Trait Hoarder

Teaching – Part 2

Still, wasn’t cutting the neck a bit much?

I stabbed her in the chest instead.

Just before piercing her heart, the Black Tiger Sword bounced back from an intense recoil.

I could’ve forced it through, but I let it go.

I withdrew the blade and watched Baek Sorin.

“Guh…!”

Baek Sorin coughed up blood.

I could see the [Nine Lives] mana circuit flashing.

Everyone looked at me, pale-faced.

“How could he…”

“That’s too much.”

“Ugh, I’m never becoming Sword Star’s disciple.”

Baek Sorin rose to her feet, coughing.

Her dragon armor was in ruins.

But her wounds had fully healed.

“Teacher. You’re really going hard today.”

Heavenly Killing Star was Heavenly Killing Star, even on the brink of death.

The killing intent in her eyes showed I’d hit the mark.

“I have to go hard if you want to level up.”

“Hmph. I’m not the same Sorin I used to be. If you’re serious, I’ll go all in too!”

“Of course. Come at me with everything you’ve got. I’ll even praise you if you manage to scratch my suit.”

“Hmph!”

Baek Sorin launched herself forward.

Her Sword Qi rose in a heavy wave.

Mars Swordsmanship, Heavenly Killing Star, and Swordsmanship Expert—three traits radiated with dazzling brilliance.

The synergy between the three was so intense, it made my skin prickle.

But I didn’t rush.

Level 8 versus Level 6.

The gap was greater than the distance between heaven and earth.

Add to that the traits I had equipped, and the difference was insurmountable.

[Master of the Sword] [Master of the Sword]

A double stack of [Master of the Sword]!

With that alone, I could see Baek Sorin’s entire sword path at a glance.

Where she aimed, how much power she used, how she’d strike—I read it all.

Tap.

I thrust my sword.

Slowly.

Like an old man lazily extending a cane.

But it struck a vital point.

“Huh? Huh?”

The proud charge of Masamune faltered.

Baek Sorin’s grip wavered, and her chest opened wide.

Again, tap.

I flicked the sword.

Baek Sorin practically threw herself onto the Black Tiger Sword.

“Gyaaaah!”

No [Nine Lives] triggered.

The blade pierced her heart.

I immediately sheathed the Black Tiger Sword.

At the same time, I deployed an elixir injector.

Injected it into Baek Sorin on the spot.

The elixir worked instantly, regenerating her shattered heart and restoring her blood loss.

‘This is broken.’

Just equipping [Master of the Sword] made me unrivaled in swordsmanship.

But with a double stack?

It wasn’t 1+1=2. It was exponential—2 squared.

The power was overwhelming.

And yet, I felt strangely unsatisfied.

I had the sense this wasn’t the end.

That I could go further.

That sensation tickled the back of my neck.

‘Maybe…’

The [World] trait, still in its sprout stage.

If it evolved further—if it went beyond replication—what could it do?

Maybe even [Fusion].

The River Goddess said so too.

The [World] trait was a power of fusion, harmony, totality.

If I fused [Master of the Sword] with another [Master of the Sword], what would it become?

My instincts told me…

Right.

It would become [Sword God].

Another way to put it—Grand Swordmaster.

“Yaaah!”

While I was lost in thought, Baek Sorin charged again.

That won’t work—not now.

Even if I wasn’t a Grand Swordmaster yet, I was easily a High Swordmaster.

I deflected her blade with ease.

Heavenly Killing Star flared wildly, and she forcefully retrieved her sword—but mine had already plunged into her chest.

“Gah!”

“Urgh!”

“Whoa!”

The same scene repeated several times.

Baek Sorin attacked like a mad dog, and I pierced her heart again and again.

The others looked increasingly disturbed, but I didn’t ease up.

And it worked.

The Heavenly Killing Star mana circuit, which had only been glowing earlier, finally began generating mana.

“Uhh…”

Baek Sorin’s eyes glazed over.

She’d completely lost consciousness.

Blue veins rose ominously across her face.

Her mana churned and surged—something clearly unnatural.

“Goddess, could you protect my disciple?”

[Very well.]

A blue watery barrier enveloped Baek Sorin.

Kali blinked out and reappeared behind me.

“Teacher! Did it work?”

“Yeah. If we leave her like this, she’ll wake up tomorrow.”

“So it really worked? I thought you were just trying to scare her straight!”

“Why would I scare you guys? You’re all doing great.”

Janet and Seo Woojin came over to check on Baek Sorin too.

Worried looks on their faces.

I clapped my hands sharply.

The mana burst at close range made everyone jump and turn to me.

“All right. Your turn now.”

The three of them hesitated and backed away slightly.

“Uh… Teacher. Can we go later instead?”

“I agree with Janet! We should at least wait until Sorin hits Level 7!”

“Um, Teacher… do we need to do real combat training like she did?”

I chuckled.

“Sorin had to do Heavenly Killing Star-specific training. You three don’t have that trait, so you don’t need to go that far.”

“Whew! Thank goodness.”

“I thought I was going to die…”

“So what kind of training will we be doing? Honestly, all three of us are right at the end of Level 6, and I think what we need isn’t training, but something else.”

“As expected of someone from a prestigious family. You’re right, Woojin. What you three need is Nectar.”

Nectar.

Their eyes sparkled.

Truthfully, the three of them had been ready for Level 7 for a while.

With just a sip of Nectar, they could level up.

But I hadn’t given the green light until now for a reason.

I brought the three of them down to the private room.

The transparent magic cauldron I used to make my reformulated elixirs.

I needed it now.

Chak chak chak.

I added the ingredients, including Nectar and various other elixir materials.

Now, whose should I make first?

Seo Woojin would be best.

His custom elixir was much easier to make than Janet’s or Kali’s.

“Teacher. Aren’t you going to add a mana core?”

Seo Woojin asked as he watched me preparing the elixir.

It was common knowledge in this world.

Any elixir, no matter the type, used a mana core as its main ingredient.

Just like the reformulated elixir or trait elixirs I’d consumed before.

But I had another method.

“I’ll use this.”

I raised my hand as I spoke.

In my palm—

A brilliant, jewel-like mass of mana was shining.

Seo Woojin looked at me with his mouth agape.

“Teacher. That’s…”

“Try and digest it properly.”

I dropped it into the magic cauldron.

Whooooosh.

The cauldron roared to life.

The transparent liquid quickly dissolved the mana mass.

Because it wasn’t a hardened mana core, but a pure bundle of mana, the transformation was fast.

In less than five minutes, an elixir that looked like the Milky Way was complete.

The goddess, extracting the liquid, made a remark.

[You’ve done something curious. Even I didn’t expect you to use it like this.]

“Hoarding only leads to waste.”

[Still, don’t overdo it. Even with elixirs, there’s always a limit.]

“Yes, I’ll keep that in mind.”

While the elixir brewed, I took Elixir, Nectar, and Ambrosia in sequence.

Even then, I still felt slightly hollow.

Meaning I hadn’t recovered completely.

At most, I’d be able to do this five or six more times.

I counted on my fingers and nodded.

‘It lines up perfectly.’

Chiiiiik!

The completed elixir was sealed in a crystal bottle and emerged.

When I handed it over, Seo Woojin shivered.

“Teacher. This is…”

“You know what it is?”

“I’ve… experienced something like it. Our family’s secret training ground contains the memory of a Swordmaster ancestor.”

So that’s how he recognized it.

I gestured for him to drink.

“Drink it now. You need to absorb and digest it as thoroughly as possible. You understand what I mean, right?”

“Of course. Thank you. I never imagined you’d pass it down like this.”

“Don’t spill a drop. Make sure you refine every last bit.”

“Yes! I’ll drink it in my private room—”

“No need. I’ll set a barrier here. If anything goes wrong, I’ll intervene right away.”

“Thank you!”

Seo Woojin drank the elixir on one side of the private room.

I activated the inner barrier.

Kali glanced over, then turned to me with a question.

“Teacher. What is that, exactly?”

“Master of the Sword.”

“Eh?”

“I passed one of my psychic powers on to him.”

“T-Then what about you, Teacher?”

“Me? Haha. I copied it. Didn’t give mine away. No need to worry about me.”

That’s right.

The trait I passed on to Seo Woojin was [Master of the Sword].

Up until now, he only had [Swordsmanship Expert].

Once he digests this properly, he should end up looking something like this:

[First Sword] [Master of the Sword] [One-Man Army]

[Mana Soul] [Body Reinforcement] [Deceptive Shift]

Looks like he learned [Body Reinforcement] somewhere while I wasn’t looking.

Similar to Baek Sorin, but also different.

[ Mars Swordsmanship ] [ Heavenly Killing Star ] [ Master of the Sword ]

[ Rampaging Train ] [ Indomitable ] [ Nine Lives ]

Heavenly Killing Star is absolutely overpowered.

Once she hit Level 7, it affected her [Swordsmanship Expert], and that evolved naturally into [Master of the Sword].

Even if I hadn’t transplanted the trait myself.

Janet and Kali both gave me eager, expectant looks.

“Teacher! What about us?”

“Can we become Swordmasters too?”

“That’s going to be tough. You’ve both already filled all six mana circuits.”

“Ah…”

“That’s unfortunate.”

“I’ll give you something else instead.”

Janet and Kali’s traits were as follows:

[Nephilim Sword] [Innate Qi] [Mana Soul]

[Vajra Body] [Shield Mastery] [Lion’s Roar]

[Kalaratri] [Blood of the Goddess] [Blood Dance]

[Shadow Step] [Time Manipulation] [Clone]

The two were already complete.

There was nothing to add or remove.

So instead of a simple trait transplant like with Seo Woojin, I intended to try something else.

“Kali. Let’s start with you.”

“Yes!”

Kali clenched her fists.

I immediately began preparing the elixir.

I equipped [World], along with [Crafting] and [Potion Making], and activated the magic cauldron.

The goddess would handle most of the work, but with my traits acting as the main ingredient, this would help stabilize the result.

Janet peered curiously into the cauldron.

“Teacher. What are you giving Kali?”

“Kalaratri.”

“Huh?”

“Whaaat?”

“Kali, you know this too, right? Your Kalaratri and mine are different.”

“Of course. I know all too well—I’ve been hit with yours a few times.”

Kali’s Kalaratri had armor-piercing and critical damage amplification effects.

Mine had invincible movement and burst damage potential.

The two were similar—but fundamentally different.

What would happen if I combined the two?

Even I wasn’t sure.

This was an experiment of sorts.

If it worked—great. If not, I’d intervene and heal her immediately.

Kali licked her lips at the explanation.

“If it works, it’ll be insane.”

“Could be. Who knows what’ll happen. If you don’t like the risk, I’ll make you a different elixir—no Kalaratri involved.”

“What would you give me instead?”

“To be honest, I don’t have anything else to offer. I’d just whip up a generic enhancement elixir.”

An enhancement elixir—just lightly refined Nectar, with no traits or restructured abilities.

Kali pouted.

“Then I’ll take the Kalaratri!”

“Good. I doubt you’ll get the invincible movement part, but the burst damage should be there.”

I dropped the prepared traits into the magic cauldron.

In less than five minutes, the elixir was complete.

Kali took it over to one side of the private room and drank.

Pure mana surged down her throat and struck her heart directly.

Especially striking was the small mana circuit, condensed like a seed, resembling a lightning blade.

“Teacher… will she be okay?”

“She’ll be fine.”

I silently watched Kali.

Seo Woojin would succeed without issue, but I was slightly concerned about Kali.

You could call this same-type trait enhancement.

It was my first time attempting it.

‘I should’ve tried it myself first.’

But with the [World] trait in its current state, I couldn’t fully fuse identical traits.

Maybe if they were similar but not the same, it might work.

Rumble!

Lightning flashed.

A bolt of thunder ignited in Kali’s heart.

Could it be a failure?

The thought had barely crossed my mind when her original Kalaratri mana circuit writhed violently.

Like a white blood cell attacking a pathogen, it surrounded the new Kalaratri.

The smaller Kalaratri resisted, but it was useless.

It was quickly broken down and shredded—becoming nourishment for the original Kalaratri.

‘Good.’

Just as I’d hoped.

The lightning, invincibility, and movement effects were gone, but the burst damage remained.

Kali had already been capable of devastating attacks using her clones.

Now she wouldn’t even need them.

If just one attack landed, it would hit like twelve simultaneous strikes from her clones.

‘This is insane.’

Armor penetration, critical multiplier amplification, and burst damage?

She was the ultimate assassin now.

“Uh… that was a success, right?”

Janet looked confused.

I responded while placing traits and materials into the magic cauldron.

“Kali succeeded. You’re the last.”

“What will you give me?”

“I thought hard about it. There were a lot of options for you.”

At first, I considered [Celestial Wall].

A combination of [Shield Mastery], [Fortress], and quadruple layered defense.

The problem was the mana cost.

Even with [Mana Soul], using [Innate Qi], [Nephilim Sword], and [Celestial Wall] all together would’ve been too much for Janet.

“So here’s the final decision: [Undying].”

“[Undying]? I know what that is. But I don’t have any more space in my mana circuits. Do I have to erase something? I heard that’s painful…”

“We’ll fuse it.”

“Huh?”

“We’re going to combine it—with [Vajra Body].”

A combination that didn’t even exist in games.

I was relying purely on the [World] trait to make this gamble.

Of course, I had a reason to believe it would work.

My Level 8 Eye of Fate confirmed it.

I could see it—[Undying], held in my hand, and Janet’s [Vajra Body] embedded in her body, connected by fate lines.

Even when I equipped [Vajra Body] and [Undying] myself, or placed [World] between the two traits, the fate lines didn’t appear.

‘What’s different about her?’

Even when I deliberately equipped [Vajra Body], no fate line appeared.

Meaning if I drank the [Undying] seed elixir, it would be pointless.

But for Janet, there was clearly a synergistic effect.

It would probably work once the [World] trait matured more.

Janet swallowed dryly.

“I’ll drink it.”

“Good. If it looks dangerous, I’ll step in—so don’t worry.”

“Yes. I trust you, Teacher.”

Janet stared at the crystal vial in her hand.

“Hhuup!”

She downed the elixir in one gulp.

I could see star-dust-like mana spreading through her.

The [Undying] trait was descending slowly.

Then it touched her [Vajra Body].

And bloomed.

Not just blooming like petals opening—it was as if the two traits melted into one another.

“Ah…”

Click. Her eyes unfocused.

Her body relaxed gently.

Crack, crack. The sound of bones breaking echoed as Janet’s body expelled black impurities like a shedding husk.

A full-body transformation.

What martial arts novels would call “rebirth through bone renewal.”

‘It worked.’

I grinned as I watched Janet.

[Vajra Body] and [Undying] were modifying each other, evolving into a completely new trait.

In terms of battle traits, [Master of the Sword].

In elemental traits, [Supreme Flame].

And for defense—it had to be something on par.

Probably something like [Invincible One].

Trait Transplantation. Same-type Enhancement. Cross-type Combination.

Trait Devouring. Same-type Evolution. Cross-type Fusion.

In this moment, I’d confirmed both the present and future of the [World] trait.

–TL Notes–

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