Raon grasped the Heavenly Drive and Wooden Ring Sword that Dorian handed to him, slowly lowering his eyes. Time stopped, and the world froze. In that moment, it felt as if only Raon and these two swords existed.
'A sword...'
When Raon left the training ground after entrusting the Heavenly Drive and Wooden Ring Sword to Dorian, Raon didn't think about swords or training. No, even if such thoughts arose, Raon forcibly buried them deep in his heart. There would be no point in abandoning training if Raon still thought about swords after leaving. At first, no matter what Raon did, Raon couldn't stop thinking about swords and cultivation.
Whether Raon was eating delicious food, watching people, or playing with children, swords were always floating in the depths of his mind.
Thinking it would be better to work rather than just playing and eating, Raon dyed his hair and eyes black, dirtied his skin, and got a job at the largest general store in Zieghart.
Before a few days had passed, Raon became friendly with his coworkers, chatting about various things, and easily building rapport with customers. The supply knowledge Raon learned from Dorian seemed to be a big help. After adapting to the general store work, time began to flow incredibly fast.
From morning until noon, Raon organized merchandise at the general store, and in the afternoons, Raon spent time wandering around like someone without obligations.
As Raon continued this strange lifestyle that couldn't be called normal, the thoughts of swords and swordsmanship began to fade like mist from his mind. After working at the general store for ten days, for the first time, other thoughts began to surface before sword-related ones.
What food should Raon modify and try eating with Wrath today? What interesting stories should Raon tell the children who come to the park? Heavy items will be delivered to the store tomorrow, should Raon go to work a little earlier?
When Raon researched how to make delicious food even tastier with Wrath, and napped in the park listening to children's laughter, thoughts about swords and swordsmanship stopped surfacing altogether.
The martial arts breathing techniques Raon had honed all his life stopped, and somewhat absurd thoughts, like wondering what to play tomorrow like children do, dominated his mind.
'Isn't this dangerous?'
He became afraid. Warning bells rang repeatedly in his mind. Anxiety crept in that his accumulated swordsmanship might crumble, and Raon might fail in his revenge. Still, Raon had to keep moving forward. Raon had already started walking a new path, and the way back had collapsed long ago.
Fortunately, having a lifelong friend by his side allowed me to erase at least some of his fear.
-Pork and tomatoes are supposed to go well together?
-Wouldn't it be good to wrap fried fish with chicory instead of basil?
-Mint chocolate Bead Ice Cream is the greatest food. Don't throw it away!
-If we made beef into juice, couldn't we eat it even while sleeping?
-Dipping in sauce versus just dipping? This King prefers to just devour it! Hurry up and move your fork!
-Sword? Since you mention swords. I'm craving long silver cutlassfish. It tastes bad? That's because you haven't been to a place that prepares it well!
-This King is still hungry!
Mostly food talk. No, it was all food talk, but having Wrath beside him was still helpful in its own way. Probably. Playing, eating, working with this glutton, and building friendships with Zieghart residents whose faces Raon hadn't even known before, Raon found himself increasingly immersed in this current life.
From then on, the thoughts about swords that Raon had forcibly suppressed naturally washed away like the ebbing tide.
Now Raon no longer needed to deliberately avoid thinking about swords. After a busy day, his life as a swordsman would blur like a dream. The fear of forgetting swords, swordsmanship, and revenge also disappeared. Raon was simply devoted to his current life. At that moment when Raon forgot both the sword and fear, a new sword emerged from within him.
A sword of the heart, a sword of the soul. The form of the Soul Sword Raon had forged from his soul became clear enough to grasp. Raon thought he had already established the framework of his Soul Sword. Raon believed that if he continued to grow this way, Raon could complete an invincible Soul Sword like Glenn's. But he was wrong.
Just as Darkan had wasted time with his clumsy begging, Raon too had been wasting time.
He had a life as a swordsman, but no life as a human being. Among joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure, Raon possessed only wrath, so naturally his soul-forged sword was inadequate. But while living as an ordinary person, even briefly, Raon enjoyed laughter and happiness in trivial conversations, and felt irritation towards the arrogant son of the general store owner.
Seeing elderly couples past their sixties still holding hands tightly, Raon dreamed of marriage. (E/N: Oh damn...)
Watching children with sparkling eyes listening to various stories, Raon developed a desire to have children of his own. Only then did he realize it. Raon too was not an avatar of revenge wrapped in anger. He was not a sword, but a human. A realization akin to enlightenment but without an actual awakening. (E/N: Tbh I thought we already had this arc several hundred chapters ago, and once more very early in the story, so it's a bit awkward to go through this whole thing for the third time)
But Raon felt that he had changed more significantly than ever before. Slowly opening his eyes, Raon saw the Heavenly Drive appearing to cry with joy. The further away Raon kept the sword, the closer his heart came to it. The sword was not a Sacred Artifact for enlightenment, but a tool for killing. What mattered was his heart. Raon raised his gaze to look at Glenn standing on the platform.
Though Glenn believed in him, he must have been constantly worried, as black wrinkles had formed around his eyes.
'I should show grandfather too.'
What Raon had gained and returned with after two months.
He drew the Heavenly Drive from its scabbard. Raon felt it again. This sword had no will of its own. What mattered was the human heart. Raon raised the Heavenly Drive, wrapped in a small but vivid Willpower like a seed sprouting after winter.
A single silent sword path was drawn. The downward slash Raon had repeated from the first time Raon held a sword now fell wrapped in a human heart.
The moment the sword point that had reached the sky tilted toward the ground. Everyone standing in the training ground collapsed with the chilling sensation of their hearts being cut in half. The thin, slender sword of the heart had now been sharpened enough to kill enemies with will alone.
"Ugh..."
"T-this is swordsmanship?"
"I can't breathe..."
Swordsmen with weak auras began foaming at the mouth, unable to endure even the manifestation of the Soul Sword. Ironically, by becoming human, Raon gained a sword that could cut people. Shhh. Raon sheathed not the Heavenly Drive, but the sword of his heart.
"This is..."
Receiving the astonished gazes of the swordsmen behind me, Raon bowed his head to Glenn.
"This is the sword I have realized."
***
"M-my heart is still properly attached, right?"
Krein clutched his chest, which felt as if something cold had passed through it, and panted.
"I felt like his neck had been cut off..."
Dorian trembled with both hands, saying it wasn't his heart but his neck that felt severed.
"S-Soul Sword? It's completely different from what we experienced before?"
Burren frowned, recalling Raon's Soul Sword that he had experienced at the Fifth Training Ground.
"Even though it wasn't directed at me, it was far more chilling than before."
He deeply creased his eyes as if he didn't want to recall it again.
"So this is a real Soul Sword!"
Martha caressed her neck with both hands and smiled, showing her teeth.
"Real swordsmanship truly has no end! It's absolutely insane!"
Nevertheless, as if she wanted to continue walking this path, she gripped her sword until it creaked.
"Phew..."
Runaan, unusually with her eyes wide open, exhaled a frost-tinged breath.
"It was somehow sad..."
She bit her lip slightly as if she had not only seen Raon's sword but felt his emotions as well.
"Ahahahaha!"
Alice held her stomach laughing and shook her head from side to side.
"I told you there was no need to worry about our nephew! Of course, I didn't expect him to return so transformed!"
She grinned, saying that Raon never failed to exceed expectations.
"It's amazing, but..."
Balder furrowed his brows with a hand on his chest, which had felt that chilling sensation.
"When are you going to make my Martial Arts Manual!"
He sniffled, saying that Raon seemed to be growing increasingly distant.
"How does it look to you?"
The Blade Queen nudged the Warlord with her elbow.
"I thought we'd caught up to our Lord thanks to training here, but it seems we've fallen further behind?"
She let out a hollow laugh as if she hadn't expected this outcome.
"It was already over the moment our Lord grasped the sword."
The Warlord calmly shook his head.
"Now we can't catch up."
With a cool expression, he drew a faint smile, saying the distance between them and Raon had widened even more.
"..."
Karoon said nothing, just steadily gazed at Raon standing beside him.
"I see. So you're indeed that kind."
Despite feeling Raon's transformation up close, he showed no sign of dread as he let out a solemn laugh.
"It's still manageable."
***
After directly experiencing Raon's sword, Glenn gulped dryly.
'How can this be...'
He progressed that far alone? The Raon in the training ground couldn't break out of his eggshell. With his feet dipped in the Mental World, no matter how much he struggled inside, he could never come out. Fortunately, with help from those around him, he overcame his heart demon, but his enlightenment was too shallow to advance to the next realm.
'That's why I didn't guide him.'
I wanted to give him free time to ease his mind and offer advice later, but I never imagined he would return having gained enlightenment on his own like this.
'This isn't shallow enlightenment.'
Raon didn't just crack the shell; he completely broke the egg and emerged. It wouldn't be strange to say the person himself had completely changed.
'The emotional change is especially significant.'
Raon had shallow emotions and always emanated a dark atmosphere. Though Glenn didn't know the exact reason, he could feel his strong desire for revenge against Derus. But now his grandson was smiling more innocently and beautifully than other young men his age. And it wasn't fake—he was genuinely happy.
'I thought it would take at least a year at minimum.'
Raon, who had been fiercely training in the training ground, closely resembled his past self who only pursued power. That period when Glenn punished those who defied him, focused solely on his Martial Prowess, distancing himself from both his family and clan. The time when Glenn pushed away even his children to focus on power was his sin and worst moment.
'It was that child who helped me escape from that.'
He didn't even need his help. Just as Glenn had felt the importance of family and escaped his heart demon, Glenn wanted to pass that enlightenment on to Raon, but that child overcame that wall through his own strength alone.
'I can hardly believe it even as I'm witnessing it. How much faster is he than I was?'
It's a difference of countless years. Raon had now reached a realm that couldn't be explained even with words like "genius" or "monster."
"Remarkable."
Glenn brought his hands to his chest, applauding Raon.
"I never thought you would achieve such growth alone. Now you are..."
He looked at Raon standing calmly and drew a pleased smile.
"It wouldn't be an exaggeration to count you among the few absolute existence."