Chapter 37

Keith’s world was called the Innate Dimension.

Vast as it was, an impenetrable blue barrier covered it like a dome, sealing its inhabitants inside. However, a change occurred around five hundred years ago when a gateway opened in the barrier, leading to a land called the Grandsky Realm. Not only was Grandsky over a thousand times larger than the Innate Dimension, but it was also a land filled with strife and for no simple reason.

Millenia ago, there were three dimensions sealed in a similar manner to the Innate Dimension: the Conceptual Dimension, Element Dimension, and Sins Dimension. Upon becoming 18 years of age, the inhabitants of the Conceptual Dimension gained an ability related to a concept and the Element Dimension an element. Only the Sins Dimension operated differently, granting seven individuals control over one of the seven deadly sins.

All at once, a gateway appeared in these three dimensions, each leading to an uninhabited Grandsky Realm full of treasures and miraculous oddities. At the same time, a message came from the System, informing all sentient life that whoever gained possession of all three Dimensional Cores would become the ruler of the Grandsky Realm.

And so, war ensued.

Countless lives were lost, with heroes and villains rising and falling year after year. Technology advanced and declined, alliances were formed and broken, and cities were built and destroyed. Hatred between the dimensions festered like a cancerous tumor. Centuries flew by, with none accomplishing the System’s mission.

Five hundred years ago, the System decided to break the stalemate and introduced a fourth dimension. Soon after, Yara and her sect found the newly formed gateway to the Innate Dimension and quickly rushed inside to snatch its Dimensional Core. The Sin of Sloth and his horde entered right behind her, and a deadly battle ensued.

When Sloth eventually died, Yara was the sole survivor of her sect. Her family and students were all killed, shattering her heart and consuming her mind with madness. Before she could enact her vengeance, she succumbed to Sloth’s dying skill, a curse that forced her to sleep for the following five hundred years. Perhaps the System pitied Yara, who acquired the Dimension Core after losing everything, so it closed the gateway until she awoke.

But there was a variable.

Yara had two bodies: her main body and her true clone. Sloth’s curse only affected Yara’s main body, so her true clone remained awake. Sealed inside the Innate Dimension, unable to stake her life against the demons in a suicidal battle, she came up with a plan. Over the next five hundred years, she would dominate the Innate Dimension’s natives and raise an army.

And she did.

Every dimension restricted its inhabitants from leveling past level 500 and creating skills or items above the Mythic grade, so controlling them through power was easy for an outsider like her, whose level far surpassed the natives. Plus, her talents in karma made such a plan all too efficient.

Unknowingly, Yara’s mind gradually recovered and returned to its previous state. The years had ground down her grief and rage, and after several hundred years, she no longer wanted to die in some final battle against the demons. That was when she had Markus and once again attained happiness.

There was just one problem.

A big one.

While Yara’s true clone continued living and eventually moved on, Yara’s main body remained stuck in time. As soon as she awoke, she would compel the civilization Yara’s true clone nurtured to join her in one final glorious battle. Yara’s true clone knew her madness all too well. And so, there was only one option: Yara’s main body must die.

It was a nigh-impossible task.

Yara’s main body was level 984. The difference between that and level 500 was the same as level 500 and level 1. A level 500 could fight a hundred thousand level 1s and easily survive. Not only was there a massive level difference between both sides, but Yara’s main body was one of the leaders of the Conceptual Dimension, so her equipment was the best it could be. A few were broken during the fight against Sloth, though most of it was still in working condition.

That was why Yara’s true clone had spent the last hundred years coming up with various plans and countermeasures. Now, all that remained was to wait. In three years at most, Yara’s main body would wake up.

Unfortunately, that was just the beginning.

Once Yara’s main body awoke, the gateway would re-open. The reality was the Innate Dimension was vastly underleveled and underequipped compared to the other three dimensions who spent the last three thousand years in the Grandsky Realm. To survive, they needed to catch up before anyone discovered the gateway. The time window was small. Too small for comfort.

The peace the Innate Dimension enjoyed was a luxury unique to itself. As soon as the gateway opened, all that came would be bloodshed and death. That was why Yara called her grandson a fool and why she decided to have Keith grow up without a father.

Only time would tell whether Yara’s efforts would bear fruit, whether it be for Keith or the inhabitants of the Innate Dimension.