Chapter 11

Whoosh. Fwoom—

The spearhead pierced dozens of glittering points in the air one after another.

Each time I completed a form, the red tassel hanging beneath the spearhead whipped around. It wasn’t just for show. It was meant to distract the enemy.

Bang!

Again, the sound of wind being torn apart rang out. It was the seventh and final form of the Jin Family’s Spear Technique: the Sky-Piercing Strike.

And this Sky-Piercing Strike was more precise and powerful than the ninety-nine I had successfully performed before it.

That’s it.

My fingertips tingled. Each of the seven forms of the Jin Family’s Spear Technique was destructive enough on its own, but their true power emerged when they flowed together.

If I compared it to a car race, the first form started the engine, while the final Sky-Piercing Strike crossed the finish line.

“Whew.”

I exhaled a hot breath and brought the spear upright.

Ding.

System

• Successful attempts (100 / 100)

• You have acquired Jin Family’s Spear Technique.

• As a result of repeated training, related stats have increased!

• Strength, Stamina, and Agility have each increased by 1.

“Oh. My stats went up.”

So this was another way to raise my stats. Intrigued, I opened my Status Window.

Ding.

System

Status Window

Lv. 11 Jin Taekyung

Occupation: Second Rate Martial Artist

Fame: 10

Titles: 3 (Title effects active)

• Child of a Prestigious Family: All stats +5, Fame +50

• Shame of the Family: All stats –5, Fame –50

• Novice Trainee: Training speed +10%

Strength: 41
Stamina: 51

Agility: 51
Intelligence: 10

Charm: 10
Internal Energy: 10 years

Remaining Points: 0

At this point…

“What a fine second-rate nobody.”

Still, it was better than reality. Here, I could keep climbing. I didn’t feel the limits I’d run up against every day since awakening as an F-rank, or the glass ceiling society had placed over me.

“So what? I can’t even log out whenever I want.”

I sighed and sank to the floor. After training nonstop for several hours, my body felt as heavy as waterlogged cotton.

“Man, I’m exhausted.”

Ding.

System

• You feel fatigued and hungry. Consume food to restore your physical condition.

Yeah. I figured as much.

“Fatigue and hunger…”

There was only one answer: rest. Eat well and sleep well. But I couldn’t afford to lounge around scratching my belly.

If only I had some kind of recovery item…

“Oh, right. The fasting pills.”

I took a fasting pill from my Inventory. It gave off a strange smell, but a professional Hunter couldn’t afford to be picky about whether his rice was hot or cold.

I opened my mouth wide and took a huge bite.

Then I thought,

Should I just spit it out?

It wasn’t merely tasteless. It was so vile that my tongue screamed for mercy and my stomach put up a no-entry sign.

But humans could sometimes summon superhuman willpower. I squeezed my eyes shut, chewed the entire fasting pill, and forced it down.

Gulp.

“Uuugh. I ate it. I actually ate it.”

If the System notification hadn’t sounded the next moment, I probably would have kept rolling around on the floor for quite a while.

Ding.

System

• You have consumed an Excellent Fasting Pill.

• You feel full.

• Your fatigue has been relieved.

• All stats increase by 2 for one hour.

“What?”

I hurriedly opened my Status Window. Every stat except Internal Energy had increased by 2. On top of that, my fatigue and hunger were both gone.

Feeling completely refreshed and comfortably full, I muttered,

“This is totally broken.”

Who would have thought such a foul-tasting lump of grain could have such incredible effects?

Wait a second.

“Do the effects stack?”

Just one had raised my stats by a total of ten points. What if I ate two? Three? No, ten?

Even if that were goblin shit, I’d eat it.

Though goblin shit might actually taste better… Still, it was definitely worth trying.

I can do this. I can do this. Jin Taekyung.

With trembling hands, I picked up a second fasting pill.

A short while later—

System

• You have consumed an Excellent Fasting Pill.

• The effects do not stack.

• You feel excessively full.

• Your movements will be slowed for one hour due to Overeating!

As the System notification sounded, I dropped to my knees.

“Bleaaargh!”

I could only resume training after my bloated stomach finally went down. I had three days to stay in the training hall. I needed to grow as strong as possible before leaving.

“Hah!”

With a short shout, the spearhead traced a heavy arc.

Keep my stance low, my feet heavy, and my spear fast.

The Jin Family’s Spear Technique was aggressive. It advanced relentlessly, keeping constant pressure on the enemy. Its movements were simple but lethal.

Didn’t it originate in the military?

I didn’t know the details of the game’s setting, but this didn’t seem like a martial art an ordinary foot soldier would learn.

It was a first-rate martial art, after all, and required considerable physical ability to perform. Maybe it had been practiced by elite soldiers or commanders.

Compared with what I learned at the Hunter training camp, it’s like heaven and earth.

Just then, my feet got tangled—whether from exhaustion or distraction, I couldn’t tell. Once my footwork fell apart, my hands followed. The spearhead, brimming with power, lost its momentum and sliced weakly through the air.

Whoosh—

The System sounded at the same time.

System

• Jin Family’s Spear Technique Mastery increased by 1. (6 / 100)

“Only 1?”

My Mastery increased each time I performed the martial art from beginning to end. The amount depended on the System’s evaluation, and this time I’d only gained 1 because my feet kept getting tangled.

“Why am I getting worse the more I do this?”

This was the third time I’d performed the Jin Family’s Spear Technique since acquiring it, and each attempt had been worse than the last. The first had earned me 3 Mastery. The second, 2. Now the third had given me 1.

“Three, two, one. What is this, a countdown?”

At this rate, the fourth attempt wouldn’t give me any Mastery at all. I sighed and gripped the spear again. My breath was growing ragged, but I performed the Jin Family’s Spear Technique once more.

Around the fourth form, I lost my balance and fell.

Ding.

System

• You did not gain Mastery for Jin Family’s Spear Technique. (6 / 100)

“This is driving me insane.”

I stayed flat on my back and stared at the stalactites hanging from the training hall’s ceiling.

My feet kept getting tangled. I was performing the technique exactly as I had learned it, so why was this happening? Nothing like this had happened when I acquired it.

“What’s the problem?”

Something kept catching and throwing me off. I had to figure out what it was.

I got back up like a roly-poly and performed the Jin Family’s Spear Technique again. This time, I fell after only the third form.

System

• You did not gain Mastery for Jin Family’s Spear Technique. (6 / 100)

When I focused on my feet instead of the spear, the problem began to reveal itself.

Good. One more time.

System

• You did not gain Mastery for Jin Family’s Spear Technique. (6 / 100)

Now I understood. But…

“Why is the Jin Family’s Manoeuvre Technique showing up here?”

I had struggled when I first learned it. I’d spent half a day practicing nothing but footwork. But had I practiced it enough to unconsciously mix it into my spear technique?

No.

By that logic, I’d be mixing in every movement I’ve learned over the past seven years.

I had learned spear fighting before, too. It was one of the basics taught at the Hunter training camp. Since it was distributed to F-ranks who couldn’t use mana, we called it shitty spear fighting among ourselves.

Compared with that, the Jin Family’s Spear Technique was good enough for intermediate Hunters.

“Should I give it a try?”

No matter how hard I racked my brain, all I’d get was a bald spot. The only way to understand a technique was to try it with my whole body.

I slowly began performing the Jin Family’s Spear Technique. At the same time, I used the Jin Family’s Manoeuvre Technique with my lower body.

The movements feel unnatural.

They kept falling out of sync. But this was different. Before, it had felt like a mass of tangled threads. Now it felt like two gears missing each other by the slightest fraction.

How many times did I try?

Whoosh—Bang!

It was a simple thrust. For a moment, I wondered if I had somehow performed all the way through the seventh and final form without realizing it, but it was only one movement from the fifth form.

“What was that?”

A shiver ran down my spine. For a single instant, the footwork and spear technique had meshed perfectly. The spear in my hand quivered.

System

• You did not gain Mastery for Jin Family’s Spear Technique. (6 / 100)

I shoved the System notification into a corner of my mind and tightened my grip on the spear. Recalling the sensation from a moment ago, I stepped forward.

And tried again.

Swish—Whoosh—

This is it.

I felt it the instant I thrust the spear.

The footwork and spear technique—the two gears meshed perfectly.

An indescribable thrill swept over me as I turned those two gears again and again. Every step I took was fast and precise. Every thrust, slash, and sweep of the spear was fast, precise, and powerful.

My dantian grew hot. My internal energy became a ball of fire and seeped into the spear.

I had to unleash it.

Now!

“Hah!”

The Sky-Piercing Strike—the final blow of the Jin Family’s Spear Technique, said to pierce the heavens—shot forward.

A deep, muffled boom erupted through the cavern.

Boom!

Dust billowed, and fragments of stone flew in every direction. The spear embedded in the training hall’s wall trembled. A massive hole had formed around the spearhead, which had sunk so deep that it was no longer visible.

A hole?

No. This was a crater.

The sight took my breath away.

“Huff, huff…”

The exhilaration sent a shiver down my spine.

Fuck, that was me. I did that!

I had unleashed that insane strike—the kind that could take down a Troll in one blow.

Me!

I staggered.

Huh?

I needed to shout at the top of my lungs and take a picture as proof. I needed to wipe the smirk off Jinho hyung’s¹ face for calling me Rice Weevil.

Oh, right. I’m in a game.

My vision blurred. The strength drained from my body. An unbearable wave of drowsiness washed over me.

I’m sleepy.

I stopped thinking and surrendered to instinct. A familiar sound faded into the distance.

Ding. Ding. Ding.

.

.

.

System

• All internal energy has been depleted.

• You feel extreme fatigue.

• You have completed the achievement Unity of Self and Object. A reward will be granted!

• You have realized the connection between martial arts on your own. As a reward, the realms of your martial arts will rise substantially.

• The realm of Jin Family’s Cultivation Technique…

• The realm of Jin Family’s Manoeuvre Technique…

• The realm of Jin Family’s Spear Technique…

• Level up!

• Level up!

System

• Sleep mode has ended.

I opened my eyes. The cave ceiling came into view, stalactites hanging overhead.

The training hall.

How long had I been unconscious? Half a day? A full day?

I didn’t know. What mattered was that I was still inside the game and had gotten plenty of rest.

I feel great, too.

My body felt strangely good. Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered hearing System notifications just before I passed out.

“Open Message Window.”

The next moment, unread messages filled my vision. By the time I finished reading them and sorting through my thoughts, more than ten minutes had passed.

I muttered a brief reaction.

“I hit the jackpot.”

The Jin Family’s Manoeuvre Technique and Spear Technique had both risen to the Third Stage—a jump of two whole stages. The Jin Family’s Cultivation Technique had reached the Second Stage.

And on top of that…

“I went up two Levels?”

I was happy, but also bewildered. I hadn’t seriously expected to Level up in the training hall.

“Don’t you usually Level up by completing Quests or killing monsters?”

Apparently, learning martial arts and gaining insight like this could also make me Level up. Was it because this was a martial-arts game? I really couldn’t predict anything here.

“No wonder I feel so light.”

The Level Ups must have restored my condition. Even the bruises and lingering aches I’d had before leveling up were completely gone.

“Open Status Window.”

The Status Window had changed too. Reaching Level 13 had given me twenty remaining points, and my training had slightly increased my Strength, Stamina, and Agility.

“Level 13…”

The Quest completion requirements were reaching the first-rate realm, Level 30, and 500 Fame.

I wasn’t progressing quickly, but I was steadily leveling up through training alone. That meant I was cruising along.

Once I get out of the training hall, I can raise the sails and really take off.

I smiled contentedly and distributed my points.

Now all that remained was to check the reward I’d received for completing the Unity of Self and Object achievement.

“Open Inventory.”

System

• You have 1 new Item. Would you like to check it?

Yeah. Hand it over.