Chapter 70: Chapter 64: The Treasury
The Vice Head led the trainees through a long passageway. Finally they reached another gate. He said, "Inside this room are famous weapons. They are incredibly strong and some are even demonic weapons. As you go down, the weapons will only get stronger. But stronger doesn’t mean better.
If the weapon you choose is so strong that you can’t even use it properly, then it is of no use. Not to mention, you are not the only one choosing. If you choose a weapon but the weapon doesn’t choose you, just leave it. Also, going down isn’t easy."
The trainees looked confused. He said, "You’ll understand what I mean. Cherish this opportunity. Usually, only the leaders of the three Upper Squads are given an opportunity to choose a weapon from here. Now enter"
The trainees said, "Yes Sir."
As soon as they entered, Zeke started looking for a two bladed swordstaff. The layout of the room was very similar to that of the warehouse where they had chosen their first weapons. Maybe it was inspired by this room. He looked in every nook and cranny, but was unable to find what he was looking for. He had no choice but to head down to the next level.
He walked towards the stairs. As soon as he put his foot on the first stair, he was sent flying. The trainees stared at his sorry figure in shock. Outside, the Vice Head said, "So someone finally tried going to the next level, huh."
Inside the room, Zeke stood up from the ground and patted the dust off his clothes. He said, "I’m fine. was just unprepared."
The trainees also nodded. It had to be a mistake. After all, if even Rank 1 couldn’t go down, then how would they? If Zeke could hear what they were thinking, he would say, ’That you definitely can’t go downstairs. Especially Team 2.’
He wasn’t biased or anything but they still couldn’t use Intent. They were close, but not quite there yet. And when he had stepped on the first step, he was blasted by all kinds of Weapon Intents. And it wasn’t just Weapon Intents, but also their accompanying Intents as well. Like, he definitely felt Ax Intent along with Splitting Intent.
Zeke suddenly smiled. Now he understood why this was a reward. The reward wasn’t just a weapon but also the opportunity to hone their Intents. Zeke had been unable to comprehend the Two Bladed Swordstaff Intent until now. Maybe this could help him.
He once again walked towards the stairs and put his foot firmly on the first step. He was again blasted by multiple Intents but this time, he was ready. He used the various Intents that he comprehended until now, the ones that he had used to complete his Hell Qi, to defend himself. Under the barrage of the Weapon Intents, he could feel his Intents becoming more pure. He could feel them becoming more relevant.
This way, he started walking downstairs until he was on the last step. No matter what he did, he couldn’t cross it. It was as if something was blocking him. He didn’t know why this was happening. It was as if he was lacking something. He looked in front of him.
Just one more step and he would be able to choose a weapon. Weapon...Zeke almost slapped his own forehead. How could he be so stupid.
Of course he was unable to take the final step. He still hadn’t comprehended a Weapon Intent. He sat down right there and started thinking. His choice of weapon, the two bladed swordsatff, was a variation of the sword. What was a sword’s function?
It was nothing fancy like kill, or slay all enemies. No, it was something much simpler. Something much purer. A sword’s function was to simply cut. And to cut, it needed to be sharp.
That was it. No matter what you do, slash, stab, anything really. A sword’s sole goal was to cut everything in its wielder’s path. He also understood why most swordmasters were such hard asses. It was their way of life. A two bladed swordstaff was the same.
No matter what came in his way, he would simply cut it. Not only that, he would cut it continuously. Until nothing blocked him.
His eyes suddenly opened. Unbeknownst to him, the Asuran Neo-Nephilim Primogenitor had an extra pair of wings. He just felt that his mind had become extremely clear and his Intents gathered in his hand. It was the first time that he was manifesting Intent without any medium.
(Hell Qi can also be considered as a medium.)
These pure Intents didn’t want to mix with each other. But then his newly comprehended Cutting Intent, Sharpness Intent and Two Bladed Swordstaff Intent trapped them. The Cutting Intent and Sharpness Intent literally threatened the other Intents into blending in with each other.
It was weird thinking of Intents as something alive but that was how it felt. All of the Intents blended and fused into a two bladed sworstaff in his hand. He imagined the blockade in front of him as something physical and said, "Cut."
He slashed the Intents that were stopping him. The wall of Intents suddenly disappeared. He had successfully walked into the second level. The first thing that he did wasn’t look for weapons but sit down. He started circulating his cultivation technique and infused this new fusion of Intents that he had just used.
It felt as if tiny sharp swords were swimming inside his meridians. But he persevered. Finally, the Intent was completely infused into his Hell Qi. The lotuses inside his Lower energy Core also changed.
They became more solid and their petals had become extremely sharp, almost as if they had been crafted from metal. Zeke didn’t know how it would affect him but it couldn’t be bad, right?
Once all of this was done, he entered his mental realm. He wanted to see what had caused that burst of clearness. He was surprised to find nine pairs of wings instead of eight. He finally understood what had happened.
When he had comprehended the Cutting, Sharpness, and Two Bladed Swordstaff Intents, he had also made a very firm personal conviction that came from the inside.
That had caused his Will to break through to the SSS Grade. That’s also why he was able to use Reality Materialization without any mediums or tricks. It was genuine Reality Materialization. He then exited his mental realm to do what he had come here for.
Choosing a weapon. He looked at weapons in the room. Although they were a lot less than on the first floor, there were still many. Thankfully, there were also several two bladed swordstaffs. He tried them all but none of them really fit.
One of them was ginormous. It didn’t look like it was made for humans. Leonel might be able to use it but the man was 2.1m tall. So, he moved on. The rest had suitable sizes but didn’t feel comfortable.
When he had first picked up the two bladed swordstaff in that warehouse, he had felt as if it was a part of his body. He was looking for that feeling. After trying everything thrice just to make sure that he hadn’t missed anything, he looked at the staircase.
He was gonna try heading down to the next floor. He walked towards the staircase, and very carefully put his foot down on the first step. He was sent flying almost instantly.
Also this time, he was physically injured. The Intents weren’t just barraging his mind but also his body. He thought, ’So this is another opportunity. Now I can train my body much faster.’
(Masochist.)
[Shut up. You won’t understand.]
He got up and tried again. And he was sent flying once more. He didn’t know how long he had been doing this but finally, he was able to put his foot down without flying. While this was happening, almost everybody had chosen their weapons on the first floor. Team 2 had also comprehended Weapon Intents with the help of the staircase. All of them got out. The Vice head looked at them and said, "Where is Ryeong?"
Woong replied, "He couldn’t find a weapon on the first floor, so he went downstairs. We haven’t seen him since."
The Vice Head said, "Then we’ll wait for him. It shouldn’t take him long."
His words were proven untrue as three hours had passed and there was still no sign of Zeke. He heard a voice in his head, "Little Ki-Hyun, the time is up. Get the brats out of there."
He said, "Senior, Ryeong is still inside. I think he is on the second level."
The voice said, "That is impressive. But rules are rules. You only had permission for six hours. Get him out."
The Vice Head sighed and said, "Yes Senior."
He was about to enter the treasury but heard another voice in his head, "Leave him be."
It was a deep commanding voice. As soon as the Vice Head heard it, he froze. Then the old man’s voice again resounded in his head, "Listen to what that brat Seo-Jin is saying. You take the little brats out and I’ll bring the one inside myself."
The Vice Head heaved a sigh of relief and said, "Someone else will escort Ryeong when he comes out. We will leave now."
