The Fighting Pit

Pernok examined his body.

‘The dead’s spiritual power was absorbed into my body?’

Spiritual power was normally extracted by the dead from the dead.

Pernok had grown in the Netherworld by absorbing the spiritual power of the strong.

But Pernok wasn’t one of the dead—he was among the living.

He’d never imagined that the living could reversely absorb the spiritual power of the dead.

‘The total amount of my spiritual power remains the same. This isn’t absorbed into the soul. It seeps directly into my body.’

Like watering drought-stricken farmland, spiritual power was absorbed throughout his body, filling in the deficient parts.

‘Spiritual power from the Netherworld cradles the soul, while spiritual power drawn directly from the lower world solidifies the living’s body.’

Instead of increasing the total amount of spiritual power, his body was changing to become more compatible with spiritual power.

Thus, it would be refined enough to withstand drawing on his infinite spiritual power without the body breaking.

For Pernok, who’d been agonizing over how to raise the synchronization rate, this was an incredibly sweet discovery.

‘Even if the body recovered, how much of my soul’s spiritual power I could draw was uncertain. But if I absorb spiritual power like this and remake the body anew, I can draw on all the spiritual power I used in the Netherworld.’

People and monsters.

Or perhaps he could extract spiritual power from other things too—he needed to confirm.

‘War or struggle.’

This place was the perfect environment for Pernok.

As Pernok smiled wickedly and looked around, the silent spectators began to look like prey.

‘I wonder how much spiritual power those vermin have?’

This place he’d thought would be the worst might actually be the best.

* * *

“These crazy bastards. They’re buying this.”

The guard shook his head and locked Yak and Pernok in Room 15.

“Stay quiet until we fill the roster.”

As the guard disappeared beyond the corridor, Yak bowed his head to Pernok.

“Thank you. I survived because of you.”

“If you’d stayed like that, old man, we’d all be dead.”

“You must have a lot of experience with this.”

“…?”

“Killing monsters like the Red Zaka, I mean.”

Yak glanced at Pernok’s wound.

He seemed to regard the burn scar on his chest as a medal earned in battle.

It was a useful misunderstanding for making use of Yak, so Pernok replied nonchalantly.

“What’s so special about killing one little fish like that? What matters more is what comes next.”

“What comes next… Right, we have to keep fighting here.”

“Until we die.”

At the words that stabbed like a dagger, Yak’s shoulders drooped.

“You seemed different from those guys, old man. How did you end up here?”

“I was kidnapped.”

“Because of debt?”

Yak shook his head.

“My family died in the war, so I wandered from place to place. I had the talent to read and write, so I made a living teaching letters. Then I entered the Marquis Falkion’s territory…”

Yak smiled bitterly.

“…I have no memory after that. When I opened my eyes, I was here.”

The Marquis Falkion’s territory was land belonging to the Kingdom of Illumina, the domain that had governed the half-living’s village.

‘Since they quickly sold off gravely wounded me, this fighting pit must be near the Marquis Falkion’s territory. But seeing no action from the marquis’s domain despite an arena of this scale and these spectators…’

Either they knew of the underground fighting pit’s existence and ignored it, or perhaps they were secretly operating it.

Various situations could be predicted, but the conclusion converged on one point.

The Marquis Falkion’s territory and the underground fighting pit were closely connected.

“So much for seeking outside help.”

“Did you hear something?”

“You suspect it too, don’t you? Isn’t it strange that a place as important as a marquis’s domain takes no action when even civilians are being kidnapped?”

“…”

“Either they don’t know about this place’s existence, or they’re in close relations with the managers here. The former means incompetence, the latter means corruption.”

“I-I suppose so.”

“There’s no way out except escape by our own power.”

Yak gulped down his dry spit.

For now, there was only one hope for surviving the next match.

“I’ll do whatever you tell me to. Help me not die a futile death here!”

Pernok stared at the desperate Yak and asked.

“When’s the next match?”

“It’ll start as soon as the roster fills.”

“How long until we reach seven people?”

“When you came in, it took about two days. We need five more, so at minimum a week, at most about two weeks.”

“More time than I thought. Good. Then while I rest, there’s something you can help with, old man.”

“Just say the word.”

“Tell me about the outside. Anything related to the Kingdom of Illumina is fine.”

The half-living had lived his whole life in the village. He couldn’t even read or write.

With memories as ignorant as that, he couldn’t know the world he now lived in.

“Not about the fighting pit?”

“A place like this is obvious. I’m more curious about how the world works. Tell me everything you know, old man.”

“It’s nothing that grand, but…”

Yak talked about the territories he’d wandered through. His claim about teaching letters seemed true—he also explained knowledge from books in an easy-to-understand way.

The people’s poverty.

Revolutionary armies.

War.

The great nations that dominated the world.

Most of it was just chaos in the world or denunciation of corrupt kingdoms.

Like the era he’d lived in, this place too was embroiled in endless war.

At least now seemed to be a time of catching their breath.

A great power in the east watched a great power in the west closely, while other weak nations decided which side to stand on.

The Kingdom of Illumina in particular was severe in this regard.

‘A nation built in the middle of great powers.’

Illumina was surrounded on all sides by great powers.

From the perspective of great powers looking for opportunities to invade other nations, Illumina was like an advance base—extremely appetizing.

‘For such a nation to have maintained its existence for so long.’

The more he heard, the more absurd it became.

“…So this kingdom is more open than other countries I’ve seen. You know about Illumina’s succession struggle?”

“What’s that?”

“Mm, Illumina doesn’t have the king designate a successor. When the king dies or gets too old to remain on the front lines, they give trials to the royal family.”

“To other royals besides the children?”

Yak nodded.

“It’s because they believe stronger blood will protect the nation. But looking at the results, the king’s children end up claiming the throne anyway.”

“Is the trial just word games?”

“I wouldn’t know. Still, Illumina has protected its nation until now thanks to this.”

“…?”

“The Illumina royal family each cooperates with powerful nations. There are rampant rumors that the next generation’s succession candidates also have great powers backing them.”

“Those called royalty have no shame.”

“If they don’t grab onto any lifeline, this nation will collapse just like that. Anyway, the Illumina I know is this kind of place.”

A nation that had prolonged its life through a deformed structure despite having no ability to sustain itself.

‘Like a long, slender tower that could collapse at any time.’

Perhaps this was actually fortunate.

Places riddled with holes were easier to pierce than thick, solid ones.

“Is there more you want to hear?”

“I’d like to learn to read and write too.”

“Letters… That’s not difficult.”

Yak smiled and brought over a stone.

He began carving letters on the floor with the stone’s edge.

“By the time we fill this prison with letters, we’ll have our seven people.”

Yak threw himself into teaching like a fish in water.

Pernok endured the surging pain and absorbed knowledge of the new world.

* * *

While learning the language of this place from Yak, he devoted himself to healing.

Fortunately, the guards faithfully provided bread and water, so there was no worry about food.

‘Almost there.’

When cold sweat from pain no longer flowed, Pernok examined the memories of the absolute beings.

‘Which one suits me best?’

As time was traversed backward, power continued to evolve.

Early warriors preferred a training method that perfectly controlled their bodies to draw out their inner strength.

Calling this “Ataka,” they believed this transcendent power would ultimately reach the gods.

However, bodily strength eventually met its limits and declined.

Because the next generation saw the emergence of power close to authority that manipulated all phenomena, called “Origin.”

The Origin darkness wielded by the Lord of Despair made the world as dark as night.

Within it, the era of Origins that boasted god-like authority crumbled before the miracles of true gods.

Radiance.

Also called divine blessing, this power gathered the light of heaven and twisted the alien phenomena of Origins.

Eventually, Radiance and Origin collided and mutually annihilated.

The world where all power had vanished achieved yet another evolution.

An era arrived where they refined and used weapons with flow contained in special metals.

‘The time when the Knight King dreamed of a thousand-year empire.’

The dead who became the Lord of Despair’s subordinate, the Knight King, was an absolute being who led this era.

But his kingdom couldn’t withstand the “calamity” that arrived like fate and collapsed.

The metal disappeared, and the knight’s nation fell.

Thus, the world finally achieved yet another advancement.

Magic.

An era arrived where they awakened and used latent abilities in individuals through the special driving force called mana.

A crystallization of talent that couldn’t be learned through effort and could only be used by those born with it.

In the current era, hierarchy was divided according to what excellent magic one possessed.

‘I only know magic from explanations, so I don’t understand it well…’

Among the dead who ascended to the Middle, there were no mages.

Either their magic was too poor to achieve great feats, or there were none who deeply explored this power.

‘…Anyway, I can’t learn magic since only those born with it can use it, similar in form to Origin. Radiance requires the light of heaven, so that’s impossible too. I need to gradually find the weapons the Knight King left behind.’

Even transcending time, there was the fundamental “spiritual power” of all things, but right now even using the Observation Eye was overwhelming.

Pernok didn’t cling to powers he couldn’t draw upon.

‘Ataka is perfect.’

Instantly, all sorts of knowledge and experiences reaching the peak of Ataka flashed through his mind.

Like a seasoned master, Pernok closely grasped the blood flow, then began manipulating the position of each muscle and organ.

This training method enabled explosive amplification of physical muscle strength, but above all, its healing effect was outstanding.

Those who reached the pinnacle with Ataka displayed miracles close to regeneration, healing most wounds during combat.

Pernok hadn’t reached that stage, but by controlling organ positions and misaligned bones himself, he accelerated the half-living’s privilege even faster.

“Huff.”

As he exhaled a long breath and released from Ataka, his tightly constricted muscles screamed.

When the burning pain in his chest surged, cold sweat flowed.

“Is your body bad again?”

When Yak rushed over with a worried expression, Pernok shook his head.

“I’m fine, so you should train what I taught you, old man.”

“Mmm… Call me right away if anything happens.”

Yak gripped the empty bowl and swung his arms in various directions at the empty corner.

Basic weapon paths Pernok had taught him.

He’d planned to use Yak against monsters if no progress showed in training even after time passed, but it was needless worry.

‘Good.’

This cold sweat was dregs remaining in the body.

As blood flow improved, waste exited through pores and the body regained vitality.

‘At this rate, I’ll be able to use muscle amplification soon enough.’

Pernok’s training progressed smoothly.

As a result of eating, sleeping, and training for two weeks, he’d gained enough muscle strength to swing his arms multiple times.

The chest wound had also recovered to just slightly stinging now.

The burn scars needed to be erased through other methods, but increasing combat power right now was the priority.

If he’d been given about a month more, he would have learned ancient combat techniques too, but this place wasn’t so accommodating.

“New arrivals!”

Five people came in at once.

A pot-bellied man, a limping man, a one-armed man… The giant who looked relatively normal was mute.

‘Are they determined to kill us this time?’

Boyle’s group at least had the spirit to stab a monster, but these guys looked like they’d be scared and run away first.

‘Even better.’

Instead of sending in pathetic prey, the hunter would become all the more ferocious.

Pernok stared at the guard with eyes tinged with ecstasy.

“Hey, guard. You prepared properly this time, right?”

Would the quantity and quality of spiritual power differ according to the monster’s strength?

A smile formed naturally at the thought of devouring the hunter.