Chapter 50
Chapter 50
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 50
Chapter Title: Should I Call It a Skill?
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“Strange.”
Gremix glared at the Ghost Talisman Geon-woo had pulled out.
An unfamiliar energy emanated from the paper.
“What is that?”
Gremix asked.
“Puhaha. You think I’ll tell you just because you asked? Just take it nicely!”
With those words, Geon-woo launched himself straight at Gremix.
“Euk!”
Gremix flinched at the charging Geon-woo and dodged.
Srrrrk!
“Huh?”
Gremix slid away without moving his limbs, as if something from behind had yanked him.
Geon-woo’s eyebrow twitched at the sight.
“Not telekinesis, but you can use mana like that, huh?”
Geon-woo recognized that Gremix was moving using mana.
= My lord, that’s a footwork technique!
At that moment, Illyeong shouted excitedly into Geon-woo’s ear.
‘Footwork?’
= It’s not exactly the same, but it’s a method that creates pressure differences with mana to move the body in the desired direction.
‘What does that have to do with footwork?’
= The footwork we use ranges from basic techniques that enhance physical abilities with internal energy to the highest levels that communicate with the world’s qi.
‘So that thing just now was that highest-level footwork?’
= Just as internal energy adjusts the world’s qi to aid body movement, it achieved the same effect using mana.
‘Interesting. How many times do I need to see it to copy it?’
= I’ll do my best.
‘While Illyeong analyzes it, I’ll play around with that guy some more.’
“Pretty fun movement. Let’s see how long you can keep dodging.”
Geon-woo taunted Gremix and charged again.
Gremix’s face flushed red at Geon-woo’s words implying he wouldn’t last long, and he slid away once more.
This time, flauntingly, not backward but diagonally to the right.
“Oh-ho?”
Geon-woo deliberately made a surprised face and leaped at Gremix again.
Gremix dodged by flitting this way and that, treating Geon-woo like a child he was toying with.
Sometimes it was close enough to feel the hair’s breadth difference, but upon closer inspection, Gremix was intentionally creating those precarious situations.
“Having fun?”
At some point, Geon-woo stopped moving and glared at Gremix.
= My lord, it seems to require a special mana operation. I’ve grasped the principle of the footwork, but copying the actual technique is impossible.
Illyeong informed him that dragging it out longer wouldn’t yield anything more.
“Your movements are sloppy. Should I say your skills fall short of your abilities?”
Gremix appraised Geon-woo’s skills with an arrogant expression, as if he were the victor.
Geon-woo’s eyebrow twitched at his words.
“Fine, I admit it. In my current state, catching you isn’t easy. Hahaha.”
Geon-woo coolly acknowledged defeat.
But.
“However, what you’ve seen isn’t everything I’ve got.”
Rrrumble!
“Tsk.”
With those words, Geon-woo unleashed telekinetic force, narrowing the space Gremix could move in.
This was an underground area, after all.
Gremix had been able to toy with Geon-woo up until now because there was enough space.
But with the space itself shrinking like this, there was nothing Gremix could do.
Whoosh!
As Gremix made a troubled face, Geon-woo charged at him at a much faster speed than before.
“Huh?”
“Surprised?!”
Rip!
Geon-woo, pushing Gangsigong to its maximum, moved like lightning.
Gremix’s mana movement was fast, but it couldn’t compare to Geon-woo with Gangsigong activated.
Moreover, changing directions freely was difficult in this situation.
In a single move, the Monster Emperor Paper Talisman stuck to Gremix’s forehead.
“Eek, what are you doing!?”
Gremix urgently tried to peel off the Ghost Talisman on his forehead.
But before his hand could even reach his face, the Monster Emperor Paper Talisman activated.
Sizzle!
The bizarre characters intricately written on the yellow talisman glowed red and ignited.
The paper, thin and light, remained intact despite the writing burning—a bizarre sight.
But even more astonishing was the demon’s form rising above Gremix’s body, which had frozen like a wooden doll.
“Kaaaaaaaak! Uwaaaaaak!”
The translucent demon was over two meters tall but slender in build.
Its head resembled a dragonfly’s, with hardly any reptilian traits.
Its thin limbs were covered not in reptilian scales but in insect-like carapace.
“Uwaaaaaak! K-Kill me! Kill meee!”
The dragonfly-headed demon clutched its head and screamed in its translucent spirit form.
= It’s working.
Illyeong twitched excitedly beside Geon-woo’s face, unable to hide his thrill.
He clearly wanted to rush at the demon spirit right away.
Illyeong held a small talisman in his hand as well.
‘Go finish it off.’
Geon-woo ordered Illyeong.
= Yes, my lord! I’m going!
Illyeong flew toward the demon spirit without hesitation.
Just as Geon-woo had stuck the talisman on Gremix’s forehead, Illyeong attached the small talisman to the demon spirit’s forehead.
From the demon’s perspective, it was smaller than a fingernail.
But the moment it touched the demon’s forehead, it expanded massively, covering half its face.
Halt!
The demon spirit’s movements stopped as if by magic.
= My loooord! It has zero resistance.
At the same time, Illyeong called out to Geon-woo in a joyful voice.
‘No resistance?’
= Yes. It has almost no resistance that a spirit should have.
‘Then?’
= I can subdue it and turn it into a Jiangshi Spirit right now. What should I do?
‘That movement was useful, right? Let’s make it a Jiangshi Spirit for now.’
The movement Illyeong said resembled footwork had been pretty good.
Deciding it would be useful even as a living Jiangshi’s Jiangshi Spirit, Geon-woo opted to create one.
Illyeong immediately began subduing the demon spirit and turning it into a Jiangshi Spirit.
And now, the memory absorption had become natural.
“Huh?”
“What? What happened?”
As Geon-woo let out a surprised exclamation laced with doubt, Paeng asked.
The longsword user Paeng had been fighting was already collapsed on the ground.
“No, nothing. I’m just experimenting on that guy a bit. Wait a moment.”
Geon-woo explained to Paeng amid the urgent situation and refocused his mind.
Currently, something very different from before was happening in Geon-woo’s mind when creating a Jiangshi Spirit from a demon.
‘Is this asking me to choose?’
As Illyeong subdued the demon spirit and began turning it into a Jiangshi Spirit, its memories flooded into Geon-woo just like before.
Up to that point, it was the same.
But unlike before, the incoming memories were bundled into categories, showing only titles.
It felt like books, boxes, or orbs with descriptions indicating what memories lay inside.
Reading or opening or absorbing them would reveal the contents.
‘But there are restrictions, right? If I take these, it’ll shock the demon spirit?’
That’s why he could safely open only one of the many indices.
Opening two would burden the spirit, and three would destroy it without properly obtaining the memories.
Geon-woo could tell that by looking at the demon’s memory indices.
= What’s going on?
Illyeong asked tensely at the unfamiliar phenomenon.
‘It must be some invisible damage from crossing dimensions twice. It came to Earth as a soul and then back to Onboard.’
= That’s fascinating.
‘For now, it seems I can get one without burden, so let’s check them out.’
Geon-woo examined the demon’s memory indices he could choose from.
And he found something intriguing.
‘Isn’t this it? Mana Propulsion Technique.’
= Ah, the footwork one?
‘Yeah. This must be it.’
Geon-woo absorbed the contents of that index with anticipation.
The selection and absorption happened easily through simple will.
‘Ah! Yes, that’s it.’
Geon-woo exclaimed in admiration at the demon’s memory entering his mind.
It was exactly what he wanted.
‘Moving mana like this to create a kind of vacuum? Not air vacuum, but a vacuum of existence. Creating a space of nothingness and letting your body get sucked into it? Amazing.’
= My lord, share some with me too.
Illyeong urged him.
And he received the contents of the Mana Propulsion Technique from Geon-woo.
= This is fun. If I’m not in spirit form, I can use it too.
Illyeong could create a physical body with Yulturen’s multiplication metal, so he meant he could use it in that state.
‘Then I could pass it to the others too?’
Geon-woo muttered as something occurred to him from Illyeong’s reaction.
He immediately opened his dimensional space and summoned Gungryeong.
The other living Jiangshi had been sent via other routes, leaving only Gungryeong among them.
= What are you going to do?
‘Teach Mana Propulsion Technique to Gungryeong.’
= Ah, like you taught me?
‘Exactly. It’s bundled in a skill-like way, so it can be taught.’
= True. Then could we teach it to non-Jiangshi too?
‘That’d be tricky. They need to be in this mind-link state for info transfer.’
= Ah, I see. That’s a shame.
‘I wouldn’t want to even if possible. Linking minds like this is extremely dangerous unless bound in a special way like you and me.’
As he spoke, Geon-woo ordered Gungryeong to demonstrate the Mana Propulsion Technique.
Gungryeong began moving forward, backward, left, and right while standing in place.
= Wow, it can use it right away like that? That’ll be handy for shooting arrows too.
‘Yeah. No vibrations in movement at all.’
Geon-woo had it combine Mana Propulsion Technique with archery on a whim.
The result was truly satisfying.
Moving without tremor while shooting arrows.
“Insane. What’s that? How’s it moving like that?”
Paeng, who had been watching Geon-woo, approached with eyes wide as saucers and asked.
“Taught the Jiangshi a new technique.”
“How? Looks fun. Teach me too.”
“Trouble is, it requires such complex mana operation that it’s hard to teach.”
“It works on that one! Why not me?!”
“Gungryeong’s a Jiangshi. You’re not.”
“Then make me a Jiangshi too. I’m half-dead already, right?!”
“Don’t even joke about that. And Gungryeong isn’t a dead Jiangshi—he’s a living one. Living Jiangshi.”
“Then even better! I wanna be a living Jiangshi too!”
“Cut the nonsense and finish off the king so we can head up.”
“Ah, the king. Still alive, huh?”
“Over a thousand souls came in when the queen died. The king should be pretty juicy too.”
“Ah, souls! Where is it? Where’s the king!”
“I’ll open the path, but we split half-half!”
“Hey, 30%!”
“Half!”
“You bastard!”
Paeng grumbled at Geon-woo’s unyielding response, but digging up the ground and catching the king without his help would be tough.
So he had no choice but to accept Geon-woo’s deal.
‘Bastard’ was just slang for accepting the deal.
Geon-woo chuckled and flung open the tunnel toward the king.
“They’re all dead!”
Paeng dashed into the tunnel, having found his outlet for frustration.