***

Hello everyone! Chibi-Satan here! Now before we start to see our dear protagonist suffer, let me first give you some general information about hell, its levels, and how sinners go through their punishments. Since I am so great, I might as well tell you some things related to Gaya and the connection between Yeon and Gaya.

First and foremost, Hell is the place I rule, and I have two subordinates. You have already met them; one is Cer, and the other is Amaterus. I created both of them. It was a bit lonely and tiresome living alone in Hell, so to overcome that, I sacrificed my tail and a part of my right horn, which gave birth to Amaterus and Cer, respectively.

As for myself, the most I can say for now is that I was once a resident of heaven a very long time ago. I got in trouble with angels there, and therefore, as a punishment, I was thrown here and told to manage this place as I saw fit.

Next is the general structure of hell. You have already seen the true form of hell with Yeon’s eyes, but that can only be seen by divine beings such as angels, demons, or God itself. As for mortals with karma, they see this place as a very dreadful and frightening place. The garden will look like a lava pool, Cer will look like a beast with three heads, his house will look like a beast’s cave, and so on. You already know how hell is described by most people, right? That’s the gist of it.

Now comes the interesting part: the 10 levels to judge the sins of mortals. ‘Mortals’ is a broad term. Living beings with intelligence and who know what is right and wrong are considered mortals. A soul is present in these living beings; therefore, they can be judged or reincarnated. As for living beings such as dogs, cats, ants, goblins, wolves, etc., generally, they do not acquire souls throughout their lifetime. Exceptions do exist, and those exceptions are judged as per their karma. Now, the 10 levels are as follows:

Level 1 – Physical labour

Level 2 – Climbing Stairs

Level 3 – Battle Royal

Level 4 – Nightmare

Level 5 – Sword Rain

Level 6 – Starvation

Level 7 – Hell Desert

Level 8 – Hell Snow

Level 9 – Hell Fire

Level 10 – Absolute isolation in nothingness until the soul disintegrates.

This is the basic introduction to the 10 levels of hell. You will learn more about each of them as our protagonist tries to survive.

Next is Gaya. Gaya, which I mentioned as the world’s will or voice, is actually a spirit— one of the oldest spirits. Spirits are different from the soul. A soul starts forming when a living being starts gaining intelligence, whereas a spirit is formed when a non-living body gains intelligence or is given intelligence by God. Most of the time, when a non-living body gains intelligence by itself, it gets corrupted (especially in worlds with living environments), but Gaya is the first and only world spirit that did not get corrupt. There are other worlds out there that were given intelligence by God so that corruption in them could be avoided. Also, a spirit can never be separated from its host; if done forcefully, it will cease to exist. So, when Gaya stuck itself with Yeon, it actually cloned itself. This means that Gaya is still attached to Earth, but a clone of it is stuck to Yeon. Apart from giving information on people, Gaya doesn’t really have any use for Yeon. Although it can assist him in decision-making, as Gaya is one of the most intelligent spirits.

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Well, that’s all from me. I just wanted you all to know some basic information. Now let's get back to where we left off. See you again. B-bye!

***

*After sending Yeon to level 1, Amaterus and Satan were discussing something*

“My Lord, what if heaven gets a hold of this information? You just ignored the rules laid out by them; they might use this chance to completely get rid of you.” Amaterus is concerned about the well-being of Satan. On the other hand, Satan is still laughing maniacally. After a while, he cools down and says, “It doesn’t matter. Although it will be a pain to deal with them, I don’t think there will be any legal action against me. The contract with Yeon was formed with the consent of both of us. There’s nothing wrong with it. And I highly doubt they will know of this anytime soon. A karma-less mortal is already an anomaly that might not be liked by angels, yet they (residents of heaven) didn’t notice him until now. It can only mean one thing, i.e., Yeon cannot be noticed by them until he achieves something phenomenal to get their attention. Now stop bothering me with these irrelevant questions and let me have some fun while he is suffering.”

*Meanwhile our protagonist just reached the level 1*

This place resembles mountain areas of Earth. It has a sky and a bit of a cold environment. Now that I think about it, I think I have obtained a body as I am feeling my sense of smell, hunger and all. I am in a long line of people which seems to be heading to a cave. Hmm, there are a lot of people here. Not only humans but there are also some other beings, I never thought they actually existed. It looks like I came into a world of those webnovels I read. Every one of them has a body which resembles a human but some of them have animal heads, tails or ears while some of them looks like goblins, ogres and other monster like beings. Damn! I think that guy is an elf. He is giving pickaxes to everyone. There is a human besides him who is marking everyone’s hand with a stamp.

*Some random man started making a ruckus and got off the line*

“Now that I am dead, I will do whatever I want. It’s not like anyone can kill me again. I am out of here.” As soon as the man said this he started running in opposite direction of the line. Soon a werewolf like creature came and started hitting him with a whip. The man started screaming in pain. The werewolf said loudly, “Is there anyone else who wants to get out of here?” No one dared to utter a word. Soon I reached the elf who was giving pickaxes. Then the human next to him marked a stamp on me. ‘Level 1’ was written on the stamp. The mark on my hand shined a little and a system prompt opened up.

[Welcome to level 1 of hell]

[I am the system of hell, created by Satan to give instructions to sinners]

[You have come here by signing a contract with Satan]

[Therefore, your punishment will slightly differ from that of others]

[You have to survive for 10 years here on level 1]

[Time here in levels of hell doesn’t have the same meaning as outside. So, when you leave according to the contract not much time will be gone]

[You are given a pickaxe. Use it to mine the crystals in the cave. You have to do this physical labour for 20 hrs a day]

[After that you will be given some bread and water to get some energy so that you can work the next day. You can sleep in the remaining time if you desire]

[There will be people watching you so that you don’t slack off. You will be hit by the whip if you are found suspicious]

[You are given a temporary mortal body which can feel pain, hunger, thirst and tiredness. The body is made so that you don’t need to excrete. The concept of death doesn’t exist at this level]

[After you have completed 10 years here you will be sent to level 2]

[That’s all from me. Good luck surviving]

These notifications came so fast that I didn’t even get the time to react to this situation. But 10 years seems like too much time, and I have to do mining for 20 hours. This is crazy. If this is level 1, then what’s level 2? And what horrors will there be in level 10? I don’t even want to think about it. I guess I should go into the cave as well; otherwise, this werewolf might hit me as well.

* Yeon went in the cave and started mining like others after realizing that he was like a slave with few if any rights.*