Soul Wrapping
That was the full extent of what Oh Ji-o knew about Ancient Martial Arts. Helio’s own knowledge was about the same. After all, not a single true example of the art existed in the present day.
‘Which, if you flip it around, means someone from the past must have had it.’
And that was exactly what this was.
A faint presence flickering atop a pile of bones. From it drifted an indescribably ancient scent. This had to be the real thing.
The only problem was—
“Hey, Diana.”
Me.
“I can’t perform Descent on this.”
Only one soul could be summoned at a time. That was the ironclad teaching of the Helisbort family and the fundamental premise of Descent. I already had Oh Ji-o’s soul inside me. He was my parallel self from another world, someone I absolutely could not let go of while I was unable to use mana. In other words, the soul right in front of me was nothing but a pie in the sky.
“No, that’s not true.”
She flatly denied the premise. Diana smiled brightly.
“To begin with, what you summon during Descent isn’t actually a soul, is it?”
“………You even knew about that?”
“Aren’t you underestimating Regression a little too much?”
“No, I mean…”
What was called during Descent was, for convenience, referred to as a soul, but in truth it was something far more comprehensive. It wasn’t exactly a family secret, but it was easy to misunderstand and there was no real need to explain it, so outside the imperial family, almost no one knew the truth.
“…Even if what we handle isn’t a soul, the principle that only one can be used at a time doesn’t change.”
“The premise that the target is a soul. If that premise collapses, doesn’t that open up new possibilities?”
“……”
“Besides, we don’t need to summon this person’s entire being. All we need right now is the way they use their body.”
‘Right?’
Adding that with a smile, Diana kept grinning. I immediately understood what she was suggesting.
She was recommending I use Soul Wrapping.
* * *
If one inherited a unique ability, the starting point was always the same. Whether it was my Descent, the imperial family’s Future Sight, Regression, Ignition, Psychokinesis, Intuition, or any other unique ability. As long as it was the same power, there was no difference in the direction of strength one could use from the moment of birth.
But that sameness didn’t last forever. Just like building muscle through exercise, unique abilities could also be developed.
Combat Precognition, Spatial Distortion, Seventh Sense—these famous abilities within the empire were the final evolved forms of Future Sight, Psychokinesis, and Intuition respectively.
Naturally, Descent was no exception. For a long time, our ancestors had wanted to break free of the “only one at a time” restriction. What came out of that process was Soul Wrapping.
“The risk is too high.”
Soul Wrapping was certainly a good technique. The difficulty was extremely high, but to someone called the greatest genius of the Helisbort family, it was nothing more than writing the Heart Sutra on a grain of rice with a brush. The real issue was the risk that came when it was forcibly canceled.
“Ancient Martial Arts rely solely on physical ability, right? If Soul Wrapping breaks, even the body I’ve managed to build will regress again.”
The risk of Soul Wrapping was that you had to give back as much as you received. If it was a technique based on physical ability, the moment you lost that technique, it would steal away the corresponding physical capability.
“It’s not a big deal if it’s just a drop in strength. But the balance of my already-established body will collapse. You can guess where that ends, right?”
The problem was mana once again. The moment the vessel broke, the mana that had begun to move would burst out. In other words, the instant Soul Wrapping failed—
“I’ll die.”
I would die.
“Even so, are you okay with it?”
So this was the final confirmation. The last safety measure toward the regressor.
“Yes, of course.”
And Diana nodded.
“If anything, not doing it would probably kill you even sooner?”
She added the regressor’s prophecy on top of it.
“Alright, if you’re going to put it that way.”
I took a deep breath and stepped forward.
‘I just have to do it exactly as I learned.’
Even though this was my first time actually trying it, I didn’t have even the slightest thought that I would fail.
“First…”
Link with the target soul.
Woooong—
Linking through Descent felt similar to grabbing a soul with an invisible hand. I carefully grasped the soul atop the bone pile without damaging it and created a connection. Then I pulled the soul that wanted to stay in place.
Pulling a soul that had already become a ghost was like peeling tape off an old box without tearing it. Usually the spatial restorative force was so strong that the soul itself would be the one ripped apart.
Saaaa—
But with only a 0.01% loss rate, I managed to fully draw the soul out. The next step was to spread it over my body.
‘The key is to not crush it, but to make as much surface area touch my body as possible.’
The concept behind Soul Wrapping was simple. Just as clothes are not the body but are treated as if they are, the core was to process the soul like clothing and use it. In other words, it was the weaponization of the soul.
‘Where to wrap it…’
A clear intuition suddenly rose. Maybe it was inspiration from the soul itself.
Sarak—
From the tips of my toes to my knees. It felt like I was putting on long socks.
Woooong—
With that, it succeeded. It was an incredibly simple task.
“Are you finished?”
“Yeah. Now we just wait.”
The reason Soul Wrapping never became widespread wasn’t only because of the difficulty and risk. The shallowness of the return also played a part. Unlike Descent, which granted all information and abilities the instant it succeeded, this required time.
‘The compatibility is good.’
I’d heard it could take up to a week in the worst cases, but it didn’t seem like it would take that long this time. The soul and my body had already begun to resonate.
Instinctively, options rose.
Memories, or abilities?
‘Obviously abilities.’
Right after that, the change began.
* * *
The body is the foundation of everything. Because our sense of self is formed through information gained from seeing with the eyes, hearing with the ears, smelling with the nose, tasting with the tongue, and feeling with the body. In other words, the flesh shapes the mind.
However, in recent times there are those who neglect the body that is the root of all things.
See correctly, hear correctly, smell correctly, taste correctly, feel correctly.
Never forget that will, self, and mind all derive from the body.
Find the correct posture, maintain it, and embody it.
Stand correctly.
That is the foundation of all things.
Crack. Crunch. Snap.
As the knowledge burrowed into my mind, I felt my entire body twisting. Small bones shattered. Large bones broke. Muscles tore and burst. Skin split. Blood burned, bodily fluids dried.
‘Ah…’
As my body was remade, I felt death drawing near. But I wasn’t afraid. I knew this was only a temporary phenomenon.
Whoosh—
My body exploded. Blood mist spread like fog, flesh scattered like clay. But the bones remained in place. Standing straight on the ground, they did not collapse.
Standing the body upright.
The moment I protected the foundation of foundations, change arrived.
Wooooong—
Mana flowed out. The power that had been inside my body but could not be called mine flowed through the correct paths and revived a body that had been biologically dead. Broken and bent bones fused twice as solidly. Torn and burst muscles compressed and gathered into a single point. Skin became tougher, blood became cleaner. Mana discarded the old body and created a new one that could stably accept it.
And when the flowing mana stopped and the intentional HwanGolTalTae ended—
My body had returned to a perfect natural state. A complete body with no bad habits or imbalances left behind. I could now see correctly, hear correctly, and stand correctly.
This was the initiation rite of the ancient martial art, Lightning Step.
* * *
“Isn’t the difficulty completely insane?”
I let out a hollow laugh, dumbfounded. There were three reasons why Ancient Martial Arts hadn’t survived into the modern era, and this fell under the third. The difficulty was simply too high! The minimum requirements were so demanding that transmission was naturally difficult, and it faded away on its own!
I had crossed that threshold thanks to my overflowing mana resonating and triggering a pseudo HwanGolTalTae, but anyone else would have had to train until they naturally reached a perfect body.
“Hmm… It’s still quite flashy.”
Diana, who had been standing far away, slowly crept closer. Even though I had blown my body apart so violently, there wasn’t a single drop of blood on her clothes.
“Wait, isn’t it fraud to call this ‘okay’? I literally died just now?”
“But you’re alive now, aren’t you?”
“No, no, no…”
“Oh dear, it seems you’ve run out of things to say.”
“I’m so stunned I can’t even speak!”
Her shameless words kept making me laugh helplessly. Sure, I was alive! And my stats had probably doubled! But still!
“If I had told you about this beforehand, would you have done it?”
“…I probably would have.”
But I would’ve been terrified out of my mind. And this technique was structured so that the moment stray thoughts entered, it would fail. The only reason I succeeded was because the instant we resonated, I followed the tidal wave of knowledge into a state of no-self.
“There have been cases where people actually failed and died. About twice. It was horrible.”
“……………”
“After that I just stopped saying anything and gave orders. Should I change my approach?”
“No…”
In the end, my complaints were suppressed before they could even begin.