Chapter 248: How many times must a person make a mistake before they can truly grow?

"Boom, boom, boom!!"

"Heka!!"

The desperate, screeching roar of the King Insect and the sound of the fragmentation warhead explosions rang out one after another; as the particle beam from Thor's Hammer descended from the sky, the King Insect, already well aware of how powerful its piercing ability was, immediately protected the parts about to be struck.

"The fourth spot," Edward noted silently in his heart as he watched the scene before him.

That guy's combat awareness and experience were truly far inferior to Bishop Land's.

Even though it was consciously covering the location of its own weaknesses, its movements were extremely unnatural and stiff.

It might be enough to fool an inexperienced newcomer, but if it wanted to deceive Edward's eyes, it was thinking a bit too much.

It was a pity that the mecha Yun Mu summoned was not powerful enough, which meant that even Edward could only roughly determine four locations.

However, looking at it from another perspective, for her to be able to do such a thing when her Supernatural level was only Second-tier Elite was already quite exaggerated.

Among the many prodigies Edward knew of, only a few historical figures could compare to her.

If placed in the modern era, it would probably be a level that no one could match.

How long had she even been in contact with the Supernatural! It was hard to imagine just how powerful she would be once she truly grew up in the future.

That his own daughter could befriend such a person early on made him, as a father, feel a bit proud.

"Whew."

Coming back to his senses, Edward noticed that Yun Mu was piloting the Medical Transport Plane back; he figured her Spirituality must have been completely exhausted.

Then, it was time for him to make his move.

"The remaining Gold Frost is just enough to fire four more rounds."

While calculating his remaining assets in his heart, Edward drew his sword and walked toward the direction of the King Insect.

He did not intend to burn anything other than his assets, because his memories were his most precious treasures.

As for his lifespan, he wanted to save it for the future; even if he could not be by Lita's side at every moment, he wanted to witness her growth.

As for his emotions... he smiled silently.

"Greedy one, are you prepared to face the trial?"

An ethereal voice reached his ears, and Edward's pupils trembled subconsciously; he looked to his side—

There stood a figure with short flaxen hair, a stubbly beard, wearing a set of ancient chainmail, and radiating an aura of blood and iron, as if a god of slaughter had returned from the battlefield.

A greatsword was planted upright in front of him, its blade clear and bright, reflecting Edward's face at that moment.

"God of Swords Reindot."

Edward whispered the name of the phantom; he had thought that he might never have the chance to see his phantom again in this lifetime.

"I felt your heart calling for my arrival, so I have come," the phantom of Reindot explained, seemingly seeing through Edward's thoughts.

"You..." He looked at Edward's current appearance and hesitated for a moment: "How many years have passed since the last trial?"

"... 18 years, I suppose." Edward's expression gradually returned to calm as he said.

"Eighteen years, heh." The phantom of Reindot chuckled: "That's not too late."

As he spoke, he looked toward the distance at the monster that was currently rampaging: "Are you going to deal with it?"

"That is a product of an Outer God's power; I can smell that disgusting stench from far away."

"But its power is immense; with just your current self, you cannot defeat it."

As soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly thought of something and smiled knowingly: "Ha, that must be why I have appeared here."

"However... your current conviction is not enough to open the trial; for the sake of the four times we have crossed blades, I can patiently wait for you a while."

"Only a little while, though."

He said this, raising his right hand and using his thumb and index finger to gesture a tiny amount.

"I thank you so much."

Edward responded with annoyance.

The other party was merely a record left behind by the God of Swords Reindot when he ascended to Champion; he had no right to choose whether to appear or leave on his own.

And for a Swordsman-series Transcendental to advance from Master to Champion, they needed to cross blades with a Swordsman-series Transcendental who had previously ascended to Champion.

Only by defeating the opponent could one successfully ascend.

Unfortunately, what Edward had summoned was the phantom left behind by the God of Swords—Reindot—when he ascended to Champion.

Who wasn't a genius? Back in his youth, he had touched the edge of the Champion rank quite early.

It was a pity he was beaten black and blue by Reindot, and his first attempt to ascend to Champion ended in failure.

Later, he formed a fleet, became the Captain of the Sunset, and continuously explored unknown seas, crossing blades with those mysterious existences on the ocean, all to become stronger.

As it turned out, he was beaten to a pulp a second time.

His pride as a genius and his confidence in his own strength were crushed to pieces by Reindot; perhaps he could convince himself with the excuse that the opponent was the God of Swords, but... why did it have to be him? If it had been another Fourth Order Master-level Swordsman, he would have had the confidence to defeat them, but the one he had to face was the God of Swords Reindot.

An opponent that was simply impossible to defeat.

That was what Edward thought at the time.

"Whew." Edward looked at the man beside him with a complex expression.

If not for him, he might have ascended to Champion long ago, but it was precisely because he failed to ascend to Champion that he met Karin, the girl he loved, who was always full of curiosity and vitality.

But if he had had Champion-level strength back then... in those years when Edward's strength was stuck at the Master rank and unable to progress, many who had originally favored him gave up on their investments, and many crew members on the Sunset left as well.

After all, they were following the future, brilliant Captain Edward, not a poor man stuck by the God of Swords Reindot, destined never to break through to Champion in this life.

Heartbroken, Edward withdrew from the exploration team, took his Sunset, and along with the crew members who were willing to leave with him, chose to become a Mercenary on the sea within the Shattered Star Sea and the Exile Sea.

In these two seas, with his strength, he was still enough to stand at the very top.

And that was indeed the case; in just half a year, the names of the Sunset and Edward became famous in the mercenary world, becoming the most sought-after mercenaries in the industry.

It was also at this time that the person in charge of the Starry Church found him, hoping to hire the Sunset to protect an expedition team that had been searching for the whereabouts of Meteor Fragments.

Because the reward was very generous, Edward agreed, and it was within that investigation team that he met Karin, who was an ordinary Scholar.

He still remembered the scene when the two first met: before the search party's first voyage, everyone had anchored the ship beside an island to hold a banquet, and he, having drunk too much, began to boast to the new crew members about his past adventures and experiences.

And Karin, who happened to be passing by, curiously approached after hearing the sound of their conversation.

As it turned out, until the banquet ended, Edward and the other crew members had not a single person realized that Karin was not actually someone from their ship, and they had even gotten her drunk.

It wasn't until the next morning, when the Starry Church's inspection team came looking for someone, that they finally found Karin on the deck of the Sunset, sleeping on the table after getting drunk.

Incidentally, at the time, Karin was moving her personal belongings onto the inspection team's ship, so she was wearing a set of very stain-resistant clothing and had wrapped her long hair up with a headscarf.

This was also the reason why Edward and the crew of the Sunset did not immediately realize that the other person was not a crew member.

"Hehehe," Edward chuckled softly as he recalled that time, thinking of Karin, who had looked like a delicate young man, constantly asking him questions and nitpicking, which had nearly made him flush with anger.

It was love that allowed him to regain his Courage and challenge Reindot for the third time; although the final result was still failure, he had already found peace of mind at that time.

He no longer sought to become a Champion-level Swordsman, wanting only to take Karin to live a peaceful life after ending this commission.

However, reality gave him a fierce slap in the face.

Facing the maddened Sea Dragon King, he had no ability and no means to protect his fleet, when the damaged inspection ship and the Sunset were chosen as sacrifices, and when the monstrous waves capsized his ships.

Desperately craving power, Edward summoned the phantom of Reindot for the fourth time.

And then he failed again.

Failure, failure, failure, failure!

The man named Edward, his life that was like a joke, was all overturned into the cold seawater.

The family tragedy in his youth, being demoted from a noble's son to a fallen noble, practicing Swordsmanship bitterly, wanting to revitalize his family, yet being stuck firmly at the Master rank, unable to move forward.

He gained love, only for it to pass away in the blink of an eye.

In the end, the only things responding to him were the Sunset, which had accompanied him for so long, and that deafening cry on the sea surface.

And so.

Ghost Ship Captain Edward returned from the flames burning on the seabed.

"Boom, boom, boom!!"

Mortar shells dragging ghost-green Ghost Fire fell from the sky, precisely covering the four directions of the King Worm's body.

"Heka!"

The King Worm screamed in pain and hurriedly severed the flesh entangled by the flames.

"Two weak points." Edward watched its movements and reached a conclusion in his heart.

Clang.

"God of Swords Reindot, do you know?" Edward slowly drew his long sword and looked at Reindot: "I once made a promise to my late wife that if one day we were separated by an accident, we would wait for each other to return in this city."

"I waited for nearly twenty years, and even my daughter has grown into an adult; she is very cute, even feeling shy now when she acts spoiled toward me."

"This city carries my hope, and at the same time, it is also my daughter's hometown."

"I have not slacked off in my training for a single moment in these twenty years, honing my Swordsmanship almost every day."

"I regret immensely whether things would have been different if I had possessed such strength back then, and whether I could have saved her if I had been able to promote to Champion."

"How many times must a person make mistakes before they can grow?"

"These thoughts are actually meaningless, and I do not mean to resent you, because this is the rule; I know that. I am just constantly hating that weak self from back then."

"The power accumulated from the longing of these years, day and night, is my determination at this very moment; do you understand?"

"If you understand, then pick up your sword; I will not run away anymore."

". I feel your will." The phantom of Reindot was silent for a moment; he took the greatsword that had been stuck in the ground and silently assumed a stance as if about to attack.

The next second, the space of the entire world seemed to stand still, leaving only the two of them staring solemnly at each other.

This is the Mirror World after the trial begins; no matter how much time passes here, only an instant will have passed in the real world.

Correspondingly, the damage received here will not be brought back to the real world.

And the person responsible for presiding over the trial must never hold back in any way.

"Breathe."

Edward looked at the man in front of him who often appeared in his nightmares and couldn't help but take a deep breath.

Over these years, he had constantly dismantled the other's moves from his memory and tried every possible way to crack them.

From having no way at the beginning to dismantling the other's moves and absorbing them into his own Swordsmanship, he had spent nearly five years.

And when teaching Lita Swordsmanship, the other's talent also surprised him immensely.

Although the overall technique was still very immature, she was always able to use some moves that made his eyes light up.

So, while researching Swordsmanship himself, he would occasionally ask Lita some questions that he himself was not quite sure about, to use as her homework.

As for whether she could answer them, that was not actually important.

Because even so, Lita could bring him some ideas he had never thought of before.

Geniuses and mortals are different; Edward was very clear on this point.

God of Swords Reindot, without a doubt, must also be a genius.

But what he was challenging was merely the other's phantom at the Master rank.

Since it was a phantom, it would not improve, and he had the possibility of catching up!

Clang! The two moved almost simultaneously!

The cold weapons in their hands swept past like a Wind, leaving several sword marks on the ground and walls of the Mirror World.

Edward kept dismantling Reindot's attacks until the other used a move he had never seen before!

However... it was now!

Edward concentrated all his spirit, immediately found the flaw in the other's strike, and quickly cracked it; his long sword slashed fiercely, leaving a sword mark on Reindot's face.

"."

Reindot retreated two steps in silence, feeling the stinging pain on his cheek, and said: "It is truly surprising; you have actually grown to this extent."

The next second, he straightened his expression: "Next, I will use my full strength, be careful!"

Clang! It was unknown how much time had passed, but a covered-in-wounds Edward parried Reindot's attack; he manipulated the sword blade to catch the crossguard of the opponent's greatsword, his footsteps lunging forward as he shoved himself into Reindot's guard.

Following that, the longsword slashed fiercely, wounding Reindot's wrist, then wounding Reindot's abdomen.

"Well done."

The phantom of Reindot praised.

"What move is this?" He looked at Edward with a yearning gaze.

"I don't know." Edward at this moment recovered from his state of absolute Focus, looking at the phantom of Reindot, he shook his head in a daze.

"You don't know... That's fine too." The other party smiled, plopping down onto the ground: "I look forward to the day you appear before my true self."

"Better forget it." Hearing his words, Edward shook his head again: "I'm just an uncle who wants a peaceful life; meeting the God of Swords or whatever, please spare me."

"Ha, whatever makes you happy."

The phantom of Reindot spoke no more, and soon turned into flying ash, dissipating before Edward's eyes.

(End of this chapter)