Martial Arts Returnee’s Game Broadcast

Chapter 95

The phenomenon of reversed assimilation rates.
A sensation beyond the loss of control over one’s body, a state where the body becomes the possession of another.

"As expected, this isn’t an ordinary game."

Sensing the growing danger, the Boogeyman burst through the wardrobe door to help. However, Ha Eun-eung felt a twinge of guilt.

"I had anticipated this from the beginning. The moment it became possible to cultivate internal energy here, it was clear this world operates by rules different from Earth or the martial arts compendium."

Had she not known this, fear would have consumed her, and she would have panicked, attempting to expel the invasive force disrupting her mind.
But she remained calm.
Her knowledge shielded her from fear, and her mental fortitude allowed her to test the boundaries.

"The laws of Half-Demon Requiem differ from those of the martial arts compendium. If I can uncover their source, it may lead me to a method to rapidly cultivate a massive amount of internal energy."

Up until now, she had only been able to gather internal energy.
She didn’t understand how the system worked.

"Let’s see it. Show me the power of a yokai."

This was a challenge she could take on only because Baekmokgwi was an enemy that attacked the mind and spirit rather than the body. Unlike yokai generals or the Crocodile Hunter, whose external power could obliterate her body with a single fatal strike, Baekmokgwi’s domain was the psyche.

[Human, you are too strong. Because of this, you must have always been alone. Others were never strong enough to match you.]

A force that stirs emotions, stimulates memories, and burrows into the mind.
Yet its entry point was not the brain.

"I’ve caught the thread."

Yokai energy.
A peculiar form of natural force harnessed by yokai.
This mysterious power did not infiltrate through neural impulses but through the gaze of Baekmokgwi.

"The game system of Half-Demon Requiem doesn’t recognize damage as input that induces pain through neural manipulation. It’s something else entirely."

At one point, she had thought the system worked like this: calculate damage received and reward or penalize players accordingly with pain and internal energy.
But Baekmokgwi’s latest attack proved her hypothesis wrong.

"The system in Half-Demon Requiem functions in the opposite way."

Instead of generating artificial stimuli and calculating equivalent pain,
the system reduces actual stimuli,
calculating real-world damage and suppressing its effect to keep pain below a certain threshold or ratio.

The system wasn’t her enemy. It was her ally.

"But the system’s intervention reduces the benefits players can gain."

Each time a player dies,
the attack patterns and difficulty of Half-Demons and yokai diminish.
An invisible safety net unfolds to protect the player,
creating an artificial stage—a puppet theater separate from the true world of Half-Demon Requiem.

"Clearing such a false world won’t allow for real internal energy cultivation."

Thus, the conditions for cultivating internal energy in Half-Demon Requiem were as follows:

Challenge each field at the highest difficulty level.
Ensure no difficulty adjustments occur.
Clear the stage without dying.
Having always cleared fields without lowering difficulty and without deaths,
Ha Eun-eung had been able to reap the benefits of increased internal energy.
It was a satisfying revelation, but it wasn’t enough.

"This is dangerous. If I lose control of myself and let go, I’ll be forcefully overtaken by demonic possession."

She acknowledged the risks and the steep price she had to pay.

"But if I take that risk, I might uncover even deeper information."

Ha Eun-eung boldly relinquished control over her body.
Once a martial artist falls into demonic possession,
regaining control of their chaotic internal energy becomes nearly impossible.
However, as someone suffering from Nine-Tone Severance Syndrome,
one of the most severe qi-blocking conditions,
her resilience against demonic possession and energy deviations far surpassed that of anyone in the martial world.

[Current assimilation rate: -1%.]

The confidence to surrender her body’s control stemmed from her absolute certainty that she could regain herself at any time.
Baekmokgwi, oblivious to her ploy, ravenously invaded her mind and body.
The sinister yokai energy penetrated her system,
prodding her pathways of internal energy before fully delving into her meridians.

"This energy can be manipulated like internal energy, but its method of operation differs from qi cultivation."

At first, the invading yokai energy mimicked the flow of internal energy,
coursing through her open meridians.
But it soon deviated, infiltrating her cells, muscles, and organs.

"Is this… an attempt to create an energy core?"

An energy core, the crystallized essence of qi formed by spiritual beings over centuries.
Unlike a human’s lower dantian, which cannot grow internal energy by consuming an energy core,
the cores of spiritual beings are dense, crystallized repositories of energy.

"There’s no doubt. This is the formation of an energy core."

During the time she hunted spiritual beings to cure her Nine-Tone Severance Syndrome,
she had amassed extensive knowledge about energy cores—
how they formed, their properties, and their functions.

"An autonomous energy generator. A phenomenon achievable even for martial artists."

By surpassing absolute limits and gathering three cycles’ worth of internal energy,
a martial artist can transcend physical boundaries,
unlocking the path to the upper dantian beyond the middle dantian.
Martial artists at the peak of the Fire Realm harness their upper dantian,
achieving effects similar to the energy core of spiritual beings.

"But the output is weak. Baekmokgwi’s generator is still underdeveloped."

An incomplete energy generator cannot produce any energy.
Even a freshly formed generator has limited output.
The longer a spiritual being lives, the greater the energy it can generate.

"I think I understand Baekmokgwi’s goal."

Yokai, free from the lifespan constraints of humans,
seek to create infinite yokai energy through autonomous generators.
Over time, they increase their maximum energy capacity,
eventually reaching a point where they could contend for dominion over an entire world.

"Baekmokgwi is trying to exploit my upper dantian. The fact that it’s trying means I can also use it."

Her body might reside in a capsule,
but her soul roamed the world of Half-Demon Requiem.
She wielded martial arts and cultivated internal energy here.
Understanding the role of her upper dantian solved many mysteries.

"Baekmokgwi is trying to exploit my upper dantian. The fact that it’s trying means I can also use it."

Although her body lay in a capsule in reality, her soul traversed the world of Half-Demon Requiem.
Here, she wielded martial arts, cultivated internal energy, and engaged in battles.
Her understanding of the upper dantian provided answers to lingering questions.

The upper dantian, once unlocked during her Fire Realm training, had left an indelible mark on her soul.
While her immature physical body in reality lacked the capacity to fully exploit its potential,
her spiritual state in Half-Demon Requiem was unrestricted by such constraints.
The breadth of the upper dantian's pathways determined how much internal energy she could wield.

"Of course, my current body, still far from peak condition, cannot utilize energy beyond its limits without consequences."

If she were at the pinnacle of the Fire Realm,
she could wield infinite internal energy within a fixed output range, surpassing even three cycles.
However, in her current state, merely approaching the First-Class level,
her limitations were still glaring.
Even with access to 20 years’ worth of internal energy,
she lacked the reserves to wield it indiscriminately.
Using it carelessly would lead to overexertion,
drawing upon her vital essence, the core of her life force—
a price no martial artist would willingly pay.

This natural limitation, an instinctive safeguard,
prevented her from exceeding the total internal energy her body could currently handle.

"This restriction... it’s a significant piece of information. By broadening my perspective on output constraints, I can deduce more."

The yokai’s legendary transmissions of power,
the mystical techniques they wield—
she now understood how they were sustained.

"Their energy generator's output, matched with a specific cost, keeps their abilities active indefinitely."

This explained why Baekmokgwi, despite having a hundred eyes each with unique powers,
rarely used all its abilities simultaneously.
Instead, it combined only a select few.

The reason?
The generator’s energy output had its limits.

"Now that I’ve indirectly tapped into their energy source, I can estimate its capacity."

If Baekmokgwi’s generator produced an energy output of 100,
and if it gained complete control over her upper dantian,
its output could soar to a staggering 1,000.

This enhancement would result from the fusion of differing energies and the synergy of adaptation.
Even after accounting for inefficiencies and penalties,
its efficiency would still increase tenfold.

Baekmokgwi wouldn’t just remain a yokai with a hundred eyes.
It could evolve into Thousand-Eyed Gwi,
a transformation akin to growth or evolution.

But before it could complete its energy core transformation,
Ha Eun-eung had already deciphered its secrets.

"I understand the mechanism for generating energy, the method for increasing it, and even the potential for growth. I also understand why my internal energy has been increasing in reality."

The internal energy she had gained came from the essence of yokai power.
When field boss-level yokai had their generators destroyed,
their essence dissipated.

"The system likely purified a fraction of that essence, converting it into usable internal energy for me."

Just as Baekmokgwi lost a significant amount of its strength while attempting to transform her upper dantian into a yokai’s energy core,
Ha Eun-eung also absorbed the essence of defeated yokai,
losing some power in the process of conversion.

Thus, the absolute gain in energy was modest.
Because she lacked the mastery to fully control her upper dantian,
instead of refining it, she resorted to primitive methods of increasing internal energy,
storing it in her lower dantian.

This process explained the peculiar phenomenon she had observed:

"Even just playing the game was increasing my internal energy."

It was merely a byproduct of the system's purification process.

Now.

"Foolish human, bound by sentiment... Until I repay my debt to your foolishness, I won’t let you fall so easily."

Baekmokgwi had recklessly violated her body,
infiltrating it with precious yokai energy in an attempt to transfer its generator.
But it had lost control over its power due to the Boogeyman’s relentless assault.
Forced into a defensive position, Baekmokgwi abandoned its effort to dominate her spirit,
halting the invasion of her body.

This meant...

"The unclaimed energy, the material for the generator, the yokai force trying to harmonize—
it’s now inside me, isn’t it?"

A masterless power had rolled into her possession like a serendipitous fortune.