The Battlefield of Instinct

Knowledge alone could not sharpen a blade. Cultivation alone could not forge a true warrior. No matter how deep a skill became, it meant nothing without a real battlefield where choices carried heavy weight.

Only against foes who could think and adapt could true mastery take shape. The world beyond the walls would eventually give him such enemies. But before facing them, Seo-Jun intended to prepare himself.

He did not want endless, hollow practice. He wanted battles real enough to expose every flaw, yet kind enough to let him stand again after each death. His eyes settled on the glowing terminal.

The wooden sword remained loosely gripped in his right hand. Its rough surface had long since become familiar, like an extension of his own arm. Without any hesitation, Seo-Jun spoke out loud.

"Turn on the Combat Dome." For a brief moment, absolutely nothing happened. Then the chamber trembled deeply, and a heavy vibration echoed beneath his feet, spreading through the room.

The clean white walls began to shimmer brightly. Streams of blue light raced across their surface like flowing water before the walls melted into glowing dust. They did not crumble or collapse.

They simply ceased to exist altogether. The training chamber itself was being rewritten. The world around him shattered into pieces of light before rebuilding into an entirely different reality.

A calm, hollow voice resounded from every direction.

Holographic Combat Dome Initialized

■ Combat Environment Loading...

■ Adaptive Intelligence Online...

■ Combat Protocol Ready.

■ Please Select Difficulty.

Seo-Jun answered without a moment's thought.

"Maximum."

The voice fell silent for a heartbeat before responding.

Maximum Difficulty Confirmed.

■ Safety Restrictions Remaining.

■ Would you like to proceed?

Seo-Jun's voice was completely flat.

"Remove them."

A longer silence followed his words. It was as though even the machine had paused to rethink his crazy choice. Then another warning message appeared in the air right before his eyes.

✦ ✦ ✦

WARNING : Combat feedback will be synchronized with the user's nervous system. Pain suppression will be disabled. All injuries will be experienced exactly as in reality. Fatal damage will result in forced simulation death. Repeated fatal experiences may place an extreme mental burden on the user.

Recommendation: Maintain Standard Safety Restrictions.

✦ ✦ ✦

Seo-Jun didn't even finish reading the red warning text.

"Proceed."

Command Accepted.

Initializing Combat Domain...

The world instantly changed around him. The polished metal floor cracked apart, worn down by countless unseen years. Dry, dead earth replaced the cold steel.

Ancient cracks stretched endlessly across the ground. The clean air vanished completely. A harsh wind swept across the land, carrying the heavy scent of ash, iron, and dried blood.

Above him, the fake ceiling disappeared into the dark. An endless sky spread overhead, choked by dark clouds that twisted like living beasts. Thunder roared somewhere far beyond the ruined horizon.

Broken mountains pierced the distant sky. Ruined forests reached upward like skeletal hands, and rivers darker than ink carved through the wasteland. Rusted weapons lay buried beneath the cracked earth.

These were the ashes of battles that had never truly happened. Yet every detail felt frighteningly real. This room was not creating a simple trick. It was creating a true, breathing battlefield.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

It was a place where weakness would be punished without any mercy. Seo-Jun quietly looked at his new surroundings. Even the harsh wind carried a heavy weight against his skin.

Every grain of dust drifted naturally through the air. Every sound echoed with perfect, deadly truth. "...Impressive," his voice disappeared into the endless, empty wasteland.

The Combat Dome had easily beaten his expectations. It wasn't just copying land and weather. It was copying the heavy, suffocating mood of a real war. Then, the battlefield fell completely silent.

✦ ✦ ✦

It was an overwhelming silence. The kind that only existed seconds before a massive slaughter began. Without any warning, the dead earth exploded outward as a gigantic hand burst from the ground.

Stone scattered wildly in every direction. The creature slowly pulled its massive body free. It was an enormous armored giant, its black iron plates covering its body like a second skin.

Every movement it made caused the ground to shake beneath its crushing weight. Its glowing red eyes locked onto Seo-Jun. Then, another giant hand broke through the earth right beside it.

Another armored giant climbed from the dirt, and then another. The wasteland trembled as monstrous figures rose one after another. A deafening roar shook the dark heavens above.

High in the sky, huge shadows fell through the storm clouds. They were poison dragons. Their green scales flashed with lightning while deadly mist leaked from their razor-sharp teeth.

Unlike wild, mindless beasts, their eyes were calm and cold. They were watching him closely, like hunters staring down at their trapped prey. The air suddenly grew much colder.

Far beyond the ruined mountains, something else moved. It crawled from the deep darkness with a creepy slowness. Its body constantly shifted and changed shape, limbs melting together before splitting apart.

Multiple heads twisted in sickening directions. Every passing second changed how it looked. It was as though the beast refused to settle on just one form. Seo-Jun narrowed his eyes at the sight.

"A Chimera..." It was not a natural beast, but a perfect predator made only for killing. The room wasn't just throwing monsters at him. It was creating deadly puzzles for him to solve.

Different enemies brought different skills and different ways to die. A glowing blue box quietly appeared before his eyes.

Combat Analysis

Estimated Survival Probability:

0.0001%

Seo-Jun stared at the tiny number for a brief moment. Then the corner of his lips lifted ever so slightly. "...That high?" As though answering his words, every monster moved at exactly the same time.

✦ ✦ ✦

The battlefield erupted into total chaos. The first to arrive was the armored giant. It charged with shocking speed, its huge body moving more like a falling mountain than a living thing.

Each heavy step shattered the ground below, and each breath carried enough force to shake the air itself. It raised a massive iron club high over its head, blocking out the dark sky.

A single hit from that weapon was enough to turn a building into dust. Seo-Jun didn't move an inch. His eyes remained fixed firmly on the giant, ignoring the heavy club completely.

He watched its center of balance instead. He saw the tightening of its shoulder and the subtle shift in its hips. He noticed the slight pause before it released its full, crushing strength.

A small smile almost formed on his lips. "So that is your rhythm." The giant iron club came crashing down, and the earth exploded violently. A roaring wave of force swept across the battlefield.

The shockwave tore apart everything within dozens of meters. Only then did Seo-Jun finally move. He took a single, simple step. Half a step, to be completely exact.

The massive weapon fell mere inches from his shoulder before smashing into the empty dirt. It wasn't because he was faster than the beast. It was because he already knew exactly where it would land.

His wooden sword rose into the air. He used no special moves, no magic, and no flashy tricks. It was just a single, simple slash that brushed lightly across the giant's iron arm.

For a split second, absolutely nothing happened. Then the giant's red eyes widened in shock. Its massive arm slid cleanly off its body, crashing onto the dirt with a loud thud.

The room hesitated for a moment, as the result didn't match its math. The armor was supposed to be three times stronger than the wooden stick. Yet the simple wooden sword did not break at all.

Seo-Jun glanced down at his worn blade. "...Too shallow." The cut had been perfectly placed, but his control was slightly off. Before the shocked giant could react, Seo-Jun stepped closer.

✦ ✦ ✦

He walked straight into its deadly range. The beast blindly swung its remaining arm in anger, but it was too slow. The wooden sword traced a simple, clean line through the air.

The giant's angry roar ended instantly, and its huge body froze in place. A thin red line appeared right across its thick neck. The very next moment, its heavy head slid free and fell.

The massive body melted away into glowing dust.

"Target Killed."

But there was no time to rest. The dragons dropped from the sky, their wings whipping up wild storms of deadly poison.

One of them opened its massive jaws. Dark green energy quickly gathered between its sharp teeth. Seo-Jun didn't attack right away. Instead, he simply watched the beast carefully.

The dragon wasn't aiming directly at him. It was aiming at the ground right behind him.

"...You are cutting off my escape." The realization hit him instantly as the deadly poison breath exploded outward.

Rather than chasing him, the poison spread wide to block every path of retreat. A normal fighter would have jumped away in fear. They would have run exactly where the dragon wanted them to go.

"A good choice." Seo-Jun's eyes grew sharp.

"Unfortunately..." The world around him suddenly slowed down. Time had not actually stopped. His mind had simply become much faster.

His new eyes caught every tiny detail on the battlefield. The trembling muscles under the dragon's scales, the changing wind around its wings, and the heartbeat of every single monster rushing toward him.

Nothing could escape his clear sight. It wasn't magic that let him see the future. He just understood the present so well that the future became painfully obvious. Seo-Jun calmly turned his body.

The wave of poison rushed past him, close enough to brush his sleeve. He had moved only the exact distance needed to survive, and not a single step more. His wooden sword flashed in the dark.

Instead of going for the dragon's neck, he struck its left wing. A dull crack echoed in the air as the wing folded in a sick, unnatural way. The beast lost its balance and fell from the sky.

The huge dragon crashed heavily into the ruined earth. Before it could even try to stand, Seo-Jun's foot came down hard. The dragon shattered into light, and he just kept walking forward.