Ch-94
—
Slow, yet fluid like flowing water.
Swhiiish!
âŠA spearman was charging straight toward me.
Finally found him.
Chwarak!
I raised my sword and diverted his thrust.
The spearman closed in even further, drawing consecutive arcs with his spear.
If I parried, he stuck close; if I attacked, he would cling and drag me in.
He was using the full extent of the spearâs reach to be as troublesome as possible.
A master of the spear.
Someone who had trained spear techniques his entire life and reached the level of a true adeptâwithout a doubt.
*Somethingâs off.*
But something *was* off.
Despite possessing such refined technique, I felt no hostility from him.
No killing intent, no malice.
He was simply moving on instinct.
He wasnât calculating his actions.
A pure climax of unconscious movement.
*A man who can wield spear technique to this degree unconsciouslyâŠ*
It stirred my interest.
Especially since he, like me, had his constraints set to maximum.
And yet could move like this.
It wasnât like he had the âMutantâ hidden trait like I did, either.
*Heâs lived like this for at least a yearâŠ*
Meaning he had fully adapted.
It was proof he had spent all this time swinging his spear while deprived of every sense.
At least a year. Perhaps far longer.
*Not normal. But thenâŠ*
Easy to sayâbut could anyone truly swing a weapon for years on end, unable to sense anything?
Could the single-minded desire to reach the realm of mastery make such a thing possible?
*âŠIâm not normal either.*
A faint smile tugged at my lips.
It wasnât easy to meet someone whose technique was this pure.
So I decided to entertain him.
I needed someone at this moment who could keep up with me, anyway.
*
*
I donât know how much time passed after that.
After exchanging countless blows of sword and spear, I finally felt something strangely familiar.
I couldnât be fully certain, but his spear technique was *clearly different* from normal spear arts.
Ordinarily, spear-usersâ attacks were concise.
But this spearman before me was using continuous âchain strikes.â
*Up to eight chained thrusts. With each strike the flow grows smoother and stronger. This isâŠ*
It felt familiar.
This sensation of chained strikes.
Almost identicalâdisturbingly soâto that one class that specialized in chained strikes and, upon reaching ten consecutive thrusts, could perform âRampage.â
*No wayâŠ*
No.
Impossible.
It couldnât be.
But the longer we fought, the harder it became to deny.
As far as I knew, there was only **one** spearman in this world who clung sticky-close and unleashed chained strikes like this.
*Donât tell me⊠is this the spearmaster character I abandoned while power-levelingâŠ?*
Good lord.
It really seems that way.
Two years agoâ
That tragic character I left stuck inside the Mountain of the Trainee and logged out, never logging back in thereafter.
Around that time I was focusing on completing Wilhelm, and the spearmanâs skill grind showed no signs of ending, so I simply abandoned him.
*Unbelievable.*
Ridiculous.
So why was he still here, alive?
It wouldâve been no surprise if someone had killed him long ago.
Naturally soâ
*Eight-chain strikes in two years? Wow, he really had no talent.*
The spearmaster character had no talent.
The spearmaster class itself wasnât bad, with a max skill level cap of 20, but the real problem was that the classâs most important skill, âRampage,â could only be used after achieving ten chained thrusts.
To reach nine and ten chained strikes, one needed to manifest *External Energy.*
Even at skill level 20, manifesting External energy required innate talent.
For example, talent for heightened senses or aptitude for manipulating natureâs energy.
I did give the character basic talent points when creating him, but he was nowhere near capable of manifesting External energy.
*âŠSetting the constraints to max really backfired.*
With insufficient talent and too many restrictions, it spelled disaster.
As a result, raising him became no fun.
All day long, he had to swing a spear in the darkâwhat fun is that?
Skill proficiency rose slowly, and he required excessive micromanagement, so eventually I quit without regret.
But that very character survived alone in this hell and is now swinging his spear at me.
*Looks like he hit skill level 20, at least.*
In two years, he apparently reached the max skill level.
Yet he still couldnât manifest External energy.
Was he lacking the talent for it?
*Normally, you need both talent and a master to learn External energy.*
Even with talent, one must learn the method from a master.
Of course, in my case, with overwhelming talent, I didnât need such a process.
Alternatively, continuous training of inner energy could lead to External energy.
Inner cultivation or meditationâit existed in the game.
But two years shouldâve been enough for him to manifest External energy.
Because this place was the Mountain of the Trainee.
The Mountain of the Trainee wasnât just for raising proficiency.
*The true purpose of the Mountain is External-energy training. Reaching level 20 and meditating at the summit should naturally manifest External energy.*
Clearly, something was wrong.
There must be a reason the spearmaster still couldnât manifest External energy.
*âŠThis is my karma.*
If I didnât know, thatâd be one thingâbut with him right in front of me, I couldnât ignore it.
He was, after all, a character I raisedâlike Isaac and Isabella.
A spearmaster who had likely trained alone here for two yearsâI couldnât abandon him again.
*I should investigate.*
So I would look closely and find out what the problem was.
The me of then and the me of now had entirely different experiences and viewpoints.
*
*
âLady Aria. Are you heading to the Chaos Zone again today?â
When the attendant asked, Aria didnât even react and simply descended the mountain.
Originally, she resided at the Mountainâs highest point.
A land overflowing with the energy known as Celestial Qi.
There was no need for her to descend, but every week, whenever the Chaos Zone opened, she would head toward it.
For a simple reason:
*Because she mangles that spearman into a bloody mess every single timeâŠ*
Whenever the Chaos Zone opened and the spearman appeared, she initiated a duel.
A duel in name onlyâit was one-sided violence.
She would push him to the brink of death, then return.
*Lady Aria despises the talentless.*
The spearman had no talent.
What good was maximum restriction?
What good was endless effort?
Years had passed, and he still couldnât manifest even a shred of External energy.
Thus, she pressured him to give upâto leave the Mountain and accept he had no talent.
Though this had gone on for well over a year, the spearman still hadnât left the mountain.
*To be fair, heâs alive because of her.*
If not for Aria, he wouldâve died long ago.
Because a rumor had spread that he was âmarkedâ by Aria, no one dared lay a hand on him.
Here, she was a king.
From the moment she appeared on the Mountain, she reached the Celestial Realm faster than anyone.
Her overwhelming talent and astonishing power shocked both attendants and trainees alike.
*Heâll die again today.*
The attendant shook his head.
Why wouldnât the spearman give up?
Surely by now he understood just how lacking his talent was.
Even with maximum restrictions, the painâboth physical and sensoryâwas still real.
*At this point he’s beyond stubbornâheâs just foolish. Tsk.*
Clicking his tongue, the attendant followed to the Chaos Zone.
Then Aria suddenly stopped.
ââŠ?â
The attendant also cocked his head.
The spearman was there.
But there was someone else, too.
âAh⊠It must be that human who recently entered with max constraints. Strange⊠how is he already in the Chaos ZoneâŠ?â
They had heard the news only a week ago.
A foolish human who had just entered the mountain.
Someone with maximum restrictions and such poor level of proficiency that they were sure heâd die soon.
âWait. Level 19?â
The attendant rubbed both eyes and widened them.
âŠHe hadnât misread.
He clearly heard the newcomerâs level was terribleâyet now he was level 19?
Was that possible in such a short time?
â2â20! He just reached level 20!â
At that moment, the attendant visibly witnessed the level rise.
Level 20 was a threshold.
Even so-called geniuses could not surpass it easily.
But something even more astonishing occurred right after.
âS-sword⊠auraâŠ!â
External energyâsword auraâflared from his sword.
The moment he hit level 20âhe manifested sword aura.
Impossible even for those overflowing with talent.
In all the attendantâs years, he had never seen such a case.
ââŠ.â
Ariaâs emotionless eyes filled with a faint spark of interest.
*
*
ăSword Proficiency has increased to Lv20.ă
ăSword Proficiency has reached Lv20, unlocking âSword Aura.âă
ăYou have manifested Sword Aura. Damage increases by 20%.ă
ăSword Aura increases damage proportional to Sword Proficiency level.ă
ăYou meet the usage requirements for the âEarthâ style of Heaven and Earth Genesis.ă
Having reached level 20 and manifested sword aura, I could now use the technique Iâd used against the Supreme Dragon earlier.
Earth of Heaven and Earth Genesis.
A sword art that resonates with all attacks and dismantles them.
It was the sword art that received the Supreme Dragonâs strikes.
The minimum requirement was the manifestation of sword auraâso this was natural.
*I understand the problem now.*
At the same time, I realized why the spearmaster had failed to manifest External energy.
*The unconscious. That was the problem.*
He had spent too long in the darkness, and an unconscious barrier had formed.
That unconscious state had been his only means of survival against all threats.
But that deep-rooted unconsciousness was now blocking new learning.
In that case, he had to be awakened.
His consciousnessâthis spearmasterâs.
The method was simple.
*Until one of us falls.*
Just keep fighting!
Only by releasing everything heâd accumulated over the past two years could that unconscious barrier be broken.
I resonated with him to help awaken his consciousness.
When even the passage of time became hazyâ
Thud!
The spearmaster collapsed to the ground and fainted.
His spear faintly wrapped in External energy.
*
*
How long had it been since she felt such interest?
NoâAria had *never* felt this kind of interest.
For a long time Aria had been bored. A year of stagnation made everything feel dull.
Perhaps because of that, she had grown irritated with the dull and talentless.
The human spearman was the same.
A man who couldnât manifest even a sliver of External energy, wasting years secluded on the mountain.
She believed without doubt that heâd remain forever stagnant.
Thus she always pressured himâgive up, descend the mountain, you have no talent.
*External energyâŠ*
And yetâ
At the very end, the spearman managed to manifest it.
The shimmering aura around his spear confirmed it.
But that was only possible thanks to the newly arrived human.
A human who, like the spearman, had his constraints set to maximum.
*A genius.*
He appeared to be the same type as herself.
Someone with such overflowing talent that he manifested sword aura the moment he reached the realm, and even guided the spearman into manifesting External energy.
She had never seen such a thing.
Not even in Cramdel, not even from the White King or the Four Great Pillars.
She had met countless strong beings, but never one who moved her like this.
Thump. Thump.
Seeing him made her heart pound wildly.
ââŠFinally found him.â
Spearman Balte sank into the depths of the abyss.
Because after more than two years, the lack of any significant progress in his skill had driven him to despair.
And yet, he never let go of his spear.
He never once doubted that his efforts would someday shine.
But every time he left the Chaos Zone, Balte could only fall into frustration once again.
*âA brilliance of talent incomparable to the likes of me.â*
He didnât know who it was.
But there was someone who defeated him every single timeâby an overwhelming margin.
Whenever that person crushed him, it felt as though he were whispering:
*âYou have no talent.*
*âThe Mountain of the Trainee has no need for someone who only works hard.*
*âStop now. Give up and go back down.*
As if mocking his efforts, that opponent grew stronger each time they met.
At first, the gap hadnât been too large.
But now⊠the distance between them had stretched so far he couldnât even see the end of it.
Surely, he must be someone chosen by the heavensâsomeone possessing a radiant talent utterly incomparable to Balteâs own.
*âBalte, swing your spear. If a hundred swings arenât enough, then a thousand; if a thousand arenât enough, then ten thousand!â*
He gritted his teeth and drove himself ever harder.
But the saying âeffort never betraysâ turned out to be wrong.
As time passed, the widening gulf in strength and talent forced Balte into despair.
*âBalte, donât grow weak. If your thoughts grow heavy, theyâll consume you.â*
In the end, he trapped himself within the deepest layer of his own consciousness and began swinging his spearâonly his spearâwithout anything else in mind.
Right up to today.
*âWhoâŠ?â*
Before he realized it, someone else stood directly in front of him.
Someone who, just like him, had clearly set all restrictions to the maximum.
