The internal energy started to stabilize from being in the state of turbulence. It had been two months since the wave of internal energy, which poured out at once like water from a broken dam, circulated through the body.

Dokgo Hoo’s blood circulatory system expanded and became stronger to the point where it was beyond comparison from the past.

It was like a little creek turning into a gigantic river.   

Dokgo Hoo, sensing the internal energy fully charged, opened his eyes.

[Third-Rate Swordsman Dokgo Hoo]

[184Lv]

‘Impressive.’

It was unbelievable at how much stronger he became in comparison to what he was before receiving the teachings. One thing for certain was that he could handle ten of his former-self easily.

Now, he felt like he could use two swords technique freely and smoothly. When he was just about to try,

“If you are going to check the status of your body, please do so after moving away from this place. As you can see, it is quite a mess……”

Filder suddenly appeared in front of Dokgo Hoo.

Dokgo Hoo panicked and looked at Filder awkwardly.

Dokgo Hoo wanted to say something, but he could not organize what to say first in his head.

‘That I am thankful for the achievement? That I am sorry I was rude until now? No. This is not the kind of occasion where saying mere thank you would be enough. Should I call him my master? Becoming a disciple at this age? Uh…… Should I just put up a poker face and ignore it? It doesn’t look like Filder will say anything……’

“Please look around you.”

Dokgo Hoo was deep in thoughts, but he was awakened by Filder’s words and looked around. And then he gasped in surprise.

“Hut, this is……”

“Yes, it is a complete mess. Congratulation on your achievements, but if you are going to check the status of your body, please leave this place first and calmly do so at a different spot.”

Dokgo Hoo nodded.

Indeed, the place was too much of a mess to go over all the changes from the enlightenment. If it wasn’t for the protective layer that Filder established, Dokgo Hoo would have been swept away into the middle of the chaos.

Dokgo Hoo bowed a little with his head to express his grat.i.tude and then he moved to a place far away from the forest.

Meanwhile, sounds of endless explosions and sword strikes could be heard from the back.

‘That guy, what kind of training is he doing… making such loud noises……’

***

It has been over two months since the start of the training.

Vulcan’s training became harder by the day. In the past, there were brief moment of relief scattered about to catch his breath or think about things, but now it was no longer the case.

The kind of attacks that could not be avoided even with intuition, instinct, and the help of the SYSTEM were coming at him. Vulcan had no choice but withstand the attacks using Ironclad skill, which raises the entire body’s defensive ability, and potions.

Even with those, Vulcan was approaching the limit. He was barely getting by.

He would have had some allowances to spare if the masteries increased faster and if he ranked up, but that was not the case, and Vulcan was still only at level 103.

Long gone were the days where he rose up 10 – 20 levels fast.

‘I need to fine a way somehow!’

Vulcan could either collapse after holding out as long as he could or ask Filder to reduce the difficulty, but Vulcan did not want to.

Vulcan survived through his harsh life by his resolve alone. Vulcan felt uneasy. He was worried he may never clear the Act 1 if he gave up because of a training like this.

“Thunder G.o.d’s Might!”

Thunder G.o.d’s Might: a technique that continuously spends mana to buff lightning attack and movement speed.

It was a technique Vulcan did not use often because it had a shortcoming. The technique made the control of the body extremely difficult.

‘Ugh…… As I thought, I can’t move my body as I want!’

Vulcan used the vastly increased speed to get out of the area-effective magic attack’s range.

However, now that he had given up precision control of the body, he couldn’t properly avoid minor magic attacks coming at him.

Speed in exchange of control of the body, Vulcan was in a pinch.

However, he couldn’t afford to disengage Thunder G.o.d’s Might. It was due to having the skill active that Vulcan could avoid critical hits and hang on.

Vulcan agonized over the situation.

He already used all methods he could use. He used the greatest of all of his abilities and pushed himself to the breaking point. If that was not enough, then he had to show something else that was above and beyond.

‘This Thunder G.o.d’s Might…… I have to control it!’

Vulcan maintained his focus while avoiding frantic attacks flying at him. He suppressed the Thunder G.o.d’s Might, which was zooming around all over the place, and attempted to tame it so it could be directed the way he wanted.

However, it was not easy. Like a live fish that slips out of one’s hand when grasped harder, the Thunder G.o.d refused Vulcan’s directions and ran amok.

The Thunder G.o.d’s Might fiercely resisted to escape Vulcan’s attempt to control. Eventually, glitchy movement became more frequent, and the situation was heading toward the direction worse than before the Thunder G.o.d’s Might was activated.

Watching the Thunder G.o.d’s Might acting like a brat made Vulcan furious. If this continued, collapsing to the ground in defeat was only a matter of time.

‘I feel like there were times where it worked fine.’

Vulcan thought about the time in Rubel continent.

He remembered that after acquiring the Thunder G.o.d’s Might for the first time, Vulcan used it for 24 hours straight to get use to the power.

Even then, he gave up because the power wanted to move aimlessly.

When he wanted to run straight, it moved in zigzag lines. When he wanted to move a hundred meters, it moved another fifty meters. The Thunder G.o.d’s Might was running amok more ferociously than a wild horse.

After the stress reached the limit, Vulcan decided to let go of all control and just let it run free in a wasteland before sealing the skill. With all restraints and controls released, the Thunder G.o.d’s Might displayed even more power and turned Vulcan’s internals upside down.

‘Right, once I let go of all control, its speed was substantially greater. Although its wasteful movements were a problem…… wait?’

Vulcan was bombarded with questions in his head.

‘What’s my purpose here? Moving with efficiency? Is it necessary to avoid attacks with paper-thin precision? I just need to move with a method that makes avoiding and striking easier, don’t I? There is no need to be concerned about wastefulness in the movements……’  

Vulcan stopped controlling the Thunder G.o.d’s Might.

The sparks surrounding Vulcan ran all over the place in excitement.

‘I just need to move in the direction I want, isn’t that right?’

Vulcan’s movements changed.

Until now, Vulcan prioritized in minimal and precise movements for maintaining balance and being ready for the next movement. Now, his movements were like a wild animal that was running around excited because it could not control its own strength.

The change was like a swordsmans.h.i.+p instructor that strives for efficient movement turning into a caveman that only relies on instinct.

Although the former sounded like the logical choice, the end result was the opposite. Vulcan was having so much difficulty avoiding attacks, but now his face was starting to show signs of relief.

‘Yes! This is it!’

Until now, Vulcan was obsessing over efficient movements.

Reducing unnecessary movements were important. If an attack could be avoided by tilting the head, dodging it by taking a dive instead meant wasting movement and energy, and the wasted movements had negative consequences to the next movements.

Vulcan always thought that such negative consequences would acc.u.mulate over a battle and lead to defeat.

That was the reason why Vulcan always strived for precise and efficient movements.  

However, if such efforts meant suppressing the true potential of the Thunder G.o.d’s Might, then the resulting movements could no longer be considered efficient.

BOOM! b.o.o.bOOBOOM!

Pieces of rocks flew at him from all directions, and vines growing out of the ground’s surface persistently targeted Vulcan. He dodged them all by moving over a hundred meters in distance.

It was a lot further than the intended distance, but he didn’t mind it. What was important was that he dodged the attacks. He didn’t mind the minor details.

Vulcan got rid of thoughts about efficient movements, and instead, he focused his mind on another direction; moving fast.

Moving at a speed that n.o.body can follow, moving so fast to the point of being un-noticeable and putting the opponent into a state of confusion.

‘Moving like a real lightning!’

With Thunder G.o.d’s Might, Vulcan’s movement became faster and faster.

The movements were rough and unpolished, but the waste from it all were more than made up for by the overwhelming speed, and it made Vulcan feel safe.

b.o.o.bOOb.o.o.bOOBOOM!

Magic attacks came at Vulcan from all directions, not excluding air and ground, but despite being in thick of it all, Vulcan still had moments to spare.

Vulcan charged at the Skeleton King at a lightning like speed. It was now laughable to watch the Skeleton King swing his spear so slowly.

Vulcan laughed. This training, which was so painful until now, was now unbearably fun.

In middle of sensation that enlightenment brings, a notification from the system was mixed in.

[Lightning mastery ranked up from B to A]

Filder jumped up.

Unlike his usual smiling face, Filder’s face was filled with surprise.

“How!”

Filder’s gaze moved toward the noises’ source of origin. He could see Vulcan running around the field in a noticeably faster speed. The movements were big and frequently wasteful, but Filder did not think it was sloppy.

It did not take Filder a long time to accurately a.n.a.lyze the meaning behind Vulcan’s movements.

It was by the power of the Thunder G.o.d.

“How could he……”

Filder repeated the same words over and over.

It was a sight that even Filder, who lived for several thousands of years, could not help but to be surprised by. What Vulcan was showing was something that astonis.h.i.+ng.

Filder thought at first that Vulcan’s mastery improved from repeated training, but he realized that was not the case.

From the start, Vulcan had masteries substantially higher than other players of same level.

It was strange that Lightning mastery ranked up in such a short amount of time. It should have taken him ten years or more.

Even without thinking about such questions, Filder could tell that this was not a result of repeated training with the SYSTEM.

This was not due to such things.

This was not from relying on a cheat called SYSTEM, but something more pure, something considered as a blessing to some, a curse to another.

The single most important thing necessary for reaching a higher ground.

“Talent……”

Pure talent.

It was the pure talent that led Vulcan to a new world.

‘Was there ever a player that had enough talent to come to Asgard without SYSTEM’s help?’

Filder thought about it hard, but he could not think of any. Other than Vulcan in front of him, he never saw talent of such level from anyone.

In fact, he never even heard of rumors about such talent.

All of them would have had been leading ordinary lives in lower dimensions if it wasn’t for the cheat-like guarantee from the SYSTEM.

From Filder’s perspective, players were people to be envious of and also to be pitied upon.  

He was envious of the SYSTEM’s ability which was powerful enough to allow someone with no talent to arrive at Asgard, and he also felt pity for the ones crawling at the bottom of the Asgard despite having such an ability.

Looking at players, who seemed to have both the blessing and curse, Filder occasionally thought about the following.

‘If a talent that could reach ultra high level without the SYSTEM was to be aided by the SYSTEM, how far could that go?’

Filder thought of it as nothing but a pipedream.

However, his pipedream had become a reality in front of him.

n.o.body could deny it.

If it wasn’t for a G.o.d’s send talent, there was no way for anyone to reach a new level with the Thunder G.o.d in middle of a battle. It was implausible to have grown so much in just a little over two months.

A human being of ordinary talent could not have entered the unconscious world that comes from the enlightenment.

“Berenere… Mereham, Rockweed, Folken, Heywood. At last…… I found one.”

Filder’s heart was filling with awe and excitement looking at Vulcan.

Filder’s shaking voice was mixed with joy that he could not hide.

‘I wonder what the look on their faces will be like when the five hears about this.’

Filder thought about for a moment. Most likely, they were going to be more surprised about it than him.

Filder controlled his breath and calmed himself down. Filder looked at Vulcan with a firm gaze.

It was time to change the training method.