Martial Era: Starting With The Strongest Talent-Chapter 198: Different

The gate slid open with a low mechanical hum, and the moment Remedy stepped forward, her figure seemed to blur before vanishing entirely. Adam’s eyes narrowed slightly at the sudden disappearance, but he didn’t hesitate and followed immediately.

The moment he crossed the threshold everything shifted.

The outside world disappeared completely. The gate slammed shut behind him, and for a brief second, there was nothing but silence.

Then he reappeared.

Adam’s footing adjusted instantly as he found himself standing on a staircase, but not a normal one. His gaze lifted, and for the first time since entering this place, his focus broke.

The space around him didn’t make sense.

Staircases stretched in every direction, layered endlessly across the environment in impossible formations. Some extended upward into nothing. Others twisted sideways, floating parallel to each other. A few even hung upside down.

There was no clear structure.

No clear path.

Just endless movement and orientation that defied logic.

"...What is this?"

His voice was low, but the question carried genuine confusion as he scanned the space again. His senses couldn’t map it properly, and even his instincts struggled to define what he was seeing.

Then he noticed her.

Remedy stood a short distance away, already waiting for him, but no longer in the form of a young girl. Her body had returned to its normal state, her presence more stable, more aligned with what he recognized.

She was observing the space as well.

Adam’s gaze lingered on her for a moment before returning to the surroundings, trying to process the scale of what he was seeing.

"...Where are we?"

He asked the question without looking at her, his attention still fixed on the endless structure surrounding them. The place didn’t feel hostile, but it didn’t feel safe either. It felt absolute.

Remedy answered just as calmly.

"My soul core."

The words landed heavily, and Adam turned his head toward her immediately, his expression sharpening. That wasn’t a place he expected to be.

"You can access your soul core?"

There was no disbelief in his tone, just a direct need for clarity as he tried to understand the situation. He already knew the memory had been part of the soul flame, a surface layer of sorts.

This was different.

Remedy nodded slightly, her gaze still tracing the impossible structure around them as if she was already used to it.

"It’s possible."

She paused briefly, then added.

"But only with the right trigger."

Adam’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"And that is?"

For the first time since they arrived, Remedy looked directly at him.

"You."

The answer came without hesitation, simple and direct, leaving no room for misunderstanding. Adam didn’t respond immediately, the implication settling in as he processed what that meant in the context of everything that had happened so far.

But before he could speak, Remedy moved.

"We don’t have time."

Her tone shifted slightly, urgency breaking through her usual calm as she turned and started moving up one of the staircases without waiting for his reaction. The structure didn’t behave normally, but she navigated it without hesitation.

"If we stay here too long..."

She didn’t finish the sentence immediately, but the weight behind it was clear.

"...we might not be able to leave."

Adam’s eyes widened slightly at that, but he didn’t waste time questioning it. Whatever this place was, whatever rules it followed, it wasn’t something he could afford to test carelessly.

He stepped forward.

Following her path.

****

The moment Adam stepped onto the staircase behind her, the structure shifted subtly beneath his feet, but not enough to throw him off balance. The entire space was in motion, constantly adjusting, yet following her path kept everything stable.

They moved upward at a steady pace.

Despite the urgency she mentioned earlier, Remedy didn’t increase her speed, and Adam picked up on that immediately. In a place like this, moving too fast without understanding the path could be worse than staying still.

So he followed her lead. 𝘧𝑟𝑒𝑒𝘸𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝓁.𝘤𝘰𝓂

Carefully.

The staircases around them twisted and rotated as they climbed, entire paths shifting positions while others disappeared or reformed entirely. Yet the one she walked on remained consistent, anchoring their movement through the chaos until Remedy finally spoke.

"By the way... why did you awaken Holy Light?"

She didn’t stop walking as she asked, her tone calm but curious, like she was trying to piece something together. Adam glanced at her briefly, then returned his focus to the path ahead.

"That was the only way to distract the chalk men."

His answer came without delay, matching the pace of their movement. There was no point overexplaining. The decision had been immediate, based entirely on what worked.

Remedy slowed slightly.

Just for a step.

Then she looked back over her shoulder, a hint of surprise breaking through her usual composure.

"...Chalk men?"

Adam frowned faintly at the term but didn’t correct it immediately, as he kept moving.

"Yeah. The ones with the blank faces. Blindfold-like features. They showed up inside the shelter too."

Remedy blinked once, then nodded as understanding clicked into place.

"Oh... you mean the soul protectors."

Adam didn’t respond right away, the name settling in his mind as he processed it. Compared to that, "chalk men" sounded almost childish, but it had fit the situation at the time.

He let it go.

"They weren’t strong individually," he continued, his voice steady. "But every time I killed one, it split and two replaced it."

Remedy’s steps didn’t break, but her expression changed again, this time more serious.

"...Didn’t it stop after five replications?"

Adam looked at her directly this time.

"No."

Remedy’s gaze lingered on him for a moment longer before she turned forward again, her pace unchanged, but the tension in her shoulders noticeable now. Something about that answer didn’t sit right with her.

"...Why are things different?"

The question came quieter this time, more to herself than to him, but Adam heard it clearly. He didn’t answer. There wasn’t anything he could say that would resolve that.

Because he didn’t know either.

They continued upward in silence after that, the shifting staircases stretching endlessly around them as the space grew more complex. The movement became harder to track, but Remedy never hesitated.

She knew the way.

And Adam trusted that.

After several more turns, shifts, and transitions across impossible paths, the structure finally began to stabilize. The motion slowed. The environment stopped rearranging as aggressively.

Then, they reached it.