The second World Boss to ever appear in the world.

[The Immortal Knight]

The one who single-handedly defeated it.

The Death God.

That's me.

So, I wonder.

'Isn't this the last place that name should come up? Why is he asking about it?'

This is the Academy. Not a battlefield where a Gate opened, nor the blood-soaked Black Tower. It's supposed to be a place of hope and learning.

And I'm just a twelve-year-old girl who should know nothing about the world's harsh realities. My cheeks are round with baby fat, and my small, soft hands seem better suited to holding a flower.

There's no way I can give a proper answer.

I tried to make a confused expression.

"The Death God?"

"Are you pretending not to know in front of me?"

The chairman of the Academy.

Yoo Seoha.

I'd heard that her martial arts had reached the skies and that her skills were extraordinary. Just standing before her made my legs tremble. It felt like being doused with ice water.

I bowed my head even deeper.

"...At that time, I lost consciousness and collapsed, so I don't know anything about it. I was caught up in the incident but was lucky enough to survive. It's not something that should concern you, Chairman."

"You have more nerve than a child should. You're only about twelve years old, yet you speak of luck as if it could achieve such a feat."

The Martial God clicked her tongue.

'Is she suspicious of me? That I was the only one who survived when everyone else died?'

Why?!

How could a twelve-year-old defeat a World Boss?

...Okay, fine. I did defeat it.

But still. People don't usually think that way.

'If they find out I'm the Death God...'

Countless people will start questioning how it's possible. And eventually, the secret of my eyes will come to light.

I'm not the kind of person that title suggests.

'I don't want to end up a ghost without eyes.'

If I don't feign ignorance now, I might end up on a dissection table, bidding farewell to this hellish world.

I put on my best poker face.

"I'm sorry, but I have nothing more to say."

The person before me was a Hunter on par with national power.

But still.

What can she do if I say no?

Is it a crime to struggle desperately to survive?

Should a blind girl just die when faced with a World Boss?

I barely survived too, you know.

I couldn't look her straight in the eyes, but I squared my shoulders with pride.

Her words carried a hint of detached amusement.

"Well, the world is full of mysteries. Miracles and disasters often dance together with the same wings, playing tricks beyond human reach. Perhaps you were just the dice that laughed and wept at that trick."

It seemed she was dismissing it as luck.

'Was she just probing? Phew, I feel like I just lost ten years of my life.'

Honestly, if I were in her shoes, I'd find it strange too.

An entire Hunter squad was wiped out, and only a child survived.

Even the Martial God would be curious.

I was the sole surviving witness, after all.

I was lucky she didn’t press me further.

"You may leave."

"Um... what about the interview?"

"You're accepted. I found your courage to display your Ideation before me quite entertaining. Strive to become a great Hunter in the future."

"Really? I can go?"

"Yes."

Wow.

A blind kid who used to attend a special-needs school just got accepted into the world's most prestigious institution.

'Who would believe this? I can barely believe it myself.'

I tried to suppress the joy bubbling up inside me.

But my lips betrayed me.

My mouth kept twitching, eager to reveal everything.

I quickly bowed, bending so low that my forehead nearly touched my knees.

Only that gesture of humility could hide the exhilaration I felt.

Afterward, I left the room with my eyes tightly shut, guided by Hayangi.

Clink.

As soon as the door clicked shut, I clutched my chest.

I let out a deep sigh.

"Hoo... That was the strongest person in the world, huh?"

A shiver ran through me.

My body trembled, my remaining baby fat jiggling slightly.

I clenched my teeth, but the trembling wouldn't stop.

The steadiness of a tree rooted deep in the earth.

The depth evident in every word and action.

And the nobility of her Ideation.

"Amazing."

The words slipped out unintentionally.

I wanted to become someone like her.

The admiration surged so naturally that it startled me.

I regretted not using my Status Window to get a glimpse of her.

But I immediately shook my head.

That was dangerous.

Who knows what might happen if I did?

The Hunter world doesn’t cut anyone slack for being young. I need to stay cautious.

I have no allies.

Hunters will do anything to grow stronger.

Yet amid the fear and awe, something else sprouted within me.

I realized something.

Unlike me, she possessed a grand Saga but kept her Ideation concealed.

Despite that restraint, she was overwhelming.

'I guess Ideation isn't just about projecting it outward.'

To me, Ideation was simply a tool to read external information—to sense flows, read the air, and predict danger.

Like someone flailing underwater, desperately trying to breathe.

Like a drowning person desperately reaching outward, I had only ever projected my Ideation externally. That was the only way I could hide my eyes.

But the Martial God turned her Ideation inward, holding it calmly within herself.

'If projecting Ideation outward extends one's senses, what happens if you contain it within?'

I'd never considered that possibility before.

But the moment I grasped the idea, my Ideation reached a new dimension. The instant I realized it, I understood how to do it.

Vmmm.

A vibration resonated from within me. My Ideation started connecting with me in a new way. Every corner of my body began to awaken. Each cell seemed to burn, like my body was disassembling and reassembling itself.

I instinctively understood what it meant.

My Ideation was harmonizing my body.

'Is this... an anatomical schema?'

A black mist-covered diagram of a body appeared before me. It was undoubtedly mine: small and delicate.

But it felt different from when I'd used Clairvoyance to see myself. This wasn't a visual perception—it was seeing through Ideation.

'Is it because my Ideation stat is still low?'

I couldn't see everything clearly. Shadows clouded the diagram, and whatever I sought slipped through the murk.

However, I realized I could freely navigate the parts that were clear.

'My Ideation stat is ten, right?'

The Status Window listed my Ideation stat as 10.

That explained the obscured regions.

[You've achieved the state of aligning body and mind. Congratulations on your accomplishment.]

"What is this? What's the benefit?"

[Heroes call this 'opening the core.' Why not try moving around and see for yourself?]

That made sense.

I was itching to test it anyway. A growing child can't resist a good stretch.

'One, two, three, four.'

I stretched to the rhythm of my mental count.

My body extended effortlessly. Muscles and joints I’d never consciously engaged awakened one by one.

Moving exactly how I imagined felt incredible.

I laced my fingers behind my back and bent until my spine touched my hips.

"Wow, this is insane. I can even do this?"

I extended my legs into a perfect line without any discomfort.

Balance and flexibility. Unbelievable.

'It's not just flexibility—my reflexes and senses have sharpened too.'

Did my Strength, Agility, or Vitality stats improve?

I couldn't tell immediately, which was frustrating.

But there was a downside.

'Opening the core with Ideation reduces the amount available for external use.'

My Ideation reserves were still too low to manage both simultaneously.

I felt like I'd traded my external vision for enhanced physical performance.

'Just another reason to level up.'

But it didn't stop there.

'What if I applied my Saga to my Ideation?'

Projecting my Saga externally turned it into shadow-forged bullets.

But what if I applied it to the Ideation now coursing through my body?

Shhhh.

Darkness engulfed me.

"Whoa."

I hadn't become one of those evil organization's shadow lords or changed my race.

I'd melded with darkness.

"Whoa! I'm invisible! Can you see me?"

[...As expected from someone who shoved their Ideation into a bullet and fired it like a lunatic—such a shady technique.]

Achilles sniffed the air. Even he couldn't see me.

Stealth.

"Hmm."

A brief hum escaped the lips of Yoo Seoha.

She sat, slowly flipping through a stack of documents. Her black eyes scanned the text.

They say eyes are the window to the soul. Her gaze felt like it could pull in the observer's very essence.

A former Hunter from the Tower's frontline, seated before her, bowed his head.

Looking into the Martial God's eyes was terrifying.

"Honestly, I was surprised when you said you'd personally handle the interview."

S-Rank Hunter.

Park Hangyeol, the Fame of Majesty.

He spoke cautiously.

"Professors usually conduct the interviews. When you got involved, I took it as a sign that something... exceptional was happening."

The Korean Hunter Academy's interviews were notorious. Even the world's most promising talents often froze under the pressure. Some fainted and had to be carried out.

And now, the Martial God herself had conducted an interview—for just one student.

The entire academy staff had been bewildered.

The world's busiest person, taking time for a single candidate?

Facing the Martial God in an interview was enough to kill someone from sheer stress.

No one dared question her decision. She was, after all, their employer.

Yoo Seoha closed the file and looked at Park Hangyeol.

"They say the world is governed by principle, guarded by strength, and advanced by trust. But to your eyes, do I appear as a guest with none of these qualities?"

Park Hangyeol faltered for a moment.

She still had her mischievous side.

"Of course not. I just—"

"I'm just curious."

"I simply assumed that if she were truly the disciple of that vicious one, she would naturally secure first place."

"The Disciple of the Omnigod?"

Yoo Seoha nodded.

Her voice, accompanied by her dark, intense gaze, was calm, but the sharpness concealed within it was undeniable.

"The idea that the Omnigod was raising a successor seemed unbelievable to me. That's why I came to see it with my own eyes. But not only was the top spot overturned, that twelve-year-old child even dared to scatter her Ideation in front of me."

Flap.

The document she tossed unfolded on its own in front of Park Hangyeol.

Such an extraordinary display of martial prowess left him speechless.

He glanced at the floating document. The profile of the girl who had dominated the entrance exam with overwhelming scores appeared before his eyes.

'What the... all perfect scores? Even Kim Seokhun gave her a perfect score in the practical test?'

Perfect scores in both written and practical exams. Unprecedented.

Even nepotism wouldn't explain it.

Park Hangyeol rubbed his temples and bit his lip.

After all, he was the one who had recommended her.

'I'd known she was special for being the sole survivor of a World Boss attack, but...'

He repeated the thought like a mantra, as though trying to convince himself.

At first, he'd assumed she had just been lucky to get a good skill—or perhaps simply lucky to survive.

After all, she was blind.

'When she awakened, she was just a novice. I recommended her because I thought she might have gotten a high-tier skill.'

He didn't know what skill she had received from the system, but for a blind girl to survive [The Immortal Knight], it had to be either S- or Ex-grade.

Skills of that caliber were often described as transcendent.

Sure, Hunters who relied solely on high-tier skills often faltered later in the Tower's upper levels.

But talent, even if it came as an innate gift, was still talent.

Like the son of the [Sword Saint], who inherited the [Heavenly Martial Body] skill—talent that promised an exceptionally high growth ceiling.

Park Hangyeol had reasoned that even if she performed well, great; if she failed, she would gain valuable experience and could apply to other academies, either domestically or internationally.

"...But still."

He sighed as he reread the document.

First place in both exams, and—more significantly—she had caught the Martial God's attention.

Luck alone couldn't explain it.

"Hangyeol."

"Yes, Chairwoman."

"I see you were the professor who recommended that girl."

"……"

"Let's give her a task."