The lights of the campfire spread low.
Three bonfires.
More than half of the twenty new members were already collapsed in sleep.
The rest were motionless with their eyes closed.
Dong Bongsu sat at a distance from the fire.
The darkness behind him was deep.
Moonlight lay thinly upon the plain, and stars were scattered above the distant mountain ridge.
His gaze first turned to Seok Gyeong.
Lying down, he was slowly moving his feet.
His lips were twitching minutely.
Was he repeating the verses to himself?
'He's picking up speed as he starts to fill up on his own.'
The luggage was placed right by his head.
A portion for two people.
He hadn't thrown it away in the end.
It must be a habit with rock-bottom efficiency.
It looked quite heavy.
However.
When an inefficient action is repeated, it becomes less a habit and more a conviction.
A human who moves by conviction is hard to break.
For him, that was enough.
Dong Bongsu's gaze shifted.
Hoae.
She was crouched by the bonfire, massaging the feet of two children in turn.
The children were already asleep, but Hoae's hands did not stop.
She had spent half the day practically running, chanting the verses, checking on all twenty individuals, and helping fallen members back to their feet.
And even in her spare time, she massaged another's feet.
Seeing the slight tremble in Hoae's fingertips, it was clear she was exhausted.
Her breathing had not yet evened out.
Since she was disseminating the footwork, she couldn't have used her own properly, so her stamina and internal energy consumption must have been far greater than the other members.
This type of human is the most troublesome.
A human who moves by efficiency is easy to predict.
They follow the path of profit.
A human who moves by emotion is also not difficult.
One just needs to grasp the type of emotion.
But.
The type that takes care of others even beyond their own limits is unpredictable.
Because their motivation is not profit or emotion, but something closer to 'instinct'.
Similar to Seok Gyeong, but a very subtly different kind.
And... A person who doesn't stop is dangerous because the very fact that they don't stop infects their surroundings.
The source of the contagion doesn't know it's a pathogen.
That is the core of this type.
This kind of person has the potential to evolve at any time, if only given a trigger.
Dong Bongsu stood up.
Thud.
One step.
He had intended to approach silently, but deliberately made a sound.
Hoae raised her head.
"Mister?"
Hah, Kim Rae-won smiled.
The mask smiled well, as it was meant to.
"Not sleeping yet?"
"The children's feet are a bit…"
"How is it?"
Hoae hesitated.
She lowered her head for a moment, then quietly withdrew her hands.
Kim Rae-won sat down in front of her.
The firelight fell on half of each of their faces.
"What is?"
"Do you think you're earning your keep?"
"I'm not sure yet."
"You're doing well."
"If you say so, then I guess I am?"
Kim Rae-won lightly ruffled her hair.
"Yes. However."
Hoae looked up at him.
"From now on, you'll need a different kind of resolve."
"What kind of resolve?"
"Because this is the Jianghu."
"In the Jianghu… how does one earn their keep well?"
Kim Rae-won stared at Hoae for a moment, then turned his gaze to the distance and said.
"You have to kill well."
Despite hearing such words, Hoae looked in the same direction as Kim Rae-won, unfazed, and spoke calmly.
"That… I'm prepared for it."
"I see."
"Yes. You said it before, didn't you?"
"What did I say?"
"Tsk. You don't even remember what you said?"
"It's because I'm a fool."
"A fool is that strong?"
"Fools are always strong. You fool."
"Then that's good, being a fool. That thing."
"..."
"Anyway, back then… You said as long as we don't walk an evil path, it's fine for us to go any way we want. You said that, Mister."
"Well, that's right. As long as you're not evil, as long as you don't turn away from goodness, in a dog-eat-dog world like this, you can be a wandering hero, a true hero."
"I don't know about such grand things. For me, it's enough not to turn my back on the people here now… my family."
Dong Bongsu smiled.
"That too is a hero. You don't have to be a hero to everyone."
"Still, you said it back then. You said it again, Mister."
"What did I say?"
"That if we walk an evil path… it would be a great experience for you."
"..."
"That, as much as you painstakingly raised us, as much as we grew, it would become a great experience for you."
"Did I say that?"
"Yes. I thought about it for a long time, and though I couldn't understand what it meant, it made me firmly resolve one thing."
"What?"
"Not to become evil."
"..."
"And to become a hero while I'm at it. Hehet."
Kim Rae-won looked at Hoae, who was laughing brightly like a child for the first time in a while, and smiled.
"Yes. Let's definitely become that. If…"
"...?"
"If, by any chance, a day comes when you decide to become evil, make up your mind to be destructive enough to destroy the entire world. You have to become that evil at least-"
Kim Rae-won smiled even more brightly than Hoae.
It was a smile so clear, without a single speck of dust.
"To be able to survive."
"Nah, I won't do that."
Kim Rae-won ruffled Hoae's hair again and said.
"You never know what can happen in a person's life."
"..."
"Become strong. Strong enough to make the entire world your experience."
A moment of silence.
The bonfire crackled.
A spark flew up and immediately died.
Hoae bit her lip, then released it.
Her heartbeat quickened for a moment before steadying.
Resolve.
That one word was what Dong Bongsu read.
"Yep!"
Her head slowly came up.
"Good."
Dong Bongsu stood up.
No more words were necessary.
Click.
[Guild Quest — Threshold of Growth]
[Progress: 15% → 16%]
[Remaining: 6 days 15 hours]
'1%.'
It was still minuscule.
But from now on, it would change more rapidly.
Tomorrow, it will be twice as fast as today.
● ● ●
Day 2.
The pace doubled.
People began to collapse one after another, but Hoae ran at the front, demonstrating the form of the Spirit Step herself, while the children tirelessly helped the fallen members back to their feet from the rear.
Seok Gyeong, even while carrying the luggage of two people, held his ground in the middle of the formation.
All the while, his muttering of the verses never ceased.
Two complete dropouts.
The rest survived.
Click.
[Progress: 24%]
Day 3.
Punching and kicking were added to the running.
Before the morning march, Kim Rae-won had the formation line up and gave a short demonstration.
One form.
He thrust his left fist into the air.
That was all.
"Strike like this. While running."
At that one phrase, the twenty of them began running while punching the air.
Punching while running was harder than breathing while running.
The moment a fist was extended, the breath was cut off, and when the breath was cut off, the footwork crumbled.
Hoae immediately translated.
"Strike when you exhale! At the very moment Qi is about to pass through your Qihae acupoint, plant your left foot on the ground at the same time!"
To connect exhalation, foot movement, and strike into one.
A structure that placed the fist upon the circulation of the Spirit Step.
'She connected something I never taught her on her own.'
Dong Bongsu's eyes narrowed slightly.
Hoae had instantly figured out that the timing of the exhalation in the Spirit Step verses was the optimal timing for a strike, without once messing up her footwork.
The seedling was planted well.
However, it had strayed slightly from the expected direction, and the predicted speed was also off by a small margin.
I've never liked things like this... but it was an unexpectedly interesting variable.
Click.
[Progress: 45%]
Afternoon of Day 4.
Instead of a horizon, a lake came into view.
Colorful Lake.
A place once called the Bandit Lake.
A lawless land where forty-six fortresses of mountain bandits, water bandits, and horse bandits swarmed.
It was empty now.
Because, of course, I had wiped it out.
'Are we about half a day faster than planned?'
It was the result of the members' growth rate increasing the marching speed.
Three days ago, those who would collapse after running properly for just two hours could now endure for four to six hours.
The circulation of the Spirit Step had fundamentally changed their stamina efficiency.
They made a base out of an empty mountain fortress on the north shore of Colorful Lake.
The walls were sturdy, and the roof remained.
The previous owner must have been a diligent mountain bandit.
The lake was vast.
The setting sun shattered on its surface, living up to its name.
Colorful.
The colors were literally scattered.
The members stared blankly at the lake.
With legs that had run for three and a half days, they shouldn't have had the leisure to appreciate the scenery, but still, their eyes stopped.
"From here on, things change."
Kim Rae-won stood before the formation.
"Until now, you ran. From tomorrow, you fight."
Tension spread among the members.
Hoae nodded without a word.
Seok Gyeong set down his luggage and clenched his fists.
● ● ●
From the 5th day, the intensity of the training changed in quality.
Right after waking up, a full-speed Spirit Step sprint.
A course around Colorful Lake.
Thirty li.
In the morning, basic punching and kicking.
A thousand punches, a thousand kicks.
In sync with the Spirit Step's breathing.
In the afternoon, sparring.
They paired up and traded blows.
Hoae took on the member who didn't have a partner, and Seok Gyeong, who was paired with a member smaller than himself, lost every time.
It was an obvious result, as he had no foundation in martial arts.
But Seok Gyeong learned by being hit.
An attack he had been hit with once, he would half-dodge the second time, and counter the third.
It seemed he had now moved beyond the luggage-carrier stage.
'A beast.'
It suits him.
Dong Bongsu watched the sparring and made notes.
A learning curve that couldn't be captured by system stats.
Seok Gyeong's body was the type where his cells remembered a blow once received.
Night.
The Super True Qi Field caught a faint ripple from far to the north.
A remnant of Qi.
It was blurred, so its direction and scale were unclear.
It was still impossible to tell if it was just the wind or not.
Day 6.
Yan Bilyeong made her move.
The woman, who had until now been sitting with her eyes closed in the shade of a tree, suddenly appeared in the training ground and stood before Hoae.
Instantly, the air of the training ground changed.
Before the sound of the members' trading fists could even subside, the entire field was suppressed by the presence of a single footstep.
"Wanna have a go with me?"
Hoae looked up.
Yan Bilyeong.
A Trigram Master of the Formation Tower.
A peak master.
"...Yes."
The result was, of course, Hoae's crushing defeat.
She was sent flying three times in the first exchange.
But Yan Bilyeong requested a fourth.
And a fifth.
Only after being sent flying ten times did Yan Bilyeong sheathe her sword.
"Not bad."
She left with that one comment and returned.
Myo Jinheo was watching the scene from behind his fan.
The tip of his folded fan was trembling slightly.
'They're starting to be influenced.'
The corners of Dong Bongsu's mouth lifted.
His calculation that he could draw them in just by showing them was proving correct.
Click.
[Progress: 85%]
Day 7.
The last day.
During the morning sprint, Seok Gyeong ran without his luggage for the first time.
The boy, Ho, insisted on carrying it for him.
Seok Gyeong refused, but Ho had already shouldered it.
Seok Gyeong's feet without the burden were different.
The form of his footwork was rough, but the flow was alive.
As a result of repeating the Spirit Step verses for seven days, a tiny amount of internal energy, the size of a mosquito's eyeball, had finally begun to flow along the path created by his will.
He had carried the luggage.
He had run.
He had been hit.
Those three things were all he did, but after seven days, something other than luggage had started to be loaded onto him.
'If the will leads, the Qi will eventually follow.'
The seed from seven days ago had sprouted.
Morning sparring.
All sixteen members, excluding the four complete dropouts, participated.
The trajectory of their fists carried the breath of the Spirit Step, and the timing of their kicks was overlaid with the rhythm of the verses.
They had become completely different people from seven days ago.
Click.
[Progress: 97%]
'It will be over by afternoon.'
Two hours remaining.
The quest's completion was in sight.
However... The Super True Qi Field reacted.
In the direction of the north shore of Colorful Lake.
A distance of 600 to 700 meters.
It was people.
And...
'Hundreds of them.'
They weren't walking.
They were being dragged.
The irregular vibrations unique to those moving by will rather than by foot.
'Many injured. Their internal energy is a mess… and moreover.'
Dong Bongsu's eyes narrowed.
A familiar texture was mixed into the quality of their Qi.
A pure white, clear, yet sharp Qi.
'Is that Vast Heaven Qi?'
Qi of the same exact type as that of the Vast Heaven Infinite Sword Sect he had fought before was detected.
And not elites, but something like shattered fragments.
The Qi was uneven, fluctuating wildly.
Roughly between two to three hundred people.
It seemed quite a lot of guests had arrived without an invitation.
Dong Bongsu rose from his seat.
Just then, the wind blew, sweeping his hair northward.
Simultaneously, the corners of his mouth twitched lightly, unseen by anyone, by anyone in the world.
"Has it begun?"
A little earlier than expected, but.
Such predictions are always more enjoyable when they're wrong.
The sooner a bloody party starts, the better.