Level 0 Master

Sungjin’s team looked at their individual Antherer before them.

I don’t feel anything special even though the fight has started. Eustasia was curious while nervous. Is he still hiding his skill? Or...

Did he think he had enough power to fight him?

Even if he had divided his strength into several avatars, she could not feel the strength of her opponent. It was so different from the ultimate power the Kaiser of White Silver had exuded.

But she didn’t let her guard down at the sight. What is he hiding? Simply watching him wouldn’t reveal anything. Fine. I’ll have to confirm it myself.

Eustasia pulled out her sword. At the same time, Antherer’s staff hit her chest. “Kuk.” At the impact, which shook her heart, her posture fell out of shape. Whe... When?

“Amazing sword skills. Well-trained. But there was a hundredth of a second left unguarded in the moment you drew your sword out. Didn’t you know?”

“Kuk. That...”

The Kaiser of Gold spoke like a teacher, but Eustasia wasn’t defeated by such a strike. She gritted her teeth and stepped away. Her body swayed away from the second attack that chased after her.

Physical training. The Eastern version of moving like water. It was the best martial arts for avoiding attacks by letting attacks pass by through an structured stance. At the same time, her freely flying sword launched another attack. Her strong attacks and advantageous defences made her an astounding general.

To that...

“Hm. Water is liquid, so it does take more time to analyze it than standard exercises.” The Kaiser of Gold nodded his head slowly, and stabbed her abs with the end of his staff while grabbing the hilt of her sword at the same time.

“Ugh.” Losing her balance, she fell into deep thought. How...

“Unfortunately, that fluid defence movement also has a second’s worth of vulnerability. Improve more.”

“No way...” Eustasia collapsed onto the ground and gritted her teeth.

To attack the pause between the flow of movements. It wasn’t as if she didn’t know what theory he was talking about, but using that technique against her was a completely different matter. To use less power than her while suppressing her at the same time. That was something that could only be accomplished by calculating her movements, understanding them, and figuring out her weaknesses in a quick moment.

Like... Sungjin... No... He’s stronger.

When she had first fought against Sungjin, he had won against her by using a little amount of power, but he hadn’t won this easily. It had taken a long time for Sungjin see through her flawless steps.

Is it possible that the Kaiser of gold has a skill like...

Like Sungjin’s absolute calculations, but Antherer’s were of a different tier. If Sungjin was a genius, then this man was an omniscient

At the thought that she couldn’t lose like this, she started her counterattacks. “The Sword of...” Her ultimate skill, which caused twelve swords to fall down from the sky. That power could defeat even the strongest monster.

At that moment, a staff crashed against her head. At its strength, which made her brain ring, she powerlessly lapsed back. Of course, Durandal wasn’t activated.

“You have more weaknesses in your larger skill activations. Tsk tsk. I’ll give you a lesson. A mountain can collapse because of a stone, and a skill might not be activated either.” The Kaiser smacked his own forehead after the explanation. “Ah. You won’t be able to hear me since you’ve fainted. I keep forgetting since I’ve aged.”

It wasn’t only Eustasia. Ereka had also collapsed between her broken armor. “No... How?”

She was a knight class. She had a high-defence class and an even higher defence. She could understand how the opponent had slipped through her spear, but her armor? She could have accepted if the Kaiser of gold had used a strong power, but he had hooked some strings on her armor and pulled, which had caused her current situation.

“It’s a nice armor, but it seemed as if there were some weak places in the joints of your armor. It fell apart when I applied some pressure to it.”

“... ?”

“Huhu. It seems like you can’t understand what I’m talking about. Just know that your armor was great but not perfect.”

“No...”

“Understanding objects, you see, means understanding the weak and strong parts of them.” And the Kaiser delivered his final attack against Ereka. “Ah, your defence was certainly different. It was perfect. Almost a replica of the gods’.”

That was what Ereka last heard before she lost consciousness.

It was the same situation for all of his teammates. Jenna, Rachel, Zakiya, and Sooryun. Everyone was defeated by Antherer’s avatars.

But it wasn’t an ordinary defeat. If they had been defeated by a suppressive power and difference in level, they could have said that it was because their opponent was a Kaiser, but the Kaiser of gold hadn’t used any sort of power from the beginning of the fight to the end. He had pulled out objects from his pockets like a leisurely old man. and had used them to easily defeat them.

Before those simple movements, they had been defeated in their own special skills, and they all thought of one thing: The Kaiser of gold was like Sungjin. He had the skills and intelligence that overcame the difference between him and his opponent.

But... one thing was different. He was much more intense than Sungjin. He was the Kaiser of the previous generations, and a scholar who researched the world for a thousand years. He knew more than Sungjin, and had more experience than Sungjin.

Can he beat Sungjin? All the girls thought as they fell.

Until now, the opponents Sungjin had faced just had pure power, which had allowed him to defeat them with strategies, but for the Kaiser to be as intelligent as Sungjin...

How could Sungjin beat someone with the same strengths as him, only stronger?

Chapter 2

The bookshelves came down. Now, when everyone was not around, the Kaiser of gold and Sungjin faced off.

“I wanted to investigate you specifically, which is why I set you apart from the others.”

“Were the results satisfactory?”

“Mm. You have amazing teammates, but at the same time, they won’t be able to breach the god’s realm, nor mine.”

“Yes. They do lack in some areas.” Sungjin smiled. There was no point in denying it. “But they are my teammates.”

“Yes. Then will you protect their backs?”

“Of course.” Sungjin pulled out his sword. Dawn Bringer. The sword of destruction of legends shone brightly.

Antherer’s eyes suddenly shone in interest. “Ho, that sword... That is your sword.”

“For now.”

“For now... Is it... I see,” Antherer mumbled in a strange tone. “It’s a good sword. I won’t say that it’s the best, but it’s fitting for you.”

“I agree.”

“Show me how it’s used.”

“Gladly.” And Sungjin charged forward toward the Kaiser of gold, Antherer, and... Calculating every moment he and his opponent could make, Sungjin’s sword rapidly approached Antherer’s weakness.

Until now, he had fought on the same level as those who were more powerful than him, and the sword had not failed him in suppressing those who had the same specs as him, but...

“Hm, amazing. Amazing.” Even while Antherer praised him, his staff kept pushing Sungjin’s sword into a corner.

Antherer wasn’t physically stronger than Sungjin. He had a strength that was unnatural for his age, but that was just about Sungjin’s strength, except he had more moves. He calculated both of their moves as much as Sungjin could calculate them. They were moving according to each of their calculations, but Antherer’s calculations went beyond Sungjin’s. There was no meaning to Sungjin’s Bringer ability before Antherer’s staff. It was a level where no skills were used but that suppressed Sungjin.

“You have already arrived at the level that I had reached when I was three hundred. It is amazing that you’ve reached that level in twenty years.”

Several more moves were exchanged. Sungjin stood firm, but his stance was slowly blurring, and in a minute, the staff pushed away the sword and attacked Sungjin’s shoulder. “Ah...”

His teammates, who were watching him, exclaimed in pity. The girls, who had already been removed from the fight, had no choice but to cheer Sungjin on from the sidelines, but no matter how much they saw, Sungjin’s calculations were always a step behind his opponent’s.

A level... No, two levels.

“At least he wasn’t defeated in a single move like us, but...” Eustasia lightly bit her lip.

Sungjin had become much stronger than the time he had fought against her father. He had reached a higher level after several fights, except the Kaiser of gold... was beyond him. If he was the old Sungjin, he would have been defeated.

“You’re faster,” Sungjin acknowledged after the single attack. He wasn’t talking about his physical speed; his opponent’s calculations were faster.

Even if he could calculate the most advantageous moves in the same given moment, the Kaiser of Gold could read more and therefore move faster.

And that small amount of difference was what made the current difference.

“What will you do? You won’t accept your defeat here, will you?”

“Of course not.”

Sungjin shot forward in a second attack, but the Kaiser of gold deflected the fiery attack as if they were having a conversation, and suppressed Sungjin once more.

At the repeated sight, Ereka became more uncomfortable. “What should we do?”

“We can do nothing but cheer him on.”

“But...”

“Let’s keep watching.” But would there be a difference between the first and second fight?

The sword and staff clashed against each other once more, and after three minutes, Sungjin allowed an attack to his leg.

“Again!”

Even after continuous defeat, Sungjin ran forward once more, and... his teammates’ spirits started to rise. It’s been over eight minutes, and he’s still holding on?

The Kaiser of gold was still more powerful, but the difference between them was growing smaller.

Ten minutes passed. Sungjin allowed another attack, and that was that. When Sungjin began his fourth attack, they were on the same level. Even after thirty minutes, no one could gain an advantage.

The Kaiser of Gold stepped back and smiled. “Haha... To think you’ve caught up this fast.”

“I was researching for such a long time, but managed to complete it faster thanks to you. I thank you.”

“To be at the age where you may want everything, but at the same time learning to understand you must let go of some desires.” Antherer nodded in acknowledgement.

“Yes. there is honestly no difference in our brains. If there was a difference, it would be that you’ve tried to calculate everything until now.”

“Until now, that made me more comfortable against my opponents.”

“Yes. The answer sometimes lay in the most unexpected places. That’s research.”

When one brain suppressed the other, it was more than enough to consider every circumstance. But it was different against an opponent of the same level.

“But sometimes it’s better to leave the unknown as it is and execute your moves. Emptying your mind to have everything.”

Until now, Sungjin had met opponents who could be suppressed with his brain. That was why he was good at revealing the best in the worst conditions, but not with the Kaiser of gold. He was the first opponent with the same intelligence as himself. Sungjin went against him by considering only one aspect of the fight and moving his body even faster.

“But you are fast. Fast. I knew that I shouldn’t measure the human’s capability against you, but to think it would be like this. Haha. A thousand years.” Antherer stroked his beard and looked toward some place far away with a smile. “But I suppose that’s the right of later scholars. But being on the same level doesn’t mean a victory. What would you do?”

“Of course, from now on, it’s my counterattack.” Sungjin’s sword levelled itself against Antherer and drove forward.

At the moment the sword and staff hit each other, a small vibration occurred in Antherer’s hands. As Antherer’s staff wavered, Sungjin reached out with his fist.

Antherer avoided the attack by thoroughly reading its route, but Sungjin immediately tilted the direction of his fist, and before it could even reach Antherer, an explosion occurred near his chest.

Antherer flew back, vomiting out an exclamation. “Kuk.”

“This is the Kaiser of White Silver’s special skill. The complete control over ki.” He coughed due to the disturbance in his breathing.

Controlling ki didn’t come from understanding its theory. Beyond comprehension, it had to be done with perfect physical strength and control.

“You’ve learned the mobility of ki beyond your mental prowess.”

“Yes, from my previous fight.”

“If you had used this from the beginning, we would have begun with an equal fight.”

“You learn faster through experience. No?”

Sungjin smiled. He had purposely fought with his body like the Kaiser of gold to absorb anything that could be advantageous to himself.

“Haha. I see. You were searching for the path to greatness even during your fight. You do have the right to challenge me.”

“I think you still have something to show me.” Sungjin didn’t rush. The fact was that the Kaiser of gold hadn’t used a single one of his skills. It could be presumed that the tools he had pulled out were a part of his skill, but it seemed to be only one part of it. There should be another main skill.

“Yes. I have underestimated you. But this is not everything I’ve calculated.” Antherer raised his staff. “Overcome yourself and feel the truth of this universe. May the truth shine upon you!”

White light exploded out of his staff.