“A friend.”
Contrary to what Lee Sungmin was worried about, Sima Ryunju did not spank Lee Sungmin like he did in the past whenever he asked cheeky questions. In reality Sima Ryunju, carried a serious expression with him whilst responding.
“Or a collaborator of sorts.”
“A collaborator?”
“We are cooperating with one other. I made a promise with Oslo a long time ago, and in return for fulfilling that promise, we agreed to cooperate with it until it was fulfilled.”
Sima Ryunju raised his finger and pointed to the ghost-like mask that Lee Sungmin was holding onto.
“Constructing these masks for me is also part of the ‘cooperation’ that Oslo and I have with one other. It’s a mask that even a Grand Wizard can’t create, but for a Fairy Queen? It’s effortless. However, normally nobody would be able to establish this type of relationship with Oslo, since humans can barely offer anything to a being of her level.”
“What the hell did the Fairy Queen promise with you?”
“I can’t tell you about that. It’s not because I don’t trust you. It’s just that this promise has conditions on which my life will be at risk if I dare talk about the details.”
Sima Ryunju said so and shrugged his shoulders.
“You must have many questions. But is that curiosity, yours and yours alone? Or is it also from the monster spirit attached to you?”
[How sharp.]
“Both.”
Heoju mumbled, and Lee Sungmin replied aloud. This was because Lee Sungmin too was curious about the relationship between Oslo and Sima Ryunju.
“The Spirit attached to me said that when he was alive, he had heard of the Forest of the Fairies, but he didn’t know the exact location of it.”
“Sure. This is a secret and mysterious place. The only reason why I had the chance to come here……well, I definitely can’t say it was pure coincidence.”
“Then, wait-what? How did you find this place then?”
“I was told to come here by someone who was at a level far higher than any mortal, not by Oslo. And it was a long time ago.”
“A long time ago…?”
“This old man has lived for a long time. I came here about a hundred years ago when I found out about the existence of this forest. And even when that monster spirit, named Heoju, I believe, was still alive, I was alive as well.”
Lee Sungmin had no choice but to be surprised by the words. If Sima Ryunju was telling the truth, that meant he had been alive over 400 years ago, back when even Heoju was roaming the Southern Forests of Eria. Sima Ryunju laughed at Lee Sungmin’s surprise.
“What’s so surprising? If you’re a master in the Realm of Transcendence, human life is already meaningless. Even though this old man had reached the Realm of Transcendence a long time ago, when that monster spirit attached to you had died, I was only around 10 years old. Not only that, this old man, Wudang of the Sword, The Divine Spirit and even a few of the Black Stars of Predator had been alive back then. Well, it doesn’t matter I guess to tell you. It was a Dragon that I had met, who had told me to come visit this Forest and meet Oslo.”
“What?!”
Lee Sungmin hadn’t even fathomed it could have been a dragon, but hearing Sima Ryunju just now, it was indisputable. Simply… he had no choice but to believe in his words.
As far as Lee Sungmin had known, Dragons had not been seen on the continent of Eria for over hundreds and almost thousands of years.
However, Sima Ryunju had precisely said that he had been in contact with a dragon over 300 years ago, back in the era where Dragons weren’t even seen or known to be active in Eria.
“Why that dragon came to me, I wondered why they would seek me out, of all individuals in the continent. This old man didn’t know why they would even approach myself at the time. The dragon, who came to me suddenly, asked me if I was willing to go to the Forest of Fairies and meet with Oslo. I had no reason to refuse since anybody with a remote interest in the mysteries of this continent had always wondered where the land of the Fairies was truly located. That’s essentially all I can say. The Dragon I met at the time, was the one who brought me here, and introduced me to Oslo, and I ended up working together with Oslo.”
Sima Ryunju looked around slowly, muttering.
“I fell in love with this forest at first sight. Fairies don’t lie to you, there’s no seriousness or malicious intent in their pranks. They aren’t like humans at all. So I decided to live in this forest for over hundreds of years. Whenever I need to leave or appear on the continent, I always do so with the help of Oslo.”
“……was it with the Queen’s help that you emerged in front of An Zun when we were fighting?”
“Yes, the powers she uses are a mystery that transcends magic. With the help of Oslo, this old man has always been able to stay in the Forest of Fairies and has been able to send incarnations whenever needed, wherever they are necessary. But those incarnations are merely clones of my energy, and have only a portion of my true power if that makes any sense. But that amount of power that I’ve built up over time, is enough to make even those in the Realm of Transcendence like An Zun back down with just one of those clones.
It was as Sima Ryunju had spoken. Lee Sungmin recalled when Sima Ryunju’s incarnation had appeared in front of An Zun and Lee Sungmin. It was truly impressive that his incarnation, which was only a portion of his true power, was something An Zun could not even handle.
If An Zun, who was a master with hidden weapons and abandoned from the Tang Clan, as well as a transcendent human, was afraid of Sima Ryunju… Then enough was said about Sima Ryunju’s true might.
“There are many things I am able to do with Oslo’s help. It is thanks to her, that I can manage the Sama Order like I did through the branch manager you met in Rubes. That way I don’t have to reveal myself, but can still move behind the scenes freely.”
Sima Ryunju grinned and put his hand up his sleeve.
“It appears that you have received quite a decent amount of favorability from Oslo. To be honest, this old man has no clue why she favors you. However, be aware that what you have with her something others would kill for if they could. I don’t know how far her favor will extend to, but you should definitely make use of it, if it’s there.”
Speaking, Sima Runju pulled out a booklet from his robe sleeves and tossed it up into the air.
When Lee Sungmin caught the book thrown to him, he studied the cover and realized what it was. It was the Shadowless Footwork techniques that he had learned from Baek Sogo.
“It was more fun to adjust the method and integrate it into the Dark Storm Arts in this one, rather than my other option which would have been to completely scrap it.”
Sima Ryunju spoke with an incredibly pleased smile.
“As I said, the Dark Storm Arts that this old man practices is a technique that pursues complete speed and spatial movement. That’s why when I looked at this method I was a little surprised yet nonetheless happy to integrate the two techniques.”
Lee Sungmin opened up the martial arts booklet that was previously just the shadowless techniques.
Lightning God, Storm Walking, Spirit-stealing Steps , Gentle Ripples, and Calamitous End. What was different was that the Dark Storm Arts had their own moves added at the beginning.(1)
One of them just so happened to be the Storm Walking, which happened to be the technique that Sima Ryunju had shown many times and displayed in front of Lee Sungmin the most.
Sima Ryunju grinned as he watched Lee Sungmin’s eyes shake when they crossed over the Storm Walking technique.
“Does that technique seem the most fun to you?”
“Yes.”
Lee Sungmin didn’t bother to sound flowery and answered with blunt honesty. He had never seen all the martial art techniques that Sima Ryunju knew, but he could not help but admire the Storm Walking technique that Sima Ryunju used the most.
It was completely different from any movement technique he had known and seen in action. It was different from magic as well. Sima Ryunju, when using this technique, created a storm around himself in a narrow portal of space, and completely disappeared as he would reappear the following second in a place unexpectedly. Not only that, but there were never traces left whenever Sima Ryunju used it.
However, Lee Sungmin checked the notes that Sima Ryunju had left him, and he immediately understood why it was such a formidable technique, as well as why it never resembled anything close to magic.It required the utmost understanding and mastery over the concepts of space that were achieved when one entered the Realm of Transcendence.“The level of difficulty is completely different from the techniques you have known up until now.”
“I know.”
“What’s the point of only knowing? You need to try it and find out yourself what it is like. As well…….”
Sima Ryunju raised his hand and pointed to the Ghost Mask that Lee Sungmin was holding.
“You don’t have to wear a mask when you’re practicing the new techniques you haven’t learned yet . Other than that, you’ll have to keep wearing them when you cultivate and practice your breathing techniques.”
“Okay.”
The resistance and suppression of the masks applied to Lee Sungmin’s internal circuitry, which would only harm him when he practiced the newer martial art techniques. Hence, why Sima Ryunju allowed him to take it off whilst he mastered them.
The goal of using these masks, in the end, were for Lee Sungmin to adapt to a higher level of speed and fine-tuning of his internal circuitry. Thus, hopefully resulting in Lee Sungmin becoming able to tap into the magical energy of the Dragon Heart looming deep within his dantian.
The overall performance of the shadowless techniques were going to become entirely different from before. And when Lee Sungmin went back to the hut where he and Wijihoyeon were staying, he realized exactly what Sima Ryunju had meant.
As Sima Ryunju warned, the performance of the new techniques like Storm Walking was incomparably abstract to anything he had attempted before.
Even with Lee Sungmin’s talent improving, it was impossible to successfully even open the portal of space that Sima Ryunju had used in front of Lee Sungmin in the past.
However, Lee Sungmin didn’t bother to despair for once. He was changing, and he knew he had much more to improve if he wanted to keep his life in the future.
Despairing, and beating up on himself, was something still firmly rooted in his nature, but he realized that those things were just excuses, and only harmed him more than anything. He needed to improve and get stronger if he wanted to keep those that he cared for close to him.
As Lee Sungmin continued to practice, he felt amused that for the first time in his life since his time in Genavis with Wijihoyeon, he had been able to practice alongside her again despite practicing completely different techniques.
Not only with the addition of the improved Shadowless footwork techniques and breathing and cultivation method, Lee Sungmin’s Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques had an entirely new series of variations, though using the same techniques as before.
Sima Ryunju hadn’t touched the Nine Heavenly Spear Techniques themselves, instead implementing the basis of the Dark Storm Arts into the existing moves and applied the concepts of space achieved through Transcendence.
All three techniques he had been practicing had been improved by Sima Ryunju and had been integrated with the Dark Storm Arts. With the exception of the Blood Ring Martial Arts, Lee Sungmin’s entire set of techniques and martial arts had at least some slight, if not, major change applied to them.
“Do you intend for me to fight the Murim Alliance and Beyond the Heavens alone?”Lee Sungmin asked one day to Sima Ryunju, while he was taking a brief pause in his training.
“Think and judge their strength with your own, first. Don’t be foolish, but also don’t be afraid. I’m sure this old man has already told you repeatedly to not be afraid of using the resources within the Sama Order. It won’t be an easy journey by any means, but you won’t have to be unprepared now.”
Sima Ryunju smirked.
“Didn’t you intend to leave this forest with the Minor Heavenly Demon?”
Lee Sungmin nodded his head slowly.
He didn’t intend to stay in this forest with Wijihoyeon forever. When the time came, they decided they would leave the forest together then.
Wijihoyeon seemed to have no intention of joining the Sama Order with Lee Sungmin, but she did want to leave and travel together with him.
“I know you and I have set the deadline to allow you to leave at the end of the year, but don’t think for a moment I’ll allow you to leave if your skills are subpar by then.”
“How strong will I have to be in order for you to be satisfied?”
“Well, at least enough skill to not get beaten to death by this old man ….ahahah!”
At the end of Sima Ryunju’s words, Lee Sungmin had to honestly consider if there was anyone who could possibly be beaten to death when they were at the Realm of Transcendence if they weren’t against Sima Ryunju.
However, he wasn’t dissatisfied at all with Sima Ryunju’s conditions. Lee Sungmin was going to only be going against stronger foes than himself, and he needed to at least be able to flee if his life was in danger. That was why he thought it was actually a good thing, if he could avoid being beaten to death by Sima Ryunju at the end of his training. It sounded brutal, but opponents of Sima Ryunju’s caliber were something he would have to eventually face one day, so being able to at least run away from them, made sense.
“Okay.”
In the end, Lee Sungmin answered with a resolute expression. A year. He was going to aim to leave by at least then.
Thinking about the time needed to be spent in the Forest, Lee Sungmin suddenly remembered something incredibly odd.
‘…It would have been…..about a year from now.’
He was getting closer.
In his previous life, Lee Sungmin had died at the age of 27. He was currently 25, and after he was done training here, he would be 26.
‘The dungeon.’
Everything. All of it had started from there.
27 years old, only a C-class mercenary. The dungeon he had encountered. Lee Sungmin of course had memorized the exact location of that dungeon to a tee. He even remembered the exact day he had entered. He had no choice but to do so.
It was the day he died.
‘I… I have to go. It’s necessary.’’
He remembered the exact words of the system when he had died and used the ‘Stone of Past Lives’.
Even if he somehow found that stone again, he truly intuitively knew that he would never be able to go back again. It was his second and last life he would be able to live. Lee Sungmin was sure of it.
But even though he knew it, he still wanted to go to the Dungeon where he had been slaughtered in his past life. It might be dangerous, but he needed answers.
And what better place would he be able to find them, other than the place where it had all started.