Crash—!

Rumble, rumble—

The peak of Mt. Heaven shook. 

JaRyong trembled, feeling the tremors. “The Fist Lord seems very angry,” he said.

“I think he plans on completely crushing the challenger, disregarding the fact that the Heavenly Demon is favoring him.”

HaMuk, who was standing besides JaRyong, looked over at one of the peaks of Mt. Heaven. 

The Fist Lord was the most combative of the Four Lords. It was natural for him to warm up before a fight, but this time around, there were different feelings mixed in with his actions. 

“Even though he’s still a kid.”

“Are you saying I got wrecked by a kid then?”

“Hahah!”

HaMuk burst out in laughter from JaRyong’s question. He ended up remembering the duel between JaRyong and YuWon.

“You’re right. He’s no ordinary kid.”

“How can someone that’s only climbed up to the 10th Floor be so strong?”

“He’s probably fundamentally different from us. ”

“But even if he’s a Pure-Blood…”

JaRyong and HaMuk were both players. Though they had now given up on climbing the Tower further, they were at one point also the center of attention for being Pure-Bloods from the Martial Realm. 

Though they couldn’t be compared to Pure-Bloods from giant guilds like Olympus, the Heavenly Realm, or Asgard, they were quite proud of their origins. 

However…

“Isn’t this just too great of a difference?”

JaRyong thought back to his duel against YuWon. But, no, that wasn’t a duel. That was a one-sided act of violence. 

Despite him having had most of the restrictions from the penalty removed due to the stage creation, JaRyong was taken down in an instant by YuWon. 

HaMuk also clearly remembered what happened back then. Though he wasn’t taken by surprise as much as JaRyong, he was still pretty shocked.

“So what do you think?’

Crash—!

Rumble—

The earth shook again. 

A single strike from the Fist Lord was capable of shaking the top of Mt. Heaven. And with every punch, the mana in the air grew denser, overflowing into the central area of the Heavenly Demonic Cult. 

“Do you think he’ll be able to withstand that?”

JaRyong could still feel the Fist Lord’s strike throughout his entire body, even after the rumbling had subsided. Though he might have been the weakest among the Four Lords, a Ranker was still a Ranker. 

No matter how skilled one might have been, it would have been very difficult to withstand three techniques from the Fist Lord, who had been to the top of the Tower. 

“I’m not sure.”

JaRyong thought about it long and hard. 

YuWon and the Fist Lord. 

A reckless test where one had to withstand three techniques from a Ranker… 

“I think…”

* * *

Munch, munch—

YuWon chewed on the medicinal ingredients for a while. Various awful, bitter flavors enveloped his mouth. He thought maybe he should have brought some honey, but that would have only weakened the potency of the medicines.

“Blegh—”

Almost vomiting a couple of times, YuWon stopped eating the medicinal ingredients. 

“It’s so gross…”

He thought maybe getting stabbed by swords while fighting would feel better. Never had YuWon imagined that there were so many different bitter flavors. And even though he had tried a wide variety of medicines in his life, he had never eaten this many at once.

[You consumed an 「Antler Herb.」]

[Your resistance to poison increases slightly for 24.1 hours.]

[You consumed a 「Poisonous Aster Root.」]

[Your resistance to poison increases for 24.4 hours.]

[You consumed a 「Banchok Flower.」]

[You have gained resistance to 98 types of poison for 45.7 hours…]

All sorts of medicinal ingredients and a myriad of antidotes created by the Heavenly Demonic Cult. After eating them until his stomach was full, YuWon looked unsightly. His stomach now hurt from the effects of all the different medicinal ingredients. 

‘I think some of them got mixed into poison.’ 

Medicine was something that shouldn’t have been consumed without the proper consultation from an apothecary. The reason for that was simple. When consumed incorrectly, medicines could become poisonous. 

Mixing various medicines together to create poison was something that the famed SaCheon Clan was well known for. 

‘It can’t be helped. It’s not like I know what every medicine does.’

YuWon had asked the chief doctor about fatal combinations just in case. Thanks to that, YuWon was able to avoid consuming medicines that were potentially lethal together, but the chief doctor must not have taken into account the possibility of eating so many kinds all at once. 

Though it was only a little bit, one of the medicines he had consumed had a toxic reaction. Luckily, all it did was cause a bit of a stomach ache. 

‘But…’

YuWon picked up the main course he had set aside for today.

“This’ll be over when they stop fighting against each other.”

[「?’s Egg」 opens its mouth wide.]

Sensing the egg inside his inventory move, YuWon frowned. 

It was happening again.

“This one’s off limits.”

[「?’s Egg」 makes a curious face and—]

“I said no. If you try it again, I’m going to fry you up.”

[「?’s Egg」 is scared shitless.]

[「?’s Egg」 falls back into slumber.]

The threat must have worked because it fell back asleep, giving up on 「Orochi’s Heart.」

This had already happened once before. While trying to figure out how to consume 「Orochi’s Heart,」 the Egg had attempted to swallow it. 

Because he had properly scolded the Egg back then, it didn’t reveal its teeth instantly this time, but YuWon was still on high alert. 

“… That’ll probably do it.”

YuWon felt like his life was being shortened by the Egg that was thrusted upon him. 

Like he was sneakily eating lunch in the middle of class, YuWon carefully looked around his surroundings before going in for a bite. 

Crunch—!

YuWon’s teeth broke the hard heart. 

The inside of his mouth felt like it was burning, and in a hurry, YuWon chewed and swallowed.

[You consumed 「Orochi’s 7th Heart.」]

[Orochi’s poison spreads throughout your body.]

[Your poison resistance tries to resist the status effect: Poisoned.]

[Your poison resistance tries to resist the status effect: Poisoned.]

[Your poison resistance…]

An endless stream of messages, and with it…

[You have failed to resist Orochi’s poison.]

[You are now afflicted by the status effect : Poisoned.]

[Status effect : Poisoned increased to level 2…]

“Kugh…”

Orochi’s poison spread through YuWon’s entire body. He felt as if his skin and muscles were being scorched. 

“Ahhhhhh!”

* * *

Munch, munch—

Gulp—

YuWon barely managed to reach out his arms, grab the herbs, and eat them.

[Your poison resistance tries to resist the status effect: Poisoned.]

[Your poison resistance increases by 1.]

YuWon couldn’t remember how many times he had heard this message now. 

His poison resistance had gone up dozens of times, to the point that most normal poisons would have no effect on him. 

However, even such a high poison resistance was futile against Orochi’s poison.

There was only a single effect.

‘The pain’s lessened.’

The pain from the poison was decreasing very slightly. 

YuWon had to be satisfied with this. The higher his poison resistance increased, the slower the poison spread throughout his body while also strengthening the medicines’ effects.

“Fuu—”

YuWon, who had been flopped over and barely grabbing and eating the herbs, managed to turn his body over onto his back. 

His stomach still felt like it was engulfed in flames, but at least this was something.

While chewing on a root he didn’t know the name of, YuWon slowly opened his paralyzed eyes. 

[Your Arcane Power increased by 1.]

[Your Arcane Power increased by 1.]

His stats increased along with his poison resistance, and Arcane Power was starting to increase at a rapid rate. 

‘It’s going up faster than I expected.’

YuWon’s current Arcane Power was 88. This was the result of increasing the completion rate of the [Heaven-Slaying Star,] leveling up, and climbing the Tower. 

Stats were something that were harder to increase the higher they were. Because of that, after a certain point, it became very difficult to increase one’s stats except by leveling up. 

For this reason, rather than leveling up, YuWon had prioritized raising his stats through methods like consuming elixirs. And in that regard, 「Orochi’s Heart」 was one of the highest grade elixirs there were. 

But even taking that into account, his stats were increasing rapidly beyond his imagination. 

There was a single reason for this.

‘I’m barely losing any of the mana that the Heart possessed.’

Consuming an elixir was unlike eating normal food. Setting the poison neutralization side, it depended on the individual’s mana control for how much of the elixir’s mana they would be able to absorb. 

But even with great mana control, it should have been impossible for YuWon to absorb all the mana in Orochi’s Heart with his current power level. Despite that, YuWon was able to absorb it with barely any loss. 

“How is this possible…? Wait.”

YuWon remembered a skill he had forgotten. He quickly checked the skill.

[Master of Mana]

ᗌ Rank : S+

ᗌ Proficiency : 3.05%

[Master of Mana] was a skill that increased the recovery rate, resistance, and sensitivity to mana. On top of that it let one ‘rule’ over mana. 

At first, YuWon was confused about the effect he had never heard of before, but now he somewhat understood what it could mean.

‘Mana will follow me by its own will.’

It felt like the mana that was dispersed, the mana he was unable to make his own after consuming the elixir, was following him of its own accord.

‘This is a new discovery.’

[Your Arcane Power increased by 1.]

His stats went up again. 

YuWon continuously felt mana fill his body. 

It was a shocking speed. To already be on the precipice of hitting 90 Arcane Power…

‘If I can get it to triple digits like this…’

Clench—

YuWon grabbed a bigger handful of medicinal herbs. He shoved it in his mouth and started neutralizing the poison that had begun spreading inside his body again.

This had now been going on for a few days. In order to neutralize all the poison and absorb all the mana inside 「Orochi’s Heart,」 YuWon would need more than just a few days.

Even though blood dripped from his mouth because of the internal injuries caused by the poison, YuWon was still smiling. 

“This… is going to take quite a bit.”

* * *

The Heavenly Demonic Cult had been frozen like the winter of the northern sea. 

It was an organization that had been in seclusion for a long time, located on the outskirts of the Martial Realm on the 10th Floor of the grand Tower. Within that Cult, a small wind had started blowing.

“It’s been a month now.”

“He might be planning on staying inside for the full three months.”

“You might be right. I thought he would have at least come out in the middle to obtain a secret art or something.”

HaMuk looked at the entrance of the training chamber YuWon had entered. 

A month had already passed by, and the only thing YuWon had taken with him were the medicinal ingredients he got from the medical house. He didn’t take any secret arts or weapons of the Heavenly Demonic Cult with him.

HaMuk thought, ‘There’s no way a player that only just arrived on the 10th Floor would pass on the opportunity to learn a secret art of the Martial Realm. He should at least know that, but…’ 

They had naturally assumed that YuWon would come out sometime in the middle, but, as if he didn’t need a break or any other preparations, YuWon hadn’t emerged. 

“And I’m not sensing any special traces of ki.” 

The Fist Lord’s training was loud enough to shake the mountaintop. Meanwhile, YuWon hadn’t let out a sound nor any trace that he was even alive. There was a stark contrast between the two.

‘The Fist Lord entered seclusion training for three months. His goal is probably to resume training, which he hadn’t been making much progress in,’ thought HaMuk.

People thought that he was going overboard while trying to face a player from just the 10th Floor. But HaMuk thought maybe it was natural for the Fist Lord to act this way after seeing YuWon’s duel against JaRyong and taking YuWon’s words as provocation.  

And so, YuWon should have displayed an appropriate response, but to his dismay, YuWon was silent as the dead inside his training chamber. 

“What training do you think he’s doing? He’s beyond quiet.”

“I’m wondering that too. I don’t think he’d have spent the past month only meditating.”

“I heard that he took all sorts of medicinal ingredients from the medical house…”

“Wait,” HaMuk interrupted JaRyong. “Be quiet for just a second.”

Tmp—

He felt a presence inside the training chamber. 

YuWon, who had been still this entire time, was starting to move. 

The sound of his movements grew closer. 

HaMuk honed in on YuWon’s steps and said, “… He’s coming out.”

Rumble—

The door of the training chamber opened.