“【Burn】”
Fwoosh—
Flames wrapped around the crimson-black blade.
Aden’s eyes widened in surprise.
“W-Wait, is that Magic Swordsmanship?”
It was an art practically extinct alongside the Words of Power wielded by Kyle.
A martial technique no longer seen in modern times. Aden’s gaze sparkled.
Then began the sword dance.
Slice, slash!
Fwoosh—
Flames lingered in the air, tracing the trajectory of the blade.
The sound of fire greedily consuming the air reverberated.
Magic Swordsmanship was an incredibly flashy martial art.
Kyle had disliked it, calling it ostentatious.
But the battle went smoothly.
Decapitate.
Pierce the heart.
One shot, one kill.
The goblins hesitated at the sight of the blazing fire.
The dazzling nature of Sword Magic inherently conveyed its power and menace to foes.
However, Kang Hyun was, after all, just one person.
There was a reason solo play was deemed insane.
Krrk!
Keck!
Kiik!
Outnumbered.
Surrounded by three goblins.
Facing an unavoidable coordinated attack with his current stats.
“【Stop】”
Buzz—
One goblin froze perfectly in place.
Slash!
He struck down the immobilized goblin, breaking through their encirclement.
It was an optimal use of mana with minimal consumption.
And then, the sword dance resumed.
“W-Wow…!”
Aden gasped in awe.
The harmony of Words of Power and swordsmanship.
Right now, her master looked just like—
“A Magic Swordsman…!”
Aden’s idol, Kyle, resembled this exact scene from the movies she adored.
Although it was less flashy than the films,
its simplicity exuded elegance.
Aden’s blue eyes glazed over in admiration.
Before long, 20 goblins had been annihilated.
Kang Hyun paused for a moment.
‘Let’s see… How’s my mana?’
Still plenty left.
Magic Swordsmanship was indeed efficient.
For weaker enemies, Words of Power were enough to wipe them out.
For tougher foes, Magic Swordsmanship was the way to go.
That was Kyle’s method.
“Are you the boss?”
A shadow loomed overhead.
A 2-meter-tall orc stood behind him.
‘The difficulty jump from F+ to this is no joke.’
This was about the level of five E- rank Awakened working together in a raid.
“Master, be careful!”
Aden cried out, alarmed, beginning to prepare her magic.
“Orcs are impossible to defeat solo because of their regeneration! I-I’ll prepare a curse spell, so just hold on for a bit!”
She was eager to help, admirable.
“Remember this: fire is the best counter to regeneration.”
“Huh?”
A massive club swung toward his head.
But the flaming sword swung effortlessly in response.
Fwoosh!
A crimson arc grazed the orc’s neck, the club missing Kang Hyun by a hair.
The orc’s neck was severed and scorched in an instant.
Burned wounds couldn’t regenerate.
And so, the orc’s massive body fell with a thud.
“Nice sword.”
Cuts like a charm.
Lightweight, too.
Guess you get what you pay for with a 120 million won sword.
‘But still…’
Ugh, exhausting.
He pulled down his mask to catch his breath.
His F- rank stamina meant
he got tired from just a bit of movement.
‘I guess my body isn’t keeping up with my actions.’
He’d need to exercise more.
Anyway, he picked up the mana stone to wrap things up.
Being an E-rank, the magic stone was a decent size.
[Perfect Clear! (Solo)]
[A tremendous achievement! You have completely thwarted the…]
[Due to your achievement, a ‘Blessing’ will be bestowed upon the surrounding area…]
Familiar messages appeared.
He’d seen them so often they felt nostalgic.
[As a reward for perfectly clearing the E-rank dungeon (Solo), you are granted a special item.]
[You receive a ‘Bronze Random Box’.]
“Huh?”
“What’s wrong?”
“The random box has changed.”
It used to be just a ‘Random Box’.
Now it was a ‘Bronze Random Box’.
Probably because of the Perfect Clear in the E-rank category.
“Now that you mention it, I’ve heard the Blessing effects differ by category.”
“Nice. I was getting bored with the old rewards.”
[Would you like to open the ‘Bronze Random Box’?]
Opened right away.
The light and sound effects were even more dramatic this time.
“Alright, let’s see what an E-rank reward looks like!”
“Drumroll, please!”
Flash!
Ding!
[The seal on a random Word of Power has been lifted.]
Oh! A Word of Power!
To Kang Hyun, this was more exciting than any amount of mana stones.
He instinctively reviewed the Words of Power he currently possessed.
【Stop】
【Burn】
【Fall】
The list was still woefully short.
But even a single good Word of Power could drastically enhance his combat effectiveness.
‘What will it be this time?’
Just as his anticipation reached its peak, another dramatic effect unfolded.
Ding!
[Jackpot!]
[The seal on <Kyle’s Word Magic: “Dark Room”> has been lifted!]
[Sub-Words of “Dark Room”—【Silence】, 【Blind】, and 【Forget】—have been unlocked.]
“Holy…!”
“Huh?! What’s going on? Did you hit the jackpot?”
This was a reward Kang Hyun couldn’t explain to her.
“Trash loot!”
“What?”
“Wow! Such trash loot!”
“Wait… stop reacting like that to trash loot!”
Aden protested, jumping up and down in frustration.
Ignoring the agitated Aden, Kang Hyun nodded with satisfaction.
‘Dark Room is insanely useful Word Magic. I can’t believe I unlocked it.’
Coming to this E-rank dungeon had definitely been worth it.
The rewards were on a whole different level.
“So, where did you learn Magic Swordsmanship, Master?”
“Huh? Oh, right.”
Come to think of it, Sword Magic had fallen out of practice in recent times.
And Kang Hyun only used it because it was a necessity back in Kyle’s era.
“I taught myself.”
“Oh, come on! I’m not falling for that again!”
“It’s true.”
Kang Hyun was unapologetic.
It was a story from his time as Kyle.
With no one to teach him, he had to grow on his own.
Of course, it hadn’t been the best approach.
Inferior techniques and bad habits had eventually imposed limits on him.
Kyle’s Sword Magic, when stripped down to its core, wasn’t much more than street-level brawling techniques.
Unlike other heroes who left behind grand martial legacies— like “Le Morys-Style Spearmanship”, developed by Kyle’s comrade Le Morys, a royal spear technique of Thea that evolved into its own renowned style— Kyle’s swordsmanship had no form or foundation.
It was a low-level martial art like a mercenary.
The name was also given by the people.
Since Kyle’s swordsmanship left behind such great achievements.
It was barbaric.
Violent.
Destructive.
To put it nicely, it was the ultimate real-life swordmanship.
The fundamentals of his swordmanship were really low.
Because he was Kyle, he just made up for it with his genius.
Even so, it had made him the strongest.
But it had always been a point of regret for him.
‘It’s all because I never got proper training.’
The missed opportunity to walk the elite path still stung.
But a master couldn’t reveal such things to his disciple.
“What’s there to learn? You just swing the sword until you get it.”
“Seriously?”
Kang Hyun’s confidence left Aden speechless.
“It’s just because you’re insanely talented, Master….”
“That’s true.”
“Ugh, you’re so smug.”
“Hey! Show some respect to your master!”
“Will you teach me swordsmanship someday?”
Aden’s eyes sparkled with expectation, her gaze brimming with anticipation.
“What for? Focus on your magic instead.”
Magic Swordsmanship wasn’t worth pursuing.
Even in Kyle’s era, it was exceedingly rare.
“While the peak of Magic Swordsmanship is high, the path is too arduous. It requires more than twice the effort of specializing in one field.”
Better to steer his disciple away from such hardship.
“Yes, Master…”
Aden replied, clearly disappointed.
“Hmph… I wanted to be like Kyle… Magic Swordsmanship….”
She looked like a child who had just learned Santa wasn’t real.
Just then, a new notification appeared.
Ding!
[A skill, <Kyle-Style Magic Swordsmanship>, has been created.]
“A skill?”
But that wasn’t the end.
Ding!
[The trait <Reincarnator> is activated.]
[The skill < Kyle-Style Magic Swordsmanship > evolves.]
[The skill < Kyle-Style Magic Swordsmanship (Original)> has been created.]
“Huh?”
What now?
###
└ It’s out!
└ What is?
└ An E-rank Perfect Clear solo!
└ Huh? E-rank? Is this for real?
└ Does that even make sense?
└ Does eight consecutive Perfect Clears make sense to you?
Perfect Clears were impressive on their own,
but Kang Hyun made them truly extraordinary.
“This is the first time a solo Perfect Clear has been recorded.”
Chief Choi explained during the briefing.
There have been two previous Perfect Clears, but both were achieved by teams.
A solo Perfect Clear—a first in history.
“We assumed it was only possible in the F-rank category. But this….”
“A Perfect Clear Awakened? This is huge!”
“We need to track them down quickly.”
While the team members buzzed with excitement.
Chief Choi couldn’t bring himself to smile.
‘We planned to offer him support when he struggled in the E-rank…!’
E-rank Dungeons.
Even C-rank Awakened can enter.
But even with C-rank stats.
Handling dozens of E-rank monsters solo?
Impossible.
Modern Awakened evaluations focused almost entirely on stats.
Skills contributing only a fraction.
This result simply didn’t add up.
And Kang Hyun wasn’t even a C-rank.
He had just registered as an E-rank Awakened.
“What a mysterious person.”
“No kidding….”
Of course, if Kang Hyun had heard it.
‘Stats aren’t everything! Train and gain experience!’
That’s how he would have thought.
“Haha, Section Chief, it seems we underestimated EX.”
The codename EX (Extra Ordinary).
Translated as “Beyond the Norm”.
It was shorthand for the Perfect Clear Awakened.
“Still, we should continue preparing support options. The more we offer, the better our chances.”
“Understood.”
Though the team hadn’t yet revealed they’d found EX, plans for support proposals were already underway.
“We must fully support EX.”
EX had been identified.
Now, all that remained was convincing him.
But there was also the matter of the S-rank Word Mage.
If they missed this opportunity?
‘We absolutely must promote Kang Hyun to S-rank.’
<International S-rank Gate Raid Standard>
The minimum required participants: 3.
The position?
Likely a mage, given that Aden referred to Kang Hyun as her master.
Perfect.
Even the positional requirements of the regulations were fulfilled.
Through Kang Hyun, Korea would rise as an S-rank Raid Nation.
‘A rich and strong country!’
Just imagining the future brought joy to the strategists.
“But don’t the Blessing effects change starting from the E-rank category?”
“We don’t have any concrete information yet.”
There was no precedent.
“The research team will investigate soon and report back.”
“I’m looking forward to it!”
The team continued their discussion about EX.
“They likely don’t have extraordinary stats. What kind of skill could possibly enable this?”
“Exactly. It would have to be something on the level of a Hero’s Legacy for it to make sense.”
“Hero’s Legacy sounds perfect. And we also need to quickly locate the S-rank Word Mage who inherited Kyle’s legacy….”
Indeed.
Where was the S-rank Word Mage?
###
Kang Hyun tapped on the <Reincarnator> trait.
[Reincarnator]
You possess experiences from a previous life.
Your skills are influenced by your past experiences.
‘What kind of nonsense is this?’
[Kyle-Style Magic Swordsmanship (Original) Lv.Max]
The word ‘(Original)’ had suddenly appeared next to the skill.
A quick search revealed that no other recorded skill had such a designation.
