Everyone nodded.
The Training Master grinned and nodded along.
“May martial luck be with you. Make it through safely, and come back out.”
“Thank you.”
GRRRRNNNK—
Maybe because it hadn’t been opened in a long time, the heavy door swung open with a huge noise.
The moment it did, a chilling cold brushed past the five of them.
“This is kinda... creepy as hell.”
“I don’t want to go in.”
“Me neither. But if we don’t, Wigang’s gonna chew us out.”
At the mention of Jeok Wigang, the other four flinched.
“We have to get strong fast and climb up to Rank Three. I told you, right? If I come looking later and you’re not at Rank Three, you’d better be ready.”
At Hwang Jinhyeok’s words, the four hurried inside, talking over each other.
“What are you doing? Hurry up and get in.”
Seeing that, Hwang Jinhyeok let out a snort of laughter.
“Is Wigang really that scary?”
Thinking about it... he was scary.
“Hah! Yeah, he’s scary.”
When Hwang Jinhyeok stepped in, the heavy door slammed shut.
Five people—now nothing but rags—pushed open the door on the far side of Abyssal Star Refining Purgatory and stumbled out.
“S-survived.”
That was the first sound anyone made.
The Training Master ran over the instant they appeared.
“Congratulations on making it through. Are you all alright?”
“Does this look alright to you right now?”
The voice was full of irritation.
“If your voice is fine, you look like you’re in decent shape.”
The five of them frowned at the Training Master’s slick, needling tone.
“Want me to show you where you can wash up?”
“Forget washing... don’t you have something to eat? I’m starving to death.”
“There should be fasting pills inside.”
“Fasting pills? Are you sure this place is managed properly? Almost all of them were rotten! We had to pick through them to find the ones that weren’t—seriously....”
“I-is that so? Sorry. Wait a moment. I’ll bring you food right away.”
The Training Master actually looked apologetic.
With hardly anyone coming here, it seemed the fasting pills stocked inside had gone bad from neglect.
Looking genuinely sorry, they sprinted off and came back with rice and side dishes piled into one heaping mound.
“H-here. I grabbed what I could in a hurry. Eat this first, at least.”
The moment the Training Master held it out, the five of them lunged in and started shoveling it into their mouths with their hands.
CHOMP CHOMP—
SMACK—
GULP GULP—
They must’ve been that hungry.
The Training Master felt guilty for no reason.
These were trainees who’d come for the first time in ages—and it felt like they’d suffered even more because of it.
CLATTER—
In the blink of an eye, they finished everything, then collapsed flat on the ground.
“Ah! I can live again!”
“I was so hungry I clenched my teeth and forced myself out.”
“It did make us escape faster, though.”
“Still—rotting fasting pills is too much!”
They all glared at the Training Master.
“Haha... sorry.”
“It’s fine. That’s how long it’s been since any trainees came—there were spiderwebs everywhere inside.”
“But it definitely trains you.”
“It has to. Our lives were going back and forth.”
“Still, compared to sparring with our lord, it wasn’t that hard.”
“Right. Anyway, we passed, so we can breathe for a second. Yeah?”
“Yes.”
“Get up. We still have something to do.”
“Ah! We have to get promoted.”
“Yeah. If we’re not at Rank Three, we’ll get chewed out.”
“Let’s go. Now.”
“Rank Three’s no problem for me, but you guys—are you confident?”
“We’ll fight prepared to die.”
“Tch. Well... it doesn’t seem like it’ll be hard.”
“...Huh?”
“How many of the guys sitting in Rank Three right now are actually legit? Let’s just pick out the ones who look like they rode up on Cloud Ladders and take them down.”
“That’s a good idea.”
Jeok Wigang was already standing there, grinning.
The four—excluding Hwang Jinhyeok—traded glances, then bowed in greeting.
“Have you been well!”
“You’re here?”
Hwang Jinhyeok just waved at Jeok Wigang.
“Did you get promoted?”
At Jeok Wigang’s question, they all flinched.
“W-well, we were just about to. In Abyssal Star Refining Purgatory, the food wasn’t stocked properly, so it took a little longer...”
“S-sorry!”
All of them lowered their heads, certain Jeok Wigang was about to explode.
But then—
“Yeah? Good job. Whew, I was worried you’d already gotten promoted.”
...That was not what I expected.
“Not getting promoted is a relief? What are you talking about? You told us to get up to Rank Three.”
“I did. That’s why I ran over in a hurry, in case you’d already promoted.”
“Why?”
“You should get promoted somewhere other than the drill yard.”
“...Huh?”
“Jinhyeok—those Cloud Ladders we met back then. You know them, right?”
“Yeah.”
“Gather all of them.”
“Got it.”
“And you guys—if there are people you got close to, gather them too.”
“Understood.”
Hwang Jinhyeok asked,
“But what are you saying? Promoting somewhere other than the drill yard?”
“There’s another place you can get promoted besides the Seven-Star Ascension Method.”
“No way. You mean the Seven-Star Ascension Tower?”
“Yeah. I refurbished it, so you’ll take the promotion test there.”
“Isn’t that place insanely hard?”
“I said I refurbished it.”
At my words, the five of them thought the same thing.
So it got even harder.
They couldn’t bring themselves to say it out loud.
“What are you doing? Move.”
“O-okay.”
“Yes!”
The five hurried off to do what I told them.
While they moved, I went to find the Ascension Officers stationed here.
The Ascension Officers saw me and startled, starting to bow—but a voice rang inside their heads.
—Act normal, and listen to me.
They didn’t answer. They just stared at me.
—Anyone you think is acceptable, send them all to the Seven-Star Ascension Tower.
Their eyes widened in shock.
—If you don’t send them... you know what happens, right? You meet me every evening.
At that, the Ascension Officers all nodded in unison.
Sitting atop a five-story pavilion, he looked out over the whole castle while sipping alcohol.
His face was full of bright, satisfied smiles.
“Heh heh heh. Easy. Too easy. Who said Heavenly Martial Castle was an iron fortress?”
Laughing again and again, he stood up and spread his arms wide.
“I’ll show the ones who looked down on me. I’ll show them—with this brain—Heavenly Martial Castle collapsing.”
He was enjoying his drink when he heard footsteps outside.
The cheerful look on Gongsun Munryong’s face instantly hardened into solemn authority.
A moment later—
“Strategist! Something strange is happening at the Seven-Star Ascension Tower.”
“Something strange? Come in.”
The subordinate who entered dropped to the floor and spoke.
“You said if anything happens at the Seven-Star Ascension Tower, report it immediately—so I ran here.”
“Good. What happened?”
“The number of people promoting through the Seven-Star Ascension Tower is increasing.”
“What?”
That couldn’t be possible.
He’d changed everything so no one could ever promote through the Seven-Star Ascension Tower.
How?
The one reporting was one of his own hands and feet.
“Isn’t anyone dying on the way out?”
“No. And also...”
He glanced around, then lowered his voice.
“Even the Cloud Ladders are all promoting through the Seven-Star Ascension Tower now, so it’s disrupting what we planned.”
“What are you saying? So?”
“Contrary to the plan, the worthless ones aren’t getting promoted at all. Should we put in new Cloud Ladders?”
Gongsun Munryong’s expression twisted.
What the hell was this?
Martial Star Hall was Heavenly Martial Castle’s future.
How much blood and effort had he poured into ruining it?
And now, all of a sudden, it felt like things were starting to work properly.
Don’t tell me—
Did the Lord of the Castle notice?
No.
If he’d noticed, with the Heavenly Martial Emperor’s personality, Heavenly Martial Castle would already be in chaos.
It was quiet.
Meaning the Lord of the Castle didn’t know.
“I need to go see for myself.”
“Where should I escort you?”
“First, the Seven-Star Ascension Tower.”
“Yes!”
A massive crowd had gathered to challenge the tower.
“This is what Martial Star Hall is supposed to be.”
“The Seven-Star Ascension Tower is the real foundation!”
“Right! Promoting in the drill yard is honestly ridiculous.”
“That’s all paid promotions, isn’t it? The Seven-Star Ascension Tower can’t be like that.”
“Exactly. Are you gonna pay the tower? What, is it gonna take bribes?”
“Hahaha! True. Here, you need real skill to promote.”
Their faces were bright, and the atmosphere was lively.
Disguised, Gongsun Munryong’s expression warped.
Then his eyes widened as he looked at the tower itself.
“What is this? Was it rebuilt? Without me knowing?”
The Seven-Star Ascension Tower in front of him looked brand-new—like it had just been constructed.
The path leading to it was clean like freshly laid ground, and the tower’s exterior was spotless, like new.
Sunlight poured down from above, and instead of the old gloomy mood, the entire place gave off something bright and hopeful.
When he looked up, he couldn’t even see the rim of the canyon that used to block the sun.
Could that massive heap of rock vanish overnight?
Looking closely, it had been smoothly carved into a rounded shape—as if something had shaved it down.
Within the bounds of what he considered common sense, there wasn’t a single thing here he could understand.
The people coming out of the tower were smiling too.
“Hahaha! Starting today, I’m Rank Five!”
“Move aside! A Rank Four is passing through! Hahaha!”
“I don’t have to hunt down an opponent one by one anymore—this is amazing!”
“Right? Picking [N O V E L I G H T] opponents carefully was such a pain in the ass. Not having to do that—it feels like my insides finally cleared out.”
“Why didn’t we figure this out sooner?”
“The rumors about this place were bad. But once you actually come and experience it, it’s the best.”
“Yeah. You just train hard and challenge it—that’s it.”
This wasn’t the atmosphere he wanted.
He wanted Heavenly Martial Castle bleak, hopeless, rotting.
This couldn’t happen.
If this continued, it would throw his entire plan off course.
The most important pillar of his plan to collapse Heavenly Martial Castle was Martial Star Hall.
He was furious.
Which bastard had smeared shit all over his plan?
He wanted to catch them and kill them immediately.
Then, far away, he saw someone staring at him—grinning.
He looked around.
Maybe the guy was looking at someone else.
No.
He was definitely watching him and smiling.
Like this was entertaining.
Gongsun Munryong knew right away.
That bastard.
That bastard was the source of all of this.
Then sound-transmission reached him.
—You’re Heavenly Martial Castle’s strategist, right? Want to talk for a moment?
Perfect.
—Fine. Let’s go.
“It was you? You’re the one who changed the Seven-Star Ascension Tower?”
“Yeah. Some bastard set it up to kill people. So I changed everything.”
Gongsun Munryong’s expression twisted.
Because that “some bastard” was him.
Still, it was impressive.
To overhaul the Seven-Star Ascension Tower in that short time.
He had talent.
Gongsun Munryong swallowed his anger and tried to lure me in.
“Not bad. In truth, that was my test. If someone could properly fix the Seven-Star Ascension Tower, I intended to make him my successor. How about it? Come under me and become the next strategist of Heavenly Martial Castle.”
“What’s so good about that?”
“What’s good? It’s a position below one and above ten thousand. Everyone except the Lord of the Castle will bow their heads to you.”
I let out a quiet laugh.
“I turned down the Lord of the Castle’s seat. And you think I’d be satisfied with the strategist’s chair?”
“What?”
I turned down the Lord of the Castle’s seat...?