What Makes a Human? (10)
Kim Yeon blinked at me with dazed eyes.
I understood how she had called my name.
*I didn't call her myself.*
By operating the **Gimyoseongsimjeon** with her overflowing consciousness talent, I had simply pulled on its power for an instant.
*The talent for consciousness manipulation is on another level… She doesn't even realize she mastered it herself.*
Well, that didn't matter.
Whether by choice or chance, since she had been connected once, it would stay that way. All I had to do was remember the methods.
“Yeon-ah, Kim Yeon!”
I walked over to the confused girl and grabbed her shoulders, shaking her gently.
“Ehehe, senior. I missed you so much even in my dreams…”
*Thud—*
I pressed my forehead to hers and strongly activated the **Gimyoseingsimjeon**.
“…Huh?”
She widened her eyes, feeling something familiar.
At the same time, the dream world shook violently.
*Do not wake her. Guide her clearly into lucid dreaming.*
I pulled her consciousness to the surface using the **Gimyoseingsimjeon**.
*Swish swish swish!*
The dream world trembled as countless dream scenes flashed by.
Most of them were strangely similar.
The two of us walking a path inside the botanical garden.
The image of Kim Yeon, standing alone beneath a flower tree, completely confirming her own emotions.
The scenes faded, and finally Kim Yeon's pupils cleared.
“Eh… eh? The dream… is…”
She tried to pinch her own cheek, unable to believe the person in front of her was real.
I pulled my forehead away and blocked her hand.
“Wait. If I give you a big shock, you might wake up. You don't know how to operate the **Gimyoseingsimjeon** yet, but I can wake you right now from the dream.”
“Eh… okay.”
She nodded blankly, still half-dreamy.
“Well then, follow what I do. Use the **Gimyoseingsimjeon** with me, Yeon-ah. Got it?”
“Yes…”
After a while, Kim Yeon's pupils gradually cleared as she practiced the **Gimyoseingsimjeon**.
I guided her consciousness, helping her deepen her control over the technique.
She had already mastered it unconsciously over the past ten years, but didn't realize it herself. That was exactly her current state.
If I taught her how to consciously direct her awareness, she could master the **Gimyoseingsimjeon** instantly.
And after a while.
“…Eh? Eh?”
Finally, Kim Yeon's pupils became completely clear as she fully controlled the dream.
*Boom, boom!*
She waved her hand at me.
If she were simply a dream prop, her consciousness should have scattered her away completely.
But I had kept using the **Gimyoseingsimjeon** and stayed behind in the dream, enduring her awareness.
“Ugh, Eun-hyun… senior…?”
“Yeah, it's me.”
“Se-senior…!”
Kim Yeon teared up and ran into my arms, hugging me tightly.
I held her small frame close.
“Over the past ten years… ten years…”
“Yeah, I know. Goe-gun is a madman.”
“Sniff… ugh… hngh…”
Kim Yeon cried softly and told me everything that had happened during that time.
I combined the **Gimyoseingsimjeon** with her **Deungbongjogeuk** to accelerate her dream time, changing the time ratio between dream and reality.
We finally had the conversations we never could while awake.
“This world… is such a place.”
“Yeah. I'm still in the human territory right now. I can't bring you here immediately, but I will find a way.”
“…Thank you.”
“From now on, we'll meet every single day in dreams. If you feel the madness from the **Gimyoseingsimjeon**, puppets, or the Wondrous Castle, I'll take care of it. And…”
I looked at Kim Yeon.
“From now on, in dreams, I'm going to teach you one thing.”
“What is it?”
“Relax for a moment. I'll borrow your dream.”
I operated the **Gimyoseingsimjeon** and changed the dream environment.
Strange light swirled, and the space we were in instantly turned into a vast training ground.
“From now on…”
In all my past lives and previous loops, I never had time to look after her properly.
So from now on, I would make up for it.
“I'm going to teach you martial arts.”
I would teach her martial arts until she reached at least **Wol-do-ip-cheon**.
If not, **Deungbongjogeuk** would suffice.
*Even **Deungbongjogeuk** would allow consciousness acceleration.*
The efficiency of that acceleration was proportional to the size of her consciousness.
I, who had already reached **Cheonin**, was confident that even just the acceleration effect of **Deungbongjogeuk** would match Kim Young-hoon's speed at the start of **Wol-do-ip-cheon**.
If Kim Yeon reached **Wol-do-ip-cheon** with a consciousness area of **Sachukgi** level, or even just **Deungbongjogeuk**.
*At that moment, Kim Yeon would have enough strength to escape Goe-gun.*
Time was on our side.
If I accelerated time in her dream using the **Gimyoseingsimjeon** and **Deungbongjogeuk**, the dream time ratio could be increased by three times.
*It's a pity I can't do it outside the dream, but three times is enough.*
Teaching her was no problem.
No matter how trash Kim Yeon's talent was, it couldn't be worse than mine, who had poured her entire life into reaching **Jeoljeong gosu**.
“Martial arts…?”
“Yeah. I'll create the perfect martial arts for you.”
Once she learned martial arts, she would find ways to utilize her enormous consciousness to the fullest.
That was how I spent the mornings teaching Jeon Myeong-hoon and the nights teaching Kim Yeon.
* * *
One year passed.
“Okay, that's it!”
“Shut up!”
*Kwarrurung!*
A red thunderbolt swept past where I stood.
It was gradually becoming harder for me to defeat Jeon Myeong-hoon with only **Chukgig i** level power.
In just one year, Jeon Myeong-hoon had reached **Chukgig i** four times.
He had formed all twenty-eight spiritual orbs.
And surprisingly, he still hadn't learned the **Juryeojingyeong**.
*Even without the **Juryeojingyeong**, evolving the **Jeoryeojingyeong** to reach Core Formation Grand Completion is impressive.*
With this growth rate, he would definitely reach **Gyeoldanjigwon** in ten or twenty years.
After that, I would stuff him into **Wonyeonggi** without caring about the method, turning him into Jeon Myeong-hoon-filled dumplings.
*Hurry up and grow, Jeon Myeong-hoon.*
*Kwarrurung!*
I dodged the red thunderbolt he fired and dove into his arms, pounding my club into him.
“Ack! Damn it…”
“Stand up.”
“Fuck… Seo Eun-hyun you bastard…”
“Don’t just curse. Reach Core Formation, then Wonyeonggi, then Cheonin and beat me up. That’s the best way.”
“Hyaaaaah!”
*She has quite a bit of malice and stubbornness.*
Or maybe I had just beaten her too hard.
But anyway, Jeon Myeong-hoon now knew to fight back with full determination.
I dodged her attacks while continuously pouring my club’s **Seon-gak-hu-tong** into her.
In the past year, Jeon Myeong-hoon had grown considerably.
Kim Yeon had also grown steeply in martial arts under my teaching, reaching the level of a second-rate warrior.
*Unbelievable speed.*
Of course, I had optimized the martial arts for her, but even then it was ridiculously fast.
*Well, moving her own body is easier than controlling millions of puppets at once, right?*
Her experience manipulating thousands of puppets in the Wondrous Castle must have helped a lot.
*But the problem is me…*
Unlike the rapidly growing Kim Yeon and Jeon Myeong-hoon, I still couldn't escape my own mind.
If Kim Yeon and Jeon Myeong-hoon were human as Yang Su-jin said, then what about the others?
*What exactly is this world, and the bonds formed in this world?*
I would have simply let it slide if Yang Su-jin was just some roadside punk.
But the fact that he had reached the pinnacle of **Jin-seon** refused to leave my mind.
*What exactly is a human…*
While I was teaching Jeon Myeong-hoon and lost in thought.
*Pa-a-a-at!*
“…!”
A familiar golden light pillar flew from afar.
Golden divine pillar.
“Young brother, Geum-hyeon elder!”
It was Heon-wi.
She landed beside me with a bright smile and said.
“This month's betrothal gift.”
*Boong!*
She threw a **Jeomuldo** at me.
I silently caught it.
As expected, it contained the same amount of spirit stones as the last time.
Over the past year, Heon-wi had come to me once a month with “betrothal funds” — pouring massive spirit stones at me.
Even though entering Geumsincheonroemun so often and arbitrarily was suspicious, Geom Byeok-ho had allowed it, though he seemed displeased after receiving the stones.
*Now she's openly bringing her own people along…*
I spotted someone following Heon-wi from about thirty *li* away.
He was trying to hide, but his will was so strong that I couldn't ignore him.
*Bodyguard?*
I focused my consciousness on the person following Heon-wi and looked at her.
“You still have no intention of marrying me?”
“Forgive me, but that is still the case.”
“Hmm… how unfortunate. If that's how it is, how about a dual cultivation marriage? Not a legal one, but just exchanging qi would be very welcome indeed…”
“…!”
I asked her.
“If it's a billion spirit stones, even a master like you could probably pierce through **Cheonin** with **Seon-tong-hu-gak**. Why would you want to dual cultivate with someone like me?”
“I told you. I fell for you at first sight.”
“Hmm…”
I read her intent and frowned.
At the same time, I realized she was subtly manipulating **Cheonji-yeonggi** behind my back while chatting with me.
*She's secretly planting formations in Geumsincheonroemun…*
More precisely, she was moving **Cheonji-yeonggi** around depending on her mood to disturb my concentration, and her bodyguard was doing something in the sect from thirty *li* away.
I thought she was moving the energy assuming I wouldn't notice, but as someone who had dug deep into formation arts under Cheongmun Ryeong's guidance, I saw through it instantly.
*A formation that compresses earth-attribute spirit power in one blow.*
I had never told anyone, but I had secretly placed arrays everywhere in Geumsincheonroemun to counter Goe-gun's circuits.
It could have been insane paranoia, but since Seo Hyul or Wei Ling-seon's clone might be watching me, I had placed the circuits to stay vigilant.
Through those circuits, the formations she planted were transmitted directly into my mind.
*The spirit energy of the formation perfectly counters the circulation of her technique in my body.*
In an emergency, activating that formation would completely suppress her.
*Why plant a formation that suppresses herself in Geumsincheonroemun?*
I knocked Jeon Myeong-hoon away with a casual backhand, then smiled at Heon-wi.
“Thank you for the kind words. But I already have a proper dual cultivation partner, and freely dual cultivating with others would be betrayal in her eyes.”
*Tap tap—*
I approached Heon-wi, patted her shoulder familiarly, and unknowingly implanted a **Gigoego** using **Wansuigungmurok**.
*Who knows what scheme she's plotting. I'll have to keep an eye on her.*
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