<Completed Jeokpa's mission! Seol-Hwi will be rewarded appropriately.> <Health increases by 300k> <Internal energy increases by 300k > <Combat power increased by 1 million >
Was it because he solved the mission, and not someone else?
Rewards kept pouring in right in front of him, and it wasn’t just that.
<Received ‘3000’ Gold as a result of the mission. It is real money, and will be stored in the toolbox. You can take this money out, and use it to buy weapons in the shop. >
Seol-Hwi lowered his gaze to the lower left, where there were some brightly lit words.
[Buy] 3,000G
Seol-Hwi chose the text.
And a familiar face appeared, in a square box, like a mirror.
[Geum Man-jung]
“You’re here! We have a lot of goods in our shop. Which one would you like to purchase?”
And several objects were shown in front of him.
All kinds of equipment were spread out, like a sheet.
[Weapons] Lancet Blade [For Imugi alone] 600G Crescent Blade [For Yong Jin alone] 600G Ancient Sword [For Jeok Song alone] 600G Hooked Spear [For Yorim alone] 600G Ghost Arrow [For Seo Ryeong alone] 600G
“What…”
Seol-Hwi couldn’t speak.
Weapons which were normally hard to find, and next to them was how much they cost.
Perhaps he could buy them with the money he earned?
Let’s think about it for a moment.
Seol-Hwi saw the weapons in front of him, but stopped himself from buying anything.
After all, it was a situation where he suddenly gained a large amount of money, so it wasn’t bad to take some time to think about it.
There’s no need to spend this much money blindly. So Seol-Hwi, who was worried, chose to refuse.
[Geum Man-jung]
“Good. Call us anytime. I’ll be waiting for you.”
As if Geum man-jung knew, he vanished. Like someone trained to be polite to the customer.
“…”
And when he disappeared, something came up again.
<Secret Map (3/4) has been completed. >
A map of three pieces. One of the four pieces was still missing.
The shape of the map, which he had no idea about, began to reveal itself to him.
A place I’m seeing for the first time…
A shape that drips like a canyon.
It was an area he had never seen before, in all the time he was a part of the sect. He wondered if such a place was even located around here.
After a while, the map disappeared.
<For 28 days, Seol-Hwi can be active. >
This phrase popped up too.
Perhaps, it was the result of Geum man-jung’s mission being resolved.
“Is this the first time?”
Thanks to solving the mission in advance, Seol-Hwi got one month of free time, the first that he’d be able to spend on his own accord.
“But I can’t rest.”
Seol-Hwi, who thought about spending the month sleeping in bed, gave up.
He knew better than anyone. The fact that he was already in the eye of the storm.
Seol-Hwi left his room, and stood in the yard. The first thing he did was check his abilities.
<Seol-Hwi> Master level Health: 1.5 million Internal energy: 2.7 million Combat power: 11.01 milion Coin 3 [Lives]
Three lives left.
And, both his health and internal energy had reached a considerable level.
Combat power was up to 11 million now too.
Unlike before, he had become stronger, but he was more anxious now than he was then.
This is because he witnessed with his own eyes that combat power isn’t a fixed number, but rather, it changes every moment.
Also, the enemies he would meet in the future will be even stronger too.
In a way, it was natural to feel such a thirst for combat power.
“In a month, I’ll increase combat power by another 3 million, by raising the proficiency of my martial arts.”
The surest way to grow himself.
Seol-Hwi decided to devote a month to it.
A series of daily practice and then rest.
Some days, he only swung swords, and some days, he did physical training. He didn’t neglect training his techniques either.
This is because the Wind God and Thrift Wind Sword are a great help, but they are more helpful when his internal energy runs out.
And maybe it’s because of the new skill table?
No matter how much energy he poured out, there was no end.
And no matter how much he lost, he could recover half of the internal energy. Like a spring well which never runs dry.
By the time he reached his tenth day of training, Seol-Hwi couldn’t help but sigh.
“What is this…”
The combat power didn’t even budge. Even when he used his techniques, trained with his internal energy, and continued to practice his swordsmanship.
On the last day of the month, Seol-Hwi learned something important.
It is impossible to raise combat power through personal training. The reason was because enlightenment comes only through fights. Or, it was because one reached a high level with elixirs.
Moreover, unlike the time when he realized the benefits of martial arts, now he has grown.
And now he wanted to grow further. It was difficult to get direction, or inspiration.
“If I had a master… would it be different?”
Seol-Hwi thought for a moment.
He got stronger on his own without leaning on anyone. In order to break through the wall, he had to use his techniques and break out.
But he realized, paradoxically, it’s difficult to master his current martial arts.
“Then, I need to be more skilled in them.”
Seol-Hwi opened the list of martial arts he had learned.
[Martial Arts List] Unified Elimination Technique (Perfect) White Light Body Demonic Martial Arts (Intermediate) Flame Aggregating Demonic Martial Arts (Beginner) Four Peak Demonic Martial Arts ‘Wind’ (Beginner)
He had almost mastered the top two. But the last two were what he needed to improve.
In order to fully master what they did, he has to accumulate practical experience.
“Let’s go this far.”
Eventually, Seol-Hwi finished his training, and he opened the toolbox.
[Toolbox] 3,000 G Elixir (2) Miscellaneous Goods Various documents of Martial Arts, Secret Map (3/4), Hidden key.
“This is what I have…”
Two elixirs.
And there was nothing he could take from miscellaneous goods.
“Should I head back?”
As he opened the door to his room and entered, the faces of his team appeared in front of him one by one.
[Yong Jin] “The training paid off.” [Imugi] “There are results from the training, but… I'm not satisfied.” [Yorim] “It worked.” [Jeok Song] “It was helpful.” [Seo Ryeong] “It wasn't bad. However, I have a long way to go."
His subordinates continued to train. Each of them was reporting their results.
<The combat power of your subordinates has improved. >
Their abilities seemed to have risen quite a bit.
“It’s just a comparison.”
These are the ones who get stronger on their own when they train. Unlike him, their combat power was on the rise.
And thinking about it, that was expected. Unlike Seol-Hwi, aren’t they all warriors who passed through the martial arts island test?
“It’s been a month already?”
Seol-Hwi looked out the window.
It was comfortable, yet uncomfortable at the same time. Like he was in an unstable position.
“Does the Earth Demon feel the same way as I do?”
The Earth Demon, who is surrounded by the other disciples of the Heavenly Demon.
He too, was walking on the path of misfortune.
It’s like you’re in a situation where it’s hard to take even a single step, surrounded by strong people.
“I can’t just keep getting this kind of assignment. Now I have to make a decision.”
Seol-Hwi still had a few months left to carry out his schedule, but he didn’t hesitate any longer.
A self that only grows when fighting a strong enemy.
Since he had already taken this method, he knew self-cultivation wasn’t going to make him strong. And he didn’t want to have the same training in martial arts.
Because he had people to take revenge on.
The next morning.
<Please set the schedule for March, 98th year, (31/36)> ▶ Carry out the mission [Receive Mission from Earth Demon] ▷ Schedule for subordinates ▷ Get a mission ▷ Warrior training
In front of the words to set a schedule, Seol-Hwi made his choice.
<Warning! If you chose to receive the Earth Demon’s mission, the remaining 6 months of your schedule will be consumed and you will move to the main story. > <Do you want to proceed? >
This time, Seol-Hwi chose to accept. Now was the moment to get out of the routine of setting a schedule.
<Agreed! >
His heart pounded for some reason at those words. What will happen from now on?
A great enemy must be lurking.
<Would you like to equip your subordinates? >
“Equip?”
A new text popped up. ‘Equip’, it said?
What did equip them mean?
Seol-Hwi pondered for a moment, and then pressed the button to reject.
<The abilities of your subordinates are shown, in order of combat power. >
The text in front of him disappeared, and a status window appeared in its place.
<Yorim [1st subordinate] > Body: Normal Master level Health: 2 million Internal energy: 1.9 million Combat power: 4.93 million (+sense) <Jeok Song > Body: Normal Master level Health: 3.15 million Internal energy: 1.8 million Combat power: 4.58 million (+strength)(Wearing spear and small sword) <Yong Jin > Body: Normal Master level Health: 1.95 million Internal energy: 1.83 million Combat power: 3.61 million (+sense) <Seo Ryeong > Body: Normal Master level Coin +3 Health: 1.5 million Internal energy: 1.6 million Combat power: 3.10 million (+foresight) <Imugi [Seol-Hwi's disciple 1] > Body: Normal Master level Health: 1.8 million Internal energy: 1.75 million Combat power: 3 million (+multiplication)
Is it the result of training?
Their abilities were greatly improved, not only in health and internal energy, but combat power too. It was Seol-Hwi that felt strange at the growth they had in just two months.
<Do you want to proceed? >
And a question was asked again. Seol-Hwi had a feeling this would be the last question.
So he accepted.
<Go to story >
With a dazzling light, his vision changed to a different place. It was the Earth Demon’s office in the Hidden Truth Corps.