Ding.
System
Pressure-Point Strike has worn off!
You awaken from sleep!
I opened my eyes as the System notifications appeared.
The first things to enter my view were the rippling branches below, swaying in the night wind, and the stars scattered across the blackened sky. Against my back, I felt the cold, hard touch of rock.
I’m outside.
I had expected as much. Even a preschooler could have guessed that Jeok Cheongang wouldn’t lay me down on a soft goose-down bed.
Besides, my body was sturdy enough to sleep anywhere.
Then why does my body feel so heavy?
Was it because I had been pushing myself too hard lately?
System or not, apparently I was still human after all.
Maybe it was because of the fifteen-day forced march. My body felt heavy, as if I had an iron ball hanging from me…
Clank.
“Huh?”
Clank?
I turned my head toward the sound.
I saw manacles fastened tightly around both hands and ankles, with chains connecting them to iron balls.
“…They’re really iron balls.”
What the hell was this?
My brain stopped working for a few seconds. Who was I? Where was I?
And why were these ridiculous things locked onto my limbs?
The answer came quickly. It was an easier problem than one plus one.
“Fire King!”
It was at that exact moment that I shouted the words like a thunderclap.
Smack!
“Ah!”
“Look at this disrespectful little bastard.”
Jeok Cheongang, who had nailed me in the back of the head with a pebble, was approaching at a leisurely walk, his feet turned outward.
“How dare you toss around my epithet so casually in front of me? Am I your friend?”
I had been rolling around on the rock in pain, but I sprang to my feet.
Clank.
“What is this?”
“That? Iron balls.”
“I wasn’t asking because I didn’t know what they were.”
“Then why did you ask when you already knew?”
“……”
“From now on, these will be your arms and legs. They are training tools passed down through the Fire Gate Clan for generations, so treat them like your own children.”
I was a virgin bachelor who had never even been in a relationship, let alone married, and he was talking about children?
Dumbfounded, I grabbed the chains attached to the iron balls and pulled.
Rattle.
The sound of metal scraping filled the air, followed by a tremendous sense of weight.
They were heavy enough that even a decent First Rate martial artist wouldn’t be able to stand still while wearing them.
“These are training tools passed down through the sect for generations?”
“Did this old man not just say so?”
“How much do they weigh?”
“Not much. About two hundred geun?”1
“……”
“Oh, of course, that’s not combined. Each one weighs two hundred geun.”
Two hundred geun came to 120 kilograms even by modern standards.
With such monstrous objects fastened to all four of my limbs, their total weight was…
About five hundred kilograms. Half a ton.
I thought it over carefully before opening my mouth.
“Have you gone senile?”
“……You really don’t hold anything back, do you?”
I had expected to get hit for saying that, but for some reason, Jeok Cheongang’s reaction stopped there.
He stared at me with a complicated expression for a moment before continuing.
“Regardless, you’ll live with those iron balls chained to you from now on. While training, of course, but also while sleeping and eating.”
“Hmm.”
“This is all part of your training.”
“You’re serious?”
“If you don’t believe me, quit. I won’t bother seeing you off.”
Jeok Cheongang turned around without hesitation, so I hurriedly called out to him.
“W-wait a moment!”
“What? I thought you didn’t want to do it.”
“No, but you can’t just leave before I’ve even answered.”
“So, what’s your answer?”
“Well…”
Damn it. I’m having a serious internal conflict here.
But once the initial shock of seeing the iron balls faded, my mind gradually settled.
It’s not impossible.
I had made it this far after narrowly escaping death dozens of times.
The world wasn’t easy. To receive a reward, you had to pay a corresponding price. That was true in the Murim and in the modern world.
Everyone—not just me—was living through a series of endless Quests.
And…
If I were going to turn back over something like this, I wouldn’t have come all the way here.
Compared to the fruits I would harvest in the future, this was a bargain.
After reaching my decision, I met Jeok Cheongang’s gaze.
“Fine. I’ll do it.”
“I didn’t hear you.”
“I said I’ll do it!”
“Ha-ha-ha! Good!”
A smile spread across Jeok Cheongang’s wrinkled lips.
What a sly old man.
He had acted as though he didn’t care either way, but I had known for a while that deep down, he wanted me.
“So what do I start with?”
“You want to start right away?”
“They say you should strike while the iron is hot. If I’m going to do it anyway, it’s better to start now.”
“You have a bold streak, I’ll give you that. But you need to eat first.”
“What? Why all of a sudden?”
“Do you think training means starving yourself? You need to have something in your stomach before you can accomplish anything worthwhile.”
I caught the object Jeok Cheongang pulled from inside his robe and tossed to me.
Under the faint moonlight, I peeled away the damp paper and found a fasting pill with a reddish cast.
“You should’ve given me jerky instead.”
“Stop complaining and eat it. It isn’t an ordinary fasting pill. It was made using a secret Fire Gate Clan method.”
“What does it do?”
“It’s superior in every way, but…”
“This stuff makes my stomach feel so bloated. These days, just looking at one kills my appetite.”
“It’s especially good for your virility.”
“Wow, my mouth’s watering just looking at it.”
“……”
“I’ll enjoy the meal!”
If it was good for virility, I had to eat it. Even if I had no immediate use for it, I had to eat it no matter what.
Thinking of the future, I chewed the fasting pill thoroughly and swallowed it.
Jeok Cheongang watched me intently before asking,
“Did you finish it?”
“Yes, Old Master.”
“What, you don’t feel anything?”
“I’m not sure. I think my sperm count may have gone up a little…”
Jeok Cheongang frowned at my answer and muttered,
“Strange. Perhaps the medicine lost its potency because it was made too long ago?”
“Huh?”
What the hell was he talking about?
I had just asked him that without thinking when—
Ding.
System
You have taken Fire King’s Special Restriction Pill.
You feel full!
Agility decreases by 100!
Strength decreases by 100!
Stamina decreases by 100!
You cannot use internal energy!
The effects will last for one week!
“…Huh?”
It happened without any warning.
As soon as the System notification appeared, strength drained from my arms and legs, and my breathing grew short.
Finally, the internal energy that had been flowing steadily through the lesser meridians throughout my body descended into my dantian. Then it became completely immobile, as though bound by something.
“Guh!”
Thud!
My strength vanished all at once, and the body that had somehow been supporting the weight of the iron balls sagged.
The half-ton weight pressing down on my entire body made my knees buckle.
“What the hell is this?”
“Heh-heh. The medicine is finally taking effect.”
I stared at Jeok Cheongang, who was letting out a sinister laugh, with my jaw hanging open.
“What the hell did you do, you crazy old man?”
“What did you call me? A crazy old man?”
“Gasp. No, that’s not what I meant.”
“Let’s see… For your first training session, that seems like the best choice.”
As soon as he finished speaking, his wrinkled palm opened toward me.
An immense flow of qi filled the air. The wind that had been blowing fiercely changed direction and began to whirl around him.
Then a flash of insight struck me.
There’s a cliff below this, isn’t there?
I hurriedly looked behind me. The view below the rock was dizzying.
If I fell from here with these insane iron balls attached to me…
“W-wait a moment!”
“What do you mean, wait? Didn’t you say it was better to strike while the iron was hot?”
“But that was—!”
“Too late.”
Fwoosh!
Compressed air burst from Jeok Cheongang’s palm. A blast of fist wind powerful enough to uproot rocks and trees transformed into the fist of a giant and hammered into me.
Against that powerful wind, even several hundred kilograms of iron balls were useless.
Boom!
Ah, shit.
The next moment, the ground vanished beneath my feet, and I was flung into the air.
Through my upside-down vision, I saw Jeok Cheongang waving at me with a broad grin.
“You have one shichen to get back up. If you’re even fifteen minutes late, you fail.”2
Ding.
System
Quest Fire King’s Inferno Training-1 has been created!
You cannot refuse this Quest!
“This is such bullsh—!”
Before I could finish speaking, gravity bore down on my entire body.
As I plummeted like a streak of light, there was only one thing I could say.
“Aaaaaaaaaaaah!”
My terrified scream shook Mount Jiuhua, which lay submerged in darkness.
Splash—
Far below the sheer cliff, Jeok Cheongang let out a quiet laugh at the sound of water echoing up from below.
A memory from his youth had suddenly come to mind.
“Master! Save me!”
“I’m counting to three. Let go. Three.”
“Please! If I fall from here, your Disciple will die!”
“Two.”
“Master!”
“One.”
His Master had been merciless—harsh enough to seem excessive when inflicted on a child whose baby fuzz had yet to disappear.
But without such harsh instruction, neither the Fire Gate Clan of today nor Fire King Jeok Cheongang would exist.
I’ll put you through what I went through… No, I’ll push you a little harder.
Jin Taekyung didn’t know it, but Jeok Cheongang did.
There was no time to teach him everything gradually, one step at a time.
The heavenly patterns Hong Dao had foreseen told him as much, as did Jeok Cheongang’s current condition.
Hold out until then. This old man will do his best, too.
After staring down the mountain for some time with a profound look in his eyes, Jeok Cheongang suddenly muttered,
“…Perhaps I shouldn’t have put the iron balls on him.”
He had never imagined that the object meant to restrain criminals of the Fire Gate Clan would be used for something like this.
“Hngh. Hnnnngh!”
Grrrnk. Grrrnnngh.
With every step I took, the ground that had only just begun to thaw sank beneath me. Deep trenches formed in my wake.
But I was already used to it. Sweating profusely, I continued climbing the steep mountain path.
“Huff. Huff.”
Ding.
System
Extreme Training!
Endless effort never betrays you!
Strength, Stamina, and Agility have increased by 1 each!
Muscles and Bones and Sinews and Meridians have increased by 2 each!
Even a drizzle will soak you through eventually, so these stat increases, though small, helped more than you might think.
If only I didn’t have these fucking iron balls! If only it weren’t for that damn restriction pill!
If either one had been absent, I would have completed the Quest long ago.
But my most important internal energy was restricted, my physical stats had each dropped by 100, and the tremendous weight had been added on top of that. I had no way to endure it.
To top it all off, the time limit was only one shichen.
Shit, Mount Jiuhua isn’t some little hill behind the neighborhood.
It was so difficult that I even considered breaking the chains connecting the iron balls.
That was before I learned the chains were made of Ten-Thousand-Year Cold Iron.
They used this for chains? Are they insane?
In the end, I had no choice but to grit my teeth and power through.
One day, two days, three days, four days…
And finally, today—ten days later.
Ding.
System
Quest Fire King’s Hellfire Training-1 has been completed!
You acquired a substantial amount of EXP!
Level Up!
You acquired 30 Bonus Points!
With about fifteen minutes remaining on the time limit, I finally reached the summit.
Thud!
“Yaaaaaah!”
I slammed the heavy iron weights onto the ground and let out a roar that rose from the depths of my lungs.
The sound startled Jeok Cheongang, who had been nodding off against a rock. He sprang awake.
“W-what happened?”
Damn old man. He was always going on about how martial artists shouldn’t waste time sleeping, yet he slept like a baby while I was going through hell?
Grinding my teeth, I walked toward him.
“Can’t you tell by looking? I climbed Mount Jiuhua within one shichen. I succeeded!”
“Huh? Why are you climbing Mount Jiuhua?”
“What?”
Jeok Cheongang blinked, then hurriedly shook his head.
“Ah, no. You did pretty well.”
“And?”
“I think we can move on to the next stage now. I’ve made the preparations, so handle it yourself.”
I turned my head toward where his finger was pointing.
Propped against a massive rock was a vest. A huge, incredibly thick vest made of iron.
My fingertips began to tremble despite myself.
“…Is this what I think it is?”
“What were you thinking?”
“That I’m supposed to put this on and repeat exactly what I’ve been doing until now.”
“You rascal. What a joke.”
“Right? Wow, you scared the hell out of me.”
“Ha-ha. You had such a cute little imagination.”
Jeok Cheongang let out an amiable laugh like a kindly old man from the neighborhood before continuing.
“If you manage one, the next step should be two or more. Now that I think about it, one shichen was far too generous.”
“What?”
“I’ll give you half a shichen. Hurry up, pick it up, put it on, and get back here.”
“……”
Ding.
System
Quest information has been changed!
Repeat Quest Fire King’s Inferno Training-1 has been created!
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