Leveling Up Alone

Han-Yeol’s thoughts were running wild.

‘The two swords were just the body. The true forms are these spirits!’

Han-Yeol finally understood the true meaning.

‘Demons, mini dragons, divine beings, angels, and now spirits… If I see the heavenly race, I’m sure I’ll have seen all the high-class races.’

Han-Yeol shook his head. He had experienced a lot of different things since his awakening as a Hunter, but what he was experiencing now was too ridiculous. Honestly, he wasn't sure how his mentality was holding up.

The Spirits of Time and Space had cross marks on their foreheads, and as Han-Yeol’s mind wandered off for a moment, they grabbed Han-Yeol’s clothes and yanked him hard. Their physical strength wasn’t that strong, so they didn’t have much of an effect on Han-Yeol.

[What are you doing? I said, play with us.]

[We’re going to get pissed if you don't.]

Puff!

They puffed out their cheeks with air.

‘That won’t do,’ Han-Yeol thought to himself.

From their descriptions, they weren’t beings that could easily be handled and controlled. It said that he had to have a special connection to them in order to harness their power, so he couldn’t afford to piss them off. Besides, Han-Yeol had already played with Mavros and White Dragon plenty of times before, so he was well used to parenting (?).

“Okay then, what do you want to do?”

Han-Yeol followed the Spirits of Time and Space as they led him and thought about how to play with them. He asked them what they wanted to do, but he knew all too well that nothing good would come out of their mouths. After all, how could they know how to play with humans when it was their first time being summoned by humans?

Now was the time for Han-Yeol to leave it to his own discretion.

‘I’ll need Mavros and White Dragon.’

*

Han-Yeol immediately summoned Mavros and White Dragon and skillfully played with the Spirits of Time and Space.

They started off by playing with a basic ball and later moved on to playing tag by flying in the air at high speeds.

It was no secret that they almost crashed into an airplane while playing tag in the stratosphere. Somehow, they knew that this was Han-Yeol’s doing and called Master Hee-Yun to complain. However, when Master Hee-Yun later called Han-Yeol, he insisted he knew nothing about it. Since she didn’t have any proof, it made Master Hee-Yun’s blood boil.

[Hahaha, this is so much fun!]

[Yeah, I haven’t had this much fun in a long time!]

[Who knew that humans were such a fun race! What a surprise!]

[Every race that has summoned us so far has been so lame!]

[Yeah, so lame!]

[Hella lame!]

“Ahhh.”

Scratch scratch.

Han-Yeol laughed and scratched his head at the Spirits of Time and Space. They had already become quite familiar with the ways of humans.

The Spirits of Time and Space watched TV and internet broadcasts while Han-Yeol was resting, and they had already begun to adopt the trendy human language.

‘I have to have some kind of connection to the spirits now.’

He couldn’t guarantee that his relationship with them was perfect, but the spirits now acted more gently than the first time they met Han-Yeol.

The spirits suddenly looked at each other and murmured something, and then they turned back to face Han-Yeol.

[This should be enough, right?]

[Yeah, it’s more than enough.]

‘Huh?’

[Human, what’s your name?]

“My name is Lee Han-Yeol.”

[Lee Han-Yeol… Humans sure do have strange names, and they vary from dimension to dimension.]

[I know, right?]

“Ahaha.”

[We’re spirits born from time and space, and I’m Alfiano, a spirit born from time.]

[I’m Delfusia, a spirit born from space.]

Alfiano, the Spirit of Time in the form of a cat, had a slightly feminine voice, while Delfusia, the Spirit of Space in the form of a dog, had a masculine voice. But this didn’t mean that they had distinctly different high, medium, and low voices. They both had prepubescent, neutral, young voices that were hard to tell their genders, but if he had to compare them, he would say that Alfiano was slightly feminine and Delfusia was slightly masculine.

Shaaa!

After introducing themselves, the two spirits gathered their energy together and spread it out.

At the unfamiliar, pure, and clear energy, Han-Yeol couldn't help but exclaim with admiration, “Woah…!”

However, it didn’t end there.

[We, the Spirits of Time and Space, have been present since the existence of the dimensional universe. Do you swear, Human Lee Han-Yeol, to be with us forever, until the end of your life?]

Ding!

[The contract ritual with the Spirits of Time and Space has begun.]

This was an unexpected system announcement. It wasn’t the innocent, young voices of the Spirits of Time and Space that he had heard so far. They were both speaking at the same time, but it was an unfamiliar, stern-sounding voice.

Since he had experienced these kinds of things many times before, Han-Yeol didn’t act stupid. He tidied his clothes and looked at the Spirits of Time and Space with a serious expression.

“Yes, I swear.”

[An oath to a spirit is more sacred than any other oath, and if you break it, you will never be able to have a relationship with a spirit again and will be cursed by the spirit for the rest of your life. We ask again, Lee Han-Yeol, do you swear to the Spirits of Time and Space, Alfiano and Delfusia, that you will never betray their trust and remain with them forever?]

Trust was a word Han-Yeol didn’t treat lightly, but…

‘This feels strange.’

Han-Yeol felt slightly embarrassed when he realized what the Spirits of Time and Space were asking.

‘This is like the kind of love vow an officiant says at a wedding!’

Han-Yeol’s face turned slightly red.

‘I’m still single, and I haven’t even been in a real relationship yet!’

It wasn’t like he had never dated anyone before, but for Han-Yeol, who lived a busy and innocent (?) life, dating was a luxury.

However, the two spirits, who couldn't possibly know what Han-Yeol was thinking, asked him one more time.

[Do you swear?]

‘Ah!’

If his thoughts continued to wander, his contract with the spirits might be canceled.

‘I can’t let that happen.’

If there came a time when he had to use the two swords, that was a risk for him on its own, but the spirits were a risk as well. He couldn’t use the spirits' full powers—instead, he had to build a relationship with them and could only use their powers in proportion to the degree of their relationship.

Han-Yeol knew this because, other than the Spirits of Time and Space, there were indeed Hunters who could manipulate the spirits of the four elements.

However, for Han-Yeol, who already wielded the Jabberwock Sword and Chain, a new weapon like the two swords was a huge risk. It would have been necessary for him to abandon his previous weapons, but when the two swords transformed into spirits, that risk disappeared. On the contrary, the risk of spirits was something that could be overcome through hard work and effort.

Han-Yeol nodded. He was a little embarrassed, but his desire to acquire the Spirits of Time and Space outweighed that embarrassment.

“Yes, I swear.”

‘My next oath will be the one between me and Tayarana…’

[I’m sure it’ll happen. It’s spectacular, even just thinking about it. Han-Yeol-nim and that beautiful Tayarana-nim…]

‘Haha, yeah… Wait a minute, you sounded a little suspicious when you said Tayarana.’

[Y-You’re mistaken.]

‘I don’t think so. I’m definitely not mistaken.’

[...]

Karvis no longer answered Han-Yeol's suspicion.

‘Hey, answer me!’

[... I don’t want to.]

‘That makes you even more suspicious!’

[... I told you, you’re mistaken!]

‘H-Huh? So now you're even getting angry?’

[...]

Han-Yeol and Karvis always quarreled with each other.

Nonetheless, a message that the contract had been finalized appeared in front of Han-Yeol, and even unusual fanfares congratulated this moment.

This time as well, a message that the God of Balance was concerned appeared. However, Han-Yeol was so used to it by now that he didn’t even care.

‘Whatever, I don’t care.’

[This concludes our contract.]

[We are one with Han-Yeol from now on.]

[We’ll be in your care, Han-Yeol. Hehehe!]

[Let’s play oftennnn!]

[Yayyyy!]

‘Ahahaha.’

Han-Yeol had a bad feeling that things were going to get necessarily more complicated now.

‘Tsk, I’ll have to be satisfied with this.’

[Yayyyyy!]

After completing the contract with Alfiano and Delfusia, Han-Yeol tried to stay with them as much as possible to get used to utilizing the power of time and space. There were many attributes in the world, but time and space were the most versatile of them all.

Han-Yeol was enjoying his peaceful time when an urgent message arrived.

Bam!

The door slammed open, and one of Han-Yeol’s subordinates, Barshell, rushed in.

[Harkan-nim, we have a problem!]

Huff huff!

No one in the canidae could compare to Barshell in movement, but even he was gasping for air. Han-Yeol could tell that something was definitely wrong when he saw Barshell.

“What’s wrong, Barshell?”

[T-That’s um…]

Barshell was always stern and cold, but even he was hesitating to speak in front of Han-Yeol.

‘Just what could it be?’

This only made him more curious and anxious.

[Haaa.]

Barshell calmed down and started to report what he had seen to Han-Yeol.

*

Bam!

“What?”

Han-Yeol was both surprised and enraged after hearing Barshell’s report. He released mana as if there were an explosion around him. Then he slammed his fist down on the table in front of him, splitting it in two. He gritted his teeth, showing how enraged he was right now.

“I-Is that true…?”

[Unfortunately, it is.]

Barshell was also gritting his teeth.

Han-Yeol was human now and technically no longer a Bastroling. However, Barshell was still a Bastroling, and he owed the hyenas so much money that the interest alone was soon going to exceed the original amount of debt. Given the circumstances, it was a miracle that he was still standing and reporting to Han-Yeol.

“Those damn hyenas. What do they think they’re doing!”

The reason Han-Yeol was so angry was simple. One of the Bastroling villages scattered throughout the Atarinia Archipelago, a community of scholarly deer and Bastrolings with weaker combat skills, had been attacked by hyena sorcerers. The only survivors were a few children who hid relatively quickly.

“Let’s go to the Atarinia Archipelago right now.”

[Yes, Harkan-nim.]

Han-Yeol immediately got on the private plane and headed for the Atarinia Archipelago.

‘If I only had the ability to create portals like P, I wouldn’t have to take such a tiresome flight.’

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