Raon looked at the distant North Grave Mountain. His red eyes saw not the present, but the day he met Vulcan for the first time—at the charcoal kiln, after he followed Rimmer.

Ten Thousand Flames Cultivation

When he was anxious about the fact that he was the only one that was unable to acquire an aura in the fifth training ground, he received hints from his charcoal kiln—allowing him to both learn the and reach two-stars with it at the same time.

Vulcan thanked him back then, as it allowed him to obtain a piece of golden charcoal, but Raon was the one that should’ve thanked him instead.

Honestly, he couldn’t complain even if Vulcan didn’t keep his promise. It was pure coincidence that the golden charcoal had appeared, and Raon had managed to learn the —even obtaining frost in the process.

However, Vulcan contacted him again, not forgetting his promise. Raon fell speechless with the overwhelming feeling of gratitude.

“Are you going?”

Rimmer also looked at the North Grave Mountain and smiled.

“I shall.”

Raon immediately nodded.

The highest-level blacksmiths were called the Continent’s Blacksmiths, or the Great Blacksmiths. There was no way he would refuse, not when a Continent’s Blacksmith—who was supposed to be as skilled as a dwarf—wanted to make him a sword.

“It does feel like you will get a rather interesting sword in your current state.”

Rimmer glanced over his eyes, arms, and energy center, then grinned.

“Go to the blacksmith’s village then, since the old man is building his body over there.”

“Building his body?”

“He needs stamina in order to forge a proper blade. He was building his body for your sake. You will be surprised once you reach Mirtan.”

“Mirtan…”

He’d heard that name before. It was a village located at the edge of Zieghart’s domain, where many blacksmiths crafted nice weapons and equipment with the intense geothermal heat.

“By the way, Raon…”

Rimmer rolled his eyes.

“You remember who introduced that old man to you, right?”

“The squad leader did.”

“Yes! You should never forget that fact. You are going to obtain a sword from a Continent’s Blacksmith thanks to the great me!”

He raised his chin, saying that it was all thanks to him. Although Vulcan forging a blade for him was thanks to his own efforts rather than Rimmer, Raon didn’t say anything for now.

“That’s why I’m saying that, erm… can you give me a portion—like, a very small portion—of the gold…”

“No.”

Raon shook his head firmly.

“A-Aren’t you being too cold towards me? I’m the squad leader here!”

“I’ll give it to you if you promise you won’t gamble. However, I know there’s no way you would.”

“I-I won’t! I won’t even go close to a gambling house!”

“I’d rather entrust a cat with a fish. I can’t trust the squad leader.”

“Sniff, I really won’t go. I just don’t have money to drink…”

“Huh…”

Raon laughed bitterly at the sight of Rimmer crying on the ground. He couldn’t believe he was the swordsman called Zieghart’s Sword of Light.

“Haa…”

Raon shook his head and took ten gold pieces from his chest pocket, handing them over.

“This much should be enough to pay for liquor for a while.”

“Ooh! It’s enough! It’s totally enough!”

Rimmer brusquely stood up and accepted the gold. Of course, there were no tear marks around his eyes.

“Then, see you all after you get your uniforms and swords. I’m leaving first today!”

He even used footwork to instantly climb the training ground’s wall.

“Ah, Raon! Be careful on your way, since Mirtan is also used by people other than Zieghart.”

Rimmer waved his hand, then hurriedly ran towards the main street. His voice could be heard from far away, saying that he would take his revenge this time.

He’s going to gamble and lose everything again.

Wrath clicked his tongue, looking at Rimmer’s direction.

Did you give it to him despite knowing that fact?

A test?

Raon smiled coldly. Rimmer wasn’t aware yet that what he did just now was going to come back to haunt him to a painful degree.

“Raon.”

Raon turned towards the voice coming from behind him. Runaan was looking up at him with a blank expression.

“Are you going to forge your sword?”

“Well, yeah.”

“Let’s go together.”

“Do you also need to forge a sword?”

“Mhm.”

It was an unexpected answer, since he thought Runaan would receive a sword as a gift from her father, Rokan Sullion.

“Father gave me materials to forge a sword. I’ll share with Raon.”

He remembered her telling him she had a present for him, and it was apparently materials for a sword.

“I’m planning to go tomorrow. Is that fine with you?”

“Mhm!”

“Then let’s meet here tomorrow morning.”

“Mhm.”

Runaan gave a big nod and left the training ground. She was probably going to prepare herself.

The ice cream girl looks a lot brighter now.

Runaan was gradually expressing more emotion, probably because she hadn't seen Syria since that day. Though, other people probably didn’t know about it, since she only did that towards him.

He figured he should order his uniform before leaving to make the sword.

Raon went to the Dazzling Radiance alongside the remaining swordsmen at the training ground.

* * *

* * *

“Huhu.”

The laughing sound was noble and flirtatious at the same time. Raon swallowed nervously as he looked at the middle-aged noblewoman, who was laughing while covering her mouth.

He came to the Dazzling Radiance Squad alongside the other swordsmen, but he had gotten separated from them somehow and he ended up alone in the squad leader’s office.

They weren’t normal at all, since they put him inside the squad leader’s office without even properly introducing themselves.

“I’m honored to meet the rumored vice-squad leader of the Light Wind. My name is Siran, the leader of Dazzling Radiance.”

She bowed elegantly towards him. Apparently, she already knew about him.

“Raon from the Light Wind is greeting the leader of Dazzling Radiance.”

Raon erased his confusion and bowed politely.

“This is my first time seeing you up close. I knew people in Zieghart were also famous for their appearance, but it’s my first time meeting someone like Sir Raon. Lady Sylvia was amazing as well, but I’m totally impressed. Huhu.”

Siran kept exclaiming while examining Raon’s face from different angles. Her eyes were shining, as if she were looking at a piece of art. It was so embarrassing that he felt like he could die.

“…I came to have a uniform tailored.”

Raon figured he wouldn’t be able to return home on the same day if he did nothing, so he took a step back and declared the purpose of his visit.

“Ah, of course. I know that, since Sir Rimmer mentioned it. Is there a particular design you would like?”

Siran pointed her finger at the mannequin behind her. There were a bunch of extremely eye-catching uniforms that felt like the word flashy was plastered on them.

“Rather than flashy uniforms like those, I prefer something simple. Instead, I’d like various functions…”

“Hmm, that would be a shame.”

Siran approached him while licking her lips.

“The uniform’s design will be killed by your beautiful face if you wear a simple one. That would be even more regrettable than being killed by a blade.”

“I don’t really care about that.”

“I do, though, as the tailor. An art has to be accentuated by another piece of art. If you leave the design to me, I’ll make something that can highlight your features as much as possible!”

Siran smiled gently while looking like she was dancing as she walked around the room.

He unconsciously sighed. It was seriously difficult to find a normal person in such a strange house.

“Haa, alright. Then, please make something flashy but still as simple as possible, and as for the functions, please make it light and easy to move in.”

“You don’t worry about the functionality. We make clothes by knitting Cloud Spirit Threads as tightly as possible so that they can even withstand an aura blade multiple times.”

“Cloud Spirit Thread…”

Cloud Spirit Thread was a rare item made by magically processing the thread made from the moth called the Cloud Spirit in order to maximize the durability of it.

Clothes made from that thread were priceless treasures because they could hardly be pierced by a blade, and even had resistance against four elements.

“But that would be rather expensive, right?”

“Normally, the Cloud Spirit Thread is only used around the vital areas, but it is used as much as possible on the Light Wind members’ uniforms because Sir Rimmer paid extra. The Cloud Spirit Thread will cover pretty much everywhere.”

“The squad leader did that?”

“He said it was a secret, but I figured the vice-squad leader should know about it at least. That’s why I told you about it.”

Siran winked, to ask him to keep it secret.

“I see.”

Rimmer apparently paid beforehand to ask them to make the highest quality uniforms. Although he was addicted to gambling, he cherished his students even more, for sure.

Raon smiled slightly, looking at the ball of Cloud Spirit Thread that Siran took out.

“Now then, I’ll take your measurements.”

Siran walked up to Raon with a measuring tape in her hand. Her face stiffened like tree bark as she touched his arms and legs to measure the length.

The length and density of muscles of his arms and legs were almost in perfect proportion.

She had examined the body type of countless people in her line of work, but it was her first time witnessing a body as close to perfection as his since Glenn.

The more surprising part was the fact that Raon’s body was still incomplete.

He almost had the body of a perfect warrior, despite his growth plates being still active.

She didn’t believe the rumor that he defeated the warriors from the Central Martial Palace without using his aura before, but it wasn’t impossible at all with the body he had, since he should have a strength and speed that transcended human limits.

His might wasn’t the only surprising thing about him.

He was controlling his gaze and his aura perfectly. A swordsman as powerful as him at the age of seventeen was unprecedented in Zieghart’s history.

The legend of head of house that was reenacted during the Selection Ceremony.

The leader of Dazzling Radiance Siran, who was also one of the important senators, smiled slightly while thinking about the legend of head of house that had been able to witness for the second time.

* * *

The next day at daybreak, Raon arrived at the fifth training ground earlier than the day before. It was completely empty, unlike the day before.

Ahem. Since you won’t be able to eat the annex building’s cooking for a while, how about eating breakfast before you leave?

Wrath licked his lips while rubbing his belly.

N-New delicacies?

Hmm! That’s not bad. I see.

Although eating at the annex building right now and looking for a restaurant at Mirtan were two completely separate plans, Wrath just nodded in agreement.

The gluttony demon king disguised as wrath really couldn’t think straight when food was involved.

“Then…”

Raon drew his sword, looking at the dim sky, where the sun hadn’t yet risen.Instead of starting with the , Raon returned to the basics and practiced his horizontal slash, vertical slash, and stab, one after the other.

Slash!

The powerful blade severed the cold air, displaying Raon’s will. The strike—containing one of the martial art’s basic principles, speed—mercilessly cut through the empty space.

Since the and were both well-balanced techniques, he was able to incorporate speed in them despite not having practiced fast swordsmanship that much.

Why have you been working on speed recently?

Wrath tilted his head. He found it strange that Raon kept practicing fast swordsmanship whenever he was alone.

’s aura emerged from Raon’s blade.

Are you studying a way to utilize ?

Since he had managed to incorporate power, variety, and illusion with the in his blade, he wanted to try using something completely different with , which was speed.

Hmm. That is pretty smart. However, do you truly believe that a human being is able to easily utilize ?

Wrath clicked his tongue, saying that he didn’t know his place.

Glacier

Keuh! Damn it!

Although Wrath had been laughing at him, he started smacking his mouth, regretting what he said before.

It was Wrath that told him that he could do anything with as long as he could make a proper image. That meant it should also be possible to develop the sword’s characteristics with it.

Whir!

Once he started using , the silver frost gradually covered the ground. Raon returned the emerging coldness to his body.

What he needed to draw from ’s mental image was speed. He desired speed that could even cut through wind, and thrust his sword by using the fastest technique of the , the .

Whaam!

’s coldness, which was dashing through his mana circuit, burst from him—resulting in an extremely quick thrust.

However, that wasn’t the main part. The blade’s trajectory was connected by a silver line.

The powerful and quick strike passed first, and ’s coldness followed it.

It was a mysterious technique that resulted in two consecutive strikes with a single swing.

Huh…

Even Wrath’s eyes widened in surprise.

N-No way! Did you plan that?

Raon just wanted to use to increase his speed. He never thought about striking twice with it.

It could’ve been because he used a lot when he was an assassin, which consisted of hiding the aura behind the blade.

“I should be really helpful if I can use it correctly.”

Raon smiled slightly, looking at the frosted blade and the ice pieces shattered in the air.

Double Strike

He temporarily named it , thinking that he’d give it a proper name later on.

“Raon.”

Runaan’s voice could be heard from outside the training ground. Her listless voice was probably because she was still half asleep.

“Huff.”

Raon used the to remove the ice pieces in the air, then walked towards Runaan, who was holding a silver box.

His face was glowing as beautifully as the rising sun at finding a new path of his development.

“Let’s go.”