Chapter 18
Chapter 18
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 18
Chapter Title: Imugi's Banishment
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Many avoided his gaze.
Others openly glared at him with undisguised disgust.
Im Sa-yeol let out a hollow laugh, utterly dumbfounded.
"Our Imugi Guild... The Black Cloud Witch must have gotten too full of herself playing the concubine."
"What? You bastard!"
Jeon Su-jeong spat the curse at Im Sa-yeol in a panic.
"Shut your mouth, you whore!"
Im Sa-yeol shot back harshly, tossing aside his horn-rimmed glasses as he leaped to his feet.
12th rank.
The overwhelming power of one of only five absolute Awakeners in Korea crushed Jeon Su-jeong's shoulders in an instant.
Her face drained of color, her entire body beginning to tremble uncontrollably.
"How dare you strut around here using your guild's name as a shield."
"Guiding trainees means shaping Korea's future."
"Beyond that, it's a glorious duty to protect Earth itself. And you dare sully it with your petty bedroom squabbles? You rotten bitch!"
Im Sa-yeol's fury erupted.
⚙ SYSTEM NOTIFICATION ⚙ Black Cloud Witch Jeon Su-jeong and the Imugi Guild are banned from instructor duties for the next 3 years. "Who the hell are you to spout that bullshit!"
Jeon Su-jeong screamed like a cornered animal.
Instructor duty for trainees might seem trivial, but it was hugely important.
It was a chance to scout promising rookies like Yang Su-hyeok or Lee Jeong-uk first.
And now they were stripping that right from Imugi entirely?
"I decide. As the overall supervisor of the 56th Trainee Education."
"A vote! We need a vote! This is—"
"Fine. Korea. Land of democracy."
Im Sa-yeol's eyes burned red as he scanned the room.
The instructors quickly eyed one another amid the sudden escalation.
Which side to pick?
"Majority rules. Baekdusan or Imugi."
"Th-that..."
Jeon Su-jeong's voice trembled.
It wasn't Im Sa-yeol versus Jeon Su-jeong.
Baekdusan versus Imugi.
That was the real fight from the start.
And the answer was obvious.
They were all top three guilds, but not equal.
Baekdusan stood at the pinnacle.
The absolute best.
Imugi scraped the bottom of that trio.
"Why? Isn't that what you wanted—betting your precious guild's name?"
Im Sa-yeol flashed a cold smile and called the vote.
Of the ten instructors excluding Shar Cal Eluriate and Jeon Su-jeong, seven sided with Im Sa-yeol.
This was the stance of their affiliations—the association and guilds.
Witnessing it with her own eyes, Jeon Su-jeong collapsed in place.
"Ugh... sob."
Soon, tears like chicken shit poured from her as she broke into heaving sobs.
No one spared her a glance.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Awakeners wield power. Most gained it suddenly, like hitting the lottery jackpot.
Of course, if money appeared out of nowhere one day, many would act cautiously.
It might be their one shot at luck, so they'd bide time for the best opportunity.
But what if digging unearthed oil gushing taller than yourself?
Everything changes. Once you've secured the oil field and made it truly yours, caution flies out the window.
It's an endless gusher anyway. You start spending wildly. Having money makes you want to burn through it.
So, how does an Awakener feel with sudden, superior power that doesn't fade no matter how recklessly they use it?
Simply put, they see nothing in their way.
Like the guy who lucked into oil and splashes cash everywhere, they crave to flaunt their strength.
To show off.
But the state and society hold them back.
At least on paper, Awakeners can't swing their power at civilians.
Sure, some criminals still do, but most meet grim ends. Their immense power draws harsh global crackdowns on Awakener rights.
That's why Korea's top elites serve as instructors for trainees—to make it obvious at a glance.
You punks might be strong, but you're barely sprouted tadpoles. Don't get cocky. Fear the world. It's intimidation.
Those suppressed urges should ideally explode beyond portals—at monsters.
But sometimes, they burst abnormally.
If humans could live purely rationally, they'd be perfect. Sadly, they're animals too.
In the end, they rationalize.
As long as it's not civilians.
Petty squabbles among trainees? Bound to happen. They're only human.
They want to brag, to flaunt superiority.
A base instinct everyone shares.
That's why trainee fights were surprisingly common.
The clash between Group 3 and Group 8 was a big deal, but it didn't hog the spotlight for long—same old story.
Just typical trainee brawls.
The only public difference? It dragged in instructors' affair drama, tarnishing the academy's reputation.
So the association and all guilds buried it.
Embarrassing.
Internally, though, whispers flew differently.
Without fanfare, all eyes locked on one person.
Yang Su-hyeok of Group 8.
An Awakener with the Martial Artist class.
Far from ordinary.
A hyper rookie—the first of its kind, not just super.
With a spotless background like blank canvas.
Records showed he'd been a vegetable until recently post-Portal Impact, proving no ties to anyone.
Impossible not to covet.
Even as attention poured in, practical training pressed on relentlessly.
Group 8 now hunted even 3rd-grade portals with ease, far beyond 2nd.
3rd-grade was off-limits for trainees normally.
Only fully trained Awakeners with real talent could fight those monsters and return alive.
Yet Group 8 got permission to train inside.
Shar Cal Eluriate pushed for it, and Im Sa-yeol plus everyone valued Group 8's potential highly.
Su-hyeok shone so bright others faded, but Jin Chang-hyeok and Baek Yi-yeon's talents crushed norms too.
They were true rookies.
Shar trained the trio her way, full effort. After a week and change, effects hit Su-hyeok hardest.
'Time to start the Heaven and Earth Unification Divine Art.'
Not mere training gains—even level-ups fueled it. Su-hyeok hit his first benchmark faster than expected.
Body foundation for first-rate martial artist secured.
That day, home, door shut, he dove straight in without delay.
'Heaven and earth link as one line, thus two yet one. Also three yet one.'
Recalling the all-too-familiar art from memory, he recited the incantation and regulated his breath.
From below his abdomen, his dantian, energy stirred slowly.
The rock-solid internal energy base forged by Nature Primordial Art.
It circled once, inspecting his whole body.
The so-called Great Heavenly Circulation.
Then the energy branched.
One becomes two, two becomes three.
Of those three, two surged not back to the lower dantian but toward his heart and brain crown.
Su-hyeok's body, with Ren and Du meridians fully open and most impurities purged, neared perfection.
The internal energy, split threefold by the Heaven and Earth Unification Divine Art, moved tentatively at first—then accelerated like a car on smooth asphalt.
Whoooosh—!
The rush of energy echoed like wind in his ears.
In a flash, it reached destinations, halting to spin.
Tracing circles, it built nests like swallows weaving homes. Unlike using the body's innate lower dantian, this was perilous.
Middle dantian energy exploding at the heart? It'd shred it, cut blood flow, instant death.
Upper dantian demanded even more care.
Mess up, and brain death—idiot or madman.
Demanded utmost focus.
The Heaven and Earth Unification Divine Art formed middle and upper dantians simultaneously.
Insanely tough from the start.
Thus, only peak experts at minimum, masters of internal energy control.
That was entry requirement.
But Su-hyeok differed. He had experience. Memories intact as the continent's top martial artist.
With stable foundation and Nature Primordial Art's firm, steady energy, he trusted mere sight of the wall sufficed.
And results proved him right.
First, a tiny, rice-grain-sized middle dantian rooted at his heart.
Next, the upper dantian's spinning energy coalesced even smaller.
Drenched in cold sweat, Su-hyeok watched every moment calmly.
The clustered energies stabilized.
'Success.'
At once, thin blue energy threads seeped from all three sites in his body, intertwining softly.
"Hoo..."
As he exhaled, the woven, tightly bound blue threads scattered into the air like phantoms.
Eyes opening, a smile curved Su-hyeok's lips.
"Perfect."
The now-familiar alert chimed simultaneously.
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Ding-! Legendary Discovery. Divine Ultimate Art!
S-Rank Martial Art: Heaven and Earth Unification Divine Art acquired. Evolvable Martial Art.
New changes occurring in the body. Detecting...
"Oho?"
Light blazed in Su-hyeok's eyes.
Fresh alerts flooded in.
Legendary discovery, divine ultimate art, evolvable—even that.
'Well, S-rank feels too low for Heaven and Earth Unification anyway.'
He could guess why.
Beyond basic realm divisions, it had transcendence stages.
Like now: forging upper/middle dantians, linking to lower for Unified Body—the first stage.
Followed by second, third.
On the continent, completing the second alone earned him Martial Emperor.
At Earth's growth pace, breaching the third seemed feasible.
⚔ STATUS ⚔ ⚡ New Body Change: Unified Body Achieved 💨 Accumulated Energy: Split to Upper, Middle, Lower Dantians ✨ Density: Increases Toward Upper Dantian