Leveling with the Gods

"Speaking of the later floors, if we're referring to the 50th floor, then..."

"Are you referring to the next level of the Cinder Eyes?"

"That's where I obtained the Golden Cinder Eyes, so I'd say it's most likely."

From the tutorial, to the first floor, to the second floor...

And up to the 50th floor.

As they figured out what to do on each floor, the topic of the 50th floor came up.

"What's the difference between the Cinder Eyes and the Golden Cinder Eyes? We haven't used them, so we don't know."

"Are you asking about the difference? Well, it's enormous."

When the conversation turned to him, Son OhGong responded with his usual arrogant phrases.

"The Cinder Eyes were good eyes, that's what I thought at first."

In hindsight, the Cinder Eyes weren't a great ability compared to its rank.

Being able to anticipate an opponent's movements and react to them was a decent advantage, but it wasn't enough to make it an A-grade ability.

"But as I acquired more skill, I started seeing things differently. I could see and feel my opponent's movements in advance. I could see the truth and the lies."

Of course, Son OhGong didn't find this strange.

To him, a skill's score was just a letter, nothing more, nothing less.

But when he fought Surtra in the tutorial, obtained the Cinder Eyes, and reached the 50th floor, obtaining the Golden Cinder Eyes...

"These eyes are still not in their final stage."

Son OhGong gradually learned more about his Eyes.

"The Golden Cinder Eyes are just the path towards the Eye of Foreknowledge."

The Eye of Foreknowledge.

It is said to have the power to see the future, an ability that is only legendary in the Tower.

When Son OhGong mentioned it, the room erupted into a frenzy.

It was said that if Son OhGong had acquired that ability, maybe they wouldn't have lost the battle against the Outer Gods.

Of course.

"If he had obtained it, what would have changed..."

YuWon looked up at the red-tinted sky and smiled.

Son OhGong.

Despite being one of the top-ranked among the top 10, he wasn't very intelligent.

He's smarter than anyone when it comes to fighting but dumber than anyone in everything else.

That's why when the time came to choose a master for the Clock Movement, YuWon was chosen, not Son OhGong.

"I know the future anyway... Still, if I manage to acquire the Eye of Foreknowledge..."

No.

On the contrary, the Eye of Foreknowledge was even more necessary for his goal.

It was an ability that no one had ever acquired, so no one knew exactly what it did, but it was clear that it had the power to see the future.

YuWon trusted Son OhGong's information.

More precisely, he trusted his senses, which had almost reached the Eye of Foreknowledge when he opened the Golden Cinder Eyes.

Foreknowledge was definitely a real ability.

Bam!

OhGong, who had been walking ahead, turned his head.

"Can you endure?"

Hwarrrrr-.

Lava flowed from the rocks and the ground.

Even the sky had turned fiery red from the scorching heat.

This was an infernal place where even a Ranker could barely stand.

"It's hot."

[The Cinder Eyes withstand the 'Inferno'].

[Resistance successful.]

Of course, YuWon was not one to succumb to this.

Among YuWon's attributes, fire was the most resistant.

In addition to the resistance of the Cinder Eyes, YuWon's own resistance to fire was considerable.

"It's good that it's hot. Yes. That's good for your growth."

With a cheerful smile on his face, Son OhGong took the lead.

Son OhGong's first alter ego.

He was the strongest among the alter egos and, of course, the one who wielded the power of the Golden Cinder Eyes with the greatest freedom.

The Bull Demon King did not follow them.

First of all, this is a land abandoned by the Celestial Realm, and even if it was just Son OhGong, there was no great danger.

For now, he needed to regain strength.

YuWon, who had been chasing after Son OhGong, sighed and looked back at the surrounding landscape.

"It's an inferno."

He had heard the stories.

A place of scorching lava, where even Rankers fear to enter.

A place where not a single human is found, and it is a place where criminals who committed serious crimes were imprisoned until the prisons were established in the Celestial Realm.

'Nevertheless...'

YuWon frowned as he noticed sweat running down his forehead.

"It's quite hot."

He had thought that if he simply set foot here, he would be able to endure enough.

Indeed, he felt no heat at first. But soon, the flames had broken through his resistance and made him feel the heat.

The sweat on his forehead increased. YuWon finally raised his Arcane Power to protect himself.

How long had they been walking?

"We're here."

Son OhGong whistled at the distant landscape.

Although it was now a land abandoned by the Celestial Realm, there were still remnants of the old times.

Large cages.

Long chains connecting to the ground.

A vast prison, capable of holding tens of thousands of people, stood in the midst of the blazing plains.

"The Eight Trigrams (八卦炉)."

The Eight Trigrams.

A celestial prison where Son OhGong had been imprisoned for over a hundred years.

No.

"It was an execution ground for criminals who had committed serious crimes."

A prison that emanated infernal heat from its unbreakable bars.

Therefore, the Eight Trigrams were not just a prison but had long been used as an execution site to imprison and kill sinners of the Celestial Realm.

Of course.

That use was completely abandoned thousands of years ago by Son OhGong.

"My main body survived there, it's a contraption created harnessing the mana of the world, attracting flames hotter than lava."

Son OhGong turned his head to look at YuWon.

"I obtained these eyes through this."

The Cinder Eyes were obtained by fighting against the tutorial boss, Surtra.

However, the true culmination came right here, at the Eight Trigrams.

That was the story of the creation of the Golden Cinder Eyes.

YuWon now faced the task of repeating that history.

"What do you think? Is it worth it?"

"Let's give it a try..."

Bam~

Without hesitation, YuWon walked towards the Eight Trigrams.

The path to the Eight Trigrams was much farther than he had initially thought.

It only seemed close because it was very large.

It was like a massive baseball stadium capable of holding tens of thousands of spectators.

'I also feel sorry for them.'

He thought to himself.

To think that this magnificent structure, built by who knows who, was abandoned because it couldn't execute a single Son OhGong.

'Of course...'

YuWon smiled as he thought about it.

'In this era of peace, simply existing is something ugly.'

In the thousand years since the outbreak of the Great Celestial War and the Gigantomachy, the Tower had been very peaceful.

Without major incidents or wars, the Heavens had been busy filling their stomachs day after day.

And it wasn't just the Heavens.

The Murim, Olympus, Asgard, etc...

All the guilds and worlds were the same.

They forgot...

That the struggle that comes after a long peace can be as great a war as the long peace itself.

'Furthermore...'

YuWon pointed towards the door of the Eight Trigrams.

'An execution unit that cannot kill people no longer serves a purpose.'

Chii-.

A sensation of burning was transmitted through the cage handles.

A hot flame radiated through the palm of his hand.

For a moment, he realized he was walking towards a pit of fire.

The moment he opened the door.

The flames that had consumed the Eight Trigrams for so long would consume him.

"That's right..."

Gulp-.

YuWon remembered what kind of person Son OhGong was.

"I wonder how he survived in a place like this."

Kik-.

YuWon pushed the door to open it.

And then...

Fireeeeeeee!

A giant demon-like fire attacked YuWon.

Hwah, hwah, hwah-.

The first thing he felt was the heat on his face.

The moisture covering his skin instantly dried up and twisted, burning him to the bones.

That was when YuWon understood why the Eight Trigrams were used as execution sites and not just prisons.

['Cinder Eyes' resist the 'Eight Trigrams'].

[Resistance fails]

['Attire of the Four Spirits' resists the 'Eight Trigrams']

[Resistance fails]

['Sacred Fire' resists the 'Eight Trigrams']

[Resistance partially fails]

It couldn't be resisted by any ability or object.

The flames of the Eight Trigrams were hot enough to make the air outside of Hell feel cold.

'I trusted in my ability to resist fire.'

At first, YuWon thought it would take him at least ten years to complete this trial.

Maybe twenty, thirty years if it was longer. But even though he was a bit overwhelmed by his faster growth than expected, he decided to accept the challenge immediately.

With an Arcane Power stat of over 120, a Resistance stat of over 100, and even a skill called Sacred Fire.

He believed he had enough fire resistance.

However...

"Ugh."

Still, he couldn't let his guard down.

Exhaling the hot flames that had entered the depths of his lungs in an instant with his breath, YuWon prepared himself.

'I can't lose here.'

If he lost to this fire, not only would he not obtain the Golden Cinder Eyes, but he would also die here.

'I'm not immortal, unlike OhGong.'

Son OhGong had acquired an immortal body.

The Celestial Realm, which tried to kill him with the Eight Trigrams, ultimately failed.

In the process, Son OhGong absorbed the power of the Eight Trigrams and obtained the Golden Cinder Eyes.

[The Eight Trigrams trial begins].

[Resist the Flames of the Eight Trigrams].

[24:00:00]

Twenty-four hours.

It was a dizzying amount of time.

Twenty-four hours in this scorching fire.

No.

'It's actually going to be much more than that.'

The question was.

Was the Eight Trigrams trial really a trial that Son OhGong, who had an immortal body, could overcome?

The power of immortality was not a power that could be obtained no matter how far back in time he went. Furthermore, it was a power that would be useless in the fight against the Outer Gods in the first place, so there was no need to covet it.

How many days had Son OhGong been trapped in the Eight Trigrams?

"I was trapped there for days..."

When asked how long he had to be locked in the Eight Trigrams to obtain the Golden Cinder Eyes, Son OhGong counted on his fingers and replied.

"I think I was locked up for a hundred days, and maybe two more. Now that I think about it, I was bored, so I don't know how I did it. Plus, I don't really like the heat."

He didn't really like the heat.

It was none other than the Flames of the Eight Trigrams. Even if one consumed the entirety of the Immortal Peach Garden, the heat of the Eight Trigrams would not be easy to endure.

But due to Son OhGong's appraisal, YuWon inwardly scorned the Eight Trigrams.

'I have the Cinder Eyes, and I have the Attire of the Four Great Spirits.'

If Son OhGong could do it, he thought, he could too.

But then...

"This...."

Hwareuk, Hwareuk-.

After a while, YuWon, whose entire body was burning with intense redness, murmured.

"It's a little difficult, isn't it?"

['Cinder Eyes' react to the flames of the 'Eight Trigrams'].

After losing the battle with the Celestial Realm, Son OhGong was trapped in the Eight Trigrams.

And now, YuWon began the trial that Son OhGong had gone through.