Right after finishing my conversation with Moon Immortal Sword, I headed for the training ground.

For some reason, it had been the kind of conversation that left a bad taste in my mouth.

‘He’s certain I won’t be able to persuade the Tyrant King.’

For whatever reason, Moon Immortal Sword was absolutely convinced of that.

And also—

‘Moon Immortal Sword wants me to become alliance leader someday.’

I could tell he had another objective in mind.

‘Why?’

Why?

Why did he want me to become alliance leader?

‘Even though he could do it himself, why is he trying to push me into it instead?’

I wanted to guess at Moon Immortal Sword’s intentions, but it was too difficult.

‘What is it?’

What the hell was he trying to do by watching me like that?

“Tsk.”

As I was racking my brain over it—

[Why are you making it so complicated?]

Yoo Cheongil said, digging at his ear.

[It’s not as if you’re becoming alliance leader right away, and there are plenty of advantages in being raised as a candidate alone. You’d be better off enjoying it.]

“There’s nothing in this worth enjoying.”

[Still seems better than a lot of other things.]

“...The scariest thing in the world is a fool who gets drunk on a little authority.”

I had no intention of wearing that kind of badge in the first place. And even if I did, playing neighborhood boss was one thing—acting as alliance leader of the righteous sects? Not a chance in hell.

‘Shit. Because of that conversation, I didn’t even ask the most important thing.’

Dark Sovereign.

I should’ve asked about him.

But I hadn’t.

‘Though honestly, even if I had asked, I doubt I’d have gotten much of an answer.’

If I really wanted to dig, what I needed to know about wasn’t Dark Sovereign, but my brother.

‘What the hell did that lunatic do?’

How had he managed to put in a request to someone like Dark Sovereign?

‘...Do I need to stop by home?’

It had already been years since I last went to the main house. I had half run away when I left, but now that things had come to this, it felt like I needed to go back at least once.

“Tch...”

Busy as hell.

I wanted to live easy, but work just kept piling up in weird ways.

SHRING.

As if I were organizing my thoughts, I drew my sword. The Divine Sword emerged into the world again.

I gripped it quietly in the empty training ground.

[What are you planning to do?]

“Can’t you tell?”

I took hold of the sword and settled into position.

“I’m picking up where I left off earlier.” 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

[...Where you left off earlier?]

“Yes.”

[Then you should go back down to the vault. Why are you trying to do it here? There are no traces here.]

The sword marks that had filled the wall.

He was saying I had to train while looking at those, but—

“...Do I really have to?”

[What?]

“If all I have to do is move according to the sword marks—”

SHHHHHH—!!

[Hoh!]

The moment I moved the sword as I spoke, Yoo Cheongil’s eyes flashed.

“Then I can just remember them and follow them.”

The countless sword marks on that wall.

They were already etched into my head.

I’d said it before.

‘I’m good at remembering things.’

Seeing something and memorizing it was one thing I did better than anyone.

SHIIING—!!!

I moved according to the sword marks. I swung the sword over and over, reproducing the same sword path as before.

Well, calling it the same was a little iffy. I’d been changing the motions here and there as I tried things.

“This isn’t it.”

I failed again at the fifth step. With a disappointed look, I withdrew the sword and set my stance again.

[Heh heh.]

Watching me, Yoo Cheongil burst out laughing and said—

[I always feel this when I look at you.]

SHIIING!

[You look lazier than anyone, and yet when it comes to things like this, you’re pointlessly stubborn beyond belief... You really are a strange bastard.]

Ignoring Yoo Cheongil calling me strange, I kept moving the sword.

Reconstructing the sword marks in my mind, I swung again and again.

And just like that, an entire day passed.

*****

It was nearly dawn.

“Huaaah...”

Only then, feeling the air had subtly changed, did I finally lower the sword I had been holding.

“Jesus, I’m dying...”

Every joint in my body ached, and I was already drenched in sweat.

By the time my hands were trembling so badly it felt like I couldn’t grip the sword anymore—

Click.

I barely shoved the sword back into its sheath and dropped down to the ground.

“Haaah... haa...”

My ragged breathing spilled out as white vapor.

“Huaaah...”

It was hard to even move my arms.

I really meant it. I felt like I was dying.

How long had it been since I’d trained this hard?

Probably almost never, at least not recently.

Heat was pouring off my body. Even though the weather was cold, my body was so hot I didn’t even have time to feel it.

It really drove home the fact that I had pushed myself as hard as I could.

And at the same time—

“I still couldn’t do it...”

A groan slipped out of me at the fact that I hadn’t succeeded in the end.

“...It felt possible.”

That final fifth sword path.

I still hadn’t managed it.

No matter how many times I tried, the position just didn’t connect.

“What’s the answer...?”

It didn’t feel humanly possible.

How the hell was I supposed to connect that sword path?

I asked Yoo Cheongil in frustration, but—

[That is something you must figure out yourself.]

Yoo Cheongil still had no intention of giving me the answer.

Unless—

“Don’t tell me there isn’t actually an answer?”

[What did you just say, brat?]

“No, seriously. Anyone can see that angle is impossible...”

[Ha.]

Yoo Cheongil let out a dry breath.

His gaze was full of disapproval.

[Kid, just because you can’t do it doesn’t mean nobody can. You really don’t recognize your own incompetence...]

At the sound of him clicking his tongue, I shot back as if I’d gone half insane.

“...Has your conscience gone senile?”

Sure, if I couldn’t do it, that was one thing, but wasn’t the real problem him assuming that if he could do it, everyone else could too?

“Ah, just tell me the method already.”

[You train for a single day and already start throwing a tantrum...]

Even I knew I looked pathetic, but what was I supposed to do? You survive however you can.

“Would it kill you to tell me? Who said I wanted the whole thing explained? Fine. Just help a little so I can at least get my bearings.”

[You really do get more shameless the longer this goes on.]

“If we both benefit, then help me out a little.”

If I was going to be shameless, I might as well go all the way.

At that, Yoo Cheongil frowned.

[Your impatience is what’s tripping you up.]

In the end, he gave me one tiny scrap of help.

“Impatience?”

[You need to do it more slowly than you think.]

How much more slowly was I supposed to take it?

I didn’t understand at all.

“...If you’re going to help, then help properly. This is ridiculous.”

[At this point, I’ve already helped you more than enough.]

“Yeah, sure...”

I pushed myself to my feet.

After stripping off my upper garment and wiping away the sweat running down my body—

“...Fine. I understand perfectly well that you don’t intend to teach me.”

Realizing that talking with Yoo Cheongil wasn’t going to help much, I moved to wash up.

“...I should go.”

I considered training more, but I had things to do in the morning.

*****

After washing myself off and changing clothes, I started walking.

My whole body was exhausted, but maybe because my realm had risen, it was recovering quickly.

Considering I’d swung a sword all night and could still move, my stamina had definitely improved.

‘...I’m tired, though.’

Still manageable.

Compared to before, this was a huge improvement.

‘Back then, I used to collapse and pant just from running a few laps around the training ground.’

Now I knew for a fact that running that much wouldn’t even register.

By the time I finished getting ready and arrived at my destination, I could see people gathered in the distance.

They were all wearing the same clothes, and what that attire meant was simple—they were Small Moon Unit members.

“So you came.”

Do Hyeong greeted me the moment I arrived.

I naturally moved to stand beside him.

“Am I late?”

“No. The others just came out early.”

“Right?”

As far as I knew, training was supposed to start later than this, but somehow everyone was already here early.

And on top of that—

‘Why is everyone staring at me?’

The other senior members’ eyes were uncomfortable.

I could feel them all glancing at me over and over.

‘Ah.’

The reason hit me a beat late.

‘...Right.’

I hadn’t really processed it, but my standing in the Central Plains was pretty damn high right now.

I was being called Moon Hero, and I had even been raised as an alliance leader candidate.

That was probably why even the Small Moon Unit members seemed to be looking at me with curiosity.

The fact that I’d barely been around the sect at all probably played a part too.

I forced myself to ignore the interest, the fascination, and the faint jealousy mixed into their gazes.

-Would he really be that strong?

-He may be the Sword Saint’s successor, but... for him to be an alliance leader candidate, that seems a bit much.

-He’s barely even past twenty. I think the rumors are exaggerated.

I could hear them.

They were saying it loud enough for me to hear on purpose. Every last one of them had awakened Moon Eyes, so there was no way they couldn’t have used voice transmission if they wanted to keep it private.

‘So ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ what am I supposed to do about it?’

Should I get angry here?

Honestly, I was too tired to feel anything like that. If they wanted to talk, let them talk. That was about all I felt.

I was ignoring it all with a blank expression when—

“It seems everyone’s here.”

Small Moon Unit Leader said that as he walked over from the distance.

The moment he appeared, everyone shouted—

“Greetings, Unit Leader!”

Hearing the others’ greeting, Small Moon Unit Leader nodded.

“I was absent from my post because of our mission. I apologize for that.”

Small Moon Unit Leader had gone with me to Mount Hua and then remained in Henan.

Which meant he had been away from his post for months.

“I offer my thanks to the deputy unit leader who filled my role in my absence. You’ve done well.”

“...It was nothing.”

The deputy leader of the Small Moon Unit.

His name was definitely...

‘Do Gyeong?’

I thought that was it. If my memory was right.

“The training ahead will not differ much from before. Since this is the start of dawn, we’ll begin with physical conditioning.”

The Small Moon Unit usually trained individually. Since each of them had already reached a high realm, group training supposedly didn’t mean much.

And because the Small Moon Unit often handled Blue Moon Sect’s outside missions, they didn’t usually bother with set training like this.

But—

‘Every now and then.’

Every now and then, they did hold group training like this for the sake of building camaraderie.

‘Physical conditioning...’

The moment I heard that, I regretted spending the whole night swinging a sword.

My body was already exhausted, and the thought of training on top of that made me want to puke.

‘Ugh.’

My face twisted.

Everyone naturally began preparing for training, and watching them, I moved too, forcing myself not to show how much I hated this.

As for the training itself, it looked like it was just going to start with running while a huge iron ball was chained to your leg.

After that, it’d probably be sword practice with sandbags or something along those lines.

‘...It’s what I do every day anyway.’

It was already something I did like homework all the time. Yoo Cheongil had forced it on me by telling me never to skip it.

‘Works out nicely.’

I’d been neglecting physical conditioning because I’d been too busy moving only the sword.

Might as well do it now.

Thinking that, I reached toward one of the iron balls.

Hum.

“...”

I felt energy.

Killing intent ran up my spine. Before I could even fully register it—

“Which one of you is it, I wonder.”

A strange voice rang out.

CLACK—!!!

Instinctively, I reached for my sword.

More precisely, I tried to draw it, but—

Thunk.

“...!”

It stopped.

The sword wouldn’t come out.

A hand had reached over and was pressing down on the end of my hilt.

“Found you.”

The voice came from close by.

“So it was you.”

An old man I had never seen before was standing right in front of me, smiling as he looked at me.