Thumbs Up, Level Up

Chapter 143

“So, how much time has passed?”

?None at all, Master.?

“I think I spent almost five hours there… And my body was wrecked after those hours.”

‘The veins in my arms actually exploded! The God of War fixed it right away, but it’s an experience I don’t want to have again. Thanks to that, I definitely know how to control my Qi.’

But the price for that had been his arms exploding. Ji-Cheok felt that as far as the God of War was concerned, there was no middle ground. And through this radical process, he had learned exactly what the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Qi] was.

?So it is a space that is disconnected from your world’s time. It seems to be related to the [Training Space of the God of War].?

‘You mean that skill is worth one million Likes?’

[Training Space of the God of War]

[A space dedicated to training created by the God of War in cooperation with the God of Time. While the user trains inside, time stops outside.

The user can only use this skill once a day. The usage period is up to 48 hours]

It was a space that Ji-Cheok could only use for training, but he could stay there for two days. It felt overpowered.

“Perhaps… Whew! What’s next on my to-do list… Wait, what’s going on?”

It was strange. However much he struggled to put strength in his limbs, his muscles did not so much as twitch. Then, he fell flat on the ground.

Thud!

“W..What’s going on? What’s wrong with me?”

‘My Qi… is not working! I don’t have any Qi left in me! What’s going on?’

?It seems like you have a fever, Master.?

“Fever?”

?There are quite a few cultivators that have met and talked with a God and ended up having this kind of symptom. They usually spend a day in a weakened state.?

“What? I didn’t know there was such a thing.”

?Can you even lift a finger right now, Master? Exactly, as I thought. In fact, it is surprising that you had energy until now. Maybe there is a bit of a delay between the two dimensions.?

Ji-Cheok saw Cheok-Liang take the form of a human.

‘It’s been a while since I saw him in human form.’

?Master, you should take a rest for today.?

Cheok-Liang picked him up and moved him to his room. Ji-Cheok suddenly felt sleepy.

“Alright…I’ll listen to you... I will sleep for a bit.”

?Okay, Master. Have a good dream.?

Ji-Cheok fell asleep.

* * *

When the dreamer was aware that they were dreaming, they called it lucid dreaming.

‘Am I in a dream right now? Is this a lucid dream?’

He was looking at himself from the outside, as he was practicing the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. It was obviously not normal for him to be able to see himself like that, so he realized that this was a dream. It was as if he were looking at a character from a game. But the way dream-Ji-Cheok was training was a little different from the training he did in real life.

Originally, the [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art] also had auxiliary footwork, Sword Arts, and internal and external techniques. The footwork and Sword Arts in particular had several Forms, and his dream self was practicing precisely these Forms, from start to finish. It looked like he was doing a Sword Dance.

The Sword Dance continued, increasingly elaborate. It got so intense that he wondered if his dream self was going to cut his own legs off by accident, but the dance was so beautiful and smooth that he couldn’t take his eyes off it. Ji-Cheok had never trained like that.

‘Does that mean that is the correct training method?’

Ji-Cheok felt that was true. Maybe it was because of the [Heaven Martial Body], or it was the aftermath of yesterday’s lesson with the [Statue of the God of War].

‘Maybe it’s just a silly dream.’

It definitely felt like more than a silly dream; it contained something transcendent, beyond anything he had ever imagined. Just as he was thinking that, however, the Sword Dance ended.

Ji-Cheok opened his eyes.

“Hm…”

In front of him was the ceiling of his familiar room. He moved his fingertips slowly. The dream from earlier remained vividly in his mind. Considering that Ji-Cheok didn’t usually remember dreams this clearing, he knew this was not his average dream.

‘I should try to train like I saw myself doing in that dream.’

He looked around and saw Cheok-Liang in his room. There was something cute about a fennec sitting in front of a computer, tapping the keyboard with his front paws in his fennec form. His human form from before felt more like a dream.

?Did you wake up, Master??

“Yes, I feel fresh. How long have I been asleep?”

?You were asleep for about three hours, Master. The current time is 1:00 pm.?

‘I didn’t sleep for that long, but my body feels very refreshed. I can feel my Qi flowing properly inside my body.’

“I’m going to go train.”

?Understood, Master.?

Ji-Cheok felt Cheok-Liang behind and headed to the training room. He pulled out his Monoblade. The dual swords felt cool in his hands. Ji-Cheok took a deep breath, the same breathing method as the one he had seen in his dream.

Hoo.

‘Did I do it right? I don’t know…’

He slowly went through the motions of the first Form of his Sword Art. As anyone who had ever done National Gymnastics knew, it was much harder to do it slowly than it was to do it fast. This was also true of very basic martial arts that were disparaged for not being practical, such as Taijiquan. And the same went for [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art]. The slower it was done, the more difficult it was to perform the moves correctly. That was why, even though he had just started the first Form, he was already sweating.

‘Wow, this is so boring.’

But for some reason, he knew that this was the right way to do it. He deliberately swung his swords slowly and checked the trajectory of its blade. Then, he swung it once more, correcting himself as he repeated the motion.

‘I can’t believe I’m only doing this now.’

Ji-Cheok found his situation to be funny. He thought that he had gained enlightenment by practicing the basics in his own way, but in fact, he had been just lucky. In turn, Cheok-Liang was just a tactical advisor, not a cultivation master. Thus, Ji-Cheok had been cultivating without knowing which path he was on, and without a master to help him.

‘That’s why the God of War was so surprised.’

He had a feeling that what he was doing was the correct way. He stabbed, slashed, and swung his swords. He then would start from the top again. He moved his feet and waist slowly, but with his swords. He felt like his senses were properly awakened.

‘This is great. I should do it in the right environment.’

“Activate [Training Space of the God of War].”

[You will enter after 10 seconds. Please take a deep breath and relax your mind.]

[10, 9, 8, ……]

[You are about to enter.]

Flash!

The same space where he had been trained by the God of War appeared before his eyes.

‘What? This was the training space?’

However, two things were different from before. First, there was no God of War in sight. Second, he was replaced by a display stand with weapons. There were so many types of weapons that Ji-Cheok thought the stand could well contain all the weapons in the world.

He took a sword from the stand and started training.

‘The first Form, the second Form, the third Form…’

He trained the Forms one at a time. Even though it was just copying what he had seen in his dream, and it was also infinitely slower, he still felt like he was starting to realize something. He started to understand the reason why all these Forms had been created. This knowledge naturally filled his head.

After going through all moves from the first Form to the last Form, he stopped.

“So this is [Heaven Martial Body]...”

Ji-Cheok felt like a genius.

‘No, I’m already a genius. Now I know what cultivation is and what Forms are… Wow, this is amazing! I guess if you use one million Likes on a skill, you’re bound to get a great one. Well, the actual price was five million Likes, but thanks to the [Human] skill, it was discounted by four million Likes. So this is the power of a skill that is worth five million Likes. It turns an ordinary Hunter into a cultivation genius! Alright, let’s keep going. I have forty-eight hours. Time is on my side. I have two precious days, so let’s keep trying. I’m going to train my Sword Art a hundred times!’

Ji-Cheok swung his sword slowly as his limbs screamed in pain. His Qi also slowly left his Dantian, coursing through his body. In spite of the pain, he wasn’t planning on stopping. He was going to swing that sword until he collapsed from exhaustion.

He swung his blade as explained in the scripture of the [Heaven and Earth Sword Qi]. He refined it, revised it, and refined it once more. He never rushed, not even for a moment. He became like a calm flame that never flickered. At one point, he stopped thinking that this crazy training was boring; rather, he gradually started thinking of it as…

Pant. Pant.

…really entertaining. It was weird. He never knew how training in his Sword Art slowly, more like morning gymnastics than combat training, would be this interesting.

Some more time passed.

“Ah, I used up all my Qi.”

His muscles were screaming for help. With a thud, Ji-Cheok once more fell limp to the ground.

“Wow…”

All of his muscles were twitching as his limbs trembled. He now realized that even a genius had to work hard to become the best. Everyone had to work hard to achieve their goals. The difference was that a genius would realize this faster than ordinary people.

Ji-Cheok felt dizzy and almost threw up. He gave up trying to see how much time had passed. There was no clock in this space.

‘Wait, does the concept of time even work in this space? Even if I had a watch with me, I couldn’t….’

“Oh, wait…”

He thought of the wristwatch that Ji-Han gave as a gift.

[Accurate Watch]

[Class: S

Type: Artifact

An ordinary and durable watch made by a craftsman from another dimension. It can be used even in the depths of the ocean, as it is perfectly waterproof. Indicates time accurately in any circumstance.]

The only use for this artifact was that it indicated time accurately under any and all circumstances. Ji-Cheok thought this was a useless item, but the fact that he was using it here made him laugh. Even within range of Ji-Han’s time-stopping ability, and even in this time-stop training space, the watch was still ticking.

“Fourteen hours? I’ve been training for fourteen hours? How is that possible?”

He realized that in this space, neither hunger nor sleepiness affected him. He was certainly fatigued, but to his pleasant surprise, that was the only thing he felt.

“Whew. I guess it’s time to get up.”

This could be only done by someone who was crazy about training.

“Hmm… I think I learned something from the Sword Art.”

Ji-Cheok looked down at the sword in his hand. He thought about what this sword was, and what the Sword Art was…. He had a vague idea about how to properly use them now. He also realized that the way he had been using his own swords was not the proper way at all.

He swung his sword once again.

‘With this, did I get closer to my goal?’

He knew. He knew that, for now, it was impossible to perfectly imitate the movement he had seen in his dream. Today was just a small step toward mastering cultivation.

“Good.”

It was slow, but with each step, he kept going forward.

‘In this world where the Tutorial is about to end, can I save myself?’

* * *

After leaving the [Training Space of the God of War], he was completely exhausted. He felt as if he was about to die. When he returned to the real world, Cheok-Liang was still studying. Zero time elapsed on Earth while he was in the training room, so Ji-Cheok guessed that Cheok-Liang was still studying the same thing as before. He was typing on the keyboard with his short front paws, searching for something.

?Master, you came back.?

‘Oh, you know that I came back without looking at me?’

?Of course, Master. You and I are connected.?

Ji-Cheok went to the living room where the World Tree was placed and lay down on the sofa. After realizing the secret of [Heaven and Earth Chaotic Divine Art], he now could control his breath and circulate his Qi even while lying down like this.

‘Today was a hard day.’

He took a deep breath.

Thanks to the World Tree, he felt his fatigue relieved and his Qi rapidly restored.

‘What would I have done without the World Tree…’

Also, the synergistic effect was amazing when [Heaven Martial Body] was combined with the [Training Space of the God of War].

If he could continue training like this, he thought he would be about to teach Mu-Cheok cultivation too… There was something that he had learned today while suffering physically from the God of War. Like the [Microcosmic Orbit] and [Macrocosmic Orbit], skills were just skills. It was important for the user to fully understand them to use them properly. In addition, if a cultivator properly understood cultivation, they could pass it on to others. In other words, it was possible for an ordinary person to become Awakened if they could feel their Qi and use their Dantian.

‘Of course, there’s a downside to it. People have to start learning it from a very early age.’

Some might argue that they could just buy an Awakening Stone to become Awakened, but this way, even poor people could become Awakened! At the very least, they would be able to become cultivators.

‘I’m pretty sure I’m not the only person who knows this.’

Indeed, in recent years, normal skills had been considered a much better investment than cultivation; however, it was hard to believe that China, with so many cultivators, was unaware of this. This piece of knowledge quite literally meant power, so Ji-Cheok assumed that the Chinese hid it from the outside world so they could gain an advantage themselves.

Suddenly, an ingenious idea came to his mind.

‘If I execute this plan well, this is going to be a game changer.’

He immediately picked up the phone and called. It was Seong Kwang.

1. National Gymnastics is a series of exercises put together by the Korean government and distributed to the public. Back in the day, school pupils would gather every morning and do these exercises.