Chapter 17
Chapter 17
Chapter 17 A serious problem.
'Hehe… this actually worked.'
A realm that the dull-witted can never reach despite a lifetime of training. A realm that even those called geniuses can barely set foot in only after reaching their early twenties.
That is precisely the transcendent pinnacle.
True geniuses who have walked the elite path since childhood, raised with the full support of prestigious orthodox sects. Even they barely reach the threshold after decades of hardship.
But Baek Ryeon was different.
Just four years since learning martial arts. In that short time, she had climbed to this position.
It was a speed that couldn't even be compared to me, who had taken a full 37 years to reach the transcendent pinnacle.
‘Still… I don't feel jealous anymore.’
The past me was truly a pathetic person who would even envy his one and only friend's brilliant achievements.
But now it's different. Now I've become someone who can genuinely congratulate others.
This child in my arms was so incredible, so admirable, that I could no longer suppress that feeling.
"Even with the Nine Yin Divine Meridians, this level of growth rate is…"
Even Estelle, who had watched countless geniuses throughout the infinite time granted to angels, could only click her tongue in amazement.
I lifted Baek Ryeon up in a princess carry and threw her high into the sky, then caught her back in my arms.
"Master! Ah!"
I repeated this several times.
With a heart truly filled with congratulations.
On Earth, we used to give victory tosses when there was something truly worth celebrating. Of course, victory tosses usually require multiple people, but not for me.
If I can't even do this much, I should return my Harmony stage badge.
"How did you already become a transcendent pinnacle? That's really amazing!"
"It's! All thanks! To having! A good master! Isn't it?!"
She managed to say everything she wanted even while being tossed. Since I'd probably just get gaslighted if I tried to deny it anyway, I decided to just go with shameless confidence.
"Right. It's all thanks to me. You'll have to be filial later, okay?"
She's definitely a talent who'll skyrocket once she enters the Tower. I need to stake my claim from now.
"I definitely! Will!"
Good. That's settled.
Having had enough of the victory toss, I gently set her down on the ground this time.
"Then to commemorate becoming a transcendent pinnacle, shall we have a sparring match?"
I didn't suggest it simply because I wanted to spar.
I could feel that she was struggling to control the surging power after reaching the transcendent pinnacle, so this was my choice to help her release that while also reducing the gap between the pinnacle and transcendent pinnacle stages.
Just as Estelle had done for me, now it was my turn to do the same for her.
Baek Ryeon's eyes sparkled as she said:
"Yes!"
Hehe. This should be fun.
After reaching the Harmony stage, even Baal's avatar was no longer my match, and I had only been continuing light instruction-focused sparring with Baek Ryeon, who was at the pinnacle stage.
But now, she too was at the transcendent pinnacle. The gap between us had narrowed considerably, making real sparring possible.
"Of course, I'll put on restrictions."
First, I forcibly suppressed the physical stats enhanced by Limit-Breaking Skills.
My body became heavy like cotton soaked with water, and the strength my muscles could produce greatly decreased. My blade-sharp senses became somewhat dulled.
If I sealed my mental power on top of this, my body would be able to use exactly transcendent pinnacle-level strength.
"Come at me."
"Yes."
When I yielded the first move, Baek Ryeon drew up her mana without hesitation and spread it around her. Soon, the battlefield began to be dyed in her color.
Cold wind penetrated to the bone, and the ground beneath my feet froze solid and became slippery. White snow fell from the sky, and within that snow, the weapons she would use were born.
‘Spatial domination.’
A combat method where you change the battlefield to your advantage and fight within it—essentially winning before you even fight.
It's mainly a tactic used by mages, but Baek Ryeon, who had learned ice-type divine arts, could follow a similar approach. It has something in common with domination mana.
‘It's truly fascinating.’
I had certainly created her martial arts with reference to Estelle, but the way Baek Ryeon handled it was completely different in texture from how Estelle handled her power.
If Estelle pursued endless variation at the end of restraint, Baek Ryeon conversely pursued hidden restraint within endless change.
At first glance, it seemed like she was wasting mana, but by completely changing her surroundings with strong power from the start, she dramatically reduced the mana consumption of all subsequent actions.
Ice spears that would normally require several times more mana were now being created lightly, pressuring me.
Ice spears flew so densely they blocked my vision.
I deflected and parried each spear one by one. In the middle of this, Baek Ryeon, who had hidden her body in the gaps between spears in my blind spot, thrust forward sharply with an ice spear wrapped in qi reinforcement.
"Good attempt."
A strategy of deceiving sight and senses with mana-infused ice spears and blizzards, then hiding in that gap to secretly thrust with a spear containing qi reinforcement.
Even the snow falling from the sky contained mana, creating a precise attack that even disrupted energy sense.
A martial artist relying only on the five senses and energy sense would have ended the sparring match with this single move.
Of course, I'm not one of those.
What allowed me to accurately locate Baek Ryeon, who had completely synchronized with the aura of countless ice spears, was the transcendent sixth sense I had acquired in the process of becoming an All-Master and the domination mana that perfectly controlled a 2-meter radius.
I shattered her spear with a hand blade imbued with Heaven-Shattering martial arts. Baek Ryeon, who had lost her spear, quickly created distance.
"I thought this would work… As expected of Master."
It was an excellent move that could have dealt effective damage even to a martial artist one stage higher. The problem was just that her opponent was me.
I'm essentially immune to methods the world calls cowardly or trickery. To break me, you need orthodox methods and overwhelming power.
Realizing this fact anew, Baek Ryeon charged at me with a spear in one hand and a sword in the other.
CLANG!
The collision sound rang out. Her mana, having reached the transcendent pinnacle, was more condensed, and her ice weapons no longer broke easily.
With white qi reinforcement applied to weapons made of pure yin energy, I could barely destroy her weapons only after adding Hellfire on top.
But as if even such effort was meaningless, the swirling blizzard created new weapons in her hands.
The speed… is at least three times faster than before.
The speed of creating weapons was much faster than before, and mana consumption had significantly decreased. She created stronger, more efficient weapons in greater numbers and faster.
Excellent.
Weapon utilization ability that easily surpassed even Yoo So-eun from the first month. It was hard to believe she was only at Intermediate Level 1.
Moreover, considering the difficulty of handling dual weapons, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say she had already surpassed me in some weapon techniques.
She blocked my arm's movement with an ice spear and swung a dagger from bottom to top, aiming for my jaw.
Just before the dagger touched my jaw, I twisted my head and dodged by a paper's width.
I tried to grab her arm, which had come close to swing the dagger, with Golden Python Grip, but she generated a second blade on the dagger's pommel and tried to stab my neck in reverse.
Naturally, I couldn't just take it, so my attention was divided as I wrapped mana around my neck to strengthen my defense, and Baek Ryeon didn't miss that opening.
She instantly deflected my Golden Python Grip and quickly created distance.
As if she had known I would react this way. It was a precise and perfect countermeasure.
"Oh. Now you don't get caught?"
Baek Ryeon said with a smile.
"Hehe… Taking advantage of the momentary carelessness when the opponent attacks to reversely devour them. That's Master's favorite method, isn't it?"
"As expected... you know me too well."
Pretending to be vulnerable while gauging the opponent, then deflecting and countering at the very moment they're certain they've connected. That was the method I had used to devour countless geniuses.
Geniuses are the type who have never failed to subdue an enemy the moment they land an effective hit, so when they think they've landed an effective hit, they tend to become infinitely careless from their subconscious.
Of course, even non-geniuses get careless.
When you feel you've landed an effective hit on a vital point, anyone's tension naturally relaxes right after.
But my adorable disciple Baek Ryeon seemed to have now acquired an unwavering mind that doesn't shake even against such temptations.
Being able to escape my Golden Python Grip, which had reached the Harmony stage, meant she would absolutely never fall to opponents below my level.
To that extent, Baek Ryeon's combat concentration was now at its peak. That fact was so admirable that the corners of my mouth naturally rose.
However, the sparring wasn't over yet. This time, I was the first to make a move toward her.
The crystallization of three martial arts combined into one, Heaven-Shattering martial arts.
The footwork of Heaven-Shattering martial arts, further developed by accumulating countless experiences and insights on top of that, was already in a completely different realm from its original form, Flowing Clouds of Chaos Evasion.
Light, yet heavy.
The tip of my foot, stepping lightly as if walking on clouds, left an impact on the battlefield completely different from that lightness.
THUD. CRACK.
The ice sheet shattered, and the spreading Hellfire aura stopped the blizzard that had been covering the vision.
Baek Ryeon's presence, which had felt like a hazy mist, clearly caught my senses.
She didn't panic and immediately took her stance, and I also instantly closed the distance by riding the rebound of the broken ice sheet.
An exchange taking place not in seconds, but in 0.1 seconds—no, in even more finely divided instants.
Attacking left and right alternately, then targeting the same direction twice in a row for an off-beat rhythm. But she received all attacks without missing a single one.
Since I mainly used fist techniques, close distance was advantageous for me.
Baek Ryeon also tried to create distance, but I didn't retreat even an inch.
Because this distance was precisely the range most advantageous to me.
Eventually, she abandoned her cumbersome weapons and began responding with martial arts.
In close-range combat where the advantage of weapons—being able to maintain distance—disappeared, using bare-handed fighting was the right decision.
Of course, only if you have the skill for it.
Befitting my disciple, who was a master of martial arts, Baek Ryeon's fists contained power comparable to her weapon techniques. She responded accurately to each of my movements, minimizing damage.
If she held out, an opportunity would surely come.
In the stalemate combat situation, after dozens of exchanges, I was the first to show an opening.
My right fist, aimed at Baek Ryeon's left shoulder, she gathered almost all of her remaining internal energy and froze along with her shoulder.
Since it was a move she had prepared in advance, the speed of her opposite hand was several times faster than my opposite hand.
The moment Baek Ryeon's fist flew toward my face, my choice was to take another step forward.
If you can't dodge backward, going forward is also a method.
Thanks to that, the timing was disrupted, and her fist passed by, grazing my face.
A transcendent pinnacle master's strike left a wound just from grazing, but it wasn't enough to cause significant damage to my body.
Since I couldn't remove my hand from her shoulder, I used that momentum to rotate my body and pressed my back against her body.
BANG!
It was an attack inspired by a technique I had seen in games, Iron Mountain Lean.
A technique that delivers a blow or pushes away by explosively releasing energy from the entire back the moment you press backs with your opponent. It produced quite decent power.
Baek Ryeon had blood at the corner of her mouth, but her eyes were still burning.
Eyes that someone who had absolutely given up could never have.
As expected of my disciple.
An attitude of never giving up until consciousness fades. An indomitable will to get up and fight to the end, no matter how many times she falls—she had that.
"Still, let's end it here."
The ice attached to my hand from Iron Mountain Lean's impact was already severely damaged. I melted the ice by adding Hellfire, and the moment my hand became free, I grabbed her collar.
Then I slammed her straight down toward the ground.
The shock applied to her entire body while she was internally injured. Her consciousness was on the verge of cutting out.
"Do you acknowledge defeat?"
Baek Ryeon actually smiled in the face of an undeniably perfect defeat.
"Yes. As expected, Master... I can't win against you."
Having a high wall to overcome is that much more enjoyable.
The me from the 5th year of the tutorial could also train with peace of mind thanks to the wall called Yoo So-eun.
Baek Ryeon quietly lost consciousness with those final words.
"You fought well. Truly like my disciple."
When I checked just in case, her body, having reached the transcendent pinnacle and become able to use innate energy, was already beginning self-recovery.
After a good night's sleep, her condition would soon return to normal.
Feeling proud, I patted her head once and carried her to bed in a princess carry again.
Only then did Estelle, who had been watching the sparring from beginning to end, casually drop a comment.
"You called it sparring... but didn't you fight almost as if trying to kill her?"
"There's no training more useful than sparring that feels like real combat, right? And there's no space more specialized for real combat sparring than the tutorial."
A space where you won't get permanent disabilities, and even if you die, you can be revived. It was truly an environment optimized for real combat-like sparring.
"That's not wrong, but... you seemed to be desperately trying to win."
I've been caught.
Excluding the restrictions, I really had given it my all.
"It would be embarrassing if a master lost to his disciple. Of course, the student surpassing the master is a joyful thing, but it's not time for that yet. Deliberately losing a fight you can win... Ryeon wouldn't want that either, right?"
Baek Ryeon is also human. Naturally, she would want to beat me. But the opponent she truly wants to defeat is me fighting with all my might, not me going easy on her.
She would know better than anyone that such a victory would have no meaning. Victory is never something you receive like charity. Only victory achieved through endless struggle has value.
"That's... Player Han Yeong-min is right. But when did your way with words become so good?"
She knows that, and I know it too.
"I learned from watching a good master. Well."
"You didn't need to learn that part too... Then when does my disciple plan to show student surpassing master? You said student surpassing master is a joyful thing?"
‘Hehe. Another impossible mission.’
That was something I couldn't give a timeline for.
How much time would be needed to surpass Estelle, an archangel?
"Within this lifetime... I'll try to make it happen."
Hearing my answer, Estelle chuckled.
"I look forward to it. If it's you, it should be entirely possible."
I don't know what she sees in me to believe that so firmly... but Estelle had never been wrong even once until now.
Following her lead always produced results worthy of that trust.
She was a true master in a different sense from me.
"If it's something Estelle says... I can't just let it slide. I really need to work hard."
An angel with no lifespan constraints, yet someone who doesn't waste that time and endlessly hones her skills.
How much more effort would be needed to surpass her?
That towering wall makes me burn hotter.
Yoo So-eun. Baal's avatar. And now Estelle.
Another wall newly created for me. A massive mountain I must overcome someday.
‘I'm already excited. I want to train quickly.’
Just when I thought that with my disciple having overcome her wall, I could focus on training with peace of mind for a while, Estelle's expression while looking at Baek Ryeon was unusual.
"What's wrong? Is there... some problem with Ryeon?"
It was a question thrown out casually, but she nodded very seriously.
The smile disappeared from my face.
"Yes. There's a very serious problem."
...What? What kind of problem could there possibly be?
Wasn't it supposed to be smooth sailing after reaching the transcendent pinnacle?