Secret Archive (2)
Wheik!
“Hohoho. There are no lanterns on the stairs so be careful.”
Mumu followed Im Jong who was walking down the staircase with only a single lantern.
The books that were available based off of year were organized by ascension, and the hidden archives were located in the basement.
Unlike in the main portion of the library the hidden archives had a musty smell, with cobwebs, and no one else was around.
‘I wish we could all come together.’
[That is against the rules.]
Mo Il-hwa asked if she could look at the entrance of the secret archive too, but was refused mercilessly saying that unqualified people couldn’t enter.
So the party decided to wait and watch till Mumu got back.
Except for one person.
[Hm. Miss, excuse me I need to go to the 2nd floor]
[Ugh]
Jin-hyuk was able to go to the 2nd floor because he was in the top twelve. The brothers seemed to be a pair with great luck.
And they were plainly upfront with everything.
“Was your name Mumu?”
Im Jong who was heading down the stairs asked.
“Yes.”
“See the red lines on the walls and the bottom of the stairs?”
As Im Jong pointed to a certain place,a red line was drawn like a boundary.
A warning of sorts.
Im Jong smiled and continued,
“From here on, you need to be careful. Even if you discover the location of the secret archive, if you think you can enter and come out on your own will, then you won’t be able to come back here again. Hohoho.”
Laughing while telling a scary story.
“Ahh. Is that so?”
However, Mumu’s reaction was lukewarm.
Seeing that, Im Jong thought,
‘Is he an idiot? No, I don’t think he is one nor is he pretending to be one either.’
Looking at Mumu’s face it was clear that this kid was fairly innocent.
However, it was difficult to guess what Mumu was thinking compared to his friends.
Those who entered the secret archives reacted in one of two ways.
Either they couldn’t hide their joy, or they were extremely tense.
But Mumu was neither.
‘I can’t guess anything.’
However, he was curious about another thing.
‘Did he learn martial arts?’
Looking at Mumu’s footsteps, they seemed to be those belonging to an ordinary person, and not a Murim, at least as Im Jong thought.
Those who learn light footwork have a certain flow and distance between their feet, but with Mumu there was neither of those traits.
‘I feel nothing from him.’
No matter how much he looked, it was as if this kid hadn’t learned martial arts.
But he didn’t understand how such a kid got two stars.
This only made Mumu seem like an even more unusual child.
‘Uh-huh. Why should I care when I am not his teacher?’
His only job was to guide Mumu to the first secret archive.
After a while a huge space appeared which was covered in darkness.
If someone was not familiar with the place they would get hurt.
Im Jong, fumbling around the wall, pressed a certain place as he brought the lantern towards it, and soon the oil which was flowing in was lit and the fire spread in all directions.
Wheik!
The burning flame lit up the space.
As the surroundings brightened, three large black iron gates appeared.
Above each black gate was something engraved,
[Battle Weapons]
[Elixirs/ medicine]
[Secret Arts]
Looking at the tightly shut gates, the atmosphere was different from the library above.
It was as if some treasure was being protected.
Im Jong who opened his arms wide towards Mumu said,
“Hohoho. Welcome to the Heavenly Library’s Secret Archives.”
Secret Archive.
A real benefit given to students with outstanding talent.
“Among those who enjoyed this benefit, there was no one who didn’t excel,” said Im Jong to Mumu.
“I will briefly explain the rules. You can go through each door only once. And you can only bring one thing back.”
“Ah… I can take it out of the Secret Archives?”
“Yes. You can take what you want. However, the book must be copied and returned within three days time. You need to keep this rule in mind. Looking forward to it?”
“Yep!”
But Mumu didn’t seem that impressed. What he was interested in was talking with his friends about it, and the benefits in here weren’t of particular interest to Mumu.
‘This is a rare right?’
Still, he liked it.
According to Hae-ryang, the things were difficult to put a price on and were called the treasures of Murim.
Then wouldn’t he be able to make his father well-known if he tried something?
“Where do you want to go first?”
“Hmm.”
Mumu looked at the three gates.
And pointed to elixir.
‘Huh? This is interesting.’
Im Jong’s eyes lit up.
Most of the choices of the people who came here were Secret Arts. Anyone would be curious if the name Secret was attached next to it.
So he didn’t expect Mumu to pick elixir.
‘Will there be things like old wild ginseng?’
Mumu’s focus was on touching the most expensive thing. Im Jong, who was unaware of this, was puzzled.
‘Ah… his internal energy must be low.’
He couldn’t sense anything from Mumu, so he thought he chose this side for that reason. With that reason, he nodded.
“Hohoho. Follow me.”
Im Jong took Mumu to the front of the iron gate which had Medicinal Herbs.
In front of the gate was a stone statue with a square shaped slab engraved with 8 stars.
“You have the permission card?”
“Yes.”
“Give me it.”
Mumu then placed the stars into the star-shaped hole on the slab.
The stars which were placed turned red and then were pushed into the slab.
“Oh.”
Mumu was shocked by this.
“You can do the rest.”
At this, Mumu took out the other star he got and did the same. Once again it turned red and did the same.
Not long after, the black iron gate opened with a squeaking sound.
“Wow.”
As the gate opened, Mumu was shocked.
As if they were in a herbalist’s clinic, numerous things were placed on display.
‘Hohoho. Shocked?’
The sight was amazing.
[Four hundred year old ginseng]
[Three hundred year old reishi mushroom]
[Dried golden fish]
[Cold Ginseng]
[Tianshan Snow Lily]
[Five hundred years old Tuber Fleece flower]
[Perilla Medicine]
[Energy Pill]
[Blood points]
All of them were medicinal herbs and energy supplements which were difficult to obtain even for a thousand gold.
Most of them basically had the effect of enhancing the energy flow and other powerful effects, such as resistance to poison, flame or yin.
With a smile Im Jong said,
“It is important to choose the herb which suits your constitution. For example, `If the yang is strong and you need to balance it, the Snow Lily would be good, and if you need to suppress the yin, goldfish would do you good.”
Mumu scratched his head as he couldn’t understand a thing which was being said.
“Hohoho. You don’t seem to understand. Then ask me and I will inform you.”
With a smile Mumu asked,
“What is the most expensive one?”
‘!?’
Im Jong’s eyebrows raised.
‘What is the most expensive one?’
Im Jong was dumbfounded as he looked at Mumu. So far, among those who stepped in, none of them would choose this aisle.
This was the first time.
What Mumu took was the Shaolin Temple pill.
Among them, it was known to be stable and have great value, or in other words it was the most refined pill and thus called the best.
‘Oh my. He is one weird guy.’
Despite looking naïve, he didn’t expect such a thing to be selected.
The selection was done based on something absurd.
Kik!
The next place Mumu chose was Secret Arts
When the iron gate opened, a study with three hundred books was revealed.
Unlike the 1st floor, there were many manuals here.
The reason,
“All of the things in here are needed to ascend higher. There are things which were donated by various clans and were copied by the former students who were of Murim association, the Imperial family and the teachers here too.”
Books to rise higher. No amount of money would suffice to buy them all.
However, it was no exaggeration to say that this place had almost all martial techniques.
“Hmm.”
Hohoho. Even if he wanted that herb, he wouldn’t be able to turn his eyes away from these great books… huh?‘
Im Jong narrowed his eyes.
Mumu’s eyes looking at the books seemed tired.
He couldn’t understand why.
‘Hm. No. What is that expression while standing in front of something more precious than an elixir?’
Im Jong clicked this tongue.
Mumu was tired.
‘… uhm… all things I heard but nothing interests me.’
Mumu liked to read books.
But not martial arts books.
“You want me to choose within half an hour?”
“Yes.”
Mumu entered the place to see if there was anything interesting. Seeing that Im Jong turned frustrated.
‘Why is he constantly looking around?’
The entire place was filled with things that anyone would be interested in, so why was Mumu looking like that?
Unable to hold back, Im Jong coughed.
“Uhm.”
Im Jong shook his head and pointed to the back.
Mumu didn’t understand it.
‘Huh?’
“Behind you.”
With that, Mumu turned his head around.
Where he turned was the Self Defense Art which was rare to find even in the Imperial palace.
Mumu looked at the shelf very carefully.
‘Ahhh.’
Im Jong felt relieved. He had to direct this kid to look over there. What a boring kid.
Shhh!
However, Mumu kept flipping through them too!
Looking at his face it was clear Mumu was bored. Im Jong couldn’t figure out why this kid was making that face while looking at something from the Secret Archives.
Mumu, who was flipping through the manuals, had a tired expression.
Mumu then asked Im Jong,
“Can we just skip this?”
Tremble!
Im Jong felt like he was going to explode.
“If you want to, it is up to you, but not choosing anyt…”
“Ah!”
At that, Mumu’s eyes widened.
“What?”
Mumu walked towards something with excited eyes.
Had he finally found something?
Mumu pulled something out and spoke brightly.
“I will take this!”
“Hohoho. Looks like you finally found something, bring it!”
Mumu excitedly brought the book.
Seeing the title of the book he was carrying, Im Jong went still.
‘!?’
[Contraction and Relaxation of Muscles]
How could this piece of garbage be put in this secret archive? He didn’t understand, maybe there was an error in the selection process of books.
“Mumu, you see. I think this book was placed wrongly in this section, how about choosing something else?”
“I want this.”
“Oh my. I don’t have the right to meddle with it, but it isn’t right. Please choose something else.”
“I want this.”
“No! How about I choose something for you?”
“I only want this.”
“I said no!”
“I want this.”
“….”
Im Jong gave up.
‘This kid is really…’
He decided to give up thinking too.
Kik!
The gate to Battle Weapons opened.
As the light went on, numerous weapons inside could be seen.
Each of these weapons were the best, and each were treasured. It was a wonderful thing that anyone who practiced martials arts would want to touch.
“Choose what you want.”
Im Jong said with a large sigh.
Normally students who come in already know what they want to choose, but he decided to discard those expectations on Mumu.
‘What can I even expect?’
Most expensive herb.
The trashiest book.
‘I shouldn’t expect much.’
It was difficult to guess what this kid could want.
Unlike when he picked up the book, Mumu was looking around curiously. Starting with swords to shiny things.
‘Hmm.’
He was concerned.
He didn’t know what to choose.
‘Should I ask the manager for help?’
He wondered how much money would come if they were sold.
As he looked, Mumu’s eyes narrowed.
‘Huh?’
Im Jong noticed this,
‘is he interested in something?’
He was about to give up, but seeing Mumu, his interest rose again.
But the moment he looked at the weapon, he went stiff again.
It was a gigantic Moon Blade, a Chinese pole weapon.
It was a blade, which had a long handle like a spear.
It was called the Moon Blade because of its shape.
‘He..’
This one was heavier than the others, and was difficult to handle too as it was made of black iron.
The weight was twice that of a normal Moon Blade.
A weight which only Master level warriors could handle, and a perfect demonstration could only be done by a Super master level warrior.
He approached the kid and said,
“You seem to have a unique eye.”
“…”
“But it is too much. It is a weapon which only skilled people can wield.”
A man called Biryu Giant was the only one who used it. This was his own weapon. Mumu walked towards the Moon Blade.
“Can I?”
At Mumu’s question, Im Jong smiled timidly.
Calling Mumu an odd kid was an understatement.
To covet a weapon which was for giant people and strong ones.
“Hphoho. It is okay to lift but how… uh? What did you say?”
“I want to touch it?”
“Oh my! Why are you climbing up?”
Mumu was climbing on the display stand where the weapon was kept.
Since the Demon Dragon Moon Blade was heavy, it was tied with metal chains which were then tied to the pillars on either side.
‘What is he doing?’
Im Jong’s eyes fluttered.
Mumu tried to touch the black iron rod which was fixed between the two pillars.
He wanted to touch the blade so why was he touching the rod?
“What are you doing?”
“Can I take this?”
Mumu pointed to the black iron rod which was acting like a pole.
Why would he want to take the rod and leave the weapon?
“… kid. That is a simple item. And is used to support the weapon, it’s weight must be over a thousand pounds and you want to lift that? You. You!”
That was when Im Jong’s eyes widened.
Was it because this kid was trying to lift the rod without even taking down the weapon tied to it?
The rod was definitely too much for even a dozen humans to lift.
“I said stop. It is dangerous. That… uh!”
An unbelievable thing happened.
The black iron rod was lifted up.
“Ach!”
Bulge.
The back of Mumu’s hand and forearm were bulging and swelling up.
Even the muscles on his face were turning clear.
“You… how?”
Even a warrior in the peak of Super Master level couldn’t lift such a thing.
Im Jong was speechless. On the other hand Mumu couldn’t contain his excitement.
‘This is it! This is it!’
The training tool he was looking for.
A weight which was higher than the weight he was using now.
What he wanted was this.
“Ohhh?”
However, it was difficult to bear the weight of 1380 kgs without a stable ground.
Mumu was on the pillar so he lost balance.
Sway!
“Dangerous!”
Im Jong hurriedly moved towards Mumu.
However, Mumu had already lost the balance and let go of the rod, but the pillar was swaying now.
“Catch it!”
Grrr!
The black rod soon fell and collapsed.
However, a rod was nothing, but if this pillar collapsed, it would knock the other ones down.
Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!
“Ah…”
The nearby pillars collapsed one after another bringing everything down with them.
Crack!
‘!!!!’
“Oh my!!!”
“Ack!”
Mumu and Im Jong both sank to the ground.