Level up with swords (156)
Meditation.
If we were to interpret the meaning directly, it could be said to ‘put thoughts to sleep,’ but it should not be interpreted that way. The only things that need to be put to sleep are the distracting thoughts or distractions that disturb the true nature, and the thoughts themselves need to be deeply quieted by closing even the five senses.
So, meditation can also be interpreted as ‘think deeply’. I started by finding a quiet place, closing my eyes, and cutting off all external stimulation.
Of course, if you can handle yourself well, you won’t have any problems anywhere.
‘dark.’
As the thoughts that were chattering noisily in Leon’s mind cleared away, only silence and darkness remained in the void.
Like a night sky without a single star.
Like the bottom of the deep sea where even the ocean currents have stopped moving.
Entering the inner world was not only the privilege of wizards. It was also possible and necessary for unmanned soldiers.
Thinking about it like that, an old memory came to mind.
―Just as in magic, focusing on stillness does not ignore movement, martial arts also need to focus on static training methods to reach a higher level. If you only focus on practicing Dong-dong, the movements may become big and flashy, but they will lose depth.
El Cid has always been like that.
Things that he said as if they were nothing and passed by come to mind at important moments and help him. El Cid’s voice rang out from a distant memory, as if guiding Leon as he wandered aimlessly.
Why?
In an image where he couldn’t see an inch ahead, that voice illuminated his path like clear starlight.
Since when did it start?
Leon was walking towards an unknown place.
―Are you saying that the value of the country is under the world? It’s a bit different from that, but the same goes for dealing with imagery. You can’t discuss the world outside your body when you can’t even deal with yourself. Your telekinesis is the basic of all basics. To advance to a deeper level, you must first know yourself (nosce te ipsum).
Know thyself.
I don’t know who said it, but it was a fairly famous proverb.
When I first heard that, I thought it wouldn’t be difficult. The reason he had no choice but to do that was because Leon had shaken off the lingering feelings of inferiority and feelings of inferiority he had harbored for several years after leaving the academy.
What remained vague was also able to be overcome by overcoming adversity several times.
‘Yes, I have overcome my past.’
… I thought.
《――I want to throw it all away.》
Until I stopped walking when I heard a voice coming from somewhere.
‘no way.’
Leon realized who made that voice. He didn’t even have room to be mistaken.
So I didn’t want to look back.
I didn’t want to look directly at the shabby-looking boy sitting down less than a few meters away.
The moment when my heart, which was calm like a lake, starts to ripple,
-Do not ignore your weaknesses.
There was a voice that corrected his mind.
―Being weak doesn’t mean you’re bad, and being strong doesn’t mean you’re good. Only when there is a soft part can the strong part demonstrate its power. Accept your weaknesses and use them as the foundation for your strength. If you do not know fear, you cannot develop courage.
‘Isn’t not knowing fear courage?’
-That’s a guy with a swollen liver.
Leon, recalling old memories, burst into laughter.
‘I guess my liver isn’t swollen.’
My mind, which had become calm thanks to El Cid’s advice, starts to tremble again when I try to look back.
Still, it was much better than before.
After taking a deep breath to prepare your mind.
Leon looked behind himself.
《I want to quit.》
There he was.
“It’s meaningless to keep doing this for years.”
He threw the broken wooden sword on the ground, sat down on the floor, and put his head between his knees.
Lost in meaningless efforts and repeated defeats.
“I’m not special… .》
Academy uniform.
Shorter hair than he is now.
My self from a few years ago was sitting there, having reached my limits with a tattered body and mind.
With a damp voice, crying as if crying.
《I wish I had been born as a nobleman.》
Every single word pierced my lungs and heart.
It hurts even more because it was my own thought.
Since I couldn’t tell anyone, the words I thought and swallowed inside were overflowing from my self from a few years ago.
《I wish I was more handsome than Lian, I wish I was a swordsman genius, I wish there was no one better than me… .》
Because he thought his weakness was just ugly, the past that he covered with a thick cover stabs him sharply. Even in my inner world, the duality that was hidden deepest within me arose.
There was a man who said that hard work would be rewarded, but grumbled that there would be no meaning to such efforts.
There was a person who promised himself that he would be able to defeat Rian, and thought that even if he died and woke up, he would not be able to defeat Rian.
While he pretended to understand Chloe’s feelings, he ended up complaining that rich and noble people were better.
‘… It’s so hard to watch.’
Leon barely suppressed the urge to look away.
‘I was filled with such ugly feelings inside me.’
I didn’t want to admit it.
He couldn’t say that this nastiness, ugliness, and weakness were a part of himself. Even after winning the duel with Lian and overcoming several hardships after leaving the academy.
Wounds from long ago remained in his heart.
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As Leon did not turn away even after that, the image changed its form once again.
This time he was dressed as an adventurer.
“I saved Blaine!”
Leon proudly stretched out his chest and shouted triumphantly.
“If it had been Rian, I would never have been able to save you! I was able to save Rubena because I was a hero!》
A sense of superiority that is even base.
Faced with that, Leon could barely hold back the nausea that was rising from his throat.
《It should have been like this from the beginning! Things like Rian were just a stepping stone for me to become a warrior! haha! What hardships must the prince, who was born and raised with honor in the imperial palace, have gone through?”
It was a dirty and ugly word.
A person who looked exactly like him, looking down on others with a sense of superiority, was saying things that deserved to be despised.
Although I felt nauseous several times,
I refrained from saying, ‘No.’
I refrained from yelling, ‘Shut up!’
I don’t know why, but I thought I shouldn’t do that. If she denies and suppresses her own weaknesses, she cannot say that she has embraced them all.
“Hey, you think so too, right? That damn prince got screwed because of me! Well, the hero would be lucky if he didn’t get captured by the crazy emperor and have the soles of his feet licked! Ha ha ha ha ha!”
Leon opened his eyes and looked at ‘him’.
The image of himself spitting out Lian’s curse with an ugly distorted expression and asking for his consent.
“… … .”
“what! Are you going to pretend to be the only one who is nice?! I am you! It’s all yours to hate Lian and to be happy about that flirtation! If you’re thinking of denying that—!》
As he faced ‘him’ for the first time, Leon spoke.
“thanks.”
《―――… what?”
I left ‘him’ speechless and continued speaking.
“Thank you for swearing for me. Thank you for grieving on my behalf. Thank you for being happy on my behalf. “If it weren’t for you, I wouldn’t be who I am now.”
“What, what, nonsense.”
“and.”
Leon said while holding ‘his’ hands.
“I’m sorry for leaving you in this dark place until now.”
Then ‘his’ expression changed.
The eyes and corners of the mouth were distorted with deep-rooted anger and hatred. I gritted my teeth and trembled as if holding back the sobs that were about to burst out.
I could tell without looking.
Because what was in front of me was Leon’s own heart.
“It’s okay now.”
《… really?”
“Yes, I won’t ignore you anymore.”
So, let’s go together, Leon pulled my hand.
‘He’ did not refuse.
‘He’, who was pulled as he was being pulled, seeped into Leon in the form of a faint light.
It’s different from back then when I didn’t have the luxury of pretending to be strong. Now I could not deny this weakness. By embracing even my ugliness, I was able to resolve to become a better person.
“… Ah, I see.”
Only then did Leon realize the nature of this inner world.
“The body and mind were one from the beginning.”
The mind defines ‘me’.
In the material world, the mind is just the contents of the body, but it is a different story if the mind can come out of the body.
El Cid called it an elemental body.
If telekinesis is the ability to paint the world with one’s own will, then the elemental body can roam the world just like its own body. Although it is not possible to become anything, it is possible to exercise that power depending on what you define yourself as.
At that time, El Cid asked.
[Leon, who are you?]
Leon naturally turned towards him.
Holy sword El Cid. Because they shared that connection, they were able to meet each other in their inner world.
El Cid, no, Saint King Rodrik.
Leon’s eyes widened as he looked at him in the inner world.
It had to be that way.
“Tae, Taeyang!?”
In the inner world, living things take the form defined by their minds. If you think of yourself as a predator, you will become a beast. If you think of yourself as a free traveler, you will become the wind.
And Rodrik’s elemental body was the sun.
Suddenly, all the darkness in the inner world was driven out by the light, and the whole world was shining brightly.
‘What nonsense… .’
This was actually the first time I saw his true face.
Leon was too weak to judge El Cid’s martial arts skills, and he could not understand how great what he was showing was.
However, the shape of the inner world was truly intuitive.
You can’t hide that you’re strong, and you can’t hide that you’re weak. I had to reveal my image honestly. Holy King Roderick, the holy sword with only a part of his soul is so amazing!
“El Cid.”
Leon, seeing him, accepted it obediently.
“I can’t be like you.”
[Well, that’s right.]
El Cid also did not deny it.
He knew how unreasonable he was. A mutation born with astronomical odds. A being who is the sum total of human potential and talent, and at the same time has reached its peak.
Until the human species was born and destroyed, a being equal to Rodrik would never appear again.
So he was not disappointed by Leon’s words.
I just thought it was normal.
“but.”
But I didn’t expect what he said next.
“I will chase you.”
[…] … Are you serious?]
All the geniuses who lived at the same time as Roderick were frustrated and despaired. And Leon’s talent was ten times lower than theirs.
It can’t be possible.
There is no way it will succeed.
As always, El Cid’s insight penetrated the future, and he was certain that the day when Leon would stand next to him would never come. She had a feeling that even if she said yes, she would only cause him greater despair.
however.
“Whether it’s possible or impossible, it’s probably okay.”
The fire rising from behind Leon blocked him.
A golden light that is beyond brilliant.
Flames soaring like a pair of wings.
No, in reality, the shape he defined in his inner world was wings. El Cid, who recognized what Leon had defined himself as, laughed in half surprise and half joy.
[Khahahaha! ‘Challenger’? Is that what you said, I will climb up to the sky where I am with those two shabby wings!]
“okay! “It’s as they say!”
To fly to the sun, he wished for wings.
In order not to become complacent in my position as a disciple of the Holy King!
Leon did not take even a single step back when faced with El Cid’s elemental body, and resolutely stretched out his chest and shouted.
“You said it. “The warrior is destined for certain defeat.”
[Oh, that’s right.]
“Then I will win!”
He declared in front of his eyes that he would surpass Saint King Roderick.
“Even if you were born great, you can do it! I, who was born ordinary, will prove it by defeating you! A better tomorrow than today, a better day after tomorrow! “I will create a world more wonderful than the peace brought by Holy King Rodrik!”
[Ha ha ha ha ha! Are you serious about this?]
El Cid, who was pleased with his ambition, opened his mouth.
[Do you like it! Cassim That mass couldn’t even move when it faced my elemental body, so it must have shouted that it would defeat me? After all, he is my disciple! In that sense, I will give your elemental body a name!]
Wings that challenge the sun.
Even in old mythology, there was someone who attempted such a feat.
Icarus.
A great man who had the misfortune of flying through the sky with wax wings and trying to reach the sun beyond, but ended up falling.
A symbol of humans who longed for the unknown world and challenged their limits.
This time, Leon follows suit.
I challenge Rodrik, who has reigned over the sky since birth, with talent no different from that of wax wings.
Some people will scoff at the fact that the result is obvious.
But El Cidman seriously expected success.
[It’s called Icarus-Wing.]
Ancient mythology.
A time long ago, when gods other than the Goddess of Mercy looked down from heaven to look down upon the earth.
He was the one who flew into the sky knowing the majesty of God.
Even if I failed, I had to acknowledge that one spirit.
[Don’t you like being named after a failure?]
“No, it’s a cool name.”
Leon answered while looking behind himself.
〈Icarus Wing〉.
Wings of golden flame.
Although it was a form embodied in the inner world, he now sensed that he could manipulate this elemental body from the outside as well.
A force that is not subject to the laws of physics because it has no physical substance. I somehow realized that I could swing it like a blade, protect myself like a shield, and fly like real wings. If you put your mind to it, it would be possible to accelerate your body by explosively spraying it.
‘Icarus.’
Even if you were a failure, that failure had meaning.
In a way, he was like a warrior.
A person who pursues ideals and challenges unwinnable battles.
Leon, who decided to surpass Roderick, was also, like Icarus, a challenger who did not know fractions and had a dream that would never come true.
[Now that I have awakened the elemental body, there is only one step left.]
El Cid said.
[The only obstacle remaining in front of you is the wall to be born again as a true master, the fulfillment of karma.]
“The karma I have accumulated so far must be considerable.”
[If I was going to become an ordinary master, that would have been enough.]
However, as the immediate disciple of Saint King Rodrik, Leon was walking on the royal road of nothingness that no longer exists in this era.
Leon is probably the only one who was able to use ‘telekinesis’ and ‘elementality’ even before becoming an Aura Master. Unlike other masters, he did not have an Aura Blade limit, so the scale of work required was truly beyond imagination.
To the extent that normal training would require a hundred years of penance.
[Well, don’t worry.]
Nevertheless, El Cid said it as if it was no big deal.
[If it’s the guy you need to defeat this time, that’s enough.]
“what?! “How did you know that?”
[I can’t tell you, but you can see most of it even inside the Holy Sword. It looks like they are slowly starting to move in earnest.]
Leon, as well as the priests of today, may not know.
[…] Nephren-Ka, the damn bastard has been called.]
El Cid ground his teeth as he felt a dirty and disgusting figure writhing on the other side of the desert.
The main source of foreign media.
A traitor who was once the ruler of an ancient kingdom but could not overcome the temptation and turned all his people into ghosts of the underworld. Considering the scale of his power, it doesn’t seem like a proper summoning, but he is a guy who increases his power by eating the living, so he shouldn’t be at ease.
Also known as ‘Black Pharaoh’.
If it ate death and completed the imperfect vessel, it was a monster that could display demigod-level divine power.
