The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 10

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 10

An hour had passed since the children began running across the Training Ground.

Burren Zigheart and Lunan Slion still led the pack, with the Branch Family, Vassal Family, and recommended candidates jostling for position behind them.

Of course, not all one hundred sixty were still running.
Those whose stamina had failed had already surrendered long ago, collapsing into corners of the Training Ground, and more continued to drop out by the moment.

“Haaah.”

Rimer sprawled across the platform above, yawning, yet his eyes darted rapidly left and right.

‘The sixty-first one gave up faster than his stamina allowed. The sixty-second pushed beyond what he had.’

With drowsy eyes, I assessed all one hundred sixty children at a glance.

But what I saw wasn’t their stamina.

‘There’s no point in looking at stamina alone.’

Children possessed different levels of stamina depending on their upbringing. Honestly, aside from the two direct heirs and the top twenty or so, they were all much of a muchness.

Despite having similar stamina, some children quit the moment they ran out of breath, while others pushed through to the end despite clutching their chests or crying.

‘That difference is what matters most.’

Some surrendered easily, while others never gave up. The gap in willpower that seemed trivial now would grow immensely in the future.

Stamina could be built. Talent could be cultivated.

But developing that kind of perseverance was extraordinarily difficult.

A child who never gave up from youth would never give up in the future, and a child accustomed to surrender would surrender easily even as an adult.

Certainly, some children underwent profound awakenings and changed, but that was as rare as finding a needle in a sandstorm.
It was far easier to select children who possessed superior willpower and perseverance from the start.

‘The outcome is becoming clear.’

Rimer smiled faintly. More than half the children had already given up, and the rest were growing weary, their pace gradually slowing.

As Rimer prepared to conclude the test, a golden-haired child running in the lower group caught his eye.

‘Raon Zigheart.’

The only child today who had defied his expectations. Rimer’s pupils gleamed like starlight.

‘Incomprehensible.’

Raon’s stamina had been depleted long ago. With the bitter cold crushing his body and his breathing growing ragged, he should have been unable to stand—yet he maintained his form and moved his legs without ceasing.

‘This transcends mere perseverance. Is it venom?’

I have traversed countless battlefields and witnessed brilliant talents.

Among them were swordsmen who would stand towering across the Continent with their blades, and mages who would reshape the world’s order through magic. Yet none of them could endure as Raon does.

To continue running with completely depleted stamina? And a twelve-year-old burdened with such a vicious constitution at that?

That is a spirit forged only after surviving dozens of life-and-death battles. I cannot fathom how such venom came to reside in this delicately raised child.

‘Hmm….’

The entire Training Ground fell within Rimer’s gaze.

Lunan and Burren, who pressed forward while conserving their strength, were remarkable—yet they could not compare to Raon, who continued running with exhausted reserves.

Even the Branch Family and Vassal Family children who had scorned Raon ran with dripping saliva, unwilling to lose to him.

“Heh heh.”

A gentle arc formed at the corners of Rimer’s mouth.

“Now this is worth teaching.”

*

*

*

“Hmm….”

Burren Zigheart couldn’t focus on his running and kept glancing back over his shoulder, his expression darkening with each glance.

‘Why? How is that bastard still keeping up?’

Raon Zigheart. That arrogant fool who had dared to talk back to the family head was defying expectations by not falling behind. Though slow, he maintained a steady pace and continued running to the end.

‘He shouldn’t even be capable of running in his condition….’

I knew what state Raon was in. Born with an innate chill coursing through his body, he could barely move properly and his growth was stunted, or so I’d heard.

The boy I actually saw was even more pathetic than the rumors suggested. His frame was small, and there wasn’t the slightest trace of physical training on him.

‘And yet….’

He refused to give up.
Branch Family members, children of Vassal Families, even recommended students with acknowledged talent—they all dropped out and fell away. But he, gasping as though death itself were near, never stopped moving.

‘That one beside him is irritating too.’

Both Lunan Slion, the only one keeping pace with me, and Raon, who should have naturally fallen away, were getting under my skin.

‘Fine. I’ll show them the real difference.’

Burren resolved to crush the spirits of both Lunan and Raon, and he drove his feet forward with brutal force.

Whoosh!

He channeled his aura to amplify the muscles in his thighs and calves. Running at a speed that made his vision narrow, he glanced back.

‘They’re not—?’

Neither Lunan, whom he considered a rival, nor Raon showed any reaction.

The two maintained their respective paces, while only the members of the Branch Family and Vassal Family pursued them with growing desperation.

“Tsk!”

Burren Zigheart clicked his tongue and pushed his speed higher. He surged ahead of Lunan Slion, who had been running at a similar pace, by a considerable margin, while Raon had already overtaken him long ago.

Yet Lunan and Raon’s speed remained unchanged. They maintained their full power as if he didn’t even warrant their attention.

‘Ugh!’

The thought that he was being ignored by those falling behind him made his blood boil with frustration.

‘Let’s see if you can keep that up until the very end.’

*

*

*

“Huff!”

I exhaled roughly and smiled.

‘Power keeps flowing in.’

My stamina had long since bottomed out, leaving me as hollow as a dried well.

My head spun as though I might lose consciousness at any moment, but the life-giving vitality flowing from my Fire Ring, now ascended to the Third Star, allowed me to barely endure.

‘Compared to those days, this is paradise.’

In my past life as an assassin in training, I had been hunted by wild dogs at an even younger age. I had fled down mountains with my heart clenched in my fist, ready to burst.

I had even been caught and fought for my life against those beasts in a desperate struggle. Compared to that hellish existence, this was nothing more than play.

“Huff….”

I breathed heavily and looked ahead. Even the Branch Family members and the recommended candidates who still maintained their full power possessed rare talent, but Lunan and Burren were exceptional. The two of them ran with unwavering consistency from start to finish, maintaining their steady pace without the slightest fluctuation.

Just as I realized I wasn’t called a genius for nothing, Burren suddenly accelerated. He overtook Lunan Slion and surged into the lead.

“What?”
“B-Burren is—?”
“Run! Don’t fall behind!”

The other Branch Family members and recommended candidates who saw him desperately pushed themselves to match his pace.

“Hmph!”

Burren glanced back at Lunan Slion and himself with a look that said, “Try to catch up if you can.”

-What is he doing? He’s provoking you—are you just going to stand there? Catch up and crush those eyes of his.

Wrath glared at Burren and gnashed his teeth, but I didn’t respond.

‘Like I said before, this isn’t a competition.’

Today’s run wasn’t a race—it was a test to demonstrate one’s stamina and mental fortitude. And only one other person here understood that.

‘Lunan Slion.’

The silver-haired girl running in second place showed no interest in Burren’s solo charge, maintaining her own steady pace.

‘She’s actually a step ahead.’

I’d thought them similar, but Lunan Slion seemed to possess slightly greater mental discipline than Burren.

Burren was pretending to be mature, but he was still just a boy his age. If he went to the battlefield like that, he’d be dead within moments.

‘Not my concern.’

I chased not Burren, but Lunan Slion’s silhouette as I ran across the Training Ground.

“R-Raon?”
“How is he—”
“H-He’s been running this whole time?”

The Branch Family members who had been desperately chasing Burren began to fall back. These were the same ones who’d made snide remarks before the test began.

“Huff, huff! What… what did you do?”
“This… this can’t be real….”

The Branch Family members, gasping for breath, stopped in their tracks and collapsed to the ground as I overtook them.

I surged forward, using their stunned expressions as fuel for my momentum.

‘Pathetic.’

Everywhere you go, loudmouths lack substance. Since I’d never cared about them from the start, I dismissed them from my mind and kept running.

“Haa….”

Through measured breathing, I spun the Ring of Fire endlessly.

‘The ring is growing faster.’

Despite the short duration of my run, the ring’s refinement was accelerating rapidly. The Ring of Fire was indeed a cultivation method that only revealed its true power when driven at full capacity.

‘But it’s still damnably exhausting.’

Even as the Ring of Fire rotated, the pain didn’t fade. My heart and lungs felt crushed, and my ribs burned as if a dagger had been driven through them.

-Pathetic beyond measure.

As I ran with every ounce of strength, Wrath clicked his tongue.

-I cannot accept my future vessel losing. Surrender your body to me. I’ll catch up to that blue-haired brat right now and freeze him solid.
‘Shut up.’

This trial wasn’t about catching up to someone else. It was a battle against myself.

-As long as I keep my eyes open, I will not witness defeat.
‘Then close them. The fact that I’m running at all is a miracle.’

It wasn’t a lie.
Even with Wrath’s system, I still couldn’t purge the cold energy embedded within my mana circuits. It was the miracle of the Ring of Fire that allowed me to keep running.

-Then surrender your body to me.

Wrath transformed into the shape of the blue flames I had witnessed yesterday. His fury stirred my emotions, and my stomach churned violently.

‘Of all times….’

I bit my lip. In my exhausted state, Wrath’s provocation hit nearly twice as hard as it had yesterday.

‘Still, I cannot show weakness.’

If I revealed my fatigue here, Wrath might seize upon it as a vulnerability. I forced myself to maintain a composed expression and kept running.

‘Stop this foolishness and go back inside to sleep.’

I channeled all my strength into the Ring of Fire while keeping my face impassive. I cycled my legs as though nothing were amiss.

-Curse it! Why does my power have no effect on you?!

Wrath refused to relent, continuing to assault me with waves of wrathful emotion.

“Haah….”

I forced my depleted stamina upward, enduring Wrath’s mental onslaught through sheer will.

‘I’m dying….’

Cold sweat streamed down my back. Honestly, I felt as though I might collapse backward at any moment.

Only the experience of my past life—having crossed countless thresholds of death—combined with the Ring of Fire’s equilibrium allowed me to barely hold on.

-This stubborn wretch!
‘Give up and disappear.’
“Ugh!”

As I pushed back Wrath’s presence, Rimer, who had been lying on the platform, suddenly sprang to his feet.

“That’s enough!”

At his crisp command, the children running in the Training Ground came to a halt.

“Huff! Huff!”
“Ugh!”
“Argh!”

The children collapsed with vacant eyes or clutched their knees, gasping for breath.

“Wheeze…”

I too breathed as though death were imminent.

-A monster.

Wrath gnashed his teeth and retreated into the bracelet once more.

‘I told you. It wouldn’t work.’

I wiped the cold sweat trickling down my forehead. The test had been grueling, but enduring Wrath’s assault was far more taxing. Had I pushed myself any further, I truly would have perished.

‘This life too won’t be ordinary…hm?’

As I moistened my parched lips, a new message appeared.

Ding!

[You have demonstrated movement beyond the limits of your physical endurance.]
[Your stats have increased.]

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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