Chapter 6: Rewards

And so, at his words, the 5th Elder immediately snapped out of her anger and stopped playing the instrument, the Musical Energy Wave rapidly disipating in the air.

...

"I... pant... nearly... pant... fainted..." Cheon Mukeum, just like the other young masters and cadets, was completely exhausted. He had used all of his Qi to resist the 5th Elder's Musical Energy Wave! If it weren't for the Right Guardian stopping her from going further, he would have probably died because of it!

And what was even more frustrating for him was that there were even two guys that seemed to have withstood that perfectly! 'Who the fuck is that red-haired guy Cheon Wonryou has brought with her?! He seems to be even younger than me?'

'But more importantly, that fucking mutt... how is he still standing u-'

But his thoughts were immediately cut up by the same guy he was ranting about suddenly spitting a bunch of blood.

"Huh? What's happening to him now?" At such a sight, the cadets that remained, having seen him face the First Test without any apparent difficulty, couldn't help but wonder.

"Why is he coughing up so much blood?"

"Is he going to die?"

"Wait, isn't he the 7th young mast-"

"Hey, kid!" The Right Guardian suddenly appeared amongst them, beside the now near-death purple-headed guy, immediately startling every other cadet. He appeared in an instant! It looked like he had teleported! Just how fast was he?

"Are you all right?!" He took the guy in his arms. "You didn't have to act so tough! You could have just fainted if you had to!"

But he didn't even get an answer... the guy had already fainted.

'This guy...' The Right Guardian went so on to check his pulse to see if everything was alright, but upon doing so, he noticed that something was off, 'He has no Internal Qi!'

'What on earth?! How did he pass the First Test then? Did he endure all of that only trough his sheer will and determination? Just how determined is this kid to-'

"Left Guardian!" Two men behind him suddenly exclaimed, interrupting his thoughts. "Should we take him to the infirmary?"

"Yes... take him to the infirmary!" The Left Guardian confirmed their words and then handed the guy to them before instantly disappearing completely from everyone's sight, only an instant later for his figure to reappear on the main building's top. Seriously... just how fucking fast was he?

"Cheon Yeo Woon... pant... I'm enviying... you so much right now..." Lee Hyun muttered, seeing the unconscious purple-headed guy being brought by the two men on a stretcher. His body was a fucking mess too! From the outside, nobody would ever guess it because he was playing tough enough as to get that strange floating and only visible to him window to acknowledge him getting the first place!

Even if his mastery of the Sound Arts were that high, his Qi and physique were shit! There was no chance he would have been able to directly block every single sound of the 5th Elder's Musical Energy Wave, she's an elder of the Heavenly Demonic Divine Cult after all! Only a slight sound penetrated his Sound Art's defenses, and it sent vibrations throughout all over his body, injuring several of his Internal organs, not that much, but it still hurt like hell! 'How did I even pass the first test in my last life? Oh... right... I... buried my head under the square's ground... it was so fucking embarrassing... and what's worse was that the 5th Elder's Sound Qi reached me even down there to my ears a bit! and I was still close to fainting even if her Sound Qi was ten times less powerful underground! I didn't expect her Sound Qi to be so strong when faced directl-'

[Congratulations! The mission has been completed!]

[The reward will now be received!]

[Strength +10!]

'Finally, I can see what this plus ten strength mean-' Just as Lee Hyun had began, immediately a mysterious surge of power within his body shut him up.

Warm. It felt like all of his body was melting away, but for some reason it didn't hurt, it felt... relaxing.

Under his shirt, he was feeling his muscle... not getting bigger, but... somewhat stronger and more refined. And what surprised him even more was that the injuries the 5th Elder caused to his Internal organs were starting to heal.

And just when his Internal organs completely healed, this feeling stopped. 'Wow... this strange window is really amazing... my body got as strong as I was in my last life before the Second Test!'

[Congratulations! The Challenge has been completed!]

'Oh? So this thing acknowledged me getting the first place?'

[The reward will be now received!]

[The passive skill, Sound Arts, has been received!]

[You can check the skill's functioning by thinking about it.]

'Sound Arts!'

[Sound Arts lv. 1]

[The Sound Arts are the basic techniques that everyone related to the Sound Clan should know.

-10% Increase in Sound Qi's power.

-10% Increase in sound-related techniques' overall prowess.]

Lee Hyun's eyes shone of a light even brighter than the Sun's. That was freaking amazing! Ten percent increase in both the power of his Sound Qi and of his sound-related techniques that must have been surely a dream!

'With this, my power has already increased to another level! If this strange window keeps giving me missions and challenges, I'll definitely be able to beat that shit of Cheon Yeo Woon! But wait... why is this thing giving me tho-'

[Special Additional Reward!]

The strange, red, transparent window interrupted him once again.

[You have successfully completed your first Mission and Challenge! Special Additional Reward will be given. Please choose one of the following three:

-Black Dragon Pill (+20 years Qi)

-Golden Dragon Sword (All stats +50%)

-Third Eye (Active/Passive skill)]

'Huh? Another reward? Out of the blue like this? And one of the rewards is the Golden Dragon Sword? One of the Seven Holy Weapons of Murim?'

'There's even a Black Dragon Pill! With that I will receive for completing the First Test and this, I'll be well above the average academy cadet with Qi prowess!'

'Well, but it doesn't make much sense for me to use this... my body's constituiton is too fucked up for me to absorb all of its energy... one of the reasons why in my past life, my Qi was one of the weakest amongst the academy cadets...'

'And this skill called 'Third Eye'? What does it do? Does it grow another eye on me? That would be gross... And what does 'active' and 'passive' mean? Is active something I have to activate myself and 'passive' something that activates by itself?'

'Well, I'll delve into that later on, I have no intention of risking to lose one of the Seven Holy Weapons of Murim just because of a skill I don't know even the effect off!'

Lee Hyun had already made its decision from the first moment the window showed him the choices. "Golden Dragon Sword, here I come!'

...to be continued.

***

***

Like the new cover, guys? I made it with my hands (very proud of it).

Also, the Seven Holy Weapons are completely AU.

Remember to check my other works "Uniqueness Emperor" and "Martial Peak: The Star Emperor"