I Became the Namgung Clan’s Omnipotent Item-Powered Martial God - Chapter 32

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 32
32 – Bird Leaving the Nest
#1
Namgung Jin-jin.
He was undoubtedly an exceptional talent, the kind spoken of as a prodigy of the later generation.
Born into the greatest clan on the Cheonha continent, he was the son of a division commander who led one of the most formidable martial forces the clan possessed.
The Namgung Clan’s overwhelming military might and wealth.
Beyond that, centuries of accumulated martial knowledge and intelligence had flowed entirely into Namgung Jin-jin.
Perhaps that was why he had fallen prey to arrogance.
Born in the heights, he had lived looking only upward at the sky.
And so he had never truly understood how far one could fall.
‘Was I ever this weak?’
The previous night.
Namgung Jin-jin had spent it sleepless, his mind churning with endless thoughts.
The sight he had witnessed that afternoon had been too shocking, too turbulent for his emotions to settle.
Namgung Yeon.
His peer. His rival.
And the one he ought to follow, the one he must one day surpass.
At first, that was what he had believed.
He had thought him nothing—a worm beneath notice.
Namgung Yeon had never even entered the Military Office of the Namgung Clan, had never received systematic training.
Within the clan itself, discrimination ran rife, and many harbored feelings of superiority.
The Military Office accepted only the most exceptional talents from among the clan’s ranks.
So Namgung Yeon, who had not entered that place, could only be considered worthless.
‘And yet, every last bit of that was wrong.’
He had recoiled in shock watching his squad leader sever an instructor’s neck with a Single Sword Strike.
He had believed him to be bedridden—how had such swordsmanship emerged?
It surpassed any of the sword-masters he had seen in the Military Office.
A single stroke so swift and terrible that he himself could never hope to imitate it.
It was then that Namgung Jin-jin had felt ‘talent’ emanating from Namgung Yeon.
It loomed like an enormous wall, making him feel utterly insignificant in comparison.
Yet what came was not derision, but kindness.
<Accepting yourself is the first step toward growth.>
To accept oneself.
To perceive oneself as one truly was.
When he took the elixir Namgung Yeon had given him, something remarkable happened.
He could suddenly view himself as a third party might—from the outside, with clarity.
‘I was… nothing at all.’
Scenes of his past arrogance flickered before his eyes.
And within that reckoning, he felt an extraordinary latent potential stirring inside himself.
Namgung Jin-jin had finally achieved self-reflection.
He had observed and understood both his present state and his possible future.
“I won’t be impatient anymore. One day I’ll be as strong as you are, squad leader.”
“At last you’ve begun to leave the nest. So what is it you wish to ask of me?”
And so he had accepted himself, Namgung Yeon, and this moment together.
Right now he was weak, and the man before him was tremendously strong.
And because of that, he now understood what must come first.
Namgung Jin-jin opened his mouth.
“I am Namgung Jin-jin, firstborn son of Namgung Jo, commander of the Baekryong Division of the Namgung Clan. I request instructional combat training from the Third Squad leader.”
“I’ll teach you what I can.”
Namgung Jin-jin bowed formally, asking Namgung Yeon for instructional training.
Namgung Yeon could see in his eyes that he had not yet surrendered completely to following him.
He still wished to use him, perhaps.
That last thread of pride, gripped tightly like a final lifeline, was driving him to it.
But Namgung Yeon accepted with a smile.
Namgung Jin-jin.
He had finally left the nest, launching himself of his own will into the vast world beyond.
‘A person who could judge nothing for himself has at last decided his own direction.’
He could be used.
He could extract every sweetness from their connection.
If I can grow stronger, help the Namgung Clan, help others, and draw my blade for this Martial World—
then I will gladly become a stepping stone.
“You won’t be able to walk properly for the rest of the day.”
“……That’s what I hoped for.”
The two of them created distance and ignited their sparring.
Soon, a resonant shout echoed across the Training Ground.
#2
Namgung Yeon received Namgung Jin-jin’s increasingly supple blade and countered.
He thrust into the opening with a Triple Consecutive Strike.
Two of the blows he managed to block, but he allowed the third to land.
“Ugh!?”
“Splendid.”
“…….”
Namgung Yeon stepped back and gazed at the squad member who had planted his sword into the ground and collapsed.
The sun was already beginning to set.
It was time to stop and replenish their energy.
“Both of you, shall we eat now?”
“Indeed.”
Namgung Yeon nodded, wiping away the sweat that beaded his brow.
A savory and rich aroma of meat was beginning to drift through the air.
A meal eaten after such intense exertion had a special quality to it.
Because this might be one of his last meals, Namgung Yeon did not skip the time to eat.
“Today’s training went well.”
“Sigh……. Why do I feel so uneasy……?”
“It’s because you still don’t fully acknowledge me as squad leader. You know tomorrow’s water duty falls to you, right?”
“…….”
For a moment, Namgung Jin-jin felt a wave of despair wash over him.
Two squad members had already fallen.
And the amount of water needed only kept growing.
What in the world was he doing…….
He exhaled a long sigh and rose unsteadily from his seat.
Moving sluggishly, Namgung Jin-jin made his way toward the food Ho-ho had prepared.
By now, all the other squad members had gathered in the Dining Hall.
“Oh, he’s here.”
“Come on. The meat’s getting cold.”
“Everyone dig in.”
The Third Squad members huddled together, eating delicious food and exchanging all manner of stories.
The instructor watched them and jotted down something with a soft scratching sound.
‘I thought this would be the squad to splinter fastest. Quite unexpected.’
The Third Squad.
Truly a mysterious unit.
None of them had acknowledged the squad leader.
This Third Squad had the most precarious beginning of all.
And now?
Despite their bickering, they all trained toward the same goal.
The mock battle.
They were striving to obtain the Intermediate Martial Art that was the prize there.
‘Even though they seem to spend time apart, they all train while looking toward the same direction.’
That was the ideal form of cultivation.
After all, unless they were a military unit deploying battle formations, training with unified purpose held little meaning.
They were colleagues, but also rivals.
The instructor recorded their progress with a satisfied expression.
How would the elders react?
Once the mock battle ended, genuine obstruction would begin in earnest.
They would employ every scheme to hinder the path to becoming a Sub-Patriarch.
“Hmm, indeed…….”
When we grow older, whom will we serve?
He could not abandon the expectation that those who follow Namgung Yeon would be considerable in number.
The meal ended in a flash, and personal maintenance time arrived shortly after.
The mock battle was now just around the corner.
The children couldn’t shake their impatience and each spent time training on their own.
All except Namgung Yeon.
He was preparing for a new venture instead.
“Se-un, hold on a moment. I need to talk to you.”
“What is it?”
He called to Namgung Se-un, who was heading toward the Temporary Smithy, and began to speak with him.
It was time to forge a weapon.
Not just the Maryeong Sword, but something for himself alone.
Though Namgung Se-un might still be unskilled now, he was born with the talent to become the finest blacksmith in all of Cheonha.
That’s why Namgung Yeon intended to train him rigorously from this moment forward.
Namgung Yeon handed him a heavy bundle.
“I’d like you to forge a sword using this.”
“Huh? Why is it so heavy… Gasp?”
“It’s Hancheol. For now, practice with it.”
“No, no, no—how could you give me something so precious…?”
Hancheol.
A metal mined from ore found only in the frozen waters of Buk Hae.
A metal so cold that merely touching it sent a chill through the bones, and the iron that had absorbed Buk Hae’s frost for ten thousand years was called Manyeon Hancheol.
Because Hancheol held within it such bitter cold, it was extremely difficult to work even with considerable heat—a truly precious material.
The problem was that Namgung Yeon had simply handed out such rare materials without hesitation.
Even as a direct descendant of the Namgung Clan, and the Patriarch’s own son, Hancheol was not easy to obtain.
Where in the world was he finding such things?
“Don’t worry about it. Make freely. This sword will become the weapon of our Third Squad.”
“That’s… a pretty daunting thing to say, you know?”
“I know.”
……
Namgung Se-un stared at Namgung Yeon, who gazed back at him with an expressionless face.
A man whose thoughts were unknowable, whose plans remained a mystery.
He sighed and accepted the bundle of Hancheol.
“I’ll give it a try. Don’t expect too much.”
“Use it freely without holding back. There’s plenty.”
[Hancheol Ingots: 193,293,231]
[Manyeon Hancheol Ingots: 484,222]
With just the Manyeon Hancheol alone, he possessed enough to command every master blacksmith on the continent.
Though he couldn’t withdraw it yet.
“The goal is to have it ready by the mock battle. Think you can do it?”
“I’ll… try my best.”
Namgung Se-un spoke haltingly.
With that, Namgung Yeon left to bathe.
Namgung Se-un stood dazed, staring after him and at the bundle of Hancheol, murmuring to himself.
“Should I ask someone to look into where he got this…?”
No, that wasn’t necessary.
The power of the Namgung Clan was far greater than he’d imagined.
If they set their mind to it, they could acquire anything.
He picked up the grimy hammer he always carried with him.
‘Let me give this a try.’
He couldn’t disappoint his Squad Leader.
He headed toward the Temporary Smithy.
#3
The dead of night.
The Patriarch’s Hall of the Namgung Clan Estate.
Namgung Mu, unable to leave his office, was slowly reading through a letter.
His voice trembled with barely concealed emotion as he spoke.
“Is this truly so?”
“I only received word to deliver it. It seemed best to bring it to you at once, so I came immediately.”
……
The man standing before Namgung Mu was Park Man-ho.
He had cleverly concealed the fact that Namgung Yeon had given him the letter, delivering it instead as if from his own sources.
Truthfully, he was anxious.
He couldn’t shake the thought that Namgung Yeon might abandon him.
Yet no matter how much he’d deliberated, this method had seemed right, and so he’d carried it out without hesitation.
There was no use crying over spilled milk.
His true purpose was to protect Namgung Yeon’s safety as thoroughly as possible.
As expected, Namgung Mu asked the question.
“Who delivered this to you?”
“I’m not entirely certain myself, sir. After I finished escorting the young master, I returned to my quarters and found the letter waiting there.”
“Hmm….”
Namgung Mu sank into quiet thought.
The letter contained a list of individuals suspected to be infiltrators.
Were all these people truly infiltrators?
Or was this someone’s elaborate trick?
His mind grew tangled and heavy.
The Changcheon Alliance had begun to move.
Once he cross-referenced it against that, he would know for certain.
But there was something far more troubling beneath it all.
‘If this is true….’
When had so many infiltrators slipped into the clan?
Since when had the Namgung Clan begun to rot from within?
Had the decay begun in his ancestors’ time?
“For now, return to your post.”
“Yes, sir.”
Park Man-ho withdrew silently into the shadows.
Only the weight of Namgung Mu’s heavy sigh lingered in the office.
He could no longer afford to stand idle.
‘Justification. I need justification.’
His eyes flickered with sudden fire.
The Patriarch’s resolve to safeguard the Namgung Clan began to kindle within him.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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