BUILDING MY OWN EMPIRE - My Journey from Nothing to Overwhelming Power-Chapter 51 – Training Arc (Soman)
"These screens..." I whispered.
"The display quality is really high. Maybe 4K."
"4K!?" the Deception Beast asked.
"It’s something related to visual clarity when watching things like this... in the old world we had devices called televisions. Have you heard of them?"
"Yes... such devices exist in this world as well. Long ago, someone invented them... he was a master too."
"I figured," I said, then looked toward the others. There were five screens.
Each commander had a screen dedicated to him.
As for the ten fighters and the Rock Fighters, they had smaller screens.
Maybe because their broadcast doesn’t get many viewers, hahaha...
It reminds me of the UEFA Champions League matches and American basketball. When there’s an important game, you watch it and ignore the others completely.
The American Super Bowl, for example, gathers more than a hundred million viewers every year. That alone is reason enough to suppress every other program airing at the same time.
"Tell me," I asked, "these animals... are they real or just an illusion?"
"Hehehe," the beast laughed. "Of course they’re real. Training cannot progress without the life energy of those creatures."
"That makes me wonder," I whispered. "I harvested thousands of animals and plants from you in the game... and you still have that much in stock?"
"Hahaha... is that jealousy, little egg?"
"No," I answered with a smile. "But it really makes me wonder how many resources you possess..."
"Well, I’ll tell you," the Deception Beast replied. "In your village, you produce food in a few farms... in my village, I produce animals."
"And because my status and accumulation surpass what you have by something beyond imagination, those numbers are trivial compared to what I own."
"I see... then do you have a weapon higher than the ancient weapon you granted me?"
"Heh... what do you think?"
"Hahaha, so you have it... damn you... give me one," I said.
"Why?" the voice replied mockingly.
"I gave you the flower you desired so much... now I want something I desire badly... give it to me."
The Deception Beast’s laughter echoed from all directions... a thousand entities laughing in unison.
"You forgot, little egg... what you gained in return... it seems you truly don’t know... the value of what I granted you in exchange for the flower."
"You mean the flowers?"
"No, the training in uncounted time, you fool," he said. "But—"
"But what??"
"Win in your special rounds... and I will grant you something better than a random powerful weapon."
"What is it???"
"And ruin the surprise?" the beast replied. "Never... when you win, you’ll discover that you succeeded, even though it’s almost impossible. Hahaha."
{ Ding... Ding }
{ Mission Completion Requirements – Destroy the Royal Beehive }
"What is this...?"
The whisper slipped from Soman’s mouth before he realized he had spoken.
A blue light opened above him, cold and emotionless. Symbols aligned with mechanical precision, forming the objective of the first trial. He stared at it in shock, and suddenly...
The memory surfaced in his mind.
The Commander’s window.
The forbidden sight.
The privilege he was never supposed to possess. Only masters.
The moment he stepped through the first gate, reality twisted.
The sky. The ground. Directions. Distances.
Everything overturned, then reshaped itself in silence.
A vast green space stretched before him, fertile land, scattered trees standing in suspicious silence.
It seemed... familiar. More familiar than it should.
It resembled something he knew.
Too much.
"The village..." he muttered, then narrowed his eyes.
His gaze sharpened.
"No. A copy."
A world wearing memories as a mask.
He moved forward.
One step.
Then another.
No resistance. No change in gravity.
"This dimension treats me as if I were a master in the real world..." he murmured.
"That’s why the mission screen appears to me."
Bzzzzzzzzzz.
The sound came before his thought finished.
It tore through the air.
Buzzing.
Dense.
Close.
"Bees?"
He did not wait to confirm.
Water wrapped around his body in an instant, a transparent yet solid layer,
while his hand extended toward his double-headed spear. He gripped it tightly and prepared.
"Let’s see," a voice came from the darkness, soaked in mockery,
"how your fighter, Soman, will deal with the royal bees."
Outside, I was watching from atop a rock, my arms crossed, my eyes on the magical screens.
"He’s smart. He’ll handle it," I said. "He learns during battle."
I looked toward the other screens.
"Why are their missions different?"
"Because they are not masters," the beast replied lazily.
"Others grow within limits. You grow by breaking them." 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ𝓋𝑒𝑙.𝑐𝘰𝑚
---
Inside...
Bite.
Bite.
Bite.
Five wolves burst forward like arrows.
They didn’t run.
They pierced.
Bite.
Bite.
Bite.
Their bodies tore through the defensive perimeter around the hive with brutal efficiency. Muscles tight. Claws carving the ground. Fangs shining.
The wolves seemed stronger.
Much stronger than before.
Soman saw that.
And he also knew that the restrictions imposed by his leader’s new ability had made him steadier.
"They are many," he muttered.
But his eyes remained calm.
"But... that is not enough."
The command traveled without sound.
Advance.
He ordered his five wolves...
The bees responded immediately.
Stings poured down like rain.
They struck fur.
Skin.
Bone.
And nothing happened.
Like needles hitting iron.
Within seconds, they arrived.
Three wolves leaped at once.
One bit.
The hive cracked.
Then...
Another sank his fangs and completely crushed the hive.
Above Soman’s head,
the sound of achievement roared.
{ Success – Normal Level }
{ Repeat to unlock Good Level }
Outside, I smiled.
"Soman’s level is far beyond the first stage," I mocked.
"Isn’t it logical to let him skip several stages quickly?"
The Deception Beast laughed.
"Heh heh... is that what you think, little egg?"
"Because I see it differently."
Inside the training dimension, the assault began again.
Good level.
The wolves launched.
Once more,
the same plan,
the same execution.
Charge.
Destruction.
The blue light flashed again...
{ Success – Good Level }
{ Repeat to unlock Excellent Level }
Soman exited... then returned.
The same world.
The same air.
But the system changed.
{ Requirement for Excellence }
{ Destroy the hive without summons }
"So that’s how it is..." he whispered.
No wolves.
Only him.
"Fine."
He pulled his spear.
And rushed.
Step... then another,
he approached the swarm.
"Two hundred..." His mind counted the bees.
He pierced through.
Without attacking.
Speed.
Brute force.
The insects did not attack until the collision.
Then they exploded.
A collective assault.
Madness.
Boom.
Boom.
Boooom.
Stings,
rushes,
bodies colliding,
sharp tails striking without mercy.
But useless.
Water surrounded Soman like an invisible shield, hardened his body, turned him into a wall.
He rushed toward the hive.
Then... he stopped.
He looked upward...
And jumped.
More than a hundred bees surrounded him and blocked him.
He moved aside. Tried again.
Failed.
He moved. Maneuvered. Tried once more.
Nothing.
And finally...
{ The time allocated to obtain Excellence has ended }
{ Mission Failed }
A blue light wrapped around his body.
The scene flipped.
He returned to the hall,
sweat dripping from his forehead.
Outside, the Deception Beast laughed.
"Didn’t I tell you?"
"He didn’t know there was a timer," I mocked. "Why do you look so happy?"
"The time was there from the beginning," answered the Deception Beast.
"What changed... was the attacker."
Then he added after a short silence:
"Your proud fighter... is weaker than his tools."
---
Inside, Soman tried again.
Failed.
Once more.
Failed.
On the fifth attempt...
he saw the pattern...
memorized it.
Then... broke it.
And succeeded.
"Damn..." he muttered, wiping the sweat.
"This is only the first mission... what the hell."
He left the first stage and headed toward one of the sides.
A refrigerator. Containing
water bottles.
fruits.
and hot and cold food.
"Fighting alone... is hard," he whispered.
Then—
he drank.
breathed.
and returned.
This time, the red light above the second door turned green.
He entered.
Once again... bees.
"Royal bees again?"
The conditions appeared.
{ Destroy the Royal Beehive without using summons }
"Again I must fight alone... it’s fine, I feel my body starting to regain vitality."
In the far distance,
a larger swarm stood.
Double the previous number.
And the new ones...
more than twenty royal father bees—
their bodies bigger, fiercer.
Soman smiled.
"Training without cruelty has no value," he whispered.
Then... he moved.
An attempt.
Another.
Then another.
Then...
success.
He repeated it.
Succeeded again.
And when seeking Excellence...
he stood before more than a hundred royal father bees.
Within less than thirty minutes.
After multiple attempts, he obtained Excellence.
The door to the third stage opened.
He did not go to rest, despite his exhaustion.
He entered immediately.
"A smart move," said the Deception Beast.
"Why?" I asked.
"He tests the round first, then rests and thinks.
That... is the thinking of a real fighter."
---
Days passed inside Soman’s dimension.
Pain became routine...
and progress was the only option...
Even without being asked for the mission...
Soman tried to complete tasks alone...
His combat growth... increased at a far faster rhythm when he fought solo...
Day one: at the third round, his reserves were completely drained.
Day three: the fifth round.
Day six: the seventh.
Day ten... he reached the tenth round.
The door of the tenth round was different.
Bigger.
Heavier.
Before entering, the conditions appeared.
"What is this...?"
For the first time, the requirements were shown before entry.
Anxiety crept into him.
In previous rounds, he had faced every type of bee:
normal, father, mother, black, colored, fast, spiked.
All of them... were similar in essence.
But now...
He read the name above the massive gate.
"Royal Commander Bee."
And beneath it, within a glowing blue screen:
{ Defeat the Royal Commander Bee }
