Chapter 14: A Hidden Giant

So far, I’ve taken down six organizations.

‘Four lower-class. Two mid-class. High-class… I can’t even sense one.’

For my convenience, I divided the Parakho organizations into ranks.

Groups with less than thirty members are lower-class.

Sixty or less are mid-class.

Anything above that, I haven’t seen yet.

I swept out six such organizations.

Lately, my father has started paying attention to me.

Thanks to that, except for the days I couldn’t go out, these achievements are all mine.

‘There are too many. Should I say it’s beyond imagination?’

Parakho organizations are everywhere.

Wherever there are commoners, there are small gangs.

North of the outer castle.

The closer you get to bustling markets or commercial districts, the more mid-sized groups you’ll find.

Some, like Kim Seonggeon’s area, disguised themselves as errand boys.

Others renovated decent-looking pubs and used them as bases.

Seeing how they’re connected, it seems even the entertainment districts are laced with organizations.

‘They’re inseparable, really.’

Wherever you go in the world, these groups exist. It would be odd if they didn’t.

That’s understandable.

“The problem is…….”

Even after taking down as many as six organizations, there’s still no visible sign of change.

They still have something to rely on. There’s an upper organization.

“…Black Snake. That’s a pretty pretentious name.”

The organization’s name is Black Snake.

‘It’s not like some chuunibyou made it up…

For Parakho, using such a childish name for their group feels a bit too deliberate.

Even if I hunt down these Black Snakes, it doesn’t feel like it’ll be over.

‘Something’s there.’

This Spiritual Land is big, but compared to the whole kingdom, it’s not that large.

Yet the scale of the Parakho groups is too big for such a place.

‘It barely has a population of 170,000…’

The city’s estimated population is 170,000.

It’s on the verge of surpassing 180,000, but even so, there are too many Parakho.

It must be hard to manage, yet somehow they’ve unified the organizations.

When I catch Parakho, every one of them says “just wait and see,” as if they’re well-trained.

For me, it started as a way to sweep away the leeches in the Spiritual Land and earn a little extra on the side.

‘I feel like I’ve touched something I never expected.’

It feels like I’m digging deeper into something.

Maybe like a blind man grabbing just the tail of an elephant.

“Well, if I get in too deep, I’ll deal with it then.”

Still, I’m not scared.

This is my father’s Spiritual Land. There’s no reason to be afraid of cleaning up the trash within it.

‘I’ll have to see how far this goes. It seems like even the Spiritual Land itself is starting to move.’

Unlike before, the atmosphere among the guards was tense.

Everyone seemed on edge.

It was clear they were about to carry out a major operation.

After all, rumors about me had started to spread around the Spiritual Land.

Everyone who’s in the know has heard about a masked lunatic who’s been tearing through the organizations.

There’s even a rumor that the guards are mobilizing to hunt down that “crazy guy”—me.

‘I need to be careful.’

I can’t afford to get caught.

It won’t be a real problem, but one way or another, I’ll surely attract attention.

And that kind of attention is burdensome. I need to end this quickly.

“Today as well, huh.”

My teacher, who had gone out to collect ingredients, still hadn’t returned.

According to Father, something had come up, and it was clearly taking longer than expected.

‘It’s not a good sign.’

The appearance of the Goblin Shaman is one thing, and according to rumors, the monsters’ movements are suspicious. All around the kingdom, bandits are beginning to appear.

In times like this, a 5th Circle Ma Beop Sa is a tremendous force.

Father never wastes talent. Assigning missions to my teacher, who went out to collect materials, wasn’t strange.

‘He may grumble, but I’m sure he’s doing well.’

With a cantankerous teacher like that, there’s no need to worry.

He’ll pull through.

I only needed to enjoy the free time I was given in my teacher’s absence.

***

After some moderate training in the morning, I planned to go after another Parakho group.

“Out for another haul today…”

“Reirun! Found you!”

A tense voice called out from behind me.

Crap!

“Don’t run! We’re definitely doing it today!”

“But we just did it yesterday! Even Hyung isn’t doing it anymore!”

She’s a monster. I need to escape at once.

But—

‘Can a monster really be avoided just by running away?’

‘I can’t just openly use light footwork either…’

My sister finally caught up and succeeded in grabbing me.

Lately, I’d managed to evade her.

The reason—

“Just help me with training, okay?”

“We’ve done it a lot already!?”

“No. I think I can move to the next stage now!”

—was to avoid being roped into the training frenzy of this training maniac.

‘She hasn’t even learned assassin arts…’

My training-obsessed sister would leap at any chance to ask for help.

She claims there’s a way to further strengthen Magic Missile training.

I did everything to avoid her.

I even focused on Sense Reading Training just to sense her presence and escape.

But still, she was able to completely mask her presence and catch up to me.

‘She really is a monster.’

Like collecting a debt, my sister drags me along.

“Let’s go! To training!”

“…Damn it.”

Today was a day I couldn’t avoid.

“Are you crazy?”

The ideas of a monster go far beyond imagination.

A feat like blocking a spinning Magic Missile in an instant.

She’d succeeded in that long ago.

After that, she was able to block Magic Missiles fired at random intervals, at ever-increasing speeds.

‘I thought she’d be satisfied after that.’

She wants to add armor, but it’s dangerous.

Even for money, few would attempt this kind of training.

She did it until she got sick of it, and now she wants something even harder.

“You want to do this in succession? You want me to keep firing?”

“Yep! You got it exactly!”

She’s endlessly cheerful.

“You think you can really handle it?”

“I think I can! No, I know I can. When I did it with Oppa and you, it definitely worked.”

Ugh.

On top of that, she’s annoyingly sharp.

There was a time when I helped both my eldest brother and sister with training at the same time.

The two of them seemed ready to keep at it all day.

To end that training quickly, I fired Magic Missiles non-stop.

‘To think she’d be able to catch those.’

Thanks to my mana training, I’d built up quite a lot of mana.

Normally, you divide this mana to increase your class. If you split your heart’s mana into two, that’s 2-Class.

Every time your class rises, you get one more.

The circle used to divide your mana is called a mana circle.

Usually, as soon as you hit the minimum required amount, you split your mana and increase your circles.

‘To move on to the next class.’

I made a different choice.

The mana gathered in my heart—I kept accumulating it in one circle.

With just that, I had more mana than a typical 2-Class Ma Beop Sa.

Eventually, I’ll have to split my mana and increase my class.

But not now.

My own theory.

‘Qi or mana, it’s the same. Like osmosis, a large pool of mana will draw in smaller mana.’

Mana osmosis effect.

Perhaps influenced by Jegal Hyeon’s memories.

Jegal Hyeon worked hard to define internal energy, analyzed its nature, and aimed to treat Jeongmak.

His understanding of internal energy was enough for me.

I was busy testing the theories he created.

I developed my own theory on mana instead of internal energy.

Well, for now, it’s just a slight adaptation of Jegal Hyeon’s theory.

‘Qi or mana, in the end, they’re both Mana and stem from Qi, so they’re similar. I just have to use that characteristic.’

A martial arts master in Murim can instantly draw in a large amount of internal energy from the surrounding Qi.

It’s the power of will-energy—the same Will Thought Will Qi and Will-Energy Harmful Person abilities.

Even a Ma Beop Sa is, in the end, using the talents of a Will-Energy Harmful Person to accumulate mana in the body.

The important thing isn’t just willpower, though.

It’s also about mana—or internal energy.

‘The more internal energy stored in the danjeon, the faster you can absorb the surrounding natural Qi.’

Likewise, the more mana in the heart, the more natural energy you can draw in.

What if, instead of a thin, fragile mana circle, you fill it with a thick, powerful one?

Then even with a low class, you might be on par with a high-class Ma Beop Sa.

‘Couldn’t you instantly draw in a massive amount of mana?’

‘If two people have the same circle, but one draws in much more, the results will differ.’

Even the same spell will have different power.

If I fill my circles with thick mana, then even within the same class, my level will be different.

‘Normally, this would be impossible, but I can do it.’

Others can’t implement this theory, even if they come up with it.

Because accumulating mana itself is tough.

Most would rather raise their class quickly and use their mana, instead of slowly building it up for future strength.

After all, spells of a higher class can be more powerful even with weaker mana.

But I’m different.

‘Internal energy is helping me.’

Mana helped when I first accumulated internal energy.

Now, it’s the other way around.

My internal energy helps me build up more mana.

In fact, the mana I’ve gathered after gaining internal energy is much greater than before.

This pace will only increase.

‘Later on, it’ll multiply even more.’

The more it adds up, the faster I’ll reach my goal.

So, even if it seems slow, I’ll arrive quickly.

‘I’m doing it.’

Proof of my theory will definitely shine through someday.

That’s why my mana is 1-Class, but I have a lot of it. My sister has picked up on that perfectly.

And what she wants is—

“You can do it in succession, right? I definitely saw it.”

“…Yeah.”

Firing Magic Missiles in succession!

With added spin.

The mana is stronger, so the power has increased. Firing them in rapid succession.

It’s like firing a gun in bursts.

“So do it. Fire in succession!”

“But something bad could happen?!”

“I’ll take responsibility. Please!”

She still grins brightly as she says it.

“Ah, fine. But at least put on armor properly. Armor with the power of protection!”

Wooooong—

In the end, I was the one who gave in to my sister’s pestering.

“It’s so stifling, though.”

“Shut up! Armor with the power of protection again!”

Crunch.

“Ugh… I can’t swing properly like this.”

Only after binding my sister’s entire body with armor, like tying her up, could I feel at ease.

“Just think of it as training.”

“If that’s the case…”

“You always turn into an idiot as soon as we start training—”

“You…!”

“Here we go! Magic Missile!”

Shweeeee! Paang!

One explodes right away.

“In succession!”

“Got it! Magic Missile! Magic Missile! Magic Missile!”

Shweeek—Wek!

Left and right of the torso.

The face!

I aim for lethal spots, sending spinning Magic Missiles.

A direct hit means instant death.

Paaang! Paang!

‘Oh?’

She swings her sword, slicing down the Magic Missiles coming from the sides.

“Ugh! Where do you think you’re going!”

She sweeps her sword, then swings it upward again.

Kwaang!

A Magic Missile explodes right in front of her face.

She pulls her body back, dodging the shrapnel—it’s like a work of art.

‘That’s a real feat! Truly a monster!’

It doesn’t matter if she hasn’t mastered martial arts.

My sister’s movements have their own level.

Now that I’ve experienced real combat, I’m seeing things I never saw before.

‘This is definitely good.’

It’s forced training, dragged into it against my will.

But just watching my sister’s movements, I’m gaining a lot.

I can see things I didn’t before, and there’s learning in her every move.

Wooooong—

Excited, I draw up my mana as well.

“Shall we go for the next round right away?”

“Of course!”

“Alright. Magic Missile!”

Shweeeek—Kwaang!