→ Fate Intertwined (3) ←
The spear slashed through the air, carrying with it an invisible gush of aura.
Eight Trigrams.
Zha, Lan, Na
—
Ominous Snake
Two-faced Ominous Snake: Dragon Blood
Ominous Snake: Secret Arts – Distorted March
Ominous Snake: Extreme Arts – Soaring Snake, Rearing Head of the Venomous Dragon
Horizontal Sweep of a Tiger
Great Demonic Spear of the Wind
Lan Na Zha
Demonic Arts: Scavenging the Grass for the Snake.
Spinning Heaven: Second Move – Rotating Demon Spear
Void Spinning Heaven, Turbulent Spear
……………
Sweat poured down like a waterfall.
Controlling the pace of his breath, Korin reflected on one spearman while breathing in the heated air of the training room.
Tates Valtazar.
The one who was technically his senior martial brother was, at the same time, a lifetime foe. Korin trained endlessly as he aimed to pierce through Valtazar’s heart even in his imaginary battles against him.
However, all he got were failures.
Failures upon failures.
Until the very end, his spear couldn’t reach him. No matter how much aura he were to pour out from his Aura Cores, and even while taking into consideration his physical specs that would be amplified severalfold, he just couldn’t even imagine his spear reaching Valtazar.
It wasn’t like the game where you could gradually cut away at the HP bar. There was no auto-lock for accuracy either.
Now that this world had become real, his attacks weren’t even able to hit their mark.
That was just how big of a gap there was in skill between Tates and him.
‘This won’t do. Faster. I have to become stronger faster.’
He was no match even when it came to skill with the spear let alone physical prowess. Korin thought to himself that he needed at least 3 prerequisites for him to be able to defeat him.
An increase in physical capability; increase in his manipulation over Six Ways of the Spear and lastly, making use of Tates Valtazar’s Precepts.
The 2nd Precept, ‘I do not perceive spirits’ was the same for both of them and couldn’t be exploited, and his 3rd Precept was likewise an unexploitable one just like his ‘I will save the world’.
The 1st Precept was essentially the only one that could be exploited, but even that required a lot of preparations and would only be possible in the Northern Kingdom Episode, which would unravel after the 7th Arc.
Until then, Korin had no choice but to focus on increasing his actual skill and caliber.
– Kwaaang!
It was then. Suddenly a large hole appeared in the training room that Korin had rented out for the day. There was only one person in the Academy that could break the unique anti-Guardian reinforced walls with such ease.
“I forgot about her.”
He looked at the girl wearing nun clothes, who still had one of her arms reaching forward with a fist on the other side of the hole, who seemed to have accidentally broken the wall in the middle of training.
“How’s it going?”
“…”
Without replying to his question, Hua Ran looked around the training room ravaged by fists and a spear. She seemed slightly concerned about the mouthful of complaints she was going to receive from the Admin.
“Shall we go get some food?”
“…Un.”
The two of them quietly left the training room.
****
For the past few days, Hua Ran was in a very bad mood.
Until recently, she had been proud and confident in herself being powerful and strong.
A living jiangshi with the Unbreakable Vajra Body – the undefeatable Heavenly Yaksha. She had not a single doubt in her power and status.
That was why she wasn’t that worried when she decided to be with Korin. Because she was strong, she thought no one would be able to hurt him as long as she was there. She had been arrogant, believing that she could beat anyone under the sun.
Her arrogance had been crushed from the front.
Tates Valtazar.
She was powerless before the enemy who used the same spearmanship as Korin.
‘We have to become stronger.’
“…I know.”
It was rare, but Hua Ran was in full agreement with her sister.
If this was a few weeks back, she would have scoffed, saying she was already strong enough, but the recent fight was enough for Hua Ran to lose quite a lot of self-confidence along with her shattered arrogance.
“But how?”
Due to being a powerhouse from birth and relying only on her invincible, unbreakable body, she had never even worked on improving her fighting skills. She was clueless as to how to get stronger; the way of those who were weak from the start was difficult for her to wrap her head around.
‘Let’s start with martial arts that use the fist. The thing that oppa showed us.’
Ran said, referring to the martial arts of fist that Hua Ran learned from the boy out of boredom and… a wish to spend more time with the boy. She had yet to really understand the principles and fundamentals, but she still knew some parts of it.
But there was a problem.
“It’s too small.”
The training room was way too small for her to practice martial arts. It was so small that she didn’t feel comfortable going all out.
“Then do you want to go somewhere bigger?”
It was on the way back after a meal with the boy. Hearing her grumble a complaint, Korin gave a suggestion.
“Where?”
“Hmm… We can’t do it at the oval because the other people there might get caught up in the aftermath and… we can’t use the festival venue either for the same reason.”
The aftershock of Hua Ran’s fists had the power to kill people. Even Korin himself sometimes ended up destroying the items in the training room, and therefore it was obviously harder to find a suitable place for Hua Ran to unleash her full power.
“Why don’t we have a little practice fight?”
………
……
…
– Tung! Tung tung!
– Kwaang! Kwagagang!
Each and every punch crushed the ground and a sweep of the hand changed the surrounding landscape. It was a monstrous level of strength and defense – the consecutive explosive bursts of pure strength created aftershocks, and those aftershocks alone were enough to make the spearman falter.
“Huu…!”
Relying on his spear, he somehow managed to keep himself on his feet.
It was hard to say whether that should be called masterful skills or petty tricks, but regardless, Korin somehow maintained his balance and posture, and waited for the right opportunity to strike at his opponent.
Two-faced Ominous Snake, Dragon Blood.
The slithering spear traveled sharply through the air. It slithered like a serpent in a dizzy manner but Hua Ran’s eyes allowed her to see through it all.
Her exceptional physical capabilities and reflex skills allowed Hua Ran to dodge the incoming spear, as she immediately went on the offense. It was a textbook approach to close combat but it appeared rather awkward, as if she was wearing clothes that weren’t tailored to her.
And those sloppy clothes were easily torn apart.
She attacked with a straight fist.
Gently pushing on the fist from the side, Korin deflected the punch and released his spear as he then marched forward for a palm to the chest. Although it wasn’t painful, seeing that he was about to connect it to more attacks to her vitals… Hua Ran urgently took a big leap back.
“Hmm?”
Korin curiously muttered at her passive retreat.
“Why did you do that? I’m sure you could have handled that much.”
“…”
With a rather discontent expression on her face, Hua Ran turned her back to him with a flick.
“I’m done.”
“…”
She was really quick at changing her mind. That was the impression Korin received, but upon seeing the damage they had done to the surrounding forest, he also agreed that this much would be enough for the day.
“Then should we start heading back to the Academy? Tomorrow’s a weekend so I’m just going to be doing the missions from the mission board though.”
“No.”
“Huh?”
“Not the dormitory.”
“What?”
“Your hotel.”
“Hmm?”
Suddenly, our destination was changed to a hotel.
A pair of grown-up male and female, spending the night in a hotel…
****
‘Hua… You know, do you want to… swap?’
“No.”
‘Whyyy!? I want to be with oppa too!’
“…”
Ignoring her noisy ‘sister’, Hua washed herself clean and wore the nun clothes again, but threw the chains away onto the bed. Thanks to the kind consideration of the Saintess, Estelle, she no longer had to be bound by chains 24/7, but that was still a secret from most people.
‘Are we doing it? Is this the day?’
“…Pervert.”
Hua scolded Ran, whose mind seemed to be filled with obscene thoughts. How could she possibly suggest forcefully holding hands to sleep?
“And besides… there’s no storks1Stork-the baby bringing bird here either.”
‘I know…! I was with you when you were reading the book about stork habitats! Do we really have to go all the way to the North?’
“I’m not… trying to make babies tonight… That’s for you to do.”
‘There you go again. I know you like oppa as well.’
She ignored Ran’s cheeky voice. Ran, the person whom she was sharing the body with, was the one who liked Korin, and it was only because of her that she was going to have a baby.
Hua was simply thinking that she might as well help Ran look after the baby as a sister sharing the body with her. It was definitely not because she wanted one herself.
‘How many babies should we get? We should let the kids have some siblings, right? Two boys and two girls… that sounds good! I will make the stork bring one each, and Hua, you can do the same for the remaining two!’
“…No.”
‘Why not? Oppa’s kids will be so cute. Honestly, I want the stork to bring us 20 kids if possible. Hmm… Would money be a problem though if we do that?’
“We can… earn money.”
Hua said while remembering the Guardian Grade that had been assigned to her. She was given gold coins every month as allowance, and hunting demonic beasts was also an easy way to earn a fair bit of money.
With a single sweep, she could kill a bunch of weak monsters, and just that would be enough to fill her piggy bank with coins.
While thinking about something along those lines, Hua walked out of the room Korin gave to her and started walking down the corridor. Despite the festival being over already, there were still quite a lot of guests.
Seeing how there was a pair of male and female walking into a room with touching shoulders, she assumed that they were going to sleep while holding hands.
“There aren’t any storks here though.”
‘I know right?’
Without worrying herself over other people, she started walking to Korin’s room to find him.
‘Oppa… looks really down these days.’
“…Nn.”
Ever since the confrontation against that man, Korin had been overworking his body. He spent all of his time in the training rooms and rarely ever came outside. Hua Ran had also started spending more time in the training room after realizing her powerlessness, but couldn’t stay as long as he did.
‘Is there a way to cheer him up?’
“…Food?”
‘Hmm… I don’t think that would work.’
But judging that buying something would be better than having nothing at all, Hua Ran bought some snacks at the store linked to the hotel before heading to Korin’s room.
Considering how self-centered she usually was, it was worth complimenting how considerate she was being.
– Click!
It was quite obvious that the door of the hotel room was locked, but Hua Ran nonetheless opened it recklessly without a second thought.
– Crack!
The doorknob was crushed apart as she forced the door open.
“Oh shit! W, what was that?”
Korin exclaimed in surprise when the door suddenly opened with a loud thud, but… Hua was just as surprised as him.
“…”
‘…’
The same was true for the person she was sharing the body with. Taken by surprise, all she could do was blankly stand there watching what was in front of her.
When witnessing something completely unexpected, people tended to zone out and their minds turned blank, and the length of that blank silence tended to be the proof of how surprised that person was.
Out of 1 to 10, her current level of surprise was around 9.
“Why… aren’t you wearing clothes?”
The two girls didn’t even know how long they had been silent for, and Hua only managed to force herself to say something after hearing Korin say, ‘Why are you doing nothing for 30 whole seconds? Can you say something…?’
“Well, that’s because I just took a shower…”
Korin, who had just come out of the shower, stated the obvious in response. With his upper body bare, all he had was a towel covering his lower body.
In his hands was a bathrobe that he had been about to wear, which had been interrupted by the sudden intruder.
Due to his hardcore training schedule, his body was filled with muscles with little excess fat, and the red flush to his muscular body was the very proof that he had been washing himself with warm water until just then.
That was what had made Hua and Ran silent for 30 whole seconds.
She always knew he had a good body and… even though it was obvious that knights would have a good body… it was just way too superb and remarkable.
For some reason, there was something about his body that tickled her heart.
‘Hua… I feel… weird.’
“…”
Thankfully, Ran’s voice did not reach Korin.
If she had voiced that out loud, she would have thrown herself into the warm river and killed herself out of embarrassment.
But aside from that…
“You… Is that, a scar?”
Hua said with her eyes on his lower stomach, which had a regular array of strange letters.
“You mean this?”
They were tiny yet very visible, and because of that, it was hard to tell whether that was a scar or a tattoo.
“This is the reason I can fight.”
After putting the robe over his shoulders, Korin closed the door that Hua Ran broke before leading her into the room.
He sat down on a small, minimalistic chair in front of the tiny desk of the hotel room, while Hua Ran rested herself on the soft bed.
She stole a glance at his flushed body that was still visible through the hems of the bathrobe.
For some reason… she had been deeply ‘moved’ when she first saw it, and couldn’t help but glance at it again and again.
“What do you mean?”
In order to chase away the embarrassment, Hua Ran raised a question, in search of a conversation topic. At last, the little girl had finally acquired the social skill of changing the topic.
“For the warriors of the Shadow Kingdom, there’s a thing called ‘Precepts’. It is a way to strengthen yourself by putting restrictions on you.”
Korin didn’t explain in full detail about the Precepts he had engraved into his own body, but shared a brief explanation of how it worked.
“This is the reason I fight for, and one that also lets me fight in the first place. I wouldn’t have been able to save you without this.”
“…”
She understood from that brief explanation that it was a device to amplify one’s strength. After hearing that, she shared her thoughts.
“I want it too.”
“No.”
However, she was immediately turned down.
“Why?”
This was the first time Hua Ran had been this desperate for power. Her immaturity and weakness that had been displayed during the fight against Valtazar had crushed her confidence to tatters and she had finally found a reason to become stronger.
Hua Ran now wanted to be stronger in order to protect the boy in front of her.
“Firstly… it’s impossible to carve this onto your body no matter how much mana you put in. It’ll be impossible to even leave a scratch.”
“…”
“Secondly, this is high-risk high-reward. It’s for incompetent people like me, and not for talented people like you.”
“You… are not incompetent.”
“That’s just what I said to make it easier to—”
“You are not incompetent. Correct what you said.”
Her crimson eyes gazed deeply into his eyes, so much so that he found it difficult to look away from her.
“…Umm, alright. I’m not incompetent. Thanks.”
Korin awkwardly corrected his words while scratching his cheeks.
“Anyways, I have to make myself stronger even at the cost of creating a detrimental weakness but… unlike me, others including you have no reason to use it. In fact, it won’t be as effective for you.”
The girls all had clear strengths.
Hua Ran, who would later awaken as the true Heavenly Yaksha.
Alicia Arden – the Sword Saint who would later reach the end of the path of swords.
As for Marie, her future would be different from the one in the game, but it was clear that she would hit the pinnacle of vampires.
They, the main characters of this world, had fitting ways to grow, and there was no limit that had to be broken through like the side character, Korin Lork.
Going out of the way to make weaknesses for them did not make sense. Besides, a simple amplification of strength wasn’t what was required for them to become stronger.
But even so, her remark was enough to touch Korin’s heart, because Hua Ran must have wanted to engrave Precepts onto her body just for his sake. It provided him with a chance to realize that his relationship with the girl had become so profound and deep.
“Huhu. Wait for tomorrow. This oppa will buy you some sushi…”
It was then. Hua Ran, who had been looking straight at him, suddenly stood up and grabbed onto his wrist.
“Huh?”
She then pulled him towards her with an unignorable amount of force. Due to that, he ended up falling on the bed.
“H, Hua?”
“Take it off.”
“What?”
“Take your clothes off.”
With a deeply flushed face and a pressing set of eyes, she gazed down deeply into his eyes.
Footnotes:
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