[8] Opportunity worth more than life (4)
The next morning.
Sirone looked tired and headed to the library. He hadn’t been able to sleep at all because of the previous night’s work.
My mind was disturbed, so the classification process did not speed up. Thinking that this shouldn’t be the case, Sirone struggled to regain her composure.
Being afraid doesn’t solve the problem. I had to make preparations somehow for a month.
First of all, it was a survey.
The family head Bischoff had three sons and one daughter. The eldest son was a certified 6th grade swordsman, and the second son, Rai, was a sword genius who had no doubt that he would follow in his brother’s footsteps sooner or later.
Lian’s older sister also had an Ogent-class talent, but gave up the sword because she was a woman and was currently working as a pianist in the royal palace.
After examining them one by one, Lian was the only one who failed to stand out. The head of household even assigned a dedicated teacher, but only reports came up that he was not good at it.
“Haha, you did something stupid. You’ll just hit whatever you hit.”
Since Rian had been compared to his siblings all his life, it was natural for him to be furious at Sirone’s thunderous behavior. It seemed that not all nobles were outstanding.
“What now? It’s really a big deal.”
When the situation was over, I was disturbed again. Under the desk, the real sword that Lian had thrown was left unattended.
After staring at it for a long time, Sirone jumped up and headed to the study as if she had finally made up her mind.
It was good to be prepared whether or not to fight. Living in the mountains, he is confident in his physical strength, so if he knows how to defend himself, he might be able to save his life.
For the time being, the history books have been sealed. Instead, he took all the books related to swordsmanship.
While there are technical books such as ‘Swordsmanship Manual’, ‘What is a sword?’ There were also philosophical books such as ‘Only humans fear the sword’. Practical books such as ‘Let’s win with bluff’ and ‘Those who survive are strong’ were also found.
Sirone opened a book titled ‘Swordsmanship’ with a simple and clear title. It contained the history of the beginning of the sword and the overall content of swordsmanship.
Even Sirone, an aspiring wizard, was interested in seeing it. If a magician has a spirit zone, a swordsman has a schema.
A schema is a virtual body and a diagram of the human body. All human beings have their own body image, and it was a drawing that embodied it to the extreme.
Schema adherents are said to be able to participate in the functioning of even a single cell because they understand their body perfectly.
After reading this far, Sirone realized that the schema is the symmetrical form of the Spirit Zone.
Wizards erased me and assimilated into the world, but prosecutors were more persistent in digging into my existence.
Sirone tried the experiment himself.
While feeling the action of the brain entering the spirit zone, I imagined a virtual self in my head.
It’s been easy so far.
But the virtual body was dark like a shadow, so I couldn’t look inside.
‘If you remove all these dark curtains, you become a schema. It’s really amazing.’
Sirone picked up the book again. It was written that the way to learn the schema is different for each family, and the part that focuses on strengthening is also different.
While there are families that acquire schemas through mental training, there are also families that use methods that push the body to the limit.
Some families used the schema to strengthen their muscles, some to speed, and some to strengthen their nervous system.
Sirone remembered the red-haired girl he had met in an alley four years ago. At the time, she was in no hurry to run away, but when she came back and thought about it, her movements were not human.
‘That child has mastered the schema. He was the same age as me. It’s a really great talent.’
It was not the time to admire. Sirone closed the book and was lost in thought. Even Ryan wouldn’t have mastered the schema anyway. However, there was a part that got stuck when I tried it myself.
Just as Spirit Zone is not magic, schema is not swordsmanship either. Just as knowledge was important to a wizard, a strong body was essential to a swordsman. This is because if the body is not supported, the range of reinforcement is bound to be narrow even if the schema is used.
“I already have a spirit zone. Rather than learning conflicting concepts, it would be quicker to find a solution in the direction of swordsmanship.”
I need to find something that can save my life within a month.
Sirone took out her beginner’s swordsmanship manual and turned over the first page. He suddenly started studying swordsmanship, but since his life was at stake, his concentration was higher than ever.
* * *
“Aww! Aaaaaa!”
There was a lot of dust in the great gymnasium. It was the fumes caused by Lian’s legs. My heart feels like it’s about to explode. The air didn’t come in, so things in the stomach were regurgitated.
“Wow! Whoa!”
What I ate at lunch came down my esophagus. When Rian vomited, she let it go. All he cared about was his two legs.
“One hundred rounds! Pass!”
Swordsman Instructor Kite shouted loudly. Lian’s appearance, which has changed today, couldn’t look so pretty.
“Record shortening! But what is it? Have you been through all the training?”
“Shit! What kind of training is this!”
“What man?”
Kite raised his bewildered eyes. I tried to praise him for the first time in a while, but he complained about not being able to change my habit.
But today’s grumbling was different from other times.
“You are still standing like this! Master, is there anything stronger?”
“Hoo?”
Kite was quite surprised. It had been a long time since Rian had been so on fire. It seemed like the first time since I knelt before the genius of Ogent Rei two years ago.
“You… what happened?”
Rian raised her head with both hands on her knees, sweat pouring out.
“Nothing like that.”
Kite didn’t believe it. There must have been someone’s vision flickering in the eyes of the disciple staring terrifyingly forward.
‘Is it Rai again?’
No matter how much I thought about it, the only person who could make Lian like this was the second son of the family. Had he done something again? But what? Didn’t Rai already master the schema?
It didn’t matter anyway. Because his apprentice is Lian, not Rai. And now the disciple was in a situation where he was sticking out his neck to cook himself.
“good night! Let’s die properly today! Even if I die, I cannot take responsibility!”
“As much as you like!”
Lian hit the bar twice as heavy as the longsword in succession. If you couldn’t realize the schema with insight, the only way was to force your body to find it by driving it to its limit.
“Taha! Taha! Taha!”
Kite watched with satisfaction as Lian repeated vertical cuts. But as time passed, his expression hardened. Finally realizing, he opened his eyes wide and ran away.
“You madman! stop! Then the muscles burst!”
“It hasn’t exploded yet!”
Kite stopped running and looked at his pupil. Tears flowed from Lian’s eyes as he clenched his teeth and wielded the baton.
“Damn it! Why aren’t my muscles bursting! Why can’t my arm be cut off! I can do more! This is not the end! I’m not done yet!”
Tears welled up in Kite’s eyes. He was as resentful a teacher as his disciple. Why not? Why can’t I open the schema when I’m pushing my body to the limits of its limits?
Kite wiped away the tears with his thick arms. It shouldn’t be like this. If the master doubts, what will the disciple Lian do?
Kite caught Lian’s iron rod cutting through the air with his palm. When he hit his master’s hand, even this time, Lian couldn’t be stubborn and stopped moving.
“Lian, this is enough. Let’s stop today.”
The warm voice made Lian’s madness disappear. The feeling in his arm had long since disappeared. Not even knowing that the club had fallen to the ground, Lian lowered his head and said,
“thank you.”
Kite placed an ice towel on Lian’s shoulder. Seeing that his bones were not damaged, it was undeniable that he was born with strong bones.
Lian was sitting on the hill at the gymnasium, staring at the distant mountains. After finishing treatment, Kite sat down next to me.
“What are you thinking?”
“My arm hurts and I think I’m going to die.”
A smile formed on Kite’s lips.
“Rian. I never once wrote about your talent in the report to the family head.”
“Sheesh, who said what?”
“But I think I have talent. Talent isn’t just about achieving something quickly. Even if you can’t achieve it, you will be able to take a look at it. That, too, can be called a talent.”
“You don’t need to comfort me. It’s just nice to talk about it, but to be honest, you’re trying to die because you don’t have talent.”
“Is it really so? A genius knows he is a genius. So he clearly realizes what he can do. Have you ever thought of that?”
“well. I know very well what I can’t do.”
“okay. So you are not a genius.”
Ryan looked back at Kite with a puzzled expression. It wasn’t like pouring oil on a burning house, it was a teacher who made my heart sore even though my arms were dying.
“Please stop it. Because I know enough.”
Kite smiled as Ryan pursed his lips.
“But, Lian. Do you know what a genius fears most? That’s effort. Because trying means you don’t have it. Are you trying because you have no talent? you’re welcome. The only people in the world who can make an effort are those who make an effort.”
Kite grabbed Lian’s shoulder and gently pushed him into it.
“Geniuses fear you. Because you have the power to get what you don’t have. Those who try are the natural enemies of genius.”
nemesis of genius.
Ryan liked this. It doesn’t matter if it’s a word of comfort to a poor disciple. yeah i just couldn’t have it. If you didn’t have it in the first place, you just have to get it like tenacity.
Ryan clenched his fists. I was thinking of giving it my all for the rest of the month.
* * *
Sirone clearly knew what he was capable of.
Seeking a different way without even holding on to the schema also showed that he had the exact opposite tendency to Lian’s.
Nevertheless, talent promotes the shortest distance to the destination most efficiently. Shirone put aside miscellaneous skills and studied only the basics of swordsmanship.
A month passed by quickly.
Arm-direction slash and arm-direction block. After being able to do these two things satisfactorily, Sirone finished her training.
And finally, he asked a question implying what he had learned.
“What is swordsmanship?”
The totality of kinetic dynamics that occur for the purpose of killing life. It was also a highly advanced psychology in that it separated life and death.
Sirone assumed the imaginary Lian and aimed her sword. Perhaps the enemy would move from every imaginable angle.
But it’s just a lie. Only the sword coming in to cut himself was real.
Sirone responded with imagination to an imaginary enemy. His sword stretched like an illusion and subdued the eight defenses. When another sum was made, it was dispersed into dozens of branches.
‘It’s not counting numbers. I feel it whole.’
If you are obsessed with the trees, you will not see the forest. To savor the full potential. That was an insight.
But it wasn’t that easy. As the various patterns spread out like fractals, I kept obsessing over attacks in specific parts.
‘It’s okay if you can’t make it. Let’s observe.’
Gradually gaining momentum, Sirone completely let go of her thoughts at some point. All kinds of possibilities began to be sucked into the infinite blank space.
“Huh? uh uh uh?”
Sirone looked at the world with shocked eyes. There was no end. The whole world was filled with his and Lian’s sword.
Sirone dropped her sword and staggered at the unbearable size.
“Ha ha ha ha ha.”
dejected laughter. Like magic, the sword was infinite. It was an experience of an infinite world derived from a single sword.
‘I guess the swordsmen chose this path.’
Aren’t you also walking the infinite path of magic? The unknown homogeneity made me feel good.
‘I’m sorry mom and dad. I might not be able to go home.’
There were no regrets. So will Ryan. It was fortunate that I was able to see one side of a truly wonderful world ahead of the turning point of life and death.
Outside the library, I heard the chime of a bell approaching midnight.
Lian wants to have what she can’t have. Sirone finished everything he could. The clash between the two boys, mirror-like in symmetry, was now approaching an hour ahead.
—————————————
