Academy (19)
A few days ago. A maid whose face was pale enough to be ghostly stepped out of the city. The man who had been secretly tailing her stopped in his tracks. The maid passed through the checkpoint as if it were nothing and went beyond the barrier.
"Outside the city..." He narrowed his eyes at the spot where the maid had vanished. One of the secrets to his survival in the Northern Barrier for over a decade was to think before acting. His brief deliberation ended. He gestured to the subordinates following him like shadows.
"—Continue pursuit. The target—the maid—has gone outside the city."
The dense forest, with no proper paths, stretched endlessly. They hadn't been out of the city long before they sensed an approaching presence. The presence of a beast. One of the subordinates quietly loosed an arrow. The mana‑infused arrow flew silently and embedded itself into something.
Thud!
"—Grrk...!" A wolf‑type monster dropped dead without even managing a proper scream.
This continued as they chased her. It was only natural — outside the city was monster territory, abandoned by humans.
"Huu..." The breathing of the weakest subordinate grew a bit louder. It was hard to believe they were chasing a woman who didn't even emit any mana, yet the exertion was incredible.
It was only when their breath grew short that her pace finally slowed.
"—Halt." The man stopped, signaling his subordinates with hand gestures. The target's route was strange. There was only one thing in this direction.
Tat‑at. He climbed a tree in an instant, as if he were a monkey. He pulled out a telescope. Through the lens, he saw a pretty woman in a maid outfit. Despite having come through the forest, she was perfectly clean. Not a scratch, not even a trace of battle. She looked exactly as she had when she left the city. Neat as if she were wearing new clothes. The black maid uniform and her snow‑white face suited each other perfectly.
"That's..." He narrowed his eyes at her destination. A village with a shoddy wooden palisade — the Harlem district. The so‑called Harlem was a zone the government had effectively abandoned to its fate. A gathering place for those who lived outside the city walls. People living in a place swarming with monsters couldn't be normal. Naturally, it was a den of criminals.
"This is dangerous..." He felt a little worried. A slender woman entering a criminal den. His mouth went dry. If she ran into the wrong sort, she might suffer a terrible fate.
"Oh no...!" A thug with a cheap cigarette hanging from his mouth had spotted her. He wanted to rush in and save her right away. He clenched his fist and suppressed the impulse. Fortunately, the thug showed no reaction. She quietly disappeared into the Harlem.
"Haa... What a relief." A sigh of relief escaped him unbidden. He didn't know why, but he was glad she seemed safe.
Tat‑at. He climbed down quietly from the tree. His subordinates were waiting with tense eyes. Just as he was about to give a hand signal, he froze.
"A relief...?" He immediately bit the tip of his tongue. A sharp pain and a strong sense of dissonance hit him. Feeling favorable toward the target he had been tracking moments ago — worrying about her? It was absurd. He had been considering forcing an approach, but he reversed his thoughts.
"—Stand by."
Left alone in the training hall, Si‑woo sat cross‑legged.
"Huu..." He closed his eyes and sifted through his memories. That time on the snowy mountain when he had deflected the crimson flames. He had mixed the surging heat with his Honyeon‑gi and guided it into the sky. Looking back now, that had been his first perfectly successful Haengunryusu.
Right after escaping the snowy mountain, he had tried to recall that sensation but failed. Yet as time passed, that vague memory had instead grown clearer. It flickered in his heart.
"How did I do it?" It was definitely a feeling inside his chest, but actually recalling it was difficult. He probed the memory as if meditating. A tickling sensation seemed to tease his skin.
Forgetting the flow of time, he pondered, and suddenly something came to him.
"Subconscious." The word had popped into his head, but after thinking about it, it seemed right. To execute a proper Haengunryusu, he needed to use his subconscious. His body had to react before his mind consciously registered it. But handling the subconscious at will was no easy task.
"Hmm..." He wanted to master the sensation of Haengunryusu that lingered in his chest before it vanished. Since the feeling had suddenly become clear, he never knew when it might disappear.
Since reaching the Peak realm, two things had developed remarkably: his senses and his intuition. Even with his eyes closed, he could feel the surrounding scenery as if he could see it, and the sudden flashes of intuition had been hitting the mark lately. Looking back, not returning after saving Diana — that had also been his intuition at work. That same intuition was pointing him toward what he needed to do for the next realm.
He needed real combat.
Si‑woo entered a cafe within the academy grounds. A woman was tearfully looking at Helena. She bowed repeatedly, expressing her gratitude.
"Thank you so much, Princess! I will definitely repay this kindness."
"It's fine. You were planning to come to the Barrier anyway, weren't you?"
"Of course! I'll definitely apply there!"
The woman was holding what looked like an elixir case. A familiar sight. Helena often gave elixirs and such to talented, trustworthy individuals. An investment for the future.
The woman, after bowing repeatedly, left, and he approached Helena. She had been deep in thought, but her gaze turned to him. A subtle smile graced her lips.
"Si‑woo‑nim! You came?"
"You seem busy, Helena. Do you have time?"
"Thirty minutes or so is fine!"
Helena had been busy lately. He'd heard that after Roton's disappearance, she was in the process of restoring Alchemy Street, which had been rotting from illegal collusion. The artifacts produced on Alchemy Street were crucial for fighting monsters. It needed to be normalized as soon as possible.
"Is there anything I can help with?"
Helena smiled gently and shook her head. "I'm really fine. Si‑woo‑nim, you should just focus on your training."
"Are you sure there's nothing I can help with? I hit a wall in training and I need some real combat."
"Real combat...? Hmm..." Helena, who had been frowning in thought for a moment, slowly opened her mouth. "There is something... but I don't know what might happen. It's a place I hadn't paid attention to before my regression."
According to his intuition, he needed to take risks for Haengunryusu and the next realm. He nodded.
"If it's a little dangerous, that's even better. Strangely, I feel drawn to real combat."
"Pardon? What do you mean?"
"It sounds a bit absurd, but... should I call it intuition? I feel something like that."
"Intuition..." He thought she might look at him strangely, but instead she grew serious. After thinking for a moment, Helena explained.
"Intuition... maybe you've grasped a clue to the 7‑star realm."
"Huh?" Here, 7‑star was the super‑peak realm. The supreme realm called Swordmaster.
"Knights gather mana in three main places. The lower dantian below the navel. The middle dantian at the heart. And finally, the upper dantian in the brain."
"Hmm.. I know that. But why is that relevant?"
"It's not possible for everyone, but some talented individuals develop the upper dantian and gain extraordinary abilities. Brief precognition... or enhanced intuition."
He had been somewhat uncertain whether it was right to follow intuition without proper reason, but that reassured him a bit.
"Oh, really? I was a bit worried, but that's good to hear. Anyway, what's this thing I can help with?"
"...Do you remember what the Phoenix said last time? That it sealed itself to avoid falling victim to Sado?"
"That's right."
"I don't know much about Sado either. But some people, as they were dying, hurled curses. Saying that Sado would punish you." After hesitating for a moment, Helena continued. "It bothered me, so I kept investigating the Phoenix's feather. Then I found a suspicious person. I was originally planning to take my time and look into it slowly... but are you sure you'll be okay?"
As he was about to set off for the Harlem district outside the city, Helena grabbed his sleeve and wouldn't let go. Her face was full of worry. She bit her lip lightly and then took something out of her dimensional bracelet.
"J‑just a moment. This is a mental resistance talisman, just in case. And this is a top‑grade potion specialized for external injuries, so use it if you get hurt. And..."
He listened silently until she finished speaking, then nodded.
"Don't worry too much. I'm not going on a suicide mission. I'll do some investigating, and if it gets too dangerous, I'll get out of there immediately." He hugged her lightly to soothe her, but the worry didn't leave her face.
"Ugh... maybe I should go with you? In a few days, I'll have some free time."
"No. I have this, remember?" He pulled out the Warp Stamp and shook it. Given even a small opening, he could set up a magic circle. Then escaping back to the academy would be possible.
Only then did Helena's tense expression relax a bit. "Haa... Still, I'm a bit anxious. At least eat this before you go." Helena held out something as if packing a lunchbox. A plant with a yellow body and fine roots — a wild ginseng. He didn't know how many years old it was, but it had quite a lot of roots.