The Regressor Can Make Them All

Chapter 465

“…”

Kwang-Soo stiffened at Aria’s comment.

Just like in the blacksmithing industry, where saying a piece of equipment only had its worth in its materials could earn one a punch in the face, criticizing the sword aura quality of someone who mastered the sword could lead to harsh condemnation.

In the first place, sword aura resulted from one compressing their mana beyond a certain threshold and infusing it with their synesthetic mindscape to produce powerful cutting force, durability, and sometimes even unique effects. With each person’s unique synesthetic mindscape embedded within, sword aura was no different from a manifestation of their true self through the sword.

I guess it’s no wonder. What Aria just said to Kwang-Soo…

With a bit of exaggeration, Aria’s words were essentially: “The sword has potential, but you’re so trash that you can’t even use it.”

For someone like Kwang-Soo, whose speciality was the Celestial Infinity Blade that centered around sword aura manipulation, it definitely couldn’t have been easy to hear.

Eh, if I make him compare himself to Aria a few times, he’ll accept it eventually.

Dismissing it just like that, Se-Hoon opened his mouth to calm Kwang-Soo—

“Whew…”

Kwang-Soo let out a deep sigh, breaking his silence, before looking at Se-Hoon and Aria with a much calmer face.

“So? What exactly is the problem? We don’t exactly have time on our side right now, so just get on with it.”

“…?”

He’s just letting that slide?

Wait, huh? Did Professor wake up on the wrong side of the bed?

Se-Hoon and Jake couldn’t hide their slight surprise upon seeing that Kwang-Soo hadn’t gotten angry. They had been expecting at least some kind of protest or maybe a scoff about nonsense, but instead, they got smooth acceptance?

It was so out of character for Kwang-Soo that Se-Hoon started seriously wondering if he had hit Kwang-Soo’s head too hard too many times.

“…Is it really that surprising that I didn’t get mad?” Kwang-Soo questioned bafflingly, noticing their surprise.

“Well… yeah, kind of.”

“What do you guys even take me for…” Shaking his head, Kwang-Soo casually picked up a shard from the floor. “You think this is the first time I’ve been through something like this? I don’t know about others, but I know that when you tell me I’m wrong, it never ends well when I refuse to listen.”

Had he insisted otherwise out of wounded pride, Kwang-Soo just knew Se-Hoon would inevitably find some method to prove him decisively wrong. It was a waste of his pride, which was why Kwang-Soo simply accepted the criticism.

“So stop bullying this weak old man and just tell me what the problem is. I’ll make sure to listen properly.”

Was it because he had let something go during the process of forming the Celestial Infinity Blade from the Celestial Night fragments? Newly exposed to the more cooperative side of Kwang-Soo, Se-Hoon nodded in mild amazement.

“Understood…. Then, Aria sunbae.”

“Hm… that’s kind of anticlimactic.”

Letting out a disappointed sigh, Aria pointed to the black sword aura still in Kwang-Soo’s hand.

“To put it bluntly, your sword aura doesn’t properly contain your synesthetic mindscape. It looks fine, but inside, it’s just an empty shell.”

“An empty shell…”

Pondering her words, Kwang-Soo looked at the remaining black sword aura in his hand.

But this is already strong enough to be considered my peak performance…

Did his sword aura—which even S-rank heroes would struggle to block—really lack a proper infusion of his synesthetic mindscape? Truthfully, Kwang-Soo found it a hard claim to accept.

“Are you having trouble believing it?”

“At the moment… yes, a little.”

“Okay. Jake, come here.”

Called by his sister, Jake hesitantly stepped toward them.

“Compress it.”

“Professor, excuse me for a moment.”

Apologizing, Jake then grabbed the remaining sword aura and lightly clenched his fist.

Crunch!

The sword aura surrounding the Celestial Night fragments immediately buckled, the shards groaning as if they were about to break. Taken aback, Kwang-Soo began wondering whether he should pull his hand away—when the sword aura suddenly turned clear.

Woong!

Now, it was emitting a deadly presence incomparably sharper.

“This is…”

Kwang-Soo stared wide-eyed at the transformed sword aura. While he was shocked that Jake had interfered with his sword aura, the fact Jake even amplified it to its current extent was beyond anything he had imagined.

I knew his sword aura manifestation technique was unusual, but I didn’t expect it to be something like this…

Observing Jake, who seemed like a completely different person from when they first met in the lecture hall, Kwang-Soo felt something indescribable stir inside.

Crack!

“Ah, I’m sorry. I should’ve released it earlier…” Jake apologized, seeing that Kwang-Soo’s sword aura had reached its limit and shattered.

“No… it’s fine. The problem was my empty shell of an aura.”

“I-I thought your sword aura was already plenty impressive—”

“Jake. Don’t say useless things right now. Go stand over there.”

Lightly scolded, Jake bowed his head and awkwardly stepped back beside Se-Hoon under his sister’s gaze.

“Do you believe me now?” Aria asked, turning back to Kwang-Soo.

“…Yeah. You were right.”

Now he knew. His sword aura may have matched that of the average S-rank hero, but it was clearly inferior when compared to those approaching completion. Part of it was because his synesthetic mindscape had been unstable for a long time, but more importantly, he had wrongly focused on increasing the number of summoned sword auras rather than the quality of a single one.

“I heard you plan to fight Doppelganger, who’s been challenging the Tower of Heroes recently. To be honest, with a sword aura like this, the battle will be over after the first strike. And I don’t think I need to explain who’s going to remain standing in the end.”

“…”

“That’s why, starting today, focus on refining the quality of your sword aura and forging your Soul Sword. That’s your only path to facing Doppelganger.”

If the previous training had been about laying the foundation, then the one he was going to attempt now was about building the core structure. Contemplating it, Kwang-Soo turned to Se-Hoon.

“Is training this ‘Soul Sword’ the material processing you mentioned earlier?”

“That’s right.”

“I see… so that’s how you plan to reforge the Celestial Night…”

Realizing what Se-Hoon was trying to do with his sword, Kwang-Soo made a slightly uncomfortable face—but only for a moment. He quickly shook off the unnecessary emotions.

“How’s the training going to work?”

“We’re going to split it into two stages. First, you’ll have to endure Jake’s compression technique. Second, you’ll need to withstand my sword aura,” Aria explained.

It sounded simple enough, but having just experienced both, Kwang-Soo intuitively knew how grueling it would be.

Well… the more painful the training, the more effective it’ll be.

That was always the rule with such training. With renewed determination, Kwang-Soo looked at the two.

“Let’s begin right away.”

***

Kwang-Soo’s new training routine differed only slightly. Whereas he used to get knocked around by Se-Hoon and end up sprawled on the floor, now he could conduct the training from a single spot.

Alas, that didn’t mean it had gotten any easier.

“Urgh…”

Three black sword auras floated before him. He had split the patchwork Celestial Night into thirds, using each fragment as a core to form the blades. Observing them, Kwang-Soo pushed the left and right swords toward the center.

Screeeeeeeee!

Clashing, the sword auras created a harsh screech as mana began leaking out of cracks that had formed on their surfaces. Yet Kwang-Soo kept going, carefully adjusting the output to prevent collapse as he forced them all together.

And eventually, the piercing sound did fade—which signaled the fusion of the three summoned sword auras.

Woong!

The fragments, used as the cores, interlocked naturally and brightened the color of the sword aura, a sign that it had been sharpened to a fine edge.

Compared to before, the blade had reached a level of perfection worlds apart from before, making Kwang-Soo’s eyes sparkle.

This should be able to…

Perhaps he still couldn’t endure Aria’s sword aura, but he could definitely withstand Jake’s compression. Confident, Kwang-Soo boldly held out the newly forged sword aura to Jake, who had been standing by.

Crack!

However, the sword he was so proud of shattered the moment Jake clenched his fist, scattering the Celestial Night fragments in all directions.

“…”

“…”

Dismayed, Kwang-Soo wore a hollow expression, while Jake looked sheepishly embarrassed. Thankfully, before the awkward silence could drag on, Kwang-Soo sighed.

“I’ll go make another one…”

“Yes, sir… Ah, I’ll help pick up the pieces.”

After that, Jake immediately bent down to help Kwang-Soo gather the shards scattered across the training ground. In the meantime, as the two were focused on Kwang-Soo’s training, a tea time was taking place in one corner of the lecture hall under the lead of Aria.

“…”

Se-Hoon drank his tea with a somewhat sour face, feeling awkward under Aria’s stare from her seat across from him.

“Are you not going to drink?” Se-Hoon asked, gesturing to her cooling tea to make conversation.

“In a bit.”

“Tea doesn’t taste good when it gets cold…”

“It’s fine. Who you’re drinking it with matters more than the taste of the tea.”

“…”

Despite her words, Se-Hoon still thought it would just be better to drink it while it was still good, but he didn’t bother saying it out loud. After all, Aria’s gaze made it clear she wasn’t interested in the tea—only in him.

What’s up with her now…?

He had only called her over because he thought she’d be helpful in Kwang-Soo’s training. Yet she was watching him intensely? Could it be because she wanted to bring up the fact that he promised to make her a new sword but then ghosted her?

Trying to decipher Aria’s intent, Se-Hoon just awkwardly sipped his tea when…

“You’ve been pretty hard to see lately.” Aria finally spoke, meeting his gaze. “You don’t even leave me a message anymore.”

“Ah, well… as you can see, I’ve been somewhat busy with all this…”

“Hmm. Is that so?”

Aria smiled gently.

“For someone so busy, though, you supposedly have plenty of time to meet and exchange lunch boxes with Dean Ryu frequently…. Am I wrong?”

“…”

She said it as though she’d heard it from someone, but judging by her eyes, Se-Hoon intuitively knew she had definitely seen him with Eun-Ha personally.

But all we did really was just exchange lunch boxes…

Se-Hoon felt indignant, but he knew brushing it off by giving a weak excuse to someone who was clearly upset about not hearing from him was a bad move.

So instead, Se-Hoon pondered over the optimal reply for a bit in his head until he came up with one.

“Would you like one too?”

“…What?”

“The lunch box the Dean exchanges with me. She always packs up whatever’s left after cooking, so the portions are quite big.”

“…” Speechless, Aria just stared blankly at him for a long moment before letting out a small sigh. “…You’re such an idiot.”

She had meant to show a little displeasure and maybe get him to make a promise or set up a date… but that desire just vanished.

…I guess it doesn’t matter.

She couldn’t tell if what he just said was sincere or intentional, but with him being the way he was, there wasn’t a point in pressing him.

“I’ll pass.”

Seeing Aria shake her head, Se-Hoon let out a quiet sigh of relief.

Got past that one.

Although their bond had risen to level four, he knew Aria had a long-lasting memory, which meant he had to tread carefully around similar things. And at that thought, Se-Hoon began worrying over whether she’d bring something else up—

“There’s one thing I’ve been wondering.”

Picking up her now-cold tea and sipping it, Aria looked at Se-Hoon.

“Do you really think Doppelganger can conquer the Tower of Heroes?”

She looked completely serious now, prompting Se-Hoon to give her question some genuine thought.

“It won’t be easy… but I do think it’s possible.”

“Hmm…”

“What about you?”

Thinking, Aria tapped her teacup with her nail, then slowly shook her head.

“Unlike you, I think it’s impossible.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because the world just won’t let it happen.”

Hearing her mention the world—or rather, the Golden Ring—Se-Hoon raised an eyebrow. Why would it interfere with Doppelganger’s challenge?

“What makes you say that?”

“You’re aware of how my Soul Sword has reached the realm of the Perfect Ones by now, right?”

“Yes, I am.”

“When I use it at full power, it’s essentially equivalent to the powers of the Perfect Ones—but it never actually reaches them. Any trace of it always gets erased by the world.”

Even if she used her Soul Sword to slash something, the world would immediately restore it back to a clean and flawless state. Because of that, Aria had become someone who couldn’t kill her enemies at her full power.

“The Golden Ring may be loose in its criteria, but it’s not incompetent. If a demon were to conquer the Tower of Heroes, I’m sure it would intervene with full force.”

“…”

“I don’t know why you’re so convinced it’ll work out, but I don’t think Doppelganger has what it takes to push through that interference.”

Musing over Aria’s words, Se-Hoon sank into thought.

The world… the Golden Ring will block Doppelganger’s ascension…

Before he regressed, Aria—the Holy Swordsman at the tune—had fallen and become the Destroyer of Light. Thus, theoretically, Se-Hoon had thought the reverse should also be possible.

But the more he thought about it, the more unlikely it now seemed. While a person climbing upward could always fall, someone who had already fallen into the pit couldn’t simply rise again.

Still, there’s no way Master would chase something that’s truly impossible…. Just what kind of method is she planning?

Even after recalling every technique taught to him by Meirin, nothing stood out.

Continuing to mull over it for a long while, Se-Hoon eventually just cleared his mind.

Well, I’m sure she’ll figure it out.

Of all things, doubting Meirin when it came to blacksmithing would be the dumbest mistake he could make. Putting his full trust in her, Se-Hoon believed the best course of action was to make preparations around Doppelganger reaching completion.

That means I’ll need to reforge Celestial Night soon…

But there was just one problem with reforging Celestial Night: Kwang-Soo still seemed reluctant about it, even subconsciously, from how he was acting. In Kwang-Soo’s current state, neither refining his Soul Sword nor reforging Celestial Night would be possible.

And in that case, Se-Hoon needed to persuade him first.

Words probably won’t be enough to get through…. I’ll have to show him personally.

Surely, once Kwang-Soo saw how good Se-Hoon’s weapons were—and how they were made—he would surely change his mind. Finalizing the idea in his head, Se-Hoon looked at Aria.

“Sunbae.”

“Yeah?”

At her curious glance, Se-Hoon gave her a faint smile.

“Would you like me to forge your new sword now?”