Chapter 12
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 12
Chapter Title: What Are You?
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"Martial arts?"
"Yeah, martial arts. You against it?"
It wasn't that I was against it.
I was just stunned by how generously she was offering to teach me.
Yeah, don't overthink it. She's just teaching me because she needs me too.
Anything that made me stronger was good for me, period.
Ever since coming to this world, I'd felt my own weakness more acutely, so any path to power was welcome.
"But I've already learned magic. Is that okay?"
"No issue there. So you want to learn, right?"
"Ah... yeah!"
Hearing my answer, she stepped closer to me.
"Well, first I need to check properly. There might be something wrong with your dantian."
"My dantian?"
"Dantian... You don't know what a dantian is?"
"No..."
I really should have read more wuxia novels if I'd known this was coming.
"Hmm... okay... Think of it like a mana circle for mages? But circles are created artificially, while everyone has a dantian naturally."
"If everyone's got one, why check?"
"Argh, what I'm saying is..."
She scrunched up her face and let out a sigh.
"I'm not great at explaining... Even if you have a dantian, whether you can learn martial arts needs checking. That's all you need to know for now."
"Got it."
She took another step closer and slowly extended her right hand.
"Breathe evenly. Relax."
I nodded and closed my eyes.
Her five fingers touched the center of my back, right where my spine began.
At first, it was just a cold sensation.
But the next moment...
A faint but unmistakable tremor transmitted from beneath her palm.
"......"
Her eyebrows twitched up, then down.
She slid her palm a bit lower, now rubbing in slow circles with her fingertips.
Like tracing hidden words on thin paper.
My breathing hitched ever so slightly.
"Don't move."
A low voice.
Her palm rose again, now pressing around my cervical vertebrae.
The pressure wasn't strong, but the energy within it felt sharp.
And then.
Deep in the small of my back, something responded.
First, like a water drop falling—a small plink of an echo.
Then, like a sleeping beast stirring—a low, dull vibration.
And finally.
A small but clear stream of hot energy surged up along my spine.
The corner of her mouth slowly curved up.
"...It's there."
Those words made my shoulders tremble slightly.
Without removing her hand, she continued lowly.
"Your meridians are narrow, and your dantian is still empty... but your innate constitution is good. The embers are alive and breathing. This is inborn talent, not something cultivated later."
She finally withdrew her hand and stepped back.
I slowly opened my eyes.
"...Can I learn it?"
She looked at me for a moment, then grinned brightly.
"We could start right now, today?"
A childlike smile.
For a second, it made my heart flutter.
I might've fallen for her instantly back in my old world.
"It's only third-rate power for now, but I'll pass on a bit of our family's martial arts anyway."
"Huh? Is that really okay?"
"No problem. Here, watch closely—I'll show you once."
The moonlight froze atop the blade with a faint sound.
She slowly raised her sword.
The blade already gleamed white, frosted over, reflecting the light.
Her single breath spread as white mist in the air, turning surrounding moisture into sparkling ice crystals in an instant.
"......Don't move."
Her voice was low and cold.
Like the surface of a winter lake, thinly and solidly frozen.
As she twisted the sword tip slightly, space warped faintly, and a thread of blue light extended from the tip like silk.
The thread sliced through the air, instantly blanketing the ground in transparent ice.
She took one step forward, and snowflake-shaped ice crystals radiated outward from her footprint.
At the same time, her sword traced a circle—slowly, very slowly.
The whole world seemed to hold its breath.
Blue energy from the sword tip expanded into a massive ring, enveloping thirty paces around in one sweep.
All moisture in the air condensed forcibly, freezing in an instant into thousands, tens of thousands of tiny ice needles floating in the void.
They sparkled like an inverted Milky Way, slowly orbiting her.
"......Ice Heaven."
⟨ Ice Heaven ⟩
With that whisper, the orbiting ice needles erupted forward all at once.
-Boom
No—even the sound froze, failing to transmit properly.
She slowly lowered her sword.
The frost on the blade melted against her body heat, dripping down in long beads of water.
She tilted her head slightly, looking down at the captive me.
"So? That's martial arts in a nutshell. Manageable, right?"
Not at all.
Watching this scene, I suddenly understood how those horrific sights in the prison had come about.
Is this what Seorin or Ian would look like at full power?
Words failed to describe the spectacle unfolding before me.
Something utterly impossible in my old world...
"Come on... why the frozen stare? You think you can reach this level overnight?"
"N-no, of course not..."
"Exactly, so stop spacing out... or I'll gobble you up."
Somehow, her words carried real intent.
"It's getting late anyway, so let's give it a try."
She extended her hand slowly, and cold energy seeped into the back of mine.
The hot blood surging through my veins seemed to hesitate for a moment.
"......Ice arts don't extinguish fire—they don't even give it a chance to ignite."
Her voice was low and soft, but the chill within pierced to my bones.
She took my hand, clasping it palm to palm.
My hand was already faintly rimed with frost.
"First, feel the heat inside you. The heartbeat, the blood flow, the breath filling your lungs... Slowly, very slowly, stop all that 'movement'."
I closed my eyes, and her hand lightly touched my back.
Cold energy climbed my spine, spreading to the crown of my head.
Like standing alone on a winter night.
"Good. Now, in that stillness, instead of pushing your energy out, 'pull it in'. Draw the outer cold inside you."
I inhaled, and the surrounding air warped slightly. Instead of breath, white frost extended from my mouth like a thread to my fingertips.
She smiled. Very faintly.
"Yes. That's the feeling. Now move your hand. Just 'extend' it. With the wish that the world freezes from where you stand."
I slowly reached forward.
Transparent ice crystals began radiating from my fingertips.
A thin ice sheet formed on the ground, and snowflake patterns quietly bloomed from my feet.
"...D-did it... work...?"
The cold sensation from my fingertips.
Convinced of my undeniable success, I looked at her.
"Th-this is...?"
But her expression was nothing like I'd expected.
She looked flustered, like she'd seen something she shouldn't have.
"Yuseol? What's wrong?"
-Grab
She gripped my shoulder hard.
"Have you learned martial arts before? No... when I checked earlier, it didn't feel like it."
"Wh-what's that supposed to mean?"
Ignoring my question, she placed her hand on my chest.
"It's clearly just third-rate internal energy. But..."
She looked genuinely rattled.
I grabbed her face with both hands.
"Yuseol! Snap out of it."
"......"
"......"
A brief silence passed.
Then her eyes refocused, returning to normal.
"Sorry... I lost it for a second there."
"No need to apologize—what happened?"
"That ice art you just showed. No third-rate could pull that off."
"Then what was it?"
"At least second-rate—generously, first-rate level!"
But to me, a total wuxia novice, her words didn't hit home.
"Eh, maybe it's thanks to your help?"
"That's not something to brush off... Never mind. Talking more won't help right now."
She stopped there.
Just staring into my eyes, hesitating.
She soon dropped even that.
Afterward, she picked up her scattered clothes, dressed, and headed to the building.
"You go rest too. You must be tired."
I watched her back for a bit, then went to my room.
Even back in my room, my heart was racing.
From magic to martial arts—unimaginable things kept happening, filling me with emotion.
They were all criminals, sure, but I felt some gratitude toward the women helping me.
From Seorin, who taught me magic, to Yuseol with martial arts.
Ian... we'll skip her for now...
Thinking of them, I drifted off to sleep.
And so, a peaceful week slipped by without incident.