Ding. Ding. Ding.
The flood of System notifications was enough to make my ears hurt. My mouth fell open as I dismissed the message windows filling my vision one by one.
Why are there so many rewards?
Two Level Ups, an increase to all my Stats, and a new Skill for completing an achievement.
Martial Arts Manual Creation?
Ding.
System
Skill Window
Martial Arts Manual Creation
Grade: None
Realm: First Stage
Description: Allows the creation of martial arts manuals for martial arts that have reached mastery.
Martial Arts Manuals Available: Jin Family’s Spear Technique, Jin Family’s Manoeuvre Technique
The description confirmed exactly what I had guessed.
It’s a Skill, so I guess it’s better than nothing…
For now, though, it did not seem particularly useful. I was mostly fascinated that the System would give me a production Skill like this.
This really does feel like a game sometimes.
There were still far too many things in this world that I had never experienced.
Everything was unfamiliar and unreal. Even now, I still could not tell whether Murim was a game or another reality altogether.
Smack!
“Ah.”
I turned around, clutching the back of my stinging head. Jin Mukyung stood there holding a wooden sword broken in half, staring at me like I was pathetic.
“Not concentrating?”
“Seriously. Why do you keep hitting me in the head? It’s annoying.”
“You bastard. You’re slipping back into casual speech again.”
Jin Mukyung narrowed his eyes, but he was not very frightening anymore.
It’s not like I’ve only been hit once or twice.
Today marked the tenth day since the hellish training began.
I had realized one important fact right from the start.
I get hit even when I use polite speech!
I had been beaten black and blue. I had even gained the Toughness Stat on only the second day, which said everything that needed saying. No matter what I did, I was going to get beaten anyway. I might as well speak casually and claim the moral victory.
Smack!
“That barely tickles.”
The Toughness Stat had not appeared for nothing.
Just as flowers grew with sunlight and water, my Stats had flourished under merciless violence and hellish training.
Whack!
“Hey, wait. You hit bone. Bone.”
“The spar isn’t over.”
Thud-thud-thud!
While taking hits from the wooden sword as it struck my vital points with practiced precision, I swung my spear as well.
Sshh-shh-shhk! Crack!
Ten days of hellish training.
At last, the Jin Family’s Spear Technique and Jin Family’s Manoeuvre Technique, both brought to mastery, flowed from me as naturally as breathing.
Ding.
System
Time Limit: 2 hours 22 minutes
Ding.
System
Time Limit: 2 hours 22 minutes
“…?”
What the hell? Why did it ring twice?
Sshh-shh-shhk!
Clang!
As he blocked the spear bearing down on him, Jin Mukyung swallowed the laugh threatening to escape.
Look at this bastard.
Ten days. Short in some ways, long in others. But when that was all the time it had taken to master a First Rate martial art, it became another matter entirely.
What kind of bastard is this?
He had thought the same thing dozens of times over the past ten days. Jin Taekyung’s rate of growth went beyond even the saying “hear one, know ten.”
Knowing something and making it your own are different.
Mastering a martial art meant understanding it perfectly and being able to execute it. Jin Taekyung had made two First Rate martial arts completely his own in only ten days.
Even taking into account the fact that he had already reached a certain level, this was an astonishing achievement.
So this really is possible.
Jin Mukyung was dumbfounded. What had his initial estimate been again?
One thing was certain: Taekyung had far surpassed his original goal.
All I meant to do was cure him of that habit of throwing out his hands and feet whenever he felt like it, then make sure his fundamentals were solid…
But once training began, things had changed.
Fundamentals? Jin Mukyung had no way of knowing, but Jin Taekyung had trained relentlessly for seven years. Training to grow stronger. Struggling desperately to survive.
His palms had split open and healed dozens of times, and with every cycle, his spear had grown faster and stronger. As a result, there was nothing to criticize in Jin Taekyung’s fundamentals beyond a few minor problems with his posture.
The same goes for everything else.
Horse-stance1 training would have been nothing but a waste of time.
Strength, Stamina, Agility—every one of his physical abilities far surpassed those of martial artists at the same level, and all of them had developed with remarkable balance.
So it wasn’t sheer luck that kept him alive until now.
Look at that tall, lanky frame and those long limbs. Those lean, compact muscles. Was this really the same skinny brat who had worked on his abs three years ago to impress courtesans?
Damn it. It’s not like he has the Heavenly Martial Physique.
Jin Mukyung was once again struck by the sheer absurdity of it all when—
Swoooosh!
A spear thrust forward with powerful momentum.
Jin Mukyung used his footwork to retreat, but Jin Taekyung pursued him relentlessly, pressing the attack.
Sshk! Sshh-shh-shhk!
Even the same martial art changed depending on who wielded it and how. Every move carried the wielder’s temperament and disposition.
The Jin Family’s Spear Technique Jin Mukyung was using now was no different.
Was this what the Jin Family’s Spear Technique was supposed to be?
Martial artist and wandering martial artist. Movements that had been awkward and uneasy in some indefinable way were gradually beginning to harmonize.
He’s already made it his own.
Ten days ago, Jin Taekyung had been half-finished, but the change had already begun. Jin Mukyung was proud of his younger brother’s achievement. At the same time, heat began to build in his stomach.
This is…
He had felt this emotion once before toward someone else. He had never dreamed Jin Taekyung would become its object.
Jealousy. And competitive spirit.
Jin Mukyung froze in place.
Toward that momentary opening, the final form of the Jin Family’s Spear Technique—Sky-Piercing Strike—shot forward.
“Haap!”
Whoooosh!
The wind spiraling around the spear swallowed Jin Taekyung’s shout. Just as the spear seemed about to pierce Jin Mukyung’s chest, his hand closed around his sword hilt.
Fwoosh!
A flash erupted from his waist and cleaved through the wind.
At its end stood Jin Taekyung.
Sshk!
A short rush of wind swept past, and my upper body suddenly felt breezy. My martial arts uniform had been sliced cleanly open from my right waist to my left shoulder, letting the chilly air of the underground training ground seep through the gap.
Only after confirming that I was unhurt did I let out a sigh of relief.
“Whew.”
Sword Energy out of nowhere? My heart had nearly jumped out of my throat.
“Crazy. You said you weren’t going to use Sword Energy.”
“…Only an idiot would take that at face value.”
Jin Mukyung answered with a distinctly uneasy expression and sheathed his sword.
“Training ends here.”
Ding.
System
Jin Mukyung has declared the training complete.
The remaining Time Limit has vanished.
Quest success will be determined by Jin Mukyung’s evaluation.
Success? Or failure?
Under my expectant gaze, he opened his mouth.
“You’ve still got a long way to go.”
“Ah.”
“To think this is all you managed to keep up with after ten days. What a waste of my ti—”
Jin Mukyung broke off with a sour expression.
“What’s with that look?”
“Huh? What?”
“That bizarre expression you’re making right now!”
“I’m not making one. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
But Jin Mukyung was right.
I was struggling desperately to keep the corners of my mouth from rising. The reason was the System message floating in the air.
Ding.
System
You have fulfilled the conditions for Quest success!
Quest Training? Trial! has been completed!
Level Up!
The Quest completion Reward has been moved to your Inventory!
Excellent work. An additional Reward will be granted!
“Hm. You’re a shy child, aren’t you?”
Jin Mukyung. An honest young man.
“You bastard! What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“Forget it. Twenty-three is a bashful age.”
“You little—”
Jin Mukyung’s eyes went wild, and he was about to charge at me when—
Creak.
The door leading to the surface opened, and a servant cautiously poked his head inside.
System
Level 12: Jang Childeuk
“Um, Young Masters?”
He was the servant who had regularly brought us meals until about three days ago. Something had clearly happened since we last saw him. His face was covered in bruises, and four or five of his teeth were broken.
He continued speaking through the gaps in his teeth.
“The Lesser Family Head is looking for you.”
“…Damn it.”
Jin Mukyung looked back and forth between Childeuk and me, then reluctantly lowered his fist.
We followed Childeuk. Jin Mukyung walked along with a sour expression, staring only at the ground as if everything offended him. Childeuk kept groaning whenever pain shot through him with each step.
“Ow. Good grief. Urgh.”
“…”
That was seriously getting on my nerves.
“How did you get hurt?”
“There was a minor misunderstanding.”
Those looked like fairly serious injuries for a minor misunderstanding.
In the modern world, potions meant there was nothing that could not be healed. Murim was different. I clicked my tongue as I looked at Childeuk’s broken teeth.
“That must hurt.”
“It’s all right.”
Childeuk puffed out his chest with stoic resolve.
“A martial artist of the Jin Family of Taiyuan must be able to endure this much.”
“…”
He had been acting like he was about to die from the pain just moments ago.
But wasn’t this man a servant?
Come to think of it, his clothes have changed.
He was wearing the dark navy martial arts uniform worn by martial artists of the Jin Family of Taiyuan. I thought he had been wearing a servant’s clothes before.
Noticing my gaze, he smiled shyly.
“Oh. I officially became a martial artist a few days ago.”
“A martial artist?”
Jin Mukyung, who had been walking silently behind us, suddenly spoke.
“Under whose command?”
I might have made a name for myself lately, but I was still nowhere near as famous as Jin Mukyung. Childeuk answered with an awestruck expression.
“I serve directly under the Lesser Family Head.”
“Only specially selected martial artists in our family are allowed to serve directly under our eldest brother.”
Jin Mukyung looked Childeuk up and down. His gaze was not contemptuous so much as assessing, as though he were measuring Childeuk’s realm.
“Your physique is decent, but you don’t seem to have learned any martial arts.”
“Yes. To be honest, I’m bewildered myself. I’ve never properly performed so much as a single form.”
According to my Qi Sense, Childeuk was Level 12. That was high for a servant who had done nothing but carry food, but by martial-artist standards, he was Third Rate.
The First Rate masters directly under Jin Wikyung are all above Level 40.
What was going on? Did he have powerful backing?
Jin Mukyung seemed to have reached the same conclusion. His brow furrowed.
“You must have good connections. What does your father do?”
Childeuk blinked his large, calf-like eyes.
“He died ten years ago.”
“…”
“…”
“He was a famous herb gatherer, but he was killed by a tiger.”
For a moment, my vision went hazy. Befitting a Peak master, Jin Mukyung was the first to regain his composure and hurriedly tried to smooth things over.
“H-He must have been an excellent man.”
“Even now, I remember him as a very innocent man. He and my mother were very loving, too.”
“Then your mother… perhaps? No—she isn’t, right?”
“She’s doing well.”
Just as we breathed sighs of relief, Childeuk gazed wistfully at a distant mountain.
“I buried her beside my father, so I’m sure they’re both doing well.”
“…”
“…”
What followed was a march of death. I wanted to run away at full speed, but I gave up after hearing Childeuk muttering to himself.
“Oh, I haven’t seen those flowers in a long time. I used to see them everywhere when I went into the mountains with my father.”
“…”
“…”
If we had walked with him for another fifteen minutes, Jin Mukyung might have killed himself. Fortunately, after five minutes that felt like five hours, we reached our destination.
“Oh, you’re here!”
The sight of Jin Wikyung waiting in front of the pavilion nearly brought tears to my eyes. We cried out in voices thick with emotion.
“Hyuung!2”
“Hyung-nim!2”
Childeuk awkwardly clasped his hands in a formal salute.
“As ordered, I have escorted the Young Masters here.”
Jin Wikyung had been hurrying toward Jin Mukyung and me, but he suddenly stopped and embraced Childeuk instead.
“Jang Childeuk, a man of benevolence, righteousness, propriety, and wisdom! Martial Artist Jang, you’ve returned!”
“Yes, sir, Lesser Family Head!”
“You’ve completed a very important mission! Go and rest now.”
What on earth was happening? Jin Mukyung and I stared blankly at the scene.
Then a voice reached my ear through Sound Transmission.
There was, uh, a minor misunderstanding between me and this fellow…
“…”
Somehow, I had a feeling I knew who was backing Childeuk.
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