Chapter 54: The Land of Martial Arts

China—

I was in Huangshan, Anhui Province. In China, beast-like monsters are scattered across the continent.

Charge forward and meet the charging giant boar head-on!! My straight punch buries into the pig’s head! The beast screams a high-pitched shriek, spinning through the air like a top, then crashes to the ground and lies still.

That was the fourth “Martial Artist”职业 board to max out.

Martial Artist Lv99

【职业 Skills】

Martial Arts Rank D → S

Acquired “Skill” Agility (I) ×7

There are a few reasons I’m leveling up here.

One is that I wanted to master Martial Arts. Martial Arts—China! China—Martial Arts! Where else am I supposed to train if not here?

Anyway, the point is—there’s no close-combat weapon that can handle my strength right now… Currently, I’m crafting a knuckle-like weapon using mithril (low-grade), similar to the one in my职业 skill “Occult Library.” It breaks after taking down a few dozen monsters, and I have to repair it with “Generate” every time—extremely inefficient!

If I master Martial Arts, I might not need weapons at all. Could even fight bare-handed. Maybe there are enemies out there like Titans—completely immune to magic!

And the other reason? There’s an entrance exam for a superpower group called “Suzaku” in Dalian in ten days.

I decided to join Suzaku after getting advice from Shimizu-san and the others back in Japan.

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One week ago—

I’d just returned to Japan, and I was discussing with Shimizu-san and the others which country to head to next. Sakuragi-san was here—Sakuragi-san, a subordinate of Takeshi-san, who was in Osaka for business.

I unfold the glowing board that’s now visible through my “Profession Skill Archive” onto the desk.

“What’s that?”

Sakuragi stares wide-eyed, asking.

“With the Great Sage’s ability, I can see the distribution and strength of monsters across different countries.”

“Great Sage? Weren’t you a Great Mage, Gojo-san?”

Sakuragi tilts her head, puzzled.

“Once you hit level 99, you can choose any profession you want! Right now I’m a Great Sage, but I’m already thinking about switching to something else….”

“Unbelievable… seriously…?”

Sakuragi mutters, looking utterly dumbfounded. Shimizu bursts out laughing.

“Gojo’s been crazy since day one! Anyway—have you decided which country to head to next?”

“Honestly… I was thinking about going to China or Russia—both are rank A…”

“Then China’s the better choice! I mean, it’s been all over the news lately.”

“News?”

Shimizu grins, explaining how people with special abilities have been popping up all over the world—some can use magic, others can crush stone with one hand…

Apparently, these people are now called “Supernaturals” worldwide. In China, they’ve supposedly managed to organize them.

“So basically, there are tons of people like Gojo-san around! Right?! Isn’t that exciting?! You’re into that, right?!”

Shimizu beams with enthusiasm. Later, Sakuragi quietly adds that Shimizu knows so much about foreign countries because Japan’s magical energy levels have dropped and communication has improved.

I heard there’s a pretty strong female ability user in that group called “Suzaku” — a woman named Wang Xinyi! If things go well, she might become an important ally for Gojo down the line!!

"Comrade...?"

The boss monster supposed to be in China—apparently called a "Leader" these days—is still nowhere to be found... If the goal of this ability-based group is to find and defeat the Leader, then it lines up perfectly with my own objective.

We got Japan’s government to help us and made a request to China—asked if they’d let a Japanese government official join the Vermilion Bird. But China said no way unless the person proved they had the strength to survive.

So I end up having no choice but to take the “Suzaku” recruitment exam...

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"Hey, I've got a souvenir... uh..."

"Souvenir?"

We moved out to the open area, all the way from the Air Self-Defense Force base.

"About here should be good... "

The next instant——

"Wha—?"

"Wha—?"

A dull, silvery mountain suddenly appeared right in front of me.

"Dragonsteel." I think it's around a hundred tons... Well, whatever, go ahead and use it however you like!"

We managed to create mithril (low-grade) through alchemy, so I decided to stash a bunch of it. Still, mining and refining it’s a pain, thought I’d better stock up while I can.

"...What the hell is this? Seriously?!"

"Even for her, this is taking it too far..."

Both of them were utterly grossed out.

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...Alright! The martial artist’s职业 rank is now “S,” but their martial arts board still has five slots left. Let’s see how much we can boost it in the next ten days—gotta keep chipping away at it, little by little!