Surviving as a Knight in a Trash Game

Chapter 164

“Why? Why are you going in alone after coming this far?”

“It’s necessary.”

“Don’t you trust us!”

Rogério, utterly unable to understand the situation, bellowed.

Though they first met as enemies, Karl was now the commander and lord he trusted, followed, and respected more than anyone.

Such a person was talking about entering a cave alone, a cave that could harbor immense danger.

As the Vice-Commander of the knights and a knight serving his lord, it was an absolutely unacceptable situation.

“It’s not like that.”

It was strange in itself that Karl, who usually never bothered with explanations, would say this.

“Is it something difficult to explain for some reason?”

“It’s difficult to explain, and even if I did, it would be hard for you to understand.”

Rogério sometimes felt that Karl was a little different from them.

And he recognized that this moment was one of those times.

At times like these, there was nothing he could do for Karl.

“There will be things for you to do. But this is different.”

The eyes in the cave were staring precisely at Karl.

And before his eyes, a translucent window that they could never see was floating.

[This is a solo mission. Others cannot enter.]

Rogério, who had an expression like a child sulking because they couldn't be with their parent, let out a deep sigh and stepped aside with a dejected look.

As he stepped back, the members lined up behind him also retreated.

“Well, serving a commander chosen by God is never an easy task, you know.”

At Kelvin’s joke, which lightened the serious atmosphere, everyone’s faces relaxed considerably more than before.

“Well, I guess there’s something only someone chosen by God can know.”

“Seeing as our commander can see it and we can’t, isn’t there some kind of divine providence at play?”

The Lighthouse Knights had witnessed countless miracle-like scenes while with Karl.

They soon accepted it and gathered among themselves, settling down.

“Until I come out, help suppress the monsters appearing in Saraban.”

“If anything happens, we must go to help you immediately. We cannot follow that order!”

“Nothing will happen.”

“Still, I cannot concede on this.”

“Then, leave only 10 people, including Kelvin.”

“Hmph… Understood.”

Rogério took a step back, and Karl slowly walked towards the cave.

The members watched him walk alone, their expressions varied.

“Sometimes it’s so frustrating. And sometimes, when I think about our commander, I feel like it makes sense.”

Kelvin’s short murmur was a sentiment felt by everyone present.

Feeling such a peculiar emotion, they stared at the cave Karl had entered for quite a long time.

***

[Abnormal signs detected in the beginner dungeon.]

[Adjusting difficulty. Anomaly detected in user’s combat power. Adjusting difficulty.]

As soon as he entered the cave, multiple system windows popped up simultaneously in front of Karl.

A beginner dungeon, he thought.

The fact that there was a beginner dungeon on an island between the East and West Continents, didn't that mean someone had anticipated that a player would start the game on this island?

Why on earth had Karl not been able to properly benefit from any of the numerous arrangements prepared in this trash game?

The trash game wouldn’t tell him, so he figured he’d only find out at the very end.

After passing through a long, corridor-like cave, a vast, plaza-shaped cave suddenly appeared.

The huge plaza, which seemed large enough to accommodate hundreds of people in width, breadth, and height, had three doors.

[Door of Wisdom]

[Door of the Body]

[Door of Strength]

Just by looking at the names, it felt like an arrangement for a beginner who arrived here to increase their stats.

Karl, without much thought, first opened the Door of Wisdom.

[The Door of Wisdom has opened. You will receive benefits by reading books.]

[Time Limit: 744:00:00]

A one-month time limit, benefits received by reading books.

Karl slowly approached the bookshelf and picked out a book.

It was a book detailing the basics of East Continent physical arts.

“Interesting….”

The methods of using the body were described in detail according to joints and muscles.

Karl devoured the book in no time, oblivious to the passage of time.

[Reading speed increases. Concentration increases. The wisdom of the book imbues the user’s body.]

After finishing the book, a faint green light seeped into Karl.

And at some point after the light faded, he felt his head clear and his eyes brighten.

After that, Karl began to madly devour the books inside this cave.

With each book he read, his reading speed increased, his comprehension strangely improved, and his head became clearer.

Like an athlete taking highly effective steroids, the effects Karl received each time he read a book here were tremendous.

At the entrance of the cave, there was something like a square cube of Byeokgokdan, which could replace meals.

Karl popped a piece from the cube at the cave entrance into his mouth and picked up another book.

Most of the books here were unobtainable in the West Continent.

Having read as many books as possible since he first opened his eyes in this world, he had read East Continent books a few times during his time as the Ghost of Chevalier in the East Continent.

For 31 days, Karl read books without a moment’s rest, dispelling fatigue through mana circulation.

[Time limit is running out. 05:00]

Karl looked at the remaining 5 minutes and picked up the last book.

He finished another book just in time for the final moment.

[The final number of books read by the user is 300. Rewards based on the books read by the user will be…]

The end of the system’s message, which was about to give something, blurred.

[Rewards based on the books read by the user will be given. The reward grade will be determined by the number of books read.]

[Final Reward Grade: S]

The same message as before.

But something was subtly different.

[Daekan’s Combat Art has been awarded.]

The message indicating the reward had been given disappeared, and when the time limit ended, Karl, who was inside, was moved outside.

‘My vision has changed a lot.’

Although not visible to the eye, the increase in wisdom was physically palpable.

‘Good.’

Next place.

[Door of the Body]

He couldn't know for sure, but Karl's existence was close to a bug, so difficulty adjustments were always made.

The Door of Wisdom he had just been in was nothing special, but the moment he stepped inside the door, an irritating sound brushed past Karl's ear.

Wuuuuuung!

“Hup…!”

The moment the sound seemed to stop briefly, an immense pressure crushed his entire body.

It felt like the acting gravity had increased, and he tried to overcome the gravitational pressure by circulating aura, but the aura wouldn’t move.

‘Am I supposed to endure this with my body?’

Even for Karl, whose body had long since surpassed human limits thanks to several physical enhancements, the pressure crushing his entire body was considerable.

[Gravity Level 1. Begin adaptation.]

As the system window disappeared, various physical training tools appeared before his eyes.

Seeing a single bar with a huge iron weight attached, parallel bars, and horizontal bars, Karl walked towards the equipment.

‘Where….’

There were no instructions on what to do or how.

However, seeing as it was called Gravity Level 1, it was easy to figure out that Gravity Level 2 and 3 existed.

“Hup!”

The weight of the iron attached to the bar, combined with gravity, applied strong pressure.

Karl expertly shouldered the bar, squatted, and stood up, adapting his body to the gravity.

“Hoo-eup!”

Kuuung!

Relentless physical training.

He wore a steel vest, climbed the parallel bars, and constantly moved his body while carrying weight.

The increased gravity pressed down on Karl’s entire torso, but his body rapidly evolved to match the gravity.

“Good.”

As he gradually adapted to the terrible pressure, Karl’s body reconstituted even faster.

After quite a long time had passed, the system window popped up once more.

[Gravity Level 2 applied.]

A pressure that seemed several times greater than the initial one constricted Karl’s entire body.

If a beginner had entered this place, they probably wouldn’t have lasted even a second and would have been crushed into slush.

[Gravity Level 3 applied.]

The moment it seemed he had somewhat adapted to Gravity Level 2, the gravity adaptation level increased again.

From Level 3, it was a level that even the body of a Master-grade Knight would find difficult to endure.

If he hadn’t trained his body relentlessly without a moment’s rest during the Gravity Level 1 and 2 adaptation periods, even Karl might have been crushed to death here.

[Gravity Level 4 applied.]

When it reached Gravity Level 4, Karl felt his vision blur.

This was not gravity designed for adaptation.

It was likely due to the difficulty adjustment, but still, wasn’t this too much?

Ppudeudeudeuk.

To withstand the increasing pressure, muscles throughout his body screamed.

If this continued, he would die, crushed by gravity.

He couldn’t die like this.

Until he completed the final mission, he had to stay alive, even if he died.

Karl infused strength into his contorting muscles, inhaled deeply, and readjusted his energy.

As he barely managed to straighten his twisted body, his thoughts began to turn.

Qi had always existed within his body.

Qi was always circulating and moving, both outside and inside his body.

So why couldn’t he use aura now?

Woong.

The change brought about by that simple question was far greater than expected.

Faint, but golden aura flowed out from Karl’s body.

Soon, Karl’s eyes closed, and the amount of aura emanating from his body began to increase.

‘Qi exists everywhere.’

After becoming a Master, it was impossible for aura to be blocked.

Aura was, after all, a manifestation of Qi, and a place without Qi could not exist.

Therefore, Qi also existed here.

It was a contradiction that he couldn't use Qi in this place where Qi existed, regardless of the principle.

Wuuuuung!

Karl began to break through the blocked energy around him by rotating the Qi in his body.

This place was not devoid of Qi.

The Qi flowing to Karl was merely partially blocked artificially.

Huuuuuuung!

At some point, the amount of light flowing from Karl’s body exceeded a certain level.

Kwaaaaang!

At that moment, the flow of aura that had been blocked from the outside began to stream in, and the sound of the surroundings exploding was heard violently.

[Warning. System error. System error]

An enormous explosion.

Urgently appearing system windows, and amidst the surging golden aura, Karl’s body floated into the air.

[The body is being reconstituted.]

This was already the third time his body had been reconstituted.

Unlike the previous two times he had undergone physical reconstitution, Karl now felt as if he were a third party, observing his body from afar.

The ceaseless inflow of aura from the outside, his body changing in sync with it, and in that process, Karl felt the infinity of aura.

The current physical change was a process of transforming to be able to endlessly absorb external aura.

Huuuuuuung!

At some point, the swirling energy subsided, and Karl’s eyes slowly opened.

And when he fully opened his eyes, he was standing in the initial plaza.

“Hoo….”

Karl instinctively realized that he had overcome a great wall.

And he needed to take his time to slowly find out what results this change could bring.

[Door of Strength]

Without hesitation, he walked into the next door.

As soon as he entered the door, numerous enemies were summoned before him.

[Abnormal phenomenon detected in user. Difficulty is being adjusted. Difficulty adjusted. Anomaly detected.]

At that moment, when the system displayed several abnormal windows, an even greater number of enemies than before appeared.

Among them were several who felt like Master-grade.

If it had been him before leaving the Door of the Body, it would have been a situation where he had to risk his life.

But now it was different.

Karl, raising his sword, envisioned a single sword in his mind.

The sword he had only attempted in his imagination until now unfolded before him.

[Karl Meyer Style. Transcendence. Spatial Slash.]

A single strike.

With that one strike, everything standing before his eyes was cut down.