There’s a Monster Inside Me Chapter 21

There’s a Monster Inside Me

Chapter 21

Recently, I’ve been frequenting the library.

This was because there was a technique I needed to master.

In my past life, my terrible skills changed dramatically when I met the food spirit demon.

What strengthened while I was with it was my attack abilities. Instantly identifying an enemy’s weakness and attacking in one breath became almost instinctive.

In contrast, my healing techniques and barrier techniques remained at a pitiful level.

Even when I was injured, I never received proper treatment. I just gathered spiritual energy in my dantian and meditated for natural healing.

In this life, I was determined to at least learn how to take care of myself.

Above all, I focused on spatial techniques, specifically barrier techniques. I wanted more than just methods to divide and confine.

I was searching for a way to conceal my identity while freely controlling the food spirit demon.

Despite searching for quite some time, I couldn’t find what I wanted.

I finally decided to seek help from a sorcerer versed in barrier techniques.

“Professor, is it possible for me to move right in front of someone without them recognizing me?”

Professor Gangchan gave me a surprised look.

“If you diligently follow spatial training, you’ll learn barrier techniques. By creating a secret space to confine yourself, others won’t be able to see you.”

Professor Gangchan’s answer referred to ordinary barrier veils.

“Is there a way to not divide and confine space, but still move and travel freely without being recognized by others?”

“You mean being in the same space, right before their eyes, yet making yourself invisible?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Hmm…”

After contemplating briefly, Professor Gangchan thoroughly searched his office and found a book.

“Here it is, the Invisibility Technique!”

“Invisibility Technique?”

It was my first time hearing this.

“It’s named so because you’re invisible even right in front of someone, but it only appears in records. I’ve never seen anyone actually perform this technique. I’m not sure if it’s even possible.”

“I see. Could I possibly borrow the book?”

Professor Gangchan willingly lent me the book. I was honestly surprised. Lending such a valuable book so easily.

The professor’s eyes gleamed strangely as he handed over the book. It was like someone with delicious food right in front of them.

“Maru, if you want, I could arrange a position for you as a disciple. Your effort and attitude are admirable!”

“Thank you. I’ll work harder.”

“No, I mean, a direct disciple position in barrier techniques…”

I quickly bowed my head and left while Professor Gangchan was still muttering. My mind was already filled with the Invisibility Technique, and nothing else could enter.

In my past life, I desperately tried to hide the monster’s existence, but eventually I had no choice but to flee from the Thousand-Year School.

I was branded as a monster sorcerer who controlled food spirit demons, and just for that, I was blamed for burning down the Thousand-Year School.

At that time, I had no way to handle the hungry food spirit demon. I recklessly suppressed its appetite and even lost my consciousness to it for a while.

I was so busy controlling it that I couldn’t even think about hiding myself.

Now I desperately needed a way to feed the food spirit demon and hide myself. For that, I had to master the Invisibility Technique.

Time flew by while I was focusing.

I was learning the technique, staying up almost every night. If an owl hadn’t hooted outside the window, I wouldn’t have known how late it was.

I almost missed the date and time written on the challenge letter.

Fortunately, Gurumi was asleep.

I jumped out the window and ran to the meeting place, far from the White Crane Castle.

In the wasteland full of stones, someone was standing in the distance.

‘Huh, just one person?’

I was a little, no, very surprised.

To compete one-on-one so fairly?

In my past life, Gurumi was mobbed by a group of seniors!

“You! How dare a freshman be so late?”

“I’m sorry, senior.”

“I’ll have to fix your mental state!”

The senior, who identified himself as Daseulgwi, threw a stone at me. He infused spiritual energy into his fingertips and threw the stone.

THUMP.

His best shot was immediately sucked into my hand.

‘What should I do?’

I caught the stone thrown by Daseulgwi and felt perplexed. I never expected such a weak senior to show up alone!

“You! How dare you block my attack, not bad!”

Not bad? Such a slow attack would be difficult to even get hit by.

“Take this! Take! This too! Take it!”

Multiple stones flew with time intervals.

THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! THUMP!

And every one of them ended up in my hand.

The spiritual energy was only concentrated at Daseulgwi’s fingertips, not infused into the thrown stones.

So it was just throwing stones a bit harder, with no actual power behind them.

If a monster were in front of him, this would only provoke it without causing any damage, a reckless attack.

What should I do about this?

“You! You bastard!”

An agitated Daseulgwi threw stones randomly. Now they didn’t even contain spiritual energy.

I could understand why he chose this rocky wasteland as the fighting ground.

With stones everywhere, he probably planned to throw them until the end.

He might have thought he secured an advantageous position, but his lacking skills couldn’t even touch a hair on my body.

TAK, TAK, PANG!

I stopped catching the stones.

I kicked each one away like hacky sacks, and sent the final one precisely toward Daseulgwi’s temple.

“ARGH!”

With a short scream, the night sky became quiet.

“Spatial Formation!”

I divided a transparent square space around Daseulgwi, ten feet on each side. Then I twisted it.

“Spatial Transformation!”

I twisted it once, then bent my wrist to twist it two, three more times. I connected the twisted ends of the space to create an impossible space.

If Daseulgwi wasn’t well-versed in spatial techniques and barrier arts, it would be difficult for him to escape.

THUD!

I sat down and opened the book I’d been reading.

Thanks to the bright full moon, reading wasn’t difficult.

“Ha, this is tough.”

I tried applying the invisibility technique to my fingers, but it wasn’t easy.

Well, if it were easy, would even professors who’ve studied barrier techniques their whole lives say they’ve never seen it?

In the past, I would have given up immediately, but I’ve changed. ‘Impossible’ is merely the excuse of those who’ve given up.

“Then should I try this first?”

I opened the ‘Transformation Technique’ that appeared before the invisibility technique.

If the invisibility technique makes one completely invisible, the transformation technique makes one visible but appear different.

I placed one of the scattered stones in my palm and focused on it.

I carefully created space around the entire ordinary gray stone and compressed it intensely.

“Wow!”

The round stone stretched out. I made it like a tree branch, then crumpled it like paper.

This time, I meticulously applied space to my hand. It took quite some time, but I eventually succeeded.

I stretched it out.

“Oh!”

My short fingers became long and pointed. Comparing my hands, they looked like they belonged to completely different people.

“This is pretty good!”

Although I started with the goal of learning the invisibility technique, using this method could also help conceal my identity.

If I divide and twist space densely over my face… others wouldn’t recognize who I am, right?

…I was so absorbed in learning that I forgot something.

“Ugh, you!”

The fact that Daseulgwi had awakened.

He threw a stone at me from across the space.

THWACK!

The twisted space carried the stone he threw to behind him.

“Gah! What? I wasn’t alone?”

Daseulgwi didn’t understand why the stone he threw at me flew to the back of his head.

This time, he carefully adjusted his distance, improved his accuracy, and threw with all his might, increasing his spiritual energy.

THWACK!

Again, the stone flew to the back of Daseulgwi’s head. But it seems he put too much power into it.

Daseulgwi, hit by his own stone throw, passed out again.

So, as I lost track of time in deep concentration, Daseulgwi lay unconscious beside me, knocked out by his own attacks.

***

Geombau was dumbfounded by Daseulgwi’s appearance.

“What happened to you?”

The strong smell of medicine came from the guy with bandages on his head.

“Ah, yes… I was dealing with that Bada Maru guy.”

“How did you deal with him to end up like this?”

“If I’m in this state, imagine what he must look like!”

Geombau looked at him with a sinister smile.

“How is he?”

“I think I hit him about twenty times with spirit-infused stones.”

“Really? You went easy on him?”

“Yes, he was so pathetic that I feared he might die if I continued…”

“Well done.”

Geombau slapped Daseulgwi’s back hard.

“UGH!”

Daseulgwi gritted his teeth. His injured head was throbbing unbearably.

Geombau walked down the corridor, laughing loudly as Daseulgwi staggered.

Now there was no need to pay attention to that Bada or whatever his name was. He wasn’t even that impressive.

Geombau hummed as he walked. He touched the thick iron club at his waist.

Geombau planned to go to a distant forest away from students’ eyes today. He wanted to kill animals indiscriminately.

The source of Geombau’s power was binding souls at the moment of terrible, painful death, turning dead animals into slaves.

An unbelievable sight appeared before Geombau as he stepped forward in high spirits.

New students in yellow clothing were walking toward the training grounds. A boy among them caught his eye.

He saw a boy with his black hair tied up, swinging as he walked. Princess Eun-deok’s face was full of smiles as she held the boy’s arm.

Seeing the boy’s smooth face and black eyes, Geombau was dumbfounded.

“Daseulgwi, you son of a bitch!”

Geombau immediately turned back from his hunting grounds. Anger was evident in his striding footsteps.

***

Daseulgwi lay half-dead under the feet of the raging Geombau.

No one could stop Geombau as he beat Daseulgwi mercilessly without explanation as soon as he returned. No matter how much Daseulgwi begged for forgiveness, it was useless.

“You, and you… now it’s your turn! Turn that impudent newcomer into a bloody pulp!”

At the end of the beating, he pointed to mid-to-high level practitioners Utam and Gilbo.

“Making us deal with such a small fry.”

“How embarrassing!”

Stupid Daseulgwi fellow is making them waste their precious skills, so Utam and Gilbo are getting angry too.

From behind, they were sighing deeply, but neither of them could open their mouths in front of the seething Geombau.

***

A few days later, the second challenge letter arrived. Far from being nervous or afraid, I merely thought..

“So be it.”

My spiritual power was constantly growing through meditation and training, and I had accumulated countless practical experiences from my past life when death was imminent.

For someone like me, facing a student lacking experience wasn’t difficult at all.

No matter how great or powerful the opponent’s innate spiritual power might be, I was confident I wouldn’t lose at the very least.

As a result, the problem I faced wasn’t the challenge letter but mastering magical techniques.

I completely immersed myself in the Illusion Transformation Technique.

At first, my goal was the Invisibility Technique that completely conceals one’s appearance, but it seemed the Transformation Technique would be more than adequate to hide my identity.

I didn’t stop at simply changing shapes with the Transformation Technique.

While creating space, twisting it, and moving, I encountered bizarre results I never expected. As I repeated transformation upon transformation, various methods of transformation came to mind.

I was delighted whenever different results emerged.

‘Was studying always this enjoyable?’

With the joy of learning, I devoted myself day and night.

Even Princess Eun-deok, who had been annoying, never interfered while I was giving my all.

“HUNGRY, I’M HUNGRY!”

One night, the food spirit demon stirred.

Right, I thought it had been suspiciously quiet for a long time. This creature absolutely cannot stand hunger!

Starving it was never a good idea. I needed to let it feast appropriately to prevent it from causing trouble.

I decided to go hunting monsters after a long time.

While the Thousand Year School fundamentally restricted the entry of monsters and demons, there was a place specifically designed to gather monsters.

That place was the ‘Monster Forest,’ created for students’ practical training.

The Monster Forest was located far from the White Crane Castle for safety.

It was a place you could reach only after crossing steep mountains and swamps, but of course, I knew the way well.

I slipped out of the dormitory, crossed the herb garden, and went over another mountain. There, I met unexpected figures.

“Disrespectful bastard! You’re this late!”

“You must be crazy wanting to die!”

Only after seeing Utam and Gilbo trembling with rage did I realize that today was the date written on the challenge letter.

“OH NO!”

How could I have forgotten so completely?!

“I was trying not to draw my sword if possible, but I have no choice now! I’ll teach you a lesson just short of killing you!”

“If I accidentally kill you, it can’t be helped. Senior Geombau said he’d take responsibility for the aftermath.”

They both seemed thoroughly angry, having waited for quite some time.

‘What should I do?’

With these two approaching from both sides, and the food spirit demon causing havoc in my stomach… it was a truly troublesome situation.

“How about I cut off that horse-tail hair of yours first?”

Utam charged forward, kicking off the ground.

Judging by the bluish energy coating the sword he was wielding, his skills were certainly not shallow.

“HA!”

For a freshman who had only completed basic Martial arts training to come at me with not just a real sword but energy-coated attacks, I felt more indignant than impressed.

In my past life, they must have attacked Gurumi like this too!

These villains!

Recalling Gurumi returning covered in blood, my anger boiled over.