The Fist Saint's Flaw
Thud, thud.
Shin Junseok approached, his feet sinking into the mud-covered ground. White energy surged up his back. The moment the materialized qi touched the surrounding air, it warped the landscape like a mirage. The pressure felt like a dump truck barreling straight toward me. Even at ten meters away, it was hard to breathe.
“Not using any movement arts?”
“Consider it my final courtesy.”
If he used a movement technique, he could shake off the mud trap in a single bound. The sparring match would have ended right there.
“You’ll end up using it anyway.”
I’d succeeded in landing a hit. It hadn’t caused any real damage, but I’d still forced one of Korea’s top ten rankers to take a step back. Only one task remained: drawing out Shin Junseok’s full power. I’d already made him use his signature technique, Storm Tiger Divine Fist. Now only one thing was left.
Winning his favor seemed accomplished, but the second goal had been purely selfish.
[Energy Bolt activated.]
A blue sphere shot straight at him. Shin Junseok stared at the orb, then—
Boom!
He threw a punch. The instant he did, [Sixth Sense] screamed a warning. I jerked my head to the right, and the qi blast from his fist grazed my cheek. The force that had erased the Energy Bolt continued straight toward me.
He wasn’t just shaping qi—he was releasing it. Even in 2025, he was a monster.
Just the qi wave brushing my head made it ring.
“Trying to kill your junior?”
“Ah, my apologies. I got a little too excited.”
“……”
The range of his qi release was about ten meters. I’d only been able to dodge because I was right at the edge. That was just like him. Hah. This felt like a real fight—perfect.
I retreated farther, putting distance between us and the maximum range of his qi blasts.
“I can’t allow you to create distance without a plan.”
Shin Junseok accelerated, quickly closing in from behind. My stats were comparable to a player in the low 100s, but that was nothing next to Shin Junseok. Even without a movement art, his speed was impossible to shake.
But I had the essences I’d absorbed so far.
[Blaze activated.]
Whoosh!
Crimson flames erupted along the path I’d just taken. I spun in a circle.
“Junior, you keep pulling out one strange ability after another.”
“My unique skill is pretty impressive.”
“And you’ve mastered this many martial arts on top of that. Remarkable.”
Shin Junseok poured strength into his legs and charged straight through the flames that rose over two meters high.
“What are you going to do now?!”
His fist suddenly loomed huge in my vision. The pressure crushed down on my entire body. Just as expected.
‘With my skill alone, I can’t reach Shin Junseok.’
Strength. Speed. Dynamic vision. Inner energy. I couldn’t surpass him in any of those. But there was one thing I had over him.
Know yourself and know your enemy, and you need not fear a hundred battles.
Before regressing, I’d been fairly close with Shin Junseok, so I knew his habits when using martial arts. I wasn’t just dodging. I was guiding his actions exactly as I wanted.
‘His first attack will always be from the front.’
The moment Shin Junseok broke through the flames, I moved as predicted. I hadn’t used [Blaze] to deal damage. It was to restrict his movement. When flames spread like this, his fighting style was to force his way straight through.
Whoosh!
Shin Junseok’s fist tore through the air.
“Oh? Sharp instincts.”
After the first attack passed, the second form of Storm Tiger Divine Fist would follow—rapid punches like a boxer’s jab. I couldn’t dodge that at my speed.
[Dark Dominion activated.]
A pitch-black barrier overlapped and blocked the incoming fist.
Bang! Bang! Explosions rang out in succession. Each barrier lasted less than 0.1 seconds against the second punch of Storm Tiger Divine Fist. With five barriers deployed for defense, I’d bought roughly 0.4 seconds.
‘That’s enough.’
If I waited to see him use Storm Tiger Divine Fist before moving, it would be too late. I had to watch the direction of his footwork and the movement of his shoulder muscles, then predict using my knowledge from before the regression.
White qi once again swept through the air. A flicker of surprise appeared in Shin Junseok’s eyes.
“I didn’t expect you to deflect the second form.”
Bang! Whoosh!
Fists imbued with the mysteries of Storm Tiger Divine Fist rained down one after another. The third attack. Completely dodging it was impossible, so I layered [Greed’s Blessing] over [Spiked Carapace]. The carapace, reinforced by the erosion effect, shattered instantly upon contact with the qi of Storm Tiger Divine Fist. The area wrapped in carapace stung, but I endured.
The power was enough to decide the match with just a graze. My heart lurched with every fist I deflected, but [Cold Blood] helped me maintain composure. I kept retreating while counting the number of punches thrown. Five, six. And on the seventh punch—
My eyes flashed. I’ve been waiting for this!
For the first time, I counterattacked. Four-Legged Stance. As I executed the fourth form of Blood Claw Technique, my arm twisted at a bizarre angle and drove toward Shin Junseok’s armpit. It was a weakness in Shin Junseok that remained unknown at this point in time. When executing the seventh form of Storm Tiger Divine Fist, he would inhale deeply and relax his strength. It was a gap even the practitioner himself didn’t realize. If I could just endure until the seventh form…
“Hm?!”
Shin Junseok’s expression turned to shock as he pulled back his extended fist. Though he had initiated the attack first, my Four-Legged Stance—launched a beat later—had precisely targeted his opening. He withdrew his attack. A fierce wind blew, and his figure shot backward. Storm Step, a movement art classified as first-rate.
“W-what… how?!”
Shin Junseok’s voice was filled with shock. It was only natural. My attack had truly struck at his blind spot.
“Huff, huff.”
I steadied my ragged breathing. I’d pushed my body beyond its limits to land that strike. The areas grazed by qi trembled. Even [Iron Scales]-reinforced [Spiked Carapace] couldn’t fully block the qi. The accumulated impact was building. Without [Earth Mother’s Blessing], I would have collapsed long ago from the indirect damage.
Shin Junseok waited with wide eyes until I caught my breath.
“It’s the breathing, huff.”
“Breathing?”
“Yes. When you threw the seventh punch, you took a deep breath.”
The characteristic of Storm Tiger Divine Fist was its relentless pressure on the opponent. When chaining techniques, breathing inevitably became disrupted, creating openings.
—I almost rode the express to the River Styx because of that gap.
Where did he even learn that expression? Don’t worry about it. It was something I’d heard directly from Shin Junseok himself. What better weakness could there be?
Shin Junseok looked genuinely shocked by my words. He threw several punches into the air before letting out a heavy sigh.
“You’re right. I never imagined Storm Tiger Divine Fist had such a weakness.”
“Does this mean I’ve earned the right to receive the technique?”
I grinned.
Cloud Flow Steps acquired.
After the sparring ended—
“Agh, ow ow ow.”
I groaned.
—Contractor, how is your body?
“Mmm, it hurts like I’m dying, but I’m fine.”
The qi that had grazed my arms, legs, and torso. Thanks to the carapace absorbing most of the impact, there were no visible external injuries. Even so, what made me groan was the nature of qi itself. Shaped qi seeped into the opponent’s body with just a graze. Qi infused with the user’s intent tore at the opponent’s muscles bit by bit and interfered with mana or qi circulation. That was why martial artists were such troublesome opponents.
—You say that, so it must not hurt that much!
Smack!
“Ow, that hurts.”
—You can handle more pain than that.
“Why are you like this?”
—You clearly said you would accept my help!
Nyx puffed out her cheeks and exploded in frustration.
“Sorry. I wanted to face him with my own strength. If you’d helped, it would’ve been less effective at winning him over.”
—Hmph.
Nyx turned her head sharply. Hmm. The goddess seemed quite angry.
“Junior, I’m sorry about that.”
“What do you mean?”
“I got a little too serious during the spar.”
Shin Junseok laughed with a “Haha.” His face was a mix of embarrassment and apology.
“I must’ve been pretty impressive, then.”
“I’ll admit your skill is excellent.”
Shin Junseok held out the skill book for Cloud Flow Steps that he’d shown earlier.
“This is yours now.”
“Does that mean you acknowledge me?”
“Acknowledge? If anything, I should be thanking you.”
Shin Junseok said that, then suddenly closed his eyes. He seemed to be pondering how to fill the gap in Storm Tiger Divine Fist—the inherent opening in the technique. Leaving him lost in thought, I quickly scanned the book’s contents.
Cloud Flow Steps
Grade: ★★★
Classification: Active
Proficiency: 1 Star [0%]
A movement art consisting of sixteen steps in total. By consuming additional inner energy during activation, the user can change direction without losing speed.
*Requires inner energy stat to activate.
Cloud Flow Steps. It matched my memories. Fast speed and free directional changes, but the downside was high inner energy consumption. “Perfect.” I already had [Agile Hindfoot]. As I climbed the tower, I’d acquire more mobility-related skills by combining various essences. The weakness of Cloud Flow Steps was its poor sustainability in prolonged fights. If I ran out of inner energy, I could just boost my speed with mana-based skills. That would more than compensate for the technique’s flaw.
While I was repeating the inner energy circulation method in my mind, Shin Junseok opened his eyes.
“Thanks for waiting.”
“It seemed like an important moment.”
“While mulling over the blind spot you pointed out, I gained a small insight.”
The air around Shin Junseok trembled finely. Unlike ordinary players, martial artists needed to gain “insight” to advance to the next stage. That was also why martial artists were looked down upon in Korea—the growth process was far more demanding than simply learning skill books. That situation would reverse later. No matter the path, insight was ultimately necessary. But that was a story for another time. I cleared my thoughts.
“I came here wanting to give you something, but I ended up receiving more instead.”
“Well, just bring me a manual next time.”
“Is there a particular martial art you need?”
“Kicking, claw, and palm techniques.”
“You’re planning to train your entire body.”
I nodded. “In principle, I’d recommend focusing on one path, but somehow I feel you could manage it.” Of course. One of my old nicknames had been “Walking Weapon.” With the supreme talent built through [Devour], I’d mastered every martial art related to close combat to its peak.
“Understood. Recently it’s become a bit harder to obtain martial arts manuals, but I’ll do what I can with my influence.”
“Why is it hard to get manuals?”
“China has been collecting them.”
Ah, that happened too. China had an extraordinary pride in “martial arts” and “the murim.” That was why, even when the efficiency of martial arts was low, they invested aggressively—only to fall behind in the tower competition for a long time. Only later did that investment begin to bear fruit. Because they poured their main resources into the wrong place right after the tower opened, they couldn’t exert much power in the upper ranks. So this was that period. Well, the martial arts I’ll mainly use can be obtained on the 11th floor. No need to rush.
“You don’t have to go out of your way.”
“I’ll try as much as I can. This is my contact information. Reach out anytime.”
Shin Junseok held out a business card. Heh. With this, another connection from the past had been reestablished. Smiling, I accepted the rough card.