Chapter 69
Chapter 69
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 69
Chapter Title: Shuv's Revelations
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"Master, do you not know how the magic beasts were created?"
Shuv tilted her head at Shin Yu-hyun's question.
"I don't. All I know is that they've been invading our world for dozens of years now."
"Then I can't tell you."
"Why not?"
"Just mentioning their names is dangerous. Isn't there a saying in your world, Master? 'When you gaze into the abyss, the abyss gazes back into you'?"
"There is."
Shuv nodded reluctantly at his response.
It was a line he'd seen while browsing the internet back when he was still a student.
"How do you even know that saying?"
"I've lived far longer than Master imagines and seen countless worlds. Most of them fell to the magic beasts, though."
Shuv spoke with a bitter expression.
"Anyway, it's too dangerous for Master to learn about their existence right now. Simply knowing their names or that they exist could bring peril to your world. And since they're tied to the Spacetime Management Bureau, I can't speak freely about it either."
"You know about the Spacetime Management Bureau too?"
Shin Yu-hyun asked in surprise.
He'd been planning to ask Shuv about the bureau anyway.
Right after arriving in this dimension, a message had popped up saying his connection to the Spacetime Management Bureau was severed.
That implied some link between the system abilities—symbols of modern superhumans—and the bureau.
"Yes, of course I know about the Spacetime Management Bureau. But due to the treaty the first Immortal King made with them, there's not much I can say."
"Dia said it was fine to talk about it in this world, though?"
"That's why I said there's not much I can say. Normally, I couldn't utter a single word."
Shuv replied with a gentle smile to Shin Yu-hyun's words.
"So, the reason modern superhumans have systems is connected to the Spacetime Management Bureau somehow?"
"Master must have already guessed it."
"They granted the system abilities?"
"Yes."
"As I thought."
Shin Yu-hyun swallowed a groan.
He'd suspected it ever since seeing the message about his severed connection to the bureau.
And now Shuv had confirmed it.
"What about the dungeon gates, then?"
"They're buffer zones created by the Spacetime Management Bureau before the magic beasts could invade your world. Without dungeons, the magic beasts would have poured straight into your world."
"So without dungeons, real-time stampedes would happen."
A chill ran down Shin Yu-hyun's spine.
Every time a dungeon gate appeared, stampedes occurred.
Most gates spawned in remote areas outside cities where few people ventured, but occasionally, they popped up right in the heart of major metropolises.
If a stampede hit the middle of a big city, the casualties would be beyond imagination.
"Dungeons as buffer zones created by the Spacetime Management Bureau..."
Shin Yu-hyun sank into thought.
Even in the present and future, humanity had never uncovered the true nature of dungeons.
They were seen merely as mysterious spaces inhabited by magic beasts.
Who would have thought he'd learn their secret from Shuv?
"What about the red moon in the dungeons? That ominous red moon—was it made by the Spacetime Management Bureau too?"
Shin Yu-hyun looked at Shuv curiously. The red moon gave superhumans an intensely foreboding, creepy feeling.
Just looking up at it ruined your mood.
"Explaining the red moon is a bit tricky. It's classified information."
"Just tell me if the Spacetime Management Bureau made it or not."
Shuv let out a small sigh at his request.
"Alright. The red moon wasn't created by the Spacetime Management Bureau. It's a corruption of its original form."
"Original form? So the current red moon isn't its true state?"
"Yes. It was meant to be a beacon of hope, but now it's the epicenter of chaos."
"So it fell to the magic beasts."
"Pretty much."
Shuv replied with an enigmatic smile.
After his conversation with Shuv, Shin Yu-hyun fell deep into thought.
Long-standing mysteries of humanity—the dungeons and the red moon—had been partially unveiled.
But much remained unknown.
'I'll figure it out piece by piece.'
Shin Yu-hyun looked back at Shuv and posed another question.
"Then why does the Spacetime Management Bureau help humanity?"
This was the biggest mystery of all.
Why would some shadowy group called the Spacetime Management Bureau aid humanity?
Without their help, humanity would have gone extinct long ago.
Superhumans with awakened system abilities were the only reason humanity could stand toe-to-toe with the magic beasts.
Modern weaponry couldn't even scratch a 2-star magic beast thanks to their protective mana barriers.
Only magic, skills, or auras could inflict damage.
"That's classified. I can't discuss it due to the pact between the first Immortal King and the bureau."
"Even here? I thought this place was beyond the Spacetime Management Bureau's reach."
"I'm sorry. The first Immortal King explicitly ordered us not to speak of it, no matter what."
"The first Immortal King did?"
Shin Yu-hyun clicked his tongue.
It seemed the first Immortal King had sealed lips tight.
"But hearing it directly from the Spacetime Management Bureau themselves should be fine."
"What? I can hear it straight from them?"
Shin Yu-hyun's face lit up in shock.
Hear it from the bureau directly?
Did that mean there was a way to contact them?
"If Master grows stronger, they might reach out. After all, you're the successor to the great Immortal King."
Shuv gave a meaningful smile. It seemed even the bureau recognized the Immortal King's power.
Contacting them could change everything.
They might even help against Getia, whom he couldn't handle in his previous life.
'But how does she know the bureau is helping humanity?'
A sudden chill crept up Shin Yu-hyun's spine.
In the midst of their talk, he'd realized something incomprehensible.
Magic beasts and dungeons had only appeared on Earth for a few decades.
Yet Shuv must have been sealed in this temple for far longer.
So how did she know about the ongoing invasion and the bureau's aid?
"Shuv Ranigdu."
Shin Yu-hyun called her in a low voice.
"Yes."
She responded softly, beaming with a benevolent smile.
"How do you know about the current state of Earth?"
Her smile deepened at his question. It was beautiful enough to leave even a superhuman entranced.
"Because for me, the past is the present and the future."
Shuv laughed, her words as cryptic as ever.
Shin Yu-hyun mulled them over.
They felt on the verge of meaning, yet elusive.
But one thing was clear.
She was a time traveler.
"What happened in your past? What's this Time Crisis event?"
The Phnacoic Bible's entry on the Seven Arcs had mentioned a dimensional war and something called the Time Crisis.
It must have occurred during the first Immortal King's active days.
"There was a dimensional war in the past. Probably still happening now. The magic beasts Master mentioned must be carrying out the dimensional invasion."
"So the dimensional war refers to the fight against the magic beasts?"
"Yes. The first Immortal King waged war against the magic beasts sent from the chaotic realms beyond dimensions. You must have seen it already in these murals—countless planets fallen to the magic beasts."
Shuv gazed at the murals lining the room as she spoke.
As she said, they depicted the Immortal King battling magic beasts across other dimensions and universes. The murals illustrated the dimensional war.
"What about the Time Crisis?"
"It happened during the war with the magic beasts. Time and space tore apart."
To sum up Shuv's account: The Immortal King's war with the magic beasts had ripped time itself, leaving the first Immortal King missing in action, the Seven Arcs scattered across temporal rifts and sealed in various dimensions.
"The Time Crisis scattered the first Immortal King's forces?"
"Yes. The forces of chaos, including the magic beasts, took heavy losses too. An entire star system was obliterated."
"A whole star system gone?"
Shin Yu-hyun shook his head at the staggering scale.
The murals did show cosmic magic beasts the size of planets.
But he'd never encountered one, so he couldn't grasp it.
The largest magic beast he'd faced so far was only a few dozen meters.
"But the first Immortal King had prepared for the future."
"Prepared for the future how?"
"You, of course."
"What?"
Shin Yu-hyun blinked in astonishment at her words.
He was the future the first Immortal King had prepared?
What did that even mean?
"To be precise, the next successor after the first Immortal King. He realized he couldn't drive out the magic beasts himself, so he entrusted the future to those who came after."
"He knew that already?"
"Yes. The magic beasts and the chaotic forces beyond them were that formidable. So he made various preparations and arrangements for his successors."
It appeared the first Immortal King had foreseen his inability to defeat the magic beasts and prepared accordingly.
He'd readied a successor to inherit his power and legacy.
And various setups to make that successor even stronger than himself.
"The successor has much to do ahead. Claim the first Immortal King's legacy, gather us Seven Arcs, and find the arrangements he left behind."
"Hm."
Shin Yu-hyun pondered her words.
Meeting Shuv had resolved several mysteries.
But others lingered unsolved.
The true identity of the first Immortal King.
The nature of the Spacetime Management Bureau.
The red moon ever-present in dungeons.
The chaotic forces whose names alone were taboo.
Information still beyond his grasp.
Then, something Dia had said came to mind.
"Dia mentioned the first Immortal King was from the Earth dimension. Is that true?"
"How did you...?"
Shuv rarely showed surprise, but she did now.
Information on the first Immortal King was top secret.