Chapter 10

I became a munchkin skill thief - Chapter 10 (10/223)

And one of the bitterest of those was with Crash.

The reason Crash knew so much about him was because of this.

He was once a friend of Crash.

‘Friend my ass.’

Crash had known this for a long time.

The reason he was friends with Crash was because he had value to exploit.

To others, the Balheim family could be considered a rival to the Anix family.

Embracing a direct descendant of Balheim, like Crash, would have been useful for standing at the center of the Kingdom faction.

And Crash knew there was a much more disgusting reason beyond that surface-level one.

The incident happened after they graduated from the academy.

Crash, who had become part of the Sky Generation, moved with Anix to stop the world's erosion, and then the incident happened.

Anix's team had fallen into a trap set by the world's erosion.

All the team members died in the trap, and Crash barely survived, clinging to the edge of a cliff.

And Anix, true to the Sky Generation, was the only one to escape the trap.

“Anix! Pull me up!”

Crash's arms felt like they were being torn apart by the intense gravity from below.

That's why he asked Anix for help.

But what Anix said in response was not help, but something entirely different.

“...Crash, if it becomes known that this trap was due to my mistake, I will lose my place in the Sky Generation.”

Crash's eyes widened at this.

Anix had recently been pushed to the edge in the Sky Generation due to a single mistake.

If this mistake were to become known, he would surely be expelled from the Sky Generation.

Now that the Sky Generation had become the center of power, being expelled from it was something to be avoided.

“That's nonsense! Is that what's important right now?!”

But wasn't his life more important than that?

However, Anix's expression remained unchanged.

He had already made his decision long ago.

“If I survive alone, my mistake will be buried.”

Anix stood up from his spot.

Then he began to walk away, leaving Crash in the trap.

“Anix, Anix, wait!”

Crash called out in a panic.

If this continued, he would die.

“You idiot! Do you think things will go so smoothly?!”

The Sky Generation is not made up of fools.

Even before being part of the Sky Generation, they were engaged in power struggles among themselves.

They would certainly use this incident as an excuse to expel Anix.

He was one of the central figures in Staron, after all.

Anix couldn't be unaware of this.

But Anix let out a self-deprecating laugh.

“It's fine. You're here, Crash.”

Crash's eyes gradually widened.

He realized what Anix was thinking.

Anix intended to take the blame for this mistake.

He would say that a Balheim half-penny had held him back, causing him to fall into the trap.

Crash, who already had many enemies in the Sky Generation, would be immediately blamed for the mistake, and the truth would be obscured.

“Thank you, Crash. You were my friend until the end.”

Anix's last words were like a provocation to Crash.

“Friend, friend?! What a load of crap! Did you ever consider me a friend?!”

Although he knew long ago how meaningless it was for Anix to call him a friend.

Still, Crash secretly wanted to believe.

That Anix, at least, was a comrade fighting against the world's erosion.

But to Anix, Crash was neither a friend nor a comrade.

Crash's disgust ultimately provoked Anix's anger.

“From the beginning, you were only with me because of Charlotte!”

For the first time, Anix's calm face broke.

“Do you think I didn't know about your mistake today? You lost your mind because Charlotte was getting married!”

Anix, who had deep feelings for Charlotte.

His mistake today was entirely due to the news of Charlotte's wedding, which made him lose his mind.

Crash had initially told Anix not to come.

He thought Anix would likely cause an accident based on his behavior.

Despite that, Anix had joined in the fight against the world's erosion.

Now, he wanted to take the blame for it.

It was a disgusting and incomprehensible act.

“...That's why I hate you.”

The emotions on Anix's face as he looked at Crash were a chaotic mix.

“Despite having no talent, you have the ability to see through people, which often gets to me.”

The real reason Anix kept Crash as a friend.

It was because he could see Charlotte, who often visited Crash, when he was around.

But that was over now.

She had left forever.

“At least, something good came out of today.”

Anix, with a twisted and disgusting smile, said.

“Charlotte wouldn't want to have her brother's funeral and her wedding at the same time.”

“Fucking bastard!”

Realizing that Anix had completely broken down, Crash shouted, but Anix had already turned and started walking away.

“At least, you were useful in the end, Crash.”

And Anix left.

All Crash could do was curse at him.

Just as Crash was about to die.

Someone saved him.

The owner of the platinum hair that would rise with the sun.

Arthur Grammate.

This marked the beginning of a new bitter relationship.

‘Fucking bastard.’

Later, Anix was expelled from the Sky Generation due to Arthur's testimony.

After that, he married Princess Claudia, who had no claim to the throne, in a truly disgusting display.

“She looks a lot like Charlotte in both appearance and manner.”

At that moment, Anix's voice broke the current silence.

This idiot was still thinking only of Charlotte.

“Hey.”

Crash glared at Anix and clenched his fist.

“Don’t call someone else's sister by her name.”

Anix's eyes widened.

He was surprised by the unexpected reaction from Crash.

“And you said I look like her.”

At the same time, aura began to surge from Crash's fist.

When Anix saw the aura, which was at the Expert level, he remained calm.

“I won't let anyone who looks like her touch me.”

Crash kicked off the ground and leaped.

In an instant, he closed the distance with Anix and threw a punch, just like before.

Crack!

His punch was blocked by a branch that sprouted from behind Anix.

Although the sudden appearance of the branch might have been surprising, it was familiar to Crash.

Thud!

Holding the branch with both hands, Crash spun it like a bar and immediately kicked at Anix.

However, another branch sprouted from the railing and wrapped around Crash's leg, throwing him.

In the air.

The branches extended and attacked Crash.

Among the branches that spread out to grab him, Crash moved skillfully and landed on the ground.

“Sir Crash, you look like a flying squirrel.”

Behind him, Bianca, who had been watching, said with a curious expression.

So calm.

“Huh.”

In contrast, Crash wiped away a light sweat.

The Grizer family's technique still irritated him.

“Is that all? Why don't you use a weapon, then?”

Anix, with a faint smile, looked through the branches that encased him like armor.

The Grizer family's technique.

Mokcheon-do (Wood Heaven Style)

A unique technique that not only controls wood but also plants, by infusing aura into them to enhance their strength.

Of course, its power weakens in places where plants cannot grow.

However, a skill contracted with a god makes this weakness meaningless.

‘Recovery.’

Simply put, regeneration.

Plants grow wherever Anix's skill is used, becoming his limbs.

This was the real reason he could be part of the Sky Generation.

“Use a weapon, you said.”

Crash showed a cold smile and revealed something he had hidden behind his back.

Anix's eyes twitched for the first time.

What Crash held was a branch.

And it was a branch torn from Anix's own tree.

Crash had stolen the branch using the Black Hood.

“Your tree is quite useful.”

Crash took a stance with the long branch, similar to a longsword.

Anix laughed.

“I don't know what you can do with that.”

Anix, though, seemed quite displeased, as he twisted his smile.

“Then, show me what you can do with my branch.”

At that moment, branches began to pour from behind Anix.

The branches, infused with aura, were sharp like spears and strong enough to pierce marble.

Crash moved swiftly between the wooden spears.

Although the branches seemed to fall aimlessly, each one was controlled by Anix.

Crash, who had been inseparable from Anix during the Sky Generation era, knew Anix's habits well.

In a way, Crash was Anix's natural enemy.

No one knew Anix better than Crash.

“Huh?”

As Crash dodged all the wooden spears and slowly approached Anix, Anix showed a bewildered reaction.

Crash moved as if he knew exactly where Anix's attacks would come from.

However, there was no overwhelming presence from Crash.

The aura he exuded was that of an ordinary person.

‘It feels like he’s pushing his limits.’

Even now, Crash was breathing heavily from dodging the wooden spears.

It was evidence that his body wasn't keeping up with his mind.

‘Did he open his inner eye?’

Anix thought of the legendary inner eye but soon scoffed.

‘Unless it was Charlotte.’

Someone who had opened such an eye wouldn't be called a Balheim half-penny.

“Anix.”

From the remaining distance between the wooden spears, Crash sneered.

“Are you thinking about Charlotte again?”

Twitch.

Anix's eyebrows twitched.

The words were like a provocation to the deep-seated anger within Anix.

“...I’ve given you a chance many times.”

Anix raised his hand.

“You need to change your mouth.”

Then, a different kind of energy flowed through his hand.

The tree behind him suddenly sprouted thousands of leaves.

Huge roots pierced the marble floor.

On the tree, which was as large as a world tree, two arms formed.

Mokcheon-do (Wood Heaven Style)

Five Techniques

Mokcheon Giant (Wood Heaven Giant)

A giant created by the Mokcheon-do technique passed down in the Grizer family.

The shadow of the giant filled the terrace of the Arayong Palace.

“Be more careful next time.”

Under the giant, where a normal person would have collapsed, Anix said to Crash and lowered his hand.

Then, the giant's massive fist descended toward Crash.

“Sir Anix!”

Elfin, Anix's subordinate, burst through the terrace door and shouted.

If Crash were to be hit by that fist, it would be irreversible.

But it was too late.

The giant fist, large enough to destroy the Arayong Palace, was right in front of Crash.

Crash raised the branch above his head as he looked at the fist.

In the secret library of the Cheongsong Hall, there is a very thin secret manual.

The reason it is thin is simple.

The person who wrote the manual only created one technique in their lifetime.

A Balheim half-penny, who had no talent for anything.

Because he had no talent, he focused solely on the basics of swordsmanship and repeatedly practiced downward strikes throughout his life.

A pure downward strike with no tricks.

He practiced this strike hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, and even millions of times.

When he was in his eighties.

His sword shattered from the downward strike.

The sword could no longer withstand his strikes.

But at that point, he no longer needed a sword.

The sword became him, and he became the sword.

He achieved the pinnacle of swordsmanship, where the sword and the self are one.

From that day on, no one in the world could withstand his downward strike.

The last secret manual he wrote in his lifetime contained only the simple technique of the downward strike.

However, the technique in the short manual was in a realm that could not be reached by any short martial art.

Crash's eyes closed calmly.

He forgot all the sounds and movements around him.

Crash focused his mind solely on the branch in his hand.

This technique requires a high level of concentration.

A concentration that reaches the state of oneness with the object.

Most people, even with the manual, could not master the technique.

But Crash was different.

In the past, due to a curse, he was forced into a state similar to oneness with the object countless times.

Ironically, this allowed Crash to see his inner self more clearly than anyone else.

His inner self was empty, with nothing in it.

Of course, this was natural.

He had achieved nothing on his own.

But because of this.

Crash could contain his ancestor's technique within his inner self.

The sword becomes the self, and the self becomes the sword.

A very simple truth.

Crash's downward strike shattered the Mokcheon Giant, creating a loud noise.

“What, what’s happening?”

“What’s going on outside?”

The noise was so loud that chaos erupted inside the terrace.

However, the dust from the Mokcheon Giant prevented the noble heirs from seeing what was happening.

In the dust, Anix stared ahead with wide eyes.

The Mokcheon Giant, which contained the recovery skill, was shattered by a single downward strike.

The problem was that the downward strike was so powerful that even if Anix used his full strength, he might not have been able to block it.

“Hey.”

At that moment, Crash's voice echoed through the dust.

Anix, startled by the voice, took a step back.

“...Ugh.”

But he felt ashamed that he had taken a step back just from Crash's voice.

However, his body was tense.

Cold sweat formed on the back of his neck.

His throat moved as he swallowed.

Until the dust cleared.

Anix could not move at all in the tense atmosphere.

As the dust slowly cleared, Crash's figure gradually became visible.

He threw the broken wooden sword to the ground and spoke.

“Don’t mock me again.”

It was a very fitting statement from him.