Chapter 156: Separation of Souls (1)

The amount of comments on previous chapter is just wow… 

It has been 6 months since I arrived in this world. After killing Ahinal, I spent my days hunting ghosts with Aracelli. Time itself wasn't much of an issue here. The time here flows 21 times faster than Earth, in other words, only around 10 days passed on earth.

The ghost hunting could be said to be smooth sailing. One of the reasons why it was smooth sailing was because of Aracelli’s ability. Even though she had no spiritual powers, and had no knowledge of how to seal a ghost, she could kill a ghost through magic which was only possible because she studied demonology from the moment she reached the 7th circle.

It was also thanks to the skills I had acquired after killing Ahinal.

[Level 150 protagonist has been killed.]

[1500 days of lifespan has been paid.]

[Your current lifespan: 5093 days 6 hours 49 minutes]

[Your level has been raised by 4.]

[You have acquired the skill ‘Soul Piercing Eyes (C)’.]

–

<Yoo Seodam>

[Level: 161]

*Stats

[Strength 157] [Strength 173] [Agility 159]

[Energy 1] [Mana 265]

*Talent

[Swordsmanship S] [Hunting D+] [Shooting S]

[Cooking D-] [Intuition A] [Quick-wit A]

[Insight B] [Vital SS+] [Others…]

*Skills

[Protagonist Hunter Lv. 4]

[White Swordsmanship (S)] [Sixth Sense (B)]

[Inventory (S)] [Dharma Heavenly Wind God Technique (SS+)]

[Concentration (SS)] [Holy Conversion (F)]

[Ara-Sunyoung Mana Circling technique (SS+)]

[Library Of The White Witch(C)]

[Soul Piercing Eyes (C)]

–

The effect of Soul Piercing Eyes was self-explanatory.

The other day, when I was dealing with the Thirteenth Step Ghost, I couldn’t kill it no matter how many times I beat it with a sword clad in divine power. Unlike humans, ghosts did not bleed, and their heads and hearts were not their weak points.

However, thanks to Soul Piercing Eyes, I could now see the ghost’s weakness. I could see places that would deal damage to the ghosts if I  attacked them there. For that very reason, the diary was no longer a necessity for hunting ghost stories.

Of course, several ghosts were trickier to hunt because of Aracelli's lack of mana and my little amount of holy power. But all in all, Aracelli and I had quite a bit of fun hunting ghosts.

Principal Malea hadn't appeared again since then. We don't even know where she lives, or why she doesn't go to work. However, when I dug deeper to get more information about ‘Malea’. I found something very good.

[About psychic phenomena]

[What is a pure and clear soul?]

[How to treat the soul?]

Malea was headmaster of the magic school as well as an extremely rare ‘soul magician’ in this world. If you asked most people in this world about soul magicians, they wouldn’t know about it. It's just a made up word after all. I've also yet to meet anyone who deals with souls.

Perhaps because of that, the book about souls that was written by Principal Malea was not popular. I bet most people in this school don't even know that such a book existed. Of course, their ignorance was a boon to me. The books were very helpful to me. The reason I came to this world in the first place was to learn about ‘separation of soul’.

Before I came here, I didn’t even think that I could find the way right away. But boy! Should I say I'm lucky? I was able to find the information I was looking for, in the very first world to boot!

[How to separate souls?]

This method could only work if the user had spiritual power (holy power) and the ability to manipulate souls (spirit eyes). I met all of those conditions. In other words, it may now be possible to separate Yekaterina’s soul from me.

Of course, it was by no means an easy method. Rather, it was fairly difficult and complex. There was also a chance of failure which would lead to damaging the soul itself. But I still wanted to guarantee Yekaterina’s freedom.

“Wow, Professor. There are books like this.”

Aracelli exclaimed and skipped around the empty library. As for the woman named Malea, the more I researched about her, the stranger things I found.

[Survival of Tutorial Tower.]

Somehow… the title overlaps a bit with the survival series I read often as a child.

“What is this tutorial tower?”

“I did a little research about it, Professor. In this world, a certain ‘giant tower’ has risen. It suddenly appeared out of nowhere and recruited what they called ‘challengers'… It seems that there are people from not only this world but many other worlds that came to the tower."

"Is that so? Sounds exciting.”

People from different worlds gather in one space. I don't think anything good is going to happen inside the tower.

“And Principal Malea has survived through it. It was said that those who survived the Tutorial Tower were given enormous abilities and rewards. According to the records, each and every one of them possessed unbelievable power that could upset the balance of the world…”

Aracelli frowned.

“Principal Malea also killed all the survivors who caused havoc in this world. But, for survivors who did not cause trouble, she gave them a place to live in comfort.”

“She has great determination… She is also great because she has the power to implement it.”

"Right?"

Anyway, I had learned about the Tutorial Tower.

But the last question still remains. Why does Principal Malea, whom I have never met, know me?

<It seems that the timeline is slightly off.>

‘How?'

<Hunter Yoo Seodam, as you know, you travel around the world by adjusting the ‘time difference'. Perhaps there’s a big difference between the time in the Tutorial Tower and the time in this world. And when you take account of the time you spent on Earth, the past and the future could be mixed.>

‘Then what? Am I going to the tutorial tower in the future?'

<Probably so.>

‘…..’

Even after listening to the system’s explanation, I still had my doubts. It was an explanation that was difficult to stomach, but it was impossible to ask any more questions since I did not fully understand the concept of time and dimension in the first place.

[Tutorial Tower Survival Journal]

I sighed as I stroked Principal Malea's diary. In the end, I had to wait. There was no point in thinking about what this diary was about.

"Are you okay, Professor? You look very troubled.”

"It’s okay. I’m okay."

I stroked Aracelli's hair. She smiled pleasantly and lowered her head more. She was a young-looking woman, but in fact she had a similar mentality to me. She was also someone I could trust and rely on because she's been through all sorts of bizarre things I'd never been through.

For half a year, I had been hunting ghost stories and telling Aracelli about various things. In particular, I properly explained my goal to enter ‘Hell Gate’.

Aracelli’s answer after I told her about ‘Hell Gate’ back then was still clear in my mind.

‘Isn’t that probably a residual located at the far end of the dimension?’

‘Residual? So, like garbage?’

‘Yeah. Even though it can’t belong to the centre of the dimension, It still struggles to make itself belong to the world….’

‘….’

That was her opinion.

***

In this universe, there were numerous dimensions, including Earth and Vivienda. And all those dimensions were tied together. Just as stars gather to form galaxies. So, dimensions combine to form a ‘dimensional system'.

But in the end, even in that dimension system, there were bound to be limits.

“Hell Gate… might be a gathering of places that had been expelled from its original dimension”, Aracelli guessed.

“Then, why is there such a thing on Earth?”

“Should we conclude that it is only on Earth?”

“What do you mean?”

“Earth is, after all, only one of the intersections of many dimensions. Perhaps… Hell Gate exists in other worlds too. My guess is that Earth is located at the very centre of the dimension, so maybe you can see Hell Gate too if you go to another central dimension.”

‘….’

Perhaps it was because she was a scholar who studied dimensional science, every word she said seemed to hit a mark. She approached Hell Gate from a perspective I had never thought before.

‘So, there's a good chance that that woman, Reina Ju, is still alive. If that Great Rift is also a different dimension, there's no way to prevent it from going through the Hell Gate where the residual of all dimensions gathered. No, maybe the Great Rift itself was the entrance to the Hell Gate.’

And, she said somewhat bitterly.

‘However…. I don't think it's wise to go looking for her, Professor.'

‘Why?'

‘I told you. It's a place where the residuals from every dimension struggle to somehow remain in the universe. Unless that Reina Ju was born with a very strong power…there's a high probability that she's already been blown out of the dimension.'

Outside the dimension. In other words, the world without any story.

I suddenly became terrified.

Story exists in every dimension, and they gather and assemble to form a complete story. As I wandered around the world, I encountered so many stories, and I took them for granted.

The story of the Earth, the story of Vivienda…

But, what will happen if one falls to the world with no story?

In a world where there was no story, no plot, no probability, really nothing…

What kind of world is that?

‘Is it possible that Reina was thrown into such a world…?’

‘I’m sorry, Professor. I don’t know much…’

Even though Aracelli was so knowledgeable, there were still parts that she didn't know, and she had an apologetic expression on her face. even though it wasn't necessary.

‘Still, if I have to guess a little bit, that woman, probably, is already dead, Professor.’

I tried hard not to argue with her. She said that if I had to go through Hell Gate, it wouldn't make any sense.

I couldn't help but be confused.

Both the system and Aracelli, who were more knowledgeable in terms of dimension than anybody else, viewed my ambition of raiding Hell Gate negatively. Even though I had seen Reina at Hell Gate just a few years ago, currently, she may have already been kicked to the world without a story.

It was confusing. It seemed that my goals so far were being denied. It was as if I was running down the road to Chunha University, and people were telling me, ‘Chunha University doesn’t really exist! It was only in the drama!’

Should I despair here? Or should I just sit back and give up on everything?

"Professor….."

Feeling Aracelli’s hand on my head, I closed my eyes.

No, It's still too early to despair. Because everything was still no more than a speculation.

I guess I'll have to worry.

A lot.