Debuff Master

‘How is this even possible…?’ Siegfried couldn't hide his astonishment.

The fact that he had encountered Amundsen, someone from the past, was nothing short of mind-blowing. Even though this was just a game, he had never expected that time travel was possible here.

The possibility of the Suzdal Empire Ruins being a place where multiple timelines overlapped was a plausible explanation. Of course, even in a game, meeting someone from the past or future was still hard to believe.

‘Let’s assume Amundsen had explored this place nine years ago. He has the Inzaghi’s Wooden Staff, so he probably left this place using that. Then, he must have lost it for some reason, and it ended up in Chae Hyung-Seok’s hands.

'After that, I killed Chae Hyung-Seok, and it became mine. Yeah, that definitely makes sense.’

Siegfried had no idea what happened in the last nine years, but the sequence of events seemed convincing.

He waved his thoughts away and then turned to Amundsen.

“Mr. Amundsen,” he said.

“Yes, young man?” Amundsen responded.

“You might find this hard to believe, but… I’m from the future,” Siegfried said carefully.

“Hmm?”

“I came here to explore the Suzdal Empire Ruins, and I ended up meeting you, Mr. Amundsen.”

“Ah," Amundsen gasped and muttered, "So there's a reason you’re stuck here…"

“Excuse me?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion.

“How can someone look so natural yet mentally unstable at the same time? Oh dear…” Amundsen said with sadness in his voice.

The other NPCs followed suit.

“My my…”

“What a poor young man…”

The others seemed to agree that Siegfried was crazy. To make matters worse, they were making it obvious that they were pitying him.

“I-I really am from the future! In nine years, I’ll meet you again, and we will explore the Southern Great Jungle together! After that, I will even financially support your expeditions!”

“Hohoho…”

“You don’t have to believe me, but let’s travel together for now.”

“Fine, I will help you get out of here, but…” Amundsen trailed off, and he revealed a troubled look as he asked, “Do you remember where you live?”

“...”

“If you get out, go find a healer or something and get some help. Mental illness is nothing to be ashamed of. You can treat it with medicine and proper help.”

Amundsen spoke in a pitying tone then began walking with the Inzaghi’s Wooden Staff in his hand as if it was a walking stick.

Siegfried silently followed him from behind while feeling a strange sense of… being pitied.

[Inzaghi’s Wooden Staff]

[A wooden staff used by Inzaghi.]

[It guides the user in the right path at all times so they do not get lost.]

[Type: Staff]

[Rating: Unique]

[Durability: 9/10]

[Effect: Guides the user to the exit at all times.]

[Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance Set]

[Inzaghi’s Compass]

[Inzaghi’s Map]

[Inzaghi’s Wooden Staff]

In situations like this, the Inzaghi’s Wooden Staff was far more useful than the Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance. The latter granted a map-hack effect to its user, but it wouldn't actually point the user to the right path.

“Mr. Amundsen?”

“Hmm?”

“Where are we going next?”

“I plan to continue exploring inside here.”

“Eh?”

“If we’re going to explore, we might as well check everything, right?”

“I see…”

“You better follow me closely. We will never meet again if you lose me.”

“Okay.”

Since Siegfried had to keep moving to collect data for Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance, he decided to follow Amundsen as they went along.

***

Siegfried ended up exploring the Suzdal Empire Ruins with Past Amundsen.

It wasn't clear whether it was due to the Inzaghi’s Wooden Staff or not, but the Amundsen Exploration Group never left the "Suzdal Empire Ruins: 39,487" and were walking around it.

Upon closer inspection, it seemed that the Inzaghi’s Wooden Staff was guiding the group through a path that avoided the distortion in spacetime that would warp them to a different numbered map.

‘Hmm… I wonder if the future will change if I do something…’ Siegfried wondered.

It was hard to tell whether this was the past or he was just meeting the past version of the Amundsen outside. However, Siegfried knew that there was a possibility that the future could change if he were to affect anything in the past.

Thus, Siegfried did not act recklessly. He knew that messing with the past could trigger a butterfly effect that could completely change the present.

“Kyuuu! What are you thinking about, owner punk?” Hamchi asked.

“Ah, well… the thing is…” Siegfried proceeded to share his thoughts.

“Kyu! Owner punk is an owner fool!”

“Huh?”

“If we met Amundsen nine years ago, why did he not recognize us from when we first met him in those jungles?”

“Huh?!” Siegfried was dumbstruck by Hamchi’s words.

Now that he thought about it, it made perfect sense. When they first met Amundsen at the Southern Great Jungle, the former couldn't recognize Siegfried at all.

“Kyuuu! This isn’t time traveling! This is a different dimension! Not ours! It’s just another parallel world! Kyuuu!”

“Really?”

“Yes! So nothing will change no matter what we do! Kyuu!”

“Right… That makes sense.”

Siegfried decided to stop trying to think about things logically, as this was a game world rather than reality.

Perhaps Suzdal Empire Ruins was designed as a time-travel-themed map, and the possibility convinced him not to worry too much about the butterfly effect.

"But we should still be careful. Let’s thread carefully from now on.”

“Got it! Kyuuu!”

With that, Siegfried followed Amundsen’s group while making sure to gather map data for Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance.

***

While Siegfried was going around collecting map data with the Amundsen Exploration Group.

“Argh!”

Sword Emperor Betelgeuse was forced to his knees, and he was covered in wounds all over.

“I-Impossible…”

He was barely standing, and he had to rely on his saber as a cane to support himself.

Betelgeuse had stumbled upon a young man while roaming the Suzdal Empire Ruins, and he ended up fighting the young man, only to end up losing miserably.

“Hmm… I thought there were going to be strong people here, but it seems that a Grandmaster is all they have. Tsk… To think that it’s a noob who has just stepped into the realm of all things…”

The young man looked disgruntled and even referred to Betelgeuse as a "noob."

“Just who… in the world are you…?” Betelgeuse asked with sheer disbelief written all over his face. He believed he had no equal in the world aside from Deus and a few others after he stepped into the realm of a Grandmaster.

However, he was proved wrong today.

This young man, whom he stumbled upon in the Suzdal Empire Ruins, had defeated him effortlessly. The young man was not as overwhelmingly powerful as Deus, but he was unmistakably far more powerful than Betelgeuse.

Why?

It was all because Betelgeuse had lost in just five minutes despite being a Grandmaster.

“Who am I? Huh? Don’t you really know who I am?” the young man asked, smirking in disbelief.

“I apologize, but I have never met a powerful person like you before. You are the second-most powerful individual I have met in my life.”

“The second? Who’s the first?” the young man asked in response. Then, he narrowed his eyes and grumbled, “Murcielago? Or is it Vajra?”

“Who are they?”

“Eh? You say you met someone stronger than me, yet you don’t know who Murcielago or Vajra is?”

“I apologize once again, but I am not familiar with these Murcielago or Vajra you speak of.”

“How can you not? Hey, who the hell are you? Is your brain empty or what?”

“...”

“Well, I guess it’s possible. Anyway, so, who is this most powerful person you’re talking about?”

“He is a being who attained the powers of invincibility,” Betelgeuse replied, thinking of Deus.

“A person with the powers of invincibility? I’ve never heard of such a person before…” the young man muttered, racking his brains, trying to think but unable to think of anyone. Then, he asked, “Hey, can you help me meet that person?”

“Hmm? You want to meet that esteemed being?”

“Yeah. I mean, if he really exists, then I want to meet and fight that person. It doesn’t matter whether I win or lose, as I’m sure I’ll learn a thing or two from someone who has attained invincibility.”

“Letting you meet that esteemed being is not difficult,” Betelgeuse replied easily. Then, he thought, ‘Hehehe! You’re going to end up a slave like me too!’

The Sword Emperor was confident that even this young man, who had forced him to his knees in under five minutes, was going to get beaten up by Deus.

“Really? You’re going to help me meet him?”

“Yes, that is not difficult at all but… I am afraid it is impossible to leave this place.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that.”

“Hmm?”

“My friend over there will find the path for us,” the young man pointed at another young man he was traveling the Suzdal Empire Ruins with. The young man seemed blind, as his eyes were covered by a blindfold, and he was using a wooden staff like a crutch.

“That young man can lead the way for us…?” Betelgeuse asked with a hint of disbelief in his voice.

“Sure, he can,” the young man replied nonchalantly.

“How is that even possible…?” Betelgeuse asked, sounding baffled.

The young man smirked and replied, “You will see soon enough.”

***

A few hours later...

Ding!

[Alert: You have finished collecting the map data!]

The long-awaited message finally popped up in front of his eyes, and he immediately activated Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance to scan the map.

[Suzdal Empire Ruins]

[A hall of space and time.]

[It is possible to meet someone from the past or travel to the past in this place.]

[However, changing the past here will not affect the future in reality.]

“As expected,” Siegfried muttered after reading the details shown.

Hamchi was right. The Suzdal Empire Ruins was just a parallel universe created from data compiled from the past, and it was not connected to the present timeline of the game at all.

‘I guess it’s possible since this game is created by artificial intelligence.’

Siegfried completely understood how the Suzdal Empire Ruins worked thanks to being a gamer.

‘Alright, let’s have a look.’

He used Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance and scanned the Suzdal Empire Ruins map that was interwoven like a spiderweb.

Surprisingly, the collection of data not only showed the entire map to him but also showed which place would warp to which point precisely. It also showed the precise time frame that he'd appear upon stepping into them.

In other words, he was no longer lost in this ridiculously complicated place.

‘Alright. Since it’s nine years in the past right now… I should probably start from the present timeline of the Suzdal Empire Ruins.’ Siegfried made up his mind.

“Excuse me, Mr. Amundsen?” Siegfried called out.

“What’s wrong, young man?” Amundsen responded.

“I will take my leave now.”

“Hmm? Where are you going?”

“I’ll go find my own way,” Siegfried said and walked away from the group.

He followed the path shown to him by Inzaghi’s Clairvoyance until he reached the present timeline of the Suzdal Empire Ruins, but…

“Huh?!”

He came face to face with the bedraggled Sword Emperor Betelgeuse the moment he arrived at the present timeline of the Suzdal Empire Ruins.

“What happened?! Are you alright?!” Siegfried exclaimed and rushed to his aid.

“Young Master!” Betelgeuse cried out in response.

“What in the world happened to you?” Siegfried asked, sounding concerned.

“T-That is…” Betelgeuse stammered before glancing behind him.

“Who are they?” Siegfried asked, looking at the young men behind Betelgeuse.

One of them was an extremely handsome young man who had a very rugged look, while the other had a blindfold covering his eyes.

“Ah, let me introduce them to you, young master,” Betelgeuse said, looking troubled. Then, he introduced the handsome young man first, “This person here, surprisingly, his name is Siegfried, too.”

“Eh?” Siegfried tilted his head in confusion.

Betelgeuse pointed at the blind young man and introduced, “And he's Inzaghi.”

“D-Did you just say Inzaghi?!” Siegfried exclaimed in response. He couldn't believe what he was hearing with his own two ears.

Tokki's Thoughts

Yes, the new character is Siegfried too. For the sake of not making things confusing af, we will be calling him “Siegfried” from now on.

This new “Siegfried” is “Siegfried” and our MC is Siegfried, so the “Siegfried” you just read is not Siegfried while the new “Siegfried” is the “Siegfried” that is the young man… Easy, right? 😀

Also, did Siegfried seriously just brush off the fact that someone had the same name as him and focused on Inzaghi instead?