Snap.
With a mere snap of the Demon God’s fingers, the clock floating beside Hyeon-jin began to whittle away time at an alarming rate.
In an instant, the clock displayed [00:00:00], and the world resumed its motion.
Within the now-moving world, Hyeon-jin sprinted to the opposite side of the monster.
The principle was akin to an airplane’s critical need for a runway.
To unleash the maximum destructive power of her throw, she needed a clear path to run.
Deeming the distance sufficient, Hyeon-jin drew a stone from her pocket and assumed her stance.
A crouching start.
With her hips raised high and poised on all fours, she resembled a female leopard.
She launched herself from the ground, her feet charged with a potent surge of internal energy.
A superhuman speed, unimaginable before she became a transcendent being.
It was like the launch of a rocket.
She gathered all that velocity, converting it into rotational force.
This was no mere arm swing; it was an extraordinary feat, pivoting on her foot to rotate her entire body.
Such a technique was utterly beyond the capabilities of an ordinary person.
A normal human would inevitably collapse.
It was a mad act, guaranteed to result in a loss of balance and a diminished throwing power.
Yet, because she was extraordinary, she not only avoided losing power but amplified it.
She executed a perfect rotation, as if she were not human, but a whirlwind incarnate.
That rotation then transformed into a linear motion.
From her outstretched fingertips, a meteor erupted.
Defying the common notion that meteors should fall from the sky.
The meteor shot forth from the ground, hurtling with immense speed towards the head of the monster suspended in the sky.
SCHWAAANG!
Though it was merely a small stone, infused with internal energy, the resulting clamor defied belief.
It was an oppressive roar, as if an aerial bombardment were about to commence.
And then.
The colossal head of the sun-devouring serpent burst asunder.
“How dare you call yourself a god in the presence of the Martial God’s talent?”
‘I never did.’
‘Humans, terrified by the monstrous beast, simply called me a god on their own accord.’
Regardless, Hyeon-jin had successfully punished the false god.
‘It was far too pathetic to be called a god.’
Its sheer size was monstrous, yet its actual combat prowess proved utterly abysmal.
In its multi-tentacled form, it was so dense it couldn’t even perceive Hyeon-jin until countless tentacles had been severed.
Even after growing colossal, it merely possessed high durability; it never truly felt like a mortal threat.
Its mind-control attacks only worked on ordinary people; they had no effect whatsoever on Hyeon-jin, who had opened her Upper Dantian (TL Note: An energy center in the body, often associated with spiritual and mental cultivation in martial arts).
The only real problem was that Hyeon-jin, with her inventory locked, couldn’t land a decisive blow on the creature.
Thus, she had devised a technique of ultimate offensive power.
‘With so many constraints, it won’t be easy to use this in actual combat.’
Martial arts, by nature, evolve as practitioners add methods to overcome their weaknesses.
Heavenly Wheel Throw (TL Note: A martial arts technique requiring considerable time and space for execution) takes a long time and a lot of space, but its offensive power is exceptional.
The addition of such a new option surely held significant meaning.
More importantly, her stats had increased considerably.
The more, the merrier.
There’s no downside to higher stats.
Hyeon-jin was thoroughly satisfied with the results of her training today.
****
Clap. Clap. Clap.
And there was one more person who was satisfied.
The Demon God clapped his hands, offering praise.
“Wow. That was truly a refreshing strike.”
“If I set my mind to it, this much is basic.”
Hyeon-jin’s shoulders visibly rose, a subtle, proud shrug.
Those normally demure features, which usually rested discreetly beneath her collarbones, suddenly ascended, mimicking the proud peaks of mountains.
Was she hoping to become a football player?
If the current Hyeon-jin were to appear in a high school drama, she’d be far more suited for the cheerleading squad than the football team.
She’d surely turn the whole school upside down.
“You truly remind me of a senior from long ago.”
At the Demon God’s words, Hyeon-jin recoiled in horror.
“No, are you actually insane? You know that person and I are different.”
She had no idea how similar they supposedly were.
But to constantly compare someone to another, knowing full well they were distinct individuals, was surely disrespectful to both parties.
Especially since the Martial God hadn’t died; she had ascended.
Ascension didn’t mean death; it meant becoming a god.
The Demon God mused inwardly, ‘Indeed, if the senior were to discover this, I’d surely be beaten to death.’
Certainly, Hyeon-jin had first met Woojin, the tower’s illusion.
However, midway through, he had been replaced by the Demon God himself.
This was because the Demon God, observing the lower realms from the divine realm, had taken great interest in Hyeon-jin and descended.
Since the tower’s illusion was a copy based on his own past, taking control of its consciousness was not difficult.
To use a family analogy, it was like discovering someone who looked exactly like his wife, but was, in fact, a complete stranger with no blood relation.
And then, gazing at this stranger, he would reminisce, thinking, ‘That’s what my wife was like when she was young,’ creating a profoundly complex and nuanced situation.
One might call it unwavering devotion, given his consistent ideal type.
Or perhaps he was a philanderer, having developed affection for another woman.
****
“Since you’ve vanquished the monster, you should receive a reward, shouldn’t you?”
The Demon God produced a suspiciously ornate book from thin air.
Hyeon-jin examined the book’s information.
─────────────
[Holy Oil Magic: Astron]
·Type: Grimoire
·Rank: Divine
·Mana Required: 16400
·Insufficient qualifications to view information.
She then opened her status window to check her current mana.
· Mana: 15
Hyeon-jin spoke.
“Give me a martial art instead of a grimoire.”
The Demon God replied.
“If you wanted a martial art, you should have sought out the Martial God, not the Demon God.”
“I didn’t seek you out; you came to me, didn’t you?”
Hyeon-jin, however, remained convinced that the man before her was merely an NPC.
The Demon God had indeed descended into that body after introducing himself as an NPC, but he had never revealed his true identity.
‘This doesn’t seem like the kind of reward you’d get from the 11th floor of Madness. Strange, isn’t it?’
It struck her as odd to receive a divine-grade grimoire for defeating a monster of such difficulty.
‘In that case, it must be…’
So Hyeon-jin deduced.
‘I’m lucky.’
She attributed it to her good fortune.
After all, she had overcome a one-in-seven-hundred-billion chance in the tutorial.
So, acquiring a divine-grade item on the 11th floor of Madness wasn’t entirely out of the question.
‘It could also be an achievement reward for clearing an impossible challenge.’
Without the Martial God’s talent, would she truly have been able to defeat that monster?
She would have simply had to wait patiently for Woojin’s rescue.
Considering she had used divine-grade abilities to defeat the monster, a divine-grade reward didn’t seem so strange after all.
Hyeon-jin, successfully rationalizing the Demon God’s gift as a result of his favorable disposition, accepted it.
She resolved to attempt selling the grimoire.
Yet, a search on the Martial Arts Net (TL Note: A virtual marketplace for martial artists) auction house yielded no available listings.
“Excuse me, why are you suddenly searching for Holy Oil Magic on the auction house?”
“You can see the Martial Arts Net?”
Yodo, the Ghost Slasher, a fellow inhabitant of the tower, couldn’t see the Martial Arts Net.
So Hyeon-jin had assumed Woojin wouldn’t be able to see it either.
No, a personal Martial Arts Net couldn’t be spied on by others in the first place.
Even if two hunters were present, they couldn’t see each other’s screens.
‘Is it because he’s the Demon God’s past incarnation that he’s different in some way?’
Yet again, Hyeon-jin failed to grasp the truth.
Even if Woojin, who could stop time, could also see other people’s Martial Arts Nets, it didn’t seem particularly surprising.
“So, why did you search for it?”
“Oh, I was just curious. Hahahaha.”
Of course, selling a gift one had just received was an act beyond common sense.
However, Hyeon-jin firmly believed Woojin was an NPC, so she felt no compunctions whatsoever.
The Demon God’s fault in concealing his true identity until the very end was also quite significant.
‘This NPC is really meticulous.’
An NPC who could see the Martial Arts Net and thus catch her red-handed.
Hyeon-jin changed her mind, deciding she would sell it once she left the tower and Woojin was out of sight.
‘He’s just an NPC anyway; what’s he going to do if I sell something outside the tower?’
Hyeon-jin moved to exit the tower through the newly formed opening after defeating the monster.
Just then, a reward message appeared.
[Which reward would you like to choose?]
[1. Free Distribution Points: 15-30]
[2. Random Skill]
[3. Random Equipment]
Hyeon-jin pondered.
‘Wait, why am I getting another reward?’
It was not easy for her to realize that the divine-grade grimoire wasn’t a clear reward, but merely a gift.
‘Why are they giving me so many points?’
This, indeed, was the true hidden reward.
A reward for defeating an enemy that was originally insurmountable.
‘If it’s at least 15, I definitely have to take it.’
Even if Hyeon-jin was a dopamine addict, choosing a random skill or equipment here was not an easy decision.
Yet, another thought crossed her mind.
‘Shouldn’t choices be roughly balanced to be valid options?’
‘In that case, an incredible reward might be hidden within that random skill.’
‘It certainly wasn’t because she was a gambling addict, itching to press the ‘random’ button, no, not at all.’
“Live a wholesome life, Chae Hyeon-jin!”
Hyeon-jin slapped her own cheek, regaining her composure.
She had nearly succumbed to the urge to mindlessly draw another skill.
But she had a painful experience to draw upon.
The memory of drawing the insane skill ‘Female Voice Imitation’ from a random skill draw.
‘What kind of bastard puts something like that in a reward?’
‘Clearly, a deranged individual.’
Hyeon-jin, having sublimated her past pain into experience, finally clicked on the stat points.
[You have obtained 27 Free Distribution Points.]
’27 out of 15-30?’
‘Not bad.’
After leaving the tower, going home, showering, and beginning her meditation, something happened.
Her meditation was not merely for spiritual cultivation, but a practice to grow stronger.
By calming her mind according to the Azure Dragon Heart Sutra (TL Note: A cultivation technique focusing on mental discipline and breath control) and absorbing natural energy through her breath, internal energy, mana, and spiritual power would accumulate simultaneously within her body.
At that moment, Astron’s hidden effect activated.
[Due to the possession effect of the grimoire, Holy Oil Magic: Astron, your Mana permanently increases by 1.]
· Mana: 17
‘If I meditate with this divine-grade grimoire, my mana doubles.’
Hyeon-jin thought.
‘Divine-grade, yet only double?’
Human greed, by its very nature, knows no bounds.
For someone who had tasted the power of 256x amplification, a mere 2x felt utterly dull.
‘The Demon God might be quite pathetic.’
The Demon God, despite giving a gift, was subjected to a sudden insult.
