"I really do feel sorry for the boy," Sai sighed as he prepared the training ground for Commander Morgan's use.
Morgan adjusted the sleeve of his blue suit, a wooden sword in hand, and said,
"Well, he doesn't seem very promising."
Sai looked at him. "Then why did you agree to train him? You could have just ignored him."
Morgan smiled. "There are three reasons. First, Elena somehow liked him. The second reason is that he's the grandson of Adrian. Despite my deep hatred for him, I still owe him a lot."
"And the third and most important reason is that Park believes the boy might be a remnant of the Yoshta."
Sai wondered, "Yoshta?"
Morgan grinned. "Don't you know who the Yoshta are?"
"No," Sai replied.
Morgan laughed. "I don't know either."
Sai sighed. "With all due respect, Commander Morgan, if you don't know about them, why mention it as the most important reason?"
Morgan gave him a serious look for a moment before laughing. "Park told me it's important, so I'll leave it at that."
Sai looked up at the sky and muttered to himself, "Why do I still follow him? I should resign soon."
A few minutes later, Jin arrived at the training ground and saw Sai and Morgan already there.
"Why are you late?" Morgan asked.
"Well, I got a little lost. I'm still not used to the place."
Morgan scratched his chin and asked, "Aha, ok. Anyway, is there any weapon you are particularly good with?"
Jin answered, "I don't think there's a specific weapon I'm skilled with, but I used to chop wood daily with a rusty sword."
Morgan mocked him, "Who the hell chops wood with a rusty sword?"
Jin nodded and looked at him with a sigh. "That was my grandfather's idea."
Morgan laughed. "Well, that doesn't sound unusual for that man."
Morgan then picked up a wooden sword and tossed it to Jin. "Take this sword and come at me."
Jin lifted the sword and swung it a bit. "It's alright, not too heavy," he said as he approached Morgan.
Jin looked up at Morgan, as he was much taller than him, and for a second Jin felt like Morgan was a giant bear.
"Hmm, what do you want me to do?" Jin asked.
Morgan smiled. "You have to hit me with your sword at least once within the next hour."
"Just once? That seems easy."
Morgan grinned. "We'll see about that. But if you fail to hit me, you'll have to do a 1000 push ups a day."
Jin stared at him in disbelief. "A 1000 push ups?! Hell no, I can't do that!"
Morgan laughed. "Weren't you confident you could hit me? If you can't hit me, then start your push ups now and don't waste my time."
Annoyed, Jin raised his wooden sword. "Alright, I'll show you."
Jin swung at Morgan, but he easily parried the attack.
Jin stepped to the left and aimed a slash at his leg, but missed again.
Determined, Jin kept swinging, desperate to land a hit, but Morgan remained untouchable.
"What the hell are you doing? Do you think you can hit like this?" Morgan mocked Jin.
Jin, breathing heavily, muttered, "Damn it, why can't I hit him?"
Regaining his composure, Jin tried to trick Morgan.
Jin stepped forward, pretending to strike upward, then crouched and aimed for his abdomen.
Still, Morgan blocked it effortlessly.
Morgan sighed, "You're useless."
For the first time, Morgan moved toward Jin, swinging his sword, although it looked slow, the strike was powerful.
Jin couldn't dodge, so he tried to block with his wooden sword instead.
But it was so powerful that Jin was thrown back, crashing into the wall of the training ground.
"Argh!" Jin groaned, coughing up a bit of blood as he glared at him.
"What? Already giving up?" Morgan asked.
Jin struggled to stand, spitting blood from his mouth. "No, I'm not!"
Morgan smiled. "Alright then, show me what you'll do next."
Jin thought about his next move.
"Should I attack from the left, then try to strike from behind? No… that won't work. Maybe I should pretend to surrender and then strike? What am I thinking? He's not that stupid… so… what should I do?" Jin muttered, growing frustrated.
After a moment, a good idea came to Jin.
Jin secretly grabbed some sand from the ground and pretended to struggle to stand up.
Then Jin rushed toward Morgan, pretending to swing his sword, but at the same moment, he threw the sand straight into his face.
The sand hit Morgan's eyes. "This is my chance," Jin thought, charging at him.
Jin aimed his sword fiercely at Morgan's abdomen, but...
Morgan smirked wickedly, easily dodging the attack and moving behind Jin.
He landed a powerful kick to Jin's butt, sending Jin's head crashing into the ground.
"Good attempt, but only fools fall for it," Morgan laughed, wiping the dirt from his face.
Jin scratched his butt, groaning in pain. "Fuck."
Jin kept trying, but no matter what he did, he couldn't land a hit on him.
Morgan put away his wooden sword and said, "Alright, time's up. You'll start push ups tomorrow, so go back to your room and get some rest."
With that, Morgan walked away, leaving Jin behind.
Jin struggled to his feet, swaying a little as he stood.
"Damn it… how many times has that bastard kicked me?"
-----------------------------
Despite the embarrassment of his first day of training, Jin couldn't help but be impressed by Morgan's reactions. With a sigh, Jin made his way back to his room.
Jin sat on the bed, every muscle in his body aching. "Ugh, I'm tired."
Jin lay his head on the pillow and stared at the ceiling, thinking about his training with Morgan and trying to figure out their fight. Soon, he got sleepy and fell asleep.
In his sleep, and after a while Jin found himself in a huge, empty white space.
Jin looked around "Where am I? Am I dreaming?"
Jin kept looking around, then suddenly a voice echoed in his head. "We are the Will of Amon. Are you ready to answer?"
Jin's expression changed to one of intense fear as he remembered what had happened that night. He recalled hearing these exact words before.
Jin stayed tense, looking around, trying to find where the voice was coming from.
"Who are you? Show yourself!"
The voice responded again, "We are the Will of Amon. Are you ready to answer?"
"Huh? Tell me, who are you!?"
The voice repeated once more, "We are the Will of Amon. Are you ready to answer?"
Jin cursed under his breath and then realized that he should answer first.
"Should I say no? Wait, if I refuse, will it kill me?"
Jin hesitated, unsure how to respond, still remembering the pain he had felt before.
But after a moment of thought, Jin made up his mind and said, "Yes, I am ready to answer."
At that moment, Jin felt the same pain again. His vision blurred, and the ground beneath him shook violently.
"Ugh, did I answer wrong? Am I going to die?"
Jin fell to the ground, screaming in pain as his body shattered.
Jin felt every bone in his body shatter, one after another. Despite the unbearable pain, he didn't lose consciousness.
With each bone that broke, it felt as if it were being replaced somehow; the intense pain lasted almost two minutes.
Just when Jin thought he was truly going to die, everything suddenly stopped and the world around him changed completely.
The vast white space transformed into a massive graveyard filled with the branches of black trees.
Jin looked around in horror, breathing heavily. "What the fuck is going on!!!"
Jin wanted to cry. Everything happening to him was terrifying—the pain he felt, the place he was in… he just didn't know what was happening anymore.
Suddenly, a loud ringing echoed in Jin's mind!
"Your answer has been received."
Although Jin was still scared and confused, a sudden realization hit him.
Jin remembered his grandfather's words when he told him to destroy the sword by saying, "I am here, O Immortal Spirit."
At that moment, a flood of knowledge rushed into Jin's mind, and he began to realize that he had gained the power of an ancient, transcendent spirit.
Then, a piece of paper appeared before him, written in red like blood, glowing strangely in front of him.
"Do you want to see the statistics? [Yes / No]"
Jin didn't know what this paper meant or how it just appeared, but he knew he had to answer.
"Yes."
The text on the paper disappeared, replaced by new writing.
─────────────────────────
[ Statistics ]
Title: ???
Rank: Dormant
Artifacts: 0/1
Weapons: 0/1
Summons: 0/1
Kills: 0 / 500
Ancient Souls: 0/ ???
─────────────────────────
Jin didn't understand what these things were, so he asked, "Can you explain to me what this is?"
The writing on the paper changed, replacing itself with an answer: "It is your statistics."
Jin took a deep breath and looked around. "It seems this thing is harmless."
He then asked again, "What does the rank 'Dormant' mean?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "It is your awakening rank."
"Awakening? Wait, am I awakened already?!"
Jin felt happy and shocked at the same time, so he asked again quickly, "What are the ancient souls?"
The writing on the paper changed, answering him with hidden symbols: "??????"
"Why is it hidden?"
Then he asked, "What is the title?"
What was written on the paper was hidden, same as before, so Jin scratched his head.
Then he asked, "Who are you?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "A will of Amon."
Jin quickly asked, "Who is Amon?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "You do not have the right to know at this time."
"Are you human?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "No."
"What are you then?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "A will of Amon."
Jin sighed and then said, "You want something from me, right? So what is it?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "Obtain the legacy of Amon."
Jin asked, "How do I do that?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "Obtain the legacy of Amon."
Jin realized this thing couldn't answer all his questions, so he said, "Okay, how do I get out of here?"
The writing on the paper changed to answer him: "You must know your abilities."
"What are the abilities?"
The writing on the paper changed again, and it wrote:
─────────────────────────
[ Abilities ]
Sharp Feelings: You can feel the intent to kill directed at you.
Sharp Sense: You can sense the danger around you.
Sovereign Eyes: You can see the corruption. Death Grip: Your strength increases with each kill.
Bloodlust: Your weapon's power grows as it drains blood.
Child of Amon: Your power relies on blood.
[You can't break these Rules]
The forbidden Sin: The commandment of Amon is a secret that no one else should know.
Punishment = Death.
Symphony of war: You are fated to fight, you can't run from a fight .
Punishment = One of your abilities will be randomly locked for two weeks.
Holder of the Will: You are fated to be sensed by all after using your powers. The holder of the Will must face them with pride.
Punishment: One of your summons or weapons will be destroyed ─────────────────────────
Jin scratched his chin thinking about those rules, then he asked, "How can I use my abilities?"
The paper answered him, "Your abilities are natural innate, you can summon them anytime, just by thinking about them."
"What are the limits of my abilities?"
The paper replied, "No limits..."
Jin smiled, then asked, "How can I get out of here now?"
The paper replied: "Do you want to leave the tomb of Amon? [Yes / No]"
"Tomb... that explains the graveyards around me."
Jin looked around a little then he answered "Yes."
Suddenly, the paper burst into flames. Mist filled the space, and everything vanished. The next moment, Jin found himself awake in his bed.
Rubbing his eyes, Jin said, "Was that a dream?"
Jin stared at the ceiling, thinking about the dream, then said excitedly, "No… I don't think that was a dream."
Jin smiled and sat up. "I can feel it was real… I should test that very soon."