Chapter 9. New Rearing Method (2)
“Is it reacting to the blood?”
The world of swords was peculiar.
The outer swords suppressed those deeper inside.
The innermost one was Reinhardt.
Ferocious things—
He sensed the eerie aura deep within and recalled why the sword world was structured this way.
I am the guardian.
Behind him lay the small, precious baby sword world.
The world Reinhardt had to protect.
But then…
Tsssz—.
Suddenly, that world changed.
Reinhardt gazed at the small world beyond him.
“Devour it!!!”
The [Baby Sword] formed a faint ego and abruptly absorbed the blood.
Then the Sword Master transformed the baby sword into a bizarre form where good and evil coexisted.
“Chaos…”
Reinhardt simply watched the baby sword's growth.
“The will of our exalted Sword Master.”
His role wasn't to rear the baby sword, after all.
“I am the guardian.”
Reinhardt raised his sword and approached the massive door.
The door connecting inward from the sword world.
An ominous aura emanated from the very depths.
Swoooosh—.
From the second deepest position, a red, sinister presence began to stir.
The 5th sword.
It had only just awakened.
As Reinhardt inwardly sighed in relief—
Tsssz—.
The baby sword absorbed the second blood.
“Oh! Little sword, how dare you!!!”
Shoooaaa—.
The second blood didn't mix into the baby sword's domain.
Instead, it fell as rain across the sword world.
The rain was faint.
It passed like a fleeting breeze.
But the scent of blood was vivid.
And because of that—
“Ahhh…”
A ferocious magic sword forged from slaughter and blood.
It awakened.
“Sword Master—”
Blood.
It had drunk blood.
A little girl wielding a massive red greatsword rose, scattering a mist of blood.
The 5th sword, who had witnessed the world's end second.
Iris Luzvela had awakened.
“—why do you awaken this girl?”
She sat upon a throne of bones, draped in a dress of blood.
The dress dragged on the floor around her tiny frame.
The girl effortlessly lifted the greatsword larger than herself.
Then she left her domain.
Ziiik—.
The dress, far too big for her body, left bloodstains on the floor.
They stretched all the way to the domain of [4th Sword, Muratan].
“Not enough iron.”
A deranged dwarf knight.
“Hmph, pretty little devil made of iron…”
He muttered while eyeing Iris Luzvela's head.
As if it were something to be smelted.
The red girl replied.
“Ye shall provide vast quantities of iron. Will thou let ye pass?”
Though a tiny little girl, her speech evoked the empire's final empress.
No, that was her essence.
The dwarf nodded at her.
“Fine. Just keep your promise to bring iron.”
Iris passed the 4th sword's domain.
She reached the 3rd sword's domain and—
“……”
Entered straight into the 2nd sword's domain.
It brimmed with holy energy.
Iris Luzvela frowned at the prickling divine power.
This place felt like a space where a god had manifested.
But something was off.
A broken saintess.
Iris sneered.
A radiant golden greatsword lay discarded like trash on the floor.
Beside it sat a woman with vacant eyes.
She asked,
“The scent of blood… Art thou the source of evil?”
Iris chuckled.
“Fallen saintess, may ye pass?”
“Fallen, thou say… Cruel girl, pass then. I shall do naught.”
She chose silence in the face of evil.
Thus, Iris Luzvela passed the 2nd sword's domain.
She confronted the 1st sword, an elderly man.
Though the oldest, he was the most vigorous.
“How… many hast thou slain?”
The old man aimed his sword.
Iris narrowed her eyes.
“Thou hast already received the Sword Master's grace…”
Jealousy filled his gaze.
“Begone, young fiend.”
“Young? Kuhuhu, ye's flesh is shrunken from lack of blood. Feed ye ten thousand, and ye shall grow swiftly.”
“Hah!!!”
The old man threatened the girl.
Then the girl attacked him.
Slash—.
“Verily, my master fed thee blood. He surely seeks ye.”
Corpses of ten thousand demons rose along the red greatsword.
The wicked horde engulfed the old man—
Whoosh—.
“Begone.”
He unfurled a sword barrier against the blood.
The red blood and demon procession halted before the vast blue curtain piercing the heavens.
“I have waited eons.”
The little girl glared at Reinhardt with even more venomous eyes.
“Begone—”
“My master said ye shall grow by drinking blood. He prepared a feast for ye…”
The 5th sword, Iris Luzvela.
Lacking the Sword Master's favor, she was weak.
“Begone—”
“Pitiful old fool.”
Iris Luzvela gazed beyond the old man.
A small, tiny domain.
The sword world where good and evil mingled.
A thick scent of blood wafted.
“Blood, oh blood. A sea of blood!!! That young one drank blood… Ah, how delicious it must have been?”
“That young sword is not for thee to covet. Begone, devil.”
“Devil… Hmph! Ye's amusement ends here. When ye emerges again, it shall not be so easy—”
The little girl cackled and vanished.
Awakener Management Agency, Yeouido Branch, Hunter Dedicated Division.
“Mystery… So it's true, Si-woo. You've become an absurd Awakener.”
Kang Seol-ah noona, who had transferred divisions for my sake, murmured her thoughts on the mystery I brought.
“Park Chang-seok cleared it solo, and that wasn't even surprising.”
“Si-woo, that's the weird part. A B-rank hunter who built power over three years clears a gate solo on their first try…”
Noona trailed off with an odd look.
I asked just in case.
“Am I under your supervision, noona?”
“Yeah. You worked here, so you know.”
Promising Awakeners get dedicated handlers.
Seems like mine is Seol-ah noona.
Maybe her dad pulled strings.
Works for me.
Above all, relief washed over me at working with someone familiar.
Though the treatment feels a bit excessive…
Even returning from the gate, I got VIP escort.
Military vehicles shadowed me back to Yeouido like I was a high official.
“Did your dad pull strings for my return? Felt like transporting a nuke.”
I probed.
“Hmm… Who knows? I'm just a lowly civil servant.”
Seol-ah noona deftly changed the subject.
By bringing up a topic I couldn't press.
“Mystery fetches 100 million won, small Red Gate clear reward is 10 million. I'll deposit it.”
Right on cue, money talk.
Awakener Management Agency: Deposit—110,000,000 won
The banking app linked to WorldNet popped a notification.
Hunters really rake it in—beyond imagination.
One gate cleared, double my annual salary.
“Over 100 million…”
I should be shocked, but noona beat me to it.
I'm thrilled too.
No more worries about real estate debt.
Over 100 million earned.
That dash under 'housing mortgage' on my assets finally had hope.
“I'll buy you a meal soon.”
It's 3 PM now.
As a Hunter, quitting time means nothing.
As I pondered heading out—
“Si-woo, I think you should know about this too.”
Noona stopped me with a grave expression.
“Something up?”
“Well… You were in Goyang—er, the Red Sea. What happened?”
“Pardon?”
I flinched and asked.
She continued smoothly.
“So—”
An anomaly hit the [Red Sea].
Not the small gates around Goyang City.
It was about the [Red Sea Mother Body] dominating central Goyang.
The Red Sea sensed intense killing intent and started moving…
I played dumb.
“So it's a sea that reacts to killing intent?”
“Yeah. Dad noticed something off and told me to check if you seemed weird.”
“Do I seem weird?”
“No, not weird… But even if not, better to tell you.”
Thanks to her details, I pieced it together.
Special Task Force Geommu spotted the Red Sea anomaly, so her dad sent escorts worrying about me.
“Dad said to watch casually and keep it secret…”
“C'mon, noona. Feels off between us.”
How could a child always obey parents?
“No, he's worried you'll get cocky from special treatment.”
Noona's dad, Chief Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin, really dotes on me.
Yet doesn't want me knowing.
Reason's obvious.
“Your dad's always been intense, right? Remember when you were wasted?”
“When? Too many times…”
“The first night I took you home.”
“Oh!!!”
Two strongest memories for me.
One: Parents lost to Gate flood.
Two: First meeting Kang Seol-ah noona's dad.
“Remember that axe sharpened to a razor edge?”
“Y-Yeah…”
Kang Mu-jin, noona's dad, has Patriot's favor.
Got a relic from a summoned constellation.
[Constellation, Yi Sun-sin's Axe]
I still can't forget that axe's menacing aura.
Now I know it's killing intent.
Noona tells me everything since we're close, but…
Chief Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin is different.
“Your dad saw me as a fierce wolf from the start.”
I chuckled and stood.
Noona asked,
“Where to?”
“The Tower.”
The now-deceased Park Chang-seok gave me a Tower entry ticket; I got more from floor 1 clear.
“Why the Tower?”
“Where else do hunters go to level up?”
“To see that sword again?”
“Obviously.”
“O-Okay…”
I bid noona farewell and left the Agency.
Truth is, not just to see the sword.
Gate clear bumped my level.
And thus—
Enter the 'Tower' and overcome the sword's trials.
🎁 Reward: Sword Master's Dominion
Personal quest received.
All Awakeners have unique experiences.
But growth paths are similar.
Level up, get [Personal Quest], resolve it for new power.
I cherish all my swords.
Yearning to see the others too, but…
Reason for hesitation.
My puberty dark history.
Reflecting on the past, I lack confidence to face it.
Thought it was cool back then.
The swords I made, and their NPCs—rarely sane.
Early ones are worse.
But Tower trip should resolve it.
Reward: Sword Master's Dominion.
Probably means control over my [Swords]?
If I gain control, story changes.
Would love to view others carefree.
Plus reason to enter Tower.
Right after my Red Sea trip, the mother body moves?
Suspicious already…
Reinhardt's gone silent.
Exact timing: red glow flickered in the gem at my sword's tip.
No change despite [Communication Ability].
Time to check in Tower.
“Comrade Park Chang-seok failed.”
Somewhere in Seoul.
A secret gathering.
Black-robed figures mourned Park Chang-seok's death in a dim room.
“The Transcendent who killed comrade Chang-seok—definitely not Patriot. I've gated with him a few times…”
Patriot's power feels oddly modern.
Like Yi Sun-sin commanding supercarriers.
“That lunatic patriot would've stopped us from even meeting like this.”
“So government's hiding a new Transcendent?”
“Maybe the Sword Emperor missing in Tower returned as one.”
“Can they hide that kind of power?”
“If it's that justice-obsessed Kang Mu-jin…”
Justice Prosecutor Kang Mu-jin.
He could've convinced an SSS-rank to hide.
Or threatened using Patriot's power…
“Even with demon power, can't compare to true Transcendents.”
Demon Worshipers learned from Park Chang-seok.
B-rank hunter exerting real-world power has limits.
“Even corrupted, some nameless Transcendent ends it.”
Corrupt to wield power on earth.
Still, limited deeds.
At best, massacre a few hundred lesser beings.
Then?
Punished by Transcendent death.
Like B-rank mage comrade Park Chang-seok.
“So… what now?”
One comrade dead.
He gave profound realization to other Demon Worshipers.
“Answer's gates. Probably… sacrifice us to corrupt a gate.”
New possibility.
“What happens if we corrupt a gate?”
Corrupted Awakener can't enter gates again.
But wields power on earth.
What of the gate?
“Corrupted gate invades reality beyond its world.”
Perfect timing.
“Demon Lord says the Red Sea is stirring.”
Demon Lord called it a sea of blood.
“Sea of blood. Government hid it knowing.”
Demon Worshipers resolved.
“Summon a sea of blood to this world.”