The Fundamentals of the Sword
5.
Two years.
That was how long it took to ram technique into this body by force.
Downward cut, horizontal cut, thrust.
It had taken two full years just to carve those three techniques into my flesh.
I’m not exactly fond of this method.
To put it bluntly, this was a method even the most unorthodox of heretics would call insane.
If anyone saw me training like this, they’d be cursing up a storm.
And yet,
there was no other way.
If I wanted to enter Jayeon Academy with this trash talent and become the best, I had to perfect at least one technique.
In the end, that thought turned into stubbornness, and
I made my basic form nearly as good as it had been in my past life.
Nearly. That was the limit.
In the end, my inferior talent compared to back then kept dragging me down, and I couldn’t go any farther.
So the next step was stamina and strength.
At first, I could only manage twice a day.
Two swings, basic conditioning, then a potion.
Progress.
Three swings, basic conditioning, potion.
Progress.
Repeat. Another two years passed like that.
I taught Yehwa the fundamentals of swordsmanship, along with the flexibility and stamina that came with it.
I, meanwhile, pushed my body’s overall ability to use techniques as high as it could go.
The process Yehwa went through wasn’t necessary for me.
That meant my physical ability itself was ahead of hers.
When Yehwa finished training, she went home and rested.
My training only started after that.
It was only possible because I didn’t need to build up sword fundamentals from scratch.
Fundamentals were necessary for everyone, talent or not.
But I’m the exception.
I only had to forge the body.
I had to hammer the sword paths in my head into my body until they became instinct.
That was the only way to survive with a body that had such hopeless talent.
My downward cut was nothing more than an ordinary swing from the days when I could see the flow.
Which meant—
Swish—
at least to some degree, I was following the flow.
And the result?
Slash—!
“That’s one down.”
The first one to charge at me was split clean in half, just like a child torn between two women before Solomon.
In an instant, he became minced meat.
The two remaining ones staggered backward.
“W-what the hell? What just happened…?”
Yehwa stammered.
Did she see it?
She had better have.
If I was going to leave things in her hands someday, this much was the minimum.
My father had made it look easy too.
“I’ll show you twice more.”
Watch closely.
I didn’t wait for a reply.
Whoosh. Whoosh.
I flicked the blood off my blade with a casual motion, then waved the sword toward them in clear provocation.
Brainless bastards like these always fell for it.
“Grrrraaaah!”
Sure enough, they charged without a care, even after seeing their comrade cut in two.
Are dogs just dogs, then?
They’d seen what happened up close and still came at me in such a straight line?
“Kraaaah-!”
“They sure are loud.”
In the end, a fight was
a process of carving your existence into the world.
The tension that, the moment you lost, your existence would be erased.
That was the chain of it.
At least, that was how it was supposed to be.
Of course,
Slash—.
“And that makes two.”
Not for me.
Even if I had trash talent, once I knew the answer and came at it again, there was no need for any of that.
Slash—.
“Or that.”
Thud.
Three swings.
Six chunks of meat lay scattered across the ground.
The fight was over in an instant.
Whether I should even call that a fight was questionable.
But since this was my first real battle in a child’s body, I’d learned plenty.
“Not bad, I guess.”
For a first try, it was usable.
Still, real combat really was different from training, because my muscles were already aching.
“W-what was that just now…?”
“What was what?”
Yehwa came running over.
Was this enough to shock her so much she forgot she was a patient?
Her muscles must be hurting like hell.
“I-I mean, just now! You went swish, and one of them split in half! Then swish-swish, and the whole fight was over!”
What the hell was she even saying?
“So what you’re asking is why the difference in technique mastery is so huge, right?”
She nodded.
“Before I explain that—”
I pressed a finger into Yehwa’s thigh.
Push.
“Kyaaaah!”
With a strange noise, Yehwa collapsed to the ground.
Sigh. I knew this would happen.
“Drink.”
Pop—!
With a cheerful sound as the cap came off, the sweet scent of strawberries drifted out.
One sip for me, one for Yehwa.
“Feel a little better?”
She shook her head while gulping down the potion.
Still not enough?
“Here, one more.”
The second I held it out, the potion vanished from my hand.
Was she drinking it because it tasted good?
That reminded me of my earliest childhood, when I used to take cold medicine because I liked the flavor.
Was she serious?
“Phew! Now I can live again!”
Huh.
She really emptied the whole thing.
When I said potion, I meant one bottle—550 milliliters.
And she was only eleven….
Where the hell did all that potion go?
Probably there.
“W-what? What are you looking at!”
“I was wondering where all that potion went.”
“T-that’s not important! How did you do that back there?”
“Back there? Ah, right.”
I’d cut myself off in the middle of explaining.
“There are a lot of reasons why you and I differ in mastery, but if I had to pick just one, it’d be this.”
I stood again and drew my sword from top to bottom.
“That’s the same practice you do every day. Ah….”
“Right. That.”
The difference in practice volume. Muscle mass. Sword paths carved into the body.
There was one word that covered all of that.
Effort.
Well, there was also the matter of having lived before, but that wasn’t something I could do anything about, so I put it aside.
“W-what! That’s nothing special! I’m going to do it like you too! Don’t they say you get better later if your fundamentals are strong?”
I knew she’d say that.
“No.”
“Why not!”
“This isn’t fundamentals.”
If you thought about it carefully, I was taking top-tier theory and forcing it into a body with rock-bottom talent.
“If I can use a technique like this, why does our sparring even work?”
“Um, because… my sword path is more flexible…?”
“And?”
“And, um, your body doesn’t move that well.”
“Right. And why is that?”
Why was sparring even possible when I could see every point Yehwa’s sword would reach, every route it would take, every motion of her muscles?
Because I was going easy on her?
I have never gone easy on her once.
There was a very basic reason.
“Talent… no, but that doesn’t make any sense!”
Yes. Talent.
The difference between knowing and doing.
“You know my swordsmanship talent is only 2, right?”
“No, I mean—that’s what I’m saying. How is that even possible…?”
If you hate it that much, go reincarnate too.
“Who knows. The point is this: there’s a method of practice that suits each person.”
I repeated the same techniques to force my body to move.
Yehwa, you practiced to become familiar with the sword itself.
“Got it?”
“Ugh….”
I understood the urge to get ahead.
But this is the right approach for now.
When building a structure, the most important job is compacting the ground.
The groundwork comes first.
Sure, if you trained the way I did, you’d get stronger faster,
but
everything would eventually be exposed.
If you can’t climb high enough, you can’t understand that.
There’s a limit to being a one-trick pony, just like certain people.
I was different. I had a whole system that would be solved once I hit twenty.
“Everything you do now will help later. It all becomes flesh and blood in the end.”
“Sometimes you’re just like our dad, Jayeon. How do you know things like that?”
“Who knows.”
I knew because I’d already walked this road.
Someday.
Maybe someday I’d be able to tell her.
What was the big deal about reincarnation, anyway?
I didn’t exactly plan to keep it a secret forever.
We already had demon kings, gods, and a world that had gone completely to hell because the dimensions had fused together.
Hell, maybe there are regressors too.
Well, maybe not.
If there were, one of them would’ve come looking for me first.
And that would mean I failed.
I don’t even want to think about that.
“By the way, you moved pretty well. I was almost surprised to see how little you hesitated.”
“R-really?”
Why was she so flustered?
Was she weak to praise?
Or maybe…
“Don’t tell me you were going easy on me because I was your opponent?”
But what would be the point of that?
“Going easy? No way! That’s not it! Just now, I was feeling all tingly, and the moment I thought about it, my body moved first!”
“Really? Remember that feeling.”
“Really? Ehehe.”
This was no time to be smiling.
Now it was time for the evaluation.
“Come here. Time for the summary.”
“Okay.”
“It wasn’t bad, exactly, but it wasn’t good either. Especially that downward cut at the end. What was that supposed to be? Were you trying to become a glass cannon or something? If that’s the case, you should just learn magic instead.”
“W-wait a second.”
We were just getting started. Why was she already panicking?
“You haven’t done the same kind of physical training I have. Your strengths are flexibility and freedom. You know that, right? So what was that downward cut supposed to be? Did you even mean to use it properly?”
As I kept going, Yehwa’s face turned whiter and whiter.
“Anyway, for a fight like this, I’d give it a five out of ten. And that’s only because your opening moves were impressive. Don’t mistake that for me liking your downward cut.”
I’d been pretty kind, all things considered.
Hah. I really have mellowed out. Ending it at this level, when I could’ve gone further?
Back in the day, if I found something irritating, I’d say so whether it was my father or the king of heaven himself.
Seriously!
If I really said everything I wanted to say, she might just throw down her sword altogether, so I couldn’t push it any further.
“If you have something to say, go ahead. Feedback is useful.”
“W-well. I mean….”
She mumbled for a while, then lowered her head.
“Say it.”
Drip. Drip.
“I-I just… wanted to show you that I can do well too….”
The color of the floor beneath Yehwa’s gaze darkened.
Did I go too hard on her…?
I took her cheeks in both hands and lifted her face.
“Look at me.”
“Mmngh—!”
She shook her face around like she didn’t want to be seen.
Forcing her eyes to meet mine, I looked at her properly.
Her face was twisted miserably.
“Ugly.”
“W-what! Let go—!”
“Still, for a first try, you did well. My standards are just too high. Compared to other kids your age, you’re definitely ahead. What’s wrong can be fixed later.”
“Really?”
Yehwa’s eyes sparkled as I leaned in.
So this is all it takes to cheer her up?
“Really. So let’s polish up the weak points we found today. Got it?”
“Yes!”
Yehwa broke into a bright smile.
“If you go from crying to laughing, hair grows on your butt.”
“W-what did you say?”
Heh. Hah hah. She really was adorable.
“That’s enough for today. Let’s go home.”
“Yes!”
“And once we get back, we’ll go over everything again.”
“Eek!”
This had been a pretty full day.
Wouldn’t you say?
***
The moment Jayeon and Yehwa left the forest,
a man in a black robe appeared.
Through the intercom tucked in his ear, the man was speaking to someone.
“You checked it?”
“Yes.”
“What do you think?”
“I believe she possesses talent suitable for our plan.”
“You know the girl is the main target, right?”
“Yes, I understand. A Level 8, no less. She’ll be a tremendous asset to the plan. However, there’s a variable.”
“A variable?”
“Kim Jayeon, the one rumored to have trash talent, eliminated Black Dog in a single strike.”
“What? That’s possible?”
“I don’t know. For now, I’ll revise the plan to include taking him as well.”
“Good. You know you have to keep this tight. There won’t be another chance unless it’s now, with all the dragons occupied in the summoning. And that bitch isn’t here either.”
Kim Jayeon’s mother, Lee Sihyeon.
The commander of Jayeon, a member of the headquarters’ special strike force, and a princess from the elf kingdom.
The contractor of the Spirit King.
The dragons and Commander Lee Sihyeon were both away.
That was reason enough to move.
“Of course.”
“When do you execute?”
“Tomorrow.”
“I’ll send four hunters. Make sure it succeeds. Give me the rough outline too—I have to report it up top.”
“Understood. Based on the past week, I believe the best course is to abduct Kim Jayeon first, then take Hong Yehwa once she enters the forest.”
“You’re sure?”
“Of course.”
“May the Demon God watch over you.”
“Understood. May the Demon God bless you as well.”
“Tsk. Do it right.”