The rain hammered against the clinic's wooden shingles like a frantic heartbeat, a relentless, rhythmic drumming that seemed to isolate the small building from the rest of the world. Inside, the air was a thick, comforting mixture of burning pine and the sharp, medicinal tang of dried mugwort.
Mu-Jin and Dori sat by the hearth, steam rising from their damp tunics as they cradled cups of bitter herbal tea. Despite the grueling mountain trek and the unsettling atmosphere of the village, the adrenaline of their recent training had yet to fade.
"Our Master isn't just some traveler passing through," Mu-Jin whispered to A-Hee, his chest swelling with the pride of a new disciple. "He is a Peak Master of the blade. In Azure Gate, I heard he threw people away from him without even moving." He leaned in closer, his voice dropping to a conspiratorial tone. "And he is a renowned physician likely more skilled than the royal doctors in the Capital combined."
A-Hee's eyes widened, shifting from the boys to the man sitting silently in the corner. She looked at the scratches on her own hands the scars of her solitary war against this village's slow death and felt a flicker of hope she had long since suppressed. Tae-Yun didn't acknowledge the praise. His attention was locked on an old, leather-bound scroll he had pulled from A-Hee's shelf, his eyes glowing with a faint, blue light.
His appraisal eyes activated the system didn't just read the faded ink; it performed a historical reconstruction, repairing the gaps where moisture and age had eaten the parchment.
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[Appraisal Eye: Deep Scan Initiated]
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Hidden Technique Reconstructed: [The Twelve Golden Needle Acupuncture]
Rank: Transcendental Level.
Effect: Capable of severing the spiritual thread between Life and Necrotic Rot.
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Tae-Yun closed the book with a soft thud. The knowledge settled into his mind with the weight of ancient stone. "Your lineage was talented, Physician," he said quietly. "But they were missing the final key."
"Sir Jin," A-Hee whispered, her voice trembling as she led him into the back ward.
Six villagers laying on thin mats. They were more than just pale; they were translucent, their skin stretched so thin over their bones that they looked like wax figures left too close to a flame. Tae-Yun activated his Appraisal Eye, and the room shifted.
To his eyes, the room was filled with thick, oily ropes of black energy coiled around the patients' hearts, pulsing in rhythmic time with a signal originating from the peak of the mountain.
"This is no disease," Tae-Yun's voice was as cold as a winter blade. "It's a harvest. Someone is using a forbidden Dark technique to siphon their life essence, distilling it into a concentrated pill."
"Demon Worshippers?" A-Hee's breath hitched. "But... we are so close to the Capital. How could they dare?"
"They are like cockroaches," Tae-Yun replied, his hand twitching toward the hilt of his katana. "They don't care about borders; they only care about dark corners."
Inside, Tae-Yun's blood boiled with a familiar, cold loathing. In the game world, a similar cult the Demon Worshipping Society had been composed of the lowest tier of players and NPCs those who took the "short-cut" to power by slaughtering innocents. He had spent months of his former life hunting them down, viewing them not as enemies to be defeated, but as vermin to be exterminated. To see their signature rot in this "real" world filled him with a visceral, protective fury.
The Trial of the Hounds-
Next day The rain ceased as abruptly as it had begun, leaving behind a damp, oppressive chill. Tae-Yun led his group with A-Hee up the mountain path, but he didn't walk like a normal man. He focused his mana and activated a Tier 2 Magic: [Flight].
To the stunned group below, Tae-Yun didn't leap; he simply ascended. He stood in the air as if the atmosphere itself had solidified into invisible stairs. Hovering above the treeline, he opened his [World Map], pinpointing a sickeningly purple light pulsing from a manor at the summit. He descended, his boots touching the mud without a sound.
"Who lives there?"
"The former village chief's son," A-Hee said, her face pale. "He's a recluse. He claims the village air is too 'weak' for his training."
"He's the parasite," Tae-Yun smirked.
Halfway up the slope, the bushes exploded. Five hounds twice the size of normal wolves, their fur matted with black ichor and eyes glowing a demonic violet lunged from the shadows.
"Mu-Jin! Dori! Use only the basics," Tae-Yun commanded, crossing his arms. "Do not let fear cloud the tip of your blade. If you fail, you die."
The struggle was immediate and brutal. A hound lunged at Mu-Jin, its jaws snapping inches from his throat. Mu-Jin panicked, swinging his wooden pole wildly, but the beast was too fast. It tackled him into the mud, its weight crushing the air from his lungs.
"Don't swing!" Tae-Yun's voice cut through the chaos like a whip. "Thrust!"
Mu-Jin gritted his teeth, feeling the hot, foul breath of the hound on his neck. He jammed the end of the wooden pole upward in a Basic Thrust. The tip caught the hound in the soft tissue of its throat. With a desperate yell, Mu-Jin shoved with all his might. The pole didn't just bruise; reinforced by his desperate intent, it pierced through the back of the beast's neck. The hound collapsed, its black blood staining Mu-Jin's face.
Beside him, Dori was being hunted by two. He moved with a fluid grace, but his lack of strength was showing. He parried a claw, but the force sent him reeling. One hound bit into his shoulder only to be repelled by a sudden flash of blue light from the [Protection Ring].
The shock gave Dori the second he needed. He remembered the Basic Vertical Cut that he had practiced for thousands of times. He didn't just swing; he let the weight of his body fall with the strike. The wooden blade hissed through the air, striking the hound's skull with a sickening crack. The beast was driven into the dirt, its skull shattered.
The boys were gasping, covered in mud and black ichor, their limbs shaking from the adrenaline dump. They had killed two, but they were exhausted. The remaining three hounds circled, sensing their fatigue.
Cling—!
Before the beasts could lunge, Tae-Yun's katana flashed. A single horizontal arc of silver light divided the air. The three hounds were decapitated mid-leap, their bodies hitting the ground with three simultaneous thuds.
A-Hee stared at the boys, then at Tae-Yun. She realized these weren't just talented children; they were being forged in fire by a man who considered a decapitation a "cleanup" chore.
The Demon and the Rain-
They reached the manor a hollow shell built over a cavern. Inside, they found a man in his 40s sitting in a pool of bubbling, black liquid. He was hunched over a raw boar carcass, tearing into it with jagged, yellow teeth. He stood, his Peak First-Rate aura flaring with the stench of stolen life.
"Sacrifices!" he hissed. "With your energy, I will reach the Peak Master realm!"
He lunged with a shadow-claw strike. Tae-Yun didn't even draw his sword. He used a basic fist technique, reinforcing it with a [Vacuum Barrier].
BOOM!!!
The man was thrown twenty feet into the stone wall, his ribs cracking like dry wood. "I've heard this speech before," Tae-Yun said, his voice echoing with bored contempt. "Power-hungry, predictable, and noisy."
The man screamed, his body swelling as he tapped into the life force stolen from the villagers. Tae-Yun finally gripped his katana.
Blue sparks of electricity began to roar around the blade.[Thunderclap Flash] A single stroke of lightning. The man didn't even have time to finish his transformation before his body was charred to a crisp.
Tae-Yun walked out of the cave and pointed his sword toward the dark clouds. [Thunder Rain]. The sky split. Columns of blinding white lightning obliterated the manor and the cave. The dark energy was vaporized, replaced by the crisp scent of burning trees.
While returning to village he secretly cast a Tier 5 Holy Magic: [Holy light Rain]. The rain that began to fall wasn't cold or gray; it shimmered with a faint, golden translucence. As it touched the village below, the water didn't just wash away the mud. It seeped into the well, purifying the poisoned water, and soaked into the skin of every inhabitant.
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[SYSTEM NOTICE]
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Effect Activated: Grand Purification
Buff Applied: Vitality Surge (+50% Recovery Speed )
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By sunset, the village was transformed. People who hadn't walked in months were standing in their doorways, their faces flushed with healthy color.
The elders approached Tae-Yun the next morning. "Sir Jin, A-Hee has saved us a thousand times, but she belongs to the world. Please, take her."
Tae-Yun used appraisal eyes on her.
[Target: A-Hee]
Magic Aptitude: High (holy magic)
Status: Ready for Awakening.
"Pack your things, A-Hee," Tae-Yun said. "The Capital needs a heart."