Chapter 69: New Realm (2)
Initially, Evan reached the mansion’s gate in less than a week.
But now, with eyes closed and right hand unusable, a single step a day was his best.
The self-imposed restrictions were absurdly extreme,
and advancing while facing Viper members hidden among the crowd was near impossible.
Yet, the daily accumulation of experience gradually pushed him forward.
Turning the impossible into possible.
‘Coming. From behind.’
None of the incoming attacks felt familiar.
Each step was a new path.
―Whoosh!
Arrows flying like the wind no longer touched Evan’s body.
“Die!”
A charging spear was just within Evan’s ability to dodge by a hair,
and an approaching sword was deflected with his own.
―Clang!
It didn’t end there.
Merely dodging and blocking wouldn’t move him forward.
Having learned to evade by instinct, he now entered the counterattack phase.
Counterattacking was easier than expected.
The attackers were already within his reach.
‘Two for now.’
Evan infused Qi into his sword and swung.
Though his opponents were Aura-level, Evan’s Qi manipulation was superior.
Thus, they fell to his blade.
A simple increase in Qi output was enough to take them down.
But this wasn’t the way Evan wanted.
Wasting Qi unnecessarily.
Using ten times the force to kill foes that required only one-tenth since he started using Qi.
This time was no different.
‘Too much. I need to control it better.’
At first, his excessive sword aura didn’t dissipate even after cutting the enemy.
‘If I adjust it just a bit more here.’
Now, his aura sliced the member in half and vanished.
‘Perfect. No more than two screams.’
Flawless power control.
Evan knew it without seeing.
‘Now for the ones hiding among the crowd, shooting arrows.’
He didn’t think about how to catch them.
He simply acted as his body moved.
―Tap!
A state of no-self.
Evan, who had been moving slowly, now ran.
Cutting down each threat approaching him.
“Argh!”
“No way. To a kid like this…”
No one told him how far he’d come.
Yet, Evan knew roughly where he was.
He could clearly sense the aura of his target.
Even though that target was restraining their Qi.
‘I’m here.’
Upon arrival, he felt a familiar, fierce sword aura approaching.
Evan responded by unleashing his own.
―Crack!
His aura shattered upon impact, and Evan was sliced in half.
The visual outcome was no different from before.
But there was a clear change.
Unlike before, when he used full force,
this time, Evan had adjusted his aura appropriately.
Though he failed to control it and died,
unlike before, he found a clue rather than despair.
‘I’ve got it.’
Evan opened his eyes.
***
To capture Red Count Gaiard, Viper sent its members and one close aide for the bounty.
Hagen, a four-star swordsman who reached the Expert level.
His sole goal was to end Gaiard, who carried a massive bounty.
But upon arrival, unlike the prior information, there was a boy.
His skill was impressive for his age, but manageable.
The strange part was that the boy fought with closed eyes and one hand.
Hagen watched from afar, not intervening.
Partially due to pride in facing a much younger opponent,
but more so because he wanted to observe.
Why was he doing this?
‘What’s he up to?’
A circus act in a life-or-death situation.
Hagen couldn’t comprehend Evan.
This was, after all, Gaiard’s memory.
Meaning Evan was familiar to Hagen, but Hagen saw Evan as a stranger.
Thus, Hagen treated Evan as a new encounter each time.
He didn’t know Evan had fallen to him countless times,
nor that Evan had died even more due to this circus act.
But Hagen didn’t take the 273rd Evan, who defeated numerous members and reached him, lightly.
‘He really took them all down? What…’
At first, it was mere curiosity.
But as Evan drew closer, curiosity turned to unease,
and by twenty steps away, it became a clear threat.
Hagen unleashed a fully powered sword aura.
The blind boy tried to counter it.
―Crash!
The clashing auras stirred up dust in their wake.
‘No way. I put real force into that, and he withstood it?’
Though Hagen’s aura broke through, that wasn’t the point.
Blocking it even slightly meant the gap between them wasn’t vast.
“Finally blocked, huh?”
The boy who dodged the aura opened his eyes.
“Don’t be too shocked. This is the first time your aura was blocked. Though, it’ll happen a lot from now on.”
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“No need to know. Just fight.”
Evan aimed his sword.
He heightened all his senses.
Hagen, wary of Evan, closed the distance.
‘This guy’s dangerous. A kid not fully grown with such an aura. I thought he was just Aura-level. Could he be someone who can break the wall like me?’
Hagen was a rising star in the Viper Organization.
In an organization filled with the kingdom’s top warriors,
he was hailed as a genius, completing countless missions.
Failure wasn’t in his vocabulary,
nor was fear.
Yet, this fearless being was now wary of Evan.
‘Where did a monster with such talent come from?’
Evan’s talent was indeed exceptional.
But talent alone didn’t make him a monster.
He stood here through bone-breaking effort.
Of course, this was possible because he’d once reached the pinnacle of skill.
‘The gap between us is still wide. I’ve only learned to control Aura, not fully restrain it. Even if I could, my inner strength is likely lacking.’
Yet, he had unwavering faith in one thing.
His skill.
And the belief that the path he chose wasn’t wrong, even if he failed once.
―Tadad!
Believing this, Evan charged again.
‘My swordsmanship is several steps above his.’
With the power gap narrowing,
he was gradually overwhelming Hagen.
“Ugh!”
Hagen clearly saw Evan as inferior.
He was reluctant to face him and planned to hold back even if Evan reached him.
But pride wasn’t worth more than life, so he unleashed his full power.
“It’s over!”
He maximized his restrained Qi.
Unleashing a sword aura, a silver crescent formed, barely stirring the air.
‘I can’t block that. But…’
He could dodge if he wanted.
But Evan’s goal was to win strength against strength.
So, he drew up his maximum Qi.
Concentrating it at the sword’s tip, he thrust forward.
―Crash!!!
His condensed, linear Qi clashed with Hagen’s aura.
―Crack!
The crescent split, flying toward Evan.
Dodging, Evan’s arm was cut.
“Ugh!”
He didn’t fully evade, but neither did his opponent.
Evan’s Qi pierced Hagen’s abdomen.
“Argh!”
While Hagen was reeling,
Evan closed in and stabbed him.
At the same time, Hagen stabbed back.
With one arm, Evan couldn’t block it.
Both dealt fatal blows to each other.
Only mutual destruction remained.
“Guh… How…”
“See you again.”
They pulled their swords out simultaneously,
and collapsed together.
―Thud.
Evan’s record against Hagen:
273 fights, 272 losses,
and 1 draw.
The undefeated commander was long gone.
Only a warrior with unyielding will remained.
***
A draw with an Expert-level warrior.
A month passed since that day.
The record since: 302 fights, 3 wins, 27 draws, 272 losses.
He hadn’t lost once, but he hadn’t consistently won either.
Most were draws, and the two victories weren’t overwhelming.
After defeating Hagen one last time, Evan stopped leaving the mansion.
He closed his eyes and meditated.
‘The last fight was lucky. Venus is an exceptional sword, and he was careless.’
Recalling the battle, he focused on feeling the Qi flowing within.
‘Winning by luck isn’t winning. I need to win purely by skill. To do that, I must increase my Aura.’
From that day, Evan began meditating in the mansion’s untouched basement.
He spent entire days, returning to the bedroom when loud noises signaled a reset.
Repeated regressions.
He meditated for three months.
“Phew…”
A horribly tedious and stifling ordeal.
His body felt the flow of Qi coursing through it entirely.
Unrefined Qi.
It was time to refine the Qi accumulated from experience.
But since he’d never felt this before, Evan proceeded slowly and meticulously.
Crossing a realm was a matter of constant accumulation,
but the result appeared with a single small trigger.
Like water reaching a boil.
‘…!’
Evan felt power bursting from every pore on his face.
His mind cleared, and he felt blood coursing through his body.
“Guh!”
His ears opened, hearing Gaiard stirring above.
When Evan sprang to his feet,
he felt both lighter
and heavier.
‘Finally.’
He had surpassed the Aura realm.
‘Is this the Expert level I so desperately sought?’
The flow of Qi was distinctly different from when he was at Aura.
Though just one step beyond, the difference was heaven and earth.
The aura he felt was several times stronger than before.
The moment he reached Expert,
over a year had passed in real time.
‘Shall I test this power?’
An uncharted realm he’d never experienced in his past life.
Having reached it, Evan wanted to gauge his strength.
He grabbed the mansion’s door handle to head outside.
‘Wait, there’s a better way.’
Instead of opening the door, Evan turned and climbed the stairs.
He opened the bedroom door,
and aimed his sword at Gaiard, the perfect training tool before him.