Chapter 659

BOOOOM!!

After the sound of thunder, a deep hole appeared in the boulder.

Su-ho’s eyes widened.

He was surprised.

How had he done that?

There had been no trace of mana in Spear Venerable’s movements.

The wooden staff had also been nothing more than an ordinary wooden staff.

No matter that the other party was a Constellation, at most, there was only a difference of one rank between them.

Of course, people said that even a hair’s breadth of difference could be enormous, but even so, until just a moment ago, he truly had not sensed the slightest energy.

When Su-ho wore a bewildered expression, Spear Venerable smiled and handed him the wooden staff.

An ordinary wooden staff.

It was still the same wooden staff with weak hardness.

It did not even have any major cracks.

It only had the exact same small crack that had appeared when Su-ho first swung it.

After finishing his inspection of the wooden staff, Su-ho asked.

“How did you do that?”

- What do you mean, how? I did what I always do.

“I’m asking how you normally do it.”

Spear Venerable laughed at his dazed appearance.

Spear Venerable sat down on a nearby small boulder and beckoned to him.

Su-ho approached and stood in front of him.

When he was told to sit, he sat down.

They took on the appearance of a teacher and disciple having an outdoor lesson in a field.

Spear Venerable said.

- Why did you suddenly become an idiot?

“What?”

- When you were talking about martial arts with me at the tavern yesterday, you seemed to have learned quite a lot. I’m asking why you forgot everything you learned and became an idiot.

“What do you mean......?”

- You said you were practicing Unity of Body and Sword, didn’t you?

“I did?”

- You did?

“......Ah!”

At that moment, Su-ho understood what he meant.

- Do you think Unity of Body and Sword only applies to swords? If you went as far as visiting a fist fighter to learn principles because you wanted to comprehend Unity of Body and Sword, then naturally, you should know how to make use of those principles elsewhere too.

Spear Venerable was right.

At the moment Spear Venerable swung the wooden staff, he had become one with it.

But something was strange.

The realm of Unity of Body and Sword that Su-ho had seen allowed a person to momentarily become one with the sword, causing mana to emerge even without consciously manifesting one’s will and reinforce things such as the body’s hardness.

But he had not sensed even the slightest trace of mana from Spear Venerable just now.

- I can clearly see what you’re thinking right now.

“What am I thinking?”

- Mana. Am I wrong?

“Y-You’re right. How did you know?”

- What else would someone who has only just begun learning the realm of unity be thinking about? Just as you said, the first secret behind the staff technique I showed you earlier lies in the realm of unity. In my case, since it was a spear, it would be Unity of Body and Spear.

He raised the wooden staff again and rested it lengthwise across his trapezius muscles.

- But you see, the Unity of Body and Sword you learned and the Unity of Body and Spear I’m talking about now are slightly different.

“How are they different?”

- What did your master tell you when you learned Unity of Body and Sword?

Su-ho thought for a moment.

He was considering what answer Spear Venerable wanted.

After a while, he answered carefully.

“It was basically training for the Formless Sword...... but he said the primary purpose was to make it so that I could use my entire body like a sword even when I had no sword.”

- So you trained with your bare body?

“Yes, that’s right.”

- And what happened after you comprehended that realm?

“My body became like a sword, allowing me to confront even bladed weapons.”

- Mana instinctively wrapped around your body to protect it, right?

“Yes.”

- Then what about the wooden staff?

“What?”

- Think carefully. Then what about the wooden staff?

“What do you mean...... Ah! You also became one with the spear when you used the wooden staff, Spear Venerable?”

Su-ho understood what he was trying to say.

But he soon tilted his head.

“But I have a question. When I used my body like a sword, my mana manifested unconsciously on its own and protected my body. But when you used the wooden staff, I did not sense any mana at all.”

- You really didn’t sense it? My mana moved.

“Nothing was released outwardly.”

- Nothing was released outwardly. There was no reason for it to be.

“......Ah!”

Su-ho’s eyes widened again.

Only now had he properly understood.

“Then could it be that the inside of the wooden staff was completely filled with mana?”

- Correct. For that instant, the wooden staff became one with my body, and in order to pierce a hole through a boulder harder than both me and my wooden staff, its interior was filled with mana. And this is a more difficult and higher realm. It means that without deliberately drawing the mana itself outside, it filled only the necessary place and responded fluidly.

“I see......!”

- The thrusts of Heavy Strike Style do not increase their power simply through strength and number. The principle of Heavy Strike Style is more efficient destruction. Efficient destruction means reducing the burden I receive to the absolute minimum and increasing the damage dealt to the enemy to the absolute maximum. That is the central point of the Heavy Strike Style I created.

“The minimum and the maximum......!”

Spear Venerable handed the wooden staff back to Su-ho and said.

- Don’t become an idiot. I’m grateful that you came even though I called you out of nowhere, but you said you had intended to learn it anyway, didn’t you? Then why are you suddenly acting like an idiot? You aren’t an idiot. All streams return to a single origin. If you learned something, make use of it in various ways.

“I think I was so fixated on not damaging the wooden staff that I failed to think that far.”

- Then try again. And when you’re finished, come to the tavern.

“Yes, understood.”

Spear Venerable waved his hand and descended the mountain.

He really was kind.

It had only taken one explanation, yet everything was immediately easy to understand.

Su-ho immediately raised the wooden staff and moved in front of the boulder.

Right.

What mattered was successfully executing the spear thrust, not preserving the wooden staff.

But he was not confident that he could succeed in a single attempt.

He had succeeded in becoming one with a sword and had also succeeded in using his body like a sword, but this was his first time with a spear.

“.......”

Su-ho stared at the wooden staff for a while.

Then he gripped its center.

Normally, when thrusting, he held it with both hands spaced apart, but this time, he held it around the middle like a fencing sword.

The reason he deliberately gripped the middle was because if he held the end of the wooden staff like a sword, the center of gravity would shift to one side, making it difficult to handle.

Of course, if he insisted on using it that way, he could.

He possessed enough physical strength to support it.

But he did not do that.

The realm of unity required everything to be more perfect than expected.

That was why he chose this method.

And the reason he was doing this was simple curiosity.

He wondered whether it might work if he thought of the wooden staff as a sword and swung it.

‘Let’s try it.’

There was nothing to lose by trying.

Originally, after hearing Spear Venerable’s words, he had intended to use the principle of Unity of Body and Spear to pierce the boulder.

But if he did that, it would be spear arts, not swordsmanship.

From the beginning, he had even obtained the Rune of Succession and become the successor of Heavy Strike Style so that it would help his swordsmanship.

More precisely, because he needed an ultimate thrusting skill, not spear arts.

And Spear Venerable had told him to reach the realm of Ten Thousand Strikes while keeping the wooden staff intact.

Nowhere in his assignment had he said anything about how to grip the wooden staff or that Su-ho had to pierce the boulder using proper staff arts or spear arts.

That was why he chose this method.

He focused his mind.

This was a sword.

Not a spear or a staff, but a sword with an extremely long hilt.

A poorly made sword forged by some wicked blacksmith, with a blade and hilt of equal length.

The moment he focused on that thought and thrust the staff forward.

BOOM!

A powerful sound erupted.

At the same time, Su-ho’s eyes widened.

The corners of his mouth rose.

Because just as he had expected, the soft wooden staff had advanced like the horn of a rhinoceros and succeeded in digging deeply into the boulder.

He carefully pulled the staff out.

CRACK!

With that sound, small fractures spread from the deeply dented hole like wrinkles between one’s brows.

At that moment.

[ Spear Venerable acknowledges you. ]

[ The information of Overlord Spear Art has changed. ]

[ You have comprehended ‘Heavy Strike Style Fourth Form – Thousand Strikes (S+).’ ]

“Nice!”

He had done it.

When he used the spear like a sword and unleashed the thrust, he truly succeeded in piercing the boulder.

He had succeeded in becoming one with the spear without reaching the realm of Unity of Body and Spear.

‘As expected, I need to make use of what I already know.’

It was the moment Spear Venerable’s advice shone.

“Then now.......”

Next came Ten Thousand Strikes.

Spear Venerable had said that the rocks of Rocky Mountain would only be dented at the level of Thousand Strikes, and that only at the level of Ten Thousand Strikes could a hole finally be pierced through them.

Then he had to reach at least Ten Thousand Strikes.

Only then would he be able to stand equal to Xiang Yu from his previous life.

Su-ho took his stance again.

Then he began thrusting the wooden staff toward the boulder like a sword once more.

BOOM!

***

“Good grief, what in the world is going on today?”

One of the city residents drinking in the tavern frowned as he looked at the sky beyond the window.

The sky was perfectly clear, yet the sound of thunder kept coming from somewhere.

It even rang out intermittently as though echoing, which was truly strange.

As the residents grumbled, Spear Venerable chuckled.

Because Spear Venerable knew the secret behind it.

After another long stretch of time had passed.

“It’s finally quiet.”

Only after the sound of thunder could no longer be heard did the residents raise their cups in satisfaction.

Not long after that, the tavern door opened.

It was Su-ho.

Su-ho looked around with a triumphant expression, found Spear Venerable, and sat beside him.

“I completed the assignment.”

- I saw. But do you know what the people here were saying? They heard the sound of your training and complained about why there was so much thunder when it wasn’t even raining today.

So that was what had happened.

When Su-ho scratched his head in embarrassment, Spear Venerable ordered him a drink and said.

- But you used your head a little, didn’t you? You deliberately gripped the wooden staff shorter, right?

“Was I not allowed to? You never told me to pierce the boulder using orthodox staff arts or spear arts, so I tried using the staff in the way I was best at.”

- Heh, that’s not what I mean. But coming to learn thrusting from a spearman and then using the spear like a sword could be considered an insult or mockery, couldn’t it?

“Do you really think that?”

- Of course not.

As expected of Spear Venerable.

He was easygoing.

Around then, the drink brought by the tavern owner arrived, and Su-ho emptied it to the bottom in one gulp.

Perhaps because it was alcohol drunk after achieving something, it felt as though the thrill reached all the way into his marrow.

“What is the next stage?”

- If you have achieved Hundred Strikes, Thousand Strikes, and Ten Thousand Strikes, what comes next?

“I’m not sure. Judging only by the numbers, it seems like it would be Hundred Million Strikes, but are you really going to keep increasing only the numbers like this?”

- Why? Are you dissatisfied?

“That’s not it. I just find it a little disappointing. Still, being able to see the destination makes achieving something feel more satisfying, doesn’t it?”

- Heh, hehehe.

“Why are you laughing?”

- Because it was a lie.

“What?”

- Heavy Strike Style has them too. A Near-Pinnacle and a Pinnacle.

“......What?”

- It’s true.

Spear Venerable wore a serious expression.

At those words, Su-ho blinked both eyes.