Chapter 6: 5. First Woman (Fake)

What happened afterward was simple.

Lee Yohan gave Iam the martial name Mudrock, suitable for Columbia, where she had mostly stayed whenever she was outside Kazdel. He made her perform nine bows with her head lowered all the way to the ground—or, mercifully, only three—and then pressed his palms together before Mudrock and recited a mantra in an ancient Tibetan dialect.

Iam—no, Mudrock—watched all of it blankly, without the slightest stir. Only her fervent gaze, as though the supreme art she was about to learn from him were that precious, remained unwavering.

It was intense enough to make even the observer feel good. And since he did, for some reason, feel good, he decided to impart at least some of his knowledge.

Of course, he had no intention of teaching her the [Star-Sucking Grand Art].

It was not as though the [Star-Sucking Grand Art] was the only thing he could teach.

There was knowledge that predated that demonic art—knowledge that could not help but be valuable in this world. It flowed from his lips.

For example—

Qi must not pool, but flow, moving as Heaven and Earth move. It is the principle that emptiness is filled, so qi filling all directions naturally enters through one’s breath. The important thing is not to block it, but for what one breathes in to remain as natural as though it were suspended in empty space...

Things like that.

‘How could it not be valuable? What kind of knowledge do you think this is?’

As though delivering a sermon, he bestowed wisdom, while Mudrock listened in a daze.

There on the spot, Lee Yohan spoke of his knowledge and watched the woman fail to understand. He had made up his mind to generously bestow wisdom upon her, only for her to look back at him in confusion. Enduring the frustration that felt as if he might suddenly have a manic-depressive episode and explode, he eventually placed his hands directly upon Mudrock’s body.

Three hours passed like that.

And that was why it could be said that what happened was simple.

Because during those three hours, whether through wisdom, by using the [Star-Sucking Grand Art] for qi guidance, or by placing his hand on her stomach, he failed to initiate Mudrock into the path.

Three whole hours had passed. At that point, was there any way not to dismiss all the time before that as pointless fumbling?

Something was wrong.

Leaning against a wall, Lee Yohan sank deep into thought. He looked up at Terra’s garbage sky, where darkness seemed to descend like a black curtain when the sun set, unlike on Earth...

Lee Yohan

lowered his head.

*

Perhaps Yohan was a descendant of the Heavenly Demon.

Mudrock suddenly thought so as she clenched and unclenched her hand.

Of course, it was not as though she understood what Yohan had said.

For one thing, he referred to Arts with some word from a country she did not know—something like “sorcery.” He also used far too many difficult words.

No matter that Mudrock was one of the few successors of the Gargoyle royal court, she had never attended school and had only ever spent her time around construction sites. What he said was too difficult for her to understand, and it came mixed with foreign words.

Thus, there was little she could know. And among the few things she could understand, the most important fact was that, when she breathed right now, she felt no pain whatsoever.

‘I had grown used to pain, but...’

That did not mean anyone wanted pain.

Or rather, there were few people who did. It would not be strange to put it that way.

But at least, she was not one of them.

Her mind had not yet broken on the battlefield, nor had she chosen to sink together with this hopeless city and her kin.

So, with the pain eased, she merely thought with a mind working more swiftly than before.

About what, exactly, she had to do now.

‘Yohan is in danger.’

She had to protect Yohan.

That was Mudrock’s conclusion after experiencing the effects of the [Mental Cultivation Method] Yohan had performed.

‘I thought Yohan knew, but I was wrong. He clearly does not know what a mental cultivation method truly is, or how it neutralizes Originium’s spread. If he knew, he would have realized the importance of that phenomenon too.’

Yet the Yohan in Mudrock’s sight did not clearly recognize that fact. He acted as though he knew everything, but Mudrock judged that he did not truly understand.

She could tell because, though her parents had died in the war long ago, she had inherited knowledge of Arts as a member of the Gargoyle royal court.

Innate and acquired.

The first Arts, like roots: fundamentally manifested upon contact with the power contained within Originium and determined at birth. And the acquired Arts, like branches: gained through developing those Arts.

Among the Arts she knew, there was none capable of accomplishing such a thing. That was why she had come to think that Yohan, who was perhaps one of her own kind, might be a descendant of the Heavenly Demon.

It was clearly a phenomenon that seemed to transcend the very concept of Arts she had learned from the royal court. Therefore, it could not be possible unless one had inherited the bloodline of an existence surpassing even the royal court. Leithanien might have musical troupes that interfered with Originium to the point of making the Infected explode, but she could tell that this was plainly on an entirely different level.

Truly... Mudrock could feel that there was an absurd gulf between Yohan’s power and every other Art.

‘But Yohan himself is not strong enough to bear it. I do not know why. But...’

The High Tower Casters belonging to such musical troupes were all high-ranking Leithanien casters... Yet the Yohan she had met was physically weaker not only than an adult Sarkaz, but even than a Caprinae—the second kind of horned people, and Leithanien’s native race.

She did not know what race Yohan was, but as things stood now...

That [Mental Cultivation Method] might as well have been a treasured sword in a child’s hand.

Mudrock judged that if the man who had restored a clear sensation to her every inhale and exhale continued to remain in present-day Kazdel, it would not be strange if, without her, nothing but his corpse remained after three days.

Then she would only be able to enjoy this current state—where the progression of her Oripathy seemed to have stopped. No, where it even felt as though it had begun to reverse—just once.

Which meant this was not the time to take mercenary work.

Mudrock looked at Yohan, the self-proclaimed master standing before her.

She looked up at the man who, rather than demanding her body, money, or information, had instead said he would take her as his disciple. Then Mudrock spoke.

"Yohan."

"I... was not wrong."

"...Huh?"

Then she saw Yohan, who had been hanging his head, slowly raise it.

His clothes were like rags, his hair disheveled, and beneath his overgrown bangs, his eyes had become inorganically calm.

The information and deductions that had boiled over in Yohan’s head had been organized. They reassembled according to his worldview, forming a line of reasoning.

He had reached a conclusion as to why Mudrock could not sense even the fundamental qi sensation needed for a mental cultivation method, much less the [Star-Sucking Grand Art].

"It seems you have grown too accustomed to this world."

"This world?"

"There is an old saying that the younger one is when learning martial arts, the better; the older one grows, the more one is tainted by the mundane world, making it harder to encounter the mysterious and wondrous. One is born into worldly dust. Thus, the basic difficulty of learning martial arts has become excessively high for you—unlike me, who can sense this world’s alienness."

"Uh..."

"Still, do not worry."

Mudrock was momentarily shocked by the implication that she was old, but Yohan did not stop speaking. He merely continued with passion.

She still did not understand half of what he said, but perhaps fortunately, regardless of what Yohan was saying, his gaze was fixed on her chest with a focus so honest it was nearly cold.

At least, it seemed she was not outside Yohan’s tastes.

...Yet, thinking of that somehow made her embarrassed. Though she was not in heat, she pressed her arms over her breasts to cover them as she listened to Yohan speak.

"I will systematize martial arts so that you can learn it too."

She had just heard something that sounded as though not doing so would be much better for his survival.

"From now on, I suppose we will need to establish a sect. To gather this world’s spirit stones... in other words, Originium, we will need people. Besides, I understand the [Star-Sucking Grand Art] has low stability, and I cannot handle spiritual energy digestion and spirit-stone procurement at the same time by myself."

Let us overlook his calling Originium “spirit stones.”

It was enough to think that Yohan was a Sarkaz half-blood from Yan.

More importantly, however, Yohan was showing the ambition to create a group. If so, the basis for it would probably be actions like what he had done to her, and the result when it was actually put into practice would be... deeply unpleasant.

Yohan would certainly die!

At least in present-day Kazdel, where Theresis and the Military Commission were secretly purging those who adversely affected Sarkaz unity, Yohan would either die or be dragged away by the Confessors into a state worse than death...!

She could not let that happen...!!

"Well, I do not intend to accept just anyone. For now, it will probably be just you and me, Mudrock..."

"Yohan."

"Hm?"

Thus, while Yohan rambled on, deducing and weaving together methods, principles, and connections for sublimating himself through martial arts—

Mudrock cut off the many thoughts and emotions in her head and spoke firmly.

"Come to my home."

Words that permitted no refusal flowed from her lips, and Yohan’s thoughts came to a sudden stop.

At the very distant outskirts, where the strange tremors of a mobile city walking across the wasteland rumbled, twilight shimmered like a heat haze and the daytime heat swiftly faded away.

Yohan

heard,

"I will take care of you."

"?"

Perhaps for the first time in his life, a woman had asked him out afterward.

Though this seemed somehow different from what he had imagined.

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