Chapter 460: Surpassing the Wall (2)

"Good for you. You happened to acquire Deific Essence purely by chance," Kim Si-Hun narrowed his eyes and continued, "Without any form of effort whatsoever."

"Ngh."

Kim Tae-Hyun slightly frowned. He wanted to deny it, but it was an undeniable fact that he had gained power simply by chance.

'I...'

Tae-Hyun clenched his fists.

"What? A rogue? Sorry, we don't need you."

"We don't have any heals to waste on a rogue so just screw off and give first aid somewhere else."

"For fuck's sake, what use are you if you can't deal or tank damage? Just quit being a Player."

Tae-Hyun lost his family at the hands of monsters on the Day of Calamity. This tragedy was not only his; countless people lost those precious to them on that day. He thought his life would change once he awakened as a Player five years after the Day of Calamity; he thought he could become the hero he had dreamed of becoming ever since his family died before his very eyes.

However, reality was cruel. The Trait he had awakened was treated worse than useless by the other Players.

'I...'

Tae-Hyun became desperate since that day. He wanted to become a protagonist. He wanted to overcome his adversities and grow stronger like a shounen manga protagonist. He wanted to be praised by others and save the world from danger with style. And...

He wanted to tell his family, whom he couldn't save, that he had managed to protect people this time. He, who had dared to survive by himself after being unable to do anything, had saved the world and the countless people in it. It had become his life's purpose to tell them.

"Without... any effort?" Tae-Hyun bit his lip and glared at Si-Hun. "I could say the same to you!!!"

Unlike Tae-Hyun, who wasn't acknowledged by anyone after awakening as a Player, Si-Hun grew stronger without stopping as soon as he awakened because he had talent, unlike Tae-Hyun. Tae-Hyun glared at Si-Hun. He knew that this was nothing more than petty jealousy and that he would be the only pathetic one for acting this way.

"If only it weren't for you..."

The dream that Tae-Hyun had been desiring all this time was right in front of him, but his wild dream of becoming a hero who was praised by all was already taken by someone else; someone with the title of Sword Dragon.

Silence fell. The two men took out their weapons simultaneously as if no words were needed.

Bang.

Tae-Hyun shut the door behind him and entered the training room. He took a stance as he held a thirty-centimeter dagger in a reverse grip. Si-Hun held a formless sword made of blue sword energy and calmed his heavy breaths. His sword was shining far less brightly than usual.

'Dammit.'

Si-Hun could not be in a worse state due to having trained to his limit until just now. His legs were shaking, his breathing was heavy, and he barely had any Qi left.

'But...'

Si-Hun had a feeling that he shouldn't fall back.

"You are... no longer desperate."

Si-Hun recalled Balrog's words. He denied them and considered them to be nonsense at the time, but he could feel it as well.

'I'm... not desperate anymore.'

He had given up on going past the first wall that he had ever faced in his life. He thought that he did not need to get any stronger than he already was.

'Hyung.'

To walk alongside Oh Kang-Woo and to lighten the weight on his shoulders even a little, Si-Hun needed to surpass the insurmountable wall blocking his path.

"Fuuu," Si-Hun took a deep breath in.

He replenished his Qi stores through his breaths. It was nowhere near enough to fill his usual abundant stores, but he needed everything he could get at the moment.

'Heavenly Dragon Concealment.'

Si-Hun turned faint as if a dragon was concealing itself within the clouds and disappeared into thin air.

'I don't have a chance in a head-on battle.'

He realized through the last battle how pointless it was to take an opponent with Deific Essence head-on. There were only two ways for someone without Deific Essence to face someone with Deific Essence; they could either use enough power that the Deific Essence was unable to block or focus their attacks on a point where the Deific Essence barrier was weak.

'The first method is impossible.'

Si-Hun had felt that he did not have enough Qi even when he was at his best, so it was out of the question when he barely had any Qi to use.

'I'll focus on where the barrier is weak.'

It was like aiming for the gaps in the armor of an opponent with full-plate armor.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Urgh..."

It was a near-impossible strategy for a regular warrior to even attempt, but Si-Hun had long since surpassed that stage. Si-Hun sword continuously struck Tae-Hyun's shoulder. The sword bounced off of the Deific Essence barrier with a clear sound of clashing metal.

'I knew it.'

Si-Hun nodded after feeling a recoil much weaker than before. He had felt it during his previous battle against Tae-Hyun as well, but the Deific Essence barrier was weaker in areas where the individual paid less attention. One would naturally be more wary of attacks aiming at their vitals such as the head, heart, and neck. However, protection around areas like the shoulder and thigh, where their life wouldn't be threatened even if they were attacked, was weaker.

"Kuh," Tae-Hyun grunted.

He was unable to follow Si-Hun's movements. He would have been sliced into pieces as soon as the battle began if he hadn't been protected by Deific Essence.

'Dammit.'

Tae-Hyun bit his lip. He could feel the overwhelming difference between himself and Si-Hun.

'I knew from the start that I was lacking in skill.'

However, he possessed a skill that could easily make up for it.

'Foresight.'

Faint light poured out from the Eye of Nostrian. Light particles resembling crystal fragments wrapped around him. It didn't matter where Si-Hun was or whether or not Tae-Hyun could follow his movements.

'Now!'

Tae-Hyun turned around and lowered his dagger. Si-Hun's sword, which was aimed at his thigh, was deflected by the dagger.

Si-Hun frowned.

'This again.'

His attack was blocked as if his opponent could see the future. Si-Hun was sure that Tae-Hyun couldn't follow his movements, but he managed to block the attack regardless.

'How far into the future can he see?'

He needed to figure that out first and foremost. Si-Hun fixed his grip on his sword and set aside his initial plan of getting through the Deific Essence barrier.

'Heavenly Sword Rampage.'

Countless attacks poured down on Tae-Hyun, who deflected every single one of them with his dagger despite being able to leave it to his Deific Essence barrier to block them for him. It was a blunder that arose from his lack of battle experience and Si-Hun did not let that blunder get past him.

'Five seconds.'

Si-Hun's eyes shone. Tae-Hyun had predicted Si-Hun's attacks exactly five seconds into the future.

'What a broken ability...'

Si-Hun felt even more disheartened after figuring out Tae-Hyun's ability. Being able to see five seconds into the future was invaluable in a battle where even a millisecond was precious.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

"Hmph, where did your vigor from earlier go?" Si-Hun snorted once he regained his composure.

He was easily able to block Si-Hun's attacks after using Foresight, but blocking them was all he could do. He was not yet skilled enough to counterattack.

'It's okay,' Tae-Hyun thought as he stared leisurely at Si-Hun.

Si-Hun was noticeably exhausted, so he would collapse on his own as long as Tae-Hyun held out without attacking.

'I can win.'

Tae-Hyun leisurely blocked Si-Hun's attacks.

"Huff, huff, huff," Si-Hun panted heavily.

He swung his sword while drenched in sweat, but he was ultimately unable to even graze Tae-Hyun.

Riiing.

[Your Qi has been depleted.]

[Continuous use of martial arts will lead to Qi deviation.]

Messages appeared in front of Si-Hun but he ignored them and gripped his sword tighter.

'I can't afford to back down.'

He recalled Kang-Woo and the powerlessness he felt as he stared at his back. Chasing after Kang-Woo was already so agonizing, so he couldn't even imagine how agonizing it would be for Kang-Woo to be that far forward.

"You are... no longer desperate."

Si-Hun heard Balrog's words again. He could now understand why Balrog said something like that.

'It was because I was hiding behind hyung's back.'

Si-Hun thought that Kang-Woo was strong enough to resolve any danger that the world would be placed in; he thought that Kang-Woo would be able to stop anything like a superhero in a film. That was how extraordinary Kang-Woo's feats were. Si-Hun thought that everything would be resolved as long as he hid within Kang-Woo's shadow, hence he did not bother to be desperate.

"Fuuu, haaa," Si-Hun calmed his breathing.

He was out of Qi and his fingers could barely move.

'I can do it.'

He needed to surpass the wall blocking his path.

'I...'

Si-Hun continued to breathe. Miniscule amounts of Qi filled his empty dantian.

'It's not enough.'

This amount of Qi was not enough to surpass Tae-Hyun's Deific Essence. He needed even greater power.

'But how?'

Si-Hun's Qi consumption rate was astronomically faster than the rate of accumulation.

'Wait.'

Si-Hun's eyes widened. His breaths were an act to absorb and store Qi from within the atmosphere.

'Why do I have to store it inside me?'

Si-Hun felt as if he had been struck by a lightning bolt. If Qi was within the atmosphere, why did he need to go out of his way to absorb it by breathing before using it?

'What if I just... use the Qi straight from the atmosphere?'

If he could, his internal Qi or his dantian would not matter.

'No... even my body... has never held any meaning.'

Si-Hun had been shackled by his physical form. It was only natural since he was a human with a physical body. He spent his entire life seeing, hearing, smelling, touching, and tasting. However, Qi was different; it was all around them. There was no point in confining it in a body. The only reason why Si-Hun had confined the Qi within himself to use it until now was because he simply did not know how to effectively use the energy.

'But now...'

He was different. He already knew how to freely use the Qi within the atmosphere. He had already surpassed the concept of having a dantian and was able to use the energy of nature.

'I simply never used it until now.'

He was finally able to understand the meaning behind the words Mind's Sword. It was nothing superficial like infusing energy into his bloodlust or cutting with just his willpower.

'It's to... abandon my body. My dantian.'

It was to escape his physical form and become one with the world's energy. It was to control the boundless energy only with his mind. That was the essence of Mind's Sword.

Riiing.

[You have fully assimilated with Martial God Tian Taihuang!]

[You have realized the Mind's Sword.]

[You have reached the initial stage of the Transcendent Realm!]

[Granting the title 'Sword of Heaven' as per the Law of Titans!]

[You have acquired the Upper Intermediate-rank Deific Essence 'Heavenly Sword'!]

"Haaa."

Whaaaam!

Immense energy raged along with a barrage of message windows. Blinding blue light swirled around Si-Hun.

***

"Shall I go see how Si-Hun's doing?"

Kang-Woo, who purged the stamens from his mind with the help of Han Seol-Ah, headed to the Hall of Protection.

'He should be in the middle of training about now.'

Kang-Woo was sure that Si-Hun would be isolating himself in the training room, training frantically.

'I should cheer him up so that he doesn't push himself too hard.'

It was not good to push Si-Hun over the edge; Kang-Woo was working to provide Si-Hun with just the right amount of stimulation.

"Let's see..."

Kang-Woo passed through a Gate to enter the Hall of Protection and headed toward the training room.

'Huh?'

Just then, he felt a Deific Essence that he had never felt before.

'Has a god manifested?'

Kang-Woo frowned aggressively and quickened his steps toward the training room.

Boom! Crash!

"Kurgh! Cough!"

There, Kang-Woo saw Tae-Hyun getting pummeled by Si-Hun's sword slashes.

"What's going on?"

Kang-Woo's eyes widened. An unrealistic sight was happening before his very eyes. He couldn't believe Tae-Hyun and Si-Hun were fighting out of the blue, but the flow of the battle was even more unbelievable. Si-Hun, who had been floored by Tae-Hyun only a week ago, was overpowering Tae-Hyun as if it had never happened.

'Deific Essence. It's Deific Essence.'

Tae-Hyun was blocking Si-Hun's attacks with his foresight ability but was unable to block them completely. The only way this could be possible was if both of them possessed Deific Essence.

'Si-Hun finally awakened Deific Essence!'

Kang-Woo's mouth was left agape. It had only been a day since he had provided Si-Hun with stimulation. Si-Hun had achieved what Kang-Woo had expected him to take around three months at least, a year at most.

'I knew it was the right choice to stick with the Si-Hun Coin!'

This was likely how an investor felt when their stock price rose tripled in just one day that they bought it.

'It's not over yet.'

Si-Hun was getting stronger with each passing moment now that he acquired Deific Essence, proven by the blue energy wrapping him getting thicker. Kang-Woo clenched his fists.

'Let's go, let's go, let's go!!'

To the moooooooooooon!!!!