Chapter 10
Debut Stage (4)
Jeong Hyeon-ah also dashed in immediately at her flesh and blood’s absurd, impulsive behavior.
And then, the enveloping flames.
However, there was nothing to fear. She already knew all too well that this fire would not inflict immediate harm.
The intense flames made one’s mind hazy, as if falling into a trance.
Nevertheless, Jeong Hyeon-ah recalled and chewed over the exact contents of the training she had previously received.
‘My name.’
What the Tower demanded was a name. Not a simple moniker, but a true name. Because of this, it was said that during the early days of the Tower, hunters who gave aliases or false names were stripped of their names, losing their sense of self and becoming slaves to the Tower.
Shhh.
Something began to crawl up before Jeong Hyeon-ah’s eyes.
Squirming and aligning its twisted joints much like an undead, the figure taking shape was none other than ‘herself’.
“You’re saying you are Jeong Hyeon-ah?”
It looked just like a doppelgänger that would appear somewhere in the Tower or a Gate, but senior hunters had concluded that this was not a magical beast.
It was a trial of the Tower.
Jeong Hyeon-ah suddenly recalled the memories of that day.
At that same time, Jeong Hyeon-su was also facing the exact same situation.
“Jeong Hyeon-su.”
The moment he stated his name, the surroundings began to be shrouded in black mist.
— Is that truly your name?
Stepping out from the darkness was none other than Jeong Hyeon-su himself, clad in a black cloak.
A King of the Night, exuding a far more savage, domineering aura while also hinting at a profound gloom.
The black-listed fugitive known as the Dark King. The enemy of the Association, called the worst criminal in history, questioned him.
— No, it isn’t. I am the real you.
From the Dark King’s eyes, memories of the past came flooding out.
The most horrific period of his life.
He had been expelled from the Association, and that very night, Garam was massacred by unidentified assailants claiming to be Hunter Knights sent down from the Hunter Association headquarters.
Jeong Hyeon-su had watched it all, utterly helpless, inside the stealth magic circle that Jeong Cheol had forcefully pushed him into.
— You’re a coward. You aren’t Jeong Hyeon-su, you’re a coward. You couldn’t do anything that day, could you? Right?
The Dark King regressed into a younger version, looking just like the current Jeong Hyeon-su staring into a mirror.
It was said that the 1st floor replicates one’s own trauma. Though his life was filled with many crises of life and death, and choices thrown away in error, by far the most horrific and regretful memory was himself on the day Garam collapsed.
“Saying I couldn’t do anything, you clearly don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jeong Hyeon-su calmly recalled that day.
“…In the midst of all that, I felt relieved that I alone had survived.”
Humans are selfish.
Watching the sacrifice of his family and the slaughter of his guild members, Jeong Hyeon-su had actually harbored such a thought. Then, shuddering with self-loathing, he fled while suffering from a burning fever.
Concealing himself in the underworld, the fugitive poster branded by the Association President hung closely behind him, and in that harsh world, the nineteen-year-old lived a life that was truly akin to hell.
Just to survive. Unable to even harbor the desire for revenge, Jeong Hyeon-su did not deny the memory of that day when he struggled desperately just to stay alive first.
He merely accepted it.
Standing in front of Jeong Hyeon-su were other versions of himself.
The nineteen-year-old Jeong Hyeon-su weeping tears of blood, the bottom-tier criminal from the early days of his flight, all the way up to the black-listed fugitive, the Dark King.
In front of these clones, Jeong Hyeon-su calmly assumed a martial stance.
— Are you going to fight back?
At the Dark King’s words, Jeong Hyeon-su merely focused his mana instead of answering.
The other clones did the same.
— Give up. There is absolutely no way for you to win.
In terms of sheer numbers, and even just catching a glimpse of the realm displayed by his future selves, he was at an overwhelming disadvantage.
— Surrender your name. Only I am worthy of it. — Hand it over, the name.
Looking at the clones exuding murderous intent, Jeong Hyeon-su simply smirked.
— You’re laughing? — Does laughter come to you right now?
In the first place, they weren’t even real clones.
It was merely the Tower’s low, vulgar testing ground.
Though he didn’t know how it was possible, it replicated a person’s trauma. It questioned one’s qualification to ascend the Tower.
If one uttered a false name or surrendered their name out of fear, from that moment on, that hunter would become a slave to the Tower.
A name is effectively one’s own symbol. It could be called a place that tests the pride one must not lose even in death.
He didn’t like the situation of being tested by the Tower. He was only playing along for a moment so that he could clear it eventually, eradicate it completely, and see the face of the bastard who plays toys with the world.
Boom!
A monstrous slash flew from the other side. Jeong Hyeon-su instantly rolled across the floor to evade the attack, and as he stood up, he grabbed the face of the nineteen-year-old Jeong Hyeon-su in front of him.
Mana condensed within his palm.
The power dwelling within it was not the Hwancheon True Qi. Instead of the Hwancheon True Qi, which was the most harmonious and flawless, it was the most domineering power among the Five Kings’ Martial Arts that he had been passed down by Jeong Cheol this time.
For Jeong Hyeon-su, this was simply an excellent stage to practically apply the Tyrant Emperor Qi.
Crush!
The concentrated, destructive power of the Tyrant Emperor Qi instantly shattered the head.
Without a moment’s delay, Jeong Hyeon-su launched an attack toward the next target.
Boom!
The place his fist directed was none other than his clone that looked to be in his late twenties.
“Hand that over, you punk.”
The heavily concentrated power of the Tyrant Emperor Qi released in a single flash. The subtle yellow aura of the fluid Hwancheon True Qi coiled like a snake, wrapping around the arm of the twenty-something Jeong Hyeon-su.
— Foolish. Do you think that will be possible?
The twenty-something clone attempted to counter the situation.
Objectively speaking, the clone that had survived for ten years in the harsh world of a fugitive was naturally superior in power.
However, the current regressed Jeong Hyeon-su possessed an asset the twenty-something did not: experience.
Jeong Hyeon-su’s precise mana manipulation and physical control—having caught a glimpse of the absolute realm—were several steps above his twenty-something years.
Predicting the twenty-something clone’s counter-attack as it drove a knee upward to tear him away, Jeong Hyeon-su merely tilted his chin slightly to let the attack slide past, simultaneously succeeding in wresting away the weapon.
Following that, he naturally switched his output back to the Tyrant Emperor Qi and brought the greatsword slamming down.
Crack!
Watching him eliminate two clones in the blink of an eye, the clone from his Dark King days opened its mouth.
— Do you think anything changes just because you do that?
Jeong Hyeon-su grinned broadly at the Dark King.
“Of course it changes, you punk.”
It was an overwhelming clone that had reached the absolute realm. However, while that would be despairing if they were fighting a genuine, single-bout life-and-death duel, no matter how dangerous this place looked, it was ultimately just the 1st floor of the Tower.
“As long as I don’t forget the absolute premise, you can’t do anything to me.”
As long as he did not give up his name, as long as he kept that pride alive, he would absolutely never die on the 1st floor of the Tower.
Which meant…
“Where else could you find a training ground as good as this?”
What could be more inspiring than sparring with myself who has reached the absolute realm?
As always, a shift in perspective was necessary.
Jeong Hyeon-su pushed his Tyrant Emperor Qi to its absolute limit and charged like a madman toward the clone from his Dark King days.
Bang!
Naturally, he was ended in a single blow.
No matter what he tried, he wouldn’t be able to surpass this single strike.
Even so, there was naturally something he could do.
What must one do when pushed to the absolute limit? Specifically, devising various ways to cope utilizing the Tyrant Emperor Qi.
How could he possibly miss such a great opportunity to turn that conception into reality?
Compensating for weaknesses. Strengthening strong points.
In a field where everything was possible, Jeong Hyeon-su, having tasted the extreme agony of his torso below the neck being blown away by the Dark King, simply shook his head once and charged again.
— You are a lunatic.
“This is who I am.”
His arm was severed, his upper body blown away entirely.
An one-sided situation continued where his legs were cut off and his head destroyed.
Yet, it was not meaningless.
Every single real battle.
The precision of his Tyrant Emperor Qi’s manipulation grew through the combat instincts honed by surviving ruthless life-and-death struggles against an overwhelmingly powerful foe where death was guaranteed.
Within that, Jeong Hyeon-su plunged straight into the merciless Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Dance displayed by the Dark King.
A slash flying in at a monstrous speed that the eyes could not follow.
‘Slow.’
Yet, he felt it was still far from enough.
To strike off Seonwoo Hyeon’s neck, completely blow away the Three Disasters, and further move forward to face the Master of the Tower above them, this was insufficient.
Supplementation and improvement.
Along with his deliberations on the matter, Jeong Hyeon-su stubbornly took the attack.
His waist bent at a right angle. The sensation of his spine snapping completely. Amidst the feeling of losing all sensation in his lower body, he utilized that very recoil to move his still-living upper body.
Slash.
It was an attack made possible because he was facing ‘himself’. With Jeong Hyeon-su’s smile at succeeding to cut the very edge of the clothing, the system’s notification sound rang out.
In an instant, a colossal presence was felt.
A distinctive gaze looking down from above scanned him.
An overwhelming presence that made a split second feel like an eternity.
‘Did something like this ever happen before?’
Even in his past life, he had never seen a message of this nature.
In particular, no one had ever explained a situation like this where someone devised a training method utilizing their own clone on the 1st floor.
Since it was information he had extracted through direct torture from a vicious, black-listed fugitive, there was no way the man had lied.
“What?”
A curse naturally slipped from Jeong Hyeon-su’s mouth.
“Hey, you bastards! Who gave you permission!”
The status window naturally floated up before Jeong Hyeon-su’s eyes.
Name: Jeong Hyeon-su
Stats: Vitality (15), Strength (13), Dexterity (15), Mental Strength (32), Endurance (18)
Skills: Five Kings’ Martial Arts – Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Dance (4-Star), Hwancheon True Qi (10-Star), Tyrant Emperor Qi (8-Star)
“…Ahem!”
Thanks to repeating numerous deaths and sustaining injuries, his Vitality had risen by 4.
His Strength and Dexterity—which corresponded to agility or reflexes—had also surged due to receiving the system level correction from facing the Dark King, who was in the absolute realm.
Through enduring countless deaths and challenging again, his Mental Strength had literally gone through the roof. And from watching the Five Kings’ Martial Arts with his own eyes, striving to unravel it, his Heavenly Tyrant Ghost King Dance had reached 4-Star while his Tyrant Emperor Qi had jumped to a staggering 8-Star.
“No, even so.”
Even during that interval, Jeong Hyeon-su, who was trying to land one more blow on the Dark King, ended up being swallowed alive by the spatial magic circle that materialized between the two.
It was called a clear, but it somehow felt like being kicked out.
