Chapter 139: Long Live the Sun (2) (1/2)

Landius chapters are long chapters. Anyway, the next chapter will be delayed again because I have to attend my school’s zoom meeting today, mostly to talk about our graduation that has been delayed for almost a year due to the pandemic. Though I’m not that bothered by the delay because this is already my second degree and I have experienced graduating once. I’m a registered nurse who somehow became an IT student, hahaha.

Terms used in this chapter:

Dantian – aka energy center, it is where the Qi energy is stored and controlled. There are three dantians in the body: the lower, middle, and the upper dantians.

Jude opened his eyes.

His mind was blank at first.

He felt like he slept soundly without even dreaming.

“Ah.”

Jude said in a daze as he blinked his eyes.

The things he could see in his blurry vision gradually became clearer.

The Temple of Life.

And Jude realized something.

‘I’m hungry.’

He was extremely and seriously hungry.

Once he realized that he was really hungry, he couldn’t think of anything else.

He felt like his stomach- no, all the cells in his body were demanding for nutrition.

‘I’m hungry.’

I’m seriously hungry.

I think I can eat anything in front of me.

But it was at that moment.

“Jude?”

Jude came to his senses when he heard the pleasant-sounding voice and then turned his head. He saw Cordelia’s red and flowing long hair and her fair-skinned face looking down at him.

“Cordelia?”

Cordelia brightly smiled when Jude barely squeezed out his voice, but she soon became teary-eyed.

“Does it hurt? Are you okay? Landius-nim!”

Cordelia loudly cried and tried to turn around, but she couldn’t.

Because Jude had reflexively grabbed Cordelia’s wrist.

“Ouch! Jude?”

His strength was crushing.

Cordelia screamed again when she tried to get up but fell on her butt. Because she felt like her wrist held by Jude would be broken.

“It hurts! It hurts!”

“Huh?”

Jude automatically released his grip when Cordelia screamed in pain.

There was a hand-shaped red mark on Cordelia’s wrist even though he had held it briefly.

“Hey! Are you crazy?!”

Cordelia rebuked him, but it was only for a moment. Because she noticed that Jude didn’t look normal.

‘His eyes are sunken!’

It wasn’t just his eyes. The metamorphosis had made his already fair complexion better, but he looked really tired and exhausted.

Why?

What happened?

“Because he grew up.”

Cordelia flinched and then turned around when she suddenly heard the voice behind her.

Landius passed by Cordelia and stood in front of Jude. He then sat down and said.

“Girl, what about the one I asked you to prepare earlier?”

“It’s ready. I’ll bring it.”

Cordelia quickly got up and ran while Jude’s gaze naturally followed Cordelia’s back.

Landius unwittingly smiled at Jude’s look.

‘He’s probably not sane because of hunger…or is this the power of love?’

It was both a misunderstanding and not, but anyway, the pleased Landius opened his mouth again.

“Disciple. First of all, do you recognize me?”

“Ma…master?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Jude’s gaze that was chasing after Cordelia’s back then turned to Landius.

Landius spoke in a loud voice so that Cordelia could hear it too.

“You’re in a state of incredible hunger now. It’s because you’ve grown as I said earlier.”

“I…grew up?”

“Yes. You grew taller, so you also got bigger. The metamorphosis itself consumed an enormous amount of energy… so it was natural for your body to scream for food now that you had grown up to that height.”

“Ah! So that was it!”

That exclamation was from Cordelia.

She ran back and sat next to Landius while holding a large container that had an unknown murky gray liquid inside.

“Sit up. And drink this.”

Jude slowly raised his body at Landius’ order and took the container from Cordelia with an inquiring look.

“Drink…this?”

“Yes, it will fill you up with the nutrition that you’re lacking at once.”

As Landius grinned and Cordelia awkwardly smiled, Jude looked inside the container again.

A gray liquid.

The unidentified drink seemed to be made by grinding several miscellaneous ingredients.

‘Is this like a…protein drink?’

Something one drank when they workout.

“Hurry up and drink it. Quick.”

At Landius’ urging, Jude turned to Cordelia again who somehow avoided his gaze.

‘What…what’s in it?’

‘Cordelia doesn’t know anything.’

Jude felt anxious again, but it was Landius’ order and he was also very hungry.

He gave them the benefit of the doubt and began to drink the contents of the container big enough that he had to hold it with both hands.

Glug.

Glug.

Glug.

Cordelia unconsciously gulped as she watched Jude in nervousness, while Landius happily smiled.

“How is it, can you feel yourself being filled with nutrients?”

Jude continued to drink instead of answering.

And he gulped it again.

After he finally emptied the contents, Jude gasped as soon as he lowered the container.

“Ugh.”

He somehow made a contradictory expression of pain and joy.

“Are you okay?”

Cordelia asked in a small voice, and Jude forced himself to smile.

It seriously tasted terrible, but he was so hungry that he couldn’t stop drinking.

Moreover, he felt crazy at the fact that he was still hungry to the point that he wanted to drink more of that.

“The medicinal effects are kicking in. Girl, bring some more.”

“Eh…yes.”

When Cordelia scampered to someplace again, Landius gave an explanation.

“It’s a special drink that I consume when I exercise. I taught the girl on how to make it, so make sure to drink it from time to time.”

“Umm…yes…”

I have to drink more of that?

At the time when Jude broke into a cold sweat again…

“Here.”

Cordelia handed him a second container, and Jude gulped and swallowed the gray liquid again.

“Kuuggh…”

Jude cleanly emptied the container again and he breathed out as if he could finally live.

He felt like he had drank nearly 4 liters in total.

“Excessive loss of one’s life force can lead to muscle loss. So now that you’ve been nourished, don’t forget to train before going to bed.”

At Landius’ words, Cordelia shifted her gaze while Jude remained silent and avoided answering, but Landius did not let it go.

He looked at Jude with a steady gaze so Jude eventually had no choice but to answer that he would do so.

“Anyway, congratulations on your metamorphosis, my disciple.”

Jude looked at himself upon hearing Landius.

Metamorphosis.

The act of literally replacing one’s bones and changing one’s skin.

A reconstruction of the body.

‘It’s real.’

His body changed.

It was not an exaggeration to say that he had become a completely different person.

He was sitting down, but he could tell that he had grown taller. His body, which had been in a bit of a mess because of the sudden growth and increase of his muscles, was now completely balanced. His muscles had also become shapelier and was functionally reconstructed.

“Your appearance is not the only thing that has changed.”

Jude agreed with him.

The circulation of his Qi energy was corrected.

His meridians that had been obstructed by his Gueumjulmaek were already beyond the level of being cleared as his entire body felt completely new.

It was faster.

It was smoother.

He could now easily circulate the energy of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors, but Jude was surprised once again.

‘Middle dantian.’

The second dantian was located in his solar plexus.

The energy of Ninth Heaven’s Nine Doors had always been stored in his lower dantian until now, but he had newly created a middle dantian.

If one compared it to cars, one could say that he now had two engines.

“You seem to have felt the change yourself.”

Landius happily laughed and turned to Cordelia who was nodding her head with a red face.

‘Oh my gosh. Please cover yourself!’

Jude’s lower body was covered with a blanket, but he was still naked above his waist.

His immaculately clear and milky white skin was reminiscent of a Greek statue, but his muscles weren’t that excessive.

And…

‘Oh my gosh!’

Cordelia quickly shook her head and raised her head to see Jude’s face, but her mind had already begun to recall the past.

Right after Jude completed his metamorphosis.

She was so happy that Jude was back that she didn’t have time to be embarrassed about something.

‘Euaaaah! This lewd demon! Get out! Disappear!’

Cordelia had not actually seen it properly. So it was all just her delusion.

As Cordelia struggled with her own thoughts, Jude raised his head to face Landius.

“Thank you very much, master.”

“No, you are my disciple. It’s natural for a master to take care of his disciple. And if you are grateful, thank the girl more than me. If it wasn’t for the girl, you wouldn’t have regained consciousness no matter what I did.”

Landius chuckled and slapped Cordelia’s back with his palm, and Cordelia involuntarily screamed and lifted her head.

“Cordelia.”

“Y-yes, Jude.”

It was really sudden, so she was a bit embarrassed to face Jude.

But this time, she wasn’t embarrassed because she remembered something like Jude’s naked body.

‘It feels like he became an adult.’

In the process of his metamorphosis, Jude’s height grew, and his height was now in the early 180s.

But it wasn’t just his height that grew as his build itself felt more manly. His shoulders broadened too.

‘His face too.’

She had a troubled expression because he had become an adult. She felt like he could no longer be called a boy as it seemed like she might unconsciously call him ‘oppa’ now.

“Cordelia?”

“Yes? Uh. Yes. Ahem, ahem.”

Cordelia calmed herself by clearing her throat as she haughtily spoke to hide her embarrassment.

“Anyway, like your master said. You should be thankful to me. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Madam. I understand.”

As Jude responded like usual, Cordelia widely smiled without realizing it.

She felt a little uncomfortable because of his changed appearance, but one way or another, she could ascertain that he was Jude.