Becoming a Swordmast Chapter 17 : Chapter 17

Chapter 17:

“Do you believe?”(2)

The effect was certain.

The proof was that he could feel the change in his aura every morning for three days without fail.

Because of that, Chevalier had no choice but to believe in Roden's thod.

It was not just a matter of simply believing.

He practically worshipped this thod.

It was only natural, as he felt himself growing stronger day by day.

And so, Chevalier forgot that he had decided to train according to Roden’s thod for just three days.

Completely engrossed in this thod, he trained using only this thod.

At the sa ti, he realized why Roden trained without resting even on weekends.

With tangible results visible every day, he couldn't possibly stop training.

The training he had forced himself to do out of a sense of duty suddenly felt enjoyable.

Above all, since he was getting a full nine hours of sleep a day, he didn't feel tired at all even after intense personal training on the weekends.

‘It’s a truly effective thod. And the Platoon Leader who developed this thod is….’

A genius.

He was a genius.

It was impossible to describe him with any other word.

Because he hadn't thought that one's intellectual ability would improve just by reading books indiscriminately,

and because he had been half in doubt about the thod Roden had found,

he had no choice but to evaluate him this way even more.

That Roden was a genius.

‘After all, it would be impossible to find such a thod without an innate intellectual ability.’

Like this, Chevalier was completely fascinated by Roden's thod.

At the sa ti, he began to evaluate the person nad Roden differently.

For Chevalier, he had no other choice.

It was because it was no different from being taught a genius thod that could have been

monopolized, for almost nothing in return.

Of course, it wasn't that there was truly nothing in return.

Roden had certainly asked to be treated like a moron in exchange for teaching this thod.

But for Chevalier, this was a promise that wasn't much of a burden.

Yet, to be taught such an amazing thod in return for keeping such a promise.

‘The Platoon Leader seems to be a man of greater caliber than I thought.’

Chevalier had no choice but to evaluate him this way.

Co to think of it, there was a profound reason hidden in Roden's request to be treated like a moron.

‘The more I know him, the more mysterious a person he is.’

Chevalier organized his thoughts and briefly glanced toward Roden, who was engrossed in massaging.

And everyone present witnessed this side of Chevalier.

***

The recent interest of the 3rd Infantry Platoon was all directed towards Roden and Chevalier.

The 3rd Infantry Platoon had always been interested.

In Roden's strange behavior.

Drinking alcohol, while annoying, was at least understandable.

He must really like to drink.

That was all they needed to think.

But Roden's recent behavior was not within the realm of understanding.

So, after wondering why, they ca to their own conclusion.

That Roden had clearly beco a different kind of moron.

That perhaps he had beco an even bigger moron.

But now, Chevalier had begun to join in this strange behavior.

For that reason, the 3rd Infantry Platoon couldn't help but be flustered.

Because they started to think that sothing must have gone wrong in the head of even Chevalier, whom they had trusted.

Moreover, Chevalier, who for the first few days seed aware that he was behaving strangely, gradually beca more shaless.

Eventually, he beca proactive in his strange behavior, completely disregarding the gazes of others.

And so, the 3rd Infantry Platoon fell into great confusion.

Perhaps that was why, whenever they gathered after dinner to drink cheap rum, the story of the two n always ca up.

“Just what in the world are they doing?”

“Don’t mind them. They’ve both just lost their minds.”

“But their expressions looked too serious for that….”

“I’ve seen it before. The thing the Platoon Leader and Deputy Platoon Leader are doing, stretching their bodies and rubbing them with a stick. Nedhap used to do that.”

“Really? Then let’s go ask Nedhap what it ans.”

And so, Nedhap, who was resting alone after dinner, was summoned by the squad mbers.

After receiving the squad mbers' questions, Nedhap scratched his head and opened his mouth.

“It’s nothing special. Just one of the old thods passed down in my tribe. It relieves muscle soreness after strenuous exercise.”

“It reduces muscle soreness?”

“Yeah. The effect isn’t bad.”

“Then why haven’t you been doing it lately?”

“Well….”

Nedhap was about to answer, but then closed his mouth.

The words—that he had pretended not to know on purpose because he didn't want to be treated like a moron like Roden and Chevalier—just wouldn't co out.

Fortunately, the squad mbers didn't press Nedhap further and continued the conversation among themselves.

They were busy exchanging words based on the information Nedhap had provided.

“Relieving muscle soreness…. If it's really that, then I can understand why they were acting so strangely.”

“But is that action really effective in relieving muscle soreness?”

“Maybe it is. I just hope they don’t make us do it too.”

“Make us do that weird dance-like thing? Ugh, I hate just thinking about it. How could we do sothing like that.”

One of the soldiers shuddered, and the 1st Squad Leader, Zailo, who had been watching quietly, asked Nedhap.

“Is that all?”

“Huh?”

“The things the Platoon Leader and the Deputy Platoon Leader are doing. Is the effect really only to relieve muscle soreness?”

The friendly Zailo was usually quite good to the quiet Nedhap.

For that reason, Nedhap thought it over carefully once more before answering Zailo.

“Yeah. That's it. As far as I know, there are no other effects. But why do you ask?”

At Nedhap’s question, a smile quickly blossod on Zailo’s slightly cold face.

Zailo smiled brightly and shook his head.

“No reason. I was just a little curious.”

An hour later.

The soldiers who had been chatting noisily dispersed to their respective beds to sleep.

Among them were not a few who snored and ground their teeth.

But Zailo alone, his eyes wide open, muttered quietly.

“Should I make a report?”

***

Unlike Chevalier, Roden could see mana in its natural state well.

Originally, mana was sothing anyone could easily see if they just learned the thod to see it.

It was the sa for ordinary people whose mana affinity converged to almost zero.

This being the case, it was nonsensical for a knight who could accumulate aura in his body to be unable to see mana in its natural state.

In the end, the reason ordinary knights couldn't see mana in its natural state was simply that they didn't know the thod.

That was the only reason.

On the other hand, the reason even knights began to see mana from 5-star onwards was because their ki sense naturally opened, allowing them to learn how to see mana.

Anyway, for this reason, Roden could see mana with his eyes despite being a 1-star knight.

He could also easily witness the process of mana being absorbed and converted into aura.

And this was a great help to Roden.

Because he could collect data on how much aura had accumulated in his body, and how much was accumulating each day.

However, just because he could obtain this data didn't an he knew when he could reach the stage of a 2-star knight.

In contrast to how a single artificial mana ring revolving around the heart was simply called 1-circle, and two rings 2-circle.

Knights distinguished the stages of 1-star and 2-star differently.

The thod of distinction was, ‘What can one do using aura?’

First, a 1-star had to be able to concentrate aura in one place.

In the early stages of 1-star, one could only concentrate aura on a part of the body, but upon reaching a certain level, it beca possible to concentrate aura on a sword as well.

And 2-star ant the stage of coating the sword with aura.

Coating was different from concentrating aura in one place.

It ant that the aura partially enveloped the exterior of the sword.

For that reason, one had to be able to bring out even a little bit of aura to the outside to reach the stage of a 2-star knight.

And what Roden was curious about was precisely this.

How much aura he needed to accumulate to be able to bring it out and envelop his sword.

Unfortunately for Roden, there was no way to resolve this curiosity.

Because he had not yet once been able to check the amount of aura a 2-star knight possessed.

Of course, it wasn't that there were no 2-star knights near Roden at all.

The 1st and 2nd Infantry Platoon Leaders he often t were 2-star knights.

As ntioned once before, the position of Platoon Leader could usually be held from the rank of a 2-star knight.

Although Roden could et 2-star knights quite often like this, no matter how hard he tried, it was impossible to check the amount of aura the two possessed.

This was a well-known piece of common sense and a kind of natural law.

It was impossible for a knight to check the aura state of a knight of a higher stage.

Conversely, one could check the aura of soone of a lower stage just by deciding to do so.

It was the sa for mages.

While a 2-circle could see the single ring of a 1-circle at any ti, a 1-circle could never see the rings of a 2-circle.

In the end, Roden had no way to check the amount of aura a 2-star knight possessed.

He could only hope to diligently accumulate aura and one day be able to coat his sword with it.

So Roden,

‘Hmm. It's not working today either.’

tried to coat his sword with aura every night before going to bed.

But unfortunately, he hadn't succeeded even once.

Because the aura would seem like it was about to co out of the sword, but then it would always pop right back in.

And Roden knew the reason for this.

‘Because the density of the aura I possess cannot overco the density of mana.’

In the end, for the aura to co out of the sword, it had to push away the mana in its natural state.

But perhaps because the density was still low, this was impossible.

That was the reason why Roden had not reached the stage of a 2-star knight today either.

‘Did I at least see so possibility today?’

It seed like he would be able to reach the stage of a 2-star knight within a few weeks.

Because Roden’s aura was gradually getting better at pushing away the natural mana.

‘I wish I could reach the 2-star stage soon.’

In fact, this was Roden's only pleasure these days.

To steadily train and accumulate aura.

It couldn't be helped, as he had researched all the ways to increase the absorption rate of aura and had nothing left to research.

He was still trying various new thods these days, but none were effective.

It seed like there would be no results like this for a while.

‘It would be nice if Chevalier at least borrowed a lot of books, but there’s none of that either.’

It was when Roden was having this thought.

“Platoon Leader. It’s . May I co in?”

Just then, Chevalier raised his voice like this from outside Roden's barracks.

“Co in.”

As Roden answered, Chevalier appeared.

“What’s the matter in the middle of the night? You should hurry and get ready for bed if you want to get your nine hours.”

“I was just about to deliver this and then go to sleep.

Chevalier said, showing him a book he had taken out.

At the sa ti, Roden’s eyes couldn't help but widen.

Because on the book, the title

was written in large letters.