[System Punishment!!!]
[Goldi has been stolen!!!]
[Mission Failed!]
[You will enter the Punishment Dimension upon losing your Goldi!]
Zhen, who had just slipped and fallen, sat in silence, pondering the voice of the System he'd just heard. His head drooped, weighed down by the failure of his mission to obtain the Golden Leech Needle.
"The Golden Leech Needle… just a dream, after all."
The System's voice returned, correcting his assumption.
[Only your Goldi was stolen.]
[The Golden Leech Needle has already been added to your inventory.]
Without another thought, Zhen rose to his feet, scanning the Punishment Dimension that had just claimed him.
Its walls were made of damp black stone, the entire dimension teeming with tiny spiders. Jet-black ones, no larger than ants.
"They should've called this place the Tiny Spider Cave… or maybe the Nest of Black Spiders. 'Punishment Dimension' sounds strange to my ears. And why the spider infestation, anyway?"
He reached out to touch the swarm, finding them oddly fascinating.
[The Punishment Dimension exists to feed the baby spiders, so they can grow into seeds of giant spiders.]
[And their food… is time.]
[Therefore, your hunting time will be reduced by three nights.]
[You truly are an Ancient Hunter!]
Zhen raised an eyebrow at the explanation. He suspected the System was holding a grudge, maybe punishing him for violating mission protocols yet still earning unexpected rewards.
'This System is so weird.'
His gaze fell back to the damp ground beneath his feet, trying to piece together the puzzle. Hypotheses quickly piled up in his mind.
'So that's how it works. If I break mission rules but accidentally get extra rewards, the System ends up at a loss. I was only supposed to get one pet skull, but the System gave me three. Is that it?'
Zhen continued mulling over his assumptions as he picked up one of the tiny spiders, letting it rest in his palm.
He gently stroked its small back.
'So small, and yet you're costing me three whole nights… a cruel little beast from the start.'
'Crueler than the millions of your siblings crawling all over this place!'
Zhen flinched. He had heard something.
His brows knitted.
"You can talk?" he asked, lightly prodding the tiny creature with a finger.
No response.
He tried again, this time in his mind.
'Can you speak?'
'No.'
The spider crawled off his palm and back to the cluster on the stone wall.
His lips twitched into the faintest of smiles. For once, his stoic expression seemed a little… calm.
Zhen had understood. He understood everything now.
'Alright, I've met you all. So, I'll use this punishment… to meditate.'
He finally sat down, legs crossed, eyes closed—his posture like that of a meditating monk.
Not long after, a single spider landed on his shoulder.
'You're not sleeping?'
More spiders began dropping onto him, their voices echoing one after another.
'Aren't you tired?'
Zhen remained silent. When meditating, he would neither speak nor let his thoughts respond. Without realizing it, half his body had already been overtaken by the tiny swarm.
They crawled over his skin, which had gone pale and cold to the touch. The spiders began weaving webs with the softness of silk.
The threads slowly wrapped around his body, stretching up to his neck. Tired spiders would retreat to the stone walls, while others took their place, weaving on. They worked together seamlessly, hand in hand—or leg in leg.
One night passed before he noticed. The last spider, perched on the crown of his head, was finishing its web.
'The System doesn't know that we can speak to you.'
The web now fully enveloped the body of the Northern Hunter—perfectly spun.
The web had a strange power: it shut down all sensory functions—except hearing.
"We are the spiders of the Punishment Dimension. We have been imprisoned here for 3,000 years."
Their voices came in unison, ancient and harmonious. Zhen heard them clearly, echoing in his ears. Yet his body was sealed—his nerves numbed by an unseen force.
One tiny spider crawled across his web-wrapped skin, moving toward his ear.
"We know your desire to live is tied to blood hunting. We also know you've sacrificed your time for training… and the hunt. But beware—the Official Blood Hunters are cunning beyond words."
Zhen had long suspected this. Still, all he could do was listen.
"And… we are destined to speak only to Hunters of the Northern Clan.You, too, can understand every tongue—as long as it was once sealed by your predecessor."
The second night came swiftly, like a midnight wind. The spiders remained, whispering at his ear.
"Your journey as a hunter will slowly unlock doors that have long been sealed. The veils of mystery will lead you wandering through the corridors of time. At times, you'll lose your way… and be dragged into the labyrinth of death."
Zhen kept listening—like a man whose soul had gone numb.
"Such is the shape of the twisted path. It was foretold 3,000 years ago—long before we ever met you. But now… the vision has shattered. We can no longer glimpse the steps ahead."
The spider finished its prophecy and quietly returned to the swarm.
The third night finally arrived, embracing the Northern Hunter with a chill that pierced to the bone. The cold reminded him of the snow in the Northern Region.
A rare calm passed over his face as the image of the Ice Wolves crossed his mind.
He missed hunting with their pack.
But that calm quickly faded. They, too, were hunted—declared prey by the System. The Northern Region would be the final ground for all Hunters. No wonder his gaze darkened again.
'You must survive… until I return.'
Then came the System's voice, as sudden as a knock on a locked door:
[Punishment Complete]
[The silk spiderweb will now begin to fade]
Sure enough, as he opened his eyes, the web around him slowly began to dissolve—thread by thread.
[Next Mission…]
[Big Reward!!]