I’m Here to End This Fight

Chapter 161: Metallurgy (3)

The truth behind the creation of the Strong Sword, Soft Sword, Fiery Sword, Magic Sword, and Holy Sword.

The moment he realized that the wavelengths of weapons were actually the forced flow of mana, Yuri felt his mind go blank.

At the same time, his body felt like it was floating, as if he were being lifted by a cool breeze, bringing an invigorating sense of clarity.

“Ah…”

It felt as if his body and soul were separated.

However, his sharpened consciousness made him acutely aware of his current state.

“Is this… an epiphany?”

An awakened state that comes after gaining enlightenment.

Yuri had wondered what it felt like when he saw Greta experiencing an epiphany before, but now he couldn’t believe the opportunity had come to him as well.

Yuri’s initial impression of experiencing his first epiphany was simple.

“It feels… amazing!”

Yuri thought he understood why Greta’s pupils had seemed so unfocused when she was in an epiphany.

A supreme sense of mental liberation.

His mind was clearer than ever, and the realm of his consciousness extended endlessly.

No matter how well-rested he could be on a luxurious bed, he doubted he could feel as refreshed and clear-headed as he did now.

“In this state, I could memorize a book with hundreds of pages in an instant.”

But that sense of liberation didn’t last long.

A gigantic ceiling appeared above Yuri’s freely drifting mind.

The vast expanse of his consciousness was blocked by the ceiling, and the deep shadow it cast began to loom over Yuri’s mind.

“Ah…”

Restricted, Yuri felt a pang of regret.

At the same time, like a soul returning to its body, the separation of his consciousness came to an end.

Hoo-wook—.

A deep breath escaped from Yuri’s mouth, and life returned to his eyes.

Yuri, who had partially opened his eyes, now fully opened them.

The first thing he saw was Segyung, who wore a disgruntled expression.

“…What is it?”

Segyung, with his years of experience, instantly recognized that Yuri had entered an epiphany state moments before.

Yet, even he had never heard of someone reaching an epiphany by licking a lump of iron.

From Segyung’s perspective, unaware of the details, it was an absurd situation.

Yuri shrugged.

“I once heard that true enlightenment often comes from trivial things. Like how I gained enlightenment from this lump of iron.”

As soon as he finished speaking, Theresia’s muttering could be heard from the other side: “It wasn’t seeing, it was licking.”

Of course, Yuri ignored it with ease.

“Do you know what kind of genuine enlightenment I got from this lump of iron?”

“Do I really need to know?”

“You might.”

“I’m not curious.”

“You should be.”

“Enough.”

Watching Segyung wave him off disinterestedly, Yuri smirked.

He then reached out to the iron lumps placed before him.

Along with that, he read the unique mana wavelengths contained within each iron lump.

Iron lumps with consistent wavelengths.

Iron lumps with irregular wavelengths.

Or perhaps those with faint or oddly shaped wavelengths.

The iron lumps’ wavelengths were all varied.

A gleam flashed in Yuri’s eyes as he inspected them.

“This old man even messed with these?”

One would naturally assume that if asked to line up the twelve iron lumps in order, all twelve would be different.

However, among the twelve wavelengths Yuri read, there were some that matched.

In other words, identical-quality iron lumps were mixed in.

Srrrk—.

Yuri picked up an iron lump.

The lump that emitted the most even and consistent wavelength.

Yuri placed it at the very front.

Thud—.

He quickly grabbed a second lump and placed it behind the first.

That was just the beginning.

Thud—thud—thud—.

Yuri’s hand moved swiftly over the iron lumps, arranging them.

At first, Segyung watched Yuri’s actions with a detached look.

But when Yuri placed two lumps together in the fourth position—

“…Huh?”

The calm expression that covered Segyung’s face cracked.

Segyung’s pupils shook violently.

“That… can’t be?”

Then Yuri placed two more lumps together in the sixth position.

And when he stacked another two in the eighth position, the tremors in Segyung’s eyes spread to his entire face.

“It can’t be… It’s just… just a coincidence.”

Segyung vehemently denied the events unfolding before him, thinking it was simply a stroke of luck on Yuri’s part.

However, he couldn’t completely hide the anxiety that had taken root in his heart, as his hands were trembling.

Glancing briefly at Segyung, Yuri picked up the final iron lump and placed it atop the already stacked two in the eighth position, as if slamming it down.

Thunk—!

The sound of iron clashing reverberated loudly.

It was a sharp sound, as if something had shattered.

“……?!”

What shattered was Segyung’s confidence and composure.

Yuri turned to the frozen Segyung with a bright smile.

“This lump of iron told me that it’s not a crime to smash the head of the one who cheats in a sacred bet.”

“…….”

“From the left, the items are arranged in order of best quality. Check them. Since the honor of the Bone Clan is on the line, you wouldn’t dare tamper with the results… or would you? Go ahead and try, if you think you can handle the aftermath.”

With a rather threatening expression, Yuri pounded the iron lumps again.

Thud—thud—.

The loud clashing of the two iron lumps echoed.

But Yuri’s threat didn’t particularly faze Segyung.

Or rather, to be exact, Segyung was too stunned to even register the threat.

Segyung simply stared blankly at the iron lumps Yuri had arranged.

Iron lumps lined up in counts of 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3.

Segyung, almost entranced, picked up the leftmost lump and stared at it for a long while.

Tap-tap—.

Then, as if just staring wasn’t enough, he lightly tapped it with his fingertips.

Sniff—.

He even sniffed it.

He even pressed his ear against the iron lump.

The more he did, the more his face stiffened.

“It… it’s right. Grade 1 Decartesian pure iron!”

He was sure.

The iron lump Yuri had placed on the far left was the highest quality iron among his own collection.

Upon confirming this, Segyung hurriedly grabbed the two lumps right beside it.

After carefully inspecting them, shock spread across his face.

“This is right too?!”

They were the same Decartesian pure iron, though slightly lower in purity than the first.

However, the difference in purity was so minute that an average person would find it difficult to discern.

However, Yuri had precisely distinguished the quality differences between the two and ranked them as second and third.

“This, this can’t be happening!”

Segyung could only deny reality.

His movements quickened as he checked the quality of the remaining iron lumps.

As time passed…

The more he compared each one, the more he realized that the order Yuri had arranged them in was accurate, and the paler Segyung’s face became.

Until finally…

“This is…”

When Segyung confirmed that the last three iron lumps were of exactly the same quality, his spirit seemed to leave him.

“…This… doesn’t make sense… How could this be…?”

“Sometimes the world is full of things that don’t make sense.”

“No, that can’t be… This couldn’t have been done in just one day… There’s no way… something like this could happen.”

“Judging by your face, I don’t even need to ask about the results. Does this mean I won this round?”

“This… can’t be… this isn’t possible… This shouldn’t be happening…”

“What? You’re so shocked over something like this? It’s not even a big deal. Haha.”

Normally, Segyung would have reacted violently to Yuri’s taunts.

However, he was too stunned to maintain his composure, having his 42 years of experience completely undermined.

Half-dazed, Segyung stared at Yuri.

“Do it… do it again.”

“What? This?”

“Yes! Do it again!”

“Why should I?”

“It… it could have been a fluke, right? You could have just gotten lucky!”

“Yeah, I guess that’s possible.”

“Right? So, try it one more time…”

“No thanks.”

“…”

“Why should I? Whether I guessed or not, I got it right, didn’t I?”

Seeing Yuri smirk repeatedly, Segyung ended up saying something he shouldn’t have.

“The next… let’s bet on this again in the next round!”

“What?”

“If you do it again and get it right… then you win the second round too!”

At those words, Yuri’s eyes sparkled.

‘This old man’s lost it, huh? Is this really that shocking to him?’

It was something he would never have said if he were thinking clearly.

But for Yuri, it was a welcome opportunity.

There was no reason to refuse the offer.

Before Segyung could change his mind, Yuri quickly nodded.

“Sure!”

“W-wait a moment!”

As Yuri nodded, Segyung hurriedly gathered the scattered iron lumps into a sack.

Then, he vigorously shook the sack.

Clatter, clatter—.

A movement that clearly showed he was mixing the iron lumps.

Yuri watched with a look that seemed to say, ‘Good effort,’ prompting Segyung to turn his back hurriedly, misinterpreting Yuri’s gaze.

With a fiercely determined expression, it seemed he was set on not letting Yuri see him mix the lumps.

“I don’t know what kind of trick you pulled, but this time, it won’t work!”

Segyung shouted as he poured all his effort into thoroughly mixing the iron lumps in the sack.

After a while…

By the time Yuri was yawning out of boredom.

“Alright, it’s done!”

Clatter—.

Segyung dumped the iron lumps in front of Yuri.

Yuri looked at him with a disinterested gaze.

“Are you finished?”

“Go on, do it!”

“Fine.”

At Segyung’s loud command, Yuri scratched his ear and squatted in front of the pile of iron lumps.

Then, he casually started sorting them.

Thud, thud, thud—.

The iron lumps were once again separated and lined up in a row at a quick pace.

Just like before, the iron lumps were arranged in counts of 1, 1, 1, 2, 1, 2, 1, 3.

“Done.”

Yuri brushed off his hands lightly and stood up.

Perhaps due to having done it once already, he moved even faster this time.

Segyung hurriedly approached the iron lumps, but he took even more time and effort to inspect them compared to before.

Hoping that the previous outcome had been mere luck.

Praying that Yuri was wrong.

But…

Thud—.

After checking all the iron lumps, Segyung slumped to the ground in defeat.

With a face devoid of life and a hollow voice, he muttered.

“This can’t be happening…”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, whatever you say.”

“It can’t be… It took me 42 years to distinguish between these… and he did it in just one day…”

“42 years?”

Only then did Yuri understand why Segyung was so out of sorts.

His eyes widened as he spoke.

“Wow, it took you 42 years just to do this one thing? Looks like old man Kongsul had no talent for metallurgy at all, huh?”

Yuri, with a smiling face, delivered a figurative knife to Segyung’s chest.

Segyung’s face grew even more somber.

“This is… even for the Bone Clan, it shouldn’t be possible in just a day… No one has ever succeeded in a single day…”

“Oh, really? I had high hopes for Bone Clan’s metallurgy, but it’s just so-so? Nothing special at all? This time around, it’s really not impressive.”

“This shouldn’t… be possible…”

“If you still don’t believe it, how about one more round? Or bring something else. Let’s try a similar bet for the next round. That should settle it.”

“R-right! If we do it again in the next round, we can be more certain… The next round?”

A faint light returned to Segyung’s previously dazed eyes.

Repeating the words “next round” to himself, he suddenly came to his senses.

“This… this is outrageous?!”

Only then did he realize what he had done.

‘I’ve already handed that damn brat two wins!’

If he were to lose the next round as well, this bet would be a total loss for him.

If that happened, his resources would be completely drained.

Seeing Segyung snap back to reality with trembling eyes, Yuri clicked his tongue lightly.

“Tch, I could have ended this easily.”

Yuri’s lips pouted slightly, lamenting the missed opportunity.

Segyung’s eyes flared up in anger.

‘That… that insolent brat!’

Segyung’s mind replayed Yuri’s earlier words, albeit a bit late.

‘What did he say? That Bone Clan’s metallurgy was just mediocre?’

His fists clenched tightly.

‘This is no longer just between me and that kid!’

Now, it was a matter of the Bone Clan’s honor.

Segyung glared at Yuri while scooping the iron lumps back into the sack.

“…For the third round… I’ll prepare and contact you.”

“Do as you wish.”

Yuri responded nonchalantly, as if saying Segyung could come at him anytime.

Segyung ground his teeth.

Grit—.

“You wanted something special, didn’t you?”

Fine, then. I’ll show you that special technique you desire so much!

Grit—.

Grinding his teeth, Segyung glared at Yuri before hoisting the sack over his shoulder and leaving.

Watching Segyung’s departing figure, a broad smile appeared on Yuri’s face.

It was the relaxed smile of someone who had comfortably secured two wins.

That smile soon shifted to one tinged with mild anticipation.

‘Right now… I think it’s possible.’

The reason Yuri hadn’t actively stopped Segyung from postponing the third round.

It was because he was eager to confirm the results of his recent epiphany.

Just moments before the sensations of the epiphany faded away.

Srrrng—.

Yuri drew his white sword.