WeTried Translations

Translator: Coughing Baby

Editor: Coughing Baby

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◈ Reformation of the Deadbeat Noble

Chapter 170

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Five Elements Divine Technique (2)

The Five Elements Rite was meant for those who had never touched Spirit Magic or the Five Elements Divine Technique.

Skilled practitioners already knew which of their aspects ran weak and which ran strong, so they had no need to go through it.

Naturally, since the participants were newcomers to spirit power, the results tended to be modest, even primitive.

A tiny puddle forming here, a fist sized flame flaring up and vanishing there, a lump of raw ore rising out of the ground...

But Airen Farreira's spirits were nothing like that.

Metal, and flame.

Two spirits manifesting at once was already unusual enough, but the sheer scale of them was on another level entirely.

The massive lump of metal that rose up seemed to pierce the sky, and the flame spread across the ground beneath it, supporting it, burned with an intensity hard to believe from someone who'd never studied Spirit Magic.

But what was even more astonishing was that the two spirits weren't separate at all.

'The flame on the ground refined the enormous mass of metal energy. What should have been a crude, shapeless form instead took on the shape of a sword, fine enough to serve as an actual tool.'

Fire overcomes metal.

Watching the striking sight, an intuitive display of the mutual conquest cycle among the Five Elements, the great spirit mage Gorha wore a stunned expression.

He wasn't alone.

Kubharu, Karakum, the other spirit mages present.

No, every being gathered on the sacred mountain had lost themselves in the moment, unable to process what they were seeing.

"...Hm."

Gorha was the first to recover.

He was the finest spirit mage among them, and the orc who was practically leading this Five Elements Rite in the first place.

If anyone was going to explain this, it had to be him.

But what came out of Gorha's mouth wasn't an explanation. It was a question.

"You. Have you learned anything about spirits before, anywhere?"

"...I've heard several things from Kubharu."

"Kubharu, did you teach this human about spirits?"

"I did not. I gave him some advice comparing the five spirits, for the sake of training his mind, but this... I never expected this."

Kubharu said, nodding.

Of course, he'd known Airen was no ordinary person.

The way he'd grown the flame in his heart from just a few words, the way he'd saved a man on the verge of falling to corruption in Aienmarc, both of those were miracles no ordinary human could pull off.

But even Karakum and Halifa, both masters of the Five Elements Divine Technique, had their eyes go wide at what he'd shown here. He never imagined it would happen at the Five Elements Rite of all things.

Karakum, who'd heard the story from his son, felt the same way.

"...It seems the transmission of the Five Elements Divine Technique will need to run in both directions."

At the great warrior's words, everyone nodded.

Someone who had never learned Spirit Magic or the Five Elements Divine Technique was handling two spirits at a master's level.

That meant spirit power could be built and mastered through a method entirely different from their own.

In other words, exchanging knowledge with this young man could push their own understanding forward.

Having reasoned that far, the orcs let out breaths of relief.

It really had been a good thing that the human named Judith overcame the trial.

If she hadn't, they would have passed by this opportunity without even knowing it existed.

'Gurgar was right. These humans' growth really will be a great help to the tribe...'

Master Halifa let out a quiet groan to himself. A few of the orcs, seeming to understand exactly what was going through his mind, gave him knowing smiles.

Of course, all of that was the orcs' business.

Judith couldn't have cared less about any of it.

Complicated emotions rose in her heart.

Her gaze, hot as a volcano, fixed on Airen, who stood there looking a little flustered.

'That crazy bastard.'

It was astonishing.

How did he manage to pull off something beyond imagination every single time he learned something new?

Judith's heart wasn't big enough to just celebrate her friend's achievement without complications.

Honestly, it stung a little. Inferiority, envy, jealousy, all of it crept up inside her.

But unlike before, she didn't let those feelings swallow her whole.

Closing her eyes, she threw every negative feeling into a burning cauldron.

Then melted them all down into one, through the terrifying flame in her chest.

Bubble, bubble...

And so Judith's heart was reborn as a single feeling: fighting spirit.

Finally able to look at her friend with her head held high, she snapped her eyes open.

With a look hot enough to drop sparks any second, Judith spoke to Airen.

"Mine's still bigger, though."

"Huh?"

"The flame, I mean. I don't care about the rest, but when it comes to fire, I'm not losing to anyone. Just wait. Once I learn the Five Elements Divine Technique, I'll show you swordsmanship hot enough to leave burns."

"...Sure."

Airen grinned and took the hand Judith offered for a handshake.

Watching the exchange, the elder orcs wore satisfied expressions.

Warriors in their prime, engaging in friendly rivalry, made for a pleasant sight indeed.

But no one looked happier watching it than Brett Lloyd.

'Good for her.'

He knew well enough that Judith was the type who couldn't stand losing.

Honestly, he knew full well her personality was just rotten, if he was being blunt about it.

But separate from that, she'd been way too dispirited lately.

Ever since meeting Airen and Illia, her expression had leaned dark far more often than bright.

He knew that better than anyone, and not having any idea how to fix it had been sitting uncomfortably in the back of his mind for a while now.

But after finishing the Trial of the Warrior, Judith had changed.

She still had her nasty streak, sure, but she seemed to have found her own way to overcome the poison inside her.

'Really glad to see it.'

Something close to the same expression from a moment ago crossed Brett's face.

It was the look he got whenever he thought Judith was being cute, and if anyone else had caught him wearing it, it would have been more than a little uncomfortable to witness.

Of course, he didn't hold onto that expression for long. Brett was a man with a solid grip on self awareness.

This time, though, he was a beat too slow.

By pure chance, Illia Lindsay happened to glance in Brett's direction, and something foul slipped out of her mouth.

"****."

"Gasp!"

"...?"

"Illia?"

Plop.

Everyone in Airen's group turned to look at Illia.

Even Lulu dropped the ball of yarn she'd been playing with onto the ground.

The yarn rolled away, tracing a long line across the dirt.

It made sense that everyone reacted that way. Illia wasn't much of a talker to begin with, and she'd never once sworn before, not that anyone had heard.

For someone like her to let slip words too crude to repeat, of course everyone was shocked.

Airen asked.

"Wh, what's wrong?"

"Did something happen?"

Even Judith looked at Illia with concerned eyes.

After a moment of silence, Illia stepped forward and said,

"...I'll go do the Five Elements Rite now."

Only Brett raised no questions about it at all. Whatever had passed between the two of them ended there, without incident.

Whoosh!

Fwoosh!

"Hm, fire. Well, most young people tend toward fire anyway."

Whoosh!

Splash!

Roaaaaar...

"Ohh... water. Quite impressive... a considerable amount."

Illia Lindsay's and Brett Lloyd's turns at the Five Elements Rite followed. Illia drew fire, Brett drew water.

Compared to Judith and Airen it fell a bit short, but measured against the tribe as a whole, the puddle Brett produced was still large enough to rank among the biggest anyone had seen, and Gorha let out another burst of admiration.

Last, Lulu stuck her paw into the jar, but nothing happened.

"Hard to say if it's because she's a cat, or because she's a Sorcerer. Doesn't seem like she lacks talent, though..."

"It's fine. Being good at Sorcery is more than enough for me."

Lulu answered gamely.

And so, the Five Elements Rite for the human swordsmen, which had drawn more participants than expected, came to an end.

The elder orcs headed back satisfied, saying they'd enjoyed quite the show, and Tarakhan and Halifa also left to attend to their own duties.

Kubharu went down the mountain too, to check on his master's grave.

That left behind the great spirit mage Gorha, a handful of other spirit mages, and Karakum.

In the quiet that settled once the commotion died down, Karakum spoke to Airen.

"Airen Farreira."

"Yes."

"Come with me."

"Understood."

"Gorha, I'll take this one myself."

"Understood. If it were any other element I might have my doubts, but when it comes to metal energy, no one does it better than the great warrior... Very well, I'll take my disciples and handle the rest of the humans here."

Having given his long winded answer, Gorha turned his gaze to Judith.

His eyes gleamed with the kind of interest a mage might show upon discovering a fascinating specimen, intense enough to feel a little uncomfortable.

Of course, Judith wasn't the type to be intimidated by that.

"Make me stronger than Airen."

"Heh heh. I can't promise that, but if we're talking Spirit Magic alone, I'm the finest teacher there is."

"But what we're learning isn't Spirit Magic, it's the Five Elements Divine Technique..."

"Heh heh..."

Judith, latching onto the technicality, and Gorha, looking rather flustered by her.

Brett, about to say something, then thinking better of it and staying quiet, and Illia, calmly focused on her teacher's words.

Karakum spoke to Airen Farreira, who had been watching the four of them for a moment.

"How you came to carry both metal and fire energy... Kubharu explained it to me, more or less."

"Yes."

"He said you were born with an incomprehensibly strong lump of metal energy. And that to control it, you went on a journey to find the flame in your heart."

"That's correct."

"Remarkable... reaching that level purely through training the mind, without the aid of a discipline like the Five Elements Divine Technique."

He meant it.

Being born with unusually strong spirit energy was something he could understand, to a degree. Even among orcs, that kind of mutation occasionally appeared.

Though even that rarely matched Judith's case, and energy on the level Brett Lloyd carried was already considered a rare gift.

But reaching such heights, in barely a year, purely through training the mind, without any systematic instruction or cultivation... he'd never seen anything like it.

'And on top of that, refining metal energy using fire he built up entirely on his own.'

By Karakum's understanding of the world, it made no sense at all.

Of course, just because it didn't fit his own understanding didn't mean he intended to dismiss it. If anything, he should be grateful it had broadened his perspective.

And so, what Karakum said next wasn't instruction meant for a student.

"Try controlling the metal energy your own way."

"Sir?"

"You have your own method, don't you, one you've used all along. You tempered the crude lump of metal with fire and shaped it into a sword. Am I wrong?"

"You're not."

Airen nodded, and Karakum continued.

"When practicing the Five Elements Divine Technique normally, we follow the cycle of mutual generation. Metal gives rise to water, water nurtures wood, wood feeds fire, fire leaves behind ash, and from the resulting earth, metal gathers again. One energy strengthens the next, in that order."

"I see."

"But you're the opposite. You built up flame to control a metal energy that was too overwhelming to contain, which follows the cycle of mutual conquest, not generation. It's not the usual case, so I want to be careful in how I approach it. I'd rather see how you've trained so far and offer advice suited to that. To be more honest, I'd like to broaden my own understanding, too. Understood now?"

"...More or less."

"Then do it. The way you've always done it."

Having said his piece, Karakum dropped down and sat where he stood.

He looked so gruff about it that Airen suspected he'd sit there forever if no one else got things moving.

After watching him for a moment, Airen quietly took his own seat and settled into a cross legged position.

Then he sank into his imagery training.

Hmmmmm...

Fwoooosh!

It had been a while since his last proper session, what with everything that had happened, but nothing about it felt unfamiliar.

The moment Airen focused, a massive sword rose up in his mind, and flame appeared, wrapping around it.

Soon, his will kept striking the sword, now glowing gold with heat.

Clang.

Clang.

Clang.

Airen Farreira quickly settled into his usual, stable rhythm.

But he felt something was missing, and it didn't take long to realize why.

It was because of the flame he'd witnessed from Judith during the Trial of the Warrior.

Recalling that fierce, massive, blisteringly hot will of hers, Airen thought quietly to himself.

'I need a stronger flame.'

As the Five Elements Rite had shown, Judith's flame had unified into a single, massive form.

His own fire, by contrast, was scattered, spread thin across the ground.

As if each individual flame moved on its own, chaotic and unfocused.

'If I could bring that together into one, if I could just find the flame at the center of it all, I think I could get more firepower than I have now...'

Forging a sharper sword required greater heat.

Greater heat required a flame to serve as its center.

So then, what flames did he actually carry inside his heart?

Which one of them deserved to stand at the center?

Was it the love for his family he'd felt when he first learned Sorcery?

Was it the drive to improve, the one he'd realized at Alhad Den?

Was it the fighting spirit that had bloomed after meeting Ignet?

Or, failing all of that, was it the friendship he'd carried while trying to stop Illia's rampage?

The questions chased each other in circles through Airen's mind.

Karakum watched him the whole time, silent and still.

About two hours passed like that.

Then an orc warrior came to find them.

"A message from Gurgar. The preparations to confirm the past life... are finished, he says."

"...!"

News that arrived sooner than expected, welcome and nerve wracking in equal measure.

Every eye in the clearing turned toward Airen Farreira.

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