Chương 54

"Come at me," Vane challenged. Rudra didn't wait. He kicked off the sticky brown mud and charged. He kept his center of gravity low. No jumping. No walking on the air. He gripped the Abyssal Ironwood Staff with both hands and stepped directly into Vane's personal space. Vane swung his heavy steel halberd in a massive horizontal arc. The blade cut through the air with a terrifying, heavy whistle. Don't dodge backward, Rudra told himself. Anchor your feet. Rudra planted his boots deep into the mud.

He threw his staff up, twisting his wrists to catch the heavy steel blade on a harsh angle. CLANG! Sparks flew. The impact was heavy enough to make Rudra's teeth rattle, but he didn't get launched across the yard this time. He absorbed the push, sliding just an inch in the mud. He instantly pushed back, guiding Vane's heavy blade down toward the ground.

"Good!" Vane barked, a wild grin on his scarred face.

"But can you hit back?!" Rudra didn't answer. He used the momentum from the block to spin his body. He thrust the blunt end of his staff right into the center of Vane's heavy steel breastplate. Thwack. The hit was solid. Rudra instantly snapped his wrists, pulling the staff back just a few inches, and thrust it forward again. He aimed for the exact same scratch on Vane's armor. Thwack. A tiny swirl icon flickered over Vane's head.

The Commander was way too high-level to actually get stunned by it, but the deep, rattling impact of [Blunt Force] made the giant man stumble half a step backward.

"Oh, that felt nice," Rudra laughed.

"Keep laughing, kid!" Vane roared. The Commander recovered instantly. He brought the back end of his halberd around, trying to sweep Rudra's legs. Rudra hopped just high enough to clear the wood, keeping his boots parallel to the ground. He landed softly and immediately chained into his own counterattack.

"[Sweeping Gale]!" Rudra yelled. His staff blurred in a low arc, smashing against Vane's armored shins. Vane didn't fall over, but his sturdy stance was completely broken. Rudra pressed the advantage. He stepped in close, turning the fight into a messy, scrappy brawl. It wasn't an elegant sword dance. It was just ugly, close-quarters fighting. Rudra shoved with his shoulders, stepped on Vane's boots to mess up his footing, and swung his staff in short, brutal strikes.

My arms are burning, Rudra thought, grinning happily as he ducked under a lethal thrust. This is exhausting. I love it. Over by the wall, the five elite knights were cheering loudly. They were currently sharing a bowl of spicy river-kelp salad that Rudra had bribed them with earlier. Kratos was sitting on a wooden crate next to them, barking aggressively and spitting tiny sparks of black and gold magic into the air.

"Don't get sloppy!" Vane shouted. The Commander suddenly gripped his halberd with both hands. His muscles bulged, and a heavy, intimidating red aura flared around the steel blade. It was a high-tier heavy weapon skill. Vane brought the halberd crashing down. It looked like a falling meteor. Rudra didn't run. He didn't use [Abyssal Step]. He stared right at the falling steel. The world around him went completely quiet. The cheering knights, the barking cub, the cold wind—it all faded away.

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon. He fell entirely into his fighting instincts.

"[Iron Guard]!" Rudra threw his staff up horizontally, bracing it perfectly against his shoulders to absorb the massive weight. CRASH! The halberd slammed into the ironwood. The ground beneath Rudra's boots literally cracked. Mud exploded in a perfect circle around them. Rudra's arms shook violently, his stamina bar draining in a huge chunk, but his guard did not break.

"My turn," Rudra grunted. He pushed the halberd off, twisted his hips, and brought his staff around in a heavy, full-body swing.

"[Crushing Strike]!" The staff smashed directly into the side of Vane's chest plate. The heavy impact echoed across the yard like a cannon shot. Vane's massive body was actually lifted a few inches off the ground. The Commander flew backward, crashing hard into a wooden weapons rack and splintering it to pieces. Rudra stood in the mud, panting heavily. His arms felt like wet noodles. He leaned on his staff to keep from falling over. Vane lay in the wreckage for a second.

Then, a loud, booming laugh echoed from the broken wood. The Commander sat up, rubbing his chest piece. A massive, deep dent sat right where Rudra had hit him.

"You hit like a battering ram, kid," Vane laughed, tossing his halberd aside. He stood up and dusted the woodchips off his shoulders.

"You kept your feet on the ground. You didn't run away. You pass." Rudra let out a long, exhausted sigh of relief.

"Thank God. I really didn't want to do another week of ice training." A massive flurry of golden system windows suddenly exploded in front of his face. [You have entered a state of 'Deep Immersion'] [Intermediate Staff Mastery has reached Lv. 10 (Max)!] [Quest 'Murray Militia Intermediate Training' has been completed!] [You have survived Commander Vane's brutal conditioning and mastered the weight of your weapon.] [Quest Rewards:] - Strength +50, Stamina +50, Agility +50. - Intermediate Staff Mastery Level +1.

- Greatly increased Affinity with the Murray Kingdom Military. Rudra felt a massive, rushing wave of heat flood his muscles. The exhaustion vanished instantly. The stat bumps were huge, but he didn't care about the numbers right now. He was staring at the next notification. [Your understanding of the staff has transcended normal limits.] [Skill has evolved to Advanced Staff Mastery (Lv. 1)!] Before he could even celebrate, a world message was triggered, [A player has become the first to reach the Advanced tier in a Weapon Mastery Skill!]"Wait. World first?" Rudra mumbled, his eyes going wide. The golden text in front of him changed, glowing with an intense, holy white light. [You are the first mortal to push a blunt weapon to the absolute peak of mortal understanding. The legends of the old world have noticed your dedication.] [You have acquired the title "Staff Saint Candidate (Stage 1 - Transcendent)"] [Staff Saint Candidate (Stage 1 - Transcendent)] [You walk the path of the peak. You have begun to transcend mortal limits. - All stats will become 1. 3 times greater. - Quickly detect the target's weakness. - There is a high probability of predicting the target's movements. - The skill 'Super Sensitivity' will be opened.]"One point three times greater?" Rudra gasped.

"That is completely broken." He immediately opened his skill window to check the new addition. [Super Sensitivity (Lv. 1)] [Active] [All senses will become transcended. - Telepathy: You can predict 100% of all your target's behavior within 10 meters. - This effect will last for 6 seconds and will continue for 2 seconds after the effect has ended. - Resource Consumption: All of your current mana. - Skill Cooldown Time: 1 hour.] Rudra stared at the blue screen. It was a literal cheat code.

For eight whole seconds, he could read an enemy's mind and perfectly dodge every single attack. The cost of entirely draining his mana bar didn't even bother him, because his Black Staff Expert class barely used any mana anyway. [Legendary Class Quest Generated: The Path of the Staff Saint (Phase 1 of 5)] [Difficulty: S] [The first step to becoming a Saint is to prove your absolute control over the battlefield. Clear Condition: Defeat 10 Boss Monsters that are a higher level than you without taking a single point of damage. Reward: Progression to Phase 2.] Rudra didn't cheer. He didn't jump up and down. He just stood entirely still in the middle of the muddy yard, staring blankly at the massive S-rank quest hovering in the air. He slowly pulled his dark leather mask down. He looked at Commander Vane, who was happily complaining to his knights about the dent in his armor.

He looked at Kratos, who was currently trying to eat a piece of dropped firewood.

"I literally just wanted to hit things hard with a staff," Rudra whispered to himself, completely dumbfounded.

"How did I end up becoming a Saint?"