Chapter 23: The Prison of Time and Space… 1  

-Do you think we could get stronger faster if we go to this place?

-Maybe. If we could catch a monster then we’ll gain experience and that would help our levels increase quicker.

Jaehwang wasn’t the only one who was thinking about it. Between some hunters and strong clans exclusive possessions, there was a dimension gate fee and tax for avoiding a wormhole that they’ve found. As dangerous as it was, they had to put up with it since there were a lot of benefits that came with it.

-Is it dangerous?

She asked. But even Jaehwang didn’t know for sure what it was like.

-No… It’s an Elosu type monster. They’re a lower tier than Dakosu monsters.

-Elosu? Dakosu? What are those?

She asked in confusion. He thought he finished explaining the summary about the present day generation but he left out the most important thing. He completely forgot to mention that they could be living in an illusion.

-So three dimensions collided together?

-Correct.

-So between the three dimensions, the earth we’re on now… And all the monsters that rule the ground were Dakosu monsters and the ones living at the start of history live in a place called Elosu? So the types that came from Elosu are called monsters and this wormhole was almost completely filled with them?

-Uh… That’s about it. But, it’s an Elosu so it would not be much of a challenging monster. You don’t like Dakosus?

-Yeah. Luckily both of the dimension gates in our country has been fixed. Dakosu monsters tore a hole through the dimension gates and many of them started to appear. The country worked nonstop to fix it. The representative of that country was Australia but they’re still facing the risk of getting overrun up to this day.

-I see.

-When you explain more about life on the three worlds and all the different species, don’t they all have one thing in common?

-What is it?

-First, the three worlds all have a similar terrain. Don’t they look completely the same? But the lowest continent’s shape was only almost the same. Also, the other three continents existed during the same time…. The last save system interfered with the dimensions of the three worlds, right?

-That’s a really good guess. I haven’t thought about the system myself.

-Yeah and that save looked like it saved humanity on our earth. But fighting with the remaining two continents made the humans weak.

After Jaehwang finished talking, she replied to him in a slightly confused tone.

-Isn’t that like the three world’s continents giant dimension’s trying to compensate? wasn’t the save an extremely bad thing?

-Huh… Well…

Jaehwang shook his head. What she said wasn’t wrong, she was completely right. While waiting for the save God to come, a new religion appeared. The conscious older ones were more aware. However, the right and wrong of the save system were never questioned here.

-First, that’s a question for a philosopher and second, what’s important for me right now is to level up and get stronger.

It was really important for hunters to level up. The more they leveled up the more their skills improved and with that, they would be able to learn even more new skills.

Skills weren’t the only thing Gagseogs would gain when they leveled up. They could teach skills to others and they could keep gaining skills faster with the help of Rodeos artifacts. Although for them, magic or healing skills were almost impossible to learn.

Jaehwang caught a monster not too long ago so his point of view changed.

/10000exp

He caught it with the help of others but the numbers on his exp bar clearly rose up higher. He knew that this hunt might be harder than he thought since he was going in alone but, he also understood that he should not compare this to his previous monster hunting experience and prepare for anything that could happen.

-Okay, let’s go. I’m ready to leave.

She said in pompous tone but Jaehwang was suddenly buried in his thoughts. He felt like he was not ready to leave yet so shook his head.

-No…

-Why?

-It’s really dangerous. It’s the lowest… You had your skills all figured out and tested. It’s something to prepare for.

Jaehwang just turned away. He knew that he could get stronger but on the other hand, it could go completely wrong. He understood that if he was going to do it, there was a big risk that things may not go as planned. And worst case scenario, he could even die.

The skills he had were very lacking. He thought about it and the weapon that he had was ranked with the lowest effects and stats. A challenge wouldn’t be a bad thing but, he couldn’t use his wellness as a bargaining chip to get stronger.

-You’re a very cautious person.

-I just like to have everything planned out. Dying is surely possible if you go in without a plan… Let’s go.

Jaehwang came out of the hole and took some tree branches from around the area to block it. He needed to make sure that the next person to come here wouldn’t notice that it was there. He regretted not being able to go in there at the moment but he shook it off. He then heard the spirit speaking.

-Are we going to have to wait a long time until you get the skills?

-Yeah.

Jaehwang answered with a determined expression.

-How long should it take?

-The shortest possible time would be 2 months maybe? If it would take longer than that then I’d say it would take about a year.

-That sounds about right. The waiting time would be boring but after that, I would be able to come back and go into that wormhole to level up. Do you want to go to the city afterwards?

-What would happen if we left that wormhole here until then…

She said that instead of answering Jaehwang’s question.

Jaehwang then smiled. They both shared the same feelings and he felt that she was interested and bored about it all at once as well.

‘It’s so tiring.’

He started to have an interest in how his world had changed these past few days. Now that his phone had piqued his interest, he thought that maybe a remote-controlled TV in the cabin would not be a bad idea.

-Hmm, looks like there will be lots of time for training. You need to pay homage to your family…

-It’s no use… are you sure that it’s okay to reduce my training time or do you have any other way around it?

Jaehwang then changed his smile to an unenthusiastic expression. She seemed reticent for a second before answering back.

-There is one. It’s the prison of time and space, with it you could improve 100 times more by the hour.

Jaehwang was surprised by what she said. Living with monsters and knowing about all kinds of grotesque skills made it seem like he was crazy but he thought that it impossible to think that magic like that could exist.

But he did remember seeing something like that happen before. An hour would speed up to 1.2 or even two times more. He remembered that the place itself would be slowed as well as the time slowed down.

-Do you need a lot of supplies?

Jaehwang asked after he thought about how simple he could improve if he could do magic like that.

She then unexpectedly answered.

-No, there’s nothing in particular that you need. You just have to relax yourself while laying down and get ready for anything unexpected to happen.

Jaehwang thought about what she was saying. Something about a prison between time and space. H then he realized something else, he especially paid attention to the word ‘prison’.

-Could you explain it more in depth?

-Okay. First, let’s go back to the mountain cabin.

They soon arrived at the cabin and after Jaehwang cleaned and organized the shrine, they went in there to sit down. The shrine was his favorite place in the entire cabin. Not only because of the unforgettable experience he had in there, it has been his favorite place since he was young. He didn’t have any friends in the mountain village so he would just play hide and seek in there alone. He didn’t feel like people wanted to hang out with him so he always kept this place close in his heart.

-The main purpose of why the spell was created in the first place was to guide evil spirits. The spell would seal the spirit inside its own darkness and inflicting an excruciating pain to those who were locked up. The spellcasters had followed the same procedure for hundreds of years and everything was kept sealed inside.

-I’m not an evil spirit, right?

-Right. So you’ll be fine through our synonymity. Have you ever heard of the stories of how the spell caster’s body would get possessed during that kind of ritual in the past?

-Have any ever gotten trapped in you?

-No. Like I said, there’s a trap between time and space made in me so nothing can get through.

Jaehwang started to feel slightly anxious about what she said.

-What kind of place is a trap between time in space?

-Up and down, left and right. A space where nothing can enter. It’s a place where only time could be limitlessly increased. There’s nothing to worry about.

-What about the precautions?

-If an extraordinary person starts from eight hours in real time it could be possible. However, four hours more and they would need to have really good self-control. There’s a guarantee they could succeed but after twelve hours has passed, that super person will need a place to go to and relax.

She finished talking and Jaehwang was then able to understand. It was enough for him to know when she said that they could go insane after four more hours.

He once read some book about hunters that were doing some test. There was a place with no light or sound. The test was to see how long they could hold out. The result of the ones doing the test were expected than wrenched.

The longest time that the participants endured was only two weeks. After a week, they started to get hallucinations and for those who stood there longer than others even had to get psychotherapy.

Jaehwang then asked her a question in a doubtful tone.

-If that’s four hours then it’s 400 hours at most but trying to stay any longer would be a risk?

That would be approximately 16 days. He fully knew that that was a long time and repeating a ritual like that would only make things worse. Being alone in there for an hour could even drive a normal person insane. Jaehwang’s mind was suddenly overflowed by thoughts and she then answered.

-Obviously, you won’t simply just be put into a dark place like that. A few ascetic people once practiced with that kind of ritual. Nothing was locked up with the spell because the impact from the greatest one decreased and it was able to be controlled. For example, the weather around you could be bad but the space that surrounded the cabin would form a layer and control the wind to keep the disturbance at bay. Your tools won’t be much of an issue since it could be forged through your mind here. Your body won’t learn from experience alone but I think it would be effective after diving there one or two times.

-Isn’t it great?

Jaehwang shook his head.

What she explained was actually a really nice place for practicing. However, he was still curious about something. He asked himself if there was anything in this prison of time and space. It was not that he could blindly believe what she said but, there was a promise. She made a promise with his ancestors.

‘If you completed your lifespan, then you would die’

She then whispered.

-I want to achieve something in this life.

She said her wish was to die in peace after she cleared her mission. It was understandable that she wanted to be free. She did not say anything more but Jaehwang felt her pride getting stronger. He then asked another question regarding the ritual.

-Last question, Would it really be able to make me stronger?

The Prison of Time and Space… 1, The end.