"Everything, huh?"
The turtle laughed upon hearing my declaration.
It was not a laugh of admiration.
If anything, it was closer to mockery—or sheer disbelief.
"You’re certainly full of confidence. But do you truly believe that’s possible?"
"Whether it’s possible or not isn’t important. There’s sothing an old man I know once told . Do you know what he said?"
"What did he say?"
"'Make the impossible possible.' That was one of the few things that idiot said that I actually liked."
"…"
There was no such thing as impossible.
I would make it possible.
If I needed sothing, I had to obtain it, no matter what it was.
That was the life I had to live now.
So—
"Teach . I have to do everything I can."
"…"
The words left my mouth as simply as stating a fact.
The turtle, still expressionless, stared at in silence.
He wasn’t about to refuse now, was he?
The thought made slightly uneasy, but I waited.
And then—
"You," he finally spoke.
"What do you think sorcery is?"
Sorcery.
The word alone made my eyes twitch slightly.
‘So they call it sorcery here too.’
This was the first ti the turtle had ever directly ntioned sorcery.
Or rather, this was the first ti I’d even heard the word here.
It made feel… slightly unsettled.
‘Is sorcery not just a term used in Zhongyuan?’
Or perhaps—
‘Is the turtle’s language simply being translated to sothing I can understand?’
That was possible.
Nothing in this world followed the logic I was used to.
And—
Sorcery itself was an enigma.
‘I was told sorcery is a power brought by dragons.’
A long ti ago, it was said that dragons left behind the power of sorcery.
But the turtle didn’t feel like a dragon at all.
And yet, when it ca to sorcery, he spoke as if he knew everything.
‘Maybe sorcery itself isn’t a power created by dragons…’
But rather, sothing they also acquired?
The thought lingered for a mont before I returned my focus to his question.
‘What do I think sorcery is?’
I gave it so thought.
I had already considered this before.
"It’s transformation."
"Transformation?"
The turtle reacted to my answer.
"Transformation, you say…? Why do you think that?"
"I don’t know. It just feels that way."
Turning falsehoods into reality.
Creating and altering things beyond normal comprehension.
That, to , was sorcery.
‘Just look at what’s happening now.’
This very situation.
Standing in the middle of a vast plain out of nowhere.
The teahouse disappearing as if it never existed.
All the feats the turtle had shown so far.
Everything was transformation.
And I needed that power.
‘Especially for mastering Cheonma Divine Art.’
The power to do the impossible.
There was nothing I needed more.
Combining two martial arts and forcing them to harmonize—
Normally, that would be unimaginable.
But sorcery could make the abnormal possible.
The only problem was—
‘It’s not perfect.’
No matter how many tis I tried, my attempts were still incomplete.
Not only was I missing theoretical understanding—
My knowledge was far too shallow.
‘This isn’t enough.’
Not nearly enough.
To achieve my goal, I needed to go deeper. To reach higher.
So might argue that a martial artist shouldn’t rely on sothing like sorcery.
I had considered that thought before, too.
‘Screw that.’
Since when was I just a martial artist?
Martial arts were nothing more than a ans to an end.
So might find enlightennt through it.
So might find aning in their pursuit of mastery.
But—
‘That’s not .’
I wasn’t a martial artist.
That title was more fitting for soone like Paejon.
And now, more than ever, I was certain.
I was not a martial artist.
And I didn’t need to be.
‘If it helps achieve my goal, I’ll do anything.’
Hesitating over aningless titles would only hold back.
I had people to protect.
I had things to accomplish.
And right now, this was just another step toward that goal.
"Transformation, huh… Not a bad answer."
"So it’s not the right answer?"
"Hmm."
The turtle moved his staff.
As its tip rippled through the air, the space itself seed to stir like water.
"First, let’s correct that part."
"Huh?"
Tap.
The staff lightly struck the ground.
Whoooosh—!!
A strong gust of wind surged across the plains.
And suddenly—
Blossoms blood everywhere.
Flowers that hadn’t existed before now filled the sky.
Then—
"There is no ‘right answer’ in sorcery."
The turtle looked at , his voice steady.
"If you believe sorcery is transformation, then that is true. If you co to believe sothing else in the future, then that is also true."
"…"
His words were vague.
No right answer?
"Then… what am I supposed to pursue?"
A martial artist pursued enlightennt.
They followed the path toward cultivation and mastery.
Then what was the path of sorcery?
It felt too uncertain to simply call it "transformation."
So I asked—
But his response was—
"That is for you to find out. Even the pursuit itself is sothing you must determine on your own."
"…"
I frowned.
I had enough things to figure out already.
This just made things even more complicated.
But at least—
"The things I’m about to teach you… They won’t show you a path. They’ll let you find your own."
At least he was willing to teach .
"Show your rings."
"My rings?"
"Yes, your rings."
By rings, he must an—
‘The ones bound to my heart?’
The coils wrapped tightly around my heart.
That must be what he was referring to.
"…How do I show you that?"
How the hell was I supposed to do that?
I had no idea.
"…Huh?"
For the first ti, the turtle looked genuinely baffled.
"Are you telling … you’ve never done it before?"
"Nope."
"…"
He stared at for a mont, sighed, then moved his staff.
And then—
Wooong.
Sothing erged from his staff.
Rings.
Eight rings, glowing with a faint golden light.
They floated around his staff, shimring softly.
I focused my gaze on them.
How had he done that?
‘What was the flow of energy?’
A strange sensation crept over .
The world around blurred, and I could see nothing except—
The turtle’s staff.
And the rings hovering above it.
The sensation and flow that accompanied their manifestation—
I observed it as clearly as I could.
And then—
Thump.
I focused my heart energy.
"…It’s not difficult. You just need to move your energy and—"
Flash.
"—guide it…"
"Done."
A brilliant glow erupted from my hand.
Unlike the turtle’s golden rings—
Mine shone with a deep blue light.
Four rings coiled around my arms.
"So this is how it works."
It was easier than I expected.
Why hadn’t I figured this out before?
I absorbed the sensation into my body and spoke to the turtle.
"…"
For so reason, he had gone completely silent.
His expression twisted into sothing oddly unreadable as he glanced between my arm and my face.
"…Damn it."
"Excuse ?"
"…Never mind. I’ve half given up at this point."
What?
Was I not supposed to do it like this?
No, that couldn’t be it. Judging by his reaction, I had done it correctly.
I moved my left hand experintally.
The rings shifted along my arm, but they didn’t jingle or rattle.
The turtle observed them for a while before speaking.
"Four rings, huh? Not bad."
"Is that a good thing?"
"Yes. The quality looks decent too. It seems like you put in so effort."
"I didn’t put in that much effort."
"Then… how long did it take you? Ten years, perhaps—"
"I don’t know. Less than a year, I think."
"…Oh, I see."
The turtle paused mid-sentence before simply accepting it.
He had clearly been about to say sothing else.
"Yeah, I’m not even surprised anymore. At this point, whatever."
"Elder?"
"It’s fine. You asked to teach you everything, but let’s start with what you need most right now. What is it?"
What I needed most.
I answered without hesitation.
"I need a way to contain an explosion before it detonates."
This was related to Cheonma Divine Art.
I needed a thod to control explosive energy and maintain stability.
Sorcery might have a solution for that.
That was my reasoning for coming to the turtle.
"Hmm… A power to prevent sothing from exploding."
The turtle fell into deep thought.
A brief mont passed.
"I see what you’re after. You want to use it for what you tried earlier, don’t you?"
"That’s right."
The power I had attempted to use at his teahouse.
He still rembered it.
"…Then."
Tap.
He lightly struck the ground with his staff.
Two books floated out of thin air.
One stopped in front of him.
The other flew toward .
Thud.
The mont I caught it, the turtle spoke.
"You will learn Absolute Retention from now on."
"Absolute Retention?"
"Yes. The power to preserve form without allowing change."
Flip.
The book opened on its own.
Rustle—!
The pages turned by themselves before stopping at a specific section.
The sight alone made frown.
The book was packed with dense text.
And the script…
It was completely unfamiliar.
But—
‘I can read it?’
Sohow, I understood it.
I had no idea what language it was, yet the aning flowed naturally into my mind.
As I stared at the book, the turtle’s voice reached .
"I will not repeat myself. You’d best pay attention."
He spoke with certainty.
"Don’t worry. Even if you don’t understand it imdiately, it will make sense in ti. This is a difficult concept."
He seed completely confident about that.
Then, he began explaining the contents of the book.
Hearing that it was difficult worried a little.
But I focused and listened carefully.
***********************
So Ti Later
As the sun began to set and the sky turned red—
"Whoa…"
A small breath of admiration escaped my lips.
The reason?
‘So this is how it works.’
After finishing the turtle’s lesson, I could feel a noticeable change in my heart.
The threads of sorcery that I had previously ford were now denser and far more nurous.
This ant they would hold much longer when I tried to bind energy.
I was still far from mastering it—
But the fact that there was already a change was satisfying enough.
"As expected…"
Coming here was the right decision.
The material had been complex.
The lessons had been difficult.
But where else would I find sothing like this?
Smirking, I spoke to the turtle.
"It’s definitely hard to grasp, but it’s worth trying. Maybe your teaching is just that good?"
Feeling good, I threw in so flattery.
But—
The turtle gave no reaction.
…Huh?
"Elder?"
I carefully called out to him.
That mont—
"…You damn brat…"
"Hm?"
"You… damn brat…"
The turtle muttered lowly.
Had I misheard?
I was about to call out to him again when—
"That—"
"You little—!"
Thud!
The turtle slamd his staff into the ground.
"At least struggle a little, will you?!"
"…What?"
"Do you have any idea how long this took ?! A year! I got beaten half to death learning this, and you— half a day?!"
"U-Uh… Calm down, Elder. Please take a deep breath—"
"Calm down?! Get out! Get out of my sight!"
"Wait, what? But I’ve only learned one thing—"
Wooong—!!
The air trembled, and a crushing force pressed down on .
By the ti I realized it—
I was already outside the teahouse.
Assessing the situation, I blinked in utter disbelief.
"What the hell…?"
He just randomly snapped and threw out.
"…Seriously, what just happened?"
I stood there, staring blankly at the turtle’s teahouse.
Then—
I noticed sothing.
The four rings I had before—
Had now beco five.
And they were shining brilliantly in my hand.
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