Chapter 23: A Martial Artist

The sickening sound of wet splatter echoed as pieces of brain matter that had clung to the wooden ceiling dropped into the pool of blood below. From the door, now shattered to bits, there was nothing to see outside but the cement wall blocking any moonlight from entering.

Earlier, Elion had assumed he was in a room within a house, but it turned out he was mistaken. This room was the entire house itself.

As Verion pulled his energy back into his body, Elion's gaze fell on two corpses lying in gruesome stillness. Their bodies motionless and their clothes soaked, darkened by the blood pooling beneath them.

"You're quite fast. You killed him even before I could. Are you used to this kind of thing?" Verion suddenly asked, adjusting himself on the wooden floor.

It was then that Elion realized he had actually taken a human life.

I really killed a human, huh?

Even after over a thousand years of life, this was Elion's first time killing a human being. Strangely, though, he felt nothing—no regret, no fear, no disgust at what he'd done.

Why? Elion hadn't noticed that, after killing so many Dred and wielding unmatched power, he'd grown numb to it. Human or not, if something threatened him, he'd kill it without hesitation. He was no longer the boy who cowered in silence at mistreatment.

Now, Elion had the power to fight back.

"No. This is the first time."

Elion answered his twin's question nonchalantly, making Verion furrow his brows in puzzlement.

"Really? But how? What kind of life have you lived to be so calm after that?"

Verion couldn't understand it. Usually, one would feel a heavy burden the first time they took a life—he had gone through something similar in his second life.

"Well, I've been through a lot," Elion replied briefly, then tried to change the subject. "Anyway, what kind of energy did you use just now?"

For a moment, Verion looked at him, confused, but then moved his fingers, and the red and purple energy reappeared in the air, blazing like a fierce flame.

"You mean this? It's called Qi, the foundational energy for martial artists. It's present in the air, but not everyone can absorb it."

The Qi spread, creating a gust that stirred up wood splinters and blood, swirling around the small wooden house. The energy then slowly enveloped Verion's infant body, lifting him to float in a cross-legged position.

"Since this is your first time being born in this world, I'll teach you a bit about how to gather Qi."

Verion closed his eyes, entering a state of concentration. The next moment, sparkling lights appeared in the air, floating beautifully around Verion's body. As his tiny hands moved in a focused motion, the lights merged with the red and purple energy, forming a flowing stream that was absorbed into Verion's body, circulating through his veins and wrapping around his heart.

As Elion watched this spectacular scene, a sudden system message broke his concentration.

[Congratulations! You have learned how to gather Qi. A new stat has been added.]

Huh?

[Status Window]

Name: Elion

Level: Lv. 1,000,000 (A special effect has been applied. Tap to see more details.)

Age: 0 Years old (1124)

HP: 100,000,000/100,000,000

IP: 100,000,000/100,000,000

Qi (New!): 0/0 (You can convert your IP to Qi)

Strength: 1,000,000

Intelligence: 1,135,536

Stamina: 1,000,000

Agility: 1,000,000

Skills: [Creation Lv. 10] [Inventory] [Taekwondo Lv. 1] [Karate Lv. 1] [Sword Lv. 1] [Dragon Breath Lv. 1] [Endless Tentacles Lv. 1] [Celestial Torrent Lv. 1] [Blazing Fire Lv. 1] [Levitas Lv. 1] [Press to view more ↆ]

Elion could hardly believe what he was seeing. Just by watching Verion gather Qi, he now had the ability to use Qi himself without even performing the same actions. He even could convert his Imagination Points into Qi.

Isn't this cheating? He thought.

Not only that, his current stats even surpassed the strength he'd achieved after a thousand years of training.

He wondered why the system was doing all this. If he became too powerful too quickly, wouldn't future battles be boring?

With curiosity burning within him, he posed a question to the system.

System, how strong are the people in this world?

Elion swallowed as the system paused for a moment. When the screen reappeared, Verion suddenly turned to him with a sharp gaze.

"Hey, are you paying attention?"

"Yes, yes... I'm paying attention to you. Thanks for teaching me."

Elion quickly replied, refocusing on the system message floating in front of him.

[After a quick scan of all Murim, here are the levels of martial artists ranked from lowest to highest:]

1. Martial Novice

2. Martial Practitioner

3. Martial Warrior

4. Martial Expert

5. Martial Master

6. Martial Grandmaster

7. Martial Ancestor

8. Martial Sage

9. Martial Supreme

10. Martial Deity

[For reference, the strongest person in Murim right now, a Martial Deity, is equivalent to level 1 billion. A Martial Deity possesses supreme mastery over Qi, capable of altering time perception, teleporting, controlling entire regions, summoning catastrophic forces, and manipulating or neutralizing others' Qi with ease, among other powers.]

Meanwhile, Verion, feeling ignored, stared irritably at his brother and decided to stop his lesson, descending from his meditative state only to hear Elion's cute, baby-like laugh.

"What are you laughing about? You think I'm funny?" Verion asked coldly, feeling slightly offended.

"Ah... don't mind me. I was just thinking of something exciting."

Elion smiled, astounded that this world was filled with such powerful people. Even with his rapid leveling, he still couldn't hope to defeat the world's strongest individual.

He thought to himself that, without monsters like the Dred to slay endlessly, he wouldn't be reaching one billion anytime soon.

"Uhh…"

As they both sank into their thoughts, Elara slowly opened her eyes, awakened by the noise that had been filling the air.

Her eyes widened as she took in the unusual scene before her: the shattered door, the blood pooling across the floor, and the two corpses of young men lying in gruesome silence.

"W-What just happened?"

Elion and Verion jolted, realizing they hadn't cleaned up after themselves. They feared their mother might scream in horror, but her reaction surprised them both.

"Oh, my. Isn't they the landlord's sons? What a pity they died so young."

She spoke lightly, as if this were an ordinary sight, leaving both her sons stunned. Elion could tell she genuinely pitied them.

Seriously, who is this woman?

"Ah… right. I should get my children out of here before someone sees this mess and blames me."

With a warm smile, Elara rose, picked up something from the corner, slipped it into her gown pocket, then scooped up her twins in her arms and left the small wooden house. Her steps were silent, ghostly, leaving Elion bewildered.

"Don't worry, my dear children. I'll take you somewhere safe."

Elara's voice was soothing, her warm embrace giving the twins a sense of comfort they had never known.

Elion felt a tender warmth spread through him as he was held close. This new world felt so different, and he could only let himself be swept up in the calm, something he'd never felt before.

But then, suddenly, Elara moved, leaping lightly onto the roof of the next house with an agility that startled Elion.

In a blink, the grimy alleyway was replaced by an astounding view he had never seen, quickly replacing his surprise with amazement.

From his mother's embrace, Elion could see the night sky of his new world. Yet it was no ordinary sky.

The night sky was unimaginable—no stars, no moon, no clouds like in his previous life. Instead, the sky was filled with magnificent cities hanging upside-down from above, stretching as if suspended from the heavens themselves.

Grand buildings, with an air of elegance, gleamed from mysterious lights shining through windows and tall towers wrapped like vines. Every structure seemed to defy gravity, connected by massive bridges that spanned across them.

Elion stared in awe, his heart pounding at the majesty of this world. His curiosity surged, and a whisper slipped from his lips.

"W-What is that?"

"Hm?" Beside him, Verion looked at Elion, whose eyes sparkled as if witnessing something truly wondrous.

When he followed his twin brother's gaze, he understood and replied,

"Didn't I tell you already? This is a world where Murim and Arcana coexist." Verion chuckled, his small finger pointing to the sky. "That's Arcana—the world where Magus and their annoying magic reside."