I don't recognise this person but one glance can differentiate the immense difference in strength.

"Let me ask you one thing. Are you a self-taught warrior?" The old man asks. 

"No, I joined a sword academy and graduated," I reply. 

The old man clicks his tongue and furrows his brow. "What kind of academy neglects the inside of a warrior and only trains the exterior?"

I stare in silence, unsure what he is talking about. 

...

"You don't have a dedicated teacher."

"Yes...sir."

"Well...it's commendable you got this far with yourself. However, only the most talented person in the entire world can grow to be the strongest relying on himself. Every talent must be grown with water and fertilizer." 

He rubs his chin and glares at me. "Are you a criminal?"

"...No." 

"So you did do evil but wasn't caught?"

"..."

"In the end, it's your circumstances." He says.

I nod. I can't tell him that until recently, I was water amongst the sea. 

...

"Unfortunately, I can't pass on anything to you in your current state. Your body and mind will break." He says. 

Dejection overwhelms my spirit. I'm not sure what I did wrong, I've trained my physique and aura to the best I can. Perhaps I came here too early?

The old man grunts when he sees my expression. "Ugh...you are a good seedling. I even sense holiness attributes within you. If I was still alive, I would have taken you in as a disciple under the grace of the Goddess Lucia."

Lucia...? That's the goddess The Holy Light serves.

"Sir...are you from The Holy Light?"

He freezes. "You don't know me? I'm the legendary Marcus Levan Oscarion! The one that repelled waves of monsters alone at the Hell Frontline and destroyed a notorious criminal organization!"

...Ah. I might have heard of that name.

"I did...heard of you," I say. 

Marcus heaves a sigh of relief.

The Hell Frontline is a battlefield between the territory of monsters and humans. Deaths combust daily in that nightmare as both sides attempt to push each other back although the stalemate will be broken once the outworlders invade. It was where Marcus was said to breathe his last and one of the destinations of the coming expedition. 

"Anyways, your current strength is a tree with little roots. Your physique is the trunk and your techniques are the branches and leaves. Despite how beautiful the top is, without ranging roots to support the tree, you will eventually collapse. In a battle, a second can determine life and death, hence, the foundation of your strength relies on your senses and intuition. That does not entitle throwing away judgment, instead, fuse judgment with intuition and senses."

I understand what he means but...how do I improve on that without consuming elixirs or cultivation advancement?

"Indeed..." Marcus says as he slams his sword down. It did not touch the ground yet evaporated the soil beneath, propelling crackling shockwaves. "Your expression says it all. The easiest way to train your interior is this-"

He disappears. Nowhere in sight. No sound in steps. But as if to inform me, I can still feel his presence. 

*BAM!* 

Something hits my right knee, shooting molten pain up my nerves. 

"ACH?!" 

I look to find my leg in an uncomfortable and weird position. My joint bones at my knee fractured and bent back. 

"Wha-"

Before I can process what happened, an onslaught of hits bombards my body, splashing a world of agony before I even feel the breath of death. 

I fall to the ground.

...

"Get up," Marcus says. 

...Uh...Huh?

The pain disappeared. I push myself up and find myself perfectly fine but the pain lingers. 

"Just like how muscles repair to be stronger, senses can be trained in a similar way called experience. In this domain, you cannot die. It is the perfect training ground." Marcus smiles a devious grin. "Until your time is up, this is what we will be doing."

!!

I wasn't given a chance to reply before being thrown back into agony. 

"Use your senses! Overload them! Concentrate your aura and use every sense! Afterwards, predict with intuition where I will hit and trust your judgment! A moment of hesitation will end in defeat!"

"AUGHHHHH!!" My screams of pain overlap one after another. 

Marcus shows no mercy. 

To escape this torture, I attempt to dodge his attacks but every hit connects. Time passes and I can temporarily ignore the reoccurring pain. My eyes start to see flashes of black, my ears start to hear light steps, and I begin feeling small vibrations.

I step aside, successfully dodging one hit.

"Oh?" I exclaim. 

My success was short-lived. The strike rebounds and crashes into my leg. 

"Ngh?!"

The more success I claim, the harder the strikes become. My body is forced to the point of extreme phantom fatigue, slowly adjusting to the pain and overclocking every atom of my existence.

I start to "see" something. Hallucinations? No, it's the painting of all my senses at maximum output. I can't follow Marcus' movements but my mind projects four Marcus around me at the front, the back, and at my left and right. 

I need not concern myself with his next attack but rather where he can attack. Essentially, he can only hit from four angles effectively and I just need to imagine fighting four experts. 

After my shift of mindset, the attacks become simpler to evade and predict. I minimize damage when focusing all my might on two directions. Marcus detects it and tries to change his pattern but to no avail. His haphazard footsteps have already formed the image of different opponents. I can easily judge if something changes. 

Four slashes come. My tilted head avoids one and my left foot lifts off to avoid another. A sudden opportunity ejects as I sense a huge presence after. My intuition immediately grabs my weapon and pulls. 

*CHINNGGG!!!!* 

The reverberating clash of swords accompanies the fiery sparks and sucking implosion. 

Marcus smiles. "Not bad." 

He expels overwhelming strength, releasing the accumulated kinetic energy as he throws me away from a mere swing, breaking and sweeping dirt terrains. 

*BOOOOOM!* 

The sheer catastrophe of his power drew a fan in the sky of clouds and the land of grass. 

"ACK! UCK!...Ugh..." I grasp my head. 

I try to open my eyes but my head aches incredibly. An unimaginable earthquake nausea explodes within my consciousness. 

"Not bad for a start, you've grown a lot from a few hours ago. Unfortunately, time is up. When you recover, you will realise a huge change to the world around you."

Marcus sighs. "Rest,  grow stronger, and come back. I will pass on my will then."

He pats my back. "Be careful on your way out." 

My body is pushed by something and I roll across the ground. 

"Sir Loi Krist! Are you okay?" the familiar voices of the paper guards trigger pain in my ears. 

"Quiet...please...I...get...me back...to the..." I mumble. 

All my senses tremble with mental fatigue. Any attempt to even think erupts in intense pain. 

*Thud* 

I collapse to the ground. 

======================== 

...

I don't need to open my eyes to know I'm in my room at the army camp. The birds chirp too loudly. Little footsteps of insects crawl within the walls. 

My brain is collecting information at an inhumane speed. The pain starts acting up again. 

I open my eyes and look around. Nothing much has changed but how long was I out?

...

Morja is gone when I need him.

...

I still remember everything. Mumbling the truth of the archive ignited zero penalty. Is this the "privilege" Merline mentioned? I have a feeling he just wants someone to remember him. 

I lie back on the bed. I'm in a fresh set of clothes and is clean. 

...

Merline mentioned something threatening this world. 

Ah...a realisation hits me.

To protect my family's happiness and create a future for my young siblings, I need to take care of that danger. I am merely one man but I don't have a choice. This is the only way I can control my fate. Relying on others...is a blind wish. 

To do so, I need to become stronger. Stronger and stronger. 

Merline said that my main issue lies in having no dedicated teacher. In the end, my bad luck provided no clear guidance on how I could improve. That's why I can only count on myself. Count on effort. Rather than using the limited time to find someone to teach me, I need to teach myself. Learn and enlighten from what I see and experience. 

As the impending clock of doom ticks, I finally recognise an important truth: One can only improve by oneself. 

[Explanation for the last sentence: Regardless of talent, resources or guidance given, only YOU can determine how much to consume and grow. Ultimately, relying only on yourself.]