I Can See It

The man appeared suddenly.

The man stood naturally in the middle of the conference room as if he had been there all along.

The moment Yuseong became aware of the man’s presence, goosebumps rose all over his body.

There had been no warning signs, no presence at all.

If the man had been an enemy targeting him, he would have met his death without even knowing how he died.

‘…I still have a long way to go.’

He thought he could handle Three Weak level opponents.

But put another way, he could only handle Three Weak at best.

Above Three Weak were Three Intermediates, and above them were Three Strong.

Looking at users as a whole, he was still just a weakling.

As he felt the confidence that had grown with his Solver rank promotion disappearing, Yuseong stared at the newly appeared man.

‘Is this MartialGod?’

He was different from what Yuseong had imagined.

Given the name MartialGod (武神), he had expected either an elderly man with white hair and beard looking like an immortal sage, or a muscular Asian man, but MartialGod’s actual appearance was completely different.

A massive build that must have been around 2 meters tall with long limbs.

Dark bronze skin and short but still slightly curly hair.

Surprisingly, MartialGod was black.

“Being called MartialGod in reality feels a bit strange, unlike in the community. Nice to meet you, RoomDweller. I’m Bruce.”

Whether it was his original way of speaking or if it had changed during translation by Babel’s power was unclear, but his manner of speech was hard to pin down – sometimes archaic, sometimes stiff.

“Likewise, nice to meet you. And I also feel strange being called RoomDweller in reality. Please call me Han Yuseong.”

“Han Yuseong. I’ll remember that. I heard you have many complaints about me, is that true?”

At Bruce’s sudden words, Yuseong tilted his head.

Then a moment later, understanding their meaning, his eyes went wide.

‘Kang Changseok, you crazy bastard! When you said you’d complain to MartialGod, don’t tell me you actually did it?!’

Looking back and forth between Bruce, whose thoughts were unreadable from his expression, and Kang Changseok who wore an amused look behind him, Yuseong spoke while trying his best to maintain composure.

“…There seems to be some misunderstanding.”

“According to Kang Changseok, you complained harshly about wasting time. Are you saying Kang Changseok lied?”

“While I did say something like that, I wasn’t that harsh about it. I think Kang Changseok may have exaggerated a bit.”

“So you did have complaints after all.”

“……”

Yuseong unconsciously swallowed hard.

While Bruce probably wouldn’t go so far as to kill someone just for having some complaints, he was still someone who could kill Yuseong anytime if he wanted to.

When he should be creating only good impressions, he had instead left a negative impression from their very first meeting.

Just thinking about how Bruce might react sent chills down his spine.

Silence fell over the conference room.

After an instant that felt like eternity passed, Bruce finally opened his mouth.

“I’m sorry.”

“…Pardon?”

“I made you waste precious time with a wrong prophecy. Though it may not be enough to make up for it, tell me if you want anything. I’ll grant one request within possible limits.”

This was an unexpected response.

Yuseong, who had been wearing a blank expression, only then noticed Kang Changseok covering his mouth and snickering, and was finally able to let out a sigh of relief.

Whether Bruce was naturally good-natured or if Kang Changseok had persuaded him well was unclear, but fortunately Bruce didn’t seem to harbor any ill feelings toward him.

The unexpected reward was a bonus.

While pondering what request would bring maximum benefit, Yuseong first asked a question to clarify the vague scope of “possible limits.”

“What exactly do you mean by possible limits?”

“Exactly what it says. I’ll grant anything that’s possible with my power.”

“Really? Then if I asked you to massacre everyone in some city, would you do it?”

“That’s…”

“What about one person?”

“……”

Seeing Bruce trail off, Yuseong quietly clicked his tongue.

Through those questions just now, he could roughly gauge what Bruce meant by possible limits.

“What about material rewards?”

“That I can do as much as you want.”

Bruce, who had been stiff, broke into a bright smile and spoke rapid-fire.

“Want weapons? I’ll give you divine weapons with craftsmen’s souls or treasures with special powers. How about elixirs? From simple ones that raise internal energy to ones that can raise specific stats, even ones that grant special skills. Personally, I recommend secret manuals. I got some good ones from my previous quest. They’re all sword techniques, but I guarantee their quality.”

“No thanks.”

He had just asked – he had no intention whatsoever of choosing material rewards.

While he didn’t know exactly how powerful MartialGod was, comparing him to GreatMage Kasim who was also Three Strong, he clearly had enough power to cover at least an entire country at minimum.

Though he couldn’t order anything unethical, exchanging the opportunity to command such a powerful being for mere items didn’t make sense no matter how he thought about it.

‘…Wait a minute.’

An idea occurred to Yuseong.

He wasn’t sure if it would work.

One thing was certain – it was all or nothing.

A certain but small reward.

An uncertain but large reward.

After deliberating between the two choices, Yuseong made his decision and spoke.

“I want to see your skills, Bruce.”

“You want to have a duel?”

“Of course not. Just watching you use skills would be enough. I want to see with my own eyes how you fight and how strong you are, Bruce.”

The corners of Bruce’s mouth lifted.

He had been tense because of the ominous questions about killing people, but he could grant this kind of request anytime.

“Alright. Kang Changseok.”

“……”

“Kang Changseok?”

“Uh, yes?”

“Shadow World, was it? I know you have a skill that can enter a space isolated from reality.”

“…I can take you there, but if you start going wild it won’t even last half a moment before collapsing.”

“I’ll hold back. Using just one-tenth of my internal energy should let it hold up.”

Kang Changseok made a sour expression.

It wasn’t because he didn’t want to use the skill.

He could take them to Shadow World ten or a hundred times.

The issue was Yuseong.

‘There’s no way this bastard would make such a disadvantageous request.’

He knew better than anyone just how ruthless Yuseong was.

While eyeing Yuseong suspiciously, Kang Changseok noticed Bruce staring at him intently and cleared his throat before snapping his fingers.

A monochrome world of only black and white.

After looking around briefly, Bruce pointed outside and said.

“It’s too cramped here. Let’s move somewhere else.”

Bruce broke the glass wall that took up an entire side and jumped outside without a moment’s hesitation.

Amazingly, instead of falling, Bruce floated leisurely in the air as if there were invisible platforms.

“Does anyone need help?”

After confirming that Yuseong and Kang Changseok shook their heads, Bruce flew off between the forest of buildings without looking back.

“My, someone’s in quite a hurry.”

Kang Changseok, who had melted into the shadows, appeared on a nearby building’s rooftop.

A silent movement that didn’t make even the faintest sound.

Yuseong’s movement style was the complete opposite.

With each step he took, explosions rang out and he repeatedly shot dozens of meters into the air as if announcing his presence before falling back down.

After flying around for quite a while, Bruce finally landed after finding a wide open space.

“This should do. Han Yuseong. As you probably guessed from my nickname MartialGod, I fight using martial arts. What kind would you like to see?”

“The type doesn’t matter, I’d just like to see as many martial arts as possible.”

A troubled look appeared on Bruce’s face.

Showing many martial arts wasn’t difficult, but that would be too disadvantageous for Yuseong.

The world of martial arts isn’t simple enough to grasp just by watching once, no matter how trivial the technique.

Though he hadn’t planned to directly teach martial arts, Bruce hoped Yuseong would learn even one form through this demonstration, and for that, showing fewer martial arts repeatedly would be better than showing many.

“Let’s do this. From the videos I saw you seem to fight with hand-to-hand combat, so I’ll focus on martial arts used bare-handed like fist techniques and leg techniques.”

After pondering briefly, Yuseong nodded.

The type of martial arts didn’t matter.

What mattered was seeing Bruce’s martial arts directly, regardless of what they were.

‘If my guess is right…’

“I’ll begin.”

The moment Bruce’s words fell, Yuseong’s eyes began to shine.

Eye of Truth.

However, this was different from the Eye of Truth he had used until now.

Instead of the faint golden light that could only be noticed upon close inspection, his eyes held a brilliant golden radiance.

Anyone could tell at a glance these weren’t normal eyes.

However, instead of protesting, Bruce showed a faint smile as he drew up his internal energy.

From the start, he hadn’t thought Yuseong made this request purely out of wanting to know his skills.

‘Try to steal if you can.’

Bruce thrust out his fist.

Though it looked like an ordinary straight punch at first glance, its power was beyond imagination.

A huge hole appeared in a building over a hundred paces away.

As the surprised Kang Changseok turned his head, Bruce began demonstrating martial arts in earnest.

Tss tss tss.

The air rippled with each thrust of his fists and arms, and the ground shook with each step.

It wasn’t just pure power.

Strong, flowing, quick, variable, illusory, heavy.

Even while demonstrating dozens of forms with different natures, he hit exactly the same spot without even a speck of error as if measured with a ruler.

“Forms are good but true martial arts are energy techniques. Watch carefully.”

Woong!

Red and blue light gathered in Bruce’s arms.

Not fluctuating fist energy that couldn’t maintain proper form, but a mass of materialized energy endlessly condensed into distinct shape.

It was martial energy.

The red energy gathered in his left hand contained scorching heat that seemed able to burn anything, while the blue energy in his right hand contained cold that seemed able to freeze even souls.

Kang Changseok began demonstrating the same forms as before.

However, the power was worlds apart.

Everything touched by the red trajectory disappeared without leaving even ashes, while everything touched by the blue trajectory turned to ice particles and shattered.

“Ha!”

As Bruce swung his arms, the red and blue energy shot toward a nearby building.

And before reaching the building, the two energies collided and caused a massive explosion.

BOOM!

A dozens of floors tall skyscraper collapsed like a toy.

But Bruce, without even glancing at the collapsing building, calmly opened his mouth.

“While Yin-Yang Twin Heaven Art has tremendous power, it has the drawback of low versatility compared to other energy techniques. Chaos Unity Energy Art has exactly opposite characteristics.”

What he created this time was dark gray energy.

Though lacking the eye-catching destructive power of the red and blue energy shown earlier, it dazzled the eyes by transforming into various forms like swords, spears, sabers, and nets.

Kang Changseok, who had been watching with interest at first, made a fed-up expression at the endless stream of energy techniques.

Since he knew about energy techniques, even if only superficially, he knew how absurd it was to master multiple energy techniques.

However, Yuseong, who knew nothing about energy techniques, just stared at Bruce with blank eyes.

In truth, knowing about energy techniques wouldn’t have changed anything.

‘I can see it! I can see!’

After all, Yuseong’s attention was focused not on Bruce’s energy techniques, but on the flow of internal energy within Bruce’s body.