Chapter 104
“...Are you the Sage?”
I asked.
The Old Man answered.
“The world used to call me by that name.”
Who is this person?
It was a strange sensation.
Usually, through Sixth Sense, I could vaguely tell how strong any opponent was.
I couldn't feel anything from the Sage in front of me.
It wasn't like I felt a sense of danger either, but...
I didn't know. I just couldn't tell.
Maybe it was because the Level Difference was too great?
As in martial arts novels, a master whose realm is too high doesn't show any signs at all. It's a cliché.
“It is a pleasure to meet you.”
I concluded that it wouldn't hurt to be polite first.
I bowed my head in greeting.
The Sage laughed heartily.
“I appreciate you greeting me rather than cursing at me. The Gates you passed through must have been quite arduous.”
“Isn't this level of testing natural to obtain the Sage's Treasure?”
Anyway, the three people were all just parts of a One-Man Play controlled by the Sage.
That meant the information obtained from the three people was also highly likely to be true.
It seemed correct that obtaining the Sage's Treasure was the Clear Condition for this hidden route.
Was the Final Test over this?
It would be really nice if that were the case.
“What is your reason for wanting to obtain the treasure?”
The Sage asked.
“...Is it because I want to obtain the truth?”
Did they say that obtaining the Sage's Treasure would let you know All Truths of the World?
I gave a suitable reason, but the Sage spoke.
“If you do not answer honestly, you will not be able to obtain the treasure.”
What? Can he see through lies?
I didn't have a reason; I was just trying to clear the floor.
“Honestly, I don't have a particular reason. I'm just a bit curious about the treasure.”
There was no way he would understand if I brought up the Tower.
I answered again like that.
It was true that I had become a bit curious about what the Sage's Treasure was.
Fortunately, it seemed to be a pass as the Sage nodded.
“The Final Test remains.”
“...What is it?”
“Anything.”
The Sage said.
“Tell me whatever test you desire. However, we will not test luck, and I will set the passing criteria for the test. The opportunities to challenge are infinite.”
I tilted my head.
Telling me to say anything...
I couldn't help but be a bit bewildered.
“Then, for example, chess...”
As soon as I opened my mouth, a chessboard and pieces appeared between the Sage and me.
The Sage took a seat.
“Black and White, which will you choose?”
“...White.”
I just said it on a whim.
He said the opportunities to challenge were infinite, so I sat down across from him for now.
I took white and made the first move.
I had played quite a bit of chess and Go, so I wasn't lacking in skill...
I was defeated by a checkmate in just 30 moves.
“...One more game.”
We played a few more games.
But I lost all of them without surpassing 50 moves.
I changed the conditions.
“Can we play with a Time Limit?”
“As much as you like.”
“Then let's set the Turn Time to 1 second.”
I planned to use Time Stop.
1 second was a level where you had to make a move immediately without time to think.
But I had infinite time to think.
The Sage laughed.
“Wouldn't 1 second be too short?”
“I'm confident in playing quickly.”
“Let's do that then.”
[0:01]
A timer appeared in the Void next to us.
The match began again.
As soon as I made a move, the Sage made his moves.
Even so, the precision of his moves didn't change at all from before.
“...”
So the result was the same.
It was my defeat again.
What is this? An AI?
“...Can we change to a different game?”
“Go ahead.”
“Let's play Go.”
I wondered if the Sage would know Go.
When he snapped his fingers, the chessboard turned into a Go board.
I took the black stones and made the first move.
The match ended quickly this time too.
I was dragged along without even knowing how I was losing, and then I was defeated.
I realized that the gap in skill between the Sage and me was astronomical.
I can't win this.
“...Do you happen to know Omok?”
He said the opportunities were infinite anyway.
I didn't give up and kept changing the game.
Omok, Alkkagi, and even absurd things like stacking Go stones without them collapsing, I competed with the Sage.
The result.
They were all crushing defeats.
I stared at the Sage's Go Stone Tower with my mouth wide open.
The Sage showed off a divine trick of stacking over twenty Go stones, letting me know the difference in our levels.
No, what is this...
Is there nothing the Sage can't do?
It seemed meaningless to compete in a game that the Sage might not be able to play.
...Should I compete using my body rather than my head?
He said anything was fine, so a fight should work too.
The problem was that there didn't seem to be much chance of winning there either.
He was definitely a Mage much stronger than I.
“How about competing using only our bodies without using magic?”
I hurriedly added.
“Of course, killing is prohibited.”
The Sage laughed and stood at a distance from me.
“I will not counterattack. If you even graze me once, you pass.”
It was a generous condition, but I thought the opposite.
Damn, will this not work either...?
He must be setting such conditions because he is that confident.
Bang!
Then, I kicked off the ground and rushed toward the Sage.
It was the moment I reached out and thought I touched him.
The Sage's body blurred and disappeared.
I looked back and the Sage was standing there.
“...Didn't you just use magic?”
“I did not.”
If not, what was it?
Was he so fast that I couldn't even follow him with my eyes?
I rushed at him again.
The Sage didn't disappear this time.
As if to show me that he wasn't using magic, he dodged all my attacks at a speed similar to mine.
I even activated the Exaltation Skill and chased the Sage at full speed, but...
I couldn't even graze his collar, always just barely missing.
After running around the Cavern for a long time, I stopped and caught my breath.
...This won't work.
I didn't think that doing it a little more would work. The level difference was obvious.
When I first saw the speed at which he disappeared, he was taking it easy on me even with this.
I looked at the Sage, and he smiled with his eyes.
The Sage's breathing hadn't quickened at all.
[How am I supposed to win?]
Not with my head, not with my body.
I asked Ma-Wang.
[Demon Lord, can you beat that person with magic?]
Ma-Wang answered.
- Is that even a question?
[Oh, then could you...]
- I cannot win.
[What?]
- If it were my true body, perhaps, but how could I win with this trivial body? That man is no mere insect either.
Even Ma-Wang can't do it?
- Think straight. It is not that I cannot do it, but that your physical body is pathetic...
I ignored Ma-Wang, who was about to throw a fit.
Phew, there's no answer to this.
I pondered and then opened my mouth.
I wondered if there was any way to beat the Sage if even this didn't work.
“Let's go with a Memory Test.”
The Sage nodded.
“I will display 1,000 numbers. If you memorize them all before me, you pass the test.”
The Sage waved his hand.
[124572305804329502589320323...]
Then, countless sequences of numbers appeared in the Void.
I raised my hand and said.
“Wait a minute. Isn't it a bit unfair to have a memory competition with numbers you provided?”
“Are you trying to say that I have already memorized the sequence? These are merely randomly generated numbers.”
I shook my head.
“Still, I can't help but be suspicious. Could you conduct the test in a different way rather than our competing against each other?”
“Like what?”
“If you set a Time Limit, I will memorize all the numbers within that time.”
The Sage was someone who made a time limit meaningless even when playing chess with a 1-second rule.
I thought he might say he memorized all the numbers as soon as the memory competition started.
The Sage readily accepted.
“Then let's do that. How many seconds do you want?”
Look at this Yangban.
“...What do you mean, seconds?” To memorize a thousand numbers, shouldn't you give me at least an hour?”
I tried complaining for no reason.
The Sage laughed.
“Then it wouldn't even be a test. I will give you 100 seconds.”
“Haa, that's too intense...”
I held back my laughter.
Cheering inwardly.
[I won.]
In truth, it didn't matter how much time he gave me.
I managed my expression, afraid that being too confident would arouse unnecessary suspicion.
[100]
The timer numbers appeared separately.
The sequence of numbers also changed to new numbers again.
“I will begin.”
With the Sage's words, I immediately used Time Stop.
Ma-Wang spoke mockingly.
- Have you ever seen such a cheap bastard.
[This is also my skill.]
And the Sage was even cheaper.
Even if it was a memory test, was telling me to memorize a thousand numbers in 100 seconds a joke or what?
I started memorizing the numbers in the stopped time.
[52839472...]
I remembered trying to memorize pi when I was young.
Did I memorize up to about 100 digits?
Ten times that.
I didn't know how long it would take.
Would it take at least a few days to memorize it completely?
Victory was already confirmed, but it was the start of tedious memorization.
[Demon Lord.]
- What.
[Please memorize them with me.]
- Are you crazy? Memorize them well on your own.
It would be nice if he memorized them with me, as it would shorten the time and allow for cross-verification, but I should only hope for what's possible.
Anyway, I memorized them diligently.
How much time had passed?
[...1231289924585...]
Okay. Done.
After memorizing everything and completing Self-Verification several times, I finally used Time Release.
I deliberately waited until the timer was almost up.
“I've memorized them all.”
I said to the Sage with an exhausted face.
This wasn't acting.
I really thought I was going to die of boredom, fuck...
When the Sage waved his hand, the numbers disappeared.
“Speak.”
“5283947212525110...”
I rattled off the numbers.
I said all one thousand numbers without forgetting a single one.
“...Did I get them all right?”
I was a bit nervous.
If I made a mistake, I would have to memorize them all over again from the beginning.
Clap, clap, clap...
The Sage smiled and clapped.
“That is correct.”
“...”
“Congratulations on passing the Final Test.”
It was a modest congratulation.
More than that, the Sage's attitude was somewhat strange.
As if he knew I would pass as a matter of course. How should I say it...
It felt like we had just gone through a mere formality.
The Sage waved his hand again.
Then, the location changed.
The dark Cavern turned into a vast library.
“Follow me.”
I looked around with surprised eyes and followed the Sage.
Endlessly climbing the spiraling stairs...
“I have explored the world my entire life. Fortunately, I even have defied my innate mortal destiny and have endlessly dispelled my ignorance over infinite time. There is no greater joy than coming to know what you do not know.”
The Sage chattered.
The somewhat stiff tone from just before disappeared, and vitality could be felt.
For a moment, I felt that subtle change was foreign.
The Sage stopped walking and pulled a book from the bookshelf.
A thick book with no title.
When he opened it, the inside was blank paper with no content.
[Is there something else left?]
When is he going to give me the Sage's Treasure?
I was having such thoughts.
The Sage stroked the blank page.
...Fwip-fwip-fwip!
Then, an airflow surged around us.
“...!”
The Library trembled.
That was the only way I could express it.
The books on the bookshelves pulled themselves out and swam through the Void.
The characters flowing out of those books began to be completely absorbed into the book the Sage was holding.
Shooooo...
The Storm of Characters subsided.
Before I knew it, the book that had been blank was filled with dense text.
The Sage closed the book.
“This is the Sage's Treasure.”
“...”
“All Truths of the World are contained within this single volume.”
Momentarily overwhelmed, I nodded in a daze.
More importantly, could this really be the reward for this hidden route?
“How about it? What truth do you wish to know through this?”
The Sage asked.
A truth I wish to know.
Well... there are naturally many things I want to know.
For instance, about the Tower.
I need information about the Nightmare Floors I have to clear in the future, or what exactly is waiting if I climb the Tower to the end.
But there was no way I could know such things.
No matter how grandiose it sounded with All Truths of the World or whatever, in the end, this was just the clear process of a single floor.
Wasn't it all just a theater set up by the Tower.
“Does this book also say what the Tower's Identity is?”
I asked that half-jokingly.
I figured he wouldn't understand anyway, but I wanted to see his reaction.
But...
“Of course.”
“...Pardon?”
I looked at the Sage, startled.
The Sage was looking at me with a smile.
“Kim Seohyeon, who is clearing the Nightmare Difficulty 7th Floor Hidden Route: all the truths you desire are contained within. Do you wish to know the Tower's Identity?”