Chapter 254

Chapter 254
## Chapter 254

Closed Dimension (3)

Hubert’s Trading Company, Chairman’s Office.

“…Then, I’ll manage the mineral supply chain exactly as you directed, Chairman.”

“Very well. Does that cover everything for today?”

“Yes! That concludes the urgent matters. Are there any other tasks you would like me to attend to?”

Diana tilted her head to the side slightly as she stacked the approved paperwork.

With her hair meticulously braided and her clothing completely flawless, she looked every bit the ideal secretary.

“No, that will suffice for now. Inform me if anything else requires my attention.”

“Understood! I will take my leave then.”

“If a matter isn’t pressing, take care of it yourself and give me a report later. I require some undisturbed time to concentrate.”

“Understood!”

Cradling the bundle of documents against her chest, she gave a respectful bow and departed the room, her steps making no sound.

Click—

Left by himself in the office, Hubert leaned back into the cushions of his seat, a contented smirk appearing on his face. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

‘She possesses remarkable competence. She manages nearly every task independently, which lightens my workload immensely. She lacks a bit of experience because of her youth, but… then again, so do I. Frankly, her abilities far surpass mine.’

In truth, Hubert’s personal aptitude for business was nothing extraordinary.

He had attained his current status primarily by leveraging the wealth, combat prowess, political influence, and intelligence networks supplied by his alternate avatars, paired with a significant amount of good fortune.

However, Diana’s capability was entirely genuine.

She held the “Analysis” skill, an attribute that practically ensured a natural genius for commerce.

‘She is already performing at this level… and once I grant her access to high-grade information… ’

Observers who lacked the full picture were consistently awed by Hubert’s foresight, thinking he simply possessed elite connections… yet Diana’s insight operated on a different level.

Through sheer intellectual deduction, she had arrived at the exact same conclusions as Harris after deeply pondering the data. Furthermore, she had proposed far more streamlined approaches based only on minimal guidance from him, instantly predicting his underlying goals.

‘Ever since I brought Diana on as my secretary, our operational output has reached incredible heights. On top of that, her loyalty is absolute.’

She was an invaluable partner capable of pushing Hubert’s Trading Company to unprecedented levels of success.

He had originally taken her in merely because of her remarkable sense of smell, but she had proven to be an incredibly lucrative investment, much like a minor asset that suddenly exploded in worth.

‘Since Diana can oversee the bulk of the daily operations… I can direct my energy toward this project.’

He had a separate venture that he intended to investigate entirely on his own.

And it bore no connection to the commercial affairs of the Trading Company.

To be precise, it did not even originate from this particular realm.

Thud— Thud!

A collection of volumes manifested from the spatial magic tool strapped to his wrist, forming a pile on the desk beside his seat.

A subtle aroma of fresh ink drifted through the room.

These were books obtained from an entirely different realm, bound in an unfamiliar fashion, their front pieces adorned with bizarre glyphs.

He had retrieved them via the “Avatar Cloud” network and put them away for later use…

Reaching out, he took the book resting at the very top of the pile and cast “Analysis” upon it.

-A hidden methodology belonging to the Iron Monster Sect, categorized as a forbidden dark art. When practiced in tandem with external physical conditioning, it forces Ki to circulate directly through the cellular structure of the body, accelerating mass expansion and hardening the physical form to match the durability of steel. Though highly beneficial for projecting external energy, it severely blocks the cultivation of internal energy and caps overall developmental limits.

-Overall Grade: C-

-Main Characteristics: Comparatively low threshold for learning, rapid progression velocity, superior aptitude for external martial paths, deficient aptitude for internal martial paths, restricted ultimate potential.

‘A useless find.’

He flipped through the sheets, glancing over the text blocks, and shook his head before tossing it to the side.

It might serve a purpose if he needed to rapidly elevate the strength of low-tier cannon fodder, but he had absolutely no requirement for a methodology with such severe limitations.

He resumed sorting through the remaining texts.

He had plundered these items from the Eoryong Stronghold and its master, alongside several rival bandit encampments scattered across the perimeter of Dongting Lake.

‘Hm, a surprising number of orthodox sect methodologies ended up here.’

The bandits might have fallen effortlessly to Harris’s calculated ambush, but they had still reigned as one of the three major factions dominating the territory.

Consequently, they had amassed a substantial repository of hidden scrolls plundered from the lesser sects they had subjugated over time.

‘…I anticipated a higher standard of quality.’

Regrettably, the vast majority of the collection proved to be entirely commonplace.

The sole items that managed to capture his attention were the “Flood Dragon Sword Technique (A-)” and the “Whale Wave Crocodile Heart Technique (A)” which he had confiscated directly from Jin Deok-man, the commander of the Dongting Eighteen Strongholds, along with a handful of minor scrolls.

Among the hundreds of individual texts he had accumulated, the bulk failed to rank above the D-grade tier.

‘Hah, typical low-life raiders. All bluster and no true substance.’

He creased his brow, letting out an annoyed breath.

He had already cast aside the reality that these factions had once held absolute dominion over the local geography.

He kept digging through the pile, holding out hope that a genuine gem might be buried within the junk.

His fingers brushed against an ancient, deteriorating text, its binding severely worn and its original title entirely erased by age—.

“Oh? What do we have here?”

He invoked “Analysis” once more, and his eyelids snapped wide open.

-A mythical text containing the profound truths of the eight trigrams, which are said to symbolize the totality of cosmic existence. By obtaining flawless synchronization with the natural order, a practitioner can harvest boundless inner vitality and exert control over the material realm. It demands a profound level of philosophical comprehension and an absolute grasp of natural laws, making it exceptionally difficult to master.

-Overall Grade: S

-Main Characteristics: Extreme barrier to comprehension, highly protracted development speed, moderately advanced external martial paths capability, supreme internal martial paths capability, limitless ultimate potential.

It was an authentic S-grade martial methodology.

‘…Can this actually be real?’

He had been ridiculing the collection just moments ago, but through the process of organizing these scrolls, he had come to understand a key detail.

The metrics utilized by “Analysis” were incredibly uncompromising.

A mere C-grade methodology was deemed a highly prized clan secret among minor factions, while an A-grade item was treated as a crown jewel within the grand sects.

‘The most formidable martial paths that Hans crossed paths with, leaving aside the Heavenly Demon Emperor, were likely valued at roughly a B-grade standard.’

He had figured that only legendary, epoch-defining paths such as the “Heavenly Demon Divine Art” would ever be designated at an S-grade tier or higher…

This represented an incredible, unpredicted stroke of luck.

‘Furthermore, this wasn’t even stashed in the private collection of the main stronghold leader. By what miracle did a manual of this caliber wind up gathering dust in a basic outlaw storehouse?’

It defied logic that anyone capable of understanding its contents would fail to grasp its immense worth.

He parted the covers of the book, driven by intense curiosity…

And almost instantly, the reason for its abandonment became completely clear.

-The heavens and the earth establish their correct alignment, and the primordial vitality of peaks and rivers cascades… as thunder and gale collide, and… torrent and flame offer no resistance to one another, thereby allowing the eight trigrams to attain perfect equilibrium…

-Qian manifests as the crown, Kun functions as the abdomen, Zhen commands the feet, and… Xun governs the lower limbs. Kan represents the auditory organs, Li operates as the visual organs, Gen dictates the hands, and Dui constitutes the mouth…

‘What kind of gibberish is this supposed to mean?’

Hubert’s features contorted in pure exasperation.

The alternative texts, even those dealing with highly abstract concepts, had at least attempted to convey their principles in a straightforward manner… whereas this particular scroll was stuffed with ambiguous, metaphysical riddles.

To make matters worse, the ancient material had suffered physical degradation, rendering multiple passages entirely unreadable.

The outlaw leader had undoubtedly thrown his hands up in frustration after attempting to decipher just a handful of pages.

It had most likely been preserved on the shelf solely due to the detailed diagrams tracing human meridians and combat postures.

‘Even the advanced A-grade texts lacked this level of obscurity.’

He focused his gaze on the opening lines, resolving to crack the hidden meaning.

He was fully capable of reading the literal characters by utilizing “Xenoglossy”, but to truly absorb and execute the path, he needed to unlock the foundational truths beneath the vocabulary.

‘I will need to parse through the collective experiences of the other individuals who returned from Murim… Still, this is far better than having nothing at all. I simply need to treat this as an intricate cypher.’

He held the keys to an array of past lifetimes, so unraveling it was entirely feasible provided he dedicated sufficient hours to the endeavor.

The process would have been significantly smoother had Salma’s recollections remained perfectly undamaged…

“…Hold on a moment.”

A sudden revelation flashed across his consciousness.

Supernatural talents frequently underwent evolution based on the specific manner in which they were applied, and their ultimate utility scaled alongside the depth of the user’s mastery.

‘If I approach this from the correct angle… ’

“Xenoglossy”, the extraordinary power designed to dissolve any and all linguistic obstacles.

Coupled with “Analysis”, the advanced form of “Appraisal”, which specialized in breaking down the core reality of targeted objects.

He triggered both capabilities simultaneously, channeling the entirety of his cognitive power into the ancient text.

‘This represents my initial major breakthrough within Ganghwange. I cannot afford to leave any stone unturned.’

He refused to journey back across dimensions completely empty-handed after exerting this much effort.

He directed every remaining scrap of his mental capacity toward the text before him, unlocking “Hypersensitivity” to push his cognitive processing speed into overdrive.

Bzzt—

His thoughts fired at lightning speed, consuming vast amounts of internal energy.

The synergistic link bonding “Analysis” and “Xenoglossy” tightened drastically, allowing him to perceive not merely the literal translation of the symbols, but the exact intent of the original master who penned them.

He deduced the overarching goal of the author, reconstructed the missing sections of text, and repaired the shattered passages back into coherent thoughts.

Yet, a final piece of the puzzle remained missing.

‘Fine, let us push all the chips into the center.’

He unstoppered a vial of the Growth Elixir he had secured from the exclusive VIP Market, swallowed the liquid, and plunged right back into his mental labor.

The astronomically priced draught immediately validated its steep cost, supercharging his deciphering speed to an astronomical degree.

‘The potency of this mixture endures for a full seven days?’

In reality, he would require only a fraction of that timeframe.

Roughly twelve hours after he first set his mind to unraveling the enigmatic scroll—.

《The subject has fulfilled all necessary parameters and achieved profound realization. You have successfully unlocked the skill “Cryptography”.》

A brand-new capability anchored itself within his status, and the seemingly impregnable wall that had locked away the text’s secrets split wide open.

—

“Whoosh— Ha—.”

Harris drew a deep, deliberate breath, pulling the surrounding ambient Ki straight into his respiratory tract.

By virtue of his heritage as a High Elf combined with his cosmic connection to the elements, the raw forces of nature—which he had previously been forced to bind through sheer exercise of authority—now cascaded effortlessly through his being in perfect accordance with his desires.

‘Fascinating. The true nature of it is finally becoming clear.’

He executed a measured nod, beginning to fully internalize the core principles governing the energy systems of this reality.

The sub-skill “Cryptography”, which Hubert had just manifested across the link, was rapidly expanding under the lingering amplification of the Growth Elixir, which in turn poured additional momentum into the ongoing decoding process.

Concurrently, the insights gained were being practically tested and verified by Harris over in Ganghwange, a feedback loop that directly mirrored back to enhance Hubert’s analytical efforts. It formed a perfect, self-sustaining loop of enlightenment.

‘Gentle Eight Trigrams Secret Art… This particular methodology feels as though it was tailor-made for someone of Harris’s constitution.’

His original objective had merely been to secure a stable base of operations and lay the groundwork for subsequent territorial dominance… making this development an immense, uncalculated stroke of fortune.

He could not make a definitive judgment just yet, as the decoding work remained ongoing… but if he could successfully integrate this methodology and fuse it seamlessly with his pre-existing combat repertoire…

‘…The resulting force multiplier would be staggering. This might very well provide the catalyst required to shatter the ceiling I have been facing.’

Harris was already acutely aware of his situation.

He recognized that he had hit a definitive developmental plateau after achieving his ascension through the intervention of the World Tree.

While it had represented the absolute peak strategy available at that historical juncture, and his status as an ascendant entity verified his devastating power—placing him among the absolute elite of that entire reality—he could not completely shake a persistent feeling of stagnation.

‘For the time being, however, the mere existence of a path forward is more than enough.’

He had stumbled upon an entirely unanticipated path to advancement within this uncharted realm.

A genuine path to shattering his developmental constraints.

Whether this turn of events was born of simple fortuity, or if some hidden hand was orchestrating these developments behind the scenes…

That was a riddle he would set aside for another occasion.

“…I shall demand an answer once more. What purpose brings you to the sovereign domain of our clan?”

At this very moment, he stood completely encircled by high-level martial artists, their blades bared to the light and their killing intent razor-sharp.

A mere twenty-four hours had passed since his departure from the waters of Dongting Lake.

Harris had successfully navigated his way to the compounds of the Zhuge Clan situated deep within Yungjung Mountain, identifying them as his immediate objective.