The Hidden Talent Awakens
Lim Seokjae’s pupils trembled.
“This… is what you call correction?”
“That’s right. This is how I train people.”
He had never experienced training like this before.
He had worked with countless trainers, but none had ever corrected his form so instantly. Lim Seokjae pressed a hand to his forehead. Everything was happening far too suddenly.
Of course, he had believed in Yujun and terminated his contract with his previous trainer. Still, he never imagined it would go this far.
“I didn’t think it would all be fixed in a single day…”
“Hm? It’s not fixed yet.”
Yujun gently corrected his assumption.
“It only looks that way.”
Yujun smiled and told him to try again.
The VR machine hummed back to life with a deep rumble.
On the twenty-fifth floor, surrounded by charging monsters, Lim Seokjae recalled the sensation he had just felt and swung his fist once more. He focused on his shoulder, then on the mana flowing from it. Waist, shoulder, arm.
“Smash.”
A powerful strike shot forward.
But it still wasn’t at full strength.
“…What the hell?”
The VR machine shut down with a soft hiss, and Lim Seokjae’s face twisted in confusion. The same discomfort returned, and the overwhelming power he had felt moments ago was gone again.
“…I did it exactly the same way?”
“You think that was the same?”
Yujun clicked his tongue.
“You did it without my training. That’s not the same at all.”
This was the moment Yujun planned to dramatically raise his own value.
Seokjae must be feeling conflicted right now.
Something that had never worked before had suddenly become possible with a few words from a rookie trainer like himself?
He’s probably panicking.
That was exactly why he needed to handle the psychology of the situation carefully.
If I already had fame and a track record, he would accept this naturally.
But Yujun still had no notable reputation. All he had was experience teaching promising new awakeners.
So he had to say something that would truly resonate with a first-team awakener like Lim Seokjae.
“It probably looks easy. Simple, even. But it’s not.”
Yujun looked him straight in the eye.
“If it were, it would have been fixed long ago.”
Lim Seokjae nodded. He was right.
If it had truly been that simple, he wouldn’t have spent months agonizing over it. He wouldn’t have been mocked by the Lightning Guild for falling into a slump, nor would he have lived in fear of losing his position as the main dealer.
The way Lim Seokjae looked at Yujun had completely changed.
He had seen the possibility when watching him teach Kim Ojung. But he had never imagined the man could transform an A-class awakener like himself in a single breath.
But it’s not completely corrected yet.
Yujun could see the deep-rooted cracks inside him. Until now, whenever he performed a correction, a faint blue light would appear, even if only briefly.
The cracks are still there.
In Lim Seokjae’s case, the cracks refused to disappear.
The path from his heart to his shoulders is blocked. This will need to be resolved through continuous use.
Yujun would have to touch his shoulder again, just like before. But that wasn’t easy.
If I keep training him like that, the mana and stamina consumption is massive.
Yujun had only just awakened and his mana reserves were naturally low, so he couldn’t sustain the training indefinitely.
Still, I can’t let this opportunity slip.
Lim Seokjae was the Lightning Guild’s main dealer.
If I fix him, it will appeal to other awakeners suffering from the same problem.
It was a golden chance to build a solid reputation.
“……”
Lim Seokjae nodded as if in a trance.
“When was the tower raid again?”
The Lightning Guild’s regular tower raid was scheduled for one week later.
“But there’s no need to rush. You won’t be able to join that regular raid anyway.”
“Then isn’t my position as main dealer in danger?”
“It is. But they won’t kick me out after just one failure.”
“Then let’s focus on conditioning for the next week.”
“…What?”
Lim Seokjae looked stunned.
“I’m saying… we’ll raise your condition so you can perform as the main dealer in the regular raid a week from now.”
“!”
Lim Seokjae shook his head violently.
“No way. That’s impossible in just one week.”
“Isn’t that exactly why you hired me?”
Yujun smiled.
“I’ll make it possible.”
Ring-!
Awakener Lim Seokjae has been trained.
Training Score: 4/10
Yujun continued training Lim Seokjae without pause.
The score is low.
Given Lim Seokjae’s high rank, this was the best he could manage in his current state.
Training session completed!
Lim Seokjae’s core issue was that the mana from his heart—the source of all his power—wasn’t being properly delivered to his limbs.
The flow of mana isn’t reaching the rest of his body correctly.
For his power to explode outward, the mana from his heart needed to spread throughout his entire body. That process wasn’t working smoothly.
I need to raise the training score higher.
Lim Seokjae’s rank was simply too high.
And my level is still low.
Yujun planned to eliminate as many of Lim Seokjae’s cracks as possible before the regular raid and try to create even a small amount of blue light.
One week is plenty of time. If I can produce blue light by then, he’ll be able to show results in the regular raid.
Once that happened, he would be able to exert his full power several times even without Yujun pointing everything out.
The currently unlocked Lv.1 skill isn’t enough.
An A-class awakener like Lim Seokjae was proving to be quite challenging.
The cracks are too large and too deep.
With only an Lv.1 skill, it was difficult to erase Lim Seokjae’s cracks and turn them into blue light.
But if I really put my mind to it, it’s not impossible.
Yujun grinned.
During his time playing the Infinite Tower, he had seen far worse cases than this. The game had allowed him to train virtual awakeners endlessly, and he had taught and trained an enormous number of them.
I can see the path.
Yujun repeated the training over and over.
Despite the low training score in the four-point range, Lim Seokjae was feeling considerable satisfaction from the sessions.
It was different.
This training was completely unlike anything he had experienced before. It felt as if Yujun knew him inside and out, and the difficulty was immense.
“Huff… huff…”
This was already Lim Seokjae’s fifth VR training session of the day. Normally, VR training carried significant fatigue and mimicked real combat intensity, so twice a day was considered appropriate.
Yet he had already exceeded that by more than double. Physically, he had reached his limit.
“Wait, have you… actually been inside a tower before? How can you design training sessions like this?”
Breathing hard, Seokjae looked at Yujun with genuine bewilderment. Yujun’s training sessions were simply too efficient.
“No, I just get a feel for it.”
“…Are you seriously a genius? How can you create such brilliant training sessions without ever having stepped foot in a tower?”
Yujun gave a bitter smile and swallowed his words.
I’ve been in plenty.
Just not in reality—in the Infinite Tower.
“I think I can do one more. Just one more.”
Lim Seokjae was beginning to feel hope.
Before, no matter what he tried, he couldn’t bring out his full power. He couldn’t even tell whether the problem was mental or physical.
But Yujun had pinpointed the exact issue.
So even though it was exhausting, he couldn’t stop.
“No, I’m the one who’s tired.”
Yujun shook his head. Just watching was enough to make his head spin.
And when my stamina reaches its limit…
The proficiency of the Focus skill has increased.
Just as I thought.
Yujun smiled.
Skills couldn’t be raised with points alone.
When proficiency increases, the level rises too.
However, raising proficiency was extremely difficult.
I’m currently teaching an awakener far beyond what my awakener trainer level should allow.
Normally, at his current level, he should be training C-class awakeners at most B-class. Yet here he was teaching an A-class awakener.
The only reason Yujun could train Lim Seokjae at all was thanks to the eyes he possessed. His ability combined with those eyes made this absurd training possible.
The proficiency of the Focus skill has reached MAX.
The Focus skill has become Lv.2.
Normally you’d need to teach three combat-type awakeners to level up.
But this method allowed him to raise his level just as effectively.
Focus skill Lv.2.
Things that had been invisible to Yujun’s eyes were now beginning to appear.
I can finally see the root of the cracks.
Cracks were, by nature, errors in the system. The Focus skill allowed him to examine those cracks in detail and identify exactly what was wrong.
As expected, the mana flow is twisted.
It wasn’t just twisted. The distortion was incredibly minute.
And those tiny distortions had accumulated, completely reversing the flow itself.
This is something other trainers could never detect.
Since every awakener had different abilities, the mechanics of their bodies varied greatly as well.
That’s why training must be tailored to each individual awakener. And that’s never easy.
Of course, for Yujun, it wasn’t difficult at all.
* * *
The next day.
Yujun continued Lim Seokjae’s training as before.
Only a single day of proper training had passed, yet Lim Seokjae already felt that his body had become significantly lighter.
Can someone really change this much in one day?
As Lim Seokjae marveled at the change, Yujun asked him a question.
“That superhuman strength of yours. Up until now, you’ve only used it for simple swinging, right?”
“That’s correct.”
Yujun handed Lim Seokjae a single mace.
“Try using this.”
Focus Lv.2
Yujun’s eyes could now see Lim Seokjae’s hidden trait.
It’s finally visible. I wondered why I couldn’t see it before.
Hidden Trait Revealed
[A-class Awakener Lim Seokjae - Hidden Trait: Blunt Weapon Mastery (Undeveloped)]
The hidden trait is visible now.
A hidden trait was a unique ability each awakener possessed.
It’s literally latent potential.
Some people awakened that potential, while others never managed to bring it out in their entire lives.
I never expected Seokjae to have Blunt Weapon Mastery.
Thinking about it, it made sense that his superhuman strength would be paired with a hidden trait like that.
“A blunt weapon? I’m not very good with those.”
Lim Seokjae tilted his head in confusion.
His specialty was hand-to-hand combat that utilized his overwhelming strength. He also had a body reinforcement skill that synergized perfectly with it, so he had built his entire skill tree in that direction.
And now, all of a sudden, blunt weapons?
Using a weapon at all wasn’t something he was particularly familiar with.
Pushing forward with pure strength is fine too.
But if a hidden trait existed, it was far better to develop that trait as the core of his power.
In the Infinite Tower, many beings didn’t even possess hidden traits at all.
But if one exists, awakening it will help with growth far more.
“Trust me.”
“…Alright.”
After yesterday’s events, Lim Seokjae trusted Yujun completely.
He gripped the mace.
The moment he did, paths appeared in Yujun’s eyes.
Blunt Weapon Mastery. Thanks to that hidden trait, the moment Lim Seokjae took hold of the weapon, he began radiating a vivid blue light.
This is the correct choice.
However, since the trait was still undeveloped, additional training was required.
If I can just awaken it…
This hidden trait would elevate Lim Seokjae’s level dramatically. Starting today, he would no longer be at the bottom of A-class. He would be able to aim for the upper-middle ranks, even the very top.
“Seokjae.”
Yujun demonstrated the motion himself.
“Just swing it simply.”
Linguistic Correction
“Fix your stance.”
Yujun pulled out a small baton and used it to correct Lim Seokjae’s posture.
Press. Press.
He accurately pressed down on his shoulders, forcing the correct posture. Of course, he didn’t have the strength to move an awakener at will, so he used the power of Linguistic Correction alongside it.
Swoosh—.
His stance was corrected in an instant.
Whoosh—!
“…Huh?”
Lim Seokjae looked startled.
He had always been terrible with weapons.
Yet the moment he held the mace, it felt as natural as if it had become an extension of his own arm.
“Blunt weapons suit you perfectly.”