The Art Of Sword

Jihu (didn’t expect all that would tire me out this easily.) pulls out his phone and sends a message to Sogae “Help! Training facility. Now!”

Jihu looks up, sees that Grace is still trapped, and says to her: It’s about time you calm down, using that much energy ain’t good for your body.

Grace: I don’t think I reached my full potential yet!

The ‘Ice rapier’ in Grace’s hand exploded shattering the ice that was encasing her.

Jihu holds up his sword to block the blast from the explosion, expecting a follow-up attack from Grace, but nothing happens. After the fog disappears he sees that Sogae has arrived in time and neutralizes Grace between her arms.

Jihu's eyes then see something abnormal about Grace that is different from Sogae. (What am I seeing?)

For the first time in Jihu’s life, he can see aura. Sogae’s aura spreads throughout her body while Grace’s aura doesn’t appear on her hands at all.

Jihu says to himself (This will need more study.) Then he hears.

Sogae: Hey Jihu! Is this the reason you called for my help?

Jihu: Yes! Please take care of her for me.

Grace struggling to get out of Sogae's restrain: Release me now! I need to Kill Him!

Sogae tries to help Grace “Calm down, no need to be that extreme just tell me what happened…” Then she sees Sunz’s body lying on the floor, motionless.

Sogae: I see… Don’t worry, he isn’t dead. So can you please calm down?

Grace: I’ll calm down once he wakes up! Now! Release Me!

Sogae moves her hands across Grace’s shoulders and starts massaging them.

...

Grace suddenly drops her rapier and speaks in a soft voice: What are you doing to me? My body… feels so weak… so relaxed…

Sogae: I’m sorry for being such a degenerate but this is the only way to calm you down.

Grace's final word before being knocked out “Pute!”

Sogae whispered, “Haizz, you are so feisty.” Then carefully lay Grace on the floor.

Jihu walks toward Sogae and says: Sorry for troubling you at this time of day.

Sogae: We can talk about this later. For now, you take both of their body to one of the infirmaries while I clean up this mess.

Jihu: OK, once again sorry for troubling you.

Jihu then carries both Sunz and Grace bodies to the infirmary while Sogae clean up their mess.

After 10 minutes.

Sogae comes to the infirmary to check on Jihu, Grace, and Sunz’s body.

When entering the room she sees that both Grace and Sunz are lying on their own bed while Jihu examines their body with a frustrated look on his face.

Sogae asks Jihu: You feeling ok? Do you want to join your friend?

Jihu laughs: Don’t joke like that! I’m just thinking too hard that's all.

Sogae: About what? Regretting your action?

Jihu: Of course not. You know that I never regret what I did no matter the outcome. Good or Bad.

Sogae crossed her arms: Nearly getting yourself killed, was that good or bad?

Jihu: That depends. I got both good and bad outcomes from that decision.

Sogae: You lost me there dongsaeng. Retell me the whole thing that leads to this.

Jihu retells the story to Sogae, starting from when he meets Sunz after the clan meeting.

…

Sogae: So the good outcome is you three awaken some special power at the cost of your life!?

Jihu: Between me and Grace I know that we both awaken a new skill, but for Sunz it is more like he was trying to get used to his new skill.

Sogae: Ok! Let’s get rid of these questions of mine. First, did you really kill him?

Jihu: Of course not! I had mastered that ‘Art’ a while ago. So I figure, this is the perfect time to use it… just didn’t expect him to get knocked out this long.

Sogae *sigh*: It’s good that you mastered that ‘Art’ but… did you really have to use it in front of those lovebirds?

Jihu: Better now than never, plus I got to heal his wounds. I hope that he doesn’t lose this relationship. He is doing so well right now!

Sogae stays silent for a bit then speaks up: You better feel proud, because that action of yours might bring them closer to each other.

Jihu: Great to hear that!

Sogae: But because of that it means she didn’t awaken a new skill. It is more like she breaks her limit through a traumatic event.

Jihu: Don’t you mean “LOVE”!

Sogae: You kill her lover. Is the event!… but it's strange when you said that her aura wasn’t at 100%.

Jihu: I said it didn’t appear on her hands. That doesn’t mean she wasn’t at 100%. Maybe most of the aura was diverted to other parts of the body.

Sogae: That is impossible. Aura means Life, if something doesn’t have aura, means it’s dead! You can focus most of your aura to one point but your whole body will still be covered in it.

Jihu: But Grace’s hands are still usable. Have any answer to that?

Sogae: Sadly no, I can’t see what you see so your best option is to look around the library and then ask Elder Nam.

Jihu: Wouldn’t it be better to ask him directly first?

Sogae: He’s old. You don’t want him to hear him lecturing for hours again, don’t you?

Jihu: Fair point.

Sogae: Now! We can get to the fun part. How is your new eyes?

Jihu: It's great but I don’t know how to turn the effect off. So for now all I’m seeing is you and the Aura color. Better than seeing the person's silhouette with Aura color as their outline.

Sogae: Wait it has color!?

Jihu: Apparently, and it’s different for everyone. But I don’t know if the color is fixed or based on emotion.

Sogae: I wish I had those eyes. But that is impossible. Even Jun the best of the clan right now can’t bypass that rule. Mean my chance is Zero.

Jihu: Maybe you should have taken the Healing path instead.

Sogae: I may sound dramatic but in no way I’m taking that path. Those eyes are a bonus that isn’t guaranteed. Most Healing Masters don’t even have those eyes. Except for the blind one.

Jihu: This the first time I’ve heard that much about these eyes. How many actually obtained this ability?

Sogae: You saying that you didn’t know about the bonus when taking the Healing path!

Jihu: I took this path because it more calm than the Sword path.

Sogae: That’s new. Well, the number is slim. At the moment, I know that Elder Nam has it and now you. But the books may have more information about the ability if we actually have them.

Jihu: We don’t have books about it?

Sogae: I do want those eyes but I don’t really dive deep into the things I don’t have.

Sogae looks at the watch on her wrist. Then says to Jihu

“I gotta get back to work now. You take care of them for me ok.”

Jihu: What if Grace woke up before Sunz?!

Sogae: Don’t worry, she will be sleeping for at least 12 hours, and that ‘Art’ at your level can knock someone out for a maximum of one hour. So you’ll be fine.

Jihu: That is more reassuring. But what did you do to Grace?

Sogae: I just gave her a massage. You know how tiring working 24 hours straight is. My whole body always in pain so I learned massage to help with that.

Jihu: From what I saw that was more than a massage.

Sogae: I have time to learn techniques. Don’t worry, I’m not doing that in public. I’m not that degenerate.

Jihu: OK then, it was fun talking with you, and thank you for your help.

Sogae: You’re welcome!

Sogae leaves the room and goes back to her work. Leaving Jihu to look after Sunz and Grace.

Jihu: What can I do for the next hours…?