As the icy powder swirled around, Ray stood up, gripping her sword tightly, ready to leap at any moment.

Soon, someone emerged from the entrance, stirring up the ice powder.

At that moment.

“You...?”

Ray's eyes widened in surprise at the unexpected figure she encountered.

Ah!

With a small groan, her steps faltered, and then,

Thud—

She tilted to the side and fell over.

* * *

‘...She looks very exhausted.’

Theo clicked his tongue lightly as he held Ray, who was collapsing in his arms, exuding a faint odor.

He had quickly dove to catch her when he saw her fall.

Hah... Hah...!

Ray’s condition did not look good at all.

Her face was pale from blood loss, and the wounds were frozen over, risking necrosis if not treated.

‘And she’s in a poisoned state.’

Red spots were slowly appearing on her pale skin.

These were symptoms of monster poison, which one should be most cautious about when dealing with monsters.

It seemed one of the attackers had coated their blade with monster poison beforehand.

It felt strange.

Even though nearly ten had attacked, Ray should not have lost to mere training swordsmen.

‘Fortunately, it doesn’t seem like the poison is too strong, but if left like this for long, it could become dangerous. How do I detoxify her?’

Theo wanted to help Ray.

He didn’t know why she had clashed with such a large group.

But one thing was certain.

From what he had observed over time, Ray might lack social skills, making her hard to read, but she was definitely not a bad person.

Her injuries were probably a result of trying to protect herself from those who aimed to harm her.

That meant Theo owed her a debt.

However, the problem was that the antidote he remembered required herbs.

But in the snowy mountains covered in eternal winter, it would be difficult to gather materials.

That meant he needed to find another way...

- Amon expands spiritual waves and awakens the essence of things.

At that moment, Theo recalled Lodbrok’s words.

The grimoire Amon.

Maybe it would provide some way forward?

Theo opened his inventory and took out the grimoire.

Swish—

The cover and pages flipped rapidly,

“The sound is invisible, yet it resonates throughout the world, centering around the speaker. It places the caster at the center of the magical world...”

Theo's eyes moved busily at the same time.

With his vision imbued with spirituality, rapid speed reading and understanding became possible.

Grimoires often function as magic in themselves, acting as moving magical devices.

Naturally, he thought Amon would be the same,

Boom—

As expected, with each page turn, Amon became increasingly enveloped in light.

To summarize the contents of Amon simply:

- A person’s soul possesses a kind of wave.

- Amon refers to this wave as the ‘voice’ of the soul.

- This voice awakens the essence of the desired object, known as ‘Nyeom’ (念).

- The awakened essence of an object resonates with the soul, becoming a part of the caster.

- A connection is established between the soul and the object, which is referred to as <Nyeom Dong> (念動).

Ding!

[You have realized some of the magical principles contained in ‘Grimoire - Amon,’ resulting in the creation of a new skill.]

[Due to insufficient <Level>, a downgraded skill appears.]

+

[Hatchling Sync]

· Level: C

· Proficiency: 1%

· Effect: Use psychic power to manipulate objects freely and read the thoughts of those objects.

+

‘Psychic power...!’

Theo reached out toward Ray’s sword, which had been carelessly dropped on the floor.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The sword lifted and began to float slowly into the air.

At this moment, Theo felt as if his consciousness was connected to Ray’s sword.

It felt as if it were tied together by an invisible thread.

And through that thread, fragments of the thoughts embedded in Ray's sword were transmitted one by one.

- Cultivation Society, Plum Blossom Clan... Even if it's the Cultivation Society, why are the Plum Blossom Clan people colluding with them to target Theo?

The thoughts reflected the circumstances that led to Ray’s injury.

He saw five participants from the Cultivation Society clad in black conversing with four participants in red, all bearing the plum blossom emblem on their chests that identified them as belonging to the Plum Blossom Clan.

With serious faces, they were discussing something, clearly conspiring.

So Ray had shown herself.

Feeling suspicious.

- Damn it, why did Serbing come here all of a sudden!

- So let’s be careful...

- We can’t let this news reach the Plum Blossom Lord.

- This works out well. If we take down both Seong-ho and Serbing, we’ll have the upper hand in this exam!

The participants from the Cultivation Society and Plum Blossom Clan exchanged glances and charged at Ray.

Although Ray was exceptional enough to inflict significant injuries on more than half of the nine attackers,

The problem was that one of the members from the Cultivation Society had poisoned their blade with monster poison, which turned the tide in an instant.

Regardless of their skills, it was a mistake born from a lack of practical experience.

In the end, Ray had acknowledged her mistake and attempted to flee.

- Chase! Catch her!

They pursued closely, but they couldn’t catch up to Ray.

The place Ray headed to was this cave.

It was a spot she had stumbled upon just as the Blooming Ritual was starting.

It was also a location she had marked as a resting place since it was not easily visible from the outside.

“So this is what happened.”

After reading all the thoughts, Theo frowned.

It seemed there was a grand conspiracy unfolding to capture him during this second Blooming Ritual.

‘The Plum Blossom Lord wouldn’t send her own disciples after me to harm me... They’re clearly planning to betray her orders and try to capture me.’

Well, to them, it probably didn’t sit well that the Plum Blossom Lord had been fond of a disciple she hadn’t taken in yet.

To them, it must have seemed like a rolling stone displacing the embedded stone.

But even so, to think they would conspire with the enemy and act without the Plum Blossom Lord's knowledge...

Did they have confidence that they could handle the consequences if they got caught later?

‘While I know the Plum Blossom Lord is extremely protective of her people, I don’t believe she’s indecisive.’

Perhaps they had confidence that they could commit murder and conceal it.

Just like Hyde’s gang had done.

In any case.

They would soon be chasing after Ray, coming close to this cave.

How should he deal with them?

Just as Theo was pondering this,

Whoosh—

‘What’s this?’

Even at this moment, thoughts were racing through his mind like a series of photographs.

Specifically, thoughts from earlier times.

Inside a certain cave.

In a place with a blocked entrance, a young Ray was training in the soft glow of luminescent stones.

She swung her sword, and swung again.

Until her hands blistered and her feet were bruised.

The training never seemed to end.

Various forms of the turoh she was drawing caught Theo’s eyes.

<Ice White Sword>.

It was the swordsmanship she had learned from her master, famous for the ‘Ice Dragon.’

In her childhood, it was the great vision that allowed her to overcome the cursed constitution known as the soundless pulse.

Young Ray was not just drawing the Ice White Sword once.

Twice, three times, four times... and it went on for hundreds, over a hundred days, two hundred days... a year, two years...

She swung her sword throughout her time in seclusion.

And this sword had always been by her side.

In rain or snow.

When she felt tired and wanted to give up, when she felt lonely, and when she was in pain from the torment of the soundless pulse, it was always there.

Ray was not only training in the Ice White Sword.

She diligently trained in all martial arts using cold energy, such as Ice White Shield, Ice White Protection, Ice White Fist, and Ice White Spear, even mastering the breathing techniques that could be considered the foundation of all of them.

Thanks to that, Theo unexpectedly found himself witnessing all the techniques of Ray, whom he would later call the <Ice White School>.

Watching someone else train was a grave sin that could lead to immediate fatal consequences.

But Theo was so captivated by the beauty of the Ice White School that he lost all sense of reality.

It felt as if fireworks were going off in his mind.

‘This feels entirely different from watching the Plum Blossom Lord’s plum blossom bloom.’

While the plum blossom bloom boasted brilliant and beautiful curves, the Ice White School felt cold and gave off a chilling ‘Han.’

They were polar opposites.

It was filled with the will of people who had lived in harsh environments.

Because of that, Theo found himself stepping into a new level of swordsmanship once again.

He felt an overwhelming urge to dash outside and swing his sword.

Then, the thoughts rewound again, revealing a very young Ray.

Young Ray had tried to run away, feeling stifled at home.

But soon she regretted it.

The snowstorm was so fierce that she lost her way.

‘Why does this look so familiar?’

Theo unknowingly narrowed his brows.

He felt as if he had seen a similar scene somewhere.

At that moment, a boy appeared.

A boy bundled up in a thick scarf, gloves, beanie, and coat, looking like a snowman.

But the face that peeked out from the scarf was exceptionally beautiful, resembling a girl.

‘Ah.’

It was a face Theo recognized.

- Aren’t you cold? Want to wear this?

The boy loosened his scarf for the girl who looked cold.

- If you come out dressed so lightly, you’ll catch a cold. It’ll be bad. So let’s go back home, okay?

The girl’s gaze lingered on the boy for a long time.

And then all the thoughts stopped replaying.

“...”

It felt as if he had seen an entire life of a person in that moment.

‘Ray was that girl back then.’

It was a memory Theo had long forgotten.

What was a simple act of kindness for him must have meant something entirely different for Ray.

That explained why Ray had stayed close to him for a long time.

She was likely trying to repay the kindness shown to her back then.

The clash with the members of the Cultivation Society and the Plum Blossom Clan was probably for that very reason.

“This means I’ve received help.”

Theo muttered quietly as he looked down at his palm.

Based on the thoughts he had just seen, was there a way to help Ray?

Theo felt this skill was definitely overpowered.

The ability to read thoughts meant reading the memories embedded in objects.

If this could continue, wouldn’t it be possible to activate skills by selecting the weapons of high-level masters?

If so, he could conquer countless vision techniques.

- But looking at it from the other side, it also meant he could quickly identify weaknesses.

Whoosh!

Theo infused spirituality into his brain, rapidly expanding his thoughts.

And for a long time, he pondered.

To find the weaknesses of the Ice White School.

Whirr, whirr, whirr...!

As the thoughts heated up, it felt like his brain might catch fire at any moment.

Then something flashed and zipped through his mind.

An inspiration.

Theo quickly placed his hand on Ray’s shoulder and infused mana into her.

He had to attempt something before this inspiration vanished.

The real and the unreal.

The weaknesses and strengths of the Ice White School alternated in his vision.

The weaknesses grew like a snowball, while the strengths were deconstructed piece by piece, stacking up in one corner of his mind.

Theo’s eyes sparkled with determination as he looked at Ray.

* * *

“Where is this...?”

Ray was surprised by the lightness of her body and opened her eyes.

Before she fainted, her body had felt heavy as if it weighed a ton.

In confusion, she looked at her side where the wound had been,

‘The wound... is gone.’

The wound was perfectly sealed.

The same went for the other injuries.

All had healed as if it were a lie, looking like they had healed months ago.

What on earth happened?

Just as Ray was thinking this and raising her head,

Whoosh, whoosh—

Suddenly, she heard the sound of swords clashing outside the cave.

Who had appeared here?

With a tense heart, Ray picked up the sword that had fallen on the ground and slowly walked toward the sound—

There, she saw Theo training with his sword, drenched in sweat.

‘What I saw before fainting wasn’t a dream.’

But the sword path he was drawing felt oddly familiar.

Ice White Sword.

But Theo’s sword path resembled the Ice White Sword yet had a different appearance.

Faster, more splendid, and sharper.

It looked as if a dragon was gracefully writhing.

But to Ray’s eyes,

It appeared as though the pretty little kid who resembled a snowman had grown up, shedding all prejudices and misunderstandings, blossoming into a magnificent figure.

It was so impressive that

Ray could only stand there in a daze, staring at Theo for quite a while.

 

TL NOTE: Please don't skimp on the stars for the translation - it inspires me and gives me the strength to write more. Thank you~!

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