Leveling with the Gods

[Gigantification]

For this skill, YuWon had spent a portion of his precious time in the Tutorial. On top of that, he’d even fought Suruhtra while risking death. 

The reason for this was quite simple. It was because [Gigantification] was that valuable of a skill. And among the effects of [Gigantification]…

[All the power of a Giant becomes concentrated in your right arm.]

[Your Strength stat is temporarily converted into Constitution.]

… This also existed.

Fwoosh—!

YuWon extended his arm. 

The Fist Lord’s eyes widened while watching YuWon’s hand come at him.

 “What the—?!” 

The force of the Fist Lord’s fist got absorbed by YuWon’s palm. 

Boom—!

Crack, snap—

Planting both of his legs firmly into the ground, Yuwon managed to stop the Fist Lord’s punch with his hand.

The Fist Lord heard YuWon’s wrist snap, but that was all he managed to do to YuWon. For a second, his face turned white. For YuWon to actually stop him…

‘At this distance…?’ The Fist Lord thought. 

With this unexpected situation, the Fist Lord’s judgement slowed down. 

YuWon normally held his sword with his right hand, but now YuWon’s right hand was holding the Fist Lord’s fist. That meant YuWon’s sword right now was…

Vzzt—

The energy of the 「Dark Divine Crystal」 went from his right hand, through his body, into his left hand. 

On reflex, the Fist Lord followed the path of the energy with his eyes.

Slash—!

While holding on tightly to the Fist Lord’s fist, YuWon slashed his chest.

Pshhk—

Blood spilled out from the cut. The wound wasn’t that deep, but it was enough to drench the Fist Lord’s hand when he touched the wound. 

With no longer enough strength to hold onto the Fist Lord’s hand, YuWon let go of him. 

The Fist lord took a few steps back, looking at the blood on the palm of his hand. 

For having been a direct cut, there wasn’t that much blood. But the problem was that he had actually been inflicted with a wound.

The Fist Lord couldn’t believe he let a 10th Floor player draw blood… ‘No, maybe the problem was that I gave him an opening to attack my chest?” 

This whole situation was baffling to him. If there had been more force behind YuWon’s slash just now or if YuWon had had a bit more time to raise his levels and stats just a smidge more… If that were the case…

“Did I… lose?” the Fist Lord said. He was absolutely stumped, lowering both fists. 

YuWon’s right arm, which had taken a direct blow from a punch he threw while accepting the penalty, was limp and broken.

It was obvious the Fist Lord would be the victor if they continued to fight like this. However…

“This seems to be my loss,” the Fist Lord said. 

The fact that he had even considered winning by continuing this fight was a problem. Because this fight should have never been a real fight. 

Tak—

The Fist Lord put up both his hands to signify defeat before putting them down. 

This meant that… 

[The Fist Lord – Pung BaekLim signals his defeat.]

[You have ‘perfectly’ cleared the 2nd test of the Heavenly Demonic Cult.]

[You have obtained The Heavenly Demon’s Spirit]

… A miracle had happened.

* * *

The second test of the Heavenly Demonic Cult ended. 

YuWon headed to the medical house for treatment while the martial artists that came to watch the test stayed in their spot for over half a day. They were so in shock, they couldn’t leave. 

“Is this for real? Did the Fist Lord actually lose?”

“He would have won if he saw it through to the end… but he himself declared defeat.”

“Are we sure he didn’t go easy on him?”

“The test wouldn’t be that easygoing. If that was possible, it’s weird that not a single person has managed to pass till now.”

“Besides, didn’t you see him fight earlier? He was basically flying around.”

“He might already be on the level of a Ranker.”

“I heard something earlier about the Heavenly Demon’s Spirit…”

“Isn’t the Heavenly Demon’s Spirit…”

They went on and on about the fight between YuWon and the Fist Lord. 

After hearing the news that YuWon had obtained the [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit,] a few of the lower-ranked martial artists headed to the martial arts library. However, none of them would likely obtain the [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit.] 

“If it was that easy, it would have been found long ago,” the Sword Lord said while stroking his beard, watching the martial artists heading to the library.

The [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit] was the symbol of the High Ranker Cheon MuJin, A.K.A. the Heavenly Demon.

There was a reason why such a great technique was inside the low-rank martial arts portion of the library. The [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit] was actually not that different from your standard breathing and cultivation technique. It was nothing more than a breathing technique that allowed one to accept energy, and it was incredibly hard to discern that it was the [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit] just by reading it. 

‘Not to mention, mastering it is a whole other story,’ the Sword Lord thought.

He wondered how many of these people running towards the library actually possessed the ‘eyes’ to discern it. And even if they did find it, how many of them would actually be capable of learning it? One? Perhaps two? It was also entirely possible that none of them could.

On top of that…

The Sword Lord thought, ‘From the perspective of the Cult, we can no longer just leave the Heavenly Demon’s Spirit there.’ 

Even if it was just a shell of the technique, the Heavenly Demon’s Spirit was still a symbol of the Heavenly Demonic Cult. Now that people knew where it was, the Cult couldn’t just leave it there. 

“So he was thinking about counter-attacking that entire time…” The Fist Lord mumbled while opening and closing his hands, recapping the fight in his mind. 

The Sword Lord’s eyes darted over to the Fist Lord, who was mumbling while staring down at his palm. 

“Fist Lord,” MuGuek said, walking over to BaekLim, who was still standing at the center of the training ground. “Don’t be too embarrassed about this. No one could have foreseen him having learned the Heavenly Demon’s Spirit.”

The Sword Lord said that to console him, but the Fist Lord had an unexpected reaction.

“Embarrassed?” the Fist Lord said with an oddly proud look on his face. 

After seeing the Fist Lord’s expression, the Sword Lord was reminded how much the Fist Lord enjoyed fighting, and he realized how much this fight might actually have been stimulating and enjoyable for him. 

“He’s going to become a High Ranker one day,” the Fist Lord declared.

“Most likely.”

“And he’s probably going to surpass our leader.” 

After a moment of silence, the Sword Lord nodded his head. He couldn’t deny it. 

Even the Heavenly Demon, one of the High Rankers that ruled the Tower, probably couldn’t have fought against a Ranker like this when he was at the 10th Floor. 

“It’s honestly an honor, having gotten to have such a fun fight against a guy like that.”

Hearing the Fist Lord’s response, the Sword Lord understood his feeling. 

“I see.”

Seeing how the Fist Lord wasn’t feeling down at all, the Sword Lord decided to stop worrying. Right now what was important wasn’t how the Fist Lord might have been feeling.

‘Soon…’ the Sword Lord thought while looking at the empty spot where the Heavenly Demon had stood. ‘Soon the Lord will go find him.’ 

There was only a single test left, and that test was probably going to be conducted by the Heavenly Demon himself.

* * *

YuWon received treatment at the medical house. He only needed to receive treatment for his right arm. While blocking the Fist Lord’s final punch, a few of the broken bones had pierced through the skin.

“All done.”

Jin Il-Hwan, the chief doctor, finished treating YuWon’s injury and rubbed the little medicinal herbs they had left on it. 

This made YuWon realize how much of the medical ingredients he’d actually taken and gobbled up. 

‘For them to not even have a single potion…’ he thought. 

Health potions were such a common item, you could even buy them off of Lackeys, yet they didn’t have even a single one because YuWon had depleted all of the Cult’s supply to consume 「Orochi’s Heart.」

‘I guess it can’t be helped.’ 

On the 10th Floor, the Heavenly Demonic Cult was considered the boonies. Lackeys were merchants at heart, so they didn’t operate in remote areas like this. In order to purchase medicine from a Lackey with potions, he’d have to walk pretty far. 

“You shouldn’t have trouble moving within a few days. Be careful until the bones heal back together, and regularly—”

“Thank you,” YuWon said, leaving before the boring explanation got too long. 

Il-Hwan looked at YuWon for a second, figured he’d probably be okay, and waved goodbye. 

YuWon knew that it would take about two days for his arm to heal without any proper medicine, like the doctor told him. But for broken bones and torn flesh, it would be a pretty fast recovery. 

Holding his splint, YuWon returned back to his lodgings. 

Waiting for the next test, he rested his head on his bed. While laying down, he recapped his fight against the Fist Lord.

‘It was shallow.’

The sensation of his left hand cutting into the Fist Lord’s chest. 

Though he was ambidextrous, YuWon predominantly used his right hand. Due to that, there would have been an inevitable difference in power. However, the reason the cut was shallow wasn’t just due to the difference between his right and left hands. 

In order to leave a dent on a Ranker’s body, you needed something extra. 

‘It really sucks not having hit triple digits with my Arcane Power.’

[Arcane Power : 98]

Just two. If he had only managed to raise this stat twice more, he would have hit triple digits. 

Once you reached 100 with this stat, you were able to feel much more clearly the impact of each stat. 

Had YuWon had 100 Arcane Power, he would have been able to leave a much deeper wound on the Fist Lord’s chest.

‘The second test is over.’

It was a much longer test than expected.

YuWon checked his newly obtained skill, the [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit.]

[Heavenly Demon’s Spirit]

ᗌ Rank : A-

ᗌ Proficiency : 0.33%

ᗌ Created by the Lord of the Heavenly Demonic Cult, Cheon MuJin, it is an exclusive martial art of the school. It holds dominance over lower-ranked martial arts. 

ᗌ By dividing your spirit, you are able to create a clone. The power of the Heavenly Demon’s Spirit is dependent on how much mana you imbue into the clone.

A minus-rank. It was definitely a good skill. An A-rank was enough for most Rankers to desire it. 

It was likely that the Heavenly Demon mastered this skill, reaching 100% proficiency with it. 

‘So this is the skill I obtained at the midpoint.’

Thinking about the difficulty of the test, it was a lackluster reward, but YuWon didn’t think of it like that. 

The [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit] was a skill YuWon had obtained by ‘perfectly’ passing the second test. It was a separate reward from the one he got by officially taking the test. On top of that, he wasn’t fully done with the tests.

The [Heavenly Demon’s Spirit] was definitely a great skill, but…

‘The test isn’t over yet.’

And right on cue…

“Kim YuWon-nim.”

A female attendant came to YuWon, who was resting in his lodgings. 

“The Heavenly Demon is calling for you.”

* * *

Guided by the attendant, YuWon was led to the deepest part of the Cult. 

The Heavenly Demon YuWon remembered was someone that didn’t care for formalities and disliked complicated things. Due to that, his residence looked no different than the other houses in the Cult. 

The Lord’s Manor of the Heavenly Demonic Cult. 

Right at the entrance, the attendant took a step back.

“He has ordered that only a single person come in,” she said. 

Of course, that ‘single person’ meant YuWon. 

He left the attendant that stayed behind and stepped over the threshold. 

Surprisingly, inside the manor, he couldn’t sense anyone’s presence. YuWon didn’t think that the Heavenly Demon would leave the place after calling him here. There was only a single reason YuWon could think of as to why he couldn’t sense his presence.

‘He’s as sluggish as always.’

With YuWon’s current skills, it was impossible for him to sense the presence of a High Ranker like the Heavenly Demon. That was inevitable since he was a monster that even the Four Lords combined couldn’t beat. 

YuWon walked slowly through the lord’s manor, sightseeing. 

Well, from the outside perspective, it might have looked like he was sightseeing.

[「?’s Egg」 bares its fangs.]

YuWon internally asked the egg, ‘Is it here?’

The ‘something’ that he could sense since he entered Mt. Heaven. That ‘something’ was right here.