Chapter 83
Chapter 83
Academy’s Gumiho is a Magic Genius – Chapter 83
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"So in the end, the training you're talking about means raising the rank of the soul. In other words, elevating the soul rank?"
That's only part of training. Up to a certain level, it raises the soul rank, but after that, the true essence of training is filling the gaps in that elevated soul rank with soul wisdom.
"Not easy."
If it were, everyone in the world would have a high-ranked soul. But the soul is an amorphous, utterly subjective concept. Elevating and filling it ultimately depends on each individual's skill and character, doesn't it?
"In other words, whether you study magic or sorcery, or endure a hundred years of time, as long as you meet the conditions of soul rank and soul wisdom, you can become a Three-Tailed Fox."
Yes, it was a difficult explanation, but you seem to understand it well. I wonder if it's all thanks to my excellent teaching.
No, you taught it wrong.
Why make the explanation so convoluted?
Even if the soul and rank don't have fixed, clear forms, you could at least explain it simply.
This is practically a festival of non-answers.
Still...... I did understand it.
I tried to let it slide, but that thought didn't last long.
Afterward, I heard all sorts of things from her.
Starting with myths about Xi Wangmu, the highest goddess in Taoism.
Harmonies of heaven, earth, and man as pointed out by Gu Hwan, the Three Primes, and so on.
All sorts of esoteric talks flooded in.
But in the end, they all boiled down to just one thing.
The same as the number of my tails right now.
The Trinity.
At least, that was the most important thing for me at the moment.
'The training Tamamo spoke of isn't just honing techniques. What I'm cultivating is my soul, and the path that soul will walk.'
"I've seen a lot by my teacher's side since I was young, so this much is easy."
Gu Hwan Gu Bok (Nine Changes Nine Returns)
Three Primes
Xi Wangmu.
I felt like I understood what the Trinity she mentioned meant.
Originally, the essence of the Trinity is the 'Father,' the 'Son,' and the 'Holy Spirit.'
It's about achieving harmony through faith alone, without doubting the incomprehensible three forms of God.
It was practically a Christian proprietary term, but the mystery of the Trinity appeared in Buddhism, Rome, Egypt, and elsewhere, simplifying its meaning.
It doesn't have to be Father, Son, Holy Spirit.
Three things in harmony.
Achieving perfect balance through themthat is the Trinity.
'In other words, the meaning of the Trinity is harmony and balance. What the three positions represent can be arbitrarily defined by me without issue.'
What the three positions are or symbolize isn't important.
Tamamo probably didn't explain it knowing Christianity.
The key is the three gaps achieving harmonious balance.
But if I had to symbolize them, the original essence of the Father's position would fit best.
After all, my teacher was also the Holy Mother.
I don't particularly believe in God, but surprisingly, I know a bit about this doctrine.
I raised my three tails upright.
The black-furred tailsI planned to overlay them with blue mana to draw semi-permanent tattoos. The tattoos would be hidden by the fur, invisible to anyone.
What I would engrave: the three positions of the Father.
The Christian doctrine, the Logos distinguished yet essentially the same.
The Word of Heaven itself.
Woooong!
In the hollow inner world, a brilliant radiance surged.
Tamamo's eyes widened at the alien spectacle.
The first tail.
The tail that had been with me since I first came to this world became the starting point for the other two.
It was fitting for the holy Father, the beginning of all things.
[Assigning the concept of the 'Holy Father' to the first tail.]
[Position 1, the concept of the Origin, has been engraved.]
[From now on, your first tail will serve as a guide, following the principle of the Origin to seek the righteous path toward salvation!]
Holy light descended upon the first tail.
The light formed the tattoo of the Holy Father, settling into the skin beneath the fur-covered tail.
Swoooosh!
The radiance flashed, and burning pain shot through the tail's skin.
It felt like pressing a branding iron to the flesh.
This was the brand for daring to form the Trinity in a human body. But I didn't stop.
Next, the second tail.
I must live. Not because of a strong survival instinct.
I had to survive to save the world in place of my dead comrades and prove their sacrifices weren't in vain by living on.
Even up to the day of the academy raid, I prioritized only my own safety. But I couldn't stand by and watch their fates sealed to death just because they were novel characters.
If I'm going to live, then not just me.
Everyone together.
Based on that inner growth, the manifested second tail suited the second concept well: the 'Son' who sacrifices and leads.
[Assigning the concept of the 'Holy Son' to the second tail.]
[Position 2, the concept of Truth, has been engraved.]
[Your second tail will accomplish the tasks necessary for salvation based on Truth!]
Along with the pain of a branding iron searing the skin, holy radiance descended on the tail.
The overly divine light for a mere human formed the tattoo of the Holy Son, becoming the second foundation for the Trinity.
In that instant, pain so intense it shattered my focus assaulted me.
The source: the two tails.
This time, it was genuine scorching agony, no different from being burned alive.
I thought I'd endured all sorts of brutal tortures in my life. It had been ages since I felt pain like this.
My crossed-legged concentration shattered in an instant.
Fuck, that hurts.
......But I'd come too far to stop now over mere pain.
[Assigning the concept of the 'Holy Spirit' to the third tail.]
[Position 3, the concept of Love, has been engraved.]
[Your third tail will spread love with a heart that loves people, ensuring as many as possible receive the grace of salvation!]
The third tail.
I could now more clearly define the targets I must save in this novel: those I loathed to the point of hatred, the demons opposing me.
The lives sacrificed for the scenario's completion.
I knew I had to save them, and reaffirmed there was no place for demons within that fold.
Classifying people to bestow love and salvation.
This proved distinguishing the 'human' of heaven, earth, and man by subjectivity.
The Holy Spirit's blessing was engraved as a tattoo on the skin hidden beneath the fur of the tail.
Right then.
"Kuhk......!!"
Blood sprayed from my mouth with a cough.
Not just simple hemoptysis.
Some internal organs were damaged.
Blood surged up my esophagus, disrupting my breathing and focus.
This fucking hurts so much.
I've had limbs severed and guts punctured before. I never imagined feeling pain on that level again.
[The original 'Trinity' has manifested in a human body! This is a transcendent concept that human flesh and soul cannot dare contain!]
[Warning! Holy radiance burns the flawed human body. By divinity, those who dare invade heaven's domain shall become pillars of salt and fire!]
[Warning! Soul damage......!]
......
The status window plastered with all sorts of warnings.
Only then did I realize.
It wasn't my organs that were damaged.
As a mere Three-Tailed Fox who hadn't even reached Nine-Tails, I'd recklessly tried to manifest the Trinity, and my soul couldn't withstand the pressure and got damaged.
'No. If this continues, my soul wisdom will deplete, and my soul rank will be damaged. I have to forcibly stabilize the balance.'
The soul is an unknown realm to humans.
But if the cause of the soul damage is in a field I know, I can manage somehow. The one who taught me about the Trinity and related doctrines was my teacher.
Recalling my childhood, I reminisced on the teachings I'd heard in those days.
Teacher, what are you doing there?
Oh, Seung-woo is here. Have you eaten?
But clearer than the teachings were all the daily moments with her.
Small memories.
Because of that, a corner of my heart felt emptily hollow for no reason.
I even wondered if I shouldn't have done this.
The more I look, the more I'm amazed...... Is this really a human?
Tamamo looked down at Seung-woo, who was sitting cross-legged on the floor.
A face so handsome it bordered on beautiful, mana so intense and pure it made even the dead Tamamo's flesh tremble in illusion.
And above all, talent rivaling that of a saint.
Seung-woo had pretty much everything one could have.
He was like a sculpture crafted from pure irrationality into beauty.
Is he truly loved by the gods? If so, how much favoritism from how many gods allowed such a monster to be born?
The world is truly full of irrationalities.
And she wanted to shatter that irrationality.
I want to check it out once.
So Tamamo extended her hand toward Seung-woo, who was suffering in lotus position. In [Martial Realm], breaking someone's concentration was considered one of the worst acts.
Tamamo carefully scanned Seung-woo's body, which had all its nerves focused inward, with delicate touches.
From collarbone to pubic bone.
Sinister fingers inscribed spells across his body.
An act close to sexual assault.
But she felt not a speck of guilt.
Tamamo had always been distant from goodness.
Being one of history's greatest great yokai and a notorious villainess of the continent wasn't for show.
That didn't mean you could simply judge her a villain.
Right now, she was pushing him beyond his limits.
Pushing him to enter the boundary had ultimately been beneficial.
It was nothing bad for Seung-woo, who had been impatient about his own growth.
But shoving him into the mental boundary without gauging what lay within was dangerous.
High risk, high return.
Where there's gain, there's loss.
As people often say, getting caught by emotions, selfish desires, or heart demonsthe mind is a profoundly mysterious concept.
The mind is an invisible, inscrutable organ.
Even humans, let alone Nine-Tailed Foxes, couldn't assert mastery over it.
The spell Tamamo was about to cast was a means to probe that inscrutable realm. But exploring the mind, where little was known, was an extremely perilous spell without assured safety.
Depending on the case, one might not die but become a vegetable.
A normal person couldn't even attempt it due to morality.
Tamamo knew all this.
She knew, so she proceeded.
If she didn't, how could she even know such a spell?
This is an experiment.
In the first place, Seung-woo was the one who contracted with this yokai fox first.
He'd dazedly formed the contract just by putting on the ring, but that meant their wavelengths matched so well no other procedures were needed.
Moreover, hadn't he casually exposed his unguarded back?
That was truly the wicked act.
Blatantly showing a weakness makes one want to exploit itthat's human nature, or rather, the instinct of foxes like us.
Just a very intriguing experiment, that's all.
Tamamo had no intention of letting Seung-woo die.
Before that, if anything happened, she had baseless confidence he'd wake up on his own.
This hellish inner world would never let him die.
A sorceress who had reached the pinnacle.
Tamamo's eyes gleamed with the madness of a scholar pursuing the unknown. As the one who first established and codified the sorcery system.
Her desire for the unknown.
Was no less than Tamamo's gluttony for instant noodlesshe'd do anything.
Her past curiosity and zeal were proven by the anecdote of casually dissecting the heart of Bi Gan, called a sage, with a sharp awl.
Right now, with her eyes blinded by exploratory lust, no one could stop her.
Greed befitting a Nine-Tailed Fox.
Hehe...... I'm really looking forward to it.
What form would his mind take in this hell-like inner world? What was the essence of the inner self Seung-woo hid, that even hell enveloped it?
Soon, she'd have the answer.
Ah, but what if he wakes up later?
It was such fun just imagining.
But she couldn't imagine the aftermath.
Wouldn't this give him leverage over her?
Should I stop now?
Of course, it was already too late.
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