Chapter 172
Chapter 172
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Translator: True Detective
Chapter: 172
Chapter Title: Symbiosis (2)
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As Se-kyung unleashed a whirlwind dance toward the furnace.
Whoosh—.
A fierce gust swirled into the furnace.
Yuri felt as though his very soul was being sucked into it.
Roar—.
Blue flames wrapped around the gray ingot, as if ready to devour it whole.
Moments later, the glowing-hot ingot emerged from the furnace.
The red-hot mass settled lightly onto the anvil.
Soon, a sturdy hammer struck the crimson lump.
Clang—.
Sparks flew in all directions.
Along with the bizarre ripple that spread out, Yuri's mana core twitched.
Thump—.
‘…What?’
Was this the resonance of his mana core?
Or the beating of his heart?
Clang—!
Thump—!
An inexplicable thrill spread through his body in sync with Se-kyung's hammer strikes.
In that instant, Yuri felt the world slow down.
His mind cleared, and a mental ecstasy washed over him.
Only then did he realize he had entered the zone.
‘The zone…?’
What had led him into this awakened state?
As he pondered this,
Se-kyung's hammer arcing toward the red metal lump came into view—slowly.
So very slowly.
The hammer sliced through the air and made contact with the metal.
Diiiiiing—!
The way the metal and hammer both quivered was crystal clear in his vision.
From their point of collision, a faint light burst forth.
—Riiiing—!
An intangible wave, born with the light, swept over Yuri.
Only then did he understand.
‘This is it!’
This wave had drawn him into the zone.
The moment he grasped that, Yuri instinctively manipulated his mana flow—without anyone telling him to.
Diiiiiing—.
He began analyzing the wave surging toward him through his mana flow.
And his instincts were spot on.
‘Ah….’
He could see it.
He could feel it.
Clang—.
With each strike of Se-kyung's hammer, the inherent wavelength within the metal shifted.
There, Yuri sensed something off.
‘Change? Is this… change?’
Yuri soon shook his head.
This wasn’t change—it was more like refinement.
Clang—.
With every hammer blow from Se-kyung, the ingot's inherent wavelength was gradually refined.
Distorted waves straightened out.
Irregular pulses aligned into regularity.
Even wavelengths that varied slightly within the same ingot.
With each hammer strike, they slowly transformed into the most stable and optimal inherent wavelength.
The process of optimizing the metal's natural wavelength to its peak state.
That was the true essence of the Art of Quenching to Brilliance—drawing out a metal's full potential.
Yuri was struck with awe.
‘How… how is that possible?’
He could sense inherent wavelengths because he had mastered mana flow, but Se-kyung hadn’t.
So how could she refine an ingot's wavelength with mere hammer strikes?
‘You can’t refine wavelengths without mana flow… No, even with it, that’s impossible.’
Artificially reshaping the framework of an object's inherent wavelength?
Even Yuri, who wielded mana flow, couldn’t do that.
The most he could manage was nudging the original flow in a new direction for a brief moment.
Guiding it away from its natural path, just slightly.
Like carving a small new channel in a massive river.
That was the limit for Yuri, who lacked the power to redirect the river itself.
Yet…
‘How… how do you artificially refine an object’s wavelength?’
Se-kyung's hammer strikes were twisting that massive river outright.
If it were that easy, countless people wouldn’t have despaired short of the Sword Saint realm.
A realm achievable only by perfectly aligning a weapon's wavelength with one's mana core.
But since object wavelengths couldn’t be altered artificially, one had to adjust their own mana core instead to achieve 100% synchronization.
That was why reaching the Sword Saint realm took so long.
‘But if you could artificially refine an object’s wavelength…’
It would drastically shorten the time needed to harmonize a weapon with one's mana core.
‘If that were possible.’
And right now, that possibility lay before Yuri's eyes.
If he uncovered the secret behind Se-kyung's hammer strikes.
If he could internalize it as his own, the Sword Saint realm wouldn’t be far off.
‘Watch. Feel. More closely… deeper!’
Yuri used the mental ecstasy of the zone like a whetstone, honing his focus to a terrifying edge.
His mind dissected Se-kyung's hammer strikes one by one.
At the same time, he prayed.
‘Keep going… don’t stop. Please!’
Hoping her strikes would continue until he found the answer.
In that slowed perception, as he pressed on with superhuman analysis,
Yuri finally seized the clue.
‘That light…’
The fleeting glimmer when Se-kyung's hammer met the red metal.
He realized what it was.
‘That light… it’s born from the clash of two wavelengths.’
Two wavelengths?
That question propelled his consciousness forward.
Clang—!
As hammer met metal again, birthing light,
‘Ah… aah… aaaah!’
Yuri, having unraveled the secret, exulted.
Had he not been in the zone, he might have soiled himself in excitement.
‘So that’s it… that’s how it is! Haha!’
What Se-kyung did was simple.
Her hammer strikes carried an inherent wavelength of their own.
The optimal wavelength for an ingot, intuitively mastered over decades of handling countless metals.
With every strike, she imprinted it onto the metal lump.
As if seducing it.
‘Come on, this is the best form you’re meant to have! Don’t you want to be prettier? More handsome? Huh?’
Clang—!
‘You can become like this too!’
Clang—!
‘I said change! Now!’
Clang—!
Imagining the intent infused in Se-kyung's strikes, Yuri laughed.
‘It’s not artificially changing the wavelength. It’s guiding it.’
Not forcing an external change on the metal's inherent wavelength.
But inducing the mana within all things to transform of its own accord.
That was the hidden true essence of the Art of Quenching to Brilliance.
‘Incredible…’
Intuitively replicating the perfect wavelength and wielding it.
The technique of ceaselessly stimulating the metal to make it evolve itself.
If all that came purely from experience, how many decades of touching and shaping metal would it take to reach such heights?
Her effort and tenacity were truly awe-inspiring.
That made mana flow all the more remarkable.
It could match even the realm achieved by orc smiths over decades—in a single instant.
Shing—.
Still lost in the zone, Yuri drew his sword as if entranced.
* * *
The ration slipped from his hand and fell to the ground.
This was much like the time Yuri had entered the zone before.
The difference? He had dropped three rations then, but four this time.
Thud—thud—thud—thud—.
Nos. 1 through 4, who had kindly dropped their rations together, stared blankly at Yuri.
The reactions that followed split into two camps.
“Again? Why?”
“Th-this time… we didn’t even lick it?”
“Hungry?!”
Those who had seen Yuri enter the zone once before.
And
“Suddenly… the zone?”
Gunter, who couldn’t fathom how watching metal being hammered had suddenly put Yuri in the zone.
Though reactions divided into two, all their gazes fixed on Yuri.
The instant Yuri drew his sword.
And then.
Zzzzt—.
The pure white sword brimmed with light and lightning, beginning to transform.
Rigid sword, fluid sword, blazing sword, and… demon sword.
Gunter's eyes widened to saucers at the sequential changes.
“D-Demon sword?!”
For Yuri's level, fluid sword seemed natural.
Blazing sword was believable too, perhaps.
But demon sword was another story.
‘Recognized 4th Dan?!’
And not just any mana-infused demon sword, but a fully formed one—at Recognized 4th Dan.
At his age? Did that even make sense?
‘Sixteen years old at Recognized 4th Dan… Even the world-renowned geniuses who’ve reached Master level now—were they at that stage at his age?’
Yuri's demonstrated realm was no small feat for a sixteen-year-old.
Meanwhile, while Gunter reeled from seeing Yuri's realm for the first time,
Those already in the know were shocked by something else.
“…Over three seconds?”
“Yuri, premature escape?”
“Hungry!”
The fact that Yuri had held the demon sword for well over three seconds.
Poppi in particular screamed in disbelief.
Thus, Nos. 1 through 4 showed varied reactions once more.
But soon, an event unified them all.
Humm—.
A low hum echoed from somewhere.
At first, everyone doubted their ears.
But they soon realized they hadn’t misheard.
Ziiiiing—.
A steady low tone emanated from Yuri.
From his body, and from his sword.
Both resonated identically.
Teresa's eyes trembled as she realized this.
“No way…”
She thought of it, but it couldn’t be.
Her lips parted slightly in denial.
‘No way… no way?!’
Yet to dismiss it outright… what was unfolding before her eyes matched ‘that phenomenon’ too perfectly.
Ziiiiing—.
When the 1% ironclad barrier between mana core and weapon wavelength crumbles completely.
The event so many longed for.
A small voice escaped Teresa.
“…Resonance phenomenon?”
And as if hearing her murmur,
Flash!
Yuri's sword erupted in a deep golden radiance.
Enough light to illuminate the darkened surroundings.
But it was fleeting.
The pure glow contracted in an instant, gathering into Yuri's sword.
The light enveloping the white blade faded.
From within emerged a beautiful golden sword.
Crackle—.
Its form was so exquisite, one might think it carved from the finest transparent golden gem.
The gleaming blade pulsed with blue lightning, emanating a holy glow.
Overwhelmed by the sudden sword's stunning beauty, the onlookers fell silent.
No, in truth, they couldn’t even properly comprehend what this gorgeous golden sword was.
Their brains rejected recognition of the impossible scene.
Who could have imagined it?
An event so far beyond common sense it seemed absurd.
In that moment, Teresa's murmur snapped them from ignorance.
“…Holy Sword.”
The Saint realm.
Where countless mediocrities knelt in despair.
Even true prodigies strained desperately to surpass that lofty threshold…
A mere sixteen-year-old boy had leaped over it effortlessly.
From Recognized 4th Dan to 6th Dan in one go—skipping two thresholds at once.
Those who witnessed this unbelievable moment by chance.
They couldn’t even muster jealousy toward that radiant, peerless talent—only awe.
As the group stared dazedly at Yuri,
Whoosh—.
A fierce gust whipped up dust, enveloping him.
And the sudden events didn’t stop there.
The wind spun wildly around Yuri, rapidly drawing in the surrounding air.
Snapped from awe by this,
Their eyes bulged at the changes around them.
‘M-Mana…?!’
‘Getting sucked in?’
The ambient mana raged chaotically.
It swirled rapidly toward Yuri at its center.
And Yuri devoured it greedily.
The suction was so intense that the mana density in the air plummeted in moments.
Whoooosh—.
Feeling the fierce convection, their expressions hardened.
‘What’s happening?’
‘Does entering the Saint realm… always cause this?’
None of them had ever reached the Saint realm.
They couldn’t tell if this was normal, good, or bad.
But soon, a development allowed judgment.
Crack—!
A fracture appeared on Yuri's noble golden holy sword.
-Shatter!
It shattered into fragments and scattered.
Simultaneously, Yuri's body flushed red, veins bulging across his skin.
Drip—drip—drip-drip—.
Arms, neck, face, forehead.
Every exposed inch writhed with earthworm-like veins.
“Guh….”
A pained groan leaked through Yuri's gritted teeth.
No one could call this normal.
Shocked, Teresa stepped forward to rush to him.
Zap!
A bolt of lightning struck before Yuri, and a figure appeared.
Gray hair and beard.
Ragged clothes.
And a weathered wooden prosthetic on his right leg.
The one who reached Yuri before Teresa was an old man who looked like a vagrant.
The group panicked at his inexplicable arrival.
But the most flustered was the intruder himself—Johan.
Grimacing, he spat in a rigidly tense voice.
“…You crazy monster bastard.”