Chapter 95

Chapter 95
## Chapter: 95
Chapter Title: Baal’s Temple

However, with every collision of their weapons, the youth’s strength escalated at a staggering velocity.

In a heartbeat, he drew level with me and then surged past, radiating a sharp sword aura.

‘…Yet another prodigy?’

He was the same breed as those natural elites who had always stood above him.

Another figure had appeared to make a mockery of his lifelong dedication.

No matter how many decades he spent in grueling labor, a gifted soul would leapfrog him in a mere breath.

Regardless of his desperate struggles, they attained heights he could never hope to brush, treating the achievement like a simple prank.

They even appeared weary of it, unable to fathom why the common or the slow-witted could not simply overcome such trivial hurdles.

They possessed no understanding of the grief felt by those abandoned in their wake, those who failed despite giving every ounce of their soul.

This occasion seemed destined to end the same way.

They would look down with scornful eyes and mock his position.

-Prove it to me.

-Show me where your potential ends.

Yet, this individual was distinct from the geniuses of his past.

He continued to parry the spear strikes.

He wasn’t attempting to crush him or toy with his spirit.

He was genuinely appreciating the craftsmanship, the spear techniques that Valte had spent a lifetime perfecting.

‘…Very well, I will reveal everything.’

A new clarity dawned, stoking the fires of his resolve.

He refused to submit.

He refused to let anyone dictate the boundaries of his capability.

He launched a ferocious assault with every fiber of his being.

He drove the spear forward until his palms were a mess of blisters and raw skin.

He carved out new trajectories for Valte’s weapon to soar even further. This opponent did not grow restless or click his tongue in disapproval; instead, he observed the display with profound earnestness.

It was as if he were a true mentor.

And as he exhausted his very essence.

‘Ah…’

Without realizing it, a layer of outer energy had begun to coat his spear.

He was struck by disbelief.

But the pulsing, vivid sensation of this power was no hallucination.

He had reached a domain he thought was forever closed to him, no matter his toil.

Tap!

A hand reached out and offered a single, firm pat on his shoulder.

It was him.

The gifted one who had acted as his teacher.

The savior who had liberated him from the confines of his own mental cage.

‘Ah.’

In that same moment, Valte’s frame began a slow descent to the ground.

His limbs felt as heavy as forged iron.

His eyelids surrendered to gravity on their own.

And yet, a faint grin touched his mouth.

It was a profound sense of freedom he hadn’t experienced in an age.

How much time had passed since he last felt this light?

The memory had long since faded.

‘So this is the sensation of being truly recognized…’

Perhaps that was his singular desire all along.

Just a lone word to validate that his struggles weren’t pointless.

That he had succeeded.

That his hard work was seen…

Valte inclined his head in a silent gesture of gratitude toward his disappearing benefactor.

My physical form was a symphony of sharp pain.

‘I forgot for a moment that Saintess Se-ah isn’t here to patch me up.’

I had driven myself like a fanatic without a single healing spell, so this agony was earned.

It was a feat of will alone that I remained conscious.

However, from this point forward, the ascent was a solitary journey.

‘This upper region is known as the Celestial Realm.’

This was the stretch of the peak that only those who had mastered the use of outer energy were permitted to climb. It was dubbed the ‘Celestial Realm.’

Once a person set foot here, the difficulty of advancing training proficiency beyond level 20 eased slightly.

Leaving the unconscious spear expert behind, I pressed onward up the slope.

‘Someone is watching me.’

Ever since I exited the territory of the Chaos Trainees, I had felt a set of eyes boring into my back.

There was no immediate sign of malice.

But this was no casual observer.

Because the gaze wasn’t masked but presented openly, the watcher seemed fascinated by my existence.

‘No ill intent, but plenty of competitive spirit. They want a duel but are exercising restraint. Are they waiting for me to reach my peak?’

It was highly probable.

I didn’t let it distract me.

They wouldn’t be able to follow me to my specific destination regardless.

‘There it is.’

My objective lay within the Celestial Realm, but it wasn’t the realm itself.

It was a concealed trail tucked away inside the region.

【The hidden trait ‘Mutation’ brings the veiled path into view.】

【You have located the entrance to the ‘Temple of Training.’】

Without hesitation, I flung myself off the precipice.

“Th-that person…!”

The subordinate let out a cry of pure bewilderment.

The warrior who had just successfully reached the Celestial Realm had abruptly cast himself into the void of the cliff.

They scrambled to the edge to look down, but the man had vanished into thin air.

“Ah, Lady Aria!”

The situation grew more frantic as Aria leaped down after him.

However, the Aria who had jumped was instantly returned to the attendant’s side.

Of course, this wasn’t unexpected.

Such was the nature of the Celestial Realm.

Things were rarely what they appeared to be.

“…Plunging off the side is supposed to just reset you back here, so where did he disappear to?”

“…”

Even Aria looked perplexed.

The Celestial Realm permitted no movement outside of the established routes.

Depart from the trail, and the mountain would reset your position.

Yet the man who took the leap had simply evaporated.

Meanwhile, Aria, attempting the same feat, had been snapped back to the start.

‘Where could he have gone?’

He was a talent on par with herself.

She believed she had finally discovered the one person in this isolated existence who could truly understand her.

But he was still fragile.

He possessed a magnificent spark of genius but was still in his formative stages.

He needed to scale the peak and refine his power further.

That was why she intended to confront him only after he reached the very top and achieved a state of completion.

She was certain such a clash would jumpstart her own abilities, which had been stagnant for an entire year.

But he was gone.

Vanished like a phantom.

…What was this peculiar hollow feeling in her chest?

‘He will reappear.’

If he shared her nature, he would undoubtedly seek to conquer the summit.

He wasn’t the type to quit halfway through.

So, when their paths crossed again, she wouldn’t permit him to slip away.

Aria cast one last look down the foggy cliff before turning back toward the peak.

《You are the pioneer to set foot inside the ‘Temple of Training.’》

《The sanctum’s aura dispels all active limitations.》

《Your Renown has increased by 50.》

I blinked my eyes open inside a grand structure.

‘The handicaps really have been lifted.’

Even more startling, the self-imposed burdens I had carried while scaling the Trainee’s Mountain had dissolved.

My sight was sharp, and my limbs felt so buoyant I thought I might drift away.

Was this sanctuary situated even higher than the Trainee’s Mountain?

‘There has to be a justification for stripping away the restrictions.’

I couldn’t afford to be careless.

I took a slow, methodical look at my surroundings.

The place looked ancient, showing signs of rot and erosion in every corner, but the religious icons that remained gave away its true nature.

‘This is the sanctuary of Baal.’

The imagery of the dark goat was unmistakable.

It was definitely dedicated to Baal, one of the Four Evils.

But how could a ‘Temple of Training’ also be ‘Baal’s Temple’?

‘Either a site where Baal himself practiced, or a legacy left for those who follow his path.’

This wasn’t designed for the training of ordinary humans.

Without possessing the ‘Mutation’ trait, I never would have gained entry.

Baal must have constructed this for his personal refinement.

I was sure of it.

【Cursed Keystone】

A colossal monolith. A pillar of stone rising 5 meters into the air!

It was a unique substance that could only be marred by the application of sword aura.

I had never encountered one of this magnitude before.

《The ‘Cursed Keystone’ only acknowledges the simultaneous application of curse energy and outer energy.》

《It requires 1,000 impacts to create a single millimeter of damage.》

《Every successful hit on the ‘Cursed Keystone’ significantly boosts proficiency in curse and outer energy.》

《Obliterating the ‘Cursed Keystone’ provides a massive windfall of proficiency experience bequeathed by ‘Baal.’》

…Who else but one of the Four Evils would devise such a grueling training method?

Requiring both curse and outer energy at once, with a thousand strikes just to scratch the surface.

To actually break that stone would require hundreds of millions of blows.

A single person could spend decades pounding on that rock and still fail to finish.

One could easily waste a whole lifetime on this one task.

And yet, the prize was undeniable.

‘A boost to outer energy proficiency!’

Outer energy was something that usually only became relevant after level 20.

Improving its proficiency was the same as sharpening one’s mastery of the blade.

From level 20 onward, progress was defined by how well one could link their sword techniques with this aura.

‘And the reward for its destruction is a massive surge of experience.’

I had no way of knowing the exact amount, but if it came from Baal, it wouldn’t be a pittance.

It was a task impossible for one person.

But what if I wasn’t working alone?

Crunch!

As I crunched down on the Corpse Crow core, my physical form expanded and shifted.

And then.

Caw! Caw!

Caaaaw!

Upwards of a hundred Corpse Crows materialized in the blink of an eye.

A single person hitting a rock a thousand times would take forever, but

more than a hundred Corpse Crows striking in unison would slash that timeline to ribbons.

It wasn’t just a hundred times faster—it was exponential.

The peak evolution granted by Baal’s helmet was proving its worth here.

The summoned Corpse Crows were beings of pure curse energy and possessed the ability to replicate the techniques I employed.

That included outer energy.

In the logic of the game, sword aura was categorized as a skill type.

‘This situation is perfectly suited for my abilities.’

A grin spread across my face.

To have an outer energy training station set up like this was a gift.

A demon ranked among the Four Evils certainly had some unconventional ideas.

It almost felt as if Baal had prepared this specifically for me.

Caaaaw!

Soon, the swarm of Corpse Crows, radiating curse energy and a faint glimmer of outer energy, began their relentless assault on the stone.

《Your proficiency in outer energy has surged.》

《Your Sword Proficiency level has climbed to 21.》

《‘Advanced Corpse Crow Summoning’ has reached level 11.》

Caw!

Caaaaw!

Caaaaaw!

As the minutes ticked by, the number of crows grew at a geometric rate.

Soon, over 200 of them were swirling through the air.

As the flock expanded, the surface of the stone began to fracture at an accelerated pace.

Craaaack!

The unending barrage of beaks against the cursed rock finally forced deep fissures to appear.

Boom!

In short order, the cursed keystone snapped cleanly in two.

In that instant.

《You have successfully demolished the ‘Cursed Keystone.’》

《You have inherited a massive amount of proficiency experience left by ‘Baal.’》

《Sword Proficiency has skyrocketed to level 25.》

《You have fulfilled the requirements for the hidden quest.》

《You have turned down the standard reward.》

《You are pursuing a higher tier of proficiency.》

《Every Constellation involved in the Hundred Star Wars has focused their attention on you.》

《You have found the ‘Baal Talisman’ inside the shattered stone.》

“…”

The results were staggering.

The benefits far exceeded my wildest guesses, leaving me momentarily stunned.

The experience Baal had left behind had catapulted my sword proficiency to level 25 in a heartbeat.

Even with my knowledge, I had never seen ‘ultra-accelerated growth’ like this.

No, this wasn’t just fast—this was a breakdown in the natural order of the system.

‘Jumping from 20 to 25 because of one stone. No one would believe it.’

Even having lived through it, I found it hard to wrap my head around; anyone else would call it a lie.

Just one very stubborn rock.

Something that others might spend years of blood and sweat to achieve, I had bypassed in a flash.

‘The Constellations of the Hundred Star Wars must be reeling.’

It was enough of a shock that every single entity had turned their gaze back to me.

Even after seventeen Constellations had broken away and the rest had looked elsewhere, this level of progression was impossible to ignore.

‘There is no precedent for receiving proficiency experience as a direct reward.’

Never in the history of the game.

There had been instances of ‘massive experience’ gains, but those applied to character levels—a completely different beast from skill proficiency.

That was why I had been confused when I first read the keystone’s details.

‘Left by Baal himself… This isn’t a payout, it’s an inheritance.’

Perhaps the experience stored in the cursed stone wasn’t meant to be a simple quest reward.

It was likely that Baal had literally bottled up his own ‘mastery’ for a chosen heir to absorb.

In that scenario, I was nothing more than a thief in the night.

‘Baal Talisman.’

Baal truly was a fountain of gifts.

By destroying the cursed keystone, the Baal Talisman had been automatically revealed as well.

I understood the design now.

Baal likely expected a successor to break the stone after a lifetime of labor, earning both the experience and the talisman as their birthright.

If Baal could see how I had used a swarm of birds to cheat the process, he’d probably have a heart attack.

“Talk about luck.”

Regardless, the fortune was mine.

I had expected to find a secret spot on the Trainee’s Mountain, but to actually secure the Baal Talisman here?

I reached into the rubble and retrieved the softly glowing core from the center of the rock.

It was a spherical, pearl-like essence—the Baal Talisman itself.

‘It’s incredibly beautiful.’

I couldn’t help but stare at it in admiration.