The next day…
KangWoo went to the Red Rose Guild's house with Kim ShiHoon.
"Kyaa!"
"Isn't he Dragon Sword?!"
"He's Dragon Sword, right?"
Kim ShiHoon's popularity could also be felt inside the Red Rose Guild.
The people working at the Red Rose Guild counter came to them while shouting.
"Wh-what brings you to the Red Rose Guild?!"
"A-are you planning to join the Red Rose Guild?"
"Ah…"
Kim ShiHoon shook his head while smiling awkwardly.
"No. Although I'm receiving a lot of help from the Red Rose Guild, I've promised loyalty to another person."
"L-loyalty."
"Could you tell us who?"
"I'm sorry, but that's a bit…"
The Red Rose Guild members looked a bit disappointed.
"Th-then could you sign this?"
"Hmm. That's…"
Kim ShiHoon's face became a bit red as if he were troubled by it.
KangWoo opened his mouth.
"Let's stop wasting time and get going."
"Ah, yes! Understood, Hyeongnim!"
"…"
The members of the Red Rose Guild glared at KangWoo.
"What's up with that squid?"
'Isn't squid a bit too much?'
KangWoo frowned after hearing what they were mumbling from behind.
Realistically speaking, KangWoo's outer appearance wasn't bad. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he was good-looking.
But next to Kim ShiHoon, most people turned into a squid.
"I'm going to say something. How dare they call Hyeongnim a squid…"
"Stop making things worse and follow me."
If Kim ShiHoon said something in that situation, it would just make him more miserable.
KangWoo took the elevator and went to the training room.
"Ah, you came. I heard the details from the guild leader."
As they walked toward the training room entrance, they were greeted by Park HyunWoo.
He carefully spoke after opening the door.
"I heard about the training room incident in the Hwarang Squad."
"Ah…"
"Hahaha. She said that it cost both of you tens of millions in just repair costs."
Park HyunWoo grabbed KangWoo's hand while making a dry smile.
"Please… Make sure something similar doesn't happen here."
"Yes, of course…"
"Hahaha! Then I'll believe you."
He could sense the tiredness in Park HyunWoo's laugh.
'Was he the one who was in charge of administrating the guild?'
The amount of stuff he had to do had probably increased because of all the things that had happened recently.
KangWoo looked at Park HyunWoo in pity and then entered the training room.
"Then let's start immediately."
"Okay."
Kim ShiHoon looked at the practice weapons that were inside the training room.
"First, Hyeongnim, what's your main weapon?"
"Hmm… I don't think I have one."
He used different weapons based on the situation.
Kim ShiHoon nodded.
"Still, I think it's better to choose a weapon when learning about martial arts. Hmm… Let's start with swords since I specialize in swords."
"A sword…"
To be honest, the weapon he was the most used to was the spear.
He also used the Authority of the Blade quite often, but its shape slightly differed from a conventional sword.
But because it emerged from his hands when he swung it, rather than a sword, it was closer to a blade used by assassins.
'I guess if I'm learning martial arts from the Dragon Sword, it's better to use a sword.'
He grabbed a practice sword.
"First, I'll teach you the Sleeping Dragon Sword Style basics."
Kim ShiHoon displayed all of the techniques.
The Sleeping Dragon Sword Style had eight different forms.
The sword moved naturally as if it were water. After showing him the forms, ShiHoon turned around.
"Now try to copy them."
"What…?"
"You just have to do what I did."
"How can I copy it after seeing it once?"
"Yes? But it's just imitating the form."
Kim ShiHoon looked at KangWoo in confusion.
KangWoo looked at him in disbelief and just swung the sword.
"If I do this, can you copy it?"
"Of course."
Kim ShiHoon perfectly copied what KangWoo had just done.
'What's up with this guy.'
KangWoo felt a strange sense of inferiority.
"Don't be like that and try to do it, Hyeongnim."
"I told you I can't do it."
"Hmm… Then I'll show you from the first form one by one."
Kim ShiHoon tilted his head and did the first form of the Sleeping Dragon Sword Style.
It was a form that drew the sword from your head to under the waist and then bounced it back up.
KangWoo tried to copy Kim ShiHoon's movements.
"No. Hyeongnim, that's not it."
"You put too much strength on the movement down. If you do that, the recoil will be too strong."
Kim ShiHoon repeated the first form.
KangWoo tried to do it again.
"That's not it, Hyeongnim. You need to put a bit more strength than that,"
'What do you want me to do.'
While thinking it was harder than he initially thought, KangWoo put a bit more strength in.
* * *
Whish-!
"Ah, a little bit weaker."
Whish-!
"No. This time it was too weak."
Whish-!
"You have to do it a bit stronger."
Three hours passed.
As he performed the same movements repeatedly, KangWoo started to feel a bit annoyed.
"ShiHoon, did you also struggle at first with controlling the strength?"
"Y-yes," Kim ShiHoon said while trying to avoid his gaze.
KangWoo realized that he was lying.
"You can tell the truth."
"I learned how to control the strength in one or two tries…" Kim ShiHoon said carefully.
KangWoo laughed in disbelief.
'He learned how to do this in just one or two tries?'
Controlling the first form's strength was equivalent to completely filling a cup of water with your eyes closed.
Because this sense was completely different from the one KangWoo had learned through countless battles, he wasn't sure how to do it.
"Oof. Let's leave strength control for later on and learn the basic forms."
"Hmm… Yes, understood."
Kim ShiHoon looked at him as if he couldn't understand KangWoo and nodded.
The Sleeping Dragon Sword Style had eight forms in total.
KangWoo learned each movement and made sure they were connected naturally.
'I feel like there's something that doesn't match.'
He felt a weird sensation in the middle of doing each form.
It was as if he was forcing a gear to turn.
"I can't seem to connect the fourth and fifth form smoothly. How could I improve that?"
KangWoo turned his head to Kim ShiHoon.
Wasn’t the purpose of a teacher to help you in situations like that?
Kim ShiHoon answered while making his characteristic smile.
"In that part, instead of making it consciously, you just have to swing your sword naturally."
"What?"
"The issue is that you're thinking about it too much. You need to let your body move according to your senses."
"Hmm…"
KangWoo swung the sword while tilting his head. Just like Kim ShiHoon said, he moved the sword according to his senses.
It was an obvious outcome, but he couldn't do it properly.
'What's this?'
KangWoo finally understood the weird sensation he was feeling.
Before being an excellent swordsman, Kim ShiHoon was a genius.
—And one that had an overwhelming talent compared to other people.
'This is like saying that if you don't have any more minions, you just have to finish off the enemy.'
He heard that a genius professional gamer had said something like that in the past.
Things that were obvious to him weren't so much for other people.
It seemed like Kim ShiHoon didn't see that point.
Because he could do it so naturally, he couldn't understand other people's doubts.
"Hmm."
Although only a single day had passed, he became sure of something.
'Kim ShiHoon doesn't have the talent to teach.'
Because he was too talented, he couldn't explain how to do certain things to others.
As long as you didn't have a talent comparable to Kim ShiHoon, you wouldn't be able to learn anything from him.
"Tsk… I'll have to give up learning martial arts from you."
"Wh-what are you talking about, Hyeongnim? As expected, this is because I'm not good enough…"
"No, that's not it. It's the complete opposite."
"Then you mean…"
"You're too talented."
"…"
Kim ShiHoon remained silent.
KangWoo sighed and turned around.
"Let's stop here. I'm sure we'll have other opportunities in the future."
"Ah…"
Kim ShiHoon let out a small exclamation.
He felt a bit disappointed because he thought it was the perfect opportunity to pay him back for everything KangWoo had done for him.
"H-hyeongnim. Rather than that, how about you learn about the psyche style?"
"Psyche Style?"
"Yes. The basics of martial arts aren't the sword or fist, but the Psyche. I'm sure I'll be able to teach that to you properly."
"Hmm."
While thinking about that for a little while, KangWoo nodded.
Trying it was better than not trying it at all.
"Then do you want to check how the energy inside my body flows?"
"Okay."
KangWoo used the Authority of Observation and checked how the energy flowed inside ShiHoon’s body.
He could see the Qi moving with the Dantian at its center.
'I think that I should be able to do this.'
Rather than moving the body, it was just controlling inner strength, so KangWoo thought he should be able to do it.
KangWoo sat and tried to remember how the Qi flowed inside Kim ShiHoon's body.
Ting-
- Activating the effect of ‘Ruler of Demonic Energy’. Your ability to control demonic energy has increased.
- You've learned the inner psyche style 'Celestial Dragon's Psyche Style.'
'Oh.'
He had succeeded in just one try.
As he used the Celestial Dragon's Psyche Style, he could feel the demonic energy spread through his entire body gathering and rotating around the dantian.
'Huh?'
As he used the psyche style, he could feel demonic energy concentrated in a point called the dantian under the belly button.
But it didn't just concentrate there but formed a round object.
'This…'
It was a familiar sensation.
The image of a black jewel passed through his mind.
Ting-.
- You've succeeded in creating a demonic energy stone.
- You've obtained a hint for the last condition of the Extreme Demonic Energy Body.
'ShiHoon…'
Excitement ran through his body.
It was as if a cow had killed a rat while walking backward.
He'd unexpectedly found a hint about the last condition for the Extreme Demonic Energy Body.
'I love you!'
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