Something Keeps Appearing in My Subspace - Chapter 122

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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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122. Preparatory Training
“Preparatory training against Liu Zhen! Let’s begin!”
“….”
Shin Chang nodded with a stern expression, his serious demeanor unmistakable.
Now that I thought about it, Seo Seung-yeon was holding a sword.
“Will Seo Seung-yeon be sparring with me using the sword?”
“No. It’s Sang-yeop. The spear is my primary weapon, but I’ve faced A-rank swordsmanship before. While it won’t be identical, I can at least demonstrate the techniques involved!”
I scratched the back of my head.
Even if it was Shin Chang, wouldn’t it be better to learn spearmanship rather than swordplay without skills?
To be honest, sparring with Liu Zhen wasn’t really my concern. What mattered was my actual strength for the Gates I’d enter in the future.
But seeing the two of them with their eyes gleaming so brightly, I couldn’t bring myself to say, “It’s fine—I can just win with the Celestial Sword.”
-…?
-…Yes?
That’s probably the reaction I’d get.
“Very well.”
So I nodded readily. It was only proper not to refuse, especially since Saebyeokbit had made time for me despite their busy schedule.
Besides, I was curious about the A-rank swordsmanship Shin Chang would demonstrate. Facing that technique would be beneficial for me too.
In the Gates, the only proper swordsman I’d faced was the Flame Knight.
‘And I felt like I was slightly overwhelmed then.’
Leap, Subspace, stats—they were all my abilities, but in pure swordsmanship, I felt outmatched.
I wasn’t sure how things stood now that I’d grown since then, but I definitely needed more training in ‘swordsmanship.’
Though I often met with Sang-yeop to exchange sword techniques, I needed to face a variety of different styles.
Both Sang-yeop and I had become somewhat accustomed to each other’s techniques.
“But who did you face to learn A-rank swordsmanship?”
“Zui Yuan.”
Zui Yuan. I knew that name. He was a hunter currently serving as part of Britain’s vanguard team, now a British citizen.
During the Great Hunter Revolution, many hunters emigrated to other countries, and he was one of them.
He possessed A-rank swordsmanship skills and was quite respected for his abilities, though he received considerable criticism in China.
Most hunters who left China during the Great Hunter Revolution faced similar treatment—accused of abandoning their country.
“Please teach me.”
Hearing it was Zui Yuan’s swordsmanship piqued my interest. It wouldn’t be perfectly identical since I’d be learning through observation and imitation, but….
And since Shin Chang would be the one demonstrating it, I couldn’t help but look forward to it.
“Oh, and he said he’s acquainted with Han Hye, so he reached out asking that you not hate Liu Zhen too much before seeing him in person.”
“Pardon?”
We’d had a verbal exchange with Liu Zhen, but none of it was my fault. Wasn’t he the one who started the conflict in the first place?
But even Seo Seung-yeon didn’t seem pleased saying it.
“I’m not sure what he meant either, but…he said that while Liu Zhen has no connection to me, China is so unique that his true feelings might be different from what he showed.”
“But the interview video he did seemed to reflect his true feelings.”
“I think so too, but…I’m not sure.”
Seo Seung-yeon shrugged her shoulders.
“Well, that’s not really the important part. Shall we start sparring?”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
Shin Chang drew the sword that Seo Seung-yeon had brought. The blade itself appeared ordinary at first glance.
We faced each other with our swords held ready, and a brief standoff ensued.
“…I’ll go first.”
And with those words, he lunged forward. It was a thrust, and I couldn’t help but be slightly startled by the speed.
‘Fast.’
It wasn’t the speed I usually experienced when sparring with Shin Chang. Perhaps he’d increased the intensity in preparation for Liu Zhen.
Clang—!
I deflected it slightly using basic Imperial swordsmanship and attempted a counterattack, but Shin Chang’s left foot aimed for my waist.
I blocked it using footwork, and we exchanged blows for a moment. Though it was sword training, our arms and legs weren’t idle either.
“…You’ve grown stronger.”
“There’s been progress.”
Shin Chang smiled with satisfaction. Though his lips only curved up slightly, seeing him so often made it easy to understand his meaning.
“…Here I come.”
And Shin Chang’s sword danced. Lower left, thrust, upper right, kick, lower right, left flank, left flank again….
The flowing sequence of strikes was as smooth as rippling water. I was hard-pressed just blocking each one.
‘This is just a fragment of Grade A swordsmanship.’
I had learned Grade B swordsmanship myself, but I could feel the difference in caliber. And this was Shin Chang merely imitating Zui Yuan’s technique.
Clearly, sword skills deserved their grades for good reason.
—Whoosh!
And Shin Chang’s blade stopped just before my throat. I thought I’d blocked it cleanly, but somehow it was already there.
Shin Chang showed a deeper smile than before.
“…You need to break the flow. If you ride along with it, you’ll get swept away without realizing it.”
And he left behind a rare, lengthy comment. It meant this was important. Breaking the flow—he was right.
I thought I was blocking well, but at some point, the blade was cold against my throat.
If I were to compare it to Go or chess, weren’t all those preceding rapid strikes just buildup for this single moment?
Making me play a losing move without even realizing it.
‘I need to be careful.’
If I wielded the Heavenly Sword, I could suppress him with raw stats, but that doesn’t mean I should be careless.
If I underestimate him, I could fall for the same trick again. It’s an unfamiliar Grade S swordsmanship.
Of course, there would be quite a difference. Even though Shin Chang was imitating someone else’s swordsmanship, Liu Zhen was frankly not on his level.
Shin Chang is someone who defeated Grade S spear technique with Grade A spear technique. And right now, I wasn’t even using Leap, Subspace, or Swift Movement.
“…Again.”
Shin Chang rotated his wrist and adjusted his grip. I also took a deeper breath, focusing more intently.
“Please.”
“…This time, I’ll let you come first.”
* * *
[Guild Conference D-3, Eve of the Storm]
Predicted Voting Results
Domestic: Han Hye 73% Liu Zhen 27%
International: Han Hye 40% Liu Zhen 60%
S+ Rank Han Hye VS S Rank Liu Zhen
So who will be the victor???
-Looking at that, the national bias is absolutely insane lolol
┗Real talk lol they’re pushing him through regardless of manners
┗But where did this “Space Mage has no manners” thing come from? There’s absolutely nothing like that
┗Just haters, ignore them
-Liu Zhen fans you crazy bastards lolol you know Chinese players flooded the international voting results, right?
┗For real?
┗Yeah China coordinated and got those numbers, if you exclude China the international vote favors Han Hye too
┗They’re rating Space Mage pretty high though?
┗Killing a high-grade Ogre in one hit in the late level 20s is pretty significant
┗Han Hye broke all of Liu Zhen’s records that were built up with full backing from China and even left an Achievement
-Real talk lolol come on Han Hye, even a high-grade Ogre couldn’t react to teleportation, how would Liu Zhen manage it?
[Beijing Tower’s training ground approximately 8m by 8m]
-8m by 8m? Are you serious? That’s smaller than a tennis court?
-These guys are absolutely legendary lolol
-I’m genuinely asking but isn’t that pretty spacious? Isn’t it bigger than a UFC octagon?
┗The UFC octagon is probably bigger
┗Regardless, since hunters all have different skills, the standard rule is that training grounds need to be much larger
┗Yeah for charge-type hunters that size means instant ring-out lolol
-If you stand in the center with your arm extended holding a sword it’d be like 2.5m, are they joking lol
-Upvoting, these crazy bastards
-Isn’t that basically blocking teleportation?
┗Not quite blocking, but limiting it. Even if used, they’d end up at close range anyway.
[China ‘It can’t be helped.’]
Something about building interior structure and needing space for hunters to watch lolololol
Shouldn’t the Hunter Association be filing a protest about this? Why are they staying quiet?
-Real talk it looks like they’re being treated like garbage, shouldn’t they protest?
-The Korean Hunter Association isn’t the type to stay quiet about this, so they must be confident, right?
┗Even if Space Mage said he’d just win, this doesn’t seem right, does it?
┗I agree, but the Association President isn’t someone who’d stay silent about something like this
-I thought Space Mage would just win, but now I’m worried
-Breaking news) International betting sites changed their odds lolololol
┗They’re blatantly pushing him so of course it changed lol
The world was quite abuzz ahead of the Guild Conference. Of course, we were not.
Remarkably, everything remained as usual.
“Thank you for your hard work. Let’s resume Guild training after we return from the Conference.”
I heard Liu Zhen was training by sparring with a Chinese S-rank hunter who wielded spear techniques…
What mattered most to us right now was synchronizing our teamwork before the next Gate.
“Uh, Guild Master. What are we supposed to do about this?”
There was one person among us who remained concerned—Kim Han-chul, our newest member.
Since he’d only recently joined, we hadn’t yet told him about the Subspace.
It felt awkward to just blurt it out, and I thought it would be better to explain once we’d worked together a bit more, like we had with Min-jae and the others.
I offered Han Chul a faint smile as he stared at his smartphone with a deeply furrowed brow.
“It’s fine. We have a plan.”
“What kind of plan?”
“There’s a sword called the Heavenly Blade—when you climb to high places, it boosts your stats.”
I could at least mention the Heavenly Blade. When I told him his stats would increase more than twofold, Han Chul’s eyes widened in surprise.
“That much?”
“Yes. There is a limit to how much it increases, but it should be more than enough to handle Liu Zhen. The stat difference won’t be a matter of just a few points.”
“Then I’m relieved. If there’s any dirty tricks, I’ll block them as your first guard.”
Kim Han-chul spoke with unwavering resolve.
“Thank you. But I think we’ll be fine. With representatives from each country attending, they wouldn’t dare pull something so blatant.”
“Guild Master, please be careful. You never know!”
“Of course. If anything happens, I’m counting on you.”
He seemed determined not to listen no matter what I said, so I simply smiled and nodded.
“Everyone get plenty of rest. We’ll meet the morning after tomorrow.”
We’d decided to depart the day before the Guild Conference. There was no point arriving too early with nothing to do.
I had no desire to wander around sightseeing anyway. I was worried we might get hit with eggs or something while walking around.
“Aren’t we basically seen as human garbage over in China?”
“Why?”
“Because Liu Zhen is China’s pride. Since you two had that confrontation, they’re cursing us out left and right.”
I found it absurd. Why curse someone who was just minding their own business? Why provoke them first?
Of course, Liu Zhen gets plenty of criticism back home too, but isn’t that just karma?
“His lifespan must have increased tremendously.”
“Right? The population difference is incomparable.”
“Even if it only increases by one second per person, how much is that? China’s population is around 1.5 billion, right? 1.5 billion seconds? How long is that?”
I tried to do the math in my head for a moment, but gave up quickly when I couldn’t figure it out. In any case, for all these reasons, I had no intention of leaving the accommodation.
Our guild members decided to stay put at the lodging too. If we went out and got caught up in unnecessary trouble, it would be a headache.
“But speaking of which, Yong-yong seems popular. The guild’s been getting tons of inquiries. People are asking if Yong-yong flies around in Beijing too.”
“That’s hilarious. Why Yong-yong?”
“Because it’s a dragon.”
“Huh? But Yong-yong is a Red Dragon. Isn’t that a Western dragon?”
“How would I know?”
In any case, the total number of Korean hunters participating in this Guild Conference was ten.
All five members of our guild and five from Saebyeokbit. Shin Chang and Seo Seung-yeon were naturally included.
.
.
.
Two days later.
The moment I arrived at the airport, I was bombarded by an endless barrage of camera flashes. There were so many reporters that I could barely keep my eyes open.
“Hunter Han Hye! Just one comment, please!”
“What do you think about the training grounds China has prepared being so small?”
“Are you confident you’ll win?”
Fielding the torrent of questions, I simply curved my lips into a smile.
I had no concerns.
When Liu Zhen first provoked me, I’d thought it was impossible due to the level gap between us—but now I’d closed that distance entirely.
At last, the moment for true instruction had arrived.
Now the time for true education has come.

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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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