"Woohoo! I'm unstoppable!" I shouted into the void, my laughter echoing off the silent walls of the spatial training grounds.
{Negative. Host, you are not the only one in this world to achieve that realm.}
I froze mid-celebration, scratching the back of my head. "Oh. My bad. But come on, system—you can't blame me. This is just… crazy. I got carried away, lost in my own little victory lap, you know?"
{Host must train for the remainder of the time until the next trial begins.}
{Additional Notice: Due to host's giant physiology, the strength output of the 49 Golden Meridians has been calculated to equal 49 million tons of raw force.}
I blinked. "Wait, wait… forty-nine Billion tons? With just my early-stage Emperor realm body multiplied by 1480 meridians? Does that mean…" My eyes widened, my grin spreading. "I can actually fight an Mid—or even mid-High—Celestial Realm opponent?"
{Affirmative.}
I clenched my fists, the ground beneath me groaning. "Damn. Alright then… let's train like hell."
20 Days in the Forge
The days blurred into one another.Each strike of my fists cracked stone. Each stomp shook the earth like distant thunder. My blood pumped like molten iron through the latticework of 1480 meridians, and the 490 Golden Meridians blazed like rivers of light inside me, uniting body, spirit, and mind.
The Golden Body Technique toughened my flesh until steel bent before my skin. The Iron Dragon Scales rippled across my arms and shoulders, giving me a hide as hard as mountain peaks. The Heavenly Demon Body surged through me with power that both burned and purified, twisting pain into strength.
And yet, the training was lonely. The spatial grounds stretched endless and barren, a world of stone, mist, and silence. My only company was the echo of my own strikes and the cold voice of the system.
Still, I endured. I prayed in the mornings—small, clumsy prayers whispered to a God I feared and yet clung to. I fought shadows that weren't there. I combined techniques, weaving them into my own style until the boundaries between martial arts and instinct blurred.
On the twentieth day, my body hummed like a storm waiting to break. Sweat clung to my chest, steam rising from my shoulders as though my very blood boiled.
Ding!{Congratulations, host. You have trained for 20 consecutive days. Rewards will be granted after the host completes the 100-year trial.}
I slumped back against a wall of stone, exhaling in relief. "Cool. Now I just need… a little rest before the storm hits again."
The Trial Gate Opens
Three days later, a familiar sound pierced the silence.
Ding!{Trial Gate has opened.}{All stats are sealed. Good luck, host.}
The world twisted, and when my vision cleared, I stood in a forest. Sunlight filtered down through a canopy of endless green, dappling the ground with gold. The air carried the scent of moss and soil. Birds called out—but beneath their songs, I felt it. The prickle of unseen eyes.
I grinned, stretching my neck. "I'm back, baby."
{Host has been granted sword and armor.}
A shimmer of light enveloped me, and in its place came weight—the crushing embrace of steel. I glanced down. The armor looked like something forged between eras: a full medieval plate with jagged Viking horns curling upward. My sword was half the size of a greatsword, still massive in human terms but sized for my giant hands.
"Finally, a gear upgrade." I shifted under the plates, feeling the drag of the heavy metal. "But… damn, why's it so heavy?"
{Host must fight lightweight enemies while encumbered.}
Understanding dawned, and my lips curled into a smile. "Ahh. So this is a test. How much my training really paid off—forcing me to fight against speed types while dragging weight. Nice."
I rolled my shoulders, my smirk widening. "Alright then. Bring it."
The Shadows Stir
The forest was alive, but not in the way most people would find comforting. The leaves rustled too often. Shadows shifted without wind. My senses, honed by twenty days of isolation and relentless training, caught every misplaced footstep, every whisper of cloth brushing bark.
"They're scouting me," I thought, scanning the treeline. "Genin, probably. Low-ranked, but nothing to scoff at."
I kept moving aimlessly, pretending ignorance. The scouts dispersed. That meant I was close—too close—to something important.
Then the world erupted in white smoke.
"Smoke bombs?" I muttered, coughing.
Kunai whistled through the haze. Explosions rattled the ground, heat licked my skin—but when the smoke cleared, I stood untouched.
Several shadows leapt from the trees. Their blades flashed in unison.
"Tch. Annoying little gnats," I growled.
I stomped down, the ground shattering beneath my boot. Dirt and rocks burst upward, knocking the ninjas off balance. Seizing the moment, I lunged, grabbing the first one I could and hurling him into his comrades. A tree splintered as their bodies crashed through it.
I reached down, ripped another tree straight from its roots, and hurled it like a spear. It spun through the air, only to explode mid-flight under a barrage of kunai.
I narrowed my eyes. "Of course it wouldn't be that easy. This is Hell Difficulty."
Using the smoke as cover, I dashed forward. My blade sang, steel clashing against theirs in a blur of sparks. My fist met one of their chests, and the impact sent him flying into the branches above.
Then, a sharp cry cut the air."Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"
Dozens of figures burst into existence around me. My eyes widened for only a moment before narrowing in irritation.
"Shadow clones? …This is getting really annoying."
Their blades came from every direction. I parried, ducked, countered. My sword cleaved one in half—only for the body to burst into smoke. Again. Again.
But then I noticed something.Not all of them cast shadows.
A grin split my face. "Gotcha."
I lunged, my blade cleaving the air, and cut the true body clean through mid-leap. Blood sprayed across the leaves. The rest of the clones vanished like mist under the morning sun.
From there, it was a massacre. Their tactics unraveled, and one by one, they fell.
The Summoning
Just as I thought it was over, a roar split the battlefield.
The captain staggered back, his hands flying through seals. "Bastard! Summoning Jutsu!"
The ground trembled. From the circle of smoke and fire erupted a beast—massive, scaled, its yellow eyes glowing like molten gold. A serpent, thicker than a tree trunk, its coils snapping branches like twigs as it rose to its full height.
It hissed, the sound like thunder in a storm. Then it lunged.
Its body wrapped around me, constricting with force that cracked boulders. My ribs groaned. My breath hitched.
But I knew the counter.
I bent my knees, forced the coils upward with sheer strength, then grabbed its midsection. With a roar, I heaved, twisting its entire body over my shoulder and slamming it into the earth. The ground split, the forest quaking from the impact.
The captain's eyes went wide, horror etched across his face.
I surged forward, blade flashing. One strike. One scream. Then silence.
The captain's body fell, and with him, his beast dissolved into smoke.
As I stood catching my breath, a flutter of wings drew my gaze upward. A pigeon burst from the trees, a scroll tied to its leg.
A messenger bird.
My grin returned. "So the real fun starts now, huh?"
I followed the bird. For three hours, I trailed it through forest and valley, across rivers and hills, until at last the trees parted—revealing a fortress hidden in the shadows of the mountains.
The ninja headquarters.
And my next trial.