The positive energy became a flame.
The flame became positive energy.
The cold became negative energy.
The negative energy became cold.
Inside Jinseong’s body, everything he held blended together, and its properties became ambiguous. Warmth and coolness, brightness and darkness—all mingling with each other, filled his body to the brim.
Thus created, the positive energy grasped the tail of the negative, and the negative held the tail of the positive as they moved. Their appearance resembled the flow of wind in the sky, the embrace of a sea filled with various currents, and the slow flow of the earth, akin to the gentle movements of celestial bodies in space.
And so, the entangled positive and negative, as if biting each other, gradually incorporated each other’s symbols.
Just as brightness has its shadow.
Just as where there’s an increase, there’s a decrease.
The positive embraced the negative.
The negative embraced the positive.
Thus, a formless Taeguk was completed within Jinseong’s body.
This meant that Jinseong had embraced the symbol of Taeguk.
“How splendid.”
Furthermore, unlike the shamans in China, what Jinseong inscribed on his body wasn’t a patterned Taeguk; rather, it was a formless Taeguk, freeing him from any anxiety about losing the symbol of Taeguk as a cost of magic.
The formlessness didn’t carry any shape.
Only its appearance changes according to the container, while its essence remains unchanged.
No matter how Jinseong’s body transformed.
Even if he lost all human form and turned into a monster, the symbol of Taeguk embedded within him would remain eternal.
Moreover, the balance between positive and negative is what each maintains.
This meant that as long as Jinseong didn’t push himself to the point of completely shattering the balance of yin and yang, he could freely utilize both positive and negative energies.
“At least the imbalance is resolved.”
Jinseong smiled, relishing the warmth and coolness flowing through his body.
But it was still too early for satisfaction.
The cost of the initiation wasn’t simply about resolving the imbalance.
Suuuu—
The moonlight, having resolved the imbalance, cast a stronger beam towards Jinseong. His skin quivered as if in resonance, gleaming softly as if it had absorbed the moonlight. Then, the soft light skimmed his body, coating it like a thin layer before finally seeping beneath his skin and disappearing.
Whoosh—
And as the light vanished, a gentle breeze enveloped Jinseong, as though the moon breathed gently upon him.
The wind was not arid and desolate; it was filled with the fragrance of the forest.
The wind, as if trying to mark his body with its scent, circled around for a while before fading away.
With that, the illuminating light that had shone upon Jinseong disappeared.
But the cost of the initiation was far from over.
Crack!
The golden spear, first lodged in the wild boar’s body, freed itself from the prisoner grip of the wild boar and fell to the ground with a thud. Then, as if to cleanse itself of the defilement, it emitted an intensely bright light that seemed blinding and shot that light towards Jinseong.
The heated light permeated through Jinseong’s skin and into his muscles.
Squirm.
His muscles twitched, jerking uncontrollably as they began to transform in proportion to that movement. The muscles firmed up, gained elasticity, and their structure transformed into a resilient texture akin to tough rubber.
His once-flat body didn’t bulge significantly, but its interior transformed into a blissfully blessed physique unparalleled to before.
And as if that wasn’t enough, the gold sprawled across his body.
However, perhaps because Jinseong had previously undergone purification rituals in Japan, nothing else was altered.
As a result, the light absorbed into his body without any significant changes.
Without being consumed on “purification,” it contained nearly intact strength.
Then, this absorbed light transformed into primal life force, enhancing Jinseong’s physique, granting him a more vigorous body.
“Very pleasing.”
Before his regression, Jinseong had undergone the coming-of-age ceremony on his adulthood day.
Yet back then, the ceremony had not been particularly satisfying.
While he managed to perform a decent coming-of-age ceremony using the assorted magic he accumulated during his stay in the Lee Clan, its effects were minimal.
At most, he gained a bit of health, his hair grew thicker, and he experienced less hair loss.
For ordinary people, it wasn’t a bad outcome, but…
Merely not being bad did not equate to being satisfactory.
“In the past, I couldn’t even set a direction or bear any symbol within my body.”
Becoming an adult signifies the ability to genuinely impact the world.
And within that influence, there exists directionality.
A direction to achieve one’s life goals.
Worshipping gods.
Creating items.
Exploring magic.
Searching for truth.
Studying tirelessly to accumulate knowledge.
Walking towards fulfilling life’s purpose and moving in that direction.
The coming-of-age ceremony performed by shamans imbues this directionality with meaning.
In the case of voodoo practitioners who receive the blessings of spirits, such ceremonies grant them bodies resilient to toxins emitted by plants, while shamans who bond with animals develop a body that emits pheromones that animals find appealing. Mechanists undertaking such ceremonies ensure their bodies do not produce static electricity and endure the poisons of rust and minerals.
However, Jinseong was unable to establish such directions.
The reasons for that multitude.
With the Republic of Korea becoming a wasteland for magic, he faced limitations in obtaining proper magic.
His vague obsession with magic prevented him from grasping a clear direction.
There was no one around who could provide him with magical assistance.
A myriad of factors converged, leading him to hold a mediocre coming-of-age ceremony without direction—something embarrassingly ordinary.
And though this lingering regret remained for Jinseong, it was now perfectly resolved.
Embracing the correct directionality.
Having conducted a coming-of-age ceremony befitting the former practitioners known as Gisaeng.
“Primitive, savage, and primal coming-of-age.”
The ceremony Jinseong now performed mirrored the coming-of-age rites of ancient times.
In an era when humanity dispersed not into nations but into tribes.
Legends formed, myths created, and instead of sleek ceremonies crafted from those, it was a very rough hewn rite.
In ancient times, when humanity bowed obediently before nature, venerating the celestial bodies in the sky as great beings, they demonstrated their capabilities through hunting to prove their adulthood.
This “ability proof” coming-of-age ceremony was universally common and a typical form of event found anywhere across the world.
A harsh environment demanded that one person must fulfill the role of more than one to survive.
Those unable to prove their abilities risked being cast out without achieving adulthood.
Even if they did prove their worth, the treatment varied according to the “fruits” caught.
Depending on the size of the prey hunted, and its ferocity, one’s status and position within the tribe fluctuated.
Such globally evident “universal” coming-of-age rites transformed over time, absorbing history and accumulating magical meaning.
However, as civilization progressed, these rough, savage, dirty, dangerous, and inefficient rites gradually vanished.
Reduced to mere anecdotes for leisurely discussions, as “such cultures existed before civilization.”
People regarded this merely as “the savage culture of uncivilized humans.”
Some even viewed engaging in these “savage” acts as sins.
But just because something is dismissed by someone doesn’t mean everyone turns away.
For Jinseong, this ancient coming-of-age ritual embracing the primitive and savage was akin to treasure.
Thus, Jinseong exerted every effort.
Layering defilements to forge dreadful divine objects, creating wild boar monsters with those divine objects, feeding shamanic evil spirits to the monstrous beings to fatten them up, and finally capturing the plump harvest to offer as a sacrifice in flames, completing his coming-of-age ceremony.
Through this, he maximized symbolism and greatly enhanced the ceremony’s effectiveness…
“That will surely be of great assistance in the future.”
It was immensely satisfactory.
Jinseong turned, smiling broadly.
Squeak—
Along with teleportation, Jinseong moved towards the safe zone where he originally resided, leaving behind a village turned to ruins with burnt wild boar carcasses and debris in his wake.
The village, devoid of evil spirits and ghosts, buried every sound in darkness, becoming a realm filled solely with silence.
*
[Attention all personnel! Alpha type deployed! Alpha type deployed!]
[Announcing a real situation; all personnel deploy Alpha type!]
“Aw, what the heck!”
“Alpha Type deployed!”
“Alpha Type deployed!”
“Get up! Put on your gear and grab the holy water!”
Wherever calmness prevails, there must be a ruckus somewhere to maintain the balance of the world.
The safe zone grew noisy.
