After completing his morning training, Jang prepared breakfast. He was not a good cook, but five years ago, after Lady Hwa’s death, he had to start cooking for the young prince and now he was very skilled at it.
Most of the time he prepared a simple breakfast, but today he prepared red pig meat that he got yesterday with an egg. It was to congratulate Yeowun’s admission to the academy.
It was maybe the last time he could enjoy a meal without worry, so Jang paid extra attention to prepare it.
‘I hope he survives to enjoy my cooking again...’
That’s when Jang heard some screaming.
“Nnnnnngghhhhhaaaaaa...”
Yeowun’s room was close to the kitchen, so Jang was able to hear it easily. He grabbed the sword and ran toward Yeowun’s room. As he burst into the room, Yeowun was sprawled out with only his upper body on the bed and bubbles foaming from his mouth. He was unconscious.
“Prince!”
He quickly ran over and checked the Prince’s pulse. It didn’t seem weird as it was just like when he found him on the mountain two years ago.
‘He’s fine. What was he... huh?’
Jang then saw the faint trace of footsteps on the floor of the room. He placed Yeowun on top of the bed and checked the footprints carefully.
‘Is it...?’
He wasn’t sure, so he placed his foot over the footprint and moved along with it. He was shocked. The footsteps represented the traces of his own dagger skills. A mere footstep would not leave a trace like this on a wooden floor, but martial arts movements sometimes left deep traces after pushing the feet down with hard stomps.
‘What? Did he learn it on his own?’
It was unbelievable. Jang had trained for twenty years to achieve his skill, but this prince had taken the perfect steps. It would require at least years of basic training to accomplish this.
‘He watched my training for two years at most...’
This made Jang dumbfounded.
‘He watched my training for just two years and caught up to my twenty years of experience...?’
It was unbelievable, but also it made his eyes turn red with tears. To him, Yeowun was always a person in need of protection and the son of the woman he thought of dearly. Realizing Yeowun’s talent made him feel grateful. He then placed his hand on Yeowun’s wrist and checked his internal energy.
‘No energy... he just knows the movements.’
Maybe it was for the better. If it was revealed that he had learned to how use internal energy, it was going to enrage the six clans. Jang looked at Yeowun for a while and then walked out. Two hours then passed by.
[Muscle transfer complete. Deactivating anesthesia.]
With a jolt in his head, Yeowun woke up from his sleep.
“Ugh!”
Yeowun got up, panting. He remembered the extreme pain right before he was put to sleep. He did not want to feel that kind of pain anymore.
“Ha... I will never try it again.’
[I warned you, Master.]
“...Yeah.”
It was Yeowun’s choice to try it out. He then got up from the bed and walked to the center of the room to prepare himself to use the dagger skill.
‘Now it won’t hurt, right?’
[Through the simulation, you now have the same muscles as the ones that practiced the movements for twenty years.]
‘Good!’
Yeowun prepared his stance and swung his dagger. The power seemed to be very different from a while ago as his movements were more precise and accurate. As he stomped to move onto his next step, the wooden floor rumbled loudly.
“No!”
Yeowun was surprised and stopped immediately. The floor now had marks of his footsteps.
“This is bad.”
He became worried that Jang might see this.
“It leaves footprints even without internal energy.’
While he was thinking about it, that’s when someone knocked on the door.
“Prince. Your breakfast is ready.”
It was Jang. Yeowun pressed down on the area that had the footprint to remove it, but it didn’t work. That’s when the door opened and Jang walked in.
“Prince?”
“OH! Haha, I’m so hungry!”
Yeowun quickly got up and brought the table near the window to the center of the room. Jang asked curiously, “Don’t you always eat by the window?”
“Y-yeah, but I won’t be returning for a while so I wanted to eat in the center.”
It was suspicious enough but Jang silently placed down breakfast on the table. Yeowun sighed and sat down on the chair.
“Oh!”
Breakfast was baked pig meat, fried vegetables, and the eggs that he loved. It was not a feast that the six clans enjoyed, but this was still lavish enough for Yeowun. He became silent as he knew that it was Jang’s act of kindness for Yeowun who might not return from the academy.
Yeowun took the chopsticks and began eating with teary eyes.
[Strong emotions contributing to acid coming up the throat. Increasing saliva level. Please swallow the food with saliva to calm down the acid.]
‘Stop saying weird shit and shut up!’
[Going into silent mode.]
Nano became silent and Yeowun swallowed his food. He couldn’t leave any food behind. After a quiet breakfast, Jang began asking, “When did you st...”
He couldn’t say the word ‘steal’ to his prince.
“Learn my dagger skill?”
“Huh? Uh- w-what are you talking about?”
Yeowun was surprised by the sudden question. Jang pushed the table to the side and pointed at the floor. There was a clear footprint on the floor.
‘I wasn’t wrong.’
The clear print was certainly from the stomp made by moving onto the second formation of the dagger skill. Yeowun did not learn any martial arts, but he was still from Wulin and he knew what the laws were like. Stealing other people’s martial arts techniques was strictly forbidden and looked down upon.
“I.. I...”
He did steal it through Nano, so he had nothing to say about it. He couldn’t even look into Jang’s probably disappointed look. Jang then knelt down and spoke with a soft voice.
“You did a good job.”
“Uh...”
“I am your guard, Prince. If it wasn’t for the oath, I would have taught you my skills already.”
“Jang...”
Yeowun’s eyes filled up with tears. Jang was more of a father figure to him than his real father. Jang took out a paper filled with writing and gave it to Yeowun.
“What’s this?”
“It’s an energy flow method for the internal energy of the dagger skill.”
“Why are you giving this to me?”
“I would love to give you a method on how to train the internal energy itself, but you will find a better one at the academy. Learn it.”
Yeowun was now shedding tears. He swore that he would never cry after his mother’s death, but he was still a young boy. Jang got up and took the empty plates before he began walking out. He then stopped to speak.
“You can cry today, but you will need to be stronger from now on.”
“...Thank you.”
Yeowun wiped the tears off his face. He now had no fear or hesitation. Even without his mother, he still had a place to return to.
In the afternoon, the street near the Demonic Cult’s castle was bustling with people. The opening ceremony was going to begin soon. Every boy, ranging from fourteen to nineteen years of age in every family and clan of the Demonic Cult was now gathering at the Demonic Academy.