Chapter 598
Boom! Boom! Boom!
How much time had passed?
While Su-ho continued increasing his pace, quite a large number of Monks had retired.
Su-ho was doing it on purpose.
Not a full sprint, but faster than a jog—a pace that would wear down even trained experts in a strangely exhausting way.
As a result, only a few Monks remained now.
Sweat poured from their entire bodies like madness, and their faces had long since stiffened.
But Su-ho still looked relaxed.
“Should we go a little faster?”
“Excuse me?!”
“Here we go.”
The remaining ones had to be the elites.
Then he should increase the pace even more.
And just as expected, before long, new dropouts began appearing, until eventually only one Monk remained.
It was the Monk who had spoken with Su-ho earlier.
‘So you’re the team leader type.’
Right.
If you were the leader, you should at least be this capable.
Su-ho maintained the pace instead of increasing it further.
Because he had become curious how long the Monk could endure.
“......”
Master Pyo, who had been watching all of this, was dumbfounded.
True, he had never explicitly said they all had to cross together, but he had attached his disciples to Su-ho in order to make the desert crossing more difficult for him.
Because he knew better than anyone how painful and oppressive it was to bear the burden of countless people following behind your back.
And yet instead of suffering under it, Su-ho’s eyes lit up whenever he saw a disciple fall behind.
Then he accelerated further and intentionally created even more dropouts.
It was astonishing.
Not merely Su-ho’s stamina, but the fact that he could be this cold-hearted.
“......”
Master Pyo’s thoughts grew complicated as he watched Su-ho.
Pop!
Around then, even the last Monk dropped out and disappeared.
Only after absolutely no one remained did Su-ho finally stop running.
“......”
With a faint sense of expectation, he looked around and waited briefly.
They had not crossed the desert yet, but since everyone had retired, he wondered whether Pyo might appear.
But in the end, Pyo never showed himself.
‘So that was wishful thinking.’
After confirming the trial was still not over, Su-ho resumed crossing the desert.
This time, he walked instead of running.
There was no longer any reason to run.
Nor did he take separate rests.
Since he possessed a body that did not particularly require sleep, he decided it was better to walk than lie down and rest.
As he walked, he continued thinking over the same questions.
What exactly did Pyo want from him?
But since all he had been told was to cross the desert, Su-ho simply kept walking.
And as he continued walking, the sun set once more, and night fell again.
It was a truly strange place.
There was no wind, no sound—only temperature.
During the day, the sun devoured his flesh.
At night, the cold bit into his bones.
Yet it did not bother him very much.
Though this place contained nothing but heat, cold, and sand, unless the temperature became truly extreme, to Su-ho, it was merely a sandy walking path.
Occasionally, he stepped onto weak ground and his foot sank, but that was all.
And after the sun rose several more times, there was not much left for him to think about anymore.
Perhaps because he was no longer impatient, his sense of time gradually dulled.
Did they not say that beings who lived for a thousand years perceived the flow of time differently from creatures that lived for only a single day?
Not that Su-ho was some thousand-year existence, but with his impatience gone and his body having transcended ordinary limits, the sensation felt somewhat similar.
It was a strange feeling.
Then the sun set once more.
The cold was severe enough for his breath to fog, but Su-ho felt nothing in particular.
He walked for some more time before a thought finally arose.
‘Ah, I’m bored.’
He still did not know what Pyo wanted from him.
Since he had been told to cross the desert through pure physical effort to gain the Monks’ acknowledgment, he had simply intended to cross it.
For example, since he had been forbidden from receiving any assistance whatsoever, he had no intention of using recovery skills or riding transportation.
But separate from all that, he was undeniably bored.
True, he had acquired a new goal in indie games, but that was merely a goal, not a source of worry.
‘Besides, I was never the worrying type to begin with.’
That was why he became bored.
As Su-ho wandered aimlessly, a thought suddenly occurred to him.
‘Wait a second. Doesn’t this only mean I can’t receive help with movement?’
Time was gold, and this was a trial with no known end.
In that case, instead of simply crossing the desert passively, Su-ho decided to make the most of this time.
‘And there’s nothing better for killing time than training.’
Especially swordsmanship training!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, he immediately activated a skill.
[ Blood Armory has been activated. ]
Su-ho summoned a blood sword into his grasp.
Then he assumed a stance and began advancing while swinging the blade.
Whoooosh!
The sword sliced cleanly through empty air.
There was nothing to cut.
That was fine.
There were many forms of swordsmanship training, and what Su-ho intended to do did not necessarily require an opponent.
Fwooom!
Su-ho’s sword cleaved through the air.
Fwaaash!
Each time, the sword wind blasted sand into the air.
An empty desert shrouded in darkness.
Yet ever since entering the desert, Su-ho’s face had never looked more alive.
***
How much time had passed?
A very long time.
The sun had risen and set countless times during that period, but Su-ho paid none of it any attention and simply continued swinging his sword.
Naturally, his movement speed had slowed significantly.
At first, he had merely walked endlessly, but now he only moved when necessary while swinging his sword.
But Su-ho did not care.
Because he knew perfectly well that in a desert where he did not even know where the destination was, forcing himself to move faster would only create pointless expectations.
Fwoom— Fwaaaak!
Once again, the sword swung.
There was nothing to cut.
Yet the trajectory carved by the blade was far larger than expected.
More precisely, the trace of the sword appeared not directly before the swung blade, but far off in the distance.
Su-ho focused his mind once more and swung again.
Each swing carried the same concentration he used during Soul Severing.
Because what he was trying to master required that level of focus.
Then, the moment a new slash cut through the air—
Swaaaaaa!
A different tearing sound emerged.
Su-ho’s eyes widened slightly.
His gaze locked onto the distant point ahead.
More specifically, the sandy ground where the slash mark had been carved.
Then the corners of his lips slowly rose.
Because he had gotten a bite.
‘Finally!’
He was thrilled.
He had already gone several days without eating, drinking, or sleeping, but none of that mattered in the slightest.
Back before he cleared the first Big Gate in his previous life, there had been times when he conquered Gates for extended periods without eating, drinking, or sleeping.
Su-ho called such situations the Three Abstinences.
And Su-ho did not entirely dislike the Three Abstinences.
Special forces soldiers supposedly hated sleepless endurance training the most—training where they went days without sleep—but for Su-ho, sleeplessness instead became a tremendous physical stimulus that accelerated the progress of his training far more rapidly.
This sensation now felt the same.
If he were not currently undergoing the Three Abstinences, would this breakthrough truly have arrived so quickly?
With that thought, he swung the sword once more.
This time with even greater concentration and force than before.
Sukaaaaang!!
A clear ringing tone.
At last, the sound he had wanted to hear burst forth.
At the same time, Su-ho’s eyes widened more than ever before, and the curve of his lips rose higher still.
‘Got it!’
He had succeeded.
At last, he had grasped the feeling.
Now all that remained was reducing the activation time.
Just like back in the old days, when Decapitation evolved into Steel-Cutting Slash and Quick Draw evolved into Cloud Severing, it would have been nice if there were actual targets to cut here—
But unfortunately, there were none.
Which was probably why the system was not reacting.
‘Or maybe I still haven’t earned complete acknowledgment yet.’
It was not the system’s acknowledgment he wanted.
He needed Sword Demon’s acknowledgment.
Because this was Sword Demon’s technique.
Thinking that, Su-ho changed his objective and began swinging his sword again.
How much more time passed like that?
Sukaaang!!
An even clearer and purer sound.
‘Got it!’
He was certain now.
He could feel it.
But no system notification appeared.
‘Now if I use this as the foundation and start practicing the others...!’
A broad smile bloomed across his face.
He had long since forgotten all thoughts of the desert.
At this point, Su-ho’s mind contained nothing but swordsmanship.
Using the realization he had just attained as a foundation, Su-ho began experimenting with entirely different forms of sword swings.
Slow thrusts.
Slow slashes.
Or short swings that produced completely different results.
It was enjoyable.
He had often wished for a time like this someday, and now such perfect timing had truly arrived.
And so several more cycles of sunrise and sunset passed.
Su-ho paid absolutely no attention to the passing of time.
Instead, he relentlessly swung his sword, hoping to reach a new realm even a little faster.
Then, at some unknown point after several more days and nights had passed—
[ Your understanding of Vacuum Style surpasses that of anyone else. ]
A system notification.
The moment he saw it, a shiver ran through him.
Because it was proof that he had been acknowledged.
The notifications continued.
[ The system has likewise decided to fully acknowledge your mastery of and dedication toward the Vacuum Style you have learned. ]
[ As a result, your Vacuum Style has sufficiently qualified to advance to a higher realm. ]
[ Sword Demon is greatly satisfied with your growth and blesses you. ]
[ Sword Demon’s will imbues the Vacuum Style. ]
[ Part of the information regarding Vacuum Style has changed. ]
[ You have mastered ‘Vacuum Style Ninth Form — Semi-Ultimate: Combined Sword Art (SS).’ ]
[ Your understanding of Sword Energy deepens even further. ]
[ Your Sword Energy grows even stronger. ]
[ Having achieved a great accomplishment, the system grants you 10 bonus stats as a reward. ]
At last, he had learned it.
Combined Sword Art—the stage known as the Semi-Ultimate realm of Vacuum Style.