BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 54 – Training Arc (Joe)
A blue light wrapped around Louise and transported her to the hall.
Immediately, her eyes moved toward Gate Twenty.
Waiting for the reward.
She waited only a moment. Then...
Her lips parted in delight. Three wooden chests, their lids already open, rested on top of a table.
Each one contained a different prize.
Louise had barely finished reading when she strode forward with complete confidence to choose one of the chests—
as if she had been expecting it all along.
Outside the training dimension...
Upon witnessing that level of planning and decision-making, the Deception Beast praised Lewis.
"You have real talent in your hands, little egg."
"She is completely different in battle," I said with a smile. "As if she becomes another person. Calm, analyzing intelligently, making decisions logically... unlike her sharp tongue most of the time."
"Humans... strange creatures," the Deception Beast muttered, then added, "Do you think she will keep advancing ahead of the others?"
"I think it’s still early..." I said, my eyes moving toward one of the screens.
A violent fight was taking place at that moment.
The space of the twentieth stage consisted of massive stones aligned into a gigantic circular wall.
Inside that enormous wall stood an ancient Roman arena, and within the arena, large stones were arranged on the ground as well, forming a fighting platform elevated above the floor.
On that platform, which was relatively small, with a perimeter not exceeding twenty meters...
stood a scorpion three meters long, carrying a poisonous stinger like a solid spear.
The jaws of the scorpion spread open, lined with rows of sharp fangs, and it stood on four hooked legs.
The scorpion prepared to pounce once more at its opponent.
Its curved legs dug into the ground, and it leaped.
BOOM.
Its powerful jaws struck and shoved its enemy violently several meters away.
"Come at me!" Joe shouted.
Several wounds covered his body, and the color of the ground beneath him had changed.
He panted violently.
Exhaustion dominated his body.
His accumulation was at its lowest level.
But...
his fighting spirit—
blazed fiercely.
He charged.
He raised his unbreakable axe.
BOOM.
He struck with force.
His blow was stopped.
Then—
{ Time has ended }
{ Mission Failed }
He closed his eye, and the light surrounded him, transferring him away.
In the outer hall...
Joe lay flat on the ground and sighed.
He was not a planner like Lewis, nor a ranged fighter like Soman.
He was merely a fighter whom circumstances had allowed to evolve.
He thought to himself... and closed his eye sadly.
In the first nine stages, he had faced wood-cutting missions.
Cut 100 trees before sunset. Cut 100 with your hands. Cut 100 in less than half a day. Cut the tallest trees within a set time.
In the tenth stage, he stood before a gigantic tree.
The mission was to climb it to the top.
After many attempts, he succeeded in reaching the summit and obtained his reward.
Even so, his expression had been angry.
He considered himself the strongest fighter among the leaders.
How could his training be cutting trees?
The anger inside him did not fade until stage eleven began.
Then the Earth Venom Scorpions appeared.
They were fast, savage creatures, possessing venom that paralyzed movement.
Fortunately for him, the reward from stage ten was perfectly suited against the scorpions.
{ Gate of Speed – the higher your fighting spirit, the greater your speed capabilities reach their peak. }
For an emotional fighter like Joe...
his heart was always burning with enthusiasm.
Possessing that new trait was like a precious prize.
Stage after stage, he surpassed the scorpions in record time.
When he reached stage twenty...
the challenge was different.
{ Earth Venom Scorpion Commander }
It appeared before him and faced him with equal capability.
The scorpion was tougher and faster despite its size, and although it could not pierce Joe’s defense and axe,
the mission had a time limit.
{ Remove your opponent from the arena }
The scorpion could not force Joe out, nor could Joe do the same.
Their clashes continued in a draw.
After a day passed,
Joe’s accumulation returned to full again.
He rushed through the smaller scorpions and cleared their missions quickly.
In two days, he completed stages 11–19.
He returned again to the commander scorpion.
This was the fifth confrontation between them.
He entered once more, and the scene shifted.
Suddenly he found himself in the arena, and shortly after, a side iron gate opened...
the scorpion came out again.
The two stood before each other without any injuries, despite having suffered them in previous rounds.
In the outer hall, the fighter’s body healed quickly, similar to how his accumulation returned.
The healing flowers they possessed were what allowed that.
Outside...
"Come on, Joe... defeat it," I whispered excitedly.
I had always held great respect for Joe.
He deserved every bit of it.
He had always been a loyal helper.
In war and in peace, he was the man I relied on without thinking.
But he had a weakness.
And right now...
it was both pushing him forward and holding him back.
"Humans are truly strange," I said. "I said that before, didn’t I?"
"Yes," the Deception Beast answered. "What are you building toward by saying that?"
"Do I have to be building toward something?" I asked.
"Weren’t you?" the beast mocked.
"In truth, yes... but not everything must build toward something. Sometimes they are just questions to keep the conversation moving."
"Then what were you building toward?"
"What do you think about Joe? Is he a smart fighter?"
"Compared to the other three? He is the least, without a doubt, in using his mind."
"Well... I think you’re wrong," I muttered.
If it had been someone other than Joe, the mission would have ended long ago—not because he was weaker than them...
but because he had always been a fighter who preferred direct combat.
Inside the training dimension...
Joe and the commander scorpion exchanged dozens of blows.
Joe retreated, then struck.
The scorpion retreated, then stabbed.
Both launched without hesitation.
Their strongest strikes caused damage.
Their strongest defenses stood like a dam.
The battle continued evenly.
Joe possessed enough flexibility to evade.
But he kept shouting with fierce frontal attacks.
"It’s tough," Joe whispered. "Are my attacks truly too weak to bring it down?"
This was their sixth encounter.
In the third encounter...
Joe had solved the riddle.
He knew the quick way to defeat the scorpion.
Even so...
he had not chosen to defeat it.
He had discovered something.
"Come on!" Joe roared, raised his axe, and received the blow again.
"It’s certain, there’s no doubt," he whispered, then charged and struck.
Time ended again.
He returned to the hall, ate, slept, then repeated the process.
After two days, he returned to face the scorpion.
After ten days...
their confrontations had exceeded ten.
Joe no longer counted.
His passion burned.
He attacked relentlessly.
And defended the same.
On the fifteenth day...
perhaps he had reached the twentieth confrontation.
He did not know.
He had lost sense of the number days ago.
He entered again.
His eyes were different.
"It’s time," he whispered inside.
"It’s time to advance toward the higher stages."
Inside the arena...
the commander scorpion fired its stinger toward Joe.
In previous battles, Joe would have shouted, filled with blazing enthusiasm, and blocked the strike.
But—
this time he veered to the side.
"I have fought great battles," Joe whispered while...
the scorpion withdrew its stinger.
"All of them were direct."
He whispered and moved at the same time.
"I have no measure... for strength... but my feeling was decisive..."
Behind the scorpion—
Joe raised his axe.
SWOOSH.
Hiss—
The scorpion screamed in pain.
Its rear leg was severed.
"In every confrontation... in every strike... I grow stronger."
SWOOSH.
The scorpion launched its stinger again.
Too late.
Joe was faster.
To the side.
He dashed quickly.
SWOOSH.
Another cry of pain.
One minute.
All four legs were cut.
The scorpion collapsed on the ground.
"Time passes and I grow stronger... but..."
Joe raised his axe.
"the monster... does too."
He turned the axe head toward the blunt side.
BOOOOM.
He delivered a violent strike.
The monster screamed in pain—
but was not injured.
Joe smiled.
Then he struck again.
And again.
And again.
Dozens of blows, until—
the scorpion’s body toppled off the arena
and fell outside.
Still alive.
But—
the blue notification light appeared.
{ Mission Accomplished Successfully }
Since the third round, Joe had discovered the optimal way to defeat his enemy.
But he had discovered something else—
something precious to him.
The monster was also growing stronger.
Joe’s heart filled with excitement, and he considered it an incredible training partner.
After repeated confrontations,
Joe began to feel that the rate of his own growth exceeded that of the scorpion.
At a certain point...
it was no longer worth continuing.
He had to find stronger opponents.
The rear legs Joe had been unable to cut in the first confrontations—
were severed in the last one.
Others might consider him reckless, impulsive.
But he certainly...
was not stupid.
