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In various parts of the Western Continent, now under the control of Pohellnia, temples of the newly established faith were being erected.

However, among them, there was only one Grand Temple where the messenger of God resided.

It was located in Pohelln, the capital of Pohellnia, precisely at the city’s center.

This magnificent and colossal structure, situated in the heart of a city boasting the highest population density among human settlements, was completely isolated from the outside world.

The Grand Temple was surrounded by a wide moat.

The moat was filled with water so clear that it reflected the inside as it was.

Moreover, stagnant water usually rots, but the water filling this moat never decayed.

The depth of the moat, reflected in the transparent water, didn’t seem deep, only about the height of an adult male, but once you entered, it was impossibly deep to know the bottom.

After several accidents of people falling into the water out of curiosity, the story spread that anyone who dared to set foot in the sacred precinct without permission would fall into the moat and suffer eternally, unable to die or live. Since then, people have been much more careful about approaching it.

There were two ways to cross this moat.

The first was by using the pier.

When an authorized person approached the pier connecting to the sacred precinct, a boat, said to be made from a large branch of the World Tree, the Great Mother Earth, would come from the Grand Temple to the pier.

Surprisingly, even without oars or anyone rowing, this mysterious boat would accurately approach the pier.

If you boarded it, the boat would move on its own towards the Grand Temple without any power.

Moreover, the water was so clear that it sometimes appeared as if the boat was floating in the air, which led devout believers to regard it as a ship heading to the heavens.

The second method was beyond human imitation.

High Elf Araya, the messenger of God who only showed her face to the world during the Martial Arts Festival, crossed the deep moat as if walking on flat ground, and Rudolph, the divine deer who served her, could also leap across, befitting a sacred beast serving a god.

This grand structure, visible from any location in Pohelln, stood aloof, never allowing the intrusion of anyone unauthorized.

Among many believers and citizens, rumors abounded that the Grand Temple contained all sorts of gold and jewels, a mysterious elixir that could grant eternal life, or a staircase leading to the heavens.

The Grand Temple.

A place fit for God to dwell, allowing access only to those chosen by God.

◈ ◈ ◈

But the reality was far from it.

I sat cross-legged on a rock, yawning as I watched about 40 disciples practicing basic stances in the grassy open space inside the outer walls of the Grand Temple.

While outsiders described the inside of the Grand Temple as a utopian paradise where immortals lived, the actual life was closer to a pastoral existence.

The Grand Temple was home to me, Rudolph, 120 priests who had completely devoted themselves to the new faith and had no intention of returning to the secular world, and 45 disciples, now holy warriors, who had been selected over the course of five Martial Arts Festivals.

The priests cultivated gardens, transcribed scriptures, and dedicated themselves to training to become proper holy warriors.

It was a place cut off from the outside world, with no great entertainment.

Blessed by the Mother World Tree, this Grand Temple area usually yielded 3 grains of barley for every 1 grain planted in an average year, and 4 grains in a bountiful year, but here, the barley yielded more than 20 grains.

In addition to the date palm tree in the World Room, which was considered an incarnation and sacred tree, many other date palm trees were grown inside.

There was not only a well with clear water, but it was also safe to drink the water from the moat.

Thanks to this miraculous fertility, the Grand Temple was able to be completely self-sufficient in food with just the size of the gardens cultivated inside.

Rather, it was the perfect environment to study or practice martial arts away from the secular world.

“Honestly, I can’t figure out the principle behind this.”

The power of the Great Mother Earth, filling the moat dug in the middle of a human city with clear water and making the land itself fertile, creating a sacred place.

The abilities of the Elder Loas, such as Elves, Succubi, and Titans, who created entire races and natural phenomena themselves, were innate powers and miraculous forces that could not be imitated or replicated.

martial arts and sorcery felt mysterious, but there was an underlying principle, and they did not deviate from that rule.

“It’s ironic that such beings were killed by their own creations.”

I thought about the existence of Bwown Krshaka, who was said to have caused tectonic shifts just by existing, and the absurd end of Ul Kanadiel, who possessed the power of night and death.

However, unlike those two Elder Loas who were betrayed and killed by their children when they weakened, Mother World Tree seemed to become more active as the religion began to flourish.

Originally, after creating the Elves, she seemed to have lost a lot of strength for a long time, like a mother after childbirth.

“Does she get stronger as more people believe in her?”

No way.

Could she get stronger in such an absurd way?

I chuckled at my own ridiculous thought and looked at the holy warriors training.

Their skills… were terrible, as expected, at least from my perspective.

All third-rate.

The ones who came this year were still in the introductory stage.

At least the first class of the Martial Arts Festival had some who were about to reach second-rate.

It wasn’t like I taught them carelessly.

Generally, not only martial artists from prestigious families but also martial artists who properly entered the world of martial arts started learning martial arts from the age of five or six at the latest.

It was widely known in the Central Plains that it was easier to learn quickly when the blood vessels and subtle meridians had fewer impurities and were purer.

It wasn’t entirely wrong, but as a martial scholar, I felt that wasn’t the whole story.

The human body grows from the places it is used and trained.

The physical structure is built up from childhood, looking ahead to decades later, tailored to the martial arts one uses.

And most powerful of all is ideology.

Most of a person’s character, beliefs, and prejudices are formed in childhood.

Infancy and early childhood, when one is a blank slate, construct their worldview based solely on the information the world provides.

If one grows up valuing learning above all else, then learning will remain the center of their value judgments even as they grow older.

Learning martial arts from childhood and making reasonable judgments based on martial principles in every action.

The difference becomes even greater as one reaches higher levels.

It is easier to reach a state of selflessness by eliminating all thoughts other than martial arts.

An essential preparation process for unifying essence, energy, and spirit and moving towards the Three Flowers Gathering at the Crown, to complete the spirit.

In comparison, those who passed the Martial Arts Festival were only humans aged 13 to nearly 30, even at the earliest.

The physical structure itself had already finished growing and hardened, or the ideology itself already had many impurities, leading to many distractions.

They were talented individuals who had won the Martial Arts Festival, surpassing countless others…

But because it was such a harsh era, their essence, energy, and spirit were so distorted just from living that even if I taught them, it would take quite a long time to adjust them.

It might be better to take in a five-year-old with ordinary talent as a disciple if I were to nurture them in the long term.

Moreover, it was also because I had them learn standard martial arts that all the winners of the Martial Arts Festival would learn together, rather than creating unique martial arts tailored to their bodies like Dubern and Frigos.

‘…That kid is a bit of an exception, though.’

A boy who gritted his teeth and trained in line with the previous classes, even though he had reached the limit of his physical strength through repetitive training.

I don’t know what kind of life the child, now called Iscariot, had lived, but his thoughts and actions were very simple.

He didn’t ask unnecessary questions when doing something, and he did what he had to do.

He followed instructions well.

On top of that, he had talent and was young, so he was already at the first stage where you could say he was a ‘Martial artist’ among this class.

He entered the realm of Qi condensation, called third-rate, a week faster than the fastest child among the holy warriors of the previous class.

‘…His goal seems very clear, too.’

Just as the slaves dragged to Pohelln had hatred for Frigos, whether big or small, Iscariot was the same.

“He’s definitely going to be someone big… but should I just leave him alone for now?”

Frigos himself was too much for Iscariot to take revenge on.

‘Besides, Aliya is watching Frigos, so Iscariot’s desired goal probably can’t be achieved…’

Motivation was important to be able to immerse oneself in something and work hard.

He was a talented gem, even if it was a little late.

He was also a pitiful child.

Even if the motive for his efforts was murderous intent and resentment, it would be enough for now.

The child was empty inside because he had lost so much to the world.

That’s why he was trying to endure by putting the fire that would burn him up inside himself.

As always, it was people who healed the wounds of people.

Just as my past life’s wounds were healed by my current family.

As a teacher, all I could do for Iscariot was to do my best to fill him with something to replace his negative emotions someday.

‘By the way, I think I need to revise martial arts a bit because of the existence of Deus Ex Machina.’

From the perspective of a martial scholar, it was a way to define the power gained without reasonable effort as heresy.

‘But humans aren’t relaxed enough to distinguish such things right now.’

If you ignore being considered heresy, it was honestly quite an interesting method.

A concept of Qi operation that didn’t exist in the Central Plains, or rather, was impossible to even attempt in the first place.

How could I not be interested in creating a theory from scratch that was only possible in this world?

I fell into thought as I looked at the holy warriors who were approaching, exhausted after finishing their basic training.