Chapter 52
Chapter 52
Chapter 52 The Best Combination
My senses return along with the cheers of countless spectators. The limitations of my regenerative abilities are lifted as my body recovers instantly, and my mana is rapidly filling up.
'Right. This is what living is all about.'
Though limiting all my senses increased the efficiency of my Energy Sense and brought many benefits, having senses is definitely much more comfortable.
Feeling the enthusiastic cheers of the spectators, a message appears before my eyes and once again all my stats have increased.
[You have cleared the Hell difficulty 5th floor trial of the Testing Floors for the first time.]
[Rewards are enhanced.]
[You have received recognition from all opponents.]
[Rewards are greatly enhanced.]
[You are currently under a penalty.]
[Rewards are very greatly enhanced.]
[Rewards have reached the highest level.]
[Rewards from floors 1, 2, 3, and 4 are stacked.]
[Will you receive the rewards?]
[Yes / No.]
This floor's condition for enhanced rewards was receiving recognition from all opponents.
'Though it seems like I was recognized as a monster...'
Well, good is good.
It doesn't matter what route you take as long as you reach Seoul. Whether recognized as a master or as a monster, it's all the same.
Originally, people tend to treat existences they can't understand as monsters anyway. I also checked the additional message that appeared below.
[You have successfully drawn out the full power of a special entity and completely subdued it.]
[Title: Conqueror of the Unknown (Heroic) rank increases.]
[Conqueror of the Unknown (Heroic) is promoted to Conqueror of the Unknown (Unique).]
This seems to have been this floor's hidden piece.
'As expected, my prediction wasn't wrong.'
If I hadn't provoked her by calling her grandmother, she would have forfeited right there and let me win.
I would have received the trial's rewards as they were, but I wouldn't have achieved the hidden piece instead.
Thanks to making the right choice, Conqueror of the Unknown has now become an overpowered title that raises all stats by 3.
With it equipped, it's an absurd thing that raises all stats by 36. Due to Supreme Bloodline, it effectively has the value of 54 stats.
Adding the stats I'll receive in bulk on the 10th floor and the Limit-Breaking stats that will be unsealed, just how much stronger can I become? Looking forward to that day, I chose to skip the rewards.
[You have skipped the rewards.]
[The value of the rewards will be stacked onto the next floor's rewards.]
A blue portal opened before my eyes. When I was halfway through it, a voice clearly struck my ears.
"...We will definitely meet again. Without fail. This Black Lotus Lord Baek Hyang-hwa will..."
A chant like a prophecy.
I wanted to ask what she meant, but I couldn't come back out of the portal I had already entered.
It would be comforting to think of it as the empty words of a trial entity who had simply lost to me, but there was definitely strong conviction in her voice.
'Even Baal's Avatar that I met on the 2nd floor said we'd meet above.'
There's a good chance that the person who introduced herself as Black Lotus Lord Baek Hyang-hwa is also waiting above.
I'm just a newbie who has barely cleared about half of the Testing Floors, so why are there so many people looking for me?
If I ever meet the Black Lotus Lord, I was definitely planning to clear up the misunderstanding.
That it was all a joke, just empty words to prevent her from forfeiting.
Then maybe she'll forgive me.
Sincerity gets through to people. If not, well, that's too bad.
First, I took Eve out of the subspace.
"You took me out quickly this time! And... something feels different!"
"Oh. You noticed that? That's impressive."
This time I didn't gain any new traits or explosive stat increases, just gained enlightenment about nothingness, yet she seemed to be sensing that subtle difference.
There would be influence from her innate talent, but it was also thanks to deepening her understanding of martial arts while learning Supreme Martial Arts.
"As I learn martial arts... it feels like something is getting broader. Learning martial arts is so fun!"
Now she's gone beyond obsession with strength to finding pure enjoyment in martial arts itself.
This was a very good thing.
If she has talent, effort, and even enjoys it, her growth will gain even more momentum.
It was good from the perspective of having a retainer who will become my strength in the future, but even purely as a martial artist, how could I dislike having a junior walking behind me who finds martial arts fun?
"Let's eat first."
People need to fill their stomachs to live.
Maybe because I had been fighting like crazy just now and hadn't eaten anything, my stomach was crying out for food.
I couldn't keep feeding her only ramen, so this time I made Han Yeong-min's specialty Stir-Fried Pork, and the reaction was quite good.
"This is also incredibly delicious! Yeong-min has godly hands!"
"Really? Eat a lot. I won't steal any, so eat slowly."
She definitely seems to have Korean blood flowing through her, perhaps because her appearance is like a mix of Baal and me.
Even though it would be quite spicy for a foreigner to eat, she was scooping up big spoonfuls and chewing thoroughly in her mouth.
After the meal, I started with what had become the basic routine of the waiting room - teaching Eve martial arts while checking my own martial arts.
"Eve. Don't you want to use weapons?"
"Weapons? I don't really see the necessity."
Honestly, using weapons would be more advantageous than bare hands, but that evaluation was exactly right for her.
The reason for using tools in the first place is to overcome human physical limitations, but she's already an existence that far transcends humans in terms of physical specs.
Her bare body is tougher than most weapons.
And when she mixes in mana, it becomes even harder, so she doesn't feel the need to use weapons.
"Good. Then I'll teach you other Supreme Martial Arts besides internal cultivation now."
If she doesn't feel the need to use weapons herself, then the only path left is that of a martial artist. And from this trial, I had obtained many useful martial arts.
"Good! I'm curious what it is this time!"
I had built her foundation with Wudang's Taijiquan, but I had no intention of continuing down the Wudang route.
I taught her the mysteries of softness to show Eve, who had only known how to crush everything, that there was a broader world, but that path didn't suit her well.
What suited her was strength, dominance, and weight. Strong, dominating, and heavy martial arts that matched her overwhelming physical abilities.
Among the things I had copied this time, what best matched that direction was Shaolin's martial arts.
"What I'm about to teach you is martial arts from a place called Shaolin, okay? The most important thing when using these martial arts is an Immovable Heart. An unshakeable heart becomes strength."
"An unshakeable heart..."
I believe she, who has steadfastly trained in martial arts until now, can understand this sufficiently.
Of course, I won't just tell her to understand with words, but show her through actions first.
"I'll show you, so watch carefully."
True to the reputation that ‘All martial arts under heaven come from Shaolin,’ the martial arts that Hye-un, who was a Shaolin disciple, showed me were quite numerous.
I don't know all the names of those martial arts, but I clearly remember their movements and intentions.
From the basic martial art Arhat Fist to the numerous martial arts derived from it, everything was within me.
First, the free-moving fist technique modeled after the movements of five beasts.
[Skill: Shaolin Five Animals Fist (Lv1) acquired.]
Next, the hand technique that uses hands like solid weapons.
[Skill: Great Strength Vajra Hand (Lv1) acquired.]
Next, the palm technique that seems to embody Buddha's palm.
[Skill: Thousand-Hand Tathagata Palm (Lv1) acquired.]
Finally, the striking technique that makes the power of fists reach a hundred steps away.
[Skill: Hundred-Step Divine Fist (Lv1) acquired.]
Eve's eyes sparkled every time I demonstrated a new martial art.
Though I had learned many martial arts from Mount Hua and Wudang, most of them except for a few were techniques performed with swords, so there was no particular need to show them.
'She seems to have already fallen for the charm of Shaolin martial arts.'
"How is it. Do you feel like learning some?"
"I really want to learn!"
She's showing interest in martial arts that suit her well, so the synergy seems like it will be tremendous.
Of course, I wasn't planning to teach her everything, but I was thinking of teaching her Great Strength Vajra Hand and Hundred-Step Divine Fist.
Skin with strength close to Vajra Indestructibility without learning external cultivation, and a body with strength already transcending humans even without mana enhancement.
She had the optimal conditions for learning the two martial arts I had selected.
Unlike internal cultivation methods where I can directly carve the flow of energy into the body, martial arts like hand techniques or fist techniques have no shortcuts and can only be learned through steadfast training.
First, I taught her about the forms of the martial arts and had her repeat them.
Her learning speed was unmatched in quickly grasping the forms, and what remained was putting meaning into them.
Now she had to carve an unshakeable Immovable Heart into her chest through countless repetitions.
From now on, it was purely an area that depended on Eve, so I let her realize it on her own and reflected on what I had gained from this trial.
Just because they're sword techniques doesn't mean they're useless to me.
I had already reached a level where I could produce similar power whether I performed the same martial art with my hands or with a sword.
Plum blossoms bloom profusely from my swinging hand.
[Skill: Twenty-Four Plum Blossom Sword Technique (Lv1) acquired.]
'This is why women go crazy for it.'
Though the killing intent contained within is quite deadly, it had overwhelming beauty that couldn't be seen in other martial arts.
If you're mesmerized by this beauty, your body will instantly be covered in plum blossoms and your whole body will be torn apart.
So from this martial art, I learned that the essence within is more important than the outward beauty.
Next, my swinging hand contained the mystery of deflecting multiple simultaneous attacks and making them attack each other.
[Skill: Taiji Wisdom Sword (Lv1) acquired.]
If the Jin-mu I had faced had mastered this martial art to perfection, it would have been very troublesome to deal with.
To break through this, I would have had to either crush it with an overwhelmingly superior attack that absolutely couldn't be deflected, or counter it with deeper mysteries of softness.
Of course, Jin-mu's proficiency in Taiji Wisdom Sword wasn't high, as he only returned about 20% of my attacks.
Even so, because I countered with the same mystery of softness, the 20% of attacks returned through deflection couldn't inflict any significant damage.
Next was the martial art of the Sichuan Tang Family, but I couldn't reproduce the poison for now.
Without senses, I couldn't figure out poison combinations using only pure Energy Sense.
However, I could reproduce hidden weapon techniques. I generated bone daggers between my fingers with black magic and threw them forward.
[Skill: Soul-Chasing Flying Daggers (Lv1) acquired.]
For me, who is somewhat of a warrior(?), having even one more means to attack at range was good.
Moreover, hidden weapons were faster and had better penetration than magic, even if they were less destructive.
'But I made this temporarily because I don't have hidden weapons... bone magic seems better than I thought?'
This time I tried adding poison and curse magic to bones made with black magic, and they absorbed it much better.
The bones made with black magic were absorbing poison more efficiently than the daggers Tang So-so had used.
Moreover, bone hidden weapons were disposable, so I didn't need to go around collecting them.
This prevented the pathetic situation of having to collect hidden weapons one by one after using Ten Thousand Flowers Rain.
Actually, Tang Family martial arts display the highest efficiency when combined with black magic.
Weapons, poison, and even curses as additional effects can all be solved with black magic.
It was truly regrettable that only I knew this good fact.
"Is there a Sichuan Tang Family in the Tower too? If there is, your lives are about to get easier, guys."
If there is one, I'll definitely go there to train resistance, and while I'm at it, I was planning to bring them the means to power up.
Tang Family martial arts are the best combination with black magic.
If I tell them this fact, I'll become a distinguished guest of the Tang Family, and when the prophecy explodes later, I might be able to get help, right?
Sichuan Tang Family equipped with black magic this can't be stopped.
Of course, whether I'll become a benefactor of the Tang Family or an enemy who toyed with the Tang Family is something I'll have to see.