Chapter 10

If you show up in the 10th, you lose.

I slowly entered the cave through the passage.

The interior was well-ventilated, and the interior was not dark due to the light coming from the top of the cave here and there. Judging from the elaborate design and construction, it was clear that this place was made by truly skilled craftsmen.

I was slowly walking along the cave, and when I passed a certain point, I felt the surroundings shaking slightly.

Sssssssut.

I knew it in an instant. The highest level of attack that only experts with keen senses can detect has been activated.

When I thought about it, it was only natural. Why couldn’t the people who died here escape? If the gateway is difficult, you can just give up and leave. He died because he could not get out of this camp. When you enter, you walk in comfortably, but if you don’t break through the gate, it turns into a hellish formation where you can never get out.

How far did you walk like that?

A fairly large square appeared.

At the entrance to the square, there was a monument explaining the first gate.

一 Cut down all enemies without using sword energy or sword steel.

ii If you do not succeed within the time, you will be given another chance ten days later.

iii Those who are prepared should stand in the red circle.

‘Ten days later? What to eat until then?’

I looked around and found a jar full of Byeokgokdan (辟穀丹) on the wall.

‘If I eat this tasteless food for 10 days, I’ll go crazy.’

Without hesitation, I stood in the middle of the red circle drawn in the middle of the square.

After a while, dozens of human-shaped wooden dolls rose from the floor in all directions with a clanging sound. The area that needed to be cut was painted red. Some dolls have necks, some have arms, and some have legs.

My body reacted reflexively.

The moment they came up, I jumped and instinctively decided which herb to cut first.

Whoosh. Whoosh. Whoosh.

The wooden doll was cut down.

The dolls were not fixed in one place. The plates on the floor began to move and change positions.

In that crowded situation, some dolls started to go down again.

‘no!’

I could tell. If you miss that doll going down, it will never come up again and at that moment, the challenge will be a failure.

That’s why I cut down the doll that was going down first.

As expected, the other dolls moved quickly and obstructed my path to cut it down.

He jumped over and swung his sword.

Suddenly!

A doll that was almost missed was cut off.

As time went by, the dolls moved faster. At first, I thought it was a gateway to testing footwork, but it wasn’t. This gate was a test of judgment.

What to cut first?

Quick and accurate judgment comes first, and walking techniques come second.

The gateway was complex and difficult, but not so sophisticated that it overtook my instincts and skills.

I cut down all the dolls and passed the first gate safely.

One thing was certain. If my skills were the same as before my regression, I would never have passed this first hurdle. Even if I ran, rolled, flew, and made a fuss, I would have failed.

I was able to understand why the test was resumed again after 10 days.

Many challengers would have failed at this first challenge and would have had to study and practice for at least ten days to succeed.

Only someone who remembered exactly how the dolls moved and which doll fell to the floor and at what time would have been able to come up with a solution. A dull challenger would have had to try again and again.

Looking at the first hurdle, it is understandable that the average breakthrough time for Socheon-dong is three years.

Drurr.

As soon as I passed the first gate, the stone door leading to the second gate opened.

I slowly walked towards the second gate. At that time, before I left the first gate, I discovered writing on the wall. There were writings left on the wall near the exit from the deceased who came first.

-Successful after nine attempts. Hahahaha.

-I did it sixteen times.

-This is crazy!

―Succeeded after 37 attempts. Tears come to my eyes from the long suffering.

-Am I going to die here? I just can’t solve it. I feel resentful towards my father.

-shit! I tried to go back, but there was no way back.

―I am confident that I am the best after succeeding only six times.

Among them, I saw a familiar handwriting at the bottom.

-Jerk the.

―I vote for lying.

What I wanted to see was the writing my father left.

As expected, my father’s words were left behind at the end.

-That’s crazy.

ha ha ha. I heard you said shit to your ancestors. This person has a hard time pretending to be solemn.

But this time, he added a word next to it.

-If you show off, you lose.

‘If you get angry, you lose? Why did you add this? ‘If it were my father, he would have cursed at the first hurdle and drank it.’

If you have a fever? If you have a fever? if?

I quickly went to the first stone slab.

Cut the stone into two pieces in one hour. You can also use Geomgi or Geomgang.

A phrase that caught my eye.

Can I use sword energy or sword strength?

It wasn’t ‘using’, it was ‘could be used’. In other words, doesn’t it mean to just cut it and use it if it doesn’t work out?

When I think about it, the time given is too long. One hour is enough time to cut hundreds of such stones. Lastly, the number of swords hanging on the wall is also excessive.

‘ah! This gate must be cut without using sword energy or sword steel.’

When my father said that if he gets angry, he will lose, it was like a warning not to use his sword. When you open the sword, hot heat comes out from the sword.

There is a fact that adds strength to that speculation.

Doesn’t the fact that the retry period is twenty days mean that it is more difficult than the first gate?

This should just be cut down.

‘Thank you, father.’

Anyway, if I don’t have to use the sword, I don’t have time to do this.

I went in front of the sphere again.

When I thought that I had to cut it without using a sword, the sphere looked different.

‘How on earth can I cut this? Vertically? Horizontally? Laterally? askew? Or with a quick sword? With a heavy sword?’

I tried various things with the prepared sword. However, only the sword was broken and the sphere was not cut.

After failing about thirty times, I gave up and sat against the wall.

‘There must be a way.’

Time continues to pass by and now there is not even a moment left.

‘Should I try again in 20 days?’

I was in a state of semi-desperation.

‘Cut it to the sword and pass it?’

However, my father left a message on purpose, so I couldn’t choose the easy way.

‘It’s difficult. It’s difficult.’

After sitting like that in desperation, I inadvertently let out some energy. It was an exercise I learned from my father in the mountains.

A ray of energy extended from my body and touched the sphere.

‘I wish you were a wild boar. Then it would be cut off with a single knife.’

Energy enveloped the sphere and I slowly felt its surface.

For a moment, my eyes widened.

“uh?”

There were fine lines on the surface of the sphere. It is a line that cannot be felt when seen with the eyes or touched with the hand.

I felt it with all my concentration. My energy began to surround it like a bird embracing an egg and tried to become one with the sphere.

The line continued along the sphere and met again at the starting point.

I got up from my seat and slowly walked towards it. My energy was still connected between me and the sphere.

I closed my eyes and felt the sphere only with energy and struck the sword precisely at that line.

Whoosh.

It wasn’t hit hard. I focused on hitting the line on the sphere accurately without any error.

The next moment, something amazing happened.

Take a look.

The sphere was split in half. That line was a kind of critical point that could accurately divide the sphere.

And an even more surprising thing was waiting for me.

Again.

A single pill rolled out of the empty space of the cut sphere.