Chakra (1)
“The first step in chakra training is to determine which element you have an aptitude for. Chakra is a power that can open anything, provided it is accompanied by a proper understanding, but even so, the limit one can reach is determined by the degree of one’s aptitude.”
As was widely known, the Seongcheon Yun Clan tended to favor the chakra of lightning, but that did not mean every member of the clan had learned only the chakra of lightning.
To begin with, had there not been many among the close aides who had founded the clan alongside the progenitor who had learned other chakras?
Of course, given its symbolic significance, unless one had a particularly outstanding aptitude for something else, it was common to choose lightning.
Since the generation that had studied directly under the Thunder Emperor had grown up and laid the clan’s foundations, the curriculum for it had been systematically organized, and there were plenty of seniors who could pass on all manner of know-how.
“It is not impossible to close a chakra once it has been opened, but… at that point, it requires several times more effort than opening a new element. That is why choosing properly from the very beginning what path you will walk is a very important start for any practitioner.”
As Yun Soso continued her explanation and smiled sweetly, a sugary fragrance spread faintly through the air.
But contrary to her appearance, her inner thoughts were by no means calm.
To put it somewhat extremely, it would not be an exaggeration to describe her as desperate. ‘There’s still no reaction at all….’ She had very strong pride in her own charms.
When she realized that, due to her lack of aptitude, she would never be able to rise above the middle layer no matter how hard she tried.
To her, her innate charm had been no different from everything she had been given.
After changing her course, Yun Soso did her utmost to push her strengths to their limit.
Even when her orphanage peer Lusette, who unlike her possessed outstanding talent, surged ahead to a place beyond her reach, she did not lose heart.
If Lusette had the talent to reach the deep layer, she believed that she herself had the charm to draw in the opposite sex and the talent to use it efficiently.
That alone had been the driving force that had supported her until now and brought her to this place. ‘…Do you think I’ll just give up like this?’ Yet her target was not showing even the slightest agitation, so her pride could not help but be torn to shreds.
If his gaze had wavered, if he had at least seemed to be holding himself back somehow, then even if she failed her mission, she could have admired his mental strength and conceded defeat….
But it was a different story when he showed absolutely no reaction like that! ‘No, that can’t be. I’ll bring him down somehow!’ She swept back her softly waved brown hair, revealing one ear, and looked at Hun with firm resolve.
In his eyes as he looked at her, there was still not a single trace of bewilderment.
He merely wore an expression that made it impossible to tell what he was thinking, as though he were deeply agonizing over something. ‘Hehehe—
Let’s see who wins!’ Unknowingly clenching her teeth for a moment, she quickly relaxed her jaw and once again wore a radiant smile.
As someone who handled the chakra of emotion, controlling her own heart was not difficult at all.
After that, her wholehearted… no, an all-out offensive into which she poured even more than that continued.
Her clothing, similar to a qipao, naturally clung to her body and accentuated the curves of her voluptuous figure every time Yun Soso moved, while her elegant and refined gestures drew the gazes of those around her, stirring a strange sense of immorality without being too vulgar.
The beauty mark at the corner of her mouth focused attention on her red lips as they moved during the lecture, and the makeup that heightened her charm to the fullest combined with her chakra of enchantment, beginning to exude a demonic allure that could captivate not only the opposite sex but even those of the same sex. ‘How long has it been since I went all out to this extent?’ For her, who thanks to her natural beauty had been able to easily win others’ goodwill without needing to go this far, the feeling could not help but be novel.
Naturally, she found herself reflecting on the past.
A practitioner’s duty was to constantly challenge one’s limits and polish oneself, yet had she not grown far too complacent all this time simply because seducing the opposite sex had been easy?
“Can you feel it? Please remember this flow well. If you do it like this….”
Yun Soso’s gentle hand softly stroked Hun’s chest.
In order to properly teach him about chakra, a certain degree of physical contact was essential, and to her, who had made up her mind, that was nothing less than a perfect opportunity.
And as she regained her beginner’s mindset and devoted herself wholeheartedly, as if standing on the edge of a cliff, a small change began to arise in her inner image. ‘…Ah, I see. That is….’ It was still a faint change, but the possibility was unmistakably visible.
A higher realm she had thought would never be permitted to her in her lifetime.
The path toward the upper layer.
It was a milestone proving that the direction she had chosen was not wrong. ‘It is only a possibility for now, but… I will definitely reach it.’ And for that, there was a gate she had to pass through first.
Having steeled her resolve, Yun Soso looked at the target of this mission with confident eyes. ‘Now, how about that! At this level, even the most impotent man wouldn’t be able to endure without reacting, would he?’ Her current state was the best beyond her best.
She was in a more perfect combat-ready state than ever before.
Even a practitioner of the deep layer, if faced with her as she was now, would not be able to easily shake off the temptation.
And Hun’s reaction, as he witnessed that bewitching sight right before his eyes, was….
“Hmm, I see. You must be busy, so thank you for going to all this trouble. Thanks to your easy-to-understand explanations, I was able to grasp the concept clearly.”
Astonishingly plain!
After offering his thanks to her as she froze stiff, still wearing her confident smile, Hun promptly left his seat.
Now that his business was over, he had no intention of making small talk with her, when even at a glance she seemed to have some ulterior motive.
He would rather go back quickly, check on Ramyu’s condition, and try opening a chakra himself with that time.
“…….”
Left alone like that, Yun Soso blinked.
To think he would really leave immediately just because the lecture was over.
For her, who had always lived a life being exalted by the opposite sex, the current situation could only be absurd.
“Ha, hahaha….”
A powerless laugh slipped from her mouth.
“…I lost.”
Then came her admission of defeat.
But in her two eyes, a flame burned even fiercer than before.
She had just grasped a clue leading toward the upper layer she had dreamed of all this time.
There was no way she would give up over a single failure. ‘If only I can seduce that man…!’ In the process of reaching that place.
She would surely be able to reach the upper layer.
Her intuition told her so. ‘I will definitely succeed. There is still plenty of time.’ In the place Hun had left, one woman’s resolve burned hotly.
It was immediately after the first introductory chakra lecture for him, who had come under the protection of the Seongcheon Yun Clan, had ended.***After that, lectures for opening chakra continued.
No matter how low the barrier to entry for chakra was, low enough that even commoners could begin learning it, it was still, in name and truth, a part of the supernatural powers called mysticism.
Naturally, in order to open a chakra, one had to spend at least ten years working in a livelihood and master a particular element.
So how could all the knowledge that had compressed those years and been systematically and professionally established possibly be conveyed in a single day’s lecture?
As the lectures continued, Yun Soso’s offensive gradually became even bolder.
Clothing that exposed a little more each time, and skinship that continued under the pretext of instruction.
Seeing Hun put up such an iron wall, it seemed she had also made up her mind, to the point that she now no longer appeared to have any intention of hiding her purpose at all. ‘My aptitude, huh.’ However, most unfortunately.
Hun no longer had Yun Soso’s honey trap anywhere in his mind.
His attention was focused only on a subtle sensation, as though he could almost grasp it but not quite. ‘The preparations to open a chakra are already complete. Now all that remains is to make good use of this and attune it as efficiently as possible to my traits.’ It was something neither Yun Soso nor anyone else in the Seongcheon Yun Clan had anticipated.
No matter how systematic and efficient the education supporting it might be, normally it took more than a year to open a chakra.
If one were an otherworlder given additional correction, or perhaps a genius with outstanding talent, that could be shortened to a few months….
But even so, there was a limit. Finishing every preparation in less than a week, as Hun had done, was utterly absurd. ‘To think that elixir I ate back then would help here too. You really never know how things will turn out.’ Hun stroked the area over his heart and let out a faint chuckle.
The energy that had not manifested properly and instead lay dormant deep within him, because it had become fertilizer for the divinity accumulated by the main body.
Feeling the familiar aura from a portion of it naturally made him feel full. ‘It’ll be even more helpful once I open a chakra.’ It was the energy of the elixir he had received from Yun Jiyun in exchange for Thor’s Hammer, a top-grade magical tool.
A supreme elixir originating from Saba Heaven, one that contained energy surpassing even the Shaolin Temple’s Great Rejuvenation Pill.
Through the lectures he had received so far, he now understood well just how great its value was.
Its production was so small that even the Yun Clan saved it for when a deep-layer practitioner attempted to open the Heavenly Gate, which said everything. ‘Then all that remains is putting it into practice.’ He could not receive the instructor’s help with this.
His special nature far transcended the level of simply being different from others.
Although his inner image world was divided into thirteen, each one was no different from a complete whole.
Because rather than having been separated from one from the beginning, they were closer to having been added as the number of individuals increased.
Moreover, while each inner image seemed thoroughly independent, they were organically connected around the main body, forming a complex multiple world.
An unprecedented special case that had never existed before and would never exist again.
He could not receive anyone’s help, nor did he intend to.
This one-of-a-kind individuality would become a special weapon meant only for him. ‘Slowly, one by one. First, I start by opening Hun’s microcosm, which will become the subject of the chakra.’ The other inner image domains were a matter for later.
Since the one using chakra was ultimately Hun, the first element to open also needed to match him. ‘In that case, the chakra Hun will open is as good as decided.’ What he could do best.
And what he had been doing all this time.
What he would need most in the future. ‘Communication.’ The power to connect many into one and allow them to communicate with one another. A concept that could maximize the effects of 「Telepathy」 and draw the inner images inherent in the other avatars intact into Hun.
Wooooong—
As Hun sat alone in his lodgings with his eyes gently closed, a strange resonance began to ring out around his body.
In order to open a chakra, an understanding above a certain standard regarding the corresponding element was essential.
And he, who had used 「Telepathy」 all this time.
He, who possessed the translation-type skill 「Xenoglossy」.
He, who had faced countless beings from other worlds and resolved all sorts of trials.
He, who had handled numerous avatars simultaneously while growing in real time.《The entity has fulfilled the conditions and grows. Acquired the skill 「Chakra Opening」.》《The entity has gained enlightenment through training. Acquired the skill 「Chakra: Communication」.》Already possessed enough understanding to accomplish at least this with ease. ‘The problem comes next.’ Hun gritted his teeth as he felt the energy that had awakened within him and begun to rotate.
The energy that had existed with barely any presence all this time was being assigned the role of chakra and activated all at once.
An immense power that made it hard to believe he had only just opened his microcosm.
For an instant, his mind grew distant from it, but his mental strength, tempered to the limit, was not so weak that it would be shaken by only this much. ‘The dictionary definition of communication is to make things pass through well without obstruction.’ With this, his 「Telepathy」 must have gained a sharpness that could more easily pierce even the mind of a powerhouse who had reached the ultimate realm, but he had not learned chakra in order to be satisfied with only this much.
Hun controlled the vortex that had begun to gradually expand and drew it down into the depths of his inner self.
It was possible thanks to the nature of chakra, which intervened in concepts themselves, unlike other mysteries.
Following his inner image, it ignored every obstructive factor, such as distance and dimensions, and immediately took root in “another self.”
Ziiiiing—!
Not only the eleven avatars excluding Hun, but even the main body at the center of them all.
By means of an enormous amount of chakra, a passage called communication was laid across one side of the thirteen inner image domains in total.
So that the images dwelling within them could be drawn out at any time and overlaid onto Hun.
“Cough, cough!”
Hun let out dry coughs and gasped for breath.
His heart pounded violently as if it would burst, and his head spun.
It was only natural that his body would be strained, since from immediately after opening his chakra to the work that followed, he had handled it all in succession without rest.
“But with this….”
Beyond his gradually blurring vision.
At the one phrase that appeared before his eyes, Hun gave a smile that seemed about to fade away.《The entity has fulfilled the conditions and blooms its potential. Acquired the special skill 「Roots of Ideals」.》In any case, he had achieved the goal he had first set.