Chapter 1086: Scorched World.

The second day dawned.

We still hadn’t been assigned lodging.

Since we had already subdued monsters, there were no financial issues, so as soon as the banquet ended, I returned and took rest.

No, it’s called rest, but honestly, I wandered around more. Since this body doesn’t require sleep, I did a bit of wandering during the night to check on some things.

I needed to know what was happening in the current situation, and even for the sake of assessing the status, I should have wandered around a bit more.

Thanks to that, I was able to figure out quite a lot.

‘There’s just nothing.’

It was a time when there was just too little of anything. There wasn’t anything particularly problematic, and since the monsters’ conditions were only yielding green and blue, there wasn’t anything more to expect.

Literally, an age of peace.

A transitional period located before the transition to the Meteor Generation.

Historically speaking, the current time is a period with nothing significant, nothing at all to record.

‘What on earth am I supposed to do here?’

What task was I meant to do here? With what intention did Mother send me? I couldn’t know. The information and the situation were both too ambiguous for this to be considered a proper arrangement.

‘For now, my guess is that it’s related to Father.’

It was obvious just looking at it; Mother’s arrangement was related to Father. Not only did the circumstances dictate as much, but my intuition agreed.

That’s why I tried to get close to Father somehow, but…

‘…Hmm.’

Getting close is good, but what should I actually do?

I still couldn’t know.

“Baek Yangcheon. Access pass confirmed. Enter.”

“Take care.”

I passed through the gate and entered. As soon as the day brightened, I headed to the Martial Arts Alliance. This was because there had been instructions to join the alliance early in the morning.

Without sleeping a wink, I headed towards the Blue Dragon Division I had visited yesterday.

Although I felt gazes here and there, I lightly ignored them. It was obvious the ripple effect was caused by the Pae-jon.

“Yesterday, the Pae-jon, you know-…”

“…at the Blue Dragon Division banquet…”

I didn’t know where the rumor had spread from, but the news that the Pae-jon had participated in the Blue Dragon Division banquet had spread everywhere. It also seemed well known that the reason was because of me.

‘Fucking fast, really.’

Anyway, rumors are always like this, but they seem to spread fucking fast.

Holding back a sigh, I moved my steps. Before long, I entered the quarters of the Blue Dragon Division.

When I entered, the people I had seen yesterday were already gathered. I thought I had come relatively early too, but they had arrived much faster than that.

“Oh! Over here!”

Do-yun waved his hand and greeted me. I naturally walked towards Do-yun and stood beside him.

“Why did everyone come so early?”

“Nonsense. You’re the one who’s late.”

“…Hmm?”

But that’s not right. I thought I had arrived before the assembly time?

When I looked at him as if asking what he meant, Do-yun replied, as if he couldn’t understand.

“No, of course, it’s natural to arrive about half an hour early.”

“…”

I frowned. Why should one arrive early when there’s an appointed time? I truly couldn’t understand.

Seeing me make that expression, Do-yun scratched his own cheek.

“Umm… Ah. No, it’s nothing. That can happen.”

‘…This guy?’

As soon as I saw his reaction, I knew. This guy had given up on me. It was clear he’d decided not to bother explaining.

“Anyway. Focus, because the seniors will be arriving soon.”

Everyone was disciplined, perhaps due to yesterday’s events. It seemed like it was probably thanks to So-i getting angry once.

Watching that, I raised my senses. It was because I thought it was about time. Perhaps because of that, I felt presences arriving as if they had been waiting.

“Oh, you guys are already here early.”

A hearty voice and a sharp presence. Cheong-yeol-geom-ju emerged from the quarters and walked out into the open space. And.

‘Father is here too.’

Father, who hadn’t been at yesterday’s banquet, also followed Cheong-yeol-geom-ju out and ascended the platform. Led by Cheong-yeol-geom-ju, those who appeared to be warriors of the Blue Dragon Division took their seats.

“Welcome. Did you sleep well?”

“Yes–!”

“…Yes.”

Everyone answered with all their might to Cheong-yeol-geom-ju’s question. Except for me.

Cheong-yeol-geom-ju grinned at their response.

“Your spirit is good. I apologize for calling you here so early, but since you’ll be colleagues from now on, there are a few things I need to check.”

Check? I wondered what exactly he intended to check. As I watched Cheong-yeol-geom-ju out of curiosity.

“The Blue Dragon Division has a tradition, passed down through generations.”

As he spoke, Cheong-yeol-geom-ju clicked his fingers. Then.

Swish-!!

Suddenly, a sword was drawn from his sheath and slashed through the air.

“Gasp…!”

“Airborne sword manipulation…?”

Everyone was startled by the technique, which could supposedly only be used upon reaching the Hwa-gyeong level.

‘…What a useless skill?’

It didn’t seem to contain much power. It was literally just a showy act. Cheong-yeol-geom-ju’s sword flew through the air and then began drawing a large circle around the area where I and the others were gathered.

Scrreeeeech-!!

It quickly drew a circle on the ground, then flew back and returned to Cheong-yeol-geom-ju’s waist.

“The reason is, when we accept new recruits, we usually take time to check their skills. It’s nominally called the Blue Dragon Tournament.”

Checking skills.

In other words.

“To put it simply. Yes, from now on, the seniors will pick each of you. Then you just need to show your skills easily. Simple, right?”

‘…So.’

To put it even more simply.

‘Fight a senior right in front of everyone. That’s what it means.’

A senior checks a junior’s skills. Since they are people who will fight back-to-back in the future, checking each other’s skills is a good pretext, but there was another story hidden within it.

‘It means they intend to establish discipline firmly.’

Establishing discipline firmly from the start so juniors wouldn’t get out of line. Since there’s nothing better than skill for martial artists, it also meant they intended to easily control them using this advantage.

‘In that sense, it is indeed a simple and convenient method.’

From my perspective, it was an understandable matter.

Tension instantly rose among the fellow recruits who heard the words. While staring intently at them.

“If you understand, shall we start? Now then, starting with our previous youngest member.”

At Cheong-yeol-geom-ju’s call, the beautiful woman sitting at the very end, So-i, shot up.

“Who does our previous youngest member want to fight?”

“I…”

As So-i spoke, she looked down. At her gaze, the fellow recruits all avoided eye contact. They probably didn’t want to fight her after seeing her fierce appearance yesterday.

Amidst this, leaving behind those avoiding her gaze, So-i’s eyes turned towards me.

‘Hmm?’

Could it be?

‘Is it me?’

Just as I narrowed my eyes, thinking she might be pointing at me.

“I… the Baek over there-“

“Great Master-!”

Someone among those sitting suddenly stood up. It was Namgung Jin.

Cheong-yeol-geom-ju looked at him due to the sudden intervention.

“What is it?”

“I want to go first.”

“Oh?”

Whether displeased by the intervention, the Geom-ju, who was about to frown, widened his eyes at Namgung Jin’s words.

“I like your spirit? Good. Who do you want to fight?”

At the Geom-ju’s words, Namgung Jin’s gaze shifted.

Ah, damn it. I wanted to believe it wasn’t the case, but the situation was too blatant.

“I want to see Junior Baek Yangcheon’s skills.”

He smiled and pointed at me.

Damn it.

‘So this is how it turns out.’

I had a feeling something would go wrong, and sure enough… It ended up like this.

“Baek Yangcheon…?”

The Geom-ju looked at me, then glanced back and forth between Namgung Jin and me, before saying.

“Good. Go ahead.”

Perhaps thinking it would be interesting, the Geom-ju permitted it with a grin.

As soon as permission was granted, Namgung Jin came down. The other recruits had already scrambled out of the circle like ghosts.

He approached me, his signature blue eyes, curved like crescent moons.

“Junior Baek.”

“…Yes.”

“I’m extremely happy to see you again so soon. You must be too, right?”

“…Would you believe me if I said no?”

“Well. I’m happy, at least.”

Why ask if you’ve already decided the answer?

“Yesterday, seeing that you clearly didn’t want to kneel by your own strength, I came out to help.”

“Ah…”

Trying to make me kneel with his own hands?

“Hmm… is that so?”

“How about that? I’m a kind senior, aren’t I?”

“Yes, indeed. Ha.”

I ran my hand through my hair.

I pondered for a moment.

“Don’t worry too much. I won’t kill you.”

“…Hmm.”

“Someone like you? I can finish this by simply giving you a lesson. Ah, of course, you might not be able to walk for a while, though.”

“See? You should have just knelt when I offered nicely.”

I stopped scratching my head midway through listening.

“Good.”

This should be about enough.

“Three times. That feels about right.”

“Hmm? What did you say?”

“No. I was just thinking about something, and I’ve finished now.”

“…Ha, you’re pondering right in front of me?”

“Of course. I have to.”

I said with a smile.

“Otherwise, you could really die.”

“…What?”

The moment Namgung Jin’s face contorted at my words.

“Start.”

The Geom-ju spoke. Namgung Jin immediately placed his hand on his sword.

However.

“Let’s see your level.”

Clang.

“Huh?”

The sword wasn’t drawn. What? Why isn’t it drawing? Namgung Jin looked at his sword, flustered.

“Huh?”

Of course, it wouldn’t be drawn. My palm was pressed against the end of the hilt, blocking it. Seeing this, Namgung Jin tried to react quickly, but.

“Urk…”

Wham-!

“Crack!”

My fist dug into Namgung Jin’s abdomen.

Thump-!

Struck by the impact, Namgung Jin knelt down, and then.

“Ughhh!”

Vomited onto the floor right there.

“See?”

Seeing that, I said to Namgung Jin with a calm expression.

“Fucking weakling, acting cocky trying to get yourself killed.”

I stomped my foot right onto his face.