Nano Machine Chapter 24: Remember, This Is All Of Your Own Making (A)

As the dark sky brightened, a dark blue tint suffused the sky and a faint fog covered the Ma Fighting Academy arena's brisk morning air. In the corner of that arena was a dark figure who was air-traveling stealthily and with lightning-fast speed.

As always, he had jumped down the second floor of the academy's main building making his great escape in silence. Being a demigod level master, it was impossible for any training instructor or guard to catch sight of him once he was on the move. However, there were two individuals on the rooftop watching him from behind, aware of his every movement.

One had long, silky red hair while the other was wearing an ornate mask. They were none other than the Lord of the Underworld, otherwise known as West Grand Lord Yi Hwa Myeong and the Grand Master's personal guard, the Grand Lord of Lords Ma Ra Gyeom.

"There's the little rat, I mean, East Grand Lord."

"You did well keeping this to yourself."

"Of course. It wasn't just anyone who gave me the orders. I'm just relieved we won't have to see East Grand Lord crawling in and out of that little rat hole anymore."

They had already caught wind of the fact that East Grand Lord Seop Maeng was sneaking in and out of the academy main building every morning, although, by this point, they were overlooking what they already fully knew of.

"I guess we can deploy guards in the second floor of the building again, now that they've had their long breaks. Keke."

There was a reason the second floor in the main building had been unguarded lately. During Cheon Yeo Woon's two-week treatment in the dispensary, they withdrew all the guards on that floor, allowing Seop Maeng to gain free access to the room. Even with all the chattering and thumping that went on, no one could discover the secret meetings between Seop Maeng and Cheon Yeo Woon, because of this gracious liberty.

"Well, I better get going."

As the Grand Lord of Lords Ma Ra Gyeom turned away to leave, Yi Hwa Myeong asked a curious question. "May I ask what the reason is for giving such special privileges to the seventh gongja?"

Allowing East Grand Lord to train one cadet was against the rules of the academy which made the host, Yi Hwa Myeong, complicit of the crime since he turned a blind eye to it. If it weren't because it was the faction's sovereign, the Grand Master himself, who had given the orders, the gavel would have come down on Seop Maeng a long time ago.

At Yi Hwa Myeong's question, the Grand Lord of Lords Ma Ra Gyeom stopped in his tracks and answered in a quiet voice.

"Because that's fair."

"Hoo hoo hoo, so you're saying your adage 'there's not a finger on our hands we would bite that wouldn't hurt' applies to the Grand Master, too, right? Even if that finger was his pinky."

Yi Hwa Myeong shook his head in disapproval. "Don't question the will of the Great Sovereign."

With that final statement, the Grand Lord of Lords Ma Ra Gyeom's physical form faded and disappeared.

"Ack! If he wanted to run, I don't think there's a soul on earth who can catch him."

The Grand Lord of Lords Ma Ra Gyeom's air-traveling ability earned him the title 'God of Wind' as it rivaled that of Byeol Ho who the faction dubbed as 'Lightning Bolt'. After Ma Ra Gyeom left with the wind, Yi Hwa Myeong put on a serious face and mumbled to himself.

"Will things really get fair only after fourteen days?"

The other six candidates from the time of their birth reaped the benefits of ingesting medicinal herbs and other detoxifying supplements since infancy, not to mention years of top-level training. On that basis, it wouldn't make much of a difference for Cheon Yeo Woon, even if he was under the tutelage of East Grand Lord Seop Maeng.

Yi Hwa Myeong wondered if fourteen days would be enough for Cheon Yeo Woon to catch up to the rest of the Grand Prince candidates.

The day has passed and as always, the morning training was underway in the academy's arena. They crowded all the cadets in the auditorium as they lectured them in the art of fighting techniques and battle tactics while Cheon Yeo Woon lied on his dispensary bed.

"Hmm?"

There was someone in the dispensary staring at him with a look of uncertainty. It was none other than Doctor Baek Jong Myeong.

What threw him off this morning was that Cheon Yeo Woon who would be up and about by this time was still fast asleep.

-I guess it makes sense. It is the last day he'll probably ever sleep in peace around here.-

Baek Jong Myeong shook his head and sighed, pitying him. According to the training instructor, Im Pyeong, he was in the same group as the Grand Prince candidate of Buk Ma clan, Cheon Moo Geum. The doctor knew it was bad news. From the moment he discharged him, his life would become a living hell.

To cut the poor guy a break and allow him to sleep in for the day, Baek Jong Myeong went over to him, closed the curtain around his bed, then came back to his desk and sat down.

Meanwhile, there was a big renovation occurring in the body of this 'poor guy' whom the doctor presumed to be sleeping.

[User's muscular reconstruction is 80% complete. Tendon and ligament reconstruction is 75% complete. One hour remaining before full skeletal-muscular system modification via Jeopmoo Dobeop form simulation]

The 64,082,240,000 nanomachines inside Cheon Yeo Woon's body were all busy at work modifying his body to condition it for Jeopmoo Dobeop. It was taking a much longer time than when his body was being modified to co-opt Master Jang's fighting form. He had given consent for the process after Seop Maeng had left around dawn, but it was still in progress.

-What? Six hours? Why does it take so long?-

[It is an estimated time frame for your body's reconstruction based on the high-intensity, simulation analysis of the non-user Seop Maeng]

Cheon Yeo Woon was shocked at the time it took although, in reality, it shouldn't have come as a surprise. Master Jang's fighting form, Dangeom Bisool, is an exceptional martial art form and there is no doubt about it, however, it shy in comparison to the preeminence of Seop Maeng's Jeopmoo Dobeop.

Within the Ma faction, they recognized Seop Maeng's ancestral style, Jeopmoo Dobeop, as a fighting form transcending the ordinary.

To execute this transcendent martial art form, Seop Maeng would have had to undergo a level of training and perseverance more strenuous than Master Jang. Even with the nanomachine's technological advancements, it wasn't possible to restructure his body within a short period to match Seop Maeng's without causing adverse side effects. Therefore, the process took longer than Cheon Yeo Woon had hoped for.

About an hour had passed since…

[User's skeletal-muscular system restructuration is 100% complete]

By the time the anesthesia wore off on Cheon Yeo Woon's body he awakened. As soon as he got off the bed and his feet hit the floor, vomit spurted out of his mouth .in an uncontrollable rate

"Woo accckkkkkk!"

A violent convulsion occurred in him as he vomited on the dispensary floor. The long-term anesthesia and modification of his skeletal-muscular system caused an overload on his body. For him to co-opt the advanced tuning of the physical structure of Seop Maeng who conditioned his body for years and decades through harsh training, it was natural that his body had an adverse reaction.

"What, what's wrong?"

With no patients to treat, Baek Jong Myeong was nodding off by his desk as per usual when suddenly he heard Cheon Yeo Woon's loud upchuck and ran over to him. After helping the now crouching Cheon Yeo Woo barf on the floor by giving him a gentle pat on the back, the doctor pulled him back up and lay him down the bed.

Cheon Yoo Woon, who exhausted himself from the physical overload, fell asleep not from the anesthesia this time, but from true fatigue. Concerned for his health, Baek Jong Myeong placed his two fingers on his patient's wrist and did a pulse diagnosis. An alarmed expression filled his face as he did so.

-Hmm, this is strange. His pulse is racing as though he had just undergone some kind of extreme physical struggle.-

He couldn't believe his pulse speed was that of a sleeping person. While his suspicion grew, Nano was preparing to stabilize Cheon Yeo Woon's hypertensive state by activating the sedative mode.

[Activating gradual sedation of the user's body, which has destabilized because of the skeletal-muscular system restructuration]

The fast pulse which caused Baek Jong Myeong much alarm earlier returned to a normal speed as if nothing had happened. He couldn't believe the kid having a peaceful rest in front of him now was the same kid whose pulse speed was through the roof a second ago.

"Gosh, darn it. What the hell is going on?"

At the bizarre medical anomalies, Baek Jong Myeong felt like he was falling into an endless maze. After about an hour had passed near the end of lunchtime, Cheon Yeo Woon opened his eyes. A wonderful enigma filled him with a never before seen confidence. He sat up from the bed and clenched one of his fists.

Ggoo-woock.

He felt the clear increase in his body's level of strength. Just from that one clench of his fist, he could discern the amount of training it must've taken Seop Maeng to get to where he was now. If Seop Maeng found out Cheon Yeo Woon gained something that took him years of hard work to obtain, he would snap for sure.