Swordmaster-to-Be! (4): The True Start of Sword Invention
Swordmaster-to-Be! (4) The real swordsmanship training starts. Or, to be precise, the sword creation starts. Why? "The sword's movements will be shown to you by that child. But figuring out the most efficient way to weave them together is your job, Newbie." Swordmaster-to-Be teacher's official statement. She said the process of creating swordsmanship is about the swordsman and sword syncing their breaths to become one. In fancy terms, body-sword unity (신검합일). Only when you reach that supreme realm where sword and swordsman become one can you draw the optimal sword path, so both sides have to work at it.
To that end, I've been running countless trials to become one with Hope. Of course, the results have been utter shit.
Fuck, is this shit even gonna work?
The trial count has already hit triple digits. Meaning I've died and come back over a hundred times in this place. The problem is that even after all that, properly creating swordsmanship feels like a pipe dream.
Some asshole clears the whole game soloing the Demon King on his thirteenth regression like it's nothing, and here I am stuck like this after a hundred tries? That's bullshit, right?
Konghyeok!!! Jung-hyeok!! I think I finally get how you guys felt!!!
"Again with the weird thoughts."
"Ah. That obvious?"
"Yup. You always make that face when you're thinking something strange, Newbie."
And just like that, Swordmaster-to-Be teacher, who could read my mind, plops her butt down next to me.
"But I get it. Creating your own swordsmanship isn't as easy as it sounds, right?"
"Yeah... pretty much."
To be honest, I'd gotten a bit complacent. It wasn't that I was looking down on martial arts. The techniques the gallery masters showed me were straight-up godlike—no way I'd underestimate that. But that's exactly why I'd set up that reverse logic.
Anyway, the arts I learned are their unique techniques. So basing it on those, I should be able to whip up some basic martial art easy peasy, right?
I'm not trying to invent a ninth-circle ultimate spell like Meteor Strike or anything. I just wanted to make a first-circle Magic Missile based on the brainwashing rote learning they imprinted directly into me, and I failed spectacularly. Why the fuck? Jung Kkeokma feels so wronged!
"Ah! That face! You're thinking that even basing it on the other masters' arts, creating a basic one is this hard, so something must be wrong!"
"D-did you learn mind reading too?"
"Psh, who needs mind reading? Just the sword's feelings I've read could fill this Bi-Wu Field a hundred laps over."
Scary. And not a hint of exaggeration in that statement. Maybe that's why her words suddenly sparked my curiosity.
"Was I wrong in my thinking?"
Was I too arrogant? I've never thought I had overflowing talent. Sure, I learned the gallery folks' arts, but not a single one through pure talent. They were all supreme masters who carved idiot-proof training methods into my body based on their enlightenments, so martial arts always felt like floating clouds in the sky to me. That's why I saw myself as no-talent Jung Kkeokma and set my goals ridiculously low. This should be good enough. Honestly, this much should barely scrape by on the bare minimum.
But was that the wrong way to think?
"Three things."
"Huh?"
"Three things are wrong."
With that, Swordmaster-to-Be teacher holds up three fingers.
"First. The martial art you're trying to create isn't some low-level one to begin with. Your baseline is actually pretty damn high."
"Eh... I'm not trying to make anything that amazing though?"
I'm not aiming for the most stable art in the universe, or one with auto-intercept defense imprinted in my subconscious, or one where swinging a hammer makes lava erupt. I just need to learn how to handle this thing decently?
"Amazing martial art, huh. So what is the martial art you're trying to make, Newbie?"
"Uh... well..."
Wait a sec. Yeah, what exactly am I trying to make?
"If handling it is the goal, you're already doing that. Haven't you already figured out most of Hope's functional aspects?"
"Well... yeah."
Stuff like it extends dozens of times when swung, or blades sprout everywhere in the area when stabbed into the ground, or using its properties lets me do long-range Absorption Great Law together. Yeah, grasping those functional bits was a solid win. But you can't really call that swordsmanship because anyone could do it—Hope can handle it solo without me. The last one might be iffy, but stuff anyone grabbing Hope and swinging could do doesn't quite qualify as swordsmanship.
"So ultimately, the reason you're stuck is because you haven't properly defined what martial art you're trying to make. Even for yourself. Only when you reach body-sword unity and grasp what only you and Hope together can do—what you want to do—only then can you enter the gateway to true martial art creation, once you clearly recognize that or at least get a clue."
"Hmm..."
Hard. Way too hard. As expected of the one-shot instructor handpicked by the gallery masters—she's scraping at problems I never even considered. And the real headache is that this isn't the end.
"So, what about the other two?"
"The second ties into the first. Thinking about the first issue naturally leads to an obvious question you can advance from: 'What martial art am I trying to make?' to 'What martial art does this child want to make?'"
"This child meaning Hope?"
"Have you ever thought about what kind of martial art Hope wants to create?"
Hope's thoughts? I glance at Hope lying beside me. The guy who's shared over a hundred deaths with me, still growling with fierce energy. Huh. Come to think of it, I've never really pondered what this one is thinking.
"One thing's for sure. That child loves you a ton."
"Loves... me..."
Before meeting Swordmaster-to-Be teacher, I'd have yelled, Aargh! I'm not a sword-fucker!! But after meeting her and getting pummeled firsthand by the ten sword energies she wields, I know this "love" is different from that kind of love.
"If not, it never would've stuck with me through this hellish process, right?"
"I'm not big on after-the-fact proof, but yeah, that's proof too. Though in my case, other feelings come through even stronger."
Other feelings? I almost ask what that means, but hold back. Jung Kkeokma's head already hurts enough!
"Whatever. So first and second both mean I gotta figure out the answers myself."
"Yup. If I spoon-fed them to you, it wouldn't be a martial art just for you and that child."
"At least the direction feels solid now."
It just hit me intuitively. Solve those two issues, and I'll naturally create the swordsmanship I want.
"Oh right, third one's left. What's that?"
"Ah, that's simple. You're way more talented than you think."
"Me?!"
No-talent Jung Kkeokma actually has talent?!
"What do you mean?!"
I press desperately, but she just smiles mischievously and holds up two fingers. "...Ah, you're not gonna tell me." I give up meekly. Probably means I gotta find the answer myself, like the first two.
"Got it. Should we call training here then?"
"Yeah. This feels like the right stopping point."
I'd already figured out all of Hope's functions anyway. All the tools to find the answers are in my hands now; all that's left is using them to uncover the truth. And that's not something you chase down in the Bi-Wu Field.
"The answers to martial arts aren't just in swinging a sword. Most of the time, they're in life itself, so you find them by living. Now that you've got direction, keep moving forward, filling in the blanks, and eventually you'll reach the answer."
Both she and I knew that, so our private lessons wrapped up here.
The spot where Newbie left. The girl left alone—Sword Realm Lord Rachel—stares at it blankly before turning to look behind her. There, despite hundreds of repairs, the brutal scars of destruction remain. A landscape so devastated you could mistake it for the world having ended dozens of times. She murmurs at it.
"Why does Newbie think he has no talent?"
The answer to her self-question comes from beside her.
-Because madmen can never realize they're mad.
Like a shadow cloaked figure, her expression unreadable like a doll. But recognizing who it was, Rachel smiles brightly.
"As expected, Sword Heaven thinks the same?"
-Probably. Newbie's greatest talent lies in that.
Black Sky, who appeared as an observer in the Bi-Wu Field. Rachel nods at her words.
"Thinking about it, his nickname fits perfectly. 'Unbreakable Will'—swinging the sword without giving up even after hundreds of deaths and fixes. What talent could be more precious?"
Does Newbie, who left this place, realize? He'd gotten too lazy to count deaths exactly and just rounded to a hundred, but the actual count far surpasses that. And watching him, Rachel—who'd inflicted 999 of those deaths—felt a wake-up call instead.
Black Sky nods in agreement.
-Unyielding. That's the most precious talent for a martial artist. Even if he doesn't know it himself.
The two masters, obsessed with the martial way, silently gaze at the vast destruction behind the Bi-Wu Field. If flowers blooming at the end of trials are beautiful, how radiant would the flower at that end be? Anticipating the bloom at the road's close, the two martial gods depart.