novelraw Chapter 256 : Awakening (3)
Chapter 256 : Awakening (3)
When Ju Taeyang broke the bead, a vast prairie unfolded before the two of them.
"It's a space with an area about the size of Gyeongju city."
"It's very spacious."
"Indeed it is."
Ju Taeyang nodded.
"Do you like the prairie? The seaside, a cave, or jungle. It doesn't matter what."
"I think the prairie is best."
"Good."
Ju Taeyang scattered the broken bead fragments on the ground.
"As you can see, this space is both reality and not reality."
The bead fragments were carried away by the wind like dandelion seeds.
And a moment later.
Kuooooo!
Kyaaaaaa!
From a distance came the collective howls of demonic beasts with ominous presences.
"The capsule you used at the academy was a battle in a digital space. If you got hurt or died there, it had no effect on your body."
However.
"If you get hurt here, you really get hurt. If you die, you really die."
"......."
"This is a magical space. Your physical body will age the same way. The strength, muscle, and damage accumulated in your body are all real."
In other words.
"Don't die. If you die here, you really die."
"......Understood."
Su-hyeon nodded heavily.
"The time you can stay in this space is one year."
"One year."
"Is that enough?"
"It couldn't be better."
Su-hyeon smiled.
"That's the answer I wanted."
Ju Taeyang smiled back.
"You may have already guessed, being as intelligent as you are."
Ju Taeyang's gaze turned to the sky.
"Actually, this wasn't originally a magic for training."
"Yes."
Su-hyeon nodded.
"I thought so."
"Why?"
"The damage remains on the body. The monsters and environment can be created at the sorcerer's will. There's even a distortion of time."
Su-hyeon answered.
"This is a perfect trap."
"Yes. A place like an antlion pit where you can't escape no matter what you do."
Ju Taeyang nodded with satisfaction at Su-hyeon's answer.
"But if you change your perspective, it becomes the most perfect training space."
"Sounds good."
"Six hours of sleep, four hours of rest including meal times, six hours of personal training, and eight hours of practical combat. Make sure to strictly follow this framework."
"Yes."
"The enemies you'll face in practical combat will be reconstructed based on my memories of the Ma-in and demonic beasts I've fought and defeated until now."
"It's going to be brutal."
"I'll leave a few minimal medications and potions, but it would be better to avoid major injuries."
"I'll keep that in mind."
Ju Taeyang smiled softly.
"Is this enough?"
"It's enough."
Su-hyeon replied.
"But how will I eat?"
"Don't worry about food, clothing, and shelter."
Snap!
When Ju Taeyang snapped his fingers, a small mountain lodge appeared on a hill.
"That's your lodging. It's equipped with bedding, clothing, equipment, knives and pots, a gas range, various canned and retort foods, protein, a refrigerator, supplements, and the like. Figure out how to feed yourself well."
"Thank you."
"Well, you're free to hunt wild animals separately. Of course, make sure to use your rest time for hunting."
"......Understood."
"I think I've covered most of what I need to tell you. If you have any questions, ask them now."
"Hmm."
After thinking for a moment, Su-hyeon asked.
"What do you plan to do in the meantime, Commander?"
"I plan to spend my time like an administrator, reading books in a dimension different from yours and adjusting your dimension. It's unavoidable since I'm the master of this dimension."
"I see."
"If you have any suggestions, just put your hands together and call my name three times in your heart."
"Understood."
"Is that all for questions?"
"It's more of a request than a question."
Su-hyeon said.
"Could you also spar with me?"
"Hmm."
Ju Taeyang, who had closed his eyes and was briefly measuring something, held up two fingers.
"Once every two months, I'll come and spar with you personally."
"Thank you."
"Don't expect too much though."
Ju Taeyang waved his hand.
"As you know, I can't engage in intense battles with my current physical condition. It's like trying to save a candle flame that's about to go out."
"Even just that will be a great learning experience for me."
"Hmm."
Ju Taeyang smiled with satisfaction.
"That's not wrong."
And so the training began.
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Forgetting time, I repeatedly focused only on fighting and training.
It was never easy to face one, or sometimes two or three, demonic beasts and Ma-in created by Ju Taeyang each day.
A dual-wielding swordsman holding swords of different lengths in each hand.
A warrior swinging a heavy and massive greatsword capable of cutting through both rider and horse.
And Ma-in handling various other weapons.
Fire, telekinesis, lightning, deadly poison, plant manipulation, animal manipulation, and more.
Ma-in using a variety of characteristics.
I even faced various lycanthropes like were-bears, were-tigers, were-wolves, and were-apes.
They were all monsters of the old generation whose names I only knew from the settings of Edge of Gate.
Additionally, drakes, wyverns, gargoyles, twin-headed ogres, hydras, trolls, death knights, vampires, and dulahans.
I fought and killed all kinds of demonic beasts, including special demonic beasts with unknown motives.
After fighting on the edge of life and death multiple times, I would train and meditate with a tired and injured body, reviewing the day's achievements.
There were days when things went well and days when there was no progress at all, which was frustrating.
'A sword alone isn't enough.'
From the beginning, the fighting style I pursued was to excel in any battlefield by mastering striking arts and wrestling, grappling, based on sword in right hand, fist in left.
'But at some point, I was focusing more on the sword than the fist.'
However, the more I fought against those numerous Ma-in and demonic beasts, the more deeply I realized that a correction in that direction was needed.
I couldn't always face enemies with just a sword.
And there were many enemies against whom striking arts or grappling didn't work.
Liberation, Tachypsychia Mode, Chukji.
The higher the risk of a skill, the more I had to restrain myself, or I wouldn't be able to properly handle the next day's training and practical combat.
Therefore, the more I trained, the more urgent became the thirst to contain both the principles of sword and fist within this body.
'In fact, sword and fist aren't unrelated.'
Just as boxing steps have learned from fencing.
Just as modern judo and jiu-jitsu were born from ancient martial arts that assumed armed opponents.
Just as Chinese kung fu became Okinawan te, which then became karate, and met boxing and Muay Thai to develop into kickboxing.
Just as all those martial arts met to lead to a comprehensive martial art called MMA.
In the end, the extremes of all martial arts were connected.
'All styles returning to one.'
And the realm of Non-Self I reached against Lee Cheong-myeong.
At some point, pursuing these two realms became the goal of my training.
And after six months, I pursued and eventually completed another realm.
'The realm of relaxation.'
Even Ahn Byeong-jun's technique of cutting along the grain required deeper relaxation.
Above all, it was a necessary realm to use attacks with Chukji not just as a one-shot technique.
'To use an analogy, it's about becoming a wasp's sting that can sting multiple times rather than a bee's sting that dies after stinging once.'
It was a principle where a ball thrown in a state of relaxation, utilizing the flexibility of the entire body, goes much stronger than a ball thrown stiffly with force in the shoulders.
'It's even less painful for the shoulder too.'
Chukji-fist achieved in the realm of relaxation.
If I could shoot that technique multiple times without injury?
My combat power would certainly leap forward by at least one level.
One month, two months, three months.
Time felt both as if it had stopped and as if it passed as quickly as an arrow.
It was a daily routine of continuous fighting and training without conversing with anyone.
Perhaps an ordinary human would have gone mad and demanded to be let out long ago.
But I didn't get tired, nor did I get bored.
I spent all my time solely for training.
Even while eating, I thought about the sword, and even while trying to sleep, I thought about the fist.
Even while cooking, I would suddenly turn off the fire and swing my sword, reflecting on my insights.
I stimulated my chest, back, lower body, arms, and shoulders, and abused my heart with cardio that was virtually self-destructive.
The changing body with each passing day.
I savored the newly approaching weight, length, and feel of the sword.
And then, after two months, I could meet Ju Taeyang.
Sparring without using mana.
Yet that sparring of just over an hour gave me such intense intellectual stimulation that I could ruminate on it for a full month.
The insights gained from sparring with him, techniques I couldn't understand but suffered from, deep battles where I couldn't tell how many moves ahead he was looking.
Each one was a pure thrill.
Even on days when I didn't speak a single word.
I would find myself muttering like a madman, spewing out all my thoughts in monologues.
After six months had passed, and the time gone was more than the time remaining.
At some point, my thoughts and actions began to align perfectly without any delay.
Sword and fist no longer felt different.
As natural as the trajectory unfolded when holding a sword, handling fists was also comfortable and free.
Initially against multiple A-class Ma-in.
Later, I could fight without difficulty even against Ma-in who had reached S-class.
Once every two weeks.
Once a week.
Once a day.
Then, twice a day.
The frequency of falling into the realm of Non-Self that I had reached against Lee Cheong-myeong also increased.
By the eighth month, I was able to consciously dive into and emerge from the depths of unconsciousness.
In the tenth month, in the fifth sparring session, I almost achieved a draw by targeting Ju Taeyang's openings.
Compared to before I started training, it was truly a monumental growth, like the creation of a new world.
The strength of my body or the amount of mana didn't change that much.
But as my level of mastery increased, I could feel that my overall combat power had clearly broken through barriers.
Thirst, achievement, elation.
The days of continuously going around these three wheels were only joyful.
Why wouldn't they be?
I was getting stronger, stronger, and stronger still.
And there was still room to become even stronger.
It was an amazing thing.
'I've repeated life in this world hundreds of times.'
Although it was beyond the monitor, I had studied various techniques and witnessed various realms.
But only after experiencing it firsthand did I finally understand.
'I still don't know the full depth of this world.'
The thirst to know that depth never ceased.
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Watching Su-hyeon's training every day, Ju Taeyang had to be amazed time and again by Su-hyeon's talent and will.
"It's truly unbelievable."
One year.
A long time if you think about it, but still only an 18-year-old body.
How much mastery could he have melted into that young, almost childish body and brain?
'Without a doubt, the current Su-hyeon has long since surpassed the wall of S-rank.'
And yet he was still getting stronger.
"If that kid used all his strength, even Gong I-an of the 1st Unit..."
Swallowing the rest of his words in his heart, Ju Taeyang marveled.
"I thought it was a deep, deep well, but it wasn't. Your talent should have been compared to the sea."
The fifth sparring was truly a paper-thin difference.
Even though neither of them used skills or mana.
The fact that he, with a dragon's body and a dragon's intelligence who had trained for a long time, almost matched Su-hyeon was a huge shock to him as well.
'But not yet. You must become even stronger.'
Watching Su-hyeon's training through the magic screen, Ju Taeyang thought.
'Only then can I...'
Recalling his final arrangement that Su-hyeon hadn't yet guessed, Ju Taeyang muttered softly.
"I entrust the future to you."
And so, one year passed.