Sword's Path of The Reincarnated Painter

In most fictional works I have 'read' via audiobooks, training is always a process that gets sidelined, condensed by simple words such as "They trained very hard for an XXX period of time." Or "After an arduous effort, the hero managed to do XXX things in XX time period."

After experiencing true training for the first time in my two short lives, I realized why the "training arc" is often skipped for more action-packed moments.

'It's so damn boring and hard.'

My first couple of weeks beginning the old man course is stamina training, which I found reasonable. But what's not reasonable is I have to travel from my orphanage to the city's gate for an undetermined amount of time.

The old bastard simply said.

"Just run until you get tired."

Of course there is a problem with my sight, but Master fixed it by 'guiding' my way with his mana or something. I don't really get it since he hasn't taught me any magic-related application of mana.

With his assistance, I found myself running in a straight line until I heard the distant murmur of Ragon's inhabitants and the bustling atmosphere of the city. Then I ran back to the orphanage gate; I continued to do that until I was 'tired.'.

But of course, Master's definition of 'tired' is vastly different from mine.

On the first day of my training, after exhausting myself, I ran a total of five laps.

This was what that bastard of a master told me.

"Keep going; you are not tired yet."

"But—Hup—you said that I should—Hah—until I am tired."

"Who said it was your perspective on tired? Now continue to run till I say you're done."

"Motherf—"

I was kicked flying before I finished my curse. I was cursing in English back then, but Master seems to pick up on my intent to use profanity on him.

But that's not all; this is merely the first half of my training in the morning. Thankfully, the old man isn't exactly heartless; I would still have lunch break every day.

On the first day of training, after what could be called torture, I have a brief period to spend time with my family and eat lunch.

"Are you okay, Raon? Is the training too hard? I could ask your master to lessen the intensity."

"Ah, don't worry too much, M-mother; I am fine. By the way, where are Ethan and Ruben? I don't hear them around."

"They are at the city… Ema is taking them on some errand for me."

"Is that so?"

"Yeah! Stella hears that they are trying to register as auxiliary adventurers."

"Isn't that too young for that! I thought an adventurer was a dangerous occupation!"

"Look who's talking… Besides, auxiliary adventurers usually only take herb collection quests; occasionally they will help out the local elderly on their tasks. I will also be joining them on missions in the wilderness. So you can be at peace, Raon."

"What's about Stella then? Would we just leave her at the orphanage alone?"

"You are forgetting Dain and your master; they will protect Stella. Do you feel better now, Raon? You seem to have a lot on your mind."

"… Yes… I was worried about you guys."

"That is commendable, Raon. But you don't have to be too paranoid. I know why you behave like this, but you need to be at ease."

"Okay. Mother…"

"Stella! Let's go clean the dishes."

"Yay! Dishes."

I have always been prone to paranoia in my past life, but my experience in this world makes it worse. I understand the downsides of such intense fear, but I simply couldn't help it.

Then I went back to another training session. Which is no less challenging than the one in the morning.

"Swing the sword."

Master blandly said, then threw me the heavy training longsword from yesterday.

"Hop."

But there is something seriously wrong with this sword. It… so heavy. What is this? A boulder disguised as a sword? How heavy is this thing? Don't tell me I have to swing this.

"You're not serious… right?"

"Nope, now swing the sword at least a thousand times; there is no time limit, so go at your own pace. But I must warn you: if you take too long, you won't be eating anything before midnight."

"Fuck—"

Again, I was sent flying before finishing my profanity. The sword then landed right next to me, half an inch away from smashing my face.

One peculiar thing I found while working my ass off swinging the most impractical sword in the world is how 'perfect' the weight feels; it was as if the weight of the sword was deliberate.

Roughly three times the sword I used at the warehouse, I have to strain my circuit to continuously pump mana to all of my muscles just to merely hold it properly.

The weight is weirdly accurate to my maximum swinging capacity. It means that I have to put all of my effort into each swing. Of course, that presents a new problem—my stamina.

Lingering on the edge of passing out due to exhaustion and a sword design perfectly to keep swinging at maximum capabilities, it was a true life-and-death state.

After who knows how long, I finished the insane 'daily training' session.

"Now, ready for a light spar."

"What?!"

Am I hearing things? What do you mean sparring after work myself to the bone? Is this old bastard retarded?

"You hear me. I will count down now, so be prepared: 3…"

"Wait! You are being serious?"

"Of course, if you can't fight under exhaustion, then there's no point in engaging in battle at all, 2…"

"Sh-"

"1"

Needless to say, I was pummeled to the ground.

It was close to night back then, I recalled. I was hoping for a hearty meal after I was put through, but reality is often disappointing.

"Now start meditating."

"What? A- Are you being serious?"

Silent and insuded, I know the answer in the back of my mind, but I pray to the Sun and Moon above for a divine miracle regardless, but God is indeed blind to injustice.

'After beating me to a pulp, now he's asking me to cultivate?'

Too scared to defy his order, I position myself comfortably to start cultivating.

'Ugh… My butt hurt…

I then started to use my Mana Breathing Method, now dubbed the Starry Sky Method for originality.

Though much more leisure than the physically challenging task, it still poses a huge problem in that I have to keep a relatively calm mind to actually use the method.

"That's normal; every method that accumulates mana requires a certain degree of tranquility to work. Only with stillness can an individual become one with nature."

Whatever that means. Still, it wouldn't change that a herculean task was presented to me. After all, remaining calm and serene in intense muscle cramping and tendon tearing pain is more than challenging.

'Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts. Distractions, distractions, distractions, distractions.'

Unlike my grievance mind, my will endures persistence and stubbornness, desperately waiting for the day to end.

"Impressive control."

The old man praised me, but I didn't manage to catch it back then.

…

Like that, weeks pass in a flash; slowly my body adapts to my new tortuous daily routine. My mind started to grow less agitated after each physical session, which proved beneficial to my speed of gathering mana.

My strength and stamina also have considerable improvement; due to mana reinforcement of the circuit, my recovery speed is exceeding that of an average human.

My exhausted stamina pool and teared tendons recouped at a rate I estimate to be ten times that of Earth's humans. So, I only need a little rest before all of the pain eases up and I'm ready for another training session.

My daily meditation also helps improve my rate of recovery by strengthening my circuit.

But that's the only part where I have a sense of progress.

In my early morning marathon, the task becomes 'run' instead of 'run till the city's gate then come back and repeat.'.

Though I could feel my stamina and speed becoming increasingly better marginally every day, when the second week of my training comes, I no longer have a goal post to estimate my advancement.

So, I always end up dead tired by noon, barely having the strength to even eat. Thankfully, Dain is always at home reading books, so he helped me eat lunch while I couldn't even pick up a spoon.

The same thing happened with my sword-swinging practice; the sword became easier and easier to handle, so did my set from one thousand to two, then three… etc. Eventually, the sword became heavier and heavier every day while my required set remained at ten thousand.

Keeping my tendons working at maximum capacity, tearing them apart in the process. I always ended more crippled than I was before training; naturally, it was easily healed by my superhuman constitution.

It was like the old man had become hellbent on killing me.

As for the spar… I am still being pummeled at record speed, but my swordplay and slashes seem to have certain improvement after each spar, so I don't really mind being beaten to a pulp anymore… though I would really appreciate it if he went easier on me.

…

Outside of training, quite a few things happened while I was out training my butt off.

Ruben and Ethan manage to pass the auxiliary adventurer test; it was quite simple, really; they just needed to remember an entire dictionary worth of plants and herbs. I have no idea how they achieve that.

'Maybe Dain helps them cheat.'

Dain, as a book lover that he is, rarely steps outside of the house; he stays cooped up in his room reading his seemingly endless supplies of books.

"I thought books were very expensive. The library in our orphanage should run out of books by now."

"That would be the case, but your master kindly donated to our orphanage some of his books on magic and sword arts. Also, Ruben and Ethan sometimes visit the church and borrow some religious texts from Sister Ema."

I don't particularly care about religious stuff, but what intrigues me is Master's book. Why did he give Dain all of that but give me nothing? I can't read, but he could at least read it out to me.

Till now I don't even know what the word Ma in Magic stands for. Of course, I did bring it up with Master the very next day.

"Like I say, you don't need to know excessive knowledge yet. Just follow my training step by step, and you will get all of it eventually. Also, don't even bother asking Dain to read it for you; I already made a deal with him."

Why would you make a deal with a barely six-year-old? Are you that fair of a person?

Though left unsatisfied with the answer I received, I decided to put some of my trust in him. After all, even combining my age from two lifetimes, I would still be younger than the old man by at least twenty years, and elderly wisdom should never be overlooked.

As for the two female members of my family, nothing much happened to them.

Terrisa is now rarely at home due to watching over Ethan and Ruben on their path to being great adventurers. While Stella is too young to do anything, as the minimum age requirement to work a paying job in this world is ten.

Child labor is quite prevalent in Ignis due to this regulation. However, I've heard that the children receive fair pay, which makes me somewhat pensive about this strange cultural shift.

Also, our orphanage was renovated by Terrisa's hard-earned savings; now the wood texture feels less rotten, the floor has creaked less when walking, and the door's joints have been greased up; now it doesn't squeak as much.

Though the orphanage can still aptly be called a wooden hut, it is now somewhat more spacious, and night isn't as cold as before, which is a plus.

"What are you thinking about, brat? Focus!"

In a moment of distraction, my head was hit with a mighty chop. It hurt like hell.

"Argh!"

Roughly a month and a half has passed since the first of Sun; now we should be well into the second half of Moon. It might not sound like a long time, but the seasons in this world don't work similarly to Earth.

The first month of the year is Prosper, consisting of eleven weeks and one odd day, with each week lasting seven days. The last month of the year, Decay, parallels Prosper.

The second month of the year is Sun. The month is cut into two halves; each half has seven weeks and one odd day. Similarly, it's the third month, which is called Moon.

A year in this world has four 'months,' though it is more accurate to say that it has four seasons with no month. Totaling three hundred and fifty-six days, ten days shorter than Earth.

So, it was more accurate to say that I have been training for a hundred and fifty days, equating to five months on Earth.

Most people wouldn't notice much of a difference in their physique in a short five-month period of daily discipline unless they are very dedicated and have solid plans.

But even if they are professional bodybuilders who practically eat and breathe weight, they wouldn't have achieved such a pronounced impact on strength like I have.

After five months, I have basically tripled my strength, speed, and stamina, which is less terrifying but still good, and I have an increase of one and a half times from before the training.

My speed was already decently close to the fastest human speed at roughly thirty-five kilometers an hour; with my training, it's now fifty kilometers per hour, exceeding the fastest man on Earth.

And I can maintain such speed for hours without getting tired.

Despite such an insane feat in fitness, Master merely uttered a mild congratulation after I hit the milestone.

"What? Sure, it is impressive for someone your age, but even the weakest adventurers can do this with no effort; if anything, they are much faster."

'How insane is humanity in this world? They will surpass sonic speed the next time speed is mentioned at this rate; it shouldn't be possible… though mana does exist.'

Truly living up to its name as an omnipotent source of energy with unreasonable and physics-defying application.

What the master found more interesting is my fast progress in the "Transcending." Apparently I'm about to reach a qualitative change in existence—whatever that means—called "Rank Ascension.".

It seems that this "Rank Ascension" is a process that anyone who decided to cultivate mana must go through. For the first three rank ascensions, Master said that there is nothing special about them; pretty much anyone can reach it with a bit of practice every day.

So pretty much any and all people can run faster than Usain Bolt, even a ten-year-old child, poor man.

Of course, reaching the last rank of lower echelon with little practice means that you would reach the peak when you are about to die.

"The three steps before ascension are relatively easy to reach and transcend; you only need to accumulate mana in your core, circuit, or directly in your body. When your mana container is saturated, you can perform an ascension. Though normally, people reach G-Status at fifteen or sixteen when they first awaken their archetype due to passive accumulation."

"I see, so my early awakening is why I don't immediately achieve G-Status yet?"

"That's correct. Now aren't you glad that the kobold you killed back then is a non-status? If it was a G class, you would have died without my intervention."

"I don't think I should be thanking someone who tried to kill me repeatedly in the name of 'testing' and 'training.'"

"Hu, what an ungrateful brat."

I am what people call a petty person, so you know that I held grudges for a very long time. But after five months of tort-training and with the wonder of Stockholm syndrome, I have started to warm up to the old man, though it may not seem like it at first.

Anyways, back to the present, where I got hit by a brain-shaking chop.

"Did you hear anything that I said?"

"I did."

How can I not hear you when you're practically shouting in my ear?

"Then on to our next agenda… Let's see… Since you are pretty much a G class, your next goal should be reaching F class by next year. So tomorrow we are going to conduct some survival lessons, and then you will firmly set foot on the path of "Transcending"."

"I thought I only needed to saturate my mana to break through. Wouldn't it be easier for me to sit down and just cultivate?"

"Didn't you feel a weird sensation pass through you after killing that kobold?"

"No, I was busy passing out."

"Right. So basically, when you kill an Outsider, you gain a percentage of the Outsider's mana, and most people found it easier to accumulate mana that way since the mana of a living being is vastly denser than the ambient one."

That sounds an awful lot like the experience system in RPGs, though I haven't played many games in my life; I am familiar with the concept of EXP and leveling up.

"- Be mindful; this practice only works on Outsiders; beasts and animals of our world don't offer such convenience, same with human beings." There are many maniacs who thought that killing humans could also give them mana like Outsider, so senseless murder is quite common in some parts of the world."

"That seems quite a heavy subject to tell a kid, isn't it?"

Somehow instinctively I feel that old man brow raised as if asking, "What kid?".

"Anyways, that's that. Now you know why I'm taking you on a hunting trip."

"What? You said nothing about hunting."

"Survival means knowing how to hunt for food; besides, this time you should be much stronger now with my guard, and nothing too major will happen."

"Are… Are you going to throw me a really hard opponent and let me fend for myself?"

That's definitely something Master would do; that old man has no such thing as safety and consideration in mind while training (abusing) a blind child.

"Of course."

Knew it.

If I could pray to my ancestor right now, I would have already made a thousand bows filled with sincerity.

Life is hard, and this old man just has to make it much harder for me.

"Ha. I'm so dead."

"I won't let you; anyways, tell your mother not to make you breakfast, lunch, and dinner tomorrow; we will be out the whole day."

"Even night?"

"Even night."

That would mean that I will have to survive in the wilderness all alone for twenty-four hours; the old man doesn't count; I doubt he will help me do anything.

***

With a heavy heart and mind, I bid my family goodbye at already morning. Well, midnight would be more appropriate, but a new day did commence.

Though Terrisa was the only one awake. The other kids are still fast asleep.

"Bye, Mother. I'll go to survive in the wilderness for today."

With both her hands on my shoulder, she pressed me down tenderly yet also with immense force.

'Is this some kind of deterrence?'

"Goodbye, Raon. Be careful, okay? I know that some monsters will eventually find you, and you have to fight them, but you must stay strong."

Teresa pulled me into her embrace; it was warm and filled with sincerity.

It reminded me of my mother back on Earth, even though she has already passed away a long time ago. Terrisa always makes me feel like a child, even as someone older than her…

"I… love you, Mom."

"… I love you too, Raon."

With a heartfelt farewell. My resolve to become powerful once again soars.

'Even if I'm just a child right now. Ten years, twenty years from now, I will become stronger and repay the debt of love to you, Terrisa.'

"Done? It was so tear-jerking I thought you were about to die.

"Fuc—never mind. I'm done."

Due to my poor circumstances, I don't have a tent or even a backpack. The only thing I have on my body is my clothes, and a sword fits my size unlike the bulky and heavy, impractical swords that Master uses to train me with.

"Let's go then."

Following Master's footsteps closely, my body suddenly felt like it was turning inside out.

'Shit, of course he's going to use the damn portal.'

Before the lesson started, I already felt rougher than when I fought the kobold in the sewer.

'This damn old man; too bad CPS isn't a thing in this world yet.'

Like that, following the tide of unstable space currents, I landed where my 'lesson/test' will begin.