The Divine Twilight’s Return

e whip—had such complicated exteriors and structures, as well as such splendid abilities.
He thought there was no way such a ‘master craftsman’ would create defective products.

When he was done analyzing Gyeo-Ul, Bu-Yong sat on his chair and reviewed all the information he had received, crossing his arms.
Wilson, Bu-Yong’s seeing-eye dog, yawned for a while and fell asleep near Bu-Yong’s feet.
Only after a long time did Bu-Yong turn to ‘look’ at Chang-Sun.
Even though he was blind, he had accurately pinpointed Chang-Sun’s direction.
He asked, “What kind of material do you want me to use?”

“It should be at least [Black Raven Iron] or Hundredfold Refined Steel-grade [Cold Iron],” Chang-Sun thought, stroking his chin.

“…What the fuck.
Are you going to wage a war or something?” Bu-Yong asked, his jaw dropping.

“Something like that,” Chang-Sun said with a nod.

Bu-Yong shook his head in disbelief.
[Black Raven Iron] and [Cold Iron] were both very difficult materials to obtain, but Chang-Sun wanted Bu-Yong to use them to create a very heavy weapon.
If the word ‘crazy’ could not be used for such a moment, when would it be used?

“Fifteen days,” Bu-Yong said, telling Chang-Sun and Gyeo-Ul the amount of time he needed to make the spear.

“Ten days,” Chang-Sun said, shaking his head.

“Are you nuts? The shortest amount of time I need to order materials and make ingots is fifteen days.
My arms will break if I pound ingots for a week non-stop!” Bu-Yong yelled at the top of his lungs.

“They won’t,” Chang-Sun said calmly.

“Fuck, you should at least give me fifteen days no matter what,” Bu-Yong grumbled, scratching his head in frustration.

“Deal,” Chang-Sun suddenly said with a nod.

“…Why couldn’t you just say yes from the start?” Bu-Yong grumbled, but he lightly stretched his hands.
He had been getting bored from only making Chang-Sun’s weapons, so he would be less bored if he made weapons for other people too.

* * *

‘I’m going to… have my own weapon,’ Gyeo-Ul thought as he looked down at his hands, unable to calm the butterflies in his stomach.

He was incredibly happy to be able to hold a proper infantry weapon in his callus-covered hands.
As a martial artist, he was bound to be happy to own a splendid weapon.
However, Gyeo-Ul was more so glad to have a weapon forged by the blacksmith who had created Chang-Sun’s own.
Following the footsteps of his idol brought him happiness.

“What are you thinking so hard about?” Chang-Sun asked, bringing Gyeo-Ul back to reality.

As Chang-Sun lowered the Nameless Spear, he stared at Gyeo-Ul.
That was when Gyeo-Ul finally remembered where he was and held his breath.

‘Now isn’t the time to be distracted,’ Gyeo-Ul thought nervously.

After they finished with their business in Seongsu-Dong, they traveled to the nearest Player practice range right away.
Although a crowd of people who recognized Chang-Sun swarmed toward Chang-Sun and Gyeo-Ul, the practice range owner immediately gave them a room for VVIPs when Chang-Sun asked for it, so they could begin practicing in peace.

Unless they were living on the outskirts, Players living in big cities like Seoul usually lacked places to train.
To aid those Players, the Council had set up gymnasiums that Players could use.
However, Players sometimes used private practice ranges too, where they could practice in separate rooms.
In those practice ranges, the rooms were decorated to resemble Dungeons using magic devices.

[The Celestial ‘A Good Season to Hunt’ watches the spar between two warriors with great interest.]

[The Celestial ‘Twilight-Piercing Owl’ is ironing out the details of her reward for you.]

[The Celestial ‘Calamity Tiger’ briefly stops paying attention because non-bloody fights are no fun.]

Pabilsag and Minerva devoted their attention to the spar, but on the other hand, Heoju looked away.

It can be hard to make great work when its stolen from bit.ly/3iBfjkV.

‘Well, you’re in for a big surprise,’ Chang-Sun thought, smiling enigmatically at Heoju as he looked at Gyeo-Ul.

Gyeo-Ul shook his head nervously and replied, “I-It’s nothing.
I’m just nervous…”

“Don’t be too nervous, or else you won’t be able to train properly,” Chang-Sun instructed.

“Okay, hyung!” Gyeo-Ul replied with a fervent nod.

“By the way, how well are you able to use your ghost energy?” Chang-Sun asked, changing the topic.

“Um, well…” Gyeo-Ul said hesitantly, unable to answer properly.

Chang-Sun chuckled quietly, asking, “I’m guessing you have a problem?”

“…Yes, that’s right,” Gyeo-Ul said.
He lowered his head slightly, feeling ashamed.

In truth, Gyeo-Ul had failed to show significant progress after Chang-Sun undid his half-spirit curse.
An immense amount of magic circulated in every part of his body, and that magic was different enough from the norm to be called ghost energy or divine energy.
Unlike his half-spirit curse, the magic gave him a vast amount of life force.

However, the problem was that his progress ended there.
The magic did not budge, let alone obey Gyeo-Ul’s will.
He could only occasionally use it in times of need, but other than those moments, the magic only circulated through the paths in Gyeo-Ul’s body like a vast, arrogant river, practically driving him mad.
He was able to feel the vigorous flow of energy, but he could not use it at all.

“Of course you would,” Chang-Sun said as if he had expected it.

Gyeo-Ul’s eyes widened in shock.
He asked, “Do you… know why?”

[The Celestial ‘World-Encircling Serpent’ tilts his head, wondering what you, the snake, are trying to do again.]

Chang-Sun nodded, saying, “You should never try to use your magic like ordinary magic.”

“Please explain in detail,” Gyeo-Ul requested.

Chang-Sun continued, “A half-spirit refers to a person who was conceived while a shaman and a ghost had intercourse, right? They’re also called half-monsters, which suggests they also have monster energy or evil energy.
However, the problem is that you’ve completely undone the half-spirit curse, so wouldn’t it be weirder for you to be able to control the energy?”

“Then, what should I do…?” Gyeo-Ul asked.

“You should use a different magic circulation method than the original one you used.
Of course, you’ll have to change your every little habit, down to your breathing method,” Chang-Sun said, thinking of Xerxes throughout his explanation.

‘Right now, Gyeo-Ul has shadow energy… So, I should not only help him master the energy, but also help him manifest a Talent or Trait.
In order to do so, there can be no better method than helping him be like his father,’ Chang-Sun thought.

Chang-Sun had thought of the cultivation method Xerxes had explained to him at some point in the past, as a means to help Gyeo-Ul properly obtain the special skill [Shadow Secret Technique].
It would be impossible to obtain unless a person had a unique kind of energy known as shadow energy.
If that were to happen, Gyeo-Ul would obtain the trait [Shadow Play].
Above all, Gyeo-Ul needed shadow, Xerxes’ foundation, in order to control his shadow energy.

“So,” Chang-Sun said, lightly gripping the Nameless Spear and pointing it at Gyeo-Ul.
“You should become my shadow from now on.”