The old man or Valerian, as he said he was called back in those days, was born in the vague year 1040 G.P.B.
The very first set of information I received from him revealed many inconsistencies that caught my attention, and questions began to swarm my mind. Nonetheless, I decided to let him tell his story, planning to address my questions later.
Valerian hailed from a lineage of shepherds, born to a shepherd father and an equally pastoral mother. He had two older sisters, an older brother, and a younger brother. His childhood and teenage years were rather simple, with nothing particularly unique about them. Growing into adulthood, Valerian followed in his father's footsteps, embracing the shepherd's life, tending to the flock, and eventually meeting his end in the same pastoral pursuit.
Such was the seemingly short and uninteresting tale of Valerian, the shepherd, which left me with more questions than answers.
Now to this very uninteresting story, here are my questions. What the hell is G.P.B? A calendar, that was my best guess. Did I misunderstand or was there a translation error? No, I'm pretty sure he meant to say that. But even if we assume the calendar is the same as ours, just named differently, how could he be born in the year 1040? That was around 3100 years before our era. The timeline didn't add up, and I couldn't shake off the confusion.
As if that wasn't perplexing enough, there was another glaring question: how did he forget? The uncertainty in his voice as he mentioned the years and the place he was born in—a place that he couldn’t even bring himself to name, hinted at an advanced stage of amnesia. Was it due to the advanced age of his current body or the numerous lives he had lived in this world that caused him to lose details of his old world? In other words, demantia. I couldn’t really tell anymore.
These were the thoughts racing through my mind as I listened to the old man—Valerian’s life story. In my opinion, the tale lacked any particularly interesting details aside from its inconsistencies, but most importantly, it lacked information about the reasons that would warrant him a place in that one dreaded location I didn't even want to mention.
Why did he even tell me his life story if he didn't mention the reason he was sent to the place I found myself in? Did he kill someone? Steal something? Commit blasphemy or something like that? If he wanted to share his story, he should at least provide a reason for being sent to hell. Or is he implying that even clean-slated people are sent to that place too?
Throughout his story, I kept listening, hoping he would eventually explain the grievous offense he was responsible for. I wanted to learn what kind of person he truly was to deserve such a fate. However, he finished recounting his life story without mentioning anything about his past transgressions and moved on to describing his days in that place.
To be honest, the way he recounted it made me realize that I was wrong to assume he would go into detail about the misery of that place which is why I initially wanted him to skip that part. Instead, I received a quick overview of how hellish it was. As I listened to his experience, the way he recounted it reminded me of how recounted his first life. In other words, as I was listening to him, I couldn’t help but ask myself, “Could it be that this guy is beginning to forget about that place?”
Because that was obviously what it looked like to me.
How? How do you forget about that place? I remembered that place and what happened there as if it happened yesterday. From my point of view, I couldn’t see myself forgetting, but I guess that’s just me.
Anyway, after casually recapping the time he'd spent in that place we both shared, he finally began recounting his encounter with Mighty K.R.U.L, and for once, I had a clear impression that it was a memory he retained vividly. Similar to my experience, Mighty K.R.U.L had met him in that place, possibly even earlier than he did with me, or perhaps at the same time. I wouldn’t be surprised if Mighty K.R.U.L were capable of such a feat. In fact, I would be more surprised if he weren't.
In many aspects, his interaction with Mighty K.R.U.L mirrored my own. His initial assumption, upon being saved by Mighty K.R.U.L, was that he was a deity. Just as he did with me, Mighty K.R.U.L immediately denied that title—an expected humility from such an entity.
Following that was an interaction that strongly reminded me of my own, with the exception that, perhaps unlike me—who went to request any way I could be of service—he, in contrast, was given the proposition to offer help to Mighty K.R.U.L and his Goddess-master A42675. At that moment, hearing his words, I felt like I might’ve stumbled upon the reason why I was not given an authority while he was.
Naturally, one thing that also happened was that I wondered why. Why was he given the offer while I had to beg for it? What was so great about him? At that moment, I was sure “we” all felt that thing—jealousy. However, realizing that right now I was bearing blasphemous thoughts by questioning Mighty K.R.U.L’s decision, I quickly quelled those thoughts. But in the end, that was all I did—suppress them.
Given a shard of Mighty K.R.U.L, which, as I had assumed, came in the form of an authority, he, just like I did, left that place to awaken as a new entity. However, unlike me—who awoke as a strange entity that felt like a limbless, voiceless, sightless creature floating inside a void—he woke as a human. Or, to be exact, a Verdenkind.
From the looks of it, he experienced what I would qualify as a proper "reincarnation," if I may say so. He got a body, an authority, and a life. I had to admit that it stirred up some jealousy, but the more he told me about his life, the more I realized it wasn't as rosy as I thought.
Authorities, or at the very least, the authority he was born with, worked the same way it does with me. It was interfaceless. And he wouldn't know what his authority actually does because while he was offered one, he was given just as much direction as to what to do with as I was without one. In other words, little to no direction at all.
However, the moment he was born, he just knew that something was expected of him. It was to act upon the shard that’d been given to him—and at times just like it is now, there is something inside him urging him to gather XP, which could naturally be interpreted as getting stronger.
He would dedicate a Verdenkind-lifetime to that goal—getting stronger. He felt like he could've gone on forever like that. However, a Verdenkind-lifetime, after all, is just a human lifetime. In other words, a very finite time. Ninety years or so after his rebirth, he found himself old, at death's door, feeling like he had accomplished anything except reaching level 50 or so as a warrior. He wanted to do more, but even in a world of magic and fantasy, he, who came from a world beyond hell, was helpless against his own mortality.
That day, for the first time since his second birth, he died. However, not long after he knew he died, he woke up in a new body—that of an helpless newborn HighBreed, one that would grow up to become a paladin. But before he could even make it to level 20, he would meet his end in his effort to achieve the goal he couldn't achieve in his second life—death, his third death. It would be at his second rebirth following that third death that he finally understood what his authority truly does. It took him time, but the saying was better late than never, wasn't it?
Through many reincarnations, the number of which he himself didn't seem so sure anymore, he worked toward the singular goal of getting stronger. In the process of doing so, he came to understand that one of the ways to swiftly get stronger was to defeat strong opponents, and there was no better strategy to do that than to partake in the activity known as Dungeon Slaying. As suggested by the name, it involved entering a Dungeon’s domain and slaying spawns of the said domain.
It was as he partook in such activities with the people he had chosen as comrades that he, as Kevin Karstark, entered my domain.
“It was meant to be a simple exploration of the strange and infamous undead-spawning Dungeon that, out of the blue, stopped being the undead-spawning Dungeon that it had always been known for. But instead, what we got was…” He bitterly trailed off. “I think you know what happened next. It was already you back then, wasn’t it?”
What happened next was that I, being the Dungeon Master that I was, did what was expected of me: Harvest.
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Echo-13: Yes, it was.
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—I replied, unapologetically. In my desire to acquire Greed and Resurgence, I had him killed, sending his soul straight to a new cradle. While I thought it was a shame that our interaction as fellow reincarnates had taken this path, I didn’t feel too guilty about slaying them—for to me, as a Dungeon Master, they were invaders. But ironically, that wasn’t the real reason I felt no remorse. Instead, it was because the guilt he expected from me was for something else entirely.
“Adriant… the twins, Mr. Pascal, Seraphina… and… Ellowen… The way you’re voicing it makes me feel like you don’t regret that outcome,” he said calmly, but despite everything separating us, I could clearly pick up on the repressed blaming in his voice.
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Echo-13: I don’t.
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Hearing my words, his eyes widened, the repressed anger surging through like an unstoppable wave. I knew he was about to lash out, so preemptively, I decided to strike down.
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Echo-13: You came to my domain not as a fellow reincarnate but instead as an invader. I grant you the right to expect me to see you as that. But you can’t expect me to see your comrades as nothing more than invaders in my domain.
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Hearing me mention his comrades, the old man, who was clearly about to let his anger explode at me, was taken by surprise, depriving him of any reaction. No doubt that I had hit the mark with my words, prompting me to add.
Echo-13: Since it clearly looks like I’ve hit the mark, it is clear now that I’ve found myself the answer to the question I wanted you to answer. Why? Why be so obstinate in coming back to my domain knowing that there’s nothing else here but Death.
By the third time he came back to my domain, alone, I had more or less figured out that the authority-wielder was the same person coming back again and again, always with a new body—one that I initially assumed to be that of a clone he left behind as a backup. But I soon realized it simply wasn’t that.
Echo-13: When I realized what your authority does, I began to wonder what kept driving you back to my domain, again and again. I killed you and your comrades once, then a second time, a third, and even more—each attempt leaving you with less and less chance of victory. Yet you kept coming back. Now I understand. Until I chose to speak to you, you had no idea I was an authority-wielder—or a &%$#@-user, as you call it. In your mind, I was nothing more than a Dungeon—a cave that spawns monsters, a mindless abomination. If anything, the only thing I ever was to you… was the Dungeon responsible for your comrades' death.
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Hearing my words, the old man, Valerian, or perhaps it was more accurate to call the man before me Kevin Karstark, turned livid.
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Echo-13: So the only logical reason—no, I’m not sure if I’m to call that logical, the only reason I can think of to explain what brought you back to me always and always is revenge.
From the clenching of Kevin Karstark’s teeth and fist, it seemed that I hit the nail on the head. So, since it came to that, I found no more reason to back down.
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Echo-13: From what you’ve told me, you’ve been through many lifetimes in this world, and from what I understand of it, despite dying and coming back many times in this world, you’ve always kept it together, forever moving forward to the goal of becoming stronger. I doubt theirs was the only death you’ve been through to warrant such an obsession over revenge—there’s bound to be a very unique reason for that.
—At least that was what it looked like to me. There was no way I’m dying again and again to avenge just comrades. One attempt beyond the first time was understandable, but anything beyond that was madness or something beyond madness.
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Echo-13: Was it the group as a whole, or was it a person in particular, Seraphina the healer or Ellowen, the mage perhaps?
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I was about to name the other member of his group in case he was leaning toward that one particular taste when he confirmed to me the identity of the special person.
“Keep her name out of your fucking mouth!” he barked as he barely contained himself from attacking Dungeon Master 07's guardian.
I see, so Ellowen it is.
As I watched how angered and how miserable the man in front of us looked, I couldn't help but wonder, what would Mighty K.R.U.L think of it. What would he think of one of his Authority-wielders using his authority to avenge his girlfriend and failing again and again and yet keep obsessing over it in spite of how hopeless the task is? Because that’s how it is, there was simply no winning against me?
I wondered if Mighty K.R.U.L had foreseen this? It could be just as the opposite was equally possible. In the end, I didn't know. But as I stared at him, I couldn't help but try to put myself in his shoes. I wondered that if I were given the chance to reincarnate as he did as a proper human, would I be dumb enough to create a connection with a special someone? That's something I couldn't do in my past life. I planned on doing that later in my life but then before I could get to that age, what happened happened. So surely, if I were in his shoes, I might consider that, but in the end, I don’t think I would. What I would do, however, would be sleeping around. That sure I would do. It wasn’t as ideal as my dream of a blonde wife and two or three children, but I wouldn’t dare waste the time and opportunity granted to me by Mighty K.R.U.L after he saved me from that place.
Perhaps I think that because I was born as a dungeon core, but I do not see being reborn in this world as a second chance. To me, this place is where we are to pay back the price for being saved from that place, so long as I get to achieve that, I believe I would be fine with the outcome I was promised before being sent to this place.
As I was lost in my own thoughts, I inadvertently gave the old man, Valerian, or Kevin Karstark, the time to gather himself up. While still seeping through and through with clear killing intent, he said, with a much calmer tone, “Talking to you, I barely feel like I’m talking to someone who was once a human.”
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Echo-13: Really?
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I, on the other hand, feel after talking to you that some sort of mix up might have been made when it came to sending you to that place. As I listened to his life story, I heard him make absolutely no mention of anything that could warrant him being sent to that place. At first, I assumed it was because he was shy about the horrifying things he’d done, but now I feel like he could’ve just never done anything particularly horrible to the point of being worth mentioning.
“Yes, it does.” He sank into a strange silence before asking, “You’ve already forcibly acquired another authority from one of us, haven’t you?”
Hearing that question, I on the spot misunderstood its meaning, assuming that it was a simple question, which it was, but he didn’t know. He didn’t know that, unlike him, I wasn’t reincarnated as an authority-wielder, so most likely in his mind, I had acquired “another” authority from someone but not my first, as he believed I was born with it.
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Echo-13: That might have happened in the past.
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—I went on to vaguely confirm.
“Mmph, I’m not even surprised anymore,” he said, not even bothering to hide his disgust.
‘You could be next if you insist,’ I wanted to reply, but remembering a detail he mentioned earlier, I asked:
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Echo-13: When I confirmed my identity as an Authority wielder, you earlier mentioned “You want my &%$#@ too, do you?” which means that other than me, there’s someone else that wants the authority, am I right?
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He nodded.
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Echo-13: Tell me about that person.
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—I demanded, only to be replied to with a shaking of the head.
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Echo-13: Why?
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He looked at Dungeon Master 07’s guardian in the eyes, or to be exact, where the eyes should have been if it were even humanoid, and said, “I have replied to all of your questions; now it’s my turn. Tell me, I want to know who—no, what you are.”
You want to know what I am, huh?
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Echo-13: Fine, if you insist. I’ll tell you.
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Since he wanted to know about me, I went ahead and told him my story. After all, it was only fair after he shared his own. I didn’t feel much pressure talking about myself—it wasn’t like I was revealing everything. I simply told him what my death was like, my experience in that place, my encounter with Mighty K.R.U.L, and what I had been through since.
I mentioned myself dedicating my time to harvesting G.P and fending off the constant invasions against me. I also mentioned my encounters with the Authority wielders, Kristian and Tusko Vagar, though I kept the details of my own Authority vague, only hinting at its existence.
In other words, I only shared information that I knew wouldn’t put me at risk, so there was no reason to stress over it. Besides, even if I did reveal something harmless, I had no intention of giving him the chance to use it against me.
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Echo-13: —It was then that I believe you and your comrades entered my domain.
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I explained as we finally got to the part where our stories—his and mine converged.
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Echo-13: I will skip the next part, for I think you already know what happened next.
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At the mention of his comrades, I felt the man’s anger rise to a new level, only to ultimately cool down to a reasonable level. I guess he finally got used to this or, to be exact, adjusted himself.
“Yes. You don’t have to.”
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Echo-13: Great, I was hoping for exactly that.
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The man stood, sinking the whole room into a strange silence. Wanting to break it, I was about to venture the question that he earlier refused to answer without me answering his question first, which I did, but just as I was about to, he said, “At first, I thought that the time you either spent in that place or as a Dungeon was what thinned your humanity. Now I realize you just never had much in the first place.”
Whoa, really? What a hurtful comment?
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Echo-13: Oh, you think so? That might be true, but I doubt you’d be all that different from me, had we shared the same circumstances. We—on several aspects, our circumstances were similar.
We both were here from the beginning, we’ve traveled through the ages, so yes, our circumstances were already very similar.
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When exactly did I notice? I confirmed it when Dungeon Master 06 discovered his domain’s unique property—how rapidly the creatures within it were multiplying, or more precisely, procreating. But even before that, I had my doubts, especially in my early days as a Dungeon Master.
He and I were in very similar circumstances. While he lived through countless lives, I also did, but unlike him, I went through no rebirth. I and my domain, also known very recently by my invaders as “the Voidborne Catacombs”, were there from the very beginning and never left.
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Echo-13: You and I must have arrived in this world at roughly the same time. I can’t really tell time down here so, tell me, how old are we?
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He rudely looked at Dungeon Master 07’s guardian and said, “I don’t know. I’ve only heard about you later, several lifetimes before I became Kevin Karstark, but I heard that this Dungeon was one of the first Dungeons to spawn in Fiendfell, so at least a couple of thousands of years.”
A couple of thousands of years, huh? Even though I more or less guessed it was roughly more than a thousand years, I was still nonetheless surprised to hear such a big and vague number.
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Echo-13: I see...
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That much time, huh?
We tried to keep my internal composure, but we were not able to.
From the day we discovered what could be done with Dungeon Master 06’s domain, we quickly came to notice that there were some strange time dilations going on. We understood that time might not be, or at least the same way it does for us than it would with anything else. The rate at which we were invaded, the rate at which Dungeon Master 06’s cattle were proliferating was living proof of that. So even though I was aware of the said time dilation, thousands of years were, for a formerly human like me, a ridiculous number.
Back then, I didn’t even live past thirty—so to think I’ve been here for not just hundreds, not just a thousand, but thousands of years… It’s truly an absurd amount of time.
But as ridiculous as it is, it finally put to rest my doubts about the intelligence of this world’s people. Though, honestly, you’d think they would have learned from the mistakes of the countless generations before them. Then again, I suppose not many of those ancestors who entered my domain ever made it back alive to warn the next generation.
“You actually might be older than that. You can’t just assume we were born around the same time,” he added.
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HighBreed, Knight, Level 92, used skill: Elemental Manipulation
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Echo-13: How’s that?
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Using a skill, he created what looked like a chair, then sat down. “I’ve been told that other &%$#@-users were born later than I did—than you did.”
It took me a moment to fully process what he had just said, but eventually, it sank in.
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Echo-13: Who is that person who told you that?
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“Why do you want to know?" he asked with a frown.
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Echo-13: I just want to know.
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“Then why would I tell you?”
Why wouldn’t you?
Didn’t we establish a bond already?
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Echo-13: If that person is the same person you earlier mentioned to have wanted your authority, why wouldn’t you tell me?
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His eyes widened in surprise. “How?! How do you know?”
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Echo-13: You mentioned that earlier, didn’t you? When you said that I wanted your authority, you said, “too,” meaning that you’ve encountered another &%$#@-user that wanted your authority.
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“I guess I did say that,” he mumbled, finally realizing.
Watching the complicated expression he took, I couldn’t help but wonder if that other Authority-wielder didn’t kill him in an attempt to seize his authority; that was a possibility. Given the reaction he gave me, that was definitely a possibility.
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Echo-13: That person killed you, didn’t they? Just like I had. But you didn’t come back for him like you did for me, have you. Or else you would have not one but two—
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“You’re wrong.”
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Echo-13: How so?
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"He didn’t kill me, nor did he even try," he said with a sigh, clearly hesitant to explain—but in the end, he did. "He came to talk."
