The Author's POV

[Leviathan building, Lock.]

Bang—!

Kevin hastily entered his room, smashing the door against the side of the wall.

"Goddamn it, Where is that book?!" He repeatedly muttered out loud in haste.

Dashing towards his room, Kevin ran up to his bookshelf and threw all the books down from it as he looked for the red book.

[01 : 37 minutes]

With the timer by the side of his vision, Kevin couldn't be any more worried.

He was running out of time.

"Here it is!"

Finally, after getting rid of most of the books on the bookshelf, Kevin found the red book and placed it on the table.

Without wasting any second, he opened the book towards the last page and started reading.

"I…will…kill…you!"

Before Ren could even react, Durara aimed her staff in his direction. What followed after was a bright white light that shot in his direction, and time froze.

…Or, at least, Ren wished for it to have stopped.

Shooting at him like an unstoppable tsunami, the bright light came towards him, enveloping his entire body.

Although he couldn't tell for real, Ren felt his whole existence disappear like that.

…It all happened too fast.

What followed after the white glow was total darkness.

"Oh shit…"

Staring at the book, Kevin's face paled considerably, his arms trembled in shock. His knees buckled slightly and he uncontrollably sat down on his chair.

'The system was right… Ren really did die… This…not again…'

"What do I do, what do I do?"

Flipping through the pages of the book, Kevin had no idea about what to do next.

The system said that he had to change the outcome, but…Ren was nowhere near him! How was he supposed to help?

"How am I supposed to do this!?" Kevin shouted in desperation as he looked at the system interface in front of him.

The Quest said to use the time codex, but what exactly was that? It was the red book, wasn't it...? But, how was he supposed to use it?

He had no idea.

"System!" Kevin shouted, his voice filled with urgency and helplessness as he tried asking the system for help.

But it was useless. No matter how much Kevin asked, the interface wouldn't respond to him.

The only thing he saw was the timer slowly ticking down on him.

"Shit…shit…"

Kevin's voice echoed in the room as he flipped the book around and tried to look for anything that could help him.

At the moment, Kevin did not know how to help Ren, nor did he know how to prevent the world from ending if the demon king truly descended in two years' time as the system told him.

It had never lied to him before, so he knew that if he didn't save Ren, the demon king would truly descend in two years' time.

Even though he had many questions to ask, such as how Ren's death was correlated to the demon king's ascension, Kevin had no time for such questions.

"Ahh… Just what I am supposed to do...?" Kevin muttered as a helpless expression appeared on his face. He wanted to do something-anything-to help Ren. But what?

Ding—

Just as Kevin was about to succumb to despair, a familiar chime rang in his ears.

the sound of the chime, Kevin abruptly lifted his head and

the book in front of him flipped open and a golden hue enshrouded the

until, finally, stopping

was

you wish to

"Yes…yes!"

nodded

"Change!"

He said out loud.

words faded, the hue enveloping the book brightened up considerably, forcing Kevin to raise his hand to block the

It was blinding.

Ding—

chime rang, and the window

do you wish

"Ren's death."

his voice filled

Ding—

vague and

glow around the book diminished slightly and a new interface popped up

"Bullshit!"

Bang—!

as his fist

"Huff...huff..."

to calm

a short

he wasted the less time he had to save Ren and prevent

command is too

mind now calm, Kevin quickly analyzed the two sentences that appeared on

Since it says that the command is too vague, just saying that Ren should be alive is not enough. Furthermore, it also says that my mana is not enough… Does that mean, in the future,

Kevin's thought process was quick. In a matter of a short second, he had carefully

short seconds passed, Kevin lifted his head and looked

"94%? Haa... That's go—"

written in

'What if...'

his mind as he grabbed the book with his

eyes scanned the whole text in a lightning-fast manner as he quickly

"Ukh!"

The more

normal, it also came with downsides. One

two pages, the pain in his head

had tried to split his head in

The pain was agonizing.

for Kevin's strong mental strength, he would've long crumbled

"Haaa…haaa…"

breathing became

was able to understand what was going

palms by the desk, Kevin

you can gain access to the portal. If so, if

his brains over the matter, it was the most plausible solution he

[00 : 35 seconds]

his head and seeing that time was slowly running out, Kevin no longer

mouthful of saliva, Kevin glanced

the 94% to

didn't want to be rejected once

Ding—

faded, another chime rang in his head, and a new window

invalid. User does not have enough

Kevin's heart sank completely.

he mumbled out loud, "What...do you mean not enough mana...? Is my mana still n-not enough? What is the amount of mana required in order

question, but contrary to his expectations, the system message changed as

Ding—

[C rank.]

out in a surprised

brief second as his brows then knitted together into

because he was still

his rank would increase within a month's time,

his forehead, Kevin started to

rank... I cant breakthrough in my current condition. What do—Ah! right, I have

situation seemed hopeless, Kevin suddenly remembered