The Lowest Grade
With a hair's breadth to spare, he dodged the final desperate thrash of the centipede monsters and hurled himself into the safe zone. He rolled once across the floor before springing back to his feet.
Kyaaaaak…!
Kyaak…! Krrrk…!
The centipede monsters scanned their surroundings as if their target had suddenly vanished. Soon enough, they slithered back into the lava and disappeared from sight.
‘They’d be pretty useful in all sorts of ways.’
If the dharma power seal hadn’t been in place, he would have captured them all and studied how best to put them to use. Weren’t centipedes once considered good for one’s health, according to the ancients?
And if these particular centipedes lived in such scorching lava, just how beneficial would they be?
‘…Never mind.’
Shaking off the stray thought, he looked back at the area he had just passed through with a satisfied heart, then opened the door and headed to the next location.
He had expected a spiral staircase to appear right away, but that wasn’t the case.
What greeted him was a simple, moderately spacious chamber. At its center stood a pillar-like structure that instantly reminded him of a modern Earth vending machine, complete with a slot clearly meant to receive something.
‘Are they giving out the reward right away?’
As he approached, the pillar seemed to recognize the person standing before it. Dharma characters flashed across its surface and emitted a burst of light.
A reward has been dispensed.
Clink!
Something dropped out of the opening. Han Yujin picked it up and immediately doubted his own eyes.
The lowest.
That was the meaning contained within the dharma characters engraved on the jade tablet.
‘My score… is the lowest?’
The fact that the previous trial had apparently been graded felt strangely unimportant in this moment.
As an Origin Spirit True Person possessing cognitive abilities far beyond those of ordinary people, he simply could not accept the result. Perhaps it was precisely because of that superior intellect that acceptance felt even more impossible.
‘There’s someone who can clear that place faster than me?’
It made no sense.
Even if the centipede monsters had been breeding wildly for centuries and ruined the intended difficulty curve, he had only barely scraped by with extreme danger. His speed hadn’t been that slow.
If he had still received the lowest score, it implied that unless one was a Deification stage or higher mollusk cultivator, it was impossible to earn a good result on this test.
But no matter how he thought about it, that standard seemed far too harsh.
An Origin Spirit True Person was no neighborhood mutt. To claim that only someone at the level of a Hwasin Jin-gun could escape the lowest rank… wasn’t this evaluation system completely broken?
Then, suddenly, another thought occurred to him.
‘Was it not a time attack after all?’
He fell silent for a moment, then shook his head.
As an Origin Spirit True Person, he had considerable confidence in his own intuition. The chance that he had been completely mistaken was slim.
Perhaps, while doing the time attack, he had been required to accomplish something additional. For example, killing a certain number of centipede monsters, or visiting a specific location before proceeding.
No matter how sharp one’s intuition, it was impossible to discern every single hidden detail.
With a heavy heart, he placed both hands on the pillar that had spat out the jade tablet.
‘This isn’t my fault. It’s yours.’
If you’re going to evaluate people, shouldn’t you at least carve the evaluation method and criteria onto a damn stele? How can you foist this erroneous result onto others when you can’t even manage the difficulty settings properly?
Without a shred of shame, he focused his mind.
He examined the densely packed formation structure on the pillar’s surface and interior, which connected to the restrictive arrays spanning the entire Bongbeop Mountain.
It was incredibly complex and arcane, but not impossible to decipher. The time he had spent in the Luminous Galactic Empire’s information archives had not been in vain.
As Han Yujin studied the formation structure for a long while, a single bead of sweat trickled down his forehead. Although his spiritual energy perception and interference remained intact, the sealed dharma power greatly limited the tools he could use to analyze the array.
‘It would be nice if someone could just shake me once or twice from the side…’
He was thinking this with genuine frustration and longing when—
Rumble…!
A vibration actually occurred. Before he could even feel surprise or doubt, he refocused on deciphering the formation.
‘Just once more, please…!’
As he inwardly prayed again without realizing it—
Kuurrrr…!!
A stronger vibration than before shook the mountain, causing the restrictive arrays of Bongbeop Mountain to tremble.
His expression brightened on its own.
At the same time.
Unhae Jinjun hovered in the sky, gazing down at Bongbeop Mountain with cold, merciless eyes.
It wasn’t just a simple look. Massive clouds of terrifying momentum swirled violently around him.
Kugugugugugung…!!
Accompanied by a roar that seemed capable of collapsing the world itself, the storm of clouds slammed down onto Bongbeop Mountain.
Jjeeeong…!!!
The mountain’s restrictive arrays erupted in golden light from the impact, revealing themselves for a moment before fading back into transparency, leaving only a faint tremor behind.
Kwa-kwa-kwang—!
Kwarurung…!
The aftershock only affected the areas far away from the mountain, causing the earth to split and overturn in a catastrophic disaster.
‘As expected, it doesn’t work.’
Even as he thought this, Unhae Jinjun unleashed several more powerful attacks. Only after venting all his lingering regret did he withdraw his power.
He had no intention of entering Bongbeop Mountain. There was nothing inside that he particularly coveted, so there was no reason to take unnecessary risks.
‘He chose quite a good place to run and hide… but he won’t be able to stay hidden forever.’
Even though he was only half-certain the opponent was inside, he had no intention of giving up.
Having determined that the bastard might possess considerable skill in formation arts, he took one last look at the mountain before moving to inspect the formation devices surrounding it.
This time, no matter how fast or cunning the rat moved, he would not escape his notice.
The hacking had to be done in a rather crude manner.
With his means severely restricted, it was difficult to analyze the formation structure in detail. And even if he had perfectly deciphered it, the restriction was of such high caliber that cleanly achieving his goal would have been difficult.
In truth, it wasn’t that important.
There was no need to worry about leaving traces while hacking an abandoned ruin. Nor did he need to concern himself with potential malfunctions in the “vending machine” afterward.
‘Thankfully, the mountain’s restriction doesn’t interfere with spiritual energy perception.’
An Origin Spirit True Person with the capabilities of a formation master had personally placed both hands on the pillar and struggled with it. At the same time, mysterious external vibrations had assisted the work. It had been difficult, but not impossible.
The jade tablet he obtained now bore the characters meaning “highest grade.”
As he excitedly headed toward the next area, behind him, beneath the pillar’s opening, lay a haphazard pile of over a dozen jade tablets, each engraved with different grades.
He descended the newly appeared spiral staircase and arrived at the second trial location.
It was also vastly expanded through spatial formation, filled entirely with water. It could easily be called a lake, and if it were just a little larger, calling it an ocean wouldn’t have seemed strange at all.
The thing to watch out for was the extreme cold.
When he exhaled deeply, rather than mere breath, tiny ice crystals immediately formed and scattered. An ordinary person might freeze to death before even feeling the chill.
‘I can’t see the path…’
Naturally, his gaze turned toward the interior of the lake. The water was clear and blue, but because it was the source of the cold energy, his face inevitably twisted into a frown.
Moreover, it wasn’t just cold. He had a strong feeling that some unknown danger lurked within.
After scanning the surroundings several more times, he became convinced that the path to the next area lay underwater.
‘No choice, then.’
He really didn’t want to enter while his dharma power was sealed, but he wasn’t entirely without confidence.
Clatter clatter clatter…
The problem was Mu-yong in his embrace.
The little one who usually stayed quiet as if she weren’t there during important moments, who had endured the scorching heat of the previous trial fairly well, was now trembling uncontrollably from the cold.
The only reason she could endure at all was because she had learned the Taiji Hoe-won Gong and refined her body and soul with Origin Power.
“Let’s go quickly.”
Jjik…!
He stroked her comfortingly, then glanced at the sword in his hand before diving straight into the water. It was an extremely smooth and silent entry, producing almost no splash.
In the martial world, there existed water techniques for fighting underwater. When creating Wonryeok Mudo, he had thoroughly researched their principles and applications.
Thanks to that, he was able to fully display his powerful physical abilities underwater and move at tremendous speed. He himself could have lasted a long time, but because of Mu-yong, he unintentionally had to do another time attack.
Right then—
Guuuooooooong…!
A heavy roar that undoubtedly belonged to some monster echoed from somewhere in the water.
The monster’s cry resounding from the extremely cold and dark depths created a terror that made it feel as though something dangerous was about to strike from a sensory blind spot at any moment.
The term thalassophobia didn’t exist for nothing. Even Han Yujin, who wasn’t particularly used to this environment, felt his heart tighten involuntarily.
‘Please don’t charge at me wildly like in the previous trial…!’
He might be able to endure somehow, but if time dragged on, Mu-yong could be in real danger.
In the worst case, he was even prepared to turn back.
Having already passed the first lava zone trial, he didn’t know what penalty he might receive for going back, but he didn’t want to continue if it meant killing Mu-yong.
While he was thinking that—
He felt something approaching from behind.
With a chill running down his spine, he swam with all his might and just then discovered the path to the next area.
It was a cleverly hidden exit beneath a protruding rock ledge—so well concealed that he might have missed it if his senses had been even slightly duller.
There was no time to hesitate. He shot toward the exit like a bullet, barely shaking off whatever was closing in from behind, and burst out of the water.
Bang!
“Ugh…!”
He had emerged so quickly that he slammed his head into the ceiling above, but it didn’t hurt much.
“Are you okay?”
Clatter clatter clatter…
The moment he landed, he checked on his companion first.
Mu-yong was trembling like a drowned rat but still managed to nod. She looked like she had been pushed to her limit, but it didn’t seem as though she would collapse immediately.
Trusting that she would be fine, he also checked the shadow once. After making sure Wonhui was alright, he passed through the narrow cave-like space, opened the door, and entered.
It was a simple chamber with the exact same structure as the one after passing the first trial. Simply by crossing one door, the extreme cold vanished in an instant, replaced by warmth.
Pat pat pat—!
Even though Mu-yong was shaking so violently in his arms that he got soaked again, he approached the pillar.
Clink!
Following the flash of light on the pillar’s surface, what emerged from the hole was—as his intuition had predicted—a jade tablet signifying the lowest grade.
“Don’t give me that crap.”
Speaking calmly, he placed both hands on the pillar and began the familiar hacking process. Since he had done it once before, it wasn’t particularly difficult.
A short while later—
Clink…!
Thud! Clatter, rattle…!
With a rather loud noise, a pile of jade tablets poured out from the hole. He deftly snatched the one signifying the highest grade and handed it to Mu-yong before heading to the next area.
While Mu-yong put the tablet into his inner pocket for him, he descended the spiral staircase and arrived at the third trial location.
“Oh.”
An involuntary exclamation of admiration escaped him at the incredibly strange and special sight. It felt as if he had stepped into space.
What caught his eye most was the corpse of some monster floating at the center of the area. Observing it quietly, he could tell it had been dead for a long time.
‘Yeah, if there are harder sections, there should be sections like this where you can coast through.’
After confirming there were no other dangers in the surroundings, he stepped on the meteor-like stones drifting through the air and made his way toward the monster’s corpse at the center.
Only after stepping on the monster’s body could he roughly guess what it was.
‘Could this be a Void Beast…?’
It was the name of a monster species that innately possessed spatial abilities and reigned as an unpredictable disaster across the infinitely vast universe.
It was also a completely different type of monster from the Xenos, which similarly ruled as cosmic disasters.
Its overall body shape resembled a massively enlarged tadpole. Sharp, dark violet fangs peeked out from its gaping maw. Countless legs reminiscent of an arthropod insect extended from its lower torso. A pair of compound eyes like those of an insect, and between them, a dark gray vortex pattern resembling a third eye—the spacetime turbulence stone.
No matter how he looked at it, these were the characteristics of a Void Beast.
What was strange was that its size was only about that of a large mansion. He guessed it was either a newborn juvenile or an individual that had been subjected to some serious restrictive seal.
In any case, it was already dead.
And among its byproducts, the spacetime turbulence stone embedded in its forehead was extraordinarily valuable. Just the fact that it could be used to create highly stable teleportation formations was enough to acknowledge its worth.
He stabbed the sword he had been carrying all this time into the creature’s silver-glistening forehead skin. The hide was so tough that applying even slightly too much force might snap the blade, but since it was dead, careful work made it manageable.
After roughly ten minutes, he successfully extracted a spacetime turbulence stone the size of a human head. Discarding the completely ruined sword, he picked up his harvest and headed to the next location.
What happened next didn’t need a long explanation.
As expected, the pillar dispensed a lowest-grade jade tablet. He naturally hacked it again, obtained a highest-grade tablet, and moved on.
‘I wonder what kind of place is waiting this time.’
He was thinking it might be a bit cumbersome now that he had a bulky harvest when—
The final location that appeared was only moderately spacious and didn’t feel like a trial area at all.
‘This must be the final tally!’
Convinced, he stood before the stone pedestal set up nearby.
At a glance, there were grooves clearly meant to insert the three jade tablets he had obtained so far. In front of the pedestal were three empty doorframes that seemed designed to open spatial teleportation portals.
Mu-yong took out the jade tablets on her own. After he received them and inserted all three into the grooves—
Woooooooong…!!
The formation emitted a heavy resonant sound as dharma characters flashed everywhere. The entire tally chamber was bathed in brilliant, dazzling light.
At the same time, just as he had predicted, even brighter light swirled within the three doorframes, revealing three different landscapes.
Above those landscapes, dharma characters of mysterious hues floated and conveyed information.
“……”
He had only known about the Divine Tree Nourishing Origin Body Cultivation beforehand, yet two more techniques that looked just as extraordinary had appeared.
‘Just how much of a difference did bringing only highest-grade jade tablets make?’
He pondered carefully, repeatedly forming and discarding various hypotheses. From the perspective of a formation master, there didn’t appear to be any time limit, so he could afford to take his time.
The conclusion he reached was this:
The grade of the jade tablets did not grant all three rewards. Instead, they connected the holder to locations offering higher-level rewards.
In other words, he could only obtain one of the three.
But regardless of whether he learned them or not, they were all incredibly precious knowledge and specimens. He didn’t want to give up even one.
How greatly would they help later when he created his own cultivation method?
‘I could pick one now and come back later for the rest, but…’
If re-challenge was possible anyway, there was a method worth trying to reduce the effort.
He looked at the spacetime turbulence stone he had been carrying all along.