The Fist Saint's True Intent
The man appeared to be in his mid-thirties.
Short sports cut, a solid build, and half-lidded eyes that gave him a somewhat languid impression at first glance.
But beneath those lids burned a gaze far more intense than most.
Shin Junseok.
A Platinum-rank player counted among the very best in the country.
The top-tier martial artist extended his hand for a handshake the moment he saw me.
“Well now, didn’t expect to meet a celebrity here.”
“If we’re talking pure fame, I’d say you take the crown, Shin Junseok.”
“Oh, I’m honored you recognize me.”
“How could I not? You’re in the domestic top ten.”
“You flatter me.”
Shin Junseok let out a hearty chuckle.
“You’re my senior. Please speak comfortably.”
“Hm, still… we’ve only just met.”
“I’ve long admired you as a martial artist. It would actually make me uncomfortable if you spoke formally.”
I lied through my teeth without a shred of hesitation.
Since we had been quite close before the regression, it was half truth, half fiction.
“Then I’ll speak plainly, junior.”
Shin Junseok accepted my suggestion.
“I didn’t expect the seller of the martial arts manual to be you, senior.”
“A significant number of the manuals circulating in Korea came from my own collection.”
Shin Junseok cleared his throat with a small cough.
“I was simply curious who had taken an interest in martial arts.”
“So you came in person to check?”
“There aren’t many players who devote themselves to martial arts these days.”
A bitter smile colored the corner of Shin Junseok’s mouth.
Just as I expected.
His obsession with martial arts hadn’t changed at all since before the regression.
If anything, the hunger flickering in his eyes seemed even stronger than I remembered.
Shin Junseok studied me with those half-closed eyes.
A moment later, a short exclamation escaped him.
“Junior, your internal energy has settled quite stably in your dantian.”
“It’s only third-rate martial arts.”
“No, that’s not what I mean. Since you’re a player who has truly trained in martial arts, I’d like to give you a gift.”
Shin Junseok held out a booklet.
It was the exact item I had intended to buy—the Cloud Flow Steps skill book.
“It’s not an especially valuable manual, but I’d like you to have it, junior.”
“You’re not going to take any money?”
“Seeing a junior devoted to the martial path is reward enough.”
Of course.
Just as I thought.
This man was utterly sincere when it came to martial arts.
I deliberately shook my head.
“I appreciate the sentiment, but I don’t feel comfortable accepting it for free.”
“Can’t you simply consider it an old senior’s affection for his junior?”
“I’m not fond of owing favors.”
Shin Junseok let out a small groan.
“Then I have a condition.”
A bizarre situation where the one receiving goodwill was the one setting terms.
Shin Junseok, seemingly unaware of the strange shift, listened attentively.
“A spar. I want to satisfy you through a spar.”
“You want to… spar with me?”
“Yes. I think it’s a fair condition.”
I flashed a deep smile.
* * *
The spar had been arranged on the spot.
We moved to a training center near the general trading company.
A spacious training hall of about two hundred pyeong.
I stood facing Shin Junseok in the empty arena.
“A sudden sparring request, huh.”
Shin Junseok scratched his head as if troubled.
Yet he couldn’t hide the smile tugging at his lips.
Being a born martial arts maniac, he seemed to be thoroughly enjoying the situation.
No—if it was the Shin Junseok I remembered, he was one hundred percent satisfied even if he didn’t say it.
“I’m taking this opportunity to ask for your guidance, senior.”
Of course, I would need to at least put up a decent fight if I wanted to completely win his heart.
That said, I had already prepared every countermeasure needed to capture Shin Junseok’s interest.
- Partner, why the sudden spar?
“It just sort of happened.”
I shrugged.
I couldn’t exactly tell her I was using future knowledge to earn his favor.
- How confident are you of victory?
“Ten minutes.”
- Oh? You plan to settle it within ten minutes?
“No. Lasting ten minutes would already be impressive.”
Even in the current era, Shin Junseok was one of the top two players in the country.
His skill and talent were so outstanding that he wouldn’t fall in the rankings even far into the future.
On the other hand, I had only just cleared the tutorial.
Of course, my actual specs were enough to crush everything on the lower floors of the Tower… but I was still far from reaching the level of a top-tier player.
“If I can land even one solid hit, I’ll call it a success.”
I muttered quietly as I loosened my body.
“Are you ready, junior?”
“Yes.”
“Since I’m facing a junior, I’ll give you a three-second head start.”
Shin Junseok held up three fingers.
“Then I won’t refuse.”
Agile Hind Leg
The fifty-meter distance closed in an instant.
Shin Junseok’s eyes tracked my movement.
In the tutorial stage, that explosive speed had been enough to momentarily shake a monster’s focus, but it didn’t work on a domestic top-ten ranker.
I extended my claws fully and unleashed the first form of the Blood Claw Technique—Fierce Tiger Blood Claw.
Claws reinforced by Greed’s Protection.
“Oh? That energy…”
Shin Junseok stared at my hand with clear surprise.
Whoosh!
The claw strike, filled with ferocious momentum, sliced through empty air.
Shin Junseok twisted his body.
The diagonal Fierce Tiger Blood Claw cut nothing but air.
Instead of continuing into the second form, I skipped one and went straight to the third.
Blood Tiger Storm Claw.
Without retracting the hand that had unleashed Fierce Tiger Blood Claw, I used its momentum to spin my entire body.
A 360-degree spinning third form.
Using the legs as the axis of rotation to drive even greater power.
“Oh! Your understanding of the forms is remarkable!”
Shin Junseok burst out in admiration.
It was a technique difficult to use effectively in real combat.
But because he had declared a three-second head start, I was able to unleash a big move.
Instead of dodging, Shin Junseok crossed his forearms in an X.
Clang-clang-clang!
Sparks flew from the tips of my claws.
Even though Greed’s Protection, internal energy, and mana combined to create claws capable of shredding steel plates, they couldn’t leave a single scratch on Shin Junseok’s forearms.
As expected from a martial artist whose entire body was a weapon.
I moved on to the final form of the Blood Claw Technique.
Internal energy concentrated in my fully extended left hand.
Swish-swish-swish!
Like a snake aiming for prey, it swayed left and right before shooting toward Shin Junseok’s clearly exposed abdomen.
Four-Headed Snake Claw.
A form modeled after a snake’s head.
“I didn’t expect you to aim for the opening here.”
Shin Junseok grinned broadly.
It seemed my display of martial arts had pleased him greatly.
His right arm swung out.
The energy wrapped around his hand lightly deflected my left hand.
“Excellent. I’m glad I chose to exchange blows with you, junior.”
“What do you mean?”
“That your martial skill is truly impressive…”
“No, senior.”
I cut Shin Junseok off.
He looked momentarily stunned.
“I’m only just getting started.”
The three-second head start had merely been a courtesy toward Shin Junseok while he was using ‘martial arts.’
My ‘real’ fight hadn’t even begun.
Rumble-rumble-rumble!
Thorn Carapace covered my entire body.
Some of the protruding thorns tore through my clothes.
At the same time, I manifested the power of Polar Night into reality.
Blades of darkness surged from beneath my feet.
I materialized all five points of Polar Night—the maximum I could currently wield.
For the first time, bewilderment appeared on Shin Junseok’s face.
Body Strengthening
A blue barrier repelled the blades of darkness.
A technique that spread internal energy outward in a wide, solid form to block attacks.
Of course, even though I had launched a surprise attack, I hadn’t expected it to actually work.
My opponent was a powerhouse who had cleared past the 50th floor of the Tower.
Tricks of this level couldn’t land a clean hit.
But.
“I can still reach you.”
I swung my tightly clenched fist with all my strength.
A strike amplified by Monstrous Strength, boosting pure physical power by three hundred percent.
Clang!
The moment my fist slammed into his protective barrier, a deafening sound rang out.
My brow furrowed instinctively.
Drip. Drip.
- Partner, are you injured?
“I’m fine. It’s nothing.”
Blood flowed from the fist that had struck his protective energy.
There was no way my bare fist could break through Shin Junseok’s barrier.
I had known that, yet I still threw the punch.
“Hah… haha.”
Shin Junseok’s expression mixed shock and astonishment.
From the collision just now, his body had been pushed back nearly twenty centimeters.
“How about it? Feel like going all out now?”
“It seems I’ve been rude to you, junior.”
Shin Junseok wiped all emotion from his face.
His eyes sank deep and calm.
Since composure was said to be the most important quality for a martial artist, I could tell just how serious he had become.
“I’ll still hold back somewhat, but I’ll face you with sincerity on my part.”
The moment Shin Junseok’s shoulders trembled slightly—
Sixth Sense has detected killing intent.
A cold sensation swept across the back of my neck.
Relying on pure instinct, I twisted my body.
The fist that came right after.
White fist energy wrapped around his forearm scraped across my Thorn Carapace.
It hadn’t even been a direct hit—just a graze—yet more than half the carapace’s durability had been shaved away.
Fist Gang.
The realm of releasing energy to injure others.
‘Has this uncle already learned Explosive Tiger Divine Fist?’
Explosive Tiger Divine Fist.
It was the first-rate martial art Shin Junseok had favored for a long time.
True to its name, it specialized in overwhelming opponents with explosive momentum.
Instead of counterattacking with my body, I drew on the power of Polar Night.
Swish!
This time, Polar Night stretched out like a whip and coiled around both of Shin Junseok’s arms.
“Hah, what an interesting power!”
Boom!
Shin Junseok stomped the ground hard.
The five tentacles I had created with Polar Night were torn apart by the shockwave of his energy-infused stomp.
I couldn’t even retrieve them. All the Polar Night energy used to form the whips was completely exhausted.
‘This is enough.’
The tiny opening created after he used Explosive Tiger Divine Fist and then followed up with the stomp.
“Haaaaah!”
I applied a debuff to Shin Junseok with Roar while activating Monstrous Strength once again.
My target was the forearm that had just grazed my side.
“Hah!”
Suddenly, Shin Junseok let out a thunderous shout.
The volume was so great that my eardrums shook.
Damn it.
He could already use Lion’s Roar in 2025?
Lion’s Roar operated on a similar principle to my Roar, but it was a far higher-tier skill.
It not only dispelled my debuff but created an opening in return.
Shin Junseok pulled his right arm back and closed the distance.
Crushing Mountain Charge.
A technique that twisted the body and drove forward with the entire torso from shoulder to waist.
Because he had wrapped his entire body in the internal energy of Explosive Tiger Divine Fist, white energy enveloped him completely.
I had read his footwork and stepped back, but I couldn’t completely escape the range of the energy radiating around him.
Crunch!
Even a graze caused my Thorn Carapace durability to plummet.
The area brushed by his fist shattered from the successive impacts and scattered across the floor.
If the next attack landed, it would be over.
I grit my teeth and released the mana from my heart outward.
Mud Trap
A swamp of mud spread between us.
The moment Shin Junseok paused, I escaped his attack range.
“I almost ended up finishing in one minute instead of ten.”
A sigh slipped through my lips.
That had been way too close.
- Partner, if it gets dangerous, I shall lend you my strength!
“Ah, you mean that new ability?”
- Indeed.
“No. This time, I want to clash using my own power.”
I shook my head.
Nyx’s new ability.
I was curious, but not right now.
A spar against Shin Junseok, the strongest martial artist in Korea, wasn’t an opportunity that came often.
This time, I would drastically raise my martial arts attainment!
My eyes burned with fighting spirit.