NOVEL NEXT Chapter 61
Chapter 62
The red liquid swirled around the cup, tracing the gentle curve of the teacup. After pouring out what it held three times, the teapot finally returned to its place.
The tea set that had been brought out with the claim of never having been used sparkled, defying that very claim. Perhaps it was polished despite knowing it would never be used, or maybe it was the magic power that Rellin had cast. Only she would know which it was.
“Please enjoy.”
“Thank you. Should Shar also greet?”
“I’ll eat well!”
Riley didn’t say much. She merely nodded her head once before sitting down on the sofa opposite Yeon-woo and Shar.
“Please understand that the original entity cannot fully trust you. Though it may not apply to that person over there.”
As she said this, Riley placed a piece of paper dusted with white powder on the table. If such words were uttered in this situation to feed someone…
‘It must be mana scattering.’
In martial arts, it’s known as the San Gong Poison. A drug that momentarily disrupts the control of aura. The problem is, they still hadn’t drunk the tea that she had poured for them.
“Are you telling me this, knowing it won’t work on Shar?”
“You sacrificed for the original entities earlier. This is about the extent of what the original entity can sacrifice.”
What returned was an awfully straightforward statement. The Riley from before her regression had a stiff expression but expressed emotions to some extent, so her current demeanor felt strangely alien and awkward.
Was she really that naïve back in the days when she had no contact with the outside world? If one thinks about how the diverse personality Yeon-woo knew was shaped through battles with enemies, it felt like a very peculiar feeling.
Under the gaze of Shar, who looked up at Yeon-woo as if to say “What can be done?”, Yeon-woo lifted the teacup. Frankly speaking, drinking a tea laced with mana scattering wouldn’t put her life at risk. According to her, mana scattering wouldn’t affect Shar, who was stronger than Yeon-woo.
Downing a cup of black tea in one go, Yeon-woo purposefully placed the cup down loudly.
“Another cup?”
“You shouldn’t drink tea so greedily, Visitor.”
“Oh, yes…”
“Just kidding. The original entity is Riley, who manages the library. May I ask for your name?”
As Riley spoke, the slight upward turn of her lips felt incredibly familiar to Yeon-woo, making him flustered as he opened his mouth.
“I’m Choi Yeon-woo. First-year at Harmony Academy…”
“I’m Shar!”
After a brief hesitation, Yeon-woo spoke again. His gaze was sharp and filled with confidence. At the very least, he had the resolve to appear that way.
“I will save you. From this grave filled only with names of the dead.”
Riley’s eyes widened slightly. She was surprised, no doubt. It was certainly not a pleasant thing to suddenly blurt out. However, from the depths of memory, she had once said something similar.
– This place is akin to a graveyard. There are no names of the living, only tombstones filled with names of the dead. What does a man think about a single life that will spend its entire existence staring at the names of the deceased?
Before her regression, on the day she died, she had said such things.
As if she had a premonition of the end of life.
*
“Ugh.”
My body felt stiff. My body had been tense beyond the usual when entering the Gate. Yeon-woo emerged through a door formed within the marble column, letting out a strange sound as he stretched his body.
“Think things will go well?”
“Who knows… But at least the conversation itself seemed to flow well. They said they needed time to think, so let’s wait.”
Summarizing the conversation Yeon-woo had with Riley, it boiled down to hoping the library would reach out first. It wasn’t exactly easy to accept.
Yet Yeon-woo clearly remembered how they had hidden themselves and ostracized the outside world before his regression.
“After all, the first comment is always important.”
“The first comment?”
Controversial posts that pop up in communities usually have their direction decided by the first reply. The Hunter who first discovered the Gate and entered it was akin to that first comment. Whoever that Hunter was who visited the library first before his regression would likely have fought Riley, which would have made her more suspicious of the outside than before.
“Now all that’s left is to leave the rest to the Master.”
“Dad seems to throw work at Grandpa no matter what.”
“The academy has no reason to refuse, and now it’s just about persuading Riley. So even if he throws work, I’m the one who’s left with more to do.”
“Hmm… That does make sense. It’s a chance to acquire that many magic books.”
“That’s if they’re from the other realm.”
Hundreds of thousands of magic books from the other realm would be more than enough to upheave the academic world.
Yet, it hadn’t happened before his regression. This was because they couldn’t recover all the books that had been corrupted by monsters. Once they became alive, the books had refused invaders outright.
Only after defeating the guardian librarian Riley and going through a massive hunting campaign could they barely recover the ones that survived.
The sight of books tightly bound with ropes being dragged away like war prisoners was rather strange.
If they could recover everything instead of just 10%, it would certainly have a significant impact in the long run. Considering the time it would take for interpretation, it was clear that this route would be more beneficial for the future.
“It’s a shame we couldn’t get the library today… but if things go well, we might get it. I can only hope for a resolution within a month.”
“Is it about a month left?”
“Something like that.”
A month remained until Baek In-hwa’s death.
Although there wasn’t much need for it this time, they had set up their equipment, and the curriculum that had flowed towards one-on-one battles to spark rivalry and competition would likely settle into a more mundane school life for a while.
There’s plenty to do in the meantime. Searching for elixirs like before, or relying on memories to seek outside world objects could be options as well.
“Let’s go see the Master.”
The situation surrounding the gate and Baek In-hwa’s death was truly a place of utter uncertainty. Encountering a Doppleganger at the start was unexpected, but since he was well informed about that monster, it couldn’t fully be considered a mystery.
What might appear was enough to send a chill of tension down even Yeon-woo, who had been somewhat lax until now.
When facing a crisis, the one thing you must rely on is neither equipment nor tools, but yourself.
That’s what Yeon-woo believed.
*
Why is the Aura Blade called the Aura Blade?
Is it because someone using a hammer can also use the Aura Blade, or someone using a fist can use it too? Why is it defined as a level of mastery as an aura user?
It’s not some emotional reason that the sword is the King of All Weapons, but because it shows a level of mastery that can shape an edge even with an unsharpened weapon, and the control over aura has stepped up a notch.
It means being able to strike with a fist or a hammer as well. It means being able to cut with a sword while only breaking bones.
“If people heard you reached the realm of handling the Aura Blade in just a month, they’d be impressed.”
“Probably, yeah?”
“But you’re different. You lack talent to a shocking degree. It seems like consuming Mandrake has improved it just a bit, but even considering that, you’re still the most clumsy of the clumsy.”
That was true. If you said you mastered the Aura Blade in a month, it would sound impressive, but it was merely a result of a lifetime of efforts spent swinging a blade for two-thirds of your life.
“Having insight is a good thing, sure, but for mastering the Aura Blade, you don’t need such insight. Just being half-hearted about it is laughable.”
The aura surrounding the sword flickered like flames. The shards of aura that fell off melted away into the air.
As Yeon-woo casually responded to Yuri’s remarks, he concentrated his awareness on the sword. He assimilated what he held into part of his body. Holding the Doppleganger connected to the dark elemental mana made it easy to sense…
“No matter how hard I try, I can’t control the aura!!”
“That’s a difference in talent. Most first-years who can wield the Aura Blade will have perfect control. Anyway, it’s strange for something to be called a half-hearted Aura Blade. I’ve hardly seen any half-hearted ones.”
It was something only an idiot who had clumsily learned mana could show, and Yuri laughed heartily.
Even so, to think he would be treated similarly to a demon, Yeon-woo felt a touch of discomfort, but ended up letting out a hollow laugh.
“So what should I do?”
“Well, it’s probably about time.”
As Yuri said this, he picked up the dark-colored sword sheath he had placed on the floor and stood up.
“The swordsmanship is a double-edged sword. It can easily trap one in rigidity, yet it’s just as easy to immerse oneself in the sword. There’s a reason they teach simple sword techniques to children.”
“…Ah, finally?”
“Now that you know how to wield the sword, you should learn the form. However, there are points you need to be cautious about.”
Yeon-woo nodded quietly. The sword techniques of all swords. How many times had he passed the threshold of “Ah, should I just give up?” Looking back, his body had grown quite strong as a result.
“I’ll let Shar pass since she can’t help it. But if you must teach anyone, it must only be one. If you’re going to teach, it must be someone who can use their power properly.”
One person passes on the knowledge, but nothing can be transmitted to those unworthy.
The man uttered rules that belonged to a bygone age, rules no longer adhered to even by prominent families.
“The moment even one of those breaks, I’ll personally come to tear you apart.”
“Yikes, yes….”
The look in Yuri’s eyes as he spoke was deep as an abyss and cold as ice.
A scene often seen in novels was a far grimmer sight than one would think.
Monday morning.
Simply relying on memory to navigate a complicated path, Yeon-woo was dancing through it lightly.
Though he had learned swordsmanship from Yuri, he had been told not to practice swordsmanship during morning training, so he was practicing only the footwork he had been taught to maintain his stamina.
While Yeon-woo honed the footwork he had received from Yuri, Shar was grasping the elemental mana along with the Doppleganger weapon. To be precise, she was dealing with Elemental Enhancement.
To put it simply, while she had used the dark elemental enhancement a few times, Yeon-woo had no way of knowing what exactly was enhanced.
Returning his body to the usual state? That was not an enhancement at all, and it was physically impossible to flow that to another person to weaken them.
So, was the dark elemental enhancement completely useless scrap? That couldn’t be the case. There must be something special about it. It was something he might suddenly recognize one day, but he couldn’t rely on such leisurely thoughts.
All he could do was hope for something promising to come from Shar.
Since they weren’t swinging their swords together, it was hard to grasp what that footwork contained exactly, but at any rate, wasn’t it necessary to internalize it for actual combat?
Not through magic, but by intuition, maintaining a slightly awkward gap, Yeon-woo bounded around. Right now, he may be clumsy, but someday he would surely find it more refined. He was certain of that much, even if it was like pouring water into a bottomless pit.
“Speaking of which, today, right? Kim Yoo-min was supposed to come.”
“Yes, that’s right. But what do you think she wants to talk about?”
“Well, I feel like I’ll know once I hear her story… but it probably isn’t anything significant. She’s someone who has always lived without worries even before the regression.”
With that thought, Yeon-woo diligently practiced his steps. When would she come? It seemed like she would arrive around lunchtime.
(To be continued in the next episode)