Novel: All My Alter Egos Are Tycoons

#88

Trial of the Holy Sword (1)

“Just follow me this way.”

Heinrich continued to follow the archbishop, who was guiding him deep into the Piccaol Temple.

Since the design centered around the sealed area where the holy sword was embedded, it was bound to be the deepest and most secluded place.

‘Seems like we’ve gone down quite a ways. I can only imagine how deep the craters must be from all those battles…’

After all, it must have been a life-and-death struggle for the strongest of their era.

“You may already know this, but the trial varies for each challenger, so I can’t really give you any specific advice,” the archbishop said softly as they reached a stone door engraved with a shining prayer.

Knowing this already, Heinrich nodded silently.

He had thoroughly studied all related records during his training period.

“Because of that, the time spent in the trial differs for each person as well. Some emerge after just a few hours, while others might take about a week.”

Of course, they all failed.

With a shrug, he added this thought before turning to Heinrich and pointing at the door.

“The trial begins the moment you step beyond this door. Prepare your mind, and let me know when you’re ready to challenge.”

Was there any reason to hesitate now that they had come this far?

Taking a deep breath, Heinrich confidently declared, “I will enter right now.”

“…Understood. Then, I will open the door.”

Nodding in silence, the archbishop approached the stone door, placed his hand on it, and began to chant a prayer softly.

“…What is hidden in that box is my flesh and blood. You will…”

As he spoke, the prayer inscribed on the door began to glow softly in response to his words.

The archbishop’s holy power was continuously drawn into the sealed door.

How long had it passed? Thick beads of sweat began to pour down his face.

‘It takes as much holy power to open the door each time as a high-ranking priest would need to recover for days…’

With both quantity and quality of power considered, mobilizing multiple priests was not feasible.

Heinrich was accustomed to encountering him occasionally while residing in the temple, but in reality, the archbishop was an incredibly high-level asset.

He was responsible for a shrine located in a major city and received treatment equivalent to that of a marquis.

‘I’ve been so used to it that I didn’t realize, but the saintess is someone even the emperor of the empire cannot treat carelessly.’

Having mingled with her at the temple, the bastion of the order, he had somewhat lost his sense of reality.

Hwaak—

At that moment, as he momentarily drifted into thought, the stone door began to shine brightly and tremble.

Drudrudruduk—

The heavy stone door opened.

However, the inside was filled with light, making it impossible to discern what lay beyond.

“…Then, good luck to you.”

With the exhausted voice of the archbishop drenched in sweat fading behind him, Heinrich took a bold step forward without hesitation.

Once he fully stepped into the light.

Dudek—Bang!

The stone door slammed shut violently.

Light vanished from around Heinrich, revealing an ordinary corridor.

“…Oh?”

He could instinctively feel it.

This space was a separate dimension, cut off from the outside world.

Turning back, he saw nothing but a long corridor stretching ahead, with the stone door he had entered through nowhere in sight.

‘Are they asking me to choose whether to go forward or back?’

Shrugging his shoulders, Heinrich pushed his holy power and activated Blessing: Strong Body to its limits, sharpening his focus.

He also used Auterica Holy Law to enhance his vision…

“…Still can’t see the end.”

The same was true for looking back; it seemed he had no choice but to move forward without a plan.

He sighed and looked ahead once more.

For now, he decided to charge straight ahead.

‘Of course, a bit of convenience wouldn’t hurt.’

Focusing his holy power to expand his field of vision to its limits, he concentrated his mind.

And immediately…

Paaah—

He used Blessing: Leap to jump through the space.

But when he arrived, all he could see was the same endless corridor extending in front of him.

“Hoo!”

Kwaang!

Channeling his holy power to the limits, he struck the wall with all his might, but it still didn’t leave a scratch.

At that moment.

[Reach the next checkpoint within the time limit.]

A will echoed in his mind.

‘So it begins.’

Yet, even after waiting, no further information was provided.

He had no idea when the time limit was or how far the destination lay.

‘Could this be a trial of patience?’

He had sensed from the beginning that the flow of time here was different from the outside.

For others, understanding it immediately might have been difficult, but he wasn’t just an avatar here.

‘About ten to one? The time difference with Earth is 100 to 1.’

Thanks to the strengthened Mind Hub and mental strength, he could accept this without issue, but if it had been at the start of this world, he would have struggled significantly due to motion sickness.

‘Not knowing when or how far I need to go puts pressure on me. In the end, I have no choice but to push myself.’

The trials of the holy sword were usually divided into several stages.

This time, it seemed they wanted to test the challenger’s perseverance, mental power, and physical stamina.

With time continuing to pass, there was no reason to delay any longer.

Heinrich lightly warmed up at that spot and immediately took off down the hall.

Utilizing his overwhelming physical abilities and skills like Super Recovery, he sped through the corridor at an astonishing pace.

‘Since I don’t know the level that the trial expects from me, I’ll just push forward as much as I can.’

In this trial space, there was no need for nutrition or sleep, so that wasn’t a problem.

He focused his mental resources solely on running, occasionally using Blessing: Leap.

‘It seems this might take a while. But it can’t be helped.’

Heinrich silently sprinted down the desolate corridor.

He ran mechanically, over and over, repeating the process of running and using Blessing: Leap.

Three days later, fatigue began to accumulate on his body, surpassing what Super Recovery could manage.

While the energy needed was being supplied by the surrounding energy, the continuous overload had outpaced his recovery speed.

One week later.

Occasionally slowing down to recuperate had also reached its limit.

He could feel his whole body creaking, but he didn’t mind since this level of discomfort was normal training.

Two weeks later.

As expected from a trial, merely moving wasn’t the end.

During his run, whispers that stimulated his mind began to provoke him.

Feelings of giving up, resignation, and loneliness invaded his mind, but to him, who had already fallen into a state of nothingness, they were merely meaningless distractions.

Three weeks later.

Still, without knowing how much time was left or how far he had to go, he couldn’t afford to slow his pace.

He took only brief breaks periodically, ignoring the pain in his body, and repeatedly resumed running.

With Mind Hub, it was no trial at all.

It was merely a simple repetitive task.

Under these conditions… he could keep going for days, even months, or indefinitely.

Time continued to flow on.

So, when four days passed outside but felt like roughly 40 days internally…

Heinrich was still running.

*

“Tomorrow.”

“Khuuhuhh… Indeed, tomorrow will be the day of our mutual destruction with this continent. Pahat!”

In a hidden underground lair in the southern part of the continent, a large man and a frail old man were having a conversation.

“Once the ritual begins, we won’t be able to escape the order’s gaze any longer. We have only one chance. We must finish everything before they arrive here.”

“Ah— I know, I know. Don’t worry. There’s absolutely no way I’ll fail. How long have I waited for this day?”

The gaunt old man’s eyes were already filled with madness as he chuckled weakly.

The large man stared quietly at the old man for a moment before slightly turning away and sneering.

Once recognized as the finest magician in the continent, expected to succeed to the head of the Magic Tower Alliance, it was shocking to see such a powerful sorcerer in this state of decline.

‘Well, this is good for us. I don’t care about their matters.’

What kind of unjust tale lay behind him? How tormented was he to even consider destroying the world? The man was not concerned at all.

They simply supported each other because their goals aligned.

After all, none among those involved had a sane mindset.

‘Puhuh… If they had normal thoughts, they wouldn’t be doing this.’

He glanced around the room filled with bizarre magical inscriptions before turning outside.

Only a mere day remained.

*

Meanwhile, something began to change for Heinrich, who had been running mindlessly.

‘…What’s that?’

Through his slowly returning focus, he saw an ‘end’ blocking his path at the far end of the infinite corridor.

And as he kept running, he finally faced a simple wooden door at the end of the corridor.

“Is this the destination? How long did it take?”

Since it had been just over four days, it meant he had been running for more than a month in this space.

‘My body doesn’t feel too good. Though I’ve benefited from the space’s peculiarities, I may have overdone it a bit.’

In fact, that description had been greatly toned down.

Had it not been for Mind Hub, he would never have made such calm reflections.

His body, reinforced by skills and holy power, was worn down to the point of raggedness, indicating just how much he had pushed himself.

‘At this rate, I’ll probably need a few days of deep rest after Super Recovery to fully recover.’

He was in no condition to continue the trial, but he had some faith from the prior information he had received.

The moment Heinrich confidently placed his hand on the next checkpoint door.

Hwaak—

The surrounding energy was drawn into his body.

With the external energy rapidly flowing in, his body, which had been overworked for a month, began to recover at an astonishing rate.

“Uhm…”

His muscles twitched continuously as heat radiated from his entire body.

Super Recovery, which had been unable to exert its full power due to physical overload, reacted violently, greedily sucking in the surrounding energy.

Additionally, as Blessing: Strong Body augmented this, his entire body was reconstructed, becoming stronger, more robust, and tougher than before.

“Haah…”

When all processes concluded, his physical form had progressed to a whole new level compared to before challenging the trial.

[First trial complete. Move on to the next stage through the portal.]

Once again, a will echoed in his mind, but Heinrich was too busy assessing his body to respond.

‘…This is decent!’

Thinking back, this place was optimized for training!

A miraculous space where he could focus solely on enhancing himself without eating or sleeping.

He crossed his arms and fell into contemplation.

‘Since time flows differently here, is it really necessary to jump straight into the next trial?’

Having achieved the trial and with the time limit lifted, he could gain over ten times the effect by training here for just one day compared to outside.

The holy sword wasn’t going anywhere, so a brief pause would be alright, wouldn’t it?

‘Just a little, just a tiny bit longer. Yeah, just one more day.’

Addicted to training, Heinrich turned around and sat against the door.

Then, he began to hop energetically down the corridor.

After about an hour of movement…

“Hoo… Hoo… Huh?”

Lost in his training, he realized that at the end of the direction he was heading, there stood the door he had encountered just before.

Crossing the corridor again, Heinrich reached the door, frowning at it.

Without a doubt, it was the door he had faced in the opposite direction.

‘Why is it here? …Well, I think I understand.’

Since it was a space created specifically for the trial, it wasn’t surprising if the area got mixed up at random.

He frowned slightly, turned back…

“…!”

Startled by the brown door that suddenly appeared right before him, he stepped back in surprise.

Swiftly turning around again, he found that the long corridor he had been running down was now entirely vanished, leaving only the same door blocking both the front and back.

‘Is this some kind of hint to move on to the next trial?’

Seeing this, it seemed there was no more time for more training.

‘Well, there’s always the option to do some bodyweight exercises right here…’

He didn’t want to suffer the judgment of the will presiding over the trial any further.

Moreover, there were no suitable heavy workout equipment around for him.

With a sigh of disappointment, Heinrich licked his lips and opened the door before stepping through.

Just like when he first entered the trial, the bright light surrounding him faded away…

He found himself standing alone in the middle of a grand cathedral.

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