Chapter 95 (1/2)

Episode 95. The War of the Stars (1)

After meeting with the Great Sage, I returned to my private training place instead of going back home.

“I should clean up.”

I was a mess because I stayed at the Monster Fields for quite a while. Unlike the common training camp, there was no one here to manage the place. I swept away the dust and took off my jacket.

“Come on. We’re at someplace quiet. There’s no one here but me.”

[Hmm… It seems so.]

The Traveler nodded with his hand on his chin. Not even my team members knew this place. I had secretly secured this private training place to practice using the Akashic Records.

In order to keep my newly obtained ability secret from everyone and prevent them from catching the smallest clue; so, I could just focus on training.

“Why did you ask for a separate space like this? Whatever you do, nobody can see you anyway…….”

[Didn’t you ask for help? Then things will be a little different from now on.]

“What?”

[I will remain invisible, but your form will become somewhat strange.]

What are you talking about? I wanted to ask, but I couldn’t. I was speechless. The sensation I had felt before returned. The feeling of my body being frozen stiff. It seemed time had stopped only for me. The Traveler slowly came towards me.

[It’s going to hurt a little bit, but hold on. You said you wanted to become strong, didn’t you?]

Wrinkled hands stretch out. The Traveler’s hand, which resembled those of an old man, changed its shape little by little. They slithered like a worm, and the five fingers split into ten. The ten fingers soon became twenty. The fingers divided endlessly, becoming dozens of tentacles, and dug into my body.

“…Ugh.”

I closed my lips but couldn’t help but gasp. I was confident in my ability to endure pain.

I had experienced all kinds of pain, and I was good at holding out. Since I was more desperate than others, I always thought that I should at least be good at enduring.

But this feeling was on a different level from the pain I had experienced all my life.

[Hold on.]

It felt like thunder was crashing down inside my head every second. Every vein and every nerve ached. Sticky saliva trickled down from my lower lip to my chin. My head throbbed. It felt like my mind was going to fly far away. It was like someone was hammering my entire body over and over again.

[If you collapse, it’s over. I won’t help you anymore. Hang in there.]

That one word brought me back to my senses. I can’t give up. I couldn’t let such a tragedy happen again. The countless events and emotions that formed me stimulated my mind.

“Ggu.. gguaa… arghhhh…….”

A strange sound came out. The voice was so cracked that I wondered if it was my voice.

Craaack.

I could hear the sound of my joints and bones breaking. My intestines were ripped to pieces, and my blood dried up. But I had to hold on. It was better to die in the process than to lose the chance of saving everyone.

How much time had passed? The extreme pain began to change into something different.

[Good. Hang in there a bit longer.]

The broken bones reattach. The ripped apart intestines formed again, and the blood that had dried up gushed once more. I could hear the loud beating of my heart.

My body transforms with every single beat. The throbbing headache stopped, and my eyes began to clear. My acute senses that had been strengthened by my high level of ability were nothing compared to this. Something essential had grown within me.

“…Haargh!”

The chill enveloping my body disappeared. My frozen body was not stiff anymore. I fell to the floor. Drops of sweat had entirely soaked my clothes. My hands pressing on the ground were shaking. I was exhausted. It felt like I had lost all my muscles.

[Good job. Rest like that for a moment.]

Said the Traveler casually, looking at me. Breathing heavily, I looked up at him and asked.

“What have you done……?”

[I expanded your capability by force. It destroyed your body right up to the point of death and reassembled it even stronger by rapidly healing it.]

“…….”

I didn’t ask how he did it. Rather, I just remembered the fact that I could have actually died if I had given up. The Traveler looked down at me.

[I will repeat this training every day. Your capability is big compared to the time you spent expanding it, but it’s not enough by my standards. If you really want to be strong enough to carry the burden of everything by yourself, this is far from enough.]

“…….”

[What can you store in such a small bowl? Far from protecting humanity and the world, you won’t even be able to protect the people you care for.]

His eyes were as cold as a blade. Yes. The Traveler was right. This was not enough. You had to become a monster in order to catch a monster. I was still an inexperienced rookie.

[To teach you any skills or power, you need to have at least a usable vessel. As of now, you will turn into a pile of ash if I merely show my true self.]

“…….”

[Apart from this training, take all the power and opportunities you can get from nearby for yourself. Take in all the future information you know and accept everyone who offers to help you. An ordinary person would break down if they mixed up too many different things, but you’re not a normal person. You deal with the most massive and extensive collection of information in the entire universe.]

“…Okay.”

I nodded with difficulty. The uncleaned dust on the floor made my throat feel stuffy. After a few coughs, I changed my posture and laid down. I thought I could sleep like this all day.

Ping.

At that moment, a cheerful notification alarm rang from my phone.

“…Hmm?”