Return of the Sword God-Rank Civil Servant

If there was one change, it was only the 10 bonus stats he’d received from mastering Vacuum Flow.

Su-ho assigned every single bonus stat he’d gained into True Demon, then closed the status window.

“Alright, then now...”

Anyway, he’d obtained Vacuum Flow, so you could say he’d accomplished his intended goal.

All that was left was to train like hell and raise Hard Strike Flow and Vacuum Flow up to the level he wanted.

'It’s fine. I’ve got plenty of time.'

Besides, he was more confident than anyone when it came to this kind of boring training.

And now he planned to fully take advantage of Infinity’s options that he’d completely forgotten about, so he might even reach the level he wanted faster than he thought.

'First, before that...'

He’d solved the big problem, so now it was time to reward merit properly.

Su-ho said,

“Grid.”

- Yeah.

“Take this.”

Su-ho tossed him any rune that happened to be in his hand.

The moment he caught it, Grid’s eyes grew as wide as pot lids.

- W-Why all of a sudden?

“Don’t want it?”

- N-No. It’s not that I don’t want it. I’m just asking why you’re suddenly giving me this.

“Because you gave me the most decisive hint in solving this. You told me to give up, but that’s where I found the core key point to solving it. So I’m giving it to you. Either way, it’s true that I solved it thanks to you.”

- Partner...!

Grid was moved to tears.

Then he immediately started savoring the rune he’d received with greedy relish.

- Sss, haa, sss, haa... yeah, this is it... this is it...!

Man, I knew he got euphoric, but every time I see it, he really {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} looks like a pervert.

Well, whatever.

He’d already paid out the rune as a reward, and what Grid did with it was up to Grid.

“Alright, then should we go back and raise proficiency some more?”

He’d obtained Vacuum Flow.

So now all that was left was to raise the proficiency of Hard Strike Flow and Vacuum Flow and awaken higher forms.

The method was simple.

He could use Infinity to create the optimal training environment and grind proficiency.

As he thought that and was setting up this and that program—

Ziiing—

The sound of a door opening.

When he turned his head, an unexpected... but familiar face was looking at him.

“Huh?”

The person flinched when he saw Su-ho.

It was none other than Park Yong.

Su-ho also asked with a surprised expression,

“What is it?”

“Ah... it’s just that I came here to practice swordsmanship. But Section Chief, what brings you here?”

“Same kind of reason. But did you use this training facility before too?”

“Ah, not really, but Nexus is partnered with the Association on a few things, and among those, Special Division personnel can use this S-rank Training Center, so we come here often.”

“Yeah?”

That Chairman Bae Donghyuk from Nexus—he really did handle things even better than expected.

Su-ho nodded with satisfaction and smiled.

“I see. By the way, have you made any progress?”

“Yes. Actually, not long ago I finally mastered a swordsmanship skill.”

“Oh, a swordsmanship skill?”

“Yes, so... if you have time, Section Chief, could you... take a look for me? Of course, if you’re busy, you don’t have to.”

Park Yong carefully asked him to observe and give guidance.

Seeing that, Su-ho chuckled without realizing it.

'So I really did change him completely.'

This is Park Yong, the one I knew in my previous life?

In his previous life, Park Yong was exactly what you’d call rough, brutish, and single-minded—he only knew the sword and victory.

Even when he’d been captured after losing to Su-ho, he’d been more furious about the fact that he’d lost to Su-ho than guilty about killing people.

'Even the first time I met him in the second run, he started barking his temper right away.'

But the current Park Yong wasn’t throwing a temper at all—he was politely asking Su-ho carefully.

At this point, it meant Su-ho no longer needed to worry about Park Yong.

Su-ho smiled and said,

“Alright, I’ll look. Lie down in Infinity.”

“In Infinity, sir?”

“If I’m going to look, Infinity’s better. I can extract data too. And anyway, the freedom of the battlefield itself is better in Kunlun than in reality, right?”

“Ah, that’s true.”

“Yeah, then lie down right away... oh, right. Do you have a program you’ve been using separately? If you do, show it to me. I want to compare it to what I was about to run.”

“I’ll show you right away.”

Park Yong, excited, told him the settings for the program he’d been using.

After finishing the program setup, the two of them lay down in the capsules and connected to Infinity.

Hwaaaah!

His vision changed, and what appeared was the usual Kunlun.

As soon as they finished checking their statuses, Su-ho smiled and asked,

“You ready?”

“Yes, I’m ready.”

“Okay, then first....”

Snap!

When he snapped his fingers, wooden swords were summoned for each of them, and they grabbed them.

Then he snapped his fingers again, and status windows appeared above their heads along with the number 100.

It was the usual Overall Combat Power.

“Section Chief, this is...?”

“This is called Overall Combat Power....”

Su-ho explained the concept of Overall Combat Power. After hearing the explanation, Park Yong nodded.

“That’s amazing. If you balance the combat like this, you can really measure only pure swordsmanship skill.”

“Right. It’s a training technique you can only use in Infinity. And in that sense....”

Su-ho raised his wooden sword and pointed it at Park Yong.

“Let’s see it. That original swordsmanship you said you just mastered.”

At Su-ho’s provocation, Park Yong also raised the corners of his mouth and took his stance.

“You can look forward to it.”

“Did you name the sword art?”

“Yes. For now, I called it Light Swordsmanship.”

“Oh, really?”

“Haha. Is it kind of...?”

“No, it suits you.”

It was unexpected.

He thought if his personality had changed, maybe the name of his sword art would’ve changed too, but it seemed his tastes were the same.

Well, it didn’t matter.

What mattered wasn’t the name, but what was inside.

“Then I’ll begin.”

“Yeah. Come in.”

Soon, the spar began.

Park Yong gave a polite declaration, then immediately charged at Su-ho.

Swoosh!

The first attack came in sharp.

Light Sword, indeed.

Su-ho knew the moment he received Park Yong’s opening strike.

What changed was the guy’s social skills—his fundamental nature hadn’t changed.

Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack! Clack!

Attacks coming in one after another.

They really came without giving him a single moment to breathe.

So it was fascinating.

He’d heard people change a lot because of their environment, and Park Yong had definitely lived a life completely different from the previous one.

So how did he manage to master swordsmanship at almost the same level as what he used in his previous life?

'The more I watch, the more amazing it is.'

Then in this life too, would Park Yong end up having the Light Swordsmanship that the previous-life Park Yong used?

He was curious.

In his previous life, Park Yong had been a bad person, but the swordsmanship itself hadn’t been bad.

'If anything, in terms of swordsmanship alone, it was excellent.'

And so Park Yong’s attacks continued.

Clack! Clack! Clack! Claaang!

A continuing fierce onslaught.

It was excellent.

Considering Park Yong’s current level and the path previous-life Park Yong had walked, the current Park Yong was achieving something truly dazzling.

But that was only in terms of his current level of accomplishment—compared to his previous life, which had been close to complete, he was still far from enough.

'Time to end it.'

Claaang!

In the middle of the pouring onslaught, Su-ho struck Park Yong’s sword away with a sharp blow.

Park Yong’s sword, caught off-balance, flew far away, and Park Yong, having lost his sword, had no choice but to concede.

Park Yong, who’d lost his grip on the sword, smiled awkwardly.

“Haha... yeah, I can’t beat you, Section Chief.”

“Experience is different, so it can’t be helped. Still, compared to before, it’s a huge achievement, you know? I was honestly surprised. In that short time, you changed so much I wondered if you were even the same person.”

“Is that so?”

“What would I get out of lying about this? Especially with praise like this, I have even less reason to try to get on your good side. And with the combat-power adjustment, you and I had the same strength stat until just now. And even so, you did this well—that means you’ve achieved something huge.”

At Su-ho’s sincere praise, Park Yong grinned without saying anything.

Kid, even the way you get embarrassed is cute.

Still, I feel like I should give him some kind of advice...

He hesitated.

Because Park Yong had basically mastered his current Light Swordsmanship on his own, and Su-ho knew well that careless advice could actually poison him.

'In that sense, the best thing would be having a solid sparring partner at a similar level, like a rival...'

Su-ho asked,

“Do you usually practice alone too?”

“Yes. Based on the program I set in Infinity, I do endless sparring.”

“Does it ever feel lacking?”

“Rather than lacking, it feels a bit... disappointing. Among the data built into Infinity, the best is definitely your data, Section Chief, but your skill is so outstanding that no matter how hard I try, I can barely close the gap.”

“How about switching modes? Infinity isn’t stupid—if you use something like a guided learning mode, wouldn’t you still be able to learn while doing it?”

“It’s not like I haven’t tried that... but there’s something that’s a little hard to say cleanly.”

“Yeah?”

As expected, Park Yong had already been dealing with the difficulty Su-ho anticipated.

Then how should he help him?

He didn’t want to irresponsibly say something like, “That’s a luxury complaint—go train on your own!”

Park Yong was one of the talents Su-ho had recruited, and more than that, he was one of the grateful Players fighting for humanity.

At that moment, a good idea flashed in Su-ho’s head.

“Wait here for a bit.”

“Here? Then what about you, Section Chief?”

“Just wait a bit. I just got a good idea.”

After saying that, Su-ho logged out first, then pulled out his phone and called somewhere.

Then he immediately rode Cheolma and left Nexus Academy.

Left alone, Park Yong tilted his head in confusion, but then, as Su-ho told him, he summoned an avatar and immersed himself in sword practice alone.

After quite a while—

Along with an Infinity system notification, a human silhouette began to draw itself into Park Yong’s view.

Is it Su-ho?

But the silhouette being drawn wasn’t one—it was two.

“I’m back.”

One of the silhouettes was Su-ho, yes.

And the silhouette that formed next to him a beat later was none other than Yasuda Hiro from Sumiyoshi.

Su-ho smiled and said,

“From now on, kill each other.”