Yeon-woo nodded and slowly stood up. Then, he got into position again, eyes narrowed.
He didn’t know what just happened with the attack. It was definitely a branch. But it also wasn’t. It felt like it had turned into something completely different for a moment.
[Draconic Eyes]
Yeon-woo opened his eyes wide, thinking that another mysterious attack was about to come flying at him.
Flaws twisted in the air like spiderwebs. After he had received more of the Dragon’s Blessing, he was able to see more flaws.
Hwak!
The branch moved through the flaws. It was slow, like before. It was just a normal tree branch.
Yeon-woo didn’t take his eyes off of the branch and kicked off from the ground. He wanted to avoid it and then face it head-on.
Reading the change of the branch was his goal.
Just when he was about to strike Galliard, the branch stiffened and attempted to go for his side.
It was the same change as before. No, actually, just considering the change, it was different. It had been as hard as a club before, and now, it was as quick as lightning.
Yeon-woo twisted his body mid-air, barely avoiding the attack. Or he thought he avoided it. This time, the end of the branch shined and pierced his side.
Pung!
It was such a sudden shift. Even though he had been chasing it after his Draconic Eyes, he couldn’t tell what had happened.
Before Yeon-woo could bring his Magic Bayonet down, he was blown away by the impact to his stomach.
Yeon-woo floated in the air and rolled to the ground. Kuk, kuk! Phlegm was stuck in his throat. He almost threw up.
“How is it?”
“I’ll…..do it again.”
Yeon-woo forced himself up. He had taken a hit again, but he saw something he hadn’t seen before. Wouldn’t he be able to avoid it this time? He wanted to see the magic of the branch.
Galliard smiled faintly. Yeon-woo’s eyes were burning up. His dejected state of mind had disappeared.
“It won’t be different this time.”
“It will be.”
“If you insist on doing it until you understand…..I have no reason to stop you.”
Galliard flicked the branch at Yeon-woo and provoked him. Yeon-woo moved with a different strategy this time. The result was the same.
Pak!
‘…..How?’
Yeon-woo continued to attack using different methods. He threatened Galliard with the Eight Writings of Divinations of the Eight Extreme Swords. However, Yeon-woo landed on the ground with a ‘pak’ or a ‘puk’ sound every time.
His entire body was covered with grime.
‘Just what happened?’
Yeon-woo looked blankly at Galliard.
He didn’t get a single counterattack in while attacking him. It wasn’t a technical problem. Yeon-woo was definitely above Galliard in terms of skill. He was frustrated by the strange magic that continued to make him fall.
He was able to see something, but that was it. He couldn’t read more than that.
Galliard didn’t use any magic power or skills. The Draconic Eyes confirmed that Galliard didn’t break his word.
In the end—
“Haa.”
Yeon-woo sighed. It was a sign of surrender. If Shanon or Hanryeong was around, he would ask for advice, but they were silent like always.
“Just how is this possible?”
Galliard smiled, not a single fleck of dirt on him.
“Consciousness.”
“Consciousness?”
Yeon-woo was baffled. He knew about Consciousness as well. He had even gained a Numbering skill called Extrasensory Perception through it on the Five Mountains of Penances. [TN: consciousness changed to Consciousness for accuracy to show that it’s not the normal “consciousness” that we think of in English.]
However, he didn’t see Galliard use his Consciousness.
“You said you focused on pushing your body to the limit, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“That might be a good way to train. Considering the traits of a Dragon Body, the limits will be very high. It’s definitely not easy to train yourself up to that point.”
Yeon-woo nodded his head. The wall that he crashed into this time was high, but the training he had done until now wasn’t easy either.
Pushing your body to the extreme made one as worn out as a used rag.
“But the problem comes after that.”
“After that…..?”
“It’s about how you use that power.”
Yeon-woo shook his head in disagreement.
“I’m not trying to brag, but I don’t think I lack anything in terms of ability.”
His ability continued to improve as he grew. Yeon-woo already mastered the Eight Writings of Divination and was also training his magic to the extreme as well.
“I think you’re mistaken about something. What I’m talking about is different from ability.”
“…..?”
“Mm. How should I explain this?”
Galliard stroked his chin and organized his thoughts.
“Imagination. You lack imagination.”
“……?”
What kind of nonsense was this?
Galliard laughed like he realized what he said didn’t make sense and tried again.
“I’ll show you slowly.”
It looked like he was just playing with the branch. Then, the space around Galliard began to shift.
Yeon-woo’s eyes widened. The change was so sudden that if Galliard didn’t show him slowly, he would have missed it.
‘He’s…..demonstrating his Consciousness with his body.’
The reason why Yeon-woo hadn’t been able to see the Consciousness was because Galliard wasn’t letting it out, but rather circulating it inside himself.
Yeon-woo had only thought of releasing his Consciousness. The Consciousness was something to enlarge just his mind.
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He only considered it a tool to make his sword sharper and firmer and to read the surroundings of an opponent that was far away. Something similar to Extrasensory Perception and Aura.
He had never thought of circulating it within his body. If he didn’t pull it out, he didn’t need to use it. The world of his mind would always stay inside of him even without effort.
However, Galliard had flipped his way of thinking around. Galliard enlarged his mind and synchronized his mind with his physical body. He had pushed his Consciousness into the deepest parts of his body.
With this, the two bodies were completely under his control, and he could cause changes as he imagined them.
Shik, shishishik!
Galliard slowly moved forward, swinging the branch. When he sped up, the branch was twisting the space around it.
As he did, Galliard’s body slightly changed.
Yeon-woo saw the changes in Galliard’s muscles, the manipulation of Consciousness, and the movement of strength.
Each squirmed as they connected to each other.
And within that, there were many different things.
Galliard was something different every moment. He became a strong storm or fast like lightning. He became a firm rock or bent softly like a palm tree.
Yeon-woo realized his mistake then. He had only focused on how the branch changed when he should’ve read the change in Galliard. The branch only changed as an extension of Galliard.
Consciousness, and its change. Countless Consciousnesses combined to become Galliard.
Yeon-woo felt like he knew what the imagination that Galliard had talked about was. Becoming storm and lightning. That was probably what he meant. The space around him changed, influenced by the Consciousness.
Tak!
Galliard brought the branch down and sighed.
“Whew! My entire body aches after using it for the first time in a while.”
Crack, crack…..
Galliard stretched out his muscles and turned to Yeon-woo.
“Did you see something?”
“I’ve never heard of moving your body with Consciousness.”
“Since most people release it or put it inside their weapons. Right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“They think of Consciousness as a tool or weapon. But it’s not.”
Galliard put emphasis on his words.
“Consciousness is a lubricant.”
Yeon-woo’s eyes slightly became bigger.
“Consciousness is a supplement to make your existence stronger. A supplement of spreading your senses beyond yourself. A supplement to make your sword sturdier and sharper. A supplement to use the power of your physical body properly.”
“Ah.”
Yeon-woo thought of what Gaillard said in the beginning.
How he was going to use his power.
Yeon-woo was already powerful after training his body to the extreme. He also had skills to back up his physical prowess.
However, he had never thought of how he was going to use it.
Even if it was the same strength, it was vastly different depending on how it was used. Consciousness allowed him to control how it was used and made the process smoother.
“Using your body properly means that you’re properly controlling your power. However, most people get this confused. They think that they can use their strength properly. But they’re wrong.”
Galliard shook his head.
“You must be able to use your Consciousness freely. You have to be able to use your body like a sword. Can you do that?”
Yeon-woo closed his mouth and thought. How had he fought until now?
It was power. He only wanted more power. That was also why he forced himself to train.
Power.
This was the ultimate destructive force to Yeon-woo. The Eight Extreme Swords, Wave of Fire, and Dragon Killers. They were all to raise his destructive power.
But that wasn’t it.
Galliard was telling him not to focus solely on power. Power was just power. He shouldn’t be moved by it but move it himself instead. He had to control it. Consciousness was the most important thing for that.
Yeon-woo felt the world that he had been living in crumbling. It was like there was a hole in it.
It was just a small one, but there was a hole in the wall. It was so small that it wasn’t even noticeable, but he could barely see what was behind it.
‘The wall I was feeling wasn’t a limit but the world that I trapped myself in. Why didn’t I think that I misunderstood what I had gained until now?’
He felt his frustration slowly fading away. However, he felt like it wasn’t going to be easy, and he didn’t know where to start.
Consciousness. He needed to research how to use Consciousness and how this was supposed to be applied to his body.
He was grateful. Now that he knew the path, he only had to find it. Even though the hole in the wall was small, it could become a crack that would bring the whole thing down.
Yeon-woo bowed to Galliard.
“There was something Jeong-woo said about you.”
Galliard’s eyes were filled with curiosity. He wanted to know what the person he missed said about him.
“He said that you were his first teacher.”
Galliard rubbed his face with an awkward face. His nose was a bit red. He had repeatedly told Jeong-woo not to say things like that, but it seemed like he had still been saying cringy things like that.
“Now I know why he said that.”
“Don’t say useless things.”
Galliard shook his hand in embarrassment.
“From now on, using your Consciousness actively is the most important part. I suppose it’ll just sound like nonsense if I tell you to use it, hm?”
“Yes, sir.”
“You have to think of controlling your body, not your Consciousness. As I said, Consciousness is only a lubricant, so if you’re on the right path, it’ll come with it.”
“Controlling my body…..”
Yeon-woo repeated the same words over and over again.
“Also, there’s probably no better way to control your body than Boshinkyung.”
Yeon-woo’s eyes shined. Boshinkyung. It was an acronym for Bobup, Shinbup, and Kyunggong. Bubup was the method of rolling your feet, Shinbup was moving your body, and Kyunggong was making your body lighter.
“Moving your body. This is the foundation of all martial arts. That’s why this is the very basic method of controlling your body. Something important to using Boshinkyung is…..”
“Shunpo.”
Galliard nodded his head.
Yeon-woo’s eyes flashed.
He felt like he had snuck a look at the secret of Shunpo, the skill that could unlock Allforone’s third skill.
The path was finally opened.