TRPM 22

CHAPTER 22

The next day.

I headed to Yeon Mirae’s house around the time she would be returning home from school.

I had already asked for her home address in advance.

When I told her I needed a space where I wouldn’t be disturbed for a few hours, she readily offered her own house.

Still, for a teenage girl to invite a boy to her home without a shred of caution…

Well, it must mean she trusts me that much.

With that thought, I stood in front of her door and pressed the doorbell.

Ding-dong~

“Yes, coming.”

It seemed she was already home. She opened the door as she spoke.

And when she did…

“… Huh?”

She was surprised when she saw me.

To be precise, she was surprised to see both my real body and the doll standing side by side.

That’s right.

I hadn’t only come in the doll’s body. I had brought my actual body as well.

Sure, the doll is much better in terms of physical ability.

But when it came to qi—my inner energy—my real body was far superior.

The process of treating Mirae’s constitution required me to infuse my qi into her body, so it was something I needed to do myself rather than through the doll.

Not that the doll couldn’t handle it… but…

At least for Mirae, I don’t want to do a half-hearted job.

That’s why I came in person.

Of course, if I showed up only in my real body, Mirae might not recognize me, so I had the doll out as well.

“……”

Mirae glanced back and forth between my real body and the doll, then seemed to realize something. She asked cautiously:

“This one… is your real body, isn’t it?”

She was looking straight at my actual body—the eight-year-old elementary schooler.

“You figured it out?”

“Yes. The one from yesterday—the doll, or double, or whatever—definitely had more physical ability, but…”

She paused, then added:

“But the energy I feel is different. This smaller body today… feels much deeper, much stronger.”

Hearing her words, I smiled in satisfaction.

I had deliberately revealed my presence and qi, but the fact that she could immediately sense it spoke well of her talent.

“Correct. Anyway, may I come in?”

“Ah—yes! Please.”

It felt awkward to keep talking at the doorway, so I stepped inside with Mirae.

Inside, I looked around and thought:

So this is a high school girl’s room…?

Not in the sense that I felt odd being here.

It was simply… barren.

Almost as if she only kept the bare minimum of things a student might need.

Well… Mirae isn’t like other kids. She doesn’t come from a wealthy background.

Whatever money she earned from porter jobs, she must’ve saved most of it.

Thinking that, I shifted my consciousness into controlling the doll.

The doll pulled out a plastic sheet from subspace and spread it across the floor.

“… What’s this?”

“You wouldn’t want your room getting dirty, right?”

“… Ah, true. If it’s surgery, there might be blood.”

I almost asked what she meant—then realized.

I hadn’t actually explained to her how I planned to treat her condition.

I had intended to explain right before starting, to avoid repeating myself.

“Sit here for now.”

At my words, Mirae sat down on the sheet.

I sat facing her and began explaining.

“First of all, what do you think is the reason you can’t generate aura?”

“The hospital only told me it’s because I have a rare constitution that can’t contain aura.”

I nodded.

“Not exactly wrong. With all your meridians blocked, of course you can’t hold aura. But the root problem is with your heart—your heart was supposed to generate aura, but it can’t.”

“… My heart?”

“Yes, your heart.”

Her heart had a defect.

The defect of being unable to generate aura.

Normally, the Awakener System would remodel the heart upon awakening so it could naturally produce aura. But for some reason, even after that process, Mirae’s heart still failed.

“So, to make you generate aura, I’ll need to work on your heart. Don’t worry—it’s not like I’ll crack open your chest and fix it directly.”

“That’s fine. If I can use aura, that’s enough. If opening my chest would make it easier, you may do so.”

Uh… no.

“That won’t be necessary. Anyway, once your heart is fixed, I’ll clear out all the blocked meridians so aura can flow naturally. That process will expel all the impurities from your body.”

I planned to burn away those impurities using Samadhi True Fire or incantation magic, but…

“Still, I wouldn’t want filth spilling all over your floor. Hence, the plastic sheet.”

“Ah, I see.”

She nodded in understanding.

Before starting, I asked her one last thing.

“There’s one suggestion I want to make to you.”

“A suggestion? Then I’ll accept it.”

“No—listen to the explanation first.”

“Of course. I trust Artist-nim wouldn’t suggest anything harmful to me.”

“……”

Her faith was… heavy.

So this is what fanatical belief feels like.

Suppressing a cold sweat, I explained.

“You saw it yesterday, right? The power I use—it isn’t aura, or mana, or mental strength, or spirit energy. It’s something else.”

“Yes, I noticed.”

“And yet, I could strengthen my body like with aura, and impose effects like mana or mental energy.”

“… Could it be, what you want to suggest is…”

It seemed she had guessed.

“It’s called internal energy. Would you like to use that instead of aura?”

“Am I… really allowed to?”

Her tone was disbelieving.

No wonder—internal energy might sound superior to aura, mana, or mental energy.

“But I’m not done explaining. Internal energy isn’t only good.”

“I’m listening.”

So I explained clearly: the differences, pros, and cons.

Internal energy could substitute for other energies, and depending on the cultivation method, its quality was outstanding.

But the downside was—

“The growth rate is slow, isn’t it?”

“Yes. Very slow.”

Cultivating internal energy took far longer than other powers.

That’s why amassing a large amount was difficult.

Even I, with the Harmony Divine Art absorbing surrounding energies, had less total than an aura knight or mana mage who trained normally.

I hadn’t installed a mana-gathering circle at home during grade school for nothing—without such aids, building up internal energy was agonizingly slow.

“And it’s not like miracle elixirs from martial arts novels are common.”

Not that I hadn’t tried such elixirs—but they didn’t come in the form of internal energy, so converting them consumed too much energy to be efficient.

“So if you practice martial arts instead, don’t expect to get strong quickly.”

“I don’t mind.”

“…Hm?”

Even after hearing what should be a fatal flaw for any Awakener, Mirae chose martial arts without hesitation.

“You wouldn’t offer me martial arts without a reason. There must be a good one, right?”

“… Correct.”

I nodded.

“Though growth is slow, the ceiling is higher.”

And with Mirae’s genius, she might one day reach that peak.

“That’s enough for me. My goal isn’t to be a mediocre Awakener, but the strongest one.”

“I see.”

I didn’t argue further.

After all—

Even in my previous life, Mirae sought to master both aura and internal energy to reach higher. Choosing internal energy now might seem reckless, but it’s natural if her aim is the summit.

“Then let’s begin. Lie down on your stomach, comfortably.”

She lay down, showing me her back.

I put a towel in her mouth, then climbed on top of her and pressed my hand to her back, channeling my qi.

“Oh, I forgot to mention…”

Since I’d be forcibly restructuring her body—this was going to hurt like hell.

“Mmmph! (I’m prepared for that!)”

Immediately, Mirae’s body writhed.

Tui Gong Guo Xue (Pushing through blocked meridians).
My qi surged through her meridians, awakening long-unused channels with agonized screams.

Ge Ti Chuan Li (Transferring power through the body).
My qi gathered at her dantian, slowly transforming into her own.

Fa Mao Xi Sui (Cleansing marrow and hair).
Impurities were expelled from her body.

Huan Gu Duo Tai (Rebirth and transformation).
Her very bones reshaped, her body reforged to suit martial arts.

“…!”

She endured all of it.

With nothing but the towel in her mouth to muffle her pain, she bore hours of torment that must’ve felt endless.

“… It’s done.”

I finally told her the ordeal was over.

She spat out the towel, gasping.

“… So this… is internal energy.”

“Yes. That’s internal energy.”

The qi I transferred flowed smoothly within her.

Gu Gu, Hui Yin, Wei Lü, Ming Men, Ji Zhong, Shen Zhu, Da Zhui, Yu Zhen, Bai Hui, Yin Tang, Tian Tu, Shan Zhong, Shen Que, Guan Yuan.

She was instinctively circulating the Small Heavenly Cycle.

I had opened her Life-and-Death Gate to enable it, but to do so unconsciously was remarkable.

I decided to craft her a martial art of her own.

“Follow my guidance and circulate your qi.”

“Yes…”

Placing my hand on her back again, I guided her internal energy.

The Harmony Divine Art was tailored to me, not her, but with the Eyes of the Grandmaster from the Awakener System, creating a fitting technique was not hard.

It’s just patchwork, really.

The result wasn’t quite on par with Harmony Divine Art, but it was still a top-tier martial art, perfectly suited to her.

Difficult to use, but devastating if mastered. With her genius, that won’t be an obstacle.

I then said to her:

“This martial art is made solely for you. You should name it.”

“… Artist-nim. What’s your real name?”

“… Me? Out of the blue? It’s Han Geon-woo. Why?”

“Then… Geonwoo Divine Art—”

I fell silent.

Uh… no.

“Haha, I’m kidding.”

She must’ve seen my expression sour.

This time, she chose properly:

“Since it defies fate—the will of heaven itself—I’ll call it Reverse Heaven Divine Art (Yeokcheon Shingong).”

At that moment, a message appeared in my vision:

【User Han Geon-woo, as a Grandmaster, has successfully guided User Yeon Mirae to become a martial artist.】

【User Han Geon-woo’s Eyes of the Grandmaster have been strengthened.】

【Additional rewards will be granted to User Han Geon-woo according to User Yeon Mirae’s growth.】

At the same time, messages appeared before Mirae:

【User Yeon Mirae has perfected a supreme martial art with the Grandmaster’s aid.】

【User Yeon Mirae has overcome fate with the Grandmaster’s aid.】

【User Yeon Mirae’s faith has been confirmed.】

【The closer User Yeon Mirae is to Han Geon-woo, her Grandmaster and object of faith, the more her current abilities and growth rate increase.】

Thus, her once merely beautiful sword now gained real power.

Growl~

“Ugh…!”

Right after, Mirae’s stomach rumbled loudly.

“Haha. Makes sense—your body expelled all impurities, so of course you’re starving.”

“……”

“Let’s clean up, then go out to eat.”

“… Okay.”

Blushing, Mirae nodded.