The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 151
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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 151
I grasped the massive door of the Grand Training Grounds with my hand. The towering gate, which had been closing, froze in place, unable to budge even an inch within my grip.
“Y-you are….”
“Raon Zigheart!”
The swordsmen before the door widened their eyes upon seeing my face and hastily lowered their flags.
“Raon!”
“Young Master!”
“Young Master Raon!”
The first voices came from the left flank. Sylvia and Helen, along with the attendants, were waving their hands frantically with reddened eyes. I turned toward them and offered a gentle smile.
“Why the hell are you so late, you bastard… Cough!”
“Raon!”
“Hey! You!”
Pushing aside Burren, who had broken into an unguarded grin, Lunan Slion and Martha rushed toward me.
“Raon!”
“Where have you been all this time?! Why are you only just arriving now?!”
Lunan and Martha both wore matching frowns as they gripped my sleeves and collar.
“Raon. You’re too late!”
“Ah, what a shame. You’re still alive and well.”
Lunan’s purple eyes gleamed as he held my sleeve, while Martha released her grip on my collar and turned her head away in embarrassment.
-The ice cream girl and beef girl remain unchanged. I am relieved.
Wrath nodded with satisfaction as he observed Lunan and Martha.
-Yet those eye-wielders and ear-bearers still draw breath. A pity indeed.
Meanwhile, he clicked his tongue at the sight of Burren and Rimer. Truly, this one’s behavior defies all prediction.
“Raon!”
“You finally arrived!”
“We’ve been waiting!”
“You’re so late!”
The trainees abandoned their positions and rushed toward the Training Ground entrance. In an instant, I was surrounded by a crowd of people.
“Making a grand entrance like that—are you trying to be the protagonist or something?”
Rimer approached with a smirk. His expression was nonchalant, but warmth flickered in his smile. He remained unchanged.
“Come up quickly if you’re here. Everyone’s waiting.”
“There’s still someone who hasn’t arrived.”
I shook my head and kept my hand on the door.
“Someone who hasn’t come?”
“Who else could there be?”
“Hasn’t everyone arrived?”
Moments later, Dorian crossed the threshold of the Grand Training Grounds, carrying Yua on his back and breathing heavily.
“W-wait! Don’t just run off alone like that!”
Dorian grunted and set Yua down.
“If I hadn’t gone first, the door would have closed.”
I finally released my grip on the door. The massive iron gate, held back by a single person’s strength, shut with a grand sound as if wounded in pride.
“Hmm….”
“Did he just hold that back with pure strength….”
The swordsmen serving as gatekeepers swallowed hard at the sight.
“Once the graduation ceremony begins, there’s no way to reverse it.”
I chuckled softly and brushed off my hands. If I had arrived even a moment later, the ceremony would have already started, leaving me no way to participate. Coming ahead of Dorian and Yua to hold the door had been the right call.
“Oh, D-Dorian!”
“Dorian was here.”
“R-right. Dorian was here.”
Rimer and the trainees laughed awkwardly upon seeing Dorian. They had all been so captivated by my dramatic entrance that they had completely forgotten Dorian’s existence.
“Dorian was here? That’s… a bit hurtful to hear.”
Dorian lowered his head with a melancholic gaze.
“Don’t worry about it. Go on up first.”
I tapped Dorian on the shoulder and made eye contact with Yua.
“Yua. Do you see those people over there?”
“The pretty ladies in nice clothes?”
“That’s right. Go wait over there with them.”
“Yes!”
Yua nodded and ran over to where Sylvia and Helen were seated.
“Hmm….”
Rimer turned his gaze away from Yua rushing forward and looked back at me.
“Did you gain anything from it?”
“Yes.”
“Excellent. Now that the protagonist has arrived, let’s begin. Everyone, return to your positions.”
Rimer chuckled at my confident response.
“Yes!”
“Understood!”
The trainees, their faces brightened, nodded and quickly moved back to their original positions.
“They called us the protagonists….”
Dorian trudged toward the back with his shoulders slumped.
“Ah, sorry. And Raon, you should stand at the very front….”
“Stop.”
Just as Rimer was about to tell me my position with an insincere expression, Karun Zigheart rose from the central platform where the direct descendants sat. He advanced beside Glen, radiating overwhelming presence.
“Patriarch. While the other trainees proved their qualifications a month ago, Raon has only just arrived at the family. Since he has not proven his qualifications, I believe he should not graduate with them.”
“That’s not wrong either.”
Glen nodded with an emotionless gaze, and Karun stepped forward to the platform.
“You two failed to obtain graduation credentials from the instructors. You have no right to stand on this stage. Step down.”
His cold voice echoed across the Training Ground.
“Y-yes! The Habun Castle Lord’s letter is right here….”
“That’s not it.”
As Dorian reached into his waist pouch to retrieve the letter from Milland, Karun raised his hand.
“You must report to the instructors what you’ve done over the past year and how you’ve spent it, and based on that, the instructors determine whether you pass the examination. Now that you’ve arrived, you lack those credentials. Surely you don’t intend to make everyone here wait while you provide proof of qualification?”
“Ah….”
Dorian hung his head low, his hand still in his waist pouch, while I regarded Karun with an impassive gaze. It was an obstruction, but his words weren’t wrong.
“There’s no need to wait long.”
Rimer stepped forward with a smile still on his face.
“Rimer….”
“A swordsman speaks through his blade. Is anything else necessary?”
He drew the sword from his waist. In that fleeting instant, a formidable aura surged forth. A verdant energy, as though a tempest had been condensed into solid form, wrapped densely around the silvery blade.
A resonant howl tore through the air.
Rimer pointed his blade at me, infused with the utmost killing intent.
“Words are unnecessary, aren’t they?”
“Of course not.”
The moment I nodded, Rimer vanished from sight. Riding the wind, he descended with his blade. The wind-forged edges converging around him tore through the very fabric of space.
That sword technique—I had witnessed it before. It was the same swordsmanship he had displayed when I fell to him just before departing this place. Now, reinforced with even greater aura, it mercilessly targeted my weaknesses.
A test. This was his examination of me. An attack meant to show how much I had grown over the past year.
‘I cannot disappoint him.’
Just before Rimer’s blade touched my chest, my hand moved. A crimson blade erupted from its sheath like lightning, piercing through the gaps in the wind and turning the tables—aiming for Rimer’s waist.
A deafening clash rang out.
As the two blades collided, infused with our wills, emerald and crimson light exploded outward, and a torrent of heat erupted from the center of the Training Ground.
Brilliant sparks crackled between the twisted blades.
Reflected in those golden sparks dancing between our clashing swords, Rimer and I exchanged subtle smiles.
Whoooosh!
Just before the concentrated aura exploded, Raon and Rimer extended their hands in perfect synchronization, redirecting the formidable storm of aura skyward.
Boom!
The auras that detonated above the Training Ground burst forth in brilliant light, like fireworks celebrating a graduation.
“You couldn’t even properly show yourself before, yet you’ve come back completely transformed.”
Rimer twirled his still-trembling sword and let out a satisfied chuckle. His eyes gleamed with unmistakable contentment.
-Transformed? All he’s done is gotten better at putting on airs.
Wrath scowled, clearly displeased that Raon was drawing all the attention.
“Huh….”
“He blocked that sword strike? And he’s still just a trainee?”
“Did Rimer go easy on him?”
“Are you blind? He certainly controlled his power, but that was no strike a trainee should have been able to withstand.”
“Insane. At seventeen years old, wielding that kind of power….”
The swordsmen who had witnessed the clash between Raon and Rimer up close clicked their tongues in astonishment.
“As the chief instructor of the 5th Training Ground, I acknowledge your growth. You have passed the survival test. Raon Zigheart.”
“Thank you.”
I bowed in turn to Glen Zigheart and Rimer.
“You witnessed it firsthand. Do you have anything to say, Director of the Central Intelligence Agency?”
“Ugh….”
Karun Zigheart, having witnessed the power of my sword strike with his own eyes, found himself at a loss for words and ground his teeth as he returned to his place.
“Wow. He’s gotten stronger.”
“Damn! I was worried for nothing.”
“But how did the instructor block that sword?”
“That’s absolutely insane….”
The trainees who had felt the clash between me and Rimer with their own bodies stood with their mouths agape wide enough for insects to crawl inside.
“As expected….”
“Raon!”
“That damn bastard….”
Burren Zigheart clenched his fists as if he’d known it all along, Lunan Slion snorted through his nose after a long time, and Martha curled her lips upward with delight.
“Patriarch. May I begin?”
“…We’ll ask questions about Raon later. Begin.”
Glen Zigheart nodded without the slightest change in expression, as if the matter held no interest for him.
“Chief trainee. Raon, step forward.”
“Yes!”
I walked forward with confident strides and stood before the trainees, looking up at Glen Zigheart.
“5th Training Ground total roster: 43 members, current attendance: 43 members. All present and accounted for! We now commence the graduation ceremony of the 5th Training Ground!”
Rimer announced the start of the ceremony with particular emphasis on the full attendance. Every trainee straightened their posture, their eyes gleaming with confidence.
Every trainee except one.
“Wait, is this right? I didn’t even take the test. Is this actually right?”
Dorian glanced at the trainees beside him and rubbed his fingers together. While it was fortunate he hadn’t taken the test, his heart ached at the thought that his very existence had been erased.
“Am I being completely ignored?”
*
*
*
After the graduation ceremony ended, I was summoned to the Patriarch’s Reception Hall before I could even meet with Sylvia.
Glen Zigheart sat upon his throne just as he did in the training grounds, his hollow gaze surveying the world below with detached indifference.
‘Truly remarkable. I cannot even sense the extent of his strength.’
The more I grew, the more I glimpsed how towering the mountain that was Glen truly stood. Even after confronting Sloth, a transcendent being, I could not perceive his limits. It seemed as though this man could even overcome that Sloth.
-Still, he remains beneath me. As I’ve said before, if I were to bring forth my true body’s power, I could defeat him in tens of thousands of exchanges.
‘Wasn’t it thousands of exchanges before?’
-That’s… well, isn’t it because you stole my power, you wretched thief!
‘You said that much was nothing.’
-….
‘Wrath?’
Wrath offered no reply, simply retreating into the bracelet as if falling asleep, refusing to speak another word.
‘Regardless.’
I suppressed the hollow laugh threatening to escape and stepped before Glen.
“I greet you, Patriarch!”
I bowed deeply while firmly grasping the trembling hand of Yua beside me.
“I-I greet the Patriarch!”
Dorian’s greeting came a beat late, but Glen paid it no mind and waved his hand, signaling them to rise.
“Report everything that happened after you left this place.”
“It may take quite some time. Is that acceptable?”
“It doesn’t matter. I need to hear what you’ve done over the past year to determine whether you’ve earned your graduation.”
“Understood. Then I’ll begin with Camelrun, where we first arrived. We went there and….”
I stepped forward and explained everything that had transpired. Of course, I carefully omitted certain incidents—the theft and my encounter with Sloth—editing the account appropriately.
“…Finally, after sparring with the Milland Lord, we returned to the family.”
“How did the duel with the Lord go?”
“I lost.”
“I know you lost. You’re a hundred years too early to defeat him. Did the Lord use his aura?”
“Yes. He used it at the end.”
“Hmm!”
“Ah….”
Rimer smacked his lips with satisfaction, while Roen let out an admiring exclamation.
“….”
Glen regarded me with his usual gaze, studying me intently. Despite claiming he would render a judgment, his expression betrayed little interest.
“Is that the child Eden was targeting?”
“Ugh.”
Glen’s gaze shifted toward Yua for the first time. The weight of his attention sent a violent tremor through her hands.
“Yes. Given that they attempted to place the Siren mask on her and have targeted her twice, it appears they are quite obsessed with her.”
“Siren, you say….”
Glen suppressed the aura and majesty that naturally radiated from him.
“What is your name?”
“Ah….”
With her composure restored, Yua gripped my hand tightly and slowly opened her mouth.
“I’m Y-Yua! Ah, yes, I’m Yua!”
“Hmm.”
At Yua’s unexpectedly loud voice, Glen turned his head toward Roen.
“Indeed, there is something there.”
Roen nodded, his eyes trembling with uncertainty.
“There’s spiritual energy woven into the very fabric of his voice. Could it be that his upper dantian opened not by chance, but by design?”
“No, he was born with it already open. It’s an extraordinarily rare talent. Now I understand why Eden was after him.”
Glen Zigheart erased his presence entirely, appearing as an ordinary man, and locked eyes with Yua. His crimson gaze burned with crystalline clarity, as though he had pierced through every layer of the boy’s being in that singular moment.
“What do you intend to do with the boy?”
“I plan to have him stay in the Annex Building with me. And…”
I closed my eyes briefly before opening them again to continue.
“Since he wishes to grow stronger on his own, I intend to teach him the blade.”
“Not the blade.”
Glen Zigheart shook his head with unwavering resolve.
“The path that boy must walk is not one of steel, but of sound.”
With a subtle gesture of his chin, Roen stepped forward from where he stood to the right.
“From now on, have him learn the ways of sound from Roen.”
“Wait, just a moment! Roen is…”
Roen was certainly a good man, but he was unmistakably the assassin who had stood behind Glen Zigheart. I couldn’t possibly have Yua learn assassination techniques.
“Roen has considerable expertise with sound. Don’t worry—there’s nothing you need to concern yourself with.”
Glen Zigheart shook his head as if he’d read my thoughts entirely.
“Sound….”
Roen is a martial artist who can perfectly silence sound even at close range. Not only can he eliminate sound, but it seemed he could also create it as well.
“I look forward to working with you going forward.”
Roen smiled gently toward Yua and me, as if to say there was nothing to worry about.
“Ah, yes!”
Yua seemed more comfortable with Roen’s far gentler demeanor compared to Glen Zigheart, and she quickly nodded her head.
“Then let me ask one final question. Why are you so late?”
“Nothing particularly urgent, sir.”
I continued speaking while observing Dorian and Yua beside me, both looking uncertain.
“We stopped by the city to replenish some fruits and supplies.”
Yua wanted to procure several food ingredients to prepare delicious dishes for Sylvia, and Dorian wished to replenish fruits and various items in his pouch, so we made a detour to the city.
“F-fruits?”
“Restocking supplies?”
Rimer and Roen’s faces went blank the moment they heard the reason, as if they found it utterly absurd.
“Delayed because you were buying fruit? How pathetic. Like master, like student.”
Glen Zigheart’s brow furrowed as he looked at Rimer, his gaze cold as if asking whether he had taught his student to be this way.
“Patriarch! I cannot accept such words! I can tolerate insults to my student, but I cannot tolerate insults to myself!”
Rimer shook his head vigorously as if demanding the statement be retracted.
“…A madman, truly.”
-…Still a madman.
Glen Zigheart and Wrath uttered the identical words as if in perfect agreement.
“Those two aside, did you also waste time buying fruit?”
“I cleared my mind during that time.”
“Cleared your mind?”
“Yes.”
I slowly closed my eyes.
“After my duel with the Milland Lord ended. Or rather, since my Mana Circulation advanced a stage, visions of countless futures have haunted my mind. Multiple paths to strength—through swordsmanship, footwork, and cultivation techniques. I could see them all unfolding before me.”
“So what did you do?”
Glen’s eyes lit up for the first time at those words. He rose slowly from his throne as if excited.
“I merely observed the passing visions as they flowed like a stream, without grasping at them.”
“Why? You must have felt the greed to seize those insights and grow stronger.”
“That is true. However, they were far too vast for my current self to comprehend. I feared that if I grasped at them carelessly, I would become trapped and unable to progress.”
“So you merely observed?”
“Yes. Believing that one day they would become my strength, I savored my final days as a trainee with those two.”
I nodded calmly.
‘That was the right answer.’
After the sparring match, my mind had been consumed entirely by visions of my future self standing at a higher realm, unable to think of anything else.
The image was so powerful that I believed if I could only seize that vision, I could reach the Master realm and take revenge on Derus Robert in no time. Yet that was not true growth.
So I let it go.
Like drifting clouds or flowing wind, when I released the strengthened vision of my future self, my mind became at peace instead, and my martial achievement rose higher.
“I see.”
Glen settled back into his chair. His expression seemed both pleased and uncertain about the answer.
“The stronger you become, the more you have to think about. Physical training, aura cultivation, martial techniques, swordsmanship, footwork, sparring, and even mental imagery.”
He gazed upward into the empty sky with eyes as crimson as my own.
“The more you see, the farther you look ahead, the easier it becomes to lose sight of what you must grasp. In that sense, your choice this time was correct.”
“Pardon?”
“Gaze too far ahead and you stumble over a stone at your feet. Focus too closely on what’s near and you lose your direction. From a middle ground, advance step by step with what you can do.”
“Ah, yes.”
I never imagined Glen Zigheart would say something was right, so goosebumps rose across my skin in that moment.
“Hm?”
“Mm!”
Rimer and Roen also dropped their jaws in surprise.
“However, both that child and you are already exposed to Eden. You should have been more careful, even with proper disguise.”
“How did you know we were in disguise, sir?”
I tilted my head. The disguise was real enough, but I couldn’t fathom how Glen Zigheart had seen through it.
“…Since you’re not a fool, I naturally assumed you’d be disguised.”
After a brief silence, Glen Zigheart spoke again, his voice pitched slightly higher than usual.
“I see.”
Raon nodded in acceptance.
“I thought you were late because you were being foolish, but since you’ve found your path, it’s worth overlooking. I acknowledge your graduation, Raon Zigheart.”
“Thank you.”
“Wait, hold on!”
Glen Zigheart waved his hand urgently for me to leave, and just as I lowered my head to withdraw, Dorian raised his hand.
“I was going to say… ugh!”
He was about to mention that he hadn’t even administered a test or asked anything, but under Glen Zigheart’s gaze, his mind went blank.
Rustle.
Out of habit, Dorian reached into his belly pouch and pulled out the confections he’d bought this time.
“W-would you like some sweets?”
*
*
*
“It seems the Patriarch is helpless when it comes to his grandfather.”
Rimer chuckled while chewing on the pastry Dorian had brought him.
“To listen to a story you already knew for over an hour just to hear your grandson’s exploits firsthand… I don’t think I could manage such affection myself.”
“Quiet.”
“And this time you even made a mistake. You almost let it slip that you were receiving reports from the Heavenly Sword Squad and the Bi-Yeon Society when you misspoke… Ugh! I’m, I’m sorry!”
Rimer stopped laughing and retreated when he saw Glen Zigheart’s eyes gleaming a vivid crimson. He still lacked the courage to resist after being beaten half to death just yesterday.
“Raon’s aura has diminished even further. At this point, even masters would struggle to detect that Raon is cultivating martial arts.”
Roen exhaled in wonder.
“He was naturally gifted at concealing his presence from the start. Now even I find it difficult to accurately gauge Raon’s level. It’s certain he’s surpassed the upper Expert realm, but…”
Rimer nodded in agreement while chewing his pastry.
“Didn’t you hear him earlier? He said inspiration was dawning in his mind. That boy is already standing before the Wall.”
“The, the Wall you say…?”
“Surely you don’t mean the Master realm?”
Roen’s eyes widened, and Rimer dropped his bag of pastries.
“That boy has already reached the pinnacle of the Expert realm. Moreover, he has stepped onto the fastest path to the Master realm.”
When advancing from Expert to Master rank, one’s future unfolds like a panorama within the mind.
If one becomes absorbed in the lofty mental imagery that cannot yet be achieved, they may never reach Master rank in their lifetime, and if they ignore it entirely, the path to Mastery grows distant.
The best approach is to let it flow past like water, and Raon achieved this without anyone’s help, spending his free time in perfect freedom. He truly is no ordinary person.
Raon’s true strength seemed to lie not in his rapidly growing martial prowess, but in the steadfastness and clarity of his spirit.
“The children called the Twelve Continents reached Master rank in their mid-twenties. Yet Raon is already demonstrating achievements a step above where I was at that age. It seems….”
A spark of anticipation flickered in Glen Zigheart’s crimson eyes.
“It appears the youngest Master in the history of the Continent will be born before long.”
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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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