Chapter 352

“The Lane of Frozen Ice is a land of tranquil death, so if you do not wish to be forgotten by the world, do not even think of setting foot here.”

A land so barren that not a blade of grass will grow.

A safety zone devoid of beasts due to the lethal cold.

The human figures that have flowed into this place are diverse.

Serial killers, rebels, those wishing for suicide—most are cases where life has hit rock bottom.

At an altitude of 2400 meters, with an average temperature of minus 60 degrees.

From a dizzying height where clouds can be grasped, the shout of a youthful boy echoed.

“Huah!”

Kugung—!

The boy’s sword dance sent an avalanche of snow roaring like thunder from the snowy mountains.

The waves of snow swallowed the clouds and gradually grew in size, while the rocks of the unveiled mountain range crumbled into small pieces and were swept away with the avalanche.

Once the earth-shaking roar ended, silence returned.

Despite the freezing cold that felt like skin being sliced with a knife, the boy was bare-chested.

The boy, blessed by the sun, readied his strength and carefully surveyed his surroundings.

“I think… I did… well…?”

Then the kidnapper flicked his finger and spoke.

“Fall down and crawl back up.”

“Yes…”

“Answer properly.”

“Yes! I will fall right now!”

The boy stepped off the cliff without a trace of hesitation, holding back tears amidst his turmoil.

During the fall of 18 seconds, he poured out his pent-up feelings and shed tears.

Where had it all gone wrong?

Was it when he willingly offered a meal to the pretty beggar sister wandering the streets?

Was it when he hesitated, knowing her bounty was a staggering sum that could buy a castle?

One thing was certain: by the time he realized she was a direct descendant of the Demon Lord, it was already too late to flee.

The ominous golden eyes granted no mercy, not even in death.

As the boy fell from the cliff, he regretted his foolish actions from the past.

* * *

Kwai, Joon, Gang, Yu, Hwan.

Pa, Byeon, Cheom, Tan, Pok, Wa, Heup.

The rising and falling of Chun, Ha, Chu, Dong (mythos).

Logos, Pathos, Ethos.

Ignis, Aqua, Terra, Ventus (ἀρχή).

In addition to this, he sent Emika movements containing over 70 fundamental materials.

Every human possesses the potential to use aura.

However, finding the right potential suited for oneself in daily life is akin to finding a needle in a haystack.

Our brains and aura hearts must endure discomfort to grow.

This is why learning is painful, and effort is bitter.

[Noname: I’m crossing the Han River now. I should arrive in about 20 minutes.]

I admired the glimmering river view from the taxi while leaving a message for Emika.

[Emika: (๑°ㅁ°๑)‼✧]

[Emika: (´×д×`三꒪д꒪ ;)]

[Emika: ๐·°(৹˃̵﹏˂̵৹)°·๐]

The always poker-faced girl used quite a cute emoji.

I felt like I somewhat understood the situation.

I turned my phone over and immersed myself in the refreshing scent of the spring breeze, drifting into old memories.

I recalled the first time I taught Klaus.

True to the title of hero, he had been basing his learning on the essence of “spring.”

The mythos of spring revolves around descent after ascent and separation followed by reunion.

Klaus certainly had abundant talent, yet he also lacked it in many ways, which made teaching him quite frustrating.

I couldn’t say there wasn’t a twinge of guilt in my teaching methods.

Poor boy.

But if I still can’t think of a more efficient method…

It seems I am always right.

Noname’s consecutive victories.

Recently, the weather in Korea had been surprisingly pleasant, and my mood naturally lifted.

After getting out of the taxi, I pressed the hotel doorbell and waited for someone to open the door.

“Hello, Name-chan! Came to see Katsuhata-chan again today?”

At that moment, some younger students returning from shopping greeted me enthusiastically.

“Yes, hello. Is Katsuhata-chan doing well?”

“It seems she’s struggling quite a bit because of the training that the lord has given her.”

“That’s right. She even skipped dinner because she couldn’t digest her food.”

“I brought pork belly for dinner, so I hope she eats a bit today.”

“Name-chan should go and give her a massage. Since she’s in her growth spurt, it seems she now avoids her older sisters’ touches.”

“Sniff, sniff, I can no longer touch Emika’s cheeks. Guess I’ll have to be satisfied with Yui.”

It seemed these people were letting off steam from their training stress by chatting non-stop.

I endured the blood rushing to my ears and entered Emika’s room.

She was diligently practicing the movements I had assigned her in front of a large mirror.

At first glance, you’d think she was a middle school girl following idol choreography.

“Emika.”

“Ah, Name-chan, you’ve come? I was just practicing hard.”

“There’s still about 10 minutes until 4 o’clock, so I’ll wait until you’re done.”

“Until I’m done? Lately, I’ve been extremely busy with training and… I don’t think I can finish in time—”

“Try not finishing. We’ll see what happens.”

“I will do my best!”

Emika bust her flexible body while practicing hard.

Despite the air conditioning being so strong, she was sweating profusely.

“Ah, that’s not how you do that.”

I wanted to give her a hint, but I held back and recited Amitabha.

The 99th movement.

Emika leaped into the air as if doing ballet, extending her legs front and back.

There’s a similar movement in actual ballet, called grand jeté.

“Huuaagh!”

Emika clutched her groin and rolled on the floor.

“Oooh, 100.”

“100 points? That’s nice, hehe.”

“99, 98, 97…”

“Ah, what? Was that counting? Hurry up for the last one!”

The last 100th movement.

The Double Airtrack is a technique that involves making two rotations in the air and landing with both hands.

Emika watched a demonstration video with dead eyes.

“…”

“What are you doing? Why aren’t you doing it?”

“I-I will!”

Emika went into a handstand on the mat.

It’s a simple move where you tilt your upper body and alternate placing hands on the ground to turn around.

“Kwueek!”

But failing to rotate even half a turn and landing on her chest made me slap my forehead.

“Are you perhaps clumsy? That’s a bit of a problem.”

“I’m not clumsy! It’s weirder to follow this by just watching it once.”

Emika raised her voice in self-defense.

Then she seemed to tire and collapsed, burying her face into the mat.

She might have dozed off for a moment due to exhaustion.

I climbed up onto her back and pressed her trapezius muscles with my thumbs.

“Uhhh…!”

“Did you not sleep properly last night, Emika? You’ve been unfocused since earlier.”

In her current state, she wouldn’t be able to proceed with the lesson properly.

While there’s no blood to keep her alert, I rubbed her tight muscles to ease them.

“I have too much homework, uhhn!”

“Don’t make strange sounds.”

“I can’t help it if it comes out…”

“Fine, I’ll take it easy. Just listen while getting a massage.”

“Why do we do these movements? Honestly, I don’t think they help in combat at all.”

“That’s what I was going to explain today. I held back saying it because I was worried it might affect the outcome if I told you in advance. So pay attention and don’t doze off.”

“Ugh…!”

“Still, could you please answer properly?”

I brought a hologram over from a distance and watched the movements she had recorded previously together.

“This is a type of aura aptitude test.”

“Aura aptitude test? Isn’t that all a scam?”

“Finding aptitude based on date of birth or name is fake. This can be regarded as a real aura aptitude test. Of course, not everyone can do it; fundamentally, you have to have an exceptionally good range of joint motion like Emika.”

There was also a reason I practiced yoga or stretching every day.

“The core is the likelihood of performing the movement perfectly. If you can accurately find the essential essence closely related to that movement, it can help with external manifestation. So don’t doze off and listen carefully.”

“Ah!”

Pressing on Emika’s external oblique muscles made them jump like a fresh fish.

I maintained my balance on top of her while calming the girl down again.

I pointed at the currently playing 8th movement.

One-finger push-up.

“This usually contains the essence of ‘Cheom.’ Those who have the talent for the aura of Cheom can perform this movement with a very high probability.”

“Oh, I somewhat understand! It’s the same as how people who like staying at home have a high chance of coming out as I in the MBTI?”

“Roughly speaking, yes. But you did it relatively easily.”

“Yeah. It’s something we’re taught in our group too.”

“This is where it gets tricky. Since training can also allow one to perform the movement, you have to take that into account.”

“So there’s a method?”

“You keep watching. Think of it as solving 100 probability differential equations with 100 variables.”

Adella manifested external aura with the essence of Venus.

Such individuals can perform handstands better than others without any special training.

That’s because Venus’s rotation axis is flipped by 180 degrees compared to other planets.

People in this world had no way of knowing such ridiculous correlations.

That was a conclusion drawn from the tales of the masses in a life overflowing with mana.

As I gently loosened Emika’s soft shoulders, I absorbed the movements in my eyes.

“Namya, I have a question.”

“Yeah, what is it?”

“How can you do everything so well? You must need talent, right?”

“Weren’t you taught in Daoism? All rivers converge in the sea. This is basic knowledge everywhere.”

“Ah…! All water currents eventually become one in the ocean!”

“Spring, summer, autumn, winter. Ultimately, it’s the four seasons, time, and the cycle of life. A single fixed moment creates countless illusions across different time zones, hence Hua; despite that, the environment is ever-changing, hence Byeon. In the same way, humanity’s way of handling aura is ultimately just wordplay.”

As long as you know how to handle external manifestation, linking it to other movements is quite easy.

It’s just that everyone avoids it out of laziness or unfamiliarity.

After running through all 100 movements, I closed my eyes and immersed myself in calculations.

For the first time, I found it hard to grasp everything at once.

If none of these are found, today would be a complete waste.

Since I couldn’t find the needle in the desert, searching for it now in Antarctica was the next step.

But Eureka’s divine inspiration struck me.

I could only attribute my discovery to sheer luck.

“Sharp Cheom…”

“Cheom? Just as Koizumi-sensei said, I must have talent for stabbing? It’s not exactly surprising since I’ve heard it a lot.”

“Cheom indeed, but there’s another character that follows.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that…”

Cheomdan.

After pondering for some time, I made my decision and diagnosed her.

“Emika, you’re more suited for a lightsaber than a sword.”

If Klaus or Katsuhata heard this, they would have clutched their necks in disbelief at such a statement.