Chapter 156: Death Bridge
The first thing Sila did after parting from Bluebird was claiming his three skills in the Lost Android Kingdom. Then he visited Julia and found that she was still in a slumber. Although he was concerned about the fact that it took a longer time than Orpheus first antic.i.p.ated, there was nothing he could do, so he left.
Next, he appeared in front of the Bamboo Hut. He planned to meet Divine and ask to hold on to the Dragon Sealing Stone. From now on, he intended to fully focus on training, so he didn"t want Divine to pointlessly wait for him for too long.
Shortly after arriving at the Bamboo Hut, Sila spotted Divine sitting on the terrace. The man waved his hand at Sila with a smile on his face.
"h.e.l.lo, Sila. Long time no see. How are you?"
"Excuse me, Mister Divine. My hands were full, so I didn"t come to visit you. The reason I"m here today is to ask you to give me the Dragon Sealing Stone, sir." Afterward, Sila told Divine that he intended to seclude himself to complete his new profound art.
"Sure, you can have it, Sila. I have no problem with that. By the way, am I correct to a.s.sume that you know how to use it?" Divine handed Sila the Dragon Sealing Stone, which he stored in the system window.
"I know, sir. Break it, and the dragon will come out."
"Correct. Well, I have heard from Wu Ming that Sila has accomplished the quest at the Valley of Immortals. Since you mentioned training in seclusion, is that to train your psychic power?"
"Eh? No, sir. I only intend to invent my style of martial moves."
"Umm… that"s quite regretful, I"d say. Based on my opinion as an expert regarding psychic power, I noticed your talent the first time we met. I believe that you have greater potential for psychic power rather than qi."
"That shouldn"t be the case. I think psychic power is very complicated. I tried to use it once but it harmed me instead."
Opening his palm, Divine materialized a ball of psychic power, and it playfully rolled around as if it was alive.
"Psychic power is not as difficult to use as you think, Sila. Qi is something you need to build up by tempering your body and mind. On the other hand, psychic power is something you"re born with. You just need to understand it to be able to utilize it. The more you understand your mind, the more you can make use of psychic power."
Sila sighed. "You make it sound easy, Mister Divine."
"It really is. Psychic power is the easiest energy to utilize. You don"t need to train your body as hard as a qi type nor memorize many spells like a magic type. The more you use it, the more you understand. And as your understanding of it grows, the more versatile your usage of it becomes."
Sila couldn"t bring himself to agree to that. "If what Mister Divine said is true, everyone would all choose to become a psychic type, wouldn"t they?"
"The reason why that didn"t happen is because it takes time for psychic power to show a visible result, Sila. Be it qi or magic, the former certainly relies on training and the latter depends on memorization. However, there is no fixed way to polish psychic power. The only way to master it is to understand its nature, and most players don"t like such uncertainty. Anyway, I"ll still encourage you to practice your psychic power first. Once your understanding reaches a certain point, it will develop on its own without needing your effort. The sooner you practice it, the better."
Sila gave it some thought as he asked, "Mister Divine, what do you mean by understanding its nature?"
Divine smiled. The fact that Sila asked meant he was interested.
"For qi, you need to cultivate in order to build up the amount of inner force. However, for psychic power, it was born with you, so you just need to unlock it. Psychic power heavily relates to your mind and character, so it varies from person to person; like how each person has a different personality. Therefore, the first step to learning how to use psychic power is to understand the nature of your psychic power; your true self."
"And how can we know the nature of our psychic powers, sir?"
"In real world, you will need to meditate for a very long time; searching for your true self from within. However, it"s a lot easier in Monster Soul. When you got your primary psychic-type skill, its nature will show up in the description, so you can just read it."
"Is it that easy?" Sila wondered as he opened his system window. It was exactly like Mora had warned him. Monster Soul helped people learn at a terrifyingly fast rate. People could become stronger by getting an answer prepared for them without properly training their mind through meditation. As a result, their minds that should have been trained to become mature were neglected.
Dark Psychic Corrosion, Level 100 (Maximum)
The nature of your psychic power is to corrode and consume. The more it swallows, the stronger its corrosive ability will become. It is a dangerous psychic power to have. Please use with caution.
Sila read it out loud for Divine to listen, to which he nodded and replied, "Usually, for a psychic power that focuses on destroying, you need to be gentle with it. Only use it when your mind is calm. Unlike qi, emotion greatly affects your psychic power, so you need to be careful. Anyway, remember that it"s a part of yourself, so don"t deny it nor think of it as dangerous. That should have concluded what I wanted to tell you. As for the rest, you will have to figure that out on your own. When it comes to psychic power, the learning method varies for everyone, and you should be the one to understand it the most."
"Thank you, sir. I"ll train it together with my martial moves."
"In that case, I guess it"s finally the time for me to go back to the Slime Kingdom. I have bothered Wu Ming for long enough."
"Oh, speaking of which, where is my teacher, sir?"
"He told me he had something to do regarding the a.s.sociation. Ever since he came back from the Valley of Immortals, he only came back here once. I have been here alone for quite a while."
While both of them walked along the pathway, Sila had a sudden urge to ask, "Mister Divine, what is your personal profound art, sir?"
"Are you interested? I just know that asking about someone else"s personal profound art is a norm in this era."
Sila felt ashamed. Personal profound arts were supposed to be the secrets of each pract.i.tioner. What he did just now was indeed rather rude.
"I"m so sorry, sir. It was a slip of a tongue. You don"t have to answer."
"Haha. I was just kidding. Seeing your serious expression made me want to tease you a little... By the way, the name of my personal art is Death Bridge."
Hearing the name, Sila frowned. The name of Divine"s personal art sounded unexpectedly cruel. Poluk"s Formless Soldier originated from Genesis Punch and Viola"s...o...b..ting Cosmos originated from Divine Raiment. So, why did Moon Reflecting Mirror, which sounded the nicest among the three, originate from an art with a name like Death Bridge?
"The name of the art doesn"t suit my character, does it?" Sila flinched and was about to deny, but Divine interrupted. "No need to deny it, Sila. You are not the first one to think that this name doesn"t suit me."
Divine continued. "Despite the fact that you might think of me as a gentle person, in the past, I had a rather negative reputation. It"s just that I reformed myself in the later part of my life and started to train my mind."
"Eh? Did Mister Divine practice psychic power later?" Sila was genuinely surprised. To him, Divine looked like a person who had trained his mind for a very long time.
"Yes. Maybe it"s not obvious, but among us four, including His Majesty, only Poluk focused on training a qi art. The rest of us focused on training martial arts. Death Bridge is also the martial art I used in the past, but I no longer use it."
"Why not, sir?"
Divine"s voice turned colder. "Because it"s a killing art designed for a.s.sa.s.sination, Sila. It"s not an art designed for combat."
In no time, a smile emerged on Divine"s face and his voice returned to normal.
"Well, honestly speaking, the current me can use it without killing. I have been able to do that since I learned to control my mind. It took me a long time to control my bloodl.u.s.t though."
Sila was in a trance. Martial skills and profound ethics are indeed both important. Divine was a good example, though he could turn over a new leaf in the end. What about someone who couldn"t?
The more he thought about it, the more Sila understood the weight of the secret that his teacher put onto him. He would never allow himself to let someone know about the existence of the capsule he was using.
"What are you thinking? Do you want to learn it?"
Sila shook his head. "No, sir. I"m not..."
"At first, I thought that it was a dangerous art so I planned to bury it with me. However, I think I can teach you if you want."
"Since it"s a dangerous art and I have never learned any killing arts, I think it"s best if I don"t learn it."
Sila had a bias against the name "killing art." His teacher once told him that they were vicious.
"Although it"s true that killing art means the art was designed to kill people, the name of the art doesn"t imply that it"s a killing art; it"s more about the intention of the user. Be it Death Bridge or other arts, if the pract.i.tioner uses them with the intent to kill, they are all killing arts."
"What you said is true, sir, but I"m coming up with my own moves, I don"t think I will have time."
"That"s just another reason why you should learn it. There is a saying that goes like this: "You should learn a bunch of things, but know only a handful of things." It means that you should learn various things, but only remember what you consider the important parts. When used by me, Death Bridge is just a killing art. But with Sila, maybe it can become one of the foundations of your personal profound art. Furthermore, Sila"s psychic power is the most compatible with killing arts."
"Even if that"s the case, I still feel..."
Divine raised his hand to stop Sila. "In that case, how about I teach you for only three days? No more, no less. Please pardon my stubbornness. I"m just really curious about what Sila will do with my Death Bridge."
Having heard about killing arts from Mora, Sila never witnessed them even once. So, it would be a lie if he said he wasn"t interested.
Even though other profound arts could also kill, they were not considered killing arts. The genuine killing arts were the arts that focused on murdering and destruction. It contradicted the proper way of martial artist, who should be righteous and hold lives dearly. In an ancient time, this kind of art was considered a dark art. As years pa.s.sed, however, not many of them remained.
"Three days? I might not be able to learn much, but it"s worth giving a try. I also want to know more about killing arts."
"That should be fine, sir. How about we learn it right now?"
"Haha. You"re impatient when it comes to learning, I see. But no can do, Sila. This place is not suitable. Let"s go to the Slime Kingdom first."
"Is that so?"
Leaving a note about his departure for the owner of the hut, Divine teleported from the dimension, followed by Sila.
The first thing Sila realised was that the Slime Kingdom was brighter than the last time he had visited. He looked up into the sky and found that the previous darkness covering the kingdom was, in fact, a giant dome blocking the sun. Now, the dome had many cracks and holes, so the ray of lights could penetrate through the kingdom. The slimes were finally able to have a proper day and night cycle.
Both of them left the central square. During their walk, many slimes came to greet, salute, and give Sila their thanks. Some cheered him on, saying "only three dragons are left, keep it up," which Sila thanked them for. He was looking for Bow but couldn"t see her. He hoped that she was safe and healthy.
"Where is His Majesty?" Sila asked one of the slimes.
"His Majesty is training in seclusion~" An orange slime replied before hopping to continue playing with its friends.
Following Divine, Sila noticed that they were going to the Cliff of Heroes.
"His Majesty seems to train a lot, doesn"t he, sir?"
"His Majesty isn"t training. He"s outside of the game. It"s just that, when we log out, we have to do it in a secluded room in the castle. The system prevents other slimes from entering the room, as well as making them think that we are training in seclusion."
Sila began to understand. If Bow had a chance to wake up, it was natural that the Slime King would log out to wait for her return. At the very least, Sila was relieved that there was a high probability that Bow would be out of a coma.
The two of them descended to the bottom of the Cliff of Heroes. It was a s.p.a.cious place that prevented any creatures within from dying by teleporting them to the top of the cliff instead. In Sila"s mind, this place was the best place to spar.
Divine slowly turned his back to him. "This art of mine has no book for you to study. I invented it on my own and gradually polished it using my experience. The best learning method should be experiencing it first hand, so I will not hold back. Sila should do your best to read my movements, okay?"
"Yes, sir. You can start any ti--"
*Crack!* *Pu!*
It was the sound of Sila"s b.u.t.t hitting the ground. Confused, Sila couldn"t tell what had happened to him. Looking around, he noticed that he was on the edge of the cliff.
"Eh?! Did I just die?" Sila wasn"t even aware of how he died. He descended to the bottom of the cliff again.
Waiting for him in the exact same location was Divine, who was gently smiling. "First lesson: a fight can occur anywhere and anytime. Be on guard at all times, or you can die without even knowing how. It seems Sila has some skill that strengthens your bones. Unfortunately, the joints aren"t strengthened with them."
"You told me to read your movements, but I didn"t see a thing..."
"That"s Death Bridge. Facing against the user of this art, your life will always be on the border between life and death. If you"re not careful, you might cross the bridge to the underworld without realizing it."
"Ah. I finally get its meaning."
"Many people say that killing arts are evil and dark. However, personally, I think that they are very gentle. With the difference in the ability, the opponent would instantly die without feeling pain and suffering. If we put it this way, aren"t traditional profound arts crueler than killing arts?"
"Um... You make a good point. My thought is--"
*Crack!* *Pu!*
Finding himself on the edge of the cliff again, Sila scratched his head. It seemed there wasn"t much point in replenishing his qi. Divine could always attack a vital spot and kill him instantly.
"That makes a second time. A minute hasn"t even pa.s.sed. Despite his smiling face, he is even more heartless than the Slime King. Did I make a good decision by agreeing to learn it?"
Muttering to himself, Sila jumped down the cliff yet again.