Gu Myeong-jun’s expulsion.
To be honest, that was nothing more than a trivial, insignificant matter to me.
But it seemed it wasn’t so for Lee Seo-jun.
“I, I defeated Gu Myeong-jun….”
He’d say it when he woke up in the morning.
“I won…?”
He’d mutter it while eating.
“This isn’t a dream….”
That was the sound I heard even before he fell asleep.
It seemed he could hardly believe the fact that he had defeated Gu Myeong-jun, that he had surpassed him.
Of course, if that had made him giddy or had a negative influence, I would have cautioned him.
But.
“Hyah!”
“Hurrah!”
He was fervently training, constantly letting out shouts.
As promised, he was receiving my personal instruction.
Of course, it wasn’t that he was devoting all his time; it was a form of private tutoring where he spent part of his Academy classes with me.
In a way, you could see it as receiving special treatment, but no one raised any complaints about it.
I hadn’t known, but Gu Myeong-jun was a famous figure even among the Academy’s successful applicants.
Well.
He had been among the top contenders in Forbes’ list of the 100 most promising Awakeners.
Many had tacitly judged he would take the top spot in this Academy, but what do you know?
Lee Seo-jun, that kid, the one called a dullard, had knocked down Gu Myeong-jun.
Because of that, all sorts of rumors were flying.
That he was actually hiding his identity.
That he was a monster I, Kim Si-won, had raised.
That his talent must be overwhelming if I was taking him as a disciple after Leon.
That he was actually a demigod born between a god and a human.
Of course, they were all nothing but baseless rumors, not a single one correct.
Still, thanks to the exaggerated rumors, no trainee dared to mess with him, and he could have quiet days, time to focus on his training.
All of it was a positive factor.
He had regained his confidence by defeating Gu Myeong-jun.
And realizing my expectations, he strove to meet them, pushing forward diligently.
‘If he grows like this, I won’t need to worry about my end.’
Although it didn’t show on my face, I watched that sight with contentment.
My death is foretold.
Of course, if I manage to collect all of Cain’s Immortality set, some method might appear, but…
‘Gathering that is no easy task.’
For the past two years.
I’ve been conquering the Tower on Shinhwa difficulty.
But the Cain’s Immortality set I truly wanted hardly ever showed itself.
That’s why I had founded the Siwon School.
Because I realized my death was approaching and I couldn’t stop it, I decided to place my faith in humanity’s potential.
At first, I was frustrated.
Because both the first and second graduating classes fell short of my standards.
Of course, there was the insurance of Leon, but…
‘That kid is also in an unstable state. He might face dissolution even earlier than me.’
Next to Lee Seo-jun, who was diligently immersed in training.
I could see Leon, deep in meditation.
Although he was the vice-principal of the Siwon School and engaged in public activities, he wasn’t conducting separate classes.
So whenever he had time, he would always come to my private Training Grounds to train, and most of that training was meditation.
He had no choice.
Because when you reach Leon’s level, physical training is meaningless.
Especially since he had absorbed the Taecho Rank into his flesh, hadn’t he?
It was something I learned later.
‘He didn’t fully absorb the Taecho Rank.’
Surprisingly, his power wasn’t from completely absorbing the Taecho Rank.
Expanding his inner self through meditation, extending that power, that domain—that was the path to fully absorbing the Taecho Rank.
And.
‘By doing so, alleviating the incompleteness even a little to extend his lifespan.’
As I said before, Leon was also collapsing.
To delay the collapse of his body even a little, he had to absorb the Taecho Rank to achieve balance.
Of course, that couldn’t be a complete cure.
It was merely a delay, and he was doing his best for that.
At first, there was also worry for Earth, for humanity, due to his and my eventual dissolution, but…
‘Lee Seo-jun. With talents like him, it’s fully possible.’
The power to protect humanity from the still-looming threat of Nepas.
With talents like Lee Seo-jun, it should be fully possible.
Of course, he alone wouldn’t be enough.
Nepas is a monster beyond what I had imagined.
That’s why more talents like Lee Seo-jun were needed, and they needed to grow quickly.
In fact, that’s why I had founded the Siwon School.
And there was also plenty of time to nurture such talents.
‘If I endure like this without using my power, I can last at least ten years.’
The reason I gave up climbing the Tower was because using my power was accelerating the collapse.
Of course, if there had been a possibility, if I had obtained even one piece of Cain’s Immortality set while climbing those ten floors, I wouldn’t have given up like this.
But I didn’t obtain any of Cain’s Immortality set during those ten floors.
So, rather than consuming my power and hastening my dissolution, I chose to nurture the next generation.
And the results were gradually appearing.
If I used these ten years well, humanity could build up enough military strength to prepare for Nepas.
Just as I was nodding in satisfaction at the results…
“Gasp!”
A pain as if my heart was being squeezed.
Thud.
I had no choice but to slump down on the spot.
“Master!”
Leon, who had been deep in meditation, had already approached nearby.
But even looking at him, I couldn’t say anything.
Only.
“Ughhh—”
Something akin to a groan flowed from my mouth.
Although I prided myself on having experienced all sorts of pain over a thousand years, this pain was a first.
It was a kind I couldn’t endure.
“Teacher!”
Lee Seo-jun, who calls me Teacher, noticed belatedly and came running.
But.
Stopped by Leon, he could only stand in place.
Looking at those protecting me…
“Haak, huff!”
I exhaled the breath I’d been holding.
In an instant, the pain that had tormented me vanished.
But.
“…It’s him.”
I sensed it intuitively.
The cause of this pain.
It was Nepas.
“What is he doing…?”
I always thought he would make a move eventually.
But I never imagined it would be in this way.
“Just now… my lifespan decreased.”
The excruciating pain from a moment ago.
That wasn’t just simple pain.
It was the pain of a part of my lifespan vanishing, one year flying away from my ten-year lifespan.
“How…?”
Leon fell into doubt.
He couldn’t help it.
He didn’t attack me, yet he could suddenly reduce my lifespan?
Did he use a curse or something?
‘No. A curse that can threaten me doesn’t exist.’
Curses work on some targets and not on others.
I was immune to curses.
A curse is ultimately an aggregate of will created by someone.
But since nothing can break my will, abilities like curses don’t work on me.
This is.
“He killed me, but not me. Another me.”
Nepas is a Time Traveler.
Past, present, future.
Excluding the present here, he can reach other times where I exist—the past and the future.
But that is…
‘Not an ability that can be controlled.’
The Time Travel Authority isn’t about choosing a specific time period to move to at will.
The moment you decide to travel, you embark on a journey to a random time and dimension.
For him to land in the time and space where I am, among countless dimensions and countless times, is like finding a needle in a desert of sand.
But I, also a Time Traveler, can know.
He killed me, a future me.
Although it’s not the current me, my lifespan decreased due to a future death.
‘At least it’s fortunate it was the future. If it was the past, the impact would have been greater.’
At least it was the future, a time with less necessity connected to my present, so only one year of lifespan was lost.
If it had been the past, it wouldn’t have been one year but five years or more.
Moreover.
“…If my past self dies, both the past and future die. Perhaps due to the rift in fate caused by that, dissolution might come.”
One year of lifespan isn’t the important thing.
If my past self dies as well, the necessity of my death strengthens due to deaths in both past and future.
Because of that, it was clear I would be placed in a situation where dissolving immediately wouldn’t be strange.
That, above all, must be prevented.
“But, isn’t it impossible to arbitrarily choose time and space with Time Travel?”
Unlike Lee Seo-jun, who looked dumbfounded, Leon, who understood the situation quite accurately, posed the question.
“That’s right. But he is Nepas. The fact that he lay low for two years means he found a way to make that impossibility possible.”
Two years.
To some, it might be short, but that doesn’t apply to Nepas.
The fact that he stayed quiet, holding his breath, must have been to find that method, and the appearance of results now means he found it.
“Then, isn’t there no way to stop him?”
Through the transfer of Altain’s ability, I also gained the power to travel through time.
But even with the same ability, unlike him who can pick an exact time to travel, I don’t know such a method.
In conclusion, you could say even with the same ability, there’s no way to stop him.
But.
“There is one single method for a Time Traveler to arbitrarily choose time and space.”
That is, to detect where I am in a time different from the present—past or future—and move there.
However, there is one prerequisite attached to this.
I must be aware that my self in that time period is in danger.
There was… a precursor.
The uneasiness that had assailed me before.
I, who rarely experience emotional fluctuations, dismissed it as mere anxiety, but no.
‘It’s certain. That was a signal sent by my future self.’
Because of a mishap that befell my future self, my present self was also affected.
So, to make that even more certain…
Thud.
I slumped down on the spot and sank into meditation.
Blocking all external senses, I focused inward.
If Nepas killed my future self, he would surely try to kill my past self to completely dissolve me.
To prevent that, to feel the signal from my past self more finely.
I waited, observing my inner self like that for who knows how long (in fact, I couldn’t tell how much time passed).
Zzzt!
Finally, a signal came.
And that meant it was the moment to use my Time Travel Authority for the first time.
Zzzt, zzzt, zzzt!
I used the Time Travel ability, following the thread connected to me.
A strange sensation of crossing time and dimension dominated my entire body, and when it ended…
Clang!
The sound of metal clashing.
“Argh!”
“Guhhk!”
And people’s screams.
Whoosh.
I opened my eyes.
And what I could see was…
“This place is…?”
A battlefield.
But it was familiar.
Even now, a thousand years later, the place I felt vividly in my mind was the time and space where I was first dimensionally transferred.
The Gritia Continent, and the time when the war between the Asran Kingdom and the Galas Empire was in full swing.
“Aaaaah!”
And I could hear a familiar scream.
In the distance, I could see my past self.
And a soldier’s spear, aimed fiercely at him—no, at me—was rushing toward the heart.
The Returnee does not endure!