Dullard Mind, Monstrous Body
“...The curse has been lifted.”
The whispers of the Ten Thousand Demon Light incantations that had been scraping and gouging through his mind receded like the tide.
The moment the maddening spell broke, the system’s merciless “settlement” began exactly as it had warned.
“Agh, ugh... Aaaaargh! Aaaagh! Ghhhk!”
Jinhyuk thrashed on the ground, body twisting violently.
This was pain no human should ever have to endure.
It felt as though molten lead had been poured into every vein, as though thousands of red-hot needles were stabbing into his marrow.
The lingering poison of the curse, the exhaustion of battle, and the system’s ruthless intervention all collided at once, threatening to tear his body apart.
> External power source extinguished
> Settlement: Imprint grade elevation in progress based on accumulated valid actions
> Warning: Operational rate decline and qi-blood entanglement detected
> Threshold exceeded. Forced physical reconstruction initiated
Jinhyuk’s original body had been below average—softened by instant food and convenience-store lunches, carrying a layer of belly fat and possessing nothing resembling real muscle beyond the fingers used to scroll through a phone in his room.
The system was now mercilessly cramming D-rank power into that pathetic vessel, a body that had only grown slightly firmer after being dragged to the Great Wall and forced into slave-soldier life.
“Settlement... ease up a little... you bastard system... Ghhhk!”
Bloody foam bubbled from his lips.
Crack. Crunch.
Bones shattered and realigned. Muscle fibers tore and reformed at grotesque density.
It felt like formatting an entire body and reinstalling Windows—except someone kept kicking the PC case mid-install.
> Settlement Results (Grade)
> Imprint Grade: Competent Archery (D+) ↑
> Imprint Grade: Sturdy Combat-Compressed Muscle (D) ↑
> Imprint Grade: Trained Survival Instinct (D-) ↑
“Captain! Captain!! Come to your senses! Your eyes are rolled back! Captain!!”
Beom Dal, who had been directing the loading of the Snow Bear’s remains onto carts, screamed and sprinted over.
What he saw was horrifying.
Jinhyuk’s entire body was caked in blood and mud. His limbs twisted at unnatural angles, convulsing.
Worst of all were the sounds coming from inside him.
Thud. Crack. Crunch.
The grotesque noise of bones and flesh colliding echoed through the quiet forest.
“Beom Dal... ugh, Old Man Hwang... bring Old Man Hwang... quickly... I think I’m about to log out...”
“What? Log... What do you mean, sir! Ah, I understand! Are you attempting to enter a state of rebirth? Or consolidating a secret art while in suspended animation? Captain, do not lose consciousness! I will handle this somehow!”
Beom Dal interpreted Jinhyuk’s “log out” as some noble secret technique of the Eastern Barbarian aristocracy or a legendary body-reconstruction process, and sobbed as he carefully lifted his captain.
The secret base the Heavenly Wolf Unit had carved beneath the cliffs of Ghost Cry Gorge for temporary use was soon in chaos.
Heavenly Wolf members who had been guarding the site rushed over in shock at the sight of their blood-soaked captain.
Yet within that chaos flowed a strange sense of camaraderie.
The Ten Thousand Demon Light faction’s sorcery had been both terror and salvation to the Heavenly Wolf soldiers.
Those whose sides had nearly burst open, those bleeding out from crushed legs—they had all survived thanks to the demonic sects’ eerie arts... or rather, sorcery.
“Captain! How did you end up in this state?!”
“Quiet! The captain is currently shouldering the karma of those Ten Thousand Demon Light bastards and the resentment of the Snow Bear alone so that he may save us! He is undergoing rebirth! Do not dare disturb his meridians! You all know this, do you not? Our captain is the scion of a once-great noble house of the northern Eastern Barbarians. Only such noble blood could have slain that divine beast!”
At Beom Dal’s thunderous declaration, the former black-path slave soldiers held their breath.
Thanks to Beom Dal’s long-standing habit of translating Jinhyuk’s bizarre modern Korean into the archaic speech of fallen Eastern Barbarian nobility, the men had already accepted their captain as a tragic yet legendary foreign noble.
Unlike their own rootless selves, his noble blood explained his absurd strength—and that belief had already taken root as fierce loyalty.
Meanwhile, a strange and awkward scene unfolded on one side of the base.
Dozens of Heavenly Wolf soldiers approached the exhausted Ten Thousand Demon Light sorcerers who had collapsed after dispelling their own curse.
These were the same people they would normally have spat at and avoided, calling them “disgusting Demon Cult bastards” or “blood-reeking Blood Cult scum.”
“...Here. Eat. You looked completely drained earlier.”
A rough-looking Heavenly Wolf soldier tossed a pouch of dried meat and a waterskin to a nameless Ten Thousand Demon Light sorcerer.
They still felt chills from the sorcerers’ eerie aura, yet their pride as former black-path wanderers who once called themselves righteous outlaws would not allow them to ignore the debt of having their lives saved by that very sorcery.
“...For black-path ruffians, you understand the virtue of repaying kindness.”
“Shut your mouth! This is what our captain ordered. Besides, my little brother is still breathing because of that foul fog you cast... I’m only giving this so I don’t owe you anything. Now eat and get lost!”
Even at the soldier’s harsh words, the Ten Thousand Demon Light sorcerer let out a quiet chuckle.
On another side, Heavenly Wolf members helped the barely mobile Ten Thousand Demon Light sorcerers sort medicinal herbs.
“Isn’t that a poisonous herb? There were more like it in the rock crevices earlier. Want me to fetch some? You said you needed them for medicine.”
“...I would be grateful. To suppress the backlash of sorcery, we require many yin-natured plants.”
It was a bizarre alliance forged through eerie sorcery.
They still despised one another’s beliefs and origins, yet none could deny that they had survived this brush with death together as comrades.
And at the center of this unlikely harmony stood that monster named Jinhyuk.
“Go bring Old Man Hwang! Now!! The captain’s body is drying up! He cannot endure this alone!”
Beom Dal had already sent messengers, but more Heavenly Wolf soldiers were about to scatter into the darkness when the air around the tents grew heavy.
Dozens of shadows seeped out from between the trees like ghosts.
Old Man Hwang, Cheong-un, Dogwi, Gwian—the core members of the Survival Ghosts, veterans who had survived the hellish Ghost Cry Gorge for over a decade—along with their subordinates.
At their center, Old Man Hwang stepped forward, exhaling thick smoke from his pipe.
“Tsk. Look at this brat. Went all the way to the gates of the underworld and back like it was his own front door.”
Old Man Hwang clicked his tongue and entered the tent.
The soldiers parted for him, yet none could hide the sharp wariness in their eyes, fearing he might harm Jinhyuk.
Beom Dal rushed forward, face pale.
“Elder! Please save the captain! The pain of his rebirth is too great!”
Old Man Hwang’s expression hardened the moment he examined Jinhyuk.
The young man’s body was convulsing far beyond human limits.
It looked as though an invisible giant hammer were pounding him on an anvil without mercy.
This was beyond what Old Man Hwang’s acupressure and experience alone could handle.
“Cheong-un! Dogwi! Dok-an! You lot come help too! This brat’s meridians are running wild on their own!”
At Old Man Hwang’s shout, the Survival Ghosts surrounded Jinhyuk.
Though their own inner energy had been sealed and their dantians destroyed, decades of surviving on the edge of death had given them a profound understanding of blood channels and survival acupressure that rivaled most physicians or masters.
Yet the expressions of the old monsters gradually twisted into something grotesque as they placed their hands on Jinhyuk.
“What in the world is this... How can a body without any inner energy be transforming this rapidly in real time?”
Crack. Crunch.
Cheong-un pressed Jinhyuk’s shoulder and gasped.
The muscle beneath his fingertips tore apart one moment only to reform at even greater density the next.
“This isn’t ordinary rebirth. I thought it might be the legendary Heavenly Martial Physique, but it’s not. A Heavenly Martial Physique should be greedily absorbing ambient energy, yet this brat shows no sign of that.”
Dogwi frowned as he pressed the blood channels in Jinhyuk’s leg.
“Exactly. Earlier I saw him still unable to speak a single proper Central Plains word, just staring at Beom Dal. His intelligence is average at best. Even when he tried to steal Old Man Hwang’s footwork, he only managed a crude imitation after repeating it thousands of times like an idiot. A true genius with high comprehension would have already grasped the essence. He can’t even learn the language, his understanding of martial arts is low... yet his body alone is growing stronger like some demonic beast or divine creature.”
The old monsters shuddered.
This defied every principle of the martial world.
Superior physiques were usually accompanied by superior minds and senses. But Jinhyuk displayed a grotesque imbalance—dull of mind, yet monstrously strong of body.
“It’s not the Tyrant Physique or the Three Talents Physique either. It doesn’t match any legendary constitution. It’s just... crudely carving away and reassembling. This isn’t martial study. It’s closer to external training. Body tempering. I can hear the bones being filed down from here.”
Old Man Hwang examined Jinhyuk’s spine and barked at the surrounding soldiers.
“Are you just going to stand there?! Bring the Snow Bear’s heart blood and inner core right now! Dok-an, take out the herbs and poisonous plants you’ve been hoarding! If this brat’s grotesque framework is going to complete its reconstruction, it needs energy poured into it immediately!”
The Survival Ghosts moved swiftly.
While Cheong-un and Dogwi held Jinhyuk’s limbs and forcibly suppressed his twisting meridians with acupressure, Dok-an poured the Snow Bear’s blood, finely chopped inner core, and rare Ghost Cry Gorge herbs into a medicine pot.
“A brat without inner energy would die if he swallowed this raw, but with that bizarre body of his, he’d have to chew rocks to survive! Open your mouth, you stubborn bastard!”
Old Man Hwang forced the thick, bloody medicinal paste Dok-an had hastily prepared down Jinhyuk’s throat.
The vital energy contained in the Snow Bear’s explosive life force mixed with poisonous herbs flowed down his esophagus.
“Ghhhhhk! Aaaaaaargh! Agh! Aaaagh!”
Jinhyuk’s unconscious body arched like a bow.
Every time a scream tore from his throat, the Survival Ghosts mercilessly pressed his blood channels, anchoring the rampaging energy.
It was a rare sight—decades-experienced old monsters sweating like rain to save a single slave soldier.
“Look at this brat. Lacking comprehension, he can’t even control the energy, so his body is just forcibly locking the rampaging vital force inside his muscles!”
Crunch. Crack!
“The acupressure isn’t working! His muscle density has doubled since earlier! My fingers are going to bounce off!”
Cheong-un and Dogwi’s fingers trembled slightly.
A slave soldier with no inner energy was growing stronger in real time, repelling even the seasoned Survival Ghosts’ acupressure.
This was nothing like the elegant rebirth of a genius.
It was a brutal, efficient tempering driven by nothing but the single desperate will to survive—like mincing meat in a slaughterhouse.
“Endure it! If you break here, you’re really going to the underworld!”
Thud! Thud!
Old Man Hwang’s fingers pressed mercilessly against Jinhyuk’s chest.
He forcibly realigned the tangled qi and blood, skillfully organizing the muscle fibers the system had torn apart.
Outside the tent, Heavenly Wolf soldiers and Ten Thousand Demon Light disciples trembled at Jinhyuk’s agonized screams.
The Ten Thousand Demon Light members in particular looked guilty, wondering if their sorcery had caused him such immense pain.
“The... Heavenly Wolf Captain is suffering so greatly... Was our sorcery too potent?”
“No, it’s fine.”
Beom Dal approached them and gave a shoulder a firm pat.
“The captain is currently burning away all of our karma. Your sorcery was merely kindling. His will burns far hotter! Look—the Survival Ghost elders are helping with his rebirth! He is of noble northern blood. He will surely rise again.”
Beom Dal’s transcendent translation was now working even on the Ten Thousand Demon Light members. They began to feel a strange emotion at the thought that their demonic arts had become sacred flames aiding the Heavenly Wolf Captain’s growth.
The fanatics turned toward Jinhyuk’s tent, chanting their own scriptures and incantations, praying for his safe awakening.
As time passed, Jinhyuk’s breathing gradually stabilized.
His abnormally swollen muscles compressed into firm, sleek form. Color returned to his face.
The vital energy of the Snow Bear that the Survival Ghosts had forced into him merged with the system’s settlement results and sank deep into his marrow.
“Huu... He’s finally calming down. Haa, haa.”
Old Man Hwang gazed down for a long while at Jinhyuk, who had collapsed into deep sleep.
Cheong-un, panting beside him, wiped his sweat and muttered.
“Old Man Hwang, this brat is truly... a strange creature. A dullard who can’t even learn the language and has low martial comprehension is mocking the common sense of the martial world with nothing but his body. Even after rolling around outside the Great Wall for ten years, I’ve never seen such a ‘pure physique.’ Just where did this brat come from?”
Old Man Hwang burst into hearty laughter and picked up his fallen pipe.
“Whatever his origins, the brat survived. That’s enough. But Jinhyuk, the power you’ve gained will look like the tastiest prey to those inside the Great Wall. I wonder if you’ll still be spouting nonsense when that time comes.”
Dawn light seeped through the cracks of Ghost Cry Gorge.
Outside the tent, Heavenly Wolf soldiers and Ten Thousand Demon Light members mingled, boiling porridge, collecting broken arrows, and checking on their comrades.
The strange unit known as the Heavenly Wolf—bound together by blood, poison, and madness—now waited only for their captain’s resurrection.
A system window floating above Jinhyuk’s body displayed its final message before vanishing.
> Physical reconstruction complete
> Data imprint settled
> Sleeping. Recovery rate increased
Jinhyuk sank into a deep darkness without dreams.
The Snow Bear’s remains on the cart glistened with cold morning dew while the Survival Ghosts kept watch over his sleeping form with open eyes.
Outside, Beom Dal passionately explained to the soldiers just how great a proof of noble blood Jinhyuk’s recent feat had been, and how profound the secret art called “log out” truly was.
In the silence, unaware of when he had lost consciousness, Jinhyuk’s newly reconstructed body perfectly contained the settled D-rank power.
His bones had hardened. His muscles had gained steel-like density.
Yet inside his head, he remained at the level of “Where am I? I’m hungry.”