“D-Did we get him?”

But I hadn’t even been scratched in the first place.

“You idiots! Feel his presence! He’s completely fine!”

The villains quickly realized their attacks had done absolutely nothing to me.

“I told you not to let your guard down! Treat that brat like he’s at least on my level or higher!”

“Yes, boss!”

It seemed they weren’t just your run-of-the-mill goons. The moment they recognized my strength, they immediately adapted their strategy.

The so-called “boss,” in particular, was an SS-Class villain. I noticed that it didn’t seem to bruise his pride in the slightest to command his subordinates to treat me as someone equal to or above him.

‘Pragmatic bastards, huh?’

I could also roughly guess why Seomun Ye-jin was being held captive here.

‘They were probably planning to sell her at a slave auction for an insane price.’

This wasn’t something that had ever appeared in the original story. I only learned about this through Ramisa.

In this world, the concept of beauty carried special significance.

Those born with extraordinary beauty were fundamentally considered blessed by the world, especially women.

However, no matter how beautiful someone was, if they weren’t a mana awakener, their true value couldn’t fully blossom.

But if a beautiful woman also happened to be a mana awakener, that was when the true value of the world’s blessing revealed itself.

Seomun Ye-jin’s worth—her body and soul—was far beyond what she could even imagine.

To beings like Ramisa, who possessed the power to destroy worlds, people like her were referred to as “World Treasures”. Both their souls and bodies were considered so valuable that they were often managed separately under special protection.

Even beyond that, securing someone like Seomun Ye-jin—one of the heroines of the original story and among the most beautiful of all mana awakeners—would open up countless possibilities.

Her price would be astronomical. The villains had clearly been planning to sell her off as a virgin for maximum profit.

In the original story, this aspect was vaguely glossed over, but in reality, the villains and the underworld had a very clear understanding of the value of beautiful mana awakeners.

‘I don’t need to worry about her getting hurt, but I’ll still need to pay attention.’

It wasn’t simply because she was one of the original story’s heroines.

She wasn’t my enemy, and I didn’t have any reason to feel negatively toward her.

There was simply no reason not to help her.

***

‘He’s strong.’

Park Ji-hoon, the SS-Class villain, broke into a cold sweat as he watched the young boy effortlessly withstand his subordinates’ attacks.

Of course, blocking such an attack was something he himself could do. The probRem was that he couldn’t fully grasp the flow of mana the boy had used to block it.

In fact, Park Ji-hoon’s specialty was precisely identifying the flow of his opponent’s mana, understanding its principles, and exploiting its weaknesses.

He had never failed to analyze the mana of anyone weaker than him.

That meant the boy was at least SS-Class.

‘I’ll test him for a bit, and if it doesn’t work, I’ll run.’

True to his villainous nature, Park Ji-hoon had no attachment to his subordinates.

His underlings only followed him out of fear of his strength and for their own benefit.

Since there was no loyalty between them, Park Ji-hoon had no qualms about using them as shields while he made his escape if things went south.

After all, that was the whole reason he kept subordinates around, giving them a share of the spoils to keep them in line.

“Hyaaaah!”

However, he couldn’t flee right away. There was still a chance he might win.

With that thought, Park Ji-hoon drew his weapon—a sword—and concentrated his mana into it.

This attack, infused with a pure, destructive will, was something even an SS-Class mana awakener couldn’t block easily.

“The boss is attacking!”

“Watch out!”

His subordinates, having seen this attack many times before, quickly retreated to avoid being caught up in it.

Park Ji-hoon swung his sword down, the mana in it filled with raw, destructive intent.

KWA-BOOM!

“How boring.”

But Baek Seo-jun, who watched this scene, spoke with a tone of utter disinterest.

In front of him, a circular sphere appeared.

No, it was more like a dark passage, resembling a rift or a gate.

The black passage began to devour Park Ji-hoon’s attack with terrifying force.

The attack he had launched—one so powerful it could shatter mountains—was sucked into the passage and vanished without a trace.

Seeing his attack disappear so completely into the massive black hole, Park Ji-hoon was overcome with chills.

‘This kid isn’t SS-Class!’

He might even be SSS-Class. No—he was undoubtedly above SSS-Class!

‘I have to run!’

As soon as Park Ji-hoon realized this, terror seized him, and he immediately tried to flee.

His subordinates were still standing around, oblivious to the gravity of the situation, but Park Ji-hoon had no time to care about them.

Ordering them to block the boy would be pointless. He would use his underlings as shields while making his escape.

“Where do you think you’re going?”

But before he could act, Park Ji-hoon felt something pierce both of his legs.

“Ugh, aaah!”

With a scream of pain, he collapsed forward. Glancing back, he saw that the sharp, black tendrils that had pierced his legs were jagged, spear-like appendages.

And to his horror, he realized that his legs, starting from the wounds, were turning pitch-black.

‘I can’t channel my mana?’

The dark energy spreading from the tendrils robbed him of control over his legs.

His knees were already blackened, while the lower parts of his legs retained their normal color. But because his knees had been corrupted, he couldn’t transmit any intent or mana below them.

He couldn’t even use mana to forcibly move his legs.

“Argh!”

To make matters worse, the tendrils that had pierced his legs wouldn’t budge.

If he wanted to escape, he would have to abandon his legs entirely.

‘If I want to live, I have no choice!’

Despite his fear, Park Ji-hoon steeled himself.

He quickly made the decision to sever his own legs, but before he could act, more tendrils pierced his arms.

“AAAAAHHH!”

He let out another agonized scream, his voice echoing through the forest.

Seeing their boss incapacitated, his subordinates finally understood the gravity of the situation and paled in terror.

“Oh my god, the boss has been taken down!”

“R-Run! AAAAAH!”

The villains, realizing they were up against an opponent they couldn’t possibly defeat, turned tail and tried to flee.

Their arrogance when preying on the weak was gone. Now, they were nothing more than cowards, scrambling to escape in all directions.

But countless tendrils surged forth and pierced their bodies.

“Gah!”

“Ugh!”

The villains coughed up blood, their screams cutting through the air before their bodies went limp and lifeless.

— “Don’t forget to collect their souls, Seo-jun.”

“I know already.”

At Baek Seo-jun’s words, the bodies of the villains—except for Park Ji-hoon—dissolved completely and were sucked into the tendrils.

Their flesh was broken down, and their souls were refined into an energy source before being absorbed.

‘Not a bad harvest.’

Even though his current power was still somewhat limited, Baek Seo-jun could feel himself growing slightly stronger.

This was technically his first time killing in this life, but since his opponents were villains, he felt no resistance or guilt.

His mental fortitude, tempered through his time in the dimensional rift, ensured that he wouldn’t be shaken by something as trivial as killing.

But it didn’t feel good, either.

The psychological aversion to killing still lingered within him.

‘I’m still inexperienced, I suppose.’

Accepting his own imperfections, Baek Seo-jun turned to Park Ji-hoon and said,

“If you’d fought me in close combat, I might have humored you a bit more. But you stuck to long-range attacks and tried to run. Tsk.”

“P-Please spare me…”

Tears and snot streamed down Park Ji-hoon’s face as he pathetically begged for his life.

Meanwhile, Seomun Ye-jin, who had been watching the entire scene unfold, stared with her mouth agape, as though she had been completely mesmerized by what she had just witnessed.