The Blessing of Spirit Mountain.
I still didn’t know its activation condition, but I had a general idea of its structure.
Basically, whenever the blessing activated, I would be transported to Spirit Mountain. Then, after training here for a certain time, I would return to my world.
However, I would return a little earlier than I’d left.
Meaning... I could alter the shitty ending of that training camp.
[Your expression has brightened a little.]
I didn’t even try to fix my face in response to Fourth Senior Brother’s words.
There was no point. He was a master of psychology who would be able to see through my expressions even if I controlled them.
Of course, I’d heard that he wasn’t actually looking into my heart but instead observing my heartbeat, blood flow, and pulse, as well as the quickness of my breathing...
“But Fourth Senior Brother, when in the past will I return to?”[Before the event that caused you to feel this despair.]
If that was the case...
It would be immediately after the training camp started, or perhaps when the second special test began.
It seemed that Fourth Senior Brother didn’t know the exact point himself. Regardless, it was enough to calm me down a little.
Returning to the very beginning—before I’d met Kayan and had to trudge through the Gem Mountains—would just be annoying.
[Now, everything is up to you. Depending on how you spend your time on Spirit Mountain, everything or nothing could change. It could even change for the worse.]
“...Please don’t say that when I haven’t done anything yet.”
[In general, humans should act with the worst-case scenario in mind. To borrow the words of our master...]
“Getting hit while knowing you’re going to get hit is better than getting hit while unaware you’re going to get hit?”
[Correct.]
We laughed for a moment while looking at each other.
“Then are you going to be overseeing my training for the next 100 days?”
[I don’t have any talent in teaching others. My job here only entails being someone you can talk to.]
“Hmm... Then what about sparring?”
[If you want, it’s possible, but I don’t know if we will have the time.]
Even though I have 100 days?
I didn’t ask that, instead just nodding.
For some reason, I felt a little lost.
“But training... I’m drawing a blank on what I should be doing right now.”
[That’s why I’m here. Tell me what happened and I’ll give you advice on what training you need.]
“Shall I?”
Honestly, I wanted to tell someone everything I had experienced and everything I had felt.
Also, Fourth Senior Brother was as great at listening as Eldest Senior Brother.
I gave a short summary of everything I had experienced in the training camp.
Fourth Senior Brother didn’t interrupt a single time, only nodding along to my words. Thanks to that, even though the story was long, I was able to explain everything without breaking my flow.
When I finished my story, Fourth Senior Brother asked me a question.
[Tell me in detail about the demon lord you saw.]
“Hmm... First, it was unbelievably huge. I was a little out of it at that point, so I couldn’t see it properly, but just being in its presence felt like standing at the foot of a mountain. It looked like it was wearing a straw mat or something, and it had a mask that looked like a skull...”
This time as well, Fourth Senior Brother only said something after hearing everything I had to say.
[That’s enough about its appearance. You said that powerful people died instantly. Tell me more about that process.]
“...Sure? There wasn’t really any ‘process’. It just pointed at them with its finger.”
I pointed at my senior brother like the demon lord had.
“Everyone it pointed at died. They became a puddle of black blood. I know you don’t like this description, but...”
[It was like magic?]
“Yes.”
Fourth Senior Brother thought for a moment.
[From what I’ve heard, it doesn’t seem like the demon lord had fully manifested. But if it could exercise that much authority, then it is on a completely different level from you. Though, that’s expected since that demon lord is supposed to be on par with Eldest Senior Brother.]
“I see... I guess I’ll ask this now: how strong is Eldest Senior Brother?”
[Hm.]
Fourth Senior Brother seemed to think for a moment.
Beep, beep. The interior of his helmet lit up with lights as he made interesting sounds.
[It’s natural, but he is the strongest of us five disciples.]
“I know that.”
[To put it more simply... Second Senior Sister, Third Senior Brother, me, and you... if all four of us were to fight him together, we only have about a fifty percent chance of winning. And if Senior Sister Cheon is not with us, that probability drops significantly.]
“That much?”
[Yes.]
To be honest, I hadn’t expected such a large gap in strength.
I wasn’t overestimating myself. Rather, my seniors were all very powerful.
If Fourth Senior Brother was correct, then other than Second Senior Sister, none of us were a match for Eldest Senior Brother.
[And he has likely consumed our master’s Spirit Pill by now. He’s not the type to be lazy in his training either, so Eldest Senior Brother will be much stronger than even I remember.]
“...Thank you for that demotivating information.”
Fourth Senior Brother smiled.
[Let’s get back to our original topic. In your training camp, two entities can be considered your primary foes: the high priest and the demon lord.]
“That’s right.”
[Firstly, we don’t need any specific plan for attacking the high priest. If you can train yourself to reach that level, you’ll be able to defeat him one day. The problem is the demon lord. By my calculations, the ways to oppose that authority... there are only two.]
“What are those?”
[The first is to increase your defensive capabilities. Strengthen your body to the point you can resist the demon lord’s crushing authority.]
“...Hm.”
I thought back to Rook Bednicker.
Rook had been wearing the armor of the Iron Blood Knight Order, but the armor didn’t seem to have done its job.
“I think that’ll be difficult.”
[You don’t have to strengthen just your body. Increasing the total volume of your internal energy can also work.]
“You mean The Big Dipper’s Bodily Ki Infusion.”
It wasn’t an impossible task for me.
Relatively, anyway.
[Of course, there is a risk when this method fails. If the authority of the demon lord overcomes your trained endurance, you’ll die without being able to do anything.]
I had come to the same conclusion.
And it didn’t feel right to try to resist an unknown authority and power with just my bare body.
“What is the other method?”
[Move faster than the demon lord’s authority.]
I immediately understood what my senior brother was saying.
“Dodge it.”
[That’s right.]
* * * * *
* * * * *
Defend or dodge...
Those were the two ways I could try to oppose the demon lord.
It might be laughable to use the word “oppose” here, but the demon lord wasn’t an entity I needed to defeat.
“Do you think the demon lord’s attack can be dodged?”
[An entity of that level wouldn’t raise its finger just for show. You may not have noticed it, but there are probably a few conditions that need to be met to kill a target.]
“Hmm...”
[Of course, this is all just theory since I didn’t see it myself. In the end, the decision is yours.]
I nodded.
There wasn’t much I even needed to think about.
“I’ll try dodging.”
In the first place, considering the specialty of the Strongest Fire Technique, dodging fit me better than enduring.
Fourth Senior Brother nodded as if he’d expected that answer.
[All right. Then the first thing you’ll have to train is your leg strength.]
“Leg strength?”
[That’s right. And training your legs is actually quite simple: descend the mountain.]
“E-eh?”
It didn’t sound like he wanted me to leave Spirit Mountain right now.
“You mean... I should descend to the ground?”
[I’ll leave the decision up to you, but I won’t force it. It’s your life.”
“Hmm...”
[What’s important is that descending the mountain will be enough training on its own.]
“Hm...”
I had stayed on Spirit Mountain for ten years.
However, I had never gone down to the bottom of the mountain.
Did this world even have a ground to begin with?
[As I said, you have 100 days.]
“And what if I can’t descend during that period?”
[You’ll lose this opportunity.]
Fourth Senior Brother spoke with an uninterested voice.
[You’ll return not to the past but to the failed present you came from.]
...There was no choice to be made.
***
[This will help you.]
Saying that, my senior brother pulled up his sleeve.
I saw his skin for the first time in a while, and of course, it was the expected black metallic substance.
Rather than rough, his metal skin felt very smooth.
A crack appeared in his skin, and then something floated up and separated from his arm.
Clack, clang...
The separated piece of his arm changed and took on a different form.
It looked like a flying box. It had wings and its front face was smooth like glass.
[Hello, I am the additional system of RAN-4700 Type-A, remote system helper FAD.]
The thing even knew how to speak.
For some reason, its voice sounded similar to Eldest Senior Brother’s.
“What’s this flying box?”
[As it just said, it’s a remote helper. It’ll be helpful to you while you descend.]
“A helper...?”
[Its main function is long-range communications. You can talk with me through this.]
“Aha.”
So it was like a communication device.
[Call me with this if you want to give up. I’ll be watching you.]
I didn’t have even an ounce of desire to give up, but I still nodded.
“All right. Then I’ll begin going down the mountain.”
I left my senior brother behind me as I began to walk down the mountain.
It might be obvious, but 100 days wasn’t a short period of time.
Even if I were to descend from the peak of the highest of the Gem Mountains, 100 days would be more than enough to make the trip.
On the first day...
I followed a steep cliff down.
I didn’t sleep at all the entire day.
Beep.
[Current Progress: 0.06%.]
“...Uh.”
Obviously, I wasn’t taking my sweet time. I was moving at a pace fast enough that I would’ve descended any old neighborhood mountain.
But I hadn’t even made it one-thousandth of the way to the ground.
“...All right.”
I changed the way I was thinking about this.
I wasn’t here on a hike. Now wasn’t the time to relax.
I increased my pace much more on my second day.
I practically ran down the cliff.
I would plummet if I made even a single misstep, but I felt like I needed to risk at least that much.
After running the entirety of the second day, I couldn’t even see the peak anymore.
Beep.
[Current Progress: 0.31%.]
[FAD’s one-line comment: You’re as slow as a snail. Ohoho.]
“You what?”
I would’ve destroyed it if it wasn’t part of Fourth Senior Brother’s body...
I calmed my anger and checked the situation.
Problem one.
Had Spirit Mountain always been this tall?
According to my memories, that wasn’t the case.
I had made it to the halfway point of the mountain a few times on my master’s order or to train, but for some reason, this felt different. The scenery looked different as well.
“And I can’t sense a single monster...”
I’d expected the biggest obstacle to my descent to be dealing with the monsters.
However, it was as if they had all moved away or something. I hadn’t seen a single monster during my two days of travel.
Problem two.
“I’m not hungry.”
Even though I hadn’t eaten for four days, I felt neither hungry nor thirsty.
My body still felt tired, but I was recovering unusually quickly and I could tell that I wouldn’t have to sleep.
These conditions were ideal for me to only focus on descending the mountain... but at this rate, I would never be able to reach the bottom.
“Hak, huek...”
After running for a few days straight, my internal energy finally hit rock bottom.
At that time, I lay down on the ground to rest.
I thought I wouldn’t have to worry about my internal energy thanks to the mystic bead.
But it seemed I was far from that point.
“Fuu...”
I looked up at the gray sky, which was neither bright nor dark, as I lay somewhere that was neither hot nor cold and calmed my breathing.
I lay there for a while before I suddenly felt that something was off.
“...What the hell?”
Problem three.
My internal energy wasn’t recovering at all.
I quickly sat up to properly circulate my energy, but there was no sense that my spent internal energy was recovering at all.
It was as if I had a hole somewhere in my inner core.
Of course, that couldn’t be the case.
I wasn’t that hurt.
Meaning...
“...This is one of the penalties given to me by Spirit Mountain.”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
So I needed to reach the ground without using internal energy?
Bibeep.
[Contact RAN-4700 Type-A?]
[Y/N]
“...Who’s that?”
[The entity that Mr. Luan Bednicker calls “Fourth Senior Brother”.]
Hah.
I smirked and pressed the N that had appeared on the screen.
“Fine.”
I hadn’t expected this to be easy.
I looked down at the steep path covered in fog.
“It wouldn’t be Spirit Mountain if things were easy.”