There Are Always Those Who Get Criticized Even After Giving (1)

After a long time, I visited the underground training hall.

The unique, pure, and clean divine power circulated dynamically as if a heart was beating.

Walking on a mountain trail early in the morning, the divine power wrapped around me so tightly it felt like encountering countless spiderwebs.

I savored and enjoyed that mysterious feeling for a moment.

Like soaking a tired body in a bathtub filled with water at the perfect temperature, I felt languid, and the divine power inside me danced along.

A smile full of satisfaction that I had never worn since entering the ‘Battlefield of the Gods.’ I could tell such a smile was spreading across my face even without a mirror.

I exhaled deeply and strode toward the center of the training hall, sitting down comfortably.

After shaking my body once, I opened the inventory and took out a scroll glowing in gold.

“Use.”

“Yang Divine Art.”

“Yes.”

“Listen to the descriptions.”

An explanation as unfriendly as it gets. It’s better than nothing, but it’s the kind of description you can guess just from the name.

The silver lining is that it falls within the expected range.

I had hope from the skill description of ‘Yang Divine Art’ at the end, which mentioned ‘Chaos increases by 2 per 10 Force,’ and fortunately, the evolution skill matched.

“Mixed Origin Yang Divine Art.”

“Yes.”

“What? S grade? Slight body adjustments but considerable pain…? Ah, ugh―!!”

A message that doesn’t make sense. But with the sudden rush of pain, there was no time to think or question it.

No sound came from my vocal cords. Or maybe the sound was there, but my ears couldn’t hear it.

It felt like my body was acting beyond my will. As if I couldn’t exhale and was constantly inhaling oxygen.

I thought I was struggling against the pain, but I couldn’t be sure if my body was actually struggling.

‘What kind of slight body adjustment is this…?’

It’s the most intense pain I’ve experienced, before or after regression.

It was as bad, if not worse, than when I forcibly changed after reaching ‘Assimilation Lv. 200.’

When I came to my senses, I was lying spread-eagled on the training ground floor.

If there’s any relief, it’s that I had put all my usual armor and equipment into my inventory in preparation for training with gravity magic, bringing only an ordinary sword.

Because although the clothes were plain everyday wear, the well-forged steel sword from the Exorsus forge ‘slightly’ disappeared without a trace with some bodily adjustment.

I meticulously checked each of the messages floating haphazardly before my eyes.

What on earth is all this? Even in my past life, rolling around in the Battlefield of Gods for such a long time, I had never heard of an ‘Ex’ rank! I hurriedly called up the status window.

I decided to check my current status.

‘Status.’

It was Ex-grade, so of course, it was my first time seeing it.

No, before that, it was also my first time knowing that skills had grades.

‘Ah! So that’s why…?’

Was there a mention of ‘evolving to a higher rank’ in the skill evolution scroll description?

Reflecting after returning and actively leading everything in ‘Battlefield of the Gods,’ unlike before, I realized how foolish my past life was and felt ashamed for pretending to know everything while just skimming the surface.

“Phew… I’ll think about it later. For now, use 120 skill points on Mixed Origin Yang Divine Art.”

“Damn it!”

No wonder it seemed too easy and strange.

There was no leveling next to the skill, and it was marked as ‘1 level (成)’ like in martial arts novels.

And what about the skill effect?! I thought it was level 1, but its effect was tremendous.

I have to mimic a martial arts novel, something I never imagined I’d do.

Though it wasn’t due to my foresight(?), it was fortunate that I had pre-installed the Four Great Elemental Accumulation Array, which became foresight in the end.

All stats increased by 2, and Force and Chaos increased by 20.

I came in to nurture divine power along with my body, but I strangely hesitated. Especially that phrase…

Can unify Force, Spirit, Mana, and Divinity.

Am I afraid of losing out if I unify them all?

No.

Then, am I worried that unifying them will make my plans impossible?

No. I have a feeling it will allow me to reach my goals much faster.

So, is it because my intuition is ominously telling me not to?

No. It’s urging me to go ahead and do it.

Then why?!

“Damn, I have a feeling it’s going to be painfully excruciating again…”

That’s right. It seems like it will be painful.

Ha! Someone might look at me and say I’m ridiculous. They might curse at me, asking why I’m not trying to become stronger quickly.

But if I just endured what felt like dying in a chemical warfare training and barely finished, would I go in again without hesitation just because there’s one more CS gas round left to become a strong soldier?!

The fear of that is 20,000, 50,000 times greater.

Honestly, the pain just now was no joke.

“Ha…”

Anyway, the answer was already decided. I was just whining for a moment in a ‘pre-determined answer’ situation.

The moment I decided to sit comfortably and move my Divine Power, the art of harmonizing the two Forces flowed smoothly as if I had known it all along.

With each gentle inhale and exhale, the pure Divine Power that filled the training ground seeped into my body.

The first to follow the predetermined path and energy flow was Force.

Force followed, then Divinity and Mana joined, and finally Spirit merged with them, starting to blend into one.

But the expected pain was absent.

I almost lost focus due to unnecessary embarrassment, but I was able to continue operating the Divine Power by immersing myself in the strange and mysterious sensation.

Originally, these energies should not mix and should strongly repel each other.

As I mentioned earlier, one of the easiest ways to break someone else’s Divinity core is by colliding different Divinity.

Yet, I’m currently doing that inside my own body.

However, whether it’s because I’m inherently unusual or because the ‘Ex-grade’ skill is extraordinary, all the Divinity began to merge into one without any awkwardness.

Although it’s my first time using Divinity manipulation, thanks to the authority of ‘Skill,’ the flow of Divine Power inside me seems like a majestic river.

Just as streams from a waterfall come together to form a great river, the merging of Divinity was proceeding flawlessly.

The first thing that greeted me when I opened my eyes was a message awarding me an unbelievable amount of points.

Honestly, I don’t know what the Divinity of Chaos means.

I haven’t used it, so I can’t grasp it. Like a Bushman wandering, not knowing how to use an empty Coke bottle.

Yet, doesn’t the message imply something extraordinary?

I felt proud and great about myself, but I shook my head to dispel such vain thoughts.

One unexpected thing is…

‘Why isn’t the title appearing?’

An incredible message about Chaos. However, unlike before, the title didn’t appear.

It’s hard to understand, but now I’ve finally succeeded in merging.

For now, I decided to forget everything and focus on getting accustomed to it.

In my previous life, what I could do better than any other representative was persist in tedious and exhausting training without rest.

As time passed, I became so absorbed in the Art of the Yin-Yang Spirits that I forgot about time and even myself.

<(Reminiscence)>

“Do you know why Kim Han’s nickname is the Strange Star?”

The mood maker of the Rebound Legion, Zeroth, approached the new recruits with a beer in hand and asked.

“What? Well…”

The recruits returned a look as if to say, “How can I talk about that in front of the Legion members?”

Zeroth gave a slight smirk at the new recruits and began to speak.

“Are you guys really buying into that cheesy song of the Seven Stars, ‘The one whom all stars avoid fighting, hence called the Strange Star’?

“What? So it’s not true?”

“Is it not true?”

Confused faces. Their expressions asked repeatedly if it was real and if it was true.

“Come on, of course it’s not true!! Do you know who gave him that nickname? We came up with it when he killed that sweaty, macho bald guy known as ‘Fist Star’.”

“What?!”

“That place was somewhere in the Spirit Forest. That bastard Fist Star suddenly showed up and rudely threatened us to hand over the artifact we discovered, you know? When Fist Star, who was spouting nonsense, died at the hands of the lively Kim Han, the news spread in the ‘Battlefield of the Gods,’ and it was because of what we said that he became the Strange Star.”

“What did you say…?”

“He trained so ridiculously hard that he ended up bringing down a star. He trained to the point where even monsters would cry, hence the Strange Star. Ahem!”

Even after Zeroth’s explanation, the new recruits found it hard to believe.

Zeroth, chuckling at their reaction, gestured for them to follow him.

As they headed behind the Legion building, a spacious training ground appeared, and beyond that, they encountered a desolate open field.

In the desolate open field, five representatives who appeared to be mages and a man covered with muscles that seemed ready to burst were sweating profusely.

“Wh-what is that?”

“What does it look like?”

Amidst the confusion from Zeroth’s question, one who seemed to be a mage representative stammered a response.

“Is-is it gravity magic?!”

“Yes.”

“Unbelievable…”

The new Legion member was too shocked to even finish the sentence.

However, the other new members, who were not mages, impatiently urged the previous Legion member.

“The amount of concentrated divine power there is unbelievable… with that amount…”

“Hey! With that amount, what?! What is it?”

“At least 70G.”

“70G? What’s that?”

“70 times.”

“70…! No way, 70 times gravity???”

“Yes, at least. After a rough calculation… the gravity affecting Mr. Strange Star over there…”

“What?!”

Hearing the continuation of the new Legion member’s words, everyone froze as if caught in a freezing spell, staring blankly at Kim Han.

In their eyes, emotions of awe, reverence, and facing a monster flickered by.

―In the 22nd year of ‘The Battlefield of the Gods’ at the Legion building.

The first thing I felt upon waking from a state of selflessness was the significantly diminished divine power of the training ground, and an overwhelming hunger.

Opening the inventory and gulping down a nourishing juice, I felt slightly more alive.

As if expelling the accumulated hunger, I exhaled a deep, murky breath from deep within my chest, sensing the changed, heavy energy inside.

“How long have I been here? This skill’s explanation is… unkind.”

Looking at the results displayed on the status window, the total Divine Power was 394.

Just like stats, it rose by 1 for every 10 after surpassing 100, so excluding 100, the remaining value of 294 added up to 29, thus shown as 129…

Then Violentia’s Mana 125 is truly…

What is that monster? Some people have to raise both skills and grades and train until they’re starving to reach 129.

Only by obtaining a remarkable fortune can one finally match her Divine Power level.

“What?”

Then I discovered a peculiar value.

All five Divine Powers increased by 26.

Unkind explanation, unkind guidance. While reading the Mixed Origin Yang Divine Art explanation, I finally found the cause.

‘Divine Power accumulation rate per hour.’

The ‘Divine Power accumulation rate per hour’ mentioned in the Mixed Origin Yang Divine Art explanation referred to each of the five Divine Powers.

Indeed, before evolving, I could accumulate two Force per hour with the Yang Divine Art, so it doesn’t make sense for the evolved skill to have a lower accumulation rate of 0.5 per hour. Of course, that’s right.

As I stood up, I felt something brush off my body with a rustling sound.

It felt a bit creepy, but I started to slowly adapt to my changed body by lightly jumping in place.

Once I had adapted to some extent, I lightly summoned divine power to create a small whirlwind to tidy up the surroundings.

The fullness felt from my lightly clenched hand. The fullness of divine power I’d never felt before brought a fresh sense of emotion.

Previously, I was referred to as a physical type in a good way, but by enemies, I was called a brute, a commoner, a slave swordsman, and so on.

Originally, I was an Earthling unfamiliar with the concept of divine power.

I focused solely on my body, neglecting the divine power that was inferior to other representatives.

I increased my regenerative ability, stamina, strength, and agility.

While others easily accomplished tasks with divine power, I closed the gap through relentless training, enduring muscle tears and regeneration repeatedly.

Eventually, I began to widen the gap between them and me.

Strength, regenerative ability, and agility that couldn’t be achieved even with divine power.

Though called a Strange Star, I was always just a timid Earthling.

The seemingly impossible training and effort were just desperate struggles to avoid death, always prioritizing survival.

Dominating the world? It was a dream I couldn’t even dare to dream of.

Those three words I couldn’t even dream of now feels like it’s approaching me.