Owners of Justice Weapons were given an option when they entered a stage. Would they enter the stage right away? Or would they enter the Cradle of Justice first?

Almost all players given the option chose the latter option. Choosing to enter the Cradle of Justice was a low-risk, high-return move. It was literally a space with nothing to lose and plenty to gain. One needed to be qualified in order to enter, but it was unconditionally beneficial to enter the Cradle of Justice.

Once you entered the Cradle of Justice, you arrived in a small, enclosed space. The space belonging to the iron ranks were barely wide enough to stretch out your legs, but as the ranks increased, the space became wider and numerous furniture, such as desks, chairs, and beds were added.

However, objects could not be brought in from the outside. Even if one was fully armed before entering the stage, they would not carry anything into the Cradle of Justice except the Justice Weapon. Once they left, however, the equipment would reappear.

You did not have to worry about being naked because everyone was provided with a white robe when entering the Cradle of Justice. It maintained the body’s temperature, so you could sleep comfortably without getting too hot or cold, even if you were lying down on the bare floor.

Food was also provided. Iron ranks were provided with a minimal amount of food and water every day to sustain their lives, but the quantity and quality increased proportional to the ranks.

In other words,

Even if the space was essentially an enclosed, solitary confinement, sufficient food, clothing, and shelter was guaranteed in the Cradle of Justice. It wasn’t called a ‘cradle’ for no reason.

“Ugh!”

Boom!

Myeong-wol carefully attempted to sit himself down on a chair, but rolled on the floor instead. Failing to push himself back up, Myeong-wol clenched his teeth in a rush of shame as he lay silently on the floor.

“The hardest difficulty must have just begun… I have to go out and help…”

But his body betrayed his desires. He would be able to enter the battlefield if he exited the cradle (although he would not be able to return to the cradle), he would only be a burden to the others if he were to exit in his current condition.

Currently, he had essentially lost both of his legs.

“Ha…”

Myeong-wol resentfully looked down at his legs. His right leg had been completely amputated, then smashed apart. He had not been able to even recover the lost limb. His left leg fared slightly better, after he plastered it back on, but it still wasn’t performing properly. After awakening his power as a priest of the three gods, Myeong-wol was granted a power he never even dreamed of. Although he had not entered into the realm of Compléters yet, he was given the power to decimate tens of thousands of Death Knights in the hard difficulty of level 14.

It was an astonishing feat that could be referred to as a massacre, but Myeong-wol had become careless in the moment. He had forgotten that the opponents weren’t weak. To be more precise, he had lowered his guard after going through countless battles.

Myeong-wol had awakened his powers as a priest. He possessed a master rank Justice Weapon and a diamond rank True Command. So to speak, he was akin to a reserve soldier mounted on a heavy machine gun in a narrow hallway, facing against a lion or a tiger. It wasn’t rocket science. As long as the enemies came at him one by one, the battle would end as long as he pulled the trigger. In fact, the ambiguous process couldn’t really be called combat. Labor would have been a more suitable term.

But… just because he could slaughter them easily, was a reserve soldier actually stronger than a beast? The relationship between Myeong-wol and the Death Knights was the same. He had forgotten the difference between the Death Knights and the Death Knight King because all of them had been defeated in a single blow. The resulting price was steep.

He had let his guard down for a moment, but his waist was almost torn off, both his legs amputated, and he suffered a lethal wound by a sword to the chest.

“I should be glad that I was able to survive.”

After a while, he managed to pull himself to a chair.

Pat!

An ordinary wooden chair suddenly turned into metal. The strength contained in the throne was poured into Myeong-wol’s body.

Crack! Crack!

The severed tendons and damaged nerves of the left leg were restored. The process was quite painful, but Myeong-wol gritted his teeth and endured it.

- You are master rank.

- The rank is decreased to Unranked due to the power consumption!

Pat!

The healing process had not even begun on the right leg, but the Throne of Honor disappeared and returned to the original wooden chair. All of the power contained in the throne had been used up.

“This isn’t good.’

Myeong-wol bit his lips with nervousness. He wasn’t bothered by the fact that he might have to live as a cripple. The rank of the Throne of Honor would recover over time, and it possessed an astounding ability to heal and restore any injuries or disabilities, even chronic and genetic diseases. People were amazed by the food creation ability of the throne and tended to overlook the healing ability, but Myeong-wol was always captivated by the throne’s recovery ability.

“To fully recover my right leg, I need to get it back up to diamond rank at the least… It will take about a month.”

The only problem was that the highest difficulty of the stage would continue during that time. If the stage continued in the same fashion as it was doing now, the damage to humankind would reach unthinkable levels. Humanity would be heading down an irreversible path.

“I wish the acceleration would apply to the recovery rate of the throne as well.”

Every Cradle of Justice had a device attached to the wall that was shaped like the lock of a safe.

It was a tool to accelerate/slow the time inside the cradle.

A person could turn the dial to the left to slow the passage of time in the cradle. If the cradle’s time passed slowly, the stage’s time would be relatively accelerated. If the person was watching the stage by using their Justice Weapon, they would be able to see other players moving at tremendous speeds. Deceleration up to a ratio of 10,000 was possible, so if one slowed down time to the maximum, the stage would be over after they took a short break. To put things into perspective, a day’s worth of rest in the Cradle of Justice would be equivalent to 10,000 days, or 27 years, in the stage.

If cradles had existed when Dae-ha had been spending hundreds of thousands of years in the stage, the cradle might have become a prison for the players. Anyone would have gone insane if they were forced to spend that much time, even if a ratio of 10,000:1 was applied. By the time the cradles appeared, however, the length of the stage had been adjusted accordingly.

Acceleration up to a maximum of 10,000 times.

This was a setting made for training and relaxation – a feature used by people who were in need of care due to injury and fatigue accumulated in the stage, or who wanted to train alone. However, this setting only accelerated the individual placed inside the cradle, which meant that their True Command, Throne of Honor, and Justice Weapons would not recover at an accelerated rate. In addition, accelerating time consumed justice points. If someone carelessly set it at 10,000 times acceleration, their Justice Weapon would quickly be demoted to unranked.

Kieeck!

Myeong-wol accelerated time by 10 times for now. He took a very small portion of a day’s food, and slowly chewed for hours.

Then, he used the power of True Command.

“My remaining fat, nutrients, and strength will be used to sprout a new right leg!”

As soon as the words were invoked, his body went limp and the stump on his right leg began to itch. The right leg was starting to regenerate, although not at a visibly noticeable pace.

‘I can’t get any more food because I’ve already used up the Throne of Honor. With 10 times the acceleration, the food provided by the Throne of Honor will be given in 10 days’ time as well.’

Fortunately, Myeong-wol was quite chubby. After spending 40 years in prison, he developed a liking for food. Even though he was only 171 centimeters tall, he was quite obese, weighing more than 100 kilograms. He was always scolded by the head monk, but the extra fat and nutrients would serve as a basis for a new leg with the addition of sacred power.

Naturally, the body’s bones would weaken after the creation of a new leg bone, but… he would restore himself somehow after finishing the stage.

Woong!

He sat upright on the floor. A great spirit began to flow around the body of Myeong-wol.

Sacred power.

It was something bestowed to the priest of the three gods after they took the Oath of the Three Elements. Myeong-wol was a druid, which had nothing to do with sacred power, but the sacred power of the three gods was so inclusive that even wizards could handle it without any problems.

‘I need to build up my sacred power.’

He could not contribute much even if he restored his leg. He had already consumed the power of True Command and the Throne of Honor. He would only be a burden if he entered the battlefield as a frail, skinny man. Eventually, he decided to add to the Oath of the Three Elements.

“I forgive.”

It was something he had attempted from the very beginning.

However,

Shock!

“Kuaah… Keuuuugh…!!!”

Blood vessels popped out of Myeong-wol’s bald head, and his eyes became bloodshot due to the severe pain. Nevertheless, he managed to stay conscious with his superhuman endurance.

“Uah… Ha… I still haven’t escaped the clutches of worldly thoughts. I was delusional to think I had moved past it.”

Pain brought along memories of the past.

- Take off all your clothes.

Those were the polite words of the man. He remembered the men tying up his arms and legs to a stick, hanging him upside down like a barbecue. The hood that covered his face, the pouring water, the drowning, and the beating that followed.

“Heugh… Huah…”

Just thinking about it made him breathless. He could almost feel his body floating in the air once more. His voice had failed him and his heart felt like bursting.

He was ignorant of why he was taken and tortured. He wasn’t sure what to say because he did not know the reasoning behind the torture. Eventually, he was forced to write down a statement according to the men’s words after being subjected to long hours of pain.

It wasn’t until later that he discovered he was framed, that the entire process was under the command of the public security prosecutor. It took 40 years to clear the false charges and be acquitted.

“…I.”

Myeong-wol slowly closed his eyes.

He spoke.

“Forgive.”

Pain came pouring in.

Nevertheless… he tried.

Again and again.

He did not stop.

***

Boom!

I landed among the group that I was first placed in. To be exact, the Korean group was mostly composed of people belonging to the Lee Family. The initial group of 1 million was now closer to 10 million. Naturally, the circular formation was much bigger than before. No, rather, it was difficult to call it a circular formation any longer.

“Raise the walls! We have to go higher!”

“Don’t stop the bombardments!”

“Open the gates! New players are coming in!”

“Interceptors, get out there and make way!”

On one side of the stage was a castle with a diameter of more than 10 kilometers. It was larger than a regular city. This was the result of digging the ground and utilizing construction equipment. Inside the castle, houses were erected to provide rest and repair facilities were created to maintain equipment.

Groups that were situated closer had entered the castle already, and distant groups were slowly approaching as well. This was only possible because I transferred all the injured and the low-levels into the Unique World as I passed by, making it easier for the groups to move around.

“Genie, status.”

Cumulative deaths: 4,101,333. Total number of injured: 366,221,007.

The number of injured players had decreased significantly. Of course, it’s not because they were treated.

“So I can transport a little less than 200 million people at a time…”