Sword Saint's Reincarnation

Book 3 Chapter 20: Fame

Rylan sheathed Silver Twilight and walked closer to the group. For a moment, he considered what he should say.

“You’re Rylan Flameheart, aren’t you?” one of the men said as he stepped forward with an excited grin. He was the one who had announced Rylan’s arrival. “No, of course you are. There’s nobody else in this world like you.”

Rylan tilted his head.

“I am, yes,” he replied. “But the world is a big place, so I wouldn’t be so sure. Who are all of you?”

The man shook his head, keeping his smile.

“You’re the only one I’ve ever heard of. My name is Doyle, and I’m from Gryphon Kingdom, and so are my friends.”

Rylan furrowed his brow. Gryphon Kingdom was one of the kingdoms closest to Ceotha, as Damian had once told him. They were one of the kingdoms that had turned their backs on Mar after being pressured by the Empire. Still, given how isolated Ceotha was, it was still some distance away. What was a team from there doing in a Dungeon close to Caer Rhelon? At a high-level and dangerous Dungeon, no less.

“Long way from home, aren’t you?”

Doyle blinked before awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

“Yeah. I don’t know how much you know about our kingdom, but competition is fierce. We knew that Ceotha doesn’t have many Mages at the Fifth Circle, so we thought that a Dungeon like this would be empty for us to grind in and Level up. We were right, but we didn’t expect the Boss to be so strong. The Giant Sandworms were manageable.”

Rylan flashed a smile.

“And I suppose the fact that Ceotha is still under Mar’s banner is a good extra layer of protection?”

Doyle looked down at the ground and remained silent.

“Rylan, thank you for saving me,” a female voice resounded after a second. Rylan looked to his left. It was the blond woman he’d saved, and she wore a determined expression. “But I don’t think that gives you the right to judge our decision.”

Rylan shook his head.

“I’m not. Sorry if I came across that way. I don’t mind that you’re all here. That said, while the Boss would have killed you all, it’s dead now. Feel free to kill the Sandworms outside.”

“I’ve never seen anyone fight like you,” one of the men said, taking a step forward. He had dark hair and warm brown eyes that burned with excitement. “That’s because of Mana Cultivation, isn’t it? It’s insane that you’ve managed to come up with something like that at such a young age.”

Rylan grinned at him, resisting the urge to frown. As expected, the news had spread far and wide. He had noticed it before, but it was now clearer that not all of the Mages who had witnessed him were tight-lipped. Pondering whether that was a bad thing or not was pointless. He would have to deal with the current situation anyway.

“Just did what I had to do,” he replied.

The man nodded repeatedly.

“Will you stay in the Dungeon? You could hunt with us,” another man said from the side before the dark-haired man could reply. Doyle raised his head to stare at Rylan, while the blond woman furrowed her brow. “With your help, we could hunt much faster, and you’d still get XP.”

Rylan shook his head, making the man almost deflate.

“No, I’m out of here. I’ve achieved enough. Good luck with your hunting.”

Having said that, he started walking toward the corridor that led outside. He passed the other members of the group, who were all staring at him with a variety of emotions. A moment later, he used Snowstorm and shot forward. Gasps of surprise and yelling came from behind him, but they were quickly lost in the wind. He entered the corridor.

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***

Doyle looked at the corridor. It was the only way in and out of the Boss room, and Rylan was already close to the other end.

There’s no fucking way a Mage is supposed to be that fast.

No, maybe that was how things should be. Rylan had been the only one talented enough to create something like Mana Cultivation and transcend a Mage’s limitations.

The only one.

He sighed. The world was an unfair place, but Rylan’s existence only made that all the clearer. To think someone like that could even exist. How powerful would the boy even be after a decade? After twenty or thirty years? It was impossible to predict.

Maybe he’ll find out the Ninth Circle isn’t the limit.

Of course, Doyle knew he was just making a wild guess. There was no way a Fifth Circle Mage like him could ever begin to imagine what it was like to be at the Ninth Circle, or how to even surpass it. He just knew that nobody had ever done it.

“I can’t believe we met him,” Aurelio said from the side, making Doyle look at him. The dark-haired man was shaking his head. “And I can’t fucking believe he’s actually as strong as all the rumors made him out to be. Our entire kingdom was wrong.”

Doyle nodded, still a bit baffled. It was widely accepted that Ceotha had exaggerated in the stories about Rylan to try and intimidate the Empire.

There’s no way we could just accept that an eighteen-year-old could kill Sixth Circle Mages from the Empire.

That didn’t go only for Gryphon, but also for many other kingdoms. The stories from Ceotha’s nobles were discredited. But now…

They’re all true.

While Doyle didn’t know if Rylan could kill a Sixth Circle Mage, he was clearly far above the level of the Fifth Circle. If he had wished to do so, he could have killed Doyle’s entire group to silence them with little trouble, just like the Boss would have been.

“We need to get back to the capital,” he said firmly, making everyone else look at him. “We need to tell our houses about it. I don’t know if the Empire knows about Rylan’s true power, but I’m certain they’ll make a move soon. Whether they decide to kill him or recruit him, something will happen.”

Aurelio tilted his head.

“So?”

Doyle took a breath.

“If the Empire knows about it, Mar probably also does. Something will happen, and we might get caught up in it, even though Gryphon has already turned its back on Mar. At the very least, we need to make everyone aware of it.”

The others nodded. Doyle looked at the corridor again. Rylan’s figure was already nowhere to be seen.

What the hell is going to happen next?

He shivered.

***

Channeling Snowstorm at top speed, Rylan approached the Dungeon’s Gate with a frown.

I knew the stories and rumors had already spread, but they looked really surprised.

Now that he stopped to think about it, it was only obvious that the stories about him from Ceotha’s nobles wouldn’t be taken seriously. They were too outlandish to be considered true by the others. In a way, that comforted him. It meant that there would be less political interest revolving around him.

But the Empire won’t think like that.

They had been the ones to lose three Sixth Circle Mages, alongside ten Fifth Circle Mages. Despite the nation’s size and population, it was a sizable loss. They would choose to overestimate him and assume the stories were true rather than do the opposite.

But they haven’t done anything yet.

It was unsettling. Rylan took a deep breath and focused on the Gate in the distance. At this point, there was nothing he could do to stop the Empire from making a move. He couldn’t even easily predict what they were going to do. All he could do was keep getting stronger. There was much to do once he returned to Caer Rhelon, now that he’d Leveled up a bit. He just hoped it would be enough.

Rylan continued to fly through the air, stepping on it to speed up. After a while, he reached the Gate and stepped through it. The world around him twisted and turned, replaced with a different environment. He looked around. Just like before, there were quite a few Mages on the other side, close to the Gate. He looked down at the guards around the Gate, who were all looking at him, then fell and landed on the ground. He recognized the same Guard he'd talked to before entering the Dungeon and stepped closer to him. The man bowed.

“I’m glad your hunt went well, sir. The formalities will be quick. I’ve already written down the date of your entry,” the man said, still bowing.

“Alright,” Rylan replied and approached the man, then looked around. All the Mages nearby were staring at him with colorful expressions. He sighed.

As the man promised, the conversation that followed was swift. Because of Rylan’s position and renown, many of the formalities were omitted, also because he was already registered as one of Ceotha’s Mages and as Damian’s student. Still, the guard treated him with far more respect than those positions were due.

Once the conversation ended, Rylan jumped straight upward, drawing surprised gasps from the crowd, and stood on the air with the Falling Snow Steps. He looked down at the Mages.

“Good hunting,” he said simply before he shot in Caer Rhelon’s direction like an arrow.

The scenery passed by rapidly as he flew above the trees’ canopies. The sand-covered ground was replaced by brown, soft earth covered in grass. He ran until he reached the road where the carriage had left him back when he arrived, then followed it.

Soon, he would arrive in Caer Rhelon. He needed to keep getting stronger.