The core of the first Martial Form was emptiness.

Everything seemed like a real move, but everything was a feint, and it was a Martial Form where a real move would appear if you attacked what you thought was an opening.

The second Martial Form had some of the insights of the Three Illusions applied to it.

It made the opponent’s hands get tangled with pure timing and speed, and delivered the biggest attack when they were most tangled.

The third Martial Form was the one that best embodied the essence of Illusion as the Old Man envisioned it. It was structured to corner the opponent to a desired spot and deliver an unavoidable sword strike.

Kim Songcheol, having experienced the three Martial Forms, let out a hollow laugh.

When he responded like a normal Martial Artist, he was cornered to the point where he had to use Blink all three times.

‘How in the world is this working?’

He understood that the Martial Form induced a psychological game.

He perfectly knew how he lost in each psychological game.

But the problem was that all of it was simply made up of crescent-shaped Sword Aura.

How to unleash crescent-shaped Sword Aura to make the opponent perceive an opening, and then launch an unavoidable Sword Aura at the opponent who targets that opening.

How to unleash crescent-shaped Sword Aura to make the opponent’s hands get tangled.

How to unleash crescent-shaped Sword Aura to make the opponent feel cornered.

He understood the principle, but if he were asked to reproduce it with Sword Aura, he felt he couldn’t.

The Old Man swung his sword without a word. The first Martial Form unfolded again.

Kim Songcheol parried the incoming Sword Auras exactly as before, guessing the Old Man’s intention.

‘Does he want me to memorize it?’

Kim Songcheol laughed without realizing it. It was as if he could hear his teacher’s voice from his school days, saying, ‘If you don’t know, just memorize it.’

That’s what profound Martial Arts are.

When a very high-level Martial Artist creates a Martial Art, the essence contained within that Martial Art is difficult for a disciple to understand at once.

However, even if one simply imitates the established Martial Form, the effects of the Martial Form will roughly manifest.

This is because Martial Arts are created with such intricate structure.

As one practices the form of the Martial Art, they naturally internalize the essence contained within it.

When one fully understands the essence contained within the Martial Art, and can reproduce them without relying on the intricate forms created by the founder of the Martial Art.

Only then can that Martial Artist truly be said to have ‘forgotten the form’.

So, martial arts is a study.

It wasn’t merely about training the body and perfectly replicating martial forms; it was a process of continuously exploring and researching the nothingness contained within those martial arts, eventually making them one’s own.

Kim Songcheol became a novice martial artist and first memorized the forms of the martial arts taught by the old man.

Unlike the Three Illusions, the depth of the contained nothingness was not very profound, so with a little practice over time, he would be able to harness the essence of the Illusion.

If he progressed further, he would be able to manifest the essence of Illusion without relying on the forms.

‘Illusion, huh… ‘

Kim Songcheol not only considered the three martial forms taught by the old man but also kept the entire ‘essence of Illusion’ in his sights.

Magic is a field more suited to the essence of Four-Thread Illusion.

This is because it allows for a much wider variety of feints compared to martial arts.

‘Have I been fighting too honestly until now?’

Kim Songcheol suddenly had such a thought.

There would be no need to corner the opponent; simply throwing a few feints would be enough to achieve a significant effect.

‘Or not? I might just create an opening by doing something useless. Magic has casting, after all…’

Kim Songcheol began to devise ‘his own Illusion’ like the old man.

This was possible because the old man had given him the topic.

He knew that researching the old man’s martial forms and making them his own was the priority.

He had experienced it once, and its effectiveness had already been proven.

If he had to use it in an immediate battle, he would naturally have to present the old man’s first.

‘Hmm, martial arts are quite profound. No, are they incredibly profound…’

Thus, Mage Kim Songcheol also stepped into martial arts.

The old man repeated the three martial forms exactly three times, then lowered his hands.

This was because he noticed that Kim Songcheol had memorized all the threads.

Considering the old man’s age, he must have countless experiences teaching others.

His discernment was beyond normal.

“…Thank you for your guidance, elder.”

Kim Songcheol was about to give a cupped fist salutation but thought it might be presumptuous since he wasn’t a nothingness martial artist, so he just bowed his head.

“What are you talking about? I never taught you anything. If you learned something, it’s what you realized yourself.”

The old man played innocent. Kim Songcheol was momentarily puzzled but soon vaguely understood what he meant.

Nothingness Forest is strict about the export of martial arts. Even if it was a martial form created by oneself, its roots were in the martial arts of the rupture, so it couldn’t be openly taught to someone who wasn’t a disciple.

“Yes, I will study it well and convey it as is.”

Kim Songcheol said the best he could. These martial forms were originally designed for Cha Sehyeon.

Teaching them to Kim Songcheol was meant for him to deliver them.

“Heh heh, I remember when I first saw that child.”

The old man suddenly said, hands behind his back. His gaze was fixed somewhere in the air, as if lost in a moment of memory.

“I heard rumors that an eccentric sorcerer had entered Mount Hua’s land. If a disturbance arose in a tranquil land, it would be a detriment to the Taoist masters, so I went to check it out.”

Kim Songcheol quietly waited for the old man’s next words.

“It was different from what I had heard. A rupture-young child, carrying such a heavy burden. I considered keeping her by my side and looking after her, but I decided I couldn’t form a bond. I would soon be leaving, and it would be wrong to deeply enter her heart. I regretted it somewhat and came up with a trick, but oh, the foe… how she nagged!”

“Shall I convey your feelings as well, elder?”

“No. I’ll just remain a crazy old man, heh heh.”

“About that… I will apologize on his behalf.”

“No. More than that, fate is truly… strange. It must be the will of heaven. My journey ends here, so please take good care of that child.”

Kim Songcheol entering the B-rank Dungeon was already a form of great care, but the Old Man didn’t have the divine power to realize that.

Still, Kim Songcheol just answered, “Alright.”

“Ah, I’m late in introducing myself. My Daoist Name is Cheongheo. If anything happens with the Mount Hua Sect and Nothingness, use my Daoist Name. I know you’re not someone who would misuse it, so I’m entrusting my Daoist Name to you. Use it wisely.”

“…I hope I don’t have to use it.”

“Will you only use it for bad things? You can use it for good things too, heh heh. Then I wish you Nothingness luck. May you progress as much as you wish, no more and no less.”

The Old Man turned around and began walking somewhere. As expected, his steps were strangely fast; he seemed to be walking slowly, but he instantly crossed the hill and disappeared.

Not long after, Cha Sehyeon and Maria returned.

Cha Sehyeon approached, looking around quickly.

“Where did that old man go? Did you win, brother?”

“No, I didn’t win.”

“You lost? Then he definitely wouldn’t let us hunt here, would he? Where did he go?”

Cha Sehyeon looked around again, searching for the Old Man. But the Old Man had already left. There was no way she would see him.

“He just left.”

“He left? He’s not the type of old man to do that.”

“He left. And he won’t be coming back.”

“He’s not coming back?”

“Yeah, he said he’s busy. He’s going back soon.”

“Oh, he’s going to die soon?”

“No… he’s going back to his original world. It seems the Mount Hua Sect doesn’t come and go like us.”

“Really? That’s great. That crazy old man. Why does he torment people so much?”

Kim Songcheol smiled a little bitterly.

Both the Old Man, who had earnestly tried to communicate with his sword to teach something, and Cha Sehyeon, who had been so annoyed that she just shot out magic wildly.

Knowing both their perspectives, it was a pitiful comedy.

However, since Cheongheo had said he would remain a ‘crazy old man,’ Kim Songcheol would not directly convey his perspective.

“What about hunting? Are you done?”

“Yeah, I’ve gathered all the points.”

Cha Sehyeon nodded.

“Then let’s go to the Magic Alliance. I have something to do too.”

“Ah, it’s a bit annoying. You have to take a quest to raise your rank.”

“Ha…”

Kim Songcheol was about to say something but then just closed his mouth, squinted his eyes, and sighed.

At this point, it wasn’t like an older brother and younger sister, but more like a father looking at his disobedient daughter.

“You have to raise it to Grade 5 anyway. That’s how you get shared 2nd-tier Magic. While we’re there, let’s get Maria signed up too. Let’s do what we need to do, Cha Sehyeon. I don’t touch anything else.”

“Ugh… nagging, nagging. What are you, Director Clones?”

“You’re making us like this. We’re converging and evolving into naggers, constantly.”

“I don’t know, I don’t know. Just do it.”

As Kim Songcheol rattled on, Cha Sehyeon shuddered and stamped her foot.

Then a Teleport Magic Formation was created, and the three of them were moved to the front of the Magic Alliance that Cha Sehyeon had visited.

Whoosh!

The three of them were moved onto a ‘Teleport Site’. A Teleport Site is a place made for teleportation.

If you use Teleport here, even if someone else uses Teleport at the same time, the space will be distributed automatically, and the coordinates will be fixed accurately, increasing the stability of the Teleport.

So, it was better to use a site if one was available.

Kim Songcheol stepped down from the site and looked up at the building, no, the skyscraper.

It seemed to be a characteristic of the Magic Alliance Branch Office; there was still nothing around it.

It was just a green open field. Only a distant mountain range was slightly visible.

All that was there was a Teleport Site about 15 pyeong in size in front of the building.

‘How many floors is this, anyway…?’

It looked to be almost 30 stories high.

The sight of such a building standing in an open field was quite peculiar.

‘It looks a little tilted… well, there shouldn’t be any problems.’

“Let’s go in.”

Kim Songcheol led his companions into the building’s lobby.

An employee was sitting at the lobby desk.

His attire was casual.

He looked like an ordinary man in his 30s from Earth.

Kim Songcheol approached the desk and spoke.

“Hello. We’d like to request a promotion. This mage and I are for promotion. Oh, and that person is for alliance membership.”

“Ah, just a moment.”

The employee rummaged through a drawer and sent a Magic Message somewhere.

He soon handed a Silver Tag to Maria.

“If you go to the end of that hallway, there’s an employee there. Please follow that employee’s guidance.”

“Ah, yes.”

Maria tightly gripped the Silver Tag and looked back at Cha Sehyeon.

“Sister, what do I do? I’m nervous.”

“It’s nothing. Just do as they say.”

“Is that so…? Alright. Fighting!”

“Yeah, fighting.”

Maria then walked off to take her trial.

“The rest of you are requesting promotions, right? Can I see the medals you received when you joined?”

The employee extended both hands to Cha Sehyeon and Kim Songcheol respectively.

The two placed their medals onto his hands.

At first, the employee glanced at the medals, but as he was about to turn his head, he suddenly widened his eyes as if he’d discovered something and fixed his gaze on Kim Songcheol’s medal.

“…”

Three stars on the medal.

This means he passed up to Grade 5 in one go, a position of nothingness.

The employee alternated glances between the medal and Kim Songcheol several times.

It was the first time in 83 years someone had achieved such a position of nothingness, so it was understandable that he was curious.

“Oh, what’s going on? Why are you reacting like that only to my brother’s medal?”

That’s when Cha Sehyeon crossed her arms and shifted her weight.

“Please wait a moment. The branch manager himself will attend to you… He’ll be down shortly.”

The employee said.

“Why is the branch manager coming down, too…?”

Cha Sehyeon’s voice echoed through the quiet lobby.

“Mage Cha Sehyeon, please follow me. I will guide you.”

Cha Sehyeon grumbled but followed the employee, while Kim Songcheol, left alone in the lobby, waited for the branch manager. Since he was coming down personally, it seemed worth waiting for.

Since he was coming down personally, it seemed worth waiting for.