The spar between Lee Ho-seok and Shin-hyeok.
Most people expressed their fascination and amazement at that fact, but Sang-cheol, the training ground's director, did not.
"W-wait a moment. Oseong Guild Master. No, Senior Sword King. Even if that friend provoked you first, you should not be doing this as well."
Just as Shin-hyeok thought, Sang-cheol knew the proper way and knew how to show consideration for the vulnerable.
It was consideration not because Shin-hyeok was a descendant of Shinhwa Group, but because he was still a young player who had not properly matured.
Shin-hyeok was not unaware of that, but he lightly waved his hand.
"It's all right, Director. Would a senior as renowned as the Sword King really launch a dangerous attack against a vastly junior player? Especially with so many players watching?"
"......This brat?"
Lee Ho-seok had been planning to teach Shin-hyeok a lesson, but he gritted his teeth at Shin-hyeok's sarcastic act of pretending not to know, as though he already understood that fact.
"......I will limit my physical stats to the Silver level. I will not use Sword Aura or Sword Force, either. That should be enough."
"That is more than enough. Thank you for the Sword King's consideration."
Shin-hyeok smiled as he watched Lee Ho-seok not only restrict his physical stats to the Silver level, but also refrain from using Sword Aura and Sword Force, abilities available only to players who had attained their own enlightenment.
"Let us make a bet as well."
"A bet?"
"If I win, what can you give me?"
A declaration of a bet.
Lee Ho-seok could not hide his disbelief at the question of what he could give Shin-hyeok if Shin-hyeok won.
"......Ha! Are you already drinking kimchi soup before it is even served? The gap between you and me is not something that can be narrowed merely by restricting stats and a little enlightenment."
"Then you should make the bet all the more. It would be an opportunity to take something from me for free."
"You know who I am, do you not?"
"Yes. The only heir of Oseong Group, the Oseong Guild Master, and a major figure in the player world. You are Senior Sword King Lee Ho-seok."
"Do you think someone like me has anything to gain from a Silver player who has only just finished placement?"
Lee Ho-seok's thoughts were correct.
The only heir of Oseong Group.
The Oseong Guild Master.
The Sword King, the First King among the Two Sovereigns, Three Emperors, and Five Kings.
Even on a global scale, there were not many people who could give Lee Ho-seok something.
However, there was one thing Lee Ho-seok did not know.
"I will stake Shinhwa Workshop."
"......What?"
"Oseong Workshop's equipment is good, but its artisans are considered lacking in quality. By contrast, the artisans of Shinhwa Workshop rank among the finest. What do you say? Do you not want to claim the undisputed first place with this opportunity?"
"Gulp!"
Shin-hyeok was one of the few people who could give Lee Ho-seok something.
Even Lee Ho-seok swallowed dryly at Shin-hyeok's boldness in casually putting Shinhwa Workshop up as the stake.
Perhaps he had swallowed his greed instead. After regaining his composure, Lee Ho-seok rebuked him.
"You are not even Shinhwa Group's second generation, merely a third-generation heir. You think you can decide something that great by yourself? Nonsense. Stop talking rubbish and come-"
"Hello? Grandfather? This is Shin-hyeok. I have something to tell you."
"......What?"
However, the rebuke did not last long.
Before Lee Ho-seok could finish speaking, he froze at the words that came from Shin-hyeok's mouth as he called someone.
Grandfather.
It was not an especially strange word.
But when Shin-hyeok said "Grandfather," it was more than strange enough.
"Grandfather would like to speak with you."
"......Is this real?"
"Is there any reason for me to lie?"
"No...... Of course not...... Hoo......"
A call with someone who could make even Lee Ho-seok, a man who believed he had nothing to fear in the world, freeze.
Lee Ho-seok took several deep breaths before accepting the phone. An old man's voice, aged yet containing strength beyond measure, sounded in his ear.
-Ho-seok?
"......Y-yes! It is Ho-seok."
"Yes. It has been several months since we last spoke, when we met at the political and business leaders' meeting."
"I should have contacted you first. I am truly sorry that it has come to this, Chairman."
"No, never mind. If you act like that over a call I made about my grandson, what does that make me? Just regard everything my grandson says as the truth. He has that degree of authority."
"......Is that really true?"
Even after hearing the words of Choi Cheol-ho, the chairman of Shinhwa Group and a living fossil of the business world, Lee Ho-seok could not believe it.
"Would I lie to someone as green and young as you?"
"N-no! Of course not. I believe you."
"And."
"......?"
"Do not forget that the stakes should naturally be equal."
"Are you saying I should stake Oseong Workshop as well?"
"Surely that bastard Yong-jae gave you at least that much authority?"
"......No! Of course he did. I will stake it, naturally."
"Heh heh heh, good. Let us have a meal with that bastard Yong-jae together sometime."
"Yes, goodbye, Chairman."
At Choi Cheol-ho's fierce words, Lee Ho-seok had no choice but to nod.
Lee Ho-seok ended the call with his back half-bent, then accepted Shin-hyeok's proposal with a stony expression.
"What are the conditions for defeat?"
"If you arbitrarily lift your restrictions or admit defeat, that will count as a loss."
"You are arrogant. Instead, I will count it as a success if you leave even a single wound on my body."
"I would appreciate that, but are you truly confident?"
"......You bastard-"
Lee Ho-seok had said it merely out of courtesy, and considering that his opponent was a Silver player, he believed his proposed condition was generous.
Even so, he could not readily answer "yes" to Shin-hyeok's question.
'This brat has something. I cannot think of him as an ordinary player.'
The instinct he had cultivated as the Sword King told him so. In the end, Lee Ho-seok could not nod and accepted the original conditions.
Even that wounded his pride, leaving Lee Ho-seok's face thoroughly sour. Shin-hyeok paid it no mind and assumed his stance.
WHOOSH—!
'He's different. Even the aura he gives off the instant he takes his stance is different. Clearly...... he's not someone who can be compared to Ju-ho.'
As Shin-hyeok's gaze turned cold and an aura pierced his entire body, Lee Ho-seok realized the difference between Shin-hyeok and his own son, Lee Ju-ho.
Lee Ju-ho might think they were separated by no more than a sheet of paper, and that he could win someday, but Lee Ho-seok knew better.
At best, Lee Ju-ho would grow into a solid Diamond Tier player.
He would never rise to the same position as the Two Sovereigns, Three Emperors, and Five Kings.
But Shin-hyeok was different.
'Perhaps even higher...... I should keep him down while I still can.'
Thinking that Shin-hyeok might someday drift at heights even greater than his own, Lee Ho-seok decided to give it his all.
SHIIING-
Having finished thinking, Lee Ho-seok drew the Sword King's Main Sword.
Like Shin-hyeok's sword, it was a Unique+ Grade sword.
Of course, he had obtained it as a reward rather than having it crafted, but that did not make it something to be dismissed.
Once both sides were ready, Sang-cheol, who had naturally taken on the role of referee, looked around with a tense expression. Then he sharply brought down his raised hand.
"Begin!"
The spar between the Sword King and the future Challenger had begun.
***
WHOOSH—!
'......He threw away his weapon?'
The moment the spar began, Shin-hyeok unhesitatingly threw the sword he had been holding.
Lee Ho-seok had lived his entire life as a swordsman. He regarded his sword as his own life, and even if he lost in the Arena, he had never once let it leave his hand.
That sight was nothing short of shocking to him.
CLANG—!
"Tch!"
Perhaps because of that.
Lee Ho-seok let out a groan after knocking aside an attack he normally could have deflected at once, a beat too late.
His body was already as heavy as cotton soaked in water because he had restricted his stats. The attack that exploited that opening struck him squarely.
However, Shin-hyeok's attack was only beginning.
TWANG! TWANG! TWANG! TWANG—!
At the same time as he threw his weapon, Shin-hyeok took out a bow from his inventory and fired arrows without pause.
He was not yet capable of forming qi, but he had poured plenty of mana into the arrows. Each carried enough force to shatter rock and bore through it.
As those attacks continued without rest, Lee Ho-seok had no choice but to assume a defensive stance.
TING! TING! TING! TING! TING—!
Thanks to that, he managed to block every incoming arrow without injury, but Lee Ho-seok's face had turned as red as a ripe carrot.
He had never imagined that he would be forced into a wholly defensive position during a spar with a Silver player.
"You bastard!"
Lee Ho-seok roared out his fury and rushed toward Shin-hyeok like an arrow.
Lee Ho-seok's movement technique, which brought him right before Shin-hyeok in the blink of an eye, was as profound and extraordinary as one would expect from the Sword King.
SHIIING—!
Shin-hyeok watched the Sword King's Main Sword cut through the air without blinking even once, then threw away his bow without hesitation and launched himself backward.
"You have thrown away your weapons twice! Do you have no pride as a player?!"
"True pride is found in victory. And my real weapon is neither a sword nor a bow."
Furious at the sight, Lee Ho-seok roared, but Shin-hyeok calmly answered and drew in the mana around him.
"Kasa, Undine, Sylph, Gnome."
Without taking a single breath, Shin-hyeok summoned all four of the Four Elemental Spirits and gathered their power together.
"Elemental Shower."
"......!"
CRASH—!
Fire, water, wind, and earth.
Rain containing all four elements mercilessly battered Lee Ho-seok.
Lee Ho-seok gritted his teeth as the power of nature relentlessly struck the sword barrier he had formed by swinging his sword.
As even the natural power that had lashed down like a fierce downpour gradually subsided, Lee Ho-seok raised the corner of his mouth.
"So, it is spirits. Neither sword nor bow, but spirits. It is certainly a formidable ability. However, it is meaningless before me!"
He looked as though he were certain that Shin-hyeok's weapon was spirit arts.
In truth, Shin-hyeok's spirit arts were clean, perfect, and remarkable to a degree that could not be fully expressed by merely calling them powerful.
It was not strange for Lee Ho-seok to make that mistake.
"My weapon is not spirit arts, either."
"......What?"
CRRRAACK—!
"Arise."
"......When?!"
Undead began to rise from the bone fragments Shin-hyeok had scattered at some point, tightly gripping both of Lee Ho-seok's legs.
Lee Ho-seok could not even think of escaping from that grip. For the first time, an expression of shock appeared on his face.
"My weapon is myself."
Having calmly revealed the answer, Shin-hyeok took an item from his inventory that he had urgently acquired before coming to the training ground.
"A throwing knife?"
A single throwing knife.
It was not something made by Se-jin, the man who would one day be called a Master Artisan, but merely one of the countless throwing knives found around the workshop.
Lee Ho-seok was about to scoff at the sight of Shin-hyeok holding it.
RUMBLE—!
He certainly would have, had he not felt the drastic change in Shin-hyeok's aura the instant he held the throwing knife.
A sensation as though the entire training ground were being crushed.
When Lee Ho-seok realized that it was focused solely upon him, a stream of cold sweat ran down his back.
"Damn it! Let go! How dare you, you vermin!"
THUD! CRUNCH! THUD!
Sensing that something was wrong, Lee Ho-seok tried to free himself from the undead's grasp.
However, it did not take long to prove that doing so was futile.
"Please receive it. Heaven-Annihilating Ultimate Thunder Flying Blades."
"......Ah."
A single throwing knife became an ultimate thunderbolt capable of annihilating the heavens and shot toward Lee Ho-seok.
CRASH—!
A massive shock that swallowed the entire training ground followed.
As Shin-hyeok looked at Lee Ho-seok standing upright after that vibration subsided, he smiled.
"You lifted your restriction, did you not?"
"......!!!"
At a glance, Lee Ho-seok's body was no longer at the level of a Silver player. The brilliant blue Sword Force blazing from his hand was decisive proof that he had lifted his restriction.
In other words-
"Oseong Workshop. I will gladly take it, Senior."
It was Shin-hyeok's victory.