Chapter 57

Chapter 57

At a somewhat early hour.

Before meeting Isran, Jin Sohwi spent some time speaking with Jin Baek alone.

“Isran said he is going to create a new Cultivation Method.”

“Did he now?”

Isran had not yet told Jin Baek about his plan.

What he was trying to do was create a new Cultivation Method through the sensation he had gained from learning the White Cloud Mind Method.

Perhaps because he thought it might seem as if he had used White Cloud Castle, and that it might draw Jin Baek’s anger.

However, Jin Sohwi thought differently.

If it was Jin Baek, he would instead be pleased by such a challenge from Isran.

And just as he had expected, Jin Baek merely chuckled and did not become angry in the slightest.

“It seems he understood the purpose of the White Cloud Mind Method well.”

“Yes.”

“Tsk…… It is truly lamentable that we could not hold on to that boy.”

That was right.

The Martial Arts of White Cloud Castle, including the White Cloud Mind Method, had such simple structures that they were often called the “textbook” of the martial path, and their compatibility with other Martial Arts was also excellent.

Because of that, White Cloud Castle’s Martial Arts were widely known for being highly versatile, but the truth was different.

“The White Cloud Mind Method is a Martial Art containing the Ancestor’s wish…….”

White Cloud Zen Master Jin Ryeon.

There had been only one reason he established White Cloud Castle and spread his Martial Arts.

A gift for his descendants, who would put down roots in this land.

The reason White Cloud Castle’s Martial Arts had such solid fundamentals was because, from the very beginning, they were meant to become a Pillar from which other Martial Arts could develop and branch out.

He had seen through the fact that his descendants, born on the Second Floor and unable to go to other floors, would have few opportunities to gain Skills and grow stronger.

That was why White Cloud Zen Master, Jin Ryeon,

wished for them to possess the strength to strengthen themselves even without Skills, and therefore created a kind of Martial Learning that could serve as a Foundation, one that could be developed in any direction.

“Do you think he will succeed?”

“Who knows…….”

Jin Baek stroked his white beard.

Isran.

That being who had suddenly appeared in White Cloud Castle was a mass of overwhelming talent, to the point that even saying he had been bestowed by the heavens was insufficient.

He was a boy with a natural gift that could reach Great Completion no matter what he learned and mastered.

However, learning and creating were different in meaning.

Because walking a road someone else had paved and carving out a road where none existed differed in difficulty as much as heaven and earth.

Among them, a Cultivation Method dealt with the Core and Mana and unified them with Martial Arts…… It was the act of creating a single Martial Learning and concept.

Its difficulty was on an entirely different dimension.

“Do you know this? When the Ancestor first created White Cloud Castle and founded its Martial Arts, he had not yet reached Master, nor even a realm close to it. He was merely an Ordinary Person like us…… a single Adventurer with a Star Rank.”

Jin Ryeon at that time was weak.

However, from the hands of that weak Jin Ryeon, the Sword Method and Mind Method of today were born.

“Are you saying Isran’s comprehension is the same as the Ancestor’s?”

“Perhaps. Or perhaps not.”

Even Jin Baek had no way of knowing the extent of the talent Isran had been granted.

“However, are they not alike?”

Both Jin Ryeon and Isran ultimately sought to cultivate for the sake of others.

One for his descendants.

One for his bonds.

It was not simply because that was the proper way.

It was because that was what their own Righteous Will told them.

“Do you not find it curious?”

Completely different people, in completely different times.

And yet, there existed those who performed Cultivation with the same will in their hearts.

Did fate exist?

The sky, veiled behind a gray curtain, told them nothing.

Therefore, people had no choice but to make themselves their own heaven and seek answers.

“I do not know either whether that boy will succeed. It is a road most people, including me, have never walked, and normally, it would be something people would mock as foolish.”

“Then why did you not scold him?”

“I…….”

He took in the wide view of White Cloud Castle beyond the window.

Even now, when he recalled it, the memories were vividly clear.

The memory of a single Adventurer who had once visited this place, and the memories of following her toward the end of the dungeon.

“I merely no longer wish to regret.”

He wanted to extend his hand before it was too late.

He did not want to lose them as he had lost Hildegard, and he earnestly hoped that Isran would take her daughter and head downward.

Because all he could do was send those children downward.

“…….”

Jin Sohwi merely remained silent.

Jin Baek turned to look at his grandson and grinned.

“Do you know this? In the distant past, there was no such thing as Skills in the dungeon.”

“Yes……?”

“Now, learning Skills is considered the standard way to become stronger, but that was not so in the past.”

In a distant past so far away that even records had grown faint.

Back then, the dungeon required one to delve into the Principles of Martial Learning one by one, learn Martial Arts, learn Mana, and train oneself in that way.

After one learned and learned like mad, and at some moment that Martial Learning reached a certain realm,

the dungeon would acknowledge that effort and incorporate that Martial Learning into the Providence of the dungeon.

“Have you never wondered why Skills are excavated in the form of ‘Secret Manuals’?”

“Surely…….”

“That is right.”

Jin Baek nodded.

“Skills were originally a form of Martial Learning.”

The Skills Adventurers learned were not things that had existed from the beginning, but things created by someone in the past.

At that unexpected truth, Jin Sohwi’s eyes widened.

“Creating one’s own value and forcing it upon Providence…… Does that not somehow remind you of something?”

“Surely…… Are you speaking of Masters?”

“Indeed!”

Why had things called Cultivation Methods been passed down until now?

Even though Skills with similar powers already existed, why had Martial Learning, including Cultivation Methods, not disappeared?

Cultivation was the process of coming to know “oneself.”

Not Skills, which could be called an External Method, but the Orthodox Path of polishing and refining one’s own Martial Learning.

In other words, it was the act of carrying through one’s own will.

If one merely depended on Skills, one could never reach “above.”

Only by establishing not the laws set by the world, but one’s own laws, could a person finally touch the heavens.

“The Ancestor called this the ‘Orthodox Cultivation Method.’ He said that merely relying on Skills was nothing more than an unorthodox path.”

“Then…….”

Jin Sohwi trailed off.

For some reason, he felt his heart begin to race.

Isran did not depend on Skills.

They were merely tools, and he always polished and refined himself, never neglecting his training.

Even when he faced a Wall, he did not despair, and endlessly sought a way to step over it.

And at last.

He was now trying to perform his own “Cultivation.”

“Are you not curious? If a talent of that caliber walks the orthodox path…… just what heaven will he reach?”

Only then did Jin Sohwi smile as if he had realized something.

Regret or whatever else it was, was that not ultimately an excuse?

“I see.”

Jin Baek wanted to see it.

How far Isran could truly reach. What kind of legend he would write.

If White Cloud Castle’s Martial Learning could become even a single foothold for that genius’s steps, how great an honor would that be?

Just as Jin Baek felt that way, Jin Sohwi was also extremely curious about it…… and filled with anticipation.

***

Three boys and girls sat gathered in the Training Grounds.

There was someone watching them from afar.

“Sigh…….”

Lavina Lorentze.

With a face that seemed to carry all the worries and anxieties of the world, she let out a sigh for who knew how many times.

─Why does someone so young sigh so much?

“Why, you ask……! This is all because of you, Archbishop……!”

Lavina shouted in a low voice as she picked up the communicator placed right beside her.

She was currently communicating with Archbishop “Elos Kashiria” of the Order.

“I heard everything……. That he is actually a Platinum Token Adventurer, and that he met you once, Archbishop……!”

She trembled with a sense of betrayal.

Because the one who had recommended Lavina for the investigation of South Spirit Mountain was none other than her teacher, Archbishop Elos.

“You knew this would happen, did you not!?”

─Surely not. I merely listened to the request of my dear friend, Sir Gordon.

“You sly old snake……!”

─Hahaha.

As she stamped her feet, her complexion became even worse than before.

She was an inexperienced 2-Star Adventurer.

Even if she stayed here, she would not be of even the slightest help, and it would be fortunate if she did not die a dog’s death somewhere instead.

Of course, her Ancestor was with her in her pendant, but Lavina, who did not know that, had no choice but to tremble in fear at the threat of death that had come right before her nose.

“It might have been different if they were doing something constructive……!”

She muttered in a voice full of resentment.

“Creating a new Cultivation Method? How does that make any sense……!”

That was probably the most absurd thing Lavina had ever heard since she had been born.

The accepted theory was that, in order to create a single Cultivation Method, one needed at least the level of Enlightenment required to Manifest Aura.

It was not something a mere 2-Star apprentice could possibly do!

No matter how outstanding Isran’s talent was!

Even if his graduation results from the Selection Grounds had earned him a Platinum Token!

Even if he was so devastatingly handsome that she lost her senses every time she looked at him……!

What was impossible was impossible……!!

“How did I end up in this situation…….”

What had happened to her future plan of living luxuriously while eating and playing at the Temple?

How had she ended up marked by such a lunatic and fallen into this state?

The creation of Martial Learning was not an easy thing. It was a great undertaking that even the elders of a house had to devote their lives to!

In the first place, if it was that easy, the world would be overflowing with Cultivation Methods…….

“Hm……?”

At that moment, Lavina felt a strange flow of Mana.

A flow of energy with an extraordinary presence.

Lavina, who was startled and searched for its source, realized that it was flowing from those three…… no, from Isran.

“Wh…… Wh-What! S-Surely……?”

This flow. This feeling.

At the sensation that something was being completed, a shock like a bolt of lightning struck her head.

“He is really…… doing it!?”

A new Cultivation Method was being born.

***

How long had I been sitting there?

I had succeeded in understanding not only the Skill “Dreamer,” but also the Chant of the Phantom Thunder Art that Persica had taught me.

In the case of the Skill, it had been possible because Hyeollyeo had explained it to me, and in the case of the Phantom Thunder Art, because Persica had broken it down as simply as she could.

‘There is also the White Cloud Mind Method that Jin Sohwi is telling me about.’

That was something I knew too, but because Jin Sohwi’s personal know-how, gained from using it far more than me, was infused into it, it had unexpected value.

After all, the White Cloud Mind Method seen from another person’s perspective could itself be called data.

‘First, the Skill.’

I analyzed the structure of the Skill and understood its principle. I internalized the Enlightenment contained within it.

Then, from the structure of the Passive Skill I had disassembled in detail, I stripped away all unnecessary annotations.

I left only the firmest central Pillar.

‘This is it.’

It felt as if my head was about to cramp, but in the end, I succeeded in leaving behind the Pillar of “Dreamer.”

While rubbing my throbbing temples, I moved on to the next stage.

“Dreamer” was a Skill that strengthened the operation of Mana and Traits.

Because it had no Enlightenment, it had no depth either, but it was a power that allowed the entered effects to be used without any cost.

Its effect, in a way, was quite similar to a Cultivation Method as well.

‘The original form of this was definitely a Cultivation Method.’

I had a feeling that this had not existed from the beginning, but had been born through someone’s hands.

I did not know who had made it, or for what reason.

However, once I had cut away the unnecessary structure and only the Pillar remained, I could understand the meaning contained within it.

The Skill realized through the Trait called Mysticism was saying this.

What it contained was the will to endlessly challenge the unknown.

─Divinity originates from the god who forms Heaven, and therefore it is Heaven. Magic Power reveals Principles and brings creation into bloom, and therefore it is Earth. Mysticism is the will to challenge the unknown, and therefore it is Humanity. He called these three the “Threefold Taegeuk.” 

According to Hyeollyeo, Jin Ryeon had said that Mysticism was the will to challenge the unknown.

A power corresponding to Humanity among the Threefold Taegeuk of Heaven, Earth, and Humanity.

‘At a glance, Mysticism is the most disorderly power among the Traits.’

It had no system and no rules.

That was why it was the most avoided Trait, but to put it another way, did that not also mean it was power in its purest state?

Because nothing had been predetermined, it was suitable for containing and embracing something.

‘I see.’

Thinking that, I felt as though I understood why Jin Ryeon had called Mysticism the power of humanity.

In the end, it was Humanity that called Heaven heaven and Earth earth.

It was humanity that looked up at the heavens to examine the Secrets of Heaven, and humanity that stood upon the earth to search for answers.

It was also humanity that made itself Heaven and Earth and carried through its will.

All of that was something only human beings could do.

Was it not truly mysterious?

A being capable of taking everything in the world as a teacher, seeking answers, and challenging what lay ahead.

Because human beings were such mysterious existences, “Mysticism” was the power that symbolized humanity.

PAAAT─!

The moment I realized that, I felt the structure of the Passive Skill dwelling within me change slightly.

No, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that it had assimilated with me more powerfully.

I could feel it instinctively.

If I had seen this on the screen, the Proficiency of “Dreamer” would have shot up all at once.

‘Here, I will unfold my Thought-Force.’

Creating a Cultivation Method.

That was engraving my own will into the axis and firmly forging it into a single Martial Learning.

What I would contain within it was the Chant of Secret Art: Ethrana.

I held Ishara in my hand and activated my Unique Ability.

SSSSSS─

Secret Art: Ethrana.

Beyond its first chapter, the contents of its second chapter began flowing into me.

“Hup…….”

My heart began aching once more, but I endured it and focused on the principle of the swordsmanship itself.

The Martial Learning that Ishara had realized and contained.

I unfolded it with all my power and engraved it into the axis made from “Dreamer”!

‘I have to connect the Pillar and the swordsmanship.’

I had to fuse the axis and the swordsmanship, then align that once more with my Energy Channels and solidify it into a single form.

Cold sweat flowed like rain.

My head felt as though it would split, and my heart pounded.

The axis and the swordsmanship were prepared, but at my current level, combining the two was difficult.

So here, I would borrow the help of my seniors.

I would use already-created Cultivation Methods as Catalysts.

And those materials…… thankfully, my two friends before me were teaching them to me.

For the operation of swordsmanship, through Persica’s Phantom Thunder Art.

For the operation of Mana, through Jin Sohwi’s and my White Cloud Mind Method.

The Catalysts were prepared, so all the preparations were complete.

‘But…… how do I refine it?’

The materials had all been prepared, but I did not know how to combine them into one and solidify their form.

Every Cultivation Method had a different form.

In order to create a Cultivation Method perfectly suited to me, I could not copy the form itself.

“What should I…… Ah.”

At that moment, a single incantation echoed in my head.

It was not something I had intended at all.

Like something alive, it began pushing its way out of my memories on its own.

‘This is…….’

It was a familiar-feeling incantation.

‘The power Jin Ryeon’s Thought gave me!’

This was the incantation Jin Ryeon had breathed into me, which allowed me to endure even the world of the Great Precept.

Thinking about it, that had been a power that firmed the shape of Thought-Force more solidly, allowing my existence to endure without scattering even within a Master’s Alternate Space.

The flow of Mana was also the flow of Thought-Force.

If so, could it not be applied to this process of creating a Cultivation Method as well?

─As I exist, the world exists; as the world exists, I exist.

As I recited the incantation, its true name naturally began to seep into me.

As if it were formally introducing its own existence to me.

[Life-Building Mantra].

It was a Mantra that built up Thought-Force.

Back then, I had thought he had simply given me something suitable to help me endure, but looking back now, in that moment, he had handed me the thing I needed most.

‘Thank you.’

Borrowing the power of the Mantra, I gathered all the materials in one place.

Using the axis obtained from the Skill as the Pillar, and using the Phantom Thunder Art and White Cloud Mind Method as Catalysts, I combined the power of Secret Art: Ethrana into one.

The instant I assimilated that with my Core and opened it through the Energy Channels of my entire body─

“……!!”

I could feel a single enormous power settling into my Core.

“……You really succeeded.”

“Hahahaha!! You did it, Isran!”

Amid the cheers of the two, I felt my activated Core with a somewhat dazed feeling.

The fatigue that had made me feel as if I would faint, and my body, soaked in cold sweat and exhausted, did not matter now.

My heart was pounding.

I had now taken one more step closer to Ishara’s realm.

“What is its name?”

“Let me see…….”

Name.

At Persica’s question, I closed my eyes for a moment.

This was the will to challenge the unknown.

It was the fate she had entrusted to me, and the life I, as a person, would build and live.

It was the time in which I would see, hear, feel, and learn.

And thus, after circling and returning, it was the wish for the day when we would finally reunite.

Because I train and learn to know “myself,” it is Cultivation.

Because I come to know the bond I share with “you,” it is Bond Cultivation.

Together, it is a journey to reach Myriad Currents.

“Myriad Currents Bond Cultivation.”

That was the name of the life I would build.

***

Second Floor, outskirts of the Landscape Realm.

At the edge of the Styxia River, where fierce currents surged, several Temple-affiliated Adventurers were on patrol.

“Nothing happening today either?”

“Probably not. How would anyone break through this many surveillance forces?”

The numerous personnel deployed to monitor the Downfall Order’s movements had their eyes thoroughly watching even the outskirts of the Second Floor, just like this.

They thought, that no matter how skilled the Downfall Order was, it would be impossible to avoid the eyes of the Temple and White Cloud Castle.

“Still, patrolling all the way out here seems a bit excessive.”

Was the Styxia River not a living hell no one could enter?

In the first place, it was filled with Aquatic Monsters that attacked anything living…….

SPLASH─

“Hm?”

At that moment, something broke through the river water and climbed up with a splash.

“What…….”

It was a human hand.

Rising through the surface as if creaking, it took the form of a masked woman.

A person had climbed up the Styxia River.

“A-A person!? How did she climb the Styxia River……!”

“Look at that……!”

They were horrified when they saw the Priest Robes the woman was wearing.

“It is the Downfall Order!”

“Damn it! How did they come through the Styxia River……!”

The greatly startled Adventurers tried to draw their weapons, but the woman was faster in stretching out her hand.

FLASH!

Immediately after a blinding flash burst forth,

the two Adventurers on patrol fell to the ground with their upper bodies erased.

“…….”

It lifted its head.

When it opened a Subspace in the form of a ring, people began pouring out from inside.

All of them wore the clothing of the Downfall Order, and they gazed beyond the Landscape Realm, toward the place where “White Cloud Castle” would be.

“We have arrived.”

The man at the head smiled.

Soon, the Second Floor would be theirs.