Multivers, Leveling Up in the World I Created

Chapter 418: 418 Return to the Volcano 4

[Terminating Warhammer world.]

[Calculating rewards...]

[Demetrian Titus Relationship Level 3]

[Valorem Gadriel Relationship Level 2]

[Meduras Chairon Relationship Level 2]

[Noxik Beta-12 Relationship Level 2]

[Sebastus Acheran Relationship Level 1]

[Chaplain Relationship Level 1]

[...]

[...]

[Reward for Warhammer progression: 12,517 points acquired.]

[You can no longer progress the story. Would you like to see the ending?]

"No."

I had intended to reset the Warhammer world, but contrary to my expectations, I could draw infinite energy from the Warp, and I might revisit it later—so I left it as is.

I checked the [Sentry Serum] ability—it was still at 1,270, leaving 730 more points to go. Each absorption gave 10 points, so I needed 73 more absorptions. I looked at the status window to see what else I could raise.

’Hmm... [(S) Archery], [(S) Spearmanship], [(S) Blunt Weapon Mastery]...’

Looking around, the easiest targets seemed to be weapon skills—there was no staff mastery, and [Martial Arts] was still at SSS rank.

’I’ll have to go to a Murim world.’

With that thought settled, I entered the previously paused world of Volcanic Return.

The first thing I noticed upon entering was that Murim had the best air quality.

"Hmm~ Ah... phytoncides."

"Master, you’re saying strange things again. Is that from the Western regions?"

"Y-yeah."

I was at the estate I’d built earlier in Sichuan as a residence, and the middle-aged man beside me was the steward managing it.

"Any issues at the estate?"

"No, most of the refugees have left, and those who stayed have been given suitable work."

"Good. For now, with new people moving in and remnants of the Demonic Cult causing trouble, things will be noisy—stay vigilant. And keep gathering information."

"Understood."

The steward replied but lingered, looking like he had more to say.

"What? Something on your mind?"

"Well... some of the estate workers lost their homes in the recent troubles. Their families won’t be able to return for a while..."

"Really? Then let them stay at the estate and give them proper work. How many children are at the estate now?"

"About thirty."

Given the era, having many children at the estate was expected.

"Hmm... That’s quite a few. Since we’re far from the city, sending them to a school would be difficult. Send someone to the city to find a scholar willing to live at the estate and teach the children."

The steward was delighted.

"Understood, Master!"

"Ah, and are there any martial artists at the estate?"

I asked this to train some guards for the estate.

"Yes, there is. His name is Jang Howi—he’s currently the head of security. He was a mercenary who fled to Sichuan with his family during the Demonic Cult’s chaos, and after staying here, he started working for us. He’s a decent man—he looked after not only his own family but also other refugees."

"Really? What level is his martial arts?"

"I’m not well-versed in martial arts, so I can’t say for sure, but people say he’s at least a mid-tier expert..."

"Weapon?"

"Sword."

"I see. Are the guards learning from him?"

"Yes."

"Then tell him I’ll raise his pay if he’s willing to teach those who want to learn—children included."

"Understood. I’ll suggest it."

After giving those instructions, the next day I went to the training ground, as Jang Howi had agreed. Having been a mercenary, he had picked up a variety of techniques—his level was decent, and he seemed like a good person, so I left it to him.

We also quickly found a scholar to teach the children. He was another refugee from Sichuan—he asked to bring his family along, and I agreed. Reading his memories, he wasn’t a bad person, but he was a bit problematic—he wanted to take an official post once his family’s situation improved. Still, that wasn’t happening anytime soon, so I decided to hire him.

With the estate’s matters mostly settled, I began to move. The martial arts world had lost many experts due to the Demonic Cult incident, so I didn’t want to stir things up there. Instead, I used [Stealth] at night and went to the imperial palace, absorbing abilities from the sleeping Imperial Guard—focusing on archers and spearmen.

[[(C) Archery] ability absorbed.]

[[(D) Archery] ability absorbed.]

[[(F) Archery] ability absorbed.]

[[(D) Archery] ability absorbed.]

[[(C) Archery] ability absorbed.]

[[(D) Archery] ability absorbed.]

[...]

[...]

[[(SSS) Archery] ability upgraded to [(EX) Archery].]

[[(C) Spearmanship] ability absorbed.]

[[(B) Spearmanship] ability absorbed.]

[[(F) Spearmanship] ability absorbed.]

[[(C) Spearmanship] ability absorbed.]

[[(D) Spearmanship] ability absorbed.]

[[(D) Spearmanship] ability absorbed.]

[...]

[...]

[[(SSS) Spearmanship] ability upgraded to [(EX) Spearmanship].]

After absorbing everything, I felt a bit worried—’Am I going to ruin the imperial palace?’ I didn’t absorb the swordsmen, so they’d manage. All the miscellaneous martial arts knowledge was absorbed into [(EX) Divine Martial Primordial Unity].

’Huff... Finally at 2000. Thank you for the meal.’

With the [Sentry Serum] complete, explosive power surged through my body. I could definitely feel the physical enhancement.

’I’ll need to be careful with control.’

Now only Staff Mastery, Blunt Weapon Mastery, and Martial Arts remained. I planned to steal or train those slowly—the Murim world was still healing.

Three months later, a servant gathering information in the city brought news. The remnants of the Demonic Cult had attacked the Huashan Sect, killing disciples and causing a major stir. Other sects had been hesitant, but after seeing Huashan fall, they hurriedly gathered experts to hunt down the remaining cultists.

’Now I just have to wait.’

For the time being, I planned to avoid trouble and focus on training while creating a dungeon—called the ’Divine Treasury.’

’Heheh, later when I’m bored, I’ll release some treasure maps.’

Training went smoothly. I sent clones to an uninhabited island in the Pacific to train—since I already had all the martial arts knowledge, there were no major issues. The only downside was the lack of staff-based martial arts. Fortunately, I realized axes fell under blunt weapon mastery, so I could select and train with martial arts that used axes.

The dungeon project also progressed without problems. I’d already analyzed the composition of luminous pearls and cold iron, so building the basic structure wasn’t difficult. I also had access to zombie-making techniques from the imperial archives, the formations and mechanisms of the Zhuge family, and the knowledge of the Medicine King—so I could design various traps suited to a Murim world.

Building dungeons was so fun that I lost track of time—ten years had passed before I knew it. This showed just how much of a villain I really was, being so devoted to pranking others.

Of course, I didn’t just build dungeons. I managed the estate well enough that while it wasn’t a sect, the Jin Estate had gained some recognition in Sichuan. I helped organize Jang Howi’s somewhat crude martial arts and trained the children diligently. In gratitude, he was called Master Jang, and though the techniques weren’t exceptional, we created the Jin Estate’s own martial arts manual.

’I just introduced myself as Jin—so now my family name is Jin and my given name is also Jin. That makes me Jin Jin, I guess?’

I didn’t just spend money—the estate’s disciples took on escort jobs for merchants, gaining practical experience and earning income. This caused some friction with the Sichuan Tang Clan, but to avoid trouble, I acknowledged them as the top family in Sichuan and gave them face, so it ended amicably.

’Tch, the Tang Clan immediately tried to restrain us just because we started doing a little business.’

This wasn’t just the Tang Clan’s problem—any region would be the same. That’s just how this era worked.

With plenty of time passed, I occasionally absorbed abilities from Shaolin Temple that I lacked. I didn’t do it en masse—only when training alone couldn’t raise an ability from SSS to EX, I’d visit and absorb from one or two monks. I made sure to keep it moderate so Shaolin wouldn’t collapse.

As a result, Staff Mastery, Blunt Weapon Mastery, and Martial Arts all reached EX rank, and all weapon skills—Sword, Spear, Staff, Blunt, Archery—merged into [(EX) Weapon Mastery].

[(EX) Weapon Mastery]

Maximizes proficiency with all weapons; doubles the power of any weapon used.

’Doubling power... nice.’

Interestingly, because I was absorbing abilities, rumors spread of a strange illness near Shaolin Temple in Henan—a disease that made people forget their martial arts. I just laughed it off and paid no attention.

But one problem arose: as time passed, everyone at the estate grew older, while I remained unchanged. So I created a clone to pose as my son and used [Transformation] to gradually age my appearance each year. Of course, the "son" was a child, and I had to claim he came from the Western regions where I’d supposedly lived.

One day, I heard that the Huashan Sect was selling off their accumulated assets. It seemed they were in serious trouble, just like in the original. There was also talk that the declining Huashan would be replaced in the Nine Great Sects by the Hainan Sect—and Huashan couldn’t even protest. The story was progressing as expected, but I still had no intention of helping.

’I can’t help until Yi-seol is born.’

I could almost hear Cheongmyeong cursing me, but I ignored it.

The scholar who’d been teaching the children eventually failed the imperial exams and returned to keep teaching. So I didn’t need to find a new scholar. I heard he failed due to lack of connections.

’He was a capable friend—shame... This really is a land of connections.’

Now nearly twenty years had passed since I arrived. The dungeons were complete, and the treasure maps were ready. I was tempted to release them into the Murim world immediately, but I held back—releasing them now would cause bloodshed and might affect the original story.

With all that done, I decided to return to the Western regions, leaving the estate to my "son." I was getting tired of pretending to age. The estate was in an uproar—the steward, who’d been with me for so long, wept bitterly.

"Take good care of my son."

"Understood, Master. I don’t know how much longer I’ll live, but I’ll serve him to the best of my ability."

After putting on the act of leaving, I dismissed the clone and resumed managing the estate in my youthful form. It was troublesome, but necessary to avoid suspicion.

Over time, the estate had gained many disciples—those who had trained under Master Jang had married and had children who also became disciples, so the numbers had grown. I had to build a new training ground to accommodate them.

We participated in martial arts tournaments hosted by the orthodox sects, but didn’t achieve notable results. Still, the experience helped the disciples improve slightly.

I had no intention of teaching them powerful martial arts or personally training them to become strong. I wanted to maintain the estate’s current status so it wouldn’t draw attention from the Murim world. But I also didn’t want to suppress their growth, so I supported their tournament expenses and provided moderately priced elixirs—it would feel bad if they went out and got beaten by nobodies.

Relations with nearby families and sects weren’t bad either—at least to the point of exchanging greetings when we met. The tournaments probably helped, and some disciples had married into local families.