The Mountain of the Cultivator
"Did you hear? There's a human among the new cultivators who set his restrictions to the absolute maximum."
"Lunatics wander in every now and then."
"Even so — other than that Spearman from two years ago, has anyone who maxed the restrictions ever survived?"
Halfway up the mountain, beastmen of every kind lounged on the cliffside rocks, trading idle gossip.
"Aria, what do you think?"
"······."
"Ah, right. You can't talk either because of your restriction."
"······."
The beastman draped in white tiger hide — Aria — did not so much as twitch, as if the conversation held no interest for her at all.
No — it was not disinterest. She simply could not hear them.
She was deep in seated meditation.
There is no end to the martial path. No ultimate technique exists. One can only pursue the Way without cease. Before true martial arts, I am still pitifully small.
A discipline of self-realization. Her goal was to forge a martial art that was hers alone — and to surpass her father.
But she had hit a wall.
Her proficiency level had stagnated for a full year already.
There is no rival for me here. That is why I have stopped growing.
She understood the problem, at least dimly. The absence of an enemy. The fact that no one on this mountain could ignite her competitive fire was the greatest reason of all.
And yet there was nothing to be done about it.
Not only on this mountain — nowhere in the world would she find a being who could stir that hunger in her.
A genius who had already surpassed genius. An unparalleled prodigy destined, someday, to overtake even the White King. That was who she was.
"Master, you don't seem particularly interested in Main Quest 7."
Master's brow furrowed at the unannounced guest.
"······ Whether I am interested or not — what business is that of yours, Obsidian?"
The nine-tailed fox, Obsidian. One of the Seven Heroes. She wore a tailored suit, slid her sunglasses down her nose, and smiled with her eyes.
"I heard something amusing, actually. That assassination squad you were so proud of — wiped out completely. And while they were hunting Phantom, no less."
"If you came here spouting nonsense you picked up somewhere, leave while I am still being polite."
He had sealed every mouth thoroughly. Somehow the story had still leaked. No — that could not be right. His subordinates would never talk. That nine-tailed vixen had almost certainly used her Charm Orb to pry it loose.
"Scary~ So you don't want to hear the information I brought?"
"It would be worthless anyway."
"Even if it concerns the Black King?"
The Black King. A being spoken of in the same breath as the White King — a monster whose name always surfaced whenever the White King was mentioned. Information on the Black King was priceless by definition.
"······ Sit."
Tch. Master clicked his tongue softly. The scraps of intelligence Obsidian occasionally delivered had a habit of being genuine. When it came to handling information, no one could match her.
"The Black King's forces are gathering at the Mountain of the Cultivator," Obsidian said lightly as she settled into her seat.
"Why?"
"Because the White King's daughter is on the Mountain of the Cultivator?"
Master's brow tightened.
"The Black King has been quiet for years, and now he suddenly targets the White King's daughter? That would mean war."
A full-scale clash between the Black King and the White King. Uncontainable. Every city caught between them would burn. And yet the two had maintained peace ever since their single battle twenty years ago — a draw, because the fight simply would not end.
Obsidian's eyes gleamed.
"Maybe he acquired some kind of secret weapon capable of killing the White King?"
"Even if he had something like that······ what does that have to do with me?"
"Think carefully, our clever little Master. This is the perfect chance to side with the Black King."
"Don't tell me you want to kidnap the White King's daughter and hand her over to the Black King."
He understood what she was proposing. He had hoped he was wrong — and that hope had just gotten him killed. In short: ride the Black King's coattails and make an enemy of the White King.
Master exhaled a long sigh.
"Even if we followed your plan, there is no way into the Mountain of the Cultivator. And even if we got in, the White King's daughter would be a powerhouse in her own right. Kidnapping her would be even more impossible."
"We just need people who can go in. It's not a mountain only Players can enter, is it? Mercenaries, adventurers, vagrants — if we look, we can find them easily enough."
······ That much was true. Pay enough gold and Pangenia was overflowing with people eager to enter the Mountain of the Cultivator. But that was not Master's way. He did not employ anyone who did not already serve him.
"Even the White King's daughter will have a low level. You know my ability, right?"
"Then handle it yourself."
"Master. Why do you think I came to you?"
"······ You want money."
"Exactly! You always know. Operating costs: twenty million gold. Plus my personal fee: thirty million gold."
Fifty million gold in total. Spending that much ahead of the upcoming premium auction would hit hard.
"You highway-robber of a woman. And what do I get out of this?"
"Information on Phantom. And the Black King's favor? I'll even throw your name in specially."
"You think you can dig up information on Phantom?"
Obsidian nodded with complete confidence.
"He'll be on the Mountain of the Cultivator anyway, won't he? Someone like Phantom is bound to stand out."
"Underestimate him and you will pay for it."
Obsidian ran her tongue across her lips and put on a look of pure amusement. To hear those words from Master's mouth — now that was unexpected.
"Ahh~ So that's why you've been leaving him alone. You're scared?"
Killing intent flickered across Master's face.
"······ What did you just say?"
"You're afraid that if you poke him again, you'll get wrecked all over, aren't you?"
He had lost a great deal by touching Phantom. Far from breaking even, he had been bleeding losses ever since. Only then did Obsidian understand with certainty why Master had never made a move on the Mountain of the Cultivator. Given his nature, he would have found some other method besides the one she had proposed and thrown people at the problem long ago.
········· Master was afraid.
Afraid that the empire he had built would crumble.
"One more useless word out of your mouth and I will cut out your tongue."
"Whoa, whoa. Calm down. Instead of that, let's talk about whether Phantom can take the top spot in this Hall of Fame."
Obsidian hastily changed the subject. Master took a short breath and shook his head.
"··· He won't."
"Why do you think that?"
"Because every class has a hard cap on its maximum level."
"What if Phantom obtained a special class?"
"Even then, around level twenty-four at best."
"First place is Gracia at level twenty-four, right?"
"Correct. Even if he acquired a class of a higher grade, surpassing level twenty-four would be difficult."
The Sword Saint class was known to max out at proficiency level twenty-four. Even if someone somehow obtained a class beyond that, reaching level twenty-five on the Mountain of the Cultivator was impossible.
"You think Phantom went in without adjusting for proficiency correction?"
"Even with a one-thousand-percent proficiency growth rate, it would not matter. Level twenty-five is absolutely unreachable there."
From level nineteen onward, the experience required for proficiency rose exponentially. Hitting twenty was already hard; the road from twenty-four to twenty-five was hell itself. The absolute limit one could reach on the Mountain of the Cultivator was twenty-four.
So this time, even Phantom would struggle to hold first place. And with a variable like Obsidian now in play, it would only grow more distant.
You have entered the Lava Cultivator Domain.
Flame Resistance greatly increased due to Primordial Fire.
Sword Proficiency has risen to Lv.16.
A land thick with smoke. Directly beneath, lava flowed through the Lava Cultivator Domain — and there I swung my sword.
The Mountain of the Cultivator was designed so that the higher one climbed, the steeper the difficulty became. Only by driving oneself into ever more extreme conditions could proficiency be pushed to high levels.
"······ Is he a monster?"
The watching practitioner could not believe the spectacle unfolding before his eyes. This cultivator had reached the mountain's midsection in a mere three days. Not only that — he had not rested for a single minute, a single second.
Of course, he was not the first to break through the midsection in three days. But those others had all been, to some degree, finished products before they ever set foot on the mountain. And none of them had set the restrictions to maximum.
The man before him was different. Maximum restrictions. Abysmal proficiency levels at the start.
He was pathetic when he first entered the mountain.
Whoosh—!
Even with healing, fatigue should have been accumulating. This cultivator showed not the slightest sign of it.
He shouldn't even be able to see ahead anymore. Is he not afraid?
His vision should have vanished long ago. More than that — every sense, including sight, should have been gone. Only pain would remain. A situation every living creature ought to find terrifying.
And yet the man paid it no mind. He was suppressing instinctive terror by sheer will. Was that even possible? He had adapted so thoroughly that he was replacing his vanished senses with pure imagination. The practitioner had never seen or heard of such a thing, and found himself speechless.
Sword Proficiency has risen to Lv.17.
His proficiency level had risen again — half a day after hitting sixteen. When the practitioner confirmed the number, he was stunned.
Too fast. Far too fast.
A level some spent a month chasing, others half a year — and this man had reached it in three days. Who would believe it? The practitioner himself could barely believe it.
The man left the lava zone behind and moved on to higher ground.
You have entered the Storm Cultivator Domain.
Wind Resistance greatly increased due to Primordial Wind.
He had entered the Storm Cultivator Domain — a place where the wind blew so fiercely that swinging a sword properly was nearly impossible. One wrong step and you could be flung into the air and killed on the spot. One of the most notorious of the mid-mountain Four Attribute Lands.
This one will be harder.
Losing freedom of the blade made it an entirely different difficulty from every domain he had crossed so far. But that, too, was a miscalculation.
Swish! Shhhk!
He was swinging his sword along the grain of the wind — reading the air, shattering its resistance as he moved.
Sword Proficiency has risen to Lv.18.
······ A single day. That was how long it took him to raise his proficiency and leave the domain behind.
You have entered the Abyssal Sea Cultivator Domain.
Water Resistance greatly increased due to Primordial Water.
In the end, the practitioner simply gave up thinking.
The Hidden Trait High Druid's Great Nature. Through the attributes evolved by that trait, my elemental resistances were absurdly high. That was why I could breeze through the Four Attribute Domains — said to be the hardest trials on the Mountain of the Cultivator.
The orthodox approach is to push to level nineteen inside the Four Attribute Cultivator Domains.
I could not see. There was no smell, no sound. And still I pressed forward without stopping, certain of my path.
Hidden Trait: Mutation.
Because of Mutation, I could know the way even with my eyes closed. It was little more than points on a radar — a bare awareness of position — but for climbing a mountain, it was more than enough.
Sword Proficiency has risen to Lv.19.
You have cleared all Four Attribute Cultivator Domains.
New Constellations of the Hall of One Hundred Constellations open their eyes wide at this astonishing rate of growth.
Three Constellations propose an Apostle Contract.
Clearing a domain did not normally grant achievements. But with the restrictions set to maximum, additional ones had been added. I climbed on.
From the next Cultivator Domain onward, practitioners can no longer offer advice.
The domain you are transferred to will differ according to the cultivator's traits.
Challenging the next Cultivator Domain.
The moment my foot touched the ground, everything around me changed.
The Chaos Cultivator Domain. No practitioner at my side. No Saintess Sea. This was a stretch I had to walk alone.
Ssshh—!
Clatter!
Clang!
And yet I could not help but feel puzzled.
I didn't expect anyone else to be here.
This was the farthest edge of the Chaos Cultivator Domains — a place you could only reach by setting restrictions to the absolute maximum and raising your proficiency to a certain level. And yet someone had already arrived ahead of me.
A person? Or a trial the domain had prepared specifically for me?
I could not see them clearly. But through Mutation, I could define what I had grasped in my own terms.
A spearman?
A strangely pointed sensation at the tip. From the movement and the subtle shifts of posture, I could tell the opponent wielded a spear. The speed was not particularly fast — clearly someone who, like me, had set the restrictions to maximum.
But there was little time to think.