Weapon-Eating Bastard [EN]: Chapter 189

Weapon-Eating Bastard – Episode 189

After posting the notice for the warrior recruitment for my family, I took some time to train.

The training location was, as always, my favorite: the direct line’s exclusive Training Ground No. 1, Sungmu Arena.

There, I… laid out all sorts of weapons around me, one by one, and meditated.

Each piece of equipment was at least a Saint-grade artifact, and some were even Celestial-grade.

The Gwangryeong Spear, a legendary weapon said to be made by materializing light.

The Baekgyeong, rumored to be made by mixing the remains of a saint.

The Holy Relic, Yegung, which has a legend of shooting down the sun….

Each of them, just by being present, exuded an enormous sense of pressure.

All of these were taken out from Bigo [a storage or treasury] this time.

Throb-.

Sitting in the middle of the weapons, I closed my eyes and extended the Black Qi [a type of dark energy].

The viscous, pulsating Black Qi spread out along the ground.

Zzzzzz-!

A noise like that from an old cathode-ray tube echoed in my head.

Numerous images overlapped and played, and all sorts of senses and emotions were mixed up.

And in an instant.

“Puhah!”

I sharply exhaled and opened my eyes wide.

The Black Qi that had been touching the weapons wriggled and returned to my body.

Wiping away the cold sweat that had flowed in that short time, I chuckled softly.

‘I could read the memories of even ten or twenty masterpiece-level equipment at the same time, but Saint-grade or Celestial-grade are indeed different.’

Feeling a throbbing inside my head, I pressed my temples.

As the Black Qi grew after the Kyoguk incident, I could now read the memories of multiple pieces of equipment simultaneously.

‘Surprisingly, many of the Celestial-grade ones don’t have that much memory.’

I stroked the shaft of the Holy Spear, Baekgyeong, next to me.

In the case of Holy Relics, their power often increased as they were passed down through later generations rather than when they were actually used.

Even if that wasn’t the case, it seemed they weren’t used much because the power of the equipment itself was so strong.

So much so that some weapons even contained the memories of the family ancestors who were chosen and used the weapon in Cheolseon style [likely a specific martial art or fighting style].

‘The most intense memories of the person who wielded that weapon are being read.’

I nodded, retracting the Black Qi back into my body.

This power to read memories… no, to be more precise, it feels like reading the time imbued in each piece of equipment.

‘Anyway, for now.’

I extended the Black Qi again.

This time, instead of reading several at once, I focused on just one.

Woojik!

The Black Qi enveloped a huge Western-style greatsword.

Today, I was finally going to absorb a Celestial-grade weapon.

The Celestial-grade magic sword, Beo Gail.

I slowly closed my eyes.

* * *

In the memory, the man was being wielded by the sword.

The sword was wielding the man as it pleased, not the other way around.

Moreover, that man wasn’t even human.

A giant.

One of the alien races known to be blessed with a powerful physique and magical power.

The man wielding the sword swung it regardless of his dwindling magic power.

Whether he was injured or his stamina reached its limit, some ‘special power’ of the sword kept him moving.

The sword absorbed magic power.

It absorbed magic power from the air to keep the exhausted user moving.

The sword was originally created with the ideal of protecting the powerless, but its strong power instead caused people to fear it, turning it into a magic sword.

The blood-soaked man constantly swung the sword.

The magic sword, imbued with the blood of countless monsters, continued to crave more blood.

And.

* * *

Hwaak!

I opened my eyes wide.

The reddish-brown greatsword I had been holding in my hand seemed to have disappeared.

Throb-.

The Black Qi that had escaped outside wriggled and was absorbed back into my body.

“Hoo….”

I took a long breath.

I felt a severe thirst.

But I quenched my thirst by circulating the magic power within my body.

‘The absorption is complete.’

A new way to use the power came to mind.

I slowly got up from my seat.

Holding Mujin [MC’s weapon], I created the form of the Celestial-grade weapon I had absorbed.

Then, I unleashed as much magic power as possible.

After pouring out magic power for nearly 30 minutes, I felt my magic power reach its limit.

Only then did I start wielding the sword, holding Beo Gail.

Hwaak!

The next moment, I began to feel a tickling sensation from the hand holding Mujin.

‘It works.’

I felt the magic power floating in the air being absorbed into my body.

Even though I wasn’t using magic arts, a small amount of magic power was being absorbed into my body.

And I let out a hollow laugh.

“The power to absorb the magic power of what you cut down.”

It should have been a weapon that only giants could handle, but I succeeded in absorbing it.

Not only that.

I could even absorb the opponent’s magic power.

Right now, there were no enemies, so I only absorbed the magic power in the air, but if I absorbed the opponent’s magic power….

‘Will I never run out of magic power now?’

The power to recover magic power even while pouring it out fiercely during battle.

At this point, it was practically like developing another ability.

‘Should I stop here for today?’

I spun Mujin around, turned it into a ring, and lightly stretched my body.

Because I had a place to go separately today.

I retrieved the weapons, stored them all in Eunhan [MC’s storage space], and turned around.

Finally, permission to access the family’s secret techniques and forbidden arts had been granted.

* * *

The Sungmu Lee family’s family secret techniques and forbidden arts, as well as numerous other techniques, are too many to count.

However, the most basic and commonly used ones are generally six each.

Six forbidden arts.

Six secret techniques.

These were techniques that could only be learned with the Sungmu Lee family’s physical strength and intuition, and most of them placed a tremendous burden on the body if used by ordinary people.

“……Confirmed. Young Master Lee Cheol. You may enter.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“As you may already know, I will explain the precautions one more time according to the procedure. All electronic devices will break down in the room with the first-class library. If you have any devices with you, please store them here. Additionally, making copies and….”

I calmly listened to the precautions and entered the Janggyeonggak [family library/archive].

When I came to the Janggyeonggak last time, I read the books in electronic form, but the family’s techniques could not be read that way.

I headed to the room located at the innermost part of the basement among the various rooms.

Pajik!

The moment I entered the room, I felt a strong pressure binding my body.

A formation that controls magic power.

In addition, it was full of all sorts of shamanic tools and magic circles.

Some even had devices for self-destruction.

Devices to burn everything in case a problem arose in the family, rather than leaking it out.

‘Typical of the family.’

I passed through a long corridor and arrived at a room.

In the center of the large room were twelve books, and in addition, derivative techniques or skills created directly by the ancestors were also stored.

I took the twelve secret manuals placed on the bookshelf in the center.

‘Twelve Techniques.’

I carefully opened the books from the front and read the forbidden arts one by one.

Forbidden Art, Beoncheon (Overturning the Sky).

Forbidden Art, Shadows.

Forbidden Art, Hanul (Great Circle).

….

As they were the techniques that the family boasted, they were martial arts with amazing value.

But as I read more and more, I was caught in a strange feeling.

‘As expected.’

After reading the 10th Secret Technique, Self-Destruction Extreme Light, I narrowed my eyes.

‘The roots are the same as Mujin’s techniques.’

Just as the family’s basic training and Mujin’s basic style, Manbyeon [a basic technique], were similar, these traditional 12 techniques also had subtle commonalities with the techniques of Mujin.

The forbidden arts, Shadows and Hanul, which had the power of instant death, had magic power operations similar to Cheokma [another technique].

Although the method was different, one of the secret techniques, Geophwa, was a technique that overlapped power like Black Lotus [another technique].

‘It’s only at the level where I can see the commonalities because I accurately understand Mujin’s techniques. It’s already a completely different technique, but the roots are similar… that kind of feeling.’

It seemed that they had the same beginning but had developed in different ways.

I thought it might be a misunderstanding up to Manbyeon, but since the traces were even seen in the forbidden arts, a kind of conviction arose.

I pondered, looking at Mujin caught in my finger.

‘The man I saw in Manbyeon’s memory rushing at the man. That man had the characteristics of the Sungmu Lee family.’

A man with jet-black hair and light yellow eyes.

He was competing with the one who possessed Mujin.

‘Mujin is a weapon created by catching a monster. This is also a byproduct of that existence. As expected….’

I clenched Mujin tightly.

‘Is this equipment related to my mother’s bloodline that my father told me about… the Choi clan?’

Mujin should also be seen as being made from a part of the monster that is the root of Black Qi.

If so, there must be some kind of heterogeneous power like the ‘black stone’ that the Mountain Keeper mentioned.

However, the Mountain Keeper also said that Mujin currently does not have such power.

In other words, someone must have purified it to make it usable.

Moreover, even the man with the characteristics of the Sungmu Lee family was in the memory.

‘I can’t be sure….’

The possibility is high.

The Choi clan, known to have been with the main family.

If they were forbidden arts created while influencing each other, there might be commonalities.

Anyway.

‘Thanks to this, the next seal of Black Night can be easily unlocked.’

I unfolded the secret manual.

Because there are similar aspects, learning the 12 techniques will not be difficult.

And thanks to that, it won’t take long to unlock the sixth seal of Black Night.

The sixth seal of Black Night.

That was none other than completing all 12 of the family’s techniques.

* * *

About a month passed, reading the weapons brought from Bigo one by one and learning the family’s techniques.

And finally, the day came for the warrior recruitment interview.

“…….”

I chuckled and looked down at the people gathered in the training hall.

‘I didn’t expect it to be this many.’

Countless.

There were really countless people gathered.

“Young Master said he wouldn’t even accept application documents.”

The nanny shook her head from side to side and approached.

“Still, I didn’t expect this many to gather? Is this about 500 people?”

To be exact, it was 533 people.

I looked down at them and chuckled once again.

‘It’s the warrior unit of a bastard who doesn’t even have a clear power base yet, but this many.’

There must be people who came with the desperation of grasping at straws, and there must be those who bet on me as if it were a gamble.

Anyway, I didn’t expect this many people to gather.

“Only Young Master doesn’t know how many people in the main family admire Young Master. I thought it would be like this.”

The nanny spoke calmly, but her voice grew a little louder as if her chest was swelling with emotion.

I smiled and said to the nanny.

“Nanny, go home first. It looks like it will be a bit late today.”

“Are you planning to see all the applicants one by one?”

“Yes. Because that’s what I decided to do.”

I smiled bitterly, looking at those who were lined up and looking at me all at once.

* * *

Meanwhile.

Among the gathered people, there was a person wearing a hood pulled down deeply and even a mask.

He was holding something wrapped in cloth in his arms, and he kept letting out a low laugh, ‘Hehe,’ in a hunched posture.

“……Ugh.”

Some of the applicants slowly moved away from that person.

“Hehe, I can finally taste it.”

The person stroked what he was holding in his arms.

And he was staring at Lee Cheol, who was standing on the training hall platform, with sticky eyes.