Chapter 50

Chapter 50 . Encounter (2)

That day, Sungmin practiced his spear techniques in his back yard, and only returned to his house late at night . Although it was a little dusty since it wasn’t cleaned, there were no problems after he cleaned it up .

There was a kitchen, but he didn’t make food . He had food in his interspatial pocket . After eating, he started circulating the Purple Cloud Divine Art .

Entering the world of cultivation, Sungmin naturally remembered back to the fight with the ogre . This was his first fight as a peak-level expert ever since he climbed down from the mountain, no, across all of his two lives .

(T/N: The power levels in Korean wuxia tend to go from: 3rd rate(三流) – 2nd rate(二流) – 1st rate(一流)– Peak(絶頂) (MC’s current level) – Exceed(超絶頂) . If you don’t like that last one, I’m open to suggestions . )

He felt many things . He even felt weird . The biggest problem was his proficiency . The three years in the mountain made his body ‘used to’ all the restraints . Thanks to that, the lack of prohibitions made him feel incongruent, and he felt yet again incompatible due to the difference from the time when he was not a peak-level expert .

He had to get used to this .

There were a lot of problems . His body right now was very unbalanced . When he lived in the mountains, he tried to balance nutrition as much as possible, but the prohibition of taste made all meals taste horrific . Thanks to that, the quantity of his meals decreased .

It wasn’t just his meals . He couldn’t sleep for a long time nor could he sleep deeply . That went on for two years . With the prohibitions on his smell, hearing, and sight, those three senses didn’t develop well either . Only the sense of touch was indiscriminately developed .

There weren’t only disadvantages though . By sealing other senses, a sense that didn’t exist developed within him .

The sixth sense .

This existed as a skill inside his status window as well .

-Sixth sense .

You can sense what you cannot see with your eyes; cannot hear with your ears; and cannot smell through your nose .

The passive skill, sixth sense, had a vague explanation like all passive skills did . However, what he was feeling was very real . Although his senses were vague just as the description was, sixth sense did exist .

‘But I cannot rely on sixth sense and touch alone . ’

There was a need to train in the other senses . He didn’t have to go as far as to ‘train’ them, but he at least had to set the unbalance between the senses right .

Purple Cloud Divine Art was maintained and his qi kept circulating . He breathed in regular intervals and as he did so, his thoughts started fading . He drove his consciousness to sleep in the state of thoughtlessness . The reason he was able to hold on to his impoverished psyche was thanks to mind cleaning magic and the Purple Cloud Divine Art .

The next day .

Lee Sungmin headed to the mercenary guild from early morning . He thought that his rank tile would be out since a day had passed . He was planning to receive the rank tile, and check on any quests he could get from the mercenary guild .

The Behengerr mercenary guild was crowded early in the morning . It was thanks to the mercenaries that had come for breakfast, or due to some of them drinking overnight . When Sungmin entered through the door, the mercenaries’ commotion suddenly died down . They watched as Sungmin walked in, before starting to whisper amongst themselves .

Sungmin had become a famous person in the Behengerr mercenary guild . He projected sword qi the day he joined, and exterminated an ogre chimera and showed that he was more powerful than an S-rank . Moreover, he was still 18 years sold, so it was natural for them to take interest in him .

“So you’ve come . ”

Bern was at the bar from the early moring . He spoke to Sungmin who approached him and put his hand in his pocket .

“Nice timing . Your rank tile just came out . ”

“I’m here to get that . ”

Spoke Sungmin with a smile . The rank tile he received from Bern had an engraving of a gold ‘S’ character . He fidgeted with it for a while before thinking back to the rank tile he had in his previous life .

‘At that time, it was a copper C… . ’

Seeing him laugh, Bern spoke .

“S-rank mercenaries are given 5 million erre per month as support . It’s more than enough to live on . ”

He didn’t have to take any quests, and he would still get 5 million erre per month . S-rank mercenaries had that much value just by existing . Even though Eria was wide and summoned all sorts of people from all sorts of dimensions, a peak-level expert or mage that was able to get an S-rank mercenary tile was not that frequent .

“What happened to the ogre chimera’s body?”

“Hm?”

Bern widened his eyes after hearing Sungmin’s question . His expression said that he never imagined that Sungmin would ask something like that . After looking at Sungmin’s face for a while, Bern shrugged his shoulders .

“We’re investigating into it . Although nothing special was discovered until now… there’s a high chance that a black magician is involved in this . ”

“You mean there was a black magician nearby?”

“I presume so . In the first place, that forest is not a suitable place for orcs to have as their territory . It would be reasonable to think that a black magician created a chimera out of an ogre and released it into the woods . ”

“Why would he do that?”

“Are you asking my opinion as a guild master? Or as a mage?”

“Both . ”

There was a reason Sungmin was asking Bern about this . Bern was the head of Behengerr mercenary guild branch, and a very capable mage at the same time . Being asked that by Sungmin, Bern stayed silent for a moment before speaking .

“He wanted to test something . ”

“Test… you say?”

“The chimera’s mouth was sewn shut . It was unable to take any meals . Ogres aren’t that barbaric amongst monsters . They have a very high reason . They don’t assault villages because they’re afraid of expeditions . ”

He heard about that from Roode already . Bern saw that Sungmin was not saying anything and kept listening, so he spoke on .

“Starved monsters become very violent . Humans become weak in the face of hunger… but in the case of monsters, it’s the opposite . They become stronger and even more violent . Do you know why? It is to survive . Only the strong and the violent can hunt . ”

“So, that’s why the ogre’s mouth was intentionally shut?”

“It was in order to force it to starve . If you were a few days late, a village would have disappeared . Or… the black magician would have recollected the ogre . ”

Sungmin thought that it would be the latter . That was because he had never heard the news of a village being wiped out by an ogre in his previous life . As Bern said, the black magician probably released the ogre into the woods and forced it to starve and observed its actions . Then, he would have collected it back before it could cause any trouble .

‘It changed . ’

In his previous life, the ogre chimera was not killed . But this time, it was . Wouldn’t this become a variable? Sungmin was worried about that . There was a very high chance that the black magician that released the ogre chimera is also the owner of the dungeon that would be discovered half a year later .

“Perhaps the black magician was nearby . As for you… I thought you were quite lucky . If you met him, then it would have been hard for you to return . ”

“Is it that much?”

“This guy is capable of subduing an ogre and create it into a chimera, and even control it on top of that . This black magician should be at a very high level . But why are you curious about that now?”

“It’s just a personal curiosity . It was the first time I saw a chimera . ”

Sungmin replied that and put the mercenary tile inside his chest pocket .

“Then . I’ll see you again . ”

“Oh… wait . ”

Bern grabbed Sungmin who was about to leave . He made an awkward expression and spoke .

“There’s a person who wishes to meet you . ”

“Who is it?”

“Xeon . Do you know him?”

Asked Bern . Hearing that

Sungmin’s expression stiffened . He tried his best to relax his expression and shook his head .

“…I do not . ”

“I thought so . You just became a mercenary after all . Xeon… is an SS-rank mercenary . He’s the highest-ranked mercenary among the ones registered in Behengerr branch . ”

He did know .

Lee Sungmin knew of Xeon . An SS-rank mercenary . Shaolin’s inner disciple as well as an expert in the fist . The leader of Corona mercenaries .

How could he not know? The mercenary group that Sungmin belonged to in his previous life was none other than Corona . In other words, Xeon was the leader of the group that Sungmin belonged to . However, it wasn’t like there was any connection between Sungmin and Xeon . For Xeon to care… Sungmin was a puny existence .

Corona mercenary group was a large-scale mercenary group . There were over 100 mercenaries that belonged to it, and they had 5 S-rank mercenaries on top of their leader Xeon being an Ss-rank .

There were dozens of C-rank mercenaries in Corona . Sungmin, who was a no-class, and had no special traits of his own, was some random trash that the higher people in the guild did not care about at all . Although Sungmin joined while he was E-rank and endured all the way to when he became a C-rank, he was still a random nobody that any guild had several of .

“It wouldn’t be bad for you to meet him at least once . With your skills, there should be many groups that would want you . Corona mercenary group, lead by Xeon, is considered the best mercenary groups among the ones in Behengerr . Of course, you probably don’t plan on staying Behengerr forever, but Xeon and Corona are names that are well known even in neighboring cities . ”

“…Did he wish to meet me immediately?”

“He’s already waiting inside . ”

Bern smiled bitterly .

“I know that it’s sudden . But…”

“Okay . ”

Sungmin slowly nodded his head .

“I’ll meet him once . ”

The choice was his anyway . If he declined, Bern’s position would become awkward . To repay Bern who gave him various benefits, it would be better to meet Xeon at least once .

It was all an excuse anyway .

Sungmin just wanted to meet Xeon once .

The room was filled with smoke from a cigar . The guest room that Bern used had become a personal room for Xeon for now . Bern entered through the door and frowned at Xeon .

“At least open the window . ”

Xeon, who was puffing a cigar, only shrugged . Sungmin started at Xeon who slowly put down the cigar .

This was the first time he met with Xeon one to one . Although he did belong to Corona, there were no contact points between him and Xeon . Even when he applied to Corona, and later belonged to it, he never saw Xeon in person . To Corona, the person called Sungmin was no more than a chores-person that ran errands and did cleaning .

“Quite decent . ”

Muttered Xeon as he looked at Sungmin’s face . Xeon had wide shoulders and short hair . Sungmin had always seen him from afar . To him, the mercenary known as Xeon was a target of admiration .

Xeon is a former no-class .

It was 15 years ago that Xeon was summoned to Eria . He was summoned as a no-class and was opportunate enough to learn the Hundred Steps Divine Fist of the Shaolin, and was acknowledged of his martial art when he went to Shaolin’s mountain in Eria . Although the details weren’t told, Sungmin admired and respected Xeon just because he was a former no-class . He always thought that he would become like Xeon one day .

“…My name is Lee Sungmin . ”

“Xeon . ”

Xeon put the cigar back in his mouth .

His target of admiration from a long time ago, was sitting right in front of him .