Chapter 48
Chapter 48
Mad Black Mage's Tower Strategy
Chapter 48
When Nam-gung Cheon saw Seo-jin's face, he spat out curses.
"You, you bastard-."
"What, are you so happy to see me that you're crying?"
"……."
Seeing that bastard's annoying face made anger naturally surge up. But it was also true that he was glad to see him.
If he hadn't met that bastard, both he and the girl would have died suffering from hunger and thirst.
Nam-gung Cheon swallowed the curses that had risen to his throat and pointed to the girl who was lying there powerlessly.
"Enough, you have food and water, right? Just share a little bit."
"Why should I? I don't even have enough for myself."
Seo-jin shrugged his shoulders as if asking why he should share food.
Nam-gung Cheon tightened his grip on the dagger in his hand, then soon lowered his head.
Right now, the girl's life was more precious than his petty pride.
"Please."
"What if I refuse?"
"……I'll concede the bet to you. But you must save this child."
Nam-gung Cheon pointed to the girl who was leaning against the wall, breathing shallowly.
"Hmm."
Seo-jin stroked his chin as if contemplating what would be more beneficial.
Unable to bear watching that disgusting sight, Nam-gung Cheon shouted in anger.
"Is that bit of water and food so precious to you! Don't the natives' lives matter?"
He knew there were those who regarded the natives' lives like flies, but he never thought even the rumored rising star would be such a vicious bastard.
At Nam-gung Cheon's outcry, Seo-jin chuckled and clapped his hands.
"What are you talking about, idiot."
CLAP CLAP-.
With the sound of clapping, children came rushing out from around the corner.
Seeing their ancient Greek-style clothing and appearance, they seemed to be children who had been offered as sacrifices along with the girl Nam-gung Cheon had taken in.
"What, what is this?"
"What do you think it is? These are the kids I've been carrying around, feeding that precious water and food to."
Seo-jin gestured to Nam-gung Cheon, who was standing there dumbfounded.
"Bring that little one behind you. Let me give her some water."
***
A dead-end alley in the labyrinth.
Children gathered around a campfire.
The children chattered away while eating the soup and bread that Seo-jin had taken out from his inventory.
The girl that Nam-gung Cheon had taken in also regained some strength while eating the thin soup.
Seo-jin, who had been ladling out soup to distribute, also gestured to Nam-gung Cheon.
"You come eat too."
"……No thanks. I don't need it."
When Nam-gung Cheon stubbornly refused, Hyeon-wol flew over to persuade him.
"Don't be stubborn, young man. Monster meat is hard to digest and bad for your body. You need to eat something proper and regain your strength."
Perhaps because she was dressed in the Taoist robes that martial artists wear, Hyeon-wol treated Nam-gung Cheon with particular friendliness.
But Nam-gung Cheon looked at Hyeon-wol and tilted his head as if finding it strange.
"What is this thing?"
"It's a ghost. Don't worry about it."
Nam-gung Cheon reluctantly accepted the bowl that Seo-jin handed him.
Warm soup with steam rising from it.
Nam-gung Cheon looked at the soup and asked.
"Didn't you think that after I eat this and regain my strength, I might overpower you?"
"Sorry, but you don't have that ability."
"Ha, I definitely said I was drunk back then."
"You're half-dead even now, so is there much difference?"
Even a strong man can't perform at half his condition if he starves for several days without a drop of water.
After briefly contemplating Seo-jin's words, Nam-gung Cheon pretended to give up and started eating the soup.
Having hot, proper food enter his stomach after so long made him feel like he would live.
Once his hunger and thirst were barely resolved, he had the leisure to pay attention to other things.
Particularly, Seo-jin's peculiarities caught his eye.
What he immediately felt was the ominous Reverse Heaven's mana befitting a black mage.
But at the same time, he also felt an indescribable profound energy.
This was definitely martial arts internal energy. And very pure energy at that.
Noticing Nam-gung Cheon's gaze, Seo-jin asked.
"Curious?"
"You're a black mage. How did you learn martial arts? Is it Wudang's Dual Mind Technique?"
Dual Mind Technique was the essence of the Wudang sect that allowed the simultaneous operation of two types of internal energy in the lower dantian.
But even searching through Chinese martial arts guilds, there wasn't a single person who had learned the Dual Mind Technique.
The level of climbers hadn't reached that level of sophistication, and there wasn't even a stratum that could be called a martial world background.
Seo-jin explained.
"Well, the basic principle isn't much different from the Dual Mind Technique. But there are clear differences."
If the Dual Mind Technique was a martial art that held two internal energies in the lower dantian, then the Primordial Unity Technique was a martial art that operated each dantian to achieve harmony.
The principles were similar, but there were fundamental differences.
Seo-jin gathered pure white energy in his hand to show him.
"This is the Primordial Unity Technique. It's a martial art that a commoner like you can't learn."
"……?"
‘I'm a commoner? Me, Nam-gung Cheon of the Shadowless Flying Hero?’
When Nam-gung Cheon tilted his head, Hyeon-wol added an explanation.
"Your talent seems to be above average, but this guy is beyond specifications. Don't try to follow suit."
When Hyeon-wol interjected again, Nam-gung Cheon frowned.
"What is this thing that keeps talking?"
"It's a ghost that was attached to a skill book. It seems to be related to the Primordial Unity Technique I learned, but according to her, she's lost her memories."
"That's quite a convenient setting."
When Nam-gung Cheon seemed interested in the Primordial Unity Technique, Seo-jin made a proposal.
"If you want, I'll tell you the incantations of the Primordial Unity Technique. But you'll also have to tell me a few incantations of Shadowless Steps."
"……."
Nam-gung Cheon fell into brief contemplation.
Originally, the martial arts of one's school shouldn't be carelessly taught to others.
But when had Nam-gung Cheon ever cared about such things?
He was someone who wandered the Tower because he disliked such worldly conventions in the first place.
'Besides, this isn't really the martial world era.'
Moreover, even if he taught him, that bastard wouldn't be able to learn it. Shadowless Steps might look simple at first glance, but it contained deep mysteries within.
‘I'll teach him appropriately and suck out his martial arts.’
"Fine, you go first."
***
Several hours later.
"Hmm, so this is the principle."
SWOOSH-.
Seo-jin used Shadowless Steps to advance forward as if he had teleported.
Having seen it by eye in his previous life, and receiving detailed incantations and interpretations containing the principles, it was quite easy to follow.
If Mixed Origin Steps was a divine technique with solid foundations that could be applied to anything, then Shadowless Steps was a martial art specialized in causing confusion through momentary illusions or hiding one's body.
It was more suitable for combat applications.
It was a bit difficult, but once he got used to it, he would be able to adapt quickly.
When Seo-jin quickly imitated Shadowless Steps, Nam-gung Cheon grabbed his collar and shook him violently.
"Damn it. What exactly are you?"
The guy's movements themselves weren't that outstanding.
Apart from combat sense, he clearly showed signs of being a beginner who hadn't learned martial arts for long.
But his intelligence in understanding and mastering incantations was at a speed he had never seen before.
Moreover, Shadowless Steps wasn't something you could perform just by understanding the incantations.
It was a martial art related to innate temperament, so unless you were someone with wandering tendencies like himself, you couldn't even learn it.
Hyeon-wol patted Nam-gung Cheon's shoulder.
"Didn't this lady tell you? You'll only hurt yourself by competing with this guy."
While Seo-jin had understood and mastered Shadowless Steps overnight, entering the realm of acquisition, Nam-gung Cheon couldn't even begin learning the Primordial Unity Technique.
"How exactly am I supposed to do this? I have to operate internal energy at an unconscious level while maintaining consciousness? Does that bastard have two brains or something?"
"That's why I told you. A commoner like you can't learn it even if taught."
Moreover, unless you were going to become a mage or priest, there wasn't really a need to learn it.
The Primordial Unity Technique wasn't specialized in operating two internal energies in the lower dantian, but rather specialized in harmonizing the upper, middle, and lower dantians.
"Just focus on learning the Emperor Sword you're learning now. That alone is sufficient."
"……."
‘To think I'd receive such advice from a guy much lower level than me.’
But the situation was so absurd that he wasn't even offended.
Only questions kept mounting.
"How is this even possible? Do you have a special constitution?"
"Yeah, I can't sense external energy."
"What?"
"Exactly as I said. I lack the ability to read surrounding mana."
"Then how do you circulate internal energy?"
"I use a somewhat troublesome method."
Just because he couldn't sense it didn't mean mana didn't exist around him.
If he directly observed the flow of mana through the Eye of Insight, he could draw mana into his lower dantian.
If he hadn't had this constitution from the beginning, he probably wouldn't have walked the path of a black mage.
But paradoxically, he wouldn't have been able to operate internal mana as precisely as he could now.
Seo-jin's ability to operate internal mana had developed on the same principle as a blind person's hearing becoming extremely developed.
"That makes even less sense."
"Young man, you'll only lose out if you dig deeper. You might develop inner demons."
Seo-jin got up and woke the sleeping children.
"Let's go."
"Where to?"
Seo-jin pointed toward the labyrinth path and shrugged his shoulders.
"Are we going to be trapped here for a thousand years? It's time to cut off the boss's head and get out."
***
Spreading threads of mana throughout the labyrinth wasn't just to assess Nam-gung Cheon's condition.
Looking at the original source of this labyrinth, what allowed passage through the labyrinth was Ariadne's Thread.
Using the same principle, spreading threads of mana to understand the ever-changing laws of the labyrinth, and using the collected Daedalus's Marks to open the boss room where the boss resided—this was the strategy for conquering this labyrinth.
This wasn't really a secret, as countless people who had found the labyrinth had attempted challenges based on this strategy.
It's just that no one had succeeded.
Knowing the method doesn't mean everyone can succeed.
"To conquer this labyrinth, you must be able to perform one of the three things I'm about to mention."
The effort to record the entire vast labyrinth;
Or talent to understand the structure in the same way as Seo-jin;
Finally, crazy luck to avoid all sorts of traps and changes in the maze and discover the boss room.
The climbers who died in this labyrinth simply didn't possess any of these three methods.
CLICK-.
Seo-jin combined the Daedalus's Marks he had obtained while exploring the labyrinth in order.
Marks that fit together perfectly like a cube.
The cube made by combining Daedalus's Marks had lines that looked like a miniaturized version of the labyrinth paths delicately engraved on it.
At first glance, it also looked like brain wrinkles in the shape of a cube.
RATTLE-.
Next, Seo-jin retrieved the threads of mana he had spread throughout the labyrinth and pushed them into the cube's engravings in the correct order.
SLITHER-.
The threads of mana spread along the parts engraved in the cube like living snakes.
FLASH-.
When the threads of mana filled the cube's faces in the correct order, bright light soon burst forth.
And when that light was withdrawn.
RUMBLE-.
A temple supported by stone pillars that rose so high it hurt to look up appeared before their eyes.
The master of Minos's labyrinth.
It was the temple where the cursed half-man, half-beast Minotaur resided.
Nam-gung Cheon looked up at the temple in a daze and said,
"We really arrived."
"How about it? Could you have reached here?"
"……Honestly, I don't think I could have."
Nam-gung Cheon, who had wandered through the labyrinth, honestly admitted it.
Even assuming he had prepared sufficient food and water, it seemed daunting.
Collecting the Daedalus's Marks hidden throughout the labyrinth, and fully understanding the maze's paths with Ariadne's Thread to open the cube.
There was no guarantee he could accomplish it even if it took several months.
It wasn't a matter of ability.
The problem was that he couldn't even conceive of such an approach.
Moreover, this guy.
'Instead of the item called Ariadne's Thread, he opened the cube with threads of mana he wove himself.'
Ariadne's Thread had the function of mapping the maze's structure just by possessing it.
Afterward, you just had to place it against the cube and it would open according to the mapping records.
But this guy had woven threads of mana himself to replace that item.
An absurd ability.
Even Gu-ren, the Grand Mage of the strategy team, wouldn't be able to follow suit.
"Wait outside."
Seo-jin summoned Baduki to guard the children nearby for their safety.
GROWL GROWL-.
And he entered the interior of the Minotaur's temple with Nam-gung Cheon.
ROOOAR-!!
With a tremendous roar, red eyes glowing in the darkness of the temple.
It was the appearance of the labyrinth's master, the Minotaur.
Seo-jin pushed Nam-gung Cheon forward.
"Now, it's time to earn your keep."