Chương 158: Chapter 157: A Battle of Wits With the Old Master of White Tiger Guild

The traditional training yard of White Tiger Guild sat tucked behind a stand of ancient pines in Seoul's old Bukchon quarter, completely removed from the rush of the capital outside. Golden ginkgo leaves drifted down, scattering across the fine sand of the courtyard. At its center, Old Master Baek Ho-San — a first-generation S-Rank Hunter, seventy years old — wore a plain white hanbok, both hands gripping a ten-pound oak practice sword.

Each stroke was slow, deliberate, and heavy with authority, cutting the air with sharp, whistling swings that split the falling leaves clean in two. Clack. Clack. Lucian, in his black overcoat, hands in his pockets, strolled through the ebony gate into the yard. Baek Ho-San halted mid-stroke. He stood straight-backed, lowered the wooden sword's tip a few inches off the ground, and fixed the ten-year-old with a pair of clouded but hawk-sharp eyes.

"Vance boy. I already said it on television: White Tiger Guild firmly refuses your company's compensation offer." He tapped the wooden blade against the sand.

"Hunters aren't hired hands sitting around waiting for a handout. We are the ones who carry the torch into the dark. Take away mortal danger, and a true warrior's spirit will rot away in idleness." He raised the practice sword level with his brow, pointing it straight at Lucian's chest.

"If you want to buy out this dojang, draw your blade and defeat me the proper way — by the old code of martial honor." Lucian didn't move. He didn't reach for his dagger, and he didn't call for Astra or Eleanor. He simply reached into his spatial ring, pulled out a canvas folding camp chair, snapped it open, and sat down cross-legged right in the middle of the sand.

Then he dug into his coat pocket and produced a jade-green ceramic jar, releasing a sharp, cooling herbal scent — a family balm, hand-mixed by Mother Valeria from Demon Realm medicinal herbs. Ting! The dim black panel of Unified System V2. 0 opened in front of him: [SKILL: 'SYNTACTIC WEAK-POINT RECOGNITION' — MOVEMENT PATTERN FLAGGED] ● Visible strain: left knee, lower back, and right shoulder. ● A pocket mana scanner can confirm whether the problem is old injury, current inflammation, or both.

[CAUTION:] ● Skill output is not a medical diagnosis. Recommend a licensed examination. Lucian popped the lid off the jar. Then he drew a pocket mana scanner from his coat and swept it once across the old master, knee to shoulder.

"Grandmaster Baek." You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author. He tipped the readout toward the old master and pointed a finger at his knee.

"Your knee is swollen, your lower back is compensating, and your shoulder is protecting an old injury. I can see it in the stance, and the scanner agrees. Keep forcing that movement and you are going to make it worse." Lucian tossed the ceramic jar through the air.

"Rub this on your knee. Then let's discuss a jointly licensed pilot for a Wellness & Magical Survival Skills Institute." Thock. Baek Ho-San caught the jar on pure reflex. As he shifted to start another stroke, Baek's left knee gave a dry, cracking pop. Pain forced him to lower the blade. He glared at the ten-year-old lounging in the folding chair, legs crossed.

"You... how did you read my medical chart?!"

"Professional skill," Lucian answered flatly.

"I specialize in avoiding expensive hospital bills. Apply the balm, then get a real examination." Baek Ho-San took a deep breath, the sharp scent of mint and Demon Realm herbs filling his nose. He couldn't hold out any longer. He walked slowly over to the wooden steps of the hanok and sat down, uncapped the jar, and scooped out a knob of green balm, rubbing it hard into both swollen knees. Sizzle...

A wave of warm, soothing heat sank into muscle and tissue, easing the sharpest ache without pretending to erase the damage underneath. Baek Ho-San let out a long, blissful sigh, his stiff shoulders slowly loosening. Lucian pulled out his tablet and slid it across. Lucian tapped the first page.

"The pilot plan is simple." White Tiger Guild keeps its entire facility and training staff. With Association licensing and Baek's approval, the guild would run a small survival-skills and wellness program for city residents. It would teach ordinary people mana-breathing techniques for better health, basic self-defense, and safer responses to low-tier monsters. Counsel could build the enrollment and revenue model after the pilot. White Tiger would keep operational control, and any expansion would require a new vote.

Lucian looked the old master straight in the eye.

"Protecting the light doesn't have to mean sending people to die on a battlefield. Helping tens of thousands of ordinary people stay strong and able to defend their own families — that's a kind of martial way too." Baek Ho-San sat on the wooden steps, rough hands resting over knees that had finally stopped screaming at him. He studied the pilot proposal on the screen, then looked up at the ten-year-old with his feet propped up in a camp chair.

He let out a soft sigh — and for the first time that morning, the old master looked amused.

"Kid's still wet behind the ears... but he talks a good game." He reached inside his robe and pulled out a jade tablet, carved with a white tiger's head, and set it on the table.

"This authorizes my guild to open its training records and discuss operational access for a pilot around the A-Rank Dungeon Gate on Jeju Island. Any wider arrangement goes through the Association and the government." Behind the dojang's paper-screen door, more than fifty students in white training uniforms watched their master sit down to study the proposal. No one spoke; the yard had become too quiet for that. WOO... WOO... WOO!

The smartphone in Eleanor's coat pocket, standing just outside the gate, suddenly blared a red alert. Eleanor answered, her expression changing at once. She strode quickly into the yard, voice urgent.

"Lucian! Big trouble down south!" She held up a satellite tracking screen.

"The Rank S dungeon gate at the coastal city of Busan just had a spatial structural collapse! The entire First Strike Team from Guild Divine Envoy — fifty S-Rank Hunters — are completely trapped beneath the seabed!"