A Genius—Everywhere but the Sword
Gi Ho-cheol placed his palm against the Crown Prince's back. A moment later, the Crown Prince raised his right hand slightly.
Gi Ho-cheol let out a soft gasp of admiration.
"To think you'd be this quick…… Well then, let's move on to circulating your energy. Try to sense which direction it travels, and move your hand the same way. Keep silent—opening your mouth will disturb your breathing."
The Crown Prince moved his hand almost immediately. Gi Ho-cheol gave an awkward little smile, unsure whether every direction had been correct.
"It seems Your Highness's qi sense has already awakened. In that case, let us proceed straight to the next stage. I will send my energy along the meridian channels, and what you must do is remember the path it takes. Now, the starting point is here—the place we call the dantian……"
The Crown Prince's turn ended smoothly and swiftly. Unable to fully conceal his astonishment, Gi Ho-cheol assigned him his task.
"From now on, Your Highness, all you need do is keep breathing until you can feel the energy gathering in your dantian."
Then Gi Ho-cheol came over to me. I shut my eyes at once.
"Now, I shall channel energy into you, Your Highness the Crown Princess. If you feel anything, please raise your hand."
Soon his hand touched my back, and I felt a thread of his energy rise faintly from his dantian, travel down his palm, and flow into me.
Huh?
Is this what he meant by feeling the energy?
I've been able to feel this my whole life. Since the moment I was born.
What was more, I could clearly sense not only the energy inside my own body but the entire current of his power flowing from his dantian into mine.
I was flustered for a moment, then quickly understood.
Ah, it's because I'm a god. This must be an innate sense for divinities—something humans have to train to feel.
In any case, I felt it right away, so I raised my hand.
"Remarkable speed once again, Your Highness the Crown Princess."
Gi Ho-cheol jumped in surprise, then moved us straight on to the same stage as with the Crown Prince—guessing the direction of his energy.
There was nothing to think about, nothing difficult about it at all. I called out the answers one after another, and Gi Ho-cheol's jaw dropped.
"……In my entire life, I have never seen someone with such a keen qi sense who has never trained in the martial arts. You possess extraordinary talent, Your Highness."
Whoa! Extraordinary talent!
It felt a bit like cheating, being born a god—but still, he was saying I had a gift for the martial arts, and that made me happy.
Beside us, Sa Young-joon had been fidgeting ever since the Crown Prince and I awakened our qi sense in the blink of an eye, and he suddenly squeezed his eyes shut and began doing breathing exercises all on his own.
I suppose he's worried about being left behind.
He was transparent as glass, and somehow that was its own kind of endearing.
I'm so glad I asked to learn swordsmanship. At this rate, it'll be a smashing success.
In my mind, a fantasy blossomed and bloomed: I would become a prodigious martial artist, take up a sword, and slay monsters with my own two hands—then return to Heaven and display martial arts so magnificent that even the celestial martial immortals would gasp in awe.
He said I have extraordinary talent, so within the time I have left, that much is surely possible, right?
I wrestled down the corners of my mouth as they tried to creep upward and forced myself to focus on the lesson.
And yet, in the end, the swordsmanship lesson was a failure.
"The two of you are truly remarkable cases, in very different ways."
Unable to hide his bewilderment, Gi Ho-cheol scratched at his shaggy hair and heaved a deep sigh.
"First…… it appears Your Highness the Crown Prince is simply incapable of accumulating energy in the ordinary way. You already carry some other, tremendous power within you."
"……It must be the strange entity dwelling within me."
"That would be my guess. Whatever energy you draw in through breathing is repelled the moment it enters……"
"Then is it impossible for me to learn the martial arts?"
"No, not at all. You may use the method that Taoists, shamans, and monks employ when they train in the martial arts."
"And what method is that?"
"The strange entity you already carry—that darkness called Am-ryeong—store it in your dantian and use it as though it were energy. Just as Taoists channel Taoist power, shamans channel spirit power, and monks channel dharma power into their martial arts."
"……!"
"It will not be easy at first, but once you grasp the method, you will ascend to the ranks of the masters in a single bound. Even the faint amount of power I could sense was on a scale that no ordinary warrior could even dream of."
Gi Ho-cheol smiled a rueful smile and added:
"From now on, Your Highness, your training will be to draw that darkness into your dantian in place of the energy of nature. I will help you."
"Thank you, Master."
The Crown Prince's face brightened. An unusual case it may have been, but for the little brat, things had worked out splendidly.
My case, on the other hand……
"Your Highness the Crown Princess…… it seems, I'm afraid, that you are constitutionally unable to learn the martial arts."
Gi Ho-cheol said it with evident discomfort. My spirits sank, and I asked again.
"Really, it can't be done? Even if I work hard?"
"I am sorry, Your Highness. For those born with the qualities of a shaman, learning the martial arts is fundamentally impossible……"
"Taoists can do it, shamans can do it, even monks can do it—why only shamans who can't?"
"It is a matter of constitution. A body that can serve as a vessel for a god is, by that very fact, a body with no room left to hold the energy of nature."
In other words, because I had a shaman's constitution, I couldn't accumulate energy—and without accumulated energy, internal cultivation itself was out of the question.
And apparently, divine power couldn't be channeled into martial arts either—unlike the strength of other prodigious beings, it wasn't a power you built up yourself but one borrowed from a god.
Borrowed? My divine power isn't borrowed—it's mine!
Granted, it wasn't power that resided in this body; it was power I drew from my true self. Which, in the end, amounted to the same thing.
What is this? A cliffhanger, then nothing?
As I sulked, Gi Ho-cheol offered words of comfort.
"Still, Your Highness, your qi sense is exceptional. If you continue your breathing practice diligently, your powers of observation will sharpen, and it will benefit your health as well."
Health?
At that word, which I could not afford to ignore, I lifted my head with a flicker of hope.
"Breathing practice will make me healthier? Even if I can't accumulate energy?"
"Drawing in the energy of nature through breath and releasing it again cleanses the body, so it will certainly contribute to your health. You are not incapable of sensing qi, Your Highness—you are merely unable to store it within. The breathing itself poses no problem whatsoever."
"Then I'll keep training even if I can't build up energy. I intend to live a long, healthy life, after all."
"A wise decision."
Well, if it made me healthier, that was something.
External forms are exercise too, so they should be good for my health, right? Even if I can't use them for actual martial arts.
I recovered a measure of my enthusiasm for the swordsmanship lessons.
And then, exactly two hours later, I lost every last drop of it.
"Hmm……"
As Gi Ho-cheol watched me holding the wooden sword, wrinkles piled up on his forehead, layer upon layer.
Beside him, Sa Young-joon clamped a hand over his mouth, trembling—until the laughter finally burst out of him.
"PWAHAHA! What is that! A water deer straight out of the womb could stand up straighter than that!"
"Young-joon!"
At the sound of his master's scolding voice, Sa Young-joon gulped down his laughter and promptly dropped his head.
"Hck! I apologize, Master."
"You may expect a thorough lesson in etiquette when you return home tonight."
Gi Ho-cheol growled the threat, but I could not have cared less whether Sa Young-joon mocked me or whether he got his etiquette lesson or not.
This is so hard!
Why was it this hard?
I had merely imitated the movements Gi Ho-cheol demonstrated a few times, and already my arms ached and my half-crouched legs wobbled without cease.
When I tried to keep my back straight, it kept listing to one side. My feet tangled and I stumbled. When told to extend my left arm, my right shot out instead. Nothing—absolutely nothing—went the way I intended.
In the end, I stood there clutching the wooden sword, gasping for breath, the world spinning before my eyes.
"Let us rest a moment."
Taking one look at my condition, Gi Ho-cheol called a halt to the training.
I didn't have the strength to make it to the pavilion, so I collapsed right where I stood. At that, Ansi—who had been pacing anxiously in the distance under orders not to disturb the lesson—dashed over in a flash and pressed a water flask into my hands.
"My lady! Your face has gone bright red, it has!"
"I'm—I'm fine……"
I gulped down the water and wiped my sweat, and slowly began to feel alive again. As I was still catching my breath, Gi Ho-cheol spoke up carefully.
"Your Highness the Crown Princess."
"Yes……"
"I am afraid the sword simply does not suit you."
"……So it's this hard because I lack stamina?"
"It is a matter that goes beyond stamina."
He let out a short sigh, then explained patiently.
"The Gi Spirit Sword Style, my family's traditional art, is characterized by a soft, yielding blade. The Un Kingdom Sword Style, which I learned during my service in the Inner Royal Guard, is characterized by measured, disciplined movement. These two arts stand at opposite ends of the spectrum, yet they share one thing in common: at all times, you must maintain a balanced posture."
"……Am I bad at keeping my balance?"
Gi Ho-cheol scratched his disheveled hair, looking troubled, and sighed once more.
"Regrettably, yes. Which means it will take you considerably more effort than most to master even the same movements."
A finishing blow, delivered to make sure.
So I…… am a genuinely hopeless case of physical clumsiness.
I did have my suspicions, back when I was practicing archery……
I couldn't tell whether the clumsiness was mine, this body's, or some catastrophic synergy of the two—but either way, the conclusion was the same.
The sword is not going to work.
It was a shame in many ways, but I had never burned with a fierce determination to learn the sword specifically, so I could live with it.
Honestly, the only reason I picked swordsmanship first was because the Crown Prince was going to learn it.
Oh well. Nothing to be done.
I don't have time to grind away for years at something I have no talent for. I barely have enough time to figure out what I'm actually good at and pour myself into that.
……I do have something I'm good at, right?