Chapter 52: Dream
Three weeks before Cain Manus ca looking for .
I left everything in Seah’s hands and ‘slipped away.’
No, it would have been more accurate to say I was ‘as if possessed.’
By the ti I ca to my senses, I was already heading toward the training grounds.
My mind was filled with just one thought.
‘Rebirth of the Flesh.’
In truth, the battle with Haarun had dealt a huge shock.
It felt as if I had briefly glimpsed the world beyond the well.
Honestly, I hadn’t thought Haarun, who only used modern Aura Swordsmanship, would be that strong.
‘I’ve been neglecting the potential of Aura Swordsmanship all this ti.’
Intoxicated by the thrill of Ancient Swordsmanship, I had overlooked another path to move forward.
‘...I thought that by now, not even a Grandmaster would be my match. That was a huge mistake.’
Against Haarun, who wasn’t even a Grandmaster...
I almost lost.
That was how deep an impression Haarun’s martial might had left on .
Strength naturally welled up in the hand gripping my sword hilt.
I wanted to swing my sword, even for a mont, as soon as possible.
“Teacher!”
As I quickened my steps, a little kid playing with dirt called out to stop .
“Huh? Seon?”
Six years old. Seon.
The youngest of our family.
He brushed off his hands and looked up at .
“Teacher! But what’s a dream?”
“Hm?”
“What’s a dream?”
It was an ambiguous question.
Was he asking what my dream was, or was he asking about the aning of the word itself...?
“Well, I asked Daisy noona and Seklan hyung to play with , but Daisy noona said they’re chasing dreams? So they’re busy. But what’s a dream?”
“Ah... A dream, huh.”
For a mont, words failed .
A dream...?
It was surprisingly hard to explain this word.
“Mm... Let’s see. Sothing you desperately want to do. Sothing you want to beco. That’s what a dream is. For starters, at least.”
“Oh! I get it! Like when I want to eat roasted pork belly for dinner tonight! That kind of thing?”
“Ah? Um...”
Sothing a bit bigger than that...
Right.
“Seon, what kind of person do you want to be when you grow up? Or sothing you want to do?”
“? Umm... Mama. I want to et Mama!”
“...”
Ha....
Your mother is already....
Ha....
I swallowed down the lump rising in my throat and lifted Seon into my arms.
“Seon.”
“Yeah?”
“For dinner. Do you want roasted pork belly?”
“Yeah!”
“Got it.”
I patted his head and set him down.
It weighed on my mind, but still, right now I had to do what I must.
Seon had his own path. I had mine.
That was the kind of relationship our family had.
In the end, each of us carried our share on our own... and endured this far.
After parting ways with Seon, I continued on toward the training grounds.
In front of the training grounds.
I spotted one of the Lord’s Keep’s maids and called out.
“Hey.”
“Eek! Y-yes! Yes, Mayor!”
Mayor?
So that’s the kind of title they used here in Kinalo City. We had always just used ‘Count.’
Anyway.
“Go tell the head chef to prepare roasted pork belly for tonight’s dinner.”
“Y-yes! Understood!”
The maid, overly tense, scurried away in quick, tiny steps.
What did I even do to make her act like that...? I wondered, but then thought—this was a city that had been conquered twice in just a short span of ti. That realization made it easier to accept.
‘It’ll get better with ti. For now, training.’
With dinner already settled, I quickened my pace and entered the training grounds.
There were already guests inside.
Daisy, with her red hair, and Seklan, with his blue hair, were sweating profusely as they clashed in a fierce spar.
One unusual thing was that Daisy was endlessly shouting in anger.
“Seriously! How! Is this! Even fair!”
Seklan calmly deflected Daisy’s attacks while trying to soothe her heated temper.
“You know. He was just worried about us! That’s all.”
Clang! Kaaang!
Sparks flew non-stop between them.
The mingling scent of heated sweat, iron, and earth gave the training grounds an atmosphere uniquely its own.
“Worried?! Ha! So what you’re saying! Is that I was left out! Because I was weak!”
“Honestly... we really are...! Weak, aren’t we?”
“That’s what pisses off the most!! I can do it! I can do it, I said! But nobody listens to !”
Kaaaang.
Listening for a while, I understood.
The root of Daisy’s frustration.
‘She’s sulking because she wasn’t taken to the war.’
But there was no helping it.
The ones who died the most in war were the ‘young’ low-grade Experts.
Strong, but not yet fully matured.
Which was why they could still die at the hands of seasoned elite warriors.
Of course, minimizing such losses was the art of strategy, but even so, Daisy and Seklan couldn’t be risked.
Even in the worst case—
No. Absolutely not.
So I decided to simply ignore Daisy’s complaints.
‘Training it is.’
The training grounds were spacious, so I moved far to the other side and assud my stance.
I quickly sank into thought.
‘Uncle Burson once said this. The conditions for Rebirth are abundant Aura and perfect Aura Mastery.’
Though not a Swordmaster himself, as Captain of the Royal Guard, Burson was an expert more well-versed in Aura theory than anyone.
What he had taught could not be wrong.
An aura that filled the body to overflowing.
If I didn’t let it escape and bound it tightly throughout my entire body, then at so point the Aura would begin expanding the vessel of the body itself.
That was Rebirth of the Flesh.
‘I’m not worried about Aura Mastery. The problem is the absolute amount of Aura.’
Right now, the amount of Aura I had was far below even the average Swordmaster.
There was nothing I could do about it.
Too much ti had passed while my Aura had been shattered.
If I started diligently cultivating the Iron Heart thod from now on, at best I might be able to attempt Rebirth of the Flesh in five years.
Even with Banroa’s royal secret art, the Peak-grade Aura thod known as Iron Heart, it would still take that long.
‘But… I think I can shorten that ti.’
Wuuuung—
Banroa resonated in my hand.
Even without moving any Aura, faint heat shimred from the blade.
That transparent haze unmistakably carried traces of Aura.
‘Sword Energy draws in mana, and even forges Aura.’
I had seen it, experienced it, and practiced it myself.
In the end, mana was guided by pure will.
And the Sword Energy released by a Sword Spirit was the purest will of all—devoted only to the single purpose of ‘cutting.’
When Sword Energy flared, mana in the air was drawn in, compressed, and eventually condensed into Aura with tangible force.
Of course, it was only a paltry amount of Aura.
After all, the cutting power of the Sword Energy itself ca first, and the Aura it produced rely played a supporting role.
But I was thinking of using it—
—in a different way.
The idea was simple.
If I could absorb the Aura created by my sword?
Wouldn’t I be able to drastically shorten the ti it would take to reach Rebirth?
‘In a way, the sword is doing cultivation for , isn’t it?’
The only problem was that the Aura born from Sword Energy was clearly different from the Aura of Iron Heart.
First of all—
It was transparent.
The Aura born from Sword Energy had no color.
Should I call it primordial Aura?
Compared to the deep blue Aura born from Iron Heart, or the faded golden Aura Haarun had wielded, this was weak and utterly lacking in character.
‘If I absorbed it as is, it would clash with Iron Heart’s Aura and shatter.’
But I thought there was a way.
What surfaced in my mind was a low, steadfast voice.
‘Master once said this.’
Grand Duke Laitena Celsius.
The one who had guided to the Stage of Sword Support had told this:
[Sword Support ans that the sword becos a part of you.]
Yes. Banroa was already a part of .
It read my heart and made decisions truer to myself than I could.
[It isn’t because you command it, but because the sword has beco part of you that it moves on its own.]
Banroa was already like my heart or my stomach—part of , moving on its own.
That was why—
[Though the Stage of Sword Support is categorized separately, in the end it is nothing but the process of advancing toward ‘Unity of Sword and Self.’]
In a way, I had already stepped into the realm of ‘Unity of Sword and Self.’
And if that was true—
‘If the sword and I are truly one... then why shouldn’t Banroa be able to cultivate Iron Heart?’
I believed.
Though I had no certainty at all.
I chose to believe.
That the sword and I could truly be one.
Wuuung— Wuuuuung—
Aura trembled in the air, traced by Banroa as it cut through the void along with my outstretched hand.
At tis my hand moved first, at others Banroa led the way.
Looking closely—
Yes. On the path I ant to walk, Banroa was already there.
Was it that the sword moved on its own?
Or was it that I guided the sword?
Did such a distinction matter in the first place?
Whoosh— Fwoong—
I swung without pause. No, I danced. Together with Banroa.
In the fading scenery around , familiar faces appeared and disappeared.
“...What the. When did that uncle get here?”
“First you call him oppa, then uncle.... Which is it supposed to be?”
“It’s whatever I feel like, okay?”
Daisy and Seklan noticed , lingered nearby for a bit, then vanished.
“Well, well.... I was wondering where you’d gone.”
“...Noona, let’s just leave.”
“Leave? Where are we going?”
“Ugh!”
Katrina and Varen looked my way, then found spots of their own to begin training.
“Oh? Lord Rivera, you ca out too?”
“...If I stay alone, I feel like I’ll just get beaten more later, so I ca out.”
“Sounds about right. If you skip this, His Highness Ransen will probably drag you into a special training session instead.”
“...That’s terrifying.”
“...Truly terrifying.”
Rivera and Zaltran passed by as well.
Luccrancer, Catch, Seah, Mika, Gepetto... one after another, they ca, glanced my way, and then started their own practice off to the side.
But not once did I stop.
I kept dancing.
Even the sounds around slowly drifted away.
“...How long’s he going to keep this up?”
“...Wait, don’t tell we have to stay here like this until he finishes training?”
“It’s already been two days.... This is too much.”
“Jealous of Seah. She gets to skip out, saying she’s tied up with paperwork.”
It all receded further and further.
Only Banroa and I remained, dancing.
“Oppa, you’re still at it?”
“Katrina noona’s going to collapse at this rate....”
“Seriously, why is that unni competing even in sothing like this?”
“...Huh?!”
“What?”
“Right now... over there...!”
“Uh...?”
“Aura??”
“What is that!?”
The murmurs of my younger siblings grew faint.
I could no longer hear them.
And what remained was not ,
not Banroa,
but nothing more than a single ‘dance.’
* * *
At so point, every gaze in the training grounds turned toward Ransen.
Wuuuuung—!
Wuuuuung—!
Banroa rang out like a mighty bronze bell, and in ti with that resonance, dark blue Aura breathed in and out.
What was so surprising about Aura forming on a Swordmaster’s blade?
But when the Aura swelled to that scale, the story beca sothing else entirely.
Aura kept writhing and flowing, moving in rhythm with Banroa.
At tis, it gathered, like a whale. At tis, it scattered, like a storm.
Like a sudden downpour, like the long dragon believed in by the Easterners, like a deep lake—
Aura.
It swelled endlessly, flowing between Ransen and Banroa.
“What... what is that? It’s terrifying....”
Even Katrina, who until the end had been training alone, could not help but turn her gaze toward Ransen.
She said it was terrifying. But in truth, the emotion carved into her face was ‘awe.’
It was clear.
That imnse Aura was being drawn endlessly into Ransen’s body.
Aura that would take months—perhaps even years—to cultivate, he was swallowing in a single breath.
And still, his body did not burst apart. His Aura Mastery was nothing short of astonishing.
Katrina, watching in a daze, suddenly clenched her teeth with a snap.
“Are we just going to stand here and watch?!”
She turned her back.
She gripped her sword hilt even tighter.
“That! That’s the swordsmanship Ransen oppa taught us! He’s just applying it!”
The dazed gazes of the others shifted toward Katrina.
“We can do it too!”
Whooosh!
Katrina swung her sword.
She thought only of one thing.
‘Listen to the sword’s voice (Stage of Reading the Sword). And after that... gradually amplify the sword’s voice, and finally accept the sword’s will into your body (Stage of Body-Sword)!’
Just as Ransen had taught.
On her blade, where an orange Sword Aura glimred, faint Sword Energy flickered.
The ancient Sword Energy that had saved her life in the fight against the Swordmaster Barkan.
She now sought to take the next step.
* * *
Even as everyone else followed Katrina and resud their training, Daisy stood frozen in place.
So did her friend of the sa age, Seklan.
“....”
“....”
Seklan, 178 cm.
Daisy, 167 cm.
The two stood side by side, staring at Ransen.
“He’s beautiful.... our oppa....”
Daisy murmured, but her gaze was not fixed on the imnse Aura.
What held her eyes was Ransen’s dance.
The sword and man as one—
Sword Dance.
She could not look away.
As if the sword had beco his partner.
Dancing together.
Suddenly, Daisy lowered her eyes to her own sword.
“...Could I treat my sword like that?”
Perhaps,
just perhaps, she could.
Like her older siblings, who always ignored her and swung their swords however they pleased. Hadn’t she also been wielding her own sword recklessly, however she pleased?
Slowly, Daisy took her stance.
Carefully.
Listening intently to the sword’s voice, just as Ransen had emphasized.
And beside her, Seklan moved his body as if he were her mirror.
He was thinking sothing a little different from Daisy.
‘The sword... it feels like it’s calling .’
Woong—
Wuuung—
A faint vibration, barely audible, traveled up through the sword hilt.
It felt as if it were speaking to him.
‘You can do it too.’
‘It’s okay to want more.’
He wasn’t of Banroa’s bloodline, but just an ordinary orphan who had once drifted about in Kushan City.
Though he lived like family with his hyungs and noonas, inevitably, he had always been a little cautious, always standing just a step aside.
Squeeze!
But now, strength surged into Seklan’s grip on the sword hilt—an intent he had never held before.
And watching this entire scene was a child.
Six years old.
Seon.
In his eyes, the training grounds shimred with dazzling colors.
With Ransen’s vast, deep-blue Aura as the backdrop, the Auras of his brothers and sisters each blood in their own hues....
“Woaa....”
Seon let out a breath, overco by a feeling he had never known before.
“So beautiful....”
There are mories like that.
mories that cannot ever be forgotten, even if you see them just once.
This very mont was etched into Seon’s heart as just such a mory.
He didn’t even think about roasted pork belly anymore—
It was that perfect of a mont.
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