Into the Creations 2368

Chapter 2368 – 2368. Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting

I returned to Nakwol Mountain with the Taesan Simbyeol’s shell.

Next to the mansion on Nakwol Mountain was Yang Hongye’s smithy, with smoke constantly rising from the chimney. Thanks to the barrier set up by Miryeong, no noise could be heard.

I entered the smithy. Yang Hongye was expressionlessly hammering Storm Breaker. She wasn’t forging it; she was just hammering it.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m checking the metal’s durability and recovery. I’ve figured out the durability to some extent… but the recovery is inconsistent.”

“Isn’t Storm Breaker’s recovery the same?”

“It seems like it at a glance. It varies slightly depending on the degree and cause of the damage. Cuts and breaks recover quickly, but crushed parts recover a bit slower.”

Did Storm Breaker have such characteristics? It was new information to me.

“I brought the Taesan Simbyeol’s shell.”

“Just leave it around there.”

“If I put it here, the smithy will explode, you know?”

Her hammer stopped.

“…How much did you bring? You didn’t kill it, did you?”

“I killed it.”

“…Ah, okay. You didn’t really need to kill it. Well, whatever. Just leave it outside or put it on the table in its spatial container.”

I casually placed the spatial container on the table and asked,

“How long will it take to enhance Storm Breaker?”

“Hmm, three years?”

“That’s too long.”

“Storm Breaker isn’t a magical artifact; it’s more like a magical treasure. And not just any magical treasure. If it were being made from scratch, it would take at least ten more years. Just wait patiently. It’s only three years anyway.”

Only three years.

I briefly forgot the concept of time in this world. For her and me, who have lived for hundreds of years after reaching enlightenment, three years wasn’t a long time.

‘Should I use auto-progression?’

I started auto-progression appropriately and began training myself. I also had a spiritual medicine that would help with training. It was the inner core I obtained from killing the Taesan Simbyeol.

I went under the Bodhi tree and sat in a lotus position. It was quite helpful when circulating energy here. In terms of efficiency, it was more than double. Meditation also went well. This probably wasn’t just my imagination.

‘Evil arts like demonic techniques are less efficient here… but it’s fine when training the Lightning Heaven Style.’

I took out the Taesan Simbyeol’s inner core. It was originally larger than my body, but with the help of Wiyu, I compressed its energy to the size of my thumb.

Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, Earth.

The five representative energies. Commonly known as the Five Elements Theory. Of course, these aren’t the only energies in this world. They are just the most common.

‘The Taesan Simbyeol has the energies of Metal and Earth. Among them, Earth makes up more than 80%.’

Lightning energy wasn’t compatible with Earth energy. Moreover, the inner core of a monster, not a spiritual beast, wasn’t compatible with humans.

‘I can only absorb about 20% of this core at best.’

It would be more profitable to find a suitable monster and trade it. The problem was that most monsters were poor, and there were few monsters who traded with humans.

‘Well, this is also an experience.’

I swallowed the inner core.

A fishy taste lingered in my mouth. A sticky energy burst inside my body.

I chanted the Lightning Heaven Knot, purifying the demonic energy. There was a limit. I didn’t cling to it and exhaled the demonic energy through my breath. The Eight Extraordinary Meridians were activated. I gradually felt my consciousness rising.

There was a wall. It was blocking me. It was impossible to go around or jump over it. I knew that I had to break this wall to move forward.

Bang!

I punched the wall with all my strength. The wall didn’t budge. This time, I infused lightning energy into my fist and swung it.

Wham!

The wall was still intact.

I didn’t get discouraged. It didn’t matter if I failed. There would be plenty of opportunities in the future.

Some say that desperation is important… but desperation isn’t the only answer.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I just kept hitting the wall relentlessly. How many thousands of times did I hit it? Finally, the wall cracked. I was almost there.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Crack.

A hole was made in the wall. I looked beyond the hole. There was a pure white space with nothing in it.

Rumble.

The broken wall collapsed, and my consciousness returned to its original place.

I opened my eyes and got up with a short breath. I had become stronger than before by breaking through one wall.

I jumped from the first stage of the Three Purities to the third stage, skipping the second stage.

‘The other women are busy, and I’ve set up a training routine… should I just turn on auto-progression?’

• • •

Three years of auto-progression.

Storm Breaker’s enhancement wasn’t completed. It was because Miryeong had gained enlightenment and dropped out while she and Yang Hongye were researching Storm Breaker. Unfortunately, she didn’t reach the realm of harmony.

Instead, her tail had increased by one, making it six.

“Husband! I’ve developed a new technique that will help you! You’ll really like it.”

“A technique that will help me?”

“Yes! It’s a technique that appears in the original Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting! It’s called the Time Flow Spirit Guide!”

I couldn’t help but be surprised.

The Time Flow Spirit Guide was a divine technique that appeared in the mid-to-late part of the original story, and it had the ability to accelerate time. To be precise, it created a small barrier and accelerated the time within it. The original protagonist learned this divine technique and used it frequently.

“If you really succeeded in the Time Flow Spirit Guide… that’s amazing. I can enhance a lot of things.”

The biggest drawback of the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting, which could enhance anything, was the time it took. Now that this problem was solved… I could enhance many things.

‘If I enhance cola or cider, they’ll taste better. How delicious would my fried rice be if I enhanced it?’

My mouth was already watering.

“Are you enhancing the Cloud Control Token right now? I’ll help you. But can you lend me the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting?”

“The Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting? Is there something you want to enhance?”

“I want to put talismans and magical artifacts into the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting to research enhanced techniques.”

“Okay, I’ll lend it to you.”

I could trust Miryeong, so I could lend it to her.

Even if you put the same item into the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting, the time and results would vary. It wouldn’t be different for techniques contained in talismans. It would probably help Miryeong in many ways.

“Okay, let’s start.”

Miryeong took out a box from the spatial container. It was a plain-looking wooden box. But if you focused on it, it felt somewhat mysterious.

“It’s a box to limit the barrier. It’s a kind of auxiliary tool. Now, you can put the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting in here.”

I reverse-summoned the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting, a painting depicting mountains, sky, clouds, and light, and summoned it in front of me. By the way, the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting was kept in my room in Wiyu’s mansion. It wouldn’t activate if it was kept in an inventory or spatial container.

I put the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting inside the wooden box.

Miryeong additionally put one Heavenly Jade into the box, closed the lid, and began chanting a spell. The mysterious energy emanating from the wooden box intensified.

“Okay, done. Unlike the Time Flow Spirit Guide in the original story, the efficiency isn’t good. In the original story, one Heavenly Jade could accelerate half a shichen, or one hour, to ten years… but this can only accelerate it by three years.”

“It’s still something that can accelerate time.”

One hour later. I opened the lid of the box. The Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting was still enhancing the Cloud Control Token. The Heavenly Jade that was put in had disappeared without a trace.

Miryeong put in one Heavenly Jade and used the Time Flow Spirit Guide again.

After another twelve hours, the enhancement was completed. The Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting had accelerated time by 39 years.

I took the enhanced Cloud Control Token out of the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting.

It was a dodecagonal azure metal plate. Its appearance hadn’t changed. But the mysteriousness it exuded was much greater.

I held the metal plate in my hand and activated it, and the corners of my mouth curled up. I naturally knew what I could do with the Cloud Control Token.

‘I can not only control clouds to create rain and lightning, but also snow and hail. I can control water and wind. The essence of clouds is water, so it’s not surprising. I can even freeze water, though the efficiency isn’t good. What’s unexpected is that I can control wind.’

I didn’t even need to hold it in my hand. I could use the Cloud Control Token’s abilities just by having it on my body.

I put the Cloud Control Token in my pocket and spread my palm. Wind gathered and formed a sphere.

“Rasengan!!”

I threw the compressed wind in my hand at a nearby tree. Bang! The tree exploded.

“Ah, I’ll borrow the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting.”

Miryeong disappeared with the Gwangmyeong Ascension Painting. Regardless, I focused on my new power.

“Subduing Demon Amulet!”

Hundreds of sword winds raged, cutting everything around me. I was no exception. But since I had wrapped my body in protective energy, I wasn’t hurt. Sword winds without even a hint of sword energy couldn’t pierce my protective energy.

‘Unlike lightning, controlling wind isn’t easy. Hmm. What should I try next? Should I try making a tornado?’

Thanks to my experience with controlling lightning, I could control wind reasonably well, but I was severely lacking in detail. It would take quite a while to get used to it.

“……”

A chill.

I felt a gaze. I paused and turned around.

Wiyu was there. She was looking at me with cold, sunken eyes. She was holding a sword in her hand.

“M, Master…!”

“I told you to train in the training grounds… It seems you were so eager to train that you didn’t even have time to go to the training grounds. I appreciate your enthusiasm, so I’ll help you with your training for the first time in a while.”

Wiyu swung her sword.

A sword wind flew towards me. Confirming that it was an attack without protective energy, I stood still without dodging. Sword winds couldn’t pierce my protective energy.

Swoosh.

My right arm was cut off. My right arm fell off with a large amount of blood.

“Use a potion to reattach your arm.”

“Wait, how did you pierce my protective energy with a sword wind?!”

“Because it was sharp enough to pierce protective energy.”

What kind of nonsense was that? I couldn’t say that. Because another sword wind was flying towards me. I picked up my right arm that had fallen on the floor and dodged the sword wind. I quickly drank a potion to reattach my arm. Thanks to the clean cut, the recovery was fast.

‘Lightning!’

Lightning fell from the sky towards Wiyu. Wiyu cut through the lightning with her sword and sent a sword wind. The sword wind was more than twice as fast as before. I quickly summoned the Fire Lotus Dagger and cut through the sword wind with lightning.

Wiyu swung her sword casually. She only swung it once, but the sword wind became three and flew towards me. Moreover, they were heading in different directions.

[Using Moment. Remaining stacks: 11]

I dodged the attacks with Moment and smiled bitterly.

‘The start of hell training.’

I couldn’t even skip it with auto-progression. Wiyu was like a ghost when it came to noticing auto-progression during sparring. Of course, she didn’t know the details about the game app.

‘She said that the thoughts during auto-progression are similar but subtly different. Ugh. Sword winds are coming. Is it five this time!’

I shook off my distractions and focused on the battle.

• • •

The training ended after twelve hours of being unilaterally beaten. It wasn’t a secret that I died once in the middle.

‘I’m exhausted. Let’s stop here. Game end.’

[Ending the game.]