Ch.292The Eve (5)

Time had passed.

Before he knew it, there were less than two days remaining, and Llewellyn was gripped by anxiety, wondering if his preparations were truly sufficient.

The uncertainty of both the outcome and what might happen was planting seeds of unease within him.

Though rough predictions were possible, trying to understand the incomprehensible and predict the unpredictable was ultimately the most meaningless endeavor.

Llewellyn focused on what he could actually do.

“You’ve come again today.”

In that sense, the Elven Abbot was unlike any human Llewellyn had ever encountered.

He wasn’t the type who possessed naturally superior physical abilities yet failed to properly understand technique.

Considering that most humans who had taught Llewellyn until now had been that way, this was a refreshing change.

Thanks to him, Llewellyn was able to deeply understand his own body and martial arts.

That’s what martial arts was—approaching from a completely different perspective and rebuilding from the fundamental level.

Llewellyn broke down his techniques completely and relearned them from the basics.

For ordinary humans, this process would likely distort their existing proficiency and technical form.

But Llewellyn was different.

“It’s good to see such enthusiasm.”

He had passion. A talent for martial arts that had remained dormant until now was blooming.

Martial talent wasn’t just about knowing how to move one’s body; finding joy in that movement and being able to immerse oneself in it was also a talent.

Llewellyn possessed that talent.

It was pure joy. Moving his body and gradually finding patterns in those movements.

When movements connected to form martial arts, and those martial arts blossomed into techniques in his hands.

Though not as much as gaming, Llewellyn enjoyed it. He never imagined it would be this enjoyable to learn and master martial arts directly, rather than just memorizing information displayed on a status window.

‘Well, I did enjoy soccer too.’

If he’d had money, he might have joined a Taekwondo academy, but he never got the chance, so this was his first time experiencing such pleasure.

The Elven Abbot smiled faintly at Llewellyn’s words.

“It happens sometimes. People who live their entire lives without knowing this joy, only to discover it late when they begin training.”

“Really?”

“Mostly mages. Most of our regular disciples who stayed at the monastery after getting a taste for it while learning self-defense were like that.”

“Oh…”

That was information he hadn’t known before. Come to think of it, even in the game, there seemed to be more human elders than elves when visiting the monastery.

“Though I’m sure having a good teacher helps too.”

Llewellyn said this, and the Elven Abbot bowed in gratitude.

But it wasn’t just flattery. Llewellyn thought about the people who had taught him until now.

They were all geniuses.

Whether skilled in controlling their bodies or quick to understand techniques.

Either way, they were the type who wielded innate talents. The most notable among them was the Sword Saint.

A man who became the continent’s greatest swordsman without formal training, simply by wielding a sword for revenge and mastering it through combat.

Because of this, his teaching methods were incredibly vague.

‘You position your waist like this, and when you swing, it’s about transferring power from your toes to your fingertips. What? The power isn’t coming through? Well, just put more power into it, right?’

Lucilla was similar.

Lorian was somewhat similar, and so was Melody. They all built their swordsmanship and techniques through effort, but…

The problem was that they were all born geniuses.

So this was the first time Llewellyn was being taught by a master who wasn’t a genius.

“I am no genius. I reached this position through the long time given to elves, many opportunities, and good fortune.”

True to his word, he wasn’t an extraordinary fighter. In terms of skill, he barely followed in the footsteps of the Dragon King.

Considering the Dragon King was the continent’s finest, historically unparalleled, beyond even the greatest of geniuses, the fact that he could follow those footsteps at all showed his talent wasn’t insignificant.

But he had aptitude rather than genius.

The driving force that brought him this far seemed to be the effort, time, and experience he had accumulated.

As a result, his teachings were both genuinely helpful and interesting.

It was also fascinating that he didn’t limit himself to just hand-to-hand combat.

“From hand-to-hand combat extends dagger techniques. The short engagement distance of daggers is inevitably influenced by unarmed combat. And by applying what you learn from dagger techniques, you can reach swordsmanship.”

Now Llewellyn understood why Eshatherna handled daggers so fantastically. Following his teacher’s guidance faithfully, Llewellyn analyzed and fully embodied the martial arts that had formed and settled within him.

The air howls as it follows his extended hand, his fist.

Following the extended fist, he swings his elbow, and as if following the elbow’s trajectory, he twists his body to deliver a roundhouse kick.

The blade-like kick naturally slices through the air. A powerful strike that would cut a human in half at the waist.

But unlike before, delivering such a powerful strike didn’t create openings. After the roundhouse kick, Llewellyn lowered his posture to the ground and sprang forward, throwing a punch.

There was no opponent. No one to receive the blow. Yet anyone watching could feel its power.

The air trembled with a humming sound. The created storm tousled his hair, then subsided without any resistance.

“There is an eye in the storm. A place where no wind reaches, existing in complete stillness. You are that eye. No matter what attack you make, do not be swayed by your own wind.”

That was the core. Combo attacks, precision strikes, power strikes.

Even with the strongest physique, attacks have recoil, and one is bound to be swayed by their own power.

Llewellyn learned how not to be.

To escape the influence of his own attacks and harmonize all techniques continuously.

After that, it was simple. It was just a matter of integrating all the martial arts Llewellyn possessed.

Words are always easy, but in Llewellyn’s case, it wasn’t difficult.

He had a good teacher, and the techniques Llewellyn had learned were perfectly implanted within him, down to the last detail.

Llewellyn spent most of his remaining time this way.

There was little else he could do inside the Pantheon, and Llewellyn’s own value lay in his overwhelming combat power.

No one said anything about it. At most, Eshatherna would pester him about whether he was going to play the game.

But for now, Llewellyn was busy redefining his martial arts.

He felt an intuition that it would be completed soon.

[Play Time: 11,017 hours]

By the time only one day remained of the scheduled time, Llewellyn finally completed it.

[Proficiency]

[Proficiency Bonus: +8]

[Weapon Proficiency: Simple Weapons, Martial Weapons, Small Shields, Medium Shields, Large Shields]

[Armor Proficiency: Light Armor, Medium Armor, Heavy Armor]

His proficiency bonus had increased. It was one of the visible ways Llewellyn could confirm his progress.

Originally, the human limit was +6.

Since +6 was the level of a master, most beings, including Lucilla, could not grow further once they reached 6.

But was that really true?

Looking at the Sword Saint, Llewellyn realized it might not be.

The Sword Saint possessed skills that couldn’t be expressed by the number 6.

And Llewellyn realized he had reached the same level as the Sword Saint, perhaps even beyond.

‘…There’s nothing different.’

But there was no change.

There was no sense of magical enlightenment or feeling that everything had changed from within.

When he first reached proficiency 6, he felt like everything had changed from within, but this time there was nothing like that.

When Llewellyn expressed this doubt, the Elven Abbot laughed gently.

“When you wake up in the morning, do your arms and legs, which you had yesterday as well, feel new to you? Probably not.”

“What do you mean?”

“The techniques have already perfectly fused with you. It means they’ve become as natural as moving your limbs, moving your eyes, breathing, and making your heart beat.”

He seemed to recall similar expressions in martial arts novels he’d read before. Llewellyn didn’t feel like he had reached such a state, but…

“And from what I can see, you have definitely reached that level. Congratulations.”

He trusted the Elven Abbot’s judgment and the status window.

At this point, not trusting it would be strange, considering how much this status window had helped Llewellyn in every way.

How many times had he saved his life thanks to this status window?

Looking at the proficiency display that appeared in the corner of his vision, Llewellyn thought:

‘…So what exactly is this, and who gave it to me?’

He still didn’t know what this status window was.

A status window that provided Llewellyn with automatic translation and understanding of all languages, allowed him to learn skills that couldn’t be learned, and gave him a growth curve similar to games that the game-familiar Llewellyn was used to.

At first, he thought it might have been his father’s doing, but it wasn’t, nor was it his mother Netel’s help.

Assistance from something that was neither mother nor father.

Yet something without the creepy aura typical of transcendents.

Nevertheless, Llewellyn felt something very familiar about the status window.

A status window that had grown alongside Llewellyn, too faint to ask around about.

The reputation window had solidified and no longer moved, and some functions seemed broken or malfunctioning.

Llewellyn believed that the reason for his divine nature and the continuation of his journey so far lay in the status window.

He just couldn’t understand exactly what principles and structures it operated on.

Pondering wouldn’t yield answers.

Time passed indifferently. Despite completing all preparations and doing everything possible, anxiety still crept in.

[Play Time: 11,039 hours]

That day arrived.

*

A day that began without incident. When everyone was on guard, equipped with everything they had prepared for the great battle.

Llewellyn looked up at the sky from the highest point of the Pantheon.

He could strongly sense Netel there.

Everything prepared to close the world was in that place.

To finally close the world and free this realm forever.

As everyone in the Pantheon, humans and animals alike, naturally raised their heads to look at the sky.

—KUUUUUUNG!

With a sudden sound that split the air, the sky changed.

A universe shining with all colors, beautiful yet ominous, was revealed.

Llewellyn saw the fate of the entire world shining brilliantly above.

The final battle had begun.