Chapter 151: Five Mountains of Penances (1)
Yeon-woo thought he was seeing things.
There was no way Kahn was here. The guy who said would wait for the next time with Doyle.
He hadn’t even heard that a new tutorial had opened. So he thought it was just someone similar to him, but…..
[Cain! Cain, right?]
The guy who was shouting his name happily was definitely Kahn.
[Hm? What’s this? It’s someone the youngest knew?]
[Hehehe. Then isn’t that good? We can use him more.]
Other voices from those who had been watching the two chuckled.
He didn’t know what they were talking about, but it didn’t matter. Yeon-woo’s attention was focused on Kahn.
[You’re really Cain! Hey! How did you get here! Dang. What’s this. You look better now.]
Kahn spun around Yeon-woo and burst out in laughter.
Yeon-woo slightly narrowed his eyes. Seeing his flippant attitude, it was definitely Kahn. He still drove people crazy.
He wondered how he should speak to him.
Open speaking. It seemed like there was a way of speaking beyond your consciousness, and it probably wouldn’t be that hard if he learned how to do it.
The action of releasing your senses outside. It was similar to releasing your mind, so releasing your consciousness probably wouldn’t be that hard either.
Yeon-woo focused his senses on Kahn, and tried to make his thoughts tangible so they could be sent.
Kahn felt what Yeon-woo was doing and told him to take it easy.
[Hey. From what I can tell, it’s probably only been a while since you learned about the base of your consciousness. So it’s hard to…..]
[Is this how you do it?]
[…..do it, but you did it. I guess. Since you were always like this.]
Kahn had a speechless expression seeing Yeon-woo use Open Speaking.
[You have learned the way to deliver your thoughts by focusing your consciousness. The skill ‘Open Speaking’ is being created.]
[Open Speaking]
Proficiency: 0.0%
Summary: Focusing your consciousness can deliver your thoughts to people you want. Depending on the proficiency, there are various methods to use this.
Yeon-woo slid the message down and looked at Kahn.
Hair that was as messed up as his shoes. Clothes that looked like diapers. A dull sword.
He looked filthy because of all the time he had spent in this mountain, but there was still a certain sharpness to him.
It was different from how he was in the tutorial. Back then, he wasn’t able to control himself, but now, he knew how to freely cover himself.
[It’s been a while.]
Kahn hugged Yeon-woo with a welcoming face.
[I know right! Whew. I thought we would see each other again. But I didn’t know it would be this sudden, bro.]
Bro. The word that he said when he was bored. It was definitely Kahn.
[I saw you got pretty famous during this time. You used to create messes in the tutorial. Hm? And now you’re doing it here. Hehe.]
Chatter chatter. He still spoke a lot.
Yeon-woo aimed his senses again in case he lost his focus. He still needed some more time to get used to Open Speaking.
[But what are you doing here? And where’s Doyle?]
[That’s…..]
Kahn was beginning to explain with a strange expression.
[Hm. Youngest. Aren’t you going to introduce him?]
It was a ticklish high-pitched voice. It seemed to be a cute woman.
But Kahn grimaced like it was disgusting and lifted his head.
[Granny. If you’re gonna try something to this kid I advise…..ack!]
Kahn was cut off and screamed at the lightning that suddenly came from the sky.
The lightning continued for some time.
Grrr, boom!
[S, Stop! I said stop!]
[Hohoho. If you say useless things again, I’ll rip your mouth off. Understood?]
[…..yes, sir!]
Kahn straightened his back and shouted in a loud voice.
Yeon-woo widened his eyes seeing what happened. Even with his Extrasensory Perception, it was sudden. It definitely wasn’t something to be taken lightly.
‘Rune magic.’
The language of the gods, rune, was tricky to handle. There weren’t a lot of people in the Tower who could use it this neatly.
[Anyway, bring him here.]
Kahn pointely looked at Yeon-woo. As if begging him to follow him.
Yeon-woo subconsciously grinned. The guy was the same.
***
After his Extrasensory Perception was opened, he wouldn’t have any trouble walking around, so he was able to quickly follow after Kahn.
He wouldn’t have normally just followed him like that. But he was curious about the Sadhu who lived in the fifth mountain.
‘Anyhow. This guy, he got a lot stronger.’
Yeon-woo had just one thought looking at Kahn’s back. ‘How?’
From Yeon-woo’s perspective, what Kahn accomplished so far was unbelievable.
His well gathered strength was sharp. It was like it was in his sheath right now, but when it was pulled out, it would cause a storm. Completely fitting of his nickname, Blood Sword.
It was incomparable to what he did in the tutorial. It was a good thing.
Since Kahn was ambitious like him.
But unlike him, who had the advantage of Dragon Body, Kahn had nothing like that.
But if he had still gotten this far. That meant he worked that much more.
Kahn wasn’t stronger than Yeon-woo. But he would definitely be worthwhile to spar with. No, he even thought that Kahn might be dangerous.
He had wanted to beat Phante and Edora that bad.
He had passed the tutorial without him knowing, and he had probably continued to train while climbing the Tower.
And he had arrived at the 20th floor faster because Yeon-woo had his hands tied with the 11th floor.
But like he hadn’t completely isolated himself from the outside, he seemed to know what Yeon-woo had done outside.
[Hey. But how did you get this strength? I can’t read anything. Did you eat a dragon somewhere or something?]
Like Yeon-woo was looking at Kahn with interested eyes, Kahn was looking Yeon-woo up and down like he was an interesting animal.
He also looked like he was sick of something.
[Hehe. I know that feeling all too well.]
Shanon snickered. He wasn’t in the Black Bracelet, but hidden in a shadow. All because he was curious about the Sadhu.
Yeon-woo told Shanon to stop saying useless things and spoke to Kahn.
[I became half a dragon.] [TN: In Korean, becoming a dragon is equivalent to the rags to riches idiom in English.]
[…it’s not funny. Sheesh, you still don’t know how to tell jokes.]
Kahn shook his head, not knowing Yeon-woo was actually telling the truth.
In the meantime, they reached the peak.
There were people at the top like they had been waiting for Yeon-woo.
Two people stepped out to greet him. Including Kahn, there were 3, so half of the people Yeon-woo had felt were here.
[Hm. A mask?]
[Hoho. But your outfit’s pretty normal. Are you here to train?]
It was a woman with white hair all the way down to her feet. Overall, her body was extremely curvy, and her large chest added to her seductiveness. Even though his senses were closed, she was still sexy.
Magic flowed around her. rune magic. The lightning that had fallen on Kahn was definitely from this magician.
On the other side, there was a short small child. His smiling face was cute.
But Yeon-woo paused while running.
He was one of the two high rankers that Yeon-woo felt when he opened his Extrasensory Perception.
The child looked like a brat, but there was something fierce inside him. It was like a beast.
If he was to compare him with the Martial King, it was like the Martial King was the king of the jungle, but the boy was a beast who roamed the forest alone, looking for prey.
No, just considering the aura coming from him, he could be compared to a demon.
Demonic energy.
The energy that demons were said to use. If his smiling face disappeared, it was clear the demonic energy would suddenly pop out.
‘Sacred Red Tree Victoria and Pestilence Ghost Kindred.’
Yeon-woo realized who they were immediately with the information in the diary.
Victoria was a magician well-versed in rune magic.
rune magic, called the language of the gods, was tricky to use.
You had to use set words, so if you made a mistake, the consequences could be deadly.
However, if you learned it, you could use it in many ways.
Most artifacts or buffers used runes. And what would happen if you could control them freely?
You would be able to do more things than normal magicians. That was Victoria’s case.
She was well-known, but her brother had never really met her, and it was interesting to see her here.
Kindred, on the other hand, was different.
The clan that serves a nameless demon, Devil Army. They’re organized under 9 bishops.
The way each of them served their devil god was different.
Kindred is the 2nd bishop, not well-known to the public, and he’s been looking for something on the 20th floor for a long time. From what my friend from the Devil Army said, it has something to do with a holy object. But that’s just his assumption, in reality, no one really knows.
However, there’s one thing that’s for sure. Kindred has no plans to leave the 20th floor until he finds it.
Even when we passed through the floor and fought a war with the Devil Army, he never showed himself. I was only able to find out about his identity by coincidence.
‘But he’s still here. It’s probably been over 10 years. What’s he searching for so hard?’
Yeon-woo’s mind was completely on Kindred. But he didn’t show it. It was a secret that he was a bishop of the Devil Army, and if he sensed something strange, his plans could be ruined.
So Yeon-woo tried not to look at Kindred as much as possible.
[Nice to meet you, handsome oppa.]
Fortunately, Victoria stepped up actively. She winked at Yeon-woo. Even though she couldn’t see, it was natural like she could see perfectly in front of her.
A faint minty scent wafted over in the wind. It was a scent that would’ve made most men’s hearts skip a beat.
But Kahn grimaced like he didn’t like it.
[What do you mean he’s good looking, he’s wearing a mask! And do you even know the difference in age between you and…..ow!]
Kahn rolled down the hill after being hit with a ball of fire.
[Hoho. I like everything about you except for your mouth. Understood?]
Victoria smiled revealing her canines. The remnants of the rune around her dissipated.
Yeon-woo’s eyes sparkled again seeing that.
This time as well, he hadn’t been able to feel the magic activate. The moment the rune disappeared, it became magic and beat up Kahn.
‘Does she prepare her rune in advance and use it when she needs it?’
Yeon-woo looked at the bracelet wrapped around Victoria’s right arm. There were small rune letters packed on it.
When she summoned the ball of fire, she touched her bracelet with her finger. Then, a letter on the bracelet disappeared and activated magic.
It seemed to be an artifact that magicians used to prepare magic in advance.
‘Yes. Victoria’s known to be as skilled in making artifacts as much as she uses rune magic.’
From what he heard, Victoria was one of the top 5 magicians along with Henova.
‘She uses Memorize to store them, and uses it when she needs it. Sounds okay for me to use as well.’
Everytime he fought, he felt that fighting shouldn’t be focused on using skills or physical strength.
Often, he felt the need for magic. It was a waste to use Magic Circuit just for his Mugong as well.
However, he was busy enough already focusing on his Mugong, and didn’t even think about touching magic.
But if he stored it beforehand, it looked like it would be a big help to Mugong too.
‘I needed to study about mechanical magic too. And whether it be the Philosopher’s Stone of the pocket watch, I need more knowledge to fix them.’
So he thought he would be able to learn something if he observed her.
[Ung. Handsome oppa. I like that you’re curwious, but I’m embawessed it you keep on looking at me like that.]
[…..!]
Yeon-woo stepped back in shock when Victoria suddenly appeared right in front of his nose.
Victoria was smiling seductively where Yeon-woo had been standing. She winked again.
Yeon-woo felt shivers down his back.
‘She read me.’
He had focused his consciousness to see the rune magic, but she noticed it.
Well, considering her leve, it was probably weirder if she didn’t notice it.
But what made him shiver more was the fact that she approached him without him realizing it.
Another rune was disappearing next to her. Blink. It was magic that allowed you to teleport short distances.
Even with his Extrasensory Perception open, she avoided it. Magic was scary in this aspect. You couldn’t predict it.
There was only one way to prevent it. It was getting rid of the magician quickly.
But seeing Victoria, it probably wasn’t going to be easy. The energy around her was probably defense mechanisms she set up.
The problem was that other than Kahn, he was the weakest person out of the 5 Sadhu.
This was a cave of beasts.
There was only one thing that was good about it.
Since this was where beasts stayed, it was that much better of a place to train. Yeon-woo was planning on training his Yin Sword here.
But before that, he had to make a good impression on the tenants here before him. A word of two that they said to him could be a big help.
[I’m sorry. It was my first time seeing rune magic.]
Victoria lightly laughed.
[Hng. If that’s the case. But still, be careful in the future. Everyone here is really selfish, so they’re sensitive about others observing them. But I guess you’re interested in rune magic?]
[Yes. A little.]
[Then should I teach you?]
His eyes widened because he didn’t expect her to say it so easily.
What was she planning? Yeon-woo knew there weren’t any free things in the world. He was suspicious of her.
Like she read his thoughts, she grinned as if telling him not to worry.
[Of course, not for free. There’s just one condition.]
[What is it?]
[I can’t really say it here.]
Victoria’s eyes sparkled. She looked like a snake looking at her prey.
[Do you want to eat some ramen at my house and talk about some things?] [TN: Inviting someone to eat ramen at your house is the equivalent of asking someone to Netflix and chill.]