Nine rings blazed with crimson light as they spun violently around his heart. Between the Rings of Fire that emitted heat more intense than a furnace, a gentle red glow emerged.
The tenth burning Ring of Fire struggled desperately to carve out its own path while avoiding the nine rings that resonated madly.
Raon analyzed Glenn's swordsmanship that surged like ocean waves while simultaneously creating the tenth ring above his heart. He executed a counter technique formed in an instant with the Heavenly Drive gripped so tightly it might break.
Glenn's branch shattered Raon's counter technique, pushing back the Heavenly Drive.
As the Heavenly Drive was knocked away, the tenth ring that had been more than half-formed also failed to complete, scattering red sparks as it faded. Raon was struck on the head by Glenn's fiercely descending branch and collapsed forward as if unconscious.
"Hmm."
Glenn clicked his tongue briefly as if accustomed to this and lowered the branch that seemed absolutely unbreakable.
"See you tomorrow."
He gave a slight wave, as if saying they'd meet tomorrow morning, and returned to the annex building.
"Ugh..."
As soon as Glenn left the clearing, Raon opened his eyes and rubbed his head where he'd been struck by the branch.
"It seems like the intensity is getting stronger?"
Glenn seemed to be hitting a bit harder than before after realizing his body was quite sturdy. If another Transcendent had taken that attack to the head, they wouldn't have been able to get up for a while, and if they hadn't reached Transcendence, their head might have cracked and killed them.
-That old geezer seems to have found hitting you entertaining.
Wrath also seemed to feel that the intensity of Glenn's swinging branch had increased as he nodded.
-Well, if there's a toy that doesn't break no matter how hard you hit it, it's worth playing with!
The guy sneered that he was nothing more than Glenn's plaything now.
'I think I know what you mean.'
Raon brushed the dirt off his hands and rubbed his chin.
'Actually, I'm not bored either since I have a punching bag that keeps getting up no matter how much I hit it.'
He said it was always fun while staring intently at Wrath.
-Huh? Why are you looking at the King while talking about a punching bag... No, surely not!
Wrath widened his eyes as if dumbfounded.
-You're saying the King is your toy?
He waved his hands vigorously as if telling the guy to stop talking nonsense.
-What crazy talk!
'Think about it. When I'm bored, you attack and get beaten, and when something's lacking, you give out stats and traits.'
Raon shrugged, telling him to recall everything that had happened so far.
-Huh? Uh...
Wrath realized he couldn't argue back and his lips trembled.
-You bastard! You called the King a friend!
The guy trembled all over with his face turning into strawberry cotton candy as if genuinely angry for the first time in a while.
'It's a joke.'
Raon burst into hearty laughter and patted Wrath's back.
'But I'm sincere that having you by my side is fun and enjoyable.'
Wrath had given him stats and created traits, greatly helping his growth. But what made the guy precious wasn't those rewards.
For him, Wrath was his closest friend, a gruff brother, and like a caring sibling. This foolish demon king himself had been a great comfort to him, so if this guy disappeared, he would feel very sad.
-Hmph...
This time Wrath turned red with embarrassment and coughed awkwardly.
-Anyway, you can't do without the King!
The guy snorted as if he would be a bit more patient.
'Thank you.'
Raon smiled thinly and nodded.
-But why are you trying to create the tenth ring while fighting that Nadine bread geezer?
Wrath came down in front of his eyes and flicked his tail.
-It would be easier to focus and form the ring when you're alone like now, so why are you stupidly dividing your focus?
The guy frowned, saying he didn't understand.
'When I fight Grandpa, I'm not splitting my focus—I'm actually sharpening it.'
Raon chuckled and waved his hand.
'Because cultivation alone can't push focus to its limit.'
He closed his eyes and stopped breathing. He made the Rings of Fire resonate extremely while observing internally. Whooom! Nine Rings of Fire spun around his heart at terrifying speed, emitting heat like the sun.
'Let's try.'
Raon raised a thread-thin flame between the gaps where the nine rings rotated. He tried to slowly extend the flame to connect the tenth ring, but it collided with the other nine rings moving irregularly and shattered like glass.
'Again.'
He raised a new flame to try forming the tenth ring again, but this time too it was broken by the eighth ring that bent in at an unexpected angle.
"Hah..."
Raon didn't mind the failures and only gave up attempting to form the tenth Ring of Fire when moonlight filled the clearing, opening his eyes.
'See? I told you it doesn't work. I couldn't even make half compared to when sparring with grandfather.'
Unlike when sparring with Glenn, he shrugged saying he couldn't even complete a quarter of the ring, let alone half.
-Huh!
Wrath tilted his head as if he didn't understand.
-How can this be? Why can you focus better while fighting?
'Because I'm heightening my focus while thinking of grandfather as an enemy.'
Raon erased the smile from his lips and gripped the Heavenly Drive.
'It's not just about creating the Ring of Fire, but cultivation to immerse myself more in combat.'
The more he raised his focus through the Rings of Fire, the slower time became and the flow of the world appeared clearer to his eyes. Fighting Glenn while forming the Rings of Fire was also part of training to strengthen that ability.
-Everything in your life is really training.
Wrath sighed as if dumbfounded.
-Others call you a sword genius, but in the King's view, you're just a training maniac.
The guy furrowed his brow thinly, saying the nickname seemed wrong.
'At least you understand, thanks.'
Raon drew a faint smile and stood up.
-Sigh, looking at your face, you're going to train all night again.
Wrath sighed deeply, saying he was done sleeping.
'No, training is good but...'
Raon brushed dust from his clothes and put strength in his fingertips. He nodded while looking at the sky filled with moonlight.
'I have somewhere to go today.'
***
"Whew!"
Krein wiped the sweat flowing down his chin and lowered his sword.
"Good! This is cultivation!"
He curled up his lips as if satisfied with today's cultivation.
"What is?"
Dorian approached Krein's side and blinked.
"If that training-crazy person was here, we couldn't train so comfortably. On a day like today, he would have dragged us to that mountain for focus enhancement training again."
Krein spread his arms wide, saying he was so happy that Raon was caught by Glenn.
"Mm! That's true."
Dorian rolled his eyes left and right and nodded.
"If Palace Master was here, it would have been hard to be this comfortable."
He also clicked his tongue, agreeing with Krein's words.
"Being comfortable isn't always good."
Burren opened his lips while swinging his sword.
"When you do the same training, it naturally becomes easier as you adapt, but Raon's training changes every moment so it's always effective."
He stroked his chin as if that's why Raon's training was good.
"That's right, but sometimes rest time like this is needed too."
Martha smiled and shook her head.
"To run further, you need to maintain properly."
She shrugged as if gaining leisure while receiving Envy's authority.
"I also prefer Palace Master's training over practicing martial arts."
Mark Goetun clenched his fist, saying Raon's training had the effect of strengthening martial prowess itself.
"Snore..."
Runaan was sleeping with her back against the wall as if uninterested in whatever others said. She seemed so accustomed to sleeping standing up that she even felt assimilated with the surrounding environment.
"Since Raon won't come for a while, we should think of new training methods among ourselves."
Burren nodded, saying it would be good to suggest new training to the Light Wind Palace Swordsmen.
"It's late today, so everyone go back and starting tomorrow..."
Just as he was about to tell the Light Wind Palace Swordsmen the end of today's training. Creak!
The door of the fifth training ground opened roughly, and Raon entered with heavy steps.
"P-Palace Master?"
"Why suddenly at this time..."
"Y-your expression is stiff?"
The swordsmen were flustered seeing Raon's sudden appearance and widened their eyes. Step! Raon said nothing and climbed onto the platform while emitting cold energy.
"Formation!"
Burren felt that Raon had come not as an individual but as the Light Wind Palace Master and aligned the swordsmen scattered throughout the training ground in front of the platform.
"..."
Raon silently lowered his red gaze and swept over the Light Wind Palace Swordsmen one by one.
"Ugh..."
"Wh-what kind of look..."
The swordsmen couldn't even meet that sharp gaze and bowed their heads with trembling shoulders.
"Two weeks have passed, but nothing has changed. No..."
Raon exhaled cold breath.
"It seems like you've actually regressed. Do you think something will change just by comfortably swinging swords?"
He turned his gaze toward Krein and Dorian as if he had heard everything.
"Gasp!"
"Ahhh..."
Krein and Dorian trembled all over as if overwhelmed by Raon's cold energy.
"I originally planned to just greet you lightly and return, but that won't do. Everyone go up to North Grave Mountain just as you are."
Raon drew a cold smile and lifted his chin.
"We begin focus enhancement training now."
He stomped his foot, saying they would immediately begin large-scale training without preparation time.
"What? S-suddenly?"
"No, we trained hard..."
"I-it seems too sudden. Again..."
The swordsmen stammered in confusion at Raon's sudden command.
"We start immediately. The last person to reach the mountain will get special one-on-one training time with me. One..."
As Raon began counting without listening to objections, the Light Wind Palace Swordsmen's faces turned pale.
"Ahhhhh!"
"R-run!"
"We're dead if we're late!"
"It's not a one-on-one training, it's a one-on-one fight to the death!"
The swordsmen screamed and ran toward North Grave Mountain as if they didn't want Raon's attention.
"Hmm!"
Raon nodded as if he finally liked the look in the swordsmen's eyes.
-No way...
Wrath sighed as if dumbfounded.
-You crazy bastard! Is all you're doing just relieving stress on the kids!
The guy screamed asking why he showed such serious eyes if this was all he was going to do.
'Sometimes you need to give them a wake-up call like this.'
Raon shrugged as if it couldn't be helped.
-Wake-up call my ass! You can see they all trained well even without you!
Wrath ground his teeth, saying not a single swordsman had regressed and all had trained diligently.
'It might look different depending on how you see it.'
-Don't lie! You know everything too!
The guy sighed, saying his personality was truly incomprehensible.
-I can tell just by looking. You're just trying to relieve stress by beating up the kids! This crazy guy really...
'Heh heh.'
Raon was rolling his eyes and quietly whistling when...
"Raon!"
Light flashed in front of the platform, and Evelyn with her purple hair neatly tied back appeared.
"I finally found out!"
Evelyn, unusually excited, grasped Raon's hand with a flush on her cheeks.
"What Derus Robert is doing!"