Chapter 17: The Silent Plea and the Tentative Contact
Ryu Jin-ho, his newfound control within the verdant anomaly still fragile but growing, found himself drawn to a specific clearing bathed in an ethereal green light. There, nestled amongst giant, glowing ferns, was a small, metallic device emitting a faint, almost imperceptible spatial resonance – one that subtly anchored his teleportations. As he cautiously approached, a simple, pre-recorded message played in his mind, seemingly originating from the device: "We sense your connection. We seek understanding, not conflict." The voice was calm, measured, and carried a faint undertone of intellectual curiosity. Jin-ho, though initially startled, felt a strange sense of reassurance emanating from the message, a feeling that mirrored the tranquility he experienced in the Monarch's presence.
Im Narae, guided by Kang Ji-hoon's instructions and the specialized recording device, focused her senses on the Verdant Monarch. The emotional resonance she felt intensified, a powerful wave of sorrow for a dying world intertwined with a desperate yearning for life and growth. The recording device registered complex energy fluctuations that seemed to mirror these emotions, patterns that Seo Yumi back at Ji-hoon's central hub began to analyze, searching for any translatable structures or recurring motifs. Narae also intuitively began to focus her own nascent mana, directing it towards withered plants within the park, witnessing small, fragile buds unfurl in response, a tiny echo of the Monarch's life-giving power.
Kang Ji-hoon, monitoring these developments remotely, felt a cautious optimism. The Verdant Monarch's silent plea, conveyed through Jin-ho and Narae, suggested a potential for communication and perhaps even cooperation. His initial assessment of the Monarchs as uniformly hostile might be fundamentally flawed. The architect of information began to formulate a more direct approach, a carefully crafted message of his own to send through Jin-ho, a tentative offering of dialogue.
Seo Yumi's analysis of the Verdant Monarch's energy signatures and the temporal distortions within the park yielded a fascinating correlation. The stable, localized slowing of time seemed to be directly linked to the intensity of the Monarch's life-giving mana, as if the very act of nurturing life subtly altered the flow of time in its immediate vicinity. This was in stark contrast to the chaotic temporal fluctuations associated with the destructive Gates, suggesting fundamentally different interactions with the fabric of reality.
Meanwhile, Ji-hoon's linguist recruit made a minor breakthrough in deciphering the guttural vocalizations of the goblins captured from the initial Gate. Recurring phonetic patterns seemed to correlate with basic territorial markers and simple warnings, indicating a rudimentary form of communication, albeit one driven by instinct and aggression. This provided a baseline for understanding the communication of other, potentially more intelligent, monster types.
Jin-ho, emboldened by the initial mental message, returned to the clearing, a sense of nervous anticipation fluttering within him. As he focused his attention on the metallic device, another message played: "Your presence is… harmonious. You carry the echo of life." This more direct acknowledgment of his connection to the Verdant Monarch solidified his trust and piqued his curiosity further. He felt an almost instinctive urge to convey his own thoughts and feelings, a silent yearning for understanding.
Narae, guided by her empathy and the patterns she was recording, began to intuitively understand some of the Verdant Monarch's silent communications. The sorrow she felt was not just for a generic dying world, but for specific types of environments – vast forests reduced to barren wastelands, once-vibrant ecosystems choked by shadow and decay. The Monarch's yearning for growth seemed particularly focused on restoring these lost environments.
Kang Ji-hoon, witnessing this slow but steady progress, prepared his own message. It was simple, direct, and devoid of any hint of aggression: "We are of this world. We seek to understand your purpose. We offer knowledge and potential aid in exchange for understanding." He transmitted this message to the device Jin-ho was near, hoping that the erratic teleporter's unique connection would serve as a bridge to the silent giant. The tentative contact had been made, the first fragile thread of communication woven between humanity and an enigmatic Monarch of life. The architect held his breath, waiting for a response from the heart of the verdant anomaly.