Surviving Restructuring

The title Sky Breaker literally meant shattering the heavens. Apparently, even an artificial sky still counted as a sky in the system’s books.

[Your physique is insufficient to contain such a grand title!]

Sky Breaker, huh?

Seeing it written out, it really did sound majestic. It carried a weight far beyond the moment when the title Pathfinder evolved into Paver of Paths.

[Searching for an alternative host medium.]

What would the system choose as the host medium? It should be able to house this title in place of my unworthy body...

[A new host medium has been selected.]

Ji-Eun was the only one nearby, but surely it wouldn’t have picked her? After all, her physique was even weaker than his.

Vmmm...!

Then, a heavy tremor rattled his bones. He didn’t need to search for the source, as it was literally in his hand.

A crude blade so rough as though carved from black stone itself. It bore no intricate designs, not even the faintest maker’s mark. A nameless weapon, its only glimmer lay in the edge he had painstakingly sharpened by hand.

Vmmm...!

That very sword howled.

Vmmm—!

It howled again and again. Then, like a chick cracking its shell from the inside, it broke.

“What the...”

[A vessel forged by melting iron in blood and cooling it in time now accepts your magnificent title.]

[The Shatter Blade responds to its new master’s will!]

Fwooosh—!

Then, indigo light burst forth from above. Neither warm nor gentle, but sharp and cold, as if made to be aimed at his enemies. At the center of that cracked abyss, a sleek black sword emerged.

[Congratulations!]

[The Flame Shatter Blade has evolved into the Flame Sky-Shattering Blade!]

A word he’d never spoken before had become both his achievement and his weapon’s name.

“Eun-Ho! W-what is that?!” Ji-Eun gasped.

Understandable, as a perfectly fine sword had just howled itself apart and transformed into something that radiated sheer power. He wanted so badly to check its effects and maybe even brag a little.

Not now, Eun-Ho thought.

“Is that really the same sword from before? It looks completely different—”

“Later! We need to regroup with the others first!”

Ji-Eun, wide-eyed, pressed her lips together and nodded. “... Okay!”

She understood what mattered most right now: the job only she could do.

I have to get all of us out through the hole we punched in the sky, Ji-Eun thought.

Shhhhhh!

The last fragments of the fake sky poured down. The real one appeared above them, curving overhead. It was a breathtaking, paint-thick blue, like someone had dumped a whole ink bottle across the heavens.

Eun-Ho had to squint at the blinding, real sunlight.

“Eun-Ho! This sky isn’t flat.”

“Looks like the arena really was spherical.”

“Just like a ball?”

Eun-Ho nodded.

Yeah, more like a ball or maybe even an egg. And here I thought it was just the sword that hatched, Eun-Ho thought.

Perhaps they were hatching too.

“Over here! Over heeere!”

“Mister! Unnie!”

Maybe it was because the ground was now much closer, but faint voices finally reached their ears. People were waving frantically from below.

“Everyone’s alive,” Eun-Ho commented.

“Thank goodness! So I just have to float them over there, right?” Ji-Eun asked.

“Right. But the problem is...”

Unlike Ji-Eun’s innocent smile, Eun-Ho’s mind was already racing through variables. Her Psychokinesis was level 10, meaning her maximum lift was ten people. Including the two of them, that made eleven people, meaning they were short by one spot.

His jaw clenched instinctively. Ji-Eun smiled softly at him with confidence, albeit with uncertainty.

“I think it will work. Han-Wool is holding Yul...” Ji-Eun replied.

“Right!”

Yul had been in Han-Wool’s arms this whole time! She’d come along for free!

Ji-Eun pressed her lips together, gathering every ounce of focus. “Okay, I’ll give it a try!”

Just as the broken sky stopped falling, the rain stopped as well.

“Oh my word! We’re actually going up!”

“Aaaaah! We’re so high up!”

“Don’t look down, Unnie! It’s scarier if you look down!”

The group of people began to float upward, like rockets strapped to their shoes.

“Holy! H-he really managed to smash the ceiling?! He broke the sky? Damn!”

“Hyungnim! Are you okay?! Your clothes are shredded!” Jae-Hyuk commented.

They flew toward him making every fuss under the sun.

Eun-Ho nodded at the Swear-Master and teary-eyed Jae-Hyuk. “Your lifting is quite good actually! It’s pretty fast. Nicely done.”

Just as he was about to say thank you on everyone’s behalf, everyone swayed.

“Noonim! Are you all right?!”

She said nothing, sweating cold but still forcing herself to keep focus.

“It’s because she’s lifting too many people. Before she gets too exhausted, we need to—”

The impatient system didn’t wait for him to finish, and mercilessly made an announcement suggesting this world’s end.

[The Arena has collapsed!]

[Brace for impact!]

“Collapsed?”

“Aaaaah! We’re falling! Help!”

“F-focus! Focus!”

Just like that, they plummeted from their new sky, back down toward the earth they’d come from.

***

“W-were we actually floating above the sky?!”

“We were what?!”

That was when Eun-Ho realized something for the first time, just how loud wind could be.

Whooooosh—!

The roar was like a helicopter blade beating right beside his ear. They plummeted toward the ground along with the spherical arena that had once hovered over Seoul.

“Kyaaaaah!”

“If we fall from this height, we’ll—aaaah! Oh God!”

“Hold hands! Hold on to each other!”

People tumbled through the air, flung closer and farther apart by chaotic gusts. Holding hands didn’t guarantee safety, not even close.

This is dangerous, Eun-Ho thought.

Although Ji-Eun was trying her hardest, handling eleven people at once was pushing it, especially when they were tumbling wildly in freefall. Actually, this level of precision was nearly impossible to maintain even under perfect conditions.

Eun-Ho started to think about what he could do to help.

I’ll have to slow us down first...

Even the tiniest sliver of survival had to be scraped together.

“Summon! Activate!”

[You have activated the audit pass to the Beginner Swordsmanship Class.]

[A door has appeared.]

Click—!

He felt the familiar cold brass doorknob in his left palm.

“Ha...” Then, Eun-Ho stopped, floating not so high up above the Han River. “Ji-Eun! Grab my hand!”

He caught Ji-Eun with his right hand.

“Haa...”

She was shaking violently, understandably so. She’d gone from soaking wet under a monsoon, to pouring every last ounce of mental strength into holding them up in the air. However, now wasn’t the time to rest.

“Are you all right? You have to stay focused!”

“Yeah! I’m fine!”

If she didn’t have the stamina, she had to squeeze out her mental resilience.

“Everyone, grab on!”

At once, Ye-Ji—still holding Ji-Eun—followed, along with the Swear-Master, Han-Wool carrying Yul, and the others. They clung on like beads strung along a rope.

“W-we stopped!”

“It’s only temporary, but we won’t be badly hurt if we fall from this height.”

“Holy shit, I really thought we were going to die.”

“Thank you so much, Noonim!”

Just like Jae-Hyuk said, the credit went to Ji-Eun, who’d barely managed to keep everyone from scattering.

“We’re going to drop into the Han River. The wind is strong so be careful!” Eun-Ho shouted.

“Lord, guess we’re going for a swim now!”

“Is there anyone here who can’t swim?” Eun-Ho asked.

He was waiting for the right moment to release the doorknob when a sharp gust rocked them all.

Whoosh—!

A storm-like blast ripped them apart right then, as if the wind was trying to break their chain.

“Aaaaah!”

“Sol-Ah! Grab my hand!”

“Don’t let g—”

First, Sol-Ah slipped from Yeo-Jin’s hand.

“Damn it!”

“Hold tighter, man!” barked the security guard holding Han-Wool’s ankle.

Then he slipped too. Finally, even Han-Wool, who had been holding Yul tight in his arms, lost his grip and fell.

“Eun-Ho! What do we do?! They’re scattering!”

They were so close and now a violent wind wanted to ruin everything.

“Aaaaah!”

“Sol-Ah! I’m right here!”

Sol-Ah and Yeo-Jin screamed as they spun away, before another gust swallowed their voices entirely.

Whoooosh—!

Even as ice-cold wind rattled his bones, Eun-Ho’s mind raced. There still had to be a way.

I’ll use Acceleration, regroup everyone, then slow their descent long enough for Ji-Eun to reach the river surface safely.

That was the plan he was forming when a series of gloomy messages appeared in front of him.

[You have reached a physical limit due to accumulated damage.]

[You’ve developed the status effect, Overexertion.]

Thud!

Then, his consciousness went dark.

***

Eun-Ho dreamed and even in the dream, there was a path. He followed someone’s back, not knowing who they were, or where they were going. Under his feet, the road kept changing from soft dirt to straw-woven footpaths, to wooden planks, to stone bridges that he had to leap across.

A new path meant new scenery, new air, new smells. He walked and walked and walked some more, until he got curious about the face of the one he was following.

Then, out of nowhere, a bomb of ice-cold water dropped from the sky.

***

“Kek!”

He jolted awake, coughing up freezing water that burned both his throat and nose.

Clack! Clack! Clack!

His teeth chattered so violently they clacked together. The coldness made him tremble all over. He was so battered that he could barely open his eyes. Then, another bucket of icy water drenched him.

“... what...?”

“Dunno... said...’”

Voices that were blurry around the edges floated to his ears.

“Ha...”

Amid a throbbing headache, a vague, unfamiliar space came into view. Along with it, the ropes binding him and the unfamiliar faces surrounding him came into view.

“What the heck? Who sent you?”