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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: JayM
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(Third person POV until the scene transition)
Yeon Mi-rae was a genius.
The high school she attended was an Awakener-specialized high school, so numerous Awakeners of her age were enrolled there, but even among them, she was a genius who stood out.
A genius who received perfect scores in all subjects except for a few classes at school, and who was not only taking high school courses but also courses that one would normally take at an academy after graduating from high school.
She was a strong person who never lost in sparring matches against other Awakeners.
The only thing she lacked was the aura needed to fight monsters.
Except for the fact that she lacked the most important wings, she was already ready to soar.
To such a person, wings that could replace aura by the name of internal energy were given.
‘This is… the sensation that an Awakener who can properly use aura… No, the energy provided by the Awakener System… So this is how it feels.’
Yeon Mi-rae felt the power that Han Geon-woo had injected into her body.
And she understood…
The current her couldn’t control this power that he had given her.
If she tried to control it, her whole body would collapse.
‘Conversely, as long as I don’t try to control it….’
As long as she used it only to strengthen her physical abilities as Han Geon-woo had intended, then there wouldn’t be any problems.
Yeon Mi-rae knew…
That this was an opportunity given to her.
That Han Geon-woo was testing her.
If she passed this test….
“Hoo….”
Having thought that far, Yeon Mi-rae leaped.
It was a single leap.
But with just that one leap, she was able to dive into the midst of the orcs.
“Chwi-ik?”
“So this… is how it was?”
Yeon Mi-rae, who had dived into the middle of the orc formation, gripped her dagger and swung.
She performed the movements she had only known through knowledge before this, only imagined in her head.
The movements she couldn’t follow because her physical ability was lacking.
‘A little more smoothly.’
Her body, strengthened by Han Geon-woo’s internal energy, assisted her in taking the actions she wanted.
And so, the dagger smoothly cut through an orc’s body and….
Chwaak…!
The orc died without even letting out a death cry.
‘…This is how people who use aura feel when they cut down monsters.’
Even when she had killed a goblin, which didn’t have thick flesh, her sword hadn’t cut as smoothly as this.
Knowing that, Yeon Mi-rae complained inwardly.
‘To think I was the only one who couldn’t feel this sensation.’
She liked this smooth sensation.
She wanted to feel this sensation more.
As such….
Puk!
She thrust the dagger into the vital point of another orc.
Because a dagger, by the nature of its length, was much more efficient for stabbing than for slashing.
The premise that one had to know the opponent’s vital points very well to kill them with a single stab was a given, but Yeon Mi-rae had already met that condition long ago.
‘I learned about the orcs’ vital points in school until I was sick of it.’
And so, Yeon Mi-rae’s dagger, which aimed only for the fatal vital points, was repeatedly plunged into and was pulled out of orc bodies.
Every time the dagger was plunged into an orc’s body, the orc that was stabbed lost its life.
Every time the dagger was pulled out of an orc’s body, the orc’s blood would gush out and scatter.
The orcs also had some intelligence, so they tried to dodge Yeon Mi-rae’s dagger and counterattack, but it was useless.
‘They’re agile for their size, but still, they’re slower than the kids at my school who use aura.’
Moreover, she had the skill to subdue the students at her school even when she had no aura and her physical ability was low.
Now that she had aura strengthening her body, there was no way it would be difficult for her to dodge an orc’s attack or land an attack on an orc.
“Uooooooh…!”
The simple attack of an orc, which didn’t use any particular technique and was just focused on strength, didn’t pose a threat to Yeon Mi-rae.
She didn’t fear the axe being brought down towards her head and approached the orc that was trying to swing it down.
She, who had dug into the inside of the orc’s body, cut off the wrist of the orc holding the axe, and then plunged the dagger into the orc’s neck.
“Kook… Kwi-ihik…!”
Yeon Mi-rae’s movements didn’t end with just that.
Pulling out the dagger embedded in the large orc’s neck, she used the orc that was falling backward as a foothold and leaped.
The place she flew to after leaping like that was where another orc was.
The orc, which couldn’t react properly to the sudden attack, had no choice but to receive Yeon Mi-rae’s attack.
Puk!
Puk!
Puk!
In fact, Yeon Mi-rae’s speed wasn’t incredibly fast.
For an Awakener, it was close to a slow speed.
But the orcs died one by one to Yeon Mi-rae’s dagger, which was swung at such a slow speed.
The orcs couldn’t catch up to Yeon Mi-rae, who was moving at such a slow speed.
Yeon Mi-rae compensated for her lack of speed with technique.
With just that, the orcs’ attacks couldn’t reach her, but her attacks reached the orcs precisely.
“…Chwi-ik…!”
“…Gwi-i-ik…!”
As that situation continued, a few orcs who thought they couldn’t beat Yeon Mi-rae tried to change their method.
Instead of attacking Yeon Mi-rae, they decided to attack Han Geon-woo.
“……”
Han Geon-woo crossed his arms as he watched the orcs running towards him.
He didn’t react at all.
The reason, of course, was simple.
Chwaak!
Puk!
Pow!
Because before the orcs could reach Han Geon-woo, Yeon Mi-rae had cut, stabbed, and struck them down.
The orcs fell in the very same posture they had been in when they were running towards Han Geon-woo, and the latter just watched Yeon Mi-rae silently before asking.
“Are you satisfied?”
“No.”
There were still many orcs left.
Yeon Mi-rae had no intention of stopping until she had killed all of those orcs.
“Alright. Then I’ll prepare dinner, so go play.”
“…Yes!”
Han Geon-woo said that and turned around while Yeon Mi-rae, who heard his words, became ecstatic.
She realized that she had been chosen by him, and that she had passed his test.
‘In the future too… I can feel this sensation?’
In the future too, she could use the internal energy he lent her.
The sensation of using aura.
Now that she knew something like this….
‘I don’t want to go back to the days when I had no power anymore.’
If only she could continue to have this power.
If only she could continue to feel this sensation.
She felt as if she could sell her soul to the devil if it could grant her this wish.
‘Even if the person who hired me, who gave me power, is a devil…’
She was prepared to follow him for the rest of her life.
The temptation of the power he had given her was sweet.
And she was fascinated by it.
‘Of course, there’s no way the person who saved Yeouido is a devil.’
She had already recognized that Han Geon-woo was the Artist.
Although she couldn’t properly recognize Han Geon-woo’s face because of his mask, the sword he swung and the stance he used when he swung it were definitely those of the savior of Yeouido, the Artist whom she had seen in the video.
Because he was the Artist who had saved people and had not wished for any reward…
There was no way such a person could be a devil.
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I looked at Yeon Mi-rae and thought.
‘As expected, a genius is different.’
A real genius, not a fake genius like me, was different.
‘Her stance when swinging and stabbing with the dagger… was frighteningly efficient.’
This wasn’t the future her who had become famous as the Sword Blossom while honing her technique.
She, who was still just a high school student, a mere sprout, had shown a technique that made even me marvel.
Of course, compared to the Yeon Mi-rae I knew before my regression, the one called Sword Blossom, there were still flaws to her technique.
‘There are still more than 10 years until she becomes the person I know.’
What would happen if she grew at this rate for the next 10 years?
While thinking that, a smile appeared on my face without me realizing it.
“I’m back.”
Yeon Mi-rae returned after slaughtering all the orcs.
Then, just as the internal energy I had lent her had also lost its power, the sword energy on her dagger disappeared, and….
“…Huh…?”
Yeon Mi-rae, whose strength had been drained from her entire body, also collapsed on the spot.
Although the internal energy had basically protected her body, in the first place, the internal energy I had infused into her came from the Divine Art of Harmony, which was tailored to me.
And the Divine Art of Harmony was a martial art that even I had postponed from learning until my body was somewhat able to handle it.
‘There’s no way Yeon Mi-rae’s body could withstand it.’
Although it was internal energy that I had refined so that her body could accept it…
Although it was internal energy that I had refined so that she couldn’t use it as she pleased…
Still, the burden must have been great.
“Well done.”
I said that to Yeon Mi-rae, who had an expression of not understanding why she had collapsed.
“You don’t seem to have the energy to speak, so just listen. You’ve accepted someone else’s aura and used it, so your whole body lost its strength once it’s gone. I controlled the aura and infused it into your body, so your internal organs won’t be damaged or anything.”
And besides…
“Since this is as good as exercising beyond your physical ability, you’ll definitely have severe muscle pain tomorrow. It might be to the point that it’ll be hard for you to even get out of bed for a day.”
“Ugh….”
She, who seemed to have not thought about muscle pain at all, frowned.
Well, she had to go to school tomorrow, so if she had muscle pain to the point of being unable to get up, it might interfere with her daily life.
“I’m willing to lend you my aura in the future too, but… in the end, it’s my aura, not yours, so you’ll continue to experience backlash like this. You don’t like this either, right?”
“…No. It’s… fine.”
At my words, Yeon Mi-rae opened her mouth with difficulty.
“The pain… I don’t mind…. If it’s the price… for this power….”
“Hmm….”
Did she think I wouldn’t lend her internal energy in the future if she said she didn’t like it?
That wasn’t my intention when I said that.
Thinking that, I decided to correct her misunderstanding.
“I was just about to ask you, how about you make your own aura instead of just borrowing it from me?”
“…Me… make aura…?”
“Yes. Your constitution… shall I treat it for you?”
“!”
At my words, Yeon Mi-rae looked at me with surprised eyes.
And then she asked with her eyes…
If I could really treat her.
‘Actually, I originally planned to bring it up after first slowly getting to know her over time, but….’
She was more cooperative than I thought, and she craved power more than I expected.
And she had a rough idea of how skilled I was too.
Seeing as she had recognized my sword and stance, there was a high possibility that she already knew that I was the Artist who was being talked about a lot recently.
And above all….
‘I know those eyes.’
The eyes that craved something.
The eyes of a mad person.
The eyes of a crazed fanatic who wanted to be loved by their god and would do anything to get it.
Right now, Yeon Mi-rae was no different from such a fanatic.
Except that the object of her faith was me.
‘The current her would believe me even if I said I could make soybean paste blocks out of red beans.’
No matter what request I made…
No matter how harsh my demand was, for power, she would accept it.
Realizing her state, I decided to move up the schedule a little.
“Of course, it requires preparation, so it’s difficult for me to do it right now… but I can treat your body as early as tomorrow.”
“……”
“What will you do? It might be difficult to trust me, whom you’ve only met for a day, but… won’t you let me try to treat you… just this once?”
Yeon Mi-rae, who heard my words, answered as if it were a matter of course.
“Of course… I accept.”
‘And I trust you.
I’ll believe anything you say.’
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T/N – Damn, that’s some religious zealot-level desperation right there. Can’t blame her though. It hits a lot harder to fall into poverty from a life of luxury than to live all your life being poor before suddenly becoming rich.
Also, Mi-rae’s fight in this chapter was probably the first one in this novel that went on for about half a chapter. Before this, most of the MC’s fights had been steamrolls that didn’t even last for more than 2-3 paragraphs. So, what did you think of it?
If you find any mistakes, feel free to point them out in the comments.
