[Huh? What?]

"That maybe I'm still inside the tower."

[Haha…]

"So I used the stone along with my friends back on the 77th floor. And now I'm trapped in a dream world created by a Nightmare. , , they're all illusions that I created. And you are watching over me on the 100th floor, even now."

Beastlain laughed hollowly.

[Yes. You used the stone, unfortunately. You are still in your dream world.]

"…Are you serious?"

[…Why do you ask when you know I'm not?]

Jaehwan did not answer but added another line again. This was their 42nd conversation. It was a lesser variant.

[But didn't you hate that kind of thing?]

"What kind?"

[Counting. I thought you hated numbers.]

Jaehwan's hand stopped midair, not knowing where to go.

"Yeah. I used to."

Yes. He used to hate it, and he still did in some sense. He hated levels and statuses. He hated numbers. Yet now he was counting numbers to live on.

Maybe the System had no sins. Maybe it was like money. It was humans that used it in the wrong way that created problems. But if so, why was he here? Jaehwan commented, "Time is too long."

[Yes, it's long.]

"Maybe that's why I became what I am now."

[…Do you want to give up?]

"No. Not yet."

Jaehwan still did not give up. He recounted his determination every single day so that he would not give up during the entire two hundred thousand years.

What would have it been like if this was on Earth? Or ? Or ? Would it have been that long?

There had been two chances to get out of this s.p.a.ce. It happened once at 100 years, and once when it reached 10 thousand years. It seemed like the exit opened in exponential increments of 100. The only problem was that the exit was not a way to Big Brother but back to .

At least the opening of the entrance allowed Jaehwan to determine the time flow in .

Surprisingly, 200 thousand years in this place was less than a day in . Jaehwan was even allowed to get a glimpse of his friends going back to where they were through the opening. There was the scene where they were going back after saying goodbye to Jaehwan. Additionally, there was a time when Jaehwan had even felt the urge to get out.

He always had the chance to return.

Jaehwan realized why Myad had failed and why he said to be wary of time. What did Myad think throughout the 127 times he challenged this?

"I should get some sleep," Jaehwan said as he added another line. Beastlain answered.

[Yeah. But no longer than an hour.]

Jaehwan did not answer as he fell asleep right away.

A million years pa.s.sed. The stabs continued, but the routine had already been broken. Beastlain spoke sometimes, but Jaehwan did not respond. And so there was a long silence.

A few days ago, the exit to opened once more and they quarreled.

Jaehwan did not give up. And the exit closed. If their guess was right, the next exit would be after 99 million years.

[…Jaehwan. I'm at my limit.]

There was a limit to how long a being could withstand time. n.o.body knew what that limit was because no being lived for that long. However, Beastlain knew. He was at the limit now.

[I am thinking of going into hibernation.]

Hibernation. Jaehwan knew this ability that demons had. The ones that had long lives always had ways of falling asleep to keep their consciousness intact, and hibernation was such an ability.

"…And what about me?"

[Heh. You're on your own.]

"That's cold."

[I'm a demon, remember?]

However, Beastlain wasn't all that happy about his choice either.

[You can do it too though, can't you? You can create a hibernation Setting to…]

"There's no point if I fall asleep. Besides, you don't know when you will wake up from hibernation."

[Right…]

Jaehwan wasn't here to fall asleep. He had to find a way to get to Big Brother.

[You really are amazing. I really hope you will be alive when I wake up again.]

"Yeah."

[If you think you died 100 thousand times and you can hold on no more, you can wake me up then.]

"Get lost."

Beastlain did not answer.

In the 1.3 millionth year, Jaehwan stopped stabbing. Instead, he began researching [Settings]. If the strongest stab wasn't going to destroy this s.p.a.ce, the answer had to lie in the [Settings]. He studied everything about [Settings] slowly and carefully.

1.5 million years. Jaehwan thought maybe he wasn't smart after all. He created countless [Settings] and created astonis.h.i.+ng [Parts]. He now had more knowledge of [Settings] than the Three Ancient G.o.ds. 1.5 million years was enough time to achieve that. He was successful in repairing a good amount of Machina and he learned how to resist the time-concentration through the Eye of Geshtalt. He was also able to replicate ten Void Swords at once.

Even so, Jaehwan wasn't sure what the s.p.a.ce was.

He had his guesses. One guess was that he might be able to control this s.p.a.ce when he achieved the last step of Awakening. Another guess was that from the concentration of time, the Tower of Nightmares was created with this s.p.a.ce as its basic form.

But those were all just guesses.

1.7 million years. Jaehwan looked down at his hands. He couldn't think and didn't want to. He felt his cheeks wet from his tears.

Jaehwan realized he had become too tired.

1.8 million years. 1,802,532nd year, 167th day.

Jaehwan stopped doing anything.