Nova sat in the middle of his new room, a thoughtful look on his face.
The talks between him, Erevan, and Jack had lasted for another hour before Jack finally led him to this room.
Before his friend left, he sent Nova a glance filled with pity, though Nova couldn’t pinpoint the reason for it, and he didn’t want to think about it. He simply shrugged and closed the door behind him.
As soon as he entered, he sat down and took out the three nameless books Erevan had given him.
Without wasting any time, he went through them, his expression changing many times during the process.
He could tell that while they weren’t priceless, they were certainly useful to him.
Now, the three nameless books lay in front of him.
‘Mental defense, body strengthening, and a movement technique,’ he thought, his gaze shifting between them.
He didn’t know whether Erevan could somehow tell which areas he was lacking in or if he had just lucked out, but all three of these books were extremely important to him.
They were so important, in fact, that the mere thought of not knowing such things existed filled him with fear.
Of the three, he had marked two books as the utmost priority: the mental defense and the movement technique ones.
As for the body strengthening book, it wasn’t as urgent.
After taking the body tempering liquid that had made his body his strongest asset, it wasn’t immediately necessary. Still, it remained very important because it detailed how to strengthen the insides, his current weakness in terms of his body.
Inside the portal, he had easily tanked the Emperor’s light attack skill, receiving no damage whatsoever. That made him understand just how overpowered his exterior had become.
But…
If the skill had any kind of vibration properties, or if it were a concussion type that sent shockwaves throughout his body, tanking it could have made him pay dearly.
The two extremes, an exterior as tough as diamond but insides as weak as glass, were a massive danger. One could call it a double-edged sword.
That aside, his main focus was on the mental defense book.
A shiver ran up his spine as Nova muttered, “If I had met someone skilled at targeting the mind with a strong Will then I wouldn’t even know how I’d have died.”
The book contained many examples showing how mental defense was essential to every life form.
It went as far as to say that even the strongest person, if they had no way to protect their mind, could be taken down by anyone who had spent time learning about mental attacks.
Of course, mental attacks could be withstood through sheer Will, but that took a toll on the person, and in a fight, even the smallest difference could be fatal.
Thankfully, the method of targeting the mind was as rare as the method to guard it, making such attacks uncommon in weak civilizations.
Nova took a deep breath to calm his heart, and his gaze shifted to the movement technique book.
A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.
“This is another mistake I’ve made,” he whispered. “I thought my movement was fine after learning One with the World (Footwork) and then enhancing it with wind mana, but I didn’t consider the possibility of further refining it through a specialized technique.”
His gaze grew heavy the more he stared at the book.
“My Dexterity is so high, but I never fully utilized it. I wasted it instead. If only I had learned a movement technique earlier, maybe that tiger in the Central Forest would never have reduced me to such a mess the first time I encountered it.”
These new realizations hit him like a wake-up call.
How many other things was he currently missing?
He couldn’t help but think about the geniuses he would meet in the Lesser Orange portal. They were the best of their civilizations, each having spent more time training than he had, slowly unearthing new skills and progressing further down the paths they had chosen.
He couldn’t afford such glaring weaknesses, or he would never make it out of the portal.
The more he thought about it, the more his breathing grew hurried.
“One step at a time. I have one year to make up for my weaknesses and increase my strength.”
Nova closed his eyes and focused on calming his breath. Only when his pounding heart slowed did he open them again.
“First, I’ll fix the current dissonance in my body.”
He flipped open the body strengthening book once more and carefully went through the materials he needed to improve his body, while his mind browsed the Store in search of them.
“Blood ginseng, marrow cleansing liquid, frostgrass…”
One by one, Nova bought a total of seventeen materials. The cost of so many herbs and liquids barely made a dent in his pockets.
He walked to the bathroom, filled the bathtub with hot water, and poured in half of the ingredients.
Despite the warnings written in the book, his gaze remained calm as he waited for the medicinal properties to merge with the water.
Minutes later, the water had turned a dense green color.
“It’s ready,” Nova said calmly.
He grabbed the remaining half of the ingredients and consumed them all before quickly stepping into the tub.
As soon as he stepped in, his body tensed, expecting the pain to wash over him, but as seconds passed and with no pain in sight, he found himself slightly relaxing.
“The book kept warning about pain every other line… so where is it?” he muttered aloud, though he didn’t move.
Ten seconds went by…
Thirty…
Fifty…
When the timer hit one minute, he felt a slight burning inside. It was on the level of a simple fever, and his body began sweating.
‘If this is it, then it’s not as bad as I thought it would be,’ he thought.
Two minutes later, the burning intensified.
Five minutes in, he felt as if his organs were being cooked from the inside.
Slowly, the ingredients he had ingested also began releasing their medicinal properties. He had eaten so many that his system took time to absorb them fully.
But when ten minutes ticked by, a ravaging inferno exploded inside him.
“AAAAAAAAAH!”
A scream tore through the bathroom, one that Nova didn’t even think he could release.
He had endured so much pain since the beginning of his journey, but only the agony from the bone tempering liquid had come close to this, and that was just close.
The pain radiating from his organs made his eyes nearly roll out of their sockets.
The only thing keeping him sane was his Will, but at that moment, he cursed it for not letting him pass out. And, even if he could, he didn’t know whether passing out would be a good idea or not.
He didn’t even notice but his teeth ground together while his fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his skin.
If he had the time to think, he might now understand why Jack had sent him such a pitiful gaze, but he had no mind to spare.
The pain was demanding all his attention.
////
In a room several houses away from Nova’s residence, Slade turned to Erevan and slowly asked, “How strong do you think he is?”
“What? Already want to fight him?” Erevan raised an eyebrow, but Slade said nothing, only staring at him.
Ever since he had suffered at Nova’s hands, he had been thinking about it constantly.
In his mind, the defeat had been unfair. If it had been a matter of life and death, he was sure he could have won, but he also knew there were no “ifs” in life. This was why he wanted to compare himself with Nova and was waiting for the right time to fight once again.
It was unfortunate that the person in question was now busy training.
With a shrug, Erevan continued, “I don’t know. It’s hard to assess someone properly with just a look, especially if they’re hiding their strength.”
“Save that for someone else. Tell me the truth,” Slade said, narrowing his eyes. Even if fully assessing someone at a glance was difficult, he was confident the person in front of him could form a general idea.
Erevan sighed, about to respond, when—
“AAAAAAAAAH!”
Nova’s muffled scream echoed all the way to the room where Erevan and Slade were.
The former smiled. “Well, I guess my assessment can be thrown out the window now.”
Slade frowned but didn’t press further. There was no point in hearing an opinion that was already outdated. Quietly, he left.
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