#107

‘Was there an Out-of-Bounds Area in the System?’

I had vaguely assumed the System was something embedded within me.

Was it structured like a satellite, beaming signals from above?

‘…Since it says there are places where the signal doesn’t reach, it really feels like the System is a power of an Othergod.’

The fact that the System has loopholes is a fairly significant discovery.

There is almost nothing I can do with the System, but I don’t know if that’s the case for other players.

‘Mother God said a lot can be done with Clear Points….’

It was possible that someone could ‘purchase’ the location or Nickname of another player using Clear Points.

It was damn unfair, but Conclude was a game that had thrown balance out the window from the start.

‘If they had any intention of maintaining balance, they wouldn’t have put in someone like Happy God.’

In any case, the System wouldn’t be able to provide information it doesn’t have.

While I’m down here, even if someone tries to find information on me, it will probably show that I’m in an ‘Out-of-Bounds’ area.

‘Though it’s a meaningless way to utilize it unless there’s a way to detect who is trying to find me in advance.’

It’s not like I’m going to live down here forever.

‘More than that, what worries me is….’

If the System disappears, do traits disappear too?

Right now, the only thing I’m relying on is ‘Heaven Above, Earth Below, I Alone Reign Supreme.’

If that trait disappears as well, going down becomes nothing short of a suicide mission.

‘…Traits are bound to the Soul, so it should be fine.’

The Warning Message said the connection to the System would be cut, not that the Soul would be ejected.

Most likely, all effects would still occur; it’s just that System Notifications wouldn’t pop up.

‘I feel like there might be an incredibly important clue if I go down, but I also feel like I’m going to get fucked….’

I agonized at the boundary of the 24th floor for a long time.

‘Let’s just take one step first.’

[

SYSTEM

: Warning! Below this point is an Out-of-Bounds Area of the System. Connection to the System will be temporarily severed.]

A notification window appeared.

I deliberately left the notification window open and took a few more steps down.

[

: Warning! Below this point is

of the Out-of-Bounds Area. Temporarily

and connec-

is severed.]

The letters in the System window flickered and then went out limply.

‘It actually turns off.’

“Status Window?”

There was no response.

Getting a bit scared, I ran back up the stairs.

The warning window appeared again.

[

SYSTEM

: Warning! Below this point is an Out-of-Bounds Area of the System. Connection to the System will be temporarily severed.]

‘…It doesn’t send a message or anything to acknowledge that the connection was severed.’

It seems being in an Out-of-Bounds Area doesn’t cause any disadvantages for the player.

After repeating the test of disappearing and reappearing the System window by going up and down the stairs several times, I confirmed that nothing else happened and descended to where the stairs turned.

‘36 steps for half a floor…. That means there are 72 steps per floor.’

I stopped for a moment at a place that could be called the 23.5th floor.

[Can you tell me here?]

[Wasn’t it hard coming down? Let’s rest a bit before we talk.]

‘…He’s being all sweet and gentle here.’

I couldn’t pin down the God of Records’ personality at all.

Is this closer to his real personality?

[No, tell me quickly.]

[Wait. Soon, you’ll be able to catch a glimpse of the truth of the world.]

‘The truth of the world?’

He’s using grand words, but I bet it’s nothing special.

[Sit here and look up toward the stairs.]

I turned around and looked at the floor above.

‘It’s just stairs.’

Even if he said it’s a place where starlight doesn’t reach, there was no boundary distinguishable to the naked eye.

‘…Well, nothing bad will happen just from sitting.’

My legs were starting to ache anyway, so I sat down on the floor as Records suggested.

A damp and cold chill rose from the stone floor.

[How long do I have to wait?]

[You’ll see it within 5 minutes.]

‘If it’s nothing special, I’m going to be pissed.’

Sitting alone in the silent underground, all sorts of random thoughts crossed my mind.

‘It’s this deep, so how is it ventilated? There shouldn’t be any ventilation fans….’

If soundproofing is handled by a Blessing, is ventilation also handled by a Blessing?

‘The God of Heating and Insulation, the God of Ventilation and HVAC Systems….’

But even if such gods existed, ‘Faith Points’ would be consumed to maintain the Blessing.

Where are those Faith Points being supplied from?

Is Order paying for it all?

‘Since Order is a Main God, maybe that’s possible.’

If this entire land belongs to him, it would be fine to lay down Power Transmission Lines everywhere.

In Conclude, if you left such lines, your Main Body would be tracked, so you absolutely had to place a Battery wherever a Blessing needed to be maintained.

‘You place Units that are expendable and make them pray continuously.’

When I played as Mother God, I made things like humans fused with Cicada Larvae, buried them in the ground, and made them pray….

‘…If the God of Records read the playlog of my Main World, he would have been absolutely horrified, right?’

It’s a relief that Records is incompetent.

‘Has it not been 5 minutes yet?’

[How much longer do I have to wait?]

[You’ll see it soon. Focus.]

At those words, I fixed my gaze on the stairs.

I had a lukewarm attitude, thinking I’d see just how great this thing was.

‘It’s just fucking stairs.’

The moment I picked up the pen to ask if something had happened that I missed.

‘Huh?’

I jumped up in surprise.

‘The stairs disappeared?’

No, not just the stairs, but the entire space vanished.

It was as if the area above the 24th floor had been cut away; the top part was gone.

‘…What is this?’

An optical illusion?

No, hallucinations don’t work on me….

‘A Veil? A Boundary?’

I didn’t know how to describe it.

It didn’t feel like I was simply looking at a dark space without light.

Beyond the boundary line, not even light leaked through.

It was as if a wall painted with a coating that absorbs 99.9% of light had suddenly appeared.

‘Is there a physical surface?’

The moment I climbed the stairs and tried to reach out to the black boundary, something appeared in my vision.

[Stop!]

‘Writing…?’

Black letters were floating in the air.

When I touched them, they turned into ink and flowed down onto my hand.

The ink on the back of my hand turned back into letters.

[Everything that crosses this boundary is annihilated. If you try to touch it, you’ll lose a few knuckles.]

“What?”

‘Tell me that kind of thing in advance!’

That’s fucking dangerous!

I picked up the pen.

[What on earth is that? Is it temporary? What happened?]

[Since this is a place where starlight doesn’t reach, things like this happen occasionally.]

[What do you mean ‘things like this’?]

[It’s a kind of error.]

‘…An error?’

No, how am I supposed to know what it is if you just call it an error?

Errors have classifications.

Like a 404 not found.

[Before that, I must give you a name. Since you’ve become something that is neither Fabio nor not-Fabio, calling you that is too uncomfortable.]

‘No, explain first!’

[Hmm… Fafabio? How about that? You are Fafabio.]

‘…What absolute trash naming skills.’

What is this, Papa Smurf?

[How is it, do you like it?]

‘As if I would.’

But I didn’t want to bicker over a name right now.

[The name doesn’t matter. So, what happened?]

[Fafabio, you have become Lost in Time.]

‘…Lost in Time?’

[As Regression rewound time, your arrival here became something that never happened. However, this place was not ‘deleted’ in time. That’s the error that occurred.]

‘Regression…?’

My eyes widened.

‘Regression?’

Who just used Regression?

‘I thought such a game-breaking ability was removed for balance….’

So the fact that there was nothing there was actually because someone had taken it and left it empty.

I bit my lip.

‘…The piece of shit who set the trap must have taken Regression, right?’

Who is that bastard? The Distorted One?

‘Of all times, they used Regression the moment I came down here….’

Of course, if I had a game-breaking Divine Power like Regression, I would use it all the time.

It’s a game-breaking power that turns back time, it doesn’t have a limit on the total number of uses, and the cost is just a bit of Health.

Whoever that person is, wherever they are, if they turn back time, the entire Dark Realm will be affected. The probability that some bastard used Regression for a reason completely unrelated to me and I happened to get caught up in it was higher than I thought.

‘But Records told me that if I waited 5 minutes, I’d be able to see this phenomenon.’

How did he predict it before Regression was activated?

Does that bastard always use Regression at this time?

With trembling hands, I wrote the question.

[Do you know who has Regression? How did you know they would use it soon?]

[When you descend here, the connection to the reliquary is also severed. Then Athanas will use Regression. It’s a simple story.]

“…Athanas?”

For a moment, my mind went blank.

‘Athanas has Regression?’

How?

We clearly went down together and checked….

‘Athanas deceived me?’

[Let’s stop with the stories that aren’t very important.]

‘No, fuck, this guy just drops a nuclear bomb as a casual comment.’

How is that not important!

[No, it is important! It’s incredibly important! Tell me more. Athanas can use Regression? Since when?]

[Fafabio. You’re being rude. Despite how I look, I am a god. Listen to the more grave matter first.]

‘There’s no way there’s a story more important than that!’

The moment I tried to write that he should talk about Athanas first, ink covered the back of my hand.

[Fafabio, the moment you leave this place, you will be annihilated.]

‘…What?’

[Either spend the rest of your life here with me, or attempt to leave the space and be annihilated. Choose one of the two.]

Chapter 108