WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: DereKimchi
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◈ Carefree Tale of Cultivation ◈
Chapter 21: Spell Technique Instruction
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“Segmented sword, is it? It’s not a common type, but it’s your choice. I won’t oppose it.”
Ha Seung said, stroking his short beard.
Most magical artifacts came in similar shapes and types.
There were, of course, as many varieties of magical artifacts as there were cultivators in the cultivation world, but they were standardized to a degree.
Swords and spears, for example, tended to maximize destructive power. Flags and ropes tended to restrain opponents. The rarer shapes, such as mirrors, bells, and cauldrons, generally had more complex effects.
In that sense, a segmented sword was an uncommon form.
“There’s information in the thunder art I’m currently learning about whip-form magical artifacts. I thought of combining one with a sword. Please take a look, Martial Uncle Ha, and tell me whether there might be any problems.”
Jin Hyeon took a small bamboo slip from his sleeve.
It contained details on the functions, crafting process, and required materials of the thunder whip he had seen in the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art.
Other miscellaneous information had also been recorded, but having gained some knowledge of artifact refinement, he had been able to select and organize only the necessary parts.
“Hmm. Let’s see... wrapping it in thunder qi... preserving the properties of Geumchuseok...”
Ha Seung read through the bamboo slip Jin Hyeon had handed him and nodded.
Then, looking at the martial nephew before him, he thought how nice it would have been to accept him as a disciple.
Unlike his first disciple, Jin Hyeon would not be such a headache. Unlike his second disciple, he was also interested in artifact refinement.
But...
“Very well. It seems entirely possible. As promised, I’ll use the materials from your spirit beast as well and make you the finest high-grade magical artifact. It shouldn’t take too long, so I’ll send word once it’s ready.”
“Thank you, Martial Uncle.”
Jin Hyeon bowed respectfully, took out the Silver Swallow Board, and flew away.
* * *
Time passed quickly.
Even in the mortal world, a period shorter than a week would pass in the blink of an eye. In the cultivation world, it passed even faster.
From early dawn, Jin Hyeon brewed and drank a cup of tea, calming his mind as he slowly regulated his spiritual power and maintained a tranquil state.
As he did so, he looked over his cave dwelling.
The rough walls and ceiling that had been bored out with the Earth-Breaking Drill had been smoothed, and a basketball-sized white luminous ore had been set into the center of the ceiling, brightly illuminating the entire cave dwelling.
The various gifts and pieces of furniture he had used in his previous cave dwelling had all been arranged as well.
Three rooms had been excavated from the chamber centered around the pillar with the formation disk set upon it.
One of them was a bedroom, which he rarely used and did not particularly need, but had built out of habit from his previous life.
The rest of the layout was nothing special.
The only other feature was a bookshelf carved into one wall of the cave dwelling.
There were not many books on it yet, but Jin Hyeon believed the day would soon come when he filled it completely.
Over the past few days, he had spent his time reviewing and practicing the spell techniques he had learned.
Other disciples would have squeezed cultivation into every spare moment and devoted themselves to training.
For him, however, ordinary cultivation did not mean much.
His poor aptitude, somewhere between a triple spirit root and a quadruple spirit root, differed too greatly from cultivating within the black space.
So he spent that time enjoying various hobbies or relaxing. Recently, he had been visiting the Jade Cloud Tower, buying various books and absorbing the many kinds of information about the cultivation world contained within them.
Since he had enjoyed reading even in his previous life, it was pleasant time for him.
The one disappointment was that the person currently stationed at the Jade Cloud Tower was not the person he had met before, who had seemed to be a sect elder.
It was not as though he had planned to ask for anything if they met, but knowing someone of elder rank would have been an excellent opportunity, so it was a pity.
Slurp.
Jin Hyeon drained the rest of his tea and looked around the empty cave dwelling.
He had not noticed it before, but with so much space, it felt a little lonely.
Still, considering that most cultivators lived such solitary lives, this was probably normal.
“Should I get a spirit beast, at least?”
Through the tournament, Jin Hyeon had learned that more disciples than he had expected raised spirit beasts.
Getting one, like keeping a pet in his previous life, did not seem like a bad idea.
Moreover, unlike pets, spirit beasts could also help in battle.
‘It might be good to visit a nearby market and find a suitable spirit beast, or ask Senior Brother Nam Hyeok and his spouse at the Azure Dragon Pavilion within the sect for help.’
He had spirit stones from his master, after all, so he should be able to find a fairly good spirit beast.
After entertaining various other thoughts as he drank his tea, Jin Hyeon soon poured the last of it into his mouth and stood.
Today was the day he would receive his first instruction from his master, so he could not be late.
Jin Hyeon immediately left his cave dwelling.
Riding the Silver Swallow Board, Jin Hyeon reached the front of Gwang Seung-hyeon’s cave dwelling in ten minutes.
Unlike before, the concealment formation seemed to be inactive, allowing Jin Hyeon to find Gwang Seung-hyeon’s cave dwelling at once.
“You’ve come.”
Just as he was about to head toward the cave dwelling, a voice sounded from beside him.
When Jin Hyeon turned, Gwang Seung-hyeon was already outside, sitting cross-legged atop a large boulder.
“Greetings, Master.”
Jin Hyeon bowed respectfully the moment he saw him.
Gwang Seung-hyeon gave a brief hum, took out his flying sword, and stepped onto it.
“Follow me.”
The flying sword moved more slowly than usual to match the Silver Swallow Board’s speed. Before long, it descended onto a small rocky hill.
Unlike the other mountains, this rocky hill had almost no trees. Its slopes were gentle, and several areas of level ground lay across it.
“This should do.”
Gwang Seung-hyeon turned to Jin Hyeon.
“From now on, I’ll instruct you in your spell techniques as a whole. Seeing it directly will be better than merely talking about it.”
He pulled a boulder over from nearby and set it before Jin Hyeon.
Then, pointing at the boulder that had been moved over with a heavy thud, he said, “Use Fireball Art on that rock and break it.”
Jin Hyeon immediately gathered spiritual power and used Fireball Art.
The familiar, simple spell technique summoned a ball of flame above his palm, and Jin Hyeon promptly fired it.
Bang!
Fireball Art struck the center of the boulder with an explosive report.
However, the boulder itself suffered little damage.
Other than a slightly cracked surface and some scorched marks, it looked much the same as before.
As it was the result he had expected, Jin Hyeon simply turned to Gwang Seung-hyeon without speaking.
Fireball Art was certainly an easy spell technique with respectable power, but it dealt damage through heat and flames rather than physical impact.
It would be effective against people or living creatures, but it was ill-suited to breaking rocks.
As though he had expected this, Gwang Seung-hyeon nodded and used Fireball Art himself.
A large mass of fire condensed above his palm.
Jin Hyeon’s eyes widened at the ball of fire, which radiated a far more violent heat than his own spell technique.
Kabooom!
The ball of fire Gwang Seung-hyeon threw struck a boulder even larger than the one Jin Hyeon had hit.
Yet the result was the complete opposite of Jin Hyeon’s.
Gwang Seung-hyeon’s Fireball Art exploded the boulder, shattering it into pieces.
“What do you think?”
“What?”
Gwang Seung-hyeon pointed at the boulder’s remains.
“Why were the results different when we used the same spell technique?”
“That’s because you’re a Foundation Establishment cultivator, Master. Naturally, your spell technique would be more powerful than mine...”
Gwang Seung-hyeon shook his head.
“It is true that the spiritual power of a Foundation Establishment cultivator is on a different level from that of a Qi Refining stage cultivator. However, I used Fireball Art with the same amount of spiritual power you used just now.”
He nudged a fragment of rock with the tip of his foot.
“This result came not from a difference in the amount of spiritual power, but from a difference in how it was used. It is not enough simply to learn a spell technique. You must refine it until you can use it correctly and efficiently.”
“A spell technique is, at its core, like a problem solved using spiritual power. The closer it produces an exact answer, the greater its effect.”
“When I watched you use spell techniques in the tournament, you seemed to waste a great deal of spiritual power. I haven’t learned your thunder art, so I can’t point out every detail, but if you had handled it more skillfully, you might have gained the advantage without having to expend your spirit beast.”
Jin Hyeon nodded.
His Red Thunder Finger was still unstable, since he had not learned it long ago.
In truth, he had not been a cultivator for very long, so he was generally unfamiliar with spell techniques.
“Now then, shall we examine your other spell techniques? I can’t correct everything at once, but we should at least establish the direction your future training should take.”
Thus, the instruction began.
Gwang Seung-hyeon had Jin Hyeon use one spell technique after another, pointing out every mistake and flaw he made.
From Fireball Art and Red Thunder Finger to various defensive spell techniques, Gwang Seung-hyeon corrected Jin Hyeon across a wide range of techniques.
His instruction did not end with merely telling Jin Hyeon how to correct a spell technique.
His explanations, accompanied by experiences and demonstrations that bordered on the abstract, were of great help to Jin Hyeon.
Thanks to that, Jin Hyeon could feel his understanding of spell techniques improving even though they had only just begun.
He was moving beyond the low-grade spell techniques recorded in Essentials of Cultivation and their crude casting methods.
He also gained new perspectives on the other spell techniques he had learned from the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art, as well as on the cultivation method itself.
Gwang Seung-hyeon’s instruction continued for more than three days.
It was not actually a long time.
Jin Hyeon no longer felt fatigue from that amount of time.
However, Gwang Seung-hyeon had already finished pointing out most of Jin Hyeon’s spell techniques, as well as several issues with the circulation of the Azure Thunder Soul-Carving Art that Jin Hyeon was currently learning.
He became more talkative whenever he taught, and perhaps because of his exceptional talent, he was an excellent teacher as well.
Then, after Jin Hyeon succeeded in cracking a boulder with Fireball Art, Gwang Seung-hyeon nodded.
“This is excellent. From now on, refine your spell techniques while keeping in mind the points I mentioned. And take this.”
Gwang Seung-hyeon took out a jade slip from his storage pouch.
“It is one of the sword arts I have learned, a cultivation method that should harmonize well with your thunder art. It is called the Three-Thunder Sword Art. It was a sword art passed down by a small sect, and I revised it after acquiring it.”
A sword art suited to thunder arts?
Jin Hyeon accepted the jade slip with eager eyes.
His master was renowned for the sword, and this was a cultivation method he had given him. It was surely a powerful sword art. Jin Hyeon did not bother asking how his master had acquired a sword art from a small sect.
“I do not know whether you have talent for sword arts, but as you are my disciple, it is only natural that I teach you sword arts. I do not expect exceptional results, so simply try to get started.”
“Yes, Master.”
Jin Hyeon put the jade slip into his storage pouch.
“Then I will check your progress in three months. Work diligently.”
With those words, Gwang Seung-hyeon stepped onto his flying sword and vanished.
“Three months...”
After looking around the rocky field filled with traces of spell techniques, Jin Hyeon returned to his cave dwelling.
* * *
A few days later, Jin Hyeon left the sect and flew toward a market to the east.
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