Galaxy Martial God Temple - The Amusement Park Kidnapping Incident (Part 1)
It had been quite some time since I reincarnated into the Galaxy Murim world. Because Siwoo stayed by my side constantly, I couldn’t use rapid time acceleration with my three-dimensional avatar. Since that avatar was ultimately controlled by me, accelerating time risked Siwoo noticing something strange in our conversations. So I spent the time learning martial arts and training inside my clone body, while using three- to four-times speed for everything else with the three-dimensional avatar. When I slept, if I didn’t feel mentally exhausted enough to need rest, I skipped ahead at a thousand-times acceleration.
After continuously speeding up time like that, roughly four months had passed in my perception, and I had already turned three years old. The inconveniences of being an infant were gradually disappearing, and Siwoo’s training grew stricter and longer. At the same time, I no longer felt the need to rely on acceleration as much.
The reason I had accelerated time until now was to bypass the inevitable growing pains and hospital visits that came with being a baby. Since those issues were fading, I decided to live at normal speed inside my reincarnation clone from now on. My body was still physically immature in many ways, but martial arts were most effective when learned young. I couldn’t waste this golden period by rushing through it with time acceleration.
Siwoo placed her fingers on my wrist for a moment, then spoke in her usual polite tone.
Until now, Siwoo had only made me memorize the forms and stances of martial techniques without any real physical training. Of course, moving my body had provided some basic fitness, but it couldn’t be called serious conditioning. That was only natural—pushing a newborn too hard would hinder future growth.
From what I understood, direct descendants of the Cheon Clan or families with considerable influence followed similar processes. Of course, there were almost no babies who calmly accepted and digested everything like I did. Most apparently failed to fully absorb the forced spiritual medicine.
I knew myself well. I had zero physical talent.
“Then let’s start training right away.”
Since I lacked physical talent, I needed to get a few steps ahead this way if I didn’t want to fall behind my future peers. Or rather, to delay falling behind as long as possible.
In the future, I was scheduled to attend the school that all direct descendants of the clan went to. My ultimate goal was to climb the Tower, so competition with my peers didn’t really matter to me. The real problem was that falling behind in that competition would reduce the quality of support I received from the clan later.
Until elementary school, all direct-line children received equal support and attended the same school. But after graduating elementary and moving to middle school, they were split into First Middle School and Second Middle School based on evaluated talent. Even if you went to Second Middle School, you could still receive clan support, but both the quality of that support and the instructors’ skill levels would be lower. High school divided students into four different institutions based on even stricter grades and talent assessments.
Of course, I had Siwoo as my martial arts instructor and an inheritance that could replace clan support. The issue was that the inheritance remained locked until I became an adult. They would probably release funds if I said I needed to buy spiritual herbs for my cultivation, but receiving proper support from the clan was still far better than spending my own money.
Siwoo cautioned me not to push myself too hard as she gently sat me down.
At Siwoo’s instruction, I activated the Blue Wood Cultivation I had been practicing. Qi circulated through my body following my breath and flowed toward my dantian. The qi that reached the dantian then moved along my meridians, guided by Siwoo’s own energy that had entered through my back. Until now, I had only grown and filled my dantian with spiritual herbs and breathing exercises. This was the first time the qi inside it had actually left the dantian.
“Understood.”
Speaking of cars made me think about how, even in the 50th century, wheeled vehicles were still mainstream because of their superior traction. Hover cars could stop in midair like they were hovering, but they could never match the stability of wheels firmly planted on the ground. Of course, wheeled cars were also equipped with levitation functions, so there wasn’t much practical difference between the two. One might wonder why levitation was even necessary for driving. But this world had the Levitation Highway, an exclusive high-speed aerial road system. It was safer and faster for long distances than regular highways, making levitation capability essential.
Once a vehicle entered the Levitation Highway, control transferred from the driver to the highway’s central system. Traffic jams were structurally impossible. There were even highways that crossed oceans. In that sense, levitation cars were less automobiles and more personal aircraft that happened to function as cars.
I followed Siwoo’s guidance and slowly attempted to awaken my dantian. But just as she had warned, it was not easy. The best I could do was stimulate the dantian enough for the internal energy inside to slightly peek outside its boundary.
When I looked somewhat disappointed, Siwoo clapped her hands together.
“Talent? I failed, though?”
Now that I thought about it, the Old Librarian had also said I had talent for magic. Since qi and mana were essentially the same power at their core, it made sense that I would have an affinity for handling qi as well.
As I pondered this, Siwoo continued with visible relief.
“…Was I that terrible?”
Siwoo slightly avoided my gaze but did not correct her assessment.
“Well, I already knew I lacked physical talent. Your training has been getting harder and harder lately.”
“No need. If there’s something I lack, I just have to work harder and put in more effort to make up for it. Knowing yourself accurately is the foundation of growth.”
Difficult training was actually something I welcomed. At my words, Siwoo nodded.
I gave a light chuckle at Siwoo’s words.
“Then push me even harder so I can fill in those gaps properly.”
And not long after, I regretted it.
Damn it. If I had known it would be this hard, I would have thought more carefully before speaking.
I ran desperately on a treadmill while wearing something like an oxygen mask.
Whenever I collapsed from exhaustion after running for a long time, Siwoo would use Chugunggwahyeol to relieve my physical fatigue before moving on to the next exercise. After running came anaerobic training.
Heavy weight training was efficient but placed a huge burden on the body. For a child’s body, low weight and high repetitions were the best choice. The burden per set was small, yet it could push the body to its limits.
The anaerobic training was split into three parts: arms, core, and legs. Siwoo drove me to my exact limit with eerie precision. Right after I reached that limit, she would give me a short rest followed by additional exercises, gradually expanding my physical boundaries.
I had asked Siwoo to help me grow as much as possible, but I was still human. No matter how much I wanted it, the pain made me regret my words. Still, I had no intention of whining like a real child and begging her to stop. I wasn’t actually a kid, and I couldn’t throw away this priceless opportunity to receive instruction from a Transformed Realm expert just because it was hard.
Once a man set a goal, he had to give it his all. If you shot for the moon, you might at least reach the stars.
After anaerobic training came mealtime. Instead of three meals, food was prepared five times a day, with snacks added between regular meals. The increased number of meals was unavoidable. The more I moved, the more calories I burned, and I needed to replenish them. Siwoo’s cooking was always delicious, so eating itself was never a problem.
After eating, I did light stretching, then studied Chinese characters and memorized the human anatomy diagrams and acupoints essential for cultivation techniques. Since Chinese characters were a language, I could already read them as if I had studied them before. But memorizing the anatomy charts and meridian points was genuinely headache-inducing.
“Then why are you teaching it to me now?”
At my question, Siwoo smiled gently.
After whipping me with her words, Siwoo offered a carrot in the form of praise.
Third-Rate martial artist—the realm where one reinforced the body using the internal energy accumulated during the Entry stage.
“Now that I think about it, people say internal energy is the most important thing. Wouldn’t it be better to focus on internal cultivation rather than physical training?”
It wasn’t that the physical training was too hard… Well, maybe a little. But that wasn’t the only reason.
Ah, I see. So there was no escaping this brutal training after all.
With a mix of resignation and understanding, I stretched to prepare for the next session. Tonight, I would probably pass out the moment I lay down.
(To be continued in the next chapter)