Becoming a Swordmaster by Reading

Chapter 193 : Chapter 193

Yusupa asked a question, but Roden did not give the answer he wanted.Instead, he continued with what he wanted to say.

“Your talent was not enough to reach the 10th-circle, no matter how much you purified your mana. That said, since the research on artificially increasing mana affinity, which you obtained by killing me, was incomplete, you probably didn't reach the level of the 10th-circle this way either.”

“You… you….”

“In the end, even the level of the 10th-circle, which you achieved for the first time in human history, was probably not obtained through a proper method. Just since when did you dabble in black magic? Surely, was it from the time you killed me?”

“…….”

Roden asked, but Yusupa only widened his eyes in surprise and could not answer anything.

Certainly, for Yusupa, the current situation was unbelievable in many ways.

He could not understand why a young knight born 100 years later knew his secrets that no one knew one after another.

Even more, he didn't just know.

He was not only describing the situation as if he had witnessed what happened that day directly, but based on this, he was even deducing how he had reached the level of the 10th-circle.

And as far as he knew, there was only one person in this world who could accomplish such a thing.

Exactly that person who was the best 1st-circle mage and the greatest magic theorist in history.

“Roden….”

For Roden too, it had been a really long time.

Hearing his name called by someone else's mouth.

Even more, since it was Yusupa who pronounced this name, it was understandable that he felt a bit strange.

However, Roden just stared at Yusupa quietly with calm eyes.

Because he already knew that a reaction like this would return.

However, Yusupa misunderstood this silence and opened his mouth.

“Is it… really Roden? Really? Ah. No. It cannot be. Resurrection and eternal life are things possible only with black magic.”

Roden watched this Yusupa quietly and then answered.

“No. Resurrection and eternal life are privileges already held in the hands of all humans under the name of reincarnation. It's just that the majority do not remember their past lives.”

It was so.

In the past, Roden thought he had possessed this body.

However, now he changed that thought to reincarnation, not possession.

That he did not remember his past life for a while after reincarnating, but recalled his past life as he felt intense pain in his heart and was about to die.

Certainly, this was a more realistic conjecture than possession.

Of course, for Yusupa, even this was a story lacking reality.

“…I cannot believe it.”

“It doesn't matter if you don't believe it. Honestly, I haven't finished all the research in this field yet, so I'm not confident in my thoughts either. Should I say this is also just one hypothesis.”

“!”

Not being able to finish all the research on death even though he had died directly was a very regrettable point for Roden.

Although it was unavoidable due to the small number of absolute research samples.

However, this attitude of Roden appeared differently in Yusupa's eyes.

Because Roden's reaction was too similar to the behavioral patterns of Roden that he remembered.

Especially that he thought and explained by connecting all phenomena to research and hypotheses.

Yusupa's face, which had been wearing a blank expression, gradually contorted.

Then soon he waved his hand in anger.

“Don't be ridiculous! Roden was already killed by my hand 100 years ago!”

At the same time, the power that had defeated Albrecht and Lucien was shot toward Roden.

However, Roden did not fall easily like the two people.

The sword curtain easily blocked Yusupa's attack.

Thud!

Yusupa was greatly surprised once again that his attack was blocked.

It was understandable, because if one were to be precise, Yusupa's attack just now was something like the Heart Sword, which could cut someone without sound or presence with just will.

The fact that Albrecht and Lucien were defeated by a single gesture of Yusupa was also because this attack contained such power.

For that reason, it was useless even if one unfolded a sword curtain by investing all of the 9-star aura.

Because Yusupa's attack containing the power of the 10th-circle would reach first before the sword curtain was unfolded.

Even if one unfolded the sword curtain in advance, the result was the same.

Because Yusupa's attack would easily tear apart the sword curtain and proceed.

Clearly, it should be so, but since his attack was easily blocked by the sword curtain, Yusupa had no choice but to be surprised.

“Aaargh!”

As if confused by this situation, Yusupa waved his hands wildly in succession.

Every time he did, powerful attacks headed toward Roden, but the sword curtain did not budge.

Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud! Thud!

Only sounds like beating a drum rang out on the battlefield.

“…Just how?”

Yusupa, who had poured out attacks for a while, only then came to his senses and muttered.

And he realized belatedly.

That the energy felt from Roden was unusual.

Quiet but solid, silent but mighty.

Perfectly controlled even though it harbored tremendous potential.

The moment he felt such energy, Yusupa felt goosebumps all over his body.

Because the fact implied by this was one thing.

10-star.

This meant that Roden had ascended to the level of 10-star.

Roden showed a thick smile as if he knew what Yusupa was thinking and opened his mouth.

“You didn't expect it either, right, Yusupa? That I, who was a 1st-circle mage, would have talent in the sword?”

***

Roden ascended to the level of 10-star really narrowly.

Although he succeeded in grasping the keyword of existence transcendence through research, it was because it had to be possible to utilize mana itself to realize this.

Although the theory was plausible, in fact, it was not an easy task.

Because if this were possible in the first place, there would have been no need to convert mana into magic power or aura.

Originally, there was a reason why no one in history had ever accomplished it.

However, for Roden, it was necessary to ascend to the level of 10-star just in case.

If Roden failed to ascend to the level of 10-star but Yusupa regained the power of the 10th-circle, what remained was only the destruction of all humanity.

As that happened, he had to conduct research desperately, and eventually, he could come up with one idea.

‘If I utilize my body as a kind of energy converter that changes mana into aura, wouldn't it become possible to use mana itself?’

There was a possibility.

Because the difficulty in raising the level was due to the problem of having to accumulate aura in the body.

But if the body was utilized as an energy converter, one could use mana immediately as aura without accumulation.

That meant there was no longer a need to dwell on the size of the innate vessel.

‘Of course, the power I can use will vary depending on how good the performance of my body is as an energy converter.’

If the absolute amount of mana Roden could convert into aura was small, this attempt was meaningless.

He had to be able to create 10-star aura by converting mana in its natural state with the 9-star aura Roden possessed.

And the first attempt for this failed spectacularly.

‘Huff huff huff. I poured in 9-star aura but could only convert mana worth barely 1-star.’

There was no problem with the magic itself that Roden newly created for conversion.

Clearly, not a single calculation in the formula was wrong.

It was just that the problem was the converter called himself sucking in more impurities than mana.

‘It will be important to somehow increase the amount of mana the body sucks in. What should I do? Should I try applying the secret method of a Superior Swordsmanship Manual here?’

Like that, Roden tried using the secret method of the so that mana could gather densely around him.

Fortunately, just by using this secret method which was the beginning of Aurasong, Roden could convert mana into 3-star aura.

‘But with this method, it's barely 3-star. I have to make a larger amount of mana gather around me.’

So what Roden used was Aura Storage, a secret method of the .

In the past, Roden had improved Aura Storage so that mana itself became a cargo compartment, and if this was utilized, the amount of mana gathering around could be increased.

It was natural since it became a form where mana carried other mana on its back.

‘Now the amount of mana converted into aura has increased to 5-star. Although this is also insufficient just the same.’

Using Aura Storage following Aurasong, now the amount of mana itself gathering around was not a problem.

If one were to be picky, this time, converting mana into aura solely with mouth breathing was the problem.

Because the amount of mana that could be sucked in at once with just mouth breathing was inevitably too small.

Fortunately, the problem in this part could be overcome with Skin breathing, a secret method of the .

‘Good. Now it's 7-star. Shall I try using that this time?’

What Roden used next was rapid breathing, a secret method of the .

This secret method, which could double the amount of breathing, was naturally effective in converting mana into aura.

‘Done! The amount of mana converted into aura has increased compared to before!’

Like that, the amount of aura Roden obtained by converting mana increased to 9-star.

Now what remained was reaching 10-star.

‘Lastly, let’s apply all the secret methods of the Superior Swordsmanship Manuals I have learned to the maximum.’

Fortunately, as if the research on secret methods until now had not been in vain, the amount of converted aura increased noticeably every time he applied them one by one.

And finally, the day before leaving for the expedition.

Roden, who succeeded in applying the secret methods of all the Superior Swordsmanship Manuals he had learned, could obtain the desired result.

It was the moment Roden stepped onto the level of 10-star for the first time in human history.

At the same time, this also meant that Roden had become a 10th-circle mage.