Beriache, the great demon of satiation—she peeked at the rules of the world and condemned Yatan. After being exiled, she gave birth to 10 children. She repeatedly warned her children who had great desires like herself.
‘Don’t harm your own blood and flesh. If you covet your siblings’ blood then my aspirations will be in vain. This is a warning.’
Braham Eshwald was the only child who rebelled against her ultimatum of deep concern. Braham coveted infinite knowledge and tried to overcome the Curse of Sloth. He turned away from the words of his mother, whom he loved and respected.
This was the cause of Braham’s life being plagued by grief and suffering.
‘Would I have met you if the Curse of Sloth still controlled me?’
It was also the beginning of the miracle that led to the meeting of Braham and Grid. Braham didn’t regret going against his mother’s words.
“Sky.”
The sword dance that declared itself as heaven. As if shouting that he would punish those who doubted and denied him, Grid connected all types of powerful sword dances. Braham’s lips curled up in a happy smile at the sight.
He was happy. He was proud that he had been of some help to this ‘close to complete’ being who was a blacksmith and the Hero King, a person who wasn’t a Sword Saint, but glimpsed the extremes of swordsmans.h.i.+p. A person who also had the qualification to learn magic.
There was a rainbow reflection. Braham was thrilled as he returned the waves of sword dances to Grid using the legendary great magic that reflected all attacks. It was because Grid counterattacked and returned all the sword dances to him. Braham dodged using Teleport and defended his body with s.h.i.+eld. Then he spoke in a rather excited voice, “As you know, I am truly a genius.”
“Gasp... Gasp... Yes, yes, you are.”
Grid hadn’t expected all his sword dances to be reflected. If it was before he obtained Chiyou’s secret technique, he would’ve died just now. It would’ve been impossible for him to react with Flower Revolve. Unlike the gasping Grid, Braham spoke calmly, “However, there were certainly geniuses who were better than me.”
Mumud and Marie Rose—meeting them placed a terrible curse on Braham. The curse of resenting his lacking talent.Braham sometimes shed tears as he measured their talent against his own. At the same time, he felt great pleasure. He was able to set his goals higher due to the presence of people greater than himself.
“Every time I vowed to go beyond them, my pa.s.sion swelled like the sun. However, now...”
“......?”
“I think you can surpa.s.s me so my pa.s.sion is hotter than at that time.”
“Huh?”
No, what was this? It was honestly too much of a leap that he could surpa.s.s Braham. He heard these words after being helpless for five minutes. It must be lip service... The frowning Grid suddenly had a thought. Braham, giving lip service? It was impossible bulls.h.i.+t. Braham didn’t care about others. He was a being who had no experience in pleasing others. All his words were heartfelt.
‘Then will I surpa.s.s Braham one day?’
Meteor fell toward the head of the thrilled Grid.
“In about 1,000 years?”
“Aaaack!”
***
How long had it been since he was beaten so neatly? He felt like swearing.
“Groan...”
Grid sat upright the moment his stamina recovered a bit and he recalled the battle. To be honest, he didn’t feel like he made any mistakes. His loss was because Braham was too strong.
‘The strengths if a transcendent didn’t work.’
Grid’s speed was blocked by Braham’s predictions and his reflexes were counteracted by instant cast magic. Shunpo could originally change the situation with a single use, but it was countered with Teleport. It was like fighting a chariot with a cannon in Korean chess.
‘The biggest problem is that my behavior was predicted...’
It felt like he was dancing on Buddha’s palm. It wasn’t just because Braham was clever. It was because he had lived for hundreds of years and had rich experience in fighting. Grid had been fighting every moment for the past 10 years, but Braham was a character who had been fighting dozens of times longer than him. If Braham was a tiger, then Grid was just a newborn puppy.
‘This doesn’t mean that I can take my defeat for granted.’
It was natural. If he got used to defeat simply because he lacked talent and experience, then he would face countless defeats in the future. His records of defeat would pile up like a mountain. The enemies that Grid had to face were beings who had existed for at least hundreds of years.
“Don’t get frustrated.”
Braham smiled as he sat to one side and held his chin. Did he meet a G.o.d or something? Grid had grown so fast that it even gave rise to this absurd idea. He had believed himself to be the strongest and didn’t hide his arrogant and confident spirit, only to be helplessly defeated. Braham expected him to be shocked, but he was surprisingly calm.
“Why should I be frustrated when you are my opponent?” Grid confessed honestly.
His opponent was Braham. He was the strongest magician of all time and had even acc.u.mulated divinity recently. He might not have recovered to his prime, but it was natural for him to be stronger than Grid. Didn’t Braham overpower Piaro ‘unarmed’ even before he built up his divinity?
“Rather, I’m glad that I lost to you. I would’ve been shocked if I couldn’t grasp the subject and lost against someone else.”
Grid fully understood Braham’s desire to fight. Braham wanted to ask the grateful Grid ‘Who will you lose to apart from me?’ but he shut his mouth before he asked. He got up, looked around the library, and inquired, “Of course. You don’t like reading, right?”
Grid once had a reading phobia. It was especially bad in his school days when he lived with textbooks and study papers. He resented the textbooks and study papers that he couldn’t understand no matter how much he read. However, this had changed since Satisfy started. It has been a few years since he was forced to read all types of strategies and encyclopedias, forcing them into his head. He became very familiar with reading.
He replied, “No, reading is my hobby.”
“Is that so? It is surprising.”
“......”
Grid was fl.u.s.tered when Braham said this without scoffing. Just a few years ago, Grid was a fool. Wasn’t Braham the one who called him a stone head? He thought it would be good if Braham didn’t mock him after he said he read. So what was this satisfied expression?
“The stone has fallen off your head. I wanted this to happen and you really made reading a hobby.”
It happened when Grid glared at Braham who was seriously muttering to himself...
The bookshelves filling the infinite library moved by themselves and changed their layout. Soon, a bookshelf came in front of Grid and towered over him.
“Choose one.”
The dozens of millions of books stored in the library were embodied fragments of Braham’s knowledge. It meant the contents of all the books were different. However, on the outside, they all looked the same.
“What are these books?”
“My magic is written in the books on that bookshelf.”
“......!”
Braham’s books of magic! Grid’s heart that he had stabilized jumped wildly again. In fact, he had abandoned magic. He could no longer learn magic the moment his second cla.s.s, Legendary Great Magician, changed to Duke of Wisdom. Still, he hoped that Braham would separately teach him magic. It was just that Braham’s response was so strong despite Grid’s intelligence exceeding 4,000 that he was forced to throw away his remaining regrets.
Now he was freely given the magic books. There were also hundreds of books of magic.
‘If I learn all of this...’
Couldn’t he become Braham’s successor? Grid gulped and pulled out a book. He was about to open it when Braham spoke like he was surprised, “Don’t you have any worries?
“They all look the same on the outside anyway. Does it make sense to worry about choosing?”
The hundreds of books on the bookshelf just had black covers. They were books without t.i.tles. It was impossible to tell what it was so he could only pick one at random.
“However, you can only pick one book. Why don’t you think about it a bit?”
“Huh?”
Braham really meant that he could only choose one? Among all these books? Grid made an absurd expression and Braham explained to him, “Unfortunately, you can’t master a variety of magic.”
“Why?”
He acknowledged it only when his intelligence stat was low. Braham’s enhanced style magic was something that even renowned magicians couldn’t learn. He thought it would be greedy to learn magic from Braham when he only had a few thousand points in intelligence.
However, Grid’s current intelligence was heading toward 5,000 points. Braham said the acquisition condition of his basic magic was 4,000 points so the condition was already met.
“Can’t I learn all the basic spells now?”
“It isn’t a matter of intelligence. It is apt.i.tude.”
“Are you saying that I’m lacking apt.i.tude?”
Honestly, this sentence wasn’t very pleasant. He had obtained Legendary Great Magician as a second cla.s.s and then it evolved into Duke of Wisdom. This meant six of his stat points were invested in intelligence every time he leveled up. Yet now he was lacking apt.i.tude? What about all the points that were forcibly invested in intelligence? Grid barely swallowed down his rising anger.
“It can’t be helped because fighting energy is circulating in every pa.s.sage where mana should be circulating.”
“......”
“There is nothing to regret. This has made your sword energy stronger.”
In fact, Braham’s heart was the same. He didn’t express it outwardly, but Braham had wanted to make Grid his own disciple. He wanted to make Grid a magician like himself. However, what could he do? Grid’s body became a harmony between sword energy and fighting energy and it was no longer suitable for a magician. The only good thing was that Grid’s intelligence had improved considerably.
There were a few pa.s.sages to circulate mana so even if he couldn’t digest multiple magic techniques, learning magic itself was no problem. Of course, this was only a story for when Braham helped.
“For you, magic will have to be a choice and requires concentration.”
Magic was a multi-step process, with five to ten steps per technique type. However, Grid could only learn one spell per step. It was a serious disadvantage for Grid if he could only learn ordinary magic. The story was different when it came to Braham’s enhanced magic.
Braham’s enhanced magic created a lot of power with just one magic. Even if Grid only learned one magic, he wouldn’t envy the magicians who had learned 10.
Braham confirmed it and glanced at Grid. “If you have been guided to that book, then don’t hesitate to open it.”
“Can I pick something else?”
Grid had chosen the magic book without thinking so there was no choice but to hesitate. Braham smiled at the indecisive Grid. “My knowledge should’ve responded to your shortcomings.”
“...I understand.”
At this point, Grid had to understand it. He gave up on his hesitation and opened the magic book. Braham’s eyes shone brightly. “You’ve picked well.”
6th Anniversary Event Link (Submission End Date: 15th November)