Possessing Nothing Novel (쥐뿔도 없는 회귀)

Chapter 34 - Genius

To get used to it.

It was hard to do. The first one that he got used to was his voice. He couldn't say anything. No screams, shouts anything. Anything that he could make with his mouth was gone.

That wasn't really a big penalty, however. There was only Sogo whom Sungmin met frequently, and Sogo also had the same penalty. Therefore, Sogo helped Sungmin get used to the penalty faster.

The silent conversations. It wasn't great, but it wasn't hard to get used to.

But the other ones were different.

The weight that Sungmin was feeling was getting heavier. Especially after learning Shadowless, the weight carried his body down.

Shadowless was a speed technique.

Therefore, the weight that Sungmin had as a penalty became a huge problem for him. The technique in specific required a lot of skill, so it was harder for Sungmin.

'If you want to move faster, the weight keeps you down.'

That's where he was stuck. He couldn't get fast enough even if he followed the cultivation manual. He needed strength and speed to overcome that.

'Thinking is easy.'

The thinking was always easy. The reality was not.

If the weight was holding Sungmin back, the taste and dream penalty was completely breaking Sungmin. Food wasn't good at all, and sleep wasn't a time of rest anymore. No, the taste penalty was probably better than his dream penalty.

He was afraid of sleeping. Sungmin begged every day, to not let it be night, to not get tired.

But he always slept. His body tired out after swinging his spear so many times. And then... he slept like death.

And then he would wake up from his nightmare. Screaming a silent scream, he would sit up near the fire. He would sleep and then wake up again.

"Crazy kid."

That was a thing that he heard a lot since he came to the mountain. He stopped and looked at Scarlet.

He was wondering why she was here, but it seemed as if Sogo brought her here. He glanced at Sogo beside Scarlet, but Sogo didn't give an explanation.

"Why are you mute people looking at each other? Your date?"

Scarlet grumbled as she came over. Sungmin put down the spear and picked up his branch. Scarlet's face wrinkled at that.

"Don't ask. I'll tell you everything. Ah, Really! Why did you become mute? It's hard to speak."

Scarlet grumbled as she scratched her head.

"Sogo. This mute girl. She came a few days before and begged for a while. To help you."

Scarlet spit out towards Sogo. Sungmin, surprised, looked at Sogo.

"I'll teach you some magic."

Scarlet went closer to Sungmin. The stench grew as she came closer.

"You should be happy. Magic isn't the easiest thing to use... but this world makes it easier."

Sungmin tried not to be bothered by the stench. She was grumbling, but Sungmin understood.

He was going to learn magic.

Sungmin never had any relationship with magic. If he wanted to, he might have learned a few of the weakest spells, but to a mercenary like him, martial arts were always better.