Is This Even Possible?
The private office of Joo Chae-rin, into which Kim Ilshin was led by her firm grip, exuded a neat and calm atmosphere. It was a practical space where only the essentials were arranged with precision.
“Coffee, or green tea?”
“Green tea would be great.”
Joo Chae-rin seated Kim Ilshin at the table and served him a warm cup of green tea. She then sat across from him and began to speak.
“First of all, thank you. Truly. That box is incredibly important to me. That’s why I’ve been assigning it as a task all this time.”
As soon as they had arrived at the office, Joo Chae-rin had placed the box into a safe. She treated it with such care that not a single scratch would dare mar its surface.
‘It is precious, indeed. It’s an artifact that can elevate one’s own abilities by several stages.’
However, he felt no greed for it. It was a useless item for him, and in the process of shattering the rock, he had obtained something far better.
“As I mentioned before, your grade for this will be marked as a perfect score. This task is a type of practical exam, and since it was reported in advance, there won’t be any issues.”
It meant he didn’t need to attend classes, let alone worry about exams. The time he could dedicate to his training had increased even further.
“Next, regarding the reward you wanted—I meant it when I said I would grant you anything, so don’t hesitate to ask. How about money? If you want, I can give you my entire fortune. I really mean it.”
Joo Chae-rin’s words were sincere. She was deeply grateful, to that extent. No one who had attempted the task until now had ever come close to the solution Kim Ilshin had provided. Even world-renowned, powerful experts had failed to break the rock. She had traveled to many places, and her last hope had been the young talent of the Academy. Of course, she had been nearly ready to give up even on that.
‘If it weren’t for Student Ilshin… I might have given up entirely.’
It would be hard for a talent capable of recreating a sword style just by looking at the traces to appear in the world again. But he didn’t need money. Kim Ilshin declined.
“Then, sword instruction? Ah, you wouldn’t need that…. Then how about equipment? I have a warehouse. You can pick anything you want from there. I could even give you the whole warehouse.”
“That, too, is fine.”
Kim Ilshin refused several unconventional offers without a moment’s hesitation. As a result, Joo Chae-rin began to feel uneasy. She knew well how people usually interpreted a reward where she promised to do anything. In fact, among those who challenged her tasks, there were not a few who harbored physical desires. Of course, she hadn’t offered the reward without being prepared to accept such demands, but…
‘I haven’t even held a man’s hand yet, and I’ve never dated…’
Now that it was actually happening, she was becoming anxious. But she couldn’t take back her word. Joo Chae-rin hid her nervous heart and waited for Kim Ilshin’s words.
“There is a request I want to take, but I need a teacher’s permission. However, my grades aren’t very good, so I don’t think other teachers would grant it. I would like you to do it for me, Teacher.”
He could have made a much larger demand, but this was the reward he needed right now. There was a request he had to handle immediately.
As soon as Kim Ilshin finished speaking, Joo Chae-rin looked visibly relieved. Seeing that, Kim Ilshin thought:
‘I know exactly what you were thinking.’
If she was going to be like that, she should have set some limits.
“Is that really all you want?”
Joo Chae-rin asked back, as if wondering if he was sure. It was a weak demand compared to what she had expected. The Academy, where students aspiring to be heroes gathered, received various requests. They ranged from gathering herbs and dealing with outlaws to investigating incidents, and the difficulty levels varied wildly. If students took on requests that didn’t match their skills, the chances of something going wrong were high. One of the measures to prevent this was the ‘Grade Consideration System.’ Literally, the grade of requests one could accept was divided according to their Academy grades. Even if one had the skill, if their grades were lacking, they couldn’t take the request. However, if they had the permission of the teacher in charge of the practical subject, they could ignore that and take the request. Of course, it wasn’t an authority that could be abused recklessly. If an unfortunate incident occurred during a request that didn’t match the student’s grades, the teacher who gave the permission had to bear a not-so-small responsibility.
‘I don’t think that will happen.’
However, having just seen Kim Ilshin’s swordsmanship, Joo Chae-rin judged otherwise. Furthermore, it didn’t seem like Kim Ilshin would take on a request he couldn’t handle. He didn’t seem like the type to make such foolish judgments. To Joo Chae-rin, Kim Ilshin appeared to be the type of person who wouldn’t move unless he had certainty.
“Yes. That is enough.”
When Kim Ilshin answered, Joo Chae-rin nodded, saying she understood.
“Send me a copy of the request form, and I’ll stamp it with my authorization seal. And… could you wait a moment?”
Joo Chae-rin stood up and opened the door to the safe where she had put the box. What she took out from inside was a small pouch. Joo Chae-rin placed it into Kim Ilshin’s hand without hesitation.
“Take this. It’s a medicinal herb called Hwajeongdan (Fire Administration Pill) that I received a while ago. It will be even more effective for you.”
“…May I accept this?”
“When an adult gives you something, you just say, ‘Thank you.’”
“Then, I will gratefully accept it.”
Kim Ilshin took the pouch. The Hwajeongdan, radiating a scorching warmth, felt heavy for its size. He felt dazed by the unexpected, massive gain. In terms of grade, it was A-class. No matter how much money one had, it wasn’t easy to obtain. It was a precious item to hand over so casually.
“Thank you very much. I will send you the request form after the afternoon class ends.”
Kim Ilshin bowed his head once more and walked out. He couldn’t wait for the afternoon class to end. He wanted to consume this medicinal herb as soon as possible.
Click.
After Kim Ilshin left, Joo Chae-rin, left alone in the office, recalled the sight of him standing before the rock. A talent that was astonishing. It felt as if she had witnessed a scene that would remain in history as a legend. However, apart from his talent for the sword, he didn’t seem to possess such great power. She even wondered if a talent that hadn’t existed until now had suddenly emerged. But it was clear that he would become endlessly strong before long. That was the frightening thing about geniuses. It wouldn’t take long for him to reach even her level.
‘I need to train harder.’
Joo Chae-rin didn’t want to be overtaken by Kim Ilshin. She wanted to be a source of strength for him in the future, and it was also due to her competitive spirit. While some might despair when facing a peerless talent, others burned even brighter. Joo Chae-rin was the latter. It was the moment a new goal appeared in the life of Joo Chae-rin, who had been buried in the obsession of having to break the rock.
The fact that a student had completed Joo Chae-rin’s task quickly spread throughout the Academy. They were shocked once that a task that hadn’t been solved for years had been completed, and shocked once more that the person who completed it was Kim Ilshin. There were not a few who doubted it. After all, Kim Ilshin was famous for being the overwhelming last place in the Academy.
“Did you see it wrong?”
“How could all the people there have seen it wrong? It’s true.”
“Even so, I can’t believe it…”
The eyes of suspicion didn’t last long. It was soon revealed that the rumors were true through the testimonies of the students who had been in the lecture hall. However, that didn’t mean it was readily accepted.
“Didn’t he use some strange ability?”
“Maybe there was some kind of deal with the teacher.”
Various speculations circulated. Among them, there were even people who suspected a relationship between Kim Ilshin and Joo Chae-rin. It was a fact so hard to believe that such absurd talk was coming out.
The rumor reached Baek Ha-yeon as well. She wasn’t very surprised. She had already noticed that Kim Ilshin was hiding his power. What grew, however, was her curiosity. Kim Ilshin had meticulously hidden his power until now so that no one would notice. Yet, he had suddenly revealed his power and was rapidly gaining fame. She wondered about the intention behind his actions. She was also curious about his true skill, as he had completed the task by displaying mysterious swordsmanship. Baek Ha-yeon was still convinced. That a sparring match with Kim Ilshin would help her grow significantly. But it didn’t seem like Kim Ilshin would accept a sparring match. For her, who was in a hurry to grow to be recognized by her grandfather, the head of the family, it was only frustrating.
There was a way. To nominate him as her opponent in the sparring exam a few weeks later. Since there was a penalty to his grade if he refused, it would be hard for him, who was on the verge of expulsion, to decline. Baek Ha-yeon decided to wait until that day.
“…Ha.”
At that moment, Seo Ye-ryeong, who was sitting next to her, let out a hollow laugh as if she were dumbfounded. She was holding the student newspaper that had just been hastily published. The fact that Kim Ilshin had completed the task was featured as a front-page story. To Baek Ha-yeon, Seo Ye-ryeong’s mood had seemed bad lately. She didn’t know the reason.
As soon as the afternoon class ended, he skipped physical training and sword practice and arrived straight at the dormitory. It was to consume the medicinal herb he had obtained as soon as possible. He turned on the lights, sat cross-legged on the floor, and placed the pouch of Hwajeongdan he had received from Joo Chae-rin in front of him.
Medicinal herbs had various effects, but what he wanted most was an increase in his mana capacity.
‘This is something that requires time.’
Kim Ilshin possessed the talent and body to use mana efficiently. Also, the speed at which he accumulated mana was very fast. But that didn’t mean he could instantly catch up to decades of time. The units of time spent on mana cultivation were different.
‘There’s a reason she said it would be more effective for me.’
If he consumed the Hwajeongdan, he would be able to significantly reduce that time gap. Of course, it would depend on how much of the power contained in the herb he could absorb. The amount of power one could absorb varied wildly depending on their skill in handling mana. Usually, it was about 40%. If one had outstanding mana control ability or if someone else guided them skillfully, up to 70% was possible. But Kim Ilshin’s goal was higher than that.
‘I’ll extract at least 80%.’
Determined, he took the Hwajeongdan out of the pouch and placed it on his palm. The earthy scent blooming with the scorching heat was refreshing. He closed his eyes and put the Hwajeongdan into his mouth. As soon as it touched his tongue, the Hwajeongdan melted away. As he swallowed it slowly, a fiery energy rose from the center of his body. As he circulated his mana in that state, a scorching sensation rose throughout his entire body, and then it vanished.
“…Hm?”
Kim Ilshin, feeling something strange, opened his eyes. As the scorching sensation vanished, the energy of the Hwajeongdan that had entered his body had vanished along with it. Kim Ilshin, wondering if there had been a problem, tried circulating his mana, and soon noticed the anomaly.
Every bit of the Hwajeongdan’s power had melted into his body. It was as if sugar had melted in water; it had been absorbed the moment he swallowed it. The amount of mana had multiplied several times in an instant. An efficiency approaching 100%, far exceeding his goal of 80%.
‘Is this even possible?’
It was a phenomenon difficult to understand even for the person involved. It was an immutable common sense that it took at least several hours to consume a medicinal herb, during which one became vulnerable to external dangers. But he was different. At this rate, it seemed there would be no problem even if he ate a medicinal herb during battle.
‘This much should be enough.’
As he gauged the increased amount of mana, he felt that it was finally time to form the framework of his mana. It was also time to grow one step further.