Chapter 221 – 221. 무저갱
#221. The Bottomless Pit
After the parade, I returned home and immediately headed next door.
I had signed the contract for it the day before yesterday, intending to use it as a training room, but it was too small to train properly, so I would have to move to another place soon.
I sat cross-legged in the middle of the empty living room, without any luggage, and took out the martial arts manual of ‘Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art (赤雲翻雷功).’
[Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art (赤雲翻雷功)
Rank: Unique
A unique martial art created by Blood Cloud Thunder King (血雲雷王) Peng Yu-gang. When it reaches its peak, crimson clouds cover the sky and thunder overturns the earth. It is a thunder art that controls immense thunderous energy, and if a person without talent attempts to learn it, their dantian will burn.]
“A Unique-ranked martial art, huh…”
I didn’t know the exact rank of the Supreme Vajra Body, but the Unique rank itself wasn’t common.
I could have some expectations.
I opened the martial arts manual and began to read the key formulas. Except for the occasional illustrations, it was full of Chinese characters, but I had no trouble reading it.
It didn’t even take five minutes to memorize everything.
However, with martial arts, it was important to understand and internalize the key formulas, not just memorize them.
“Crimson clouds obscure the sun, mountains, and rivers darken (赤雲蔽日山河暗), thunder shakes heaven and earth, startling the cold (翻雷震天地驚寒)… is that it?”
The talent required for that was called Comprehension, or otherwise known as understanding or thinking ability.
I had never felt lacking in Comprehension until now.
Although the app’s buff was limited to magical knowledge, thanks to the mana circle, I could understand almost anything immediately after reading it.
It felt like I had several supercomputers in my head.
But after obtaining the ‘Formless Limbs (無相肢體)’ a while ago, I realized that I had been complacent with mediocre talent until now.
If I hadn’t obtained the Formless Limbs, I would still be stuck at the 2-star level of the Supreme Vajra Body.
And it would have taken me quite a while to master the Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art.
I quietly closed my eyes.
‘Heaven and earth resound with thunder, crimson clouds shatter (天地雷聲赤雲破), thousands of mountains and ridges, shadows about to sink (千山萬嶺影欲沉).’
I repeated the key formulas in my mind and focused on circulating my energy.
Basically, you can’t learn multiple internal energy cultivation methods, but the Supreme Vajra Body pursues the harmony of all natural energies.
Embracing the Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art containing thunderous energy, I made room for it in a corner of my dantian.
Crackle-
It was a strange feeling.
It was definitely lightning, but it was different from the lightning element I had and the thunderous energy of the Supreme Vajra Body.
It was a much rougher and more violent energy.
‘Thunder that overturns heaven and earth, huh…’
Thunderclap (翻雷), there couldn’t be a more fitting name.
The acupoints all over my body tingled as if static electricity was running through them, but the pain subsided as Vajra energy circulated through the Eight Extraordinary Meridians, excluding the Governing and Conception Vessels.
The intervals between my inhalations and exhalations gradually lengthened.
As my consciousness sank, I observed myself, forgetting the passage of time. I suppressed the wildly raging thunder with Vajra energy and pounded it down, as if tenderizing meat with a hammer.
Tzzzzz-
Red thunder energy sparked around my body as if making a final resistance.
But that was only for a moment, and soon the tamed lightning permeated into my dantian. It was a different feeling from absorbing natural mana and converting it into magical power.
Thump-
The tamed Crimson Cloud Thunder Energy (赤雲雷氣) settled in a corner of my dantian.
With this, I had achieved the 1-star level of the Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art.
But I didn’t stop there.
If the 1-star level of the Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art was simply containing lightning, the 2-star level would allow me to manipulate the thunderous energy, even if only slightly.
Of course, it wasn’t easy.
Even with the martial arts manual, progress would be slow without a teacher to guide me. Just like how it’s difficult to get into medical school with only textbooks.
But what made it possible was overwhelming talent.
“Hoo…”
I let out a heavy breath and opened my eyes.
The sunlight coming through the window made my head turn towards the clock.
8 a.m. I had been doing this since 10 p.m., so it had been about 10 hours.
‘No wonder I feel stiff.’
I lightly stretched my body and reconfirmed the achievements I had made last night.
Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art 3-star.
If someone else heard this, they would be shocked and say it was impossible, but I already vaguely knew that the Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art was a lower-ranked martial art than the Supreme Vajra Body.
If I had a few more days, I could have even reached 4-star.
Crackle-
Red lightning sparked on my palm.
The power itself was definitely considerable, but the problem was that it was even more difficult to control than the lightning element.
‘Well… does it even matter?’
The reason I learned the Crimson Cloud Thunderclap Art in the first place was to become familiar with the sensation of handling lightning.
It’s better to have something definitely difficult than something mediocre.
I could spend the rest of the day training, but I had something else to do.
After washing up in the bathroom, I returned home.
“Oh? Master.”
Noel and Master were sitting side by side on the living room sofa. It was an unfamiliar sight.
A drama that was popular these days was playing on the TV screen.
“Is your training over?”
Noel came to my side and hugged me as usual. Abundant skinship was one of her identities.
Master was standing behind Noel, glancing at me from time to time. Her reaction was a bit different from before, which was a little strange.
She would have hit me on the head with a wooden sword before.
I think her personality has changed a bit since she fainted.
In a positive direction, of course.
“I’m just kidding.”
I went into my room, sprawled on the bed, and took out my phone.
[Would you like to proceed with matching?]
[Y/N]
Actually, I wasn’t planning on matching so soon. I was going to focus on increasing my martial arts achievements through training for the time being, and visit the Magic Tower to find clues for the 5th Circle.
But after meeting the National Intelligence Service agent at the amusement park, I realized once again.
In unexpected situations, it was ultimately my own martial prowess that protected me.
‘I need to move diligently to meet Yeo-hwa.’
Besides, seeing the ‘Thousand Flower Moon Shadow Sword’ I bought from the store this time kept reminding me of Chun Yeo-hwa, so I couldn’t stay still.
I had to become strong enough to deal with that crazy old man to see her again.
Based on my experiences so far, the fastest way to become stronger was ultimately through new matching.
A new world.
A new encounter.
In the meantime, I had been rapidly growing stronger by crossing the line between life and death in life-or-death battles.
Of course, I couldn’t guarantee that such a thing would happen in this matching as well, but it was worth a shot.
I pressed the accept button.
Ding-
[Thank you for using our app. Please complete the survey before proceeding with the matching.]
[Preferred race]
[Preferred gender]
[Preferred age range]
·
·
·
A screen I hadn’t seen in a while popped up.
I could just set it to human, 20s, and someone moderately normal like last time, but the purpose of this matching was practical combat.
It would be better to set a slightly wider range.
This time, instead of selecting a specific race, I excluded races that were outside my defensive range, like the Fishmen.
Of course, the gender was fixed to female.
But there was a slight problem with the age range.
‘If I had fixed it to 20s, I wouldn’t have met Iris…’
Unless I fixed the race to human, I couldn’t think of the age range based on human standards.
The world is wide, and there are many long-lived races.
But if I didn’t set an age limit, the worst could happen.
“…If I don’t set an age range, I’m not going to get matched with an old lady with wrinkles on her face, am I?”
Ding-
[Our app prioritizes the customer’s preferences.]
Phew.
I set the age to 20s or older. Even so, I couldn’t do teens.
I only set the hobbies and tendencies to filter out landmines. Why is cannibalism even a hobby?
[Thank you for your cooperation.]
[Matching will proceed shortly.]
[Please note that matching may take some time.]
[Matching in progress…]
Ding-
[Matching complete.]
[Moving to planet DXQ-59.]
***
The surrounding air changed.
I carefully opened my eyes, but I couldn’t see anything.
It was too dark.
Tap tap.
I tapped the floor with the tip of my shoe, and felt a smooth texture like marble. It wasn’t a natural cave.
‘Where’s my match?’
[Light]
When I used magic, a glowing ball of light appeared and illuminated the surroundings.
I couldn’t help but be surprised as I looked around.
In the distance, there was a huge temple and an unknown statue behind it.
‘I guessed it wouldn’t be an ordinary cave, but…’
This was beyond that.
The statue alone looked to be at least 20 meters tall.
I could see something like wings behind the statue, but it didn’t seem to be a beastman. Judging by the halo above its head, it seemed to be an angel.
I was distracted by the enormous scale of the structure for a moment, but I instinctively felt that I had to go inside the temple.
It felt like my match would be there.
Even when I used mana detection, it didn’t reach inside the temple. Some kind of wave seemed to be interfering with the magic. The same was true for my senses.
With no choice, I cautiously entered the temple.
Ding-
「You have entered the 6th basement level, the Bottomless Pit (無底坑).」
At that moment, a screen I had never seen before obscured my vision.
It wasn’t a notification from the dating app.
「Initial entry reward will be paid… Error, error, error, error, error, error.」
「Player qualification not verified.」
「Constellation access restricted area.」
「Penalty will be imposed if you do not leave the area.」
This time, a bright red screen popped up.
It was like seeing a computer infected with a virus. Fortunately, I could drag it away with my hand.
I moved back inside the temple. The interior was dark, but I didn’t feel any presence.
Still, I didn’t let my guard down just in case and looked around.
I wandered around the temple for nearly 30 minutes, but all I found was a staircase leading down to the basement.
I had followed a single path, so there was no way I could have missed anything.
This was a strange place. There were no monsters or even traps. It was literally empty.
I felt uneasy, but even if something happened, I could unconsciously use ‘Thought Acceleration,’ so I wasn’t too worried.
I went down the stairs.
For a long time.
‘…It’s damn deep.’
I felt like I knew what the Bottomless Pit mentioned in the notification earlier was referring to. It reminded me of the underground dungeon of the World Tree.
No, it felt even worse than that.
How much time had passed?
It felt like about 3 hours had passed before the stairs ended.
And in front of it was a corridor with a high ceiling that you had to look up to see. Fortunately, the corridor itself wasn’t very long.
I was able to reach the huge stone door beyond the corridor in 20 minutes.
Tap tap.
I tapped it with the back of my hand, but it didn’t seem to have any traps or locks.
Instead, it was ridiculously large and thick. It probably weighed at least several thousand kilos.
Moreover, the structure was designed so that if I broke it, the ceiling would collapse.
I didn’t know who made it, but I could feel the blatant malice.
‘Is it a tomb or something?’
Well, it didn’t matter.
In the end, I just had to not break it.
Woo-
I concentrated mana on my fingertips and extracted it like a laser.
It would be better than most industrial laser cutters.
Squeak-
I carefully made a hole in the stone door so that the ceiling wouldn’t collapse. As expected, the door was at least 1.5 meters thick.
The moment I went inside, a musty smell stung my nose. It felt like I would get a lung disease if I stayed there for too long, as it hadn’t been ventilated for a very long time.
I used several Light spells to float around like lights.
“This is…”
There weren’t just one or two of the winged statues I saw from above, but dozens of them lined up on both sides.
And beyond that, I felt a presence in a place where the light didn’t reach.
“…Who is it?”
A voice filled with intense killing intent echoed, and a purple glow flickered from beyond the darkness.
Ding-
[The romance consulting curriculum will proceed.]
[Analyzing the target’s tendencies.]
[Analyzing…]
[Analysis complete]
[Name: Lucifer
Age: ???
Race: Fallen Angel
Affiliation: DXQ-59
Occupation: None
Tendencies: Anxiety, Revenge, Perfectionism, Stubbornness, Faithfulness]
