Chapter 61

[The energy of the Blazing Sun Art begins to ramp out of control.]

[If you fail to suppress the energy within 24 hours, you will fall into qi deviation.]

Jaeha stared at the window and pondered for a moment.

“Why is this skill the only one like this? Ah, so because this is an Ancient-rank internal art, instead of a message saying I failed to absorb it properly, it hits me from behind like this?”

Of course, there might be skills that are simply obtained perfectly. Even so, for now—

“What I need to do first is suppress this energy.”

But he didn’t know what method to use.

‘What should I do?’

After thinking it over, Jaeha came up with several solutions before long.

‘Right. The fire energy is rampaging out of control, so wouldn’t using cold energy work?’

With that, Jaeha rose from his seat and headed straight for the Snow Mountain. Upon arriving, he immediately entered the dungeon.

He posted spirits as sentries, then plopped down in a suitable spot and began circulating his energy. He started drawing in the energy from his surroundings.

“Doesn’t seem to be having any effect.”

There was literally no effect. His fire energy was too abundant and too powerful, and while the cold energy around him was strong, the amount he absorbed was far too small. Worse, the fire energy inside him seemed to be devouring all the cold energy he absorbed, slowly growing stronger.

‘No matter how long I try with this energy, it’s useless.’

With that thought, Jaeha got to his feet. He looked around and considered.

‘I suppose I need to learn a proper ice art and neutralize it.’

If the fire energy in his body was rampaging, then all he needed was to create enough cold energy to suppress it. Having reached that conclusion, Jaeha stood up.

“Still, just in case, let me try using up all my energy.”

Thinking that maybe using up all his energy would help, Jaeha faced the Snow Mountain and began unleashing his energy in full force.

But there was far too much energy for that, so Jaeha had the spirits expend their mana as well. Once all the energy was spent, a window appeared before Jaeha.

[Insufficient energy to rampage. The countdown is sealed until energy is sufficiently replenished.]

‘I can stop it, but that’s not a fundamental solution. In the end, I need to learn an ice art.’

Jaeha let out a sigh and immediately left the dungeon, heading home. On the way, he began searching for videos worth watching, and before long, he found one.

He found a suitable video. After discovering it, Jaeha waited until he got home, then entered his room. He started watching the video.

‘[A Power Beyond the Frontier, the North Sea Ice Palace]’

Jaeha played the video and watched it quietly.

[Ice White Divine Art]

[Rank: Legendary]

[A martial arts that only the Ice Palace Masters of the North Sea Ice Palace can learn]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 3000]

[Proficiency: 100%]

“Hmm, this one’s Legendary?”

Jaeha was a bit worried because of the difference in rank. If he failed to suppress the energy due to the rank gap, things could get far more troublesome.

But finding a better skill than this wasn’t easy either, so Jaeha let out a sigh and immediately began operating the Ice White Divine Art.

Before long, ice energy formed inside Jaeha’s body. At that moment, the energy within him began to twist.

Sweating profusely, Jaeha quietly continued operating the Ice White Divine Art. And before long, he completed the Grand Circulation.

At that point, the energy created by the Ice White Divine Art began to properly contend with the Blazing Sun Art’s energy. That made sense—even if the Ice White Divine Art was only Legendary rank, Jaeha’s will was behind it, allowing him to balance the two energies.

As the balance between the energies was achieved, a window appeared before Jaeha.

[The energy of extreme yang and the energy of extreme yin meet to form a Taiji.]

[The skill evolves.]

[Congratulations. You have obtained a skill that will go down in history for the first time.]

“Huh?”

The result was different from what he expected, and Jaeha was a little taken aback. But regardless, a skill evolution was nothing to complain about.

[Taiji Divine Art]

[Rank: Ancient]

[A Taiji Divine Art Awakening through the energies of extreme yang and extreme yin]

[Mechanism: Total Ability × 50000]

[Proficiency: 100%]

“Hmm.”

Jaeha thought for a moment. Then he began organizing the energy within his body.

Inside Jaeha’s body, the extreme yang energy created by the Blazing Sun Art and the extreme yin energy forged by the Ice White Divine Art coexisted. And there was also Taiji energy—a blend of the two.

“Fascinating.”

Regardless, Jaeha was thoroughly satisfied with having obtained all three types of energy.

‘Honestly, this was less of a crisis and more of a variable.’

And rightly so—though the system had told him to do something within 24 hours, from Jaeha’s perspective, it wasn’t really that burdensome. For anyone else, it would have been a pretty big deal, though.

‘And even if qi deviation hit me, it wouldn’t matter much.’

After all, even if he fell into qi deviation, he could heal himself. So there wasn’t much pressure. Still, falling into qi deviation would hurt, and there was always the chance of unexpected complications, which was why he’d simply obtained the Ice White Divine Art.

‘Either way, it ended well.’

With that, Jaeha rose from his seat.

* * *

Time passed, and one day, Jaeha and Seungho received a phone call. It was from Kim Hajin.

“Hey, hyung. What’s up?”

<Are you with Seungho right now?>

“Yeah.”

<Perfect. I got a call from the others yesterday.>

“The others?”

<Yeah. Hana and Sena called. It’s been almost a month since the job ended, and they were wondering if we should all meet up for an after-party. Gemma was too busy back then, so we never got to do one.>

“That’s true.”

<So they want to get together for a little celebration. What do you think?>

“Sure, let’s do it.”

And so the plans were made.

Once the plans were set, everything moved at lightning speed. The schedule was arranged in no time, and before long, the group gathered at Jaeha’s house.

“How have you been?”

In the meantime, each of them had been living their own fulfilling lives. Song Hana and Kim Sena had been doing their personal broadcasts, and Gemma had been in the middle of filming a movie.

And because of the filming, Gemma couldn’t make it to this after-party either. As for Hajin, apparently he’d gone into an S-Rank dungeon and captured a suitable monster—a vampire.

“Maybe because it’s a female body, but she’s really good at housework.”

“We already have a maid at our place.”

At Hajin’s words, Jaeha glanced at Sia, who was grilling barbecue while wearing an outfit similar to a maid’s uniform.

“Honestly, she’s humanoid so she can talk and respond, but she’s a bit monotonous. Other monsters I’ve had would act cute with me, but she’s just too dry.”

“Maybe that’s just a vampire trait.”

They chatted about this and that, and soon the conversation shifted to work.

“So Hajin, you traveled all over the world?”

“Yeah. There are plenty of dungeons we don’t have in Korea, so I went around looking for suitable monsters.”

“That sounds fun.”

“Honestly, it wasn’t that fun. I was either on a plane or inside a dungeon most of the time.”

“But you must have gone out to eat at least.”

“Well, that’s true.”

“That sounds fun~”

Hana said that as she stretched out lazily.

“You’ve been working hard on your broadcasts.”

Jaeha said, looking at her.

“Well, I’ve been gaining some popularity—yesterday my peak viewer count hit 300,000.”

“You’re doing better than Seungho.”

“Well, if I’d kept streaming, I’d have passed that too.”

“It’s not like I stopped you—you just quit on your own.”

“That’s true, I guess.”

Sena, who had been smiling at the group’s conversation, fell silent for a moment before calling out to Hajin and Jaeha.

Chapter 8

“Hey, Hajin.”

“Hm?”

“And Jaeha too.”

“What?”

“I’ve been having a dilemma lately.”

“A dilemma?”

“Why? Did you meet a guy you like?”

“No, it’s not that……”

“Then what is it?”

At that, Sena hesitated for a moment before speaking.

“Actually, I got an invitation to join a guild.”

“A guild?”

“Yeah.”

Jaeha took a sip of the drink in front of him as he asked.

“So?”

“What do you mean ‘so’? I’m telling you I’m agonizing over it.”

“About whether to join or not?”

“Yeah.”

Hajin nodded at Sena’s words and asked.

“Which guild?”

“It’s not an existing guild…… it’s one that’s going to be created.”

“Why would you want to join a guild like that?”

New guilds are rarely created. The reason was that there was no guarantee they would succeed. For a new guild to succeed, it needed to have the rights and interests that existing guilds held. Since the number and locations of dungeons in the world were fixed, those rights were crucial.

It was common for guilds to rise and fall based on their rights. Guilds with many rights amassed enormous wealth and power, while those without them frequently vanished without a trace.

That was why Hajin said that the moment Sena mentioned it was a new guild.

“That new guild being created…… it’s the Blue Dragon Guild.”

“Blue Dragon…… you mean THAT Blue Dragon?”

“Yeah. They said Chairman Ju Jaeyong decided to provide support after seeing the abilities of the people they recruited.”

“Hmm.”

At that, Jaeha nodded and thought.

‘So they’re planning to create a guild.’

“So you’re agonizing over whether to join or not?”

“Yeah.”

“Actually, they reached out to me too.”

“Really?”

At his words, Sena’s eyes went wide.

“Yeah. I figured things would sort themselves out by the time it actually gets created, so I wasn’t paying much attention…… but.”

“They said if I join now, they’d give me proper support, so that’s why I’m torn. If you were in my shoes, Hajin or Jaeha, what would you do?”

“Hey! Why don’t you ask ME?!”

Seungho snapped at that. But Hajin and Jaeha answered without paying him much mind.

“Hmm.”

“If it were ME, I wouldn’t join.”

Hajin seemed to still be mulling it over, and Jaeha answered first with a smile.

“True.”

Sena, understanding what Jaeha meant, smiled.

“But if I were in your position, I’d seriously think about it.”

“What about you, Hajin?”

“Hard to say. Honestly, living on your own is really tough. I’m a Tamer, so I have it easier than most, but even then—if it’s that hard for me, it’s probably way harder for you guys. Still, it being hard is a fact. I think you two would have it much worse. Putting together a pickup raid party has its limits too. And it gets annoying.”

“Even if you formed a fixed party, there’s no one you can really trust……”

“Right. So if it were me, I’d probably join. As long as the conditions are good, that is. It’s not like we’re lacking anything—we can get into any guild worth joining. If the support package is good, it’s worth going.”

“Hmm, I see.”

Whether Hajin’s words helped or not, she nodded. The conversation continued from there, and they drank and partied through the night.