Chapter 35
Chapter 35
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 34
Chapter Title: Summoning the Bone Longsword
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"Summon. Bone Longsword."
Flash!
A sword was now in my hand. No physical phenomenon—just like a CG effect, it appeared without any warning.
I sat on the bed and quietly gazed at the bone longsword. Made from a wild boar's bones, it was fairly sharp but still just a bone, a common-grade item.
"Talk about absurd."
A chakra practitioner who has entered the First Gate, the Contact Gate, by recognizing an element and beginning to comprehend it can deepen that understanding and elevate their [Knowledge] to open the Second Gate, the Heavy Gate, the Third Gate, the Giant Gate, and the Fourth Gate, the Yi Gate.
And finally, the Fifth Gate, the Wise Gate, where they create a microcosm.
Unlike mere layers that exist only as images in the mental world, this is the realm where they generate a channel with real power.
It's a state one can never reach without grasping the 'meaning' that forms the foundation of that element.
In terms of martial arts, it's like a peak master who has successfully manifested sword qi by shaping their internal energy. In terms of magic, it's like a 5th-class mage who can command higher spells.
Passing through the Sixth Gate, the Human Gate, and the Seventh Gate, the Earth Gate...
One reaches the pinnacle of the Hyungei Eight Gates, which is transcendence and the ultimate.
They open the Eighth Gate, the Heaven Gate, dominating that element and completing their microcosm.
At this point, the practitioner's microcosm becomes a world that imposes its own laws upon reality.
'Yeah. Looking back, the way Ardenia appeared... was textbook Heaven Gate territory.'
Level-up points. Classes. Guardians. Collection systems.
Why do stats appear when you level up? What does collecting item collections have to do with a player getting stronger?
No reason.
Because all of it is a kind of pact. Not the result of some principle, but fabricated rules.
'The problem is that those pacts and rules are from the game, not reality.'
Yet Ardenia imposed her rules on reality, and as a result, I—a spiritual cripple—gained power incomparable to my past.
This is the Heaven Gate, the realm of the Ninth Layer.
The domain of the transcendent.
'But I'm only at the first layer?'
It made no sense.
If I had to compare it to a mage, it's like an apprentice 1st-class mage using a 9th-class ultimate spell.
'No, actually... this goes beyond even that.'
A completed microcosm being equivalent to a world is just an analogy. Unless the chakra practitioner opens the gate to manifest it, it should remain merely conceptual.
A microcosm spanning 1,900 km in width and length, teeming with billions of lifeforms, constantly maintained with zero cost? That defies logic.
Flash!
After 30 minutes, the bone longsword vanished from my hand.
"Ardenia. Contact Gate. Open."
I turned my gaze back to my inner microcosm.
"Summon. Orc Assault Soldier's Axe."
Throb.
An intense pain hit me instantly, and the summoning failed. It was expected, but disappointing.
"Ah, even so, advanced items are no good. Is it because my realm is too low? Ardenia. Contact Gate. Open. Summon. Bone Longsword."
The bone longsword reappeared. I snapped it in half.
Crack!
It broke cleanly. My strength already surpassed that of an average physical cultivator, and it was just bone, so no surprise.
Then, 30 minutes later.
Flash!
The broken bone longsword disappeared.
"Log in."
I entered the carriage. The broken bone longsword I'd prepared in advance lay there, along with the orc assault soldier's axe I hadn't been able to summon.
"So... to sum it up, the ability to pull Ardenia's items into reality?"
An astonishing power, but coldly analyzed, it was pretty useless.
Because on Earth, there's no fighting to do.
'Plus, unless it's hero-grade gear or higher... it can't compete with modern weaponry.'
A vague ability that only summons common gear in the meantime.
"Well, at least this explains a lot."
Me not aging in Ardenia, real-world time stopping when I entered Ardenia, Ardenia time stopping when I returned to reality—all of it made sense.
'Microcosm...'
It meant the reference point was me. When I went to Earth, Ardenia's time froze; when I went to Ardenia, its time accelerated near-infinitely.
Possible only because Ardenia wasn't some otherworldly realm out there but a world existing within me.
"My lord, we've entered the dragon vein."
At Flower's report, I stepped out of the carriage. Turning my head, I saw the pillar of light shining in the distance.
And between us, the bustling goblins.
'Still, they've thinned out quite a bit.'
With the 500 elite soldiers strengthened by level-ups, backed by 1,200 territory folk, continuously battling, the respawn rate couldn't keep up with the death rate.
Goblins were ultimately common-grade monsters.
Even as freaks faster than imagined with adult-level strength, their 1-meter height and lacking lethality were fatal flaws on the battlefield.
They were outmatched against well-armed, high-morale soldiers.
"Keep advancing. Secure the pillar of light within at least three days."
"Yes!"
I returned to the carriage and began meditating. Opening the chakra in my body, using the generated power to reinforce and activate my flesh, repeating the process.
And that process...
"Pretty... decent, huh?"
It was completely different from handling internal energy so far.
Even after forcibly awakening it, I'd struggled to sense internal energy. Invisible, inaudible, unscented, unfelt—something.
I'd moved qi solely through desperate will, so efficiency was abysmal.
In contrast,
Chakra could simply be utilized by expending mental power. Unlike mana or internal energy, it had no need for condensing or circulating qi—it was pure spiritual ability.
Whoooosh—!
I lost myself in chakra training.
While I cultivated in the carriage, the troops kept moving. They fought battles, leveled up, and piled farmed items into inventories or the carriage.
Without the goddess's blessing, drop rates sucked, but with cumulative goblin kills exceeding ten thousand, it added up meaningfully. Gold piled up substantially too.
At mealtimes, I came out and distributed wild boar hindquarters and songpyeon (event item), recovering gold.
With gold, I bought reinforcement scrolls from the cash shop—the only items purchasable with gold.
'Come to think of it, reinforcement scrolls will see steady buyers.'
Ardenia's system had no main quests, dailies, or events, but it wasn't utterly barren.
It had a cash shop, auction house, mailbox, achievement rewards.
'Just all half-baked.'
Cash shop and auction house were pointless without diamonds. Mailbox existed but was unusable without an account ID. Achievements gave rewards, mostly tokens—which were useless without a token exchange NPC.
"Next up, elemental beastkin."
Back on Earth, I received chakra instruction from Sohyang. Practice in Ardenia, theory only in the connector.
No matter how realistic the connector's VR, it couldn't compare to Ardenia, which was as real as reality.
And so, three days passed.
Something unbelievable happened. I succeeded in comprehending the element of my body more deeply.
The realm of the Second Gate, the Heavy Gate.
I realized options had appeared in my consciousness.
1. Recovery.
2. Reinforcement.
3. Body.
I pondered briefly and chose Recovery.
"Opening [Amplification] chakra alongside this for super-recovery, or [Regression] for body restoration, huh."
Thanks to my high understanding and control of the body, gate-opening speed was beyond imagination. Probably another week of training to reach the next stage—the Giant Gate.
Growth speed fit for geniuses!
No regrets about not learning chakra sooner (not that I hadn't learned it—I couldn't).
"This is half-baked too, in the end."
Chakra cultivation rests on two pillars: the Immeasurable Nine Layers and the Hyungei Eight Gates.
While the Eight Gates grow by delving deeper into one's inner realm via [Knowledge],
The Nine Layers grow by turning oneself into an antenna to commune with the outer world.
Opening and using gates requires strong mentality and deep knowledge.
But [stacking layers] demands extreme spiritual sensitivity.
Extreme spiritual sensitivity.
'Where the hell would I get that?'
With zero spiritual sense—ghosts attacking did nothing, curses ignored because I couldn't perceive them—that's me.
Even after forced awakening that others on other planets envy, I could barely use sub-general spiritual power.
'Fucking qi sense.'
Like a mage who learns and casts spells fine but whose mana stays stuck at 1st class.
No future.
"Well, better than martial arts where both condensing and circulating qi were trash."
I grumbled.
Boom—crash!
A massive explosion jolted me out of the carriage. Looking over, I saw soldiers sprawled in chaos far off.
"Magic! It's magic!"
"Gaaah! Can't see! I can't see!"
"Agh! Hot! Save me, wahhh!"
Dozens of soldiers writhed on the ground. Shield soldiers blocking the enemy like a wall couldn't withstand the blazing flames and dropped their shields.
Goblins poured through the breached defense.
"Damn it!"
In recent battles, we'd repelled thousands without a single death among the elites—now dozens were dying, potentially over a hundred in the worst case.
Catastrophic losses.
Thud!
I kicked off the ground and leaped. One foot plant sent me flying dozens of meters.
Mid-air, I saw it.
Red Spiked Hobgoblin (Rare)
Zivago
About 300-400 meters away, a goblin a head taller than the rest cackled. In that brief moment, it extended a finger, pointing at me in the air.
The meaning was clear.
[You.]
Then it raised two fingers to its eyes.
Clear again.
[I'm watching.]
Cackling, it headed for the hole it'd opened. A declaration: one hit landed, now retreating, more attacks when off-guard.
"You..."
My blood pressure spiked.
"That bastard?"
I instantly opened my inventory and drew the bone longsword.
Crunch!
Muscles twisted across my body. I pulled both arms back until they touched my heels, waist taut. Muscles trembled like stretched rubber bands.
When it hit the limit.
I released.
Bang!
The bone longsword streaked like a laser, slicing space. The throw unleashing over 500 strength points transcended common sense.
KABOOM!
The sonic boom followed late. A roar like a fighter jet passing.
Swish. Swish. Swish.
Recoil from the throw spun me a dozen turns mid-air, pushed back over 50 meters before landing.
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Catching my breath, I scanned the battlefield. Then grinned.
"You little... huff... huff..."
The hobgoblin's headless corpse collapsed into view.
"Go to hell."