Fusion Qigong and the Buru Island Request

Gulp.

I swallowed hard.

I never expected Fusion Qigong to appear here.

It was the signature technique of Rene Davis—one of the six Monarchs.

The words in parentheses bothered me, but…

“I choose Fusion Qigong.”

I answered without a single gram of hesitation.

Just as I thought. One fusion per week, with a maximum of five stored. Almighty could store far more and had weaker penalties. The “incomplete” label was no exaggeration.

“This is more than enough.”

A skill more valuable than a Transcendent-grade artifact. Rene had climbed to the rank of Monarch with this one technique alone. The only problem was that he later betrayed everyone.

Now then. I had the reward. Time to test whether my memories matched reality.

“Fuse Solar Sphere and Wind Bomb.”

The two energies intertwined and manifested in a new form.

So that’s how the mechanism works. Skill-assisted fusion. Even I, who had grown used to exploiting the synergy of devoured essences, would have found this method difficult to imitate.

A magic spell that combined the explosive nature of Solar Sphere with the properties of Wind Bomb. In one move, I had gained a new four-star skill.

And that wasn’t all. Thanks to my original ability, Devour, an additional synergy effect had been granted. With the Fire Worm essence providing extra flame damage on top of that, the spell had become vastly more powerful than the original.

“As expected. This is straight-up cheat-tier.”

-What do you mean by that?

They say seeing is believing. Showing her directly would be faster than explaining with words.

I deployed the spell created through Fusion Qigong. The moment a sphere half the size of Solar Sphere finished forming, I hurled it forward without hesitation.

The orb flew into the distance. I clenched my fist, and it erupted with blinding light.

Kwaaaaaang—!!!

The immense thermal energy trapped inside the sphere was released, triggering a massive explosion.

Its power rivaled that of Barbatos’s Iron Hammer. My ears rang from the shockwave, but a smile crept across my face.

Ares kept protesting. The Tower System apparently had enough and blocked him for fifteen days.

Thanks to the God of War from Olympus, I’ve obtained a wonderful skill.

Gulp!

After Void Mirror came Fusion Qigong. These were powerful skills I had never obtained even in my previous life, when I had proudly believed I stood at the peak of humanity.

Come to think of it, I had even learned Sergei’s exclusive patent—Demonic Power. I now possessed the signature techniques of two of the six Monarchs. On top of that, I had gained a skill that could manifest the essences I had devoured.

Just how much stronger could I become compared to my previous life?

At this point, even I was starting to fear my own growth rate.

Well, nothing comes for free. I was currently struggling while researching Void Mirror.

Crack!

“A failure, huh.”

I muttered slowly.

-It is not.

“You call… this… a success?”

-Place the word ‘perfect’ before the word ‘failure.’

Nyx covered her mouth and laughed. Damn goddess.

What I had manifested this time was the essence of a lowly servant that had been assimilated into the Primordial Dragon Heart. Since the essence’s nature was a mana core, I had hoped that reflecting it with Void Mirror would strengthen my heart, but…

-Hehe, now you even aim to encroach upon the realm of inanimate objects.

…Strengthening my mana manipulation? What a joke.

My entire body had turned into limestone. I had become a human-shaped rock.

If I had turned into a golem, fine, but why the hell did I become Rodin’s Thinker!

“This… is… ridiculous…”

Even my speech had slowed to a crawl. I tried releasing dark mana through the Primordial Dragon Heart, but the stone body refused to budge.

This experiment had failed spectacularly.

Crackling. When I flexed my arm, the limestone clinging ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to my skin crumbled away.

-Are you not giving up too quickly?

“I tried everything I could.”

I had moved every form of power I could wield—mana, dark mana, and internal energy. None of it worked.

“It seems the essence reflected by Void Mirror cannot be altered in any way.”

I brushed off the remaining stone fragments and muttered, “The mirror reflects the fundamental nature of the soul. Separate from extracting the mana core skill from the servant’s essence, its true nature is that of an artificial lifeform. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Projecting a Tyrannosaurus makes me several times stronger, but the bodily structure limits my skills once transformed. I was researching ways to improve that, but… the result, as you can see, is performance art.”

I wondered if consuming the Void Jewel—the loot I obtained after defeating Duke Naeshan—would change anything.

The moment the cooldown for Fusion Qigong ended, I registered another skill.

A space-leaping teleportation technique. There was a similar magic spell called Blink, but I hadn’t learned it yet. Even if I bought the skill book, I couldn’t use it because I didn’t have a magic-class occupation.

I had obtained a movement skill superior to Blink.

Moreover—

“It’s the perfect fusion of martial arts and physical techniques.”

In my previous life I had only used the two partially. Now I had discovered a new path that combined them completely.

Physical techniques like Superhuman Strength or Heavy Strike consumed mana, while martial arts relied on internal energy. Because their foundations differed, operating them simultaneously was possible but difficult since their natures didn’t perfectly overlap. In this life, the most I had managed was using Cloud Flow Steps and Full Power Sprint at the same time.

If I could combine physical techniques and martial arts without relying on Fusion Qigong…

-Your greed truly knows no bounds.

“This is still not enough.”

I chuckled playfully.

Even while familiarizing myself with my new abilities, I didn’t stop clearing gates.

My bet with Baal. To rise to Silver rank, I needed to reach level 150 for the promotion match. Even promising players took over a year for that section, but I had to achieve it within a month.

Clearing the Tower twice a day wouldn’t be enough. That was why I had accepted that ridiculous bet when the gate opened.

While I was spending every day busily—

-Lord Jinho, would you happen to be interested in traveling abroad?

“I didn’t know you enjoyed jokes.”

-Ah, well… it’s not actually a joke… Haha.

Han Suchang let out an awkward laugh, paused for a moment, then got to the point.

-Indonesia has made an official diplomatic request for support from Korea.

“What does that have to do with me?”

-It has everything to do with you. The request was made specifically to your team.

“Our team?”

Wait a second. Around this time, there was one incident that would force Indonesia to seek help from other countries…

“There was one.”

-Pardon?

“It’s nothing.”

I suppressed my surprise and answered vaguely.

“What exactly is the request?”

-They say an uncleared gate has appeared on Buru Island.

“Our team is only Bronze rank. Indonesia should have more capable teams.”

-The gate’s difficulty is estimated at a maximum of Bronze rank.

The gate that opened on Buru Island. Several Indonesian players had challenged it, but not only did none of them clear it—there were zero survivors. It was called a death gate. Even promising players who received massive government funding met the same fate.

-The government has half-given up on clearing the gate and is preparing for a Break scenario.

“Then why contact us?”

-I suppose they want to try everything possible.

A gate that had swallowed the blood of promising players. The island’s population was small, so they were willing to risk a Break and call in rankers later. My memories mostly matched.

It was the major incident later known as the “Tragedy of the Spice Islands.” I didn’t remember every overseas event, but when a request came directly like this, the story changed.

“Team Leader, if we handle this well, would it be an act of national prestige?”

-Of course. That goes without saying.

“I’ll discuss it with the team members.”

-I look forward to a positive answer.

After ending the call, I immediately gathered all the team members.

Once I finished explaining—

“Wow, my first overseas trip!”

Jiyoung shouted with sparkling eyes.

“I haven’t said we’re going yet.”

“But Master, you’ve already decided to go, haven’t you!”

“We’re a team. We still need to respect everyone’s opinions.”

I couldn’t say it out loud, but clearing that gate wouldn’t be easy. The road ahead would be grueling. If they chose to go themselves, they wouldn’t complain later.

“I will go.”

Ping Lei nodded. Ever since our private meeting, he had become remarkably obedient.

“Master, it’s weird that he’s not complaining. Is he sick?”

“They say a good beating is the best medicine.”

“What are you saying right in front of the person!”

Jiyoung pretended to be shocked and hid behind my back. She had always hated it when Ping Lei acted arrogant.

It was awkward trying to stop them.

Jiyoung peeked her head out from behind me.

“Karla, you’re coming too, right?”

“If it is the Team Leader’s order.”

Karla answered briefly. I still couldn’t tell what she was thinking, but she followed my words faithfully.

“I should look up famous Indonesian souvenirs.”

Brother Youngsu laughed heartily.

With no objections, the decision to head to Indonesia was made unanimously.