Chapter 33 - The Passage of Time Is Swiftest in the Place Where the Sun Does Not Set
In an area of the Pride Dungeon far away from where Jae had started, grass could be seen beginning to sprout. Rather than a vast wasteland, dotted with immeasurably tall spines of rock, he and Aphy travelled through a flourishing grassland with lush greenery, fantastical flowers, and refreshing air.
Most of all, there were no wild dragons to rudely interrupt their business.
“Aphy, can’t I just use my resurrection ability to raise a bunch of Resistance Skills? It's so efficient, and I'll stop when they reach Level 10.”
“You shall not.”
“Why? I can handle the pain with Pain Tolerance, and it’s not like I haven’t died loads already. I’ll come back just fine.”
“Your reasoning is the same as all the other four-hundred-sixty-eight times you have asked me. Did you think my answer would have suddenly swayed? You are only asking in hopes I would unlock your Status, but let it be known that I will not be doing that.”
“Wow, you’ve been keeping count? Anyway, who cares about why I want to do it? It’s a good reason, no? What’s the worst that could happen if I’m already used to it?”
“As always, you speak as if you know. Then, Jae, let me ask you this: Are you immortal? Physically, your body may return to its original state, but the same cannot be said for your ego and ‘essence’. Unless, were you a master of the mind and soul too?”
“No. But I don’t need to be, do I? I have Steadfast Mind, and I’ve been perfectly alright so far, so why would I be in trouble all of a sudden now?”
“Need I remind you? No power is invincible; that also applies to the mental reinforcement skill of yours. Someone with your eyes cannot see it, but it is already working plenty hard to maintain stability against the corrupt power inside you. If you continue to die and resuscitate in addition to that, the excessive burden will cause the defence to gradually crumble, and eventually, collapse entirely.”
Listening to the words of someone infinitely wiser than him, even if he didn't fully understand, Jae knew there was no room to argue and simply puffed his lips.
“Is that how it works? I thought it’d be fine since nothing bad has happened so far.”
“Are you certain about that?”
“Hm? What do you mean?”
“Recall the past. Were there truly no signs of mental or spiritual degradation? I'm sure you'll come to find there were.”
“Hmm...” Closing his eyes, Jae thought back. Soon, archived memories flooded his mental space of the flow of events since he was first transported to this world―memories that now felt ancient―and more precisely, what suspicious-looking notifications continued to appear during those times of turmoil and high stress.
“...Ah.”
Indeed, there were signs. Plenty of them.
‘You feel a fraction of your soul become tinted with desire...’
‘The ■■ within you intensifies...’
‘You have acquired the Fragment of ■■.’
‘Your soul quivers under the pressure of temptation...’
‘A fragment of desire within you grows stronger...’
From 1 to 4, each time a Sin Skill levelled up, ominous messages would appear; Jae could recall such sentences clearly. Moreover, he remembered his emotional and mental state briefly going a little more out of whack each time―from jealousy, to irritation and frustration, to hunger.
Fortunately, although there was seemingly no spiritual drawback to having the sins speak to him, one could argue that it was more of a mental curse. Though, thanks to Aphy’s meddling, the voices would not be able to interfere so long as she was present.
“I guess you’re right...”
If this continued to happen for every Sin Skill he collected, and the effect grew worse and worse every time, then what would happen by the end? Without a doubt, even if it wasn’t a huge concern right now, it was correct to view it as more than just a small worry in the long term.
I was able to handle it until now, but what if something happens again like back when I unlocked Gluttony? The next time something like that happens, it might not end just by eating a dead goblin.
This realisation began to dawn on Jae, and as he chewed on those thoughts for a moment, Aphy nodded. “Of course. Those powers should not exist naturally, and yet you are forced to possess them all nonetheless. They are unfathomable abilities that can even defy death, much too powerful for a single human to bear. Do you think that comes with no cost?”
If the secret to Jae being able to handle all the skills lay in the voices that haunted him, would that alone be enough to balance the scale? Even the nigh-omnipotent ancient dragons were forced with no choice but to retreat to a place like this; if Jae had the gall to think that he could wield similar power as he liked, the inevitable consequences would only hit even harder.
After a while, he tried coming up with some countermeasures to the burden of being the carrier of sins.
“If I level up, I’ll get stronger, right? So will that help?”
It was an extremely straightforward line of logic, yet one that seemed like it should work.
“I suppose. In an isolated sense, one’s Level is not so important; however, it does serve to strengthen the fundamental being, albeit by a slight margin. One's Level can also effect the efficacy of certain skills.”
“Right. Then, next time we encounter something, can I be the one to kill it? I'll get loads of levels if I can kill a wyvern or something.”
“If you happen to find something you believe you are capable of taking care of, then you may give it a try.”
“Okay...”
The way Aphy spoke as if Jae wouldn’t stand a chance was a little exasperating, but when he thought about it, the only kinds of creatures they had encountered until now were dragons, different subspecies of dragons like wyverns and drakes, as well as other "legendary-class" reptiles like giant salamanders or wyrms.
“Fear not. When we arrive at the Inner Zone, there exist a plethora of smaller creatures for you to hunt. Be patient, and until then, continue training.”
“Yes, ma’am. Then, I’ll get right to it.” Closing his eyes, Jae immediately fell into a trance. It had been a very long time since he began magic training, and it was now fully possible to walk while training. Progress was slower than ever, of course, but as Jae says:
No matter how slight, so long as progress is being made, he has the willpower to keep going.
----------------------------------------
Having passed through the barren Outer Layer and the greenish Middle Layer, they had finally arrived at the Merged Inner Zone of the boundless Pride Dungeon.
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
“Wow. Why is this place so drastically different?”
Plants, trees, rivers, lakes, mountains, an ocean―If the Jae of three years ago were to be told that all of the above could be found in the centre of the Pride Dungeon, he might laugh. Actually, it had been a bit more than three years, but that was being pedantic.
It feels like a map the devs forgot about and left unfinished compared to this...
“The concentration of magic energy in the atmosphere here is rich, but it cannot be compared with the outer two layers.” Standing atop a small hill, Aphy answered his query as the two gazed down upon a beachy bay with pearl-white sand and crystalline water. I wonder what’s out there... Does the whole Dungeon wrap around like a planet?
“Ohh~ Is that why the start of my training went by so fast?”
“Yes, though it is only because you are not human that you were able to take in so much magic energy at once without it overwhelming you. In combination with the Otherworlder status increasing your growth rate, it was indeed rather fast.”
“I see... Then, if the concentration is that high, does it mean nothing can live there except dragons?”
“It is exceedingly rare to find such a place on the surface, but in places where the magic energy level of the environment is so abnormally high, the concentration of magic energy particles in the air can get too dense for ordinary fauna and flora to flourish, leaving only those that can bear the constant bombardment of energy.”
Oh, I think I get it. “So, it’s like how drinking water with too much iron can be dangerous?”
“I would rather compare it to breathing air with too much oxygen; a percentage of magic energy content in the air is vital for life, but too much of it is easily fatal.”
“I see. And because dragons are half-magic, they’re the only things that can survive in such an environment.”
“Dragons require such an environment to thrive. That’s why we had to leave the surface―the total magic energy content of the planet had slowly depleted after so many millennia.”
“Oh. Then, will you be alright if you leave?”
“You shouldn’t be worrying about me. I’ll be fine.”
Ending the conversation there, Aphy suggested finding a place to rest for a while since they finally reached their destination. There were plenty of trees around for wood, so Jae got to work cutting them down and chopping them into suitable logs and planks using a baby dragon’s tooth he had picked up somewhere along the way. Although it was only the tooth of a baby dragon, the object was still comparable to even the sharpest sword, and more or less equal in size to a standard, two-handed greatsword; in short, it had no problem at all felling a few trees.
Before long, a beachside cabin had been constructed. Using magic to establish a foundation and hold all the pieces in place, the job was completed quicker than expected.
“Fuh. There we go...” Wiping the drops of sweat from his brow and slicking his long hair back and out of his eyes, Jae let out an exhale and muttered. With a body that has naturally grown over the past years and a Status that has likewise evolved, his recovery was almost instantaneous.
“How does it feel?” Aphy approached and asked. Jae turned to face her.
“It’s difficult, but I don’t think it’ll take too long to get used to.”
“I see. And you made a house why?”
“Well, we've made it here, but I’m still gonna be here for a while, right? I'm not just gonna sit on the grass in the meantime.”
“......”
Since he had only recently become able to use what he calls ‘dragon magic’, or ‘true magic’, there was still a significant mental strain Jae would have to bear whenever he “cast” it. However, since true magic didn’t require magic circles, calculations, incantations, or anything of the sort, whether it could really be called ‘casting magic’ was doubtful.
It's a lot more convenient than I expected; so long as I maintain my focus, I just have to think about doing it and it works.
The essence of true magic that Aphy had vowed to teach was the manipulation of naturally occurring particles of magic energy in the atmosphere and environment; through grasping control of these pure particles, one could theoretically twist and transform them into whatever magic they desire, thus using the world's magic energy to cast spells instead of their own.
Of course, the majority would agree that it was only possible on paper.
Put simply, it is similar to skipping all the steps that most creatures go through when casting magic―absorbing magic energy and turning it into mana, knowing which magic circle formulations correlate to which elements and spells, calling the incantation to move the mana around their body, and finally casting the spell.
The whole process, at least from the perspective of more talented beings, was horribly messy and unnecessarily complicated. Instead of doing all that nonsense, what true magic does is just ‘tell’ the ownerless magic energy to cast whatever magic the wielder wants―it goes from step zero to the final step, ignoring everything in between and calling it a day.
Needless to say, it was only possible by achieving the extremity of magic mastery, or as the System calls it, Mana Manipulation Level 10, but even then, there were many additional absurd requirements to be met, such as knowing how to form entire magic spells with just the magic energy particles, which sounds like total hogwash to any regular magician.
As Aphy already explained to Jae, only Spirits and dragons were born with the natural capacity to achieve all of those requirements, and many could even do so from birth.
But Jae could not. Because of that, he had to learn everything from scratch.
Thanks to being an Otherworlder, his growth rate was no less than excellent.
Thanks to being an Undead, he was not stunted by the natural limit of humanity.
And thanks to having Aphy as a teacher, he was able to learn all that was necessary to reach the goal.
No one else could have done what he was able to do; no one else would be able to study, practise, and train in the same environment that he could.
Ultimately, all of it came together, and in the end, he succeeded.
Of course, continuous practice would still be necessary, and it's not like he had gotten anywhere close to mastering it, but it was a massive development nonetheless. Now, since his goal of learning magic would more or less be fully complete after he gets used to it in a few months, it wouldn’t be very long until it was time for Jae to leave the Dungeon.
“Alright. I've done everything you taught me. We’ve also finally made it to the Inner Zone. Can you unblock my Status now?”
However, in an occurrence that has become more and more common since about two years ago, Aphy has noticed a growing lack of concern in Jae about returning to the outside world. Every time she brought the matter up to him, he either brushed it off or changed the subject. She didn’t think it would become a big issue, or at least she hoped it wouldn’t, but if it ever did, she decided to deal with it appropriately once the time came.
In any case.
”Just as with the matter of exploiting your death defiance, have I not said 'no' enough times?”
“Awh, but it’s been so long... You know I take your advice seriously, Aphy. It’ll be fine, so just let me look at it once.”
“You’re like this even after all this time? When will you learn? The fact you are so eager betrays the extent of your addiction.”
“That's ridiculous. Come on, I told you I’m not addicted. It’s been like two years now since the last time I saw it; how could I be addicted?”
It probably doesn’t require too much explanation, but context for this situation might be necessary.
In summary, Jae was getting far too fixated on the gamification of the new world, including the increases of his Status, almost to the point of bordering on obsession. To counter this, Aphy decided to use her authority as Dungeon Boss and messed with the settings of the Dungeon slightly―as a result, Jae received no System notifications, and every time he tried to open his Status, he saw this:
〔Status〕
Name: Jae Kang [Cursed]
Race : Undead
Age : 19
Title : Apostle of Sin
《Status Locked》
No Level, no skills, no nothing; it was because of this severe restriction that he was frustrated, though he knew there was no choice but to get over it if he wanted something to change.
“Mm... Really, can I not just have one glance...? I need to have a look to know what skills need levelling up--”
“Jae. You’ll be able to view your Status as much as you like once you leave.”
Aphy’s sudden sternness immediately shut him up.
“The same goes with whatever fantasies you may harbour about dying. If you wish to die so much, then so long as it is not within my presence or domain, go ahead.”
“......”
“So, at least until then―do not bring these matters up to me again.”
If you looked at her words in a vacuum, anyone would think that Aphy was being cruel. Even when considering the context that she was enforcing rules best for Jae's future, it could still be argued that she may have gone too far.
Still, it was fine.
The dragon would not think much of the passing words it says to the human, and the human will take the wise words of the dragon in the most optimistic sense it can.
“...Okay. I’m sorry.”
Even still.
“I won’t ask again.”
Coming from the only person he has spent time with for the past three years, it certainly stung a little.