Back in his room after eating the apple his mother had peeled, Somyeong stared intently at the golden core resting on his desk. Having undergone refinement, the core—now a transparent gold—glowed faintly under the room's light.
To the eye it looked like a beautiful gemstone, but compressed within it was the rough, vast energy Somyeong had just suppressed. The magical energy of this world differed somewhat in nature from the spirit energy of the martial world. Where spirit energy was a gentle force that flowed with nature, magical energy carried a more artificial and explosive quality.
'An untamed beast of an energy.'
Somyeong picked up the core once more. The vibrations he felt through his palm beat as steadily as a pulse. He drew a deep breath and began circulating the Heavenly Demon Divine Art within his body. The pitch-black true energy pooled in his dantian surged through his veins and gathered at his fingertips.
An ordinary hunter would have mounted this core into equipment or used complex machinery to extract the energy, but Somyeong had no need for any of that. He already knew how to purify and absorb magical energy.
The true energy extending from his hand enveloped the core's surface. The golden radiance reacted to his power, churning violently. The air in the room grew heavy, and the furniture trembled and groaned faintly.
CRACK.
Hairline fractures began to spread across the golden core's surface. Contrary to the expectation that absorbing an otherworldly material would be difficult, the core abandoned its resistance before Somyeong's overwhelming power and crumbled to dust in an instant.
At the same time, the pure energy that had been compressed within rushed into Somyeong's palm without restraint.
"Mm......"
Somyeong let out a low groan and closed his eyes. The energy coursing through his veins was scorching. A sensation like molten lava swept through his entire body. But the Heavenly Demon Divine Art caught every strand of that wild energy without letting it slip, assimilating it piece by piece.
A portion of the vast, dormant power began to stir awake, as if stretching after a long sleep. As the fundamental strength he had brought from the martial world fused with this world's magical energy, Somyeong's internal energy was refined to a far more precise and keen edge than before. He could feel his control over energy climbing another level.
'The toys of this world carry a decent amount of energy.'
Somyeong lightly clenched and unclenched his fist. An invisible current of air slipped between his fingers and cut through the empty space. The efficiency of his power had improved. He felt as though he could now exert devastating force with thought alone, without needing large movements.
Gazing at the moonlight through the window, Somyeong murmured quietly.
"This should be enough for the time being."
***
The next morning, Somyeong left the house in his usual worn cotton pants and comfortable T-shirt. Beside him stood Jina, dressed in the official White Tiger Guild hunter uniform she had just been issued. She had checked the mirror several times over, her nerves plain to see.
"Oppa, do I really look okay? Is it too much?"
"You just look pretty. My little sister finally looks like a real hunter."
Somyeong slung the large bag carrying Jina's gear over one shoulder with ease as he answered. Jina looked at him apologetically.
"It still doesn't sit right with me that you're playing porter for me. The guild said they'd assign a dedicated support member."
"You're more comfortable with me than with a stranger. Besides, I want to check out the guild. How great is it to lounge around somewhere with free air conditioning?"
At Somyeong's quip, Jina finally relaxed and flashed a small smile.
The White Tiger Guild headquarters they arrived at was buzzing with an unusual atmosphere, no doubt thanks to the previous day's commotion. Every hunter they passed stole glances at Jina and whispered.
"Is that the new recruit who killed an A-rank boss yesterday?"
"She was supposed to be C-rank—can a single awakening really change someone that much?"
Jina ducked her head under the weight of the stares, but Somyeong walked tall with his chest puffed out. The room they were directed to was the guild's top-tier private training hall, reserved exclusively for the highest-ranking hunters.
When the training hall door opened, state-of-the-art magical energy measuring equipment and heavy bags fabricated from special alloys came into view. The facility was on an entirely different level from a standard training ground.
"Wow, amazing. So I can practice here as much as I want?"
Just as Jina was marveling and stepping inside—
CRASH—!
A side door of the training hall was flung open, and someone strode in. A male hunter with dark, intense features and an arrogant expression. Behind him, three or four followers swaggered in his wake.
The man swept his gaze over Jina and Somyeong standing in the center of the hall, then curled his lips into a slimy smile.
"So this is the parachute's private training hall everyone's been buzzing about?"
Jina's expression hardened instantly. Somyeong set his bag down and studied the man. The badge on the man's chest bore the symbol of A-rank.
"Who are you, barging into someone else's training hall?"
Jina asked as calmly as she could. But the man snorted and strode closer.
"Someone else's? Listen, kid. This Training Room 7 is a place I, Kim Seungtae, have had exclusive use of for the past two years. Some C-rank nobody who landed a last hit on a boss is strutting around like she owns the place—it's hilarious."
"Excuse me, we were officially assigned here......"
"Shut it! The guild's really gone to the dogs. One lucky awakening and they trample the rights of the existing aces."
The man called Kim Seungtae ignored Jina and pointed at Somyeong standing behind her.
"Hey, porter. Pick up that luggage and get out. This isn't a place for low-rankers to set foot."
Somyeong tilted his head silently and regarded Kim Seungtae. In a hundred years, he had seen countless arrogant men, but this variety of provocation was as juvenile as it got.
Displeased by Somyeong's indifferent attitude, Kim Seungtae furrowed his brow and began releasing coarse magical energy. The pressure of an A-rank hunter bore down on the air, constricting Jina's breath.
"Oppa, get back."
Jina's hand trembled as she reached for her sword hilt. Her eyes blazed with a razor-sharp intensity—she could not stomach someone insulting her family.
But Somyeong stepped forward first and gently caught Jina's shoulder.
"Jina, there's no need to dirty your hands."
"But Oppa, that person is......"
"It's fine. He just seems to lack some manners. I'll educate him a bit."
Somyeong's voice could not have been more calm. Kim Seungtae burst into a scoffing laugh.
"What? Educate? Has this porter lost his mind?!"
Kim Seungtae shouted and moved toward Somyeong. Blue magical flames flickered around him, surging menacingly. He looked ready to crush Somyeong on the spot.
Somyeong casually set the heavy bag on the floor. The instant the bag touched down, he flicked the ground with the tip of his foot.
Thump.
An invisible vibration spread through the floor in a flash. It was no mere shockwave. The precise true energy Somyeong had refined overnight used the floor as a medium and burrowed into the ground beneath Kim Seungtae's feet.
"Huh......?"
By the time Kim Seungtae sensed something wrong, it was already too late. Somyeong's vibration had flowed into his body and struck the flow of magical energy he was emitting with pinpoint accuracy.
It was a shock like forcibly reversing the current of a running stream.
"Kgh—!"
Kim Seungtae's face, arrogantly pressing his pressure outward just a moment ago, flushed red and blue in rapid succession. The magical energy circuits raging inside him had been perfectly twisted.
The powerful magical energy he had been emitting slammed back into his own organs in a violent backflow. Kim Seungtae could not even manage a death cry as his eyes bulged wide.
"Kh, urk...... ngh!"
Dark blood gushed from the corner of his mouth. Kim Seungtae's knees buckled, and he crumpled to the floor in a wretched heap. His followers rushed over in shock, but Kim Seungtae was already frothing at the mouth and unconscious.
"Seungtae-hyung! Wake up!"
"What? What just happened?!"
Somyeong dusted off the bag as though nothing had occurred and looked at Jina.
"See? Pushing himself too hard and he just goes down on his own. He should take better care of his body."
Jina stood with her mouth agape, looking back and forth between Kim Seungtae on the floor and her brother. She knew her brother hadn't so much as lifted a finger, and yet she was certain this had something to do with him.
Just then, a small device tumbled from the unconscious Kim Seungtae's jacket and rolled across the floor. It looked different from an ordinary smartphone—a covert communications device.
An unread message was displayed clearly on its screen.
[Have you secured the White Tiger Guild's new recruit intel? Prepare to hand it over to the Sun Guild as planned.]
Somyeong's gaze sank to a chill as he looked down at the device on the floor. What he had thought was a simple confrontation had rats far more troublesome than expected tangled up in it.
Somyeong nudged the device with his foot and murmured low.
"Now this is getting interesting."