Chapter 11
Isn't this just too much?
Murong Yeon grumbled to himself. The System doled out increases in pitiful scraps, yet when it came time to slash, it never hesitated.
Dock thirty and everything goes negative. System! Don't you think that's a bit much?
《This Main Story Quest is a critical turning point. The values have been adjusted accordingly!》
True, in the original story the Martial Tournament was the most important event for Wi Hyeokrin. After all, it was the event that set him on the path to becoming the Heavenly Demon. No wonder the quest had been labeled "Main Story."
If it's that important, then the rewards should obviously scale up to match the penalty for failure!
Murong Yeon bit down hard on his lip. It was nothing short of a threat: succeed, or else.
"Haah…"
His head throbbed, and he pressed a hand to his forehead. That was when he felt eyes on him.
"You look pale. Have you overexerted yourself?"
Murong Seoran, who had not once taken her eyes off her son, had asked. Her tone was plain, but a tender worry ran beneath it.
"No, I haven't."
Murong Yeon hastily closed the System window and composed his expression.
"Good heavens! Now that I look, Yeon, your face has gone white as a sheet! You'll collapse again at this rate! Come, up you get. I'll take you back to your quarters. No, wait. Shall I carry you on my back?"
Murong Gwak, too, flew into a panic and made a great fuss.
"There's no need."
"What are you so embarrassed about? I carried you around on my back every day when you were small."
Murong Yeon's eyes flickered. He was thrown for an instant. That line wasn't in the original. And yet here was Murong Gwak, speaking of something the author himself had cut.
I took it out because I figured a villain didn't need some grand backstory, and now it's popping up like this.
Even he, the author, had kept only the premise that Murong Yeon was sickly and, as a result, foul-tempered, stripping away everything else.
"Haha… What? Now that you're grown, you mean to deny it ever happened? Even when your hair goes gray, you'll still be nothing but my spoiled little nephew."
"…When did I ever act spoiled?"
"True enough. You were forever trying to act too grown-up, and it broke your uncle's heart. So today, do as I say and get on my back."
Murong Yeon stared in disbelief as his uncle leapt to his feet and offered his back. Not that Murong Gwak cared. He swung his arms behind him as though to clasp his hands there and crooked his fingers to beckon him on.
Where did his dignity go…?
Who, looking at that sight, would ever guess this was the captain of the Murong Clan's elite Jinseong Squad and an elder of the Martial Alliance?
Murong Yeon slid the hand from his forehead down over his eyes and shuddered with embarrassment on his uncle's behalf. Oblivious, Murong Gwak spoke cheerfully.
"I ought to hurry over and guide A-rin's training, and at this rate the whole day will slip away. He must be counting the moments until I arrive, hm?"
He had meant it out of consideration for a nephew who held his attendant so dear. But a very different thought flashed through Murong Yeon's mind.
"That won't be necessary. Uncle, please refrain from setting foot in White Cloud Pavilion for the time being."
At the sudden announcement, Murong Gwak jerked upright.
"What? Why?"
"What do you think would happen if word got around that you'd taught him one-on-one?"
"Well, that would…"
"There would surely be a controversy over fairness at the tournament."
What was more, there was a faction in West Dormitory that regarded Wi Hyeokrin as a thorn in their side. Jang Punghyeop must have sensed something out of the ordinary in him when the quarrel broke out near Kitchen Hall.
There was no reason to hand a pretext to someone already harboring suspicion. Besides, Jang Punghyeop had the Third Elder at his back.
It's not as if the Third Elder would come charging in the way he did in the original, but…
The Third Elder had opposed Murong Seoran's becoming clan head to the very end. Self-righteous and narrow-minded, he had insisted that the clan head's seat must pass to the eldest son.
Murong Gwak had backed his sister and, to escape the dispute, had left the clan altogether under the pretext of Martial Alliance duties. And so, in the end, the seat had gone to Murong Seoran.
And even after that, he found fault with every little thing the moment he saw an opening.
Another reason Murong Seoran couldn't visit her sickly son often was that she feared the Third Elder would spread talk that she showed excessive favoritism toward Murong Yeon, who knew no martial arts at all.
Which meant that this affair, too, might hand him some pretext if they weren't careful.
"Yeon is right. Captain, concentrate on preparing for the tournament for now."
Once again, Murong Seoran settled the matter in a few words. Murong Gwak nodded in agreement.
"That does make sense. But who's going to guide the boy until the tournament?"
"Why are you acting as if this is news?"
Murong Yeon chided his uncle, who was looking at him with bewildered eyes.
"You didn't come back to the clan for a whole month anyway, off carrying out the Alliance's missions."
"Well, that's… It's just that the Alliance Leader asked so earnestly…"
Embarrassed, Murong Gwak cleared his throat with an "Ahem, ahem" and quickly added, "The Five Rings of Flowing Water Form only requires steady practice, so I could leave him to it. Combat training is different."
"I'll take care of that as well, so you needn't trouble yourself."
"You'll take care of it?"
"Who do you think looked after him in your place all the while you were away?"
At Murong Yeon's offhand remark, Murong Gwak's eyes went wide. Then, as if something had dawned on him, his mouth fell open in a round "O."
"Come to think of it… yes. You could do it. Of course you could."
At last Murong Gwak broke into a hearty laugh and nodded. Of course. This was Murong Yeon, who knew every martial arts manual in the clan by heart. Surely that extraordinary mind wasn't merely retaining words on a page.
"Good, very good!"
That wasn't the only thing delighting Murong Gwak. His nephew, who had been indifferent to everything and utterly lacking in drive, was now speaking with shining eyes.
"That boy A-rin is a true blessing!"
The instant Murong Gwak's cry rang out, a System window appeared.
《The backstory the author deleted has been restored, enhancing the multidimensional appeal of Murong Yeon's character.
Character Narrative Depth has risen by 6.
Main Story progress has been updated!
- Story Plausibility Level: 11/100
- Character Narrative Depth: 30/100
- Foreshadowing Payoff Rate: 3/100
- Satisfaction Index: 7/100》
But that wasn't all.
《Favorability with Murong Gwak has been updated.
- Current Favorability: 100/100
Target value reached!
You have earned the full support of the character Murong Gwak.
You have earned the right to actively intervene in the fate of the character Murong Gwak.》
With Narrative Depth and then Favorability changing in one go, Murong Yeon was dazed.
It's being awfully generous today. I'll let "full support" slide, but what's this "right to intervene in his fate"?
《This content has not yet been updated. Further guidance will be provided at a later date.》
Seriously?
He'd gone to all the trouble of filling the favorability, and all it had gotten him was more questions.
Seeing Murong Yeon's gaze turn strange for a moment, Murong Gwak finally burst into such roaring laughter that he looked ready to roll across the floor. How long had it been since he'd laughed until his stomach ached!
"Yeon, don't push yourself."
Murong Seoran, for her part, merely cautioned her son out of concern for his health.
"I'm better than I used to be, and I'll be better still from here on. I'm working steadily toward that, so please don't worry."
"That's all I need. Now then, shall we go?"
At that, Murong Yeon rose and spared Murong Gwak a brief glance before looking away. He had no wish to watch that hulking frame actually rolling around on the floor.
After one last look at the Squad Captain, who had thrown all concern for appearances to the wind, mother and son stepped outside together.
"Let's walk as far as White Cloud Pavilion together."
"No. I'm going to Mangyeong Pavilion."
"Shouldn't you be resting?"
The Murong Yeon of old would have fainted dead away long ago. But thanks to tireless efforts to build his stamina, he could still hold out.
"I had that boy hand-copy the Five Rings of Flowing Water Form, so I ought to go and check on him."
"You do hold your attendant dear."
"I simply won't stand by and watch him be looked down on."
Murong Seoran glanced sidelong at her son, who couldn't bring himself to be honest, but she did not point it out. It was enough that Murong Yeon wanted someone by his side at all.
Just as it was for Murong Gwak, anything that might change Murong Yeon, who had lived in nothing but solitude, was welcome to Murong Seoran.
"I look forward to seeing what sort of showing your attendant makes at the tournament."
She gave his thin, slight shoulder a gentle squeeze, then let go and set off ahead. Her figure, light and buoyant as though she were walking on clouds, was gone in a moment.
The Flying Stream Divine Steps.
It was a footwork said to fly the way water flows, a basic art that the clan's disciples learned from the very start. Mastering it to a high level, however, was difficult.
According to the original, as Murong Yeon remembered it, Wi Hyeokrin would one day master the Shadowless Steps, the ultimate stage of the Flying Stream Divine Steps, and become unrivaled under heaven.
"Genius really is different."
To think he would fuse a clan art learned in childhood with demonic arts and unleash such terrifying power. And yet, for some reason…
Suddenly, he pictured Wi Hyeokrin in a black robe, unfurling his martial arts as though flying through the sky. He looked less like a Heavenly Demon than a celestial god, and a strange thrill stirred within him.
Would he ever get to see that sight with his own eyes?
"Hmm… For now, let's go."
He quickly shook the stray thoughts from his head and set off at a brisk pace.
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