The technique Park Tae-sik used as his final move.
‘Unrivaled.’ It was a kind of ultimate move. That’s why it was such a powerful technique.
‘I can do this.’
But to Sungshik, it was nothing more than another obstacle to overcome.
‘Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts, Second Form. Law-Breaking Style.’
The second form of Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts, the Law-Breaking Style. A technique focused on dismantling all laws. Especially exceptional in breaking through skills, magic, and sorcery.
Pak.
The trajectory of Sungshik’s sword was artistic. As he advanced, he effortlessly cleaved through all the spear energy rushing towards him. Like a salmon swimming upstream against a fierce current, Sungshik pushed forward, defying the storm of energy surging toward him. It was an artistic movement, like a painting come to life.
“!”
Just as he was about to break through the raging storm of energy, Park Tae-sik’s face came into view. His expression was filled with shock and bewilderment. He had never imagined that ‘Unrivaled’ would be broken through so easily and quickly.
Siiik—
Seeing Park Tae-sik’s face, a genuine smile spread across Sungshik’s lips. That expression was both an admission of defeat and an acknowledgment of Sungshik’s victory.
‘Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts, Fourth Form. Dragon-Slaying Strike.’
A technique designed to slay dragons.
From the tip of Sungshik’s sword, five arcs of sword energy extended, taking the shape of the talons of Garuda, the divine bird that devours dragons. The attack tore through the remnants of ‘Unrivaled’s’ energy storm and reached Park Tae-sik.
“Guhk.”
Having exhausted all his strength in ‘Unrivaled,’ Park Tae-sik had no energy left to defend himself. He coughed up a mouthful of blood and collapsed, showing no signs of getting back up.
Everyone watching the outcome was frozen in shock.
“Beep— Match over. Winner, Heo Sungshik!”
Only when the referee blew the whistle did everyone finally grasp what had happened. The greatest upset, something no one had expected, had just taken place.
“Uwaaaah!!”
“This is insane— Heo Sungshik!”
“Ah… This can’t be real.”
“Is this actually happening? Heo……”
The reactions were polarizing. Many showered Sungshik with praise for writing this thrilling reversal drama.
However, for those who had been captivated by Park Tae-sik’s overwhelming strength and considered themselves his fans, this was a shocking and unbelievable defeat.
[This is insane. Wow.] [Does this even make sense?] [Wow… Park Tae-sik actually lost? I can’t believe it.] └ Me neither… I still can’t believe it; Park Tae-sik losing?
[Huge upset. Looooool.] └ Of course, even in this moment, there are gambling addicts. -_-
[Ohusik! I always believed in you!! The champion was always going to be Heo Sungshik!!] └ Lmaooo, this guy switches sides faster than a spinning top. LOL
└ Seriously ㅋㅋㅋㅋㅋ The ‘Ohusik’ you were yelling at first wasn’t this ‘Ohusik.’ ㅋㅋㅋㅋ
Even among the audience watching the broadcast and the online communities, the reactions were the same. Usually, when a 1v1 tournament final ended, people would talk about the match for a while. But this time, because everyone had assumed Park Tae-sik would win, the unexpected result made it even more explosive. The reactions were as hot as an erupting volcano!
It was only natural. Sungshik hadn’t been particularly well-known, nor had he shown any spectacular performances leading up to the finals.
He was just seen as someone who had advanced purely through luck—luck, and more luck. So, no one had expected anything from him.
Some had even analyzed his odds, concluding that even if his luck was at its peak, his chance of winning was only 0.3%. Yet, Sungshik had defied that 99.7% probability of defeat. That was why his victory set the discussions ablaze.
“To celebrate Sungshik’s victory!”
“Cheers~ Congrats, Sungshik!”
“You were really amazing—.”
“Thanks, everyone.”
A victory party had been organized after the win. Choi Moonguk and Kim Subin had somewhat expected this outcome, so they congratulated Sungshik with an expression that said, ‘We knew this would happen.’
“Honestly, honestly, I thought maybe—just maybe—Sungshik could win, but wow, this is nuts. But seriously, what’s your rank now? Huh? Weren’t you just a 1-star a little while ago? Does this even make sense? I still can’t believe you actually won. Just… wow~”
Sung Jihwan spoke like a machine gun, his words pouring out non-stop. He was the only one who didn’t fully understand Sungshik’s abilities. That’s why he was the most shocked and was practically bouncing with excitement.
“Huh? What’s going on? Why are you two so calm? Wait, was I the only one who didn’t know?”
Still flustered, Jihwan turned to Choi Moonguk and Kim Subin, who were looking at him as if he were amusing.
“Hahaha—”
“Jihwan, you were the only one who didn’t know~”
“Wait, seriously?! I was the only one?!”
Jihwan turned sharply toward Sungshik, as if demanding an explanation. His eyes practically shot lasers.
“Is it really that important to you?”
Sungshik chuckled at Jihwan’s reaction and decided to answer him.
“Of course, it is!”
“My rank is 4-star now. I don’t know when these two figured it out. That’s it.”
Sungshik kept his response short and direct.
“Wait, you’re seriously 4-star now? How… What the—”
Jihwan looked at Sungshik as if he couldn’t believe it.
And honestly, it was understandable. Not long ago, he had only been a 1-star.
“Well, I just kept at it, and it went up. If you work hard, you’ll rank up quickly too.”
“Oh… Yeah. Haha… So, just doing it makes you rank up, huh? Hahaha.”
Sungshik’s subtle teasing left Jihwan with a blank expression, unable to respond properly.
“By the way, Sungshik, are you planning to apply for early graduation?”
Kim Subin suddenly brought up an unexpected topic. Sungshik looked at her, surprised that she knew.
“Hmm, I was considering it, but how did you know?”
“You asked me about the early graduation rules before.”
“Ah, right.”
Indeed, Sungshik had asked Kim Subin about early graduation regulations before. She had given him such a thorough explanation that he hadn’t needed to look it up himself.
‘Hmm, now that I think about it…’
A memory from before his regression surfaced.
“Subin, you’re planning to graduate early too, aren’t you?”
“Oh my gosh, how did you know?”
Kim Subin’s eyes widened in surprise. She looked adorable.
“I just know things.”
“Hehe, you got me. Yeah, I’m applying for early graduation too~”
She smiled, seemingly pleased by Sungshik’s attention.
“You’ve been getting a lot of scouting offers from clans, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, yeah! But seriously, how do you know all this? Don’t tell me… you’re interested in me…?”
This time, Kim Subin looked at him with a truly surprised expression
Then, she soon started grinning and teasingly spoke to Sungshik.
“Ah, I just happened to find out because I got some offers too.”
Sungshik chuckled in response.
“Aha, after winning, you must have gotten tons of offers from clans too, right?”
“Yeah. I got quite a lot—so much that it was a bit overwhelming. What about you, Subin? Are you thinking of joining a clan?”
Before her regression, Kim Subin had joined the ‘Shining Clan,’ one of Korea’s top 10 clans, which allowed her to graduate early. She later found out that ‘Shining Clan’ was actually the Korean branch of ‘Noah’s Ark.’
“Yeah, yeah. I already have a clan in mind. What about you, Sungshik? Are you planning to join one?”
Kim Subin waited for Sungshik’s answer with eyes filled with subtle anticipation.
“Hmm… I haven’t decided yet, but I plan to act alone for now.”
“Oh, you’re going solo?”
Kim Subin responded with a slightly disappointed tone.
“Yeah. I think it’s better to go solo for the time being.”
“Alright, alright. But if you ever think about joining a guild later, promise me you’ll tell me first, okay?”
Kim Subin looked up at him with bright, sparkling eyes, looking so adorable that Sungshik chuckled again before answering coolly.
“Sure. We’ll see~”
After winning the 1 VS 1 tournament, Sungshik became an overnight star within the academy. On top of that, countless clan scouts who had been watching the tournament bombarded him with love calls, making this the period in his entire life—before and after his regression—when he received the most attention.
“Whew, getting this much attention is surprisingly exhausting.”
Sungshik sighed as he finally managed to shake off yet another persistent clan scout. He muttered to himself with a drained expression, “But… it doesn’t feel bad.”
“Hmm, but what’s going on with ‘Heaven-Splitter’?”
With eyes filled with slight concern and curiosity, Sungshik looked down at the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword.
[Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword]
Grade: Mythic
Description: The divine sword of the Heaven-Splitting Sect. A legendary sword that was said to have once split the sky. It is an indestructible sword imbued with mythical energy (cannot be broken).
Attack Power: B (Scales with the mastery of Heaven-Splitting Divine Art)
Options: +10% increase in Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts power (scales) / +10% Strength & Magic (scales) / Ego / Great Opening (Sealed) / ? / ? / ? / ?
* The effects of the options scale with the mastery of Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts. As the mastery increases, hidden options will be unlocked.
* Currently, the ego (Heaven-Splitter) is asleep for an unknown reason.
The spirit of the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword, ‘Heaven-Splitter,’ had awakened during the battle with Park Tae-sik. As someone encountering an ego sword for the first time, Sungshik had been intrigued and filled with curiosity, but before he could learn more, it had gone back to sleep.
‘It’s not like it’s Santa or something… I didn’t expect it to just give me a skill and disappear.’
That’s right. The suddenly awakened ego, the sword spirit ‘Heaven-Splitter,’ had gifted Sungshik an outstanding skill—‘[SSS Rank] Future Sight’—before vanishing immediately. That sword spirit was truly a generous Santa(?).
“Well, thanks to it, I did win.”
According to the description of the Heaven-Splitting Divine Sword, the sword spirit ‘Heaven-Splitter’ hadn’t completely disappeared but was merely sealed away again for now. And based on Sungshik’s own speculation—
‘It seems like it exhausted a significant amount of power when the skill Great Opening was absorbed into me.’
Back during the battle, he had received a system notification: The skill ‘Great Opening’ was being transformed into ‘Future Sight’ through ‘Consumption.’ He had never imagined that ‘Consumption’ could consume skills as well, leaving him baffled even now.
After the tournament finals, he had experimented to see if he could absorb skills again, but ‘Consumption’ refused to activate.
“Hmm, was it because of this?”
Sungshik took out a golden key from his inventory.
[Key of the Heavens]
Grade: ?
Type: ?
A mysterious key where everything except the name is marked as ‘?.’ This item had been given to him by Yoon Gardes when they first met, stating that it belonged to Sungshik.
“I have no idea what’s going on.”
After the tournament, Sungshik had contacted Yoon Gardes and casually asked about the key, but he also knew nothing about it. After examining the golden key for a moment, Sungshik clicked his tongue and put it back in his inventory.
‘Still, I’ve grown quite a bit again… Not bad.’
Through his duel with Park Tae-sik, Sungshik had used ‘Future Sight’ and achieved significant growth.
“Status window.”
Name: Heo Sungshik
Titles: Hero of Adversity, One Who Has Touched the Threshold of Transcendence
Rank: 4-Star+ (★★★★☆) (↑)
Combat Power: B (↑)
Stats:
Strength: C+
Agility: C+
Stamina: C+
Magic: B-
Traits:
1. [EX Rank] Consumption – LV 4
2. [EX Rank] One More Time (Unavailable)
3. [EX Rank] Heaven-Splitting Divine Art – LV 3 (↑)
4. [SS Rank] Pocket Watch – LV 3
5. [S Rank] Hyper-Sense – LV 4 (↑)
6. [S Rank] Sword Sovereign – LV 4
Skills:
1. [S Rank] Insight (Restricted)
2. [S Rank] Explosive Strike
3. [No Rank] Translation Skill
4. [A Rank] Heaven-Splitting Martial Arts
5. [A Rank] Heaven-Splitting Eyes (↑)
6. [SSS Rank] Future Sight – New
The most noticeable change was his rank increase. He had gone from 4-Star to 4-Star+. Once someone reached 4-Star, the ‘wall’ blocking the next rank became distinct, and now even the status window displayed it. This meant he had fully surpassed 4-Star and was right on the doorstep of 5-Star.
‘It won’t be long now.’
Many people struggle when they hit a wall, but for Sungshik, the 4-Star wall was almost nonexistent. It wasn’t even an obstacle. If he trained just a little more or gained a bit more experience, he could step into 5-Star immediately.
Moreover, through ‘Future Sight,’ he had temporarily entered the realm of 5-Star during his fight against Park Tae-sik. Even in that brief moment, thanks to the effects of ‘Pocket Watch,’ he had achieved tremendous growth.
The results? The upgrades of ‘Heaven-Splitting Divine Art,’ ‘Hyper-Sense,’ and ‘Heaven-Splitter Eye.’ If he told anyone about his rapid growth, they would find it impossible to believe.
‘It’s all thanks to the godly Pocket Watch.’
The more he experienced it, the more amazed he was by the power of the Pocket Watch! If Sungshik ever reached an unprecedented level in the future, it would be largely due to the Pocket Watch. On top of that, the ‘Future Sight’ skill he had gained was completely unexpected.
Sungshik immediately checked the details of ‘Future Sight.’