The darkness ended.

As he stood under the light s.h.i.+ning down on his body, he opened his arms wide. He stood there, absorbing all the light particles into his spirit. Just like a baby that was born into a world, or a seed that sprouted from the ground, he stood there for a long time under the blessing of the light.

The pressure of time was fading away.

The pressure that kept eating away the spirit like rotten water was vanis.h.i.+ng. It felt like he had been inside a dirty trench and he had finally dived into a bathtub full of clean, warm water. Jaehwan felt amused that he still remembered such a metaphor.

No, it was weird that he was still using 'language'. He had to abandon this 'inefficient way of communication' a long time ago. He even tried to abandon it multiple times.

Yet, he didn't abandon his language and carried it all the way here. It was this 'language' that kept him human.

The s.p.a.ce seemed like it had overcome 'time' itself.

Jaehwan looked around as he walked along the pure white corridor. It gave him a weird sense of déjà vu. There were giant tanks placed on either side of the corridor with spirits that barely fit encased within.

Jaehwan didn't know who those spirits were. He had never seen them before. All of those spirits within the tank were curled up in fetal positions and were in stasis. It was a bit later that Jaehwan found the name tags placed at the corner of each tank.

G.o.d of Wander, Kairos.

Lord of Dignity, Sindler.

G.o.d of Journey, Beheet.

Lord of Slumber, Gaynach.

They were names Jaehwan had never heard of. Maybe they were G.o.ds before the time of the Three Ancient G.o.ds. They all had complicated expressions. Some seemed like wise men who had realized the truth of the world while some also looked like beggars who had lost everything.

Jaehwan looked closely at all of the tanks as if he was trying to memorize each and every one of those faces. And after some time, he stopped.

'This…'

He had found a much larger tank. The spirit had metal around its entire body. Jaehwan had never seen this spirit before, but he felt like he knew it. He had seen this similar shape in the [Record of the Depth]. After Jaehwan checked the name tag, he knew he was right.

'G.o.d of Machines, Daeus.'

It was one of the Three Ancient G.o.ds, Daeus.

'Why is Daeus here?'

Jaehwan then felt gooseb.u.mps rise from his entire body.

Maybe Big Brother was entirely different from what people thought it was. Maybe the Three Ancient G.o.ds, who thought that they invented it, were wrong.

So, this Big Brother was maybe…

Jaehwan's thoughts were interrupted by a voice.

[Congratulation on clearing your tutorial.]

A voice spread across the white s.p.a.ce. Jaehwan turned in the direction of the voice.

[-or is that a bad joke?]

Jaehwan realized who it was. Just like Daeus, he had never seen this spirit, but he recognized him right away. How could he not? This being was the one that Jaehwan knew the best in this world.

Jaehwan destroyed the tower, came out from it, and reached this place with this man's journal. Every part of Jaehwan's journey had shadows of that being in it.

"Mulack Armelt."

The legendary Master of Nightmares, Mulack Armelt, was here.