Chapter 108
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 108
Chapter Title: Only I Don't Have One!
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[Activating the second form.]
The Martial God's second form, unlike the first Raksha, required a choice.
The form's name was the infamous Heavenly Killing Star—a name renowned even in the wider world.
Its roots lay in Taoism's 108 malignant stars, one of the 36 Heavenly Gang and 72 Earthly Fiends.
These were also the names corresponding to the heroes of Liangshan in China's Water Margin. With fame like that, they never failed to appear in wuxia games or novels.
In a multiverse-setting game like Akarite, how could it skip out on all that juicy wuxia bait? Even my kick drew from wuxia roots.
'Time outside won't flow until I make my decision.'
I already knew this from the game, but... wasn't it still thrilling, the way it defied scientific explanation? The kind of thing that set a man's heart racing?
Knocking down a massive tree barehanded had become routine now, something I took for granted. But stuff like this? Still tough to wrap my head around.
A true native of this world would just accept it as the goddess's blessing without a second thought.
"Hmm—"
A glance around revealed neither my house nor Rike buried in her studies.
These places were usually dubbed "mental realms." But calling it the Martial God's mental realm? That had a pretty cool ring to it.
Floating in the stark white space—like something out of a psychiatric ward—was a single sword, blood dripping endlessly from its blade without drying.
Right beside it hung a tome clutched in a skeletal hand.
The skill informed me of the rules here.
Choose one of those grotesque objects. Time to think wasn't plentiful, it whispered.
Not telling me what they signified and forcing a gut choice? The skill felt downright malicious, like it had a will of its own.
Step—
My footfall echoed through the space. The endless pure white expanse stung my eyes; no end in sight.
Step—
I strode forward without hesitation. Fail to choose in time, and who knew what I'd end up with? I'd already decided back in the real world before stepping in.
The skeletal tome was an active skill from the Martial God's second life, when he was called the Martial Maniac.
A swordsmanship forged from a life consumed by martial obsession, enough to earn him the label of idiot who knew nothing but fighting.
'Still, there's a replacement for that skill... It's about time I got a bound weapon. I can pick a skill on the fourth go-round.'
Even with an Inventory, didn't I deserve my own signature piece?
Rike had one. Eclair had one. The guy who'd handed them out? Zilch.
Completing this blood-dripping sword would take serious time, even with the walkthrough.
But finish it, and I'd leap straight to the third form with a top-tier bound weapon in hand.
Click—
Grabbing the sword—as if slicing my own flesh—the dripping red liquid stopped like a lie.
Choice made. Now just wait to exit the mental realm and return to reality.
'Huh?'
Felt like a minute had passed, but my mind lingered in the mental space, unyielding.
Rumble—
The instant I sensed something off, a thunderous vibration struck inside my skull.
"Kuh...!"
- What manner of brat are you? I've watched successors for ages, but this is a first.
Not entering through my ears. A woman's voice buzzed directly in my head.
- First kid to clear my initial trial so fast... First to pick the second without a flicker of doubt. Acting like you know it all, not a single question.
Another's intervention at this stage? Never happened, not once, playing as the playable character Robert and entering a mental realm in Akarite.
Silence beat a clumsy word in grasping the situation.
I clamped my mouth shut, clutching my aching head, watching the entity approach through the white void.
- Every successor was hailed extraordinary by the world. One kid unified his continent. Another fool strutted as humanity's king on solo might.
- Worlds varied in shape, but all were hailed supreme, strongest... yet mere playthings in my palm. Never one beyond my grasp and foresight like you.
She approached, but no footsteps sounded.
"..."
- Never forbade speech, yet you stay mum. I know you're no mute. Delay no further.
Black tresses trailed across the white expanse. A woman with eyes shut—blind, or beyond needing sight?
Even closed, her gaze pierced right through.
Her body, her face... I couldn't make them out. Long hair, eyes closed—that much registered. Everything else? My brain flat-out refused.
The moment I looked, it erased her features and details, a nauseating urge to retch surging up. Unable to hold it, I whipped my head away.
- Hoo? Impressive mental fortitude. Your name?
She appeared soundlessly in my new line of sight. Forcing my gaze away once more, I had no choice but to speak.
"...Roman."
- Hmm, Roman? I'll overlook the curtness. Why this one? State your reason.
The sword I'd grasped was gone, now in her hand. The omnipotence fit the mental realm's master to a tee.
'The Martial God... a woman? Nah, mental realm—who knows.'
The unforeseen mess was plenty to leave me flustered and speechless.
I racked my brain for a calm response, but nothing screamed "this is it."
After agonizing loops, I settled on an answer.
"Just."
- Just? Logical, but no answer.
"Logical enough—why not?"
I scowled at the voice thundering straight into my skull, firing back.
Die in here, and you just boot back to reality—no true death. Fact, verified. Skill glitch? Find a workaround.
- Temper like roaring flames. Simple reason: my intuition screams it wasn't 'just.' Certainty beyond the senses.
Her transcendent gut already had its conclusions.
From experience, folks this cocksure before answers skewed prickly.
"Then trust that intuition. You won't buy my words anyway—why bother asking?"
The skull-rattling buzz had me slapping my head to shake off the irritation.
The white space glitched and shuddered briefly. Finally, the resonance ceased.
"This brat from a world without mind flames or telepathy? Fascinating."
Below her shut eyes, sharp jawline and lips came into focus—parts unperceivable before.
The white floor bubbled and churned, shaping into a chair before solidifying.
She sat as if it were natural, sweeping her long hair aside.
"..."
"Gawking? Sit."
Whoosh—
I took the seat opposite. The sword in her grasp and the unchosen tome crumbled to powder, vanishing into the air.
"Wha—?!"
I'd waited for this day! Watching that crystallization vanish before my eyes, regret flooded my throat, spilling out unbidden.
"Back to its origin—no need for regret. I'll hear your answer, then judge your worthiness."
Amused by my outburst, her lips curved into a supine crescent.
'Screwed... No wonder life felt too smooth lately.'
Figured the road was bump-free. Turns out crises hadn't forgotten me, tackling from behind with a surprise.
"Yet peculiar. You know what that sword is... and still regret its loss?"
Spot-on, and I'd blurted lament without thinking.
"...Obvious regret for a famed sword."
"Hahaha! Not even a pure swordsman, and this flirt talks a good game."
Flirt out of nowhere? Took a beat to parse, then I swallowed a curse.
"Try a bunch of weapons, and first-meet I get called a flirt? Absurd."
"Fist, kick, sword, blade, staff, awl, spear, axe, chain... Even mastering one demands a lifetime's devotion for a mortal. And you wield them all? If not a flirt and rogue, what else?"
She listed my arsenal—past and present—one by one, softly chiding my ear.
Maybe I'd gone too slick lately, mooning over Rike and Eclair?
Grand title of Martial God or not, right now just a trapped phantom in this mental realm.
Sitting through a ghost's nonsense? Pent-up frustration erupted.
"No perfect fit for my hand—what now?"