Chapter 161

The young Delilah loved the stars in the sky.

Her heart was at ease whenever she looked at the warm starlight.

From a distance she could never reach.

Whenever she looked at the sky, where beautiful jewels were embedded like grains of sand.

‘Ah.’

She was comforted.

Compared to those things, the existence of a human was so insignificant, trivial, and small.

It made all her suffering and hardships feel like nothing.

Was that why?

She grew curious.

Why is that one so big?

Why are there so many of them?

Questions became knowledge, and knowledge gave birth to more questions.

The questions grew more and more advanced, eventually coalescing into a single dream.

The dream of an astronomer.

At night, Delilah would take her telescope and climb to high ground.

She preferred reading [Cosmic Science Magazine] over the [World Literature Collection].

‘Ah, the more I learn about the universe, the bigger it gets.’

She smiled innocently.

She had thought Sun was the biggest star, but that wasn’t the case.

In fact, the Sun was on the smaller side among stars, and it took tens of trillions of stars like it to form a galaxy.

‘And it takes dozens of such galaxies to form a galaxy group, and hundreds or thousands of galaxies to form a galaxy cluster. And it takes countless galaxy groups and clusters to make a supercluster? And our universe has more than 10 million of those galaxy clusters?’

The surprising part was that this was only the observable universe.

Since we need light to see anything, we couldn’t observe the outer space that was expanding faster than light.

‘Huh.’

Therefore, we could only form speculative hypotheses.

Nothingness. There could be nothing at all.

Existence. Like a mirror reflecting our universe, a reverse world could exist.

Multiplicity. There could be countless universes like our own, as numerous as the stars in the night sky.

Higher dimensions. Just as a 2D being on a flat plane cannot see the third dimension, a higher-dimensional world—one we couldn’t even perceive—might be unfolding.

‘I’m curious, so curious.’

Before falling asleep, the young Delilah would close her eyes and think.

What lies beyond this world?

If there is a God in this world, why did he make it so we could never see its end?

‘I want to go too. I want to know the truth.’

Did that wish reach the heavens?

The day the world changed and she, now an adult, awakened her unique ability.

[Congratulations!]

[You are awakening a unique ability.]

[Your unique ability is ‘Dungeon Maker’.]

[You are a ‘Dungeon Maker’ who can freely roam countless worlds.]

[You can connect each world and create passages through Dungeons.]

She received a gift from the system.

A rare and precious gift.

‘This is amazing?!’

At twenty, she was ecstatic.

How overpowered was this ability?

Or how strong it was, and how much money it could make her?

None of that mattered.

She was just happy that she could personally see the worlds she had longed for.

Her heart pounded.

‘I’ll go right away!’

From that moment on, she began to explore every corner of the worlds.

World Link.

A skill that allowed her to travel without restriction to any place where there was a being she could communicate with.

“Ahhh!”

She couldn’t help but be amazed.

“Just as the size and brightness of stars are all different, so are the worlds. While there are unbelievably strong worlds, there are also worlds that could be destroyed by a single finger of mine! How can this be?”

As many as the stars, the worlds were diverse.

“So this is what you call a Dragonkin? Dragonkin are incredibly strong, huh?”

“Is it because there’s a lot of oxygen here? The creatures are huge. It’s disgusting.”

“The underwater world is actually more active than the terrestrial world?”

She slowly accumulated knowledge.

She learned about the birth of civilizations and communicated with various life forms.

Her skill was mysterious.

It allowed her to communicate with all beings through means other than language.

Then one day, about three years later, Delilah learned a shocking fact.

“Huh-huh-huh?”

Goosebumps ran down her spine.

“Is that the World Ranking Board?”

The mysterious giant board that appeared in the eastern United States after Earth changed.

My goodness.

It existed in other worlds too!

A mystical stone monument that engraved the names of 1,000 hunters in order of rank.

They had a system there too.

And they were also fiercely competing, ranking each other.

Why?

Why did something like this appear?

Her curiosity extended beyond astronomy to this strange phenomenon.

So she traveled to a few more places.

Civilization energy.

That is, she focused on places where the energy within the star felt strong…

Eventually, she realized.

“Wow, it wasn’t just one or two? There’s a board here too?”

“Huh? Here too…!”

There were countless worlds with a World Ranking Board.

As she had sensed, weak worlds had no board, and strong worlds had a board.

She entered those worlds herself.

At the same time, she met with rankers and talked with them.

Focusing on places where the board had appeared a long time ago…

“Who are you! How dare you speak to me? Just die!”

Of course, for those who posed a threat to her.

Snap!

[Using ‘World Link’ (SSS-Class).]

It was possible because she could flick her finger and escape.

Delilah traveled from place to place, finding those who were curious about her.

“Hmm, connecting worlds, you say…?”

The man was one of them.

Surprisingly, they also had an appearance almost identical to humans.

Except for the cat tail behind them.

“A mysterious being. Are the Dungeons that appear in our world also your doing?”

“It’s not like that.”

Delilah decided to call them the Cat-Folk.

“Good. Then let’s exchange information. You tell me about your world’s situation. I will tell you about my world’s situation. How about it?”

“Okay, deal.”

It went like this.

Not just the Cat-Folk.

She met and interacted with other mysterious races in the same way.

To summarize what she learned:

‘So the board only appears in worlds that are somewhat competitive?’

The system was only interfering in places where there were obviously strong individuals.

Could it be that some unknown entity was testing them?

‘But why Earth of all places…’

Actually, when you thought about it, Earth wasn’t a pushover either.

Although humanity itself might be weak, its potential was enormous.

Jack, who joined forces with a demon.

Hase Ra, who could shatter a great mountain with her fingers.

Sophia, who was already beginning to understand magic.

The zombie Aria.

And so on.

All of them were people who had adapted to the changed world in less than three years since awakening.

‘Hmm.’

But that was all.

No matter how much she wandered, no matter how much she asked, there was still nothing she could know for sure.

She could only guess.

“I think there is some kind of being. A terrifyingly strong being. A being that gave us mysterious abilities and can freely manipulate the system.”

“People from other worlds have all had that thought.”

“Is that so? But what about this thought? What if that transcendent being gave us these abilities to test us?”

“What do you mean?”

“They lay out various civilizations, save only the superior ones, and erase the civilizations that fall behind.”

“Excuse me?”

“Don’t think it’s nonsense. When you think about it, this universe, the system, our birth—nothing has been revealed so far, has it!”

He wasn’t wrong.

It was also the most impressive thing she had heard during her travels.

“So we began to prepare.”

“Prepare?”

Delilah tilted her head.

“Yes, prepare. Now that we know there are other worlds thanks to you… shouldn’t we prepare for the unknown? Thus, the rankers of our world all united. No, not just the rankers, but all beings united. We began to aim for the sole goal of becoming stronger.”

“Hmm?”

It made sense.

Even Delilah was tempted for a moment.

To be precise, she was afraid.

‘Earth could be erased?’

Even if she was a traveler between worlds, her home was Earth.

The more she traveled to other worlds, the more keenly she felt the preciousness and beauty of Earth.

‘Should I prepare?’

It wasn’t certain.

But she felt like she should.

However, it was a troubling matter.

What charisma did a girl with just one ability have to unite prideful rankers?

Frankly, it was doubtful they would even believe that such worlds existed.

About a year later…

“We’re ruined.”

That being said:

“The world is ruined. Ah, it’s all your fault, O being from another world.”

“My… fault?”

“Yes. Because of the information you gave us, we all fell into fear. Everyone abandoned their livelihoods and began to pursue only strength.”

“What does that…!”

“When everyone abandoned their tools and picked up swords, society was bound to collapse rapidly. The economy stagnated with no signs of recovery, and there were even parents who killed their weak children… Ah, if only I hadn’t told them! If only I had let things flow according to fate…!”

He lamented and reproached himself.

He regretted his foolishness.

…

Delilah stared blankly at such a being.

She felt many things.

‘I need to control the secret.’

Truth is precious.

But sometimes it comes as a disaster.

Like Pandora’s box in Greek and Roman mythology.

‘But I still need to prepare.’

After observing countless worlds for another year, Delilah discovered a shockingly surprising fact.

Worlds that did not develop and remained complacent were destroyed.

Whether by natural disaster.

Or an asteroid collision.

They were destroyed anyway.

It was too similar to be a coincidence.

When that world’s history no longer developed, or when its competitiveness fell too far behind other worlds, that world collapsed.

‘Perhaps the Cat-Folk man’s words might be right.’

She slowly calculated.

In terms of pure competitiveness, Earth was still far below.

It hadn’t even been ten years since they received their unique abilities.

It was a natural result.

‘Should I raise them?’

Delilah clenched her fists.

She wanted to protect the beautiful Earth.

‘I’ll try to create a ranker. No, to be precise, I’ll find ranker candidates with high potential.’

The skill, ‘Dungeon Maker’ (S-Class).

To put someone inside a Dungeon created with it, their presence had to be weaker than her own.

The existing rankers.

Especially the top-tier ones—their presence was so powerful.

It was hard for her to handle.

If she were to create a trial for such people, the energy she had accumulated while traveling the universe could be wiped out in an instant.

‘I’ll focus on raising non-rankers.’

In her fourth year since awakening, she—ranked 159th in the world at the time—planned a trial for the first time.

Not for her own greed.

It was a plan solely to raise the level of Earth.

—

[Ding!]

[You have heard a part of Delilah’s ‘Secret’.]

[Ending Theme 6.]

…

I suddenly lifted my head.

The moment I lifted my head, I awoke from my reverie.

To be precise, I emerged from Delilah’s memory.

[Warning! Warning! Warning!]

[A Prohibition is being placed upon you for hearing the ‘Secret’.]

[If this ‘Secret’ is divulged to an ‘Outsider’, all rewards and Probability obtained from this trial will be nullified.]

[Here, an ‘Outsider’ refers to one who has not heard the secret.]

…?

A Prohibition.

Is this the penalty Delilah was talking about?

By the way, the Probability obtained from the trial… if it’s that…?

[Target List]

[Toxin Mist, ‘Ten-Thousand-Poison Immunity’ (S-Class) upgrade portion, ‘Behemoth’s Bone Shield’ (S-Class), ‘Legacy of the Ten Thousand Arts’ (SS) upgrade portion, Sealed Spirit of Seven Essences (4/7)… etc.]

Scroll.

A list of skills and items I had obtained from the trials so far was displayed.

“Huh.”

The other things were one thing, but.

Even Toxin Mist and the Essences would be nullified?

The penalty was indeed harsh.

It didn’t matter since I wasn’t going to tell anyone anyway.

[Congratulations.]

[You have passed all of Delilah’s trials.]

[You are granted the authority to recommend one candidate (1/5) for each new term.]

With the message, I was back in the middle of space.

I could see a smiling Delilah.

“My sincere congratulations, Mr. Joo.”

Clap, clap, clap!

She clapped her hands.

“Thanks to you, I was able to feel interest again for the first time in a long while. I felt a sense of reward, too. Also, I have great expectations for you in the future.”

…

To be honest, I wasn’t that surprised.

Because I had already experienced so many things like Dungeons and trials.

Of course, the other worlds I saw through her were fascinating.

The fact that there were worlds with a ranker system similar to our Earth was also novel.

‘But.’

That was it.

My goal from the beginning was to be a ranker, and now it’s to be number one.

Delilah’s curiosity had nothing to do with my goal.

Of course, I support and respect her actions.

I am also grateful to her.

Thanks to her, I was able to achieve my goal easily.

“So I’d like to give you this.”

Suddenly, she held out her hand.

“Yes? What?”

I tilted my head and looked at it.

It was a mysteriously shaped sculpture.

“It’s a recently released Dungeon Artifact. You should feel honored. This is… a gift I only give to hunters I truly acknowledge.”

“A Dungeon Artifact…?”

Oh, this.

I think I heard about it from Ki Soyul.

Did she say you could use your own subspace?

“Hehe, it’s the finest quality among those released so far, so you can look forward to it. Well then… that’s all for the greetings. I should send you off now. I really don’t have much energy left. Mr. Joo, you should go home, eat some chicken, and have a celebratory beer, right? You’ve worked hard.”

Grin.

Delilah smiled.

At the same time, snap!

She flicked her fingers.

[Congratulations!]

A message was engraved in the air.

[I hope you will continue to strive just as you are now, even after becoming a ranker…!]

[Wink :)]

It was the true end of the trial.