Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading Chapter 42

And so, for several days, Roden dedicated himself to studying pure aura.

Of course, that's not to say he neglected his regular training.

After all, the reason he wanted to purify his aura was to become stronger himself.

So, neglecting his training made no sense.

‘Besides, to quickly reach the level of a 3-star, increasing the absolute amount of aura is also very important.’

If a 1-star was about concentrating aura to a single point, and a 2-star was about coating one side of the sword with aura, then a 3-star was about coating the entire blade with aura.

For that reason, to make this possible, his aura needed to be at least double its current amount.

So, for any reason, he could not neglect his training.

Just like that, Roden rolled around the training ground with the soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Platoon every day to consistently absorb aura.

Because the soldiers were so sincere about their training, Roden was also able to join them with a happy heart.

Furthermore, most of the soldiers came out to the training ground even on their personal maintenance days to conduct their personal training.

As a result, the soldiers began to show results one by one.

A soldier who couldn't cut the 3rd stage pine post achieved his goal.

Moreover, the number of soldiers who could cut the 4th stage plum tree post, which only five soldiers had been able to cut, also began to increase little by little.

And this achievement brought hope and a sense of competition to the soldiers.

“Tomorrow, I will definitely cut the plum tree!”

“Aigo. Say that after you’ve cut the pine tree.”

“By the way, there are four people who’ve cut the ash tree now, right? Nedhab, Federico, Terne, and Zailo.”

“Terne has been training continuously without a break, but Zailo is amazing. Even after being sentenced to ten days of imprisonment, he has raised his skill to this level.”

“Still, Nedhab has the best talent. He cut the birch tree yesterday.”

“Tsk. I wish I had talent like Nedhab.”

The proof was that whenever two or more soldiers gathered, they would have this kind of conversation.

Roden, who happened to overhear this conversation during his cold water compress, thought.

‘Zailo’s growth rate is certainly unexpected.’

Originally, Zailo's growth rate was at a similar level to Federico, Terne, and others.

His aura absorption rate was 0.7%, the same as the two.

But, perhaps because of some change of heart during his imprisonment, his aura absorption rate had slightly increased to 0.8%.

At this rate, it seemed he might even catch up to Federico.

Though it would take some time.

‘It’s unlikely that his emotions themselves directly affected his aura absorption rate, so should I see it as him training harder than before?’

Just as Roden was engrossed in such thoughts and finishing his cold water compress, coming out of the valley.

Swoosh.

Someone who was already out of the valley handed Roden a towel.

“Ah. Thank you.”

Roden took the towel and checked the face of the person who had shown him the kindness.

He had naturally assumed it would be Chevalier, but it wasn't.

Surprisingly, the one standing there was Zailo.

“1st Squad Leader?”

“Yes. It’s the 1st Squad Leader. About this incident… I am truly sorry, Platoon Leader. I have no excuse.”

Roden looked silently at Zailo apologizing and then dried the water from his body with the towel.

Then, he returned the towel to Zailo and patted him on the back.

“Anyone can make a mistake. I believe you will do well from now on.”

Just like that, Roden left, and Zailo, despite having heard just one sentence, felt his heart become strangely lighter.

He had felt as if he had received warm comfort from a wise elder from Roden just now.

Certainly, Zailo’s thought was not wrong.

In reality, Roden was an old man from 100 years ago, well past his sixtieth birthday.

But Zailo had no way of knowing this fact, and so he simply had this thought.

‘The Platoon Leader’s capacity… is greater than I thought!’

In truth, Zailo had been given enough time to sort out the current situation until now.

While being transported to the main battalion after Prat took his own life,

while being imprisoned for ten days after returning to the unit,

it was only natural, as the only thing he could do was think.

During this time, Zailo was able to accept Prat's death.

At the same time, he was able to think about what he had done wrong and how he should have acted then.

And he resolved that he must apologize to Roden.

Although it was not intentional, it was an unavoidable fact that Roden had been harmed by his actions.

However, it was uncertain whether Roden would accept his apology.

But to hear warm words of encouragement from Roden instead, he couldn't help but be surprised.

Furthermore, there was not a hint of hesitation in Roden's voice.

He was so composed, as if this incident was really no big deal.

However, given Roden's personality, this was only natural.

Roden was a person who had not despaired even when he was excommunicated and became a librarian, and had not harbored a heart of revenge even when he was killed by Yusupa.

Compared to such experiences, this incident was really not a big deal to Roden.

So, it was only natural for Roden to adopt such an attitude.

But for the person receiving it, this fact could only be surprising.

And Zailo, whose burden on his heart had been lifted, watched silently.

The back of Roden, who put on his armor and walked steadfastly towards his barracks.

How much time had passed?

“What are you looking at so intently?”

One of the 1st Squad members asked Zailo.

Zailo confirmed that Roden had completely disappeared and then answered.

“No, it’s nothing. Let’s go back. We should go to bed early and prepare for tomorrow’s training.”

***

After returning to the barracks, Roden once again delved into his research on pure aura.

Roden had currently found an answer to some extent.

After a shift in his thinking, the answer began to appear.

In conclusion, the method Roden chose was not to purely refine the aura at the absorption stage.

It was clear that this method would not work in the current situation of absorbing aura through breathing.

Above all, if this method were used, it would be impossible to purify the aura that had already been absorbed.

In the case of magical power, even if it had already formed a Circle, it was possible to undo it again depending on the case.

This was especially true when the Circle was woven through crocheting.

But with aura, there was no way to discharge what had already been absorbed.

In other words, it meant that no matter how much pure aura he absorbed now, the impurities that already existed would not disappear.

Of course, if he absorbed pure aura for a long time and its absolute amount became large, the concentration of impurities would be relatively diluted, but that was all.

The fact that the impurities remained would not change.

For that reason, Roden judged that there was no great advantage in purely refining the aura at the absorption stage.

And through this judgment, he shifted the direction of his research.

It was a method of absorbing aura as he did now and then discharging the impurities later.

‘Certainly, unlike magical power, this side is more advantageous for aura.’

As he shifted the direction of his research to removing impurities later, various possibilities emerged.

‘Among them, the best is to utilize breathing.’

Since aura was being refined and absorbed during the inhalation,

discharging the impurities of the aura during the exhalation was bound to be the most effective.

In addition to this, increasing water intake, sweating a lot, eating foods high in dietary fiber, etc.

There were various ways to discharge impurities, but they were relatively insufficient compared to using the exhalation.

This was because it was simply impossible for this discharge method to keep up with the amount of aura absorbed through inhalation.

‘So I have to utilize the exhalation somehow. That’s the only way to effectively lower the impurity concentration.’

However, using the exhalation was not as easy as it sounded.

First, one had to be able to separate the impurities from the aura, and one also had to induce the exhalation to carry them away.

‘Solving this with complex magic formulas is too inefficient. Similar to improving the Clean Room.’

So he had to find a simple and easy way to accomplish all of this.

And Roden decided to approach this from a medical perspective.

‘How about strengthening the respiratory center and chemoreceptors located in the medulla oblongata and pons?’

The number of medical books in the Penitudo Mage Tower library was quite large.

It was no exaggeration to say that it was the second largest after magic books.

The reason was none other than this.

Healing magic was one of the most popularly acclaimed fields among mages.

For that reason, Roden had also come across a number of medical books,

and he knew well which organs of the body distinguished between impurities and non-impurities and discharged them through exhalation.

The respiratory center and chemoreceptors that Roden had just thought of were precisely this.

‘First, let’s try to strengthen this part carefully with aura. If I do it well, just strengthening it like this might allow the impurities of the aura to be discharged through the exhalation.’

However, he had to approach it really carefully.

If he carelessly touched the brain, he could not only become disabled, but his life could also be in danger.

In particular, for Roden, who lived by his intellectual abilities, the brain was more precious than anything else.

It was no exaggeration to call it his everything.

‘It’s a relief that it’s not difficult to strengthen a part of the body with aura. This is something even a 1-star knight can do.’

A moment later.

Roden quietly closed his eyes and began to move his aura slowly.

Just like that, a very minute amount of aura seeped into the respiratory center and chemoreceptors.

“Hoo.”

And he slowly exhaled.

What came out mixed with the exhalation.

It was precisely the impurities.

‘No way.’

Roden couldn't help but be impressed.

The effect was that tremendous.