Chapter 99: Rewards are Always New. Thrilling. Rewards are the Best! (END)
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 99: Rewards are Always New. Thrilling. Rewards are the Best! (END)
After playing in the water for a while, Ha-ni soon closed her eyes and began to concentrate.
“Whew…”
She might have been purely excited at first, but obtaining a fortuitous encounter of this level was no easy feat. Given her extraordinary desire for strength, she wouldn’t want to miss this opportunity.
Though she had every reason to be impatient, she was doing a good job of restraining herself and controlling the overflowing energy.
The energy present here contained few impurities and was in a form that humans could readily accept, but even so, blindly absorbing it was not a wise choice.
She was likely focusing on filtering out the unhelpful impurities, carefully selecting and accepting only what would benefit her.
Compared to the vessel she had built through her own efforts, her total mana capacity hadn’t been particularly large.
Well, it wasn’t exactly small, either, but it was lacking compared to the likes of Cheon Yu-hak or Lilac.
“Good luck.”
Since her total mana capacity was a weakness she had never been able to overcome even in the original work, Ha-ni would cross that threshold today.
The lake’s mana began to swirl slowly, flowing into her.
“Beautiful.”
The sight of the sparkling mana rotating around her was quite a spectacle.
-What are you staring at so blankly for?
‘Huh?’
As I was watching with pride, Sun Wukong suddenly spoke to me.
What do you mean? I have nothing else to do, so I might as well stand guard for her.
-No, I mean that if you train now, it will be plenty helpful for you too. Why are you doing nothing?
Of course, I had stepped into the water as well, but I didn’t really have any issues regarding mana. In the first place, I rarely used it unless I was using an artifact.
‘I can just convert it into Innate True Qi, so I have enough mana, don’t I?’
-Hmph…
When I answered honestly based on my own reasoning, Sun Wukong let out a groan as if she found me utterly absurd.
-Is there anyone else who treats Innate True Qi as recklessly as you do? And who told you to take in mana you can’t even digest right now? I told you to train. For you, it’s not about increasing your mana right now; it’s more important to properly forge your vessel.
‘Um, even if you say that like it’s common sense, I don’t really get it.’
-…No, seriously, why is it that you know things no one else knows, yet you’re ignorant of something so obvious?
I had learned how to circulate energy and the basics of mana, but things like “vessels” weren’t in the Setting Book, nor had I ever learned about them in class.
-Right, you were this kind of fellow… Anyway, it’s not something that will harm you, so just do as I say for once.
For a moment, I thought Synchronization had activated, but the connection was weaker than that. It felt more like a slight sharing of minds rather than a physical takeover.
As I dispersed my mana exactly the way he envisioned, a map of my own physical condition naturally formed in my mind.
-When you first met me, your Mind, Technique, and Body were all severely twisted.
-At least what could be called your ‘Mind’ held firm despite being warped, but you had nothing that could be called ‘Technique,’ so you couldn’t even properly wield your own innate talent. In fact, your body was dying because of that very talent.
Well, I couldn’t really argue with that.
-However, using the insane method of hoarding fortuitous encounters based on knowledge from God knows where, you forcibly balanced the ‘Body’ aspect.
Hmm, I don’t think I actually ate that much?
Resurrection, the Will of the Saint, the Elixir made by the Alchemist of the Rose, and a few secret medicines I forcibly leveled up through Reinforcement…
…Okay, I did eat a lot.
-Actually, this is also a problem. Since you only eat and don’t digest properly, your body is still full of medicinal properties that haven’t been correctly integrated.
‘Eh? Really?’
-…Did you think spirit medicines and elixirs just automatically get absorbed the moment you eat them? It’s only because most of it was consumed repairing your nearly broken vessel. If you had eaten them while healthy, the medicinal properties would have all dissipated.
Indeed, looking at the image appearing in my head, I could feel something excessively clumped together near my heart and blood vessels.
-Anyway, though you forcibly resolved the ‘Body,’ you’ve overexerted yourself again recently. You tried to perform ‘Qi’ of a realm you hadn’t attained with a body that was only just becoming ready, so a twist has formed once more.
Aha, I felt a bit guilty about that too. Neither the technique I used to block Professor Cathy nor the one I showed in the duel with Seo Tae-ho were things I had built up through training.
-If left alone, the twist will grow, but since you’ve obtained this fortuitous encounter of vast mana, it means that if I help, it will be a great boon to your body’s recovery. I shall forge a vessel for you that can withstand such movements.
Such movements, huh?
True, during the fight with Seo Tae-ho, my body couldn’t keep up with the movements in my memory and kept stuttering.
‘Then, I’ll leave it to you.’
When I bowed my head honestly, I heard Sun Wukong’s voice smiling as if she found me endearing.
-Yes, do not worry. I’ll try to make it as painless as possible.
…Pardon?
-Of course, I won’t stop just because you’re in pain.
* * *
It was refreshing.
The initial process of carefully filtering the energy had been difficult, but the subsequent process of making that energy her own felt better than expected.
If the alien energy had pierced her body or been too coarse, she wouldn’t have been this peaceful. But perhaps because she had culled only the energy that suited her best, it wasn’t painful at all; rather, the cool sensation felt wonderful.
In addition to the sharp, cold energy of metal, a chill slowly circulated through her body and melted in.
Her total mana capacity, which had always been unsatisfying, was increasing. Mana began to flow properly through the pathways she had created but could never fully utilize.
Following the flow of the filled mana, she eventually found herself standing before a wall.
Perhaps she had been standing there for a long time already. Was the reason she hadn’t noticed she was standing here until now because of her lack of mana?
Somehow, she felt that wasn’t the only reason.
She, for whom the sword itself had been her reason for living, now had things she wanted to do with that sword. She had also made up her mind to honestly accept her feelings, which she had tried to deny and crush out of spite.
Coincidence.
The improvement in technique gained through real combat, the experience of evading death that had come right before her eyes, the change in her state of mind, and even the opportunity of this powerful fortuitous encounter he had given her.
Perhaps all those things had coincidentally overlapped in a single moment, allowing her to face this wall.
Previously, she would have tried to slash through the wall without hesitation, but now she knew there was no need for that.
Ah, maybe this is what people sometimes called enlightenment?
The wall slowly crumbled.
What lay beyond did not overflow but was absorbed naturally, as if it had been one with her from the very beginning.
And when she opened her eyes…
Something sticky and foul-smelling, black substances, had been expelled from her body.
She had changed.
As a swordsman who checked her own condition every day, she knew the moment she opened her eyes. Her muscles and bones were a bit sturdier and more flexible, and she could move her mana much more smoothly than before.
…She felt a bit more tightness in her chest than before, but well, other than that, most of it was a positive change.
Had she experienced Marrow Cleansing or Marrow Cleansing and Bone Rebirth, which heroes of A-rank and above were said to undergo?
Her body felt light.
Wanting to share this joy with him immediately, she turned her gaze toward where he should be, only to be quite shocked.
Because he—Kang So-hyun—was floating in the air.
And his eyes, which slowly opened, were glowing with a golden light that held a hint of red, if only for a fleeting second.
The moment he opened his eyes, the cave was filled with an even more intense floral scent.
Intense, but never excessive.
Alluring, but never intoxicating.
The soft scent of flowers.
* * *
‘It hurts like hell…!!!!’
He was definitely crazy. He said it wouldn’t be harmful. I almost lost my mind; how on earth is this not harmful?
If it weren’t for the Will of the Saint or Reinforcement, I would have definitely gone insane.
Will of the Saint, I’m sorry. I really won’t say things like that anymore.
-My, you’re quite the whiner. This isn’t something that can be obtained so easily.
‘No, I get that, but you could have at least explained it beforehand!?’
I’m not even joking; it didn’t hurt this much even when I got ‘donuted’ by Professor Cathy.
…What did he do to me?
It’s simple. He scorched my insides with fire.
After sucking in the surrounding mana, Sun Wukong converted it into heat and literally scorched my body from head to toe in a truly wretched manner.
I thought it was some kind of insane torture, and his response was spectacular.
-Do you know what iron and humans have in common?
‘What is it?!’
-They both get tougher when you heat them up and beat them.
‘As far as I know, humans die when you heat them up and beat them?!’
But I don’t know if it’s because she’s Sun Wukong or what kind of trick she used, but the only things she burned with the flames were the waste products accumulated in my body. And whenever she found a twist in my body, she literally heated it up to make it soft and then forcibly returned it to its correct form.
Being subjected to such insane treatment without even leaving a scar was truly driving me mad.
I wanted to deny it, but since I could automatically see in my head why he was doing this crazy stuff to my body, I couldn’t even tell him to stop.
-Back when I was still immature and running wild, I was once imprisoned in a fiery pit called the Eight Trigrams Furnace as punishment. That’s when I realized: fire is dangerous, but if handled well, it can be just as helpful.
I know! Damn it! They couldn’t find a way to execute you, so they trapped you there to burn you to death, but you endured it and came out to wreak havoc…!
-Once the twists are corrected with fire and all impurities are burned away, you’ll also be able to naturally absorb the medicinal properties remaining in your body.
In other words, it just meant that because I felt like I was going to die from the pain, my body was absorbing anything it could.
-Your understanding of Death has increased slightly.
Not helping…!
Anyway, that’s what Sun Wukong did to me.
I really thought I was going to die from the pain of all the walls blocking my Dantian, heart, and brain being forcibly torn down. I mean, it hurt so much that my understanding of death actually went up.
Especially when the heat pierced my head and burned my eyes, I wished I would just go insane, but somehow I seem to have made it through without losing my mind.
-I’ve suppressed it so it’s much less than the original pain, so bear with this much.
‘This is less than the pain I was supposed to feel…? Just what did you do to my body?’
-Oh, nothing much. I just gave you a bit of Marrow Cleansing and Bone Rebirth and forged the Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils.
‘…Pardon?’
…Is that something you can just make on a whim?
-You won’t be able to adapt to the Fiery Eyes and Golden Pupils right away, so they’ll fade, but once you get used to them, you’ll be able to use them yourself.
If those words were true—no, they must be true. Why would Sun Wukong lie to me? If so, I’d gained something truly incredible for the price of a brief moment of pain.
-You’ve only just corrected the ‘Body,’ so don’t be so relieved. It will be even harder when you train ‘Qi’ later. You won’t be able to rely on shortcuts like this then.
…Even harder than this?
-Honestly, for someone who acts so fearless usually, you’re such a coward when it comes to this.
Sun Wukong chuckled and suddenly appeared as an illusion before me.
…Still in the form of a beautiful girl with blonde twin tails.
“Open your eyes now. Shouldn’t you see the changed world?”
Open my eyes?
Ah, I was in the mental realm again. I forgot because it hurt so much.
As I opened my eyes, my consciousness moved from the mental realm back to my physical body.
…Huh? Why am I floating in the air?
Fortunately, it was still the lake below, so it was fine, but I could have been seriously hurt if things had gone wrong. Or maybe not? Since I’m a superhuman, would I not get hurt? I’m not sure.
“…Hmm?”
The world felt somewhat clearer. It felt like things I couldn’t see or feel before were coming to me much more vividly.
Feeling a gaze, I turned my head to see Ha-ni staring this way, looking truly startled.
Seeing that some dark, sludge-like waste had come out of her skin, it seemed she had made some achievements on her end as well. You see that kind of thing in wuxia novels when someone gains enlightenment.
“This is insane.”
Ha-ni suddenly muttered that out of the blue.
…What is?
* * *
Cheon Yu-hak.
He was fundamentally a person who was always confident and never flustered.
However, even for him, there were moments when he felt uneasy. A prime example was right now, when he had to formally face his father—the head of the Cheon family.
His father, Cheon Mu-jin, was the head of the Cheonhwa Group, a man no one in this country could ignore. Though he had half-retired from the front lines for management, he was also a famous hero who had once made a name for himself.
The person he respected and the goal he aimed for.
An ambitious man who pursued his desires if there was something he wanted to achieve.
A man who was strict at times but held tenderness within.
“Yu-hak.”
“Yes, Father.”
“…You won’t call me ‘Dad’?”
“…I am now an Academy cadet.”
“Doesn’t your sister still call me ‘Dad’?”
“…Noona only does that when she needs something.”
He was a bit of a doting father, but regardless, he was a good father.
Then why did Yu-hak avoid meeting him?
The answer was simple. It was because whenever his father called him officially like this, he was usually about to start something big.
“Well, fine. I didn’t call you here just to hear you call me ‘Dad’ anyway.”
“Yes…”
“The important thing is your upcoming birthday party, isn’t it?”
Shit…
He couldn’t help but curse inwardly. Not at his father, but at the reality he was about to face.
For the word “birthday” to come up at this timing was more than unsettling.
“How about we just have a small gathering with the family?”
“No.”
He tried a small rebellion, but it was futile.
“I heard that fellow Kang Hyun-woo invited your friends for an after-party once the exams are over.”
“…Pardon?”
…Where on earth did he hear that?
No, then again, there was probably nowhere in the country where his father didn’t have people planted. But considering the two of them were former classmates, it only made him more anxious.
Surely, it couldn’t be.
“I can’t let myself fall behind that fellow Hyun-woo, so shouldn’t I treat them even more grandly and magnificently? Since your birthday is close, we should see this as a good opportunity.”
Please, just let him win this once.
“Let’s throw a party! One so big and grand that Kang Hyun-woo won’t even be able to imagine it!”
Please.