Taming Master

Splash- Splash-!

Each time Ian rowed the oars, a creepy sound would come out.

‘Uh, uh, my muscles are sprouting up.’

Apparently, the appearance of the river wasn’t much different from that of a normal river, but an unknown sound was spreading inside the water.

‘Is this some kind of horror experience? Why was this made so terrifyingly?’

He couldn’t even do this with pleasant feelings, he was starting to feel bad for sending away Grim Reaper.

‘If he would have been here, I would have been less scared…’

While thinking of all these weird stuff, Ian began to row faster.

Only then would he be able to escape this experience much faster.

Splash- Splash-!

Ian’s ferry boat moved across the river with the dreadful unknown sound.

But after a while, Ian looked puzzled.

“Uh?”

The color of the river, which was dark green, suddenly turned yellow.

The next moment, system messages started to appear in front of Ian.

Tring-!

[You have discovered the river of grief—Acheron—for the first time.]

[Dark resistance has been increased by 3.]

[Resistance of ‘Fear’ has been increased by 5.]

Ian read the system messages and scratched the back of his neck.

‘River of Grief? That name sure is scary…’

But apart from that, it was still encouraging to get a 5 point resistance to the fear.

It wasn’t that much of an increase that it could be felt, but even that state of resistance was hard enough to obtain.

Ian then heard a sullen voice that came from behind him.

“You got in my boat without my permission. You seem like a fearless soul.”

Feeling annoyed, Ian turned in the direction of the voice.

An old man with a black robe was staring at Ian intensely.

[Voyeur Karon: Lv 25 (Transcendence)]

Ian confirmed the information on the head of the old man and swallowed his spit.

‘Wa, even a voyeur theme person has a higher level than the Lich King?’

For Ian, who was only at transcendence level 2, he couldn’t even dare to think about going against a high leveled NPC.

The next moment, however, a question came to his mind.

‘Hold on, I’m in a dead state now, right? If I die in here, what will happen to me?’

Ian tried to make a few assumptions for his own questions.

His first assumption.

‘Maybe while I’m dead, I’m invincible?’

There couldn’t be any other path to go if Ian dies again.

His second assumption.

‘Maybe this is the same with the original log out with 24-hour no-access penalty like when a user dies in a normal game.’

It was assumed that the death penalty could be placed overlapping the penalty.

But since nothing of it was clear, Ian decided to act very cautiously.

“Sorry. I didn’t know that there was an owner for this ship. Ha ha ha.”

Ian apologized while looking down, Karon replied with a softer tone,

“Hmmm, I don’t think you’re alive. I’m sure that you’re dead… Didn’t the Grim Reaper tell you about me?”

At the question from Karon, Ian decided to sell out Grim Reaper.

“Yeah, he just left immediately?”

“…?”

“So, I just got on the boat.”

Seeing Ian act all nervous and confused, Karon’s wrinkled expression turned grim.

“That grim reaper dare to be this negligent! I need to tell Lord Mukan.”

Ian was feeling a little confused. He was convinced that something different had just happened; he then changed the topic.

“By the way, Karon.”

“Hmm?”

“What is at the end of the river?”

Karon looked lost for a moment and then answered with a smile,

“Erebus.”

“Sorry…?”

“After passing this place, you will arrive at Erebus, the land of darkness.”

“What is to be done in that place?”

“That is where the deceased lived. Those who still have some regrets about life.”

“Regret… huh?”

“To be precise, something like, the ones who still hold fear about the oblivion?”

“Ah, is that so!?”

While the boat was still moving, Ian continued to ask Karon numerous questions,

It was because he had to extract more information about this underworld.

Thanks to the conversation he was having with Karon, Ian learned a lot.

‘So, crossing the river is a dangerous act in this place.’

According to Karon, Erebus was divided into three sections.

From the river of grief, Acheron, till the river of wailing Cocytos.

Beyond Cocytos, to the river of flames, Phlegethon.

Finally, beyond the Phlegethon till the river of oblivion, Lethe.

In that way, the area was divided according to the river, and once the rivers were crossed, more powerful spirits could be seen.

“I don’t know when the river of oblivion will be crossed but don’t cross it so quickly.”

Ian was puzzled because of what Karon said.

“The river of oblivion, it is at the edge of Erebus.”

“Yeah.”

“Is there something after it?”

Karon shook his head and slowly opened his mouth to speak,

“I don’t know that either.”

“Ah… is that so?”

“It is because I’m tied to this place.”

“Ae, you’re tied down in here, but you still know about Erebus, right?”

Karon laughed in response to what Ian said.

“Cocytos or Phelegethon isn’t a single path.”

“Huh?”

“There are a lot of people who cross over and come back.”

“Ah…!”

“The deceased wandering all over Erebus always talk. It has been over a thousand years already, isn’t it natural to know?”

“I guess so.”

After a pause, Karon continued,

“On the other hand, the river of oblivion, Lethe. If it is crossed, that is it.”

“…!”

“So don’t cross that part too quickly.”

After listening to the story of Karon, Ian felt like something was not quite right.

‘I have the personality that does what was asked not to be done… Now, let’s take a look at the end of the Underworld, shall we?’

Thought Ian to himself, thinking that the planning team would hear him if he said that aloud. He was getting excited to see new contents.

While Ian was occupied in his thoughts, the river of Acheron had finally begun to appear.

Shah- Shessh-!

The closer the land came, the faster the rowing of Ian had become.

Unlike rowing in ordinary water, this didn’t take much effort. But as he was on the boat for a long time, he wanted to get his foot on the ground as soon as possible.

But before the boat of Ian could touch the land, Ian was curious about something.

“But Karon.”

“What is it?”

“Can someone who hasn’t died yet cross the river of Acheron?”

When Karon heard Ian’s question, he responded with a very determined look.

“This place is the land of the dead. Such a thing can’t be possible here.”

“…?”

“My boat cannot move with the living. If there is any living being, the boat will sink right away.”

“Is… is that so?”

After hearing the answer of Karon, Ian became more confused.

‘You can’t pass the river unless you are dead? Then what does it mean when Mukan said that he would open the path to the Underworld?’

Mukan definitely said that he would open the path to the Underworld if Ian won against him.

And Ian as well, felt that there was a way to win over Mukan, at least in the human world.

‘Did Mukan mean something like before Acheron and outside Erebus?’

The more he started to assume, the more confused Ian started to get.

Seeing Ian be like that, Karon spoke again,

“But, there are exceptions.”

“What do you mean by exceptions?”

“If one has the ‘Courageous Warrior’ qualification and an intermediate being (Being of the Middle-Earth), then you can cross the river even when not dead.”

“Ah!”

“And, how is that possible is still a bit questionable…”

“…?”

“There has been no record of an intermediate being, who was not deceased, and had been to Erebus.”

When he heard those words, Ian’s eyes began to shine.

* * *

“Huhu, Ian. Surely, you have a one of kind mind.”

Na Ji-chan watched the play of Ian for more than three hours in the monitoring room. He then shook his head and laughed.

“If Ian hadn’t thought of it, I would have been really disappointed in him.”

Ian came up with the easiest way to enter the Underworld—using his dimensional beads.

However, it was a variable that was already forecasted by the planning team from the beginning stage.

The dimensional beads were surely one of the most broken items, but it was something that took form because of the planning team.

‘If it wasn’t for the deal that you had with the Titan guild, would you have entered the Underworld in the normal way?’

If Ian had not made a deal with the Titan guild, Ian was bound to have thought of a way to defeat the Underworld King.

One might have thought that winning over the Underworld King and entering the Underworld was the best play scenario.

And even if that was done, he probably wouldn’t have entered Erebus.

Until one’s transcendence level increased and was qualified as a warrior, one couldn’t cross the Acheron River.

Then, would it be good for Ian to enter Erebus in such an unusual way?

“Huhu, if you want something, you need to move quickly.”

If it was possible to skip the steps and jump over the top content, it was only natural that the balance of the game was broken.

That was why even the Kailan planning team couldn’t have left that possibility out.

[This is Erebus…!]

While looking at the image of Ian stepping onto the land of Erebus, Na Ji-chan couldn’t help but grin.

“But if it is Ian God, then I can digest this a little.”

Ping-!

Na Ji-chan turned off the screen and left the monitoring room with a glass in his hand.

Having looked at all the important parts, it was now time to move up to the planning team’s office.