“Ju… Ju… De… Ah?

He heard a voice.

However, he couldn’t hear it properly because it was garbled.

Perhaps it was Landius’ voice.

His sight returned though it was still blurry, and at that time, he clearly heard an audible voice near him.

“Jude? Are you all right? You okay?”

“Cordelia.”

His sight became clear the moment he unwittingly spoke.

He immediately saw the faces of Cordelia, whose white and pretty face was right in front of him, and Landius, who was looking down at him from a distance.

“Are you awake? Do you know how many these are?”

When Jude suddenly spoke, Cordelia flinched but she soon waved two fingers with a joyful face.

“Two. Just like you.”

“What?”

Cordelia growled but her eyes seemed to be smiling though.

She seemed to be very happy that Jude had woken up.

‘Did it take a long time?’

Since he began memorizing the mnemonic chant of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, he no longer felt the passage of time.

Judging by Cordelia’s reaction though, it looked like a considerable amount of time had passed.

“You must be fine if you’re whispering sweet words with the girl.”

Clicking his tongue as he grinned, Landius approached him and Cordelia stepped aside.

Landius spoke again.

“It seems to me that you’re not yet aware of it, but it’s been a day since you began memorizing the mnemonic chant.”

“A day?”

“Yes, a day. It was night when you closed your eyes, but it’s still night, right?”

Jude unthinkingly nodded before inspecting his body.

Maybe because he was now aware of it, he felt that his whole body was weak and that he was hungry.

“That’s why the girl came. Her fiancé whom she loved more than her life, has not woken up for the entire day, so she was suffering from a heartache… isn’t that right? That’s what Lucas said.”

“No, that’s right. Yes.”

“Uh…yes! I couldn’t do anything because I was worried that my beloved Mr. Bayer hadn’t opened his eyes for the whole day. Yes, that’s right.”

When Landius asked with narrowed eyes, both Jude and Cordelia answered quickly. However, Cordelia’s answer was a problem, because as always, her acting was monotone.

“Hmm, okay. Moving on.”

Luckily, the magnanimous Landius didn’t care about such trivial stuff.

Moreover, it was true that Cordelia was here because she was worried about Jude.

“Disciple, if my eyes are correct…you seemed to have opened the first door. Is that correct?”

“Yes, I think so.”

Jude carefully answered as he placed his hand over the lower part of his belly.

It was the place where the first door was installed.

Cordelia just looked at Jude’s belly as she thought that nothing had changed, but it was a little different for Landius.

He had a feeble smile as he looked dumbfounded, but soon burst out into a hearty laugh.

“Sure enough, indeed. Is this the work of Cheonmujiche?”

“Master?”

“You’re fast. It took me over a month to open the first door.”

But Jude opened the first door in just one day.

“As expected…was the Cheonmujiche the divine inspiration of the transcendent beings…”

Both Jude and Cordelia focused on what Landius muttered.

The divine inspiration of the transcendent beings.

Those were words that did not exist in both Legend of Heroes’ first and second episodes.

“Master, what you called transcendent beings…”

“Yes, you have the qualifications. First…”

Landius’ words slurred at the end of his sentence as his gaze headed to Cordelia, and she flinched and then stood up from her seat.

She thought that Landius was reluctant to talk because of her presence.

‘Well, Jude will tell me later about it.’

But then, Jude grabbed Cordelia’s hand.

‘Why?’

Cordelia asked with her eyes, but instead of answering, Jude looked at Landius and said.

“Master, Lady Cordelia and I are no different from one body. Lady Cordelia also has the right to know about what happened to my body. Please let us hear it together.”

“Hmm, you’re right. My disciple and the girl are engaged, so they’re as good as one body.”

‘No, it’s not? Me and Jude are two different bodies, right?’

The last thought belonged to Cordelia, but only Jude could guess her thoughts by looking at her eyes.

“All right. I’ll tell the girl the story too.”

“Thank you.”

“Uh…thank you.”

For a moment, Cordelia was dazed but expressed her gratitude afterwards as she quietly sat down next to Jude. Landius began talking after sitting in front of the two.

“Disciple and girl. Do you know anything about the great monarchs of hell?”

“Uh…yes. Are your referring to the five great demons of hell?”

When Cordelia said in response, Landius nodded.

“Yes, the five great demons. Asmodeus of lust, Belial of corruption, Belphegor of cruelty, Behemoth of violence, and Lilith of love and hate. But the truth is, the great monarchs of hell were originally seven, not five.”

Jude and Cordelia also knew of this story.

According to the setting of Legend of Heroes, two of the original seven great monarchs had disappeared, leaving only five.

“A long time ago – in what we call the ancient times, two of the seven great monarchs came down to the human world. Numerous human nations were destroyed by the two mighty demons, and some races even went extinct.”

The High Dwarves, the higher race and ancestors of the current Dwarves, virtually went extinct, and the Elves lost their great empire, which was the most prosperous on the continent.

“All the races living on the continent joined forces to confront the demons…and after countless sacrifices, they were able to win.”

They knew of this story up to this point.

Ordinary people didn’t know it well, but it was a story that was known to some knowledgeable wizards, scholars, and priests.

“If so, then who was it? Who were the people with transcendental powers that defeated the great monarchs?”

Landius’ gaze turned to the sky.

He continued the story as if he was talking to himself, and not to Jude and Cordelia.

“I was curious about it. Because I thought that knowing who and how they defeated the great monarchs would greatly help in the future fight against the demons.”

Unlike the Sword Noble Kamael who joined the Guardians of the Holy Cross, Landius wandered all over the continent alone.

“After a long search, I was able to find a record in the ancient ruins where the Guardians of the Holy Cross first began. It was a record of the heroes who defeated the great monarchs.”

Jude and Cordelia simultaneously swallowed in their excitement.

This was the first time that the two had heard of this story.

“There were seven heroes, who were neither angels nor demons, but possessed divine powers. It was a really impressive formation. The dwarves’ strongest warrior, the elven queen, the sun god Solari’s champion, the best assassin of the continent, and so on…each and every one of them was worthy of the title of Great Hero.”

And there was one of them that caught the interest of Landius.

“The transcendent being. The ancient guardians called them a transcendent being, whose name, age, and gender were unknown. And that being used a special martial art.”

“That…”

“Yes, it’s the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”

Landius’ gaze returned to Jude and Cordelia.

“Only the mnemonic chant remained. And the mnemonic chant wasn’t perfect either. But I couldn’t give up on the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”

After having acquired an incomplete mnemonic chant, Landius did not worry alone. Together with his former comrade, the Sword Noble Kamael, they asked for help from their colleagues who defeated Demon Prince Baikazel. Each of them began their research and investigation on the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors and the heroes of the ancient times.

“The current Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors was restored by Kamael, me…and Lena together. And in the process, we concluded that we needed a special talent to fully master the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”

There was no need to say what it was.

Cheonmujiche.

The manifestation of martial arts talent from the heavens.

“In the last thousand years, fewer than ten have been born with Cheonmujiche. So I was on the verge of giving up…until I met you.”

That was why Landius told him to become his disciple, even without having introduced themselves first.

Jude and Cordelia were thrilled by the story that was much larger than they thought. The two looked at each other, and Cordelia opened her mouth first.

“Um…Landius. What kind of martial arts is the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors specifically?”

“It is a martial art that allows the body and soul to rise to a higher level. Well, to put is simply, to become a being that transcends humans – it’s a way to become a transcendent being.”

Jude nodded at Landius’ words.

Because he had felt it during the process of opening the first door.

“Jude, what changed happened when you opened the first door?”

“It felt like my soul expanded. My body too…I think it got better.”

The simple story about the soul and such came suddenly, but his body did actually get better.

Landius nodded his head.

“As its name suggests, Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors consists of nine doors. Every time a door is opened, one becomes closer to the transcendent being, and the body and soul itself are reinforced. Many different abilities also appear as an additional effect.”

“Abilities?”

“Yes, opening the fifth door gave me the ability to see through things.”

Landius said, and Jude peeked at Cordelia and she narrowed her eyes.

“What is it?”

“No, just…”

Landius cheerfully laughed.

“It can only be used when the door is opened, and it is very obvious too. When you open the fifth gate, a red energy rises like a flame, so if you use the ability to see through, other people can tell with their eyes.”

“That’s too bad.”

As Jude sighed, Cordelia’s eyes narrowed at him.

“The doors are always open up until the fourth door. From the fifth door and above, the doors are only opened whenever it is necessary. It’s because after the fifth door, the burden on the body is so great that it is difficult to maintain it for a long time.”

It was a convincing story.

“I have opened up to the seventh door. In fact, I turned towards the Ancestral Regression technique to get a clue on how to open the eighth door.”

Landius, who had talked so far, suddenly had a generous smile as he stood up and said.

“The only one who can open the doors of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors is the one who has it. That is why there is nothing more that I could teach you about the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors. I can only give you a bit of advice. Ah, of course, that doesn’t mean that I won’t be a teacher. What I can teach you about are a lot of things besides the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”

As he finished his rather long talk, Landius flaunted his muscles to Jude, while Jude unconsciously flinched when he realized what other things Landius could teach.

There was silence for some time.

Jude soon regained his reason as he likewise stood up and said.

“Master, I have something to tell you.”

“What is it? Do you think you’re having muscle loss after sitting around all day?”

“No, that’s not it…it’s about the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.”

In response to the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, the Thirty-Six World Steps had advanced a rank.

“It’s a martial art that I accidentally got from a Dungeon Book…”

As Jude talked about the Thirty-Six World Steps, Landius’ eyes became very serious.

“It responded to the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors…so perhaps, the Thirty-Six World Steps is also a martial art of the transcendent being that you’ve mentioned.”

It was a possible story.

Nine Celestial Steps and Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

The fantasy martial arts whose existence itself was unclear.

“Okay, then tell me more about it.”

“Yes?”

“The Thirty-Six World Steps.”

Landius said in his most excited tone. He really wanted Jude to teach him about it right now.

“Uh…I understand. It would take some time to tell you both the movement and the mnemonic chant, so I’d like to share a story before that.”

“What is that?”

Jude turned to Cordelia for a moment rather than answering right away.

‘Are you going to tell him now?’

‘Now is the only time to do so.’

For six days, he completely forgot about it because he underwent a hellish physical training, but their original purpose of meeting Landius was not to learn the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.

Saving the life of Landius.

Warning him on how to deal with Duke.

‘The question is…will it be necessary though?’

Frankly, the current Landius doesn’t seem like he’ll be killed and die if Duke tries to kill him.

But there was still a chance.

There was nothing to lose in telling him.

“This is a story when we met the witch’s soul in the witch’s forest.”

After the Fairy Queen, it was now the witch’s soul.

What if an ancient witch left a prophecy about Landius?

Will he be able to verify it?

How would he do it?

“The witch’s soul said that a great danger would befall the sun warrior we would meet in the future. The danger is that there is a high chance of being poisoned by the red scorpion’s poison, so they should lay down preventive measures to completely prepare for it.”

Duke was someone who often uses poison.

In particular, the red scorpion’s poison that he used was a poison so deadly that even a graze could kill a person.

“Hmm…I see. I’ll prepare an antidote then.”

Jude was worried that Landius would just snort, saying that he was not afraid of poison, but Landius unexpectedly accepted Jude’s story seriously.

“Well, are you done with your story then?”

Jude looked at Cordelia at Landius’ question, and she swallowed once before raising her hand to ask.

“Sir Landius, may I ask you just one thing?”

“Ask, girl.”

“That…didn’t you originally use a sword? Like the Solar Blade or something.”

One of the reasons why Landius is called the warrior of the sun is because of the Solar Blade.

Landius heartily laughed at Cordelia’s question.

“I still use it now. I just don’t use it to train myself.”

“Training?”

“Yes, Kamael said that. When you understand the principles, you can use swordsmanship without a sword.”

It was the so-called intangible sword or the heart of the sword, a state which one reaches when their sword art is above a certain level.

But isn’t it more like Landius is using fist-fighting techniques now rather than using swordsmanship without a sword?

“Uh…so you don’t use a sword?”

“I’m testing this and that.”

“Uh…yes.”

With that, their questions were solved.

Given that he talked about the Solar Blade, the treasured item of the Paragon Kingdom, he seemed to still have it.

‘So that’s it, right?’

‘Just…for now?’

It would be strange to ask him to show to them the Solar Blade here.

As Jude and Cordelia exchanged glances, Landius smiled as he found them cute, and then he said.

“Hmm, that’s good then. It looks like the story is over. Now then, Thirty-Six…no, wait. I was so excited that I forgot something important. I’m still not good enough.”

Landius abruptly stopped his words and reproached himself, before looking over Jude’s whole body and saying.

“Eat your meals first. It’s focused on protein. Since you haven’t eaten all day, let’s fill you in with nutrients first, before learning about the Thirty-Six World Steps. When you starve and lose weight, you lose your muscles before your fat.”

Because muscles are precious.

At the urging of Landius, Jude began to eat.

The menu was chicken breast meat.