During the middle of the climb.After dozens of repetitions, Envers had witnessed one of Luna's many tactics. Luna stood motionless in front of the ogre's club flying towards her.
“Uuuuaaaaa──!!"
“Hoo.”
With a fluid motion, she placed her hand on the massive club—nearly the size of her entire body—and began to rotate. Each part of her body moved with her: palm, wrist, elbow, shoulder, waist, pelvis, knee, and leg.
Dwuung.
A faint ripple spread across the ground where Luna stood.
The ogre's immense strength, which could reduce a person to a smear of blood, was gradually dissipated. Her movements flowed seamlessly, as if she was channeling the force away. By the time the attack landed, it carried only enough energy to crush a small pebble.
Like lightning striking a rod and harmlessly dispersing into the earth, Luna had redirected the overwhelming force of the ogre’s strike into the ground.
It was a masterful technique that looked as if it transcended the laws of physics.
Envers had heard tales like this from the Beggar before—of martial artists who could balance Yin and Yang at the tip of a sword, capable of brushing off even a great mountain if it collapsed above their heads.It was an extremely advanced level of martial arts. For a moment, Envers entertained the idea that Luna might have been a martial arts master hiding her true strength. That her awkward, creaky movements were just a clever disguise.
But he knew that wasn’t the case. Luna, from what he understood, was an average student at the Academy, with low combat strength.
Still, he couldn’t help but be curious.
“How did you do that?”
“Repetition.”
“I know you've hunted the ogre repeatedly, but the fact that you’ve come this far through technique rather than raw strength... it’s amazing⋯⋯."
“Vee.”
This girl who flashed a double peace sign, had managed to deflect an ogre’s attack without any use of Mana.
And with enough time and repetition, she could likely do it under even more extreme conditions—maybe even if she were at her weakest or ten years younger
It was martial arts.
Martial arts, at its core, was the art of compensating for physical weakness through refined technique.
One day, Envers had a discussion with Luna about martial arts. To him, martial arts had always been synonymous with brute strength. If someone like him, whose Mana Circuit had been damaged, wanted to return to his family and succeed in his revenge⋯⋯.
He needed a path to grow stronger without relying onMana.
Day by day, he put in grueling work, steadily increasing his strength. But those blessed with natural talent advanced with huge strides, reaching Metamorphosis with ease, surpassing him.
He had always been left behind all alone. At this rate, it seemed impossible even after ten or twenty years—and by then, revenge would no longer be meaningful.
That’s why he sought anything that could give him an edge, be it martial arts or something else.
Artifacts, money, secret books, elixirs, even demonic swords or drugs. As long as it was something that could give him an opportunity, he would have grasped onto it.
He craved the martial (武) but he didn't understand the meaning of achievement (功). His will (意) was weak and lacked the chivalrous spirit (俠).
While a part of him was indeed fascinated by the discipline of martial arts, his heart was shackled to the Redburn family. He was too consumed to recognize the true essence of the art.
To this stupid martial arts student, Luna said this.
“Martial arts is a process.”
“A process, you say?”
Luna nodded her head. This was a result she arrived at after deep reflection.
It was a process for those who strive toward a certain goal.
Rather than using more words, Luna demonstrated with her body. She grabbed the club and swung it in the air in a simple downward motion—an attack anyone could do.
They would’ve tried to hit the dog. Just like this, at first.
But the dog is low to the ground, which makes the posture awkward.
Her movement shifted. Luna spread her legs to lower her stance, adjusting the angle of her swing. The club now followed a path closer to the ground. She was fighting with an imaginary dog.
However the dog nimbly dodges. If not, then... like this.
If the dog ran toward you, it would bite and latch onto the first thing it saw. So, pretend to offer the club like this.
Luna kept adding small conditions, altering her movements with each new scenario. After considering many possibilities, she settled on the most effective techniques. Her movements became refined, evolving naturally over time.
The motions now looked extremely similar to the Beggar’s Dog Beating Staff Style.
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
What began as crude attempts to beat the hell out of a dog, became a respectable martial art through trial and refinement.
With her body, Luna showed him how martial arts could be made.
“It’s the same, reducing clear times.”
If they call having a goal, and continually refining techniques to reach it, martial arts…
Then the method they had found out after a lot of effort, ‘shooting at the sun,’ was also martial arts. The tricks they had learned at the Academy were also martial arts. That was why.
“The important thing is the goal.”
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
You must know exactly where you want to go. Luna ended her words like that.
There was chaos in Envers’ head. He thought he had a clear goal—revenge, proving his worth to those who doubted him, and bringing his mother back.
Wasn’t that⋯⋯ enough?
Even though no one had said anything, Envers found himself making excuses to justify his doubts.
Although there was some confusion, the conversation left him wondering about the one central hypothesis about the ultimate peak of martial arts.
If martial arts is the process of achieving a goal, then the Martial God must be someone who achieves their goals no matter what.
Imagine someone with near-infinite time—someone who could stretch one second into a hundred million years. They could, through endless repetition, create custom martial arts to fit any situation.
This being could find a way to flip over a dragon using the strength of a child. As long as the probability wasn’t zero, infinite attempts would eventually lead to success.
If such a person existed…
To those who faced them, it would feel as though no technique could ever succeed against him──.
===============================================================
A cold sword light flickered across the rain-soaked field.
The man wielding the katana looked frail. His body was so skinny that his bones were clearly visible, and his eye sockets were hollow, as if he could collapse at any moment.
However, his eyes remained sharp, brimming with unrefined killing intent.
He was calm. Motionless. Simply waiting. Like a predator patiently biding its time before the strike. And when the prey moved──
He was faster than anyone else.
“No, wait, what am I supposed to── keck!”
Slice.
Envers barely blocked the katana flying towards his face and ended his 5th attempt. He hadn’t even come close to winning, let alone preventing the katana from being drawn.
It’s because the spec difference was slowly starting to get bigger.
※ SYSTEM_INFO -----------
[Jay of Battōjutsu]
Vitality : Respectable
Mana : None
Trait : Starving demonic sword
=> Increases attack power. As kill count increases, attack power goes down.
※ ---------------------------
Envers, who was kicked out from the Tower of Trials, lay sprawled on the floor. Nearby, Luna and Selvier, enjoying waffles from the Academy's popular dessert shop, looked down at him in his pitiful state as they ate the treats.
“This is impossible, I am losing my mind.”
If you kept challenging something with no progress and no visible solution, that's exactly the kind of expression you get.
Selvier casually waved her fork as she spoke.
“Like I said, why don’t we just call someone? I said I could ask Bennet through Niolle.”
“But then I wouldn’t be able to prove my worth to the master! You two are at my level, so it’s fine, but Bennet⋯⋯ he'd just breeze through everything by himself!”
If that happened, the Beggar might say, 'You're useless now Envers. Go chop wood,' and take in Bennett as his new disciple.
And if that bastard—already walking around with his two gorgeous girlfriends—monopolizes this as well, Envers would be left sucking his thumb in the middle ranks of the Academy, muttering how he shouldn’t have let his master get NTR'd back then⋯⋯.
Luna, still with cream on her lips, gave her simple comment.
“Idiot.”
He was an idiot.
"In the first place, that person you call master⋯⋯ he's a character in the tower, right? In the end, he's probably just an illusion created by the professor. He’s something like a tentacle."
“That cannot be. My master is certainly⋯⋯ different!”
"I've heard there are sometimes people who get so lost in illusion magic that they start confusing it with reality."
"If you saw him in person, you’d understand! Proper⋯⋯ conversation is possible, and he knows many things. And above all, the discipline of martial arts! That's a realm that wizards could never reach⋯⋯!!"
As Envers struggled to defend himself, Selvier dealt another blow from the side.
“Let’s say that we manage to get past floor 5. You do realize we won’t be able to handle Floor 6 on our own, right?”
“Kuh⋯⋯."
“We’ll have to call for help eventually.”
“But at least until floor 5⋯⋯."
Sigh.
Selvier wiped Luna's mouth with a tissue as she consulted Luna. It was because she believed Luna's words had credibility as a master of tweaking builds in the Tower of Trials.
“Floor 5, do you think it could be done on our own?”
“Possible.”
“What about floor 6?”
“Dweth.”
So, there was a way of clearing it after all. Selvier thought for a moment. Jay of Battōjutsu was dangerous because his style was swift and deadly—a single, lightning-fast Battōjutsu strike followed by sheathing the blade. He blended this with basic taijutsu1 .
It's a pattern that's predictable if you want to call it predictable and monotonous if you wanted to call it monotonous, but it honestly was just so strong, it could send your head flying in an instant. But the problem was that they had to clear it 'without allowing him to draw his sword'⋯⋯.
“We should call someone after all.”
"But at least until floor 5⋯⋯!!"
“Hmm.”
There had to be a way to prevent him from unsheathing the blade.
The easiest method would be to bind the sword and scabbard together, preventing it from being drawn—something that could be done by calling in Snow White Lady from the Blue Magic Tower. But she was Selvier’s fated rival..
Her ice magic could lock Jay’s Battōjutsu in place.
Snow White would surely look down on her, a silent, eloquent expression saying, You can’t even handle this? ⋯⋯.
Selvier cringed at the thought of asking her for help. She discarded the idea immediately. It would be better to struggle through with just the three of them than to witness that sight.
And if they called Bennet, Envers would bitch about it.
Let’s think. Think. To stop Jay from drawing his sword without relying on magic, they’d need to physically grab the hilt and press it back in—faster than Jay could pull it out.
Speed was the key. If they lacked it naturally, they’d have to enhance it. But how? Within the limits of Selvier’s fire magic, there was only one method she knew to increase speed.
“Ah Envers. Let’s attach a propellant to your elbow.”
“Oh.”
"⋯⋯⋯⋯??"
The plan was to launch his arm like a rocket.
◆ Elbow Booster: Third Attempt
After the first trial ended with an exploded elbow and the second with Envers elbowing himself in the ribs due to angle issues, they were now on their third attempt.
Selvier explained the modifications she had made to the spell.
"Since it seemed too risky for me to control the launch timing myself⋯⋯ I've embedded the trigger in you. When you extend your arm, flames will shoot out, and your speed will skyrocket in an instant. Be careful with the angle this time."
"⋯⋯Are you not going to apologize?"
“Magic research has always required a bit of sacrifice from the beginning.”
“That line sounded like something a typical crazy wizard would say out of a fairytale.”
Had this not been in the Tower of Trials, Envers would have become a one-armed swordsman with broken ribs.
Envers cautiously approached Jay with an uneasy expression. Jay was known to use Battōjutsu the moment anyone entered his range, so the timing had to be perfect.
Jay growled, and spat out his signature line.
“Get out of here, prey.”
"⋯⋯⋯⋯."
It was a line Envers had heard countless times before. Just like Jenny of the Chainscythe, they always repeated the same words at the start of a battle. That was why he couldn’t see them as human.
“I am coming.”
“Propellant, activate!”
Puhwaaaak──!!
A fierce burst of flames erupted from Envers's elbow. His right arm, propelled by an immense force, shot forward like an arrow (and this is no exaggeration) and──
Shove. Click.
Before Jay could unsheathe his sword, Envers managed to grab the scabbard and push it back in. The joy of success momentarily made him forget the searing pain in his elbow joint, and he let out a cheer.
"⋯⋯I, I did it!"
"⋯⋯Cheap trick."
"Ugh⋯⋯!!"
Jay hit Envers in the jaw with a sharp uppercut, followed by a body check with his shoulder, then finished him off with a swift Battōjutsu slash.
Slice. Envers was cut in two and kicked out of the Tower of Trials.
===============================================================
Envers gave a satisfied user review.
“The propellant seems effective. However, the problem is what comes afterward.”
"We need to keep his sword bound while defeating him⋯⋯ But we don't have enough firepower to take Jay down in a single attack. Despite his appearance, he’s quite tanky."
“So, we need to immobilize him for a while and finish him within that window. But the propellant is single-use, so it has a limit⋯⋯."
“Should we just call Bennet after all?”
Envers fired back.
“Then maybe I should just call Miss Snow White instead. Would she not be more suited to handle this?”
Envers and Selvier fell into a silent truce. Then, they simultaneously sighed. They thought they had seen hope, but the path ahead was still steep.
Meanwhile, Luna, who had entered the Tower of Trials to analyze Jay's combat patterns, reemerged. There was a certain gleam in her eyes, smug as if she were showing off.
Envers had great expectations as he asked.
“Did you find something?”
“Pattern? No answer. But I learned, this.”
Luna motioned for Envers to raise his guard. Doubtful, he lifted his arms defensively as Luna prepared to throw a punch.
And then—
Bam──!!
Luna's fist, moving at twice its normal speed, slammed into Envers’s arm, accompanied by a crack. Both of them writhed in sharp pain.
“Ugh!”
"⋯⋯!!"
Shocked by the unexpected force, they clutched their respective injuries—Luna's hand and Envers's arm—groaning in pain. Watching this, Selvier gasped, covering her mouth in disbelief.
“Ve-vee.”
Inside the Tower of Trials, even if you died or got injured it was an illusion. Taking advantage of that, Luna had somehow created a new Mana technique out of nowhere.
It was a method that increased propulsion by forcibly detonating Mana at the joints—inspired by Selvier's arm-launching-propellant.
However, if you mess up the controls even just a little, it could cause your body to implode, or your muscles to fail from the excessive force, or your bones to shatter, as Luna's fist just had.
But that could be resolved with practice inside the tower!
If this technique could be perfected for the entire body, it might allow them to generate speeds fast enough to keep up with Jay—though at the cost of extreme joint pain.
"⋯⋯Should we just go to the shrine first? You guys look like you’re in a lot of pain."
"L-Let us do that. I believe that my arm is broken. Luna⋯⋯ Was it that you were angry because I said we should not call anyone, or something?"
“Control miss.”
Why hasn’t this great technique been recorded in history? Why had no one else thought of it before? Why could only the Academy’s genius girl come up with it so easily?
The answer wasn’t that they couldn’t—it’s that they hadn’t. There was a reason people avoided such things.
It was a technique that caused explosions within the body. It was obviously dangerous. Even if you had about thirty lives and a team of ten priests by your side, it was still unstable enough to leave permanent damage. That was why no one dared to try it.
However, thanks to the tower’s distinct characteristic and Luna’s talent combined──
“What do these crazy fuckers think that a human body is⋯⋯?! Hey, hey Heavenly Demon! Quickly, make, make that thing fit for human use! The kid’s gonna die!”
The Crazy Wizard, who was shocked by this use of Mana, secretly slipped an idea to Luna by running an AI to improve safety, which led to its creation.
Luna called it the Ignition.