How would he take that? Sungmin stayed quiet and only stared at Wijihoyun. She looked with confidence and continued.
âI lived for 13 years and became famous. Isnât that good enough. Iâm not dying for another 13 years.â
âWe donât know.â
âNo, I wonât. I canât. Iâm not going to live my earned freedom for only 13 years. Iâm going to live a long, long time.
Wijihoyun said with a huge energy. Then she looked back at Sungmin.
âYou are like a boat with no destination travelling the big ocean. You move with no destination, following the wind. Is that traveling? Thatâs called drifting.â
It was hard to disagree. Sungmin knew that he didnât have a goal. No, if he was truthful, he was scared of making a goal. The 13 years had given him experience, but it had also given him limits.
Knowing the present and knowing the future limited him. He had no talent. He knew that. He was going to stay a second rate for 10 years.
âYou canât go anywhere because you are drifting aimlessly. So you need a goal. âMeââ
It made sense. Wijihoyun⊠was one of the strongest otherworlders. To the point where even if he practiced fr lifetime, he might not get anywhere.
That made Sungmin negative.
âEven if I made you my goal, it doesnât make me youâŠâ
âDid you try?â
Wijihoyun spit out.
âPlease donât say anything that you havenât triedâ
âNo, you donât say anything irresponsible. I canât do it. No. I have no talent. We have different starting lines. You have gotten so much aid because of your amazing genius talent. You were fed so many potions and you lived in a place where grace techniques were lain over the place. Isnât that why youâre here, Small Pegasus Wijihoyun.â
Sungminâs words had malice in them. No matter how much he tried to forget or not remember or not care, Wijihoyun was that person.
âBut Iâm not.â
It was also self knowing information.
âI didnât have anything. It was the same before. I was summoned with nothing, with no talent. That was how I was summoned, completely barehanded. You left this city in one month. I lived here for three years. I attacked rabbits and boars, risked my life for goblins, and moved in fear away from orcs. That was how I lived for three years. In the new city, I survived by hard labor in mercenary guilds.â
Wijihoyun didnât say anything. She listened to Sungminâs story.
âThat is me. I lived 13 years to be a second rate martial artist. A C rank mercenary. Then⊠I died. Iâm back. That meâŠâ
âYou are a second rate martial artist.â
Wijihoyun opened her open.
âIt took you 3 months to be a second rate  martial artist. You are true. I started as a genius and got a lot of aid. But what about you. You learned the Amethyst Cloud. You got 20 percent of me inner strength. You will learn spear techniques as well.â
Wijihoyun shook her hand.
âIs that not good enough? Then Iâll give you more. What do you want. Outside strenght? Or fist techniques? Anything else. If you want something, Iâll teach you.â
â...I don't want anything.â
Sungmin answered. A spear technique and Amethyst Cloud. That was enough. He didnât have confidence to learn any more.
âYou got opportunity as well. Letâs say talent is inevitable, because of your lack of goals, you arenât going to be working as hard⊠isnât it a waste to spend your second life like this.â
Wijihoyun picked up a cup beside her. She drank the milk inside of it.
âWell, maybe thatâs just my thinking. Useless interventions, I guess. Itâs your life, so thereâs no reason for me to make a goal. Sorry. I saidâŠâ
âShut up.â
Sungmin spit out. He made a fist. Everything that Wijihoyun had said stuck in his heart. When Sungmin cut her off, Wijihoyunâs eyes widened.
âAre you that mad? Iâll properly apologizeâŠâ
âYes, Iâm mad. To hear something like this from a 13 year old.â
His pride was hurt. That was true.
But he was truly hurt because,
âI will make you my goal.â
Sungmin stared at Wijihoyun. The reason why he was so mad was at him who couldnât refute anything. He agreed to her words but couldnât say anything because of his pride.
âI will make you my goal, and I will practice after you leave. And when we meet again, I will stab my spear in your heartâŠâ
âNo, you canât do that. Iâm gonna die then. How could you do that as friends?â
Wijihoyun immediately disagreed. Sungmin turned sour and changed his words.
â...Then...uh⊠I will⊠beat youâŠâ
âHmm. If itâs a fight, thatâs fine. Iâll be waiting.â
And then Wijihoyun understood and smiled happily. Sungmin stared at the smiling Wijihoyun for a second.
âCrazy.â
To have his heart beat slightly at a 13 year old girlâs smiling face. Wasn't this a bit dangerou? Sungmin turned to avoid looking at her.
Then, he stopped going to the forest. He had enough money because of the money from the request and the money from the hunter. He had some that he was saving as well.
âYou donât have the basics down. Itâs probably because you didnât have a master helping you.â
When Sungmin didnât go to the woods, Wijihoyun actively tried to help Sungmin. She helped him in the morning and fixed the High Heavens in the evening.
âThe blade may be called the best for all situations, but thatâs just nonsense from the blade users. Usual martial artists agrees. The spear is the best. Itâs hard to fight someone with a spear.
Whi! Wijihoyun swung the spear.
âSo itâs best to get the basics.â
Sungmin had to agree. It was true that he didnât have any basics. He didnât learn it from anyone and only learned it from the Chase Soul manual and practice.
âThere are 4 parts to a spear. The end of the spear is the head. Below the head is the spear string. The wood is the spear body. The opposite of the head is the spear spike.
Bvm! She swung the spear. The red string below the head was swimming with it.
âThe spear is a decoration and can be used to confuse the opponents.â
She kept swinging the spear. The red string swung around confusingly. The string was wavy compared to the actual spear. It did make the watcher look at the spear.
âIf you want to use the spear, you have to use all of it. Use the spike as you would use the head. Use the string to confuse the opponent. Change where you hold the body and keep the distance.â
Sungmin nodded blankly. She took the proper stance after swinging it a bit.
âThere are three basics to the stabbing. These are used in the famous spear techniques as basics. It could said to be the very basic. These can be used in anything. It is the ran, the na, and the zha.
The ran was an inner transmission while the na was a outer transmission. The ran bounced the attack outside while the na coiled the attack inside.
âThe important thing is to not only use two arms. It doesnât give enough strength.â
The zha was the stabbing.
âThe length of the spear give sit the power. Change the position on the body. If you only use the middle, the power isnât great enough.â
â...Hm.â
But the ran, na, zha is only the basics. Itâs only the stabbing part. There are many different attacks with the spear. Itâs also a club.â
She showed a few more actions and gave the spear to Sungmin and took a step back.
âTry it.â
â...What?â
âI showed you it. Try it.â
âIf I could do what you did perfectly in one try, would I be irritating you by saying i have no talent?â
âWhen did I say to do it perfectly?â
She grumbled.
âJust try it. You have to try it to know.â
Sungmin lifted the spear. Wijihoyun said at that moment.
âDonât use your inner strength.â
He didnât pull up his strength and did the basics of the spear techniques. Wijihoyun said as she looked on.
âAgain.â
And then.
Again, again, again. she continued to say that word, and he continued to swing the spear. He didn'tâ use his inner strength. Therefore, his body tired out easily, and he took heavy breaths.
âAgain.â
â...Until whenâŠ?â
âWhen you get used to it.â
âDo you think that happens with just a few timesâŠ!â
âSo do it again.â
She said with apathetic face.
âContinue that everyday, only that.â
AT that, Sungmin saw the devil in her. He swung the spear even with his shoulders shaking. He was so tired. He was only using his body strength to swing the spear. The spear wasnât light, and the basics werenât that easy either.
âDonât faint. If you think itâs too tiring, then take a rest. If you have energy left, then swing more.â
It felt like it was testing Sungminâs perseverance. If he could do it or not, it was up to him. When he swung it 10 times, he really felt like he was going to die. His breath was hard and his arms and legs...no, his whole body was dying. He wanted drink water and rest. He wanted to get wind in the shade.
He saw Wijihoyunâs face in the shade. To that, he bit his lower lip.
He could do more. He seemed like he was going to die, but if he tried his hardest, he felt like he could swing a few more times.