Chapter 22
The power of the Dominance Sword was truly formidable.
And the trainees who had witnessed it firsthand were left slack-jawed and staring into empty air.
The Senior Instructor drove his sword into the floor to pull the trainees' attention back to him.
"Focus. Before I put every last one of you down in a single blow."
At his chilling warning, all eyes snapped to him.
Unlike the trainees, who tensed at the instructor's continuing explanation, Feyr thought with a composed expression.
‘The Dominance Sword, at that......’
True to a Principle that pursued raw strength, it was the one most widely cultivated within the Family.
Power had the most direct relationship with being strong, so that made sense.
But.
‘The greater the excess of strength, the weaker one becos.’
The Soft Overcos the Hard.
As the saying goes—the soft overcos the strong—so the Dominance Sword is weak against the Yielding Sword.
The Yielding Sword is weak against the Swift Sword, and the Swift Sword is weak against the Shift Sword.
Just like this, even within the Principles of the Sword, there existed mutual affinities and counters.
Then couldn't one simply master all the Principles?
That is close to impossible.
Just as water and oil cannot mix, Principles of differing natures are essentially impossible to combine.
Even Azazel, the Family Head who stands at the pinnacle of the strongest, has not mastered all the Principles—that alone shows just how difficult it is.
‘Because of that, the established consensus has long settled that one person masters only a single Principle.’
For the average person, that is the most efficient approach.
Then in his past life, how many Principles did Feyr—a peerless genius to rival even Azazel—master?
The answer: all 4.
In his past life, Feyr had acquired all the Principles when he reached the realm of Master.
Of course, since he only ever used the Dominance Sword in front of others, no one else would have known.
The Senior Instructor, who had been continuing his explanation, stepped down from the platform as if he had finished.
Then instructors who had each mastered a different Principle took turns stepping forward to demonstrate the remaining 3 Principles, and the Senior Instructor stepped back up onto the platform and said.
"With that, the demonstration is complete. Now we move into the training to awaken the Principles."
The training content was simple.
For the Swift Sword, one needed to cleanly cut down a training Wooden Dummy with a wooden sword. For the Shift Sword, one needed to produce 2 afterimages with a single slash.
For the Dominance Sword, one needed to split a boulder with a wooden sword. For the Yielding Sword, one needed to deflect all incoming arrows in flight.
By repeatedly practicing and mastering these, the mont would eventually co when one awakened the Principle suited to them.
And so in practice, the training to awaken the Principles was nothing more than monotonous, grinding repetition.
‘Still, the training here is on the humane side.’
When awakening the Principles at the Lunar Eclipse Training Ground, one did it by sparring endlessly against fellow trainees.
In contrast, here it was done through structured training drills—how much more humane a thod.
‘In any case, which Principle should I show.’
The Principle he would primarily use was, naturally, the Dominance Sword.
But he intended to show 1 additional Principle alongside it.
Showing up to 2 Principles wouldn't be that excessive.
‘Though if I showed that I can use all of them, it would cause an uproar.’
Revealing all 4 Principles was far too excessive.
Even the Family Head had only achieved 3 Principles at best—what would happen if a re trainee were said to have awakened every one of them?
And so Feyr intended to reveal only 2 Principles in front of others.
The mont Feyr was thinking this, the Senior Instructor, having finished his explanation, announced the start of training.
"For training, proceed by going to the instructor in charge of each Principle. That is all for the explanation."
At the word that there would be no further explanation, the trainees split off one by one and began their training.
Feyr too began to move, just like the other trainees.
And where he headed was before the instructor teaching the Dominance Sword—Colin.
In front of Colin sat a boulder so large that wrapping both arms around it wouldn't even be enough to encircle it.
A boulder that looked solid even at a glance.
A boulder that looked like it wouldn't shatter even if struck with a hamr, let alone a wooden sword.
The trainees swallowed hard at the sight of it.
Colin looked at the trainees who had co before him and said.
"Line up."
It was a short utterance, but the weight it carried was considerable.
At Colin's words, the trainees hastily lined up in a single file and began conducting training.
Tak! Taak!
From the Dominance Sword training area, only the sounds of wooden swords striking the solid boulder could be heard.
Even after more than an hour had passed, not a single person had shown any achievent.
"Is this even possible?"
"Can you really split a boulder with a wooden sword......."
"This just makes no sense......."
The trainees' complaints began leaking out one by one.
Colin, watching their state, simply shook his head and let out a sigh.
‘Trying to master a Principle in just a few attempts...... how can they be this foolish.’
A Principle is not sothing that can be obtained in a single day.
It is a realm of attainnt that can only be realized through relentless swinging of the sword and constant striving.
In other words, it is the product of effort.
‘And yet they try to acquire that in a single day...... no, in just a few hours.’
What audacity.
The Beginner Class trainees of this intake were truly a foolish lot.
Right as Colin was deep in his disappointnt at the trainees' level—
Feyr, whose turn had finally co, stepped up before Colin and asked.
"May I go right ahead?"
At such an audacious question, Colin looked down at Feyr.
‘This one is.......’
Wasn't this the one who had skipped from the Lunar Eclipse Training Ground?
The Prodigy who had defeated the youngest young master of the Family and single-handedly subjugated the lord of Mount Levelheim.
‘Feyr, was it.......’
Looks ordinary enough......
Thinking that, Colin looked Feyr over.
The mont Colin's eyes t Feyr's—
Flinch!
Colin's brow involuntarily twitched and shook.
Why?
Even asking himself that, he couldn't say.
It simply felt as if a jolt had run through his mind.
‘And all I did was make eye contact with a trainee.......’
Was it just his imagination?
Colin swallowed a hollow breath and decided it must be that.
Because if it wasn't—even at the entry level, it would an a 5th Star Tier swordsman had been dominated at the first exchange by a re 13-year-old kid.
Pulling himself together, Colin began once more the explanation he had already given dozens of tis, in response to Feyr's question.
"Strike the boulder with the wooden sword and shatter it."
"Understood."
That was what he said, but in truth, breaking this boulder was impossible.
This was not a boulder—it was a magical chanism in the shape of a boulder.
‘There's no way it could be broken with a re wooden sword.’
To truly break it with a wooden sword, one would need to apply the Principle of the Dominance Sword, or a force equivalent to it.
Just as Colin was thinking that to himself—
Feyr naturally lowered his stance.
Then, crouching low with the sword brought to his hip, he asked Colin.
"May Mana be used?"
At Feyr's question, Colin let out a low murmur.
Not a single person had ever tried to use Mana before.
And so he established a clear standard from this point onward.
"As long as you do not channel Mana into the sword, I will permit it."
"Understood."
With Colin's permission given, Feyr imdiately circulated his Mana Rings.
As Mana began spreading throughout his entire body, a faint heat rose from Feyr's form.
‘What on earth is this one......?’
His astonishnt at Feyr's Mana manipulation lasted only a mont.
Hooong—!
A wooden sword swung, tearing through the air.
In the blink of an eye, the wooden sword Feyr had swung ca hurtling toward the boulder.
Kwaaang—!!
The boulder shattered to pieces with an enormous boom.
No—to be precise, the magical chanism that had taken the shape of a boulder was smashed to pieces.
Within the haze that rose from it, Colin retrieved the Core of the magical chanism.
‘What the.......’
He actually broke it?
As the haze cleared, Feyr's figure ca into view.
The wooden sword he had been holding had not withstood the single strike and was shattered, with only the handle remaining.
"Does this count as passing the training?"
The primary training of the Dominance Sword was to cleave the boulder with the wooden sword.
He had gone beyond rely cleaving it and had blown it to pieces entirely—so far from rely passing, it would be fair to say he had already completed it.
‘On top of that, it wasn't even a boulder.’
Feyr glanced over at the boulder's remains behind Colin and thought.
From the start, sothing had felt off.
It looked far too solid to be a real boulder.
And so from the beginning he had wondered.
Was it right to break it?
‘But if I didn't break it, I'd just keep hitting this thing forever.’
In that case, it was better to smash it and move on sowhere else.
It would be far better than wasting ti here indefinitely.
And so he had conclusively smashed it.
The problem was that the commotion seed to have grown larger than expected.
"What's this commotion?"
The Senior Instructor, who had left his post upon hearing the boom just monts ago, returned in a hurry.
"Ah, Senior Instructor."
"What is all this commotion?"
"Well...... during Dominance Sword training, a trainee broke the boulder."
"What?"
The Senior Instructor stared at Colin with an expression of disbelief.
And no wonder—the instructors among themselves all knew full well that this was an impossible task.
Yet here was a madman who had actually done it.
This was beyond comprehension—it was to the point of being awe-inspiring, wondering just how it had been done.
Just as the Senior Instructor was staring blankly at Colin with a dumbstruck expression—
"Oh wow...... shattering that thick boulder with a wooden sword?"
"H—Head Instructor?!"
Through the haze that had not yet cleared, Lowell's figure could be seen strolling up leisurely.
At his appearance, the instructors in the Indoor Training Hall saluted in unison, and all the trainees went down on one knee and bowed their heads.
Lowell waved a hand as if to say it was fine and spoke.
"Ah, co on. I keep telling you not to do this."
Unlike Lowell, who spoke with a playful grin, the faces of everyone present were visibly tense.
And rightly so.
‘That man...... he has perfected the art of making people's lives miserable.’
In his normal state he was always soaked in his lazy, can't-be-bothered attitude, yet whenever he was trying to catch soone off guard, he perked up like this.
And by instinct, the person he was trying to catch off guard was......
‘.’
The intuition seed correct, as Lowell ca to a stop in front of Feyr.
"Feyr. You're the one who did it?"
"If you an breaking the boulder, yes, that was ."
"Ha—as expected. That's the ability of soone who skipped all the way from the Lunar Eclipse. Never a disappointnt."
At Lowell's words, the other instructors glanced at each other, reading the room.
What on earth was that man up to.
But that curiosity was soon to be resolved.
"But then, doesn't that an Feyr no longer needs to do the training on the Principles of the Sword?"
"Pardon?"
The Senior Instructor answered without thinking, in response to Lowell's words.
And the Senior Instructor wasn't the only one who spoke up at that.
"What do you an by that......?"
Feyr too voiced his doubt at Lowell's words.
And rightly so—if that man was saying it like that, there was surely sothing behind it.
Lowell chuckled and answered the doubts of both.
"I an, think about it. If you cleaved a boulder with a wooden sword, that ans you have a talent for the Dominance Sword, right? Then you don't need to do the other training—it's practically the sa."
"That...... is true, but."
The Senior Instructor agreed that Lowell's words were correct.
But Feyr's opinion differed.
"Can't the Principles of the Sword be mastered in multiples?"
When Feyr said that, the Senior Instructor looked over with an expression of shock.
But Feyr had no intention of yielding.
Because he knew Lowell's personality.
"......What?"
Lowell's expression soured at Feyr's words.
It wasn't for any particular reason.
It was because he had challenged what Lowell had said.
"......Ha, ha ha. Interesting. Prove it."
Feyr knew Lowell's personality.
And that was precisely this: he despised losing.
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