WeTried Translations
Translator/Editor: Haruto
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◈ The Martial Alliance Rulebook Archives ◈
Chapter 7: Anomaly Records Office (3)
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The White-Robed Miracle Physician smiled in satisfaction.
Surprisingly, strength was not the foremost virtue required of the Anomaly Records Office's Records Officers.
Of course, those with high martial attainments could confront Anomalies head-on and defeat them.
Suppose someone like the Martial Alliance Leader had been caught up in the Soul-Severing Mountain Villa incident.
Rather than enter the villa, he would have crushed the entire place, ground its formation array to dust, and walked out without a care.
To make the thought more realistic, the villa likely would not have even approached the leader.
An Anomaly of that level could not threaten him, and the Ghost Valley Master's creations had an uncanny grasp of their own limits.
The leader's method for dealing with Anomalies was simple. He crushed them beneath the weight of his martial power.
Yet that sort of exceptional strength was difficult for the Anomaly Records Office to account for.
The virtue of a rulebook was repeatability. Even a completely different person had to be able to follow the same procedure and achieve the same result: escape.
That was why an individual's extraordinary talent could not be incorporated into an official rulebook.
For that reason, discernment was important for Records Officers investigating Anomalies. The White-Robed Miracle Physician himself preferred the blunter term, “having a feel for things.”
In that respect, the White Sword Squad member had passed.
Surviving Soul-Severing Mountain Villa alone deserved extra credit.
The Anomaly Records Office had ensured that rulebooks could only be found through the Martial Alliance standard Eye Art, preventing information from leaking to Anomalies.
Yet because of that security measure, even Martial Alliance members sometimes failed to find a rulebook and died screaming.
That person had found the rulebook, faithfully followed its instructions, and ultimately encountered an Anomaly variant not even recorded within it. They defeated it and returned alive.
Their judgment at the site of an Anomaly appearance and their resourcefulness in a life-or-death situation could be considered fully proven.
At the same time, resourcefulness was not the only component of having a feel for things. The talent required of a Records Officer, which the White-Robed Miracle Physician broadly called having a feel for things, also included deductive ability and intuition.
That was why he had scattered several clues before the White Sword Squad member while bringing them to the Anomaly Records Office. Could they piece together the correct conclusion from the clues he had left behind?
And now, they had splendidly proven their own ability.
The immediate question, “Am I being promoted to Heaven-grade?” upon hearing the words “grade reassessment.” The contemplation that followed as soon as they heard that was not the case.
Judging by their expression gradually hardening after careful thought, they had clearly reached the conclusion he intended.
* * *
“Excellent!”
As a dreadful thought concerning Heavenly-grade Anomalies churned through my mind, Byeolui suddenly clapped.
“What do you mean?”
“Your attitude. You've just shown that you're qualified to become a member of the Anomaly Records Office.”
My hand rose to my forehead on its own. I was already troubled, and now he was saying things that made no sense...
“You were right.”
Byeolui said it casually, as though discussing something completely ordinary. My mind froze at that simple confirmation.
“Heavenly-grade Anomalies affect the entire world as we know it.”
The smile vanished from his face. He continued in a very serious voice.
“That is why Heavenly-grade Anomalies are exceedingly rare. If there had been many of them, this world would have been destroyed long ago... I know of about two.”
At least two things powerful enough to shake the entire martial world.
At once, I wanted to know what they were, while the rational part of me warned that it was still dangerous.
Horror novels often featured people who learned too much and went mad.
In terms of martial arts novels, it would be like obtaining a martial art far beyond one's level and suffering qi deviation.
According to the White-Robed Miracle Physician, grasping the influence of a Heavenly-grade Anomaly normally required reaching the Peak realm. That was two whole levels beyond my current attainment.
I absolutely did not want to delve deeper into truths that only Peak masters should realize and suffer qi deviation as a result.
Watching my expression, Byeolui began by saying, “As expected, I judged you well.”
“Your courage passes as well.”
“Courage?”
He shrugged and answered as if it were nothing.
“Ah, survivors around First-rate usually lose their minds when they hear things like this. Subduing them without hurting them is no easy task.”
For a while, I could not speak out of sheer disbelief.
Was he saying people had actually suffered qi deviation during interviews at the Anomaly Records Office?
“Can you really tell a Second-rate martial artist things like that so freely!?”
“Didn't you just say that you worked hard to reach Second-rate and deserved respect?”
My gaze toward him naturally turned fierce. The reckless old man stroked his beard and waved a hand.
“Don't reproach me with your eyes. I had faith in you.”
“What could you possibly have faith in from someone as lowly as Second-rate?”
“You've gotten awfully upset over one little joke. I believed in your attitude.”
A question rose in me again. What was supposed to be so special about my attitude?
“Didn't I just answer ordinary questions normally and follow when you told me to?”
“The ‘ordinary exchange’ you just mentioned.”
I had done enough group projects on Earth to put my sentences together in a fairly organized way.
Still, this world also had scholars who entered government service, and the Martial Alliance had plenty of educated people handling administrative work. My way with words could not be that exceptional.
“Do you think people who have experienced Anomalies can do that?”
“What?”
The White-Robed Miracle Physician explained slowly. Usually, they were brought in while not in their right minds, and many suffered mental afflictions that left them unable to speak properly.
“Some even arrive completely mad. Even if they appear fine on the outside, once we begin recording their experience with an Anomaly, they roll their eyes back or wildly swing their swords.”
“To that extent?”
The question slipped out unconsciously. Byeolui slowly nodded.
“To that extent.”
That heavy nod carried the exhaustion of a physician. I understood why the White-Robed Miracle Physician, who rarely even ventured outside the Martial Alliance, belonged to the Anomaly Records Office.
‘In short, that person is...’
He was a specialist who could physically subdue martial artists rampaging in madness and force medicine down their throats.
“Ah, of course, once one reaches the Peak realm, such madness becomes rare. Upon reaching the realm of complete harmony, it becomes difficult not to know that Anomalies exist. But what about those who have not entered the domain of such masters?”
“At best, they suffer mental affliction. At worst, qi deviation...”
I shook my head at the dreadful choice. If most of the people he had seen were like that, I could understand why he had been deeply impressed by my attitude.
But...
‘Why?’
If madness became rare around the Peak realm, that also meant that even Peak masters occasionally went mad.
Even Peak masters could face an Anomaly and develop madness. Why had I been able to avoid it?
“Ah, that isn't the worst outcome.”
One sentence from Byeolui pulled me from my doubts.
“That isn't the worst outcome?”
Was there a fate more terrible for a martial artist than qi deviation? He could not be talking about death, since it would be impossible to record testimony from the dead.
“Though rare, sometimes an Anomaly follows someone back.”
Ah. No way.
I recalled him saying he would tell me about Anomalies, and about me.
“Are you talking about me?”
“You really do catch on quickly!”
I blinked blankly. An Anomaly was following me right now?
No. It probably was not behind me.
The thing I had defeated had been a shadow...
I glanced down at the shadow beneath my feet.
Byeolui burst into laughter.
“Ah, I wasn't talking about an Anomaly that follows you around so openly.”
“Then what?”
“Some do latch onto a person and torment them, but didn't you beat the thing before it even had a chance to attach itself to you?”
“Yes.”
“You said you crushed the Anomaly's heart in your hand.”
“Yes.”
“You destroyed the central core where the Anomaly's essence had gathered with your own hand, then absorbed its blood.”
“What?”
Was I not supposed to have done that?
Seeing my bewildered expression, the White-Robed Miracle Physician shrugged.
“A few coincidences overlapped. Have you heard of the Eight Trigrams Furnace?”
“Isn't it the original model for Soul-Severing Mountain Villa made by the Ghost Valley Master? The one from Journey to the West.”
The physician exclaimed in admiration. Saying that would make the explanation easier, he turned a page in the notebook where he had written Heaven, Earth, and Human, then drew a picture.
The diagram was marked with symbols such as Qian, Kun, Kan, and Li. Naturally, it had to represent the Eight Trigrams Furnace.
“The Eight Trigrams Furnace is originally a furnace, a tool used by immortals to melt down nature's essence for alchemy. Naturally, if something is melted down, there must be a resulting product.”
The shadow came to mind. Something entirely different from the strange phenomena described in the rulebook. Had that been the final product produced by the furnace known as Soul-Severing Mountain Villa?
“More precisely, it would be a spiritual elixir. An elixir made by melting down a person's Essence, Qi, and Spirit, then shaping them back into human form.”
A human elixir? This belonged in an entirely different genre. It was the sort of thing that only occasionally appeared in martial arts novels when describing the atrocities of the Blood Cult. I asked reflexively.
“Why make it take human form?”
“Only the Ghost Valley Master would know, but perhaps he thought that human form was the most noble, making it suitable for people to consume. Like how person-shaped snow ginseng and child ginseng are considered precious.”
The Ghost Valley Master had used his bizarre delusions to create a human-shaped elixir from people. Originally, he must have intended to consume the finished product himself.
...But now, I was the one covered in that human elixir's blood essence.
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