BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 64 – Training Arc (Ali)

It was time to advance to the third rank.

Inside the training space, everything was as usual... a vast arena, cold air, a towering mountain overlooking the void.

But the opponent had changed.

Before me stood a monkey nearly two meters tall.

Its body wasn’t real flesh... but a dense mass of black shadow.

The only exception was a pair of glowing crimson eyes, long arms, and even longer legs—like shadows that had taken on a sharpened form.

I stepped toward it steadily.

My pulse was calm.

My breathing steady.

No fear in its eyes... nor in mine.

If it possessed something that could harm me, then I possessed something that could harm it.

It moved suddenly.

Its shadowed feet dug into the ground as it launched itself toward me with heavy speed—like a massive boulder hurled in a straight line. It wasn’t the size of a natural catastrophe beast, but it carried the same decisive force.

It closed the distance in an instant.

Its eyes flashed.

Its fist rose.

At the moment it threw its forward punch, I noticed something fleeting.

The shadow covering its fist vanished for a fraction of a second—as if the fist had become real.

I raised my arm to defend.

Boom.

I was blasted backward violently, sliding several meters across the hard ground.

"So that’s how it is..." I whispered, regaining my balance.

Only when attacking... does its fist become real.

I dashed toward it.

I filled my fist with Flame Art energy.

It didn’t retreat.

Instead, it smiled—a sly smile on a faceless form.

I leapt forward, drew my left arm back, then unleashed a direct strike charged with energy.

Boom.

I passed right through it.

My fist cut through its body as if striking smoke.

No damage.

Quickly, I summoned two wind blades and hurled them.

They pierced through without effect.

It turned and attacked again.

This time it raised its right.

Boom.

I was pushed back once more.

"It wasn’t an illusion..." I muttered slowly.

Its fist manifests only at the moment of impact.

I reinforced my defense with greater energy.

It attacked again.

No difference.

The recoil was the same.

I was thrown back like before.

"Three attacks... I’ve lost twenty portions of Flame energy."

This time I leapt aside and avoided the blow.

"I won’t waste my energy on pointless defense."

I concentrated energy in my right hand and extended my left, summoning a condensed wind blade.

It charged.

At the instant I expected the fist to manifest... it struck.

And passed straight through me like a shadow.

I froze.

"What...?"

I dismissed the blade.

It attacked again.

I summoned the blade.

The punch passed through me.

I dismissed it.

It attacked with a real fist.

I stopped moving.

I understood.

So...

As long as I display wind blades, it won’t reveal its real fist.

I stepped back.

Canceled everything.

I filled my fist with fifty portions of energy.

It lunged.

At the last moment, the shadow vanished and the yellow fist appeared.

I raised my right arm.

BOOOOOOM!

I was hurled ten meters back.

"Damn it..."

Even with fifty portions, nothing changed.

Defense strength didn’t affect the outcome.

What’s happening?

I tested again.

This time, I waited for the exact moment of contact.

The instant its fist struck my right arm, I hit its left with concentrated energy.

Boom!

We were blasted apart.

Finally... I hit it.

But when I looked, there was no visible damage.

Its shadow remained intact.

Thirty portions.

Fifty.

No result.

The fight repeated.

Until my Flame energy was depleted.

And the battle ended.

---

Outside, I sat thinking. I also ate. This time, I decided to cook.

What did I cook? Dolma—some of you might know it, others might not.

It’s simply minced meat mixed with sheep tail fat, chopped onions, diced tomatoes, other vegetables, and spices.

Does the system contain all of that? Well, no—so it was incomplete.

Still, it tasted somewhat good. It lacked the sourness of pomegranate molasses.

Don’t be surprised. How am I supposed to think properly on an empty stomach? As the poet says—

A sound mind resides in a full stomach, haha.

Back to the battle...

The shadow monkey was immune to Flame.

But not to wind. That much was clear.

That made me think... perhaps each opponent requires a different method.

Today the monkey was immune to Flame Art.

Tomorrow there may be one weak against it.

So the solution is clear...

I must strike the yellow fist with a wind blade.

The problem is the fist doesn’t appear if the blade is active.

Day three...

Another failure.

Then I understood.

This is training.

Just as previous rounds trained me to accelerate Flame activation...

This one trains blade activation speed.

I repeated the rounds.

21...

22...

Up to 30.

All training for faster summoning.

But the yellow fist appears only for a fraction of a second.

And blade formation takes longer than that.

Ten days passed.

Failure...

Repetition...

Attempts without success.

I realized...

The problem isn’t activation.

It’s blade completion.

One day, lying still, a simple idea came to me.

Who said I need a complete blade?

I returned to the arena.

The beast charged.

The yellow fist appeared.

I summoned the blade.

Boom!

I was pushed back.

The blade didn’t complete again.

But...

I felt something different.

Another blade formed... very small.

Just a thread.

And the beast didn’t cancel its attack when the thread formed.

I tried again.

And again.

It grew slightly larger.

Until—

It reached the size of a finger.

I fired it at the moment the fist appeared.

For the first time...

A scratch appeared on the yellow fist.

I smiled.

I repeated the process.

The blade grew slightly.

Damage repeated.

Not large damage.

But it accumulated.

Raindrops don’t seem harmful...

But they create a flood if they persist.

Dozens of small blades, launched precisely at each appearance.

The shadow weakened.

Until—

It fell.

The shadow monkey, minor catastrophe... finally collapsed.

{ Mission Completed Successfully }

Blue light appeared before me.

I exhaled slowly.

Time for the third rank.

---

Outside, the Deception Beast waited.

Above a stone rested the cube of light containing my points.

"Did you reach the required number?"

"Forty-three points."

I smiled.

"Give them to me."

The cube glowed brighter, shattered into fragments, and a dense strand of light shot toward me.

When it reached me, dizziness struck briefly.

I closed my eyes.

When I opened them—

{ Ding... Ding... Ding }

{ Rank advancement conditions fulfilled }

I smiled faintly.

"Finally..."

"It’s been a long time without a single system notification."

{ Yes }

Of course.

{ Ding... Ding... Ding }

{ Third Rank Achieved }

I smiled...

But suddenly—

I collapsed.

My vision blurred.

"Aaaah!" I screamed.

Severe pain struck me.

"What’s happening?!" I shouted.

"Natural. Endure it," the beast’s voice echoed from afar.

Natural? Damn it.

The pain was sharp—like a burning substance flooding my body.

I shut my eyes.

Minutes later, light returned faintly.

I opened them with difficulty.

The pain had lessened.

"You’ve awakened," said the beast. "Flame Art... and the White Flower. The higher the rank, the more their power manifests. Your body is reacting to their potential."

I knew that... but the pain was unbearable.

I tried to stand.

Another shock of pain hit.

I fell screaming, writhing.

I don’t know how many days I lay in bed.

But eventually, I regained my composure.

I went to the water. My eyes drifted toward the screens.

Everyone was progressing remarkably.

The lowest had reached round fifty.

The highest... sixty.

Truthfully, I missed them.

Outside, it might seem a day or less had passed.

But here... more than a year.

Minutes later, I went out.

I met the Deception Beast and agreed on something.

Then I returned inside.

My climb began again.

This time, I decided the end of the rounds would grant rewards—not development points.

Why?

Because the Deception Beast’s warning was decisive.

My mastered weapon, Flame Art, will reach its peak at the fourth rank.

But since my rank advancement was extremely fast, my mental capacity hasn’t risen equally.

I need to strengthen my mental power far beyond its current state before attempting to receive the dormant power of the mastered weapon.

The other danger lies in the White Flower.

It affects my body the same way.

If my body isn’t ready, the damage will be immense.

The beast’s voice was firm. Not joking.

I decided not to risk it.

The third rank is magnificent enough.

I won’t cross it before extracting every possibility from it.

In the following days—

Missions flowed smoothly.

Months passed.

I reached level forty.

More months, and difficulty increased.

I truly began to understand the limits of the third rank.

Training.

Thinking.

Refining movements and strategies.

The advanced rounds were no longer about brute strength.

Even normal rounds required planning.

Then—

More than two years passed at level sixty.

And the effects of loneliness began to strike within my mind...

Longing for the city... for everyone... started to rise.

The training journey had truly become exhausting.

Not physically...

But mentally.