Ranker Who Lives Twice
chapter-659

Time and space.

Uranus said he was the Father of Heavens because he was able to rule over both.

This was the explanation of how he had the domain of heavens, why he was able to wake up at the beginning of time and have an ego, and how he created a large group called Olympus.

“Of course, that doesn’t mean I’m omniscient.”

Uranus’ voice was filled with confidence about his abilities, but there was a hint of bitterness.

“I control time, but in reality, it’s nothing more than seeing a part of others’ secrets, and I control space, but it’s limited to space within my reach. Even though I rule over time and space, it’s only the ‘small wheel.’ The laws of causality within it aren’t something I can touch.”

Even if they transcended, gods, demons, dragons, and giants all said their transcendence wasn’t true transcendence.

They weren’t able to escape the laws of causality spread throughout the universe and dimensions, so how could they be called true transcendents? The same went for Uranus.

But beings who escaped the laws of causality and gained “freedom” were called differently: emperors. They were the rulers of all.

“So your grandfather is only half-transcendent. Perhaps… it’s a penalty for taking what isn’t mine. The ‘me’ that I saw in the future was returning to my youngest son what was his, and it ends there.”

Just as Kronos had barely met Yeon-woo’s eyes after seeing tens of thousands of futures, it seemed Uranus had seen something similar.

In the far future, his descendent would come and ask for help.

‘Grandfather might have been more…’

It might have been unrealized because of all the time that has passed, but maybe Uranus had been closer to the emperor level than Kronos.

Kronos was just a greater object of fear because he was able to control death as the Black King’s Apostle.

Based on omnipotence and freedom from the laws of causality, although Uranus said he was only a “half-transcendent,” he was probably above Kronos.

As if to prove that, Uranus’ voice was filled with pride about himself. It seemed he was asking who in this universe would dare to stand against him.

‘I suppose he was able to take control of Olympus because of that charisma.’

Moreover, the official start of the civil war had been when Uranus’ lost his strength due to Gaia’s Curse.

[11:08:06_77]

[11:08:06_76]

…

“But unlike me, who forcefully took time and space, you were born with the seeds of both Pneuma and Quirinale.”

Uranus’ gaze suddenly became intense. Yeon-woo felt shivers down his back.

Was it envy of Yeon-woo, who had been born with blessed blood, or expectation that his mission would be completed by his descendent? Or… Yeon-woo couldn’t grasp Uranus’ emotions.

However, he was sure of one thing. When he had said he was the children of Kronos and Rhea, it wasn’t just warmth in Uranus’ eyes. There was also ambition. It was the power of the conqueror who wished to take everything in the world for himself.

“Anyway, what you’re trying to learn is the secret skill of Pneuma, correct?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Did your father tell you it took a significantly long time to learn?”

Yeon-woo nodded solemnly. Kronos had said controlling the holy power Uranus had left behind wasn’t easy.

“But you don’t have a lot of time.”

Kronos had also said Uranus would find a way somehow.

He’s just the kind of person who’d do that.

“Teaching you Pneuma’s Sky isn’t difficult. I’ll be teaching you something you’d have received some time anyway. There must be some reason why Kronos wasn’t able to teach you, correct?”

Yeon-woo nodded. Kronos wasn’t able to touch the spring of time because he was currently in a demigod form, living through Vigrid.

“We’ll have to cram then since you don’t have much time.”

“Is there a way?”

“Of course.”

Uranus grinned as if telling Yeon-woo not to worry.

Yeon-woo stiffened in anxiety.

Uranus’ smile seemed ominous.

* * *

‘Dammit! Why is my instinct always right when it comes to these things?’

Yeon-woo’s hands and feet were tightly bound by chains. At the end of the chains were heavy weights that prevented him from running away.

Kronos’ body should’ve been able to shake away most items, but the problem was that these chains were made of Divine Iron.

“Lord Kronos… what did he do this time?”

“I heard he threw a punch because one of the other lords had bad breath. Is it because of that?”

“There’s not a day when something doesn’t happen.”

“But I can’t believe His Majesty is throwing him in the night. What if something goes wrong?”

“He must be thinking of properly disciplining Lord Kronos this time.”

The gods of Olympus were gathered and watched Uranus order his subordinates to tie Yeon-woo up.

“Must you go this far?’

Yeon-woo turned to Uranus with an astounded face.

He didn’t know what this “teaching method” was, but wasn’t it too much to tie him up with Divine Iron like some criminal? The iron absorbed all the holy power in his body, and he didn’t have any strength left.

“The place you’ll be entering is called Night. I’m sure you saw it since you arrived?”

What did that suspicious “night” have to do with Pneuma’s Sky?

“It’s also called Nyx. It’s a monster that fell from the darkness that existed from before the beginning and attempts to swallow all the beings of the world. Void, chaos, and even abyss… they all lose their form and become nothing inside of that thing.”

Nyx. It was the symbolization of the night that was born at the same time as Mother Earth, Gaia.

To be exact, Nyx was the conceptual god that represented night.

‘Since conceptual gods are originally in that form.’

Mother Earth, who moved with her own will, was just an anomaly. Conceptual gods were born from concepts and did not have a specific shape. Depending on the being, they were powerful enough to swallow divine beings. They just didn’t have the ego to do so.

“What does it have to do with the swamp of darkness?”

“Mm? You know that too? The swamp of darkness is only revealed after defeating Night… oh, I forgot again.”

Uranus smiled. It would be easier to explain things since Yeon-woo already knew.

“You can think of Nyx as a byproduct of the swamp of darkness. A piece of darkness that was torn from the creation of light. We’ve been fighting that thing for a while because there are many worlds that died or collapsed because of it. We can’t let our territory be taken by it too.”

Yeon-woo began to understand.

Olympus had been fighting against the Night for a long time, and they finally succeeded, being able to approach its very origin, the swamp of darkness.

‘And Father met the Demonism while investigating it. The beings of order and the beings of chaos… they’ve been fighting for a long time.”

It was nice to know this since this was another one of the universe’s secrets that weren’t known in reality. However…

‘What does that have to do with Pneuma…!’

Uranus looked at Yeon-woo with amusement, as if he could read his thoughts.

“You’ll know when you enter.”

Yeon-woo barely managed to contain the curses that threatened to escape his mouth. The chains were now wrapped all the way around his body.

“…Sir.”

“Don’t be so formal. Call me Grandpa instead.”

How could a grandfather who wanted to be on close terms with his grandson put his grandson in a monstrous thing like that?

“I don’t need the domain of time. I just need the…”

“Haha! How funny. A man should be prepared to go all the way. Are you going to be satisfied with just that? Go inside and learn the beauty of going slow and steady.”

Uranus wanted Yeon-woo to learn everything while he was already here.

Yeon-woo became certain that his grandfather wasn’t someone who could be persuaded through speech.

“This is definitely not to let out any stress about your father. Definitely not.”

“W…!”

“Go on.”

Before Yeon-woo could finish shouting the word “wait,” a huge god carried Yeon-woo on Uranus’ command and threw him like a cannon into where Night was.

Ahhhhhhh!

Yeon-woo wasn’t able to resist and was sucked into Night as he shouted.

Splash!

As Uranus warned, Night seemed to be trying to erase anything related to Yeon-woo’s identity. Recognition, knowledge, senses… it was even swallowing the things that symbolized him. It was similar to when Yeon-woo had first entered the abyss.

[Thought Control]

Yeon-woo immediately lifted his consciousness so as to not have his existence scattered.

‘I could see the remnants of souls about to reincarnate and the connections to other life forms in the abyss… but this place is completely different. There’s nothing here.’

Yeon-woo spread his consciousness wider, hoping to sense something, but he didn’t.

Had everything ceased to exist?

He thought large objects would have remained somewhat because of their size.

He realized what it meant when the Night erased everything it swallowed. You would become nothing.

‘Even the concept of time means nothing in here. What am I supposed to learn?’

Yeon-woo felt frustrated.

[10:42:23_32]

[10:42:23_31]

…

All he could see was the countdown.

But even that was disappearing.

[The playback of the legends isn’t working properly because of the disruption of an unidentifiable object.]

[The time limit countdown feature is paused.]

It became a world of nothing.

Go inside and learn the beauty of going slow and steady.

That was the only hint Uranus had given him.

‘Slow and steady?’

Yeon-woo still didn’t understand.

There was no better place to learn the concept of slowness than Night. But it wasn’t something that would help Yeon-woo, who was trying to fix the spring of time.

‘That can’t be the only hint Grandfather gave me. Something else, something else… what other hint was there?’

Yeon-woo racked his brain, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

The only thing that seemed close to a hint was the name of Pneuma, where Kronos' roots were from… the group that had once ruled over the universe’s time.

Technically, Pneuma was a word that had philosophical meaning behind it as well.

Spirit, breath… along these abstract concepts, it represented desire, reason, and senses.

Yeon-woo didn’t know what the word had to do with time, but there was something that occurred to him.

‘If viewed as a relative concept from one who observes time…’

The concept of time was very abstract. Depending on where in the universe you were, the speed that it flowed was changed. It was fast in spaces where black holes were, but it was slow where there wasn’t any movement. That meant based on who was observing it, it would be different.

Yeon-woo had a similar skill to it: Time Difference.

How many times had he evaded danger thanks to this?

Time was a relative concept that could be sped up or slowed down based on the thoughts and perspective of its observer.

‘Observing the world from my viewpoint and controlling time based off of that… is that the meaning of Pneuma?’

It was only a little, but he felt like he was beginning to grasp something.

Ding. Ding.

[You have succeeded in finding an important hint regarding the concept of ‘Time.’]

[A new change is occurring to your ‘Time Difference.’]

[Please wait.]

[Please wait.]

…

[You are able to find the substance that can repair the spring.]

[A new sense has been opened.]

[You have obtained the second of the Six Godly Perceptions, Ear of the Heavens.]

…

[The application of Eye of the Heavens and Ear of the Heavens, you are able to perceive a new world that you could not view before.]

[You are able to sense Imaginary Worlds.]

[A new side of the veiled ‘Night (Knox) is revealed!]

With countless messages, something that was hidden beneath Night released its chaotic thoughts as it appeared.

What. Is.

This.

It was familiar to Yeon-woo.

‘The Crawling Chaos…? Why?’

The problem was that he wasn’t alone.