Chapter 26
Chapter 26
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 26
Chapter Title: Fist Emperor
-----------------------------------------------------------------
‘Let’s head back for now.’
He had pretty much accomplished everything he’d set out to do by coming out alone today.
Kang Hyun-soo opened the door and stepped inside the lodging.
“You’re back?”
Song Ha-na, who had been lying on the living room sofa with a refreshed expression, jumped to her feet.
“I’m sorry I didn’t go with you.”
“No, it’s fine.”
If anything, he was glad to have gone alone.
“You must be hungry. Let’s go get dinner.”
“Sure.”
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na headed to the restaurant on the first floor of the inn.
‘There’s a good variety.’
Unlike mid-level inns, the selection of food here was quite diverse.
‘The taste was pretty good too.’
Kang Hyun-soo recalled his memories from before the regression and ordered dishes that suited Korean palates.
The food arrived shortly after.
“It’s delicious!”
A bright smile spread across Song Ha-na’s face.
Kang Hyun-soo had ordered based on his pre-regression memories, choosing foods that would appeal to Korean tastes, so of course it was going to be good.
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na continued their dinner while chatting about this and that.
Then.
“Um, do you think it’d be okay if we dropped the formal speech and titles now?”
Song Ha-na asked Kang Hyun-soo cautiously.
“Speech and titles?”
“Yeah. It’s not that using formal speech is bad or anything, but it feels a bit distant.”
“Then should I call you Ha-na noona?”
“Pfft!”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s words, the food in Song Ha-na’s mouth flew onto her plate.
“Sorry. No, I didn’t mean call me noona. I meant let’s just call each other by name casually, speak informally. Like friends.”
“Ah.”
Kang Hyun-soo understood what Song Ha-na meant.
‘Well, that’d feel more natural to Koreans.’
From Song Ha-na’s perspective, who hadn’t fully adapted to this world yet, constantly using “-ssi” felt distant—especially since she thought they’d grown extremely close.
“Okay.”
“I said speak casually like friends.”
Kang Hyun-soo couldn’t help but chuckle at Song Ha-na’s words.
“Got it. So you speak casually too.”
“Yeah, I will.”
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na smiled, then finished their dinner with casual conversation.
* * *
Even after moving from the Terra Kingdom to the Mulan Kingdom, Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na’s daily routine didn’t change.
Every morning, they headed to the hunting grounds early.
Then they hunted monsters to level up.
When night fell?
They returned to the lodging to rest.
It was a routine as ordinary as could be.
The only regrettable part was.
‘They call C-Rank the devil’s wall for a reason—it’s not budging at all.’
His Replica and Skill Enhancement, both having reached C-Rank, showed no signs of growing further.
‘Well, it’s to be expected.’
In truth, Kang Hyun-soo’s growth was abnormally fast.
Even Song Ha-na, who was growing quickly, had only broken through the wall with her main skill—Mana Heart, which started at C-Rank—and reached B-Rank. Her other skills were stuck at D or even E-Rank, far from C.
‘And we’ve poured in so much EXP.’
It was hard not to feel disappointed.
If Replica reached B-Rank?
‘All Replica skills’ efficiency would improve from 70% to 100%.’
Replica skills would fully replicate the original skills’ power without any penalty.
‘Don’t get impatient.’
Kang Hyun-soo tried to suppress his regret.
‘Compared to before the regression, this growth speed is insane.’
Before the regression, his Replica was only at E-Rank around this time.
Reaching C-Rank alone was already phenomenal.
‘I got everything I was supposed to early on, without missing a beat.’
One-Man Army, Skill Enhancement, Stat Fixation, Devouring Sword, Guardian Ring, countless achievements.
Plus bonuses like Mana Heart and a huge pile of gold.
Kang Hyun-soo had exceeded his own plans.
‘Today’s the day, right?’
The finals of the 201-300 level martial tournament he’d bet on.
As expected, Fist Emperor had advanced to the finals undefeated.
‘I need to watch it in person.’
He had to go see the match live today.
‘While I’m at it, I’ll check if there’s any skills from Fist Emperor I missed.’
Unlike other players, Fist Emperor didn’t have any standout signature skills or items.
‘But he has overwhelming physical abilities and combat sense.’
If that overwhelming physical prowess and combat sense came from skills?
Kang Hyun-soo might be able to acquire them too.
“Where are you going?”
Song Ha-na asked as she saw Kang Hyun-soo preparing to head out.
“The martial tournament finals are today, so I thought I’d check it out.”
“Sounds fun. Mind if I tag along and watch?”
“Of course not.”
At Kang Hyun-soo’s permission, Song Ha-na got excited and quickly prepared to go out.
‘There’s not much in the way of entertainment here.’
Unlike Earth, overflowing with things to do, the situation here was different.
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na left the lodging on good terms and headed toward the arena.
‘Today, I’ll reap the benefits of Fist Emperor big time.’
If Fist Emperor won?
Kang Hyun-soo would pocket over a million gold.
The arena took a hefty 20% cut, but he’d still net at least 800,000 gold.
‘Even using half would be enough for B-Rank skillbooks and items.’
He planned to buy defensive skillbooks to feed the Guardian Ring and items to toss to the Devouring Sword as fodder.
‘It’s great that these can grow with money.’
Compared to Replica, which devoured EXP but grew slowly...
‘They’re angels, total angels.’
In Kang Hyun-soo’s eyes, the Guardian Ring and Devouring Sword—which grew fast just by pouring gold into them—looked like angels.
Of course, this was only possible for Kang Hyun-soo because he knew the future and could multiply his money quickly.
He’d swept up seed money by taking down criminals, too.
‘The tournament scale is a shame.’
Ideally, he’d hold off on skillbooks and items, reinvest the 800,000 gold into the next tournament.
But low-level tournaments like this had tiny betting pools.
‘Even 400,000 gold is too much.’
If Kang Hyun-soo dumped 800,000 gold in?
Others might follow, suspecting something about Fist Emperor—just like now.
‘Oops.’
Kang Hyun-soo’s face twisted slightly upon arriving at the arena.
‘I figured there’d be some impact, but this is a bit much.’
The odds, which had been around 9x after his bet,
had dropped to 7x.
‘That turns a million into 800,000.’
After the 20% fee, only about 630,000 gold.
‘Can’t be helped.’
Still, his principal had multiplied fivefold.
‘The 201-300 and 301-400 level tournaments only differ by about double in betting volume.’
12,000 gold had caused this stir—what if he threw in 400,000?
‘I need to cut back on the bet.’
Investing 300,000 gold might be more efficient.
“Is this the arena?”
“Yeah.”
“Let’s go in quick.”
The excited Song Ha-na grabbed Kang Hyun-soo’s hand and pulled him along.
Kang Hyun-soo and Song Ha-na bought seat tickets and settled in.
“That’s one of the finalists?”
Song Ha-na pointed at Fist Emperor in surprise.
“Yeah.”
“He looks too young for a place like this.”
“Different race. He might look young, but he could be older than us.”
Beastkin average lifespan was 150 years.
Nearly double that of Earthlings or Atlantean humans.
Fist Emperor was 34 this year.
Actually much older than Kang Hyun-soo or Song Ha-na.
He just looked young because he had a baby face and a very small build.
‘Small stature is a rabbit beastkin trait.’
Even fully grown, rabbit beastkin topped out around 140 cm.
Fist Emperor was on the smaller side for them, only 130 cm.
His opponent, by contrast.
“The size difference is huge.”
Song Ha-na sounded worried.
‘Bear beastkin.’
One of the strongest beastkin races, with top-tier natural physical conditions.
Bear beastkin stood over 2 meters tall.
A 70 cm height gap.
‘The visible difference is too stark.’
The obvious physical disparity.
Deep-rooted prejudices against rabbitkin.
Because of these two factors, Fist Emperor had lived as a hidden gem buried in mud for a long time.
‘But.’
Squeak!
The moment the match started.
Thwack!
The outcome defied everyone’s expectations.
Pow pow pow pow!
Fist Emperor moved like lightning, pummeling the bear beastkin relentlessly.
“Gah! Urk!”
The bear beastkin couldn’t even counter properly, just busy getting beaten.
Roooaaar!
Unable to endure, the bear beastkin activated his unique skill, Beastification.
His size swelled from over 2 meters to nearly 3, his form shifting from human-like to more beastly.
But.
Thud! Thud!
The one-sided beating continued unchanged.
‘He’s not even a match.’
The near two-fold height difference felt meaningless.
‘Let’s extract some skills for now.’
Kang Hyun-soo watched the match and repeatedly cast Replica on Fist Emperor.
[Using Unique Skill Replica – C-Rank.]
[One stack consumed.]
[Creating Replica of Steel Skin – D-Rank.]
[Replica Skill: Steel Skin – F-Rank created.]
[Replica Skill possesses 70% of original’s capabilities.]
... (omitted) ...
He kept casting, but.
‘Nothing special.’
Mostly common skills.
‘But he has an insane number of them. Does he really need this many?’
More skills made ranking up harder, so Kang Hyun-soo found it odd.
Then.
[Using Unique Skill Replica – C-Rank.]
[One stack consumed.]
[Creating Replica of Wild Instinct – B-Rank.]
[Replica: Wild Instinct – F-Rank created.]
[Replica Skill possesses 70% of original’s capabilities.]
... (omitted) ...
‘What’s this?’
A skill he’d never heard of got replicated.
‘Wild Instinct?’
Kang Hyun-soo quickly checked the skill info.
[Wild Instinct – F-Rank]
-Passive Skill
-Replica Skill.
-Grants Wild Instinct.
‘So that’s it.’
Now he understood the source of Fist Emperor’s unique combat sense.
‘He did have a special skill.’
It made sense.
Fist Emperor, who’d shown matchless prowess since low levels, couldn’t have only mediocre skills.
‘Or maybe he got Wild Instinct because he was special?’
The fact it was a first for Kang Hyun-soo meant it wasn’t common.
‘Probably a unique skill.’
Atlantean natives also awakened as players, gaining unique skills based on their past actions, physical, and mental traits.
‘He must have had innate combat sense from the start.’
That talent likely crystallized into the unique skill Wild Instinct upon awakening.
“That little kid won!”
While Kang Hyun-soo pondered his new Replica skill, Wild Instinct.
The finals ended.
‘Fist Emperor wins, as expected.’
A given result.
‘Thanks, Fist Emperor.’
Money and a new skill as gifts.
From Kang Hyun-soo’s view, Fist Emperor could do no wrong.
“Let’s head out.”
He’d seen the finals and nabbed Fist Emperor’s main skill—it was time to go.
‘Tomorrow’s hunt will be fun.’
He itched to see what Wild Instinct did.
‘If I could recruit him, that’d be ideal.’
Fist Emperor wasn’t in a guild or the Mulan army.
He’d just won four straight undefeated tournaments.
But he’d only gain real attention after five.
He wanted to recruit him, sure.
‘Fat chance.’
Before regression.
Fist Emperor was a lone wolf, never joining guilds or kingdoms.
‘He turned down treasures and even a ducal title.’
No way he’d join a two-person party instead of a guild or kingdom.
‘Still, no harm in asking?’
With a sliver of hope, Kang Hyun-soo approached Fist Emperor after the match.