A Master's Gift
Raon hurled the flailing Rimer into the Secluded Cultivation Chamber.
"Hey! Handle me carefully, would you?! I'm a patient!"
Raon ignored the grumbling and turned around.
"Chief Manager. I'll leave this in your hands."
"Haa..."
Dokoe let out a long sigh and folded his arms.
"Standing guard at my age... I really do see the strangest things."
He complained, but he turned anyway and took his post in front of the door.
"A guardian has to be someone we can trust."
"Hmph!"
"Thank you."
Raon bowed toward Dokoe's snorting back, then stepped inside.
"Shall we begin? Will you shatter the dantian yourself, or shall I do it for you?"
"Don't talk about it like you're cracking an egg!"
Rimer muttered that the kid was terrifying and shuffled backward.
"You've already made your decision, haven't you?"
"W-well, yes, but—at least let me get my head around it..."
"That's why I explained how to use the Artificial Dantian on the way back, and told you to prepare yourself."
On the road home, Raon had walked him through the method and told him to steel his nerves. Rimer had dozed off in the saddle. Clearly none of it had stuck.
"Th-that's..."
"The sooner we start, the sooner you get stronger. You know that better than anyone."
"Fine. I get it! I get it, you heartless brat!"
Rimer bellowed, then dropped to the floor and sat in a formal meditative posture. He exhaled, closed his eyes, and stirred the aura in his fractured dantian. The power he had spent a lifetime gathering flowed gently through his mana circuits, as if offering a last farewell.
What a life this has been.
Healing torn mana circuits, shattering a dantian, then building a new one from nothing. Because of Raon and the others, he was being given a new life. He was grateful—and sorry, too, that he had been such an inadequate master.
A deep, resonant hum filled the chamber. He ran his aura as freely as he pleased, savoring it one last time, then opened his eyes.
"Raon. Don't miss this chance."
"Sir? What do you mean by—"
"You'll understand soon enough."
Rimer left it at that and shut his eyes again. He amplified the aura in his dantian the way he would when forming Ganggi, then detonated it in a single burst.
A vicious crackling tore through him. The scars carved across his dantian split wide, and runaway aura began to erupt.
At this rate it'll take all day.
He would break it in one go.
Rimer bit down hard and amplified his aura a second time.
A roar like hundreds of panes of glass shattering at once rang through his entire body. His paper-thin dantian melted away like a shard of frost dropped onto a warm palm.
Ghhhk—!
Agony crushed him from head to heel, but a hollowness worse than the pain bored into his soul. Chaos thick enough to snuff out consciousness flooded his mind.
A vast, roaring surge followed. The aura, with nowhere left to go, poured through his mana circuits and spilled into the air. A storm of high-purity aura howled up through the Secluded Cultivation Chamber.
"Hah—!"
Rimer dragged in a ragged breath and opened his eyes.
"What?"
Raon's eyes flew wide.
"You can feel it too. Right now this whole room is going berserk with the mana I spent my life gathering. It's a different attribute from yours, but it'll still help. You take it."
"What are you talking about? If you accept the Artificial Dantian right now and start circulating aura—"
"If I could, I would! There isn't time."
Rimer shook his head with a bitter smile.
"That aura's already touched the natural mana of the world. It won't last more than a few minutes. You're the only one who can take it."
Honestly, he had wanted to hand over every last scrap of aura that had lived in his dantian. But if he had, the mana circuits he had only just managed to restore would likely have torn open all over again.
"I didn't come here for that. I came to watch over your condition. That's all."
Raon bit his lip. The thought of taking Rimer's aura had never even crossed his mind. All he wanted was to get a new dantian into the man as fast as possible.
"I know."
Rimer smiled faintly and nodded.
"You think I don't know you? You worry about everyone else and never about yourself. I know that."
"I..."
"Save the muttering for later and start cultivating that aura! You brat!"
He snapped that there really was no time, chewed and swallowed a Spirit Flow Pill, and immediately slipped the Artificial Dantian into his mouth.
"I'll be building a dantian. You cultivate that aura. We'll talk when we're done!"
Rimer closed his eyes on those words. Inside a body that had been hollowed out, Raon felt a current of high-purity natural energy begin to move.
The Artificial Dantian and the Spirit Flow Pill are stirring.
The Artificial Dantian, which had been attributeless, was reshaping itself to match Rimer's body and the nature of his aura. The Spirit Flow Pill's energy was seeping naturally into his mana circuits, mending the wounds he had not yet fully erased.
"Mm..."
Raon looked at the aura still drifting through the air and nodded.
Taking even a little of it would be better than wasting it.
Rimer had settled, and Dokoe was standing guard. Cultivating here shouldn't be a problem.
A deep, pulling rumble rolled through the chamber. Raon closed his eyes and ran the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia at the same time. Aura sharing two entirely different circuits spun out countless threads and began to drink in the wind-attribute aura writhing in the air outside him.
No. This won't work.
He frowned as he felt the aura turning through his mana circuits. Rimer had been right—the aura flooding the room was wind. There wasn't much of it left, and the mismatch in attribute made even what he absorbed hard to truly take in.
There's still a way.
He raised the Ring of Fire. All six rings resonated as one and began to draw out only the purest essence buried in the deepest layer of the wind-attribute aura.
The quantity was not great. But this was aura that Rimer—whose affinity with nature ran extraordinarily high—had spent years gathering. The power and purity nested inside it far outstripped most elixirs.
"Hoo..."
Raon absorbed the energy he had refined through the Ring of Fire into the Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames and Glacia, then opened his eyes. It had not been a large amount, and yet his dantian felt full, almost overflowing.
Achievement of Ring of Fire has increased.
Achievement of Cultivation of Ten Thousand Flames has increased.
Achievement of Glacia has increased.
All stats have increased by 3 points.
A few hours of cultivation, and the achievement of each art had risen sharply. His stats had climbed. The aura in his dantian felt denser, more solid than before. It was as if the years Rimer had stacked up had become a foundation for his own power.
Raon smiled and looked at Rimer.
Not much longer.
Only the outer shell of the Artificial Dantian was still changing. It was almost finished.
He drew two wooden cases from his coat and set them down in front of Rimer, who was still lost in the work of building a dantian.
A gift.
The first case held an elixir he had bought on the way home. The second was a wind-attribute elixir he had exchanged for a bronze token received some time ago. He had prepared them because he knew Rimer would be disappointed when he saw how empty his new dantian was.
So this is what it means to be master and disciple.
Just as Raon had thought of his master and prepared elixirs, Rimer had told his student to take the aura he himself had scattered, so that it might be of even a little use. Watching them look after each other like this, Raon found himself smiling. It felt like seeing the master-and-disciple bond he had only ever heard about in stories and books.
You need to come out soon.
He looked at Rimer's back as the man generated a dantian, and the smile lingered.
I've got a lot of training lined up for you.
"Hmm..."
Wrath climbed up onto the ice-flower bracelet, eyes narrowing.
"Was that line even supposed to land?"
"Nngh."
Burren groaned and opened his eyes.
"This is..."
He fought through a splitting headache and looked around. A dim room studded with small Luminescent Stones. The damp in the air said underground.
"Why am I—"
He tried to move, and couldn't. Something had seized his arms and legs. He looked down. Iron cuffs chained his wrists and ankles.
"Wh-what is this?! What the hell is going on?!"
Burren clenched his jaw and tried to raise his aura. It wouldn't so much as twitch. Something had clamped his mana circuits shut.
"Ah!"
It came back to him. At the end, he had heard his second brother's voice, and then the world had gone black. His brother. Gelmier had knocked him out and brought him here. That much was certain.
But why?
Burren scowled. He couldn't believe his own brother would kidnap him just because he had refused that ridiculous request.
A bone-crawling screech of metal, and the iron door swung open.
"Brother! What do you think you're doing?!"
"I'm afraid I am not Lord Gelmier."
The man who entered was not his second brother. He was short, middle-aged, with red hair and a gentle face.
"It's been some time, Lord Burren."
"Olan?"
The man who had stepped into the room was Olan, 2nd Unit Leader of the Demon Severing Squad, the division Gelmier led as its commander. He had followed Gelmier since they were young; Burren had seen him often.
"Yes. That's right. It's been quite a while, and you still recognize me."
He smiled pleasantly, dragged a chair across, and sat opposite Burren.
"Where's my brother? Take these off and get my brother—"
"I'm sorry, but you have no authority to give me orders, Lord Burren."
Olan's smile was the same one he wore in public. His eyes were ice.
"What are you trying to—"
"Lord Gelmier is a suspicious man. He doesn't believe you'll keep that conversation to yourself."
"S-so he kidnapped me? Do you have any idea how much worse this makes it?"
"Of course I do. That's why I'm here."
Olan smiled and nodded.
"What is that supposed to—"
"I have a specialty besides the sword. Brainwashing."
"You idiot!"
Burren ground his teeth.
"You think the elders of the house won't notice something like that? The Light Wind Squad will—"
"Don't worry. It isn't that kind of loud, heavy-handed brainwashing."
Olan's smile widened.
"What I do is change a person's mind very, very slowly. It's a little weak, and it's slow—but the thoughts shift so naturally you'd never know. In about ten days, I should be able to let you go. Of course, I can't promise the Lord Burren who walks out will be the same as the one sitting here now."
He already looked like a man who had the catch in the net, a smug little curl at the corner of his mouth.
"Before we begin, I'll give you one last chance. Information on Raon Zieghart—"
"Ptui!"
Burren spat in Olan's face.
"Ah. You don't need to worry about that either."
Olan wiped the spit from his cheek, still smiling.
"We've already prepared for that as well."
"Family business?"
Raon looked at Tias, Burren's butler, who had come to the Fifth Training Ground, and clicked his tongue.
"Yes. He said internal matters at the Heavy Martial Palace will make it difficult for him to join training for about ten days."
Tias bowed his head as he delivered it: Burren would be unable to train for some time because of affairs inside the Heavy Martial Palace.
"I see."
Raon remembered Burren speaking with his brother Gelmier on the day they returned. It seemed the two of them were involved in something together.
"If it's family business, it can't be helped."
He nodded slowly, watching Tias.
But...
Something was off. Ever since the day Raon had helped Burren to his feet at the side residence of the Heavy Martial Palace, Tias had worn a genuine smile every time he saw him. Now the old warmth was gone. The air around him was as cold as it had been before that day.
"...Thank you for understanding."
Tias closed his eyes for a moment, opened them, bowed with impeccable courtesy, and left.
I'm going to need information.
Once he was back at the Annex, he would have to ask Judiel to look into Gelmier's and Burren's movements.
"Burren gets special treatment? I've got stuff to do too!"
Marta exploded, demanding to know how that was fair.
"What stuff?"
"Wh-what?"
"What business do you have."
"Y-you can't just ask it like that and expect me to—ack!"
The direct question rattled her enough that she nipped her own tongue.
"Then I guess you don't have anythinn."
"Don't copy me! I didn't do that on purpose!"
Raon snorted a laugh and looked over the Light Wind Squad. They had only had a single day off, but they seemed to have spent it actually resting; their color wasn't bad.
"How is the Squad Leader?"
Crain raised a hand. Everyone wanted to know—the swordsmen's eyes had gone round. Even Runaan, who had been nodding off, lifted her vacant gaze.
"The dantian's finished. He's gathering aura now."
Raon pointed toward the innermost Secluded Cultivation Chamber, where Dokoe was standing watch. Rimer had completed the dantian at dawn and was currently absorbing the elixirs.
"He'll handle himself, so don't worry about him. You focus on your own training."
Raon grinned and opened the crate that had been sitting on the platform. He tossed the swordsmen two black bracelets and two black anklets each.
"The moment you catch them, put them on your wrists and ankles."
"Hm?"
"What is th— gah!"
"I-it's sucking my aura!"
"Ghk! Why is this so heavy?!"
"A-a ghost! There's a ghost in the bracelet!"
The swordsmen felt the bracelets and anklets draining their aura and thrashed in panic.
"It isn't stealing it. It's using your own aura to generate weight in the bracelets and anklets. The stronger your aura, the heavier they get."
Raon explained the Black Rings—the training artifacts Encia had crafted—to the swordsmen whose jaws were still shaking.
"From now on, you don't take those off without my permission. Meals, the latrine, all of it. You wear the Black Rings."
"Th-these?"
"I can barely move. How am I supposed to wear—"
"Th-that's insane..."
The swordsmen's lips trembled as they tried to imagine moving in the things at all.
"Your bodies aren't finished yet. When the flesh is tempered, the dantian and the mana circuits grow with it. That's what this training is for."
Raon said it wouldn't be that hard and lifted a finger.
"Humans are animals of adaptation. You'll adjust before you know it. We start with a long run."
"Ghhk!"
"Easy for you to say!"
"H-how are we supposed to live like this!"
The swordsmen waved their hands, insisting it was impossible.
"There's other training, then."
Raon nodded and raised a finger.
"Other training?"
"What is it?"
"I'll take that one!"
They stepped forward, convinced anything else had to be better.
"One-on-one spars with me until the sun goes down."
"I-I'm ready to run!"
"Hey! First place is mine!"
"How many laps?"
The swordsmen hopped backward and got ready to run, shaking their heads with violent conviction. However brutal the running, sparring was absolutely out of the question.
"Look at you, volunteering for training all on your own. I like that."
Raon nodded, hands folded behind his back.
"Ghhhhk!"
"A devil. He's a devil!"
"I never thought the Squad Leader would look like an angel..."
"If I were just a little stronger, I'd..."
The swordsmen finished lining up to run with tears in their eyes.
"Everyone, run!"
"Goddammit!"
"Ugh..."
Marta glared at the bracelets and anklets as if she wanted to murder them. Runaan let out a long breath. Then they started running the training ground.
"Haaah—!"
"This is insane!"
"Lord Burren's the only one living easy!"
Once the unit leaders were running, the rest of the swordsmen had no choice. They started circling the training ground too.
"Marta, your back's rounding. Runaan, tuck your chin. Dorian, get up!"
Raon stood on the platform and did not spare a single nagging correction, making sure they ran properly.
Not bad.
Whether it was because they hated sparring that much, or because they had already survived so much training, the Light Wind Squad was running at full effort under the weight of the Black Rings.
We can stick to the plan.
He had been ready to loosen the schedule if they couldn't take it. That wouldn't be necessary.
"Listen while you run. We're doing survival training on Bukmang Mountain. You'll hide with your presence suppressed, and I'll find you and attack. Start thinking now about how you're going to survive."
He laid out the survival training he had already planned, talking over the pounding of their feet.
"Survival?"
"What a fucked-up drill..."
"Just hearing it is terrifying..."
The swordsmen sighed, already sick of it.
"When is that, exactly?"
Dorian wheezed to a stop. He was pretending to ask a question so he could rest.
"This evening."
The entire Light Wind Squad stopped dead and turned to look at him. Every pair of eyes looked ready to fall out of its skull.
"This evening...?"
"You crazy bastard!"
Runaan and Marta both gawked, mouths hanging open.
"This evening?"
"What is wrong with him!"
"Even Rimer gave us a whole day!"
The whole squad shouted that it was insane.
"That's your problem. If you don't want to suffer, you'd better start thinking right now about how you're going to survive on that mountain."
"He's not even human!"
"A devil. He's definitely a demon!"
Raon smiled at the Light Wind Squad's look of pure terror.
Ah. This is fun.
He savored their murderous glares and glanced toward the inner Secluded Cultivation Chamber.
Now I just need that man to come out.
He was confident he could work Rimer harder than anyone alive, and the thought made his chest beat faster.
"Now you're earning recognition from everyone."
Wrath nodded, looking genuinely impressed.
"As This King thought, you don't belong in a place like this. Come with This King to the Demon Realm..."
Not buying.