[OHHH, I want you to work on it.]
‘Shut up.’
Heoju teased Lee Sungmin sarcastically as he imitated Sima Ryunju’s instructions in Lee Sungmin’s head. Lee Sungmin had returned to Wijihoyeon’s humble hut with the five masks he had received from Sima Ryunju.
Maybe it was because he didn’t take that long.
Wijihoyeon was sitting still in a lotus position among a secluded area near the hut, with her internal energy circulating in a rhythmic pattern, just as Lee Sungmin last saw her.
Wijihoyeon, who was concentrating with her eyes closed, did not bother to ask Lee Sungmin, who had just returned, any questions.
It’s not that she didn’t notice that he came back, but she couldn’t afford to talk with her concentration at its peak.
Lee Sungmin decided to walk up and sit just a bit of a distance away from Wijihoyeon. He then looked down at the masks in his hand.
They were masks in different shapes and sizes, displaying all sorts of colors. But honestly speaking, they weren’t that cool. Lee Sungmin frowned while lifting up a rabbit-shaped mask to his face.
‘What the hell is this?’
[The fairies will love it.]
It was as Heoju said. The fairies didn’t rush to approach because Wijihoyeon, their new arch nemesis, was nearby, but they were making a fuss and loud commotion while looking at the mask that Lee Sungmin was holding. They were giggling and chuckling as well as displaying expressions of playful curiosity.
[Look carefully at the forehead part.]
Heoju noticed something and notified Lee Sungmin about it. Lee Sungmin stared at the forehead of the rabbit mask. The number ‘1’ was written in tiny letters.
‘I know what it is.’
Lee Sungmin observed at the four other masks. He had a rabbit mask in his hand, a fox mask, a deer, a wolf, and a bear. The forehead areas of the other childish-looking masks, all had numbers marked there as well.
The rabbit mask was number 1, and the last mask, the bear mask, was number 5. It seemed to be the order of which he should change the masks in.
[Go ahead and try it.]
He was going to try it without needing a nudge from Heoju, but Lee Sungmin didn’t mind the reassurance anyways.
Lee Sungmin tried on the rabbit mask that was marked as number ‘1’.As soon as he suited the mask comfortably onto his face, Lee Sungmin noticed an immediate change. His dantian felt as if it was placed in a sticky liquid, and his internal circuitry felt stiff. He tried to rouse his internal energy, but the flow of internal energy couldn’t be roused or circulated nearly as fast as before.
However, it wasn’t that uncomfortable. The speed had only decreased by a minuscule margin for Lee Sungmin.
Lee Sungmin proceeded to change the masks in order from lowest to highest. Each time he increased the numbering, his internal energy became stiffer, resulting in him slowing down his overall hand speed of switching between each mask. Of course, he was still faster than an average human, but compared to most, it was as if he was back to being a 2nd Rate Martial Artist in terms of speed.
It wasn’t easy by any means. However, Lee Sungmin found a renewed interest in the masks, since it was clear how much these could benefit him. It was like putting weights on a martial artist in the older eras for weight training. However, this was like a complex formula ingrained in each mask to somehow slow down his internal energy circulation. If he became more proficient with the difficulty, Lee Sungmin was positively confident that this would help him master the Dark Storm arts and his cultivation speed by leaps and bounds.
He had to constantly circulate his own internal energy as well as the breathing technique in the Dark Storm Arts, which was already difficult to harmonize. Lee Sungmin truly felt a renewed sense of respect for his new teacher.
[What’s surprising is the mask’s functions and capabilities. I’ve never seen anything like this.]
Heoju murmured.
That mask was forcing his body and internal circuitry to be in a restrained state simply by wearing it. What was so impressive, was that Lee Sungmin couldn’t do anything to force his power out at higher levels of strength. And this was quite a statement, knowing that he was in the Realm of Transcendence, which exceedingly few in all of Eria had accomplished.
‘Surely.’
Lee Sungmin turned to the last mask, the bear mask. Wearing the mask, Lee Sungmin sensed a block. He couldn’t move his internal energy no matter how hard he tried to forcibly circulate his internal energy.
It was ridiculous how oppressive the performance of the mask was. It was able to completely suppress a Transcendent Realm Martial Artist’s internal energy.
If one contemplated well enough, they would be able to find several different uses for the mask besides simply training.
[ don’t think this is powered by magic. This is…Ah… I see. Was it made by the fairy queen? It’s a peculiar blessing of sorts that only she might be able to pull off.]
Heoju continued.
[How intriguing, The different queens, kings, gods, goddesses and even demons are of an entirely different class. Normally this shouldn’t even be allowed in the world if we follow their rule of logic. They are known to not interfere with the mortal world too much, but this seems to go against that very nature of theirs.]
‘But, the Spirit Queen descended to the Mortal World from the Spirit Realms solely to save Envirus.’
[I don’t know the details about it, so don’t go asking me as if I know everything. Didn’t you hear what the Fairy Queen said? The Spirit Queen should not have done that and descended to this world. Not only that, but she directly interfered with the flow of fate and saved Envirus. Doesn’t that sound dangerous enough?]
Listening to Heoju, Lee Sungmin caressed the mask without saying a word.
[This place is the Forest of the Fairies. I had only heard the stories, but I didn’t know where the exact location of this forest was. In fact, since we’ve come here, I’ve noticed a couple things. Like how this forest is actually hidden within another Forest, and it’s clearly because of the Fairy Queen’s powers… But, that doesn’t give us any answers as to how Sima Ryunju knows about this forest. Not only that, but I’m incredibly confused as to the relationship between the Fairy Queen and Sima Ryunju. Are you not as well?]
The relationship between the two was certainly questionable. The Fairy Queen’s personality was… well, bitter at best. But it was clear she showed favor to Sima Ryunju.
But Lee Sungmin didn’t doubt Sima Ryunju or his intentions to train Lee Sungmin. Rather, he considered that Oslo, the Fairy Queen, was the suspicious one.Lee Sungmin did not forget what she had said to Lee Sungmin… and what she had not said last time they had met.
‘It’s possible I’m this so-called Apostle of the Apocalypse.’
Lee Sungmin really did not want to be too invested in these thoughts since they always threw him in several directions and harmful thought patterns. But that didn’t mean he could simply dismiss what the Fairy Queen had said to him.
That she felt friendly towards him. At that time, he couldn’t truly understand just what those words implied since he was so flustered and irritated with the constant mysteries and unanswered questions.
But now that he thought about it, what Oslo told him was essentially passing Lee Sungmin a blank check.
It was the Queen of all Fairies who said that, and her level was far beyond the simple means of mortal standards and was similar to that of a Goddess.
He didn’t know exactly what the limits of his blank check were, since being “favorable” towards someone, was something still rather ambiguous. But, he could investigate that further when he met with Oslo again.
[It seems you’re not a fool.]
Heoju smiled happily. Of course, it was not the right time as of right now. Since first and foremost, he needed to get stronger like Sima Ryunju had advised him from the beginning.
It wasn’t until around the end of the day that Wijihoyeon moved from her spot. She approached Lee Sungmin, who was sitting on the floor practicing with his internal energy circulation speeds along with the playful masks at his side, and sat in front of him.
“How’s Sima Ryunju?”
“…I got spanked again.”
“Huh? Wait- what?”
“I shouldn’t have said that.”
“… Okay… Then the mask. Did Sima Ryunju give that to you?”
“Yes.”
Lee Sungmin handed Wijihoyeon the bear mask while answering her. Wijihoyeon, who was hesitant to receive the mask, eventually took it from Lee Sungmin’s hands and put it on. Her shoulders suddenly shook with surprise when she found out what Lee Sungmin was really doing with the silly masks in his hand.
“…My internal energy can’t move at all.”
“Sima Ryunju…… I heard from him that the masks he wears are all like this.”
“Really?”
Wijihoyeon took off her mask with a wide smile at Lee Sungmin’s sudden words but then realized an unfortunate fact. She muttered with a bitter face.
“But… even with this mask on, he was able to utterly defeat me in fifteen seconds.”
Her expression was saddened, but her voice was not disheartened.
Rather, she appeared to have been even more fired up at the fact that Sima Ryunju was suppressing his power. Wijihoyeon nodded her head in a reassuring manner.
“I decided I won’t do it today.”
“Huh, what aren’t you doing today?”
“Sex, duh.”
Wijihoyeon spoke in a calm voice, and Lee Sungmin felt like throwing up as soon as he saw her calm demeanor, clearly contradicting her vulgar words.
“I didn’t have any expectation to do it again today.”, Lee Sungmin spoke, trying to gather his wits about him.
“Well, if that’s true, then I’m a little sorry about that.”
When Lee Sungmin heard the response, he tried to hide his flustered and red cheekbones from his blush, and Wijihoyeon giggled as she saw his stoic demeanor crack like an egg.
Lee Sungmin could not respond easily because he could still not understand the true feelings of Wijihoyeon or her new personality changes that had occurred over the several years.
Wijihoyeon smiled at Lee Sungmin and raised her body.
“But yeah, despite fooling around, I am serious that I don’t want to do it today. I only would have if I got to see you beg me for it.”
“But…you said you were in pain last time, right?”
“Apart from the pain, there was a definite feeling of pleasure. But I’m not in the mood today. I feel like I spent my time meaninglessly thanks to that asinine curse. I don’t want to fall further behind than I already am.”
“It’ll grow even further the more you complain.”
“Then I guess I’ll just have to chase after you once more. That’s no big deal since I’ve been chasing after you the past year.”
Said Wijihoyeon with a smile. It was true. Wijihoyeon would continue to grow stronger. They both knew she would, and she definitely felt the need to grow stronger, herself.
Not only that, but Lee Sungmin knew he would grow at a slower pace than she would. But that didn’t mean he was just going to hand her the lead in terms of strength and effort put in.
Ever since then, Wijihoyeon and Lee Sungmin had not spoken much between each other. The reason was not because they had some kind of falling out, instead they felt a sense of competition for their own growth and determination.
Wijihoyeon devoted herself to her newly created martial art technique she was practicing called the Dark Flower, while Lee Sungmin devoted himself to practicing with the masks and circulation speed for his Dark Storm Arts that he was learning from Sima Ryunju.
‘Strange.’
As Lee Sungmin continued to practice more and more, Lee Sungmin felt a strong sense of incompatibility and incongruity. It was as if… it was almost too easy for him to learn and adjust to the Dark Storm Arts and the circulation practices.
Lee Sungmin knew better than anyone of his own talents and limitations. It was his first time ever practicing with this martial art, and though it had a similar cultivation method due to Sima Ryunju’s assistance, it was… too easy.
‘It’s moving fast.’
A week had passed at the most. The speed of Lee Sungmin’s body movements, with the higher numbered masks, had gotten much faster and smoother.
The same could be said for Lee Sungmin’s natural circulation speed. He was able to rouse his internal circuitry at a much higher top speed, and coalesce his internal energy around his body and spear at a much faster rate than before. It wasn’t something fortuitous, neither was he hallucinating. He was growing much faster than normal, and he couldn’t explain why.
As much as he tried to think about it, it was as if his talent had suddenly become somewhat a bit above average, rather than his original trash talent.[I think it’s the Black Heart.]
Heoju, who had been watching over Lee Sungmin’s progress for the past week, came to suggest his own opinion on the matter.
[Your Black Heart is not something a human would have, and we both know it evolves either forcefully, or even in ways we can’t see it. But nonetheless, we do know it does evolve with every battle and hardship you overcome. Perhaps… your lack of talent has also started to improve through the repeated evolutions.]
Of course neither Lee Sungmin nor Heoju were too sure about it. It was just an opinion that Heoju had made as he had noticed the odd peculiarity as well, and he still sounded rather suspicious about his own guess.
[Or maybe it’s not because of the Black Heart, but perhaps it’s just you becoming more talented in general due to the amount of experience you’ve accumulated with different types of martial arts. You’ve trained on your own for thousands of years in that trial, and you’ve also learned different techniques and even magic from different people. You’ve reached the Realm of Transcendence, and no stupid idiot would possibly be able to reach where you’ve reached. In fact, I’m more suited to say that this is the probable cause, if anything.]
Lee Sungmin did not know exactly which assumption was correct, but it was a welcome change for him if he could grow stronger at a faster pace.
Of course, even if Lee Sungmin’s talent improved, it was nothing compared to Wijihoyeon, and if it had improved, it was more likely to be just barely above average when compared to all martial artists in Eria.
It had been another week. Both Wijihoyeon and Lee Sungmin spent the same amount of time and hard work learning and progressing in their newfound martial arts.
However, the pace of Wijihoyeon’s growth was also shocking to Lee Sungmin even though he expected a godly rate of growth.
It was heaven defying.
Many people had said similar things about Wijihoyeon’s talent when it came to martial arts, but Lee Sungmin truly judged that it was an understatement when he was able to get a good look at her close-up.
“Try to do the exercises with the face masks.”
Lee Sungmin, who was called by Sima Ryunju, took out the five masks in front of the cabin.
Sima Ryunju stood with his hands behind his back and demanded that Lee Sungmin show him his progress, and Lee Sungmin did not hesitate to move his hands quickly as he started with the rabbit mask.
“Should I change them in order?”
“Go ahead and try it.”
Lee Sungmin’s hands started to move. The mask that Lee Sungmin was wearing, suddenly changed at lightning-like speed.
Quickly, Lee Sungmin changed through all 5 masks in order and Sima Ryunju looked over him with an eyebrow raised.
“Hm… okay I want you to do it in the order I give you now, we won’t be doing it in the same order and I’ll mix up the numbers on you.”
Lee Sungmin did not have difficulty in continuing his brief test with Sima Ryunju to examine his progress. The five different animal masks changed and the images on Lee Sungmin’s face continuously changed and changed.
As irregularities and patterns were changed, his control over his internal energy fluctuated terribly. It was much more difficult to move around with his internal energy flow when it came to mixing up the flow of internal energy.
“You’re at the wrong level I figured you’d be at.”
Sima Ryunju muttered and raised his hand, signaling Lee Sungmin to stop.
“I expected that it would take at least a month for you, but…. You’re already showing the progress I expected it to take you within only a week.”
“……Is it not up to your standards?”
Lee Sungmin asked just in case. This is because Sima Ryunu said before that he liked and preferred Lee Sungmin who was less than talented when compared to even average individuals.
“No, it’s not that I don’t like your progress. It’s even better than I originially anticipated, but it’s not to the point of being a genius. Rather, I think your level is more human than trash. If you’ve been training on your own for the past 2,100 years, it should make sense that you’re able to at least do this much.
Sima Ryunju continued to speak with a nod.
“The exercise I gave you has two goals, I’m sure you’re aware of them by now. One, is to adjust your internal energy circulation to move at a faster rate than before through the suppression force of the masks. Allowing you to learn how to compress your internal circuitry to explode with higher speed than before, teaching you the basic fundamentals of the Dark Storm Arts.“The other is to teach you how to deal with varying speeds you’ll be forced to travel at, and have yourself ready to cope with the stop and start with different speeds, adjusting your fine-tuned mechanics so that your body doesn’t explode to bits and pieces, all over the place.”
“I see.”
“However, there’s one more. And that one other reason is because of the Dragon Heart that you ate.”
Lee Sungmin’s expression hardened at the words.
“You said you ate a Dragon’s Heart and it makes sense, but you aren’t able to control when you use Dragon Fear, let alone know when you’re using it.”
“…Yes.”
“I thought that if these masks helped you practice the fine-tuning of your internal circuitry and your energy inside your Dantian, and you continued to practice with them, you might just be able to use more than the Dragon Fear, and even be able to draw upon that untapped magical energy lying dormant within you. To me, it’s a complete waste that you aren’t able to call on that magical energy when you have incredibly large quantities of it lying inside you.”
Sima Ryunju said so, and put his hand inside his sleeve. The new mask that Sima Ryunju took out was a mask that was shaped in a peculiar and ominous manner. It looked like the face of a ghost, but it was slightly distorted in weird patterns.
“It must have been too much to expect you to be able to draw the Dragon Heart’s mana in only a week. Try to wear this mask from now on.”
“Was that mask also created by the Fairy Queen?”
“Mhm, you know how they’re created, it seems.”
Sima Ryunju smiled and nodded at Lee Sungmin’s question. Lee Sungmin carefully continued to ask questions while receiving the mask given to him by Sima Ryunju.
“What’s the relationship between you and the Fairy Queen?”
The only thing that worried Lee Sungmin about asking that question, was not any implication of terrifying forces like the being known as the Apocalypse or any Demons, but rather his only worry, was if he was going to get spanked again.