Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading Chapter 32

Chapter 32. The Sword Sings (2) While Roden was in the middle of personal training with Chevalier. A soldier who appeared to belong to the transport battalion received a single letter. A letter with only the letter ‘M’ written on the front. It was written as follows. [Mix rat poison into the food supplies to be transported this time.] The soldier was startled after reading the contents of the letter. Because he could picture everything that would happen as a result of this. ‘The entire main battalion of soldiers who receive and eat the food supplies will get food poisoning.’ It was, in effect, an order to inflict damage on their own allies, and a clear criminal act. One that could put his own life in danger if anything went wrong. But the soldier soon hardened his resolve. ‘I have no choice. I must follow the order.’ Having steeled his heart, the soldier burned the letter in a brazier and disappeared somewhere. *** Roden finished his personal training but did not return to his barracks right away as usual. The reason was none other than this. He was planning to try out the method he had devised himself. The very method of making the sword sing directly. Of course, Roden did not actually intend to make the sword sing. He just intended to make it seem as if the sword was singing. ‘Through a sword dance.’ Among the books dealing with spells that Roden had read in the past, the one with the highest level was a book called . According to this book, ancient spellcasters cast magic in ways other than singing, and that was dance. It was possible to create a kind of formula depending on what movements were performed in to the pitch and rhythm, and to cast magic with it. Roden was inspired by this and planned to perform a sword dance. ‘For a sword, dancing would be no different from singing.’ As Roden judged, casting magic by performing a sword dance himself had two advantages. First, because it was casting magic through the medium of a sword, the possibility of its power being halved was low. Because the entire aura, which barely moved with just the listing of a magic formula, would move. According to Roden's prediction, he could exert the same power as casting magic using a similar amount of magic power. And the other advantage was that since a sword dance was also an act of swinging a sword, it was possible to keep the enemy in check. Of course, the sword dance could be interrupted in the middle by an enemy's attack or counterattack. And in that case, the magic would not be cast. He would have to perform the sword dance again from the beginning. But if he tried to cast magic by constructing the sword dance in a way that cornered the enemy, there was a slight possibility that it could be used in actual combat. At least compared to suddenly writing a magic formula in the air during battle, it was a much more realistic direction. ‘There will be a lot to consider, such as the composition of the sword dance movements and the timing of the dance. And even then, it’s not like I’ll necessarily succeed in performing the sword dance.’ But this was the more realistic method. And in the first place, Roden did not think it would be possible to use magic as comfortably as a mage. As a penalty that inevitably occurred when a knight used magic, this was not bad. ‘Good. Then shall I try it now?’ Roden recalled a single song to cast Light, the most basic 1st Circle magic that mages learn. Although he expressed it as a single song, it was a song of only 4 syllables. Because 2 syllables were enough to light a fire, and 2 syllables were enough to infuse enough energy to maintain it. And so, a single song of about 1 second was completed in Roden's mind. The lyrics were also short. -Light up the darkness It was just this one phrase. Having completed the song in an instant, Roden next thought of a sword dance that matched it. It seemed that one feint and one real move, in accordance with the pitch and rhythm, would be sufficient for the movements. And so, Roden reviewed all the movements of the Mediale Kingdom Swordsmanship, the Ingens Empire Swordsmanship, and the Broom Swordsmanship. Naturally, there was no movement among them that perfectly matched what Roden had imagined. But he chose the most similar and seamlessly connectable movements among them. Finally, a short sword dance was born in Roden's mind. ‘Done. Let’s begin.’ As soon as he thought it, Roden drew his sword. Then he began to perform the movements with his aura raised. Fortunately, his body moved easily as he willed it. It was a natural thing, as it was only a matter of connecting and performing two movements whose basics he had already mastered. For that reason, Roden focused on performing the movements in time with the song playing in his head. And so, Roden's sword drew one feint and one real move within the 4-syllable song. Then, Pabat! A single light illuminated the surroundings. The Light magic had been cast. Roden watched the perfectly cast magic and began to count the numbers one by one. “1, 2, 3….” As Roden counted to 60, the light faded. At the same time, Roden clenched his fist. Because the duration matched exactly what he had expected. Which meant, if he cast magic through a sword dance as he had thought, the power would not decrease. ‘Good. It went as calculated. Now let’s try casting other magic.’ And so, Roden remained in the clearing and continued to perform the sword dance. The movements, which had been just one feint and one real move, gradually became more complex. The surprising fact was that the more complex these sword dances became, the more beautiful they became. Under the moonlight, the sound of the sword cutting through the wind echoed for a long time. *** And so, during the standby period in the unit, Roden focused on performing a sword dance to cast 1st Circle magic. Certainly, as the magic became more difficult, the movements became more complex, and the number of cases where he performed movements that did not fit the formula also increased. Roden corrected the errors that occurred like this and continued to perform the 1st Circle magic as a sword dance. And so, in a few weeks, all of the 1st Circle magic was formalized as a single sword dance in Roden's hands. ‘Good. Let’s stop here for now and go slowly from the 2nd Circle.’ Because he was at the level of 2-star, Roden could also perform 2nd Circle magic as a sword dance if he put his mind to it. He had enough aura for that. However, the 2nd Circle magic was certainly complex. For that reason, he expected that many errors in the movements would also occur. It was a natural thing, as the same problem had occurred in the process of formalizing a somewhat difficult magic among the circles into a sword dance. For that reason, he decided to proceed with the research a little more slowly from the 2nd Circle. If he tried to formalize all of it into a sword dance in a few weeks like the 1st Circle, it would surely put a strain on his body. ‘Even these days, there are many cases where my exercise volume is exceeded.’ It didn't matter when he was doing personal training. He could maintain a similar amount of exercise by conducting sword dance research instead of the basic training he was doing during personal training. But during regular training, this was impossible. Because he had to follow the training schedule with the soldiers. For that reason, he had to conduct sword dance research separately after the regular training was over, and in that case, a situation where the exercise volume was exceeded was bound to occur. As mentioned once before, exceeding the exercise volume was not very helpful for aura absorption. Rather, it made muscle recovery difficult. For that reason, it was important to maintain a certain level of exercise, but the sword dance research was interfering with it. The reason Roden decided to research the sword dance of the 2nd Circle magic slowly was also for this reason. He did not want to be hindered in his aura absorption anymore. ‘It doesn't matter if I focus only on sword dance research during personal training, but on days with regular training, let’s limit the sword dance research to one hour.’ Having organized his thoughts like this, Roden thought about the achievements he had gained while conducting the sword dance research. The biggest achievement of this research was probably that he was now able to perform Aurasong as a sword dance. ‘Thanks to that, my aura absorption rate has increased significantly once again.’ As mentioned before, Aurasong was also a type of magic. For that reason, its power was bound to decrease when it was cast, but this problem disappeared when he performed Aurasong as a sword dance. Thanks to that, Roden's aura absorption rate had greatly increased to 26%. It was not for nothing that he called this the biggest achievement of the sword dance research. ‘Anyway, I think I’m done with the sword dance research for now, so shall I move on to the next step?’ The next step Roden was thinking of was not research. It was about training. Just in time, Chevalier, who had been summoned by Roden, arrived at the barracks. Roden spoke to Chevalier. “From tomorrow, include stretching, massage, and cold water compresses in the training schedule.” “…….” “And adjust the sleep time to nine hours, the same as ours. Make sure not a single person falls behind.” That was right. Roden had decided to implant a systematic training method in the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Platoon. As mentioned several times already, Roden did not think that his chances of survival would increase just by becoming strong on his own. Those around Roden also had to become stronger, and in that sense, making the 3rd Infantry Platoon an elite force was essential. Moreover, if the 3rd Infantry Platoon became an elite force, it would also be beneficial to the soldiers. Because the soldiers' chances of survival would also increase. This was the reason Roden wanted to change the training schedule to a more systematic one than before. Of course, just by injecting a systematic training method, the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Platoon would not become as strong as 1-star knights. Although there were individual differences, the average aura absorption rate of the soldiers was 0.1%. Which meant, even with a systematic training method, the aura absorption rate would only increase to a maximum of 0.3%. So, unless they worked hard according to this training schedule for more than ten years, it would be difficult to reach the level of 1-star. But the reason he was still trying to implant a systematic training method was none other than this. Because with just a 0.3% aura absorption rate, it was enough to win a landslide victory in a soldier-versus-soldier confrontation. In terms of aura alone, they would be 3 times stronger than an ordinary soldier, so it was a natural result. ‘It's not a matter of numbers but of people, and since they can’t use aura directly, I can’t say they’ll be exactly 3 times stronger, but the effect will surely be outstanding.’ Roden was not the only one thinking this way. Chevalier, who had received Roden's order, also thought the same. “Certainly, changing the training schedule like that will be helpful to the soldiers.” But there were no obstacles to this. “But won't there be any backlash from the soldiers? Even if there is no backlash, if we force them, the training effect will be significantly low.” Chevalier was right. Perhaps because they had become much more used to it, there were almost no soldiers who looked at Roden and Chevalier doing stretching, massage, and cold water compresses as strangely as before. But that didn't mean their own resistance to doing it had disappeared. And if there was resistance, the training effect would surely be halved. For cold water compresses, it didn't matter as they could just be forced into the water, but for stretching or massage, it was possible to just go through the motions. Moreover, sleeping for nine hours was not something that could be forced even if one had the will to do so. But Roden just grinned at these concerns. “Don't worry. Everyone will be proactive in this training.”