Chapter 49

Chapter 049

There was only one reason I wanted to learn a Cultivation Method.

The sharp pain I had felt in my heart when I used the Second Chapter of Secret Art: Ethrana.

It was because I lacked a Cultivation Method to activate my Core.

While staying at White Cloud Castle, I intended to fill that gap with the Cultivation Method of this place.

If they said they could not teach me because it was the clan’s Secret Art, then I would at least try clinging to them.

“A Cultivation Method? Hmm......”

“Is it not possible?”

“I would like to teach you, but the clan’s Secret Art requires the Head of the House’s permission.”

After thinking for a moment, he opened his eyes wide and said, “Let us persuade the Head of the House. I will help you too.”

“There is no need to......”

“What are you talking about? Strictly speaking, you are a benefactor to both the clan and me, and even aside from that, you are already my friend. How could I simply stand by when a friend needs help?”

“......”

Jin Sohwi grinned.

“And you need to become strong for it to be enjoyable when we fight later.”

“I hate myself for almost being moved by you.”

“Haha! Then let us go to the Head of the House.”

We went straight to meet Jin Baek.

To be honest, I was nervous that this time he might really tell me to become Jinsran, but contrary to our expectations, Jin Baek’s reaction was straightforward.

“You have made contributions, so there should be a reward befitting them. Do so.”

“Uh...... Thank you.”

Jin Baek allowed me to train in the Cultivation Method without any particular conditions.

It was under the pretext of rewarding me for saving members of the clan at South Spirit Mountain.

The name of the Cultivation Method I would learn was White Cloud Mind Method.

As one could tell from the name, it was a Cultivation Method learned together with the White Cloud Sword Method.

However, this training had to be continued under an official Instructor of White Cloud Castle.

The reason was that Cultivation Methods, which handled the Core, were that much more dangerous, so a professional teacher needed to be attached.

I ended up participating in training together with the other Students of White Cloud Castle.

‘Am I the youngest one here?’

This was a place only those who had reached Great Completion in Buddha Patriarch of the White Cloud Sword Method came to, so every last one of them was older than me.

When I turned my head slightly, Persica and Jin Sohwi were watching me from afar.

What was this, a parent observation class?

“The White Cloud Mind Method is the Cultivation Method you learn alongside ‘Direct Pointing’ of the White Cloud Sword Method. It is a training method that activates the Core in earnest and operates Mana.”

The broad Training Grounds of White Cloud Castle.

A man who looked to be in his mid-thirties preached the significance of the Cultivation Method in a solemn voice.

“Training Mana has a different meaning from training the body. It is not a matter of moving real muscles, but of handling an illusion that exists only as energy, which makes the difficulty far higher.”

A haze began to rise from the body of the Instructor, who was seated cross-legged.

A Cultivation Method was the act of sensing the pulsing Core, controlling the Mana emitted from it, and imbuing it with Thought-Force to refine it.

Before I knew it, I could see Mana racing along his Energy Channels.

‘It is not simply flowing. It is restrained and refined.’

He was not merely leaving it to flow. There was discipline in the flow of Mana.

The path through which the energy circulated, the strength and weakness of its flow, every part of it carried a certain regularity.

The formed Core pulsed and fiercely emitted energy.

However, while I had merely poured it out, I could feel that the Instructor was thoroughly controlling the Core’s activity.

‘If it had been before, I would not have been able to see this. But now, I can see it clearly.’

Perhaps because I had gained a Core as well, I could distinctly sense the changes in the Mana flowing inside the body.

After completing the activation of his Core, the Instructor rose from his seat.

He drew his sword with discipline and performed a Sword Dance while maintaining the activated Core.

SWISH! SHING!

The sword, wreathed in a haze, drew a Trajectory.

As I watched his Sword Dance, my eyes widened.

‘The energy...... is changing.’

The Core moved according to the Swordsmanship being unfolded, and the flow of Mana changed to match the Swordsmanship.

It was like the form of two puzzle pieces fitting perfectly together.

The Mana that continued in that way suddenly exploded greatly, transforming into deep blue energy.

“Hup!”

Together with the slash that adorned the finale, the blue energy fiercely split the air.

It was [Linked Flash], one of the Magic Power-Type Skills.

However, its power was clearly different from what I had known.

The flow of Mana created by the Core transformed into Magic Power in an instant, bringing explosive power to the Skill.

‘The power is one thing, but if I had not known the original Skill, I would not even have realized that was a Skill.’

The Swordsmanship and the Skill fused through the Core and were reborn as a single technique.

That was how little discord there was between the two techniques.

“Amazing.”

My heart raced.

My clear eyes sparkled.

With new learning before my eyes, it was hard to stay still, like a child in front of a present.

“It is not easy to activate the Core from the beginning. Begin slowly and calmly by sensing Mana.”

Now, I felt as though I understood what it meant to activate the Core.

As the Instructor said, I sat cross-legged and focused all my nerves on the Core in my heart.

Ordinarily, the Core functioned like the physical heart.

It automatically supplied Mana to the body, and no artificial control was applied to it.

There were countless Energy Channels through which Mana flowed inside the body, and the ordinary Core sent faint Mana equally through all of those Energy Channels.

Activating the Core meant artificially intervening in that activity.

One controlled the Core’s activity, drew out Mana at the optimal Output, and sent it through the most suitable Energy Channels.

To make a comparison, if the normal state was moving goods by small cars through every existing road, Activation was sending large cargo trucks through a few shortest routes.

In other words, it was optimization and increased efficiency.

Since waste decreased and efficiency rose, the overall power of techniques naturally rose as well.

And if one linked this Activation process with Martial Arts and finally completed it as a single Martial Learning......

‘That becomes a Cultivation Method.’

I traced my memory back and recalled the White Cloud Mind Method the Instructor had used just now.

The movement of the activated Core, the strength of the Mana that had spread from it, the paths it had flowed through.

The Thought-Force that controlled it!

I concentrated my Thought-Force on the Core at the center of my heart.

I connected to the steadily pulsing Nucleus and felt its movement.

Then I sensed the Mana spreading out in countless strands, and the hundreds and thousands of Energy Channels through which it flowed.

“From now on, I will distribute the books of the White Cloud Mind Method. Learn the contents and polish them, and those with talent will be able to Enter the Method within half a year.”

One Student asked a question.

“How long does it usually take to reach Great Completion?”

“You are already discussing Great Completion? You are thinking of flying before you can even run. There are some who cannot reach Great Completion in a Cultivation Method even if they train for a lifetime. Do not entertain idle thoughts and devote yourselves to training.”

Even if one spent an entire lifetime, one might not reach Great Completion—that is, master it.

I felt as though I understood what that meant.

‘Considering the number of Energy Channels in the body, it is not strange.’

There were thousands upon tens of thousands of Energy Channels.

The number of possibilities that could be woven from them must have reached infinity.

If one polished them one by one, it would be impossible even in a lifetime.

‘But......’

I understood that mastering it would be difficult.

However, I found it hard to accept that Entering the Method would take half a year.

‘I feel like I can do it right away.’

My eyes flashed open.

When I suddenly sprang up from my seat, the Instructor who had come to hand me the book flinched in surprise and stepped back.

“W-What is it? Why are you suddenly standing......”

I did not listen to him and stretched my hand over my head.

Then the sword I had placed far away whirled through the air and landed in my hand.

Completely ignoring the bewildered gazes directed at me, including the Instructor’s, I walked forward step by step.

The place where everyone was sitting had too many people, making it difficult to move.

“What insolence is this! Return and sit down at once! Leaving your place during training is......?”

The Instructor’s furious voice turned into a question.

Before he knew it, I had grabbed my sword and taken the stance he had shown.

White Cloud Sword Method, Direct Pointing, First Form.

I did not know its name, but a single observation had been enough to grasp what kind of technique it was.

‘It begins with One Step.’

I took one step and swung the sword.

At the same time, I adjusted the Core’s Output to match that movement.

I guided the strength and flow of power, sending it through the most suitable Energy Channels.

‘This direction.’

As I sent the Mana flowing, I realized that even the Energy Channels the Instructor had used were not perfect.

I could tell because I had already learned how to guide phenomena through Ishara’s Swordsmanship.

The flow of energy was the flow of Thought-Force.

Guiding its most suitable flow touched upon the same principle as Chapter One – Fate of Secret Art: Ethrana.

The Mana extending from the Core followed the perfect path and connected to the sword.

[Do not tell me......]

Hyeollyeo, who had been quietly watching, reacted.

It had realized what I was about to do.

[You already realized it?]

The Core pulsed. Mana flowed.

With that, I realized that I had understood the principle of the White Cloud Mind Method.

“So this is how it is done.”

Body and energy flowed as one.

The real flesh and the illusory energy were unified into Oneness.

At the end of the Sword Dance that continued in that state, I finally detonated the Mana flowing through the Energy Channels as a Trait.

WHOOSH!

A deep blue Phosphorescent Glow of Magic Power scattered.

In that state, my Sword Dance ended with its characteristic consecutive slashes.

Magic Power was not my main Trait, and I did not have the essential Skill [Linked Flash], so I could not unfold proper Swordsmanship.

However—

SWISH!

My sword cut through the air more sharply than the Instructor’s had.

It was the result of perfectly adjusting the Core’s Output and the Energy Channels through which Mana flowed, with the power of Pristine Power added on top.

“Thank you for teaching me. Thanks to you, I learned something good......”

When I turned around, the entire audience had gone silent as death.

The Instructor, whose mouth was hanging open, dropped the book he had been holding.

***

On the Wooden Porch a short distance from the Training Grounds.

Persica, who had been watching Isran’s eccentric behavior, let out an irritated sigh.

“Seriously...... I hate myself for accepting that I knew he would do that.”

He had only just returned injured, and when he said he was training again, she had come because she was worried.

In the end, all she saw was the usual annoying genius act again, so her insides boiled.

Jin Sohwi, who was sitting right beside her, burst into laughter while clutching his forehead.

“Heh heh...... Goodness, this is madness. I thought he was extraordinary from the moment he reached Great Completion of Buddha Patriarch in five days, but to think he would learn a Cultivation Method on the spot.”

Even the person with the greatest aptitude needed half a year for that Cultivation Method, yet that fellow had learned it in just three minutes.

And before he had even received the book, no less, simply from watching the Instructor unfold it once!

On top of that, the Swordsmanship Isran unfolded had been even sharper than the Instructor’s.

That meant the degree of completion in the White Cloud Mind Method he unfolded had surpassed that of the Instructor.

“There will never be a dull moment around that fellow.”

“Do you even have to say that? Ugh...... It took me a whole year just to Enter the Method......!”

Persica had learned a Cultivation Method since childhood, yet it had taken her one year just to Enter the Method.

The White Cloud Mind Method was not greatly different from the Phantom Thunder Art in terms of difficulty, but Isran had learned it in three minutes.

It was truly overwhelming talent.

However, the person who had unfolded it seemed to have misunderstood something as he looked at the stunned people. He struck his fist into his palm and said,

“The last movement was clumsy because I do not have the Skill. I did not learn it because my main Trait is not Magic Power.”

Did he think the people had fallen silent because he had been clumsy?

He adjusted his grip on the sword and took his stance once again.

“However, now that I have learned how to control Mana through the Core, I was able to imitate the Skill to a degree.”

He unfolded the next Swordsmanship.

Beyond the first, into the second and third.

Seeing Isran perform things that had not even been taught to him, the Martial Arts Instructor seemed so shocked that his breath might stop altogether.

“H-How did you do that......?”

“When I saw the form of the Swordsmanship, I felt like I understood what would come next.”

“But you should not know the operation of the Mind Method......!”

The Swordsmanship of Direct Pointing had to be operated together with the Mind Method.

Even learning and sensing the appropriate Energy Channels should take ages, so how had he done it on the spot?

Isran answered that question.

“It just...... worked when I did it.”

Pfft!

Jin Sohwi, who had been listening, finally burst into loud laughter.

Persica merely held her forehead and shook her head, as if to say she had known this would happen.

Ignoring Jin Sohwi, who was snickering beside her, Persica watched Isran return to his seat.

“Hmm......?”

Was it her imagination?

For some reason, his expression did not look good.

***

That evening.

As I sat alone in the empty Training Grounds, Hyeollyeo spoke to me.

[You do not look well. Is there something you do not understand?]

“No. I understood it.”

I had already learned everything about what kind of Cultivation Method the White Cloud Mind Method was.

It seemed that I would need a little more time to master it completely, but there was no problem with operating it itself.

Rather, since this had allowed me to understand what a Cultivation Method was, I had gained a great deal.

“The problem is...... that I understood it too well.”

The essence of a Cultivation Method was the power to activate the Core and control the Output and flow of Mana.

No matter what Cultivation Method one learned, that purpose was always the same.

Then why were there different kinds of Cultivation Methods?

If handling the Core and Mana was all there was to it, there would be no need for them to be divided.

The reason was that every Martial Art a person learned was different.

There were countless types of Martial Arts, and accordingly, the Energy Channels used by each differed wildly.

Since it was generally impossible for a person to memorize all the countless possibilities of the Energy Channels, Cultivation Methods had no choice but to develop in ways specialized for each Martial Art.

‘The White Cloud Mind Method...... cannot be applied to my Swordsmanship.’

The techniques were incompatible.

All I could do was raise my achievement in the White Cloud Sword Method.

It was impossible to graft it onto the Swordsmanship of Secret Art: Ethrana.