WeTried Translations
Translator: Joy
Editor: Joy
Discord: https://dsc.gg/wetried
◈ Damned Transmigration ◈
Chapter 71: Hit me!
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The Sword Emperor and the Sword Dragon had called the Elixir a living medicinal elixir. Yuri had not understood what that meant when he first heard it, but after experiencing it himself, he understood.
In truth, he had not even taken it himself. The Elixir had slipped down Yuri's throat of its own accord, travelled through his qi and blood, then settled in his dantian.
It would take at least three or four days for the Elixir to settle into his body.
Medicinal elixirs could be called masses of qi. The inner cores harvested from monsters and spirit beasts were the same. But the Elixir was not merely a mass of qi.
The Ascard Family had built a name for itself as alchemists and risen to become one of the Cartel's Pride families. Just as the Orsia Family stood at the head of the western martial families, the Ascard Family stood at the head of the western alchemist families.
The Elixir was the pinnacle of artificial medicinal elixirs created by the Ascard Family. Put another way, it was the pinnacle of alchemy. It was not simply a mass of qi or mana, but magic in itself, something one drank and added to one's body.
A transmigrator possessed both a high understanding of mana and an affinity for it. Even when Yuri had barely been scraping by at the first tier without properly accumulating internal energy, he had absorbed the Namgung Family's Azure Heaven Pill in full the instant he consumed it.
But the Elixir could not be absorbed that way. Having settled in his dantian, it moved about of its own will, adapted to the environment of Yuri's dantian, and changed itself to suit the nature of the internal energy he had accumulated.
A martial artist had three dantians.
The lower dantian was the foundation upon which internal energy was built. Once one could sense and accept qi, properly accumulate internal energy in the lower dantian, and manifest martial arts through that internal energy, one became a second-tier martial artist.
From the fourth tier onward, when one could grant attributes to internal energy, one began opening the middle dantian beyond the lower dantian. The middle dantian, located in the heart, did not accumulate internal energy. Instead, as it opened, one gradually united the internal energy one had accumulated in earnest with the martial arts one practised.
When one could pass through changes that made qi sharper, faster, hotter, or colder and shape it into force aura, it meant the middle dantian had been fully opened.
From the sixth tier onward, one moved beyond the middle dantian and knocked upon the upper dantian in the head. It was the realm where one stepped beyond internal energy and entered Intent.
Yuri was currently at the fifth tier, but he had opened his middle dantian long ago and was now knocking upon the door of his upper dantian. His use of Intent could not compare to that of high-tier martial artists, but he had reached a level where he could draw upon it, if only a little.
Even in the game, the Elixir was a medicinal elixir that increased one's stats after reaching the level cap. Its effect was not limited to increasing internal energy. It altered the dantians and meridians to suit one's martial arts. It could be said to change one's very constitution.
He could not confirm it, but his lifespan had likely increased as well. His innate qi had strengthened and grown substantially, which meant his body had become stronger. He would not be easily injured, would recover quickly, and would likely resist not only illness but even most poisons.
‘...’
Of course, if he trusted that too much, he might end up on death's door after gobbling down whatever he found like the Sword Dragon.
‘Now I understand why it takes time.’
Yuri felt the flow of internal energy coursing powerfully through his meridians. His internal energy had always been swift and violent after learning the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash and the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, but the addition of the Elixir had pushed it beyond its former limits. The meridians that were difficult to train had benefited from the Elixir.
His lower and middle dantians had strengthened as well. His internal energy felt more cohesive, perhaps?
This did not apply to Yuri, but if someone had been clumsy at forming force aura, drinking a single Elixir would let them form it as comfortably as breathing. In other words, the Elixir granted those of ordinary talent an understanding of and affinity for mana comparable to that of a transmigrator.
That did not mean Yuri had benefited little from it. It was an artificial medicinal elixir that altered one's constitution itself.
Yuri looked over the force-aura spheres floating around him.
Spheres of force aura formed and condensed outside his body.
‘They are different.’
He watched the spheres bobbing through the air. They had been separated from him and made independent. They moved according to Yuri's will, but they were far from satisfactory.
Clicking his tongue, Yuri raised a hand.
Crackle.
Force aura raised through the Art of the Violet Lightning Flash covered his hand. The purple lightning, already formed, changed again according to Yuri's will. Then came the flames of the Heavenly Art of Annihilating Evil, flames without heat.
As Yuri continued manipulating the force aura, he looked at the nearby spheres.
‘Separated force aura does not change.’
That was disappointing enough, but what truly stood out by comparison was the force-aura art of Chuk-sin-doo, the Moonlit Reveller. His Full Moon Killing Kick was the finest force-aura art Yuri had seen so far.
He thought of Heavenly Downpour, Chuk-sin-doo's technique of freely controlling hundreds of spheres and raining them down.
Those hundreds of spheres differed from the ones Yuri had created. Their power was different, and even their movements were different.
Yuri could move his spheres now, but it was nothing like moving his own body. The only way those spheres surpassed Yuri's own body was that he could move them without throwing a punch or kick. Their power was also inferior to Yuri striking directly.
Even with that level of power, they could slaughter fourth-tier martial artists. But Yuri did not aspire to merely slaughter fourth-tier martial artists.
‘Is it Intent after all?’
Did he need to imbue force aura itself with Intent to move it as he wished? That was still beyond Yuri's current level.
He focused on the force-aura spheres. It felt as though he were adding more internal energy from his dantian, but no matter how hard he tried, it would not work. Once it had left his body, it had become independent.
‘Intent...’
He moved beyond his middle dantian and focused on the upper dantian in his head. A fragment of his divided Intent entered a sphere.
Poom!
Unable to endure it, the sphere exploded.
Boom, boom, boom!
The five spheres floating around Yuri exploded in succession.
“You have no shame, making such a racket in someone else's home.”
Haryeong, who had been sitting cross-legged nearby, opened her eyes with a click of her tongue.
“Luckily, this is the Orsia Family's training ground. If it were anywhere else, people would be filing complaints about some madman setting off fireworks in broad daylight when it isn't even festival season.”
“Tch...”
Yuri sniffled and frowned. Perhaps because he had focused too much on Intent, his head throbbed and blood streamed from his nose.
Seeing that, Haryeong let out a deep sigh and rose.
“How many times have you had a nosebleed now?”
“I can wipe it myself.”
“I am not coming over to wipe it. I am coming over to hit you.”
Having walked up to him, Haryeong raised her fist and gave Yuri a light knock on the head.
“If you keep using an upper dantian that hasn't even opened yet, your brain will be damaged and you'll become an idiot.”
“This is the first I've heard of that.”
“How many martial artists in this world have opened their upper dantian? Why would such things be common knowledge? It's knowledge shared among those who know.”
“How do you know, Haryeong-nim?”
“I am a mysterious assassin, so I know many things that aren't common knowledge.”
Yuri was not the only one who had benefited from the Elixir.
Haryeong's greatest weakness had been her lack of internal energy. Compared to her innate talent and tier, the environment in which she had practised martial arts had not been particularly good.
Haryeong had been sent to Salhomun at fourteen and raised as an assassin. She had not even received a complete transmission of the Dang Family's hidden-weapon art, Merciless Killing Flow, and she had barely consumed any good medicinal elixirs.
But after consuming the Elixir, Haryeong had overcome every weakness caused by her lack of internal energy.
Yuri and Haryeong had spent three days settling the Elixir into their bodies. Now, they were adapting to the changes it had brought. Their bodies and internal energy moved far better than their accumulated experience and instincts expected, so they required delicate adjustment.
By the time they became absorbed in that process, nearly a month had passed since they began staying with the Orsia Family.
“If you are having such trouble, why not ask the Sword Emperor for advice? There is a master of at least the eighth tier right nearby. Why struggle alone?”
“He told me to ask him anything if I had questions, but if I truly ask him freely, I'll end up trapped here.”
Whenever Yuri saw the Sword Emperor, the man would suggest, subtly at first and then openly, that Yuri become an Orsia knight. He asked whether Yuri might be interested in a vacant deputy battalion commander position, and only yesterday, he had even offered Yuri command of the Sword Dragon's personal guard.
For martial artists who approached the Orsia Family with dreams in their hearts, such offers were dreams beyond compare. But for Yuri, who had no intention of settling down here, they were simply an enormous burden.
“I should run away as soon as the duel is over.”
Grumbling, Yuri lowered the hand that had been pinching his nose. The nosebleed had already stopped.
“If you run away from the Orsia Family, where will you go?”
“I haven't decided. I've thought about visiting the Ranalsa Rift once, or perhaps looking for Bakerd.”
“After what happened in Logos, you still want to go to a Rift?”
Yuri's eyes turned cold at Haryeong's casually thrown remark.
“A joke.”
Haryeong shrugged without changing her expression.
“If you want a battlefield, how about going to Vernoc?”
“That's a roundabout way of telling me to die.”
Yuri replied in disbelief.
A year ago, an Eterium vein had been discovered in a small mine named Vernoc.
Eterium, called a natural miracle unintended by the gods, was the rarest and most valuable material in the world. The Sword Emperor's beloved sword, Atria, which was considered the endgame item for swordsmen in the game, had been forged from Eterium. Most other endgame items also had Eterium options attached to them.
The Eterium vein discovered in Vernoc was the largest vein found to date.
Oxibel, the city that held the mine within its territory, made every effort to keep word from leaking out. But it could not catch every rumour.
In the end, the moment the discovery of the Eterium vein became known, nearby cities immediately declared war on Oxibel. They intended to seize both the city and the Eterium vein.
Any ordinary city would have surrendered, but Oxibel had the Lucionell Mage Tower.
Polar Point Arsen Lucionell was the highest-level mage to appear in the game and was considered a harder boss than even the Sword Emperor, second only to the Heavenly Demon in difficulty.
The conflict over the Eterium vein had continued for a year. The cities that declared war had hired mercenaries to monopolize Eterium, and now they could not withdraw due to the immense war reparations they would owe.
The Vernoc conflict now involved some of the continent's greatest experts.
Among the mage tower masters were Polar Point Arsen Lucionell and Nightfall Rodias Casward.
Among the free mages were the King of the Luminous Wheel and the Heavenly Healer.
Among the Martial Apex Venerables were Sword Demon of the Three Overlords, as well as Tide of Carnage and Zenith Star of the Four Sentinels.
There were great clans involved as well.
More recently, even the Battle Saint of the Sect of War had entered the conflict with priests and paladins. The Vernoc conflict had become a total shitshow.
No matter how exceptional Yuri was among fifth-tier martial artists, if he went to Vernoc, where experts of at least the seventh tier were rampaging, he might be killed by a blind attack.
“Finding the reclusive Fist Wolf will not be easy.”
“I've become rather famous this time. Perhaps Bakerd will visit me at least once because my achievements are commendable.”
“What if Bakerd is training in some remote mountain valley where even rumours cannot reach?”
“Hmm...”
“If you truly have nowhere to go, why not visit Salhomun with me?”
“Why Salhomun?”
“To pay our respects.”
“What sort of respects?”
“I've never brought a friend home in my life. If I bring Yuri-nim, the Master of Salhomun will be delighted.”
Haryeong's expression gave no indication of whether she was joking or serious. Yuri blinked and stared at her face, but her expression did not change.
“Are you serious?”
“The Master is such a stern person that they may not be delighted.”
“So you are serious about going to Salhomun.”
“I have no intention of turning Yuri-nim into an assassin at this point, so don't worry. Besides, going to Salhomun is entirely for Yuri-nim's sake.”
“Why?”
“Information gathers in assassin sects. With an information sect like Haomun, one has to be a unit leader or higher to handle high-level intelligence. Yuri-nim's reputation has grown through this incident, so Haomun won't treat you like an amateur, but it would still be better to simply come with me to Salhomun.”
Hearing that, Yuri found her words sensible and nodded without asking further.
For now, he put aside his fixation on the force-aura spheres that refused to work properly.
His duel with the Sword Dragon was scheduled for two days later. Just as the Sword Dragon had something to prepare for the duel, Yuri had preparations of his own.
He wanted to further refine Crimson Stream Kick, the leg technique whose shortcomings he had felt in the battle against the Withered Crone. He had no intention of using only a leg technique in the duel against the Sword Dragon. That would be too arrogant and disrespectful to the Sword Dragon.
Still, he wanted to refine it until it was at least close to the level of Fist of the Rending Cloud.
“Please, wait...!”
“You cannot do this!”
Yuri had been swinging his legs alone and refining his leg technique when he heard the Orsia knights shouting in the distance.
Wondering what was happening, he turned his head.
A tall, gaunt man was striding toward him.
“I only want to see his face. Why do you keep saying I cannot?”
“Yuri-nim is Lord Estor's guest!”
“I am the Sword Emperor's guest!”
“The Family Head asked you to wait in the drawing room...!”
“My brother is far too cruel. His younger brother has travelled all this way, yet he will not come greet me at once and treats me so coldly!”
The man wore a splendid long robe, but Yuri's honest impression was that he looked like a corpse wearing human clothes.
It could not be helped. The man's appearance was truly corpse-like. He was tall due to his long limbs, but he had so little flesh that his body seemed pale and withered. His cheeks were sunken, his eyes dark.
Yet the light in his eyes was vivid, as though a brush drenched in ink had placed dots only upon his pupils.
His arms swayed beneath the broad sleeves of his patterned robe. They were thin rather than thick, but strangely, they did not look weak. His arms resembled dried white charcoal, yet Yuri could feel a solidity like diamond within them.
The fists beneath his prominent wrist bones were covered in bulging veins, with knuckles jutting out like weapons. They declared that the man had trained his fists his entire life.
“Yuri-nim.”
Haryeong quickly approached Yuri and whispered in his ear.
“That person is...”
Before Haryeong could introduce him, the man, who had still been walking toward them from a distance, let his eyes shine brightly in their direction.
When that ink-black gaze fell upon them, the man was suddenly standing before Yuri and Haryeong.
“One should introduce one's own name.”
Yuri was not short, but the man stood at least a head taller. With his hands behind his back, the man looked down at Yuri and Haryeong.
“My name is Dokgo Gwi-jin.”
Yuri's expression stiffened slightly at the name.
He was not greatly surprised. From the moment he saw the man in the distance, he knew the man's presence was extraordinary. He clearly exceeded the sixth tier.
Among martial artists of at least the seventh tier, Yuri knew only one fighter renowned for unarmed combat.
“It is an honour to meet you, Senior Fist King.”
Yuri and Haryeong quickly bowed.
Dokgo Gwi-jin, the Fist King. He was one of the Four Absolutes among the Martial Apex Venerables, a grey-path martial artist who belonged to neither the righteous nor unorthodox factions.
The Fist King was famous for his eccentric personality. If someone displeased him, he beat them regardless of whether they belonged to the righteous or unorthodox factions. At the same time, he detested evil and killed both cultists and demonic practitioners.
“So you are Thunder Cloud, and you are Dark Blossom?”
The Fist King dismissed their greeting with a wave of his long, large hand.
“I saw you diligently swinging your legs. I was so eager to get here that I rushed over and interrupted your training.”
“It is alright.”
“You may say it is alright, but it is not alright with me. If you had swung your legs a little longer and immersed yourself further, you might have gained an insight in the State of Selflessness. My impatience may have ruined an insight you could have gained.”
He had not been that immersed...
As Yuri blinked, unable to think of a response, the Fist King's thin lips parted in a broad grin.
“So I will teach you a move by way of apology while testing how fierce your fists are.”
“Pardon?”
“Why are you asking? Why are you not getting ready?”
The instant Yuri questioned him, a thunderous shout fell upon him.
“I will not attack. Go on, hit me!”
Footnotes:
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