NOVEL WEB Chapter 32: Master of Weapons
< Chapter 32: Master of Weapons (3) >
Seo-yul thrust his spear.
As if he was fighting an invisible opponent.
He repeated cutting, deflecting, and stabbing.
Seo-yul’s movements were graceful, precise, and beautiful.
“…Heaven Beyond Heaven.”
Pi Jin Ho shivered as he watched Seo-yul swing his spear in a state of no mind.
He was sure he wasn’t like this.
He showed his genius side in dagger and archery skills.
But he was no different from a beginner in other weapons.
He was definitely like that until last Friday’s class.
“This is crazy.”
Pi Jin Ho had seen countless superhumans who were called geniuses for almost 10 years as an instructor.
Among them were S-rank superhumans who are currently ranked in the top 100 in the world.
They were owners of amazing talents that made him exclaim.
But this was the first time he felt a sincere chill.
Was it an insult rather than a compliment to describe Seo-yul as a genius?
He even had such a thought.
That’s why Heaven Beyond Heaven.
Another heaven above the sky.
Seo-yul, who had started to blossom as a master of weapons, was far beyond the realm of genius.
“Haha.”
He couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity.
‘If I told him that this was his first time holding a spear, would anyone believe me?’
Probably not.
‘Because I wouldn’t believe it either.’
He’s a monster.
His wife was also a genius, but she was never like that.
‘It took her about a year to reach that level after she blossomed.’
He remembered it well because it was when they were dating. Kang Min-ji reached that level at the age of 24.
‘It took her three years to enter the realm of ‘Full Bloom’, where she could wield strong energy.’
It took four years in total.
But what about Seo-yul?
‘Three days at most.’
He could only laugh because it was unbelievable.
‘He skipped blossoming and went straight to full bloom.’
There are three stages of growth for a master of weapons.
Stage 1.
Sprouting
A bud comes out.
It is the period when the master of weapons transforms the owner’s body into a body suitable for using their trait.
It took 23 years for Pi Jin Ho’s wife Kang Min-ji.
There is a severe penalty on the ability at this stage.
It is probably because the master of weapons uses all their power to harmonize their body.
At this stage, only some weapons have proficiency bonuses and growth acceleration.
In Kang Min-ji’s case, it was a sword and spear. In Seo-yul’s case, it would be a dagger and bow.
Stage 2.
Blossoming
A flower blooms.
This is the stage where growth is accelerated.
From this stage, the penalty on the ability disappears. And all weapon proficiencies get a huge bonus.
At this stage, magic power begins to grow. And when the magic power is fully grown, it moves on to the final stage 3.
Stage 3.
Full Bloom
A flower blooms fully.
From this stage, you can use ‘strong energy’, which infuses magic power into weapons.
As if to compensate for the 20 years, you can freely use a huge amount of magic power in your weapons.
You can adjust everything, such as size, strength, and sharpness, as you wish.
Like Seo-yul is doing now, you can sharpen the magic power wrapped around the spear handle and cut it like a sword.
You can also stretch out only strong energy and freely adjust the reach of stabbing.
Kang Min-ji in her prime could stretch her strong energy more than 10 meters long.
‘When I faced Min-ji, the common sense of combat was rather a hindrance.’
Her free and flexible transition between offense and defense was very tricky to deal with.
‘…It’s like seeing Min-ji when she was young.’
Seo-yul, who freely wielded red strong energy that flickered like fire and swung his spear here and there.
Even his excited face was identical.
“Min-ji…”
Pi Jin Ho’s eyes became faint as he looked at Seo-yul.
* * *
That night.
“Ugh. I’m dead.”
I sprawled out on the bed.
I was too excited.
It was so fun to swing the spear that I couldn’t restrain myself.
“Even if I think about it again, it’s awesome.”
I never imagined that a trait-restricted item would have such a function.
I never thought that wearing ‘Weapon of Extremes’ would allow me to use ‘Master of Weapons’.
“Wow. Awesome. Really awesome.”
Is it a rule of trait-restricted items?
The trait is only applied when I wear the Weapon of Extremes.
“But it doesn’t seem like there’s a time limit like an ancient relic.”
There is a restriction that I have to keep wearing the necklace, but that’s not even a drawback.
“And I got some magic power, too.”
The reason why I could use strong energy was also because of [Master of Weapons].
According to Pi Jin Ho…
When a master of weapons blossoms, they can use magic power.
Maybe I got magic power because I got the master of weapons this time.
And ‘Flame of Engraving’ created a synergy and made it a fire attribute strong energy.
“Sweet. Really sweet.”
I thought collecting racial traits through ancient relics was the best, but collecting trait-restricted items was the best.
The problem is that items with trait restrictions are extremely rare.
Well, I can find a way to get them from now on.
“Ah. Good.”
I went to bed with an excited heart.
* * *
The next morning.
Today’s class was a virtual ruin raid.
It was a training that reflected the score on the ranking, so I had to get a high score.
The way to the top 10 rankings is long and hard.
“It’s the first time. Seo-yul and I are on the same team.”
Jia came up to me with an excited face.
“That’s right.”
The remaining two teammates came up.
“Huh? What? Really? There are two archers in the same team for a four-person party?”
“Are there too many archers?”
The two said with a puzzled look.
“Wait a minute. Seo-yul’s position is forward?”
“Oh. Are you going to use a dagger?”
“Um…”
The two looked at me with an awkward expression.
I understand.
My evaluation at the officer school is ‘Well, he’s better than I thought’.
But this is only limited to human-to-human combat.
It’s a different story in monster combat.
“Can he pierce the monster’s skin?”
“Ugh. He’s wasting his time. He should just use his bow to aggro from afar.”
“Hey, let’s think positively. He’s pretty good at using daggers. I saw him using a skill that ignores durability last time.”
“But he’s not a forward for an F-rank. Ugh. We have to dig a well with one person missing. Ugh. Annoying… Eek!”
Suddenly, their faces turned pale.
“What? Do you want to talk more?”
Jia smiled brightly and threatened them.
She was smiling with her mouth.
But her eyes were shining with murderous intent like a serial killer.
“Th-that’s not it.”
“That’s not it?”
I felt a chill down my spine just watching.
She was really scary.
She looked like she was going to kill someone right now.
I was the only one who could stop Jia right now.
“That’s enough. They’re not wrong.”
I blocked Jia’s gaze with my body and said.
I didn’t forget to whisper ‘Please restrain yourself’ in an angle that only Jia could see.
“…Tsk.”
Jia clicked her tongue at a small angle that only I could see.
Then she sighed as if she had no choice and returned to her usual self.
“Please refrain from saying anything that lowers our morale before the raid.”
“O-okay.”
“I’m sorry.”
Fortunately, the situation was resolved smoothly. But the two teammates still looked dissatisfied.
They seemed to be reluctantly bowing down because of Jia.
That’s enough for now.
“Next! Team 7!”
It was our turn to enter the virtual ruins.
“Check your equipment one last time. We’ll start in a minute.”
“Yes!”
We answered and opened the large carrier where we stored Team 7’s equipment.
“Oh, right. You said there was nothing wrong with what you guys said earlier, right? I’ll correct you a little bit. I just remembered that there was one wrong thing.”
“What?”
“Me. I’m not going to use a dagger today.”
The Way of Wind is an excellent trait.
But it’s too risky to fight monsters in close range with a dagger because my ability is too weak.
The risk is too high.
“You’re not going to use a dagger?”
“Yeah.”
“Then what… A spear?”
I took out a training spear from the corner of the carrier.
* * *
The next day, morning.
We entered the virtual ruins about two hours ago.
The atmosphere in the team, which was full of complaints at first, has changed to some extent.
It’s because they acknowledged my ability to some extent.
“Ah. I’m dying.”
“Is the real ruin this hard?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never been there.”
Even though it’s a virtual ruin made for training, it’s still a ruin.
The difficulty is considerable.
Rather, it was more difficult because it was designed safely for training.
Because there is no risk of serious injury due to the safety setting of the magic field.
“Stop.”
Jia, who was in charge of scouting and long-range support, signaled everyone to stop.
“Monster?”
“Yeah. Two of them. They look like guardians, but…”
Jia’s eyes sharpened.
“I’ve never seen these monsters before.”
Jia is also outstanding in academic aspects.
She doesn’t know what kind of monsters they are?
“What do they look like?”
“They’re similar to lions… Yeah. They look like Haetae.”
“Haetae?”
Twin Haetae.
There was a monster that came to mind right away.
“Are one of them red and the other blue?”
Jia’s eyes widened.
“That’s right. How did you know?”
“There’s only one thing that comes to mind when you say two Haetae: [Taeguk Haetae].”
“Wow.”
The other two teammates looked at me with a surprised expression.
Jia looked at me with admiration in her eyes.
“Do you also know what traits the guardians ahead have?”
“I know, but…”
Ugh. What kind of devilish instructor did this? How could he put [Taeguk Haetae] as a guardian in a first-year class?
“Why? Is it a bit tricky to raid?”
“It’s not a bit tricky. It’s like we got a dud…”
“How bad is it?”
Jia asked with a tilted head.
The three of them looked at me.
“Taeguk Haetae. A twin guardian divided into red and blue Haetae.”
I started to explain.
“The trait of the red Haetae is close-range damage absorption. The trait of the blue Haetae is long-range damage absorption.”
“Wait a minute. Absorption? Do you mean they recover their health?”
Jia said with a shocked rabbit-like expression.
“That’s right.”
That’s the scary part of Taeguk Haetae. If you fight them mixed up, you will inevitably bounce off the opposite attribute, whether it’s close or long-range.
“Maybe he didn’t put those guardians there for us to catch. He put them there to see how we react.”
“Ah!”
How would you deal with a rare twin guardian that you don’t know anything about?
That’s what he wants to see.
“If that’s the case, it would have been a headache if we fought without knowing anything.”
“That’s right.”
The two teammates sighed with relief.
“Then what should we do? Try to hold on as much as possible?”
They were looking at me with a disgruntled look before entering, but they changed completely in two hours.
Now they are willing to entrust me with the order. They probably trust my brain, since I haven’t shown much skill. Being the top student in writing helps in this regard.
“Hmm.”
Let me think for a moment.
All the exams at school, including the virtual ruin raid, are reflected in the ‘ranking’.
I need to raise my ranking a little bit now to get into the top 10 ranking in six months.
Then there is only one answer.
“Let’s catch them.”
We’ll deal with Taeguk Haetae.
And I’ll do it in the most eye-catching way possible.
“…What? Catch them?”
“Yeah.”
“How?”
“It’s simple. We just have to completely separate the two.”
“Divide them into two teams of two, one for close range and one for long range? But isn’t that dangerous for the archer and mage combination? Even if they are strong, they need at least one guard.”
“Hmm.”
I glanced at Jia, who was quietly listening. Jia smiled softly as she felt my gaze.
There’s no need to say that she’s the strongest in this group. She probably can handle the red Haetae by herself.
If that was ‘real’, I wouldn’t know, but it’s clearly a fake made of magic power.
Jia has a high chance of being able to handle it alone.
But if that happens, Jia will be the one who gets attention.
My evaluation will be ‘Superhuman Trainee A who got carried by Shin Jia’.
My ranking will go up by a rat’s poop.
That goes against my goal.
“Then let’s split 3:1.”
“3:1? Shin Jia takes care of the red Haetae by herself?”
“No.”
Then there’s only one way.
“You three take care of the red Haetae.”
The teammates looked at me with a surprised expression.
“We three?”
“Yeah.”
“What about you, Seo-yul?”
Jia, who had been silent, looked at me and asked.
“Me? I…”
I clenched the [Weapon of Extremes] on my chest.
“I’ll take care of the blue Haetae by myself.
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