I was Mistaken for a Noble Hunter Chapter 114

Demon (6)

 

Cheon Hajin’s sword demonstration was disciplined and beautiful.

After showing it several times in succession, he stopped and looked at Kang Ian.

“Try it once, just as you saw.”

“Yes, sir.”

Kang Ian nodded and took his stance.

The Heavy Rock Sword was a style that heavily crushed the opponent, making it well-suited for a longsword.

Holding the sword lightly with both hands, Kang Ian began to move.

Cheon Hajin, having lost his left arm, demonstrated it using only one hand, but this was originally a sword style designed to be used with both hands.

At first, Kang Ian seemed a bit awkward, but soon he adapted, and the sword began to extend smoothly.

Bwoong!

Swaeak!

The Heavy Rock Sword didn’t simply overpower the opponent with strength; it also required the use of mana.

Hunters usually only use the mana dwelling within their bodies when using skills, but once they become high-ranking hunters, through training, they can draw it out whenever they want.

The core of the Heavy Rock Sword was to use mana as if gravity itself were crushing the opponent.

Kugugung!

And Kang Ian displayed a perfect Heavy Rock Sword.

Not only the forms, but he was also using the superhuman strength available to hunters and even guiding mana!

“!!”

Seeing that, Cheon Hajin’s eyes widened.

He had only intended to check how much Kang Ian had memorized, but to think it would be this perfect!?

“A-again!”

At Cheon Hajin’s shout, Kang Ian unfolded the Heavy Rock Sword once more.

This time, even the slight awkwardness from before had completely disappeared.

It was much cleaner and smoother.

It didn’t have the same power as Cheon Hajin’s, but it looked as if he had trained in the Heavy Rock Sword for a long time.

“Mok-ah!”

“Yes!”

Gu Yangmok, who had been standing nearby, quickly raised his sword and stepped in front of Kang Ian.

It was an order to receive a strike.

“Hunter Kang Ian. You may go all out.”

“Understood!”

Kang Ian was also enjoying how the new swordsmanship unfolded according to his will.

Moreover, the more he used it, the more he instinctively grasped how to improve and what he needed to do next.

As he was thinking that, he wished for an opponent, so it was fortunate that Gu Yangmok stepped in at just the right moment.

Jjeong!

“Keugh!”

As their swords collided, Gu Yangmok involuntarily clenched his teeth.

It wasn’t like with Cheon Hajin, where he was completely overwhelmed without being able to do anything, but the pressure was tremendous.

‘What kind of strength is this…?’

He looked solid, but not overwhelmingly strong.

His mana control technique didn’t seem that exceptional, but his raw strength itself seemed great.

Jjeong!

Kwaang!

Since Gu Yangmok was receiving his attacks well, Kang Ian became excited and swung the Heavy Rock Sword even more.

Gu Yangmok had become Cheon Hajin’s disciple much earlier, so out of pride, he couldn’t admit that he was struggling.

He could only endure it somehow!

In the end, Kang Ian finished his first day of learning with satisfaction, while Gu Yangmok resolved to avoid the times when Kang Ian would come from now on.

He didn’t want to live constantly being compared to a genius.

 

***

 

“Ha. Refreshing.”

That night.

After finishing all of his daily routines and returning home, Kang Ian smiled.

He had successfully entered the basics of the Heavy Rock Sword (Cheon Hajin said that level was practically mastering it), then worked out with Kang Hoopung, and even finished volunteer work before returning home.

‘Consistent workouts really seem to help a lot with the Heavy Rock Sword.’

The Heavy Rock Sword required the technique of crushing the opponent with mana, but beyond that, it also demanded overwhelming the enemy with physical strength and skill.

Regular high-weight training with Kang Hoopung helped in that regard.

All the heavy lifting he did daily, drenched in sweat, hadn’t been in vain.

Of course, Kang Ian’s physical abilities increased whenever he did high-weight training, but it also helped his swordsmanship, which made it even better.

‘It’s this good, so why did Hunter Gu Yangmok refuse my suggestion to go together…?’

They had left together after finishing their lesson with Cheon Hajin, and Kang Ian had suggested going to the gym with Kang Hopung.

It seemed like such a beneficial activity that it would be great to do together, but Gu Yangmok had turned pale and left, saying he was busy.

If he was busy, it couldn’t be helped, but it was quite disappointing.

Come to think of it, Hunter Hong Dasom had also only gone once last time and hadn’t been responding much since then…

‘Strange. Is she sick? I should go check on her.’

Regular exercise brings change.

He wanted to spread such a good activity everywhere.

‘Though today’s volunteer work used up all my Nobility to repay debt, so I have none left.’

There was a certain enjoyment in watching small amounts of Nobility accumulate throughout his routine day, but that was gone.

It was time to sleep, but Kang Ian couldn’t fall asleep easily.

He had something to think about today.

It was about his future growth.

‘I’ve heard that from B-rank hunters onward, individual differences become vast.’

The difficulty of gates was said to be the same.

Because of that, he needed to grow stronger in a more systematic way.

‘It’s about time I follow the Valhalla Knight training method.’

He was close to being promoted to an intermediate knight, and as a reward for this quest, he had obtained the magic skill <Fast Lightning>.

Most magic skills required standing still and concentrating, but Fast Lightning was different.

A non-incantation, near-instant cast… an immediate, single-shot magic.

That meant he could wield a sword in one hand while casting magic with the other.

‘Then I’ll have to modify the Heavy Rock Sword so it can be used alongside magic.’

Since it was a completed sword style on its own, it needed to be adjusted to create better synergy with magic.

It would normally be unthinkable to alter a sword style created by a great swordsman like Cheon Hajin.

But Kang Ian felt like he could do it.

<Valhalla’s Skill Consolidation (P) – Advanced Swordsmanship Enhancement>.

Now he understood why Tezeros had strongly recommended this.

For merely 10,000 Nobility, the mechanism of swordsmanship in Kang Ian’s mind had changed.

He had gained the perspective of what people would call a genius.

‘Well… I shouldn’t call 10,000 points “mere”… but it’s definitely worth taking a loan for.’

In the game, it had simply been a passive that increased sword attack power, but in reality, it was completely different.

Kang Ian came out into the living room and took the stance of the Heavy Rock Sword with empty hands.

He wanted to properly hold a sword, but it couldn’t be helped.

‘This place really is a bit small.’

When Medverev, Russia’s second-in-command, had called this a small house, it had seemed ridiculous, but now it made sense.

Someone living in a vast foreign land with a mansion would naturally find an apartment like this small.

When he first moved in, it had been his dream home, but now he wanted a larger place where he could even swing a sword.

Anyway, from then on, Kang Ian began to deeply immerse himself in researching swordsmanship.

Originally, the Heavy Rock Sword was designed to be used with both hands.

‘But Master demonstrated it with one hand.’

It couldn’t be helped since he had no left arm, but Kang Ian had seen it once.

He planned to go in that direction as well.

After that, he created timing within the forms to allow casting magic with his left hand, and even improvised several defensive forms that could assist magic.

Thanks to the advanced proficiency skill, sword techniques were being created endlessly in his mind.

It was both fun and effective, so he became immersed for a long time… until, before he knew it, dawn had arrived.

“Ah.”

He had stayed up all night.

But instead of being tired, he felt a sense of fulfillment.

Ding!

[Valhalla’s Secret Swordsmanship proficiency has increased]

A message appeared at the corner of his vision.

Valhalla’s Secret Swordsmanship wasn’t about specific forms but about raising the overall level of swordsmanship itself.

Thus, even by training the Heavy Rock Sword, the proficiency of the secret swordsmanship also increased.

If he kept at it, someday he would be able to freely handle aura.

Not just using the “Sword Aura” skill as a finishing move, but the day he would swing a constantly glowing blade wasn’t far off.

 

***

 

Lee Seunghoon, a YouTuber who ran the channel <Everyone’s Lives>, had about 300,000 subscribers.

The content he mainly produced focused on the hidden sides of society.

Modern society appeared glamorous on the surface.

But he went out personally to show the struggles, suffering, and realities that existed beneath it.

Because of that, despite the subscriber count, he had a strong core fanbase, and even with long videos, the watch time was very high.

This time, he was in Geundeok-myeon, Samcheok City, Gangwon Province… a small village called Gungchon-ri.

It was a place where all residents had relocated due to a hazardous zone.

However, even if the residents themselves were safe, the ancestral graves in their family mountains were continuously being damaged by monsters.

He filmed and interviewed about how painful and distressing this was for the residents.

He compiled it into Episode 1 and uploaded it to his channel, but the reactions were divided.

 

└Ancestors? What have ancestors even done to deserve that kind of care?

└If ancestors really helped that much, they wouldn’t be living like that. They’d be enjoying river views and traveling abroad. Only people with nothing cling to ancestors.

 

People mock the villagers as foolish.

 

└This happened because of a hazard zone, so why are the residents pooling money? Doesn’t the government help?

└It’s a problem with the administration! The government isn’t doing its job!

 

└Are you kidding? Does the government have unlimited funds? There are countless hazard zones and gate outbreaks to deal with. Helping just to protect some graves? That makes no sense.

└Yeah, I agree. It’s not even about saving lives. How can they cover things like that, too?

 

People are arguing over whether the government should help or not.

Conflicting opinions also meant views.

In fact, the response to this video on <Everyone’s Lives> was quite good.

So he was considering making it into a five-episode series.

‘A hunter is supposed to come today after accepting the villagers’ request.’

Though the residents of Gungchon-ri could be called poor, they couldn’t stand by while their ancestors’ graves were being destroyed, so they pooled money together to make a request.

They wanted someone to deal with monsters coming out of the hazard zone and even attack inside to keep monsters away for a while.

During that time, they planned to relocate the graves to a safer place.

Since they also had to prepare the relocation costs, the request fee wasn’t large.

The villagers were poor to begin with, so the amount itself was small.

‘But a B-rank hunter coming for such a small request? Isn’t that a scam?’

The villagers, being rural elders, were all delighted at the news that a B-rank hunter had accepted their request and was coming.

But Lee Seunghoon felt suspicious first.

There are so many scammers in modern society.

A B-rank hunter would have far too much to do to come to a place like this.

‘They might just take the fee and run, or maybe a low-rank hunter is pretending to be B-rank…’

If that turned out to be the case, Lee Seunghoon had decided to expose the scam in full on YouTube.

He couldn’t openly protest in front of them since fists were closer than reason, but if he filmed and uploaded it, what could they do?

“Hello, I’m Kang Ian, here after accepting the request.”

“Oh!”

The moment he saw Kang Ian, however, all of Lee Seunghoon’s suspicions about scams vanished.

“I-I’m a fan, Hunter Kang Ian!”

He was not only a YouTuber but also a member of Kang Ian’s fan café, <KangSamo>.