Chapter 93, Swordsmanship
I struggled with it for another hour, but there was still no progress.
Thinking it might somehow be divine power, I even tried praying.
Still nothing.
At the very least, whatever the Runestone meant by things you previously could not perceive didn't seem to be mana, internal energy, or divine power.
Well, that was only natural.
The Runestone was already an extremely useful Mystery.
If I had to assign it a tier, it would be at least Tier 2.
If it also had the ability to let someone perceive mana or internal energy, it probably would've been called a 900-series Mystery.
I hadn't expected much in the first place, so I wasn't particularly disappointed.
Still, it was a shame.
If I could use magic or martial arts, I could become far stronger than I was now.
Something I realized after finishing the battle at the exhibition was that I had entered a kind of plateau.
The Flame of Human Sacrifice, which made up the core of my combat strength, already felt as though it had evolved as far as it could.
My swordsmanship was improving, but even if I judged it generously, I was only around the level of a first-rate martial artist without internal energy.
For reference, a first-rate martial artist without internal energy was roughly equal to a third-rate martial artist who did possess it.
In other words, my swordsmanship couldn't even begin to compare with the firepower of the Flame.
That made it difficult to use swordsmanship as a meaningful part of my combat strength.
Even if I continued training, it felt like it would take around a year before my swordsmanship reached the Peak Realm.
Hwa-ryeon and Near-the-Peak-of-Ascension had praised me as a swordsmanship genius, but since I barely used swordsmanship in important battles, that praise didn't really mean much to me.
Until now, I had somehow managed to resolve situations with the strength I already possessed.
But if I encountered an even stronger enemy next time, things probably wouldn't end so easily.
A large amount of luck had played a role in our previous decisive battle, after all.
I need to get stronger somehow.
The road ahead was endlessly long, yet my walking speed wasn't increasing.
I felt pressed for time.
Countless thoughts rose and sank again and again.
Is this what the martial world calls an inner demon?
The form my inner demon took was satisfaction.
That sense of satisfaction that whispered things like, Isn't this enough already?
“...”
I bit my lip and drove away the satisfaction drifting through my mind.
To become stronger, I had to abandon satisfaction.
Rather than getting drunk on contentment and remaining at the same level, I needed to greedily search for ways to grow stronger.
For example, obtaining stronger Mysteries.
Or finding and acquiring the original version of the Flame of Human Sacrifice, the Mystery I used as my main weapon.
Scq912, Flame of Human Sacrifice.
According to Arlin, it was one of the five 900-series Mysteries possessed by the Order.
Its fame was slightly lower than the two 900-series Mysteries that symbolized the Order, but in terms of actual combat performance, it supposedly surpassed both of them.
A Mystery like that would undoubtedly be guarded carefully at the Order's main headquarters.
With my current strength, raiding that place was still far beyond me.
“But... why do I even need to become stronger?”
As I thought about ways to grow stronger, the satisfaction coiled inside my mind raised its head again.
Thinking about it, I was already strong enough.
The leader of a mid-sized faction that possessed seventy Mysteries.
That was me.
I had bound numerous Mysteries to myself.
My physical abilities alone were comparable to a first-rate martial artist, and my swordsmanship had already defeated one before.
Even if I continued living exactly as I was now, there would probably be far more moments in my future where I held the advantage than moments where I was beneath someone else.
As I wrestled back and forth with this inner demon, one thought suddenly came to mind.
Why the hell am I having such a serious and pessimistic crisis right now?
Hadn't I been happily browsing the Gallery and laughing just a little while ago?
When exactly had my thoughts shifted toward something this gloomy?
I frowned and stretched out my hand.
Lucy, who had been flying around in the distance, shot toward me like an arrow and landed in my hand.
I stroked her, then carefully opened her and checked the newly added Mysteries.
As expected, there was a new one.
[Scq669, Inner Demon]
[Worry is not something experienced by the ignorant, but by the knowledgeable.
If one knows nothing, they may have questions, but they will not agonize over them.
Such worries do not come only to those who possess knowledge.
They also come to those who possess strength.
And a worry that the weak cannot possess, that is an Inner Demon.
An Inner Demon appears before those who possess strength beyond a certain level, causing them to hesitate before crossing the wall in front of them and giving rise to negative emotions.]
Inner Demon.
Even the name was exactly what I had thought.
Judging from the description, it seemed to be a mental-attack-type Mystery that caused infected people to create negative thoughts and worries on their own.
No wonder such gloomy thoughts had suddenly started flooding my mind.
It really had been too abrupt.
Annoyed, I searched for a way to escape the Inner Demon.
There didn't seem to be any listed method, which made me think.
If what I was feeling were an ordinary emotion, I could simply use Fragment of Faith.
But this wasn't an ordinary emotion.
It was a Mystery in the form of an emotion.
If I tried cutting it with Fragment of Faith, the fragment itself would probably break instead.
