Future Knight [EN]: Chapter 16

Future Knight Episode 16

“It’s a vehicle from the battleship, Master.”

Elladion, who had been waiting for over an hour, raised his voice.

“You were playing around with such things and were late for your appointment with me? Do you know, or do you not know, that breaking a promise is an unforgettable and very bad thing for us Elves?”

“Actually, I was cleaning all night yesterday, so…”

“I don’t want to hear it! You wanted to go to that faraway place, so you must take responsibility for your words instead of making such lame excuses! I think I need to reconsider teaching you swordsmanship.”

“I’m sorry! Master, such an unfortunate event will never happen again.”

Kang Chan knelt before Elladion and apologized deeply.

“Today is the first day, and it’s the first time this has happened, so I will forgive you. But be aware that I will not forgive you if this happens again.”

“Thank you, Master.”

“Good. Then follow me.”

“Yes, Master!”

Kang Chan parked the air bike and followed Elladion far outside the village. Eventually, they arrived at a waterfall that wasn’t very large but had a significant drop.

“What is this place?”

“I’ve looked all over our Elven forest, but there are few places where the mana of nature is as concentrated as it is here.”

He had come here with Jeina a few times to catch fish.

However, he didn’t understand why Elladion had brought him here.

“This waterfall is where you will train from today.”

“Yes? Swordsmanship at the waterfall?”

“Why, do you dislike it? Do you perhaps dislike water?”

“It’s not that, but… why do I have to practice swordsmanship at a waterfall?”

A waterfall for handling a sword… Kang Chan couldn’t understand.

It was truly training he had never heard of or seen.

However, Kang Chan’s question turned into unease with Elladion’s next words.

“That’s because you have a mysterious healing power.”

“W-What does that have to do with this?”

Thwack!

Sparks flew before Kang Chan’s eyes.

Elladion had struck Kang Chan’s head.

“Does it hurt?”

“It hurts.”

“Then have you considered how strong the water pressure of that pouring waterfall will be? It will probably be stronger than the flick I just gave you, if not the same.”

Dugun!

“T-Then, are you perhaps telling me to go in there?”

“Why wouldn’t I? Pure mana from nature is heavily concentrated under that waterfall due to the falling water. It’s probably several times more than the mana floating in the atmosphere. If you accept the energy of nature with your whole body while being hit by the falling waterfall, I can guarantee that you will be able to feel mana several times faster than others. Moreover, the waterfall will shock your entire body, making all your senses and mana lines more sensitive, which is even more effective. How about it? Isn’t it great?”

“Then why don’t you make the other Elves do it, and only me?”

“Why would I want to mess with healthy Elves?”

“Ah….”

Kang Chan’s face turned pale.

“Geeeeeeeuuuuuh!”

Kang Chan felt as if his whole body was being beaten.

The power of the water falling from a dizzying height was truly shocking enough to make his mind go blank.

In the midst of that, Kang Chan was gritting his teeth and enduring the waterfall.

“Kkeueueueueueueuk!”

“Hey! Straighten your posture!”

“Heueueueueueueup!”

“Elladion, what is that man doing?”

“He’s training.”

“Huh? What kind of training is so brutal?”

“Um… he’s accepting the mana of nature with his whole body.”

Elladion nodded with a solemn expression.

“But, that man seems to have a nosebleed. Is he okay?”

Jeina asked Elladion, worried, as Kang Chan’s nose was bleeding while he was firmly enduring the waterfall.

However, Elladion was not worried at all.

“There’s nothing to worry about. You know, Jeina, that guy has the healing power of a beast.”

“Ah, that’s right! Cheer up, Mister! Fighting!” [Fighting is a common expression of encouragement in Korean culture.]

Even in the moment when his mind was fading, Kang Chan gritted his teeth as he saw Jeina comfortably cheering him on from under the shade of a tree in the distance.

“Eueueueueuk……”

Kang Chan, who had been hit by the waterfall in a horse stance for a full two hours, returned in an almost exhausted state.

He couldn’t feel anything in his body because of the ice-cold waterfall.

“Now, sit down.”

“Yes.”

As Kang Chan sat down weakly, Elladion placed his hand on Kang Chan’s back and infused mana into him.

Then, Elladion’s warm mana spread throughout Kang Chan’s body, which was in an exhausted state, and Kang Chan’s blue lips regained their color.

“Well done. To endure such a powerful waterfall for a full two hours, which would have made an ordinary person faint in just a few minutes, is truly amazing. Only you could do this.”

Elladion’s eyes were filled with pride as he stroked Kang Chan’s head.

And his eyes also held a strong disbelief, as if saying, ‘I can’t believe he actually did it….’

As Kang Chan regained his vitality after catching his breath, a detailed explanation of the theory followed.

“Do you not understand why I am having you hit by the waterfall instead of teaching you swordsmanship?”

Kang Chan, whose body was not yet fully recovered from the paralysis, opened his mouth with difficulty and said.

“Yes, a little bit….”

“There are two reasons. First, you are too old to learn swordsmanship. To learn the high-level swordsmanship of our Elves, which is not just simple movements, it is very difficult if your body and mana lines are blocked. Therefore, it is necessary to make your stiff body and mana lines a little more supple.”

‘Supple?’

Kang Chan felt a creepy sensation as he saw his master lightly squinting and giving an evil smile at the expression ‘supple,’ as if all the hairs on his body were standing on end.

“The second reason is the most important. Our Elven swordsmanship is not like human swordsmanship, where you just swing your sword to learn it. It is swordsmanship that values the harmony of swordsmanship and mana the most. Well, it has the disadvantage of taking too long to master, but once you master it, anyone can become a Sword Expert, as humans often say. However, no one knows whether it will take 10 years or 100 years, depending on their aptitude and effort.”

At those words, Kang Chan swallowed hard.

“It may sound complicated, but to put it simply, it is the difference between learning swordsmanship after feeling mana and learning swordsmanship without knowing it. If it is not an urgent situation where you have to go to war and fight right away, I think it is much better to feel mana first and then learn advanced swordsmanship. Of course, the basics must be solid, right?”

Kang Chan’s face turned gloomy as the word ‘basics’ was emphasized.

“And take this.”

“What is this, Master?”

“What else would it be? It’s the wooden sword you’ll be using.”

“W-Wooden sword?”

“Yes.”

What Elladion handed over was a crude wooden stick, less than 50 centimeters long, that looked like a short washing bat.

However, the difference from a washing bat was that there was a heavy-looking lump of iron around the blade part.

So, from the appearance alone, it was no different from a crude club that monsters would wield.

“I made this with special care because it’s the weapon you’ll be using for training.”

Kang Chan, who had received the club… no, the wooden dagger, in both hands and estimated its unimaginable weight, said with a bitter smile.

“You didn’t have to put so much care into it….”

“No. This is enough to gain the strength to master the Thunder and Lightning Dual Swords.”

“I think I already have enough strength….”

“Tsk! Nonsense! Swordsmanship must start from the basics! My motto is that the more solid the basics, the deeper the swordsmanship! Do you not want to do it? Then quit.”

“Ah, no! I will do it!”

“Really? Good. Then you must swing the basic thrusting and cutting motions of the Thunder and Lightning Dual Swords 1,000 times a day. Do you understand?”

‘Heek! 1,000 times a day? There are 12 basic thrusting and cutting motions of the Thunder and Lightning Dual Swords, so if I do that 1,000 times a day, how many times is that….’

Because it was a hard-earned opportunity, Kang Chan had no choice but to obey his orders without complaining.

He couldn’t afford to be picky.

“Yes, Master.”

“Uh-huh, listen to your voice? Do you not want to do it?”

“Ah, no! I can do it!”

Elladion, who was quite pleased with Kang Chan’s military-filled shout, which had been honed by a long military life, gently patted Kang Chan’s shoulder and whispered in his ear.

“The sun is already high in the sky. You’ll have to swing diligently to meet today’s quota, right? Then start.”

“……”

Gulp.

Kang Chan swallowed without realizing it.

* * *

Thus, three days passed.

During that time, Kang Chan had to drag his exhausted body, after finishing his mana-feeling training at the waterfall under the pretext of basic training, and grab two wooden daggers tied with terribly heavy lumps of iron in both hands and swing each of the 12 basic thrusting and cutting motions of the Thunder and Lightning Dual Swords 1,000 times.

Of course, Kang Chan had several times more strength than other humans, but it was of no help in this situation where he had to swing all day long, which was enough to make him curse.

The thought of swinging those damn heavy daggers, which he had been swinging like crazy for the past three days, filled Kang Chan with dread.

Kang Chan was exhausted after finishing his daily quota, but the day’s work did not end there.

Elladion sat the exhausted Kang Chan down and began theoretical education.

“Master, then what exactly is this mana that I have to feel?”

“Mana is an invisible force that makes up this world, and it maintains the vitality that we need to live. That’s why it’s often called the second air. Because, like air, we cannot maintain life without mana. Mana is very beneficial and inseparable from our lives. However, ordinary people do not feel that beneficial mana being transmitted to their bodies through breathing at all. Just like you now.”

‘Is the mana that Master is talking about the same as the Qi [life force or energy flow] that was called in the East of the old Earth? I think I read something similar somewhere.’

“The stage of understanding and utilizing such beneficial mana more actively and incorporating it into swordsmanship is what we call Sword Expert.”

“Yes, Master.”

“What you are doing now is training to feel the mana latent in your body and gather the mana of nature in the mana hole in your body, which has been passed down through our Elven swordsmanship, and to be able to handle it freely with our unique breathing technique.”

Kang Chan’s eyes sparkled as the part he had wanted to learn was finally mentioned, and he perked up his ears and looked at Elladion.

“This has never been passed on to any other race other than our Elves, so you must promise me once again before learning this. That is, you must keep this breathing technique a secret from anyone other than yourself who is not an Elf. Can you swear on your life to this point?”

“Yes, I swear on my life.”

“If this is leaked to the outside world, our Elves must kill the perpetrator who leaked it and even kill everyone who has learned it, so keep my words in mind.”

Kang Chan’s spine ran cold at Elladion’s serious expression.

“I will definitely keep it in mind, Master.”

“Then I will trust you and pass on the breathing technique.”

Kang Chan swallowed hard without realizing it.

‘I’m finally going to learn how to handle that unknown power.’

“Now, listen carefully as I explain. First, the mana breathing technique is largely divided into the inhalation process of inhaling mana and the exhalation process of finally exhaling it. And in detail, it is divided into diaphragmatic breathing, thoracic breathing, and finally, the most important abdominal breathing.”

“Yes, Master.”

“And as a result of experimenting with all sorts of methods for thousands of years, the most ideal posture for practicing mana breathing is to sit like this, straighten your back, and hold your stomach with your hands. You try it too.”

It was a posture that Kang Chan was also familiar with.

It was a posture called Yangban sitting [traditional Korean sitting posture] in his homeland, South Korea, which disappeared with Earth 500 years ago.

The posture was easier to sit in for Eastern body types like Kang Chan than for Western body types.