Ch.151300 Years of Essence (1)

Sitting in front of the campfire, Najin examined his wounds. He seemed to have been seriously injured in the battle with Krinbel, but at the time, he had hastily applied first aid with his mind clouded by fever.

That crude first aid involved forcefully grabbing broken bones and joining them together—a reckless method that could hardly be called first aid. It was more like madness. The surprising thing was that this madness had been quite effective.

Najin clenched and unclenched his hand several times. His fingers moved without any hindrance. The fingers that had become bumpy from forcibly realigning the bones were now smooth. The same was true for his other wounds. Only his completely shattered right arm still dangled loosely, while the rest of his body was fine. Even that right arm was recovering at a rapid pace.

Najin tilted his head. He knew his regenerative abilities were exceptional, but not to this extent.

Had his species changed from human to zombie without him knowing? Or perhaps he had become a homunculus with super-regenerative abilities…

“The Outer Continent is where starlight grows stronger.”

It was neither.

According to Merlin, concepts related to stars become stronger in the Outer Continent. Therefore, the functions of Excalibur, the sword of stars, were also enhanced in the Outer Continent.

‘Amazing. At this rate, I might be able to fight even if I lose an arm…’

-If you want to see me go crazy, just try it.

‘I’m joking.’

As Merlin glared at him, Najin thought to himself. At his current level, he wasn’t confident that a completely severed body part would regenerate. Broken bones and cut parts healed quickly, but it would take a long time for completely detached flesh to grow back.

-Well, that aside. Congratulations.

‘For what? Defeating the Knight of Silence?’

-That too, but I mean for obtaining a new star.

Najin blinked.

A new star?

-What? You didn’t know?

Najin focused on the starlight and spread his palm wide. One, two, three. Three stars twinkled above his palm. Najin’s eyes widened.

‘Wait, is this also an achievement?’

-Of course it’s an achievement! That Knight of Silence you faced was a constellation with six stars. Even after falling, he possessed power close to that of a transcendent being. You, still just a Sword Seeker, won against such an opponent—if that’s not an achievement, what is?

‘But I had help from the Helm Knight.’

Merlin looked at Najin in disbelief.

-Even considering that, you played the major role in the battle. At the end, you even charged head-on and broke through his technique.

Challenging a higher-ranked being head-on and achieving victory—that was certainly an achievement worthy of being called a feat. Moreover, he had even dismantled a transcendent being’s technique… It seemed the heavens had recognized this as a worthy achievement.

“…”

Najin silently gazed at his third star.

He could naturally understand what the third star symbolized. Penetration (突破), a word meaning to overcome a crisis or surpass previous records. That was the concept engraved in Najin’s third star.

The concept attached to the star wasn’t simply because he had broken through Krinbel’s technique head-on. A star doesn’t contain just one achievement. It contains the journey of its bearer.

Najin had always faced his enemies head-on and penetrated through trials without retreating. Moreover, he had even broken previously established records… Both meanings of the word “penetration” could be applied to Najin’s life.

Challenge, Dragonslayer, Penetration.

Looking at the three stars, Najin smiled unconsciously.

“So you’ve gained another star.”

As Najin sat there, the Helm Knight exhaled a long “hmm.” He pointed to the stars twinkling on Najin’s palm and said:

“You said you were eighteen?”

“I should be about nineteen now.”

“Nineteen with three stars. And you’ve even reached the stage of sprouting?”

“Pardon?”

Najin blinked again.

The stage of sprouting? Ah, now that he thought about it, his sword energy had changed during the battle. Najin raised his sword and drew out his sword energy… Indeed, the density of his sword energy had greatly increased.

“Be honest with me. You’re not nineteen but twenty-nine, right? No, even that doesn’t make sense… This is something else.”

“I admit I’m a bit unusual.”

“The fact that you can’t deny it makes me even more frustrated.”

As the Helm Knight grabbed the back of his neck, Najin asked him:

“How old are you?”

“You shouldn’t ask an old man his age.”

“What do you mean ‘old man’ when you don’t even age? If we’re talking like that, the person I know…”

Najin glanced sideways at Merlin.

Merlin blinked and tilted her head, then realizing the meaning behind Najin’s gaze, she became indignant.

She strongly asserted that she was young and beautiful, and since she had reached her peak at around 19 and her physical age had been fixed then, she was essentially the same as a 19-year-old.

-So I’m basically the same age as you!

Najin let the words of the 1000-year-old wizard with no conscience go in one ear and out the other.

“Well, anyway. It seems unfair that only I’ve shared my age. How old are you?”

“Let’s see. I stopped caring about my age after 150. How many years ago was the Dawn War?”

“About 150 years ago, I believe.”

“Then I’ve lived somewhere between 300 and 330 years.”

300 years. Najin nodded.

“So I’ll be learning the essence of those 300 years.”

As Najin said this, the Helm Knight didn’t seem particularly pleased. He seemed to feel reluctant about teaching his sword style to someone else.

“I’m not sure if I have the right to teach someone a sword I can no longer use.”

“Why can’t you use it?”

“The sword I wielded was a symbol. I’m not sure what value a sword has after losing its symbolism. I lack confidence. And how meaningless a sword wielded without confidence is… well, it’s pointless to even explain.”

But still, he said.

He stood up.

“A promise is a promise, and I should keep it.”

The Helm Knight left the sword tied to his waist untouched and returned with another sword from somewhere. After testing the sword with a few movements, he took his stance.

2.

“I wonder how long it’s been since I taught someone the sword. When was the last time I taught? It must have been more than 170 years ago…”

“Did you have disciples?”

“Not exactly disciples, but there was someone whose swordsmanship I reviewed. Empire knights also came asking me to look at their swords. Each time, I sent them away saying I had no talent for teaching, but there were one or two who learned by watching over my shoulder.”

The Helm Knight raised his sword.

The moment he lifted it, Najin felt his senses heighten. From the moment he gripped the sword, the Helm Knight’s aura had completely changed.

“It’s been a while since I held a sword.”

The Helm Knight lightly moved the tip of his sword.

The sword in his hand was an unsightly one, old and rusted from being abandoned for a long time. One might doubt what could be cut with such a dull blade.

Swoosh…

But even such a dull sword becomes an unparalleled masterpiece in the hands of a Sword Master. Even as the tip of the sword cut through the air, there was a sound of something being sliced.

The Helm Knight took his stance and swung his sword. It was a basic movement of Empire swordsmanship, striking downward from above. And naturally… the basics performed by a Sword Master are on a different level.

Crack!

The ground split in a straight line. A rock in its path was silently cut in half. Najin’s eyes widened. What did I just see? Of course, Najin could also split the ground and cut rocks like that by swinging his sword.

He could do it, but only when using sword energy.

The strike the Helm Knight just demonstrated was achieved without sword energy. Najin stared at the Helm Knight with wide eyes. Meanwhile, the Helm Knight himself was just clicking his tongue, muttering that this wasn’t right.

“Ah, this was the feeling.”

He raised his sword above his head.

Ashen sword energy rose along the blade. His sword energy wasn’t flashy. The rising energy coated the dull blade thinly, as if substituting for it. At a glance, it almost seemed like he wasn’t using sword energy at all.

A sword tinged with ash color.

The Helm Knight brought down the raised sword. Najin strained his eyes, trying to understand the movement the Helm Knight was demonstrating, but he couldn’t comprehend it. Not because the movement was fast or complex, but because it was too simple.

A movement that simply swings a raised sword downward.

It was a movement that would be easy to imitate, but the result produced by that sword seemed impossible to replicate. The moment the Helm Knight’s sword, surrounded by sword energy, was swung, the ground split again with a “crack” sound.

Deeper and longer than before.

Najin closed his eyes and pressed the corners of his eyes firmly with his fingers. What was that? This sensation was a first. It wasn’t the first time he had seen a Sword Master’s sword. When he saw Charon and Juel’s swords, Najin thought their swords were too fast and complex to even attempt to imitate.

But this time was different.

It was the opposite.

It wasn’t fast, nor was it complex. If any swordsman were brought here and asked to imitate that stance, they could easily do so. But how?

“You have a look that says, ‘How did you do that?'”

“Exactly.”

“The sword I use is a bit unique.”

Rather than unique, it was simple. It was more like a sword he had seen many times before. Where had he seen it? As Najin pondered, he let out a short exclamation.

“The Empire swordsmanship had exactly this feeling.”

“Empire swordsmanship?”

Najin stood up and demonstrated Empire swordsmanship step by step. Empire swordsmanship was the most basic style that knights learned, and Najin, having faced many knights, naturally knew how to use it.

“Isn’t it similar?”

“…”

The Helm Knight remained silent at Najin’s question.

Though his face was hidden by the helmet, Najin thought he seemed a bit surprised.

“No… that’s Empire swordsmanship? It’s different from the Empire swordsmanship I know.”

“You’ve been in the Outer Continent for over 150 years, right? That’s enough time for it to change.”

“Empire swordsmanship, which hadn’t changed for nearly 800 years since the Empire was established, would change so easily? Strange. Is that really Empire swordsmanship?”

Najin nodded. The Helm Knight was silent for a while. Then, he began to laugh. As if in disbelief. And as if he had realized something.

“I see, so that’s how it turned out…”

He touched the sword tied to his waist. The scabbard bound in chains had the Empire’s emblem engraved on it. Despite the passage of time making it old and rusty, one could still recognize that it was the Empire’s emblem.

“It seems some things haven’t been forgotten.”

The voice of the Helm Knight, as he muttered this, seemed somewhat pleased.

3.

“What do you think is most important when learning the sword?”

“The stance of swordsmanship?”

“No, that’s wrong. That can be corrected later. What’s important is practical experience. Maximum experience. Various situations. If you contemplate the best choices in various situations, you’ll naturally come to understand how to wield a sword.”

The Helm Knight said.

“My sword is the same. Rolling on battlefields, hunting demons, beating the hell out of traitors trying to sell out the country—it naturally improved. As I assembled the insights gained from experience, I naturally created a swordsmanship style.”

So, he said.

“First, gain experience.”

He pointed to the golems below the cliff.

Golems, monsters created when mana-infused rocks cluster together. They were monsters commonly found near ancient ruins on the continent as well. But in the Outer Continent, everything defies common sense.

The golems writhing down there were created from fragments of fallen stars. Golems that moved with starlight, not mana.

“Try cutting those.”

“That’s easy.”

“But without using sword energy.”

Najin blinked.

Just as he was about to ask how he was supposed to do that, the Helm Knight kicked him in the back.

“Ah.”

“Have a good trip.”

As he fell, Najin saw the Helm Knight waving at him. “Damn it,” Najin muttered as he spun his body around.

UOOOOOOOOHHHHH!

The Outer Continent golem, powered by starlight, was charging towards Najin with a monstrous roar.