Chapter 611
Episode 157: Fusion of the Twin Spirits

Ring-ring.

It had been a month since Ban gave that name to the chaos entity who had joined him.

Thanks to becoming the companion creature of the Twin Spirits, Ring-ring naturally earned a sort of mascot status among the Mingwang clan.

“Ring-ring, huh? The name does sound pretty cute,” Jin said, taking a bite of his kakto.

Perched on Ban’s shoulder, Ring-ring immediately bared its fangs.

[So, you’ve got a problem with that, huh!?]

Jin and Ring-ring still bickered frequently. Not out of any real grudge, but just their usual back-and-forth.

“Problem? I just thought it was surprising that the Twin Spirits would prefer such a cute name.”

[Hmph! You mean it’s surprising Ban took me in. You don’t like it, is that it?]

“You always twist things weirdly. I just find it interesting that the Twin Spirits like cute names…”

[You’re the one I don’t like.]

“Oh, really? I’m not exactly fond of you either.”

[You wanna fight!?]

“Both of you, cut it out.”

[Mya-mya!]

Ban and Shuri, who were listening, shook their heads. They’d been watching this same argument between Jin and Ring-ring every time they met for a whole month now.

“Sorry, Twin Spirits.”

[Got it, Ban.]

“And Ring-ring, Jin’s right. Why do you always misunderstand what he says?”

[Why do you always take his side?]

“Because you’re the one at fault.”

[Hmm… If Ban says so, then fine. Sorry?]

Jin shrugged, and Ring-ring stuck close to Ban’s cheek, pouting.

“Jin hasn’t been perfect either. Now that Ring-ring has started living with the clan, there are bound to be some mistakes. So Jin should be more understanding.”

Bleh, bleh! Ring-ring stuck out its tongue and pulled down the skin under its eyes to tease Jin, who swallowed a laugh silently.

Every time it did that, Ban would flick Ring-ring on the forehead.

Snap!

[Oof!]

Ring-ring clutched its forehead for a moment, then rubbed its body against Ban’s cheek again.

‘You really can’t say no to the Twin Spirits. I still can’t believe that creature was once that terrifying chaos… I just can’t get used to it.’

Watching Ban and Ring-ring together was genuinely heartwarming.

“Well then, I think we’ve rested enough. Let’s get back to training.”

Ban and Jin faced each other and sat upright.

Since accepting Ring-ring, they had been practicing the ‘Twin Spirit Fusion’ every day.

Naturally, the fusion was stabilizing much faster than before.

Now, the two could control their ‘synchronization.’ The unexpected fusion that once caused Jin to lose consciousness or Ban to get exhausted was completely gone.

It was all thanks to Ring-ring voluntarily becoming the link between them.

Vwoooom!

As the light from their radiant hearts flared, Ban’s energy began flowing into Jin.

Adding Ban’s power to Jin’s already ten-star energy didn’t produce any dramatic effects.

According to Ban, Jin still couldn’t fully control his own power.

Though his strength had reached ten stars, he lacked the precise control typical of a first-class superhuman, so he couldn’t use it efficiently.

“You need to understand exactly how much power you can handle. Focus.”

“Yes, Twin Spirit.”

Ban’s method was similar to the ‘Insight’ training Luna had once conducted.

Like awakening the third eye, Jin closed his eyes and ‘felt’ his own energy.

It was like swimming through an ocean—forming the sea of power inside his mind and gauging its size.

How far could he go? Where was the limit?

As always, Jin completed the process faster than Ban expected.

When Jin furrowed his brow, Ban smiled with satisfaction.

“Did you find it?”

“Yes. Just as you said, I can clearly feel the boundary at the edge. Beyond it… I see a sea shaped like your power, Twin Spirit. And between us lies a faint black energy.”

The faint black energy belonged to Ring-ring. It served as the channel connecting Jin and Ban’s powers, as well as a kind of safety mechanism.

Ring-ring’s will prevented their energies from mixing excessively.

Without it, problems would arise whenever the Twin Spirit Fusion activated, just like before.

“Now that you’ve reached this point, the control over the fusion is practically complete.”

“…For now, my capacity is still insufficient. Even if I synchronize with you, Twin Spirit, I can’t produce power beyond my own total energy.”

When Ring-ring siphoned off some of his power, Jin felt his entire body fill with Ban’s energy.

Back then, Jin’s capacity was empty, but now it wasn’t. There was no room for Ban’s power to interfere.

Still, the Twin Spirit Fusion was a transcendent martial art for two reasons.

“As long as you’re with me, you’ll never grow tired.”

When the fusion was active, whenever Jin’s energy waned, Ban’s power would fill the gap.

Jin could always maintain his maximum energy.

If the ‘Mirror’ had granted Jin divine magic during the Sword Emperor War, Ban was like an endless source of aura and lightning energy.

But the truly astonishing part was something else.

“Yes, and on top of that, you gain the experience, senses, and even the vision of the Twin Spirit…”

Jin suddenly shivered mid-sentence.

A chill ran down his spine.

He had just precisely sensed the maximum extent of his power, the link with Ring-ring, and beyond that, Ban’s energy.

Thanks to the progress made in just one month, the fusion now exhibited a synchronization rate on a whole new level.

That meant sharing Ban’s experience, senses, and perspective.

Everything she had accumulated as a Twin Spirit was seeping into Jin’s mind.

Like Boras’s Mingwang clan’s smithing memory transfer, Valeria’s record magic, or Solderet’s recording devices for indirect experience.

If those were ‘transmissions,’ what Jin was experiencing now was literal ‘fusion.’

In other words, Jin was practically becoming Ban.

‘This must be what it feels like for a blind man to open his eyes…’

Even the familiar training ground looked completely different.

He could tell which walls were weak, which ground was solid, how the wind flowed in countless ways—he could perceive it all.

It was like becoming a god, observing the world from above. Jin trembled at the sensation.

He could even clearly sense the breathing of the other brothers far outside the training ground.

‘So this is how the Twin Spirits live all the time?’

Jin couldn’t maintain this state for long. The flood of information and sensations was overwhelming, making it hard to even breathe.

The first time the fusion happened, Jin felt reborn. Compared to now, that was nothing.

The light coloring their radiant hearts dimmed. Ban ended the fusion before Jin grew too exhausted.

“Hah.”

Jin wore a dazed expression, as if he had witnessed a miracle no one else could believe.

He barely suppressed a deep sense of regret.

As soon as the fusion ended, the world seemed to return to grayscale.

The earth and wind of the training ground no longer transmitted perfectly, and he couldn’t feel the brothers’ breathing. The godlike sensation vanished like a dream.

“You look pretty shocked, Jin.”

“It’s more than that. Just now, without any effort… I felt like I reached the realm of Creation.”

“That’s not true. You did put in effort. Your own achievements allowed my senses to be transmitted so clearly.”

Just as Jin felt Ban’s senses, Ban also fully experienced Jin’s impressions.

“…That much? You mean that wasn’t all?”

Ban smiled gently and replied,

“Jin, I am a Twin Spirit.”

[Yeah, that’s right! I’m a Twin Spirit! You pathetic fool, you should be honored!]

[Mya, mya-mya?]

Shuri made a sound as if to ask why Ring-ring was so proud, but Jin remained stunned for a while.

He couldn’t get over the fact that what he had just experienced of ‘Ban’ was only a fraction of the whole.

‘How strong are the Twin Spirits, really…?’

Back when they first trained together, the day Jin could spar with Ban, Ban had felt like an immense, towering wall.

And that feeling had never left.

But now, stronger than ever, Ban seemed even more distant.

“You will enter the same realm as I have. If you couldn’t, you wouldn’t have been able to accept my senses at all.”

Ban never spoke empty words. Jin nodded silently. He didn’t know when, but if she said so, it meant he could reach it.

“The sensations may have faded, but the memories remain, Jin.”

“Yes, Twin Spirit.”

Even though the world seemed to have returned to grayscale, the sensations from the fusion remained vivid in Jin’s memory.

“I will use those sensations to guide your training. In other words, you will learn to fight like me. We will also work on extending the fusion’s duration.”

There was no training in the world that could help him grow faster. Jin was certain of that.

[If you want to extend the fusion time, you’d better stay on my good side.]

“Oh, Ring-ring.”

[Hing.]

“When your progress reaches a certain level, you’ll start sparring with the Twin Kings again. Your first opponent will be the Twelfth Twin King.”

The Twelfth Twin King, Teto. Ban chose him as Jin’s first opponent because he was the weakest among the Twin Kings.

Half of them were expecting Jin to take down the two kings one by one, ranked by their combat strength.

“Understood.”