#252
Closed Dimension (1)
A shabby fishing village near Dongjeongho Lake.
Groan, groan—
It was still too early to be closing up shop, but no one in the village was going about their usual routine.
The fishermen who had set out on their boats exhausted to fill their quota hurriedly returned to port, and as their families and all the villagers headed to the water’s edge, the ferry terminal was crowded with people for an unusually long time.
But even in such a chaotic situation, the reactions of the villagers who came into contact with the bones were the same, as if they had made a promise.
They were all just standing there, looking across the lake with blank expressions on their faces.
“What the world is that?”
“Huh, what kind of harmony is this···.”
“Mom! That···!”
From the direction of the water color of Eoryongchae, the ruler of this area, an unusual phenomenon that could be seen at a glance was occurring.
Unlike this sunny side, the sky was thick with swirling clouds that seemed to have sucked up all the clouds in the area.
Even from here, which was quite a distance away, a fierce storm could be felt raging fiercely around the border.
Flash—
Kurururung—!
Moreover, the thunder and lightning bursting out from its center was so overwhelming that it stimulated the natural fear in humans.
The villagers, who were looking at the phenomenon with fearful eyes, swallowed dry saliva as a sense of awe welled up from the depths of their hearts.
“It’s a divine punishment. It’s a divine punishment. The Dragon King of Dongjeongho is angry because of those bastards.”
In the midst of all this chaos, an old man with wrinkles and a hunched back blurted out something cold.
Now, as the country collapses, the territorial disputes between the powers that have arisen, and the resulting exploitation and tyranny by the enemies, have reached their peak.
The resentment I had to endure for the sake of my remaining family after losing my son, daughter-in-law, and grandson to those bastards burst out involuntarily when I saw that overwhelming sight.
“Oh my, what are you talking about, sir!”
“Oh my— Old man, the sun hasn’t even set yet and you’re already drunk? Hurry up and go to sleep!”
The villagers around him were startled and tried to stop him, looking around furtively.
I understand the old man’s feelings, but this village is practically ruled by the Eoryongchae.
It was only natural that I would not be safe if I said something unnecessary and they heard about it.
The old man who had been speaking out, knowing what those people were thinking, did not open his mouth any more and just stared quietly in the direction of the water color with his sunken eyes.
In a situation where the once-unified empire was effectively split into dozens of city-states, those very same people were the kings of the land they lived in.
‘I pray, I pray. Oh Dragon King, please bring down a bloody hammer on those demons wearing the iron fist!’
I just hoped for it in my heart.
May heaven judge those wicked men.
***
‘There aren’t any particularly great guys.’
Harris nodded, glancing around at the mess of watercolors, surrounded by storm and lightning.
There was no need to take out the bow, or even other spirits.
The two spirits connected to him were enough to defeat this number of enemies.
And it was the same when dealing with the owner of this dragon’s oyster.
Although he certainly possessed overwhelming skills compared to other guys, he was still just a loser who couldn’t even reach the threshold of the extreme.
“Keuhuu— Ma, that’s ridiculous. This isn’t possible even with magic…! Are you saying that he’s a real legendary monster…?”
The one who was struck by Watt’s lightning could not hold out for long and soon started crawling on the ground like an insect, muttering to himself as if he had lost his mind.
I intentionally subdued him instead of killing him in order to extract information, but he seemed to be in a very bad state, perhaps because of the shock.
‘This won’t do. We need to get things into a state where we can have a conversation.’
Adults say that old electronic products and people can be fixed by pounding them.
I know it doesn’t sound like the latest products, but doesn’t that guy look like he’s from the old days?
‘If you don’t want to die, then come to your senses… Hmm? Wait.’
Then suddenly, Harris felt something was wrong and frowned.
And he quietly looked down at the palm of his hand and reflected on his actions and thoughts.
‘···No matter how much I think about it, it seems like it’s become a bit··· too extreme?’
Even though it was said to be an influence far removed from the realm of the World Tree, even taking that into account, it was a more violent action than expected.
It’s hard to imagine the laid-back and peaceful Harris at Outerica.
‘Hmm, I guess I’ll have to look into this in more detail. But for now…’
Although he was secretly concerned about his own change, his priority for now was to interrogate the captured leader of the bandits.
Because you can get much better information from him who has taken over an area than from a bunch of bandits who are just sitting on a mountain.
“Then, shall we have a talk amongst ourselves? Peacefully?”
Harris, who approached Oryongchaeju with such a mindset, looked down at him as he was still writhing on the floor and spoke to him gently.
With the softest smile she could muster.
“Ugh, ugh··· Sa, save me···.”
I couldn’t figure out why the face of the person facing it became even paler.
***
There was something I realized while operating an avatar in three dimensions simultaneously.
The point is that the flow of time in Ganghwan-gye is slightly faster than that in Auterica.
After making a rough comparison, it seemed that 10 days in Outerica was about 10 days and 8 hours in Gangwhan-gye.
‘It’s not that big of a difference unless you’re going to be there for long, but it’s still nice to have a little more time.’
And one more thing.
There was one important fact that I learned while interrogating Eoryongchaeju.
Knock knock— knock knock—
I scrolled the mouse wheel and looked at the information about the Gangwhan system that appeared on the monitor.
——————
faqwiki.us
Join our Discord for new chapter updates!
https://discord.com/invite/xr7SxG5T6V
——————
But no matter how much I looked, I couldn’t find anywhere what I just learned.
Just in case, I checked other ‘closed dimensions’ as well, but the result was the same.
I soon gave up on finding any further information and just sat there with my arms folded, lost in thought.
‘The reason why the Ganghwan world became a closed dimension.’
And the cause of the war that lasted for over 10 years.
Also, before that, the secret incident that caused the once powerful empire to collapse.
Some secret that runs through all of them.
‘···No, it’s still too early to draw a conclusion. We need more certain information. As expected, the higher up you are, the more you know.’
If you are the head of Dongjeongshippalchae, one of the three great schools of Honam Province, and a master of Hwagyeong, you will be able to gain greater confidence.
I got up from my seat, looked out the window, and collected my thoughts.
‘Phew, I guessed there would be something.’
A sigh escaped my lips in frustration.
This was such an important issue.
In the Gangwan World, a martial arts world where force is valued.
The energy that forms the basis of this is drying up.
***
Immediately after organizing the fish roe.
Harris raided the warehouse in their base and took all the goods and martial arts supplies to “Avatar Cloud” before immediately taking to the sky again.
Of course, in the process, they did not forget to distribute some supplies, such as food, to nearby villages as a service.
Anyway, all the enemies are dead or will never be able to use their martial arts again, so there is no one left to say anything about it.
Of course, if the other groups found out about what had happened here, they might do something to him, but he was confident that he could finish the job before that happened.
‘The only means of conveying information here is to go there in person or use messengers.’
And such information transfer was meaningless to the high elves, who easily became friendly with animals they saw for the first time.
Even birds that were busy flying around would change direction and come closer to him to act cute, as his friendliness surpassed even their trained instincts.
‘Rather than that… I’m finally starting to realize the reality of this land.’
As it was near a lake where many people lived together, I could clearly feel the current state of the world through the view of the ground while flying.
Why was the risk of the Gangwhan River so high?
‘Never-ending war and a great famine that has continued for years. On top of that, exchanges between regions have been cut off, epidemics are rampant everywhere, and bandits are running wild…’
It might not be a problem for someone who is strong, but for someone who has just entered this world, it was truly an extremely difficult level.
Rather than training to become stronger, I was caught up in the current state of affairs and had to worry about my immediate survival.
At such an earthly sight, Harris proudly shook his head as he crossed the sky.
and.
Just one day from then—.
It was the time it took for Harris, who had been moving diligently, to destroy all the enemy ships on his path, and for the leader of the 18 Dongjeong ships, the dragon ship, to face Jin Deok-man.
“What the hell is this! This ridiculous monster!”
“Oh, my lord! The wind is making it hard for arrows to pass through!”
“I can’t even approach you, Chief Chae-soo! If we keep going like this… ugh!”
Wheezing—
Phage crackle—!
Hwaruk—!
The fight with him that followed also ended without much difficulty.
Although he is said to be the best in this area, it is impossible for him to compete with Harris with skills that are only known among the best in the world.
However, in order to organize the surroundings more smoothly, he brought out the fire spirit Kali, so it can be said that the elites of the 18th Dongjeongchae, including him, saved face.
“···Ugh, who on earth are you? Why did you come here all of a sudden and cause such a commotion?”
“Oh, my name is Harry Soo. I have something I’d like to ask you.”
“Huh! If that’s the case, then just···!”
“And I also clean up on the side. What can you do? Think of it as the karma that has built up over time.”
“······!”
After the declaration was made, the peaceful interrogation period continued.
Although, perhaps because of his pride, only Jin Deok-man, the chief chaebol, was a bit uncooperative at first.
When Harris, remembering what the adults had said, used the lightning spirit Watt to try to ‘fix’ him, he eventually changed his mind and responded enthusiastically.
That’s why the old saying goes, you won’t lose anything by listening to your elders.
‘Sigh, this is a headache.’
And Harris, who checked the status of Gang Hwan-gye again through him, sighed deeply.
After all, the current situation was no different from the flow of the times, and could not be handled with just a moderate amount of force.
“Our survival depends on this fight! If we fail to secure the Dragon Vein, we will be eliminated and eaten. How can we back down?”
The energy of the world that had always been abundant was slowly drying up.
The major powers of this world had already figured out what was going on and were immediately working on ways to survive.
That was the center of energy flowing in the world, the outlet where ‘qi’ constantly gushed out, securing the dragon vein.
Even if in the process we have to fight a war with other forces.
“It is essential for everything, from raising the level of existing unmanned forces to training new unmanned forces, to making elixirs and treating internal injuries. We do not fight wars because we like it!”
Since that energy is not infinite, neither concessions nor compromises are possible.
To put it simply, it was like each tribe competing for survival over a few oases in the desert.
That’s why war never stops in this world.
It was a chain of tragedies that were all the more desperate because everyone was desperate.
“···Ah! I see. You’re from another world? I thought you’d all disappeared after the Thousand-Year Demon Festival.”
Jin Deok-man, who had been venting his anger like that for a while, suddenly nodded as if he had realized something.
Considering that Eoryongchaeju had no idea about his true identity, it didn’t seem like it was generally known information, but he seemed to know quite a bit about otherworlders, whether it was location or location.
‘Well, before the dimension closed, the Ganghwan Realm was a dimension where the Awakened were active for quite some time.’
But the reason I couldn’t immediately think of it was because Harris’s power was so alien even by the standards of other world people.
The average Awakened would have only one ability that wasn’t that strong and would have quickly mastered martial arts based on that ability to excel, so it’s unheard of for someone to use only the power of the other world to this extent…
“Hmm, now that I think about it, I think I’ve heard of a similar case. I thought it was some ridiculous nonsense, but was it actually true?”
···But, an interesting topic emerged from his monologue.
Then, my highly sensitive intuition rang the alarm.
That story should never be passed over lightly.
And as Jin Deok-man, whose leg had started to grow back again as if it had fallen off, was being fixed more carefully, he hurriedly resumed his speech, which had paused for a moment, his teeth chattering.
“Huh! I don’t know the details either! I just happened to hear about it···!”
But unfortunately, he didn’t know much.
He said that it had been over 20 years since he first heard that information and that he had no interest in it, so he just let it slide.
However, I’m not sure for some reason.
“It was roughly about how the collapse and division of this country was all his fault···. Ahem, now that I think about it, the world’s energy began to decline around the same time.”
Somehow I felt like I knew who that person was.
