Chapter 142
Chapter 142
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 142
Chapter Title: Skill Test Results
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Humans are truly cunning.
Even though he'd walked a path drenched in blood, as a martial artist who'd once chased the pinnacle of strength, the emergence of this new power stirred an undeniable craving in Yong-un.
Even for Yong-un, who had clearly thought he had no need for something like skills.
'Do I really have skills too?'
But he wasn't certain.
No, it wasn't a matter of certainty—it was far more likely that he didn't.
Yong-un hadn't awakened as a hunter; he'd simply crossed over from the murim world into reality through a gate.
In other words, he was still the Sword Demon, just with a new name: Yong-un.
Nothing had changed between the murim world and this one for him.
"Th-thank you."
"Be back here by 9 a.m. tomorrow."
"Yes, Supreme One..."
Jin-cheol bowed his head deeply, his eyes sharp and gleaming, before shuffling out of the Unwoo Guild's training grounds.
"Is this what they mean by stress relief?"
Yong-un let out a smirk.
What they called a spar was more like a beatdown—over three hours of training, Jin-cheol had taken a thorough thrashing.
Yong-un cherished his own possessions.
And his subordinates were his possessions too.
Jin-cheol's eyes might be fierce, but he'd start the day more energized than usual.
Throughout the pummeling, Yong-un had stimulated his meridians with demonic energy, forcibly circulating his Lesser Heavenly Circuit for him.
Jin-cheol got a perfect Lesser Heavenly Circuit for free, and Yong-un vented his stress. A win-win.
"Skills, huh."
Before heading out, Yong-un scanned the damage in the training grounds from their bout.
Of it all, the only mark he'd left was the X-shaped sword gash on the wall.
The scorch marks on the floor, the icicles on the walls, the lingering sparks of lightning—all Jin-cheol's doing.
The results of magic spells and skills from a magic-type hunter.
"He's definitely grown."
It was incomparable to when they'd first met.
Jin-cheol, who had been among the weakest of B-rank hunters, was now using warp—a skill only a select few S-rank hunters could manage.
As the leader of a major force, Jin-cheol's impressive growth felt gratifying to behold.
"Guess I should help him out some more."
With spars like this one.
A wicked grin spread across Yong-un's face as he started crossing the training grounds toward the exit.
That was when the door to the outside swung open, and Jin-cheol shouted.
"They say someone from GHO is here!"
"What the hell is this?"
He'd come for the GHO skill precision test as Jin-cheol had guided him.
But it wasn't just GHO staff there.
Cameras flashed furiously, and at the center stood a massive man.
"Urgh... Sorry about this."
The War God scratched the back of his head, looking apologetic toward Yong-un.
Yong-un shot Jin-cheol a cold glare.
"I-I swear I had nothing to do with it..."
As if Jin-cheol had any guilt in this.
Looking at the reporters swarming around, they weren't Korean.
Journalists from all over the world had gathered.
There was only one way to get answers in this mess.
Grab the War God, who looked like he knew something, and make him spill.
"What the hell happened?"
"Well... word got around inside GHO. It's just so bizarre and unbelievable..."
Jin-cheol nodded as if he understood.
And rightly so.
This was the hunter ranked 4th among the world's S-ranks—the rising superstar who'd cleared the San Marino Demonus—taking a skill precision test, something newbies did.
Korean media could be controlled by Yong-un's power and influence, but global press? No such luck.
The GHO skill precision test, done at Yong-un's request, had shocked the world.
"I thought it was weird too. We requested it yesterday, and tests that usually take a week got processed in a day. Felt fishy."
He half-suspected it was payback for the spar.
Hence the dirty looks being thrown his way.
Quick on the uptake, Jin-cheol caught the meaning in Yong-un's gaze and waved his hands in panic.
"No, really! How could I dare pull something on you, Supreme One? I wanted to advise against it, but as they say, a wise man knows better than to dodge fate. Whether a week from now or today, this was bound to happen eventually."
Yong-un's expectant gaze shifted to the War God for confirmation.
"It's true. No matter how much you clamp down, GHO has eyes and ears everywhere. Especially with the current global situation, a request from Korea draws all that attention."
The War God's serious words let Jin-cheol breathe a sigh of relief.
"Training period stays the same, though."
"Yes... Supreme One..."
"...You not going?"
At Yong-un's words, Jin-cheol scratched his head.
"Mind if I tag along and assist...?"
Smart ones were such a pain.
He'd probably judged with his wits that he should go, but curiosity always tripped up the clever ones.
Some instincts overriding reason couldn't be trained out, even from great leaders.
"If you wanna come, come."
It didn't matter if he watched anyway, so Yong-un allowed it readily.
Jin-cheol beamed and thumped his chest.
"Thank you! I'll do my best!"
Who'd take that guy for the master of one of Korea's top five guilds?
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Yong-un himself didn't realize he was the only one who could treat the Unwoo Guild master like this.
"Commencing skill precision test."
A GHO staffer activated the massive testing machine.
Yong-un turned to one of the two watching with curious eyes beside him.
"Why'd you come? This doesn't concern you, does it?"
The War God, standing next to Jin-cheol, pretended disinterest and averted his fixed gaze with effort.
"Ahem, how could I not show for something involving you?"
Though he'd said that, the War God must've been shocked at first too.
For someone as strong as Yong-un to have zero skills.
Abandoning the pretense, he got real.
"But all that power you've shown so far... it was really all skill-less?"
"You think I'd request this if I was crazy enough to have them?"
"True, if you'd ever taken one before, the request wouldn't even process."
Yong-un climbed onto the machine.
The GHO staffer pointed at the Demon-Slaying Sword hanging from his waist.
"Sorry, but you'll need to remove your weapon."
Yong-un unfastened the Demon-Slaying Sword.
The staffer approached to take it.
"Don't touch it. You might get hurt."
Declining the help, Yong-un drove the sheathed blade into the floor.
Thud.
The concrete floor pierced like tofu, the Demon-Slaying Sword sinking more than halfway in.
The staffer backed away, and the War God came into view.
Arms crossed, eyes locked on the Demon-Slaying Sword.
"Even when you pushed me back with that sword... no skills then either?"
Yong-un climbed onto the machine as he replied to the War God's suddenly serious, playful expression vanishing.
"None."
"I see."
The War God nodded.
All preparations seemed complete.
The operator, fiddling intently with the machine, looked at Yong-un.
"Beginning now..."
Yong-un nodded in response.
The staffer pressed a button, and an eerie hum emanated from the machine.
Woooong...
The earth-shaking roar ceased.
The GHO skill precision tester, vibrating violently and belching smoke, let out a pfft! and spewed steam.
The results displayed on the tablet PC in the staffer's hand.
"......"
Just what were Yong-un's skills?
Did he even have any?
All eyes, brimming with curiosity, scrutinized the staffer's every expression.
The staffer, staring silently at the tablet screen, furrowed his brow.
"That's odd..."
He wasn't announcing the results as duty demanded.
Impatient, the War God asked.
"What's odd?"
"Well... it's my first time seeing this... You should look for yourselves."
The blue-eyed white GHO staffer, flustered, turned the tablet so everyone could see.
And the results on the screen made everyone's eyes widen.
[Storage Heart Method - D-Rank]
[Three Thousand Sword Arts - D-Rank]
[Mokryun Qi Gong - C-Rank]
[Myriad Demons Subdued - C-Rank]
...
Dozens of skills filled the tablet screen.
"War God, sir?"
The staffer looked to the War God pleadingly.
But no words reached the War God right now.
"What... the hell..."
He just poked at the tablet screen with his finger.
This went beyond unprecedented— it was something that had never happened in GHO's history.
What was a skill precision test?
Right before new hunters got their licenses and started working.
A check to confirm their skills—their very identity.
Usually, just one unique skill per person showed up.
Two for the highly talented.
Three? That was a once-in-a-decade myth.
But this?
"So what the hell are my skills?"
The only one who couldn't see, still atop the machine, was Yong-un. He asked the staffer.
"Well..."
Under Yong-un's urging, the staffer pondered.
Should he read off all those skills one by one, ignoring the impossibility?
Or hand the tablet—GHO-exclusive, untouchable by outsiders due to personal data—directly to Yong-un?
A flurry of thoughts raced through his mind in seconds.
Cold sweat beaded on the flustered staffer.
He finally decided.
"War God, sir! You tell him!"
It was out of his hands now.
Pass it to the superior who could take responsibility.
The staffer handed the precious tablet—his lifeline—to the War God.
"Huh?"
Distracted by the skill overload, the War God took it reflexively.
Then he noticed the staffer's expression.
"Why're you sweating? Oh... yeah, fair enough."
The staffer subtly glanced away, giving the cue.
Following his gaze, the War God looked at Yong-un, still on the machine.
Yong-un's eyes urged the results.
The War God glanced at the tablet, then shoved it toward Yong-un.
"Results are in. I stopped counting at around thirty, halfway through."
"What?"
Yong-un scowled.
But seeing the tablet, his face twisted in fury.
Because every "skill" listed was a martial art he'd cultivated back in his murim days as the Sword Demon.
"No skills, my ass. You've got a shit-ton of 'em."
He lowered the tablet.
No need to look—he knew them all.
They were etched into his body through endless training.
Yong-un whipped his head around.
"Pardon?"
Jin-cheol jolted back just from the glance.
'That little punk...'
He started pondering how to deal with him.
"Yong-un, but wait..."
Just then.
The War God snatched the tablet from Yong-un's glare on Jin-cheol and scrolled to the end.
"What's this? First time I've seen these."
Fuming, Yong-un creaked his head toward him.
On the War God's fingertip.
Two final skills, slightly different from the rest, caught his eye.
[?? - ?-Rank]
• Martial art created by the Heavenly Brain Master; no one in the entire murim besides Sword Demon Lee Yong-un has ever learned it.
• Requires the 'Ultimate Intent,' the final gateway to mastering the absolute technique.
[Ma? Challenge? - ?-Rank]
• Ma? Sha? used this be?ore the ?oss ?ight.
• As a re?ult of the challenge?, it be?omes a Ma? ?ctivation. • Can de?ignate and ?ain ?ontrol over ?? weaker than yourself.
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