Chapter 21
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 21
Chapter Title: The Blue Flame Fist Emperor
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Jeong Hoon spent a week grinding levels and reached 30.
He used the mini-dungeon to raise his Immune to Poison skill's rank with Tenfold Poison Immunity, then wandered the fields to level up the rest.
Once he hit the mark, he returned to the Hall of Martial Arts.
Question marks floated above the instructors' heads.
A sign that he could now take on the job change quest.
Without hesitation, he sought out Instructor Altio.
He had to go through him for a high-rank job change.
"No, why has it taken you so long to come back?"
Altio greeted him with a beaming smile.
"It took time to meet the qualifications."
"Qualifications? Ho... I can definitely sense a different aura about you."
Altio scanned Jeong Hoon up and down and let out a small gasp of admiration.
From the start, he'd endured all of the instructor's training, and he'd even won their spar afterward.
Altio had wanted to offer the job change right there, but Jeong Hoon hadn't qualified yet.
Now, though, he did.
"Yes."
"Good! Then let me explain job changes. A job change is about awakening a portion of the potential inside you. To do that, a stronger Martial Artist needs to draw out your power."
"I see."
To start the job change quest, he just needed to enter the portal inside the Hall of Martial Arts.
Beyond the portal dwelled the souls of Martial Artists.
Gain their recognition, and the first job change was yours.
"Since you've never awakened your potential before, it won't be too hard. The ancestral Martial Artists here in the Hall are kinder than you might think."
Job Change Quest: Soul of the Martial Artist
-Restriction: Lv.30 Unchanged Martial Artist
-Reward: First Job Change
-Description: To grant new power to one who is qualified. Receive recognition from an ancestral Martial Artist and accept their new power.
Ancestral Martial Artists.
The Hall of Martial Arts was infused with the souls of various Martial Artists.
For the first job change, you had to awaken one of them and complete the task they assigned.
For the current Jeong Hoon, it would take less than ten minuteseasy stuff.
"I'll accept."
"Good. Follow me, then."
Altio flung open a firmly shut door.
Six users stood in line before it, waiting their turn.
All of them had hit Lv.30 and come for their job changes.
"Huh? Why's that instructor doing job change quests?"
"Yeah? I thought he didn't have any."
They looked a bit shocked to see Altio appear.
And understandably soAltio wasn't an instructor who gave out job change quests.
More precisely, he only gave them to those who'd endured his training.
'A prerequisite for Rare-grade or higher job changes.'
Of course, getting the quest from him didn't guarantee a Rare job change.
It was just a condition.
Unlike the friendly ancestral Martial Artists, the one Altio guided you to was a cranky, picky sort.
You needed at least Lv.50 to pass his test and get Rare-grade.
Even before his regression, Jeong Hoon had failed the test and settled for a standard first job change.
"Go in here."
The portal Altio indicated was a bit apart from the ones the other users were using.
"Huh? Why's he going there?"
"Job changes are over here, though?"
"Wait... Isn't that the user who beat the instructor?"
"Yeah, looks like it now that you mention it."
One of them must have watched the spar with Instructor Altio.
"Then do well and come back safe."
Even in a situation that might bruise his pride, Altio calmly pointed to the portal.
"Yes. Thank you."
Jeong Hoon gave him a quick bow and stepped through.
"But why's he using a different portal from us?"
"Look at the signthat one's the best, isn't it?"
"Unbelievable. Look at him getting special treatment just for beating the instructor."
They glared at Altio, their faces full of resentment.
At that, Altio approached them with a stiff expression.
The menacing aura rolling off his burly frame made the users instinctively step back.
"Listen here. Choosing the Martial Artist path doesn't mean your rotten mindset becomes that of a true Martial Artist."
Rotten mindset?
This mere NPC was trampling their pride.
"Hah, what'd you say?"
"You think words from a guy stuck at Lv.30 forever mean anything?"
"No need to be scared. I'm 33. We're above him now."
The users here were all around Altio's level or higher.
They'd been intimidated by his presence, but purely by levels, they surpassed him.
"Looks like words won't cut it."
Altio glared with axe-like eyes and offered them a quest.
The quest: a spar with him.
Win, and they'd get access to the portal Jeong Hoon had used as a reward.
"You're gonna fight all of us here?"
"Team up!"
"It's 6:1. Let's finish quick and use that portal too!"
The Martial Artists accepted the quest together.
And before long, all of them were writhing on the ground.
"Cough... How is he this strong...?"
"Damn... What the hell..."
Thirty minutes.
That's how long it took for Altio to subdue them all.
"Hmph, utterly pathetic."
Altio snorted down at them.
It had never been a fair fight to begin with.
Sure, he was Lv.30, but a lifetime of martial devotion was etched into his very bones.
Plus, as an instructor at the Hall of Martial Arts, he had stat-boost buffs.
He was on another level from users who'd just entered New World and leveled up.
"Altio... Wasn't that a bit much?"
One of the instructors guarding the portal sighed.
They were trainees who'd come to the Hall of Martial Arts, after all.
It meant he'd gone too hard on them as an instructor.
"Do they look like Martial Artists to you?"
"Even so..."
"I can't acknowledge them. Better off if they didn't exist."
Altio returned to the portal Jeong Hoon had entered and stood by it.
Since a Martial Artist he'd acknowledged had gone in, he'd wait until he returned safely.
'I hope he succeeds.'
So far, only Yeo Min-ji had succeeded via this portal.
Altio had no doubt that today made it two.
'This sucks. Seriously... What kind of bullshit is this.'
'That monster... How the hell did that guy beat him?'
'Crazy. How did the user who went in there win?'
The six users stared at Altio like he was a monster, then turned to the portal.
A user who'd beaten an instructor like that monster.
Just who the hell was he?
Beyond the portal lay a cave nestled in a valley.
A waterfall roared behind him, cascading down.
It seemed like no light could penetrate, but torches embedded in the walls blazed brightly, illuminating the surroundings.
'Second time here, huh.'
Before his regression, his first visit had been full of wonders.
A virtual reality game recreating caves and waterfalls so perfectly.
Jeong Hoon stepped forward.
At the cave's end sat a man reading a book in a chair.
He looked like a man in his early sixties, with a build similar to Dokgo Jun.
The soul of the Martial Artist dwelling in this cave.
The Blue Flame Fist Emperor.
"A challenger?"
He asked without taking his eyes off the book.
"Yes."
"I see. Then you're acknowledgedgo on back."
Meaning he'd count it as completed without doing the task.
But that was a trick.
Going back like that would succeed the quest, but only grant a Normal-grade job change.
For Rare or higher, he couldn't just leave.
A true Martial Artist had a natural competitive spirit.
Walking away after being dismissed like that? No self-respecting Martial Artist would.
"No thanks."
Correct answer.
Only then did the Fist Emperor smirk and look up from his book.
"Okay. You pass round one."
"What's round two?"
Job Change Quest: Blue Flame Fist Emperor
-Restriction: Lv.30 Unchanged Martial Artist
-Reward: First Job Change Rare
-Description: Pass the Fist Emperor's trial.
The Fist Emperor's trial.
A spar against the Martial Artist he summoned.
He snapped his fingers, and a young man like Jeong Hoon appeared before him.
The Fist Emperor in his youth.
"Win, and you succeed."
The Fist Emperor watched from his chair.
Lv.40 Martial Artist: A
The outcome of this Rare-grade job change quest depended on how he handled this Martial Artist.
'I have no intention of stopping at Rare.'
So far, only Yeo Min-ji had recorded Rare or higher for first job change.
And no one had hit Epic yet.
Today, that would change.
The first one would be born.
Jeong Hoon began stepping familiarly.
As a Martial Artist, he'd end it with fist techniques.
Flash!
Martial Artist: A leaped forward, closing in instantly and thrusting a punch.
Blue flames symbolizing the Fist Emperor flickered around his fist.
Jeong Hoon sidestepped to dodge.
'Myeongwang Fist Technique, 1st Form.'
Jeong Hoon's fist shot forward.
Thud!
Martial Artist: A raised his guard and blocked, but the impact sent him sliding back.
The observing Fist Emperor's eyes went wide.
'Take a good look.'
He hadn't acquired the Myeongwang Fist Technique for nothing.
From the moment he chose Martial Artist, the job made up over ninety percent of his growth.
So he'd gotten a fitting skill first.
The Blue Flame Fist Emperor would recognize the fist technique unfolding now.
Jeong Hoon's punches flowed like water, comboing Martial Artist: A.
Flank, face, chest.
The Myeongwang Fist Technique 1st Form artfully evaded his defenses, striking gaps rapidly.
Then came the 2nd Form.
Black energy gathered faintly on Jeong Hoon's fist as his shoulder pulled back.
He drove a straight into his gut.
Martial Artist: A curled up to guard.
Thud!
But a different sound rang out, and Martial Artist: A flew backward.
'It's over.'
The Fist Emperor's pupils trembled fiercely.
Martial Artist: A was a clone of his younger self as a Martial Artist.
Of course, he'd toned down the stats to make it challenger-friendly, but he hadn't expected it to fall so easily.
What shocked him more was the fist technique the challenger wielded.
'Could that fist technique still be alive...?'
The fist master he'd aspired to in the past.
A man called Myeongwang despite appearing in the world only twice.
It resembled the technique he'd used.
He even felt the same thrill he'd sensed in life.
"...Where did you learn that fist technique?"
The Fist Emperor asked in a quavering voice.
"From my master."
"I see..."
It seemed the Myeongwang Fist Technique had been passed down through generations.
'But to wield it so perfectly... How...?'
No one else might notice, but he couldn't fool the Fist Emperor's eyes.
He'd fully made the fist technique his own, moving without waste against his clone.
Such flawless motion required countless experiences and grueling effort.
To his eyes, Jeong Hoon looked to be in his early twenties.
What kind of childhood had he lived?
At the same time, his heart pounded fiercely.
'This one will make history.'
As weapons advanced, Martial Artists naturally declined.
Sword- and spear-wielding shit-for-brains idiots shoving blades at people.
Cowardly bastards sniping with arrows from range.
Sneaky pricks blasting with gunfire and raw firepower.
Abominable scum wielding freakish magic to tear, burn, and melt peopleutterly outrageous.
Unlike those cheats relying on weapons, we Martial Artists fought with nothing but our bodies.
That was true martial arts.
And today, a child had come to carry on the spirit of true martial arts.
If he could master the Myeongwang Fist Technique to its peak, he'd never lose to those filthy cowards.
For that, he needed to lend the boy his power.
Decision made, the Fist Emperor's gaze settled solemnly.