Published at 27th of April 2019 6:33 pm

Chapter 50. Encounter (2)

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That day, Sungmin practiced his spear techniques in his back yard, and only returned to his house late at night. Although it was a little dusty since it wasn’t cleaned, there were no problems after he cleaned it up.

There was a kitchen, but he didn’t make food. He had food in his interspatial pocket. After eating, he started circulating the Purple Cloud Divine Art.

Entering the world of cultivation, Sungmin naturally remembered back to the fight with the ogre. This was his first fight as a peak-level expert ever since he climbed down from the mountain, no, across all of his two lives.

(T/N: The power levels in Korean wuxia tend to go from: 3rd rate(三流) – 2nd rate(二流) – 1st rate(一流)– Peak(絶頂) (MC’s current level) – Exceed(超絶頂). If you don’t like that last one, I’m open to suggestions.)

He felt many things. He even felt weird. The biggest problem was his proficiency. The three years in the mountain made his body ‘used to’ all the restraints. Thanks to that, the lack of prohibitions made him feel incongruent, and he felt yet again incompatible due to the difference from the time when he was not a peak-level expert.

He had to get used to this.

There were a lot of problems. His body right now was very unbalanced. When he lived in the mountains, he tried to balance nutrition as much as possible, but the prohibition of taste made all meals taste horrific. Thanks to that, the quantity of his meals decreased.

It wasn’t just his meals. He couldn’t sleep for a long time nor could he sleep deeply. That went on for two years. With the prohibitions on his smell, hearing, and sight, those three senses didn’t develop well either. Only the sense of touch was indiscriminately developed.

There weren’t only disadvantages though. By sealing other senses, a sense that didn’t exist developed within him.

The sixth sense.

This existed as a skill inside his status window as well.

-Sixth sense.

You can sense what you cannot see with your eyes; cannot hear with your ears; and cannot smell through your nose.

The passive skill, sixth sense, had a vague explanation like all passive skills did. However, what he was feeling was very real. Although his senses were vague just as the description was, sixth sense did exist.

‘But I cannot rely on sixth sense and touch alone.’

There was a need to train in the other senses. He didn’t have to go as far as to ‘train’ them, but he at least had to set the unbalance between the senses right.

Purple Cloud Divine Art was maintained and his qi kept circulating. He breathed in regular intervals and as he did so, his thoughts started fading. He drove his consciousness to sleep in the state of thoughtlessness. The reason he was able to hold on to his impoverished psyche was thanks to mind cleaning magic and the Purple Cloud Divine Art.

The next day.

Lee Sungmin headed to the mercenary guild from early morning. He thought that his rank tile would be out since a day had passed. He was planning to receive the rank tile, and check on any quests he could get from the mercenary guild.

The Behengerr mercenary guild was crowded early in the morning. It was thanks to the mercenaries that had come for breakfast, or due to some of them drinking overnight. When Sungmin entered through the door, the mercenaries’ commotion suddenly died down. They watched as Sungmin walked in, before starting to whisper amongst themselves.

Sungmin had become a famous person in the Behengerr mercenary guild. He projected sword qi the day he joined, and exterminated an ogre chimera and showed that he was more powerful than an S-rank. Moreover, he was still 18 years sold, so it was natural for them to take interest in him.

“So you’ve come.”

Bern was at the bar from the early moring. He spoke to Sungmin who approached him and put his hand in his pocket.

“Nice timing. Your rank tile just came out.”

“I’m here to get that.”

Spoke Sungmin with a smile. The rank tile he received from Bern had an engraving of a gold ‘S’ character. He fidgeted with it for a while before thinking back to the rank tile he had in his previous life.

‘At that time, it was a copper C….’

Seeing him laugh, Bern spoke.

“S-rank mercenaries are given 5 million erre per month as support. It’s more than enough to live on.”

He didn’t have to take any quests, and he would still get 5 million erre per month. S-rank mercenaries had that much value just by existing. Even though Eria was wide and summoned all sorts of people from all sorts of dimensions, a peak-level expert or mage that was able to get an S-rank mercenary tile was not that frequent.

“What happened to the ogre chimera’s body?”

“Hm?”

Bern widened his eyes after hearing Sungmin’s question. His expression said that he never imagined that Sungmin would ask something like that. After looking at Sungmin’s face for a while, Bern shrugged his shoulders.

“We’re investigating into it. Although nothing special was discovered until now… there’s a high chance that a black magician is involved in this.”

“You mean there was a black magician nearby?”

“I presume so. In the first place, that forest is not a suitable place for orcs to have as their territory. It would be reasonable to think that a black magician created a chimera out of an ogre and released it into the woods.”

“Why would he do that?”

“Are you asking my opinion as a guild master? Or as a mage?”

“Both.”

There was a reason Sungmin was asking Bern about this. Bern was the head of Behengerr mercenary guild branch, and a very capable mage at the same time. Being asked that by Sungmin, Bern stayed silent for a moment before speaking.

“He wanted to test something.”

“Test… you say?”

“The chimera’s mouth was sewn shut. It was unable to take any meals. Ogres aren’t that barbaric amongst monsters. They have a very high reason. They don’t assault villages because they’re afraid of expeditions.”

He heard about that from Roode already. Bern saw that Sungmin was not saying anything and kept listening, so he spoke on.

“Starved monsters become very violent. Humans become weak in the face of hunger… but in the case of monsters, it’s the opposite. They become stronger and even more violent. Do you know why? It is to survive. Only the strong and the violent can hunt.”

“So, that’s why the ogre’s mouth was intentionally shut?”

“It was in order to force it to starve. If you were a few days late, a village would have disappeared. Or… the black magician would have recollected the ogre.”

Sungmin thought that it would be the latter. That was because he had never heard the news of a village being wiped out by an ogre in his previous life. As Bern said, the black magician probably released the ogre into the woods and forced it to starve and observed its actions. Then, he would have collected it back before it could cause any trouble.

‘It changed.’

In his previous life, the ogre chimera was not killed. But this time, it was. Wouldn’t this become a variable? Sungmin was worried about that. There was a very high chance that the black magician that released the ogre chimera is also the owner of the dungeon that would be discovered half a year later.

“Perhaps the black magician was nearby. As for you… I thought you were quite lucky. If you met him, then it would have been hard for you to return.”

“Is it that much?”

“This guy is capable of subduing an ogre and create it into a chimera, and even control it on top of that. This black magician should be at a very high level. But why are you curious about that now?”

“It’s just a personal curiosity. It was the first time I saw a chimera.”

Sungmin replied that and put the mercenary tile inside his chest pocket.

“Then. I’ll see you again.”

“Oh… wait.”

Bern grabbed Sungmin who was about to leave. He made an awkward expression and spoke.

“There’s a person who wishes to meet you.”

“Who is it?”

“Xeon. Do you know him?”

Asked Bern. Hearing that

Sungmin’s expression stiffened. He tried his best to relax his expression and shook his head.

“…I do not.”

“I thought so. You just became a mercenary after all. Xeon… is an SS-rank mercenary. He’s the highest-ranked mercenary among the ones registered in Behengerr branch.”

He did know.

Lee Sungmin knew of Xeon. An SS-rank mercenary. Shaolin’s inner disciple as well as an expert in the fist. The leader of Corona mercenaries.

How could he not know? The mercenary group that Sungmin belonged to in his previous life was none other than Corona. In other words, Xeon was the leader of the group that Sungmin belonged to. However, it wasn’t like there was any connection between Sungmin and Xeon. For Xeon to care… Sungmin was a puny existence.

Corona mercenary group was a large-scale mercenary group. There were over 100 mercenaries that belonged to it, and they had 5 S-rank mercenaries on top of their leader Xeon being an Ss-rank.

There were dozens of C-rank mercenaries in Corona. Sungmin, who was a no-class, and had no special traits of his own, was some random trash that the higher people in the guild did not care about at all. Although Sungmin joined while he was E-rank and endured all the way to when he became a C-rank, he was still a random nobody that any guild had several of.

“It wouldn’t be bad for you to meet him at least once. With your skills, there should be many groups that would want you. Corona mercenary group, lead by Xeon, is considered the best mercenary groups among the ones in Behengerr. Of course, you probably don’t plan on staying Behengerr forever, but Xeon and Corona are names that are well known even in neighboring cities.”

“…Did he wish to meet me immediately?”

“He’s already waiting inside.”

Bern smiled bitterly.

“I know that it’s sudden. But…”

“Okay.”

Sungmin slowly nodded his head.

“I’ll meet him once.”

The choice was his anyway. If he declined, Bern’s position would become awkward. To repay Bern who gave him various benefits, it would be better to meet Xeon at least once.

It was all an excuse anyway.

Sungmin just wanted to meet Xeon once.

The room was filled with smoke from a cigar. The guest room that Bern used had become a personal room for Xeon for now. Bern entered through the door and frowned at Xeon.

“At least open the window.”

Xeon, who was puffing a cigar, only shrugged. Sungmin started at Xeon who slowly put down the cigar.

This was the first time he met with Xeon one to one. Although he did belong to Corona, there were no contact points between him and Xeon. Even when he applied to Corona, and later belonged to it, he never saw Xeon in person. To Corona, the person called Sungmin was no more than a chores-person that ran errands and did cleaning.

“Quite decent.”

Muttered Xeon as he looked at Sungmin’s face. Xeon had wide shoulders and short hair. Sungmin had always seen him from afar. To him, the mercenary known as Xeon was a target of admiration.

Xeon is a former no-class.

It was 15 years ago that Xeon was summoned to Eria. He was summoned as a no-class and was opportunate enough to learn the Hundred Steps Divine Fist of the Shaolin, and was acknowledged of his martial art when he went to Shaolin’s mountain in Eria. Although the details weren’t told, Sungmin admired and respected Xeon just because he was a former no-class. He always thought that he would become like Xeon one day.

“…My name is Lee Sungmin.”

“Xeon.”

Xeon put the cigar back in his mouth.

His target of admiration from a long time ago, was sitting right in front of him.

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