It wasn’t my first time obtaining an Achievement.
I already had two Achievements.
【Achievement】Special Beginner
[Description] Defeating twenty E-rank Monsters in battle less than 24 hours after Awakening is an extremely difficult feat! This Achievement is granted to one who accomplishes that difficult feat
[Effects] Vitality +3, Attack Power +3, Defense +3, Evasion +3, Magic Resistance +3
【Achievement】One Who Learned the Martial God’s Mind Method
[Description] An Achievement granted to one who has learned and circulated Jin Cheon-woo, the Martial God’s ‘Limitless Mind Method’
[Effects] Vitality +5, Inner Arts +10, Attack Power +5, Defense +5, Evasion +5, Magic Resistance +5
Both were excellent Achievements that increased my stats.
Thanks to those Achievements, I had been able to become stronger quickly.
And now...
[You have astonished Jin Cheon-woo, the Martial God, with your exceptional martial arts talent.]
[Achievement added - One Who Astonished the Martial God]
I had obtained a new Achievement.
It had appeared while Jin Cheon-woo, the Martial God, doubted me in disbelief after I learned and circulated the Limitless Mind Method.
His constant suspicion had been starting to irritate me, but my mood improved dramatically.
Especially when I examined the Achievement’s information.
【Achievement】One Who Astonished the Martial God
[Description] Jin Cheon-woo, the strongest martial artist once known as the Martial God. Astonishing him with martial arts talent is an extremely difficult feat! This Achievement is granted to one who accomplishes such a feat
[Effects] Vitality +3, Inner Arts +3, Attack Power +3, Defense +3, Evasion +3, Martial Arts Comprehension +5%
I even burst out laughing.
“Haha!”
It was another excellent Achievement.
Increasing several combat stats was already good enough, but it even possessed an Effect that increased my Martial Arts Comprehension!
‘It’ll help me whenever I learn martial arts from now on.’
At that moment...
-Why are you not answering?
Jin Cheon-woo asked in a stiff voice.
Come to think of it, I had been too distracted by the Achievement to answer him.
What had he asked me……?
Right. He had asked what I was.
“I’m exactly what you see. A human who obtained the legacy of Master Jin Cheon-woo, the Martial God.”
-From now on, you must answer honestly.
“I’ve been honest this entire time.”
-……Before learning the martial arts I left behind, had you ever learned any other martial arts?
“No. Your martial arts were my first, Master Jin. Before that, I was just an ordinary human.”
-You were ordinary? That cannot be!
“To be precise, I was someone who did whatever it took to become stronger.”
I meant it sincerely.
Before Awakening, I had worked as a porter and entered Dungeons as frequently as possible.
I had done it to Awaken and become stronger.
To become strong enough to avenge my parents and earn money for their hospital bills.
- You had never learned martial arts, yet you learned the Limitless Mind Method I created so easily……? Could it be……! Have you learned the Limitless Sword Method and Limitless Footwork as well?
“I have. But I don’t know whether I can actually use them.”
Skills such as Sword Methods and Footwork would surely require training.
For that reason, there was a high chance I couldn’t use them yet.
However...
Jin Cheon-woo seemed fixated on the fact that I had learned them at all.
- What? You learned them?!
“Yes. As I just said, though, I probably can’t use them right away.”
- Hoho…… To think I would experience something this astonishing after living for so long. These are martial arts that require decades of training to learn, no matter how talented one may be…… Just how extraordinary is this young man’s talent?
Jin Cheon-woo muttered to himself at considerable length.
The fact that I had learned the Limitless Mind Method, Limitless Sword Method, and Limitless Footwork must have shocked him immensely.
He had acted the same way earlier. Did he have a habit of talking to himself whenever he became flustered or surprised?
However, he seemed to be misunderstanding something.
‘It’s not that I possess exceptional martial arts talent. I merely learned the Skills naturally because I awakened my Trait.’
I briefly considered explaining Traits and Skills to him.
However, I decided to let the matter pass for now.
Trying to explain Awakening, Traits, and Skills to Jin Cheon-woo, who barely understood modern civilization, sounded like a headache.
‘He’ll naturally learn about them with time. For now, I should train.’
I needed to become far stronger than I was now.
Only then could I wipe out the Monsters in this world and avenge my parents.
CLENCH—!
I tightened my grip on the sword.
【Limitless Sword Method】
[Grade] SSSSS
[Description] The Sword Method of Jin Cheon-woo, the Martial God
I intended to learn the Sword Method first.
Since I was using a sword as my weapon, learning a Sword Method would naturally be efficient.
At that moment, a strange phenomenon occurred.
‘Oh!’
An illustrated figure began appearing before my eyes.
It depicted a martial artist holding a sword.
And now...
The martial artist began moving.
SWISH—!
He raised his sword high.
WHOOSH—!
Then he swung it downward.
There was no particular explanation, but I understood what the martial artist’s movements meant.
He was clearly demonstrating the Limitless Sword Method.
To use the Limitless Sword Method, I would have to master those movements perfectly.
‘Let’s try it.’
I swung the sword in my hand downward from above.
Thankfully, the martial artist before my eyes continued repeating the same movement.
All I had to do was watch and imitate him.
However...
‘Huh? Why isn’t this working?’
I couldn’t perform the movement as well as I wanted.
My reflection in the reinforced mirror inside the training room looked incredibly awkward.
‘I thought I just swung the sword downward…… Why does it look different?’
I stopped moving and observed the martial artist once again.
As I watched more carefully and examined his movements in greater detail, I began noticing things I had missed before.
‘Ah! He moves his feet and knees at the same time!’
When I looked in the mirror, I thought my movements had become somewhat more similar to his.
Apparently, it was only my imagination.
- Surely that botched movement is not supposed to be the Limitless Sword Method?
***
I stopped swinging the sword.
Jin Cheon-woo had called my movement botched.
“……Could you tell me what I’m doing wrong?”
I wasn’t offended.
Those words had come from none other than the Martial God.
He was the creator of this martial art and the strongest martial artist.
I only wanted to learn whatever I could from him.
- Everything is wrong.
“Pardon?”
I was honestly surprised.
I had thought I was following the movement reasonably well, yet he said everything was wrong.
- Spread your legs farther apart.
I acted the moment I heard Jin Cheon-woo’s instruction.
This was a lesson from the Martial God himself. I couldn’t afford to miss a single moment.
SWISH—!
I widened my stance and looked again at the illustrated martial artist’s posture.
His legs were also spread farther apart.
It was a detail I had failed to notice.
Impressed, I listened intently as Jin Cheon-woo continued.
- Before swinging the sword, plant your feet more firmly against the ground. Remember this. If your lower body is not firmly anchored, you cannot generate power.
I tried to incorporate every detail Jin Cheon-woo mentioned into my movements.
However, it wasn’t easy.
Only a genius could hear an explanation and incorporate it perfectly into a movement on the first attempt.
Unfortunately, it seemed I wasn’t a genius.
Even so...
‘I’ll get it eventually if I keep at it.’
I continued trying.
Determined to succeed somehow, I imitated the martial artist’s movement repeatedly.
WHOOSH—!
It was a movement in which I swung the sword downward from above.
It looked incredibly simple from the outside, but it contained an astonishing number of elements.
The more I learned, the more I realized that the movement of the Limitless Sword Method wasn’t simple at all. It was extraordinarily complex.
Moreover, according to Jin Cheon-woo, this movement was merely the most fundamental of fundamentals.
‘He said it’ll only become more difficult from here. Damn, this is insanely hard.’
The thought of learning even more complex movements was daunting.
Nevertheless...
WHOOSH—!
My movements were gradually improving.
As proof...
[Limitless Sword Method Proficiency has increased!]
The Message that appeared before my eyes gave me strength.
My stats hadn’t increased, nor had I obtained a new Skill, but I still felt pleased.
After all, it meant I was becoming stronger.
- You have improved since the beginning.
Even Jin Cheon-woo acknowledged my progress.
At that moment, the illustrated martial artist’s movement changed.
‘Focus!’
I paid close attention so I wouldn’t miss a single movement.
SWISH—! WHOOSH—!
The martial artist stepped forward while swinging his sword.
The sword swing itself was similar to the previous movement. It was an attack that brought the sword downward from above.
It looked as though the only addition was a step forward.
Of course, I didn’t assume it would be easy.
Hadn’t I already experienced how difficult a seemingly simple movement could truly be?
‘It’ll be difficult once I actually try to imitate it.’
My expectations were correct.
The martial artist’s new movement was far more difficult to perform than it appeared.
Stepping forward while putting power into the sword required me to pay attention to far more details than I had anticipated.
- As I told you earlier, you must put strength into your lower body to transfer power into your sword. Your upper body must be more relaxed. Good grief! Your upper and lower body were moving separately just now!
Jin Cheon-woo immediately began offering advice, as though he had been waiting for the opportunity.
Still...
- Your knees straightened! You intend to train in the Limitless Sword Method with such paltry concentration? Focus properly and do it again!
He had seemed kind and gentle at first…… but now he felt like a tiger-like instructor.
‘Why is that old man so passionate……?’
***
Which online community was currently the most popular in South Korea?
If someone asked that question, many people would give the same answer.
The ‘Hunter Community.’
『Hunter Community surpasses 300,000 concurrent users!』
『Another concurrent-user record! Hunter Community once again named South Korea’s most popular online community!』
Articles reporting that the Hunter Community had set another concurrent-user record had become commonplace.
One reason for its immense popularity was how quickly information spread there.
A great deal of Hunter-related information was shared on the Hunter Community in real time.
Information spread there even faster than it did through most broadcasting stations.
That was possible because the community had so many active users, many of whom were currently active Hunters.
And now...
A particular individual was receiving an explosion of attention on the Hunter Community.
- Got some information on the Shabby Hunter! His name is Yu-gwon. Apparently, he worked as a porter until recently.
└ What the hell are you talking about? If he worked as a porter until recently, does that mean he only Awakened recently too?
└ No way. It’s more likely that he continued working as a porter after Awakening. You saw the Shabby Hunter fight, right? How could a Hunter who only Awakened recently kill Kiraks that easily?
- That’s fucking strange. So there are people who continue working as porters even after Awakening. Could he still be working as one?
└ Probably not anymore. His face became far too well known after this. He’d attract a shitload of attention if he continued working as a porter.
- So the Shabby Hunter’s name was Yu-gwon. But if he’s strong enough to easily kill dozens of E-rank Kiraks, why does he carry an old sword and wear old armor?
└ Someone explained it before. It’s probably his veteran-player look, LOL. There are Hunters like that sometimes. They deliberately dress to look weak, but they’re actually fucking strong.
- What kind of Trait did Yu-gwon awaken? It has to be at least B-grade or higher, right?
The particular individual was Yu-gwon, the man known as the Shabby Hunter.
The Hunter Community’s users held lengthy discussions about him.
Did he belong to a Guild?
Why had he rejected the major Guilds’ offers?
Why had he refused the offer made by An Mi-hyeon, the Goddess of the Hunter Association?
Both confirmed facts and speculation...
All manner of stories concerning Yu-gwon began circulating.
At that moment...
A post uploaded by one user began accumulating views at an explosive rate.
- Huh? I’ve seen Yu-gwon in a Dungeon before! It was about a month ago, and back then, Yu-gwon was just a porter! He definitely wasn’t Awakened, so what happened?
***