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EPISODE 138 – LONG LIVE THE SUN (2)
Jude opened his eyes.
His mind was blank at first.
He felt like he slept soundly without even dreaming.
“Ah.”
Jude said in a daze as he blinked his eyes.
The things he could see in his blurry vision gradually became clearer.
The Temple of Life.
And Jude realized something.
‘I’m hungry.’
He was extremely and seriously hungry.
Once he realized that he was really hungry, he couldn’t think of anything else.
He felt like his stomach- no, all the cells in his body were demanding for nutrition.
‘I’m hungry.’
I’m seriously hungry.
I think I can eat anything in front of me.
But it was at that moment.
“Jude?”
Jude came to his senses when he heard the pleasant-sounding voice and then turned his head. He saw Cordelia’s red and flowing long hair and her fair-skinned face looking down at him.
“Cordelia?”
Cordelia brightly smiled when Jude barely squeezed out his voice, but she soon became teary-eyed.
“Does it hurt? Are you okay? Landius-nim!”
Cordelia loudly cried and tried to turn around, but she couldn’t.
Because Jude had reflexively grabbed Cordelia’s wrist.
“Ouch! Jude?”
His strength was crushing.
Cordelia screamed again when she tried to get up but fell on her butt. Because she felt like her wrist held by Jude would be broken.
“It hurts! It hurts!”
“Huh?”
Jude automatically released his grip when Cordelia screamed in pain.
There was a hand-shaped red mark on Cordelia’s wrist even though he had held it briefly.
“Hey! Are you crazy?!”
Cordelia rebuked him, but it was only for a moment. Because she noticed that Jude didn’t look normal.
‘His eyes are sunken!’
It wasn’t just his eyes. The metamorphosis had made his already fair complexion better, but he looked really tired and exhausted.
Why?
What happened?
“Because he grew up.”
Cordelia flinched and then turned around when she suddenly heard the voice behind her.
Landius passed by Cordelia and stood in front of Jude. He then sat down and said.
“Girl, what about the one I asked you to prepare earlier?”
“It’s ready. I’ll bring it.”
Cordelia quickly got up and ran while Jude’s gaze naturally followed Cordelia’s back.
Landius unwittingly smiled at Jude’s look.
‘He’s probably not sane because of hunger…or is this the power of love?’
It was both a misunderstanding and not, but anyway, the pleased Landius opened his mouth again.
“Disciple. First of all, do you recognize me?”
“Ma…master?”
“Yes, it’s me.”
Jude’s gaze that was chasing after Cordelia’s back then turned to Landius.
Landius spoke in a loud voice so that Cordelia could hear it too.
“You’re in a state of incredible hunger now. It’s because you’ve grown as I said earlier.”
“I…grew up?”
“Yes. You grew taller, so you also got bigger. The metamorphosis itself consumed an enormous amount of energy… so it was natural for your body to scream for food now that you had grown up to that height.”
“Ah! So that was it!”
That exclamation was from Cordelia.
She ran back and sat next to Landius while holding a large container that had an unknown murky gray liquid inside.
“Sit up. And drink this.”
Jude slowly raised his body at Landius’ order and took the container from Cordelia with an inquiring look.
“Drink…this?”
“Yes, it will fill you up with the nutrition that you’re lacking at once.”
As Landius grinned and Cordelia awkwardly smiled, Jude looked inside the container again.
A gray liquid.
The unidentified drink seemed to be made by grinding several miscellaneous ingredients.
‘Is this like a…protein drink?’
Something one drank when they workout.
“Hurry up and drink it. Quick.”
At Landius’ urging, Jude turned to Cordelia again who somehow avoided his gaze.
‘What…what’s in it?’
‘Cordelia doesn’t know anything.’
Jude felt anxious again, but it was Landius’ order and he was also very hungry.
He gave them the benefit of the doubt and began to drink the contents of the container big enough that he had to hold it with both hands.
Glug.
Glug.
Glug.
Cordelia unconsciously gulped as she watched Jude in nervousness, while Landius happily smiled.
“How is it, can you feel yourself being filled with nutrients?”
Jude continued to drink instead of answering.
And he gulped it again.
After he finally emptied the contents, Jude gasped as soon as he lowered the container.
“Ugh.”
He somehow made a contradictory expression of pain and joy.
“Are you okay?”
Cordelia asked in a small voice, and Jude forced himself to smile.
It seriously tasted terrible, but he was so hungry that he couldn’t stop drinking.
Moreover, he felt crazy at the fact that he was still hungry to the point that he wanted to drink more of that.
“The medicinal effects are kicking in. Girl, bring some more.”
“Eh…yes.”
When Cordelia scampered to someplace again, Landius gave an explanation.
“It’s a special drink that I consume when I exercise. I taught the girl on how to make it, so make sure to drink it from time to time.”
“Umm…yes…”
I have to drink more of that?
At the time when Jude broke into a cold sweat again…
“Here.”
Cordelia handed him a second container, and Jude gulped and swallowed the gray liquid again.
“Kuuggh…”
Jude cleanly emptied the container again and he breathed out as if he could finally live.
He felt like he had drank nearly 4 liters in total.
“Excessive loss of one’s life force can lead to muscle loss. So now that you’ve been nourished, don’t forget to train before going to bed.”
At Landius’ words, Cordelia shifted her gaze while Jude remained silent and avoided answering, but Landius did not let it go.
He looked at Jude with a steady gaze so Jude eventually had no choice but to answer that he would do so.
“Anyway, congratulations on your metamorphosis, my disciple.”
Jude looked at himself upon hearing Landius.
Metamorphosis.
The act of literally replacing one’s bones and changing one’s skin.
A reconstruction of the body.
‘It’s real.’
His body changed.
It was not an exaggeration to say that he had become a completely different person.
He was sitting down, but he could tell that he had grown taller. His body, which had been in a bit of a mess because of the sudden growth and increase of his muscles, was now completely balanced. His muscles had also become shapelier and was functionally reconstructed.
“Your appearance is not the only thing that has changed.”
Jude agreed with him.
The circulation of his Qi energy was corrected.
His meridians that had been obstructed by his Gueumjulmaek were already beyond the level of being cleared as his entire body felt completely new.
It was faster.
It was smoother.
He could now easily circulate the energy of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, but Jude was surprised once again.
‘Middle dantian.’
The second dantian was located in his solar plexus.
The energy of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors had always been stored in his lower dantian until now, but he had newly created a middle dantian.
If one compared it to cars, one could say that he now had two engines.
“You seem to have felt the change yourself.”
Landius happily laughed and turned to Cordelia who was nodding her head with a red face.
‘Oh my gosh. Please cover yourself!’
Jude’s lower body was covered with a blanket, but he was still naked above his waist.
His immaculately clear and milky white skin was reminiscent of a Greek statue, but his muscles weren’t that excessive.
And…
‘Oh my gosh!’
Cordelia quickly shook her head and raised her head to see Jude’s face, but her mind had already begun to recall the past.
Right after Jude completed his metamorphosis.
She was so happy that Jude was back that she didn’t have time to be embarrassed about something.
‘Euaaaah! This lewd demon! Get out! Disappear!’
Cordelia had not actually seen it properly. So it was all just her delusion.
As Cordelia struggled with her own thoughts, Jude raised his head to face Landius.
“Thank you very much, master.”
“No, you are my disciple. It’s natural for a master to take care of his disciple. And if you are grateful, thank the girl more than me. If it wasn’t for the girl, you wouldn’t have regained consciousness no matter what I did.”
Landius chuckled and slapped Cordelia’s back with his palm, and Cordelia involuntarily screamed and lifted her head.
“Cordelia.”
“Y-yes, Jude.”
It was really sudden, so she was a bit embarrassed to face Jude.
But this time, she wasn’t embarrassed because she remembered something like Jude’s naked body.
‘It feels like he became an adult.’
In the process of his metamorphosis, Jude’s height grew, and his height was now in the early 180s.
But it wasn’t just his height that grew as his build itself felt more manly. His shoulders broadened too.
‘His face too.’
She had a troubled expression because he had become an adult. She felt like he could no longer be called a boy as it seemed like she might unconsciously call him ‘oppa’ now.
“Cordelia?”
“Yes? Uh. Yes. Ahem, ahem.”
Cordelia calmed herself by clearing her throat as she haughtily spoke to hide her embarrassment.
“Anyway, like your master said. You should be thankful to me. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Madam. I understand.”
As Jude responded like usual, Cordelia widely smiled without realizing it.
She felt a little uncomfortable because of his changed appearance, but one way or another, she could ascertain that he was Jude.
“The two of you look cute and sweet when you’re flirting.”
Jude bitterly laughed at Landius’ words. Because he suddenly remembered Violent Avalanche.
The bear cub grumbled about that often. Jude wondered if he was doing well now.
“Anyway, disciple. I want to ask you one thing. How many doors have you opened? Second door? No, wait. Since you also had a metamorphosis…”
“Uh…”
“Don’t worry about it and speak.”
“Fifth door.”
“Huh?”
“It’s…the fifth door.”
“Huh?”
“Five doors.”
Even though Jude replied three times, Landius blinked and had an expression as if he didn’t hear it properly.
He had no choice but to.
“Fifth door?”
“Yes.”
“The fifth door, seriously?”
“Yes.”
“One, two, three, four, five…five doors?”
“Yes, five doors.”
Landius had a stunned face again at Jude’s answer, and Cordelia was a little surprised at seeing Landius like that for the first time, but she soon smiled and proudly shrugged her shoulders.
‘Fufufu, because he is my Jude, okay?’
He’s different from other people, really different.
While Cordelia raised her chin and snorted, Landius opened and closed his mouth several times.
Fifth door.
The real fifth door.
Five doors.
Landius finally accepted it as he looked up the sky and suddenly burst into laughter.
“Hahahahahahaha! F*ck.”
Did they hear it wrong or was his last word really a curse?
Jude and Cordelia flinched when Landius laughed and swore again.
“What a nasty world.”
“Ma-master?”
“No, I mean…for a moment, I thought about the nastiness of Cheonmujiche for a moment. How long has it been since you’ve learned Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors? Well, it’s a good thing. Of course. It’s a great blessing that my disciple achieved things faster.”
It was like he was talking to himself.
But it was natural for Landius to act like that.
He underwent hardships when he opened the doors.
Even though he was called a genius everywhere, it took him 6 years to open the fifth door. He also had to undergo an intense and life-threatening training before that.
‘As expected of Cheonmujiche. It’s a cheat, a cheat.’
‘But isn’t this the result of adding other things?’
‘It is. You had a lot of good opportunities, so it’s fine to be criticized.’
It wasn’t just because of Cheonmujiche that Jude was able to open the door very quickly.
It became possible because of his rapid level ups from their fierce fighting in the wild lands, and also because of the various potions given to him by Count Chase.
“Huu, good. Anyway, fifth door. Congratulations, my disciple.”
“Thank you, master.”
“Yes, five doors…hoho, hohoho. I can’t help but change my plan.”
“Your…plan?”
“Yes, I had made a training plan.”
The reason why he left after only teaching Jude the mnemonic chant of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors was because he thought that it would be a great achievement if Jude could open the second door by their next meeting.
But Jude opened up to the fifth door, so he had to revise his plan.
“First of all, I think I’ll need to thoroughly examine on how you opened up to the fifth door. And how it differed from my situation.”
Landius didn’t have Cheonmujiche. So his process of opening the doors and its effects would also be inevitably different from that of Jude.
“And…we also have to review the things you got after opening the fifth door.”
“Are you talking about…abilities?”
“Yes, I’m definitely talking about the abilities.”
Landius had talked about it when he first taught him the Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors.
From the fifth door onwards, he would be able to acquire mysterious abilities one by one.
‘Somehow, I think I know what it is.’
Nobody taught it to him, but he seemed to know how to use it like a bird who instinctively knew how to flap its wings and fly.
Jude looked at Cordelia, and Cordelia stared at Jude.
‘Why?’
Jude’s dark green eyes then glimmered.
“Oh! It’s working!”
Jude said, and Landius turned to Cordelia who blinked her eyes a few times before she understood what was happening.
She then punched Jude in the face.
***
“I mean, I didn’t see it properly…”
“It’s despicable that you even tried.”
“No, I didn’t really do it on purpose…”
“So you did the right thing? You didn’t do anything wrong?”
“I was wrong. Huhu.”
Jude was on his knees and pretended to cry, but Cordelia was still looking coldly at him.
When the fifth door opened, Jude got the ability to see through things.
In subcultures like novels and comics, the ability to see through one’s clothes was a truly convenient ability, but the reality was different.
‘To be exact…it seemed like her body looked a little transparent.’
He felt like he could grasp the position of the muscles, bones, and organs.
Jude could already calculate his opponent’s movements to some extent through their fighting skills, but with this new ability, it seemed possible to grasp the opponent’s movements more closely.
‘It seems like I can see their weaknesses.’
It was a very useful ability one way or another.
Moreover, it wasn’t just that.
“Hohoho, my disciple. You’re still inexperienced, but it will be fine when you’re a little more skilled.”
“Eh? Really?”
Jude’s eyes sparkled and Landius smiled like a man, but Cordelia glared at them coldly.
“Ahem, ahem, ahem.”
“Ehem, ehem.”
Jude and Landius both cleared their throats, and Landius brought up a different topic to calm the current situation.
“Now then, my disciple, I guess you really opened the fifth door since you can now use that ability. I’ve said it before, but congratulations again.”
“Thank you, master.”
“That’s right, the girl helped you a lot, so be grateful to her too.”
“Yes, master. You are right.”
Jude earnestly nodded and turned to Cordelia as he said with a serious face.
“Thank you very much, Cordelia. I’m grateful to you for everything.”
“Ah, yes. I understand.”
“No, I mean it. Thank you very much for being with me.”
“Well, at least you know. Hmph. You finally understand.”
Cordelia hmphed and turned her head to the side, but she seemed to be happy given that the corners of her mouth were slightly raised.
‘Her anger seems to have been a bit appeased.’
Jude sighed in relief afterwards and asked Landius again.
“But master, how did you come here?”
Landius’ appearance was very much welcomed, but it was quite sudden at the same time.
Landius answered with a smile at Jude’s question.
“Because I met Lena. I didn’t know that you were qualified enough to open five doors… but I was in a hurry to meet you because I heard from her that you had become very strong.”
“Wa! You met her? Is Lena-nim doing fine?”
Cordelia’s face brightened when she heard about Lena, and Landius nodded his head.
“Yes, she’s still beautiful.”
“Hehehe.”
My Lena is pretty, right?
As Cordelia brightly laughed, Landius also laughed loudly before he continued to speak.
“Lena went south to meet Kamael. I went north to meet you two. I found your exact location with this.”
Landius took out a small hand mirror from his waist, and Jude and Cordelia immediately understood it.
“Is this something Lena-nim gave you?”
“Yes, Lena said that she gave the girl a gift, and that gift had Lena’s mana. So I could track your location with this exclusive mana tracker.”
Cordelia nodded with satisfaction again at Landius’ explanation.
Because while Lena had attached a tracker on her in a way, Lena didn’t have any bad intentions in the first place, and they were also able to get help from Landius thanks to it.
“Then master, are you coming with us?”
Cordelia raised her head upon hearing Jude’s question as she looked at Landius too.
If Landius went with them to the royal capital, they wouldn’t have to worry about the Minister of Defense.
Unfortunately, Landius’ answer was a negative.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t. I have to go south to help Kamael and Lena.”
Landius had only gone north for a while to see Jude’s condition, so he had to immediately return to the south afterwards.
‘What are they doing in the south?’
At Cordelia’s gaze, Jude fell into deep thought. Because this specific information did not appear in the game.
‘Is it possible that Landius died in the south?’
Jude shook his head at Cordelia’s next question.
Landius died while he was alone. It wouldn’t happen if he was with Kamael.
‘Moreover, Lena is here now.’
Lena’s survival and her joining him with his work.
Perhaps this alone would have changed Landius’ future.
“My disciple, and girl. Why are you suddenly silent?”
“I-it’s nothing. I apologize.”
“Yes, me too.”
Jude and Cordelia awkwardly smiled and gave an evasive answer. Landius then spoke with a kind look.
“Don’t be so sad. I’ll teach you a lot of things before I leave.”
“What kind of things?”
Landius chuckled again when it was Cordelia who showed more interest rather than Jude.
“First is a way to develop steel-like muscles that can stop bladed objects.”
Cordelia’s expression turned odd at Landius’ words.
Although it was a really good ability, she didn’t like the thought of Jude having a body like Landius.
“There are a lot of other things…but there is one most important thing.”
Having said so far, Landius suddenly took a deep breath and straightened his posture. He looked straight at Jude and continued.
“Jude Bayer, my disciple.”
“Yes, master.”
“You have opened the fifth door of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors. Your body has become strong, so you will no longer suffer from the immense cold you were born with. So I believe it’s time for you to learn my own martial arts.”
Jude nervously gulped at Landius’ words.
His own martial arts.
It was as Landius said.
Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors was a creation of a transcendent being and not Landius’ own martial arts that he had developed in his life.
“I heard it from Kamael. The fact that you’ve been reborn with a Yin-Yang Body. So even if you were born with extreme Yin energy, you’ll be able to use it.”
Cordelia’s eyes widely opened.
Because she understood what Landius was talking about.
Sun Warrior Landius.
The true reason why he was the continent’s strongest warrior.
“The power of the sun will be with you.”
The Sun God’s Ultimate.
A golden aura rose like a flame from Landius’ entire body.