You Have Been Invited to the Auction House of the Gods - Chapter 7

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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7

“Ugh…”

I tried to get up but immediately lay back down.

My stomach was churning and my head was pounding like it would split.

I’d heard that mana deficiency was similar to a hangover… but I didn’t know it would be this bad.

Checking my smartphone, it seemed about 30 minutes had passed since I fainted.

Seeing that my limbs were intact, I hadn’t been ambushed.

Well, after an explosion like that, there’s no way any goblins survived.

They either got caught in the blast or, if they survived, would have fled long ago.

“…I guess it was too much after all.”

Mana used without training or understanding.

Rather than using it, it was more like I had erupted it…

I was mesmerized by the sparkling smoke and had the delusion that something would come of it.

I gathered my wits and sat down on a tree stump.

I stared blankly into space, retracing what had just happened.

The Sixth Sense stat was definitely useful.

Ambushes, traps, directional detection.

Being able to ‘feel’ the direction danger was coming from was a bigger advantage than I’d imagined.

But mana…

“Really, what is this, a humidifier…”

Even now, when I move my fingertips, faint thread-like mana rises up.

It’s pretty, but that’s all there is to it.

‘How am I supposed to use this…?’

An explosion using Mana Overdensity? It only worked because they were goblins.

What about higher-level monsters? They would have come for my neck first while I was setting up the mana bomb.

Most importantly, if I try this again, I’ll be the first one to cross the Jordan River.

‘There must be a way to use it…’

I was confident there was more to it, but I didn’t know how to draw it out.

Same with Sixth Sense.

Danger Detection is just one of Sixth Sense’s functions.

I don’t think that’s all there is to it.

I wish someone would teach me properly.

I need to learn, but there’s no one to teach me.

Mana videos do get uploaded to NewTube.

But they’re all absurd nonsense like ‘getting perfect scores on college entrance exams just by reading textbooks.’

They say you just naturally learn it, but what kind of bullshit is that…

Anyway, there’s no one on Earth who can teach about mana or Sixth Sense. Probably.

‘Wait… if there’s no one on Earth…’

I opened my smartphone and accessed Golden Township.

Just on the off chance.

I entered training keywords in the search bar and looked through the related items.

‘There are quite a few actually?’

Contrary to my expectations, quite a variety of training methods were posted on Golden Township.

[Dragon King’s Strengthening Breathing Technique]

[First Abbot of Shaolin’s Guide to Paradise]

[How a Hero from Some World Kills Dragons]

…

However, they were all meaningless to me…

It didn’t take long for hope to turn into disappointment.

Just as I was about to close the app, giving up my expectations—

Tingle.

An unknown sensation flowed through my fingertips.

‘Sixth Sense reacted?’

At the bottom of the Golden Township app.

The very bottom of the list.

A worn item without even any views caught my eye.

It was a single book made of papyrus material, even its cover yellowed with age.

[Blurred Arrow’s Training Manual]

[Grade: E]

[Starting Price: 900 Gold]

[Description: The one and only training manual of trainees, by trainees, for trainees.]

When I clicked on the detailed description, I could understand why no one had shown any interest.

‘900 gold for an E-grade item is way over the line.’

Even Hydra’s Breath, which I sold for 1 billion, didn’t exceed 600 gold.

But a scrap of papyrus with unknown contents costs 900 gold?

That’s not even the fixed price—that’s the starting price of 900 gold.

If there’s even one competitor, it could get even more expensive.

But to just pass it by, I kept feeling a tingling sensation at my fingertips.

My Sixth Sense was speaking more powerfully than ever before.

‘You need to buy this right now,’ it was saying…

I had about 1,200 gold on hand.

If there were no other bidders, it was enough to win the auction.

The only problem was whether it was right to spend such a large sum of 900 gold based on intuition alone.

The longer I hesitated, the sharper signals my Sixth Sense sent.

‘Let’s trust it. Just this once.’

In the end, I squeezed my eyes shut and pressed the bid button.

[900 gold will be deducted.]

[If the bid fails, it will be refunded.]

[The auction for ‘Blurred Arrow’s Training Manual’ begins.]

I didn’t think there would be any competitors.

It was an item with no views to begin with, and gods wouldn’t need training anyway.

[Time remaining until auction ends: 10 seconds]

[Current bidder: Nobody]

[Current bid: 900G]

Still, just in case, I was anxiously counting the seconds when—

[The auction has ended.]

[‘Blurred Arrow’s Training Manual’ has been won by Nobody .]

Only when the old manual was placed in my hands did it feel real.

‘I actually won the auction…’

***

After taking the manual, I left the dungeon.

I stopped by the Association to complete the commission, and by the time I arrived home, it was already past 11 PM.

I washed up roughly and took out the training manual before lying down on my bed.

Since I wasn’t going to sleep right away anyway, I figured I’d skim through the manual I’d purchased.

Honestly, I still couldn’t believe it.

I had trusted my Sixth Sense stats and won the bid, but could this book really be worth 1.5 billion?

With doubt, I turned to the first page.

– I express great gratitude for purchasing this instructor’s manual. Speaking of this instructor, I have produced numerous heroes…

Along with typical greetings, it described what a remarkable person the author of this book was.

Reading quickly with the attitude of ‘oh, so they’re an amazing person,’ I reached the final sentence.

– …Pain that does not kill me makes me stronger. I hope the trainee can also read through the entire manual without dying.

I couldn’t help but chuckle at the absurd final phrase.

Was there really a need for such solemnity when just reading an old book, as if one’s life depended on it?

Right, let me see just how amazing this training is, I thought as I was about to turn the page.

Whoosh—

A sudden suction force pulled in the hand turning the page.

The force that started at my fingertips spread to my arm, shoulder, and enveloped my entire body.

“What, what is this?”

The next moment, the world before my eyes twisted.

[Connecting to system…]

[Analyzing trainee’s condition.]

Without time to collect myself, a screen appeared.

[Analyzing…]

[Physical stats: Low]

[Mana Level: Low]

[Sensory Level: Imbalanced]

[Mind-body imbalance detected.]

I was flustered at first, but as I looked at the messages being displayed…

‘…It’s more accurate than I thought?’

Lately, I’d been repeating the cycle of adapting to my stats only to purchase more stats again.

The training manual had pinpointed that gap precisely.

Forgetting that I’d been dragged into this strange space, I gradually became fascinated by the training manual that diagnosed my condition like a master physician.

[Presenting suitable training.]

[Training Goal: Balance of Mind and Body]

[Setting up training environment…]

[Training environment setup complete.]

[Moving to Training Ground.]

With a sinking sensation as if my body was falling, the surroundings twisted once again.

When I opened my eyes, I was standing in the middle of a dirt-floored Training Ground.

In front of me stood a Training Dummy slightly shorter than my height.

A round head woven from rice stalks and a body made of straw bundles.

Next to it was a Weapon Rack filled with Wooden Swords.

“Am I supposed to hit the Training Dummy?”

As soon as I finished speaking, a message window appeared.

[Basic Training Start]

[Training Dummy Strikes (0/100)]

A typical tutorial.

‘Swinging a Wooden Sword 100 times…’

It was a small number, fitting for a tutorial.

“Let me finish this quickly and go to sleep.”

I gripped the Wooden Sword and stood before the Training Dummy.

I loosened my shoulders appropriately and struck down at the dummy’s torso.

A dull impact sound spread, but—

[Strike Failed – Force Imbalance]

“Huh? Force imbalance?”

I must have hit too weakly to maintain my pace.

I gripped the Wooden Sword tightly and struck down at the Training Dummy once more.

[Strike Failed – Wrist Muscle Overtension]

“…Wrist?”

Did I grip it too tightly this time?

I put more strength into my arm and swung again.

[Strike Failed – Shoulder Overtension]

“Now it’s the shoulder again?”

[Strike Failed – Elbow Trajectory Deviation]

[Strike Failed – Shoulder Muscle Overtension]

[Strike Failed – …]

…

I tried dozens more times after that, but couldn’t succeed in landing a strike.

After catching my ragged breath for a moment, I stood before the Training Dummy again.

“…”

Let me correct myself.

This isn’t a tutorial.

At first, I thought I could just swing carelessly.

I thought I’d easily get through tutorial-level training.

But dozens of failures erased that arrogance one by one.

The attempts continued.

Arms, shoulders, wrists.

I checked my posture piece by piece as I swung.

When I relaxed my wrist, the trajectory would go off course,

and when I focused on my waist, my foot axis would crumble.

For the first time, I was realizing that even a simple downward strike connected the entire body.

‘I can’t just hit it carelessly. The entire movement needs to be coordinated.’

From head to toe, if the flow breaks, it’s all useless.

I bent my knees slightly and straightened my spine.

I put weight on my feet and kept my center from wavering.

I raised the wooden sword and swung it slowly.

[Strike Failed – Insufficient Rotational Momentum]

‘Something’s lacking.’

Was the timing of turning my waist too fast?

Or was the direction of force distribution wrong?

My head was complicated, but my body was taking stance again.

“…Let’s see who wins.”

How long had I been swinging the sword?

At some point, I seemed to have stopped counting.

Like that, without any thoughts, just letting my body follow the flow.

I brought the sword down once more.

[Strike Successful (1/100)]

“…Got it.”

In that moment, all the sensations in my body came together as one.

Arms and legs, spine and gaze, everything became aligned.

No force was concentrated anywhere,

and no force was excessive anywhere.

My mind became completely empty.

The tension left my shoulders, and my breathing became shallow.

Thought stopped, but my body reacted.

The sword was raised again and was already aimed at the training dummy.

[Strike Successful (2/100)]

[Strike Successful (3/100)]

…

***

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