Chapter 21

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Translator: MadScientist

Chapter: 21

Chapter Title: Heavenly Mechanism Calculation Method

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To cut to the chase, my ambitious dream of gobbling down artificial elixirs to skyrocket my cultivation realm was dashed to pieces.

The Purple霞 Divine Pellet was a miracle cure that kept the body in peak condition, not some elixir that boosted max stats.

I vented my frustration by spamming cute, top-quality Demon King emotes,

and the gallery—Martial Gods one and all, but jokers through and through—roasted me mercilessly.

Even when I saw one of them get hit with a temp ban right in front of me, they didn't bat an eye, so I whined and quietly sank into despair.

Even Anger Control Expert, back after her thirty-minute temp ban lifted, just laughed at me without a care, leaving me trembling with rage.

But the despair didn't last long.

Sure, I was moping hard, but once I reminded myself it wasn't my fortuitous encounter to begin with, the feeling was just mild regret at best.

And that's when Colorless Bird cautiously approached me.

"Huh??"

A new martial art?

Never once considered I might be abnormal, so I was a bit flustered.

Colorless Bird calmly continued her explanation.

A kid with only brute strength.

Honestly, when I first heard it, I didn't think it was much of an issue.

After all, it was because that strength was lacking that I'd been chased all the way here.

But my master saw things differently.

Is that so?

I'd never really thought about it, but Master made it sound convincing.

A new master?

Who could that be?

'You need skills.'

Memories flashed of Black Sky and Anger Control Expert's spar.

The pillar of fire piercing the heavens, the ice storm freezing the world—those moments were etched into my retinas, refusing to fade.

'Dragon Money said Anger Control Expert's Blood Burning Tyrant Blade is great for massacring civilians or brawls.'

Right now, I was meticulously decapitating mutants one by one, but later I might have to dive into their hives.

The more kills I racked up, the stronger Blood Burning Tyrant Blade got—it'd be a huge asset then.

'Or maybe Ice Soul Sword Qi.'

This godforsaken ice age apocalypse with eternal blizzards.

Mutants rarely ventured out of cities, lest they get stranded in snowdrifts themselves.

But mastering Heavenly Sword's Ice Soul Sword Qi could turn that against them—I might pull off a one-man massacre!

She picked up on my happy dilemma like a ghost and pouted.

I hurriedly soothed her.

This was sincere.

Without the Yin-Yang Five Elements Scripture, I'd have starved to death long ago, turning into a frozen corpse.

But...

Well, how to put it.

Rice is the staple for Koreans, sure... but nobody lives on rice alone, right?

Sometimes I crave burgers, chicken, pizza too.

...Maybe more than sometimes?

Anyway, as I buzzed with anticipation and excitement, a new gallery member showed up.

And that member's identity was—

Keyboard spar villain, AlphaGo.

Even before self-proclaimed gallery clown Unyielding Magic Sword showed up, the Martial God Gallery had its share of villains.

That was AlphaGo.

The mad keyboard sword obsessed.

Popping up in every thread to challenge to keyboard spars, the keyboard sword bird.

Not just roleplay—rumors said plenty of spars actually happened back in the day, but lately it had fizzled out.

And yes, that was my fault too.

'I showed up and opened the spar tab.'

Keyboard spars were just keyboard warrior trash talk or mouth fights at best.

Gallery members were all real-world heavyweights who didn't lose to anyone in their weight class—why bother with keybashing when real spars were available?

Thus, keyboard spar content naturally declined, and so did her presence—

Shit, does this even make sense?

Was I talking to a person or an AI bot? Her speech was unnervingly robotic.

Thankfully, the other gallery members vouched for her identity.

AlphaGo's martial art, endorsed even by the prideful veteran gallery members.

At this point, curiosity piqued—what could it be?—and excitement swelled.

"No point overthinking. Time to clash head-on."

I thought for a moment, then opened the spar arena.

The now-familiar disorientation of dimensional travel.

After a bit of nausea, I opened my eyes to stand in the center of an ancient dojo brimming with serene scenery.

As I gazed quietly at the tranquil view, a shadow pierced the dojo's mist from afar.

'This is AlphaGo?'

Her real-life appearance was unexpected—if unexpected, then unexpected in spades.

Long black hair cascading down, indifferent eyes peeking through.

Starlight orbs orbited her, giving an overall startlingly delicate impression.

'Her posts in the gallery felt so mechanical.'

Her indifferent gaze seemed mechanical, yet held something far from rigid machinery.

Frankly, judging by looks alone, she didn't scream "concept-obsessed keyboard spar bird"...

"Newbie?"

"Ah. Yes. You're AlphaGo, right?"

"Affirmative. Self, gallery nickname AlphaGo. In this dimensional realm, Heavenly Mechanism Martial God Jade Moon."

...Yup. 100% that twisted concept high-nick.

"Um, nice to meet you."

I bowed politely, and AlphaGo nodded lightly in return.

"So, you're going to teach me the martial art I need most..."

"Correction. What newbie needs most isn't a martial art—it's patching weaknesses."

"Uh... what's that?"

"Newbie. Defense critically lacking. Especially vulnerable to attacks from visual blind spots."

What was that supposed to mean?

'Of course attacks from blind spots are hard to handle.'

The gallery folks might not even have blind spots, but expecting that from a mortal like me was too harsh, wasn't it?

I was about to ask for details—

"No worries. Understand newbie's situation."

"Pardon?"

"Explanation. Understand that newbie feels it's impossible to cover visual blind spots. Thus, will provide the answer first."

Before I knew it, AlphaGo had stepped right up to me.

'When did she...?'

My eyes had been wide open, yet I hadn't seen her approach.

This wasn't just her moving too fast to track.

It was more fundamental—

Tap.

As I tried to process what I'd just experienced, her finger touched my forehead.

Again, the result of "touching" registered before I could perceive it.

As my eyes widened in that inexplicable creepiness, a torrent of information flooded my mind!

"Urk."

It was starlight.

The countless starlights scattered across this world.

It was numbers.

The world divided into 0s and 1s, intricate calculations of myriad causalities.

It was inevitability.

The "fruit" that inevitably followed the "cause."

It was reversing heaven.

Water flowing upstream, wings beating downward.

'What am I even thinking?'

Thoughts swirled in my head that even I couldn't comprehend.

Doubts if I was truly grasping them.

They operated outside conscious realm, and next, AlphaGo's finger flicked lightly.

Woooong—

Several starlight orbs materialized behind my head.

They flickered briefly before shooting toward me like arrows.

Things I could never dodge.

No—things I couldn't even perceive existing.

Swish—

To counter, I bent at the waist.

Pulled back my right arm, twisted my left leg to throw off my own balance.

Thud—

I rolled across the floor in bizarre motions.

Movements that would look like a marionette on strings to onlookers, but with them, I completely evaded the starlight orbs from my blind spot.

"End."

"...Gah!"

With AlphaGo's end declaration, I finally exhaled the breath I'd been holding.

"Huff, huff... huff..."

My breathing ragged before I knew it.

Indescribable terror washed over me, and as I opened my mouth in confusion over why—

"Wh-what the hell was that?"

"Declaration. What newbie must learn."

AlphaGo answered.

"A martial art that preemptively calculates the movements of Heaven and the changes of Mechanism to pursue causality."