When You Reach the Profound Realm, You At Least Need a Celebration Party
“Congrats on the Profound Realm~~~ Congrats on the Profound Realm~~~”
A celebration party for Gong Ryun’s breakthrough into the Profound Realm was underway.
To call it a party was generous; it was really just friends gathered for a meal at something like a family restaurant. Gong Ryun did not have many friends to begin with, so only Un-rang and Brigit had shown up—just the three of them. Loro had not been invited. The boy still firmly believed Gong Ryun was already Profound or higher and worshipped him with pure romantic fervor—“A pure-strength concept? That’s overflowing with romance!”—so they decided to leave the illusion intact.
“Kyahaha! Gong Ryun! You finally clawed your way out of Harmony-trash territory!!! This big sis is proud of you!!!”
Brigit laughed with full-throated delight.
“Hehehe! Truly admirable. It brings back vivid memories of when I myself first stepped into the Profound Realm. Back in my day, you know…”
Un-rang chattered on happily as well.
On the table sat steaks, scorched-rice soup, wine, nano-robot drinks, and a celebration cake waiting off to the side. They had stuck candles in it, blown them out, and set it aside for dessert later. The whole atmosphere felt almost identical to a birthday party. Everyone kept pouring wine, eating, and making merry.
“Gong Ryun! You’re twenty-four, right?”
“That’s right. Once my birthday comes around I’ll be twenty-five.”
“Kyahaha!! You little bastard! Profound at twenty-four already! That’s stupidly fast!”
“Hmm. Is it? I heard the orthodox kids in the big cities climb even faster.”
“Those brats get elite tutoring and get slathered in spirit medicines from the cradle, that’s why! If I’d been born orthodox I’d be just as quick, I guarantee it! But we’re just ordinary unorthodox folk from a backwater city—of course the pace is different! Even so, hitting Profound at twenty-five in a dump like this is still damn quick! People call me pretty talented, and you still beat me to it!”
“Hmph. Is that so.”
Gong Ryun gave his nose a casual rub.
“And you never even got compulsory education, right? Pulling this off without it is legitimately impressive. It’s like sprinting on one leg and somehow matching everyone else’s speed.”
“Mm. That metaphor… when I picture it in my head it feels weird. A person hopping around that fast on one leg would look pretty freakish, wouldn’t they? Like some bizarre human specimen.”
“Yeah. That’s exactly you. A guy who can’t even use lightness arts and still hit Profound.”
“Eck.”
Un-rang added his own praise.
“Reaching this level entirely self-taught, without compulsory schooling—that truly is remarkable. You haven’t even learned a separate heart method, either.”
Heart method.
Also called an internal-energy heart method. It was the art of circulating and accumulating internal energy within the body—not a technique for moving the limbs, but the comprehensive discipline that governed how energy was stored, what nature it took on, and how qi flowed. The heart method embedded in Honwon-gong was the most representative example. Because every human already possessed it as a baseline, people did not usually say they had “learned a heart method.” Gong Ryun had never studied any other; Honwon-gong was the only one he knew.
“You yourself told me not to learn any heart method and to leave it blank for now, didn’t you? That’s why I still haven’t touched one.”
“Precisely. Unlike other martial arts, carelessly learning random heart methods is disastrous. A heart method is like dissolving paint into water; if you mix this and that without thought you end up with a hideous mud color. You should learn only one kind—two or three combinations at most.”
“What happens, specifically, if you learn too many?”
“Well… suppose you learn a heart method that turns the energy in your dantian fiery, and then you learn one that makes it ice-cold… the combination is obviously incompatible. You could fall into qi deviation or shatter your dantian entirely. Heart methods tend to alter the very nature of the energy inside the body, you see. If the affinities clash, everything explodes. The more you learn, the more disadvantages pile up. It is wiser to dig deep into one or two.”
“What about Honwon-gong? Does that clash? What color would it be in paint terms?”
“Honwon-gong is simply the clear water itself into which the paint is dissolved. Its heart method is the purest of all existing methods for accumulating internal energy. Because it is as pure as transparent water, it can transform into energy of any nature.”
“In other words, if I rashly learn something strange I might lock myself out of the one I truly need later, so I have to be extremely careful? And until I decide for sure, Honwon-gong is best?”
“Exactly so. Different people also have different natural affinities for particular heart methods.”
“Mm… then maybe I should wait a little longer before—”
Brigit cut in.
“Argh! This is so frustrating! You can’t leave the heart-method slot empty forever! Just grab whatever’s at hand and learn it! What’s the big deal!”
“Come now, Brigit! Do you have any idea how many people regret choosing the wrong heart method? Honwon-gong alone causes no serious problems, so one must choose carefully!”
“Carefully my ass! Did you carefully choose when you started gambling? A gambling addict has zero persuasion talking about caution! Gong Ryun! Get over here, you!”
Brigit slung an arm around Gong Ryun’s shoulder and hauled him close.
“So listen, Gong Ryun. Learn whatever’s right in front of you. Just pick the one that fits best among the options nearby.”
“Uh… you mean buy one from a secret-manual shop?”
“Secret-manual shop my foot! Listen up! For a heart method, the first time you learn it you absolutely need direct coaching from a master! Heart methods are completely different in nature from other arts! You need an experienced hand’s delicate guidance!”
“Ah. So I should find a good master?”
“When the hell would you find one? You know what’s most important in a heart-method teacher? Trust! Trust! You’re entrusting your own dantian to someone else! You can never give that to a guy you can’t believe in! It has to be someone you can absolutely trust!”
“Uh… Brigit… what are you trying to say? Don’t tell me…”
“Heh heh. Learn from me.”
Brigit finally laid her true intentions bare.
“…Shouldn’t I learn from someone stronger?”
“Hey! I’ve been training heart methods since I was a kid—I’m a specialist! Friends teach each other this stuff all the time!”
“Is that true, Un-rang?”
“Learning from a friend is not especially common… but it is not unheard of either. Brigit is older and your senior in martial arts, so…”
“So? What’s with that wishy-washy answer?”
“Kyahaha! Gong Ryun!! The way I see it, the heart method I learned is perfect for you!”
“Oh. Why is that?”
“Keh keh… my heart method, the Earth-Tremor Heart Method… massively increases total internal energy!!”
“What!!!”
Gong Ryun’s interest was thoroughly piqued. Come to think of it, heart methods were martial arts directly tied to internal energy! A function like that would not be strange at all.
“You know, right? My internal energy is fifteen hundred years. The Earth-Tremor Heart Method is famous for expanding total capacity. It can fix your biggest weakness—your tiny amount of qi.”
“…Mm… now that you mention it, I’ve recently confirmed something for certain: even spirit medicines barely increase my internal energy. I did need some kind of method.”
“That’s right, you! This big sis will teach you thoroughly, so come walk this path with me!”
“But doesn’t learning that heart method lock your career into civil engineering? I think I heard before that it’s a method exclusive to civil-engineering specialists.”
“Eh… well, yeah, it is. But it’s not bad, you know? Once you start racking up experience, the money is ridiculous. Qualifications are king.”
“Ah… that part… I think I need to think about it a bit more.”
“Tch.”
Right on cue, Un-rang dropped a cold splash of reality.
“I cannot particularly recommend it either.”
“What’s the reason?”
“The principle by which the Earth-Tremor Heart Method greatly expands internal energy is by sacrificing the purity of that energy in exchange for volume. Civil-engineering techniques—digging earth, boring tunnels—value monstrously large reserves far more than purity. Think of it as watering down strong liquor to stretch the quantity. Brigit’s internal energy may be fifteen hundred years, yet because its purity is low, the effective amount you would feel is closer to two-thirds of that.”
“Ah…”
“When purity—the refinement of internal energy—drops, it becomes somewhat unsuitable for combat. Brigit’s ability in personal combat is a bit lacking, is it not?”
That was true. Brigit’s martial arts had never been designed for fighting people; they specialized in demolishing objects and terrain. Lower purity put one at a disadvantage in man-to-man combat, because the side with higher purity generally held the edge. Brigit was, metaphorically speaking, an excavator—not a person built to be a tank. Learning the Earth-Tremor Heart Method virtually locked one’s path; one became a specialist in civil-engineering techniques. Brigit had wanted that career since childhood, so it had never been a problem for her.
…And Un-rang privately suspected one more reason.
…And then there is Gong Ryun’s body. I am no specialist in this field, so I cannot be certain… but seeing that even spirit medicines have no effect, it looks for all the world like he is pickled in Sangongdok… His internal energy may already be altered. A heart method as dense in color as Earth-Tremor might produce some unforeseen clash; it could be rather unwise.
Un-rang was a thoughtful man. He took a sip of his nano-robot white wine.
They continued talking about heart methods while cracking open another bottle of wine, until Brigit turned to Un-rang.
“Hey. Then you teach him.”
“Me?”
“Teach him your heart method. The Shaolin heart method!”
“Hmm…”
“Ah. Is that temple property? Would they refuse permission?”
“That is no problem. It is not exactly a secret art.”
Besides, transmitting the Buddha’s will through Shaolin’s heart method to a young sentient being with a pitiable past like Gong Ryun’s was something the abbot would almost certainly approve of.
“Then teach him! What’s the point of being friends otherwise?”
“There is, however, a fatal problem.”
A fatal problem? Gong Ryun pricked up his ears.
“The fatal problem is that Gong Ryun has never had a master until now. That would make me his first master, would it not? Ugh, how dreadful—between men. Having a same-sex first master is a bit…”
Gong Ryun immediately regretted listening.
This bastard never changes.
“That damn martial-artist romanticism again.”
“Come now, Gong Ryun! This is an unspoken social rule!”
“Don’t tell me it’s the same mechanism as that first life-and-death duel?”
“Exactly so. From time immemorial a first master has been!! The charming senior of the opposite sex you meet in a school club… the high-level expert of the opposite sex you’ve always admired… the skilled older sister next door… something along those lines, no? I am only thinking of Gong Ryun’s best interests here! I am trying to protect Gong Ryun’s romance!!”
“Ah, right… I’m so grateful I could cry…”
But there was something Un-rang did not know.
“By the way, I already have a master.”
“What!!!!!!!!”
Un-rang nearly leapt out of his seat. Brigit’s eyes went wide as well.
“Why did you never say anything!!!”
“I learned footwork techniques from her. You throw a fit every time footwork comes up, don’t you?”
“That is that and this is this! No wonder your progress has shot up lately—so you gained a master!! This too is a joyous occasion!”
They were this happy about it. Gong Ryun regretted not mentioning it sooner.
“That’s not the issue right now! You have to ask the most important question!”
A slightly excited Brigit slammed the table.
“Ooooh! We must ask that! It would be a shame not to!”
“What are you planning to ask?”
Brigit’s momentous question struck home.
“Is she pretty?”
“?”
“Is your master pretty?”
Ah.
Gong Ryun squeezed both eyes shut.