#254
Closed Dimension (3)
The office of the head of the Hubert Trading Company.
“...Then I’ll handle the mineral distribution matter as you instructed, Chairman.”
“Good. Is that all you have to report?”
“Yes! That’s everything urgent for now. Is there anything else you’d like to add?”
Having finished her work report, Diana gathered the approved documents and tilted her head.
Her hair was neatly arranged and braided down one side, and her attire was tidy and formal.
No matter how one looked at her now, she had grown into an excellent secretary.
“No, what I said earlier is enough. If something else comes up, I’ll call for you then.”
“Ah, yes! Then I’ll take my leave.”
“If it isn’t an important matter, handle it at your discretion and report it afterward. I’d like to concentrate alone for a while today.”
“Yes, understood!”
Hugging an armful of documents to her chest, she bowed politely and soon left the office with careful steps.
Click—
And so the door closed, leaving Hubert alone.
With a small, satisfied smile on his lips, he leaned back against his chair and slowly stroked his chin.
‘She really is incredibly capable, isn’t she? She takes care of most things on her own, so work has gotten much easier. Her lack of experience due to her young age is a flaw, but honestly, the same goes for me. No, if anything, she’s far better than I am.’
In truth, Hubert’s business acumen was nothing particularly remarkable.
It was only because the wealth, military might, authority, and information network he possessed through his other avatars were so absurdly overpowered—along with a certain measure of luck—that he had risen to his current position.
By contrast, Diana’s talent was the real thing.
Wasn’t it the “genius-level business acumen” guaranteed by the 「Analysis」 skill?
‘She’s already at that level now. If I give her proper information on top of that...’
Those who knew nothing were simply busy marveling at Hubert’s foresight, which was based on his informational advantage. But Diana, who had taken on the role of his secretary, reacted differently.
Relying solely on intuition, she not only arrived at conclusions Harris had reached after much deliberation, but also instantly grasped the intent behind his brief instructions and proposed more efficient alternatives.
‘Ever since I made Diana my secretary, work efficiency has risen to a ridiculous degree. On top of that, her trustworthiness is beyond reproach.’
If he gave her proper support, she was a talent who could elevate the status of the Hubert Trading Company by several levels.
At first, he had only been interested in her sense of smell, but now he felt as pleased as if he had bought a stock without much thought and watched it multiply several times over.
‘Then Diana can handle most things on her own. I suppose it’s about time I focused on this side of things.’
The task he had wanted to do alone.
It was not related to the trading company.
To be more precise, it was not even related to this world he was currently in.
Thud-thud— Thump!
A pile of books emerged from the subspace magic tool hanging on Hubert’s wrist and stacked neatly to one side.
At the same time, a faint scent of ink spread through the room.
From beginning to end, they were otherworldly books made and bound in a style unseen in this world, their covers filled with unfamiliar characters.
Once all the books he had received through 「Avatar Cloud」 and stored separately were taken out, he finally finished his preparations. He picked up the book at the very top and immediately used 「Analysis」.
—A proprietary secret manual of the Iron Block Gang, classified as an unorthodox faction. If trained in parallel with external arts, qi circulates through the cells of the entire body, promoting physical growth and hardening the body like steel. It later becomes advantageous when using the body as a medium to transmit and receive qi, but it has the drawback of making it more difficult to grow beyond a certain level.
—Overall Grade: C-
—Main Traits: Somewhat low acquisition difficulty, fast growth rate, high external arts proficiency, somewhat low internal arts proficiency, low growth limit
‘A dud.’
Hubert roughly skimmed the contents while flipping through the pages, then shook his head and moved it to the opposite side.
It might be useful for quickly raising a trainee to a level where they could be used decently, but he had no particular need for such half-baked ability.
His hands then began to move busily.
Starting with the Fish-Dragon Stronghold, the books he had secured by looting the many water strongholds on Dongting Lake and even the chief stronghold master were sorted one by one according to their tendencies and usefulness.
‘Hmm, I see... There’s also a remarkably high proportion of orthodox faction martial arts?’
Although they had collapsed in vain because their base had been attacked while defenseless by Harris, who could be called an irregular, the underlying strength of a force that had ranked among the top three in a province was not to be underestimated.
There were also a considerable number of secret manuals that seemed to have been taken from nearby minor orthodox factions in the course of expanding their influence.
‘Well now, maybe I expected too much.’
Unfortunately, however, their level was generally mediocre.
So far, only three or four martial arts had met his standards, including the “Jiaolong Saber Art (A-)” and “Whale Wave Crocodile Billow Heart Art (A)” he had extracted from Jin Deokman, the chief master of the Eighteen Strongholds of Dongting.
The number of secret manuals the water bandits had plundered and collected easily exceeded a hundred, but most of them were unremarkable things below D grade.
‘Ugh, bandits will be bandits. No wonder those guys seemed so shoddy. I guess it was all just bluster.’
Hubert frowned slightly and let out a sigh.
The fact that those bandits had been a massive force ruling the surrounding region had already vanished from his mind.
In any case, it was true that they failed to satisfy him.
And so, while he continued his work, hoping that at least one thing would prove worthwhile...
His hand reached for an especially old book whose cover was so worn that not even the title remained—.
“Mm? What’s this?”
The moment he checked its detailed information, his eyes widened.
—An unparalleled secret manual imbued with the long-cherished aspiration to handle the eight images said to represent all phenomena in the world. It pursues endless harmony with all things under heaven and earth, and upon achieving unity, one can interfere with the material world on the basis of limitless internal energy. Because it requires not only martial talent but also profound inquiry into philosophy and all things, it is extremely difficult to learn.
—Overall Grade: S
—Main Traits: Extremely high acquisition difficulty, slow growth rate, somewhat high external arts proficiency, extremely high internal arts proficiency, extremely high growth limit
A martial art judged to be no less than S grade had appeared.
‘...This actually came out?’
In truth, though he had grumbled in dissatisfaction, there was one thing he had clearly realized in the process of examining and sorting the secret manuals.
The grading standard judged by the 「Analysis」 skill was extremely strict.
By that standard, an overall C grade would be treated by a minor sect as a precious consummate art passed down only to direct disciples, while an A grade was no different from one of the few top-tier secret arts even in a great sect.
‘Excluding the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Emperor, the martial arts learned by those from the Kanghwan Realm whom Hans fought were probably B grade at most.’
That was why he had thought that only a famous peerless divine art with a name like the “Heavenly Demon Divine Art” would receive a judgment of S grade or higher...
Honestly, he would have been satisfied if a usable A+ grade had appeared, but this was a harvest beyond his expectations.
‘And this wasn’t even something the chief stronghold master had. To think something like this was stuck in the warehouse of a mere water bandit leader.’
No matter how worn the cover was, there was no way a person who had learned martial arts would fail to recognize the value of such an item.
With that uneasy feeling, he opened the book and examined its contents—.
And soon realized why it had drawn no attention and had been treated that way.
—When the places of heaven and earth are set, and the energies of mountain and marsh com...municate, thunder and wind collide with one another, and ... and fire do not shoot at each other, the Eight Trigrams harmonize...
—Qian becomes the head, Kun becomes the belly, Zhen becomes the feet, and ... becomes the legs. Kan becomes the ears, Li becomes the eyes, Gen becomes the hands, and Dui becomes the mouth...
‘What is this nonsense?’
Hubert’s lips twisted as he quietly flipped through the pages.
In other secret manuals, one could at least see an effort to explain difficult contents as clearly as possible. This one, however, was simply filled with vague, cloud-grasping nonsense from the start.
On top of that, it was old and had not been well preserved, so some of the characters had even been smudged beyond recognition.
He did not know through what route the water bandit leader had obtained it, but he had probably read a few pages and immediately given up.
It had likely only been placed on the shelf with the secret manuals because it contained illustrations one might expect in a martial arts book, including diagrams of the human body.
‘Even the A-grade secret manuals weren’t this abstruse.’
After leafing through the book several times, Hubert began reading the secret manual seriously from the beginning again.
The characters of the Kanghwan Realm that made up its contents could be understood instantly through 「Xenoglossy」, but in order to properly learn this martial art, he needed to grasp the implications embedded within them.
‘The memories of other returnees from martial worlds are... yes, they’re at least better than nothing. Good grief, it’s not like I’m decoding a cipher.’
Still, he had many memories that could serve as references, so if he invested enough time, he felt he could interpret it.
It would have been better if the memories of the Heavenly Slaughter Demon Emperor, the greatest master of the martial world he had encountered, had remained intact...
“...No, wait.”
But at that moment, a certain thought suddenly flashed through his mind.
A skill’s direction and possibilities changed depending on how its user utilized it, and the limits of an ability developed in that way also varied according to proficiency.
‘If I use this well...’
The supernatural ability that allowed one to break free from all restrictions related to language, 「Xenoglossy」.
And the skill that, as an upper-compatible version of 「Appraisal」, had shown outstanding utility in grasping the nature of things, 「Analysis」.
Without hesitation, he activated both skills at once and poured all his mental power into them.
‘This is the first harvest I obtained from the Kanghwan Realm. I should at least try everything I can.’
He had gone to another dimension hoping he might be able to obtain something. Wouldn’t it be far too pathetic to back down here?
As he poured in even his spare mental resources, 「Hypersensitivity」 activated, and his thoughts accelerated without end.
Tzzzzk—
His brain spun fiercely, burning energy without cease.
The connection between 「Analysis」 and 「Xenoglossy」, which had been simple at first, gradually grew stronger, and he began to faintly sense not just the meaning of the context but even the meanings implied within it.
He grasped the author’s intention contained in the sentences, inferred the smudged words, and deduced the overall text.
But as expected, even this was still not enough.
‘Fine. Since it’s come to this, let’s go all the way.’
Hubert coolly downed a bottle of the VIP Market’s Elixir of Growth that had appeared in his hand before continuing the work again.
As expected of something so expensive, once the medicine took effect, the progress of his work began to surge at a frightening rate.
‘And this state lasts for seven whole days, right?’
But he would not need seven days to finish this task.
After roughly half a day had passed since he began digging through the abstruse sentences of the secret manual as if deciphering a code—.
《The individual has fulfilled the conditions and gained enlightenment. You have acquired the skill 「Cipher Decoding」.》
Because the moment he obtained a new skill, the work that had been proceeding so tightly suddenly opened up all at once.
***
“Huuuup, hoo—.”
Along with a deep breath, the surrounding energy was drawn into Harris’s lungs.
The energy of nature, which had been moving half-forcibly thanks to the racial traits of a High Elf and his transcendent affinity, was now obeying his will far more naturally than before.
‘I see. I think I roughly understand what it feels like.’
Harris, who had been taking time to become more familiar with the energy of this world according to the laws of the Kanghwan Realm, slowly nodded.
The 「Cipher Decoding」 that Hubert had newly acquired had begun rapidly growing under the influence of the elixir immediately after its creation, and naturally, the interpretation work gained even more momentum.
The results were then immediately put to practical verification by Harris in the Kanghwan Realm, which in turn aided Hubert’s analysis, creating a virtuous cycle.
‘The Wuyou Bagua Secret Art... This seems like it would suit Harris quite well.’
On this visit, he had intended only to settle down properly and lay the groundwork so that he could expand his influence later, but it seemed he had obtained a harvest far greater than expected.
The interpretation of the secret manual was not yet complete, so he could not be certain, but if he could properly learn it and harmonize it with his existing power...
‘Just how great would that synergy be? Perhaps with it, I might even be able to cross the wall currently blocking my path.’
Harris already knew.
The moment he crossed the wall with the help of the divine existence known as the World Tree, he had already reached the limit of his growth.
Of course, that had been the best choice at the time, and transcendence itself was proof that he had become one of the strongest beings in that world. Even so, now that circumstances had turned out this way, he could not help feeling regret.
‘For now, it’s enough that there’s a possibility.’
Just in time, in the dimension he had visited, he had encountered the very fortuitous opportunity he needed.
Whether this was truly a coincidence, or whether there was some other reason, was still uncertain...
But he decided to think about that slowly later.
“...I will ask you once more. What business brings you to the territory of our family?”
Because at the moment, numerous martial artists were brimming with force as they aimed their drawn weapons at him.
About a day after leaving Dongting Lake.
Harris had arrived at the Zhuge Family of Mount Longzhong, his intended destination.