Chapter 1152: Chapter 1152

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head in confusion.

“It’s difficult to complete? Really?”

Wiggins clamped his mouth shut and didn't say anything.

For a brief moment there, Wiggins felt his murderous urge flare up at the sight of Kang Jin-Ho frowning and tilting his head.

Of course, he knew his lord wasn't trying to insult him. No, that head gesture was a mere unconscious byproduct of Kang Jin-Ho genuinely not understanding why Wiggins had failed to master the Twofold Will Art.

A raging inferno erupted in Wiggins’ heart, but it cooled down almost immediately afterward when Kang Jin-Ho asked this question.

“It’s not that difficult, though? So, why?”

That was when a sense of deja vu brushed past Wiggins. This situation, why did it feel like he had experienced it many times in the past...?

“This is not that difficult, my dear disciple.”

“It’s not that difficult to figure out, though?”

“You want me to break it down even more? But how can I do that? Do you want an in-depth explanation on each and every word? In that case, shouldn’t you just read a dictionary?”

Wiggins squeezed his eyes shut.

Of course, he had never been subjected to someone saying such things to him. No, it was more like...

‘Yes, I’m the one who said all that!’

Wiggins was guilty of saying those lines whenever his juniors failed to understand his teachings or wanted to pick his brain on how he interpreted certain things.

Back then, Wiggins genuinely couldn't understand why people would ask him about these things. How he felt was similar to how anyone would feel after being asked about why one plus one equaled two.

Also, what if you explained that simple logic in the simplest terms you could think of and it still failed to get through?

You probably could only think of one thing to say. And that was...

“Why can’t you understand this?”

Unfortunately, Wiggins had always been the type to casually say that to other people's faces. Right now, he could vividly recall the expressions of everyone who had to hear that from him.

...And Wiggins’ current expression must resemble theirs.

Maybe that was why he could sympathize with how Kang Jin-Ho must be feeling right about now.

Kang Jin-Ho probably viewed Wiggins as a bloody useless monkey. Or an idiot who saw a sickle and couldn't see the letter C from its shape!

“My lord,” Wiggins squeezed some words out through his clenched teeth. “Everyone has things they are good and bad at. Yes, I’m sure it’s inconceivable to you that some people can be so hopelessly lost in something , but...!”

Just as he said that, a new realization suddenly dawned on Wiggins.

‘When you think about it, my lord is also a certifiable genius, isn’t he?’

In the Martial Assembly, the public perception leaned toward Wiggins and Lee Hyeon-Su being the brainy type while Vator and Chang Min being a bit lacking in the intelligence department but compensating for it with their excellent martial prowess.

However, objectively speaking? That perception was incorrect.

To reach the cultivation realms occupied by Vator and Chang Min, one must boast intelligence far surpassing that of most ordinary people.

This logic applied to pretty much every profession: those who could produce outstanding results fundamentally possessed high IQ.

What about the idea of comparatively duller people surpassing geniuses through diligent hard work? That wasn't as easy as it sounded.

The period when a genius could be called as one with nothing but talent would be when they were still youngsters. Once a genius grew up, their talent alone wouldn't be enough for them to stand above their peers anymore.

But, why was that, though? Because of the previous generations of geniuses that came before them, of course.

Once they came of age, those who relied on their talent to shine brightly must contend with the achievements of their forefathers. And, rather unsurprisingly, those forefathers were also geniuses who combined their talent with a stupendous amount of hard work.

No matter how much of a genius you were, you would not be able to remain as one without putting in nonstop hard work to polish yourself.

Knowing this, the geniuses that the dullards could have caught up with hard work were also working hard themselves, some of them to the point of keeling over from stress!

With both camps putting in almost an equal amount of effort... There was simply no way dullards could catch up to geniuses!

Offering advice of 'Work hard and you might catch up to geniuses one day!' was easy enough. The ones taking in the advice would already know the difficulty of making that happen, but the ambiguity in human languages would ultimately convince them that it was a plausible concept.

However, what if the ambiguity was taken out of the equation?

How about telling someone dreaming of entering the field of physics to achieve feats surpassing those of Einstein? Would that sound feasible to that person? Of course not!

That logic also applied to martial arts and cultivation.

To master a cultivation technique above a certain grade of quality and attain great strength, a cultivator absolutely must possess a brain boasting above-average comprehension.

What all this lengthy rambling boiled down to was that... Even though he didn’t show it on the surface, Kang Jin-Ho was an outrageous genius!

People kept referring to Wiggins as a genius since he came of age, but in the Martial Assembly? Even someone like him was reduced to a dullard. An ordinary fool. And this situation made him realize just how many people he had inadvertently hurt with his words until now!

If he could, Wiggins would’ve loved to seek out each and every one of those people and apologize. Even if they didn’t want to talk to him, never mind forgive him!

“My lord, this thing about mind arts is, mm...”

Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head. “Is it too difficult?”

Wiggins wordlessly nodded. And Kang Jin-Ho frowned slightly at that.

‘Aha, so this is how it feels.’

Wiggins had another epiphany just then.

In the distant past, his comrades would sometimes tell him that they nearly had a heart attack whenever their instructors or teachers frowned in disappointment or displeasure. Naturally, Wiggins figured his comrades were embellishing things.

But here he was, finally figuring out what they meant all these years later! To think he’d learn various things about life that everyone else already knew for decades!

Wiggins grimaced. “My lord, things like meditation and mind arts are uniquely Eastern concepts. As such, it might be easier for Easterners to understand it, but a Westerner like me...”

“That’s strange,” Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head this way and that. “I thought the West developed things like psychology and controlling one’s mind? Surely, that means the West didn’t overlook the concept of developing one’s mind?”

“Of course, my lord. Even so, the concept is a little bit different...”

“Besides, I thought Westerners constantly do something similar to meditation already?”

Wiggins frowned deeply without even meaning to. He already figured out what Kang Jin-Ho wanted to say here.

A prayer was basically a person holding a private conversation with their God. If the prayer helped that person to reflect on their actions, then yes, it had some similarities with meditation.

“But my lord, isn’t that more like a conversation?”

Having some similarities did not mean those two things were the same, though!

“They aren’t that different,” said Kang Jin-Ho without much concern. “You say it’s a conversation, but you don’t get any response from the other side, right?”

“Well, yes, you could... say that.”

“A prayer might be you trying to talk to a god, but in the end? It's a conversation with yourself. In that sense, meditation and mind arts aren't all that different. While you 'converse' with an external figure through a prayer, a god in this case, you meditate or use mind arts to contemplate your inner state.”

Wiggins thought he could just about comprehend it.

Kang Jin-Ho sneakily pointed at another person in the room, who just so happened to be Vator. “Overthinking it will make it harder for you. Even Vator has done it, so there’s no reason why you can’t.”

Wiggins chuckled wryly. “Well, if you put it that way. My confidence has gone up a little bit...”

“What was that?!” Vator growled after getting hit by a stray bullet even though he was behaving himself!

Kang Jin-Ho ignored Vator and continued to lecture Wiggins. “Don’t try to interpret it.”

“...I beg your pardon?”

“As far as I can tell, this is the difference between Eastern and Western mindsets. The West has this desire to interpret and analyze the meaning behind everything. Isn’t that the same story with your Bible? The people on your side read it, analyzed it, and eventually, different religious sects were born according to differing interpretations.”

“My lord? Isn’t that something obvious?”

“That’s not how you do things in the East, especially with cultivation. Completely analyzing a sutra does not mean you can perfectly master it. No, you simply memorize it, and your comprehension of it will gradually improve over the course of cultivation. And the complete analysis of a cultivation technique will only happen when you’ve reached a peak realm.”

“That is... Mm...” Wiggins scratched the back of his head. It felt like he could just about comprehend it. Or maybe not. At least it felt like he got one step closer to figuring it out, which was an encouraging sign.

“I can be one, but I might be more than one. Just remember that,” said Kang Jin-Ho.

“I will, my lord. I’ll try my best.”

Kang Jin-Ho nodded at Wiggins’ determined reply.

‘This should be enough.’

He could break it down even further for Wiggins, but that wouldn’t necessarily be a good thing.

There was an appreciable difference between achieving enlightenment through the knowledge provided by someone else and through one's own epiphany, after all!

Wiggins might study more Eastern martial arts in the future. To avoid hitting walls every time he did that, he must take this opportunity to shatter his preconceived notions. Although something like that wouldn’t be easy...

‘...I’m sure Wiggins can pull it off.’

Considering Wiggins' capability, he was taking a long time to figure out the Twofold Will Art. But that indicated how difficult the wall between Western and Eastern martial arts was to overcome. Maybe even more than Kang Jin-Ho had bargained for.

Kang Jin-Ho glanced at Wiggins again. “Setting aside this problem for now... Is there anything else I should know about?”

“My lord. Everyone who joined magic training has reached the level of utilizing mana. I can say, with some confidence, that we've succeeded in mass-producing rudimentary mages.”

“Mm...?” Kang Jin-Ho subtly grunted. “Sounds like a celebration is in order, but if I’m being honest, I still don’t fully get it. When you say rudimentary, how strong are these mages?”

“They are utterly useless, my lord.”

Kang Jin-Ho dazedly stared at Wiggins. “Then... what?”

“When evaluated individually, of course,” Wiggins casually shrugged. “However, as a group, it’ll be a different story. Being able to utilize mana means these mages can now imbue mana into magic circles. And that means... We can use them as batteries.”

“Batteries?” Kang Jin-Ho tilted his head yet again.

“Yes, my lord. We can now use magic without me present. This will aid us greatly in the future.”

Kang Jin-Ho slowly nodded, albeit with an unconvinced expression.

Even he could tell this was a significant development. But what he didn't get was why it was significant. After all, no mages were able to hinder Kang Jin-Ho's progress during his raid on the Round Table.

The firepower of the high-rank mage among the Elder Knights did surprise Kang Jin-Ho just a little, but that was only because said mage was an irregular, so to speak.

Even Wiggins couldn't hurt Kang Jin-Ho with magic. In that case, using rudimentary magic didn't seem all that useful, so why...

“My lord, judging from the look on your face, I can guess what you're thinking about. However, that's what mages are like. They aren't all that useful in one-on-one combat and will lose to a knight in a fight. Only in a battle against large numbers will a mage start to justify their existence. In other words...”

Wiggins smirked somewhat villainously.

“...On a large battlefield, my lord.”

“For now, you won't get the full picture even if I verbally explain. So, please be patient until we can demonstrate it to you. These mages will definitely prove their worth. Far more than you can imagine.”

Kang Jin-Ho coolly nodded. “Got it. By the way, is there anyone who looks promising?”

“As in, someone with a talent to become a high-ranking mage?”

“Yeah. We might need someone like that on our side.”

Wiggins ruefully shook his head. “Unfortunately, these people started off as martial artists. As such, it’s unrealistic to expect too much from them as mages. If they are serious about this path, they must expel all the internal energy gathered through the previous cultivation methods before fully converting themselves as mages. But most are unwilling to go that far.”

“...I’m not surprised.”

Discarding everything you knew to start anew on a different career path would never be easy.

Expelling all the energy accumulated in one's dantian meant one would never return to being a cultivator. Something like that was a difficult thing to ask of any cultivator.

Wiggins continued to explain the situation. “However, all of them will have to choose their path sooner or later, my lord. A few promising ones have already made their minds up about becoming full-fledged mages.”

“Is Lee Hyeon-Su among them?”

“No, well, that fool is...” Wiggins’ expression crumpled instantly. “He has absolutely no talent in martial arts, yet still refuses to convert to the mage class! He says it’s the matter of his identity being a martial artist!”

“...How unfortunate.”

Even Kang Jin-Ho thought Lee Hyeon-Su was a bit wrong about his identity.

“In any case, my lord? We've at least fulfilled the minimum requirement to be considered combat-ready. With three hundred mages under my personal command, we can now make use of previously impossible tactics.”

“Thank you, my lord.”

“Is Lee Hyeon-Su really not interested?”

Kang Jin-Ho and Wiggins stared at each other while groaning deeply.