Chapter 9
What is the difference between magic and martial techniques?
Simply put, martial techniques are a force that acts within the body, while magic is a force that acts outside it.
To go into more detail, martial techniques circulate internal energy—in other words, mana—through the body to push its physical abilities to their limits.
Magic, on the other hand, uses the body as a conduit to manifest miracles with mana.
Then what about 'Heavenly Demon' Lee Jian?
The girl can wield both magic and martial techniques. Does that make her a flawless being who has mastered both kinds of power?
One part of that is true, and the other is false.
The girl can wield magic and martial techniques at the same time, but she has not mastered both kinds of power.
Heavenly Demon Lee Jian merely imitates the results of martial techniques with magic.
To use an analogy, it is like painting a Western-style picture with ink and a brush. She skips the entire process and presents the finished work, saying, 'See? Easy, right?'
This is an art that is virtually impossible by nature, but it is possible for Lee Jian.
Because the girl is Heavenly Demon (天魔), a genius mage.
Black Wind Three Swords (黑風三劍)
Second Form: Black Fang (黑牙)
Lee Jian's fist surged toward the goblin's shield once more.
"Keuruk!"
Her fist collided with the shield.
By common sense, her fist should have been the one to break.
But.
Crack!
The shield was the one that shattered.
And then, without giving it a moment's respite...
Black Wind Three Swords (黑風三劍)
Second Form: Black Fang (黑牙)
A technique repeated with almost obsessive persistence.
This was partly because the girl saw no reason to use any other technique against the goblins, and partly because she'd taken a liking to throwing punches with only her right hand while keeping the other behind her back.
"Keuruk!"
The goblin hurriedly raised its crude sword and used the flat of the blade to shield its chest.
Was that its way of defending itself?
"Not a bad response, but..."
Crack!
Against overwhelming strength, it was meaningless.
“Keuruk!”
Along with the sensation of ribs being crushed, the second goblin died.
"Hmm."
Lee Jian savored the sensation lingering in her fist, making a pleased humming sound.
It felt refreshing.
Not bad. I seemed to be gradually getting used to this unfamiliar body, too.
"Are you just going to keep watching?"
"Keuruk."
No sooner had Lee Jian finished speaking than the spear-wielding goblins spread out and formed a circle.
Naturally, Lee Jian was at the center. The spearpoints all aimed at the girl.
"You aren't completely stupid, it seems."
Having imposed a restriction on herself to use only one hand, she was naturally vulnerable to attacks from all directions.
Seven of them were charging in to die, while she could only use one hand.
"Let's see what you've got."
"Keuruk!"
At the goblin shaman's shriek, they all charged at once.
Clench!
Lee Jian concentrated mana in the tips of her feet.
"Leap."
Whoosh!
The girl's body shot into the air.
Clang!
The polearms aimed at Lee Jian tangled chaotically, scattering sharp metallic clinks.
"Keuruk?"
Their target had vanished, and their weapons were tangled.
The goblins looked bewildered.
Tap.
Lee Jian landed lightly atop the tangled weapons.
"Good, good."
Wasn't it quite enjoyable to watch the little creatures' bewildered faces?
Still, she couldn't keep this up for long.
That leap had drained the mana inside her body in an instant.
"As I thought, using it repeatedly is still too much."
Lee Jian murmured calmly and took a deep breath.
"Hah!"
A Lion's Roar (獅子吼) so powerful it was hard to believe it came from such a small body.
"Keuruk!"
The loud cry shook the space, and blood flowed from the goblins' ears.
Some staggered, clutching their ears in pain.
Their tightly layered formation collapsed in an instant.
"Whew, I can breathe again."
Lee Jian, standing on the ground once more, took a long breath.
Lifting her body into the air really consumed a tremendous amount of mana.
The reason she had been able to use martial techniques so casually until now was that she had been drawing all the mana she needed from outside herself.
Ruler of the Ten Thousand Demons. All the demonic power in this world belongs to her.
"Let's enjoy ourselves a little longer."
Thus, while her feet were on the ground, Lee Jian's own body became a kind of wand for performing martial techniques.
In that sense, one could say Lee Jian's weakness was her feet.
Because standing on the ground itself was the trigger that let her draw upon the earth's mana.
Of course, even if they knew that...
The goblins on the second floor couldn't stop the girl.
The girl smiled and charged at the goblins.
***
"Keuruk!"
Crack!
As the hand gripping its nape tightened, the ninth goblin's neck twisted grotesquely, and it collapsed.
"Tch."
This one was done for, too.
I'd thought it might last a little longer, but creatures like these couldn't quench the thirst welling up inside me after all.
There had been nine of them, and not a single one had even brushed a hair on this sovereign's head.
"I wonder if you're any different."
I turned my gaze, and our eyes met.
"Ke, keuruk!"
The lone goblin shaman desperately waved its staff as it backed away.
"Are you afraid?"
Its pitiful appearance was so laughable that I opened my mouth.
"Isn't your role to kill this sovereign? Then why are you so terrified?"
The monsters of the Tower have only one mission.
Kill the intruder. Even if you have to die, even if you die and rise again, kill them.
That is the reason for their existence: to serve as a trial for the Awakened.
And yet.
"Being afraid is downright ridiculous."
I frowned without realizing it.
Thump!
I stomped hard on the ground.
"Don't act like a person when you're nothing but a lesser creature."
I was irritated. I started to clench my fist, then changed my mind and spread my hand wide, turning its edge outward.
"If you're a lesser creature, then act like one."
Acceleration, Wind Blade.
Two spells combined into one along the edge of my hand.
"I said, fulfill the duty you've been given and entertain this sovereign."
Don't run away with your tail between your legs and ruin the fun.
Black Wind Three Swords (黑風三劍)
First Form: Wind Moon (風月)
I lightly waved the edge of my hand, as if shooing away a fly.
Slice!
An invisible blade flew out and slit the goblin shaman's throat.
Ding!
[You have cleared the second floor on Nightmare difficulty!]
***
Among the Awakened climbing the Tower, several questions had gone unanswered for eleven years.
Where had the Tower come from?
What was the system, including the status window?
Questions like these led to many more, but only one was most directly connected to the practical lives of the Awakened.
'How exactly is the clear rank determined?'
Awakened who clear the Tower are each assigned a clear rank.
Starting at the lowest, F, and going all the way up to the highest, S—in fact, even SSS.
The rewards granted and fame earned vary drastically depending on this one rank.
So every Awakened climbing the Tower obsesses over their rank, living and dying by it.
And that raises a fundamental question.
Who determines the Tower's clear rank, and by what criteria?
'Super' Josh Richards, the current overall number one and the first to achieve an S+ rank, says:
"The criteria are obviously clear time. The key is how quickly you clear the Tower."
On the other hand, 'Blood Demon' Chao Feilong, ranked second overall, the perennial runner-up, and South Korea's unofficial number-one most disliked ranker, had a different opinion.
"The claim that clear time is the criterion is nothing more than Super's personal opinion. There's no way ranks are calculated so simply. It's only natural that there's a complex process hidden behind it, one that's hard for ordinary people like us to understand."
He went on and on, but in the end, all he was saying was that he didn't know the exact criteria either, but Super was wrong regardless.
Q: Then is that complex process why you lose to Super every time?
"What?"
[Censored]
[Title: What criteria are ranks based on?]
[Posted by: Anonymous]
I'm a newbie, seriously asking because I don't know.
[Comments]
No idea.
If you figure it out, let me know. I wanna escape D rank too.
ㄴ Does D rank pay the bills?
ㄴ Barely scraping by.
Time seems the most likely factor. That's what Super says.
ㄴ Bullshit lol If it were time like that bastard Super says, he'd always get S.
ㄴㄴ This is right: Super always clears in under 10 minutes, but sometimes gets S and sometimes S-.
ㄴ Then there aren't any criteria?
ㄴ If you think that's the criterion, then it is lol
As you can see, there was plenty of debate about how ranks were calculated, but no clear answer.
Since the unshakable number one, Super, never missed an S rank and claimed time was the criterion, his opinion had simply become the most popular.
And now.
A girl had personally presented a new theory.
[You have cleared the second floor on Nightmare difficulty!]
[Clear Time] 2 minutes 45 seconds
[Clear Rank] SSS
[The Tower remembers the challenger's name.]
"Heavenly Demon."
[Challenger Rankings]
[1st: Heavenly Demon (天魔) SSS]
[2nd: -SUPER- S]
[3rd: Blood Demon S-]
2 minutes and 45 seconds.
Compared with other Awakened people's records, it was short, but compared with her previous record, it could hardly be called short.
And yet the clear rank assigned to 'Heavenly Demon' Lee Jian was no less than SSS.
At this moment, a new hypothesis about how ranks were determined took shape.
There was only one criterion: whether the Tower liked you or not.
Sometimes it might be time, and sometimes the flashiness of the techniques.
In other words, there was no clear criterion. The Tower just did whatever the hell it wanted each time.
In a way, Blood Demon's claim had been right. More a case of stumbling into the right answer than anything, but still.
"Another SSS rank."
A smile spread across the girl's lips.
It hadn't been intentional, but she'd achieved a remarkably good result, so she didn't feel bad about it.
[You will be transferred to the Reward Room shortly.]
Flash!
Her vision was engulfed in a swirl of light.
"Hmm."
The newly reached Reward Room was much more cramped than the previous one.
"One potion and two kilos of B-rank mana stones, huh."
The rewards she found after opening the chest were quite meager.
Of course, compared to other difficulty levels, they were still very generous, but after experiencing the insane dopamine rush on the first floor, it was hard to feel satisfied.
It seemed the six rewards that had burst out on the first floor had been beginner's luck.
"Exit."
Lee Jian reached out into the air and declared her exit.
Before long, the girl's body was enveloped in a swirl of light.