Chapter 5
That was how Jinseong became immersed in sorcery.
Like a gambler who hit the jackpot on his first bet.
Like a farmer who couldn't forget the taste of his first bountiful harvest.
Perhaps like a merchant who came into a large sum of money by luck.
That was how Jinseong decided to become a sorcerer.
And that vow continued until the world exploded into war, and he dragged a body no different from a corpse and burned himself.
Even with time turned back, it was natural to walk the path of a sorcerer.
Magic has many faces but only one body. That is called obsession.
Jinseong smiled and took a plastic bottle out of the refrigerator.
Inside the bottle, a bright red liquid reminiscent of a ruby was shimmering and glowing brilliantly, viscous but exuding its fragrance like light without sticking anywhere. The color was like paint made by melting jewels, and the fragrance was indescribably sweet, containing life itself.
Blood.
The liquid that constituted life flowing through blood vessels, blood.
Blood was a catalyst used in numerous sorcery practices.
Symbolism was important in magic, summoning, and sorcery. That was why in astrology, symbols and names were attached to stars and used, and in magic too, meanings are attached to elements and drawings to perform miracles in the name of magic circles. Many sorceries were also activated using symbols extracted from materials. And the purer these materials were, the more valuable they were, and they could exert stronger power even when used in the same amount.
The blood he was holding in his hand was also top grade.
It was 2+ grade blood certified by the Catalyst Cooperative. Considering that blood above this grade was comparable to the price of gold of the same weight, it could be said to be the highest grade of blood he could obtain now.
However...
"I can't use this."
Jinseong put the pure blood, which even had the symbolism of being virgin blood, back into the refrigerator.
* * *
"I need garbage."
The purer the catalyst, the better.
Gems should be flawless.
Blood was better the more pure its owner was.
Corpses were better when freshly dead.
Treasures should be free of lingering thoughts, and relics should have a history of being used for their intended purpose.
Therefore, the catalyst Jinseong desired could be said to be extremely atypical.
What he wanted was garbage.
Things that couldn't be traded normally, things that couldn't even be the subject of trade.
In terms of food, it was the trimmings of vegetables that were discarded after preparation, in terms of timber, it was the sawdust produced during cutting.
"Since I can't be a mercenary yet, I guess I'll have to hunt for garbage."
Jinseong stood up, putting his hands together.
Then he started looking around the room for clothes to wear.
The first thing he picked up was a pair of black pants.
Crunch.
Jinseong bit his ring finger to draw blood. Strangely, despite just biting lightly, blood flowed continuously.
He began to draw a pattern on the back of the knee of the black pants using a lot of blood from his finger. It was a pattern that looked like neither Chinese characters nor pictures, but like something scribbled by a child.
It resembled the seal script said to be used by shamans when drawing talismans, and further resembled the shape of oracle bone script said to have been used in ancient China.
Horizontal lines at the top and bottom. And a vertical line crossing between them.
And a 'siot' (ᄉ) shape standing between the vertical lines.
This Chinese character was called 'mu' (巫), meaning shaman.
"To touch the ground, legs must be firm, and what moves those legs is not hard bones but flexible knees, so history will be imbued in each step of that gait."
In ancient China, gait was considered important. Because of this, martial arts which was a discipline for controlling and transcending the body, taught gait before teaching how to wield weapons, and those learning Taoist magic were taught how to step on the ground before learning how to read celestial signs and write talismans.
Although the obsession with gait wasn’t known in detail, it was said to have originated from Yu the Great, the first king of the Xia Dynasty, China's first hereditary dynasty, according to the oldest records. This Yu was said to be the son of Gun and was given the position of ruler by the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. It was said that he was proficient in magic and enlightened, exerting all kinds of supernatural powers through his gait, so his majesty was like that of a transcendent being.
On the other hand, on the Korean Peninsula, there was more obsession with the elements that make up gait rather than the gait itself. Those who sought to transcend through the body on the Korean Peninsula were obsessed with the rhythm of breathing and legs, and those who sought to transcend through sorcery were obsessed with the means of movement. Those who used summoning techniques emphasized the function of pillars connecting heaven and earth, which became the foundation and purpose of modern Korean summoning techniques.
What Jinseong engraved on the pants was the function of a relay connecting heaven and earth.
The Chinese character 'mu' contained the meaning of a person connecting heaven and earth, so there was nothing better as a symbol to use as a relay.
"ॐ-"
After engraving the pattern, when Jinseong concentrated his mind, the pattern slowly resonated and turned black, starting to spread like blood vessels all over the pants, and eventually disappeared completely, leaving only a very small hole in the back of the knee.
"I can prepare the rest as I go."
Jinseong changed into the completed pants and opened the window.
Then, standing on the windowsill, he took a step towards the empty air.
The leg advancing towards the empty air eventually plunged into a sea of air, and unable to withstand its weight, it tried to make the body fall, but...
Creak.
At that moment, space folded.
And where Jinseong appeared was a small hill behind the mansion.
The distance from the mansion was over 10 li (4 km).
"ॐ-"
Moving over 10 li in one step.
This was the miracle of advanced sorcery created by Korean sorcerers who viewed legs only as a means of transportation and researched to maximize the 'meaning as a means of transportation'.
Many people called this sorcery the Space Contraction Technique (縮地法).
* * *
Jinseong, who arrived at the back mountain using the Space Contraction Technique, closed his eyes and spread his spiritual sense.
Thanks to the symbol engraved on his pants, the energy of the earth flowed in through his legs, and the stars, though hidden by the bright sunlight, were clearly communicating with him through the sky.
And as he stood for a while.
The stars whispered to him with starlight, and the earth with the swaying of weeds.
It's here.
Hearing that whisper, Jinseong swiftly reached out and grasped the empty air.
Shaaak!
What came out when he grasped the air was a snake.
The snake, black with yellow bands, writhed and screamed in the air as if caught by an invisible hand.
"Black-yellow rat snake. It's a bit disappointing that it's not venomous."
Shaaak! Shaak!
The snake, its nape now caught in Jinseong's grasp, cried fiercely. Whether it had a strong will to live, it tried to coil around Jinseong's arm and squeeze, but it was useless against Jinseong's sturdy arm, trained along with sorcery during his minor years, which wouldn't feel pressure even if a python came instead of a snake.
He stared at the snake for a moment and then twisted and pulled off its head.
Crunch.
The body of the snake, having lost its head, continued to writhe and squeeze Jinseong's arm despite losing its head. Jinseong forcefully unwrapped it and brought it to his mouth without even skinning it.
Crunch. Crunch.
The taste wasn't bad.
No, to be precise, it was excellent.
It felt like eating cool sashimi made of well-mixed chicken and fish.
Although many people abhorred snakes and they were not well consumed in Korea, there were plenty of countries around the world that used snakes for food, and some even ate them raw, saying the taste was excellent.
In Korea in the 70s and 80s, there was a common belief that eating raw snakes improved virility, so people often caught snakes in the mountains and ate them as sashimi right away. This often led to cases of people suffering greatly from snake parasite infections.
And that was precisely why Jinseong was now tearing and eating the snake raw.
"This isn't it."
After finishing eating the snake, Jinseong picked up the snake's head that had fallen to the ground with its mouth wide open, put it in his pocket, and closed his eyes again.
Shaaak!
The next thing caught was a brown snake exuding a spicy scent. The snake carried the unique smell of a venomous snake that mildly stung the nose, reminiscent of acacia, and the snake with dark brown base and light brown stripes exuded a fierceness as great as its large body.
"Short-tailed viper."
A venomous snake said to kill within seven steps after one bite.
This terrible snake, also called the Seven-Step snake, had a terrible reputation among novice martial artists who used to train deep in the mountains in the past, and even now, when antidote magic artifacts were widely available in modern times, it was still a creature that required caution.
Crunch!
Jinseong twisted the snake's neck and started chewing it raw like before.
Unlike the previous snake, a spicy scent lingered in his nose like seasoning, and thinking it was like eating sashimi dipped in wasabi, he finished off the snake that seemed to weigh over a pound on the spot.
Then, picking up the snake's head that had fallen to the ground, he muttered.
"It's a winner."