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“She hasn’t come out of her room all day, not since she said she had some great ideas earlier this morning.”

Judiel came to him instead of Encia, casually shaking her head.

“I guess she doesn’t really need to find out how well they did.”

“She seems confident.”

“Yeah. She must’ve considered them perfect.”

The fact that she went to her room without even hearing about the Black Converter’s performance signified that she was confident in her artifact’s quality.

Although she was still young, her skills and mindset already seemed to be that of a seasoned artisan.

“I have something to report.”

When Raon was about to ask Judiel about how the Central Martial Palace was doing, she started talking about it first.

“The Central Martial Palace ordered me to renew the information about you, young master.”

“Renew the information?”

“Yes. They asked to investigate your injuries, new equipment, hidden techniques and achievements. I was ordered to proceed carefully.”

She added that the order hadn’t been as detailed in a long time.

“Is that so?”

Raon rolled up his lips. It was intensifying his doubt, that the incongruence he felt from Burren’s butler’s reaction wasn’t just an impression.

“How is the Central Martial Palace doing nowadays?”

“It’s silent.”

“Silent?”

“The squad leader of Severing Steads, Gelmia Zieghart, is temporarily in charge of the Central Martial Palace because Karoon Zieghart is on a mission. It’s a lot quieter than usual. And that’s…”

Her eyes turned as dark as a bottomless well.

“The calm before the storm.”

Raon nodded and continued Judiel’s sentence.

“From behind, or from below. They must be preparing something.”

“Yes. I can’t find out for sure because the information is controlled, but that’s most likely the case.”

“Controlling the information…”

It was the first time Judiel mentioned information control. Raon figured he needed to investigate Gelmia Zieghart.

“What kind of person is Gelmia?”

“He’s a young powerhouse in charge of Severing Steads and is supposed to be at the intermediate level of Master. The swordsmanship he uses is focused on precise and fast stabs, and he’s known under the name of Sword of Pleasant Wind after slaying a squad leader from the Heavenly Martial Palace.”

Judiel exhaled briefly before she continued.

“And you might have guessed from his nickname, but people have an extremely good impression of him. People say that he’s generous to his allies while being completely merciless against his enemies. However, he is actually a coldhearted person who will even slay his allies if they end up being a hindrance. Many people inside the Central Martial Palace are afraid of him as well.”

“I see.”

Raon briefly clicked his tongue.

‘Information control, Tias’ reaction, Gelmia’s true personality, and Burren skipping training…’

Adding up all the information made an ominous feeling run down his spine.

Everything was strange, but the fact that Burren was skipping training was the strangest of them all.

‘Because there’s no way he’d skip training.’

Burren was the most responsible person in the Light Wind squad. It didn’t make any sense that he would be skipping training—and even if he did, he would’ve visited him personally to explain his situation.

‘I didn’t think it through.’

He was careless because Tias was the one who came to inform him of the news, and he was Burren’s closest subordinate as well as the person who cherished him the most.

“You mentioned that the inside information of the Central Martial Palace was being controlled, right?”

“Yes. A lot of it is restricted. They are proceeding with extreme caution.”

“I have a request.”

Raon pointed at the golden pin attached to his training outfit. It was one of the artifacts he’d gotten from Lohengreen’s dungeon.

“I’ll give you information about this artifact, so please determine Burren’s location in the Central Martial Palace.”

“I’m sure the information about an artifact should work, but why would you want to know about Sir Burren…?”

“It’s a wild guess, but I have a feeling that he’s suffering right now.”

Raon turned around with a cold smile on his face.

“I shall look after him, since he’s my underling.”

* * *

That night, Raon looked down on the Light Wind members standing in front of the North Grave Mountain.

He smiled as he saw the anger, fear, and irritation in their eyes.

“The procedure is simple. You will hide and I will seek, and we will fight if we meet. See? It’s that easy.”

“You damn boar! How are we even supposed to win against you?”

Martha ground her teeth, telling him to stop speaking bullshit. She looked like she would run up to him to grab him by his collar at any time.

“Damn handsome Raon. I can’t win.”

Runaan shook her head, saying that it was impossible. Raon heard she’d met Encia the day before. That must’ve been why she started saying ‘damn handsome’ once again.

“They are right! How would we even win against the temporary squad leader?”

“We couldn’t even win against you when you weren’t a Master. You are literally an unsurpassable wall right now!”

“This is unreasonable!”

The Light Wind members also complained while shaking their fists, saying that it was impossible to win against him.

“Don’t worry. We aren’t just fighting.”

Raon snickered, then equipped the Black Converters on his wrists and ankles.

“I’ll equip the Black Converters and you will take them off. That means that I’ll be looking for you without using the aura. This sounds fair, right?”

“A-Are you really not using aura?”

“Seriously?”

“Th-That sounds more reasonable!”

The Light Wind members swallowed nervously, saying that it was possible.

“No! There’s one more!”

Martha frowned and walked up to him.

“How about the battle? Don’t tell me you are suddenly going to take off the bracelet and start attacking us?”

“Of course not. I’ll be fighting like this.”

“Alright! That sounds doable. I’m going to smack your face!”

Martha tightly bit her lip, raising her fist.

“Me too! He makes me so angry nowadays!”

“Even today, we had to roll on the ground all day long!”

“Kuh, I won’t forgive him!”

Every single member of the Light Wind squad was grinding their teeth in anger.

“I’ll let you rest for tomorrow if you manage to hide from me until the end or manage to defeat me.”

“Gasp!”

“Rest!”

“I-I’m going to hide no matter what! I’ll dig a tunnel underground if I have to.”

Once Raon mentioned that he’d even give them a day of rest, their faces turned red. They were extremely motivated to either hide or attack him.

Except for Runaan, who was just blankly looking up to the North Grave Mountain with no care for her surroundings.

“I’m going to start moving in an hour. Start moving!”

Raon grinned and clapped his hands. It was probably because he saw Rimmer doing it too many times—the movement was unconscious.

“Let’s goooo!”

“I’m going to hold my breath until the day ends.”

“I’m going to beat Sir Raon up! This is the only opportunity to smack that hateful face of his.”

The Light Wind members climbed the mountain while shouting. They were brimming with energy since they hadn’t been using aura during the day’s training.

Raon turned around while listening to the sound of the swordsmen climbing the mountain.

Since the Light Wind members weren’t idiots, they only shouted in the beginning and fell completely silent after that.

“Doesn’t this look fun?”

Hmph! There’s no fun in child’s play.

“They are going to struggle with everything they have because I told them I’d let them rest tomorrow. Don’t you think it’d be fun to shatter that hope?”

Kaah!

Wrath’s exclamation sounded like he had just chugged down a cup of beer.

The King of Essence couldn’t even reach such an evil thought! You are really…

‘You are getting started again.’

Raon pushed Wrath away as he tried to cling onto him and closed his eyes. Since one hour was a long time, he meditated to polish his swordsmanship, as he couldn’t use his aura to pass the time.

“The time is up.”

Once five more minutes passed after the one hour mark, Raon opened his eyes and walked towards the mountain.

“Not bad.”

Some of them had used footwork in order to move faster, but most of them climbed quietly without leaving any traces. A smile appeared on Raon’s face, since he could see the results of his teachings.

‘That doesn’t mean that I won’t be able to find you, though.’

The ground wasn’t the only thing that held evidence in a mountain. He could use the traces found from the curved branches or leaves, the scents coming through the wind or the psychology of people climbing the mountain. There were plenty of hints he could use without any footprints.

‘Many of them went to the right side.’

Judging from the traces on the ground and branches, more than eight people seemed to have taken the right path.

‘I shall take care of them first.’

Raon confirmed the exact direction of the traces and ran that way.

‘The traces are becoming clearer.’

Unlike the entrance of the mountain, the traces were blatantly pointing towards the hill once he went halfway up.

‘I can clearly read your thoughts.’

Raon snickered. As soon as he climbed the hill, the training swords fiercely rushed towards him from both sides and from the top of a tree.

“Give us!”

“A day!”

“Of rest!”

“Die!”

The swordsmen from the third team of Light Wind squad were shouting as they struck him with their training swords.

Their positioning, timing, and reaction speed were all satisfactory, even though there was one strange word mixed in there that he didn’t really like.

“That’s a nice surprise attack.”

Raon smiled gently and took a step forward.

Whoosh!

That single step made the swordsmen’s swords slash the thin air, and Raon used that opportunity to smack the abdomen of two swordsmen on his right side.

“Kuaah!”

“Ugh!”

Although it was a simple punch to the stomach, they were unable to stand up as they foamed at the mouth.

“Hey! What are you doing right now?”

“It was just a punch! He didn’t even use his sword!”

“They won’t be able to stand.”

Raon shook his head and stepped forward. Since he stopped restricting his strength and agility to make up for not using his aura, it was impossible for them to stand up.

“Sniff!”

“Th-This can’t be happening!”

“He can’t use his aura, though! We will be able to win as long as we fight him together!”

Since Burren wasn’t there, the third team’s vice leader Krein encouraged everyone to attack together.

Pang!

Raon easily fended off the five training swords thrust at his waist with the back of his hand and his shoulder.

“Don’t simply follow what you can see. Use aura perception as much as possible to understand your opponent’s location and his distance from you!”

He deflected every single blade thrust at him like rose thorns before smacking them with his fist one after the other.

Smack! Smack!

The Light Wind’s third team had to roll on the ground because of his storming flurry. The only one left was Krein, the vice team leader.

“Hieeh! H-How is this happening…?”

Krein clattered his teeth and stepped back with a trembling chin. His eyes were trembling like a pendulum in disbelief.

“You said ‘die’ earlier, right?”

“M-Me? There’s no way I would say that!”

“No, I heard it for sure. That’s why you are the only one left now.”

Raon smiled and turned his wrist.

“W-Wait!”

“You are going to need plenty of beatings.”

“Arrrgh!”

* * *

* * *

Raon was back at the mountain’s entrance, and the Light Wind swordsmen were rubbing their bruises while kneeling in front of him.

Martha straight up challenged him to a duel just to get beaten up like crazy, and Runaan tried to hide until the very end, but she ended up surrendering because Raon found her location.

“It was impossible for you to hide from me to begin with, since you never learned proper search and hiding techniques.”

Raon raised his finger while meeting everyone’s eyes.

“What should you have done?”

“We needed to prepare to fight from the start.”

Martha frowned while rubbing her chin, which had been bruised.

“Correct. And the decision you have to make is how you fight.”

Raon nodded and continued.

“Becoming a Master raises your physical abilities and senses to another level. Even though I’m not allowed to use aura, I still have an advantage. So, what’s the best way to fight a warrior like that?”

“Just charge at him and smack him!”

“Surprise attack!”

“Surround him with numbers!”

The first answer obviously came from Martha. Everyone gave their own opinions, but no one gave the correct answer.

“There is no correct answer.”

“No answer?”

“Eeeh? That’s not fair!”

“It’s true.”

Raon smiled faintly while looking at the confused Light Wind members.

“There’s no correct answer since it depends on the geography, timing, and situation. However, there is a solution. Focus. You need to think and focus until your head breaks, thinking about how to last longer and how to defeat your opponent in the given situation.”

Raon passionately looked down at the Light Wind members.

“Since I might find you and start fighting you at any moment, you need to maintain extreme focus from the beginning. You need to stay alert and use your head in order to start the fight with an advantage, no matter what happens. I’m emphasizing again that focus is important. You need to maintain extreme focus until the end of training.”

Every member of the Light Wind squad swallowed nervously as they heard him and clenched their fists. Raon could see the motivation in their eyes.

“Climb now if you understand what I said. Let’s start the second round.”

“Yes!”

The swordsmen weren’t complaining anymore. Since they were embarrassed from being defeated by Raon, who wasn’t even using his aura, and impressed by the exciting advice, they braced themselves and silently climbed the mountain.

Raon turned around after watching the Light Wind squad carefully climb the mountain. He started walking towards the training ground instead of the mountain.

Huh? Where are you going now?

Wrath was yawning on his shoulder but tilted his head upon noticing his strange behavior.

‘To the training ground.’

Aren’t you going to that mountain?

‘Why would I go there?’

Well, you just told those kids to climb…

‘I told them to climb, but I never said that I’d climb after them.’

Uhh…

His jaw dropped. He apparently never thought about that.

‘What they need right now is to be able to maintain their focus.’

Raon looked around with a grin on his face.

‘They are going to stay alert and maintain focus forever since I could be there at any moment. It’s going to be a little bit of a struggle, but I’m sure they will grow a lot in a short period of time.’

Honestly, it wasn’t a little bit of a struggle, but a deadly struggle. However, their growth was going to be worth it.

‘I need some training for myself now.’

Raon shrugged his shoulders and grabbed Heavenly Drive’s hilt.

N-No matter how I look at it, you aren’t human!

Wrath’s chin was shivering intensely.

That’s not how a human being is supposed to think!

‘I guess I’m not human then.’

You admitted it! You finally admitted it! Alright! The King of Essence will lay out a royal road for you…

‘I told you I’m not buying it.’

* * *

Raon returned to the fifth training ground and closed his eyes. He slowly controlled the Ring of Fire and the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation. He heated up the mana circuits throughout his body with the energy of fire before drawing Heavenly Drive.

Whir!

A heat powerful enough to distort the atmosphere flew from his body like river water flowing past gravel.

Tssh!

The soft sand covering the ground was scorched, with gray smoke rising from it.

‘This is the Firewall from the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation.’

Firewall was a defensive technique that consisted in burning up an opponent’s aura by increasing body heat, useful for cases where it would be impossible to avoid an opponent’s attack.

‘The Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation has so many useful techniques.’

When he became a Master, the techniques of Hundred Flames of the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation

showed up in his head as images. He’d been avoiding them so far because he was busy creating and developing his own techniques, but it was about time he started learning them.

Whoosh!

Raon migrated the Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation’s energy surrounding his body to Heavenly Drive. He turned the raging astral energy on the blade into thin slices, just like when he used an aura blade to create a single line.

Whap!

The sand on the ground shrunk from the line of flowing heat on his blade, and the space looked distorted, as if he were in the middle of a heat haze.

That was the Crimson Slash.

Contrary to Firewall, it was an aggressive technique that consisted of destroying an opponent’s defense by adding an overwhelming amount of firepower into the astral energy.

Raon slowly slashed down with his sword. Even though a sharp hole was created in the scorched sand, the sand next to it wasn’t filling up the hole. It felt like even the atmosphere was melting down from the heat of Crimson Slash.

‘Pretty good.’

An opponent on the same level or lower than him would never be able to defend against it, and it was even capable of breaching through a stronger opponent’s defenses. It was truly a shocking amount of power.

‘It has a high aura consumption though.’

Since Firewall and Crimson Slash were both from the Hundred Flames, their aura consumption was incomparable to the basic techniques. Although they were great techniques, he figured that it was necessary to carefully decide when to use them.

Raon smiled in satisfaction and tried using the techniques he’d already learned, as well as those he could potentially learn, one after the other to test them out.

As he was too immersed in his swordsmanship practice, the sun was already rising.

‘It’s about time I took them back.’

Are they like objects to you?

Wrath gasped at his ridiculous remark.

‘No way. They are my precious subordinates.’

He sheathed Heavenly Drive in order to call the Light Wind members that he’d been neglecting, or rather, that he’d left them to train. He turned around in order to climb the North Grave Mountain, and Judiel was standing in front of the training ground, holding a lunchbox in her hand.

“Greeting the young master.”

Judiel slightly bent her knees to greet him before walking up to him.

“What’s up so early in the morning?”

“I prepared some snacks since I figured you would be training.”

She stood in front of him with a faint smile on her face. The fact that she was smiling despite the fact that she usually didn’t signified that there was something she needed to tell him.

“Ah, thank you. Come this way.”

Raon smiled and brought Judiel to the resting room. He created an aura barrier to stop the sound from leaking out.

“What’s the matter?”

“I’ve gotten the information.”

“Already?”

“I investigated it pretty quickly, since it seemed to be an urgent matter.”

She casually nodded.

“This is just my guess. That should be taken into account when you hear this.”

“Okay.”

“Sir Burren couldn’t be found in any of the training grounds in the Central Martial Palace. He’s supposed to be inside the Central Martial Palace, but no one has seen him. On the other hand, Gelmia has been seen in various locations. And there’s one more person who couldn’t be found.”

“Who is it?”

“Olan. He’s one of the Severing Stead’s team leaders, and an extremely skilled swordsman. However, he has one more special skill than swordsmanship.”

“Special skill?”

“Yes. Brainwashing.”

Judiel frowned slightly as she continued.

“It’s not a simple method that consists of causing physical pain. He uses words and a small amount of drugs to cause mental shock, so it’s difficult to find someone that was brainwashed. The weak brainwashing that I used to be subjected to used the same method.”

The brainwashing was removed because of Raon’s murderous intent, but she used to be brainwashed by the same method as Olan’s.

“So you are telling me…”

“Yes. I might be wrong, but Olan is most likely brainwashing Sir Burren.”

“It needs to be pretty much certain.”

Raon furrowed his brow. She mentioned that she might be wrong, but her eyes were certain about it.

“Is that Gelmia guy a son of a bitch who can even lock up his own brother?”

“I do believe so.”

“Haa, I guess it must’ve been because of me that he did all that.”

“……”

Judiel didn’t respond. Her silence meant that she wasn’t sure about that one, but that was making her guesses even more trustworthy.

“The Rofence style brainwashing that Olan uses takes about one week to ten days. It’s also necessary to regularly call them afterwards to complete the brainwashing.”

“Ten days…”

Raon nodded. He remembered Tias mentioning that Burren wouldn’t be able to participate in training for ten days.

It’s certain now.

‘Yes, it’s certain.’

That was all he needed to hear. Tias was forced to visit the training ground even though he knew what was going on. The reason his reaction was different from usual was because he was trying to ask for help to find Burren.

“What are you planning to do?”

“Are the minimal number of troops and the Severing Steads the only ones in the Central Martial Palace right now?”

“Yes. They are the only ones left there, since Karoon went to fight the barbarians.”

“Perfect.”

Raon licked his lips and nodded.

“The Severing Steads should be perfect as training materials for the Light Wind squad.”

“A-Are you planning to attack the Central Martial Palace?”

“Yes. My squad is about to turn into rabid dogs right now, you know?”

A frightening smile appeared on Raon’s face as he looked up at the North Grave Mountain.

“I’m sure they will be really good at biting.”

But that’s your fault! I’m sure they would prefer to bite you instead!

‘Even rabid dogs don’t bite their master.’

As Raon was about to push Wrath away, the sound of an explosion could be heard from the cultivation room.

“Huh?”

Raon immediately left the resting room. The cultivation room’s entrance was covered in a cloud of dust, and Rimmer emerged with disheveled red eyes.

“Huh…?”

…What the hell was wrong with him now?