The Reincarnated Assassin is a Genius Swordsman - Chapter 26

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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 26

A month had passed since I began learning the Mana Circulation Technique.

I continued my cultivation at dawn, evening, and night, yet an aura still refused to form.

This extraordinary cultivation method possessed such formidable power that its difficulty of mastery transcended imagination.

Of course, the slow progress also stemmed from simultaneously manipulating the cold energy within my mana circuits.

‘Take it slowly.’

I stood in the center of the Training Ground and calmly closed my eyes.

‘I have the Ring of Fire, after all.’

As long as the Ring of Fire existed, my physical and magical talents would eventually reach their peak. Now was not the time to rush forward recklessly, but rather to build a more solid foundation.

Creak!

The moment regular training time arrived, the Training Ground door swung open smoothly, and Rimer entered. Unusually, he wasn’t late.

“Starting today, we’ll learn martial arts during morning sessions.”
“Ooh!”
“Woohoo!”
“Finally!”
“Swordsmanship! Swordsmanship!”

The trainees raised their hands and cheered loudly.

The trainees had spent the past month doing nothing but physical conditioning since passing the exam. Such enthusiasm was only natural.

“Zigheart’s name echoes across the Continent because of swordsmanship, but our martial arts are equally formidable. I’ll now demonstrate the basic forms of martial arts.”

Rimer said he would demonstrate, then lay down on the platform.

“Experienced instructors, step forward.”

He yawned and gestured, whereupon the instructor behind him stepped forward and began demonstrating a fist technique.

‘The Seven Forms Fist.’

A martial art comprising seven distinct forms—the fundamental fist technique underlying all hand combat.

I knew the forms, but had never trained them. In my past life, every extension of my hand was a blade meant to kill in a single stroke.

“Ah, the Seven Forms Fist….”
“We already know that.”
“Ugh, how tedious.”

The children’s expressions grew cold upon seeing the Seven Forms Fist. It seemed their hearts weren’t stirred, having already learned this technique before arriving.

“Bored faces, I see.”

Rimer chuckled and snapped his fingers.

“I know many of you have already learned the Seven Forms Fist beforehand. So if you can demonstrate proper mastery, I’ll let you advance to the next stage immediately.”
“The next stage? What do you mean?”

Dorian, fearful by nature yet endlessly curious, raised his hand.

“You are all trainees of the same standing, but not of the same level. In other words, there’s no need for identical instruction. If you simply surpass the standard I’ve set, I’ll advance you to the next level immediately.”

Rimer muttered that the previous training method had been far too rigid.

“Excellent. I approve.”

Martha Zigheart stepped forward with a bright smile.

“I thought we’d be stuck learning this tedious Seven Forms again, but this is how it should be. The superior need not conform to the inferior, after all.”
“I hadn’t considered it that way. Regardless, from now on, each of you will recreate the Seven Forms Fist you just witnessed from your own positions. As I said, if I’m satisfied, I’ll begin your next training immediately.”

Before Rimer’s words had even finished, the children began demonstrating the Seven Forms Fist.

‘Their fundamentals are well-established.’

Raon observed the children executing the Seven Forms Fist around him, his eyes gleaming with interest.

‘No wonder they’re a prestigious clan.’

I had assumed the basics would be taught hastily and glossed over, but the children were extending their fists with precise direction and force.

“Hmm, as expected.”

Rimer nodded with satisfaction.

“Martha Zigheart, Burren Zigheart, Lunan Slion,….”

As he called out the names of trainees who had demonstrated the proper Seven-Form Fist, fewer than twenty people remained in the center.

And among them was Raon Zigheart, whose crimson eyes gleamed with intensity.

*

*

*

“Hmm.”

Rimer nodded as he observed the Seven-Form Fist that Raon Zigheart was displaying.

‘So he truly didn’t know.’

His punches were raw, lacking the proper form. Just as Sylvia had mentioned, it seemed he hadn’t learned anything.

However, since Raon had once followed the flow of the Void-Piercing Fist that Burren used, he would be able to master it perfectly within days.

‘I should observe the other children as well….’

Though my gaze naturally drifted toward Raon, I examined the other children thoroughly since Glen had cautioned me about it.

‘Not bad at all.’

Since these children had been admitted through recommendations, most possessed exceptional eyes and physiques. They would soon master the Seven-Form Fist and progress to the next stage.

‘Competition truly does bring out the best.’

This was no different from a long-distance race.
The children ahead pushed themselves to avoid being caught by those behind, while the trailing children exerted their utmost to catch up with the leaders. A virtuous cycle of training was taking place.

‘Then next.’

Rimer observed Martha, Burren, Lunan, and the other trainees who had passed through the Seven-Form Fist.

Martha had perfectly mastered the fist techniques she should have learned in Stage 2, so she had begun training in Stage 3’s Lightning Fist.

‘Of course she would.’

Martha had failed midway, but that was due to her temperament, not her ability. I should prepare additional training to ensure that child doesn’t waste time.

And I should also consider ways to make her rough personality a bit more refined.

‘Those two are doing well too.’

Burren and Lunan already understood the True Victory Fist taught in Stage 2 to a considerable degree. Both of them would be able to advance to Stage 3’s Lightning Fist before long.

Rimer, lying on his back, jotted down information about the children in his notebook.

‘Now then, let me check again… huh?’

After reviewing all the children in the Training Ground, Rimer’s pupils trembled as his gaze turned back to Raon Zigheart.

‘What…?’

In this brief moment of checking the children’s condition, the form of the Seven-Form Fist was being engraved into Raon Zigheart’s energy pathways.

‘Does this even make sense?’

Rimer couldn’t help but sit up.

Raon Zigheart was different from Martha, Lunan, and Burren. He had clearly started without knowing anything, yet now he had become an entirely different person.
No matter how basic the Seven-Form Fist was or how easy it was to imitate, showing such dramatic growth in less than an hour made no sense whatsoever.

‘What kind of monster is this…?’

Not long after being astonished by his mana control ability, I was now left speechless by his martial technique acquisition speed. My jaw hung open involuntarily.

“Hah.”

I had no intention of giving Raon special treatment.

My plan was to send him to the next stage only after solidifying the fundamentals of fist techniques, but that moment seemed to be approaching far more quickly than expected.

‘At this rate, it won’t be tomorrow. It might be this very evening….’

*

*

*

Martha Zigheart threw a punch with a cheerful snap and smiled.

‘These instructors this time are to my liking.’

Until now, I had been waiting for the laggards to catch up, but that wasn’t the right answer.

The proper way was for the talented to rise upward, and the talentless to become their stepping stones.

When I turned my gaze to the left, I could see children learning the Seven Forms Fist.

I mastered it two years ago. It would be impossible for those children to ever catch up to me, no matter how long they trained.

By the time they complete the Seven Forms Fist and reach the second stage, I will have already finished the Lightning Fist and begun learning swordsmanship.

‘That one’s here too.’

Martha’s lips curled upward as she watched Raon swinging his fists in the center.

‘Raon Zigheart.’

A rare specimen born with a terrible chill, yet one who eventually achieved first place after voluntarily participating in training.

Recalling the moment a month ago when he blocked my surprise attack, his senses and movements were both exceptional. A talented one.

‘But.’

It’s too late.

Starting to learn aura at thirteen and beginning martial arts is no different from running long after the starting signal has sounded.

‘There’s no way that boy will ever catch up to me.’

My aura had already reached the third tier, and I had mastered not just martial arts but swordsmanship as well.

Perhaps if it were Burren Zigheart or Lunan Slion, who had started training from childhood, it would be different. But Raon Zigheart wasn’t even worth considering as a rival.

‘He’s merely a stepping stone.’

Raon Zigheart was nothing more than a trivial stepping stone beneath my notice.

“Hmph.”

Martha scoffed and turned away, dismissing Raon from her thoughts as she focused her concentration on training the Thunderbolt Fist.

As the sun began to set, a man approached Martha, who had been steadily improving her mastery of the Thunderbolt Fist.

“Miss. It’s time for your Direct Line training.”

It was Camel, her butler.

“Understood.”

Martha nodded and turned to leave. The other children were still practicing their rudimentary martial arts.

“Pathetic.”
“Raon Zigheart.”

As I was turning to leave with a sneer, Rimer’s voice reached my ears.

“You pass. Move on to the next test.”

I turned around at his light, wind-like voice. Raon Zigheart stood there with an impassive expression, nodding calmly.

“What is this!”

Martha’s eyes widened. In a single day—no, merely half a day—he had mastered the Seven Forms Fist. It was unbelievable.

‘It took me four days.’

Even she, adopted into the Zigheart family thanks to her prodigious talent, had required four days to master the Seven Forms Fist.

That footman reaching such a level in merely half a day made no sense whatsoever.

“Then teach me the next technique.”
“The sun’s already set. I can’t be bothered. Let’s do it tomorrow.”
“That’s not something an instructor should say out of laziness….”
“Wait.”

Martha inserted herself between Raon and Rimer, who were conversing.

“Instructor. Did that bastard just pass? The Seven Forms Fist we learned today?”
“Yeah.”

Rimer nodded, his green eyes widening in circles.

“Aren’t you passing him too carelessly?”
“Too carelessly?”
“Even if the Seven Forms contains fundamental fist techniques, it takes considerable time to master the angles. There’s no way that bastard perfected them in half a day.”
“Of course it’s not perfected. But he’s reached the level to move on to the True Victory Fist.”
“That standard is far too lenient.”
“Hmm….”

Rimer scratched his chin, then turned his head toward Raon.

“That’s what I’m saying. Raon. Show me once.”
“I refuse.”

Raon shook his head firmly.

“I’ve already heard your declaration that I passed, so why should I demonstrate again?”
“You….”
“Then I’ll teach you the True Victory Fist right now instead of tomorrow.”

Rimer spoke first before Martha could step forward.

“Fine, I understand.”

I exhaled softly and spread my legs to shoulder width. I held my breath and extended my fist. A heavy straight punch pierced through the evening air.

I stepped forward and drove my left fist outward. The trajectory as it returned resembled a boomerang.

I rotated to the right and whipped my right fist from my waist. The crisp wind made Martha’s bangs flutter.

The stances that followed were elegant yet explosive. I expressed all seven forms and momentum of the Seven-Form Fist with precision.

Gulp.

Martha swallowed hard.

Rimer hadn’t glossed over it. Raon Zigheart had truly mastered the forms and essence of the Seven-Form Fist in just half a day.

“You already knew this beforehand!”
“No.”

I tilted my chin up as if to say she was spouting nonsense.

“Tch….”

She had nothing to say. Earlier, my punches had clearly been at a beginner’s level.

“What do you think, Martha? Isn’t this worth acknowledging?”

Rimer chuckled mockingly at her.

“In just half a day?”
“What did I just witness?”
“Wow….”
“He’s absolutely insane.”

The instructors and children were equally astonished, their mouths hanging open.

“I-I could do that much too.”

Martha forced a smile and turned away. She bit her lip and left the Training Ground without another word.

‘It’s fine.’

It was merely the Seven Forms Fist—not swordsmanship, but the most fundamental basics of unarmed combat. Even if he had grasped it somewhat quickly, there was no way he could catch up to me.

Yes. There was no way such a thing could happen.

Martha Zigheart steadied her mind as she headed toward the Direct Line Training Ground, yet the arc of Raon’s fist remained etched deeply in her thoughts.

*

*

*

“What was that supposed to mean?”

Raon brushed off his hands and furrowed his brow.

“She was just startled.”

Rimer chuckled as he watched Martha leave the Training Ground.

“Honestly, I was surprised too. I’ve never seen anyone pick things up as quickly as you do.”
“I appreciate the compliment, but please teach me the next form.”
“Right, of course.”

He exhaled softly and rose to his feet. He stretched his waist and wrists, then gazed up at the sky.

“But Raon.”
“Yes?”

Looking at Rimer’s expression, an uneasy feeling suddenly washed over me.

“It’s gotten too late today. Let’s continue tomorrow!”

He summoned a gust of wind to obscure my vision, then vanished beyond the wall. His movements were too swift and decisive to even think of stopping him.

“….”
-I told you before, didn’t I? That pointy-eared bastard has the face of a backstabber. He’s the type who’d abandon you on the battlefield and flee alone.

Since when had Wrath become a fortune teller? He laid out Rimer’s future as well.

‘I had anticipated this to some extent.’

I smacked my lips. From the moment I saw Rimer’s reaction, I suspected it might come to this.

“Raon Zigheart.”

Burren Zigheart approached with heavy, deliberate steps.

“I’m going now to receive training that only the Direct Line can access.”

I already knew. After evening, while the trainees conducted personal cultivation, the Direct Line members could receive additional instruction.

“You’re welcome to say it’s unreasonable. But I will crush you by any means necessary.”

He glared at me for a moment, then left the Training Ground.

-That arrogant gaze remains unchanged. Someday, I’ll definitely….
‘No, it’s different.’

I shook my head as I watched Burren’s retreating figure. For reasons I couldn’t quite place, his eyes had grown clearer over the past month.

His competitive spirit remained, but it seemed he wouldn’t resort to shameful tactics like before.

Tap.

I turned at the sound of footsteps behind me. Lunan Slion was watching me with fierce eyes.

“Aren’t you going?”
“No.”
“Wouldn’t it be better to go?”
“No.”
“You could learn stronger swordsmanship….”
“No.”

Lunan shook her head slowly.

Tsk.

I smacked my lips and headed toward the Practice Chamber. Behind me, I could hear Lunan Slion’s footsteps following softly, patter-patter-patter.

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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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