Chapter 7

After completing his morning training, Jang prepared breakfast . He was not a good cook, but five years ago, after Lady Hwa’s death, he had to start cooking for the young prince and now he was very skilled at it .

Most of the time he prepared a simple breakfast, but today he prepared red pig meat that he got yesterday with an egg . It was to congratulate Yeowun’s admission to the academy .

It was maybe the last time he could enjoy a meal without worry, so Jang paid extra attention to prepare it .

‘I hope he survives to enjoy my cooking again…’

That’s when Jang heard some screaming .

“Nnnnnngghhhhhaaaaaa…”

Yeowun’s room was close to the kitchen, so Jang was able to hear it easily . He grabbed the sword and ran toward Yeowun’s room . As he burst into the room, Yeowun was sprawled out with only his upper body on the bed and bubbles foaming from his mouth . He was unconscious .

“Prince!”

He quickly ran over and checked the Prince’s pulse . It didn’t seem weird as it was just like when he found him on the mountain two years ago .

‘He’s fine . What was he… huh?’

Jang then saw the faint trace of footsteps on the floor of the room . He placed Yeowun on top of the bed and checked the footprints carefully .

‘Is it…?’

He wasn’t sure, so he placed his foot over the footprint and moved along with it . He was shocked . The footsteps represented the traces of his own dagger skills . A mere footstep would not leave a trace like this on a wooden floor, but martial arts movements sometimes left deep traces after pushing the feet down with hard stomps .

‘What? Did he learn it on his own?’

It was unbelievable . Jang had trained for twenty years to achieve his skill, but this prince had taken the perfect steps . It would require at least years of basic training to accomplish this .

‘He watched my training for two years at most…’

This made Jang dumbfounded .

‘He watched my training for just two years and caught up to my twenty years of experience…?’

It was unbelievable, but also it made his eyes turn red with tears . To him, Yeowun was always a person in need of protection and the son of the woman he thought of dearly . Realizing Yeowun’s talent made him feel grateful . He then placed his hand on Yeowun’s wrist and checked his internal energy .

‘No energy… he just knows the movements . ’

Maybe it was for the better . If it was revealed that he had learned to how use internal energy, it was going to enrage the six clans . Jang looked at Yeowun for a while and then walked out . Two hours then passed by .

[Muscle transfer complete . Deactivating anesthesia . ]

With a jolt in his head, Yeowun woke up from his sleep .

“Ugh!”

Yeowun got up, panting . He remembered the extreme pain right before he was put to sleep . He did not want to feel that kind of pain anymore .

“Ha… I will never try it again . ’

[I warned you, Master . ]

“…Yeah . ”

It was Yeowun’s choice to try it out . He then got up from the bed and walked to the center of the room to prepare himself to use the dagger skill .

‘Now it won’t hurt, right?’

[Through the simulation, you now have the same muscles as the ones that practiced the movements for twenty years . ]

‘Good!’

Yeowun prepared his stance and swung his dagger . The power seemed to be very different from a while ago as his movements were more precise and accurate . As he stomped to move onto his next step, the wooden floor rumbled loudly .

“No!”

Yeowun was surprised and stopped immediately . The floor now had marks of his footsteps .

“This is bad . ”

He became worried that Jang might see this .

“It leaves footprints even without internal energy . ’

While he was thinking about it, that’s when someone knocked on the door .

“Prince . Your breakfast is ready . ”

It was Jang . Yeowun pressed down on the area that had the footprint to remove it, but it didn’t work . That’s when the door opened and Jang walked in .

“Prince?”

“OH! Haha, I’m so hungry!”

Yeowun quickly got up and brought the table near the window to the center of the room . Jang asked curiously, “Don’t you always eat by the window?”

“Y-yeah, but I won’t be returning for a while so I wanted to eat in the center . ”

It was suspicious enough but Jang silently placed down breakfast on the table . Yeowun sighed and sat down on the chair .

“Oh!”

Breakfast was baked pig meat, fried vegetables, and the eggs that he loved . It was not a feast that the six clans enjoyed, but this was still lavish enough for Yeowun . He became silent as he knew that it was Jang’s act of kindness for Yeowun who might not return from the academy .

Yeowun took the chopsticks and began eating with teary eyes .

[Strong emotions contributing to acid coming up the throat . Increasing saliva level . Please swallow the food with saliva to calm down the acid . ]

‘Stop saying weird shit and shut up!’

[Going into silent mode . ]

Nano became silent and Yeowun swallowed his food . He couldn’t leave any food behind . After a quiet breakfast, Jang began asking, “When did you st…”

He couldn’t say the word ‘steal’ to his prince .

“Learn my dagger skill?”

“Huh? Uh- w-what are you talking about?”

Yeowun was surprised by the sudden question . Jang pushed the table to the side and pointed at the floor . There was a clear footprint on the floor .

‘I wasn’t wrong . ’

The clear print was certainly from the stomp made by moving onto the second formation of the dagger skill . Yeowun did not learn any martial arts, but he was still from Wulin and he knew what the laws were like . Stealing other people’s martial arts techniques was strictly forbidden and looked down upon .

“I . . I…”

He did steal it through Nano, so he had nothing to say about it . He couldn’t even look into Jang’s probably disappointed look . Jang then knelt down and spoke with a soft voice .

“You did a good job . ”

“Uh…”

“I am your guard, Prince . If it wasn’t for the oath, I would have taught you my skills already . ”

“Jang…”

Yeowun’s eyes filled up with tears . Jang was more of a father figure to him than his real father . Jang took out a paper filled with writing and gave it to Yeowun .

“What’s this?”

“It’s an energy flow method for the internal energy of the dagger skill . ”

“Why are you giving this to me?”

“I would love to give you a method on how to train the internal energy itself, but you will find a better one at the academy . Learn it . ”

Yeowun was now shedding tears . He swore that he would never cry after his mother’s death, but he was still a young boy . Jang got up and took the empty plates before he began walking out . He then stopped to speak .

“You can cry today, but you will need to be stronger from now on . ”

“…Thank you . ”

Yeowun wiped the tears off his face . He now had no fear or hesitation . Even without his mother, he still had a place to return to .

In the afternoon, the street near the Demonic Cult’s castle was bustling with people . The opening ceremony was going to begin soon . Every boy, ranging from fourteen to nineteen years of age in every family and clan of the Demonic Cult was now gathering at the Demonic Academy .