Chapter 8
Debut Stage (2)
Jeong Hyeon-soo had already been suspended from school, and he didn’t harbor a single shred of lingering attachment toward the Cradle.
If there were something to be gained from it, that might be a different story. But he had no intention of voluntarily wading into a petty political arena crawling with greenhorns, so Hyeon-soo focused solely on his training.
Currently, he was balancing atop a specially fabricated medicine ball, holding up a heavy barbell.
High-weight strength training was essential, but a Hunter needed a physical body that lacked for absolutely nothing.
They had to unleash explosive power in an instant, react with unparalleled flexibility depending on the situation, and possess the underlying stamina to drag out a fight more tenaciously than anyone else.
For that reason, one’s physical condition always had to be pushed to the absolute peak—to the very limit.
‘Half-baked, self-satisfying training and relying solely on the Tower’s rewards won’t cut it.’
The rewards from the Tower or Gates certainly made a Hunter stronger, but one shouldn’t depend on them entirely.
Rewards were just a bonus. The body forged through insane grit, alongside the agony and refinement of one’s own techniques, created a massive chasm in strength even between Hunters of the same rank.
There was a reason why high-class Hunters gritted their teeth and threw themselves into private training the higher they climbed.
And the most critical period wasn’t after gaining all that knowledge at a lofty realm; it was the very moment one took their first step.
‘I suppose you could call this a stroke of good luck.’
Amazingly, that was exactly the position Jeong Hyeon-soo found himself in.
Though he was nineteen years old, his past laziness combined with a lack of talent meant he had barely performed any actual refinement.
In particular, his state regarding mana was worse than miserable—it was practically at a beginner’s level—meaning he was essentially starting over.
He was now able to perfectly forge the foundation—the very thing everyone always regretted neglecting, and the reason why they said a good start is half the battle.
What’s more, he was doing it based on his experience of having reached the SSS-rank!
Rumble!
Following his heavy strength training, Hyeon-soo completed a grueling sprint-based endurance routine before picking up a massive greatsword resting in the training room.
Whoosh!
As the greatsword cleaved downward from above, the muscles in his arms and legs screamed in sheer agony.
Countless weapons existed in the world, and the arms that suited or were preferred by individuals varied wildly.
Hyeon-soo preferred heavy, unyielding weapons. And since a weapon needed to have an edge, it was only natural that he chose a greatsword.
The inherent destructive power a heavy weapon possessed, combined with his own physical conditioning and various rewards, would allow him to swing it even faster. Once mastered, it truly became the king of all weapons.
“Phew, phew!”
The secret to why he had been called the King of Night was actually quite simple: he had trained his body to the absolute limit to swing the heaviest greatsword faster than anyone else.
Right then, sensing a presence approaching, Hyeon-soo halted his ongoing training.
“Eat your food before you train.”
It was Jeong Cheol.
“You’re here, Father?”
Jeong Cheol silently stared down at Hyeon-soo, who responded with complete composure.
His face was deathly pale, and his entire body was drenched in sweat. Droplets of sweat trickled down his hands.
His hands, lacking sufficient conditioning to endure the greatsword, were mangled and bloodied. Seeing his muscles occasionally spasm, it was clear he was pushing his body to the absolute brink.
“Have you abandoned the path of pursuing absolute speed (Chae) to break through via the pinnacle of absolute weight (Joong)?”
Jeong Cheol accurately discerned exactly what Hyeon-soo was aiming for just by looking at his training environment.
‘As expected of the leader of one of the top ten guilds. Quite the sharp eye.’
Back when he was filled with nothing but superficial vanity, Hyeon-soo had pursued a fast, flashy sword.
“If you swing it fast, it becomes speed; if it’s heavy and strong, it becomes weight; and if you add destructive power, doesn’t it become supremacy (Pae)?”
Hyeon-soo believed that direction was determined solely by the wielder’s capability, rather than being dictated by the weight of the weapon itself.
A faint smile flickered across the corners of Jeong Cheol’s lips before vanishing.
“Correct. The mindset is what matters. And while that intent is important, maintaining it is the truly difficult part.” “Indeed.”
Looking at his son’s reply, Jeong Cheol clicked his tongue.
“If you want to maintain it, eat first. You’re going to collapse at this rate.”
Hyeon-soo was clearly overexerting himself. Jeong Cheol knew it, and Hyeon-soo knew it too.
However, knowing that such a period was bound to come if one wanted to make up for lost time, Jeong Cheol did not stop him.
In times like this, one needed to eat better and make their rest as dense and efficient as possible. Focusing entirely on training instead of wasting time on other useless things was the best and most optimal path.
“I was just about to do that.”
Then, an unexpected situation arose.
“…Are you eating with me?” “What’s wrong with me eating food in my own house?” “No, nothing’s wrong with it.” “If you hate eating with your father that much, just say so.” “I told you, that’s not it.”
It was just awkward.
Reflecting on it for a moment, how long had it been since he had sat down with his father like this to eat a home-cooked meal?
Fitting for a family that practiced martial arts, the table was Feast-like. The father and son devoured the food at a terrifying pace.
“…Once your suspension is lifted, fulfill your duties as a cadet faithfully.” “Actually, I had something to tell you regarding that.” “Speak.” “I don’t plan on going back to the Cradle.”
Clack.
Jeong Cheol instantly lost his appetite.
Just when he thought his son had finally gotten his act together and cleared his mind, the boy was now claiming he wouldn’t attend the school he had been enrolled in.
“Wait, don’t get ready to throw that spoon at me. Honestly, looking at my current realm in the Heaven-Reversing True Qi, is there any reason for me to go there and waste my time?” “You lack social skills. There are definitely things you need to learn by meeting people there. Furthermore, the instructors at the Cradle are excellent Hunters.”
It was a reasonably agreeable point. The instructors at the Cradle were indeed talented in their own right.
But no matter how outstanding they were, could they possibly possess greater skill, experience, and knowledge regarding the Tower and Gates than Jeong Hyeon-soo?
‘If they did, they would have been the ones to take down the Devouring Explosive Dragon and the Colossus King.’
To save Garam, clear the final floor of the Tower, and give the Association President a taste of living hell, every single day was precious.
“Give me a chance to prove it. If I bring back results that convince you I have no need for the Cradle, won’t that suffice?” “And if you fail?” “I’ll do whatever you tell me to do without a single complaint.” “Fine. Then you will get engaged immediately next year.”
Hyeon-soo, who was drinking a protein shake to wash down his meal, suddenly choked.
“Cough! Cough! What?!” “Since you’ve cleared your mind, establishing a family will give you more responsibility and maturity.” “No, Father, what on earth are you talking about?!” “You set a condition, so I set one as well. Even as a father, I can’t always make a losing deal, can I?”
Jeong Cheol was essentially telling him to either succeed or go back to the Cradle. Seeing how his father simply expected him to prove it if he didn’t like the terms—a thought process typical of the Jeong family—Hyeon-soo couldn’t help but find it amusing.
‘Bloodlines really don’t lie…’
However, Jeong Cheol’s pressure didn’t stop there.
“I will choose the stage for your proof. Soon, the rookies of our guild will ascend the Tower for the first time.”
Hyeon-soo’s eyes flashed.
How could he not know about this?
It was the rookie debut match that took place during this exact period, amidst a chaotic atmosphere where he was treated as the bastard destroying the guild.
It was a conquest that drew massive attention as a battleground for the prospects who would shape the future, with five of the top ten guilds participating.
The problem was that Garam had recorded the lowest performance there due to a disaster encountered by force majeure, compounded by the trouble her eldest brother had caused.
And beyond that, there was another reason he had to go.
‘The Seed of the Supreme Ruler.’
It was a golden chance to acquire a legendary-grade item.
Hyeon-soo immediately ripped off a front leg from the whole roasted pig on the table and stood up.
“Then I don’t have time to be sitting around like this. For the time being, even meals…” “Eat your meals here. Sitting at the same table and sharing food is what makes us family.” “Yes…” “Aren’t you curious about who you’re getting engaged to?”
At Jeong Cheol’s words, Hyeon-soo let out a smirk.
“No matter who it is, I have no intention of getting engaged. My apologies.”
Watching Hyeon-soo turn around and leave, Jeong Cheol fell into thought.
There was definitely a change.
As a father, seeing that alone was incredibly encouraging. Jeong Cheol simply hoped that Hyeon-soo would completely lock in his determination through this opportunity.
Returning to the training room once more, Hyeon-soo faced something new.
“This is…”
It seemed the old butler had stopped by in the meantime; the training room had been cleaned, and a single book was resting atop a table in the corner.
‘The Rule of Heaven!’
One of the five divine arts of the Five Kings’ Martial Arts.
It was the undisputed strongest martial art, awakened, practiced, and thoroughly synthesized by Hyeon-soo’s great-grandfather, who had been chosen by the five kings exiled from the Netherworld.
In his past life, Hyeon-soo had challenged the world’s absolute peak with only the Heaven-Reversing True Qi and the Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Dance.
And now, he was encountering the second absolute technique: The Rule of Heaven.
How bitterly had he regretted the absence of The Rule of Heaven, which boasted the absolute best compatibility with the Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Dance?
He had hoped for a call from the Five Kings just like his great-grandfather had received, but the Five Kings had remained perpetually silent to him, causing him plenty of despair and frustration.
But it didn’t matter now. The secret manual for The Rule of Heaven, which would quench that thirst, was sitting right there in front of him.
There were multiple ways to inherit a technique.
It could be immediately absorbed via a skill book, or it could be learned step-by-step through enlightenment and oral mnemonics.
And looking toward the future, the latter was overwhelmingly superior.
His experience proved it.
While a skill book allowed for immediate acquisition, it bypassed the necessary agony of practicing it and the process of remodeling it to perfectly suit oneself.
Hyeon-soo knew all too well that true enlightenment and heights of power came from agony, effort, and trial and error.
Hence, he deeply preferred this method of building from the ground up.
The forgotten king of the Netherworld who wielded The Rule of Heaven—often called the Heavenly Ruler True Demon—was an individual who pursued the absolute amplification of pure physical force to its extreme limit.
He had heard that The Rule of Heaven, when resonating with the Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Dance, could generate vibrational shockwaves purely from physical force to completely neutralize an opponent’s absolute defense. This would serve as a perfect countermeasure against Seonu Hyun’s barrier magic.
Not only that, it would be incredibly useful for breaking through the scales of the Devouring Explosive Dragon and matching the overwhelming raw strength of the Colossus King.
‘Gather the ten thousand energies to make them heavy, and achieve full concentration. Regulate the breath, steel the blood and flesh, and let the breath settle like stone…’
Crush, suppress, pulverize, shatter.
Trample upon the heavens.
All energy becomes weight.
Hyeon-soo slowly gathered that energy and roughly condensed it.
His twisted blood and flesh turned into steel, and he had to infuse a force so heavy that even his breath settled down like stone.
Mashing, suppressing, and crushing.
BOOM!
The unleashed force would ultimately trample even upon the heavens.
The shockwave discharged into the empty air struck the training dummy situated in the center of the room.
Looking at the dummy, whose chest was deeply caved in, Hyeon-soo grumbled.
“Still a long way to go.”
[You have learned The Rule of Heaven!]
Though he had initiated entry into the skill, a distant road of endless, repetitive practice was the only way to make it viable in real combat.
[Name: Jeong Hyeon-soo] [Stats: Vitality (11), Strength (7), Agility (5), Mental Strength (12), Endurance (8)] [Skills: Five Kings’ Martial Arts – Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Dance (2-Star), Heaven-Reversing True Qi (10-Star), The Rule of Heaven (1-Star)]
Excluding meal times, he even slept inside the training room. In that manner, two weeks quickly flowed by.
Finally, the day arrived for the rookies of five out of the top ten guilds to ascend the Tower and clash in competition.
