“Huh? That person?”
“The Hoarder?”
“Why would the Hoarder…”
“Is he here for the prize money too?”
“No. I heard the Hoarder’s a lower floor player. So he could be here for the trial…..”
When he was at the mouth of the mountain, he saw a bustling crowd of people. About a hundred gazes landed on Yeon-woo.
Yeon-woo tilted his head wondering what was going on.
Players on the 20th floor usually wanted to just quietly pass the trial. Of course, it was hard for the people who attempted it the first time. But this kind of mood was created by the people who came down to train themselves.
But the people at the base of the mountain were noisy. None of them seemed like they wanted to climb the mountain.
Yeon-woo used his territory senses to observe him. They were skilled players who seemed to have passed the 20th floor. It didn’t seem like they were here to train, so why were they here?
He was curious, but he didn’t concern himself with it since it wasn’t his business. He only thought about how he could get the Yin Sword.
As Yeon-woo approached the crowd, they split into two, creating a path for him.
Yeon-woo had already made a name for himself in the Cheonghwado and Red Dragon war, and the fact that he defeated a semi ranker was well known. Because of this, players were wary of Yeon-woo, but didn’t want to face him.
Yeon-woo passed by them into the mountain. Then, a message popped up in front of him.
[You have entered the first mountain.]
[The first penance, blocking of sense is beginning.]
His sight closed like he was in a pitch black room. He was slightly surprised at the sudden blackout, but it was something he was already expecting, so he looked over it.
‘Although it is uncomfortable that it’s dark.’
Yeon-woo just closed his eyes and focused on his other senses. As his magic power spread out, his other senses woke up.
A map of the surroundings and geography around him was drawn in his head.
[Sense Strengthening]
Yeon-woo was confident in his senses, especially since he was able to read the movement of the arrows in Section A of the Tutorial.
With his senses of a dragon, the proficiency of the Sense Strengthening skill was at 80%. It was like a passive skill for him now.
So thankfully, even though his sight was blocked, his movements were slowed down.
‘It’s easier than I thought.’
The diary detailedly explained the troubles of the Arthia members.
Having a sense that was used for granted blocked was like carrying a yoke. They said the discomfort was the hardest to overcome.
But Yeon-woo didn’t experience the discomfort he was expecting, so he was slightly let down.
This wouldn’t train him. He even hoped that the other mountains would be harder.
But the other players on the mountain didn’t seem to agree with him.
“Ugh! Shit. This is so uncomfortable. How do they want us to move?”
“There’s a lot of time, so let’s move slowly. And be careful not to confuse each other.”
“I think there’s a path this way.”
The players moved slowly in order to avoid each other. They moved like a senior pedestrian crossing the road during the red light. And once they were more used to it, they started to add speed.
‘If they’re on the 20th floor, they should’ve somewhat trained their other senses already. But they depend that much on their sight? Does that make sense?’
However, Yeon-woo didn’t understand them. It was only sight that was blocked. Why were they fumbling so much? And they looked stupid shouting at each other to avoid bumping into one another.
He wondered how they would deal with that if a fight arised between them.
And they seemed to be trying to spread apart so their senses didn’t overlap with each other. It was just pathetic.
How had they passed so many trials not even knowing the expanse of their own senses? He didn’t understand.
Yeon-woo used Shunpo to quickly pass by two of them.
“Huh?’
“Did something just go by?”
“Wasn’t it the wind?”
Hearing the players behind him, he added more speed. He was able to see many players like the ones he saw at the base.
Actually, there was something Yeon-woo didn’t know. It was that the other players’ confusion he considered pathetic was normal.
Among the players he passed, there were a few semi rankers mixed somewhere in there.
Blocking sight closed off a way for outside information to get to you.
The players could only feel uncomfortable even if their senses had greatly improved while climbing the tower.
That was why many players couldn’t pass the first mountain.
It was the reason why half of the players who attempted the 20th floor were stuck on it.
However, they need to find a way to move on to step over to the next mountain.
The method was easy.
It was adjusting right away.
Even arriving at the 20th floor meant that one had a lot of advanced senses.
So even if they were uncomfortable at first, they should quickly get used to it and speed up.
And in that process, they would throw away their habits of replying on one sense and feel their other senses.
Then, the sense that was strengthened was hearing.
The next mountain blocked hearing so other senses could be felt better.
After that, smell, taste, and touch was blocked, completely closing off a player from the outside.
During this time, players needed time to adjust. They needed to find a way to get food. In this process, people always started to have problems.
And when they had completed all the trials, players received a shock when all their senses were suddenly given back to them.
When they came back to attention, a deep joy was left in their hearts.
They were able to experience worlds they hadn’t seen before. As their senses were more detailed, they could deal with magic power better, and the control of their skills dramatically improved as well.
So the most important part about the 20th floor was adjusting. No, to be precise, it was how one ‘endured.’
Overcoming the discomfort raised patience, and the joy when one surpassed their limits wasn’t able to be explained.
Of course, if they didn’t pass, they couldn’t feel this.
However, Yeon-woo had already felt all this before, so it didn’t really affect him.
Testing a limit and overcoming it. Then, moving right onto the next limit and repeating it. It was something he did everyday.
Every day was like a penance for Yeon-woo. He just didn’t realize it because he was used to it. The penance of the 20th floor was just like his daily lifestyle, so he didn’t think too much of it.
Yeon-woo just worriedly thought about how to raise the difficulty of the trial that was so boring.
He had come here expectantly and ended up being completely disappointed.
Eventually, he decided to set limits for himself.
He put all the artifacts he had on into Intrenian. He changed into comfortable clothes, and held only Carshina’s Dagger in his hand. He even changed into the mask he wore when he first entered the Tower.
Then, the options to add strength to his body disappeared and his body settled down.
Still not enough for him, he condensed his territory that was spread far and wide to just right around him.
As all the information disappeared, the drawing that was in his head disappeared as well. He felt uncomfortable, like he was being pressed down with something heavy.
He even locked his Magic Circuit. All the power that was circulating in his body disappeared and only emptiness remained.
All the skills he was using disappeared, and as Dragon’s Sense vanished, he was back into an ordinary human again.
And when Yeon-woo threw away everything that made him strong, and when the walls that were protecting him were gone.
He gripped Carshina’s dagger even tighter.
[You have forced the stop of the Magic Circuit. Warning! You may be in danger from outer influences. Use your magic power.]
]You have blocked your senses.]
[You have blocked your skills.]
[You have…..]
…..
He felt like all his cells were standing up. His back straightened, and he was on guard for anything that might come from around him.
Yeon-woo swallowed. Nervousness poured down his body. His heart sounded like a drum.
He had always used Dragon’s Territory to protect himself. So he was confident that he would always be able to protect himself from outer influences. But since it was all gone, he felt empty.
Now he was only a slightly strong human. His strong body was still left, but that was it.
The nervousness that someone could attack him any moment and the anxiousness of not knowing what was going to happen. He wasn’t able to plan out his actions.
It was like being thrown into the middle of nowhere without anything. Even when he first entered the gate for the Tower he didn’t feel this way.
It was like when he was first dispatched to Africa after only receiving basic training. The danger of death always hovered above him.
And so Yeon-woo thought.
‘This is a bit better now.’
He was happy.
He had only focused on getting power, not training his body from the basics.
If he knew it was gonna be like this he should’ve tried it earlier.
But on the other hand, he thought that he would be able to improve even more since it was his first time doing it.
More than anything, Yeon-woo had a lot of enemies. He had to stay tense at the fact that anyone could start to attack him.
In a way, he put himself in a dangerous situation. No, he definitely did.
But Yeon-woo satisfactorily started his hike again.
**
Climbing the mountain with blocked senses and nothing else was definitely not an easy feat.
You could trip and fall off a cliff or get scratched by good for nothing tree branches.
Even though Yeon-woo fumbled around moving a step at a time, Yeon-woo moved comparably faster than others.
His physique could only be different because he had awakened his Dragon Body.
Other than his stamina, his nose and ears were more sensitive that most objects weren’t dangerous to him.
Becoming used to the blocked senses helped Yeon-woo move faster as well.
So Yeon-woo reached the peak of the first mountain and even had the composure to think about getting the Yin Sword on the way back down.
He didn’t forget about being attentive. With one misstep, he could fall down a deep cliff.
‘The Yin Sword is completely different from normal Mugongs. If you don’t completely understand the meaning behind it, you can’t dig deeper.’
Usually, Mugongs were set up in 4 steps: Hyung, Shik, Cho, and Ui.
Hyung meant the shape. Mugong had several hundreds of detailed movements, and they all followed a Shik, and combined together, they created the Cho. And when they were all combined, the meaning, Ui, behind it all was revealed.
It was like how when a puzzle was split, no one could see the overall picture, but when they were connected, it was easy to see what it was.
However, the Yin Sword was the opposite.
The order was flipped around.
Ui, Cho, Shik, Hyung. You had to find the meaning first to understand the overall flow, and learn more about it as you went.
And when you understood everything inside, that was when you could learn the Yin Sword.
‘Usually, after training, understanding can be gained. But this is the complete opposite so I don’t know what to do. And the information is hard to understand. It’s like the Bible, or a legend.
-In the beginning, a giant woke up and split everything. What rose became light to shine below it, and the things below it combined to support the world. This support set up the world today, and gave many fruits…..
He didn’t know where the meaning here was. The Yang Saber Edora learned was probably not too different.
Then how was Edora able to understand this?
Yeon-woo lightly sighed and was lost in thought again. He finished the first mountain, and he was entering the second.
[You have entered the second mountain.]
[The second penance, blocking of hearing is beginning.]
