Damned Transmigration - Chapter 32

WeTried Translations

Translator: Joy

Editor: Joy

◈ Damned Transmigration ◈

Chapter 32: Game

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Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil. Sacred Flame Release. Art of the Violet Lightning Flash. Fist of the Rending Cloud. Whirlwind Cloud Steps.

‘And the Art of the Untainted Heart.’

Unlike in the game, there was no limit to the number of skills, martial arts, or spells one could learn in this world. That did not mean they could be learned indiscriminately.

Choice and focus.

It was a common saying, but one Yuri needed to keep in mind.

‘Focus on the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil for my cultivation technique.’

Of course he had to.

A blazing flame. A demonic art that might consume and burn even its user to ash. Even with that danger in mind, the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil was a divine technique.

Skills and items in Seronis were divided by rank.

Common, Rare, Unique, Epic.

Exclusive skills or items dropped by named entities level 80 or higher bore the Epic tag. Roughly speaking, level 80 or higher could be considered seventh tier, so there was no doubt that the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil was an Epic skill.

By the same reasoning, Yuri decided that Sacred Flame Release, which Lorelia had passed down to him, was also Epic.

‘The Art of the Untainted Heart... would be Rare at best, even if I’m generous?’

Rather than the Art of the Untainted Heart, which had no notable advantage beyond stability, it was better to focus on the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, which had a far higher ceiling despite the risk of qi deviation.

‘Still, it doesn’t seem to be a penalty skill.’

Penalty skills existed separately from Common, Rare, Unique, and Epic.

The Art of the Empty Fist, which sealed UrMumSpammer’s equipment window and forced Yuri into his underwear, was a penalty skill.

The Art of the Empty Fist came with the enormous penalty of preventing the user from equipping anything, but if that could be overcome, its raw performance surpassed even Epic skills. All penalty skills were like that. They had fatal penalties, but exceptional raw performance.

When the Hall of Honour first opened, anyone could take first place. But once the rankings began to settle in earnest, no ordinary build could even dream of first place.

From then on, it became standard to include one penalty skill in a build. How one covered that penalty determined a build’s superiority.

‘Penalty skills...’

A representative example among martial arts was the Celibate Arts.

As its name suggested, it was a martial art only virgins could learn. Once learned, one had to remain a virgin for life, and quitting midway was impossible.

It was a horrifying restriction, but it guaranteed faster progress than any divine technique.

Still, one never knew what life might bring. Yuri had never intended to learn a martial art like the Celibate Arts, so he had long since given up on penalty skills.

‘Unless I truly need one later.’

They were not exactly the same as the game’s penalty skills, but this world also had many ways to amplify one’s abilities by prohibiting or giving something up. For example, paladins of religious orders gained power by swearing oaths to the gods they served.

If he had been poor and desperate, he might have needed to look into such things. Fortunately, Yuri had enough that he did not need to turn his attention there.

‘Not yet.’

The Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil had not existed in the game, so he could only guess its rank. But he clearly remembered the Fist of the Rending Cloud.

‘Unique.’

Was Whirlwind Cloud Steps separately Unique, or was it treated as Unique together with the Fist of the Rending Cloud?

‘The Art of the Violet Lightning Flash... is hard to judge.’

Heavenly Thunder Orca had used it as a reference, so it could not be low-ranked.

‘It probably isn’t Epic. Is it Unique too?’

Two Epic skills, two Unique skills, one Rare skill...

He had two Epic skills in his current early-stage situation. On top of that, two dependable Unique skills. Even in the game, things had rarely gone this well for him.

‘The problem is that this isn’t a game.’

Yuri swallowed the sigh rising in his throat and looked down at the two manuals.

Whirlwind Cloud Steps and the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash. He had read both. He could not understand and perform them right away, but he had grasped what kind of martial arts they were.

Whirlwind Cloud Steps was the more familiar of the two.

While practising the Fist of the Rending Cloud, Yuri had already been using the necessary footwork. It followed the same vein as Whirlwind Cloud Steps.

His Fist of the Rending Cloud was already well on track, so learning the corresponding footwork of Whirlwind Cloud Steps should not be difficult.

The Art of the Violet Lightning Flash was unfamiliar. Alien.

It required him to know how to convert the inner power already accumulated in his dantian into lightning-attributed inner power. It was a martial art that taught him to handle it efficiently and powerfully.

It should have been difficult, yet strangely, it did not feel that way.

Qigong arts such as cultivation techniques and the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash required a high level of mana affinity and comprehension.

It was the same sensation he had felt while reading the common magic book of Polar Point Arsen Lucionell.

The feeling that formulas were being forcibly carved into his mind.

‘If my tier were high enough, I could perform it. But it’s impossible for now.’

He would postpone serious study of the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash until after reaching fourth tier. For now, he would focus on the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, the Fist of the Rending Cloud, Whirlwind Cloud Steps, and external training.

“...”

Something was strange.

It felt as though he now had to face what he had been trying not to notice.

‘Why am I so good at this?’

At first, he had thought it was thanks to the training Lorelia had given him. Fell Saint Lorelia, one of the Two Saints among the Martial Apex Venerables.

In a sense, she had been Yuri, Lee Su-hyeok’s first master. Before becoming Yuri, Lee Su-hyeok had learned from Lorelia how to use his fists and how to fight.

The instincts accumulated through that training had not disappeared even after he possessed Yuri’s body. Yuri thought those instincts were why he had been able to kill the Oh Brothers, and why he had been able to evade or block Namgung Jin’s attacks.

Was that really all?

Orca had told Yuri that he had talent for martial arts. Orca had also said that, even if not with mana, Yuri was naturally gifted at using his body.

Bakerd had been impressed to see Yuri perform the Fist of the Rending Cloud alone.

Even the Moonlit Reveller had acknowledged Yuri’s martial talent.

‘This makes no sense.’

Yuri had memories from before he possessed this body.

The “real” Yuri, who had grown up in the Oldor orphanage, become a pickpocket, and lived as the youngest member of the Black Snake Gang, had not been talented at martial arts.

He had fought often since childhood and had been decent at it, but never to the point where it could be called talent. The fights Yuri had been good at were vicious brawls between people of similar ability. He fought not through the strength of his fists, but through stubbornness and viciousness.

After joining the Black Snake Gang, his senior Jang-sam had taught him how to use a dagger, but Yuri had only been average. Neither good nor bad. Threatening, stabbing, slashing. In the world the real Yuri had lived in, knowing that much was enough.

What about Yuri now?

The Master of the Dersia Mage Tower, a sixth-tier martial artist, and even the Moonlit Reveller, one of the Four Sentinels among the Martial Apex Venerables, all acknowledged his talent for martial arts. Yuri himself knew there was no exaggeration in those assessments.

When he had watched Bakerd spar with the Moonlit Reveller.

When he had immersed himself in the Fist of the Rending Cloud and felt martial arts break apart and reassemble in his mind.

It was absolutely not ordinary. Yuri now possessed a talent the real Yuri had never had.

Lee Su-hyeok’s talent? Ridiculous. Lee Su-hyeok, who only knew how to sit in front of a computer and use a keyboard, had never possessed such talent.

‘Why did I gain something like this?’

It was different from the talent transmigrators possessed. But it was certainly something that had arisen because of his transmigration. He could think of no other explanation.

What made Lee Su-hyeok different from other transmigrators?

‘Clear time?’

The Hall of Honour recorded hidden-boss clear times in order of speed.

The record set by Lee Su-hyeok’s UrMumSpammer was so overwhelming that no transmigrator might surpass it for decades, or perhaps even within Yuri’s lifetime in this world.

Could additional benefits be granted according to clear time?

The soul of a transmigrator, a being from another world, possessed a special power in itself.

When transmigrators possessed another person’s body, they awakened mana affinity and comprehension that entered the realm of blessing.

That awakening was probably not a gift from the God of Chaos.

Then perhaps the additional talent was granted by the Goddess of Order.

He wondered, but there was no way to know the answer. The Goddess of Order had fallen into a long sleep in exchange for the divine power she had expended, while the Sect of Order remained in seclusion within a hidden sanctuary whose location was unknown.

They were not people he could meet simply because he wanted to. Yuri touched the Veil of Deception hidden around his neck.

‘There are too many secrets.’

The same went for him.

Yuri let out a long sigh and sat cross-legged.

A lack of talent could be a problem, but having talent rarely was. This world operated by the logic of power. The weak died, while the strong survived.

Fortunately, the talent Yuri now possessed was not even the ordinary talent of a transmigrator.

Perhaps his identity as a transmigrator might be exposed someday. He needed to steadily grow stronger for that day.

‘I am the fire that carries out heavenly punishment, the asura that annihilates evil, and the apostle who sets right the principles of heaven.’

‘My hands uphold sacred flame, and my feet trample demons.’

Fwoosh.

As his consciousness sank deep, Yuri heard the sound of flames flaring.

* * *

Bakerd visited the mansion four days later.

“It really is true...”

Yuri let out an admiring sound when he saw Bakerd’s body without a single bandage.

“Do internal injuries heal well when a martial artist reaches a higher tier?”

“That depends on the injury.”

“What about minor illnesses? If you sleep outside without covering yourself, do you not catch colds easily?”

“I do not catch them easily, but I still use a sleeping bag when I sleep outside.”

“What about strange things? Grass or mushrooms... or meat that you cannot tell whether it has gone bad. Can you eat them without getting an upset stomach?”

“What do you think a martial artist is?”

“I was just curious.”

“Are you thinking of leaving?”

The question came out of nowhere.

“Yes.”

It was not a question Yuri needed to answer with a lie, so he nodded. Bakerd stared at Yuri’s face for a moment before shifting his gaze to the mansion behind him.

“It is a fine house.”

Bakerd opened his mouth again.

“You will have no discomfort in your life here... If something does make you uncomfortable, or if you need anything, Marigold will give you what you want.”

“...”

“Is there a reason you must leave?”

“I cannot keep living off someone else forever.”

“Are you ashamed before Marigold?”

“That is not why.”

“A wandering life has few advantages.”

Bakerd lightly raised the bag slung over his shoulder and chuckled.

“But you must have your own circumstances. I will not ask.”

“They are not grand circumstances. It is not much of a secret, either.”

“Then why?”

“I thought I could not become stronger if I stayed only in this mansion.”

Bakerd let out a low laugh at Yuri’s answer.

“That is true. Though I say this only now, I had misjudged you from the beginning.”

“What did you think of me at first?”

“I thought you were Marigold’s kept man.”

“You could not be blamed for misunderstanding, but we are not that kind of relationship.”

“I know.”

For a month, Bakerd had visited the mansion almost every day to guide Yuri. He could count on one hand the times he had met Marigold, the mansion’s owner, but he could still tell that they were not in that kind of relationship.

“Where do you intend to go if you leave the mansion?”

“I have not decided yet, but I thought I would go wherever my feet take me.”

“The world outside the city is not peaceful. There are many dangers.”

“I know.”

Bakerd looked at Yuri’s face again. There was no hesitation. Yuri had already made up his mind.

‘Should I ask him to come with me?’

Could he say something like that? His deliberation did not last long.

Bakerd had already drawn a line between them.

Revenge. That burden belonged to Bakerd, the sole survivor of the Raspion Family. The reason Bakerd had not taken Yuri as a disciple in the end was that he did not want to share the burden of revenge.

“Don’t die.”

Bakerd smiled and extended a hand to Yuri.

“Yes.”

Yuri smiled the same way and clasped Bakerd’s hand.

It was a strange feeling.

Watching Bakerd’s retreating back, Yuri thought about it.

In the end, Yuri had not become a disciple, and Bakerd had not become a master. Yet for that month, Bakerd had done what a master should do, like a master. Yuri had followed his teachings as a disciple should, like a disciple.

‘Will we meet again?’

Bakerd had spoken of revenge.

But Bakerd had not spoken of the reason for it.

It was not as though Yuri had never thought of following him.

He could not say it. The secret that he was a transmigrator was something he could not tell even Bakerd, and Yuri knew how weak he was. Secret or not, even if he followed Bakerd under the pretext of their one-month connection, he would only get in the way.

The illegitimate son of the Raspion Family. A wandering martial artist who had drifted for twenty years to avenge the family that had never acknowledged him. Yuri could not know exactly what feelings Bakerd carried into that revenge, but one thing was certain.

‘I must not interfere.’

Watching Bakerd’s retreating back, Yuri thought of FS. As far as Yuri knew, FS had made the best use of the Raspion swordsmanship skill in the community.

‘Could FS have massacred the Raspion Family?’

According to what Yuri had learned, three culprits had been involved in the Raspion Tragedy. Perhaps one of them might have been FS... but Yuri could not be certain.

Because FS was not the sort of person who would do that?

‘...’

FS was not normal in a different sense from Chuk-sin-doo. Come to think of it, everyone except Yuri, Lee Su-hyeok, had been abnormal.

Not the sort of person to kill someone? Yuri himself had killed two people less than ten minutes after transmigrating.

This world was that kind of place.

‘The Raspion swordsmanship was not a skill only FS knew in the first place.’

Raspion swordsmanship was a popular skill, with more than ten players having reached first place after including it in their builds. The tragedy had happened twenty years ago, and it would have taken time to grow strong enough to commit it...

The culprits of the Raspion Tragedy were highly likely to have been transmigrators who had arrived in the early days.

FS had reached first place in the Hall of Honour after Chuk-sin-doo.

‘Not at the very beginning, but...’

He did not know. Yuri let out a long sigh. Bakerd had already disappeared from sight.

“Later.”

Personally, Yuri hoped Bakerd would succeed in getting revenge.

And he hoped the target of that revenge was not FS.

He just wanted everything to end well.

If he met Bakerd again someday, Yuri hoped they could drink together and share old stories, just as Bakerd had said.

If, if Bakerd failed to get revenge.

“Don’t die. Let’s meet again alive.”

If that could not happen.

‘Would I want revenge too?’

Yuri swallowed the bitter feeling in his chest.

He probably would.

* * *

Bakerd, walking toward the city gate rather than taking a carriage, came to a stop.

He lightly furrowed his brow, tilted his head, and looked around.

An aura sharp as an awl was touching Bakerd’s senses.

“...?”

At the blatant summons, Bakerd turned around with an expression caught between surprise and confusion. Between two buildings, deep within an alley.

“This is not a place that suits you.”

The Moonlit Reveller stood with his back against the wall.

“What do you mean by that?”

“Do you not prefer bright and dazzling places?”

“I cannot deny that. But sometimes, I enjoy sinking into darkness. Like a Dark Knight.”

Bakerd wondered whether there was some hidden principle in those words, but he could not discern the Moonlit Reveller’s true intentions.

“I do not understand what you mean. Why did you call me?”

“Bakerd Raspion.”

Bakerd’s face stiffened at the name that came out of nowhere.

“Are you leaving today?”

“How do you know that name...?”

The moment the words stumbled out, Bakerd’s face stiffened further.

“I see. Moonlit Reveller, you are... a transmigrator.”

A transmigrator. A being from another world who entered the body of a resident of this world. The circumstances through which they came here had already been known for decades.

“Did I exist in that ‘game’ too?”

“Yes.”

“Under the name Bakerd Raspion?”

“No. Even in that fucking game, your name was Bakerd.”

“...”

“But you were the illegitimate son of the Raspion Family in that game too.”

Crunch.

Bakerd bit his lower lip and glared at the Moonlit Reveller.

“Why are you only telling me this now?”

“Because I did not think there was any need to tell you.”

“No need? Why do you get to decide that?”

“To be honest, Fist Wolf, I had forgotten that your name was Bakerd.”

The Moonlit Reveller said it with an utterly serious expression.

“What... did you say?”

“The title Fist Wolf. A sixth-tier martial artist. You were not someone whose name I would remember. We had never been particularly involved, and you had never left a strong impression.”

Was that sincere? If so, it was an enormous insult. But Bakerd did not flare up. He only clenched his fists tightly.

“But now I know who you are. You left a strong impression, and I thought you were a man too good to die.”

“What are you trying to say?”

“Have you seen the path to seventh tier?”

Bakerd’s cheek twitched at the question. Their sparring match a few days ago. The sensations he had felt then were still alive and breathing within him.

It was an experience too precious to ever forget, and the Moonlit Reveller had been the benefactor who showed Bakerd the path.

“I have...”

“What did you think?”

“It was far away. Very... very far away.”

“If you have seen it, you can reach it.”

The Moonlit Reveller’s expression remained serious. He was known as someone who played jokes even with a serious face, but Bakerd could not feel a trace of mockery from him now.

“Set aside revenge until you reach seventh tier.”

“What... did you say?”

“The culprits of the Raspion Tragedy are more than you can handle.”

Bakerd’s eyes widened.

“More than I can handle? They are a group?”

“I do not intend to tell you any more than this.”

“Why?”

“If you learn more, you will dig deeper. Then you will die.”

“I am not foolish enough to seek revenge without having the ability for it.”

“I will say it again.”

The Moonlit Reveller’s eyes narrowed.

Rumble...!

The pressure he had not revealed pressed down upon Bakerd’s entire body.

“If you want revenge, reach at least seventh tier.”

“They... they are transmigrators?”

“I told you I would not tell you.”

“But still...!”

“Come find me after you reach seventh tier.”

“...!”

“I will give you answers then.”

The pressure that had seemed ready to crush his whole body vanished in an instant. Bakerd caught himself before he could stagger and swallowed a breath.

The Moonlit Reveller said nothing more and watched Bakerd. If he intended to remain silent, it would be impossible to force him to speak. Bakerd glared at him for a moment before letting out a short sigh.

“Thank you.”

He had lived for revenge for twenty years without finding a single clue. Bakerd bowed deeply, sincerely grateful.

“The fact that you will not tell me all the truth... is difficult to accept, and it angers me, but I will accept it.”

“A wise decision.”

“It was a realm I wanted to reach somehow, but now I have another reason why I must reach it.”

Bakerd raised his head with a bitter smile.

“Seventh tier. I will reach it without fail. Afterward, Moonlit Reveller, I will come find you.”

“Do not keep me waiting too long.”

Only then did the Moonlit Reveller smile.

“By the way, are you leaving alone? What about that disciple-like boy?”

“I decided not to take him.”

“It seems he is still not your disciple?”