The Ascension Officers were flustered, so I spoke.
“Aaah, it’s fine. It’s a spell-art.”
“A... a spell-art?”
“Yeah. I can do a bit of that.”
THUD—.
When I set the box down on the floor, the black space vanished.
Every Ascension Officer’s gaze snapped to the box.
CREAK—.
When the lid opened, it was packed full of weapons.
“Alright. Each of you, take a weapon that suits you. It’s a gift from the Lord of the Castle.”
“The spirit pills alone are more than enough!”
“That’s right! Taking more than that... we’d feel too guilty to accept it.”
To the Ascension Officers who kept refusing, I said one thing.
“It’s an order.”
At the word order, they hurriedly rummaged through ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ the box and pulled out weapons that fit them.
“Huh? Th-this is too good. I-I think I grabbed the wrong one.”
An Ascension Officer who’d drawn a sword jolted and tried to put it back, but I stopped him.
“You like that sword?”
“What swordsman wouldn’t like a sword this good?”
“Yeah? Then it’s yours now.”
“Pardon? M-mine?”
I nodded.
The other Ascension Officers chose weapons that matched them too, and every one of them looked stunned.
“Looks like you’ve all picked.”
“S-seriously... is it really okay for us to take weapons this good?”
“Yes. It’s a gift from the Lord of the Castle, so use it well.”
“Kuhk! We’re losers who haven’t done a single thing for the Lord of the Castle.”
“That’s right! We can’t accept something like this.”
At their words, I wiped the smile off my face and spoke with a serious expression.
“Don’t throw around the word ‘loser.’ If you truly serve the Lord of the Castle, then you take those weapons and get stronger. Am I wrong?”
“You’re right!”
“We’ll get stronger!”
“I’m giving you one week. If, after one week, you don’t satisfy me... you should be prepared.”
“Yes!”
I dismantled every mechanism array-work and formation array, then reset the formations and mechanisms to match each floor’s proper difficulty.
Not easy.
But not impossible to overcome, either.
I started installing the formations after thinking and thinking again—so that anyone who pushed through this place would become stronger in the process.
“There really isn’t another filial grandson like me.”
Later, I was going to wring every last bit of credit out of this with Grandpa.
After resetting the formations up to this floor, I reached the top floor.
This place, I hadn’t touched.
“Alright. Let’s see what Grandpa’s skills look like.”
I activated the formation array, and Grandpa’s illusion appeared.
Just like the first time—hands clasped behind his back.
But for some reason, Grandpa didn’t attack. He just stood there.
“What? Does it only react if it gets attacked?”
Come to think of it, when I first met Taecheon, he hadn’t attacked either. He’d only defended in that same posture.
So how much does this thing actually reflect Grandpa?
I charged in, excited, and threw a punch.
WHOOOM—!
In a single hit, Grandpa went flying and vanished.
Too easy.
I stared for a second, not understanding, then clenched my teeth hard.
“That goddamn bastard set my grandpa up as a complete scarecrow!”
That was it. Just standing there.
If anyone made it this far, they could snatch Rank One without any trouble.
The fact that they treated Grandpa like this made my blood boil.
“Strategist.... You’d better have a damn good reason for what you did to Heavenly Martial Castle. If you don’t... you’re dead....”
I will ask.
Why they turned the Seven-Star Ascension Tower into this.
Of everything I did here, I poured the most effort into remaking Grandpa’s illusion.
“Whew. Done.”
I’ve fought Grandpa plenty of times. I know his skill better than anyone.
But if I reflected his real power exactly, nobody but me would ever clear this place.
It had to show Grandpa’s greatness—while still being something a worthy person could pass.
“Alright. Let’s test if it’s done properly.”
I activated the formation array again.
Grandpa stood there with his hands behind his back.
Smirking, I rushed him and drove a fist forward.
KRAAANG—.
HMMMMMM—.
This time, Grandpa blocked perfectly.
Only then did I finally smile.
It’s a shame he didn’t look flustered, but whatever. No one who climbs up here is going to make Grandpa flinch anyway.
I attacked a few more times. He blocked them all cleanly.
I set it so that after three defenses, Grandpa would counterattack once.
And the farther it went, the stronger the power would get.
KUUUU—.
Since he couldn’t unfold Grandpa’s exact martial arts, I made the attacks similar.
KWA-KWA-KABOOM—!
The power was solid enough.
If someone can endure that attack from Grandpa, they’re more than qualified to be a successor candidate of Heavenly Martial Castle.
If things went wrong, they could die—so I embedded a healing mantra into the formation array to make sure they wouldn’t.
Now it’s perfect.
I stood on the top floor and opened the door. A cool wind swept in.
WHIIII—.
Far in the distance, I could see the pavilions of Heavenly Martial Castle.
From now on, this Seven-Star Ascension Tower would become Heavenly Martial Castle’s future.
I smiled and looked down.
Then I jumped straight off the Seven-Star Ascension Tower and landed on the ground.
BOOM—!
The moment I landed, a powerful shockwave blasted out in every direction and shattered the Cloud-Sea Formation.
The fog dispersed, and sunlight started to pour in.
Crossing my hands, I muttered the chant and pressed my palm to the ground.
“Wash Away Old Traces, Shine Anew.”
WHOOOOSH—.
A windstorm whipped up around me.
As the wind swept over the moss-choked ground, it changed—like it had been replaced with something brand new.
The wind grew larger and larger until it wrapped around the entire area surrounding the Seven-Star Ascension Tower.
WHIIII—.
A short while later.
The wind calmed—then the Seven-Star Ascension Tower revealed itself, transformed completely, as if it had been made anew.
“Perfect.”
Satisfied, I wore a bright smile.
Exactly one week.
That was how long it took to overhaul the Seven-Star Ascension Tower.
“Alright. The promised week has passed... so should we go verify whether you trained well?”
My expression wasn’t great.
Because I could see the Ascension Officers training.
And I didn’t like what I was seeing.
With that kind of training, how many years would it take them to get stronger?
They were sparring, but they were moving while matching each other’s rhythm.
At that point, it wasn’t sparring. It was dancing.
You don’t get stronger sparring like that.
It’s just self-satisfaction.
The Ascension Officers spotted me mid-spar, stopped moving, and bowed in unison.
“You’ve come!”
“What are you doing right now?”
“...Pardon?”
“I asked what you’re doing.”
“We were training.”
“What kind of training is that? You’re playing around.”
At my cutting words, their faces flushed red.
“Haa. This is my fault. I should’ve watched how you trained first.”
“We’re sorry for disappointing you.”
“Enough. You can train properly from now on. Everyone here—I’ll train you properly.”
“...Pardon?”
Train them how?
I grinned.
“Everyone, prepare for combat.”
“...Pardon?”
“Prepare for combat!”
At my roar, the Ascension Officers—still not understanding—raised their stances.
“That’s ‘combat ready’? Unbelievable.”
With a look like I was watching something pathetic, I shot forward and closed the distance in an instant.
The Ascension Officers panicked as they saw me charging straight at them.
And I started attacking without mercy.
WHAM-WHAM-THUD—!
“KHUHK!”
“KEHEK!”
“KGHK!”
CRASH-THUMP-THUD—!
They went flying and rolled across the ground.
But I didn’t wait for them to get back up just because they were down.
I moved fast—straight toward the ones who were already collapsed.
CRACK—!
“KHUHK!”
WHOOSH—!
One Ascension Officer lifted off the ground from my kick and got launched again.
The others, seeing a comrade being wrecked, forced themselves up while swallowing their pain.
Because the next one could be them.
“W-why are you doing this?!”
One Ascension Officer shouted with a voice full of injustice, and I answered coldly.
“I’m training you. If you want to live, face me like you’re ready to die.”
Killing intent rolled off me.
To survive, the Ascension Officers had to squeeze out every last drop of strength.
“Heaven-Wave Slash!”
“White-Earth True Flash!”
“One-Thunder Charge!”
They threw everything they had at me.
Every martial art they could use, all at once.
But none of it landed.
CRACK-CRACK—!
“KEHEK!”
“GAAAH!”
And they started getting beaten again.
CRASH-THUMP-THUD—!
The Ascension Officers rolling on the ground weren’t in the neat outfits they’d worn during “training” earlier.
Their clothes had been shredded into rags, and they looked like beggars.
Blood ran from their noses and mouths, and there wasn’t a single spot that didn’t hurt.
Even so, they had to stand.
Because I was coming again, pouring out killing intent.
They wanted to live.
“Goddamn it!”
“Fine! Let’s do it!”
“AAAAAH! DIE!”
When the fear of death crashed down on them, they charged at me—driven into a frenzy to survive.
Only then did a faint smile touch my face.
What they’d been missing was fighting spirit.
No one comes to this place. They’ve been here too long.
So their fighting spirit naturally died out.
Right now, I was dragging it back up.
Once I strapped viciousness onto them next, they’d become far stronger than they were now.
They were people who gave everything for Grandpa.
So I planned to make them strong—properly.
“Ugh...!”
Groans echoed from all directions.
The Ascension Officers couldn’t even stand properly. They were crawling across the ground.
“Get up.”
At my words, they tried to force their bodies up, but it wasn’t easy.
“If you don’t get up, we start from the beginning.”
“GAAAH!”
“AAAAH!”
At the words start from the beginning, they clenched their teeth, swallowed the pain, and pushed themselves upright.
Their eyes were so bloodshot they looked red.
I looked at the ones who were standing and grinned.
“Starting tomorrow, you train with me. Today’s the first day, so we’ll end here.”
First day, so we end here?
So tomorrow would be worse than this?
Their faces went pale.
The me they’d experienced was strong.
So strong that even all of them rushing me together couldn’t touch so much as my collar.
Well, of course. If I wasn’t that strong, the Lord of the Castle wouldn’t have given me a secret mission.
“The Lord of the Castle thinks of you as special... you’re not going to say you’re struggling with just this, right?”
At the words that the Heavenly Martial Emperor thought of them as special, the Ascension Officers answered at the top of their lungs, moved to tears.
“No! It isn’t hard at all!”
“If anyone wants to drop out, drop out now.”
Not one of them moved.
I smiled.
“Then tomorrow, you all gather here by 7:00 a.m.”
“Understood!”
I deliberately didn’t use a healing formation on them.
If they thought they could slack off because they’d get healed after sparring, they’d move carelessly.
Instead, I laid a healing formation in their dorm.
If they went back and fell asleep, their bodies would recover to a certain extent by morning.
Enough that only a little pain would remain.
After I left, the Ascension Officers dropped to the ground.
“That was... a storm of training.......”
“I can’t believe I’m alive.”
“For a second, I really thought I was going to die.”
They muttered with empty faces.