Blood Wolf (1)

Seo Hwarang had rested properly for the first time in ages.

He'd sweated it out in a sauna, gotten an expensive hotel massage for the first time in his life, slept in, worked out, eaten delicious food, and occasionally sprawled out on the bed to idly flip through a book.

"Ahhh."

I've made it in life, haven't I?

If paradise on earth existed, wouldn't it look something like this?

He was starting to understand why people went on and on about awakening. He'd only properly awakened a short while ago and he was already living like this—what would things be like later?

'Still.'

He had to keep growing his strength. History had a lesson to teach: the luxuries enjoyed by the powerless could be snatched away at any moment.

What if he hadn't had the power to deal with that lunatic woman—Song Mi-young, was it?—last time? Books be damned. His life would already be over.

The moment you satisfied yourself with how good the present was and stagnated—that was the moment the descent into ruin began.

'I'll rest a little more, then get back to training.'

Honestly, he was looking forward to it.

Brandel Swordsmanship.

He'd never seriously wielded a sword before, so did that make him a magic swordsman now? Actually, that sounded kind of fun.

Time passed, and the robes had sold splendidly. True to their word, the White Tiger Guild had bought sixteen robes along with their 16 billion won payment, and the rest of the display items had all sold out within a single day of being unsealed.

And he'd priced them at 1.8 billion won apiece, no less.

'There were this many rich people in the world?'

No—correction. There were this many rich awakened people in the world. The White Tiger Guild alone proved it. A mid-tier guild that wasn't even that famous, throwing around hundreds of billions of won like pocket change.

'Nice.'

Seo Hwarang grinned. Lots of wealthy people running around meant lots of customers who'd keep using Seona Couture going forward.

They were eating good.

The early hours before dawn. A wide, empty field.

"Hoo-hah."

Seated on the ground, Seo Hwarang began his serious training in Brandel Swordsmanship.

"Whooooo!"

Breathing came first, they said—the most important thing of all. He drew the clean energy of nature deep into his chest, held it, released it. Filled up again, released again.

He felt the ordered energy settle into the dantian, just below his chest.

'They say every technique begins with the breath.'

If you couldn't maintain a calm breathing rhythm even with an enemy right in front of you, you couldn't fight at your peak. Like now—still, quiet, in harmony with nature. That was what he had to achieve.

Pure Breath was, in a sense, a passive skill. Even during ordinary breathing, energy accumulated in the body. Over time it would naturally cultivate composure, and it would become the foundation for the four techniques he was going to learn next.

After about an hour had passed—

Swish.

Seo Hwarang lifted his wooden sword. Then he turned his head this way and that, scanning the area for onlookers.

'I really do need a private training ground.'

If someone wandered past and saw him, they'd think he was a crazy middle-aged man doing calisthenics under the moonlight... He'd looked into properties, all right. But they were far too expensive. Seona Couture had already put down roots in Sinsa-dong, so he'd searched the surrounding area—and even the land outside Seoul was pricey, unless you went ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠truly rural.

So he'd put it on hold for the moment.

'Right, if we're setting up shop anyway...'

Better to rake in the money and pick a place anyone would envy. A riverside library overlooking the Han.

"Ah, yeah."

Now that's romance.

Wait. Focus. Focus.

Rising to his feet, Seo Hwarang angled his sword in reverse and took the stance of Iron Wall Defense. He poured into the blade his will to deflect any attack whatsoever with the momentum of a fortress wall. He pressed down firmly, locking his feet to the ground, taking a stance as unshakable as a mountain. Simply activating the skill made his body feel solid as iron.

Iron Wall Defense, another hour of practice.

'Next, Gale Step.'

Whoosh.

He began crossing the field with light, quick steps. It was called Gale Step because it moved you swift and smooth as a gale. The core principle: never show the enemy an opening, even while moving. Slowly, from the basics—Seo Hwarang began to work his feet as though surrendering his body to the flow of the wind. He changed direction in an instant, accelerated into sprints, wove back and forth across the field.

This was no ordinary Gale Step—it was Master Gale Step. Seo Hwarang grasped the original creator's intent with perfect precision and poured it into his body, limb by limb.

The training continued.

Torrential Sword was a continuous-strike technique—like a waterfall hammering down on a rock again and again without pause. Simply put: hit, hit again, hit the same spot again. Wham-bam-bam-bam!

CRACKLE-CRACK-CRAAACK!

The scarecrow he'd hastily grown with Plantman burst apart at the seams.

Now for the last one.

Flash Strike. The fastest, most powerful of all Brandel Swordsmanship's secret techniques!

PASH!

BOOOOOOOM!

Seo Hwarang's short, swift sword strike shot out in a flash of light, extending across an instant's span and skewering the scarecrow dead center.

'Ooh.'

Now this one's really good.

His proficiency was still low, but if he ever unleashed it properly, it felt like it could become a devastating blow against anyone.

Good, good! Now, how about mixing magic into it?

Thoroughly entertained now, Seo Hwarang threw his whole body into the training. Swish-swish-wham! Whoosh-whoosh! He was so absorbed that he failed to notice the sky gradually turning red overhead.

Early morning. The Awakening Management Bureau.

BEEBIBIBIK! BEEBIBIBIK!

Red emergency lights flooded the entire building. Sirens wailed.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

The whole building was pure chaos. The staff on overnight duty, of course, went white as corpses.

'A Level 1 disaster alert!'

It sounded when the sky turned red and a monster tore its ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠way out through the rift. The world called such things disaster-grade beasts, roughly A-rank in difficulty. But these weren't the product of poorly managed dungeons. They occasionally burst out locally for no reason at all—that was why they bore the name "disaster."

S-rank awakeners could handle them, or several A-ranks banded together. The real problem was moments like this: when one appeared in the dead of early morning, the damage could be considerable.

"We have an emergency!"

"Contact all five of the Big 5!"

"Danshim is on rotation this time, sir!"

Danshim. One of the five great guilds. When a disaster-grade beast situation broke out, they were the ones obliged to step up. It wasn't a matter of taking turns doing chores—ironically, disaster-grade beasts dropped cores that served as materials for Epic items, which made them hugely popular targets. The rule was simply: whoever got there first when civilian casualties were at stake, the kill was theirs.

"Where's the location?"

"The sensors are pointing to the north side of Inwangsan, sir!"

Of all places. The exact spot where Seo Hwarang was training.

"Hm?"

Right in the middle of his training.

"Was the dawn always this red?"

Seo Hwarang tilted his head. Something else was off, too. The grandeur of dawn, just before sunrise, was supposed to appear in the east. But that blood-red sky was hanging at midheaven—directly above him.

"The hell is that."

Seo Hwarang frowned. His instincts were screaming at him.

'Don't tell me.'

A dungeon break, like that Horned Bat incident before? Those Management Bureau idiots—"Hah." They'd botched the job again, hadn't they?

And then—

SCREEEEEECH!

The red sky split open like a vast mouth yawning wide, and something horrific began to fall from within it.

A wolf-like creature—crimson and enormous. And of all the places it could fall...

'It's dropping right on top of me.'

Baring its massive fangs, it plunged straight down toward Seo Hwarang.

"Whew."

Well, well. Etherion or Earth—there was never a quiet day to be had. This time too, Seo Hwarang felt not the slightest bit of tension.

Thud.

He set the wooden sword aside for the moment, and—

Swish.

—drew the Staff of Ruin (Legendary) from his inventory. The jet-black staff settled snugly into his hand.

Yes, I've been wanting to give this a proper swing...

And a sparring partner just volunteered itself.

KRRRAAAAOOOOW!

First, he casually lobbed five Ice Needles at the howling creature. Kachunk—it began to freeze over mid-roar.

"Kehk?"

And to the freezing beast, he presented an Ice Shard at proficiency 80.

BOOOOM!

At proficiency 80, the needles detonated twice. The first burst of ice shards flew out—and those shards exploded in turn, scattering still more ice fragments. The effects stacked, naturally.

SCREEEEE!

The creature writhed in agony. Every attack made through the staff carried the Ruin's Devour effect: all elemental magic damage boosted by 50%, and that wolf's magic resistance cut by 20%.

It's about to hurt even more.

Next. If it was frozen, time to thaw it out, no?

2nd Circle. Master Flame Whip.

FWOOSH!

Flame Whip! A lash of fire shot from the staff and—KRAK!—coiled around the wolf, binding it while simultaneously searing it with continuous burn damage.

And then, the finisher.

1st Circle. Master Fire Bolt.

He casually hurled four enormous Fire Bolts.

KWAAAAAAABOOOOM!

What kind of Fire Bolt produced a detonation that loud? With the staff in hand, the raw damage was on a completely different level than before.

SCREEEGH!

The creature was shrieking now, not roaring. Its voice carried pain, but mixed within it was unmistakable terror. Too bad. That's what you got for being born a monster. And you're the one who attacked first, aren't you?

With his warm-up complete, Seo Hwarang began the bombardment in earnest.

SWEEESH! Craaackle!

Wind Cutter with a side of Aqua Splash. Hummmmmm! Light Arrow and Arcane Missile—

KWAGAGAGAGABOOM!

—and all of it converged and erupted at once.

She'd probably feel a little cheated, but the creature vanished without even managing a proper landing.

And then—

...

His level had shot up by five in total. Twenty-five stat points gained. This time he dumped every last one into Strength—after all, he'd recently picked up swordsmanship. Time to rebalance. He was already drowning in magic damage. Just look at that—an A-rank monster, gone like that. A-rank meant the magical equivalent of 6th Circle, or an upper-tier Sword Expert with a blade. And he'd taken down that monster within a single cycle of his skill cooldowns.

'The only slightly annoying thing is...'

He'd blown it apart without leaving so much as a bone behind, so no leather to harvest. Still—

Well, he'd gotten one thing. 'A core? No idea what it is, but...'

It was a lump of reddish stone. He'd hang onto it for now.

"Hoo."

He'd broken it without filing a report with the Management Bureau, but surely that wouldn't be a problem, right? His training mood was thoroughly ruined—time to head home. He should call Seona soon and start stacking up coins. He needed to strip the Coin Shop Tier 1 clean, too, and dig up a "Seona No. 2" worth selling from the Unique blueprints there. He had a mountain of things to do, honestly.

"Phew."

Letting out a light sigh, Seo Hwarang headed back down toward his home—and before long, someone else arrived at the spot.

"What the—"

"Why did the sky turn blue again?"

"Th-the rift has closed, Guild Master!"

Members of the Big 5 guild Danshim, no less.

"What? The rift closed?"

Guild Master Jung Jin-ha lowered the bow he'd been holding and knit his brow. "Then someone already killed it? How long has it even been since the alert went off?"

Did that make any sense at all? Wearing a look of utter disbelief, Jung Jin-ha raised his phone—to give those Management Bureau bastards a piece of his mind.