Chapter 1136 - Swordmaster’s Youngest Son

Chapter 1136
Episode 259: The Truth of the World, Your Truth, My Truth (5)

At first, I didn’t realize this place was a dimensional corridor.

I wondered if Solderet had failed to turn back time, or if I had died in the process and ended up in the afterlife.

“Where is this…? Solderet, Solderet!”

For hours, I called out to Solderet, wandering aimlessly forward.

But no matter how far I walked, the scenery never changed. It was just an endless expanse of pure white—so white that I couldn’t even tell where the ground ended and the sky began.

Even when I opened the record window, no words appeared. I had experienced countless pocket dimensions while searching for the transmission site, but nothing like this had ever happened before.

I lost track of how much time passed before I finally understood that this was a dimensional corridor. Without day or night, I couldn’t gauge the flow of time, and despair overwhelmed me to the point that I deliberately slept, hoping that when I opened my eyes, the world I knew would be waiting.

But no matter how much I moved, I never felt hunger. Nor did fatigue come over me. Even when I pushed my magic to its limits, nothing changed.

Why was that? As I pondered, I suddenly realized that the entire space was glowing.

“Light…?”

There was no sky, no sun, yet everywhere I looked, light shimmered and reflected.

Suddenly, Solderet’s final moment flashed through my mind—how he had shone brightly before vanishing. And I thought: maybe this light that fills the space is Solderet himself. Perhaps it’s because of that light that I don’t feel hunger and can still use magic.

With no need to eat or fear running out of magic, I began using record magic every day.

I resolved to keep doing it forever, until something appeared in the record window. After all, there was nothing else I could do, and even if I couldn’t see a way out, I couldn’t give up on life.

I reflected on the knowledge I had accumulated as a Hister, modified and strengthened my magic, and tried new approaches.

Then, for the first time, words appeared in the window.

This was exactly what I wanted to know.

It was the result of the insights I had gained through record magic. No one could know how happy I was at that moment.

“So the time reversal succeeded… and Solderet has become light again?”

There was only one meaning to that word: his essence was light itself.

I delved deeper into record magic, searching for more records to understand how the world was changing and how I could escape this place.

The world had definitely gone back 30 years, and I knew everything that had happened. I would surely find out why I alone was trapped here, untouched by the time reversal.

“Wait for me, Jin. I’m coming. I won’t let you fight alone.”

I lost track of how much more time passed.

By my estimate, it must have been over a hundred years—maybe even centuries. Eventually, my record magic reached near mastery, and new records began to appear in the window.

“Ah…!”

That single line, like a beacon of salvation, opened a window into the records of many dimensions.

But there was a problem.

Though I could glimpse records from other dimensions, I still couldn’t find a way out of here.

I couldn’t send Jin the information I knew.

Moreover, according to the records I tracked of Jin afterward, it seemed the records I left for him were invalid.

Still, watching the sporadic records of Jin, I became certain of one thing: even if my records were invalid, Jin somehow preserved his memories from before the time reversal. And Solderet hadn’t completely vanished—he remained in the form of power, aiding Jin.

“I have to find a way out. If I can’t reach the 677th dimension myself, I need to find at least a way to send a message…”

I wasn’t only focused on the 677th dimension.

I examined nearly every dimension affected by the history manipulation of the Ziphl. But those without a ‘reverted Jin’ showed histories almost identical to before Solderet turned back time.

If possible, I wanted to bring change to those dimensions too. Even if there was no world where Jin and I shared a deep bond like the 677th, Valeria Histers surely existed there.

Even without Jin, Valeria Histers in every world had fought against the Ziphl and met death. And all Valeria Histers used record magic.

So if I could send record magic to those worlds, even a tiny change might occur. Someone might see those records. It could deal a blow to the Ziphl.

More time passed.

My message first reached a Valeria Hister in the 233rd dimension. Unfortunately, it seemed she didn’t receive the full message, but at least she understood that the Ziphl existed.

It was like distance—each dimension had a different proximity. The dimensional corridor I was in was closest to the 233rd dimension.

I could roughly estimate the distance to other dimensions by the amount of information flowing into the record window. The more records, the closer the dimension; the fewer, the farther.

Sadly, the 677th dimension was the farthest. It showed the least information of all the countless dimensions. It didn’t seem like a coincidence.

I couldn’t choose which dimension to send messages to.

It was like tossing a message in a bottle into the sea, praying it would reach someone. I sent countless messages to other dimensions.

The Gray Owls.

The Gray Owls—the rebels the Ziphl called insurgents—were born that way. But in truth, we never met each other even once.

Valerias in other dimensions simply received my messages and independently sought ways to resist the Ziphl. Some built sizable forces; others fought alone to the end.

They all used the name Gray Owl—and all ultimately failed.

That was the common thread among all Valerias.

“In the end, it all depends on Jin in the 677th dimension. At this rate, every dimension except the one Jin is in will fall to the Ziphl.”

Even as messages began to be delivered, history didn’t change, and my anxiety grew. Only the history of the 677th dimension offered any comfort. There, Jin had met another version of me and was building a bond with her early on.

So it wasn’t just comfort.

I felt strange.

“Who is the Valeria in the 677th dimension now? Is it me? Then what am I here?”

It was jealousy.

I was jealous of myself. Of the Valeria living a new life, unaware of anything, thanks to Jin’s memories from a past life.

But I hadn’t forgotten my past. Before time was turned back, my life was nothing but years of dark hatred until I met Jin.

That Valeria must be the same. She probably doesn’t want to live like that either.

“…I have to do my job. These thoughts won’t help stop the Ziphl.”

More time passed.

And then, for the first time in this endless dimensional corridor, I saw someone else.

“Valeria Hister, hiding here… You must be the leader of the rebels.”

Silin Ziphl.

Though I had been so lonely, I never imagined the first other person to appear would be a member of the Ziphl. They had conquered other worlds and uncovered many secrets of the dimensional corridor.

While I was busy studying the world’s records, I hadn’t realized what was happening in the corridor I was trapped in.

From then on, I dodged the Ziphl’s pursuit, weaving through the maze of the dimensional corridor. At first, I didn’t even know how to move through it and had to rely on traces left by Silin Ziphl.

But if they could find their way here, then I could find a way out.

That realization thrilled me so much I barely felt the pain of my wounds. Fortunately, the light lingering in the corridor seeped into my injuries and healed them.

“I can get out. I have to. I need to get to Jin… now!”

By analyzing the records left by the Ziphl trackers, I learned how they moved through the corridor. They risked becoming lost in the maze to chase me.

According to the Ziphl’s analysis using their magic stones, the dimensional corridor was similar to the Black Sea of Inse—constantly shifting paths. Even their magic stones couldn’t fully map it.

Still, I recorded maps of the corridor every day, hoping to find a way to another dimension, ideally the 677th.

Record, erase, record, erase. Meanwhile, I read records from other worlds, estimated distances based on the volume of records, and fled whenever the trackers came.

Every moment was life-threatening, but it was better than sitting still, just reading records and sending messages. At least I didn’t feel completely alone in the world, even if my enemies were the ones nearby.

The first dimension I entered directly was the 262nd.

By then, I had reached the level where I could create matter with magic. Analyzing the corridor and the light left here, I learned that the light that existed before the ‘material’ called the Sun God was Solderet, and the darkness was Helluram. More precisely, they were beings materialized through Kinzello from light and darkness—not light and darkness themselves.

Anyway, the 262nd dimension had already been conquered by the Ziphl when I arrived. The outside air, after so long, smelled only of blood and ash. I fled back into the dimensional corridor to avoid their pursuit once again.

Dimensions like 12, 31, 632, and the 55th—all the ones I personally entered afterward were in the same state. Eventually, I stopped going in myself and just observed the situation from the passageway. Even if I did enter, those places were already under the control of the Demon Realm, making it far too easy for Keliak to track me down.

As every dimension I knew was falling into Keliak’s hands, I finally drew close to the 677th dimension—the one I had dreamed of reaching for so long. By then, Valeria of the 677th dimension had already received a few messages I had left behind.

But unlike the worlds I had been able to enter before, the 677th dimension was different… I couldn’t enter it myself.

“Why… why am I the only one who can’t get in here?”

I muttered to myself, dazed, but deep down I already knew.

Valeria Hister, who was now standing alongside Jin, resisting the Demon Realm.

She and I… we simply cannot coexist.